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: Not looking good for Memphis, not looking good for the
Speaker 2: last leg of my three leg parlay and the other
Speaker 2: parlay I've put together for the second wave of games
Speaker 2: in the early afternoon. Not up to a great start.
Speaker 2: This Saint Mary's team, you know, weird and something you
Speaker 2: typically don't You don't say about Vandy, but it just
Speaker 2: looks as like Vanderbilt has a real superior edge when
Speaker 2: it comes to just talent. I mean, again, I know
Speaker 2: they're in the SEC, but I mean we're talking about Vanderbilt.
Speaker 2: But now they're up twenty four to sixteen with four
Speaker 2: minutes and twenty seconds left in the first half. So
Speaker 2: I I mean, Vandy. You know, they were one of
Speaker 2: the teams that ended up being seated, probably better than
Speaker 2: they anticipated. I mean, I felt like they were more
Speaker 2: of a I don't know, they're ten seeds. I guess
Speaker 2: that's about fair. But nonetheless, anything that they did to
Speaker 2: make them a tournament team is even consideration. It all
Speaker 2: took place in Memorial Coliseum, and that made me think that,
Speaker 2: you know, neutral site, they're going to be the Vandy
Speaker 2: when they're they're not at home, and that Vandy team
Speaker 2: has not been real impressive, but they're off to a
Speaker 2: good start here, no doubt, and Saint Mary's can certainly
Speaker 2: come back and win. It's early. But what you have
Speaker 2: to consider is there are teams that play and it's
Speaker 2: really not even about like I mean, yes, they're both
Speaker 2: the same thing, but it's not necessarily it's just their
Speaker 2: identity as a team. So like, if you could turn
Speaker 2: it up and play different styles and do different things,
Speaker 2: that makes you great, especially if you're a good team.
Speaker 2: But there's certain teams that their identity and what they
Speaker 2: do and them doing it well kind of makes them
Speaker 2: the team you would be worried about, and that's Saint Mary's.
Speaker 2: So the fact that it's they've already dug themselves a whole,
Speaker 2: Saint Mary's is not a team that typically would be
Speaker 2: built to kind of dig out of a hole. And
Speaker 2: Vandy's the kind of team I feel like when they
Speaker 2: get hot, they get hot. But we got a minute
Speaker 2: fifty left in the Colorado State Memphis game, and Colorado
Speaker 2: State is up is up nine, so Memphis looks like
Speaker 2: they're done and you know, that's what I get for
Speaker 2: betting on Memphis. And but the first time since yesterday evening,
Speaker 2: I'm kind of going back to the I was gonna
Speaker 2: say the sadness, but it's really not even I mean
Speaker 2: getting louis A lost yesterday to Creighton, and I I
Speaker 2: mean Creighton was better they if they I mean from
Speaker 2: what we saw yesterday. If these teams play in a series,
Speaker 2: I mean, if you were saying that you believe Lowell
Speaker 2: would win, I think it would be just based off
Speaker 2: wishful thinking, right because Crayton was better really in every way,
Speaker 2: could have done things better. Louisll didn't have rain Smith
Speaker 2: and all that. I mean, so, but but I just
Speaker 2: Memphis getting the five. It didn't make sense. And if
Speaker 2: you look at the committee, there's a lot of complaints
Speaker 2: about certain things. Absolutely the biggest talking point was that
Speaker 2: Carolina got it in West Virginia didn't. But that's not
Speaker 2: even really something that comes down to, like, there's really
Speaker 2: no comparison as far as how you put the last
Speaker 2: four in the last four teams that make that may
Speaker 2: you know, last four in that end up in those
Speaker 2: playing games the eleven seeds in Dayton, there's a pool
Speaker 2: of teams that are kind of all in the same category.
Speaker 2: The committee just decides and then they have to justify
Speaker 2: why they made those decisions. And again with Carolina, they
Speaker 2: really couldn't justify it. Carolina getting in over West Virginia.
Speaker 2: The only thing that could make any sense of it
Speaker 2: was in fact that the chairman of the committee was
Speaker 2: the athletic director in North Carolina. So what I'm getting
Speaker 2: at is, despite all of the complaining that we did,
Speaker 2: and really there's complaints everywhere, I'm sure as far as
Speaker 2: seeding and that kind of stuff, the one thing that
Speaker 2: didn't make any sense as far as consistency was Louisville
Speaker 2: being seeded where they were right Like Clemson getting a
Speaker 2: five clearly didn't look great. Now Carolina getting in, I mean,
Speaker 2: they won, but again we just discussed why a lot
Speaker 2: of people think they got in. What I'm saying is
Speaker 2: that I feel even more I guess comfortable in saying
Speaker 2: it without sounding like a lunatic, that I could be
Speaker 2: more more now than ever I could be convinced that
Speaker 2: they just made a goof and put Memphis where Louisville
Speaker 2: was supposed to be, and they just got it, got
Speaker 2: they got it mixed up. You would ask like, how
Speaker 2: does that happen? Well, also, how does Louisville being an
Speaker 2: eight seed getting a home game happen? Probably by mistake, right,
Speaker 2: Like what eight seeds getting a home game? Eight seeds
Speaker 2: are usually lucky to get the invite. And who knows
Speaker 2: if louisll would have played Colorida State instead of Memphis,
Speaker 2: no clue what happened. But I also know that this
Speaker 2: Creighton team that Louisville lost to yesterday, I mean that
Speaker 2: Creton team, not only do they have I mean they
Speaker 2: they don't have any real bad loss outside of one
Speaker 2: that's the Georgetown. But that's to a conference opponent, right,
Speaker 2: That's not like a loss to a team in the
Speaker 2: three hundreds. They beat Saint John's one of four teams
Speaker 2: to do that. And they also have a third team
Speaker 2: All American who is a different kind of opponent because
Speaker 2: of like Craig's a different opponent because of that guy.
Speaker 2: No matter who you are or how good you are,
Speaker 2: there's a good chance you're gonna have some adjustments to
Speaker 2: your identity because more often than not, you aren't ever
Speaker 2: facing somebody like that. And it's not to say that
Speaker 2: he's the best player in the country. He's just different.
Speaker 2: Right like you saw it yesterday, Creighton can can be
Speaker 2: half assed defensively from the perimeter and let guys get
Speaker 2: loose because they have that rim protector. I mean, it's
Speaker 2: a wise thing to do if you're Creton, to be
Speaker 2: honest with you, and it worked out well with them yesterday.
Speaker 2: So again, Sarah Grapes, of course, you know, sore loser
Speaker 2: kind of stuff. I get it. I'm sure that's what
Speaker 2: it sounds like here. But Memphis getting a five is
Speaker 2: the least talked about thing from the committee that never
Speaker 2: made any sense. Yes, they did have a good record.
Speaker 2: They won their league, but they won a one bid league.
Speaker 2: They also had two losses to teams that you know
Speaker 2: were I mean, I think they were Quad three, and
Speaker 2: I know Louisville losing makes it seem like, oh no,
Speaker 2: they got it right. I don't think they did. I
Speaker 2: think they missed. I think they messed up. I think
Speaker 2: they made and made it. I think they made a goof,
Speaker 2: not a mistake by just a decision. I think it
Speaker 2: was a goof because Clemson being seated as a five,
Speaker 2: Carolina being in in Louisville, being the eight where they
Speaker 2: were and Memphis being like it just doesn't make any sense.
Speaker 2: And if you go compare, I'm not gonna do it
Speaker 2: now because you know, we don't need to invest more
Speaker 2: time than we already have. But if you just go
Speaker 2: look at every team where they seated them in those
Speaker 2: ranges of five and eight, and you look at the
Speaker 2: profile the numbers that they you know that they pay
Speaker 2: attention to, that's the one that just it looks like
Speaker 2: they just mixed them up. And again, I'm not saying
Speaker 2: that to think we should still be playing, but to
Speaker 2: see Memphis lose to Colorado State at twelve seed, who
Speaker 2: by the way, had to really go on a run
Speaker 2: in their conference tournament to get in. And the Mountain
Speaker 2: West sucks. I mean San Diego State they gotta be
Speaker 2: about forty to Carolina. Who else in the Mountain West
Speaker 2: is even alive? Utah State, they were really good in
Speaker 2: the Mountain West, got their ass kicked last night by
Speaker 2: a very mid Mick cro and UCLA team. I'm not bitter,
Speaker 2: I'm just more so not convinced either. I now, again,
Speaker 2: I go back to what I said when I tried
Speaker 2: to use my words carefully there, I'm now less uncomfortable
Speaker 2: in saying that they might have just made a mistake
Speaker 2: as far as how they put it together. And it's
Speaker 2: not just because of the Louisville seed line. It's because
Speaker 2: of Memphis's seed line as well as Louisville being an
Speaker 2: eight seed with a home court game yesterday. That's also
Speaker 2: something that we didn't really talk a whole lot about yesterday,
Speaker 2: just kind of in the moment of it being over,
Speaker 2: not a whole lot of you know, I mean, the
Speaker 2: ride is really what we discussed and this team having
Speaker 2: them fall short and really what specifically led to them
Speaker 2: having a tough time against Creighton. But it was a
Speaker 2: home game yesterday, and that makes it even more tough
Speaker 2: to deal with, right because you had a home court
Speaker 2: advantage and you still really, I mean, you never I
Speaker 2: mean outside of the first two segments, right after the
Speaker 2: first two media timeouts, I kind of feel like it
Speaker 2: it didn't didn't seem as if louisv was going to win.
Speaker 2: So again, that's that's an added you know, bummer for
Speaker 2: those that made the trip to RUP and then to
Speaker 2: see that happen. But I also want to acknowledge just
Speaker 2: the overall vibe that was there the send off at
Speaker 2: the hotel that was insane, the amount of people that
Speaker 2: were there at noon on a Thursday, Like it fell short,
Speaker 2: and that's never what Louisville wants. We don't just want
Speaker 2: to make the tournament and say that we're happy to
Speaker 2: be there, but with perspective included, like this was a
Speaker 2: season that did bring us back to life and what
Speaker 2: I keep, you know, thinking about, and I shouldn't, you know,
Speaker 2: hammer it home, because I think a lot of folks
Speaker 2: probably understand and it doesn't need to be overstated. But
Speaker 2: we went through a season this year with Pat Kelsey
Speaker 2: in year on one, and we made humongous leaps as
Speaker 2: far as they get back, right. I mean, Louisville started
Speaker 2: this week as a top ten team in the eight people.
Speaker 2: And I don't look at Louisville losing to Creighton as
Speaker 2: any kind of a sign that they were never any good. Now,
Speaker 2: you can make of it what you want. Everybody can
Speaker 2: make their own opinion that kind of stuff. But I mean,
Speaker 2: we made a huge step forward after a few disastrous years,
Speaker 2: and I still feel great about where Louisville's going moving forward,
Speaker 2: and it's gonna be fun. I now, I now have
Speaker 2: a season of Pat Kelsey here, there's been proof of
Speaker 2: concept to where when we look at who he gets
Speaker 2: in the portal, we're gonna be able to say, Okay,
Speaker 2: I know the way Pat Kelsey coaches, I've seen what
Speaker 2: he can do. This guy's gonna be this guy's gonna
Speaker 2: be a perfect fit. I mean, in the reality is
Speaker 2: you never truly know. But my point is last year
Speaker 2: he put together a good roster and we were just
Speaker 2: happy with mostly anybody because hey, this guy, Terrence Edwards,
Speaker 2: he's Mountain West player of the some up player of
Speaker 2: the year. Hell yeah, will take him. I mean, Cason
Speaker 2: Pryor was a guy from South Florida. That what made
Speaker 2: him intriguing is we knew how badly everybody else wanted him.
Speaker 2: Arkansas's dropping bags. Villanova feels like he could be the
Speaker 2: added piece for them, cal at Arkansas got in the mix,
Speaker 2: and then we got him. And then of course you
Speaker 2: watch highlights, you look at his numbers and you feel
Speaker 2: good and then you realize, hey, he picked us over them.
Speaker 2: He must be you know, the other photo schools are
Speaker 2: prioritizing him. He must be pretty good. Corn Johnson six
Speaker 2: Man of the Year in the in the PAC twelve.
Speaker 2: So again, all these all these guys were it was
Speaker 2: easy to be excited about for a couple of reasons. One,
Speaker 2: you could tell these guys were pretty good players, but
Speaker 2: also you know they wanted to come and help get
Speaker 2: this thing turned around and chuck you Hepburn another guy
Speaker 2: that I didn't mention there, but I mean, obviously we
Speaker 2: knew what he was as far as high level point
Speaker 2: guard from from a Big ten school that was very successful.
Speaker 2: So who knows who they end up getting. I mean,
Speaker 2: obviously there's a lot of talk out there right now
Speaker 2: about Louisville and what they're gonna spend in nil. I
Speaker 2: don't know if any of that's real or not. Be
Speaker 2: honest with you, I shouldn't say that, like there's no
Speaker 2: way that's real. But if the reports are true that
Speaker 2: Louisville is will is looking to be spending eight to
Speaker 2: ten million dollars for the roster next season, I mean,
Speaker 2: that would be great. I just don't really know how
Speaker 2: much I see that as being like realistic, because that
Speaker 2: would be spending more than anybody spends, which hey, we do,
Speaker 2: I mean, we do care about basketball as much as anybody.
Speaker 2: Certainly more than the vast majority of programs. So I
Speaker 2: hope that's the case. But I'm already to the point
Speaker 2: now where you've got you got your freshman point guard
Speaker 2: who is a top ten guy. I mean, mock drafts
Speaker 2: already have Mark Hel. Why do I keep forgetting his
Speaker 2: name Mikel Brown? Okay, I keep wanting to say Mark
Speaker 2: Kel Brown, And that's a real person. He played college
Speaker 2: basketball and was really really good, but it was many
Speaker 2: years ago, so that I mean Mikel Markel clearly different
Speaker 2: names easy to get mixed up. I got to get
Speaker 2: it figured out because Mikel Brown junior is one of
Speaker 2: the highest ranked kids that have ever committed to Louisville,
Speaker 2: so I should get familiar with his name. And you
Speaker 2: can clearly Nil was a factor in his decision. But
Speaker 2: now there's talk that NATAMNT is still viewed to be
Speaker 2: most likely committing to Louisville when that decision is made
Speaker 2: because of one Louisville staff, and clearly there's a strong
Speaker 2: connection there, but also money. And I don't want to
Speaker 2: say this and it sound like I'm complaining about anything
Speaker 2: because nobody know. I mean, who knows if they get
Speaker 2: NATA men who knows who they get in the portal.
Speaker 2: It's so early, but I am absolutely one thousand percent
Speaker 2: in the camp of if we have a big pool
Speaker 2: of money to spend on the roster, I want almost
Speaker 2: the entire bit of it spent on portal rather than freshmen.
Speaker 2: I mean, I know the freshmen stars. There's a lot
Speaker 2: of flash, a lot of sizzle, because everybody wants the
Speaker 2: best players in the country. If louisvill gets Native Man,
Speaker 2: they'll be getting him from really. I mean, he's the
Speaker 2: guy who can pick where he wants to go to school.
Speaker 2: They can go where he once So Louisa geting him
Speaker 2: would be a real big statement in the recruiting world,
Speaker 2: and clearly you would have a gift when it comes
Speaker 2: to talent. But you'd have him one year. And I
Speaker 2: know every player you should just consider to be a
Speaker 2: one year rental because guys can leave and go wherever
Speaker 2: they want, they can transfer as many times. But I
Speaker 2: just I think this year you are able to see
Speaker 2: the value you get in grown ass men that a
Speaker 2: laid a lot of college basketball, and also you know
Speaker 2: that are good. Now, if you get these two guys
Speaker 2: and you got prior back, you get Koren back, you
Speaker 2: get Javon back, Let's say you get I mean, could
Speaker 2: I you get him back? I mean that would be
Speaker 2: a great I mean, that would be a good balance,
Speaker 2: a good mixture of Okay, you've got some veterans who
Speaker 2: a couple of guys, we know how good they are.
Speaker 2: Ali Khalif is somebody who hadn't played, but I feel
Speaker 2: like he'll fit. Really He'll have a role that is
Speaker 2: very important, and that role will be crucial to Pat
Speaker 2: Kelsey's team. So again, I'm not anti paying whatever you
Speaker 2: got to get to get the best talent, but I
Speaker 2: just think moving forward, how you use your money is
Speaker 2: going to be It's going to become a new element
Speaker 2: of how we cover and talk college basketball, if that
Speaker 2: makes sense. Because when you look at Kansas, they had
Speaker 2: the most expensive roster in college basketball this year and
Speaker 2: it sounds like it wasn't close. So with that, they
Speaker 2: lose last night to Arkansas, a ten seed, in a
Speaker 2: game that like you know, Kansas had no momentum for
Speaker 2: like the last six weeks two months of the year,
Speaker 2: and it was never because of talent. Same thing with
Speaker 2: Indiana and he didn't make the tournament. Mike Woodson, he
Speaker 2: apparently had these second or third most expensive roster in
Speaker 2: college basketball. So having money is great. What you do
Speaker 2: with the money and how your investments look down the
Speaker 2: line is what it all comes down to. And that's
Speaker 2: I think at times impossible to know. It was impossible
Speaker 2: for Kansas to think they'd be this bad, right, So
Speaker 2: you just don't know. There's always going to be the
Speaker 2: role of the dice. You don't know. But what I
Speaker 2: feel like we do know, in the early stages of
Speaker 2: this new world that is pro sports but not called
Speaker 2: pro sports, your wiser investments are on experienced players who've
Speaker 2: shown what they can do more so than a freshman
Speaker 2: in high school. Now again, with all that said, if
Speaker 2: Louisville Ed's dropping the bags to get Michel Mikel bro,
Speaker 2: Mikel Brown, McHale m and now now I'm in my
Speaker 2: head about how to say Mikel Mikel Brown almost like
Speaker 2: Michael Mikel Mikel Brown junior and Nata men. If anything,
Speaker 2: you can at least say, well, we didn't just pay
Speaker 2: for a kid that had some offers. We paid for
Speaker 2: two top ten players in the country. So again you
Speaker 2: could say money is well spent there, But I think
Speaker 2: you have to have a good supporting cast around them.
Speaker 2: I mean, no better example this year than Rutgers. And
Speaker 2: I know Rutgers doesn't have any like winning DNA, but
Speaker 2: also Rutgers has two guys that put up big numbers
Speaker 2: this year that were two of the top three players
Speaker 2: in the country. And you know, I mean they didn't
Speaker 2: they weren't even I mean they were they were an
Speaker 2: average team. And that's a comp that that's that's that's
Speaker 2: a stretch to say. So if you can have two
Speaker 2: of the top three freshmen in the country that are
Speaker 2: not only putting up numbers that prove they were justifiably
Speaker 2: ranked where they were ranked, they're also going to be
Speaker 2: drafted in the top five, both of them, which again
Speaker 2: proves that like nobody can claim there's anything that shows
Speaker 2: these guys weren't as good as build, but that is
Speaker 2: you got to have a lot more than just that
Speaker 2: to win in this day and age. And I think,
Speaker 2: more than anything, the biggest factor in why and you know,
Speaker 2: I guess the biggest change in college basketball as I
Speaker 2: watched the tournament and really just watch it all year,
Speaker 2: it's not about the ability to just you know, build
Speaker 2: your I mean Again, clear there's a lot of changes
Speaker 2: that have led to college basketball just being different now.
Speaker 2: But what I believe has been really really under valued,
Speaker 2: and I guess maybe not even as recognizable as I
Speaker 2: see it, is that there are so many guys that
Speaker 2: are playing four or five or as many years as
Speaker 2: they can at college basketball that before the Portalan, before
Speaker 2: in IL, they would just call it a career and say, look,
Speaker 2: I'm never going to go to the NBA. I need
Speaker 2: to leave college and go play overseas while I'm still
Speaker 2: twenty or twenty one years old. Like older. You know,
Speaker 2: there are certain dudes who are clearly are way too
Speaker 2: old to be playing college basketball, it seems, and it's
Speaker 2: because of the COVID year and all that stuff, the waivers.
Speaker 2: But if every player played, every player that wasn't surely
Speaker 2: an NBA guy played every year possible as far as
Speaker 2: eligibility in college. If that was just the way it
Speaker 2: was for the last twenty years, we'd have a ton
Speaker 2: of dudes playing college basketball that are twenty three and
Speaker 2: twenty four. Well, you don't realize is that a lot
Speaker 2: of these guys come out of high school. They were
Speaker 2: held back a year, they did a year of prep,
Speaker 2: prep school, postgrad or maybe they did both, and they
Speaker 2: enter college as twenty year old freshmen. So again, some
Speaker 2: of the dudes that are playing on six years is
Speaker 2: because of the pandemic. Sure, Judeco stipulation, that kind of thing,
Speaker 2: but that's the biggest change that because again, if you're like,
Speaker 2: let me give you some guys that that that would
Speaker 2: give you three names for three names of Louisville basketball players,
Speaker 2: they just simply moved on because of what the world
Speaker 2: used to be in college troops. Terrence Jennings, Remember Terrence Jennings,
Speaker 2: guy left early, knew he wasn't gonna be drafted, but
Speaker 2: what else was he going to do in college? Smarto
Speaker 2: Samuels played two years, just left because you know, I
Speaker 2: gotta I gotta maximize me at twenty rather than me
Speaker 2: at twenty two. I don't want to be in college
Speaker 2: for two years. Yeah, I'll be playing for an elite program,
Speaker 2: but I ain't making no money. Jalen Johnson b J King.
Speaker 2: BJ King wasn't a great player, but again, like he
Speaker 2: would have transferred out of Louisville and got money to
Speaker 2: go somewhere else because he was a five starring out
Speaker 2: until American, right, like I mean, so, that to me
Speaker 2: is the most I guess influential change in college basketball
Speaker 2: that just doesn't seem to get mentioned by a lot
Speaker 2: of people is that there were so many guys that
Speaker 2: you've never heard of, that you didn't know, didn't care about,
Speaker 2: because they weren't on the NBA radar, they didn't play
Speaker 2: for elite teams, they weren't all Americans, but they were
Speaker 2: good college players, and they just decided, I got to
Speaker 2: go make money. Well, now their best beat to make
Speaker 2: money is to stay in school. All right, we got
Speaker 2: to get to a break way too late. I'm sorry.
Speaker 2: Stick with us at is Coffee and Company, and we
Speaker 2: are field about Thorton's right here on Sports Talk seven ninety.
Speaker 1: Now back to Coffee and Company, fueled by Thornton's on
Speaker 1: Sports Talk seven nine day.
Speaker 2: My buddy Andy, he texted me. He's a good friend
Speaker 2: of mine who listens to the show. He lives in
Speaker 2: Philadelphia now, but he and I known each other for
Speaker 2: a long time. He's from a louis a big Louisville fan,
Speaker 2: and he made a good point. I didn't even noticed it.
Speaker 2: I'm not watching his club because you know, I'm hosting
Speaker 2: the show, but seeing Drey Davis in Jalen Withers plage
Speaker 2: against each other in the NSAA tournament for obviously other
Speaker 2: teams when they haven't played here in a long time,
Speaker 2: both of them, it is just another reminder of, like,
Speaker 2: college basketball is so different than it used to be.
Speaker 2: I mean, Jalen is a sixty year senior because he
Speaker 2: redshirted at Louisville in his first year and Drey I
Speaker 2: believe Dre is a fifth year guy that just took
Speaker 2: advantage of the COVID rule. But because of how I mean,
Speaker 2: this felt like a new world for Louisville basketball this
Speaker 2: year because it was based off of you know, the
Speaker 2: previous really the last three and a half years or
Speaker 2: so four years. I mean, it feels like those guys
Speaker 2: played here twenty years ago and yet they're still playing
Speaker 2: in college. So yeah, and right now it's it's Drey
Speaker 2: Davis's squad getting the best of Jalen Wethers squad because
Speaker 2: it's a twenty nine to sixteen league for ole Miss
Speaker 2: and I. Austin and I were talking before the show
Speaker 2: started as far as what to do with these games
Speaker 2: in the second wave here in the first first half
Speaker 2: of the day, and I was very tempted to take
Speaker 2: Carolina money line just because of what I saw the
Speaker 2: other night. And I've never once doubted Carolina's talent, but
Speaker 2: also ole Miss. They're one of those teams that I
Speaker 2: feel like they you know, they're not where they are
Speaker 2: because they're just loaded, they're well coached, they're tough, and
Speaker 2: they're good, clearly, But it just came down to me
Speaker 2: thinking Carolina could still come back. There's a lot of
Speaker 2: ball left. I just feel like I had to remind
Speaker 2: myself of who Carolina was because they showed us all
Speaker 2: year who they were, and Ole Miss is just a
Speaker 2: better team and they're showing that. They're showing that right
Speaker 2: now now. The other game that I that I'm in
Speaker 2: on in the second wave at half is not great
Speaker 2: because Saint Mary's is down seven twenty nine to twenty
Speaker 2: twos to score at half against Fandy. Still hanging around
Speaker 2: they are, but I just I feel like they've got
Speaker 2: to start. Here's my thing is they've got a I
Speaker 2: got him at minus four and a half, which I
Speaker 2: should So you took the spread too, Yeah I should have. Okay,
Speaker 2: I just took him. Yeah I should have taken mL
Speaker 2: but I just I have confidence in Saint Mary's and
Speaker 2: I have very little in Vandy. But Vandy again, they
Speaker 2: feel like they are a team that whenever you feel like,
Speaker 2: all right, cute story, Vandy's not dead. They made the tournament,
Speaker 2: but they're also still Vandy, and they're gonna get humbled.
Speaker 2: I mean, so far, it just looks as if Vandy's
Speaker 2: been able to score enough that it's made Saint Mary's,
Speaker 2: and Saint Mary's would be fine winning a game first
Speaker 2: to thirty, and so far this game has already gotten
Speaker 2: off to a start in the first half to where
Speaker 2: Saint Mary's going to have to get comfortable playing not
Speaker 2: necessarily fast, but if they can't trade baskets at this
Speaker 2: point because they're not built offensively to go on big runs.
Speaker 2: So all right, a couple of things to get hit
Speaker 2: on here in our second segment in the four o'clock hour,
Speaker 2: doyone to remind you that this is coffee company, and
Speaker 2: we at feel about Thornton's here on Sports Talk seven
Speaker 2: ninety Nick Coffee. That's me the tribal chief, as to
Speaker 2: Montgomery alongside producing this afternoon and day two of a
Speaker 2: two day stretch where I believe it is the best
Speaker 2: that we get in sports, especially for those that love
Speaker 2: college basketball. And Louisville losing yesterday sucked, but I'm feeling
Speaker 2: still very very good about Louislle basketball overall what happened
Speaker 2: this year, where we're going to where that I'm not
Speaker 2: I'm not even I'm not salty about watching the rest
Speaker 2: of the tournament. But a couple of things Kentucky plays
Speaker 2: done against Troy, and I can't lie to you and
Speaker 2: say that I feel like Troy is a team that
Speaker 2: that really, you know, can exploit where Kentucky's vulnerable because
Speaker 2: I just I just don't believe that. Also, I don't
Speaker 2: know enough about Troy to even say that if I
Speaker 2: wanted to believe it. But overall, if you're Kentucky, I'm
Speaker 2: curious as far as like what your what your feel
Speaker 2: slash vibe is for the first weekend because you got
Speaker 2: three seed, you're playing a fourteen seed, and you are
Speaker 2: expected to win eighty two to seventy going off of
Speaker 2: the Ken Palm. The spread in your game is eleven
Speaker 2: and a half, like you should win. I doubt that
Speaker 2: you're sweating and nervous about losing and I and I
Speaker 2: wouldn't be either. So I'm not trying to like say
Speaker 2: that you should be worried. But when you wait to
Speaker 2: see your team on the dance floor and you look
Speaker 2: at what's played out since the tournament started, basing it
Speaker 2: off of other teams you've played that kind of stuff,
Speaker 2: I mean I would be a little bit more nervous
Speaker 2: now than I was twenty four hours ago, because take
Speaker 2: tore out of the equation. You know, Kentucky, like the
Speaker 2: last win they had that anybody would claim was like
Speaker 2: a win that did in fact confirm their seed line
Speaker 2: was when they went on the road and beat Missouri,
Speaker 2: who at the time, Missouri was like a top fifteen
Speaker 2: team I think top twenty teams certainly, And Kentucky went
Speaker 2: down there and won, and they didn't have Butler. I
Speaker 2: don't think they did. Maybe they did, I'm not sure.
Speaker 2: I don't think they did, but they didn't have I
Speaker 2: don't think they had Butler. I know they didn't have
Speaker 2: Robinson and they went and won at Missouri. Well, Missouri,
Speaker 2: they ended up really kind of bowing out like Missouri
Speaker 2: at the end of the day. They had a win
Speaker 2: against Kansas earlier this year that didn't look nearly as
Speaker 2: valuable in the end as it did when it happened.
Speaker 2: They had that rare win against Florida, and I guess
Speaker 2: they're winn against Alabama was valuable, But like Missouri to
Speaker 2: close out the season February twenty second on, they only
Speaker 2: beat South Carolina and then Mississippi State in the first
Speaker 2: game of the SEC Tournament. Mississippi State, as an eight seed,
Speaker 2: has now lost in the tournament. Missouri again lost to Drake.
Speaker 2: So that doesn't prove anything about who you are, but
Speaker 2: signs of optimi, signs, you know, signs of optimism as
Speaker 2: you head into the actual Instabralay tournament. I don't really
Speaker 2: know where they are for Kentucky because again as Kentucky
Speaker 2: wrapped up their season, they beat Oklahoma on the road
Speaker 2: and then they beat Oklahoma in the tournament. They needed
Speaker 2: buzzer beaters to do both. I don't think anybody would
Speaker 2: try to sell you right now that Oklahoma's very good.
Speaker 2: They got beat by thirty against Alabama. Alabama nearly lost
Speaker 2: to Robert Morris today, and that's not really an exaggeration.
Speaker 2: Alabama needed the final segment of the game to in
Speaker 2: fact pull away to where they didn't lose. I mean
Speaker 2: they I mean it was a close game really throughout
Speaker 2: and again LSU they beat them by a billion, but
Speaker 2: LSU awful. So you got to go back to the
Speaker 2: Tennessee win at home, which again still counts. Hell, you
Speaker 2: could say that's a reason to be optimistic. You beat Tennessee,
Speaker 2: who's really good, but having Tennessee's number, I kind of
Speaker 2: feel like in the back half of the you know,
Speaker 2: from let's say from January on, and I don't even
Speaker 2: really know if that's even worth mentioning because at that
Speaker 2: point Kentucky was a different team. When they played Florida
Speaker 2: and beat them and RUP they had everybody other than
Speaker 2: kerk Creasa. So they beat Mississippi State on the road.
Speaker 2: Mississippi State. Again, I'm not saying they were incorrectly added
Speaker 2: to the tournament or incorrectly seated, but the value that
Speaker 2: was deserving on the resume based off of the conference
Speaker 2: being loaded did not play out for them in the
Speaker 2: NCAA tournament. And even then you had a healthy I
Speaker 2: mean Jackson Robinson I think went for like thirty in
Speaker 2: that game. So you beat A and M at home.
Speaker 2: That was a good win, certainly but then you lost.
Speaker 2: Obama lost to Andy, beat Tennessee, and Knoxville lost to
Speaker 2: cal in Arkansas, got killed by Ole, Miss at Ole,
Speaker 2: miss beat South Carolina, who sucks. Then again big valuable
Speaker 2: win against Tennessee, lost to Texas on the road, who
Speaker 2: got in the playing game and lost. Beat Vandy at home,
Speaker 2: lost to Alabama, beat Oklahoma on the road, got smoked
Speaker 2: by Auburn, beat a bad LSU team, beat Missouri, then
Speaker 2: beat Oklahoma in the SEC tournament, both buzzer beaters needed
Speaker 2: to beat Oklahoma, and then you lost to Alabama by thirty.
Speaker 2: I just they're not going to get upset tonight. It'd
Speaker 2: be a real shocker if that actually happens. But I
Speaker 2: think the SEC's early results and I'm not saying that
Speaker 2: there's anything that proves the league was a fraud or cause. Again,
Speaker 2: the teams that are losing, I mean, I guess Missouri
Speaker 2: losing as a six is the first bad look, But
Speaker 2: like it was in eight to nine with miss if
Speaker 2: you stay losing to Baylor Texas was a play in game.
Speaker 2: Who else is lost in the SEC? I feel like
Speaker 2: I'm missing somebody. I mean, Vandy's off to a good
Speaker 2: start against Sint Mary's. But long story short, I think
Speaker 2: the early results from the SEC take underwhelming Georgia out
Speaker 2: of it. Yeah, Georgia got killed. Who beat Kentucky by
Speaker 2: the way, when Kentucky was a full strength. So what
Speaker 2: I'm getting at is that I just think the belief
Speaker 2: that you could lose as many games as Kentucky lost
Speaker 2: because look, they went ten and eight in their league
Speaker 2: when you look at I mean because of how their conference.
Speaker 2: Think I mean again, because of how their conference works.
Speaker 2: They don't have any non conference games past January. So no,
Speaker 2: they went ten and eight in their last eighteen, with
Speaker 2: some losses to clearly teams that aren't great, losses to
Speaker 2: teams that you know are great, but the majority of
Speaker 2: their wins, especially after the Law, after the win against Florida,
Speaker 2: whenever they were fully healthy. Like what I just think,
Speaker 2: if you're Kentucky and you wanted to be worried about
Speaker 2: your team, the opportunities there, because when you can go
Speaker 2: ten and eight in your league and get a three seed,
Speaker 2: it's based off you would think that it's because your
Speaker 2: league is great and your league was great, but to
Speaker 2: see how the rest of your league has fared up
Speaker 2: to this point would make me think that one Troy
Speaker 2: shouldn't be a loss, but like, we better buckle up,
Speaker 2: got to play well, and they might beat them by forty,
Speaker 2: but I can think. I guess the bigger thing for
Speaker 2: me would be if I'm playing Illinois and I'm Kentucky,
Speaker 2: based off of what I've seen so far, I would
Speaker 2: be scared. Not to say you can't beat them, not
Speaker 2: to say you're facing Goliath, but everything about Kentucky since
Speaker 2: the injury stuff really got a hold of them, and
Speaker 2: everything you've seen from their opponents in the tournament tells
Speaker 2: me that like Illinois, like I won't be shocked if
Speaker 2: Illinois's favorite in that game. I mean, we'll see, I
Speaker 2: mean Illinoi's got to get past Xavier before anything. And
Speaker 2: by the way, when wins that game, that's later, right,
Speaker 2: let me see, Yeah, that one will be a Yeah,
Speaker 2: Illinois and Xavier is a nine to forty five tip,
Speaker 2: and Illinois is a four point favorite based off the
Speaker 2: Ken Palm. As far as the actual spread in that
Speaker 2: one looks like it's uh, let's see four and a half.
Speaker 2: I mean, Sean Miller did a good job the other night,
Speaker 2: but I mean Illinois better, right, I mean Xavier to
Speaker 2: me again, maybe the Big East will be maybe the
Speaker 2: Big East will look like the league that was underseated
Speaker 2: because they were. I mean, Marquette got a six, Creighton
Speaker 2: got an eight, they finished second in the league and
Speaker 2: played in the championship game. I mean, who else got
Speaker 2: in from the Big East. I feel like I'm missing
Speaker 2: some Big East teams here that if Yukon will play
Speaker 2: to night against Oklahoma, that yeah, Crade, Marquette, Yukon, Saint
Speaker 2: John's is that it? Yeah? I feel like there was
Speaker 2: one more. Maybe I'm wrong. Yeah, if you go to
Speaker 2: so so let's see in the Big East it was
Speaker 2: Saint John's, Creighton, Connecticut, Marquette, Xavier, and Xavier was a
Speaker 2: play and they won. So anyways, I'm not trying to
Speaker 2: build up like, uh oh, Kentucky's gonna lose tonight because
Speaker 2: I don't. I don't believe that. And in these kind
Speaker 2: of games against these kind of teams. It's only been
Speaker 2: one season, but like they dominated these kind of teams
Speaker 2: in the non conference portion of their schedule. However, at
Speaker 2: that time that was December and November. Different team. I mean,
Speaker 2: they don't have Lamon Butler and Jackson Robinson, Butler's expected
Speaker 2: to play, but like for the last six weeks, it
Speaker 2: seems as if when available, and sometimes he's not been
Speaker 2: available when available, like, it doesn't take much for him
Speaker 2: to re injure himself and and and leave and not
Speaker 2: come back. Now we'll say this, I think Amari Williams
Speaker 2: is a matchup problem for anybody.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 2: He's somebody that I think could just be a different
Speaker 2: type of dude that a lot of teams in this
Speaker 2: tournament have seen, just because he's a rare player in general.
Speaker 2: He's a very good passer, a fiscal presence that you
Speaker 2: just don't see. So if I if I was Pope,
Speaker 2: I would I would I would enter this tournament looking
Speaker 2: to play through him in every way. And of course
Speaker 2: Otaga Away is just a just a gamer, tough guy
Speaker 2: who you know, like I think he's just going to
Speaker 2: get his you know, with when when the time presents itself.
Speaker 2: All right, quick break, we'll come back and wrap at
Speaker 2: the four o'clock hour. On the other side, keep it
Speaker 2: locked right here on Sports Talk seven ninety.
Speaker 1: Now back to Coffee and Company, fueled by Thornton's on
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Speaker 2: So Carolina is still still in a in a big
Speaker 2: hole here. It's now forty one to twenty three with
Speaker 2: a couple of minutes left in the first half. Ole
Speaker 2: miss controls. Yeah, and Greg Canyon's up five to zero
Speaker 2: against uh just Maryland team. Actually now it's five to two.
Speaker 2: Just started, but we're about four minutes in and Maryland
Speaker 2: took him that long to score. So I'm already sort
Speaker 2: of questioning my decision there. And you know, it's more
Speaker 2: so just my belief in Maryland, but Grant Canyon, I mean,
Speaker 2: they are a team coach coached by one of the Druids,
Speaker 2: and I mean they've just they've had a winning program
Speaker 2: for a while. But yet they excuse me, had they
Speaker 2: been a team that had broke through the tournament won
Speaker 2: a game, because I feel like they've been here quite
Speaker 2: a few times now, just because you know, since they've
Speaker 2: had even when Dan Marley was there, easy to forget
Speaker 2: that he was there. But I think they've shown that
Speaker 2: they they they've got a good thing going. But I
Speaker 2: just it was hard for me to see them being
Speaker 2: able to get a win against a team like this,
Speaker 2: and I mean, maybe I should have just not touched
Speaker 2: this win or taken Maryland moneyline, I did take Maryland
Speaker 2: to cover and Maryland as well as Baylor or two
Speaker 2: teams that I just when I watched them, I know
Speaker 2: what they have to work with from a personnel standpoint,
Speaker 2: that I just them beating anybody is not going to
Speaker 2: shock me. Now. Maryland is a team that the resume
Speaker 2: played out that way like they they deserve the seed
Speaker 2: that they got. I think you could have made a
Speaker 2: case Maryland could have been a three. Baylor is the
Speaker 2: team that really they have. They don't have a whole
Speaker 2: lot to like as far as just numbers and what
Speaker 2: they've done and when it comes to results. But today,
Speaker 2: like they had stretches to play against against Mississippi State,
Speaker 2: where I mean they got nor chattle Meer, a guy
Speaker 2: who's played in the Final Four, who's who's Who's one
Speaker 2: of the best bigs you'll see in college basketball. I
Speaker 2: mean Edgecombe clearly one of the best freshmen in the country,
Speaker 2: and at this point he's not really a freshman. He
Speaker 2: made two clutch free throws to close out the game earlier.
Speaker 2: Jeremy Roach from Duke is one of their guards who
Speaker 2: can flat out shoot it. So we'll see what the
Speaker 2: number is when we get there. But I really, I
Speaker 2: really like Baylor to cover against against Duke because they're
Speaker 2: going to be dogs and it may be a big number,
Speaker 2: may not, but I like, I think Baylor could beat
Speaker 2: I'm not necessarily going to tell you right now that
Speaker 2: I'm predicting it, but I think Duke could run into
Speaker 2: something that didn't get talked about a whole lot. Duke
Speaker 2: could run into a team that isn't better than them
Speaker 2: when it comes to talent, doesn't have a better resume.
Speaker 2: But the ACC sucked out loud this year. And yes,
Speaker 2: Duke played that random non conference game against Illinois and
Speaker 2: they won big. But Baylor's going to give them, just
Speaker 2: from a pure talent perspective, something that they have not
Speaker 2: seen in a long time, or maybe even all year.
Speaker 2: I mean, I know they played a loaded schedule, but
Speaker 2: Baylor on paper, And that's why I like Scott Drew.
Speaker 2: He's easy to forget because he coaches at Baylor. He's
Speaker 2: not a big personality, but he turned down Louisville and
Speaker 2: Kentucky last year, and you know, I get that. He's
Speaker 2: a guy that has won a championship and clearly he
Speaker 2: has a good track record at Baylor, but he's coached
Speaker 2: a long time and like this year's Baylor team, their results,
Speaker 2: it's actually most consistent with what he's done his whole career.
Speaker 2: So again, I think when you look at their roster
Speaker 2: as far as who they added in the portal, who
Speaker 2: they brought in from as freshmen, like, Baylor will be
Speaker 2: a challenge to Duke from a talent perspective that I'm
Speaker 2: not sure they faced all year. I mean, Auburn, they
Speaker 2: played them, and obviously they lost to Auburn, and Auburn's great,
Speaker 2: But outside of that, I mean Baylor just you know, again,
Speaker 2: I'm not talking from like a resume, and again that's
Speaker 2: what like. At this point, you've proven who you are.
Speaker 2: But if you get there's a team that could get
Speaker 2: hot in March and also just rely on guys who
Speaker 2: just simply are built different. Baylor could be that team.
Speaker 2: But again, I here I am talking up Maryland and
Speaker 2: they're trailing to the Grand Canyon. All right, Let's talk
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Speaker 2: All right, not looking good for Saint Mary's. I mean
Speaker 2: it's not over Austin, but they're down thirty nine to
Speaker 2: twenty seven. And it just when I see them sitting
Speaker 2: at twenty seven, I'm still thinking, Okay, when's the run
Speaker 2: gonna start. Yeah, they can't get any footing under them
Speaker 2: whatsoever because they can't get stops, and that's usually what
Speaker 2: they rely on. Like they've they probably haven't gone on
Speaker 2: many runs this year as a team. That would that
Speaker 2: would be, you know, like they went on a fourteen
Speaker 2: to two run, Like if they did, it would have
Speaker 2: taken them a half to do it because they just
Speaker 2: play so slow. Well you would know better than I would.
Speaker 2: I mean, Randy Bennett, a guy who wins enough at
Speaker 2: Saint Mary's to certainly, I mean they wouldn't you say,
Speaker 2: Saint Mary's. They're clearly no Gonzaga, but they have like
Speaker 2: they they're visible within the college basketball right right, absolutely
Speaker 2: as one of those kind of teams. But it's all
Speaker 2: always there, but it's always based off of him building
Speaker 2: a team that is built to do what he knows
Speaker 2: can succeed. And when they lose players to the in fact,
Speaker 2: they don't lose many guys at the portal because the
Speaker 2: guys that are there they realize I know who I
Speaker 2: am as a player. My best case scenario, the best
Speaker 2: chance for me to be a successful player on a
Speaker 2: successful team is to play at Saint Mary's. So when
Speaker 2: you run it like when you run into when you
Speaker 2: run into a team that just simply has been able
Speaker 2: to get by what you try to keep them from doing,
Speaker 2: but also you know they're stopping you like it. I
Speaker 2: have no number to reference, and I doubt it exists
Speaker 2: without somebody doing a deep dive. And I know I'm
Speaker 2: not doing it, and I know but nobody else will,
Speaker 2: but I'd be I would love to see a Saint
Speaker 2: Mary's breakdown of when they get down double digits, do
Speaker 2: they ever win? Because again, there's teams that are built
Speaker 2: to just keep it at the pace to where they
Speaker 2: could easily within a few possessions, they're back in it.
Speaker 2: That's not Saint Mary's. So they're gonna have to have
Speaker 2: an identity change here if they a clawback, because twelve
Speaker 2: I put it this way with the Virginia. Remember we'd
Speaker 2: be down seven to Virginia. I feel like you're down thirty.
Speaker 2: You remember that, right? Yeah, I was just dragging it
Speaker 2: through the mud. I mean, I feel like that's kind
Speaker 2: of Saint Mary's if they're down for who they are.
Speaker 2: Like if you but if you had Virginia down big,
Speaker 2: you felt like you were killing them, right, if you'd
Speaker 2: had him down it, if you had him down eight,
Speaker 2: you felt like it was over. So we'll see what happens.
Speaker 2: But I do know we got to get to a break.
Speaker 2: We'll finish strong here in the five o'clock hour. Keep
Speaker 2: it locked. It's coffee and company fee about Thornton's right
Speaker 2: here on Sports Talk seven ninety