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: All right, let's get it start at the four o'clock
Speaker 2: hour here on a Wednesday edition of Coffee and Company.
Speaker 2: We are fueled by Thornton's here on Sports Talk seven ninety.
Speaker 2: So if you are just not joining us, Austin he
Speaker 2: came in and shared his story here in studio's. I mean,
Speaker 2: I feel like I don't need to introduce Austin to you.
Speaker 2: He guys, he's basically the guy we go to in
Speaker 2: the bullpen when John is away for vacation or whatever
Speaker 2: it may be. He's not going to be here Monday
Speaker 2: because he needs that recovery day from Louder than Life.
Speaker 2: So Austin's gonna be with us producing the show on Monday.
Speaker 2: But he shared his story about being a part of
Speaker 2: a jury in a case that went to trial, you know,
Speaker 2: with an armed robbery arrest, and that was not what
Speaker 2: I was expecting. He was eighteen years old. And the
Speaker 2: reason this all came up is because I'm waiting to
Speaker 2: see if I'm going to be chosen among the jury
Speaker 2: pool to actually, you know, if I'm needed to go
Speaker 2: in and do my CIPIC duty and being part of
Speaker 2: a of a jury trial, and I guess I'll find
Speaker 2: out in the next week or so if I'm needed.
Speaker 2: But Austin never looked into like what happened like with
Speaker 2: the like after like once the guy was found guilty
Speaker 2: because Austin and the rest of the jury decided that
Speaker 2: they didn't think he was guilty. But when you are
Speaker 2: a part of like it makes sense like that. I
Speaker 2: don't know how old Austin is now. I think he's
Speaker 2: do you know, John, he's a few years older than that.
Speaker 2: I think he's like thirty ish right around there. So
Speaker 2: it was like a week straight of the trial, so
Speaker 2: it's really all you're doing, and you're conversing among I
Speaker 2: guess the other jury members. So like it would make
Speaker 2: sense that you would remember some specifics, especially because you're
Speaker 2: I mean, that's a heavy thing for anybody to deal with,
Speaker 2: certainly an eighteen year old kid. But he remembered the
Speaker 2: place that was robbed, he remembered the name of the
Speaker 2: of the of the guy that was on trial, and
Speaker 2: a quick Google search says that three years after the trial,
Speaker 2: he was arrested and sent to prison for seventeen and
Speaker 2: a half years because he reoffended and ended up getting
Speaker 2: actually arrested and convicted for doing something they found him
Speaker 2: guilty of, which probably means he was guilty when they
Speaker 2: found him innocent, right, I mean, isn't that crazy? That
Speaker 2: is crazy because it's just a reminder that, like you are,
Speaker 2: you're gonna mean that's a heavy burden.
Speaker 3: Man. I love how Austin was not afraid as an
Speaker 3: eighteen year old to just say, come on, guys, we
Speaker 3: don't want to come in here another day and do it.
Speaker 2: I love it too, because that's Austin, Like, if you
Speaker 2: know him, that's just that's kind of how he is,
Speaker 2: Like he's not afraid to be like I'll be the
Speaker 2: one who says it, like, we don't want to do
Speaker 2: this next week, do we, guys, Let's get the hell
Speaker 2: out of here. So anyways, good stuff there. I appreciate
Speaker 2: him stopping and and sharing that. I'm quite sure I
Speaker 2: will not have a story like that. All right, So
Speaker 2: before we get back into football here, let's talk real
Speaker 2: quick about the Louisville basketball schedule, which was officially released
Speaker 2: last night by the ACC Network. And again we've known
Speaker 2: who Louisville's gonna be playing for quite some time. Now,
Speaker 2: we know the order of opponents and whatnot. And again,
Speaker 2: to go back to what we talked about yesterday, adding
Speaker 2: Duke on December eighth just makes the first you know,
Speaker 2: two months of Pat Kelsey's job here very very difficult
Speaker 2: because you already have Tennessee, Ole Miss, Kentucky and then
Speaker 2: everybody you're gonna potentially get in the Battle for In
Speaker 2: the Battle of for Atlantis, Indiana's your opening game. You
Speaker 2: could get Gonzaga, Arizona, West Virginia. We've all we've known
Speaker 2: who who's out there. But having Duke there again, you
Speaker 2: knew you were gonna play Duke anyway, but to have
Speaker 2: them be the game. You're gonna play Duke five days
Speaker 2: after you play Ole Miss, and then you get a
Speaker 2: break with UTEP and then it's Kentucky. So just to
Speaker 2: see again, keep in mind, like from November twenty seventh
Speaker 2: until December fourteen, I mean, you've got anybody that you're
Speaker 2: playing in the Battle of for Atlantis is going to
Speaker 2: be a legitimate team. Like even if if you get Davidson,
Speaker 2: that's who it is, right, the kind of random team
Speaker 2: and let's just say like Providence isn't good, although Kim
Speaker 2: English I think has has a chance to be pretty
Speaker 2: successful there. Like even though we even though we may
Speaker 2: not be able to say, wow, that's a win, that's
Speaker 2: gonna move you up a C line come March, it's
Speaker 2: still not Winthrop. It's not morehead State. So like, you're
Speaker 2: getting real competition early on. It's not to say that
Speaker 2: everybody you play is going to be great. Who knows,
Speaker 2: Maybe one of these teams that's gonna be preseason ranked
Speaker 2: ends up stinking. Who knows. But man, I just I
Speaker 2: cannot remember looking at the first, you know, the first
Speaker 2: six weeks or so of the schedule and just seeing
Speaker 2: so many teams that, like, you know, you could play
Speaker 2: well and still lose because those are good teams. And
Speaker 2: I wouldn't have it any other way. I was talking
Speaker 2: to Terry before the show today, to them in the hallway,
Speaker 2: and you know, he and I are on the same
Speaker 2: this is louisll basketball should always have schedules like this.
Speaker 2: I mean, just because you know, you're one of the
Speaker 2: bigger programs in the sport. You certainly haven't been that
Speaker 2: in a while, and last couple of years have been
Speaker 2: something we never thought we'd see. But I really embrace it.
Speaker 2: But I'm also not Pat Kelsey, whose you know, job
Speaker 2: is to win games, and when you throw these kind
Speaker 2: of challenges out there, it's gonna be difficult to do.
Speaker 2: So you know, it's it's it's really really tough. And
Speaker 2: you know, I just some some noticeable some takeaways for
Speaker 2: me here that just seem odd. That you're gonna play
Speaker 2: only two home games in the month of February. I mean,
Speaker 2: there is a lot of traveling going on in February.
Speaker 2: You've got Miami at home on February eighth, and you've
Speaker 2: got Florida State at home on February twenty second. Every
Speaker 2: other game in February is on the road. Now, for
Speaker 2: what it's worth, a lot of those games don't look
Speaker 2: to be and by the way, this is I mean again,
Speaker 2: I'm not complaining because I think it's actually something that
Speaker 2: could work out well for Louisville this year. It's not
Speaker 2: good long term, but the ACC like I'm looking at
Speaker 2: Georgia Tech, Boston College, Wake Forest, SMU, Virginia, Miami, Notre Dame,
Speaker 2: Florida State, Virginia Tech, pitt Cal Stanford, like the last
Speaker 2: couple of years. Those teams, Yeah, they weren't great, most
Speaker 2: of them that I referenced there, But you know, they
Speaker 2: clearly beat Louisville because Louisville was in a terrible place
Speaker 2: when it comes to just you know, you know who.
Speaker 2: But like, I feel like Pat Kelsey's got the personnel
Speaker 2: to where his teams could maybe have somewhat of an
Speaker 2: off night and still be able to beat a lot
Speaker 2: of those teams just because they're gonna have better players.
Speaker 2: Maybe I'm way wrong there again, you never really know,
Speaker 2: especially when you've got a brand new team with all
Speaker 2: new guys that have ever played together before. But the
Speaker 2: ACC again, just looking at the league schedule as a whole,
Speaker 2: I mean, Duke's gonna be Duke. Carolina is gonna have
Speaker 2: a lot of talent. I don't see them in Virginia.
Speaker 4: You know.
Speaker 2: Their style of play always makes it tricky and weird,
Speaker 2: and they've certainly been a thorn in our side for
Speaker 2: many many years in the ACC. But let's be real,
Speaker 2: since Tony Bennett won a national championship, he's kind of
Speaker 2: been a chump. Like, they've not been good at all,
Speaker 2: have they? Like I think they got one four seed
Speaker 2: since then after they won a title and they lost
Speaker 2: to Ohio in the first round. Like in fact, I'm
Speaker 2: not sure Virginia has won a game since the I
Speaker 2: don't know if Virginia has won a bast has won
Speaker 2: an NCAA tournament game since they won the national championship.
Speaker 2: I'm pretty sure. I mean they got was it last
Speaker 2: year the year before where they got into the play
Speaker 2: in game and got demolished? I think that was one
Speaker 2: of the last two years. Yeah, and I think it
Speaker 2: was last year. So again, like the league schedule, I
Speaker 2: don't really look at it and think, oh, wow, we
Speaker 2: really got screwed here, because honestly, there's so many teams
Speaker 2: on the in the league right now that like it's
Speaker 2: not gonna And again it's a it's a negative when
Speaker 2: you don't have a whole lot to gain by beating
Speaker 2: teams that are mid at best. And it didn't used
Speaker 2: to be like that in the ACC. Louisvill's first few
Speaker 2: years in the ACC, it would be a rarity that
Speaker 2: you would have a week where one of your two
Speaker 2: games in that week did not give you an opportunity
Speaker 2: to get a valuable win that could really improve you.
Speaker 2: Maybe not really prove it, but like you could, you
Speaker 2: could improve your resume, you know, it would probably you
Speaker 2: need a win against like a top five team four
Speaker 2: to be improved substantially. But like the ACC is just
Speaker 2: not what it once was in basketball, and it's whatever.
Speaker 2: But like I hate when people, like I think people
Speaker 2: bringing up n C State making the Final four despite
Speaker 2: being a team that nearly lost to Louisville in the
Speaker 2: a SEC tournament's first day, Like that doesn't mean the
Speaker 2: league's good. I mean, like it does it, Like that's good,
Speaker 2: good for them for playing well and going on a
Speaker 2: hell of a run, But like that doesn't mean that
Speaker 2: the league was good, and anybody who hated on it
Speaker 2: was wrong.
Speaker 3: By the way, you're right about Virginia. They have not
Speaker 3: won a tournament game since their championship.
Speaker 2: So again I'm not acting like Louisville's gonna go into
Speaker 2: Charlottesville on January fourth and and you know, ben Tony
Speaker 2: Tony Bennett over but like they're not scary and the
Speaker 2: only teams I would look at. And again maybe Miami
Speaker 2: because they do well in the portal every year, Like
Speaker 2: maybe they bounced back in a major way. They went
Speaker 2: from being a final four team two years ago to
Speaker 2: being one of the most disappointing teams in the country
Speaker 2: last year. As far as who they brought back and whatnot,
Speaker 2: I think Syracuse could take a step forward this year.
Speaker 4: Pitt.
Speaker 2: You know, I actually think that Pitt's gonna go back
Speaker 2: to being the pit of old. I think they had
Speaker 2: a couple of years there where Jeff Caple actually had
Speaker 2: some good players, but those guys are gone. Florida State,
Speaker 2: I mean Leonard Hamilton. I saw somebody put together their
Speaker 2: preseason ACC rankings that had Florida State like near dead last.
Speaker 2: Leonard Hamilton. It might be time for him to hang
Speaker 2: it up. Wake Forest I really like Steve Forbes, I do.
Speaker 2: I think wake Forest could be really good this year.
Speaker 2: They got good players like I wouldn't. If I was
Speaker 2: going to go through and tell you who I think
Speaker 2: are the top five teams in the ACC, I would
Speaker 2: certainly have wake Forest up there. But really, like everybody else,
Speaker 2: I mean, they're beatable. Even if you don't think Louisville's great,
Speaker 2: you can look at what those other teams are expected
Speaker 2: to do as far as their personnel and whatnot, and
Speaker 2: you know, again it's not a good thing overall, but
Speaker 2: it could give you a chance to maybe take some
Speaker 2: lumps early on when you play the really good teams
Speaker 2: in non conference play, and then if you're able to
Speaker 2: finish in the top four in your league and you know,
Speaker 2: maybe you get a win against maybe you get wins
Speaker 2: against some of the other teams that look like tournament teams,
Speaker 2: and you know, you can find yourself in the tournament.
Speaker 4: So you know, I.
Speaker 2: That that's probably not an observation that that that others
Speaker 2: made when looking at the schedule, But for me, I'm
Speaker 2: just looking at, you know, the league schedule because that's
Speaker 2: what was added yesterday, and I'm thinking, Okay, Georgia Tech, yeah,
Speaker 2: I know, David stottamar is there. Boston College, you know,
Speaker 2: they're never good. Notre Dame. You know, we'll see if
Speaker 2: their coach can can can really take a step forward
Speaker 2: in his second year there. What is his name? I
Speaker 2: always forget it. Shrewsbury, Yeah, Shrewsbury. So that stood out.
Speaker 2: And then also I feel like Louisville has played Virginia
Speaker 2: on Senior Day for like every year they've been in
Speaker 2: the ACC. Instead this year it's going to be Stanford,
Speaker 2: which is kind of kind of random.
Speaker 3: It's also weird that you don't play any of You
Speaker 3: don't play Stanford or cow till the very end of
Speaker 3: the season.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I wonder if that's like travel related, Like I
Speaker 2: don't want to assume so, and you're at home for
Speaker 2: both of them, so it doesn't really matter, but it
Speaker 2: probably is because like their travel right, like yeah, heck
Speaker 2: they might travel together. That they're probably traveling together because
Speaker 2: those games are in three days and three days apart.
Speaker 2: I mean, that wouldn't shock me. So, you know, it
Speaker 2: wasn't as if yesterday's release was like a chance for
Speaker 2: us to say, all right, let's see how good we
Speaker 2: think we can be, because we've known who's on the
Speaker 2: schedule for a while now. But I guess just visually
Speaker 2: seeing it, you know, game by game one, it lets
Speaker 2: you know we're getting closer to the season being here.
Speaker 2: But I still think this is a team that from
Speaker 2: a personnel standpoint, from the schedule and who they have
Speaker 2: to go up against, I think expecting the NCAA tournament
Speaker 2: in year one for Pat Kelsey is more than reasonable.
Speaker 2: That doesn't mean that if they don't get it, then
Speaker 2: we got a panic and worry. But I think this
Speaker 2: is a team that certainly has the capability to be
Speaker 2: competitive enough to get a spot in the tournament and
Speaker 2: maybe get a decent seed. I mean, I know who
Speaker 2: they played against in the Bahamas, and it was not
Speaker 2: what you're gonna see night in and night out during
Speaker 2: this season. But overall, you know, I still I still
Speaker 2: think that that there's there was a lot to learn
Speaker 2: from from from that experience in the Bahamas. Again, you
Speaker 2: didn't prove anything as far as like a win against
Speaker 2: this team or that team, because again it was exhibition games.
Speaker 2: But I really am excited and again I think, you know,
Speaker 2: that's just gonna be, that's gonna be. My stance is
Speaker 2: that I think making the NSAA Tournament is an expectation
Speaker 2: we should not be afraid to throw out there. And
Speaker 2: some people are thinking afraid to throw out there, Like
Speaker 2: we're Louisville, and I get it, I hear you. At times,
Speaker 2: I find myself saying, what do you mean you hear
Speaker 2: yourself You're a Louisville basketball fan and you're saying they
Speaker 2: should just make the tournament, you loser, like, but I'm
Speaker 2: also having to remind myself, like where we've been recently,
Speaker 2: like it you know, and again that has nothing to
Speaker 2: do with this current situation because it's all brand new.
Speaker 2: But that's also the reason why I think, you know,
Speaker 2: at minimum, the tournament and Pat Kelsey would be disappointed
Speaker 2: in if we were thinking, well, you know, we'll see,
Speaker 2: maybe they'll make the tournament. But I'm just hoping they
Speaker 2: can be competitive and win more games than Kenny Payne did. Like, no,
Speaker 2: he's embracing this, and you know, I think he'll put
Speaker 2: him in the tournament this year. All right, it's Coffee
Speaker 2: and Company. We are feel about Thornton's here on Sports
Speaker 2: Talk seven ninety. Appreciate you hanging out with us. Don't
Speaker 2: forget you could take us with you wherever you go.
Speaker 2: Listen live on the hour radio app Listen live. It's
Speaker 2: seven ninety Louisville dot com. And right now, Underdog Fantasy
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Speaker 2: All right, is what we're gonna do. We're gonna get
Speaker 2: to our next break a little quicker than usual here.
Speaker 2: Actually this is probably right where we need to be
Speaker 2: getting to break. But we were a little bit late
Speaker 2: getting into this hour because you know me. But I
Speaker 2: want you to hear an analyst for CBS that he's
Speaker 2: telling us the wrong team's favored up in South Bend
Speaker 2: this weekend. So if you're needing some confidence from an
Speaker 2: objective football guy, I've got you covered. And then our guy,
Speaker 2: doctor Larry BEN'SI proiea physical therapy is going to join
Speaker 2: us coming up here at around four to forty five,
Speaker 2: So stick with us. It's coffee and company. Feel about
Speaker 2: Thornton's on Sports Talk seven ninety I started the show
Speaker 2: today talk talking about those that are wagering on this
Speaker 2: Louisville Notre Dame game, how they're all not only picking
Speaker 2: Notre Dame to cover six points. Well, the money, like
Speaker 2: the eighty two percent of the money that has come
Speaker 2: in on this matchup, as far as the spread is
Speaker 2: on Notre Dame to not only win but cover six
Speaker 2: right now, So it tells you that you know there's
Speaker 2: some big, bigger bets on them to cover. However, as
Speaker 2: far as just the public, and that means essentially not
Speaker 2: the amount of money, but just the bets themselves, it's
Speaker 2: a little bit closer, but fifty eight percent have the
Speaker 2: Irish covering. So as far as money line, ninety three
Speaker 2: percent of the money and ninety two percent of the
Speaker 2: public is on Notre Dame to win, which I started
Speaker 2: to think to myself, am I getting too fired up
Speaker 2: here for Louisville? Am I maybe overestimating this team at
Speaker 2: this point? Because I don't know, if anybody's going to
Speaker 2: tell you that, it'd be like the shocker of the
Speaker 2: world because it wouldn't be here. Let's be honest here, Like,
Speaker 2: it's not like it would be a oh my god.
Speaker 2: This is one of the bigger upsets of the college
Speaker 2: football season. But you know, louis beat them last year.
Speaker 2: Louisville has this point, I think, well, I don't know
Speaker 2: that maybe this is the hold up for me. I
Speaker 2: was getting ready to say, you know, Louisville's shown to
Speaker 2: be a pretty good team this year, but I don't know,
Speaker 2: maybe maybe objectively those are still waiting to see because
Speaker 2: against Georgia Tech they didn't look great. I was impressed
Speaker 2: with the way they were able to make the plays necessary.
Speaker 2: I don't think that they got a block field goal
Speaker 2: because of luck. I don't think they got a defensive
Speaker 2: touchdown because of luck or fluke. I think it's just
Speaker 2: you know, making plays when a team gives you a
Speaker 2: chance to take advantage of their mistakes, you know. So
Speaker 2: that's that's the way I I mean, that's that's the
Speaker 2: way I look at it. But again, I know not
Speaker 2: everybody you know probably sees it the same way. So
Speaker 2: after talking about that in the three o'clock hour. The
Speaker 2: the text line had a text from somebody that sent
Speaker 2: me a link to a tweet that I wanted to
Speaker 2: that I wanted to to play for you guys, because
Speaker 2: there's one analyst who happens to think that Louisville is
Speaker 2: the team that should be favored, and that's Rick Neuhausel,
Speaker 2: who now is part of the college football crew for
Speaker 2: CBS Sports.
Speaker 5: And here is what he Here's what he had to say,
Speaker 5: the wrong team's favorite here, this should be Louisville favored.
Speaker 5: Jeff Brahm said it exactly right. If you couldn't get
Speaker 5: Notre Dame behind and forced Riley Leonard into having the throw.
Speaker 5: And I was strong, just a little bit of goo
Speaker 5: saying that he can't throw. He certainly can, but he
Speaker 5: is inconsistent, missing a lot of wide open guys. I
Speaker 5: don't know if it's a matter of still injured or
Speaker 5: what have you, but if they're going to be that
Speaker 5: inconsistent with the forward pass, it's incumbent upon Louisville to
Speaker 5: get a lead. And I think defensively they're good enough
Speaker 5: and Shuck's good enough for that to happen.
Speaker 2: I'm taking the Cardinals. So you know that doesn't mean
Speaker 2: that Louisville's going to be the team that wins just
Speaker 2: because of that comment, but you know, it does make
Speaker 2: me feel a little bit more justified in my belief that,
Speaker 2: you know, this this this is a game Louisville. I
Speaker 2: don't want to say that they should win, and if
Speaker 2: they don't, it's going to be a big disappointment. I mean,
Speaker 2: not many teams, even though Northern Illinois just did it,
Speaker 2: Not many teams do go into South Bend and win.
Speaker 2: But I think this Louisville team can. I think Jef
Speaker 2: Brom's going to have his guys ready to play, and
Speaker 2: I'm maybe it's wishful thinking. I mean, it is wishful thinking,
Speaker 2: but I also believe it. I'm gonna believe in the
Speaker 2: power of positivity because I think we're gonna be doing
Speaker 2: our post game show on Saturday evening and we're going
Speaker 2: to be celebrating another big victory over the Irish. Somebody
Speaker 2: that's going to be making the trip to South Bend
Speaker 2: to see the cards in the Irish is doctor Larry
Speaker 2: Ben's and pro Rea physco Therapy, who joins us right now,
Speaker 2: How are we doing Larry, you feeling good today.
Speaker 6: I'm feeling great, and it's a big week with you know,
Speaker 6: obviously the big game Saturday and all the things going
Speaker 6: on in the other sports as well, so exciting times.
Speaker 2: So what would be you know, what would be one
Speaker 2: one thing you would tell those fans going up to
Speaker 2: South Bend to make sure an experience while they're other
Speaker 2: than just you know, the game itself. I was talking
Speaker 2: earlier with Alex Kupper, and I feel like Notre Dame.
Speaker 2: You know, there's a lot of a lot of stadiums
Speaker 2: and environments in college football that are bucket list type things,
Speaker 2: but I think Notre Dame is the rare, the rare
Speaker 2: stadium and experience that you'll see fans go even if
Speaker 2: their team's not playing, just because it's Notre Dame. It's
Speaker 2: South Bend, so I know you've been before, I've been before.
Speaker 2: We're not for a football game. What would you what's
Speaker 2: the best selling point other than just you know, the
Speaker 2: history and the environment.
Speaker 4: Well, I think that is the best selling environment.
Speaker 6: It is a very traditional stadium, not a lot of pizazz,
Speaker 6: but an incredible amount of history and tradition. On the
Speaker 6: negative side of things, it's a hot mess in terms
Speaker 6: of traffic and where to tailgates and all the things
Speaker 6: surround it. Remember, South Bend is effectively a college town
Speaker 6: and you're trying to squeeze an enormous amount of people
Speaker 6: into a small amount of space. And even though they've
Speaker 6: been doing it for what one hundred plus years, the
Speaker 6: traffic patterns and the other things around it will remind
Speaker 6: you of a really bad Derby or Oaks day if
Speaker 6: things go awry. But on the positive high side, there
Speaker 6: are plenty of areas to tailgate and in sections, so
Speaker 6: it's not like one big golf course or one big
Speaker 6: parking lot like.
Speaker 4: You know, we have the ability at a great stadium like.
Speaker 6: We have, so expect various entities of tailgating and expect delay.
Speaker 6: So if getting there early is a good idea that
Speaker 6: allow you to wander around and have some fun. But
Speaker 6: the stadium itself is absolutely terrific, and their fans are
Speaker 6: real football fans and there's a lot we can learn
Speaker 6: from them, and they're typically kind and hospitable, so you know,
Speaker 6: expect to have a good time and be around some
Speaker 6: really good football people.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and it's I don't want to say It's rare
Speaker 2: for them to look at Louisville as a big game
Speaker 2: and a big opportunity. When they came to town last year,
Speaker 2: it was a match up against ranked teams, and Louisvell's
Speaker 2: beat them a couple of times in this series. Now,
Speaker 2: but you could tell I can just get the sense
Speaker 2: that they realize, you know, this is an opportunity for
Speaker 2: them to get a top fifteen victory and really kind
Speaker 2: of let people know that Niu was a fluke. There's
Speaker 2: added excitement for me knowing that this is a big
Speaker 2: game for them as well. So, yeah, I've now been
Speaker 2: this excited for a game in quite some time. And
Speaker 2: one player that we may see may not. There's actually
Speaker 2: a few guys that are listed as game time decisions.
Speaker 2: But Colin Lacey. We talked about him shortly after he
Speaker 2: had that collarbone injury that took place about six weeks
Speaker 2: I'm sorry about five weeks ago, and now it sounds
Speaker 2: like he's getting closer to being able to play. Timeline
Speaker 2: here again. I guess we'll find out around kickoff he's
Speaker 2: going to be able to go. But as far as
Speaker 2: like the timeline is, this is this kind of on
Speaker 2: pace with what you would have expected when the injury occurred.
Speaker 6: Yeah, yeah, it absolutely is. It's interesting because this week
Speaker 6: is sort of the you know, right at the precipice
Speaker 6: of his healing, and from what I understand, he has
Speaker 6: been doing some practicing and patterns that's much different than
Speaker 6: contact though, and so it will be a game time decision.
Speaker 6: I'll come down to the sports medicine staff in conjunction
Speaker 6: with you know, the coaches, and whether they believe he's
Speaker 6: ready to go, just from both a physical and mental standpoint,
Speaker 6: But it would be we need them and it would
Speaker 6: be incredibly exciting if he's healthy enough to play.
Speaker 2: You may not know the answer to this, but I'm
Speaker 2: just curious when it comes to the game time decision,
Speaker 2: it's not literally, or maybe it is literally as soon
Speaker 2: as the game starts, the trainers give the coaches the
Speaker 2: word or but sometimes you see guys not fully dressed
Speaker 2: out a little bit before. How I mean, I'm sure
Speaker 2: it varies depending upon the injury, and maybe it varies
Speaker 2: depending upon the coaching staff and training staff. But when
Speaker 2: do you think players typically get the indication if they're
Speaker 2: going to be able to go or not. And I
Speaker 2: guess sometimes it is their decision. But when others are
Speaker 2: really involved in that, I mean, how close do they
Speaker 2: get to the wire?
Speaker 6: No, it's a great question, and it really comes down
Speaker 6: it starts a game prep. And so if you believe
Speaker 6: that you know, Colin Lacy's going to have a chance
Speaker 6: to play, you're going to prep with some you know,
Speaker 6: various different configurations and such that will allow you know,
Speaker 6: him to you know, play whatever number. And now let's
Speaker 6: just say he's going to play you know, three or
Speaker 6: four special situations. Then as the week goes on, you know,
Speaker 6: you assess that in conjunction with the physicians, and you know,
Speaker 6: first is is the is the fracture healed? Is all
Speaker 6: that you know from a technical medical standpoint go in
Speaker 6: the right direction. But you also have this year, you know,
Speaker 6: the NC double A has got sort of you know,
Speaker 6: this questionable list that you know, NFL has been adamant
Speaker 6: about for a number of years. So I think you
Speaker 6: have to look there first, and then you have to
Speaker 6: make an assumption that if there's odds are heavy that
Speaker 6: he's going to play, you know, they're certainly going to
Speaker 6: have some sets in some plays designed for him, whether
Speaker 6: it's a few plays or whether it's the whole game
Speaker 6: is a big difference. It comes down to game prep.
Speaker 6: But you can be rest assured that by this time
Speaker 6: on a Wednesday, it probably got a pretty good idea
Speaker 6: how much he's going to play, if at all.
Speaker 2: Doctor Lorry Ben's and Proria Physical Therapies are guest joining
Speaker 2: us here on Sports Talk seven ninety.
Speaker 4: So.
Speaker 2: You sent me this over the weekend, and I got
Speaker 2: to be honest with you. It's one of those things
Speaker 2: that has interested me more than I would have expected,
Speaker 2: and that is the rabdough Am I saying that?
Speaker 4: Right? Yes you are. We'll call it rabdo obsolutely.
Speaker 2: That Okay, you said it you. I think the way
Speaker 2: you said it was how I would have said it,
Speaker 2: but I didn't want to make a fool of myself.
Speaker 2: I was going to let you help me before I
Speaker 2: walked into that. But this is an injury where a
Speaker 2: person's muscles breakdown, and this just seems this is very
Speaker 2: scary and serious. Twelve lacrosse players at Tufts University have
Speaker 2: been diagnosed with this rare muscle injury and it's it's
Speaker 2: after going through some pretty intense training and whatnot. I mean,
Speaker 2: this is scary.
Speaker 6: It absolutely is there's a lot of teaching and take
Speaker 6: home points here. So let's unpack this a bit and
Speaker 6: I'll actually start backwards. Many years ago. The NCAA used
Speaker 6: to allow freshmen and early admits to come in a
Speaker 6: few days to what was it, I think at the time,
Speaker 6: maybe even two weeks early for preseason training. Of course,
Speaker 6: now they come in the spring and there's year round
Speaker 6: training and the whole, you know, everything has sort of changed,
Speaker 6: the whole narratives change. But the reason they did is
Speaker 6: so that you can get progressive increases in both physical
Speaker 6: conditioning and mental toughness.
Speaker 4: Now though today these.
Speaker 6: Athletes are coming in there and they're already in very
Speaker 6: very good shape, but if you do too much too soon,
Speaker 6: you could literally break down your muscle fibers. And when
Speaker 6: that happens, technically this milglobe, it gets into your bloodstream
Speaker 6: and that can cause all kinds of kidney and other
Speaker 6: kind of damages. Now, the tough situation is really negligence
Speaker 6: in my opinion, because what you had was a Navy
Speaker 6: seal that apparently had been a lacrosse player who took
Speaker 6: these lacrosse players out and instead of delivering, you know,
Speaker 6: a good workout, he tried to mix mental toughness with
Speaker 6: an over the top, you know, physical activity of an
Speaker 6: extreme on top of that, from what I understand, was
Speaker 6: very hot and humid, so you had all of these
Speaker 6: conditions working against you, like dehydration and heat, stress and
Speaker 6: other kinds of things.
Speaker 4: And what happened.
Speaker 6: Many of them got hospitalized. Some of them are still
Speaker 6: in the hospital. When you start breaking down muscle, it
Speaker 6: not only shows you that you did too much, but
Speaker 6: it could literally mean the seriousness of being able to
Speaker 6: recover from it in a very very short period of time.
Speaker 6: I was in the military, as you well know, and
Speaker 6: we would get basic trainees who hadn't done anything for
Speaker 6: a long time, and they would work them out too hard,
Speaker 6: and they would get rabdo very very serious condition, usually
Speaker 6: end up getting hospitalized, and you have all kinds of
Speaker 6: weakness and pain.
Speaker 4: This is a difficult one.
Speaker 6: And the one teaching point that I mentioned to some
Speaker 6: coaches who've called me about this is that mental toughness
Speaker 6: has to be built over a period of time. You
Speaker 6: can't have a Navy seal come in and teach that
Speaker 6: at one workout.
Speaker 2: Just like it's clearly dangerous, right, I mean.
Speaker 6: It's absolutely, absolutely yeah, and their yearine gets very dark
Speaker 6: and it is it's really an emergency situation, and so
Speaker 6: you're going to see all.
Speaker 4: Kinds of things going on here. These are very bright,
Speaker 4: good athletes, a toughs Toffs, has an excellent lacrosse.
Speaker 6: Program and how this got away from them like that
Speaker 6: is just really really surprising and unfortunate. And the other
Speaker 6: lesson here is just you can't do too much too
Speaker 6: soon for somebody who's been physically inactive. We've had football
Speaker 6: players at u have all over the years who very
Speaker 6: early in the course of training had an early enough
Speaker 6: sign of rahabdo analysis that the coaches and the trainers
Speaker 6: took them out so that didn't develop into more serious
Speaker 6: and you monitor it through year analysis, you monitor it
Speaker 6: through the symptoms that the athletes have. And fortunately in
Speaker 6: today's day, you don't get much of this. So for
Speaker 6: this to happen at Tufts and in New England areas
Speaker 6: just tragic.
Speaker 1: It is.
Speaker 2: I mean, it's twelve of these athletes who were participating
Speaker 2: in what was called a voluntary workout, and for twelve
Speaker 2: of them to have have this happen, I mean, I'm
Speaker 2: just I'm trying to visualize just how brutal it must
Speaker 2: have been. And you know we weren't there. I didn't
Speaker 2: see it, but just I can imagine they were probably
Speaker 2: you know, pressured and you know, guilted into not to
Speaker 2: not you know, realizing, hey, this is just too much
Speaker 2: for me and it's cost some serious David. It's very scary.
Speaker 2: And the last thing you just said there was actually
Speaker 2: gonna be. The next question is that it's rare to
Speaker 2: see now just because it's a well known thing that
Speaker 2: can happen. I mean, it's just it's it's reckless to
Speaker 2: be in this position. So very scary, no doubt. One
Speaker 2: other injury I wanted to ask you about that. I
Speaker 2: don't know if we have any kind of an update,
Speaker 2: but Christian McCaffrey he flew to Germany over the weekend
Speaker 2: to visit a specialist about his persistent achilles issue that
Speaker 2: he has. When you hear of athletes that do make
Speaker 2: a trip, you know, to another country to see a specialist,
Speaker 2: and I guess, you know, it all depends on the
Speaker 2: you know, they are all kinds of specialists all across
Speaker 2: the that obviously, you know that can specialize in certain injuries.
Speaker 2: But niners, fans, people who have McCaffrey on their team
Speaker 2: when they see this in worry, Uh oh, he must
Speaker 2: not be able to get good info here. He's going
Speaker 2: to travel anywhere to try to get somebody to tell
Speaker 2: him how he can get healthy. Is that accurate or
Speaker 2: is this just a guy having the ability to quite
Speaker 2: literally utilize resources anywhere that most of us wouldn't be
Speaker 2: able to.
Speaker 6: Well, it's actually kind of a combination of all the above.
Speaker 6: I mean very seldom. You know, the United States has
Speaker 6: the best sports medicine treatments in the world by fire
Speaker 6: bar nine. Now that doesn't mean there aren't some things
Speaker 6: they're doing in Germany and in the old days they
Speaker 6: used to talk about this in the Soviet Union, it
Speaker 6: might be a little bit more experimental, whether or not
Speaker 6: they're legal or not in the US, it's to be determined. So,
Speaker 6: for example, you know, injections, taking your plasma, regenerating it
Speaker 6: or adding you know, spinning it so that you can
Speaker 6: get more red blood cells and then injecting it is
Speaker 6: a technique PRP. It's used in every sports medicine facility.
Speaker 6: Now what's happened is the sophistication of lab results coupled
Speaker 6: with you know, research is showing different versions of that
Speaker 6: PRP technique. And my guess is based on what I
Speaker 6: know what they're doing in Germany. That's where he went
Speaker 6: to get a consultant. If you remember, we've seen this before.
Speaker 6: You had Aaron Rodgers last year when he had the
Speaker 6: Achilles injury. He was going to have some kind of
Speaker 6: surgery that was going to allow him to come back
Speaker 6: in three weeks. And obviously that didn't turn out. That
Speaker 6: didn't turn out the right way for him. But it's
Speaker 6: not unusual.
Speaker 4: But you're exactly right.
Speaker 6: He's got unlimited resources, and you know that's that's my
Speaker 6: guess is what they were looking at as some type
Speaker 6: of injection technique to facilitate heating. It's unfortunate, you can't,
Speaker 6: you can't overcome mother nature. You can facilitate healing a
Speaker 6: little bit better. But he's got a pretty bad injury.
Speaker 6: And it sounds like Russell Willis, you know Russell Wilson
Speaker 6: where the Steelers has something similar to be honest, because
Speaker 6: he seems like he is more in the calf I think,
Speaker 6: but he hasn't played in a while and that's allowed
Speaker 6: them to really accelerate. Justin Fields's play, which has been terrific.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I think the injuries that we're seeing, as
Speaker 2: far as the amount of them, I don't have numbers
Speaker 2: in front of me, but I would assume it's probably
Speaker 2: not that different than what you typically see a few
Speaker 2: weeks into the season. But I definitely feel as if
Speaker 2: some of the bigger names in the league are dealing
Speaker 2: with injuries right now, and I think that's been somewhat
Speaker 2: of a factor in while the product on the field
Speaker 2: just hasn't been maybe what people expected, but in the
Speaker 2: sports medicine world, I mean, has that been a I again,
Speaker 2: guys are always gonna get hurt, that's part of it.
Speaker 2: But I do feel like the stars of the game
Speaker 2: are dealing with things a little earlier than we typically see.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I agree with that. I think what's happened is
Speaker 4: if they have any nagging.
Speaker 6: Injury, they tend not to play in the preseason, and
Speaker 6: so they'll use the first or second game to get
Speaker 6: more reps. I mean, we saw this with Aaron Rodgers,
Speaker 6: we saw it with Deshaun Watson against Dallas in that
Speaker 6: opening week, and you're seeing it with a lot of
Speaker 6: these others that just don't get the reps in the preseason.
Speaker 6: I think that's a little bit unfortunate. Does that contribute
Speaker 6: to higher injury rates?
Speaker 4: I don't know.
Speaker 6: It seems like we're off to a bad year though statistically,
Speaker 6: you know the data that I looked at recently, you know,
Speaker 6: so it's just pretty consistent for the last few years.
Speaker 6: But as you want to football's a violent sport. These
Speaker 6: guys are fast there they strength and acceleration, all hitting
Speaker 6: at one time, and you know, it's no wonder you
Speaker 6: get so many injuries.
Speaker 2: Doctor Ben's as always, we appreciate your time, enjoy South Bend,
Speaker 2: and I'm confident that you and the Cards are going
Speaker 2: to bring back a victory for us.
Speaker 6: Me too, We've done awfully well there, even the year
Speaker 6: we lost what was it like six and nothing during
Speaker 6: that Yeah, there were only students were allowed, but we
Speaker 6: went there under really tough conditions, uh winded with Reggie
Speaker 6: Bofan and yes and and uh you know that was
Speaker 6: that was a great win for us. So I'm expecting
Speaker 6: big things and uh looking forward to a victory.
Speaker 2: Cards Cars, take care, Larry. It's doctor Larry Ben's pro
Speaker 2: rep is therapy good stuff there. We I mean, I
Speaker 2: can't think of it the game that Louisville lost badly
Speaker 2: to Notre Dame when Sadderfield had his opener. I mean,
Speaker 2: it got away a little later, but like that was
Speaker 2: still a good game until towards the end. I mean,
Speaker 2: it was certainly a moral victory situation for louisvill because
Speaker 2: we were coming off of a two to ten season.
Speaker 2: But yes, the Cards have been competitive against the Irish
Speaker 2: every time they've played, and I see no reason why
Speaker 2: they won't be the case. In fact, John, if it's
Speaker 2: not competitive, it's because Louisville's blowing them out.
Speaker 4: I'm with you.
Speaker 2: I'm gonna try to speak that into existence. Quick break,
Speaker 2: don't go anywhere, keep a locked right here on Sports
Speaker 2: Talk seven ninety. Not much time left here in the
Speaker 2: four o'clock hour, but a lot to get to in
Speaker 2: the five o'clock hour. I'll set the table here in
Speaker 2: a moment before we get to the next break. But
Speaker 2: just some numbers that once again just tell you about
Speaker 2: the dominant run that Nick Saban had in college football.
Speaker 2: We talked yesterday about how this is the first time
Speaker 2: that Alabama is a home dog since two thousand in seven.
Speaker 2: I mean, that's insane, but not really surprising when you know,
Speaker 2: when you look at how how successful Bama was during
Speaker 2: that time, and they're probably still gonna be very successful
Speaker 2: with their new regime. But here's another thing that just
Speaker 2: makes it quite clear. Saban is I think the best,
Speaker 2: certainly one of the best in the eyes of I
Speaker 2: would say just about anybody. Right now, five of the
Speaker 2: top eight ranked teams are led by coaches who worked
Speaker 2: for Nick Saban. Lank Texas Steve Sarkisian obviously that was
Speaker 2: more of like a you know, rehab kind of thing
Speaker 2: for him. Nope, not making a joke there, but like
Speaker 2: he went to be a coordinator for Saban because he
Speaker 2: had some personal issues. But still, I'm sure he would
Speaker 2: tell you one of the reasons, one of the many
Speaker 2: reasons why he's having such success at Texas is because
Speaker 2: he learned a lot from the legendary Nick Saban. Kirby Smart,
Speaker 2: I mean, he worked for him forever before he got
Speaker 2: the job at Georgia, Lane Kiffin at Ole, Miss Mario
Speaker 2: Christobal at Miami, Dan Landing at Oregon. I mean, I've
Speaker 2: always felt like one of the best real signs of
Speaker 2: how great a coach is. And there's a lot I
Speaker 2: mean winning is the ultimate thing, right like winning is
Speaker 2: is absolutely how you're viewed as a coach. But a
Speaker 2: lot of coaches win, and I think one of the
Speaker 2: things you could at times look at to see again
Speaker 2: but again, accomplishments trump, all right, But if you've got
Speaker 2: a really really good coaching tree, guys who are really successful,
Speaker 2: they become your peers that learned from you. That that's
Speaker 2: a really really impressive thing for you as a coach,
Speaker 2: because you're not just coaching and winning. You're coaching coaches
Speaker 2: and they're taking your tools, your tutelage, if you will,
Speaker 2: and they're having a lot of success. I mean, that's
Speaker 2: why you can't really say it as much now. I mean,
Speaker 2: some guys are still having success, but like Rick Bettino
Speaker 2: had an unbelievable coaching tree still does. But again I
Speaker 2: think you know, some of these guys they kind of
Speaker 2: had their run where they were on top, and maybe
Speaker 2: now they don't have as much moreenty them. But I
Speaker 2: mean that always stood out to me that like Rick Patino,
Speaker 2: you look at a lot of guys who worked for
Speaker 2: him that went on to have I mean, Kevin Keats
Speaker 2: last year, I mean, I don't know, he's an elite coach.
Speaker 2: I love Keats. I think he's a great coach, but
Speaker 2: you know, he was able to guide a team that's
Speaker 2: stunk to a Final four. And I don't know how
Speaker 2: much of that was coaching, but certainly it was a factor.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 2: You know who else is part of the Nick Saban
Speaker 2: coaching tree?
Speaker 3: Is it your guy? It's Kurt Signetti. Really it was
Speaker 3: on his original staff at Alabama.
Speaker 2: I did not know that how many years.
Speaker 3: I think just a year or two still moving on
Speaker 3: to NC State, I believe, But yeah, he was on
Speaker 3: original staff and.
Speaker 2: That it still counts, you know. So I mean, and
Speaker 2: I'm not saying again this isn't a uk UK versue
Speaker 2: of l thing, but like again, you are, you were
Speaker 2: viewed by how how much you accomplish. Like nobody's going
Speaker 2: to say, well, hey, if I'm going to determine who's
Speaker 2: who's better, let's go see how their assistance did when
Speaker 2: they got jobs. But what do people say about John Caliperry.
Speaker 2: It's all based off talent, right, He's not a ball
Speaker 2: coach coach, no x's and o's. He just rolls the
Speaker 2: ball out there. And lately, in the last few years
Speaker 2: at Kentucky. It seemed like he I mean seemed like
Speaker 2: he was just refusing to accept that the game had
Speaker 2: changed and refusing to adjust what he wanted to do
Speaker 2: on the floor schematically based off talent. Like the fact
Speaker 2: that he didn't have Reed Shepherd, Rob Dillingham and Antonio
Speaker 2: Reeves on the floor together for the majority of every
Speaker 2: single game is a crime. I mean, I loved it
Speaker 2: because it led to them losing to Oakland, but you know,
Speaker 2: like it's just him being stubborn. But one thing that
Speaker 2: I think has always supported the notion that Cali Perry
Speaker 2: really isn't a great coach. He just he's able to
Speaker 2: manage talent and it's just all player based. Now, I
Speaker 2: would give him credit. He can prop up a freshman
Speaker 2: better than most. It's not really where the game is anymore.
Speaker 2: But I do think that you take a lot of
Speaker 2: the star freshmen that didn't have a lot of veterans
Speaker 2: with their teams. Now, his best teams did have veteran presence,
Speaker 2: and you know, nobody seems to remember that when they
Speaker 2: won a championship in twenty twelve, they had a lot
Speaker 2: of veterans on that team that were really good. But
Speaker 2: now their stars were Davis and kid Gilchrist. But nonetheless
Speaker 2: Cala Perry's never produced a successful assistant coach. His coaching
Speaker 2: tree is awful. I mean, and I'm not even making
Speaker 2: the Kenny Payne joke here, Like I honestly wasn't even
Speaker 2: thinking about Kenny Payne because people have been dogging Cali
Speaker 2: Perry's coaching tree before Kenny Payne got a head coaching
Speaker 2: job Orlando, and Tiqua was terrible at South Florida. Bruiser
Speaker 2: Flint stinks, Tony Barbie stinks, and I shouldn't be mean.
Speaker 2: I mean, they don't stink as human beings, but like
Speaker 2: that's a guy who for a while was viewed as
Speaker 2: one of the best in the game, and like anytime
Speaker 2: an assistant got a chance to go lead a program,
Speaker 2: it was terrible. So anyway, Saban, back to Saban, I
Speaker 2: mean another we could probably do a show every day
Speaker 2: and give you some wild fact in stat about Nick
Speaker 2: Saban that'll let you know he's the best in my opinion,
Speaker 2: certainly one of the best by just about everybody. I
Speaker 2: would assume. All Right, we got the five o'clock hour
Speaker 2: coming up next, stick with us a lot to get
Speaker 2: to that I haven't got to yet, so don't go anywhere,
Speaker 2: keep it locked right here on Sports Talk seven ninety
Speaker 2: bus