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: That's right, it is coffee and Company fuel by Thornton's
Speaker 2: here on Sports Talks seven ninety hour number two underway,
Speaker 2: as we will make the most of the time we
Speaker 2: have left. I don't just mean because next Friday will
Speaker 2: be my last show. I mean we are out early
Speaker 2: today because the Louisville Bats are in action. So if
Speaker 2: you did miss the first hour, we discussed the big
Speaker 2: changes coming, I guess the big change, the biggest changes
Speaker 2: will be down the line when the playoff expands again.
Speaker 2: But in the second year of the twelve team college
Speaker 2: football Playoff, they have already decided to get rid of
Speaker 2: the seating as far as the automatic top four spots
Speaker 2: and buys going to conference championships. It's now just going
Speaker 2: to be seated directly one through twelve, which is honestly
Speaker 2: the way that it should be. Also, I mean, I
Speaker 2: don't know if it's one of those things that I
Speaker 2: could talk about it all day, but I don't think
Speaker 2: it would be great for the show. But the Pacers,
Speaker 2: I mean, how about my Indiana Pacers, Maybe they're your
Speaker 2: Indiana Pacers too, or maybe you don't care about the Pacers,
Speaker 2: but you just acknowledge that they have been one of
Speaker 2: the most clutch, resilient teams we've ever seen in the
Speaker 2: NBA postseason. That sounds like hyperbole, that sounds like an exaggeration,
Speaker 2: but I'm not sure that it's incorrect. For them to
Speaker 2: be able to come back and win last night. Unbelievable
Speaker 2: and I enjoyed it. But even if you're not a fan,
Speaker 2: you probably were entertained. No, unless you're a Knicks fan,
Speaker 2: which that would be a real tough way to lose,
Speaker 2: probably one of the most demoralizing losses that you could suffer.
Speaker 2: I mean, they're up, they're in control, and the Pacers
Speaker 2: just never stopped. And they've done it now three times again,
Speaker 2: just looking at three specific wins they have this postseason,
Speaker 2: it's crazy to think about, but it happened. I mean,
Speaker 2: last night, they're down fourteen with two thirty five left,
Speaker 2: they come back and win, and the series prior, they're
Speaker 2: down seven with forty seven seconds left against the Cavs,
Speaker 2: they come back and win, and then they're down seven
Speaker 2: with forty seconds left of the Bucks in the first round,
Speaker 2: they come back and win. All three of those are
Speaker 2: single handedly, I mean, do it at once. It's an
Speaker 2: all timer, just because those are the type of comebacks
Speaker 2: that have never happened. The Pacers now have three of
Speaker 2: them in the same postseason, which is just again, it's
Speaker 2: crazy to think about it, but it was awesome to see.
Speaker 2: And then this is just I think what makes it
Speaker 2: so cinematic. I mean, I hate to use that word
Speaker 2: because it sounds dramatic and over the top, but I mean,
Speaker 2: everything playing out the way that it did last night.
Speaker 2: The only thing that I guess put a little bit
Speaker 2: of a damper on it as far as that you
Speaker 2: can't make it up made for a movie kind of thing,
Speaker 2: is that Haliburton's foot was on the line, so they
Speaker 2: ended up.
Speaker 3: Going to overtime. But still, I mean.
Speaker 2: NBA teams going into last night's game oh and nine
Speaker 2: hundred and seventy in the playoffs over the last twenty
Speaker 2: seven years when trailing by fourteen or more points with
Speaker 2: under three minutes left in regulation. Now it's one in
Speaker 2: nine hundred and seventy because of what the Pacers did,
Speaker 2: and then Reggie Miller being a nick killer and just
Speaker 2: being the all time legend for the Pacers, the all
Speaker 2: time great. He'll always, in my opinion, no matter what,
Speaker 2: be the best player that ever played for them. When
Speaker 2: people think of the Pacers in the playoffs, they probably
Speaker 2: think of Reggie Miller for good reason. And for Aaron
Speaker 2: Nesmith last night to turn in to Reggie Miller, I mean,
Speaker 2: that was awesome. And this is my favorite favorite fact
Speaker 2: slash stat of last night's victory for the Pacers. Only
Speaker 2: two players have had twenty plus points and five plus
Speaker 2: three pointers in the fourth quarter of a playoff game
Speaker 2: on an opponent's home court. Both did so for the
Speaker 2: Pacers at Madison Square Garden in the Conference Finals on
Speaker 2: a Wednesday night. Reggie Miller did it June first, nineteen
Speaker 2: ninety four. Aaron nee Smith did it last night. We'll
Speaker 2: see what happens with the rest of this this series,
Speaker 2: but I wouldn't be shocked if the Knicks just can't
Speaker 2: recover from that, because, look, they could play well and
Speaker 2: still lose to the Pacers in Game two, because the
Speaker 2: Pacers are a really good team, and then you'd have
Speaker 2: to go into Indiana and win one of two just
Speaker 2: to keep the series alive, which is doable. I mean
Speaker 2: the Pacers are beatable, but again, like, let's look at
Speaker 2: what they've done. I mean, they won their first two
Speaker 2: series four to games to one, did they not? I
Speaker 2: don't think the Bucks got but one, and I know
Speaker 2: the Cavs only won one game. Or maybe I'm wrong,
Speaker 2: maybe they got two. Maybe I'm wrong. Either way, the
Speaker 2: Pacers have been phenomenal and I'd love to see it.
Speaker 2: And I talked a lot of crap about the playoffs
Speaker 2: and especially you know how lack how not entertaining and
Speaker 2: not competitive the NBA postseason has become in recent years.
Speaker 2: And there's still have been some blowouts that you want
Speaker 2: to avoid if you're the NBA, right, Like, you don't
Speaker 2: want somebody in Game seven losing by forty points, which
Speaker 2: that's happened. But in between there's also been some really
Speaker 2: competitive and entertaining games and I've enjoyed it.
Speaker 3: I really have.
Speaker 2: Tonight we'll get game two of the Thunder and the Wolves,
Speaker 2: which I haven't even looked at. I haven't looked at
Speaker 2: anything on a sports book in a while. I usually
Speaker 2: I've at least dabbled a little bit in the NBA
Speaker 2: playoffs as far as wagering. But since the college basketball
Speaker 2: season came to an end and I closed out, I've
Speaker 2: yet to even open up any of these sportsbook apps.
Speaker 2: But I'm interested tonight because Austin's got me feeling like
Speaker 2: maybe it's a little play it's playoff playoff wager action.
Speaker 2: But we've got tonight ok C minus seven and a half. Wow,
Speaker 2: that's that's I mean, I I would if I'm just
Speaker 2: throwing something out there, I would I would take plus
Speaker 2: seven and a half Minnesota. But that's me still just
Speaker 2: thinking that it'll be more competitive.
Speaker 3: But I don't know.
Speaker 2: The Thunder they're kind of like the Pacers in a
Speaker 2: way that they've got guys that aren't big names but
Speaker 2: can take over a game and help you win in
Speaker 2: the postseason. Last night it was Aaron E. Smith and honestly.
Speaker 4: For the For the.
Speaker 2: Thunder, I think it's guys like Jalen Williams, who, again
Speaker 2: we talked about him earlier this week, he's their best player.
Speaker 2: It's really not close. Chet Holmgren is obviously a really
Speaker 2: good player, and they've got good pieces like Hartenstein, and
Speaker 2: they're they're they're a balanced team. But Jaylen Williams is
Speaker 2: one of the best players probably in the NBA that
Speaker 2: nobody knows about. But you can have Shae Gyiodas Alexander
Speaker 2: the MVP and clearly their franchise player. He can have
Speaker 2: an off night, and even an off night for him
Speaker 2: is probably a pretty good day at the office. But
Speaker 2: they can come at you in different ways. So I
Speaker 2: think wishfully thinking I wanted to be a competitive series,
Speaker 2: and I found myself kind of pulling for the Timberwolves
Speaker 2: because I do really like Anthony Edwards, but he no
Speaker 2: showed in the fourth quarter of that game in Game one,
Speaker 2: and okay, see one thing that also, I don't know
Speaker 2: if it's if you follow the NBA closely, you might
Speaker 2: know this, but their atmosphere for a home game is insane,
Speaker 2: Like it reminds me of like a crazy packed college
Speaker 2: basketball atmosphere, because not to act like they don't have
Speaker 2: anything else to do in Oklahoma City, but it just
Speaker 2: seems like when they're good, they'll really really embrace it.
Speaker 2: So she'll be a good should be a good game tonight,
Speaker 2: and then tomorrow it'll be game two. It's eight o'clock
Speaker 2: tip in the Garden once again, and as of now,
Speaker 2: the Pacers are five and a half point dogs, I'd
Speaker 2: hammer plus five and a half. All right, it's coffee
Speaker 2: and company again. We are field about Thordon's here on
Speaker 2: Sports Talk seven ninety. When it comes to the annual
Speaker 2: CBS Sports College football coaching rankings, we now have all
Speaker 2: one through sixty eight. They rankled all the power for coaches,
Speaker 2: including Notre Dames coach and Jeff Bram has jumped up
Speaker 2: two spots. We talked about it yesterday because yesterday we
Speaker 2: got twenty six through sixty eight and Mark Stoops had
Speaker 2: taken a big drop, fell to like thirty four I.
Speaker 3: Think it was. And we knew Brom last year was
Speaker 3: at six. Was it thirty six?
Speaker 2: Yeah? It sounds I'm giving him too much credit, aren't I.
Speaker 2: Here I go again, just gassing up my guys.
Speaker 4: Story at your guy.
Speaker 3: I can't, I can't be objective.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's all right here.
Speaker 2: Yeah. So anyways, we knew Brom would be in the
Speaker 2: top twenty five. He was there last year at nineteen,
Speaker 2: and of course yesterday he was not featured in twenty
Speaker 2: six through sixty eight, so I thought he'd probably stay
Speaker 2: around where he was at nineteen. I think Austin guessed
Speaker 2: what was it twenty or twenty one.
Speaker 4: Maybe, Yeah, I thought if he was going to fall,
Speaker 4: it would be like twenty twenty one, twenty two.
Speaker 3: He jumped up.
Speaker 2: So he's gone from nineteen to now seventeen. So again,
Speaker 2: like Jeff, Brom has always had the He's always had
Speaker 2: the benefit of the doubt that a lot of coaches
Speaker 2: don't have. And certainly we didn't get the same benefit
Speaker 2: of the doubt as a program when Scott Saturafleld was
Speaker 2: our coach. So I think, you know, Brom is just
Speaker 2: a football guy. He's he's I mean, the Brom name
Speaker 2: is certainly known for a lot of reasons, especially around here.
Speaker 2: But one of the things that Stoops deservedly got credit for,
Speaker 2: I argue he got too much credit for. Jeff did
Speaker 2: the same thing and didn't get the same amount of credit.
Speaker 2: I don't think because with Stoops there's no way to
Speaker 2: say this without it sounding like I'm just taking a
Speaker 2: run at him and doing the rivalry thing.
Speaker 3: I'm really not.
Speaker 2: But the reason Mark Stoops is viewed as a decent coach,
Speaker 2: which he's a he's better than a decent coach, I
Speaker 2: would say, and most people view him as a coach
Speaker 2: that is better than being decent. But my point is
Speaker 2: the only thing you could actually point to about Stoops
Speaker 2: in his time as a head coach, because by the way,
Speaker 2: he's only been a head coach at one place, that's Kentucky,
Speaker 2: is that he made Kentucky not terrible and at times
Speaker 2: they were pretty solid, times they were mediocre. But even
Speaker 2: when they're mediocre, and they sustained a level of mediocre
Speaker 2: consistently that had not really ever been done before at Kentucky. Therefore,
Speaker 2: he gets a lot of credit for that, and he
Speaker 2: deserves credit, But that doesn't mean that he's a top
Speaker 2: twenty five coach, which he had previously been ranked by
Speaker 2: the folks at CBS Sports. And again it's all a
Speaker 2: matter of opinion. There's no way to know exactly who
Speaker 2: the best coaches are. There's no It's not an exact
Speaker 2: science by any means. But with Brahm, he did the
Speaker 2: same thing at Purdue. And I mean, maybe, you know Purdue,
Speaker 2: I guess they had more, you know, they had more
Speaker 2: moments throughout the history of their program where they were successful.
Speaker 2: They had blips throughout their existence where they were solid,
Speaker 2: like the era with the era with Drew Brees and whatnot,
Speaker 2: and they had a coach that was there a long
Speaker 2: time that was really successful for their standard. But Brom,
Speaker 2: I mean, I still think what he did at Purdue
Speaker 2: is maybe the best thing on his resume. I mean,
Speaker 2: he's only been at Louisville two years, so maybe that's
Speaker 2: not a crazy thing to say, but I mean he
Speaker 2: did take Louisville to the I mean, this is a
Speaker 2: guy who went to the Big Ten Championship in the
Speaker 2: ACC Championship in back to back years at two different schools.
Speaker 2: I mean, he didn't win either of those games, but
Speaker 2: still he did it at Louisville and it was their
Speaker 2: best season and still their best season they've had since
Speaker 2: they've been in the ACC. And at Purdue, I mean
Speaker 2: what he inherited. I mean, Jeff Brom had a winning
Speaker 2: record in Big Ten play during his six years at Purdue.
Speaker 2: That may not sound like a real big accomplishment, that
Speaker 2: may not sound like something that you would, you know,
Speaker 2: put on a resume having a winning record, but he
Speaker 2: also went three to zero first top three teams went
Speaker 2: unranked at Purdue. The two previous coaches at Purdue prior
Speaker 2: to Jeff, Darryl Hazel, went three and twenty four in
Speaker 2: four seasons, Danny Hope with thirteen and nineteen in four seasons.
Speaker 2: Jeff Brohm in six seasons, left Purdue with a winning
Speaker 2: record in Big Ten play, and then he had ten
Speaker 2: wins in his first year at Louisville, went to the
Speaker 2: ACC title game. I mean, here, I am throwing out
Speaker 2: all the accolades that a lot of Louisville fans already
Speaker 2: know about their coach, because you know, he's our guy.
Speaker 2: But I'm telling you what he did at Purdue is
Speaker 2: worthy of I think more credit than it ever got,
Speaker 2: just because again, they were awful for a long long
Speaker 2: time and they never really elevated to become like a
Speaker 2: consistently successful program when Jeff was there. You know why,
Speaker 2: because nobody wins consistently at Purdue. Nobody does. They had,
Speaker 2: you know, roller coaster type of a run where they
Speaker 2: would be up and then down. But again, at the
Speaker 2: end of the day, after six year, he had a
Speaker 2: winning record in Big Ten play and he got into
Speaker 2: the Big Ten championship game. And I know those sound
Speaker 2: like not that impressive accomplishments, but again, you have to
Speaker 2: consider it from the Purdue side of things that hadn't
Speaker 2: been done at you know, Perdue, just like Kentucky with
Speaker 2: Mark Stoops. He never got Kentucky to an SEC championship,
Speaker 2: And to be honest, that would be much more difficult
Speaker 2: than Jeff getting Purdue to the Big Ten championship because
Speaker 2: at that time there were divisions and I don't think
Speaker 2: the West was nearly as good as the East or
Speaker 2: whatever they called their divisions in the Big Ten. So,
Speaker 2: you know, but Stoops he won ten games twice at Kentucky's.
Speaker 2: That is quite literally the one thing you could point
Speaker 2: to out his resume that would have anybody viewing him
Speaker 2: as a top twenty five, top thirty caliber coach. But
Speaker 2: what did he ever really have the show for any
Speaker 2: of those ten win seasons? Like, what's the biggest Honestly,
Speaker 2: not to do the rivalry thing here, but the biggest
Speaker 2: win for Mark Stoops in his time at Kentucky's probably
Speaker 2: when he beat Louisville in Brom's first year. And I
Speaker 2: don't say it because Louisville's some big, dominant monster, but
Speaker 2: Louisville was a top ten team and you beat them
Speaker 2: up their place. Now, were they actually a top ten
Speaker 2: caliber team?
Speaker 3: I don't know.
Speaker 2: We'll never know, but Jeff Brown being viewed as the
Speaker 2: seventeenth the best coach in college football by those who
Speaker 2: covered college football objectively of CBS Sports. It's nice to see,
Speaker 2: but it really isn't that big of a surprise. And
Speaker 2: we'll look at I don't want to run through the
Speaker 2: entire list here, but man, there have been some big
Speaker 2: movers up and down this list. But how about Mike
Speaker 2: Norvell Austin. Mike Norvell went from being number twelve a
Speaker 2: year ago, or I'm sorry, no, he was at number
Speaker 2: eight a year ago. Now he's at number twenty five.
Speaker 2: He fell seventeen spots, which, to be honest, they foolishly
Speaker 2: decided to just run it with who's the bum at
Speaker 2: Clemson that transferred and then went to Oregon State dju
Speaker 2: Ukulilele or whatever. Yeah, I I mean he was terrible,
Speaker 2: but I mean Florida State being as bad as they
Speaker 2: were last year is really like had he not.
Speaker 3: Had the undefeated season.
Speaker 2: Before that, he'd be fired because they were worse than
Speaker 2: they've been like ever. So he felt quite a bit.
Speaker 2: But he's at number twenty five. Eli Drinkowitz also fell.
Speaker 2: He went from number twenty one to twenty four. Brett Beilama,
Speaker 2: he's at number twenty three. He's jumped up quite a bit,
Speaker 2: which I'm not surprised that he's that he's carved out
Speaker 2: some success at Illinois.
Speaker 3: He's a good coach.
Speaker 2: He was really good at Wisconsin, and then I guess
Speaker 2: he had some moments at Arkansas and now that he's
Speaker 2: been in Illinois. I mean, they're not elite, but they're
Speaker 2: clearly in a good spot. Rtt Lashley is at number
Speaker 2: twenty two for SMU. He jumped up a bunch. He
Speaker 2: went from number forty five to twenty three. Kurt Signetti
Speaker 2: at number twenty one, Mario Christobal at number twenty, Kirk
Speaker 2: Ferenz at number nineteen, and he's somebody that Brohm jumped
Speaker 2: ahead of. And then also Kenny Dillingham a big jump
Speaker 2: for him. He was at number sixty four at a
Speaker 2: sixty eight last year as he was entering I believe
Speaker 2: was that his first year last year, No way, he
Speaker 2: didn't go to Kenny Dillingham at Arizona State, like, don't
Speaker 2: I think it was his second year, second year? I think, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 2: So after his first season he came in at number
Speaker 2: sixty four in these rankings because they went three and nine,
Speaker 2: two and seven. Well, then last year they go eleven
Speaker 2: and three, make it all the way to the playoff,
Speaker 2: win a playoff game, and for that, I'm sorry they
Speaker 2: didn't win a playoff game. They ended up losing that
Speaker 2: one to Texas, which they should have won. The refs
Speaker 2: swallowed their whistle. Arizona State should have won that game.
Speaker 2: That's still I was at the upstairs bar at O'shay's
Speaker 2: about to walk over to the YOUM Center with Austin
Speaker 2: to watch the Louisville North Carolina game when that was
Speaker 2: going on, and Arizona State had that thing won, and
Speaker 2: they made some mistakes on their end, but I swear
Speaker 2: the not calling targeting was just something that still pisses
Speaker 2: me off thinking about. But anyways, Dillingham has mentioned is
Speaker 2: at number eighteen, and then I said, Brahms at seventeen,
Speaker 2: Josh Heipel at sixteen. He has jumped up from twenty
Speaker 2: three to sixteen. I don't have any issue with that.
Speaker 2: And then this is where we get to guys getting
Speaker 2: a lot of love because of where they are, like
Speaker 2: Lance Leepold is at number fifteen.
Speaker 3: I can't.
Speaker 2: I mean, again, what's he actually done not much, but
Speaker 2: he's not sucking complete rear end at Kansas and that
Speaker 2: is viewed as like a big accomplishment. Chris Climbing at
Speaker 2: Kansas State. They've got him at number fourteen. Lincoln Riley
Speaker 2: fell and he's fallen quite a bit in the last
Speaker 2: few years because USC he's just not gotten it done there.
Speaker 2: Lane Kiffin is at number twelve, no issue with that.
Speaker 2: Kyle Whittingham is at number eleven, and then top ten.
Speaker 2: Matt Campbell he's at number ten, and he jumped up
Speaker 2: fifteen spots, which Matt Campbell I kind of felt like
Speaker 2: he was the guy that would go down as a
Speaker 2: really good example of somebody that did not leave when
Speaker 2: they should have left a certain job because he had
Speaker 2: it rolling at Iowa State, especially, you know, at a
Speaker 2: place that doesn't win a lot. I mean, they were,
Speaker 2: they are one of the worst Power five programs of
Speaker 2: all time as far as just lacking any type of success.
Speaker 2: But with him, you know, he's won a bunch of
Speaker 2: games there. I mean he's I mean, he's got five
Speaker 2: eight win seasons at a place like Iowa State that's
Speaker 2: pretty rare. And then last year they went eleven and three.
Speaker 2: So I don't know how good he would do at
Speaker 2: a specific job, but his level of success consistently is
Speaker 2: certainly why he's in this list and I can't really
Speaker 2: dispute it.
Speaker 3: Kaylen de bor Is, how do you say his name?
Speaker 3: Is it de Boer?
Speaker 2: De boor Kaitlin de boor to Bor? I don't know
Speaker 2: why I say to bow or de Boer. I don't
Speaker 2: even know her, just met her.
Speaker 4: Well it's spelled like that.
Speaker 2: Kenna buyra drink first. But yeah, Kaylen bor is at
Speaker 2: number nine. He dropped from number seven to number nine,
Speaker 2: and then Brian Kelly is at number eight, James Franklin
Speaker 2: number seven. Marcus Freeman took a big jump from number
Speaker 2: twenty four to number six. No, I don't have any
Speaker 2: issue with that. I think Marcus Freeman is is in
Speaker 2: a really good spot at Notre Dame to where they
Speaker 2: should not only be able to sustain success, which they
Speaker 2: typically always have, but I think he's I mean, he's
Speaker 2: already done more than Brian Kelly did there as far
Speaker 2: as just you know, they're they're now in that top
Speaker 2: tier category, not that they were far from it, but
Speaker 2: I wouldn't be shocked if Notre Dame's in the playoff
Speaker 2: for the foreseeable future, and then in the top five
Speaker 2: Dan Lanning at number five, Steve Sarkisian at number four,
Speaker 2: Debo Sweeney number three, Ryan Day number two, and Kirby
Speaker 2: Smart number one. So I don't really have any issues
Speaker 2: with that with Ryan Day. He did, in fact get
Speaker 2: the national championship, and I'm sure that's why he's where
Speaker 2: he's at.
Speaker 3: But I don't know.
Speaker 2: We again foolish and unfair of me to act like
Speaker 2: he hasn't accomplished much when he just won a national championship.
Speaker 2: But I think Ohio State is just a program that
Speaker 2: is built to run through the Big Ten with just
Speaker 2: way better players than everybody other than the occasional team
Speaker 2: that ends up just having a really good year in
Speaker 2: the Big Ten. Like I don't see at any point
Speaker 2: Ohio State taking a step back in Penn State stepping
Speaker 2: ahead of them. Michigan clearly had a good run there
Speaker 2: with Harriball. I don't think that's going to be sustainable.
Speaker 2: So Ryan Day could run through the Big Ten every
Speaker 2: year and I'll still probably not give him the credit
Speaker 2: he deserves, just because I feel like he inherited.
Speaker 3: I mean Ohio State.
Speaker 2: I mean, you could make the case that they are
Speaker 2: the program that is in fact built for success consistently
Speaker 2: better than anybody. I mean, they don't because they don't
Speaker 2: have the competition in their league quite like Georgia does
Speaker 2: in the SEC with Texas, Bama, I mean, even LSU.
Speaker 2: I mean, the Big Ten's a good conference with really good,
Speaker 2: you know, good programs with a lot of history. But
Speaker 2: Michigan they were nowhere near competitive with Ohio State at
Speaker 2: that top spot until the last two years of Harball.
Speaker 3: And to be fair, they cheated to do that.
Speaker 2: I mean, so yeah, and then Dabo, I don't know,
Speaker 2: I wouldn't have had him at number three, but I
Speaker 2: do think it's this will be a big year for
Speaker 2: Dabo because there's now real height once again surrounding Clemson
Speaker 2: that there hasn't been in a while. And I mean
Speaker 2: you just mentioned to me a moment ago Austin that
Speaker 2: Cowherd was just gassing up Clemson and Club Nick.
Speaker 3: So look, they're coming to Louisville next year. I can't wait.
Speaker 3: I hope we can take them out.
Speaker 2: Easier said than done, But yeah, Clemson the reason I
Speaker 2: think this will be a big year for dabbo is
Speaker 2: because if he does actually live up to what the
Speaker 2: expectations are, that'll be a reminder. Yeah, this guy, he
Speaker 2: was for some reason really against the portal, but man,
Speaker 2: he's the.
Speaker 3: Hell of a coach.
Speaker 2: But if he falls short, I think it'll be the Okay, Yeah,
Speaker 2: this guy's best days are in the rear view because
Speaker 2: he just really his refusal to adapt to the new
Speaker 2: world of college football is biting him in the rear
Speaker 2: in which I think at this point it has. But
Speaker 2: now now there's belief that their roster has, you know,
Speaker 2: done it the old school way to where they should
Speaker 2: have a really good team this upcoming season. All right,
Speaker 2: quick break, we'll come back on the other side. Keep
Speaker 2: it locked right here. Coffee and Company feel about Thornton's
Speaker 2: on Sports Talk seven.
Speaker 1: Ninety Now back to Coffee and Company. Fueled by Thornton's
Speaker 1: on Sports Talk seven nine.
Speaker 2: Day, I mentioned wanting to get into some wagering action
Speaker 2: tonight with the second game of the Western Conference Finals.
Speaker 2: But I just saw somebody share a vet ticket online
Speaker 2: that put one thousand dollars on the Pacers to win
Speaker 2: the Eastern Conference Finals. It was futures bet. It wasn't
Speaker 2: something made recently, and it was probably made given these odds.
Speaker 2: It was probably made when the Celtics were still alive
Speaker 2: and clearly looked like maybe the best team. But you
Speaker 2: also have to keep in mind even I even before
Speaker 2: the Celtics lost to the Knicks, and of course Jalen
Speaker 2: Brunson not jelling brunts, but Jason Tatum goes down with
Speaker 2: that Achilles' injury. You know, the Cavs with the number
Speaker 2: one seed in the East, so you know they had
Speaker 2: they had the best record. I mean, they probably didn't
Speaker 2: have the best odds. But anyways, if you put one
Speaker 2: thousand dollars down, which I would never bet that much money,
Speaker 2: but hey, some people do, and this would be a
Speaker 2: big payout because it was plus three thousand on a
Speaker 2: one thousand dollars bet, So you bet one grand to
Speaker 2: win thirty grand, you'd collect thirty one thousand dollars. So
Speaker 2: I'm hopeful that that's the result. And if that's the case,
Speaker 2: then this person's gonna win a lot of money.
Speaker 3: Also, with the College Football Playoff.
Speaker 2: Making a change to the seating, they're not going to
Speaker 2: give the top four seeds to conference championships. They're just
Speaker 2: going to see this thing directly which I forgot about
Speaker 2: the confusion, right because you would see the college Football
Speaker 2: Playoff rankings and then you'd see the bracket, and you
Speaker 2: would clearly see that things don't add up. And it
Speaker 2: was because obviously they didn't seed it the way they didn't.
Speaker 2: They didn't actually put the bracket together the way it
Speaker 2: was seated. They had the conference championships just slotted into
Speaker 2: those the college the conference champs just slotted into those spots.
Speaker 3: But uh, this is what we got last year.
Speaker 2: Oregon one as the as the one seed in the
Speaker 2: with a bye, Georgia is the two seed with the bye,
Speaker 2: Boise State with a three seed is a bye, and
Speaker 2: then Arizona State winning the Big Twelve as the four
Speaker 2: and got a buy. Here's what it would have looked
Speaker 2: like had they done it then the way they're going
Speaker 2: to do it moving forward. It would have been Oregon
Speaker 2: number one still, but Georgia would have been the two
Speaker 2: with a bye, Texas would have been the three with
Speaker 2: the bye, and then Penn State would have been the four.
Speaker 2: And then here are the matchups we would have had
Speaker 2: in the first round, which these would have been better
Speaker 2: instead of getting Clemson in and UH in Texas, we
Speaker 2: would have got Clemson in Notre Dame instead of Tennessee
Speaker 2: and Ohio State. We would have got Tennessee and SMU
Speaker 2: instead of SMU, Penn State, we would have had Ohio State,
Speaker 2: Arizona State, and then we also would have had Boise
Speaker 2: State in Indiana. I mean, just we'll never know who
Speaker 2: would have won those those hypothetical games, but that would
Speaker 2: make it make more sense like that, when you just
Speaker 2: look at the hierarchy of last year's college football as
Speaker 2: far as the top teams, that would have been a
Speaker 2: bracket that made more sense seeing teams like Boise and
Speaker 2: Arizona State. I mean, it's not their fault, but I
Speaker 2: mean they I think we all knew you could make
Speaker 2: the case then honestly, those might have been the two
Speaker 2: worst teams in the twelve team playoff. I mean that's
Speaker 2: not fair to say. And again, Arizona State gave Texas
Speaker 2: all they wanted. Boise you know, they just they got
Speaker 2: beat by Penn State in a close game. But yeah,
Speaker 2: I think this is the right way to do it.
Speaker 3: I really do. All right, I've.
Speaker 2: Got somebody bumping us here in the text line as
Speaker 2: far as asking me to somebody just bumping their text
Speaker 2: Marillier this feek that I read where they asked me
Speaker 2: to give my top five Louisville football and basketball players
Speaker 2: of my lifetime before I leave next week and no
Speaker 2: longer you know am hosting the show, and I haven't
Speaker 2: given it a whole lot of thoughts since you texted in.
Speaker 3: But why the hell not.
Speaker 2: I'm going to give you basketball now, just because why
Speaker 2: not consider this some last few show spontaneousness energy from
Speaker 2: me because I'm just doing this.
Speaker 3: Off the cuff.
Speaker 2: So top five basketball players of my lifetime Again, I'm
Speaker 2: going to change the way you requested doing it. I'm
Speaker 2: going to do it just that I remember because there
Speaker 2: were some players that like. For example, I've all the
Speaker 2: one player that I have no memory of watching play
Speaker 2: at Louisville, but I wish I could have watched him play,
Speaker 2: because I've heard how great he was was le Bradford Smith.
Speaker 2: So he graduated from Louisville in nineteen ninety one. I
Speaker 2: was three years old, so I have no memory. But
Speaker 2: he was really good, so technically he might be in
Speaker 2: consideration when it comes to like my lifetime, but I
Speaker 2: didn't watch him place I can't really, you know, I'm
Speaker 2: just going to base it off of guys that I watched,
Speaker 2: so consider like nineteen ninety five on. That would be
Speaker 2: how I'm ranking them, And Austin, I'm gonna ask you,
Speaker 2: should I do it based off of just dudes who
Speaker 2: I just feel like we're that good or do it
Speaker 2: off of guys who clearly were good but also like
Speaker 2: had some big accomplishments with great teams, Cause that makes
Speaker 2: it hard to put together because like, for example, Terrence Williams,
Speaker 2: I believe, is one of the most, if not the
Speaker 2: most talented players I've ever watched at Louisville, but you know,
Speaker 2: he didn't play for a Final four team. So I'm
Speaker 2: gonna I'm just gonna instead of overthinking and I'm just
Speaker 2: gonna deliver, I'm going Russ number one. And it's it's
Speaker 2: easy to say, right, I mean, yeah, Russ was part
Speaker 2: of a national championship team, played for some of the
Speaker 2: best teams I ever watched at Louisville, and is a
Speaker 2: consensus All American. Russ is arguably arguably the second or
Speaker 2: third best player that's ever played here, So in my lifetime,
Speaker 2: he's certainly number one. I would say, if you're ranking
Speaker 2: best players in Louisville basketball history, it's west Unseld Griff
Speaker 2: and then probably Russ. So Russ is number one for me,
Speaker 2: and then after that. This is where my my heart
Speaker 2: is getting in the way a little bit because I
Speaker 2: don't know if this is totally accurate, but I'm going
Speaker 2: to on Wheat. I mean, that's not a crazy thing
Speaker 2: to put out there. It's not like he's just one
Speaker 2: of my favorite players. He was also one of my
Speaker 2: favorite players growing up. But he was also one of
Speaker 2: the best that's ever played here.
Speaker 4: In my opinion.
Speaker 2: I mean his I mean he ranks. He was second
Speaker 2: in school history in scoring until Rusk passed him. He's
Speaker 2: third and assists. He was Honorable Mentioned All American and
Speaker 2: a third team All American in his junior and senior year.
Speaker 2: And there was one really random stat that he had
Speaker 2: that no, yeah, here it is Duan Wheat. He was
Speaker 2: the first player in NCAA history to amass career totals
Speaker 2: of it least two thousand points, four hundred and fifty assists,
Speaker 2: and three hundred three point field goals, as well as
Speaker 2: two hundred steals. I don't know if that's been done since,
Speaker 2: but shout out to Dewan Weed. He's going number two
Speaker 2: for me after that. This is more difficult than I
Speaker 2: thought because there's gonna be guys that I leave out
Speaker 2: that I don't want to, but I can only do
Speaker 2: top five, So I'm going I'm gonna go Terrence Williams.
Speaker 2: I mean, that's probably not as well some Tea will
Speaker 2: I mean I do too. Yeah, it's again the teams
Speaker 2: he played for. I don't think anybody would would argue
Speaker 2: against that. They were really, really talented and really good.
Speaker 2: They just fell short of a final four and back
Speaker 2: to back seasons losing in the Elite eight. And it's
Speaker 2: nobody's fault. It's just programs like Louisville, you know, one
Speaker 2: of the top ten programs, top eight programs of all time.
Speaker 2: When you think of special seasons, they usually include five
Speaker 2: final four better, right, And it doesn't get much better
Speaker 2: than a final four other than winning a national championship.
Speaker 2: So his team accomplishments aren't there. But I just I mean,
Speaker 2: he was by the time he called it a career
Speaker 2: at Louisville and went to the NBA. And by the way,
Speaker 2: it was a lottery pick. There was really no big
Speaker 2: weakness in his game. He developed a good three point shot.
Speaker 2: He was always a phenomenal a phenomenal passer, and as
Speaker 2: good of an athlete as we've ever had.
Speaker 3: That's not I don't. I don't.
Speaker 2: I mean when it comes to Tea Will I mentioned
Speaker 2: there was really no weakness in his game towards the end.
Speaker 2: One thing that probably is the biggest strength he has
Speaker 2: is he was just a He was just an athlete, man,
Speaker 2: I mean a six to six, two hundred and twenty
Speaker 2: pound specimen that could jump out of the gym.
Speaker 3: So yeah, he's uh he has.
Speaker 4: I think.
Speaker 2: He has the third triple double in Louisville basketball history.
Speaker 2: Can you name the first to Samaki Walker had it
Speaker 2: in the nineties with ten blocks.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I knew Soaki had.
Speaker 2: And then the other one is super random, but I
Speaker 2: love it. A lot of people unless you just know
Speaker 2: the randomness of this so you know it, you'd never
Speaker 2: guess it. Ellis Miles, Okay, So yeah, I'm gonna go
Speaker 2: Tea well just because again he was he was that good.
Speaker 4: And then I'm not debating it. Yeah.
Speaker 2: After that, this is where it gets tricky because there's
Speaker 2: a lot of guys I could slide at four and five,
Speaker 2: I think, right like, I could go Peyton Siva and
Speaker 2: I don't think anybody would really fight that, right, Like
Speaker 2: Peyton point guard on a national championship team is I
Speaker 2: believe the only this is a cool This is a
Speaker 2: cool fact for Peyton. I believe he's the only player
Speaker 2: other than Patrick Union Patrick Ewing to be three time
Speaker 2: Big East Tournament All First Team Wow. And in fact,
Speaker 2: he might be. He might be the only person since
Speaker 2: Patrick Ewing to be a two time Big East Tournament MVP,
Speaker 2: because you remember they won it in his junior and
Speaker 2: senior season, the Big East Championship, which that's a hell
Speaker 2: of a way to go out, and then it is
Speaker 2: and then yeah, here's what it is. It's I think
Speaker 2: he's the only He and Patrick Ewing are the only
Speaker 2: two players that have won Big East Tournament MVP twice
Speaker 2: but also three time first Team All m VP. Because
Speaker 2: when Peyton was a sophomore, Kimba beat Kimba and Yukon
Speaker 2: beat Louisville in that championship game in the Big East Tournament.
Speaker 2: But but honestly, that year, Peyton, it's gonna sound crazy
Speaker 2: to say Peyton got the best of Kimba in that
Speaker 2: in the season that they played, I mean in the
Speaker 2: Big East Tournament, Kimba got the best of Louisville and
Speaker 2: Kimba went on to win a national championship that year.
Speaker 2: So no, no discredit to him. But Peyton as a
Speaker 2: sophomore really was was super competitive with with Kimba. So yeah,
Speaker 2: I'm going Peyton number four, and I don't I don't
Speaker 2: really have any issue doing that. And at number five, man,
Speaker 2: leave some people. Here's where I'm gonna leave people out
Speaker 2: because to be honest with you, in I mean, gosh, man,
Speaker 2: I I'll just tell you I'm not going Donovan Mitchell.
Speaker 2: A lot of people probably would just assume that because
Speaker 2: Donovan is, I mean, Donovan is the best NBA player
Speaker 2: from Louisville ever outside of West Unsell. Like I know,
Speaker 2: Griff had a really good career in the NBA, but
Speaker 2: there's no doubt that Donovan's overtaken that. Yeah, Donovan has
Speaker 2: certainly overtaken that. So, I man, this is tough. I
Speaker 2: could go I could go Tres I could go Francisco Garcia,
Speaker 2: I could go Taekwon Dean, I could go Terry Rozier.
Speaker 2: To be honest with you, I could go I don't
Speaker 2: think I could go Gorgy, although Gorgy was really really good.
Speaker 2: But then again, I'm not you know, there's no there's
Speaker 2: no big man here in my top five, right, I
Speaker 2: got a Terrence Jennings in there for laughs, Oh man,
Speaker 2: shout out to TJ. I'm sor right he was.
Speaker 3: He's one that.
Speaker 2: I wish would have come back for his senior year
Speaker 2: because he would have been a nice piece to have
Speaker 2: on that twenty twelve team. O boy, Yeah, who do
Speaker 2: I go with number five? I mean, I think I'm
Speaker 2: gonna go Francisco Garcia, and I don't really have any because.
Speaker 3: I mean, he he was.
Speaker 2: Really Louisville broke through first time in the Patino Era
Speaker 2: where they had a really good team that obviously made
Speaker 2: it all the way to a Final four, and he
Speaker 2: was the best player on that team, although he had
Speaker 2: a great team around him with Taekwon and Larry O
Speaker 2: and Ellis and those guys. But I'm gonna go I'm
Speaker 2: gonna go Francisco just because he was I mean, he
Speaker 2: was really really talented, and I mean another guy that
Speaker 2: not really sure what the weakness was. He wasn't great
Speaker 2: laterally as far as defense, which is one of the
Speaker 2: reasons why they went two three with that squad. But
Speaker 2: I mean, he was a really good passer, could shoot
Speaker 2: the lights out of it, good enough athlete, just a
Speaker 2: really skilled player. So I'm going that's my top five.
Speaker 2: I'm going Russ Smith, Dewan Wheat, Terrence Williams, Peyton Siva,
Speaker 2: and Francisco Garcia.
Speaker 4: I had a bad starting five to two. Small ball.
Speaker 2: Yeah, play small ball. We'll shoot the hell out of it,
Speaker 2: right Peyton See is gonna find guys to spot up.
Speaker 4: Of course.
Speaker 2: All right, let's get to a break. We'll come back
Speaker 2: on the other side. Wrap up the four o'clock hour
Speaker 2: right here on 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 3: You know, there is one player that.
Speaker 2: I completely forgot about in my top five Louisville basketball
Speaker 2: players of my lifetime, or at least most of my
Speaker 2: life from what I can remember, there was one guy
Speaker 2: that just completely slipped my mind.
Speaker 3: And he was really good.
Speaker 2: But I don't know if I would have him in
Speaker 2: the top fives. You could make the case that Reese
Speaker 2: is in consideration for spots four and five, and maybe
Speaker 2: I don't know. With Reeese, he was really good, but
Speaker 2: I think his first two seasons, it being the last
Speaker 2: two of Denny, it just did those teams weren't very good,
Speaker 2: so they're just those like, nothing really stands out in
Speaker 2: those two seasons other than just knowing we weren't very
Speaker 2: good and Denny's time was probably coming to an end.
Speaker 2: But we did have a really good player in Ree's Gains.
Speaker 2: So I still think I would put Cisco and Peyton ahead.
Speaker 2: But the top three, I mean, I feel I mean,
Speaker 2: as far as just these guys and their ability, I mean,
Speaker 2: I'm going I feel really good about the top three.
Speaker 2: I think four, five, six, seven, eight. It's really just
Speaker 2: a mixed bag as far as how you want to
Speaker 2: order them. But here's what I think I'm gonna do
Speaker 2: next week for football. Austin won't be here tomorrow, so
Speaker 2: I'm gonna save this for next week. At some point
Speaker 2: for football, I'm gonna do how about top three receivers,
Speaker 2: quarter backs, running backs, and defensive players overall? Yeah, I
Speaker 2: mean that's not necessarily fair, I guess to the defense
Speaker 2: fun but yeah, top three, I mean, I could maybe
Speaker 2: do top five, y'all do top five, because I mean
Speaker 2: with quarterbacks, I mean, we all know who's going to
Speaker 2: be at the top, but I mean we've been so
Speaker 2: spoiled with great quarterbacks at Louisville, not only in the history,
Speaker 2: but certainly like in my lifetime. We talked about that
Speaker 2: when Tyler Shutt got drafted, because you know, he's somebody
Speaker 2: that that really you know, you only here one year,
Speaker 2: and obviously he's a second round draft pick and had
Speaker 2: a really good year as far as statistics, but he
Speaker 2: just won't be remembered quite.
Speaker 3: Like other guys.
Speaker 2: But it's just because he was here only for a season,
Speaker 2: whereas other guys you watched him play over many, many years.
Speaker 2: And like, somebody asked me this right after the draft,
Speaker 2: and I didn't really know how to answer it because
Speaker 2: I think it's almost not a fair question based off
Speaker 2: of just the difference in their careers. But who's a
Speaker 2: better all time Louisville quarterback Malie Cunningham or Tyler Shuck?
Speaker 2: Tyler Shit, y Uh, he only played one year and
Speaker 2: there really wasn't a monumental moment for him.
Speaker 3: Malie Cunningham, he.
Speaker 2: Played here for five years and was good individually, but
Speaker 2: really never had any big moment. I mean, honestly, in
Speaker 2: one year Tyler's went at Clemson, even though he wasn't
Speaker 2: like the only reason they were good, but he clearly
Speaker 2: had a Remember that flip he did in the end
Speaker 2: zone against Clemson that was so cool? Oh yeah, so yeah.
Speaker 2: I mean I didn't think it's unfair because again it's
Speaker 2: a totally different situation. But if you asked me if
Speaker 2: I could only have one quarterback of those two to
Speaker 2: lead a team, I mean, I'm going shuck, no offense
Speaker 2: to Malik, but I just think Shuck was I mean,
Speaker 2: you could utilize a lot of weapons with his arm,
Speaker 2: and whereas Malie Cunningham, he just wasn't quite And that's
Speaker 2: really I think what sets apart good quarterbacks and really
Speaker 2: good quarterbacks is consistency. I mean, Malik at times was
Speaker 2: really accurate with his deep ball. Times he wasn't.
Speaker 3: Sometimes.
Speaker 2: I think some of the hardest plays for him to
Speaker 2: make was what appeared to you know.
Speaker 3: Me And what do I know.
Speaker 2: I've never played quarterback at a high level, never played
Speaker 2: quarterback at all of my life, But like you know,
Speaker 2: he just there's certain plays that you're like, well, How
Speaker 2: did you not hit your receiver there?
Speaker 3: How do you not? How do you how is it?
Speaker 2: How is the ball not on time? So anyways, we'll
Speaker 2: do that next week. Well, right now, we got to
Speaker 2: get you a break.
Speaker 3: We'll come back.
Speaker 2: We've got one long segment for you here, I believe,
Speaker 2: is how we're going to structure it. Because we're out
Speaker 2: early due to the Louis of bats coming up, So
Speaker 2: we'll hit the five o'clock hour running right here on
Speaker 2: Sports Talk seven ninety