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 guess I can say that I'm over the loss
Speaker 2: that the Ravens took on Sunday night. I mean, I
Speaker 2: still hate it that it played out the way that
Speaker 2: it did. But what I fear is, you know, I
Speaker 2: shouldn't fear it. I really shouldn't get worked up about it,
Speaker 2: but I have learned that despite knowing that, I can't
Speaker 2: control it, and no matter what happens with Lamar, there's
Speaker 2: always going to be naysayers like I. Just the anxiety
Speaker 2: that I had watching worrying about what would be said
Speaker 2: about Lamar. I mean, that's what pissed me off so much,
Speaker 2: and it's silly, but I know I'm not alone because
Speaker 2: you know, Lamar is a legend around here, and I've
Speaker 2: talked about it here and there throughout the week that
Speaker 2: Lamar has given me a very unusual experien that I
Speaker 2: don't know if I'll ever have again, and that is
Speaker 2: that I am such a fan and want him to
Speaker 2: succeed so bad. Therefore, I want and need his team
Speaker 2: to win for that to you know, work out. But
Speaker 2: yet I don't really like the Ravens, Like I don't
Speaker 2: like any of it. I mean, when he's got teammates
Speaker 2: that are out there making plays, you know, I'm happy
Speaker 2: to see it, but like it all is due to Lamar,
Speaker 2: Like when guys mess up. I'm not mad that the
Speaker 2: Ravens may lose. I'm mad that Lamar might not get
Speaker 2: a win. And it's gonna be you know, weaponized against
Speaker 2: him because he's the quarterback and they carry more of
Speaker 2: the weight than anybody when it comes to teams winning
Speaker 2: and losing. So I'm you know, it hasn't been as
Speaker 2: bad as I thought it would be. And I guess
Speaker 2: you know, he's he's gonna win his third MVP. We
Speaker 2: know that. And yes, then it'll get you know, it'll
Speaker 2: get started up again. Meeting people will continue to to,
Speaker 2: you know, remind everybody that he's not been as good
Speaker 2: in the playoffs and all that's true, but the MVP
Speaker 2: award is not a postseason award and it can never be.
Speaker 2: I mean, people can get mad that a guy that
Speaker 2: wasn't as good in the regular season ended up playing
Speaker 2: better in the playoffs. Like that's great, and honestly, the
Speaker 2: legacy is way way more impacted by what you do
Speaker 2: in the postseason and when it comes to Super Bowls
Speaker 2: and all that kind of stuff. The MVP is not
Speaker 2: as much. And it's because it's a regular season award,
Speaker 2: and he was the best player in the NFL the
Speaker 2: last two years and he's gonna win his third MVP.
Speaker 2: But he collected the twenty twenty four NFL Most Valuable
Speaker 2: Player by the Professional Football Writers Association, a very well
Speaker 2: respected organization that you know, those guys cover ball, and
Speaker 2: I would imagine most of them are objective, and they
Speaker 2: they have given him second consecutive award for the NFL
Speaker 2: Player of the Year in their eyes, and the third
Speaker 2: time he's ever had it going back to his first year.
Speaker 2: Is MVP. So the guys who vote for this, and
Speaker 2: the Football Writers of Association and the AP which named
Speaker 2: him the first team quarterback in the NFL All Pro,
Speaker 2: a lot of those guys vote for the NFL MVP.
Speaker 2: And I would imagine it'll be Lamar, and that's great,
Speaker 2: and it'd be even it'd be worse if like we
Speaker 2: had to you know, except that like maybe Lamar wasn't
Speaker 2: as good as we thought he was. I don't think
Speaker 2: that's it. Clearly he was a little tight. His whole
Speaker 2: team was. I don't I'm not gonna blame it on Harball,
Speaker 2: but because Hardball's done good enough, but there seems to
Speaker 2: be something funky going on within their culture. That doesn't
Speaker 2: mean they have a bad culture, but for some reason,
Speaker 2: they're just not as good and they're a little tight
Speaker 2: and make some mistakes that you don't expect them to
Speaker 2: make in the playoffs. So you know, like the Mark
Speaker 2: Andrews drop is one thing, but like the fumble that
Speaker 2: he had, like that's uncharacteristic as hell Lamar. I mean,
Speaker 2: people will make the joke about, well, you know that's
Speaker 2: him in the playoffs. I mean the mistakes he made.
Speaker 2: The two turnovers he had in the first half were
Speaker 2: disastrous turnovers. Like even when Lamar's not playing well, you
Speaker 2: don't typically see him do that. So you know, I
Speaker 2: doubt they make any kind of changes, But if they did,
Speaker 2: I wouldn't necessarily be against it, if I'm being honest
Speaker 2: with you, just because your window with Lamar isn't closed.
Speaker 2: But you've had really good seasons that have resulted in
Speaker 2: disappointing earlier than expect did losses. In the playoffs, and
Speaker 2: that doesn't mean you blow it up and start all over.
Speaker 2: You clearly have a three time MVP. Your window is
Speaker 2: still very much open, and you've got some good pieces
Speaker 2: around him. But with Henry at any moment maybe falling off.
Speaker 2: A lot of people thought it would be this year.
Speaker 2: I mean, Andrews is old, probably not even going to
Speaker 2: be with him next year. They do have some young
Speaker 2: talent that I'm pretty bullish on, so you know, why not,
Speaker 2: Like I feel like you kind of you've maxed out
Speaker 2: with the hardball, right, like, go get somebody, and it's
Speaker 2: unusual to fire somebody who has been that successful. But
Speaker 2: do you mean, do you expect him to get the breakthrough?
Speaker 2: I mean maybe he will. I mean he's won a
Speaker 2: super Bowl before, but that was a long time ago,
Speaker 2: and I would just be excited to hear them mixing
Speaker 2: something up. And what they're not going to do is,
Speaker 2: you know, move on from their star players who they
Speaker 2: have a lot of money tied to that they know
Speaker 2: everybody else would want. So I doubt they make any change,
Speaker 2: But if they did, I wouldn't. I wouldn't wouldn't be
Speaker 2: against it. And by the way, like it's not something
Speaker 2: we should be bragging about, because again, Lamar is held
Speaker 2: to a standard that is different because he's so good
Speaker 2: and such a special player. We're talking about a three
Speaker 2: time MVP right now, potentially, I mean, it seems like
Speaker 2: he's going to win it. But to see that he
Speaker 2: did make big plays on the road to come back
Speaker 2: from you know, a deficit, that ninety plus yard drive
Speaker 2: to score and then throw it where it needed to
Speaker 2: be and Andrews dropped it. Again, it's bittersweet. I mean,
Speaker 2: it's not really sweet at all, but like, it's not
Speaker 2: something we can brag about because again, Lamar needs to
Speaker 2: win these playoff games. We know he's great, but man,
Speaker 2: what a drive he had late. Like it'd be different if,
Speaker 2: as I'm trying to find the silver lining, it'd be
Speaker 2: different if Lamar, like, you know, we had to to
Speaker 2: realize that the guy just isn't as good as we
Speaker 2: thought he would be. The guy has exceeded the expectation
Speaker 2: in a major way in the NFL, and that'll that's
Speaker 2: something that will be true regardless of what ends up
Speaker 2: happening with him down the line here in the postseason.
Speaker 2: So I'm ready to see who we end up getting
Speaker 2: in the Super Bowl matchup. I'm definitely pulling for the Bills,
Speaker 2: definitely pulling for the Commanders, but I would say, you know,
Speaker 2: it's likely going to be a rematch of the Chiefs
Speaker 2: and the Eagles, which was that two years ago in
Speaker 2: the Super Bowl. It was right, Yes, so that's probably
Speaker 2: what we're gonna get. And if that's the case, then
Speaker 2: I'll be all in on the Eagles, although I don't know,
Speaker 2: do you give the Commanders much of a chance here?
Speaker 1: I do.
Speaker 2: I mean, I think you have to. You have to
Speaker 2: realize they can win given what they've been doing, you
Speaker 2: know what I mean.
Speaker 3: That's a rookie quarterback going into that situation Philadelphia. It's
Speaker 3: probably gonna be like below freezing temperature, is probably snowy,
Speaker 3: and they have a good defense, and of course the Eagles,
Speaker 3: Jalen Hurts can get every third and fourth and one
Speaker 3: on Earth imaginable. So it's it's gonna be an uphill climb,
Speaker 3: but I do give them a chance.
Speaker 2: Jalen Hurts is one of those guys that I think
Speaker 2: a lot of talking heads has kind of indicated that
Speaker 2: maybe he stepped back a little bit from a couple
Speaker 2: of years ago. But he's clearly good enough, and you
Speaker 2: know what, he never does turn the ball, and that
Speaker 2: is you know, that's that's something that you're not supposed
Speaker 2: to do, right, So again, do we really want to
Speaker 2: guess up and praise somebody for doing what they're supposed
Speaker 2: to do, Like that doesn't take a lot of talent.
Speaker 2: But you know what, there's a lot of talented guys
Speaker 2: out there that do get a little too sure of
Speaker 2: themselves and make mistakes and cough it up, and it happens,
Speaker 2: and it can it'll kill your games. So when you've
Speaker 2: never turn it over and you can get those third
Speaker 2: and ones like you mentioned, and they have the push
Speaker 2: push and all that, like, you don't have to be
Speaker 2: out there crazy precise with your arms. So this Eagles team,
Speaker 2: they're the team that quite literally I knew was good,
Speaker 2: but to see their record once we got into the postseason,
Speaker 2: and now that I've watched them play a couple of games,
Speaker 2: like they could they could easily be the super Bowl
Speaker 2: champs this year, Like it wouldn't be a wouldn't be
Speaker 2: a big shocker. And I hope that they are the
Speaker 2: winners if in fact it is them taking on the
Speaker 2: Kansas City Chiefs. So we've got plus six right now
Speaker 2: for the Commanders in a very close game here between
Speaker 2: Kansas City and Buffalo. As far as the line, we've
Speaker 2: got Kansas City right now minus one and a half.
Speaker 2: I probably won't. I mean I will at some point.
Speaker 2: I'll probably right before kickoff, decide to do something here
Speaker 2: with the Bills and the Chiefs. But I'm going to
Speaker 2: take the Commander's plus six just because I feel like
Speaker 2: they can cover that and they've got a lot of momentum.
Speaker 2: But the Bills Chiefs game, I mean, maybe the over
Speaker 2: forty seven and a half is the total way you think,
Speaker 2: you like, actually both games are said at forty seven
Speaker 2: and a half. I think the over actually has a
Speaker 2: better chance of going over in the Commander's Eagles game
Speaker 2: than it does the other one. But maybe that's just me.
Speaker 2: I mean, Kansas City like pull up there. Like again,
Speaker 2: it's weird to say that they're they're down or that
Speaker 2: they're you know, they're vulnerable, because like, they won a
Speaker 2: ton of games this year, but they just didn't do
Speaker 2: it seemingly in the same fashion as they did in
Speaker 2: previous years, you know, when they were winning Super Bowls.
Speaker 2: So maybe it's wishful thinking on my end that they
Speaker 2: are in fact not quite as good of Maybe this
Speaker 2: is a slightly less good version of them as we've
Speaker 2: seen win the Super Bowl. I mean, it's the same ingredients, right,
Speaker 2: Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce, Andy Reid, Chris Jones, Pacheco is
Speaker 2: now part of and you know, but look at their
Speaker 2: total numbers here in the NFL. So I rarely ever
Speaker 2: have any success or luck, I should say, when it
Speaker 2: comes to betting over unders in the NFL. I'm not
Speaker 2: as I'm a little more accurate when it comes to
Speaker 2: college football, and I'm actually better at that this year
Speaker 2: in basketball than i am betting spreads. But the Chiefs
Speaker 2: they scored twenty three against Houston. They didn't score, of
Speaker 2: course against Denver because they didn't play any starters. That
Speaker 2: was just dud of it was they didn't even try.
Speaker 2: But they put up twenty nine against Pittsburgh. They also
Speaker 2: put up twenty seven against Houston. In the previous time
Speaker 2: they played them. They scored twenty one against Cleveland, they
Speaker 2: scored nineteen against the Chargers, nineteen against the Raiders, thirty
Speaker 2: against Carolina, twenty one in that loss they had when
Speaker 2: they went to Buffalo, so you know, they've got Mahomes,
Speaker 2: and they've got Kelsey, and they've got I mean, Andy
Speaker 2: Reid's a phenomenal offensive coach. But again, like those numbers
Speaker 2: kind of confirm what I've felt when watching them this year.
Speaker 2: They're just they're just doing what they do, but they
Speaker 2: don't look as scary and that makes me at least
Speaker 2: believe that maybe they'll go down here. But I also
Speaker 2: can't say that I'd be shocked if they once again
Speaker 2: win another Super Bowl. Patrick Mahomes was asked about the
Speaker 2: I mean the facts. I mean I was going to say.
Speaker 2: Patrick Mahomes was asked about the chatter or asked about
Speaker 2: the rumors. Patrick Mahomes was asked about the facts, and
Speaker 2: he disagreed with the facts, which means he's I guess delusional.
Speaker 2: He was asked about the favorable whistle that Kansas City
Speaker 2: and Mahomes get. And this is from Mike Catalana, who
Speaker 2: covers the Buffalo Bills. He's the sports director at thirteen Wham.
Speaker 2: He ran these numbers and I'm gonna assume they're correct,
Speaker 2: says Patrick Mahomes said on Wednesday that he does not
Speaker 2: believe the Chiefs get favorable calls from the officials, and
Speaker 2: then he has a breakdown here of the penalty numbers
Speaker 2: from the last eleven Chiefs playoff games. Kansas City thirty
Speaker 2: six penalties for three hundred and nineteen yards, their opponents
Speaker 2: sixty six penalties nearly double and forty one yards. Now,
Speaker 2: that doesn't mean they get a favorable whistle. However, if
Speaker 2: you watch and then you look at those numbers, like
Speaker 2: people just feel like it's confirmed. And I'll be consistent.
Speaker 2: I think what the Chiefs do and this is I
Speaker 2: think what makes them such a successful franchise with the
Speaker 2: current regime they have with just I mean, they've got
Speaker 2: a great like they're a winning franchise, right, they do
Speaker 2: things well and they win. Sometimes it's not as pretty
Speaker 2: clearly they have a lot of haters, but like they win.
Speaker 2: So I think an element to them getting you know,
Speaker 2: those numbers clearly looking as if they're not penalized like
Speaker 2: their opponents are. I think there's partial truth to where
Speaker 2: they are gonna get benefit of the doubt, Like if
Speaker 2: it's a bang bang play coin flip, what are you
Speaker 2: gonna do. I believe revs they're humans too. In fact,
Speaker 2: I know they are, but I believe they will probably
Speaker 2: just eer on. Not mean it's not a premeditated thing.
Speaker 2: I just think it's part of the human element that
Speaker 2: comes with officials. Like they you know, like Michael Jordan
Speaker 2: got a lot of calls. You know why, because he
Speaker 2: was Michael. Patrick Mahomes is not Michael Jordan of football,
Speaker 2: but like he's clearly going to get more calls than
Speaker 2: guys that aren't Patrick Mahomes at quarterback, and the Chiefs
Speaker 2: are going to get more calls than you know, the
Speaker 2: Carolina Panthers. I mean that shouldn't be the case, and
Speaker 2: it pisses you off, But like think about sports from
Speaker 2: the beginning of time, Like, referees are humans, and that's
Speaker 2: why I've always thought it was silly that people want
Speaker 2: refs to be accountable and refs to have postgame press
Speaker 2: conferences so they can answer questions about bad calls. And
Speaker 2: I've always said that, while I understand you want somebody
Speaker 2: to try to explain a certain call, I think you'd
Speaker 2: be very underwhelmed by these press conferences and maybe only
Speaker 2: watch a couple of them and then never watch again.
Speaker 2: You know why, because they know that they don't make
Speaker 2: the right call every time they know that they make mistakes.
Speaker 2: It wouldn't be like they would sit here and defend
Speaker 2: every single call and you would be and you would
Speaker 2: be able to, like, you know, show them proof and
Speaker 2: dunk on them. There may be certain calls they would
Speaker 2: just say my judgment and we can disagree, and sometimes
Speaker 2: it's just that close. But like refs, reps make mistakes
Speaker 2: just like players and coaches, and that's a factor in this.
Speaker 2: It's not because there's this premeditated bias. But again, they're humans.
Speaker 2: So therefore, even when you don't know it or you
Speaker 2: don't realize it, you can at times just I mean,
Speaker 2: I could be wrong here. I think there's certain things
Speaker 2: in life where you can believe that you are one
Speaker 2: thousand percent objective, but like you're probably not because I
Speaker 2: find that to be like, you know, find that to
Speaker 2: be kind of impossible. So anyways, I think there's an
Speaker 2: element to it where they are getting favorable calls because
Speaker 2: they're the chiefs right now, they're on top. It's how
Speaker 2: it works. It shouldn't be that way, but it is.
Speaker 2: But also they make you pay when you make mistakes,
Speaker 2: right like they will, and you know what you when
Speaker 2: you're playing them and you commit a crazy pass interference call,
Speaker 2: like you mess up on defense, you know why, It's
Speaker 2: probably because you're overthinking it. You're backpedaling on defense and
Speaker 2: you probably thinking, Man, I don't know, like do I
Speaker 2: trust myself to be able to defend this without holding,
Speaker 2: without interfering? And sometimes they don't because they know they're
Speaker 2: going up against the goud that'll crush them. So again,
Speaker 2: chalk that up to the human element too. People make
Speaker 2: more mistakes against Kansas City because of how good they
Speaker 2: are in Kansas City. Also, because of how good they are,
Speaker 2: they will make you pay for said mistakes more so
Speaker 2: than probably any team. Like I remember the best example
Speaker 2: of this was when the Bengals lost to the Chiefs
Speaker 2: at Kansas City and everybody was complaining and bitching about
Speaker 2: Mahomes getting all the calls and how you know, it's
Speaker 2: just can you believe it bailed out again? And I'm like,
Speaker 2: the Reps didn't bail them out, the Bengals did. The
Speaker 2: dude blatantly tackled the receiver like it was not even
Speaker 2: a It wasn't even a questionable call at all. It
Speaker 2: was blatant. And I just remember, like everybody's claiming Mahomes
Speaker 2: gets the whistle that other guys don't. Anybody would have
Speaker 2: got that, and you know why, because the Bengals aren't
Speaker 2: the Chiefs. They don't prevent those takes from happening. And
Speaker 2: they realize, all we got to do is get a
Speaker 2: stop and the game's over. Therefore, man, let let's let's
Speaker 2: just make sure. And you get you get greedy, you
Speaker 2: start to probably question in a millisecond, you question if
Speaker 2: you're gonna be able to effectively defend the play without
Speaker 2: doing that. And that's actually one of the fascinating things
Speaker 2: about being I think a defensive back specifically is that
Speaker 2: you know, like you've got to trust yourself, and sometimes
Speaker 2: you'll trust yourself and and you'll get you'll get humbled,
Speaker 2: and you'll get you know, you'll get exposed, you'll get lost,
Speaker 2: and you know, sometimes you'll you'll not trust yourself and
Speaker 2: commit a penalty that you didn't need to you didn't
Speaker 2: need to make. So like that's a huge element, and
Speaker 2: I think being really good at that position is happening,
Speaker 2: you know, being able to stay even keel and not
Speaker 2: be up to up to down. But also there's guys
Speaker 2: who won't commit a penalty knowing, hey, I had to
Speaker 2: because he was gonna score. If I didn't, he was
Speaker 2: gonna he had me beat. So while I hate the
Speaker 2: Chiefs as much as anybody else, I don't think it's
Speaker 2: like the because I think it's now turned into where
Speaker 2: especially if that textans game last weekend. Like one of
Speaker 2: the biggest talking points in the NFL playoffs right now
Speaker 2: is in fact Mahomes getting all the way, Mahomes specifically
Speaker 2: being officiated different than any other quarterback. So I get it,
Speaker 2: but I don't believe it's as rare as people think.
Speaker 2: All Right, it's coffee and company. We are field about
Speaker 2: Thornton's here on Sports Talk seven ninety. Appreciates you hanging
Speaker 2: out with us, as you could expect. We've talked a
Speaker 2: lot of college basketball today, and I have a complaint
Speaker 2: about this Louisville basketball team. And my complaint is that
Speaker 2: we have to wait as long as we do to
Speaker 2: watch them play again. It's not their fault, it's just
Speaker 2: the schedule. But they've got a week off and that
Speaker 2: means we don't see him again until Tuesday night against
Speaker 2: Wake Forest. But when you go looking for college basketball content,
Speaker 2: rather it be those who cover the sport or bracketology
Speaker 2: stuff whatever, Like Louisville's now getting mentioned not as a
Speaker 2: team that could win at all, but they're getting mentioned
Speaker 2: as a team that won. Is one of the hottest
Speaker 2: teams in the country right now, and they look safely
Speaker 2: in the tournament. And man, the best opponents that were
Speaker 2: on this schedule this year have are out of the way.
Speaker 2: Didn't mean you're guaranteed to not slip up, But as
Speaker 2: I've said many times, the way they're playing and the
Speaker 2: way the schedule sets up, I'd be a liar if
Speaker 2: I told you that I expect them to slip up
Speaker 2: and lose to one of these teams, because again, if
Speaker 2: you have with what you've been able to do at
Speaker 2: this point, you'd have to really be off to lose
Speaker 2: to who's left on your schedule, right like you could
Speaker 2: have easily lost to Pitt if it wasn't for rain
Speaker 2: Smith going off at the end of the game. The
Speaker 2: Carolina game was closed till the end, so you haven't
Speaker 2: blown out everybody. But all those teams I mentioned aren't
Speaker 2: nearly as good as the other teams you have left,
Speaker 2: like Wake, Georgia Tech, Boston College, Miami. Those are your
Speaker 2: next four games. Wake I think actually is better than
Speaker 2: people realize. But with what Louis's done, you got him
Speaker 2: at home on Tuesday, that's a win you should get.
Speaker 2: All right, quick break will come back on the other side.
Speaker 2: Keep this thing rolling along. It's coffee and Company fuel
Speaker 2: about Thornton's on Sports Talk seven ninety Now.
Speaker 1: Back to coffee and Company fueled by Thornton's on Sports
Speaker 1: Talk seven nine day.
Speaker 2: One thing that Pat Kelsey did discuss in his twenty
Speaker 2: five plus minute interview with John Fans on the Field
Speaker 2: of sixty eight. We played a chunk of that earlier,
Speaker 2: with him talking about really all his players, who of
Speaker 2: course have played well and big reason why this team
Speaker 2: is on a nine game winning streak. But one guy
Speaker 2: that has not played in the last couple of games,
Speaker 2: Noah Waterman. He had surgery on his thumb in December
Speaker 2: and has since been playing with some little rods I
Speaker 2: guess in his thumb, and I guess I don't know
Speaker 2: if I don't think he injured himself further, but they
Speaker 2: did decide to let him rest, and I guess try
Speaker 2: to from an understanding, there was some swelling going on
Speaker 2: after he played to where he really wasn't further injuring himself,
Speaker 2: but maybe just you know, he never took a game
Speaker 2: off like he never he never missed a game until
Speaker 2: recently after having that thumb injury. And you know that
Speaker 2: explains why he just hasn't even looked comfortable at times
Speaker 2: out there when it comes to shooting the ball. So
Speaker 2: he's set the last couple of games, and it sounds
Speaker 2: like he may be back in action against wake Forest
Speaker 2: on Tuesday, which they haven't needed him in the last
Speaker 2: couple of games. And you know that, and you know
Speaker 2: that's that's okay, but he's he's somebody that I will
Speaker 2: admit the last two games, specifically really against SMU, I
Speaker 2: mean that gives more minutes to CANi Ruth's which I'm
Speaker 2: all in on him getting as many minutes as possible
Speaker 2: because you can see the more opportunities he gets. Not
Speaker 2: only is he getting better to be to be a
Speaker 2: contributor for you right now, but you just can see
Speaker 2: this guy. One he's going to get better with the
Speaker 2: more reps, but also he's got a bright future and
Speaker 2: really talented player. I mean, it's easy to forget that
Speaker 2: he is one of the highest rated recruits to ever
Speaker 2: commit to Louisville. He's not top like five, but he's
Speaker 2: he's within the top ten, which is crazy but true.
Speaker 2: And at times he will make a play and you'll
Speaker 2: be like, oh yeah, this group is built with a
Speaker 2: lot of veterans, mostly who never played at a high
Speaker 2: level that it played college basketball for a long time.
Speaker 2: This guy, although young, a lot younger than his teammates,
Speaker 2: he's he's got some some gifts when it comes to
Speaker 2: athleticism and talent that not many have. But with Waterman
Speaker 2: loved Noah and I think I think he's I think
Speaker 2: he's taken. I mean, I think it speaks a lot
Speaker 2: to his maturity to know that. Like when fans would
Speaker 2: decide to get upset about Louble basketball and they wanted
Speaker 2: to take it out on a player, who would they
Speaker 2: take it out on Noah Waterman, no question about it.
Speaker 2: And I never really understood why him more so than
Speaker 2: others other than you know, he didn't play well and
Speaker 2: he would miss a lot of shots, but that was like,
Speaker 2: that's what he was out there to do. But you know,
Speaker 2: he took the beating from fans at times. I don't
Speaker 2: want to act like it was crazy, but clearly, you know,
Speaker 2: not the only one who noticed that. He was the
Speaker 2: guy that people just if they were going to pick
Speaker 2: on a player, really criticize a player or be him.
Speaker 2: But he was playing with a broken thumb and never
Speaker 2: thought the need to tell anybody. They wanted to keep
Speaker 2: it private for some reason. So you know, maybe when
Speaker 2: he's healthy, he's somebody that you know can can really
Speaker 2: can really help you in knock down shots. I mean,
Speaker 2: he's a guy who averaged double figures for Mark Pope
Speaker 2: last year at BYU and he and he really just
Speaker 2: hasn't gotten one. He's had to play a different role
Speaker 2: here than he probably was expected to play because of
Speaker 2: some injuries that have happened, and he's been injured himself
Speaker 2: and still played. So I think he can help you,
Speaker 2: but I kind of feel like if it's a game
Speaker 2: where he's just not feeling it and he's not making shots,
Speaker 2: maybe he doesn't get as much run as he typically has. Now, again,
Speaker 2: he's still been a guy that comes off the bench
Speaker 2: and his minutes have been pretty much consistent. But I
Speaker 2: don't know. I think there's some value in having a
Speaker 2: short rotation. When you have that short rotation, everybody bringing
Speaker 2: something to the table that is valuable, right, Like, every
Speaker 2: single guy that is playing big minutes on this team
Speaker 2: is putting up numbers. Their production is not just you know, decent,
Speaker 2: like it's solid or really good. I would say Trey
Speaker 2: ol Ray, but he's never going to be a guy
Speaker 2: that like stuffs the statue. Yet when he came back,
Speaker 2: he actually led you in scoring on the road a Virginia.
Speaker 2: So I don't think he's gonna lead you in scoring
Speaker 2: many times this year. But still he's making his impact
Speaker 2: elsewhere everybody else. I mean, Hadley is in the top four.
Speaker 2: Hadley's third in the ACC and double doubles behind the
Speaker 2: big fellow from Stanford and Cooper Flag I believe. So
Speaker 2: you know, that's not just some dude who's who's solid,
Speaker 2: that's a good player that is producing like I mean,
Speaker 2: it's a guy that other teams probably watch and or
Speaker 2: other fans probably watch and think like, yeah, wish we
Speaker 2: had somebody like that. I mean, Rayan Smith is a
Speaker 2: specialist from three point range like we've never had before.
Speaker 2: Quite literally, he broke a record that a lot of
Speaker 2: people probably thought would never be broken ten threes in
Speaker 2: a game Chucky's one of the best players in the country.
Speaker 2: Is certainly one of the best point guards in the country.
Speaker 2: I mean James Scott. I mean, the numbers aren't crazy,
Speaker 2: but when he does take shots, he rarely misses. He's
Speaker 2: le He leads the country in field goal percentage if
Speaker 2: you don't factor in the minimum requirement, which I think
Speaker 2: is silly because the requirement, whatever it is, needs to
Speaker 2: be adjusted for the NCAA stats. Because James Scott shoots
Speaker 2: at least seven eight times a game and he is
Speaker 2: averaging more than twenty minutes a game for him to
Speaker 2: not count, I mean, that's a flawed way of looking
Speaker 2: at it, because it'd be different if he played one
Speaker 2: minute a game and it's only ten taking four shots
Speaker 2: on the season. That's not the case. So again, these
Speaker 2: aren't just guys that are getting it done, like they're
Speaker 2: doing something that is a component to why this team
Speaker 2: has been so good as of late. I mean, he
Speaker 2: also is. I mean, let me see where he is
Speaker 2: right now, because he had a few dunks against against
Speaker 2: SMU and I love that Bart Torovick's formula tracks this,
Speaker 2: but the leaders in college basketball for dunks. Let's see
Speaker 2: the only issue I have with Bart Torovik. For some reason,
Speaker 2: his website still defaults to twenty twenty four and shows
Speaker 2: you last year's stats. But if you click twenty twenty
Speaker 2: five at the top, it'll take you there. So right now,
Speaker 2: let's see, right now, where's he at? Why has it
Speaker 2: not shown me? James Scott? Is this twenty there? We go? Anyways?
Speaker 2: I can't get it to pull up right now?
Speaker 1: Is here?
Speaker 2: I am bragging on this formula that is not even
Speaker 2: it's not even working. But he was top five in
Speaker 2: the country, or I'm sorry, he was top six in
Speaker 2: the country in dunk's total and dunks per game, and
Speaker 2: he was number one in the ACC. Dunks just count
Speaker 2: as two points. But man, that's easy. As as easy
Speaker 2: of a bucket as you'll get. You can miss them,
Speaker 2: of course we've seen that happen. But if you're able
Speaker 2: to put yourself in a position where you are six
Speaker 2: ' eleven and your head is above the rim, and
Speaker 2: your teammates know to you know, find you there, that's
Speaker 2: a pretty effective way to score some points. So again,
Speaker 2: this team's good man, And who knows, maybe a healthy,
Speaker 2: a really healthy uh return with Noah Water and maybe
Speaker 2: he could start being a you know, three point specialist,
Speaker 2: because look, he's made shots. You've seen games where, in fact,
Speaker 2: he's made threes throughout the year. I can think of some,
Speaker 2: but the game where he really got hot and it
Speaker 2: felt like, all right, this guy, you know, keep feeding
Speaker 2: him and let him fire it up. There's only maybe
Speaker 2: he's done it more than once. But the game that
Speaker 2: comes to mind for me is the uh is the
Speaker 2: Indiana game in the first half when everybody was clicking.
Speaker 2: All right, So we talk about Kentucky earlier, just because
Speaker 2: they you know, right now they are. I think probably
Speaker 2: if the tournament started its day, I would say they're
Speaker 2: they're a three seed. Wouldn't be shocked if somebody had
Speaker 2: them at a two, but probably a three, and then
Speaker 2: the projected most likely seed for them when you factor
Speaker 2: in who they play the rest of the way, they
Speaker 2: have a eighteen point nine percent chance of maintaining a
Speaker 2: three seed, but an eighteen point two percent chance of
Speaker 2: dropping to a four seed. So I would say if
Speaker 2: that happens, three or four, if you end up as
Speaker 2: a three or four seed, I would say that that
Speaker 2: means Kentucky finished really strong, because that would mean that
Speaker 2: they're not you know, they're probably losing a game or
Speaker 2: two to one of the really good teams in the
Speaker 2: se seed where it's really not going to count as
Speaker 2: a bad loss, kind of like the Alabama game, and
Speaker 2: they're beating the teams that you know they're supposed to
Speaker 2: beat that aren't terrible. But you know, when you play
Speaker 2: a bottom tier team from a league that's as loaded
Speaker 2: as the SEC is, like, you need to win those
Speaker 2: in a big way, like those, in a weird way
Speaker 2: are the most important games, because doesn't mean again Kentucky
Speaker 2: loses to Georgia then beats A and M and in
Speaker 2: Mississippi State, who was on the road, So you know,
Speaker 2: you did slip up and lose to a team you
Speaker 2: probably shouldn't have lost to, and that loss doesn't look
Speaker 2: as good now as it did when it happened because
Speaker 2: George is struggling. However, you made up for it by
Speaker 2: going and beating those two teams. So you know, if
Speaker 2: Kentucky didn't win against Mississippi State where they were underdogs,
Speaker 2: you know they probably would be more so at a
Speaker 2: four right now, so you know they're this team has
Speaker 2: been pretty easy to figure out, and I don't mean
Speaker 2: like they're easy to beat. But with Kentucky, you know
Speaker 2: they can beat anybody, especially when they get the game
Speaker 2: played at their pace. The first time they lost a
Speaker 2: game where it was played the way they wanted to
Speaker 2: play was on Saturday against Alabama, and look, you lost.
Speaker 2: It sucks, it counts against you, but it's not a
Speaker 2: bad loss, and it shouldn't and I don't believe it
Speaker 2: has made any Kentucky fan feel like they're not a
Speaker 2: legitimate team that can win the national championship. So if
Speaker 2: they just maintain really what they're doing, they're gonna be fine.
Speaker 2: But you have to think, you know, this bandy game
Speaker 2: they've got on Saturday, that is really crucial because again,
Speaker 2: after you play Vandy, you know there's some other teams
Speaker 2: on your schedule, Tennessee, you got to go to Alabama,
Speaker 2: You're gonna play Auburn, and you may win those games
Speaker 2: because you know why, you're good. Kentucky's that good to
Speaker 2: where if they win those games, we can't say that
Speaker 2: we're shocked, but they're gonna be a lot harder to
Speaker 2: win than teams like Vandy and teams like Arkansas, who,
Speaker 2: by the way, is three games away. I'm sorry for yeah,
Speaker 2: they've got Bandy on Saturday, and then they'll play against Tennessee.
Speaker 2: I didn't realize they're at Tennessee on Tuesday at Knoxville
Speaker 2: and then Saturday a week from this, I mean yeah,
Speaker 2: week from week from Saturday, they're gonna be playing Arkansas
Speaker 2: at home and a game that they should win. The
Speaker 2: Ken Pomp projected scorer is eighty five to seventy five.
Speaker 2: But I think something good happened for Kentucky last night,
Speaker 2: and that was Cal winning his first SEC game. Because
Speaker 2: I've kind of found myself like giving like legitimate good
Speaker 2: advice to Kentucky fans, which is weird, and they probably
Speaker 2: don't want any advice for me and they'll tell me
Speaker 2: to shove it. But well, because you care about the
Speaker 2: Kentucky Yeah of course, yeah, big Blue, go big Blue.
Speaker 2: So this game is quite literally only for like pettiness,
Speaker 2: like personal pride, right, Like that's that's all this is
Speaker 2: for now. Again, if there is value, it's because of
Speaker 2: what I just explained. Arkansas just won their first league
Speaker 2: game last night, so they're gonna finish probably towards the
Speaker 2: bottom of the SEC. And a loss won't kill you
Speaker 2: if you're Kentucky. But like you know, you got to expect, hey,
Speaker 2: if we if you lose to a Vandy or to
Speaker 2: an Arkansas or somehow maybe you lose to both, clearly
Speaker 2: an unlikely thing. That makes it to where now you
Speaker 2: do have a little bit more of a need to
Speaker 2: go beat the other teams that are going to be
Speaker 2: a lot of hard to be than you know, Vandy
Speaker 2: in Arkansas. But this is just like I've been fascinated
Speaker 2: to hear how it comes up on KSR. And I
Speaker 2: think it was either yesterday or today I heard him
Speaker 2: talking about a little bit. I guess it was today
Speaker 2: because they were talking about Arkansas winning last night and
Speaker 2: Cal getting his first SEC win. But I mean, at
Speaker 2: least they're acknowledging like we can't lose that game. And
Speaker 2: I I mean Matt has been very direct. And with Matt,
Speaker 2: I think everybody knows this who listens to KSR A
Speaker 2: little bit like there was a real personal thing between.
Speaker 2: I mean, it wasn't like nothing, it was nothing crazy.
Speaker 2: But obviously Cal Perry was blaming Matt Jones for just
Speaker 2: acknowledging that the program had slipped in a major way
Speaker 2: and Cal had become you know, a shell of himself
Speaker 2: and really just was was I mean, it was falling apart,
Speaker 2: not too like an insane level, but for Kentucky, like
Speaker 2: the scenario where cal bounced back and started thriving and
Speaker 2: Lexington just didn't seem likely. So you know, he felt
Speaker 2: like that that was unfair and that like everybody was
Speaker 2: saying that because they were just listening to Matt. I
Speaker 2: think anybody, there are people who don't like Matt, they
Speaker 2: probably you know, thought the same thing. So I'm sure
Speaker 2: for Matt, as you know, big Blue Jesus as I
Speaker 2: call him the leader of BBN, at least to an extent,
Speaker 2: you know, he would he would just I mean, it
Speaker 2: would be a loss that just pains you. You would
Speaker 2: know that your team's still really good. You would know
Speaker 2: that you can still go in a national championship potentially
Speaker 2: or make a final four for certain if you know
Speaker 2: things go your way. But like this, this is what
Speaker 2: makes sports, I think so special. And you know, whenever
Speaker 2: a result happens that makes you just so upset and
Speaker 2: it just stews and you you are, you know, just
Speaker 2: it could ruined your weekend, ruined your day, whatever it
Speaker 2: maybe when that happens and it's a bad thing. You're like,
Speaker 2: why am I like this? What is wrong with me?
Speaker 2: This kid? This shouldn't impact me, This should not impact
Speaker 2: my happiness. But you care that much. So whenever it
Speaker 2: a result that like, like, for example, when Louisville beat
Speaker 2: Kentucky and football this year, do you think that did
Speaker 2: anything for Louisville?
Speaker 1: No?
Speaker 2: I mean, Kentucky was as bad as they've been in
Speaker 2: a long time. Louisville didn't get any new, Like Louisville
Speaker 2: had nothing to gain other than a win on the
Speaker 2: resume or a win on the win column and finish
Speaker 2: eight and four rather than seven and five. And even
Speaker 2: Kentucky would have had nothing to gain there because they
Speaker 2: would have made it would have taken them from being
Speaker 2: a three and nine team to a four and eight
Speaker 2: team that you know still went one in seven in
Speaker 2: in the SEC. So it's all about like rivalry, pride,
Speaker 2: like fans like just just you know, wanting to be
Speaker 2: able to claim your program didn't lose to the rival.
Speaker 2: And when you beat your rival, it feels better than
Speaker 2: beating anybody, And when you lose to them, it hurts
Speaker 2: worse than it does lose in to anybody. In most instances.
Speaker 2: So that's kind of what's shaped up here. Arkansas they
Speaker 2: might win it, but they're not going on the tournament.
Speaker 2: Kentucky could lose it. They're still gonna be really good.
Speaker 2: They've proven that, but whichever side, and I think it's
Speaker 2: way more Kentucky. And that's what kind of makes Cal.
Speaker 2: I don't want to say dangerous, because I've watched Arkansas
Speaker 2: enough this year and they're just a mess. Like he's
Speaker 2: not a good basketball coach when it comes to like
Speaker 2: execution and strategy. I mean, he's just not. And I've
Speaker 2: always kind of defended him a little bit when it
Speaker 2: comes to that because of his success. But there was
Speaker 2: actually some quotes from an article I want to reference
Speaker 2: here on the other side with anonymous SEC coaches kind
Speaker 2: of talking about Cal, and I'm like, they're absolutely right.
Speaker 2: So anyways, Cal wants to be Kentucky bad. He won't
Speaker 2: say it. He'll probably you know, he'll probably be really
Speaker 2: passive and like friendly. I would imagine, like week of game,
Speaker 2: especially considering that his team's so bad, he'll act like
Speaker 2: he still loves BBN and that he's happy for him,
Speaker 2: and you know that's probably what he'll do. But you
Speaker 2: know he deep down wants to beat them as bad
Speaker 2: as Kentucky fans want to beat Arkansas and Cal Perry.
Speaker 2: What I don't know is Arkansas fans clearly want to win.
Speaker 2: They want to be able to say, yeah, we took
Speaker 2: your coach and we're struggling, but look he still beat you.
Speaker 2: But there's not a level of like, we can't lose
Speaker 2: this one. That level is a lot higher on the
Speaker 2: Kentucky side than it is Arkansas, would imagine. So I
Speaker 2: get why Kentucky fans are a little lncy about it
Speaker 2: just because Cal he's not losing because he has no players,
Speaker 2: although he did lose Boogie Boogie flanned and that was
Speaker 2: a big hit for him. But yet they won their
Speaker 2: first game without him on last night against against Georgia.
Speaker 2: So next Saturday, that'll be that'll be a tough ticket
Speaker 2: to get and I kind of feel like it's sneaking
Speaker 2: up on us. It'll be a talking point throughout the
Speaker 2: week from those that you know, cover and consume college basketball.
Speaker 2: But man, like, if if Arkansas wasn't so crappy, it
Speaker 2: would be I mean, it would be something people were
Speaker 2: building up for weeks. I would imagine, you know, in
Speaker 2: the college basketball world. Right quick break, We'll come back
Speaker 2: on the other side, but the finishing touches on a
Speaker 2: Thursday edition of Coffee and Company. Stick around right here
Speaker 2: 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: So, Indiana loss last night, which of course puts Louisville
Speaker 2: in a tough spot because that could be a quad
Speaker 2: one win if Indiana stays inside the top fifty of
Speaker 2: the net. But that last night's one of those nights
Speaker 2: where it looks like that'll be unlikely because when you
Speaker 2: lose to Northwestern, I mean, that's not one of the
Speaker 2: better teams in your league. So expecting them to then
Speaker 2: go on and beat teams like Maryland and Purdue in
Speaker 2: Wisconsin and Michigan and Michigan State and UCLA, which is
Speaker 2: their next six games, I mean, they might win some
Speaker 2: of them because you know they've got talent, but man,
Speaker 2: that's really the first loss for them that really feels like, actually,
Speaker 2: never mind, I lied because they got beat by twenty
Speaker 2: five by Iowa, who's also not very good. So the
Speaker 2: current projected record for Indiana at the end of the
Speaker 2: year will be eighteen and thirteen, nine and eleven in
Speaker 2: conference play, not a tournament team, of course, if that
Speaker 2: plays out that way, and not a qui one win
Speaker 2: for Louisville, but probably the last season for Mike Woodson,
Speaker 2: I would imagine. I mean, I'm not connected in any
Speaker 2: way or hearing anything, but Indiana kind of felt mean
Speaker 2: this year. What Indiana did is they they you know,
Speaker 2: they had enough money, and I guess that means fans
Speaker 2: raised enough money. There was enough money for Mike Woodson
Speaker 2: to go build a really good roster with nil and
Speaker 2: the portal, and he did exactly that, and the team
Speaker 2: is way worse than they should be. And this is
Speaker 2: confirmation that if you really felt like Mike Woodson wasn't
Speaker 2: the guy, those feelings seemed to be confirmed as of
Speaker 2: right now, and I don't see it changing. But it's
Speaker 2: a wild stat that, you know, just a random piece
Speaker 2: of information that surprises me. Woodson has now lost five
Speaker 2: consecutive games to Northwestern. He's never beat him. In fact,
Speaker 2: he's zero to five. The last time IU lost five
Speaker 2: games in a row to Northwestern was in nineteen thirteen,
Speaker 2: so one hundred and ten years ago. They lost five
Speaker 2: games between nineteen thirteen and nineteen fifteen. So again one
Speaker 2: of the many things you can throw out there that'll
Speaker 2: tell you that Mike Woodson, you know, he's not much.
Speaker 2: I mean, in fact, he's less. He's a little more successful,
Speaker 2: a little more successful than Archie I think, but he's
Speaker 2: actually doing that with way better players, I feel like
Speaker 2: than Archie Archie had. So yeah, who Indiana would go after,
Speaker 2: have no clue what I would love, though. Let's say
Speaker 2: Chris Mack ends up rolling at Charleston and he's going
Speaker 2: to continue. I mean, he's got to begin to night,
Speaker 2: by the way. But let's say they keep rolling in
Speaker 2: their league and they get in as a thirteen seat
Speaker 2: for winning their conference, and he gets to the sweet sixteen,
Speaker 2: which of course would be tough to do, but then
Speaker 2: he'd be, of course in line for a big job.
Speaker 2: And I think he could get another job that's not
Speaker 2: Indiana if he wanted to after this year. If he wants,
Speaker 2: I doubt he'll leave Charleston after just one season, especially
Speaker 2: considering his girls are playing volleyball there now. But imagine
Speaker 2: Indiana wanting wanting Chris Mack. And I mean, first of all,
Speaker 2: that'd be awesome for him, and I would love it,
Speaker 2: but uh, you know, like Rick Bose, that should be
Speaker 2: the guy introducing Chris Mack at at Ssembly Hall whenever
Speaker 2: they would make that announcement, just because it'd be so
Speaker 2: rich knowing that Rick of course, you know, he hates
Speaker 2: Mac for reasons I will never know, and really was
Speaker 2: the only guy that I can think of that as
Speaker 2: far as coverage in the media, you know, other people
Speaker 2: would say it, you know, calling into shows like this.
Speaker 2: It was rare, but you'd hear people and you'd see
Speaker 2: it online claiming that that I mean just a lie.
Speaker 2: They would lie to themselves and then just want to
Speaker 2: believe it that Kenny Payne was as bad as he
Speaker 2: was because of Chris Mack, which is just asinine. But
Speaker 2: like Bosach is the only one that really used his platform,
Speaker 2: you know, which is a big one WDRB to kind
Speaker 2: of you know, not flat out say that, but certainly
Speaker 2: insinuate it. And I'm enjoying Bosage's coverage much more these
Speaker 2: days than when he would, you know, be the only
Speaker 2: guy out there trying to tell us that like things
Speaker 2: weren't the way they were. But anyways, Woodson probably probably
Speaker 2: going to be probably going to be out all right,
Speaker 2: So the the college football Championship Game had lackluster numbers
Speaker 2: for the first time in a while. I mean, it
Speaker 2: wasn't bad, but it didn't exceed what they've done previously,
Speaker 2: and everybody could kind of tell it. There just wasn't
Speaker 2: the same level of excitement. And Ben Axelrod for awful
Speaker 2: Announcing dot Com put together a column that I thought
Speaker 2: was pretty interesting and he highlighted four things that he
Speaker 2: believes were explanations, and this makes sense, football fatigue. We're
Speaker 2: just not used to college football lasting as long as
Speaker 2: it did this year, and that's not changing, and maybe
Speaker 2: we'll get used to it to where the fatigue won't
Speaker 2: be there. But it just felt weird that we still
Speaker 2: had college football going on up until Monday and had
Speaker 2: to remind ourselves, oh yeah, we haven't crowned the national
Speaker 2: champion yet, so that's a factor. Also, this is a
Speaker 2: really obvious thing that my dumbass just didn't really consider.
Speaker 2: But it's true. You had two widely hated Midwestern teams
Speaker 2: that made it to where there really wasn't much of
Speaker 2: like even if you were wanting Notre Dame to win,
Speaker 2: because they were the underdog and kind of had the
Speaker 2: chip on the shoulder. It's still Notre Dame. Both of
Speaker 2: these teams are very, i would say unpopular with college
Speaker 2: casual college football fans, right, Like, if you don't root
Speaker 2: for them and it's not your team, you probably find
Speaker 2: yourself not liking them. Therefore, what's the payoff on Monday
Speaker 2: Night for you? Right? No matter who wins, you're you're
Speaker 2: not gonna be happy in any way. Like you can't like,
Speaker 2: there are teams that I don't like in any way,
Speaker 2: but I hate the other team that they're playing so
Speaker 2: much that I'm all in on the other team that
Speaker 2: really wasn't there on Monday night. Also, he mentioned ESPN
Speaker 2: didn't do a particularly great job marketing the game. I
Speaker 2: don't know. I wouldn't know. I really wouldn't know if
Speaker 2: that was true or not. But he would know better
Speaker 2: than I. But also he says, for the love of God,
Speaker 2: move on from Monday. I'm just used to that now,
Speaker 2: both basketball and football. But it's not a bad idea. Yeah,
Speaker 2: if you put it on a Saturday, it would be awesome.
Speaker 2: So I kind of think that would that would that
Speaker 2: would that would be a good move if they would
Speaker 2: do it. All right, we're out a time, So thanks
Speaker 2: for hanging out, Austin. I'll miss you tomorrow. Yeah, Oh
Speaker 2: I will too, and and and we'll FaceTime. Yeah, we'll
Speaker 2: be back together on Monday. Right, let's do it. No,
Speaker 2: I will. And we'll be ready for the super Bowl.
Speaker 2: We'll know who's in the super Bowl. We'll be getting
Speaker 2: set for a big game against Wake four. So I'll
Speaker 2: be here tomorrow. I know, with Austin out, nobody's gonna listen.
Speaker 2: But I'll be here if you want to join us,
Speaker 2: right here on Sports Talk seven ninety m