Speaker 1: It's time for coffee and Company, fueled by Thornton's on
Speaker 1: Sports Talk seven nine day. Now here's nick coffee.
Speaker 2: That's right, let's get the four o'clock hours started here
Speaker 2: on a Wednesday afternoon. It is coffee and Company fuel
Speaker 2: by Thornton's on Sports Talk seven ninety. I'm gonna stick
Speaker 2: with something I mentioned last week that I said I
Speaker 2: would do before it's all over. And it's all over
Speaker 2: for me here soon, so no better day to do
Speaker 2: it than today. I'll do this in the second segment.
Speaker 2: And I don't want to act as if like this
Speaker 2: is some big thing, because you know, it's just my opinion.
Speaker 2: But somebody did ask me last week if I could
Speaker 2: give the top five Louisville football and basketball players of
Speaker 2: all time, and I did, five best Louisville basketball players
Speaker 2: of my lifetime that I can remember, because again, I
Speaker 2: didn't watch Griff play.
Speaker 3: I know he was great. I mean you could.
Speaker 2: I'm sure some people still believe he's the best brother
Speaker 2: that ever played here. But and I wouldn't disagree with that,
Speaker 2: I just you know, I didn't watch him, so I'm
Speaker 2: just basing it off of what I witnessed, an experience
Speaker 2: because again that that's what makes it my opinion. So
Speaker 2: and again that's not to say that my opinion would
Speaker 2: differ if I did live in the eighties and watched
Speaker 2: griff in that group and all that. But anyways, because
Speaker 2: football is such a tricky thing as far as like
Speaker 2: there's so many different positions, there's so many people on
Speaker 2: the field to where like best football player of all
Speaker 2: time is rarely ever a conversation anybody has, right, it's
Speaker 2: best quarterback of all time, best receiver of all time,
Speaker 2: and quite literally, there's not only a lot of different
Speaker 2: positions in football than there is basketball. But you can
Speaker 2: be a gardener forward and nobody really notices depending upon
Speaker 2: you can just identifies whatever you want.
Speaker 3: Right.
Speaker 2: We don't see position, just like we don't see gender. Right,
Speaker 2: but when it comes to football, like you know, imagine
Speaker 2: comparing an offensive lineman and a safety. I mean, you
Speaker 2: wouldn't be able to do it as far as well,
Speaker 2: he's the best player of all time, No he's not.
Speaker 2: This safety is not the offensive lineman. So what I'm
Speaker 2: gonna do is give you my top I think I
Speaker 2: want to do top four because top five seems like
Speaker 2: too many. It'd be tough to do, but top three
Speaker 2: didn't seem like enough. I'm gonna do my top four
Speaker 2: running backs, receivers, quarterbacks, and also defensive players, and it'll
Speaker 2: be just based off the same thing what I watched
Speaker 2: and sort of my experience as a fan. And I
Speaker 2: don't want to make it seem like I'm doing this
Speaker 2: to be so self serving, but it was a request
Speaker 2: that I got last week and then I kind of
Speaker 2: put it off, and then they bumped it and said, hey,
Speaker 2: are you gonna do this or not? So for this person,
Speaker 2: and I'm hope hopefully others will be interested as well,
Speaker 2: because I last week I learned a lot of you
Speaker 2: guys didn't agree with my top five basketball players. But
Speaker 2: again it's just my opinion. And also if you paid
Speaker 2: attention or maybe you just didn't catch the entire segment,
Speaker 2: I mean, I was only doing guys that I watched play,
Speaker 2: you know. So anyways, we'll do that coming up here
Speaker 2: before too long. But if you are just not joining us,
Speaker 2: we are still awaiting a decision formally from.
Speaker 3: The man of the hour.
Speaker 2: Otega away Kentucky's top returning player unless he's not, meaning
Speaker 2: he's not returning to Kentucky, which I guess to be fair.
Speaker 2: Right now, he's in the draft and he's got to
Speaker 2: remove himself from the draft, and the process to do
Speaker 2: that is by submitting paperwork by midnight tonight, And he
Speaker 2: might have already done it, it just hasn't been made public.
Speaker 2: He may have, like as far the formal process could
Speaker 2: have already happened. He just may not be itching to
Speaker 2: tell anybody anything until later tonight. Maybe he's somebody that
Speaker 2: likes to leave people in suspense. Maybe he really doesn't
Speaker 2: know what he wants to do. That's what I have
Speaker 2: a hard time believing. I mean, Austin, you were much
Speaker 2: more recently at that age than I was. I kind
Speaker 2: of feel like, at this point, wouldn't you, I mean,
Speaker 2: wouldn't you know what you're gonna do at this point?
Speaker 2: Because there's not much information that's gonna change. It could
Speaker 2: just simply come down to you knowing both options and
Speaker 2: just not being able to decide which one you'll want
Speaker 2: to do. Because I think he's got to have at
Speaker 2: least a gut feeling right by now, even if he
Speaker 2: hasn't actually filed anything as far as coming back, he
Speaker 2: hasn't told anybody anything definitively. Even if that's the case,
Speaker 2: he probably knows what he's gonna do. But then you
Speaker 2: would have to ask, Okay, well, if he wants to,
Speaker 2: if he knows he's coming back, why not say anything.
Speaker 3: It could be two things.
Speaker 2: He's really just looking for a reason to leave and
Speaker 2: not come back to Kentucky, or he likes to play
Speaker 2: this role.
Speaker 3: In leaving people in suspense.
Speaker 2: But I mean, I just I really can't see a
Speaker 2: scenario where he would say, yeah, I don't want to
Speaker 2: go back to Kentucky unless he didn't like Kentucky. And
Speaker 2: I just have a hard time seeing that. What would
Speaker 2: you do if you were in this position and you
Speaker 2: were viewed as a late second round PICKT best, But
Speaker 2: you could come back to Kentucky, be the man and
Speaker 2: make a lot of money. Just to me, it seems
Speaker 2: like an easy decision. With all that said, I hope
Speaker 2: he does go go to the NPA.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 3: No, it probably has to be the latter.
Speaker 4: I mean, stay, be the BMOC, right, the big man
Speaker 4: on campus.
Speaker 3: Get your money.
Speaker 4: Uh, And that's a good thing that be that super
Speaker 4: senior and that's a good position to have, even if
Speaker 4: you're not getting paid.
Speaker 2: Yeah, because you're living a great lifestyle. You're the man,
Speaker 2: and now you're getting paid to be the man. Like
Speaker 2: to me, it just seems like it's Kentucky too.
Speaker 4: Yeah, you know, see like these young kids, I mean,
Speaker 4: these kids these days, at the end of the day,
Speaker 4: like the goal is to get to the league. I
Speaker 4: feel like probably for like ninety nine percent of every
Speaker 4: college basketball player, the dream is to be in the NBA.
Speaker 4: And even though, like you know, tomorrow's not promised, so
Speaker 4: you could probably just be told that. I mean, if
Speaker 4: you stay another year, you probably bump up to a
Speaker 4: first round guaranteed. But at this point you're already so close,
Speaker 4: and you know, they just may have that mentality of
Speaker 4: you know, tomorrow's not guaranteed, to go ahead, to give
Speaker 4: it a shot while I'm here, because this is, you know,
Speaker 4: everything he's probably dreamed of since he's you know, started
Speaker 4: playing basketball.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: I somebody mentioned this on the text line. By the way,
Speaker 2: it's the Ellen and Federal Credit Union text line if
Speaker 2: you guys would like to text in FABO two four
Speaker 2: three eight ninety seventy three. Uh And and I knew
Speaker 2: he had a brother that played in the NFL. Somebody
Speaker 2: mentioned though that like, maybe the money thing is not
Speaker 2: as much of a factor for him as it would
Speaker 2: be others because his you know, his brother's been in
Speaker 2: the NFL for a long time and he's already you know.
Speaker 2: I mean, I don't know. So his brother plays for
Speaker 2: the Ravens. He went to Penn State and was there
Speaker 2: for a few years, and he's been with the Ravens
Speaker 2: since twenty twenty one, was a first round pick, and
Speaker 2: it does look like, yeah, I don't think he's like
Speaker 2: a star for them, but he's somebody that since being
Speaker 2: drafted has been has been with them, and they picked
Speaker 2: up the latest option on his contract. So I mean,
Speaker 2: maybe that's a factor to where the money is not
Speaker 2: as big of a thing to him. I mean, I
Speaker 2: wouldn't imagine he gets all his brother's money. I don't know,
Speaker 2: but I'm just trying to think of a scenario where
Speaker 2: this turns out to where he doesn't come back to Kentucky.
Speaker 2: And it could mean if he doesn't, it just means
Speaker 2: he didn't want to. And people are entitled to decide
Speaker 2: whatever they want to do something I would love to do.
Speaker 2: Maybe he considered something that you would never want to do.
Speaker 2: Everybody's differ. But when you consider the scenario, I just
Speaker 2: think if he didn't come back, it would be because
Speaker 2: of reasons that I just can't quite believe are real,
Speaker 2: meaning that he doesn't like playing at Kentucky, that he
Speaker 2: doesn't think the team's going to be good next year,
Speaker 2: and maybe his draft stock would suffer from that. Maybe
Speaker 2: he just hates college. And but even if all that's
Speaker 2: the case, the financial component is what would make it
Speaker 2: all worth it. Now, maybe somebody's onto something on the
Speaker 2: text line that his NFL brother has you know, been
Speaker 2: generous to where he's I mean, look O take always
Speaker 2: probably already made a lot of money playing college basketball.
Speaker 2: Therefore another year of doing it would be great. But
Speaker 2: he also couldn't get paid doing something in basketball next
Speaker 2: year if he did not sign with a like if
Speaker 2: he signed a two way deal after being a second
Speaker 2: round pick, I mean, he would still make good money.
Speaker 2: It wouldn't be the big an IL check he's going
Speaker 2: to get from Kentucky, but it would still be a
Speaker 2: lot of money to someone that age. And again, he's
Speaker 2: probably already put away a lot of money because he
Speaker 2: played at Kentucky last year and was arguably their best player.
Speaker 2: Now there is the This is something that I hadn't
Speaker 2: really considered. And I heard I heard KSR talking about
Speaker 2: a little bit this morning and that and Chris Livingston
Speaker 2: was one of the guys.
Speaker 3: Who is that his name?
Speaker 2: There was a Livingston that played at Kentucky for one
Speaker 2: year and went pro his Yes, yes, that's him. There's
Speaker 2: so many guys Cali Perry put into the NBA.
Speaker 3: Was that the year?
Speaker 2: No, No, this was much more recent. He went to
Speaker 2: the NBA draft and yeah, he got drafted by the
Speaker 2: Bucks in the twenty twenty three drafts. So he played.
Speaker 2: So he played on I guess it was on. It
Speaker 2: was on the team that lost to Kansas State in
Speaker 2: the in the second round, and he was a five
Speaker 2: star recruit and it didn't work out. He later signed
Speaker 2: with Rich Paul, the agent for Lebron, and they blamed
Speaker 2: Cali Perry, which I really don't think that Cal had
Speaker 2: anything to do with him.
Speaker 1: Not.
Speaker 2: I mean that got played and just wasn't quite as
Speaker 2: good and as he was supposed to be. What I'm
Speaker 2: getting at is this could be a potential scenario because
Speaker 2: he left and nil was already a thing and his
Speaker 2: draft stock was not great. He ended up being the
Speaker 2: fifty eighth overall pick, so he became a second He
Speaker 2: was the second to last pick in the draft. He
Speaker 2: kind of knew that's where his draft stock was, but
Speaker 2: he had an agent that told him, if somebody takes
Speaker 2: you in these late rounds, we're going to get it
Speaker 2: worked out to where your deal is multi year, to
Speaker 2: where you know, we're not going to have them guarantee
Speaker 2: as much upfront, but they'll guarantee it over time. And
Speaker 2: I don't know the exact arrangements of his contract, but
Speaker 2: he got a rare second round contract to where you know,
Speaker 2: financially it wasn't it wasn't viewed as such a big risk,
Speaker 2: I suppose, But again, he was in a different situation.
Speaker 2: This is a guy who was so highly regarded coming
Speaker 2: out of high school and it so clearly didn't work
Speaker 2: out for him in college as far as you know,
Speaker 2: living up to expectations, to where if he comes back
Speaker 2: to college for another year and he's once again underwhelming,
Speaker 2: at that point, the NBA, they don't forget about you,
Speaker 2: but they feel as if you've proven you weren't, you
Speaker 2: weren't the guy, so we'll see. But again tonight at
Speaker 2: midnight is the deadline. And again, if I had to guess,
Speaker 2: I would say he's already decided he's coming back. He
Speaker 2: might have already gone through the process formally of it
Speaker 2: being official, but as far as an announcement and notification
Speaker 2: and acknowledgment, nobody's entitled to that.
Speaker 3: It just depends on if he wants to do it.
Speaker 3: He could do it and.
Speaker 2: Make BBN very happy today, and I'm sure he will,
Speaker 2: but at this point it didn't look like he's done
Speaker 2: that just yet.
Speaker 3: All right, so let's see where do we want to
Speaker 3: go here.
Speaker 2: This isn't something that maybe you found interesting, but I did,
Speaker 2: and I wanted to share with you because I feel
Speaker 2: like this is really rare. The early, I guess, the
Speaker 2: early stages of this new world of college athletics with
Speaker 2: NIL the portal where you basically have pro sports.
Speaker 3: That's what it is, right.
Speaker 2: You got free agency with the portal, and you got
Speaker 2: big money within IL and it's professional sports.
Speaker 3: But we're just told that it's not when we know
Speaker 3: that it in fact is.
Speaker 2: But in the early, the early years here, there's been
Speaker 2: a study put together by CBS Sports that says elite
Speaker 2: recruits and NFL draft. Yah says basically, if you are
Speaker 2: somebody that's an elite recruit, you have a better chance.
Speaker 2: Like so far, are the guys who have been elite
Speaker 2: recruits and stayed at the school they went to have
Speaker 2: a much better chance of getting to the NBA or
Speaker 2: play of the NFL. And guys who are big time
Speaker 2: recruits that end up, as you know, at a top school,
Speaker 2: they end up transferring and I guess they technically still
Speaker 2: could end up going to the NFL, but I don't
Speaker 2: know if that. What I found interesting here is that
Speaker 2: there's two ways to look at it. One, if you
Speaker 2: are as good as they say, no matter where you go,
Speaker 2: you'll show it, you'll play. You don't have any need
Speaker 2: to transfer because if you are as good as you may,
Speaker 2: maybe you go to a school and the team stinks
Speaker 2: and you want to leave because of that reason or
Speaker 2: a coaching change. But if you are really really good
Speaker 2: and you end up at one of the top five
Speaker 2: schools Ohio State, Georgia, Alabama, still, I mean Oregon. Just
Speaker 2: think of the teams that have been the best in
Speaker 2: college football the last seven eight years consistently. If you
Speaker 2: are as good as advertised and you end up at
Speaker 2: those schools, it'll all work out to where one you're
Speaker 2: playing for a really good program and you're making a
Speaker 2: lot of money, and then when you're ready, you'll go
Speaker 2: to the NFL. So there's that way of looking at it,
Speaker 2: meaning if you were a five star and you get
Speaker 2: there and you don't play, it might mean you're not
Speaker 2: good enough, and then you end up leaving and just.
Speaker 3: Trying to start over.
Speaker 2: There'll be guys who, by the way, five star recruits
Speaker 2: that played a different school every year and they never
Speaker 2: really showed that they were ever worth the ranking they
Speaker 2: got coming out of high school, but they're still living
Speaker 2: off of that and getting opportunities because well, I mean,
Speaker 2: this guy was a five star kid at high school
Speaker 2: that nobody wanted. But anyways, there's the other side I'm
Speaker 2: getting at is that it's not just harder because you
Speaker 2: don't even have the chance to play right away if
Speaker 2: you're really really good young.
Speaker 3: Because a guy that's really really really.
Speaker 2: Good but he's twenty two and he's a senior is
Speaker 2: going to play over a guy who's really good and
Speaker 2: has a lot of future, has a lot of upside,
Speaker 2: big time future, but just not ready yet. Like you,
Speaker 2: just because the portal makes it to where you can
Speaker 2: load up with veterans every year. Now, guys stick around
Speaker 2: in college more so because they can make money. Then
Speaker 2: there's not the pressure to go to the NFL and
Speaker 2: make money. They can make money in college. So because
Speaker 2: of that, it's just much more difficult to get opportunities
Speaker 2: early on at the bigger schools unless you are elite
Speaker 2: of the elite of the elite. Like I don't know
Speaker 2: if Isaac Brown and Duke Watson chose Louisville specifically because
Speaker 2: of this. Maybe it had nothing to do with it
Speaker 2: at all, but those guys probably would have had a
Speaker 2: harder time getting on the field right away at a
Speaker 2: place like Texas, at a place like Georgia, at a
Speaker 2: place like Alabama or Ohio State.
Speaker 3: Now maybe not.
Speaker 2: Maybe they would have shown how good they are and
Speaker 2: it would have all played out. But I think there
Speaker 2: are schools in that tier that Louisville's in right now.
Speaker 2: You're certainly not a power program, you're certainly not flirting
Speaker 2: with a national championship, but you're good and you've I
Speaker 2: guess not for too long. But like but bram he
Speaker 2: sustained success up to this point, and by all signs,
Speaker 2: it doesn't look like it's going to stop. So you
Speaker 2: could benefit from getting guys who look at a crowded
Speaker 2: position spot at a bigger program. And if you've got
Speaker 2: an il money and you've got still a power for
Speaker 2: program to play in and you've got a bigger opportunity there,
Speaker 2: I think kids would be foolish enough to take advantage
Speaker 2: of that because going and sitting can work out as
Speaker 2: far as development. But why would you do that when
Speaker 2: you can go and play, get better, make money, and
Speaker 2: then kind of restart your recruiting process all over again
Speaker 2: once you've shown what you can do. I mean, I
Speaker 2: would hope that you wouldn't do that if you end
Speaker 2: up at a place like Louisville, because I'm a Louisville fan.
Speaker 2: But if you did, I wouldn't be shocked because again,
Speaker 2: like that's like the players have all the control now.
Speaker 2: But anyways, this this study says that I'll read directly
Speaker 2: here says the CBS Sports study, analyzing seven years of
Speaker 2: INNSTAA transfer portal data twenty eighteen to twenty twenty three
Speaker 2: for elite high school recruits, reveals that transferring schools may
Speaker 2: reduce their NFL draft prospects.
Speaker 3: So the draft rates.
Speaker 2: Here, non transfers from twenty eighteen to twenty twenty one
Speaker 2: that were top of the twenty four to seven sports
Speaker 2: classes were drafted at fifty three point six percent compared
Speaker 2: to eleven point four percent for transfers. So among the
Speaker 2: three hundred and seven drafted the top players, only sixty
Speaker 2: one were transferred. So and again, look, that's probably data
Speaker 2: that would exist if the portal existed twenty years ago,
Speaker 2: because let's be real, a lot of times these guys
Speaker 2: who were built as five star recruits don't end up
Speaker 2: being five star recruits. And I don't say that to
Speaker 2: knock the people who are who are you know, evaluating
Speaker 2: high school players, because hey, it's it's it's it's important.
Speaker 2: Clearly there's a market for it. But I think you
Speaker 2: can know as much as anybody's ever known about football
Speaker 2: and still have a tough time determining, you know, who
Speaker 2: the best four hundred players are in America. Like, I
Speaker 2: think that's impossible, if I'm being honest with you. Now,
Speaker 2: there are certain people that you see that you just know,
Speaker 2: you can just tell, but that there's not many of those.
Speaker 2: So again, I think there's still always going to be
Speaker 2: this intrigue and excitement from fans about a guy in
Speaker 2: the portal that came from Georgia, that came from Florida,
Speaker 2: that came from Michigan or usc.
Speaker 3: And not.
Speaker 2: I know, I don't want to indicate that you shouldn't
Speaker 2: be excited. But if they have been there two years
Speaker 2: and the best thing you can say is they were
Speaker 2: at the school and they had a big time ranking
Speaker 2: coming out of high school, the reality is this, you
Speaker 2: have no clue what you're getting. You may get a
Speaker 2: guy who just at your level is better fit to
Speaker 2: have success, that it was too crowded his position, or
Speaker 2: you could get a guy who wasn't nearly as good
Speaker 2: as anybody thought he was, or maybe he got to
Speaker 2: college and didn't have the resources around him that made
Speaker 2: him work hard. I mean, you just never know. I mean,
Speaker 2: I think Louisville has in recent years landed both sides.
Speaker 2: They've landed guys who have come from a bigger program
Speaker 2: and man, they came in and balled out ja Corey
Speaker 2: Brooks last year at receiver. They met some other guys
Speaker 2: who came in that were coming from a bigger program
Speaker 2: that they just couldn't get a lot of action because
Speaker 2: it was too competitive and they weren't good and left.
Speaker 3: I can think of the young man's name.
Speaker 2: There was a kid who transfer from Georgia that was,
Speaker 2: you know, a former I think he was like a
Speaker 2: top twenty player overall, and in the end he ended
Speaker 2: up transferring. Louisll couldn't get on the field and he's
Speaker 2: already left.
Speaker 3: You just never know.
Speaker 2: Our quick break will come back on the other side.
Speaker 2: Keep this thing rolling along. It's coffee and company. Feel
Speaker 2: about Thornton'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 to nine.
Speaker 2: Day or one thing to add to the conversation. We
Speaker 2: were just having a moment ago about the I guess
Speaker 2: the numbers here as far as guys who have been
Speaker 2: able to transfer once or even twice and still get
Speaker 2: to the NFL. It happens, but give a much better
Speaker 2: chance of being drafted. And I don't think it's because
Speaker 2: the NFL is looking at you as damaged goods or
Speaker 2: somebody that has baggage because you've transferred. I mean, they
Speaker 2: shouldn't do that because nowadays guys are going to transfer
Speaker 2: and look out for themselves, as they should. But there
Speaker 2: are only two players in this era, meaning the early
Speaker 2: era of the portal and nil, where players have transferred
Speaker 2: more than twice and ended up still getting drafted.
Speaker 3: One of those.
Speaker 2: Players was Tyler Stock, who of course was a big
Speaker 2: time recruit and ended up at Oregon, then at Texas Tech,
Speaker 2: and then at Louisville. And then the other one was
Speaker 2: Tyler Barron, who also ended up at Louisville. He was
Speaker 2: at Tennessee, came to Louisville, and then I think he
Speaker 2: transferred to Miami. I believe that's where he ended up
Speaker 2: last year, and he was drafted pretty early in this
Speaker 2: last draft. So he's one of those guys that came
Speaker 2: in and was here for a semester and left, so
Speaker 2: he doesn't necessarily count. I guess Chuck would be Chuck
Speaker 2: would I guess that would make Shuck the only player
Speaker 2: in the portal era that has transferred more than twice
Speaker 2: or maybe even more than once and ended up being drafted.
Speaker 2: I mean, that doesn't sound like a thing, but I
Speaker 2: trust CBS Sports as data, and again I'm not just
Speaker 2: I'm not just looking for this. This was just an
Speaker 2: article that broke down just the numbers, and they mentioned
Speaker 2: those two guys, and I guess technically Tyler Baron counts,
Speaker 2: but he you know, he didn't.
Speaker 3: He didn't play here. He was just here, all right.
Speaker 2: It's coffee and company. Feel about Thorton's on Sports Talk
Speaker 2: seven ninety. Appreciate you hanging out with us. Let's get
Speaker 2: to some basketball news. Because of this, I'm gonna put
Speaker 2: off the whole top player thing until the five o'clock hour.
Speaker 2: But the ACC just dropped the conference schedules on us,
Speaker 2: which I guess they kind of did but kind of didn't.
Speaker 2: We have now who Louisville is going to play, and
Speaker 2: who they're going to play twice, which teams they're gonna
Speaker 2: get only at home, which teams they're going to get
Speaker 2: only away.
Speaker 3: And I mean, I kind.
Speaker 2: Of feel like this worked out really well, and as
Speaker 2: as I was hoping, and as others reported, it will
Speaker 2: in fact be Louisville and Duke being repeat opponents this year.
Speaker 2: So the way in which they're doing it, if they
Speaker 2: eliminated two conference games from the ACC schedule starting this year,
Speaker 2: you will play sixteen team or you will play sixteen
Speaker 2: games all right. Wait, wait a say, let me see
Speaker 2: he let go we go one, two, three, four, five, six, seven.
Speaker 2: You'll play fourteen games again, so seven and homes, seven
Speaker 2: and away against different teams once, and then you'll play
Speaker 2: annually one team twice. Louisville got SMU as their repeat opponent,
Speaker 2: and then every year you're gonna get a random team
Speaker 2: that you play twice to mix it up. And it
Speaker 2: makes total sense for Duke and Louisville to be gifted
Speaker 2: with one another on the schedule. And I say that
Speaker 2: because you want the best conference schedule that you can.
Speaker 2: And who knows if Louisville ends up being as good
Speaker 2: as expected or even if Duke does. But these two
Speaker 2: teams played in the conference championship last year, so I
Speaker 2: like it. Clearly Duke was gonna get Carolina twice regardless
Speaker 2: because they're always going to play twice. So I think,
Speaker 2: all things considered, with the SEC being down, the fact
Speaker 2: that you get Duke twice gives you, you know, it
Speaker 2: could mean that you I mean, having the opportunity is
Speaker 2: a good thing. You want the opportunity, but there's also
Speaker 2: a huge challenge with set opportunity, right, Like you could
Speaker 2: have like here's a scenario that could absolutely play out
Speaker 2: next year. I'm not saying it will or even that
Speaker 2: it's but it's realistic that Duke is by far the
Speaker 2: only really good team in the country next year from
Speaker 2: the ACC, and you played them twice and you lost
Speaker 2: both times because they're just that good. And then Louisville
Speaker 2: won a lot of games and they were good, but
Speaker 2: they didn't have anybody on the schedule that was really
Speaker 2: that challenging because the ACC isn't great, So that could
Speaker 2: leave you sort of in a situation you were in
Speaker 2: this past year. I mean, Clemson being your best win
Speaker 2: twice was pretty telling for your resume. Doesn't mean you're
Speaker 2: not great. It just you know, there was two ways
Speaker 2: the committee could look at your resume last year, and
Speaker 2: Louisville clearly did not get the benefit of the doubt,
Speaker 2: and I believe it's because the conference they play in,
Speaker 2: and the only real issue I have with that because
Speaker 2: there was really nothing on Louisville's resume that gives you
Speaker 2: real proof that they're a really good team, but there's
Speaker 2: also really nothing that says they're not.
Speaker 3: It was a pretty.
Speaker 2: Open to interpretation resume, if that makes sense, Like it's
Speaker 2: just however you want to look at it, whatever you
Speaker 2: want to believe, you could convince yourself. So if you
Speaker 2: end up just not being able to beat Duke and
Speaker 2: there's not a whole lot of value elsewhere that would be,
Speaker 2: that would be less than ideal. But I do believe
Speaker 2: that the ACC is going to take a step forward
Speaker 2: in basketball this year, mostly because there's no way it
Speaker 2: can be.
Speaker 3: As bad as it was a year ago.
Speaker 2: But the issue is that if teams like Virginia, teams
Speaker 2: like NC State, teams like Syracuse, even wake Forest, Miami Pitt,
Speaker 2: if they take a step forward, I mean, that's better
Speaker 2: than taking a step backwards. But are they good enough
Speaker 2: to where you're going to really get value when it
Speaker 2: comes to the metrics and of course just you know,
Speaker 2: I think people know what truly is a good win
Speaker 2: and what's not. And I took some heat last year
Speaker 2: because I was so impressed with Louisville in the month
Speaker 2: of January. I knew they weren't beating good teams. Though
Speaker 2: didn't mean I didn't think they were good. I didn't
Speaker 2: think the teams they played were very good, and clearly
Speaker 2: the committee didn't either, and it played out that way.
Speaker 2: So my point is, I think the ACC could be
Speaker 2: a lot better next year, but the expectation that it's
Speaker 2: just gonna show up for him on selection Sunday, I
Speaker 2: really don't know. What I think is gonna be a
Speaker 2: really really big opportunity early on in the ACC is
Speaker 2: to compete with the SEC in the annual ACC SEC Challenge.
Speaker 2: Because the SEC is going to take a step back,
Speaker 2: it's not going to be as dominant as it was
Speaker 2: last year, but it'll still be a really good league
Speaker 2: and should be for years to come. I mean, Kentucky,
Speaker 2: we know they're expected to be pretty damn good. Florida's
Speaker 2: getting back Alex Condon and they got Boogie Flanned so
Speaker 2: Tennessee and Rick Barnes, I mean, they're always good. And
Speaker 2: maybe Nate what's his name? Nata meant maybe he ends
Speaker 2: up being elite. You also have Calan Arkansas. I don't
Speaker 2: know how great they're gonna be, but he's always gonna
Speaker 2: have talent. How about Bruce Pearl and Auburn, They actually
Speaker 2: I think will take a step back, but either way,
Speaker 2: like that's gonna be even if the SEC is down
Speaker 2: substantially from last year, meaning as far as getting the
Speaker 2: amount of teams in the tournam let's just say they
Speaker 2: don't have near the amount of teams in play for
Speaker 2: the tournament, which again the amount of how many teams
Speaker 2: made the tournament last year from the SEC. I mean
Speaker 2: it was a record clearly for them, and I believe
Speaker 2: in college basketball. So let's say five of those teams
Speaker 2: don't make the tournament, you'd still have a good number.
Speaker 2: And if you are competitive, meaning not only were you
Speaker 2: competitive in the series where the ACC held its own,
Speaker 2: but let's say you actually went out and beat some
Speaker 2: of the good teams that you played, meaning you didn't
Speaker 2: just have a decent record because your bad teams beat
Speaker 2: their bad teams like you actually like whoever ends up
Speaker 2: getting matched up with the top six teams in the
Speaker 2: SEC and the ACC SEC Challenge. If you can pete there,
Speaker 2: it's gonna go a long way for you when you
Speaker 2: get to conference play, because when you beat up on
Speaker 2: each other in league play, you just can decide whatever
Speaker 2: you want as far as what it means, Oh, it
Speaker 2: means this league's just so good, wins are just so
Speaker 2: tough to come by, or does it mean that everybody's average?
Speaker 2: And if this team and that team are that special,
Speaker 2: they wouldn't have slipped up and lost six or seven
Speaker 2: league games. So what you do in the non conference
Speaker 2: means a lot, and it always has and should. But
Speaker 2: I know teams are different by the time you get
Speaker 2: to January February than they are when you play non
Speaker 2: conference games in November and December. But it doesn't matter.
Speaker 2: It still counts. It's still a data point that will
Speaker 2: either hurt you or help you, or I guess potentially
Speaker 2: just leave you whatever. All right, So let's see, I
Speaker 2: want to make sure I have this correct. So Louisville
Speaker 2: schedule at home this year again, I'm liking what I see. Again,
Speaker 2: Duke being a repeat opponent is exciting to me. But
Speaker 2: the home games are going to be against you know,
Speaker 2: you have Duke Wants an SMU once at home and
Speaker 2: then you played them at their place. But then the
Speaker 2: home opponents are Syracuse, Boston College, Notre Dame, Virginia Tech, Virginia,
Speaker 2: n C State.
Speaker 3: Georgia Tech.
Speaker 2: That means you're going to play on the road Carolina,
Speaker 2: Wake Forest, Clemson, Miami, Pittsburgh, Stanford, and col. So if
Speaker 2: we were going to look at this and hope for
Speaker 2: big opportunities at home to beat good teams, but also
Speaker 2: you know, have an attractive matchup that'll bring a decent crowd.
Speaker 2: I mean, if Louisll keeps winning, there's gonna be good
Speaker 2: crowds there. I mean, there were great crowds there towards
Speaker 2: the end of the season, and they grew every week
Speaker 2: by the way, So I think louis was gonna do
Speaker 2: their part. But to have an environment to where you
Speaker 2: feel like it's a big game, it's tough to really
Speaker 2: envision that because again, as we discussed, the SEC just
Speaker 2: or the ACC just hasn't been great recently. But I
Speaker 2: mean Syracuse that's a that's I mean, that's they're not
Speaker 2: they've not been good lately. But like Syracuse, Notre Dame,
Speaker 2: Virginia and NC State are teams that I feel like
Speaker 2: they give you something. As far as them showing up now,
Speaker 2: the likes of Stanford and Cal's that those wouldn't do it,
Speaker 2: And that's why you're going out to the West to
Speaker 2: play them this year. It would be nice to have
Speaker 2: Carolina at home because they're a team that clearly is
Speaker 2: going to bring some interest other than just Louisville fans.
Speaker 2: So I just can't wait to see you end up
Speaker 2: with in the acc SEC Challenge because there's a good
Speaker 2: chance it's gonna be somebody good because they like they
Speaker 2: pair you up pretty competitively. Right, It's not like you're
Speaker 2: gonna I mean, Louisville getting South Carolina would be odd
Speaker 2: to me, or Vandy even even though Bandy actually was
Speaker 2: pretty decent last year. So right now you're you know,
Speaker 2: this isn't today's news. Is not anything regarding your conference schedule.
Speaker 2: But in the non conference, you've got Kentucky, Tennessee, Cincinnati, Memphis,
Speaker 2: somebody in the acc SEC Challenge, which I think it
Speaker 2: was Bose that you reported that he believes it's going
Speaker 2: to be Duke. I'm sorry, he believes it's going to
Speaker 2: be Arkansas. Which if that's the case, then you go
Speaker 2: down to Fayetteville. I mean, Cal will likely give you.
Speaker 2: I mean, even if Cal and Arkansas end up being
Speaker 2: middle of the pack in the SEC because of the
Speaker 2: conference being so good, if you beat them at their place,
Speaker 2: even if they're not even a tournament team, it's probably
Speaker 2: going to qualify as at Quad one because they're going
Speaker 2: to probably be in the top seventy five just based
Speaker 2: off their schedule and then you throw Duke on there twice.
Speaker 2: So again, take away the conference non conference. I mean,
Speaker 2: maybe there ends up being some really good teams in
Speaker 2: the ACC this year, but that's seven games against teams
Speaker 2: that should give you some value. And I know Cincinnati
Speaker 2: and Memphis aren't great signature non conference opponents, but I
Speaker 2: guess the hope is that they end up being. And
Speaker 2: I forgot to include Indiana, by the way, that's another
Speaker 2: team that I think Darian Devreez is a really good coach,
Speaker 2: and that should give you another chance. So last year
Speaker 2: you were competitive in some of the games, some of
Speaker 2: them not so much, but you were able to claim
Speaker 2: for a good chunk of the year that the resume
Speaker 2: doesn't have a real blemish outside of the at the
Speaker 2: time the Georgia Tech loss. And yeah, you played some
Speaker 2: of the teams competitively, some of them beat you really bad.
Speaker 2: But what I'm getting at is I think a step
Speaker 2: next year would be, you know, beat these teams, which
Speaker 2: of course that's always the goal, and I'm sure the
Speaker 2: oolve is gonna have a roster that will put them
Speaker 2: in a position to where they can do it, but
Speaker 2: I think that had to be if it wasn't truly
Speaker 2: just a mix up and a goof on the NCAA
Speaker 2: Selection Committee's part where they just swapped Memphis in Louisville
Speaker 2: on selection Sunday and didn't fix it in time, which
Speaker 2: I say that tongue in cheek, but I also kind
Speaker 2: of believe it kind of. But I think now that
Speaker 2: more time has passed, I mean, Louisvill's resume left open
Speaker 2: the opportunity for the committee to do two different things.
Speaker 3: Could have given them a.
Speaker 2: Four or five, right, because well, they played in the
Speaker 2: ACC Championship. They went eighteen to two, and you know,
Speaker 2: they don't have any bad losses and they could give
Speaker 2: them a four, or they could give them an eight
Speaker 2: or an eight like they did and claim, well it
Speaker 2: it was a great bounce back season for Louisvill or
Speaker 2: whatever they said. I'm paraphrasing, but you know, there wasn't
Speaker 2: as much Quad one wins, so I didn't expect this.
Speaker 2: I don't know if this was a known thing that
Speaker 2: they were going to announce this, but seeing it certainly
Speaker 2: gets me excited for for basketball season, and again, n
Speaker 2: C State should be a lot better with Will Wade.
Speaker 2: I think Virginia is going to be good. But what
Speaker 2: I want, what I wonder are these teams that I
Speaker 2: think are going to be like I think you'll see
Speaker 2: a team like Virginia in C in C State Carolina,
Speaker 2: maybe even I don't know, maybe an SMU like. I
Speaker 2: think those are the kind of teams that we'll be.
Speaker 2: We'll be able to hopefully avoid losing to the bottom
Speaker 2: of the league to where you know your your fifth
Speaker 2: place team or your fourth place team's only got four
Speaker 2: or five losses. But what it's ultimately going to come
Speaker 2: down to, Okay, does the committee I view this as
Speaker 2: a one elite team league with just some others that
Speaker 2: are just you know, better than the Bombs, or do
Speaker 2: they view it as an actually strong league that's deserving
Speaker 2: of not only multiple bids, but decent seeds for the
Speaker 2: others that aren't the Dukes or maybe even the Louisvilles,
Speaker 2: and where they can really determine that outside of their metric,
Speaker 2: meaning the net is what you do in non conference play.
Speaker 2: That's why it's so important. And we've never been in
Speaker 2: this spot before as lois fans, at least that I
Speaker 2: can think of, used to play in the Big East
Speaker 2: when it was loaded the ACC until recently, and you
Speaker 2: could do whatever in the non conference. I shouldn't say whatever,
Speaker 2: but you could be You could just expect to have
Speaker 2: so many opportunities to really boost your resume night in
Speaker 2: and night out in the ACC, and they just hadn't
Speaker 2: be in the case recently. Our quick break will go
Speaker 2: back and wrap up the four o'clock hour right here
Speaker 2: on Sports Talk seven ninety.
Speaker 1: Now back to Coffee and Company fueled by Thornton's on
Speaker 1: Sports Talk seven nine.
Speaker 2: Day, Another day in Paradise Coffee and Company, fueled by
Speaker 2: Thornton's also known I guess says paradise to maybe some
Speaker 2: of you, certainly me, hopefully hopefully Austin as well, and
Speaker 2: we'll we'll take advantage of the days that are left here.
Speaker 2: I had another morning where I well, I don't even
Speaker 2: consider it morning. If I wake up at three something,
Speaker 2: I don't think it's morning. I think it's middle of
Speaker 2: the night. But soon that'll be my reality to where
Speaker 2: I'm not getting up to use the restroom or get
Speaker 2: something to drink. I'm getting up to start the day.
Speaker 2: I've been trying to go to bed really early this week,
Speaker 2: but I can't do it.
Speaker 3: I mean it never works, never works for school because
Speaker 3: it's a mental thing, right.
Speaker 4: And then you're like, you're trying to go to bed
Speaker 4: at like nine p thirty ten, and just the thought
Speaker 4: of like the world's still going on around you while
Speaker 4: you got to go to sleep, and that just that
Speaker 4: bothers me.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And I think for most, I'm sure there are
Speaker 2: some that are really self disciplined and really can I
Speaker 2: guess before the routine and schedule changes, you've made the
Speaker 2: adjustment already, and if so, props to you. But I
Speaker 2: think for most you end up paying the price early
Speaker 2: and then it evens itself out because you'll try to
Speaker 2: go to bed really early, just like you did back
Speaker 2: when you were young Austin to go to school because
Speaker 2: you knew you had to get up and you know,
Speaker 2: get on the.
Speaker 3: Bus and go to school. But you're used to throughout the.
Speaker 2: Summer month staying up till like, you know, five am
Speaker 2: or something, which that may have been a rarity, but
Speaker 2: I'm sure you.
Speaker 3: Did it a time or two. Right now, there's a
Speaker 3: lot of all nighters. Yeah, I mean high school Austin.
Speaker 2: Oh, dude, middle school, high school kids. I don't know
Speaker 2: if it's still a thing now. But if you're not
Speaker 2: careful as parents, sure kids will literally just live a
Speaker 2: third a third shift life. I'm not kidding, you know
Speaker 2: what I mean, Like they're up all day. I'm sorry,
Speaker 2: they're up all night, they sleep all day, and then
Speaker 2: it's just as that. That's if they don't have any
Speaker 2: responsibilities as far as like doing summer school or a
Speaker 2: job or playing sports or whatnot, then that's just I mean,
Speaker 2: that's and also I stayed up way late on summer
Speaker 2: nights whenever we had early basketball, but I it was
Speaker 2: also sixteen or seventeen where it didn't. It never never
Speaker 2: felt different. You know, I could live off a few
Speaker 2: hours sleep.
Speaker 3: And be fine.
Speaker 2: But when you I mean, I just can see this happening.
Speaker 2: I'll try to go to bed as early as possible
Speaker 2: over these next couple of weeks, and it won't be
Speaker 2: easy early, But then because I've been up so long,
Speaker 2: I'll just start naturally falling asleep a little bit earlier,
Speaker 2: and it'll it'll work itself out to an extent where
Speaker 2: it's routine. But again, I don't think they'll ever be
Speaker 2: a moment where you see the alarm going off pre
Speaker 2: four am and think, here we go. I've been because
Speaker 2: like now I can sometimes. In fact, this morning, I
Speaker 2: mean this morning, because I knew once I got up
Speaker 2: at whatever that I'm gonna you know, the walk back
Speaker 2: to the bedroom wasn't okay, Nick, go ahead and get
Speaker 2: in the shower, get that day started.
Speaker 3: Change is coming soon, brother, you better get after it.
Speaker 2: I was, okay, I'm gonna take advantage of the few
Speaker 2: days i have level where I can go lay back down.
Speaker 2: That's what I decided to do at about three point
Speaker 2: thirty this morning. But you know, overall, I there's no way.
Speaker 3: It gets it gets it gets easy.
Speaker 2: I mean, there just can't be a scenario where you
Speaker 2: ever see that time and you're thinking, okay, you know,
Speaker 2: here we here we go. I can already tell in
Speaker 2: my mind, I'm gonna be getting ready for you're gonna
Speaker 2: be getting ready in the morning, and like, oh man,
Speaker 2: i cannot wait till nine o'clock hits. I'm out of there.
Speaker 2: I'm coming home and I'm sleeping, and I probably won't.
Speaker 2: I mean I may sometimes, but I probably I probably won't.
Speaker 2: I meant to ask Cruiz this, and I guess I
Speaker 2: can uh at some point. It's not like he's leaving.
Speaker 2: He's just retiring. He's still gonna be you know. I mean,
Speaker 2: I'm still gonna have access to him if I need him.
Speaker 2: But I'm curious if if it was if it was
Speaker 2: ever like a situation where you've been up, you've been
Speaker 2: doing things, and you just decided to come here and
Speaker 2: sleep for the night. I mean, I don't even if
Speaker 2: they'd let you do that, I don't think they were before. Yeah,
Speaker 2: I mean, I I know people who've done it for
Speaker 2: you know, just because of it was it didn't make
Speaker 2: a lot of sense to drive home and sleep for
Speaker 2: two hours and come right back in. And there's plenty
Speaker 2: of hiding places in here where you could find a
Speaker 2: spot to sleep, and no, but he would notice that, You're.
Speaker 3: I'm trying to think.
Speaker 2: Of where I could where I could hide out. Honestly,
Speaker 2: this studio is a studio, is a cave?
Speaker 3: Is it not? And is it is used in the
Speaker 3: morning by Shannon?
Speaker 2: Sometimes it's the only studio that I feel like, Well,
Speaker 2: I was gonna say it probably gets the least traffic
Speaker 2: compared to any others, but maybe that's the exact opposite
Speaker 2: because we are near the kitchen area. But you really
Speaker 2: don't walk, you walk past it, but you kind of don't,
Speaker 2: if that makes sense, like if you're going to the
Speaker 2: bathroom or you're just walking down, like if you're coming
Speaker 2: from our area of all of where all the cubicles are,
Speaker 2: and I guess they're not really cubicles, but just our
Speaker 2: work area, the common area, if you will. You're walking
Speaker 2: past every studio really other than this one directly. So
Speaker 2: maybe this will be where I come and hang out.
Speaker 2: But hopefully I get on a routine and I because
Speaker 2: what I what I talk about all the time is
Speaker 2: being so crucial and important is something I sometimes really
Speaker 2: struggle with, and that is the you know, just not
Speaker 2: being a routine, not you know, not managed, not managing
Speaker 2: time as well as I need to, and that show
Speaker 2: that plays out every day on this show, for being
Speaker 2: honest with me, not taking breaks when I'm supposed to.
Speaker 2: But I think what's happened is that I don't get
Speaker 2: up now and like have to be anywhere other than
Speaker 2: my kids at school by eight thirty or nine o'clock.
Speaker 2: And that's pretty easy to do. So now that I
Speaker 2: gotta get up, I gotta make sure I'm out of
Speaker 2: bed by this time. And I got to get ready.
Speaker 2: Hopefully that'll kick me in gear, because the reality is this,
Speaker 2: I've had a lot of freedom in the last few
Speaker 2: years where I don't actually start my show until three,
Speaker 2: and then I can you know, I tell myself, oh,
Speaker 2: You've got plenty of time, and then I end up
Speaker 2: not taking advantage of said time. Hopefully this new change
Speaker 2: kicks me in gear to where I'm a little bit
Speaker 2: more productive. But what I was gonna say a moment
Speaker 2: ago before I had a brain fart, was that, like
Speaker 2: this morning, I woke up at like for the second time,
Speaker 2: of course, but it was like, I don't know, sevent ten,
Speaker 2: and I knew that the kids didn't have to be
Speaker 2: at school in daycare for a little while, but like
Speaker 2: I was already awake, I didn't go back to sleep.
Speaker 2: I'd slept enough that there's no way that happened at
Speaker 2: three something or four am. And that's kind of what
Speaker 2: That's what I'm gonna miss. It's just, you know, I
Speaker 2: wake up whenever, because if I tried to sleep past
Speaker 2: the time to take them where they need to be
Speaker 2: in the mornings, I probably couldn't, just because you know,
Speaker 2: I just I mean, so.
Speaker 4: What do you normally do just doom scroll and just
Speaker 4: like watching it up earlier. Yeah, or sneak into mooses room.
Speaker 4: How do you know in the two K? How do
Speaker 4: you know me so well?
Speaker 3: Because I do the same thing.
Speaker 4: I was actually doing the same thing today at three
Speaker 4: thirty four because I fiance kicked me out of bed
Speaker 4: because I was snoring.
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, that'll that'll happen.
Speaker 4: I feel like women are very sensitive. Every guy that
Speaker 4: I've talked to was snored in there and their woman
Speaker 4: hates it. I'm right there with you, and and I
Speaker 4: don't know. I guess it is we got two big
Speaker 4: fans going in there now to where it's not as loud.
Speaker 3: I guess, oh, there you go.
Speaker 2: But no, I mean I would get hit in my sleep,
Speaker 2: Like I wake up like is somebody breaking in?
Speaker 1: Yeah?
Speaker 3: Exactly, No, you're snoring. Shut up. I'm like, what do
Speaker 3: you want me to do?
Speaker 4: I'm supposed to do? Yeah, it's always the roll over
Speaker 4: to your side method. Yeah, that's just a fat guy thing.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: I mean, And she acts like I don't I think
Speaker 2: because I have no defense, because I have no response,
Speaker 2: I'm not really sure what I'm supposed to say. She
Speaker 2: acts as if I don't believe her that I snore
Speaker 2: to where she'll video me and show me and I'm like,
Speaker 2: I know, I snore. You got me, Like, it's not
Speaker 2: I'm not hiding it. You pull that video out on her,
Speaker 2: it's a different story.
Speaker 3: She rarely, ever, ever, ever snores. Oh that's good.
Speaker 2: But if she does, it's like when she falls asleep,
Speaker 2: like on the couch where she's like, you know, just
Speaker 2: too comfortable. Yeah, dozen off, I guess, and just kind
Speaker 2: of you know, most of the time, if I snore,
Speaker 2: it's when I'm on.
Speaker 3: My back and I don't the best spot. Oh yeah,
Speaker 3: no doubt. Now I'm tired.
Speaker 2: All right, let's get it. Let's get a break. We
Speaker 2: got another hour to go before we're out of here,
Speaker 2: so stick around. It's coffee and Company five o'clock hours
Speaker 2: next on Sports Talk seven ninety