Speaker 1: It's time for coffee and Company, fueled by Thornton's on
Speaker 1: Sports Talk seven nine day. Now here's nick coffee.
Speaker 2: All right, let's get it started. Hour number two.
Speaker 3: Here on a Tuesday afternoon Coffee and Company, Philbeth Thornton's
Speaker 3: on Sports Talk seven ninety take us with you wherever
Speaker 3: you go.
Speaker 2: Listen live on the Aheart Radio app.
Speaker 3: Also listen live at seven ninety Louisville dot com. If
Speaker 3: you were thinking that the lack of I mean the
Speaker 3: games themselves. We didn't really get that many games in
Speaker 3: the in the first and second round. There were some
Speaker 3: games that I feel like we're really entertaining, really close,
Speaker 3: But regardless, people still watched in a major way, because
Speaker 3: this is the most watched first and second round of
Speaker 3: the NAA Tournament in thirty two years. I mean, the
Speaker 3: average viewership I think I saw was nine point four million,
Speaker 3: which is just crazy to think about, but also not
Speaker 3: that crazy. I think the biggest difference in college basketball
Speaker 3: that I don't think is as noticeable is not necessarily
Speaker 3: just the guys that are, because it's really obvious to
Speaker 3: notice that a team has a new starting five every year,
Speaker 3: and most of them come from the portal. Right, I mean,
Speaker 3: that's that's that's something that's very noticeable if you follow along.
Speaker 3: But I think what has been low key a big
Speaker 3: factor in the.
Speaker 2: Product being better.
Speaker 3: And you know, guys, well I'm trying to I think overall,
Speaker 3: dudes just deciding they want to play college basketball a
Speaker 3: lot longer than they used to.
Speaker 2: That to me, has given us.
Speaker 3: The biggest to me, that's the biggest factor in what
Speaker 3: things are so different now. Again, what's leading to that
Speaker 3: is the money, right, because now they can stay in
Speaker 3: school and make money. So maybe, I mean, I guess
Speaker 3: the money's a bigger The money's the reason they're doing it.
Speaker 3: But that is why you have, I think, a better product.
Speaker 3: And you have veteran teams, guys that are twenty three,
Speaker 3: twenty four even at times playing college basketball, and I
Speaker 3: just think we're slowly but surely getting over the You
Speaker 3: know this, dude, we shouldn't be letting guys stick around
Speaker 3: that long. Because here's something we talked about a little
Speaker 3: bit yesterday. Even if you don't get a fifth year
Speaker 3: because of COVID, and you don't have a red shirt
Speaker 3: to burn, if you stay in four years, if you
Speaker 3: stay as a four year college player. You know, you
Speaker 3: could be twenty two or you could be twenty four.
Speaker 3: I mean, some guys don't enter college until they're I
Speaker 3: mean if you go to prep school for a year,
Speaker 3: or if you just you know, we're held back a
Speaker 3: year growing up, like it's it. I mean, I think
Speaker 3: a lot of a lot of freshmen that start playing
Speaker 3: like that enter the college experience right out of high school.
Speaker 2: I would say.
Speaker 3: More of them are older than eighteen than eighteen. Maybe
Speaker 3: I'm way off there, but I just think that's, you know,
Speaker 3: with prep school and that kind of stuff. I mean,
Speaker 3: that's and a lot of kids are held back on
Speaker 3: purpose just because they want to, you know, be a
Speaker 3: little bit more competitive in sports growing up. So you know,
Speaker 3: I think we've all known that there's been a lot
Speaker 3: of changes going on, but man, it just it seems
Speaker 3: like with this with this Sweet sixteen in place, they're
Speaker 3: no real big upset in the first weekend, looking at
Speaker 3: every starting lineup in the Sweet sixteen and to see
Speaker 3: where all those players that are starting in the Sweet
Speaker 3: sixteen where they started their career as to where they
Speaker 3: are now, it is just it is it's on full
Speaker 3: display that this is really a different world than than
Speaker 3: what we're used to I real quick. Some things to
Speaker 3: hit on that we haven't discussed just yet.
Speaker 2: The UFL Football Proday.
Speaker 3: Is going on right now, and obviously there's a lot
Speaker 3: of former Cardinals that are showcasing what they can do
Speaker 3: in hopes of getting some attention from the NFL personnel
Speaker 3: that is on hand. But obviously Tyler Shuck what he's
Speaker 3: been able to do since his career at Louisville ended
Speaker 3: by generating all this buzz, maybe being the third quarterback
Speaker 3: taken in this draft, that's led to more attention for
Speaker 3: Louisville Pro Days than I feel like we've had in
Speaker 3: quite some times. So haven't heard a whole lot as
Speaker 3: far as feedback or as far as updates is you
Speaker 3: know how things went. But the couple updates I did
Speaker 3: see for those they're covering, and it's that, you know,
Speaker 3: Shuck continues to look the part, which is not a surprise.
Speaker 3: I think we knew all along. Hey, this guy's pretty
Speaker 3: damn good. In fact, early on in the year, when
Speaker 3: the losses started to pile up, it felt like.
Speaker 2: Man, are we going to do this?
Speaker 3: Is this going to be one of those years where
Speaker 3: we really had a great quarterback that we only got
Speaker 3: for one season, but we didn't have anything to show
Speaker 3: for it. And maybe some will say that that was
Speaker 3: the case. I still believe going eight and four and
Speaker 3: finishing and nine and four when it's all said and
Speaker 3: done because of the bowl game. You know, for me,
Speaker 3: that's that. I know they could have been better, but
Speaker 3: I don't view it as man what could have been.
Speaker 3: I mean, maybe if Tyler Shuck ends up being a
Speaker 3: really good NFL pro, will say that down the line,
Speaker 3: but I'll worry about that when we get there. Sticking
Speaker 3: with football, not something you see very often in late March,
Speaker 3: but there's an acc opening as Stanford has fired their
Speaker 3: head football coach, Troy Taylor. I mean, I gotta be
Speaker 3: honest with you. I don't even think I knew that
Speaker 3: was their head coach. If you'd ask me to tell
Speaker 3: you who Stanford's head coach was, I really don't. I mean,
Speaker 3: I think I would have probably just told you I
Speaker 3: don't know, and then I would think, Okay, I should
Speaker 3: know because Louisville just played them in a bowl game.
Speaker 2: But yeah, he was there.
Speaker 3: Wait a second, let's see, he's no way Okay, never mind,
Speaker 3: I'm sorry, my mistake. Louisville lost to Stanford this year.
Speaker 3: They did not play Stanford in a bowl game.
Speaker 2: I'm an idiot. Apologies. Who did Louisville play in their
Speaker 2: bowl game? Washington?
Speaker 3: Yeah, Washington, I'm getting packed former pack twelve schools mixed up?
Speaker 2: Yeah, Stanford Beach. There was something that stood out about
Speaker 2: it what you're trying to say about Louisville and.
Speaker 3: Stanford this past football season, and it was it was,
Speaker 3: you know, my brain wasn't letting me realize what it was,
Speaker 3: and it was that Louisville lost to this awful team
Speaker 3: in a game that again not to dwell on the
Speaker 3: twenty twenty for a football season and what could have
Speaker 3: been because I just mentioned, like, I still think you
Speaker 3: can can say that you maintained some real positivity, maintain momentum,
Speaker 3: I should say with Brahm after two years. But also,
Speaker 3: I mean, that was a game that, as far as
Speaker 3: everything that happened, for it to end the way that
Speaker 3: it did with you losing in the way that you
Speaker 3: did was just awful. It was quite literally like a
Speaker 3: script that had to be followed precisely. Execution had to
Speaker 3: be perfect for you to lose that game with them
Speaker 3: getting that moment with the field goal to beat you.
Speaker 3: I'm not, in no way am I insinuating they were
Speaker 3: trying to lose, But I'm just telling you visually, you
Speaker 3: could could have You could have convinced me that they
Speaker 3: were trying to because it was insane.
Speaker 2: Dude, no one was there at that stadium.
Speaker 3: I mean that along with the fact that I mean
Speaker 3: just the the timing and the type of penalties you got,
Speaker 3: the type of mistakes you made late, it was like
Speaker 3: you were trying to do whatever was possible. Because I'm
Speaker 3: sure I'm not correct in saying this, but it felt
Speaker 3: like quite literally everything the only thing that could that
Speaker 3: you could do to put Stanford in a situation there
Speaker 3: with that makeable field goal with that amount of time left,
Speaker 3: was what would happened? I mean, I mean it was.
Speaker 3: It was a nightmare, and that coach is now fired.
Speaker 3: So general manager Andrew Luck made the decision. So that
Speaker 3: of course got a lot of attention when Andrew Luck
Speaker 3: was hired to be the GM and you know, kind
Speaker 3: of help Stanford, his alma mater, get back on track.
Speaker 3: But I never thought about it from that aspect. I mean,
Speaker 3: I think when I think of a GM of a
Speaker 3: college basketball or college football program. I think of a
Speaker 3: younger guy who works for the coach that's really there
Speaker 3: to just crunch the numbers and manage you know, boosters
Speaker 3: and you know, really honestly handling nil and being the
Speaker 3: guy who and honestly, if there are coaches that are
Speaker 3: that are all about getting a GM, I think a
Speaker 3: lot of the active coaches those that are again are
Speaker 3: trying to maybe they already have one, or maybe they're
Speaker 3: pushing for their athletic director to create that position. They're
Speaker 3: doing it because they don't want to deal with agents
Speaker 3: because a lot of these guys aren't represented by actual agents.
Speaker 3: They're represented by you know hustlers that you know, dm
Speaker 3: them on Instagram or Twitter and tell them, hey, you
Speaker 3: should you should let me represent you because like they're
Speaker 3: I mean, that's the biggest gripe that I think a
Speaker 3: lot of coaches have, and it's and it's a legit
Speaker 3: one that they don't want to be talking to some
Speaker 3: some twenty four year old kid that's fresh out of
Speaker 3: college with his sports sports administration degree that's out here
Speaker 3: acting like he's, you know, this elite level agent like
Speaker 3: Jerry maguire.
Speaker 2: I mean, that's the right movie, isn't it?
Speaker 3: And that was okay, just make it sure second guessing
Speaker 3: myself now with that goof about about Stanford. But anyways,
Speaker 3: Stanford's got an opening, and as far as who they hire,
Speaker 3: no clue. All right, So the portal opened up yesterday,
Speaker 3: and there's an endless amount of names that have already
Speaker 3: entered it, and we'll talk about some of the names
Speaker 3: that I feel like you should should be aware of
Speaker 3: because of their potential connections or actually not potential. I mean,
Speaker 3: there are some guys out there with real connections to Louisville.
Speaker 3: And let me be clear, I'm not talking about guys
Speaker 3: that used to play here. I hit on this at
Speaker 3: the end of the show yesterday. I don't understand when
Speaker 3: you see somebody who was at Louisville who left to
Speaker 3: transfer elsewhere that is now transferring again. I don't know why.
Speaker 3: With some there's this instincts of there's the instinct of like,
Speaker 3: all right, we got to reevaluate do we want them back?
Speaker 3: I would say ninety nine point nine percent of the
Speaker 3: time if somebody is transferring away from a program after
Speaker 3: they've already left Louisville once they're not in any way
Speaker 3: thinking about coming back to Louisville. And it's just turned
Speaker 3: into Louisville having like some little and again I'm probably
Speaker 3: talking to a very small group rather than the majority,
Speaker 3: but like it's just turned into us crapping on dudes
Speaker 3: who used to play here for like no reason. It
Speaker 3: just seems it seems kind of much. But one thing
Speaker 3: you guys have heard me talk about with everything changing
Speaker 3: in college sports is that, you know, coaches, they should
Speaker 3: just deal with it, right. I mean, they make enough
Speaker 3: money to where they need, you know, them having to
Speaker 3: make some adjustments to the job. It's not the end
Speaker 3: of the world. And again they're usually the high some
Speaker 3: of the highest paid guys in their state, to be
Speaker 3: honest with you, So I think both things can be true.
Speaker 3: As unpopular as that is. To look at things, they
Speaker 3: are a bunch of complainers and whiners and doing that
Speaker 3: doesn't help anything at all. But also at times they
Speaker 3: make valid points to where like it is a big
Speaker 3: difference and it is hard. It is hard to do it,
Speaker 3: especially if you are somebody that's been doing it twenty
Speaker 3: five years and now out of nowhere there's a big
Speaker 3: change to it, Like it is difficult, but again both
Speaker 3: things can be true, right, it's difficult, but wanting and
Speaker 3: complaining about it is gonna do no good and it
Speaker 3: just honestly is. There's I don't see a scenario where
Speaker 3: that would ever help you. But with all that said,
Speaker 3: the portal opening up while the NAA tournament is going
Speaker 3: on is really really stupid. That's really really dumb. The
Speaker 3: portals should officially open, I think like the Monday at
Speaker 3: the next Monday following the national championship game. And I
Speaker 3: know the portal being opened during bowl season is a
Speaker 3: real distraction for college coaches. That's an issue, but I
Speaker 3: understand that that's because you know, you have semesters switch
Speaker 3: like it's it's more so the calendar for student athletes
Speaker 3: that that makes that makes it that way, right, Like,
Speaker 3: if you're going to be transferring between semesters, you you
Speaker 3: don't have a whole lot of time. Therefore they have
Speaker 3: to give you some some type.
Speaker 2: Of a window.
Speaker 3: And there's really no window possible where everybody's you know,
Speaker 3: got down time. The real downtime is coaches who you know,
Speaker 3: didn't who didn't do enough to even go to a
Speaker 3: bowl game. That's why you're seeing coaches decline Bowl games
Speaker 3: programs to cline Bowl games because there's nothing really for
Speaker 3: them to gain by playing in it, and they'd be
Speaker 3: better off getting out of the situation they're in, meaning
Speaker 3: not Bowl eligible, by putting all their attention on going
Speaker 3: and rebuilding a roster and getting better. So I don't
Speaker 3: understand why the portal opens the Monday after the first
Speaker 3: weekend of the tournament. But it just it's it's it
Speaker 3: makes no sense. And tom is, oh, he he didn't,
Speaker 3: he didn't, he didn't want to.
Speaker 4: Well, well, my team's done has been incredible and I'm
Speaker 4: not ready to move on. So jud I've followed what
Speaker 4: you said. You know, I'm gonna worry today. But the
Speaker 4: guys I got in this program that have done an
Speaker 4: incredible job this year, and that's it. And if that
Speaker 4: costs me later, so be it. But Tomzo isn't cheating
Speaker 4: the people that he has that have been loyal to
Speaker 4: him for this chaos that is going on out there.
Speaker 3: I don't know why you had to be so aggressive
Speaker 3: about it. I mean maybe that's just is Oh, he
Speaker 3: wrot He's wired pretty tight, right, But.
Speaker 2: I mean.
Speaker 3: He did at least lay out like the real pitch
Speaker 3: that should be made to the NCAA. Why this is
Speaker 3: because again, if coaches are complaining about it because having
Speaker 3: to do more, I mean, again, this is a legitimate complain.
Speaker 2: This just makes no sense at all.
Speaker 3: But if a coach is having to take away from
Speaker 3: an experience that, you know, is something that all these
Speaker 3: guys are probably going to remember for the rest of
Speaker 3: their lives. Maybe not everybody, because right, if you're a
Speaker 3: sweet sixteen team, like every year, that's one thing. But honestly, again,
Speaker 3: think about this. I mean, if you're a Sweet sixteen
Speaker 3: team every year, your roster's not the same every year, right, So, like,
Speaker 3: there may be guys that the Sweet sixteen is a
Speaker 3: big deal to them because prior to being you know,
Speaker 3: where they are, the sweet sixteen is pretty routine. They
Speaker 3: were at a place that if you didn't win your
Speaker 3: conference tournament, you weren't you had no shot of making it.
Speaker 3: I mean, you got guys starting in the sweet sixteen
Speaker 3: who started their career at places like Decane, Moorhead State,
Speaker 3: North Texas, Saint Peter's, Iona, Washington State, Belmont. I mean,
Speaker 3: there's logos here out of Delaware Drexel, Dayton, Kennesau State, Ohio,
Speaker 3: North Dakota State, Campbell. So you know that that again,
Speaker 3: we didn't need to hear tom Izzo to know that
Speaker 3: it's really stupid. But if you wanted to do it
Speaker 3: and make it about the student athlete, which they're not
Speaker 3: really anymore, they're paid pros, that I mean, that is
Speaker 3: such a distraction whenever you should be so focused on again,
Speaker 3: what's right in front of you? Chance to go to
Speaker 3: an Elite eight and maybe then punch a ticket to
Speaker 3: the final four. All right, it's Coffee and Company and
Speaker 3: weird Field about Thort's here on Sports Talk seven ninety
Speaker 3: This text came in a little bit earlier, and if
Speaker 3: you guys want to text ten, you can five O
Speaker 3: two six five. I almost did it, almost did it,
Speaker 3: almost said the old number five O two four to
Speaker 3: three eight ninety seventy three is the leen N Federal
Speaker 3: Credit Union text line. We had a text from one
Speaker 3: of our regular listeners, Kirk, who asks when the light
Speaker 3: bulb turned on for me in becoming a die hard
Speaker 3: Cards fan. Unfortunately, it's a sad moment that I feel
Speaker 3: like I had the realization that this that you know,
Speaker 3: I'm a diehard now, and I'm not even sure I
Speaker 3: knew what a die hard was then or if that
Speaker 3: was even like a how people described somebody that's really
Speaker 3: really into a team and they let it impack their
Speaker 3: emotions more than it should. But when Louisville lost in
Speaker 3: the Elite eight to North Carolina, when Dwan Wheat had
Speaker 3: the bum ankle, it was that Anton Jamison Vince Carter team.
Speaker 2: That was in nineteen ninety seven.
Speaker 3: I was nine years old, and in fact I was
Speaker 3: I think I was eight going on nine, and that sucked.
Speaker 3: And I remember, for the first time ever being like
Speaker 3: genuinely heartbroken about a team losing and a season being over.
Speaker 3: That was my first team that I really really just
Speaker 3: you know, fell for. I remember teams prior to that,
Speaker 3: but I think I was young and naive to the
Speaker 3: point where them winning and losing. I loved him so
Speaker 3: much that like I didn't I didn't really care, if
Speaker 3: that makes sense, the young naive kid and me was like,
Speaker 3: well they could lose by fifty I still love them
Speaker 3: and they're my team. Go cards, you know what I mean.
Speaker 3: Or whatever we were saying back then, I'm sure we
Speaker 3: were saying now. Yeah, Well no, he's yes, Yes, to.
Speaker 2: Your point, he a bit more cynical.
Speaker 3: Well, he's I feel like he's well advanced compared to me,
Speaker 3: because I mean, I mean, I don't remember if I
Speaker 3: knew what anything was it for, but he was this
Speaker 3: worked out perfect because this team this year was the
Speaker 3: first one for him that like he did follow along
Speaker 3: he screen during games. But I do like he knows
Speaker 3: that they're that they lost in the season's over, but
Speaker 3: he's not sad because it's there's still a young innocence
Speaker 3: about him that like winning and losing doesn't doesn't doesn't
Speaker 3: define what he thinks of him, you know what I mean.
Speaker 2: Like he's not dealing with that.
Speaker 3: He's not dealing with you know, rival fans, a daycare,
Speaker 3: you know what I mean. Like he's just he's just
Speaker 3: in his own world, loving it, loving his cards. So
Speaker 3: he's got it made right now. Wouldn't be nice to
Speaker 3: not have this show Virginia transfer possible, I mean, I mean,
Speaker 3: and that's one of the things that you know, he's
Speaker 3: starting to not like he doesn't he's at least had
Speaker 3: some awareness that all these guys that he loved this year,
Speaker 3: like most of them are gone and that I think
Speaker 3: he didn't understand that, and he still doesn't, you know,
Speaker 3: as far as big picture, but I did have to
Speaker 3: you know, we're gonna have to there's gonna be all
Speaker 3: kinds of new players next year, and in a way
Speaker 3: he was kind of excited about it. But you know,
Speaker 3: he's like, wait a second, So like that's it for
Speaker 3: rain Smith, Like what about Chucky. I'm like, well, they're
Speaker 3: gonna play elsewhere and aren't they playing for us? And
Speaker 3: I'm like, you know, so he didn't really get it,
Speaker 3: at least not you know, big picture.
Speaker 2: That's a good thing.
Speaker 3: So for me to answer the question, Kirk, it was
Speaker 3: it was then it was whenever Louisville lost in that game,
Speaker 3: because that was the first time I was you know,
Speaker 3: I was sad in a way that it was over.
Speaker 3: And uh, from then on, like I was a lunatic
Speaker 3: as far as it, you know, diehard.
Speaker 2: Lunatic, whatever you want to however you want to describe it.
Speaker 3: But like last week leading up to Thursday, and we
Speaker 3: could go today like when we were two, we were
Speaker 3: forty eight hours out from the game, Like there's no
Speaker 3: scenario what that does to me can be good for
Speaker 3: my health? My life expectancy. But it's also what makes
Speaker 3: it kind of special. What makes us crazy is also
Speaker 3: what you know we tell ourselves makes it makes it
Speaker 3: a special thing. All right, let's get to a break.
Speaker 3: We'll come back on the other side. Kevin Willard in
Speaker 3: a very unique spot. I want you guys to hear
Speaker 3: something he said on a radio in you today that
Speaker 3: is just very unusual for a coach that's just a
Speaker 3: couple of days away from playing Florida, the number one
Speaker 3: seed in their region. We'll get to that and a
Speaker 3: lot more. It's coffee and Company, Feel abouth Thornton's on
Speaker 3: Sports Talk seven ninety.
Speaker 1: Now back to Coffee and Company fueled by Thornton's on
Speaker 1: Sports Talk seven ninety.
Speaker 3: All Right, five out, two five, seven, one, seventy nine hundred.
Speaker 3: If you want to give us a call, text line,
Speaker 3: that's always an option five vote, two four three eight
Speaker 3: ninety seventy three. It's the LNN Federal Credit Union tex Line.
Speaker 3: We'll get back to some texts coming up here shortly.
Speaker 3: But a lot of a lot of names entering the
Speaker 3: portal today since the show started. Donovan Dent that is
Speaker 3: New Mexico's best player. There's a good chance that at
Speaker 3: his position, maybe overall, even when we get months down
Speaker 3: the road here, that this may be the best overall
Speaker 3: player in the portal. Because we're talking about a guy
Speaker 3: who was the Mountain West Player of the year, which,
Speaker 3: of course that alone is is impressive, but his numbers
Speaker 3: twenty point six points per game and six point four
Speaker 3: assists per game while shooting forty one percent from three,
Speaker 3: and he was top fifteen I think it was in
Speaker 3: the country and both scoring an assist. I mean, the
Speaker 3: guy's really special. So to me, he's the guy that
Speaker 3: at least as of right now, will probably be able
Speaker 3: to pick wherever he wants to go to school, given
Speaker 3: that they have, you know, the money. I mean, to me,
Speaker 3: he's a guy that you'd have a hard time imagining
Speaker 3: a program, you know, not wanting him if he wanted
Speaker 3: to come there. But what you really never know is
Speaker 3: who's in contact, right, like who has who's been tampering
Speaker 3: And I hate even using the word tampering because I
Speaker 3: mean it is, but it sounds like I'm, you know,
Speaker 3: being a real stickler and wanting people to be held
Speaker 3: accountable for breaking the rules, And yeah, you should be
Speaker 3: held accountable if you break the rules. But like it's
Speaker 3: one of those things that quite literally everybody's doing it,
Speaker 3: and if you're not doing it, you're gonna get left behind.
Speaker 3: Like you really can't blame it, buddy, if you're not
Speaker 3: doing what you have to do behind the scenes in
Speaker 3: order to you know, compete, rather that be and look
Speaker 3: if you actually and if you if you are a
Speaker 3: coach that is directly reaching out to a player who
Speaker 3: has yet to enter the portal and get released, and
Speaker 3: like you're putting receipts on there, then you're just an idiot.
Speaker 3: But you don't have to do it that way, right,
Speaker 3: Like you can talk to people who know. And that's
Speaker 3: why these guys, anybody that enters the portal with a
Speaker 3: no contact somehow they were tampered with. I would imagine
Speaker 3: it's probably done the smart way, where everybody knows that
Speaker 3: there were conversations going on behind the scenes, but you didn't,
Speaker 3: you know, directly put yourself out there to get in trouble.
Speaker 3: So he didn't put a he did not put a
Speaker 3: no contact U in there. He did say that he
Speaker 3: was open to a return to New Mexico. But you
Speaker 3: got to keep in mind, like he's so good that
Speaker 3: New Mexico is probably gonna have a really really tough time,
Speaker 3: really tough time competing as far as you know in
Speaker 3: IL and.
Speaker 2: Look, money matters.
Speaker 3: So he started his career in New Mexico and really
Speaker 3: last year when they became the best, I mean, they
Speaker 3: got to the tournament a year ago and he had
Speaker 3: a good season, averaging fourteen a game. But now this
Speaker 3: year he broke out. He's one of the best players
Speaker 3: in the country. Now another name that just enter the
Speaker 3: portal that had a no contact which again probably just
Speaker 3: confirms that they know where they're going. That's why you
Speaker 3: put that there is don't contact me. I don't need
Speaker 3: anybody to reach out. I know where I'm going. That's
Speaker 3: Elliott Caddoh who just played for Carolina this past year.
Speaker 3: Was probably I mean, he was a top think he
Speaker 3: was a top fifteen point guard or to top fifteen recruit,
Speaker 3: and that you know, that's that those guys that you
Speaker 3: know come in with the five star billing and the
Speaker 3: McDonald's All American label. You still want them, but they
Speaker 3: just you know, you can't live solely off of that anymore.
Speaker 3: And I think everybody knows that. But he's somebody that
Speaker 3: when I see no contact, like, I wonder if he's
Speaker 3: just decided, Yeah, I picked Carolina when I came out
Speaker 3: of Link Academy as a five star recruit, the number
Speaker 3: twelve player overall, but I picked Carolina over Texas Tech,
Speaker 3: and now I want to go to Texas Tech. Like
Speaker 3: I mean, that's not to say that Texas Tech is
Speaker 3: the school, but it's probably.
Speaker 2: Something like that.
Speaker 3: Or again, maybe he put it out there through his people,
Speaker 3: his agent, that he was going to be leaving, and
Speaker 3: the agent did his thing to let certain people know that,
Speaker 3: Like it could happen as easy as this. All these
Speaker 3: guys have representation now, so if the representation, agent, agency, whatever,
Speaker 3: they know that somebody's going to be looking to leave.
Speaker 3: I mean, those agents can then reach out to the
Speaker 3: high school coach or the AAU coach of this player,
Speaker 3: and that coach probably still has a relationship with the
Speaker 3: coaches who recruited said player before they ended up at
Speaker 3: their first school, and that again, I guess technically you
Speaker 3: can say that's tampering, but I feel like if you're
Speaker 3: not doing things like that, networking in that way, you're
Speaker 3: going to get left behind. Trying to see if there's
Speaker 3: any other big names, and there are some names that
Speaker 3: I think it's worth following if you're a Louisville fan,
Speaker 3: one of them being a former Charleston player who I
Speaker 3: really never knew, and I did have somebody reach out
Speaker 3: to me yesterday to tell me that this young man
Speaker 3: and Tay and te Borozovic, I think Brazovic is is
Speaker 3: how you say his last name, first name. I'm probably
Speaker 3: not saying it correctly. But you know, of all the
Speaker 3: guys that were going to potentially transfer and follow Pat
Speaker 3: Kelsey from Charleston to Louisville, you had Rain Smith obviously,
Speaker 3: and James Scott, who we knew right away, and then
Speaker 3: later Kobe Rodgers ended up following along. And the best
Speaker 3: player though for Pat, was was uh Brazovic.
Speaker 2: Brazovic? Am I saying it right? B r z O
Speaker 2: V I C? How would you pronounce? That's? That's what
Speaker 2: I think, or maybe the be silent. I don't know.
Speaker 3: He's a good The Internet is a powerful tool. So
Speaker 3: I'm gonna go to let's see, I'm gonna go this
Speaker 3: is from how to Pronounce dot Com. It's gonna tell
Speaker 3: us how to pronounce this guy's name, because I have
Speaker 3: a feeling that he's probably gonna be a name we should,
Speaker 3: we should, we should keep an eye on.
Speaker 2: Brasovic, Brasovich, Brasovich. All right.
Speaker 3: So anyways, he was the he was the player of
Speaker 3: the year last year meeting when Kelsey was finishing up
Speaker 3: at Charleston in that conference, the Colonial Athletic Association. So
Speaker 3: he averaged eighteen and eight along with three assists this
Speaker 3: past season, and he's one of those guys that will
Speaker 3: need to be granted another year of eligibility.
Speaker 2: And this is what I'd like.
Speaker 3: This is put out there by Joe Tipton of On
Speaker 3: three Sports. He reports he's entering the portal and then
Speaker 3: goes on to say the sixth and senior average. He
Speaker 3: mentions his stats, but he says we'll need to be
Speaker 3: granted another year of eligibility by the NCAA. Played D
Speaker 3: two as a freshman and spent the last three years
Speaker 3: at Charleston. We'll go through the NBA draft process. So
Speaker 3: this is something this is somebody that really is gambling, right,
Speaker 3: So like I would imagine Louisville will have a chance to,
Speaker 3: you know, to get this guy if they want him,
Speaker 3: although I don't know, maybe you know, maybe it comes
Speaker 3: down to a money thing, and maybe Louisville just wouldn't
Speaker 3: want Like maybe Pat Kelsey loves this guy but realizes, Okay,
Speaker 3: when it comes to the money we have to utilize,
Speaker 3: I think we could probably get a better play. I mean,
Speaker 3: I'm just saying those that just assume it's a foregone
Speaker 3: conclusion that this guy follows Kelsey to Louisville, I mean,
Speaker 3: if so great, because I think he was the absolute
Speaker 3: type of big that you just didn't have on this roster,
Speaker 3: and you did go and tried to get Now I
Speaker 3: was told by somebody yesterday that he did.
Speaker 2: Pat Kelsey did.
Speaker 3: Want him to follow him to Louisville, and he chose
Speaker 3: not to because he did love it at Charleston and
Speaker 3: he loved knowing that he was going to be getting
Speaker 3: thirty plus minutes a game, like he was the man.
Speaker 3: He was the Raining Conference player of the year, and
Speaker 3: he really enjoyed that. In money wasn't as much of
Speaker 3: a factor because I believe when you're not, like if
Speaker 3: if you're here on a visa student visa, you're not,
Speaker 3: you can't make anil. There's ways to get around it.
Speaker 3: But like rain Smith couldn't get an il the way
Speaker 3: his teammates could because he's from Australia.
Speaker 2: Same.
Speaker 3: So again, when you when the money's not a big
Speaker 3: selling point and you already know you've got big man
Speaker 3: on campus role as far as getting thirty plus minutes
Speaker 3: a game and your player of the league, player of
Speaker 3: the year in your league, I mean, when the money's
Speaker 3: not not not available elsewhere, like it makes sense to stay.
Speaker 3: So Chris Mack was able to convince him to stick around,
Speaker 3: So he may want to follow Pat to Louisville. Now
Speaker 3: Pat Kelsey may want to make him a priority. But
Speaker 3: now we just have to wait and see if he's
Speaker 3: going to be granted another year of eligibility. And I
Speaker 3: don't know what would make him eligible. The only thing
Speaker 3: I could think of was that he played Division two.
Speaker 3: But that's not the same thing as the Diego Pavia
Speaker 3: ruling that led to all JUCOL players whose eligibility ended
Speaker 3: this year getting an extra year because of the lawsuit
Speaker 3: that he won. Because I'm pretty sure the argument was
Speaker 3: and it sounds like you can argue anything against the
Speaker 3: NCAA and they lose, But the argument there was that
Speaker 3: you can't tell me that I've exhausted all of my
Speaker 3: eligibility when yes, I've played four years of college football,
Speaker 3: but only two of them were under the n C
Speaker 3: double A umbrella under your you know, you know, your
Speaker 3: your your institutions. The n j C Double A is
Speaker 3: a completely different thing JUCO. Therefore, you you should not
Speaker 3: be able to count those against me. So he out
Speaker 3: of lawsuit, with that being the argument in E one,
Speaker 3: which again that's why guys like Javon Hadley in case
Speaker 3: in Pryor their their eligibility was expected to be over
Speaker 3: this year, but because one of those years was at
Speaker 3: least one of those years was JUCO, they now get
Speaker 3: an added year. He played D two, which is an
Speaker 3: NC Double A school. Therefore, I don't know, I don't
Speaker 3: you know, I don't know how you would make I
Speaker 3: mean again, JUCO is different because it's a different it's
Speaker 3: a different organization, right, it's a different entity, whereas D
Speaker 3: two is still in C double A. Now, what I
Speaker 3: don't know is when you transferred up from and again
Speaker 3: maybe this they wouldn't even matter. I was gonna say,
Speaker 3: when you transfer up from D two to D one,
Speaker 3: prior to the portal being a thing, did you have
Speaker 3: to sit out. I don't think you did. But again,
Speaker 3: that's a name that people are going to be talking
Speaker 3: about for Louisville. Makes total sense. But again I want
Speaker 3: people to remember he has to get a year of
Speaker 3: eligibility that I don't know where that's gonna come from.
Speaker 3: So I didn't even realize this, to be honest with you,
Speaker 3: whenever I'm whenever, I was talking about players in the
Speaker 3: portal that are just, you know, hit entering the portal
Speaker 3: and hoping that they can get a because this guy's
Speaker 3: out of eligibility, Like as of now, he does not
Speaker 3: qualify for the same situation that other guys that win JUCO.
Speaker 3: He's just entering the portal and gonna see if he
Speaker 3: can somehow try to squeeze out another year. And I
Speaker 3: hope that he can, but if so, it'll probably just
Speaker 3: be another sign of how close we are to the
Speaker 3: nc DOUAA fully being one thousand percent useless and serving
Speaker 3: no purpose at all, because like this, this is like
Speaker 3: somebody who played D two, Like if this kid was
Speaker 3: granted eligibility because they're saying what he did at the
Speaker 3: D two level doesn't count. I mean, you could have
Speaker 3: dudes who just finished a four year career, All American
Speaker 3: caliber career at the D two levels, saying at twenty two,
Speaker 3: I'm going D one now and I got four years left.
Speaker 3: I mean that just I mean, I guess we are
Speaker 3: in a world now where nothing should surprise me. I
Speaker 3: just think that's that's a little a little far fetched,
Speaker 3: all right, real quick. I mentioned the pro day going
Speaker 3: on over there at u of L for all the
Speaker 3: former level football players hoping to make the jump to
Speaker 3: the NFL. And obviously, Tyler Shuck has been not only
Speaker 3: the most talked about guy from the Louisville side, but
Speaker 3: he's been one of the most talked about quarterbacks in
Speaker 3: this draft because he's just emerged as this guy that
Speaker 3: with every opportunity to show what he can do, he
Speaker 3: seems to get more and more buzz and more praise,
Speaker 3: and that's been awesome to see. But Ashton Jilotti for
Speaker 3: years now has been viewed as the guy that has
Speaker 3: the you know, the guy for UFL that has the
Speaker 3: most the best chances of being.
Speaker 2: A really early draft pick.
Speaker 3: Right Like, Louisville had a great run of having guys
Speaker 3: taken early in the draft, and then they had a
Speaker 3: stretch where they didn't have anybody taken in the draft
Speaker 3: for a while, or at least not anybody taken high.
Speaker 3: And now Jelatti, I don't I don't really know where
Speaker 3: he is as far as draft stock as of right now.
Speaker 3: But Ian Rappaport of the NFL Network just put this
Speaker 3: out about twenty minutes ago, says Lowell.
Speaker 2: Edge rusher Ashton Jalatti.
Speaker 3: A name that is already generating buzz as we get
Speaker 3: closer to the NFL Draft. Ran a blazing four six
Speaker 3: three forty yard dash today at his pro day in
Speaker 3: front of NFL representatives, and there were representatives from all
Speaker 3: thirty two clubs. So Ashton somebody that I'm not forgetting about.
Speaker 3: But his senior year, I don't think there was anything
Speaker 3: that would make you believe that his draft stock.
Speaker 2: Was going to fall.
Speaker 3: It just turned out to where he had been so
Speaker 3: good in college for so long that routinely, I mean,
Speaker 3: it was a rare situation if he wasn't being double
Speaker 3: and triple teamed. So still a lot of talent there,
Speaker 3: and I wouldn't be shocked at all if he has
Speaker 3: a long and successful NFL career. All right, let's get
Speaker 3: to our last break here, in the four o'clock hour.
Speaker 3: What I want to get to coming up here on
Speaker 3: the other side, we will let you hear Kevin Willard,
Speaker 3: who I don't I'm not doing this for like entertainment purposes,
Speaker 3: but to hear him sort of talk about what most
Speaker 3: coaches don't talk about publicly at all. He's doing it.
Speaker 3: And it's right before he's getting ready to play a
Speaker 3: one seed when he currently has no boss because Ady
Speaker 3: just left. It's just a really unusual situation here that
Speaker 3: I'm fascinated with. So stick around. We got a lot
Speaker 3: more to get to. It's coffee and company, and we
Speaker 3: are fuel abou Thornton's right here on Sports Talk seven.
Speaker 1: Ninety Now back to coffee and company, fueled by Thornton's
Speaker 1: on Sports Talk seven nine day.
Speaker 3: I have not followed much of the women's in CAA
Speaker 3: tournament really at all. I did see the Louisville TCU
Speaker 3: game the other night, obviously not a good one for
Speaker 3: Jeff Walls and his squad as they fall short, losing
Speaker 3: in the round of thirty two, which I believe this
Speaker 3: is just the Is this the second time or maybe
Speaker 3: the first, No, this is the first time Walls has
Speaker 3: gone back to back seasons without making the Sweet sixteen,
Speaker 3: which you know clearly.
Speaker 2: That's not a good trend.
Speaker 3: But anyone, and I mean, I mean, anybody claiming that
Speaker 3: like Louisville needs to like look in a different direction.
Speaker 3: I mean, I don't when I see people claiming that
Speaker 3: here and there on social media, I don't knowhether they're
Speaker 3: trolling or not, because I mean, Walls quite literally.
Speaker 2: Created this program.
Speaker 3: I mean, no disrespect to those that came before him
Speaker 3: and whatnot, but there's not a program on Floyd Street
Speaker 3: that has had a bigger rise based off one person
Speaker 3: who's still currently there than Jeff Walls and the louis
Speaker 3: Women's Club. So I mean, yeah, I mean it's not ideal,
Speaker 3: But I think Jeff Walls is like every coach dealing
Speaker 3: with the new world, and I think he knows that
Speaker 3: his best way to succeed is to still get hungry
Speaker 3: young players that have a lot of talent, and you
Speaker 3: may you may end up losing them, but I think
Speaker 3: if he can keep the majority of the young, really
Speaker 3: talented freshmen and bring in some good pieces in the
Speaker 3: portal like he has in recent years, that to me,
Speaker 3: is the best formula for him.
Speaker 2: And uh, I mean, I think if they.
Speaker 3: Get a lot of these girls back from this team,
Speaker 3: and I know some of them, obviously you won't because
Speaker 3: they're gonna graduate. I don't I don't think that we
Speaker 3: need to worry about the future of global women's basketball
Speaker 3: just yet. But losing to Hailey vanlith that certainly sucked.
Speaker 3: Which it was wild to see ESPN bill that as
Speaker 3: the Haley Vanlyth revenge game. Revenge for what four years
Speaker 3: of her being a complete superstar, four years where three
Speaker 3: of them included Elite eights, one of them was a
Speaker 3: final four. I mean, anybody, I mean, anybody building that
Speaker 3: is anything. As far as any animosity, I mean, it's
Speaker 3: it's a it's a force. I don't know if u
Speaker 3: l feels, you know, nothing but love and hugs and
Speaker 3: kisses to her, But I don't think there's any I mean,
Speaker 3: I think it was just a separation and both sides
Speaker 3: went their own way, and you know, that was it.
Speaker 3: I guess she did kind of take I mean, honestly,
Speaker 3: if anybody was away about it, it would be her.
Speaker 3: If you remember, there was the scenario where they could
Speaker 3: have met last year in the tournament at LSU when
Speaker 3: she was there and she made some kind of a
Speaker 3: snarky comment.
Speaker 2: She was very much I felt like her time.
Speaker 3: At LSU was a disaster for her because one she
Speaker 3: she did kind of stand out as not being able
Speaker 3: to compete at the same level as the rest of
Speaker 3: that starting group, and I just think she was uncomfortable.
Speaker 3: I mean, I don't think she I mean, I think
Speaker 3: she was really trying hard to fit in with with
Speaker 3: that and it and it didn't work. She had a
Speaker 3: really good year at TCU, and you know, she had
Speaker 3: a great college career and she has it. I mean,
Speaker 3: I'm not sure what in the world she could think
Speaker 3: negatively about her time here, and I don't and I
Speaker 3: honestly don't think that she does. It's just weird that
Speaker 3: ESPN tried to bill it that way, But I guess
Speaker 3: it's just to try to generate more interest, because as expected,
Speaker 3: without the two superstars, two polarizing figures like Caitlin Clark
Speaker 3: and Angel Reese, you just you don't have the same
Speaker 3: interest in the game, and that was to be expected.
Speaker 2: But did you see these numbers?
Speaker 3: Austin the first round of the women's tournament, drew three
Speaker 3: hundred and sixty seven thousand viewers, down twenty two percent
Speaker 3: from last year. If I'm honest, I would have expected
Speaker 3: it to be more down than at it than it was. Yeah,
Speaker 3: me too, just because it was so much I mean
Speaker 3: it was interesting last year. I mean it just was
Speaker 3: it was a once in a lifetime kind of thing
Speaker 3: where they had to build up with two very high
Speaker 3: profile superstars in that sport, and it generated more interest
Speaker 3: than they're typically going to get. So down twenty two percent,
Speaker 3: but it is still a second most watched since twenty thirteen.
Speaker 2: So there you go.
Speaker 3: All right, We'll let you guys hear the sound from
Speaker 3: Kevin Willard in the second and the five o'clock hour
Speaker 3: because I've let myself round out of time. But real quick,
Speaker 3: speaking of women's basketball, just an awful, awful situation with
Speaker 3: Juju Watkins last night as she goes down suffering a
Speaker 3: torn acl and I mean she's the new I mean,
Speaker 3: she's the biggest star in the sport, right. I know,
Speaker 3: Paige Bucker's came back and she's great, and she's clearly
Speaker 3: a marketed superstar as well, But Juji Watkins, I feel like,
Speaker 3: I mean she's in LA. She kind of already had
Speaker 3: some built in fame and hype when she got to
Speaker 3: USC and she's I mean, she's in all kinds of commercials.
Speaker 3: I mean, she's she's a superstar. And she has a
Speaker 3: torn ACL will obviously miss the rest of this tournament,
Speaker 3: and she's likely gonna, because of the timing of this injury,
Speaker 3: she's likely going to miss the entire year next year,
Speaker 3: which is a real bummer, not only for her, but
Speaker 3: it's also a real bummer for women's basketball because, let's
Speaker 3: be honest, the nil world changed the women's game one
Speaker 3: thousand percent. Where they weren't leaving early for the WNBA
Speaker 3: often right because you know they wouldn't be made. I mean,
Speaker 3: they're not running to go play in that league. And
Speaker 3: I mean I know maybe you did have girls leave early.
Speaker 3: I just didn't pay attention to it. But now, like
Speaker 3: if you were, if you were in the top tier
Speaker 3: women's college basketball players, you are you're making good money.
Speaker 3: So obviously she'll still I mean, she's gonna be just fine.
Speaker 3: But she was one of those that I think could
Speaker 3: really bring a level of, you know, fame and attention
Speaker 3: to the sport that you just don't often see. So
Speaker 3: I'm sure there'll still be other stars and whatnot. I
Speaker 3: don't want to act like it's the death of college basketball,
Speaker 3: but you know, you need superstars, especially a league that's
Speaker 3: continuously trying to grow. You need players of that caliber
Speaker 3: to be healthy and play. And it's gonna be a
Speaker 3: while before she can play, which again, you know, really sucks. Yeah,
Speaker 3: it looks like she's gonna have Yeah, it was a
Speaker 3: right knee and you could tell as soon as she
Speaker 3: went down that it was serious and uh yeah, just
Speaker 3: a real real bummer. All right, we got to five
Speaker 3: o'clock hour coming your way and a lot more to
Speaker 3: get into, so stick with us. I can't believe how
Speaker 3: fast the first couple hours went by, but we'll finish
Speaker 3: strong and let you guys be a part of it.
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