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. Our number two a
Speaker 2: little later then we typically get it started.
Speaker 3: But that's okay.
Speaker 2: I started talking about a Facebook rant that I had,
Speaker 2: which I'm sure made for great radio. And again to clarify,
Speaker 2: the reason I brought that whole thing up was not
Speaker 2: to like make myself look like I know, I dunked
Speaker 2: on somebody in the comment section, but it was another
Speaker 2: sign that there's just such a good Like the last
Speaker 2: time I just out of nowhere couldn't control myself at
Speaker 2: wanting to defend Louisville basketball and Louisville fans. I can't
Speaker 2: remember the last time that happened, but it did, and
Speaker 2: it was a reminder to me. And I didn't need
Speaker 2: to be reminded because I kind of knew deep down,
Speaker 2: And if you've listened to me in any way consistently,
Speaker 2: especially you know during the last two years before this
Speaker 2: new era started with Pat Kelsey, I mean.
Speaker 3: I wasn't going out of my wib.
Speaker 2: I mean I was doing my job and calling it
Speaker 2: like it is, and maybe at times for comedic relief.
Speaker 2: I would try to, you know, have fun with it
Speaker 2: that you know, and it's not fun that Louisville was
Speaker 2: as bad as it was, but it became such a
Speaker 2: weird place to be in talking louis of basketball at
Speaker 2: least a little bit every single day because that's what
Speaker 2: we do around here. And even as bad as they were,
Speaker 2: a big chunk of our conversations last year around this time,
Speaker 2: other than you know, what was going on in college hoops,
Speaker 2: was who was going to take over? I mean, at
Speaker 2: this point a year ago, the conversation was about who's
Speaker 2: they going to hire because we knew that Kenny wouldn't
Speaker 2: be you know, wouldn't be here long term.
Speaker 3: And you know, it.
Speaker 2: Just was a I think a product of where of
Speaker 2: how bad the program was. And you know, I'm not
Speaker 2: trust me, this isn't a poor me thing. But you know,
Speaker 2: when you hear enough of people just claiming, well, you're
Speaker 2: just negative, and you know you're not even really a
Speaker 2: Louisville fan. You're friends with Matt Jones and you actually
Speaker 2: want Louisville to be terrible, you don't even care you're
Speaker 2: not a fan, like you know, ninety nine percent of
Speaker 2: the time, I feel like I can block that out
Speaker 2: and kind of take it for what it is. But
Speaker 2: also every now and then you kind of start to,
Speaker 2: you know, maybe I am being a little little much,
Speaker 2: and maybe at times I was, but also like, you know,
Speaker 2: think about how bad we were now we're not, and
Speaker 2: it's a lot of fun Louisville SMU Tonight a lot
Speaker 2: on the line for both teams kind of. I mean,
Speaker 2: I think a win tonight gives Louisville another quad one
Speaker 2: win and maybe I don't know, maybe that bumps them
Speaker 2: up a seed line, but it's also not a well,
Speaker 2: it would be a top forty win. I mean, it's
Speaker 2: a top I mean SMU would have to completely fall
Speaker 2: apart for this to not be a quad one win if,
Speaker 2: of course, Louisville does get the win tonight, because you know,
Speaker 2: I think it's going to be easier said than done.
Speaker 2: I'm confident that they can and will win, but sim
Speaker 2: use a team that I'm kind of you know, I'm
Speaker 2: kind of not worried about them, but tonight's gonna you know,
Speaker 2: I think you can look at them in every aspect
Speaker 2: as far as their resume, what they're doing, as far
Speaker 2: as production from their personnel, and you can kind of
Speaker 2: just come up with whatever conclusion that you want. There's
Speaker 2: no scenario they're a bad team, but like how good
Speaker 2: they are, I think it kind of just depends on,
Speaker 2: you know, how you want to look at it. There's
Speaker 2: no way to know for certain. They don't have a
Speaker 2: bad loss at this point really, at least, you know,
Speaker 2: not not a terrible loss. They're worse loss right now.
Speaker 2: SMU is to Butler, and Butler's a non tournament team,
Speaker 2: probably a bottom tier Big East team, but you know,
Speaker 2: it's a Big East team. It's not like they lost
Speaker 2: to you know, Sun Belt team or something like that.
Speaker 2: So Louisville is underdogs currently, they are one and a
Speaker 2: half point underdogs. The Kin Pomp score projection is seventy
Speaker 2: nine to seventy seven.
Speaker 3: So I and.
Speaker 2: I for SMU, this is huge because right now just
Speaker 2: about everybody has them as like the next four out
Speaker 2: or the first full route And if they beat Louisville,
Speaker 2: and this is another sign that we're having a pretty
Speaker 2: good season because a win tonight would be a big
Speaker 2: win for SMU, easily their biggest win of the season.
Speaker 2: And you know, I'm sure they're coming in with that
Speaker 2: mindset knowing hey, because look, everybody in the ACC realizes,
Speaker 2: says I, now you know if you are, and look,
Speaker 2: there's so many teams in the league that just aren't
Speaker 2: going to sniff the tournament, and we know that. But
Speaker 2: you've got currently Duke the only team that is just
Speaker 2: safely in. I think Louisville as of now is safely in.
Speaker 2: But I guess, you know, technically with as many games left,
Speaker 2: and if they do take some losses given who's on
Speaker 2: the schedule, you know, and I don't predict or expect
Speaker 2: them to lose to some of these teams, but it's
Speaker 2: just one of those things that if you do, man,
Speaker 2: it could be a real glaring loss that just really
Speaker 2: changes your resume, probably doesn't move you out. But anyways,
Speaker 2: tonight big game for both teams because when you only
Speaker 2: have one opportunity left at least as of right now
Speaker 2: on paper, to get a quad one win, you want
Speaker 2: to be able to take advantage of that opportunity. And
Speaker 2: with SMU, same thing this is, you know, looking at
Speaker 2: SMU's schedule, the rest of the way they've got they
Speaker 2: don't have Duke. They already played Duke got beat pretty bad.
Speaker 2: They'll play Gosh, they've got Clemson at home, which that'll
Speaker 2: be February twenty second, that'll be another opportunity for a
Speaker 2: quad one for for SMU if Clemson can stay in
Speaker 2: the top thirty. But outside of that, yeah, I mean,
Speaker 2: really looking at it right now, this is the this
Speaker 2: is the only quad one win left for both of
Speaker 2: these teams as of right now. So it's not that
Speaker 2: you know it's gonna make or break your season, but
Speaker 2: just looking at the it used to be where this
Speaker 2: would just be another night at work, I mean, if
Speaker 2: you know what I mean, Like it used to be
Speaker 2: in the ACC, and certainly when Louis was in the
Speaker 2: Big East. We weren't talking quad one, quad two back
Speaker 2: in those days, but it was it was a rarity
Speaker 2: that you would go a week in league play without
Speaker 2: having an opportunity to get a win that would that
Speaker 2: would improve your resume to a certain extent. And now
Speaker 2: that's just kind of not where the ACC is. So
Speaker 2: certainly a lot on the line tonight a nine o'clock tip,
Speaker 2: and Louis has played well enough in the last really
Speaker 2: the last six games specifically that I mean, I'd just
Speaker 2: be a liar if I told you I didn't expect
Speaker 2: them to come out and play well. Now doesn't mean
Speaker 2: it's going to happen, but they've been pretty consistent. And
Speaker 2: what makes me the most confident is that the things
Speaker 2: that I believe have really made them look like a
Speaker 2: team that not only is taking advantage of an ACC
Speaker 2: that's down, but a team that might be able to
Speaker 2: get a decent seed, maybe make the second weekend. I
Speaker 2: don't think that's crazy crazy right now. What I think
Speaker 2: has really gotten fans like myself to kind of envision
Speaker 2: that happening is that the things that they're doing really well,
Speaker 2: it's something you can control, right, playing really good defense,
Speaker 2: doing your work on the backboard, all the stats that
Speaker 2: you know you really want to make sure you're excelling
Speaker 2: at second chance points, offensive rebounds, assists. I mean, Louis
Speaker 2: has been able to win some of these games as
Speaker 2: of late, where you look at box score at the
Speaker 2: end of the game you think, like, man, we missed
Speaker 2: that many free throws. We're lucky that didn't bite us
Speaker 2: in the rear end, and look, maybe tonight's that night,
Speaker 2: because you know, that's one of those things that because
Speaker 2: of the ride and how much fun it's been I'm
Speaker 2: not really dwelling on things that I think are weaknesses
Speaker 2: of this team, because every team has weaknesses, this one included.
Speaker 3: But Louisville free throw shooting.
Speaker 2: They've had games where they're you know, eighteen to twenty two,
Speaker 2: which is a pretty damn good night, But then they
Speaker 2: have some games where it's just like, wait a second,
Speaker 2: forty seven percent, So you I mean that that is
Speaker 2: that's the one area where they're really inconsistent, And I
Speaker 2: think it's better to be inconsistent where you've at least
Speaker 2: seen games where you shoot a bunch of them and
Speaker 2: you do make a lot of them, but you also
Speaker 2: can't say you'd be surprised if they end up in
Speaker 2: a spot where they have a bad night at the line.
Speaker 2: It just I don't know, that's one of the things
Speaker 2: that I don't I don't know what to chalk it
Speaker 2: up to. But they've been inconsistent and at times just
Speaker 2: bad at free throw shooting, and I don't feel like
Speaker 2: in any of the games they've lost this year, that's
Speaker 2: been one, you know, that's been one of the things
Speaker 2: that is that has been a key factor or five
Speaker 2: oo two five seven, one seventy nine hundred the number.
Speaker 2: If you guys want to jump in and join us,
Speaker 2: let's go to the phone lines and welcome in.
Speaker 3: Adam. Adam, you're on sports Stock seven ninety. What's up, man?
Speaker 4: Hey? How you doing?
Speaker 1: Nick?
Speaker 5: Doing well?
Speaker 3: Brother?
Speaker 4: All right, I'm telling you what. I'm excited finally for
Speaker 4: the first time in a few years. I mean, I'm
Speaker 4: glad we got the team that we have. It's exciting
Speaker 4: to watch basketball again for my team.
Speaker 2: I know it used to feel like a chore where
Speaker 2: you'd be like, well, I feel like I gotta watch.
Speaker 2: I'm a fan, although I don't really feel great about
Speaker 2: the team, and now I can't wait for game day.
Speaker 2: It's it's nice to be alive again.
Speaker 4: Well and just not sit there like you sit in
Speaker 4: agony'd like, oh man, we play again tonight. I mean,
Speaker 4: people don't understand, like we really went through a really
Speaker 4: low time where it was not fun.
Speaker 2: It's not it wasn't fun, Oh it was.
Speaker 5: It was horrible.
Speaker 4: Yeah, And I don't think I'm gonna be honest with you.
Speaker 4: I don't think there's been a worse season in the
Speaker 4: UVL that I can ever remember. And being that bad son,
Speaker 4: I am just glad we were competitive. We're top tier
Speaker 4: in our conference. You know, they can say what they
Speaker 4: want about the SEC the Big Ten's is whatever. You know,
Speaker 4: you can put us up against somebody and we'll compete,
Speaker 4: and we'll fight, and we've got a chance to win
Speaker 4: any game that they put us in. And I feel
Speaker 4: that way, and I haven't felt that way in a
Speaker 4: long time. So I'm just happy. Man, me too, brother,
Speaker 4: And I'm excited about the tournament and everything.
Speaker 3: You know, I'm with you. It's awesome, And Adam, I
Speaker 3: appreciate the call.
Speaker 2: Man. Good to hear from you. Yeah, I'm totally with you,
Speaker 2: just knowing that, hey, like we're alive again. And and
Speaker 2: you said something that I probably don't. I probably don't
Speaker 2: think about as much as others, and I probably should
Speaker 2: because it's It's another thing that I think can give
Speaker 2: you some confidence in your team. Is look Louisville, if
Speaker 2: they end up playing Duke again, if they end up
Speaker 2: playing you know, heck, even Kentucky again, maybe they get
Speaker 2: Auburn or something in the tournament. I mean, clearly they're
Speaker 2: gonna have a tough night because they're playing one of
Speaker 2: the best teams in the country. And you know what,
Speaker 2: more often the not. They're probably gonna lose those games,
Speaker 2: but I know this group won't be too wide eyed.
Speaker 2: They're not gonna have deer in the headlights look because
Speaker 2: I think they've got great leadership, their reflection of their coach,
Speaker 2: and I'm really interested to see moving forward. And I'm
Speaker 2: not thinking about it a whole lot, but I really
Speaker 2: believe one of the things that has helped this team
Speaker 2: have the success that they've had so far is their maturity.
Speaker 2: And I think there's definitely a lot of it that
Speaker 2: you just chalk it up to these individuals, these human
Speaker 2: beings that are you can be twenty three year old
Speaker 2: college player and still be immature and still be you know,
Speaker 2: not having necessarily a good head on your shoulders and
Speaker 2: not maybe do the right things. I think these are
Speaker 2: good dudes. I think these are guys that are genuinely
Speaker 2: great teammates to one another. And I'm sure Pat would
Speaker 2: tell you that that was part of the process and
Speaker 2: bringing them in.
Speaker 3: He wanted guys that fit the culture.
Speaker 2: But sometimes you just you don't know that there's guys
Speaker 2: who committed to come to the Louisville that are a
Speaker 2: part of this great run that they're on right now
Speaker 2: that probably had three conversations with Pat Kelsey before they
Speaker 2: ever decided to commit here, Like it wasn't like you
Speaker 2: have a whole lot of time to really I mean,
Speaker 2: I guess you can talk to other coaches and and
Speaker 2: get references and whatnot and kind of you know, figure
Speaker 2: out what you're getting into as far as who you're recruiting.
Speaker 3: But I think this team, again, they're gonna need.
Speaker 2: Some breaks to go their way if we're talking about
Speaker 2: them knocking off one of the best teams in the country.
Speaker 2: But I just I don't have any worry that they'll
Speaker 2: they'll be ready, and that'd mean they're gonna.
Speaker 3: Win, trust me.
Speaker 2: Like you know, when you play teams that are better
Speaker 2: than you, you're gonna need some breaks to go your way.
Speaker 2: You're gonna have a you're gonna need to have a
Speaker 2: really good night. But they just and they have a
Speaker 2: confidence about about their their process and they're selfless. I mean,
Speaker 2: you've had different leading scorers like every night and at
Speaker 2: any moment, like it could be anybody's nights and I
Speaker 2: you just don't know. And it's been a lot of fun.
Speaker 2: And man, I'll tell you what the the thing I
Speaker 2: saw earlier today from let me make sure I cite
Speaker 2: my my source correctly here, because.
Speaker 3: I always get this. This is.
Speaker 2: This guy's name is Evan Miyakawa, and he is another
Speaker 2: one of the college basketball statistical professionals. His work, his formula,
Speaker 2: his numbers are featured in ESPN, CBS Sports, the Athletic
Speaker 2: Sports Illustrated. He's kind of like a Ken Palm or
Speaker 2: a Bart Torvik. And he's a great follow by the way,
Speaker 2: if you want to follow him, it's Evan Maya Evan
Speaker 2: E v A N M I y A on.
Speaker 3: X slash Twitter. But he put together a graphic that shows.
Speaker 2: Minutes per game missed by rotation players essentially, and I'll
Speaker 2: just read you directly what it says. Here says here
Speaker 2: are the teams who have suffered the most from injuries
Speaker 2: this year based on minutes per game missed by rotation players.
Speaker 2: So again, college basketball teams right now that are that
Speaker 2: are missing guys that we're going to be playing a
Speaker 2: lot of minutes, and we're playing a lot of minutes
Speaker 2: before they got hurt. And there's only one team in
Speaker 2: college basketball that has been impacted more so than Louisville
Speaker 2: and that's a random team McNee State, and that's actually
Speaker 2: where Will Wade is. And he brought in a lot
Speaker 2: of guys from the portal that you typically wouldn't get
Speaker 2: it McNee State unless you know you're Will Wade and
Speaker 2: you've clearly show them that you can coach a little bit.
Speaker 2: So I guess technically they've been more impacted by it
Speaker 2: than Louisville. But Louisville is right there and it's outside
Speaker 2: of that. It's really not close. And you know what
Speaker 2: I keep forgetting that I never think of that, and
Speaker 2: you know why, because these guys don't think about it either.
Speaker 2: I'm sure they wish Cason was out there and Koran
Speaker 2: was out.
Speaker 3: There, and they didn't. They didn't.
Speaker 2: They weren't with that kid or for as many games
Speaker 2: as he missed. Like, we know they're injured and it's
Speaker 2: still a factor, but like I think, man, and again
Speaker 2: this is where it just gets where I just feel
Speaker 2: like I'm turning into total Homer cardboy here. But like
Speaker 2: I rarely even think about those injuries, and clearly these
Speaker 2: guys don't either, because they they knew that if you know,
Speaker 2: if you dwell on it, you use it as an excuse,
Speaker 2: then it's a crutch. And in this group, they didn't
Speaker 2: feel sorry for themselves at any at any point and clearly,
Speaker 2: I mean, they've had a lot of tough breaks come
Speaker 2: their way this year that have nothing to do with
Speaker 2: what you inherited, that have really nothing to I mean,
Speaker 2: it's just they've had really bad luck with injuries. But
Speaker 2: they don't seem to be dwelling on it. Fans aren't
Speaker 2: even thinking about it. It's just another sign of how
Speaker 2: good of a job Pat Kelsey's been able to do
Speaker 2: so far. It's exciting, no doubt. All right, quick break,
Speaker 2: we'll come back on the other side. We've got a
Speaker 2: lot more to get into before we get out of here,
Speaker 2: so hang out with us. We'll get back to your
Speaker 2: phone calls on the other side. Five oo two five
Speaker 2: seven one seventy nine hundred. It's coffee and company. Feel
Speaker 2: bout Thorntons right here on Sports Talk seven ninety now.
Speaker 1: Back to coffee and Company, fueled by Thornton's on Sports
Speaker 1: Talk seven nine day.
Speaker 2: If it was anybody else, I probably would just view
Speaker 2: this as like a hard, oh try hard move just
Speaker 2: to you know, just to kind of show you're a
Speaker 2: football guy. But the way Marcus Freeman has really carried
Speaker 2: himself throughout really his entire time as a head coach
Speaker 2: at Notre Dame, I'm willing to give him the benefit
Speaker 2: of the doubt that this is just, you know, him
Speaker 2: doing something not for attention, but it's part of his
Speaker 2: process to you know, be the best coach he can be.
Speaker 2: But there's a video of him forcing himself to watch
Speaker 2: Ohio State celebrate, which he later said that you know,
Speaker 2: he needs to see that to fuel him to you know,
Speaker 2: know that they got there and came up short. And
Speaker 2: I'm paraphrasing here, but you know, I don't get the
Speaker 2: sense that he was wanting people to kind of you know,
Speaker 2: realize that he was making sure he was watching them
Speaker 2: celebrate after you know, he has nothing to be ashamed
Speaker 2: of it.
Speaker 3: They had a phenomenal year, but engagement forming.
Speaker 2: If anything, I feel like this is just another sign that,
Speaker 2: like Notre Dame's not going anywhere. They've got a guy
Speaker 2: that really he's got a lot that I feel like
Speaker 2: is really really important and valuable. Now with the way
Speaker 2: the college game is, right, I mean, it's certainly becoming
Speaker 2: more and more. In fact, it is, it's pro sports,
Speaker 2: and the same things you're seeing in pro sports, I
Speaker 2: think you're going to see in college and that is
Speaker 2: coaches that maybe more than anything, they just have an
Speaker 2: ability to lead and get guys motivated and they've been
Speaker 2: there before. I mean, you can still be as super
Speaker 2: successful as a coach if you've never been a great player,
Speaker 2: but you know you've got it, and you know you're
Speaker 2: you're able to build old a staff and and and
Speaker 2: and work well with that staff and cleared.
Speaker 3: You got to know what you're doing.
Speaker 2: But I mean, he's he's somebody that I can totally
Speaker 2: see why the NFL has has some real interest. And
Speaker 2: you know, they didn't win last night, and obviously the
Speaker 2: Bears have hired Ben Johnson, but I heard Colhart say
Speaker 2: it earlier today, and I kind of feel like, even
Speaker 2: though they did lose, maybe there are some Bears fans
Speaker 2: they kind of feel like maybe that was the direction
Speaker 2: we should have gone, and maybe we should have maybe
Speaker 2: maybe we should have tried to go get Marcus Freeman
Speaker 2: instead of Ben Johnson.
Speaker 3: But anyways, Notre Dame comes up.
Speaker 2: Short, and uh, the game kind of played out really
Speaker 2: the way I expected.
Speaker 3: Ohio State was just better and it was.
Speaker 2: There was a late score from Notre Dame to cut
Speaker 2: it to eight, but after that it was, you know,
Speaker 2: the clock kept ticking and it really never never appeared
Speaker 2: as if Notre Dame was was going to win the game.
Speaker 2: And look, I don't know what the perfect solution is
Speaker 2: as far as why, you know, how we can you know,
Speaker 2: get it to where it just didn't feel like, I
Speaker 2: don't want to say a chore and everybody's different.
Speaker 3: But I was relieved to see right before kickoff.
Speaker 2: You know, those that cover the sport nationally couldn't control themselves.
Speaker 2: They had to put it out there, rather it be
Speaker 2: on their coverage or just you know, throwing out a
Speaker 2: tweet like, man, this just feels flat. This just not
Speaker 2: feel like we're about to watch the national championship game.
Speaker 2: And part of it's because it's new. We've never had
Speaker 2: a twelve team playoff, we've never crowned a champion on
Speaker 2: January twentieth. And maybe it'll be more normal down the
Speaker 2: line and we get used to it, but I kind
Speaker 2: of feel like that's too late. Like college football, I
Speaker 2: think should start earlier than it does. And I really,
Speaker 2: I mean, this is trust me that I don't want
Speaker 2: to be like the anti college football guy because I
Speaker 2: love college football. And that's why I was kind of
Speaker 2: like insecure a little bit yesterday because I felt like
Speaker 2: a fraud, Like, wait a second, it's a big game,
Speaker 2: national championship game, the last night of the college football season,
Speaker 2: and I keep having to remind myself that there's a game.
Speaker 3: Am I fraud?
Speaker 1: Do?
Speaker 3: I really care about college football?
Speaker 2: So it's nice to see others at least kind of
Speaker 2: felt like that a little bit. But greed money matters
Speaker 2: in everything in life. Money matters, and I know that.
Speaker 2: I think if you have that, you don't have to
Speaker 2: like it or accept it, but you'll probably be able
Speaker 2: to deal with certain things in life better than others
Speaker 2: if you just are aware that money's always going to matter,
Speaker 2: maybe more than anything. So they're never going to get
Speaker 2: rid of conference championship games, they're never going to get
Speaker 2: rid of the meaningless bowl games because they make a
Speaker 2: lot of money and that's what it's all about. But
Speaker 2: it just didn't feel like a sport that is so
Speaker 2: popular and look, I'm sure plenty of people watched last
Speaker 2: night to where it's not going to look like they,
Speaker 2: you know, had a dud as far as the viewership
Speaker 2: and whatnot. But because the things that just kind of
Speaker 2: make you feel a little like it just seems off
Speaker 2: because those things are purely being done because it just
Speaker 2: makes way more money and it's a big time revenue generator.
Speaker 2: That means it's not going away. So like if they
Speaker 2: got the conference championship, games quite literally are pointless. I mean,
Speaker 2: I guess technically you can claim that you won and
Speaker 2: now that you won your league, and that's you'd rather
Speaker 2: be able to say that than not be able to
Speaker 2: say it. But think about this, if you've put yourself
Speaker 2: in a position where you are playing for your conference
Speaker 2: championship and you are in a league like the ACC,
Speaker 2: the SEC, the Big Ten, maybe even the Big twelve,
Speaker 2: you're thinking playoff, Like you would sacrifice a spot to
Speaker 2: even play for a conference championship if it means you
Speaker 2: can get in to the playoff. That's the ultimate goal now.
Speaker 2: But they're never gonna get rid of them, and it
Speaker 2: does sound crazy to think they should just not have
Speaker 2: a conference championship anymore.
Speaker 3: But like, it just feels a little bit off.
Speaker 2: But I think we're just gonna have to get used
Speaker 2: to it because they're gonna make a lot of money.
Speaker 2: Like there are way more big time events this year
Speaker 2: in college football. And when I say big time events,
Speaker 2: I guess I just mean made for TV. Like previously
Speaker 2: we would have three college football playoff games, right, the
Speaker 2: semis and then the championship game. Well, now you had
Speaker 2: a lot more of them, and maybe certain games didn't
Speaker 2: do the numbers, didn't have the viewership that we had
Speaker 2: previously in the fourteen playoff. But you know what, when
Speaker 2: you have way more than the three games than you
Speaker 2: had previously, it still is bringing in a lot more money.
Speaker 2: And that's I don't want to say that's all they
Speaker 2: care about, but that clearly is a really it's a
Speaker 2: driving influence and big decisions made when it comes to
Speaker 2: college football.
Speaker 6: What about the fact that I feel like this is
Speaker 6: the college football player at the chaos. The chaos has
Speaker 6: been great, But you got to keep in mind is
Speaker 6: and I hate to say this and be a hypocrite
Speaker 6: to but is there maybe such thing as like a
Speaker 6: college football like fatigue because of the playoffs'll been going
Speaker 6: on since December twentieth, because the Indiana Notre Dame games
Speaker 6: what kicked everything off? That was December twentieth, then with
Speaker 6: all the bye weeks and everything, so it took a
Speaker 6: whole month. So this weekend we're gonna know who's going
Speaker 6: to be in the final game basically of the NFL,
Speaker 6: and the playoffs started last week. It goes by relatively fast,
Speaker 6: and so maybe you could just be dealing with that,
Speaker 6: maybe just like we immediately get hit with Monday, here
Speaker 6: is the National Championship game, but we're just coming off
Speaker 6: an exciting weekend where some of the best teams in
Speaker 6: the world had just like the Lions, they just lost
Speaker 6: and we're going on to basically divisional championships this week.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think I think the fatigue it feels that
Speaker 2: way a little bit because the biggest talking point in
Speaker 2: college football I feel like this season was the back
Speaker 2: and forth about is the SEC worthy of all this
Speaker 2: arrogance they have and maybe the true maybe the Big
Speaker 2: Ten will put them in their place, And that kind
Speaker 2: of played itself out long before we got to last night,
Speaker 2: right like the SEC, because even if Texas would have
Speaker 2: made it there, yeah they're in the SEC, but it wouldn't.
Speaker 3: Have been a good look for the SEC.
Speaker 2: And look, I was happy to see that the SEC
Speaker 2: was served some humble pie. I don't know if they
Speaker 2: ate it, because I'm sure you're still going to see
Speaker 2: the arrogance that they have. And again, disclaimer, it is
Speaker 2: a really good league, the best league in the country,
Speaker 2: top to bottom. But you know, the gap that they
Speaker 2: have always believed they have between them and everybody else
Speaker 2: is just not at all what they think it is,
Speaker 2: and it's been proven in the last couple of years. Again,
Speaker 2: there are people still triggered by that and they and
Speaker 2: they completely ignore the first part of what I said.
Speaker 2: It is the best league top to bottom. You take
Speaker 2: the three or four best teams every year in the
Speaker 2: in every conference, the SEC nine out of ten times
Speaker 2: is going to be better, sometimes substant substantially better when.
Speaker 3: You go like four deep.
Speaker 2: But this year Ohio State won it all and you
Speaker 2: know that was that was a win for the Big Ten.
Speaker 2: Wouldn't be shocked if the next two champions are from
Speaker 2: you know, the SEC. So again, what I can't like,
Speaker 2: Let me just give you an example. This was the
Speaker 2: Penn State Notre Dame game, which was that was that
Speaker 2: was the semi final game?
Speaker 3: Correct? Yes, yes, so it had.
Speaker 2: This is from somebody who covers the SEC's name is
Speaker 2: Blaine Crane, and he doesn't just cover the SEC, covers
Speaker 2: college football, but with an SEC lean it's part of
Speaker 2: the daily wires college football or college sports really, I
Speaker 2: guess just college football content. But he tweeted this out
Speaker 2: and I'm just thinking, like, man, this is somebody that
Speaker 2: has zero awareness of like what he's actually saying here.
Speaker 2: And it's not personal. I don't know the guy, but
Speaker 2: he claimed and I'll read you directly what he said.
Speaker 2: Only seventeen point eight million people tune in to watch
Speaker 2: Penn State Notre Dame in the college football Playoff semi final,
Speaker 2: a sharp drop from the twenty seven point eight million
Speaker 2: who watched Alabama Michigan in last year's semi final. That's
Speaker 2: a huge decline, especially for such a close game.
Speaker 3: Hmm. What could explain this?
Speaker 2: Like I was beside myself reading that, not like have
Speaker 2: I mean, there was clearly no awareness from this human
Speaker 2: being that you are quite literally making the argument that
Speaker 2: we should just put teams in there that more people
Speaker 2: will watch because they have a bigger following. You are
Speaker 2: quite literally acting as if it should just be a
Speaker 2: popularity contest, right, like the committee should quite literally just
Speaker 2: decide who gets to to you know, who gets certain
Speaker 2: spots in these games based off of the reach they
Speaker 2: have within their huge fan bases and how many people
Speaker 2: will watch. Clearly the networks want as many people to
Speaker 2: watch as possible. Nobody would argue that, but like if
Speaker 2: the SEC fans want somebody to acknowledge that they actually
Speaker 2: will with their big brands when they're going deep into
Speaker 2: the playoff, there'll be more viewership.
Speaker 3: Of course, who's are you in that?
Speaker 2: There are people who are absolute lunatics about their college
Speaker 2: football programs in the South, Like that's the culture and
Speaker 2: it's a special thing. But that, I mean, maybe I'm
Speaker 2: just reading it wrong and taking it out of context.
Speaker 2: But he's like making a snod comment that the viewership
Speaker 2: means that the teams that were there shouldn't be there.
Speaker 2: That has nothing to do with it. But with that logic,
Speaker 2: you shouldn't play games in the regular season.
Speaker 3: You should just base it off of popularity. And like
Speaker 3: that to me.
Speaker 2: Was so embarrassing or people like Lane Kiffin and I
Speaker 2: try not to get caught up in it because coaches,
Speaker 2: I get it, you're gonna you're gonna campaign for your
Speaker 2: for your team and your league because it probably won't
Speaker 2: help you, It shouldn't help you, but it certainly isn't
Speaker 2: gonna hurt you, so like there's really no harm in
Speaker 2: doing it. But some of the things they would throw
Speaker 2: out there, I'm like, are you are you listening to yourself?
Speaker 3: Like what are you talking about? Like why why even
Speaker 3: play games? If? Like if what you're arguing.
Speaker 2: Should matter more, and like that should be a big
Speaker 2: factor in how we decide who gets in the playoff
Speaker 2: and whatnot, Like why play like it? Just to me,
Speaker 2: it was so embarrassing to have so many people just
Speaker 2: get so caught up in the yelling back and forth
Speaker 2: about the sec elite teams in the Big Ten being
Speaker 2: frauds because Indiana and Penn State didn't play anybody.
Speaker 3: Like you may like, you may be right that the Big.
Speaker 2: Ten schedule balance was way off, but you know you
Speaker 2: also like there again, there is not a team that
Speaker 2: missed out on the playoff.
Speaker 3: Can't look in the mirror and know that.
Speaker 2: They did it themselves because they just completely laid an
Speaker 2: egg and failed. They were failures. It wasn't the committee's fault.
Speaker 2: It wasn't because what are you going to do? We
Speaker 2: play in such a great league. Ole Miss lost to Kentucky,
Speaker 2: who did not win another SEC game, and they lost
Speaker 2: to them in Oxford, I mean Alabama, they got blown
Speaker 2: out by Oklahoma in a year where Oklahoma was as
Speaker 2: I mean, was as bad as they've been in a
Speaker 2: long time. Miami, I don't think anybody was really arguing
Speaker 2: for Miami, but like, had they not lost.
Speaker 3: To Syracuse, they're in. In fact, the team that didn't
Speaker 3: get in that actually probably had a better argument they
Speaker 3: didn't belong because they really just you know, they were
Speaker 3: just on the outside looking in. But South Carolina had a.
Speaker 2: Better argument than the other SEC teams that were complaining
Speaker 2: about not getting in.
Speaker 3: So I don't know, just I think there was so
Speaker 3: much of that. Like I felt like that was the biggest.
Speaker 2: Talking point in our first year of the twelve team playoff,
Speaker 2: the never ending yelling, you know, about which conference is better,
Speaker 2: who deserves the benefit of the doubt, and who doesn't.
Speaker 2: And it kind of felt like with that playing out
Speaker 2: pretty early in the process, it just kind of felt flat.
Speaker 2: And I think that's why maybe you kind of had
Speaker 2: that fatigue that you mentioned, Austin, because I'm with you,
Speaker 2: that's probably the best it wasn't like I was bothered
Speaker 2: that we still had college football, because you know, I
Speaker 2: get sad when it comes to an end, and maybe
Speaker 2: when college basketball season comes to and I'm not kidding
Speaker 2: you this probably this isn't a good thing to say
Speaker 2: about myself, but like I get seasonal depression, Like I'm
Speaker 2: a sad name, Like I'm not kidding you, Like my
Speaker 2: mental health, like I'm fine, I'm okay. You know, I
Speaker 2: do get therapy and that that's a big deal. And
Speaker 2: it's not because of it's not because of sports, but
Speaker 2: like everybody has seasonal depression to an extent. I would
Speaker 2: imagine maybe you don't, but like certain times of the
Speaker 2: year where you just like, oh man, it's over, Like
Speaker 2: the best time of the year is now is now
Speaker 2: ending and I got to wait another nine months like
Speaker 2: a lot of people have that for summer break. That
Speaker 2: kind of stuff. I get it whenever the sports that
Speaker 2: cause it's just such a huge part of.
Speaker 3: Like my routine.
Speaker 2: It's now what I it's now really a huge component
Speaker 2: of my life because of my job.
Speaker 3: So get I get bummed.
Speaker 2: So trust me, it's not like I'm sad that we
Speaker 2: still have college football going on, but I did kind
Speaker 2: of feel like that, like, wait a second, I'm not
Speaker 2: really in football mode anymore when it comes to college,
Speaker 2: because you know, we're about to figure out who who's
Speaker 2: going to go to the super Bowl, and usually when
Speaker 2: we're here, football's been done for a few weeks.
Speaker 3: Yeah, on the college side.
Speaker 5: Yeah, you're right.
Speaker 2: So anyways, let's get to a quick break. We'll come
Speaker 2: back on the other side with an update. Remember the
Speaker 2: stories that In fact, I think it slowed down so
Speaker 2: far here in twenty twenty five, but we had a
Speaker 2: stretch where it seemed like every other day there was
Speaker 2: a pro athlete whose house was getting broken into while
Speaker 2: they were playing, you know, for their franchise. Oh, that's right,
Speaker 2: happened to Joe Burrow, happened to Luca. There were some others,
Speaker 2: well they've made an arrest. And criminals, man, sometimes they're
Speaker 2: really really savvy. And I and I hear of these
Speaker 2: schemes and these things they do, and I'm like, man,
Speaker 2: you know what, that's really smart. You could you should
Speaker 2: use that big brain of yours too, you know, not
Speaker 2: break the law, but maybe do something good for society
Speaker 2: and make money, you know, with the clear you know,
Speaker 2: skills that you have not use it to you know,
Speaker 2: be a criminal. But then criminals, you know, at the
Speaker 2: end of the day, if you are a criminal, that's
Speaker 2: a foolish.
Speaker 3: Thing to do. That's a dumb thing.
Speaker 2: And I think at their core, criminals are always going
Speaker 2: to slip up and do something dumb. And what got
Speaker 2: these guys caught, I feel like, is something that most
Speaker 2: people would have realized, you know, you probably shouldn't do
Speaker 2: if you want to get away with it. But we'll
Speaker 2: talk about that next 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.
Speaker 2: Day, I'd say of all the professional athletes that had
Speaker 2: their homes broken into while they were either playing in
Speaker 2: a game for their employer or traveling, I think the
Speaker 2: Joe Burrow wuldn't got the most attention, mostly because he's
Speaker 2: probably the biggest star that that was a victim to burglary,
Speaker 2: but also because of just people kind of realizing wait
Speaker 2: a second, like he's he's I mean, he's I don't
Speaker 2: know if he's married or he's engaged, but either way,
Speaker 2: like it made him. It made people question that maybe
Speaker 2: Joe Burrow has multiple girlfriends or whatnot, which you know,
Speaker 2: if there's somebody that might be able to do that,
Speaker 2: Joe Burrow would probably be in that group. Have seen
Speaker 2: the guy, I mean, just given you know, his status
Speaker 2: and whatnot. But anyways, there's been an arrest made as
Speaker 2: far as that that particular burglary. So this is this
Speaker 2: is from a new station in Ohio. This is from
Speaker 2: let's see here, I guess it's up there in like
Speaker 2: the Cleveland area. But four people from Chile have been
Speaker 2: arrested in connection with a string of burglaries that includes
Speaker 2: the home of Cincinnati Bengals star quarterback Joe Burrows.
Speaker 3: So this is from w LW TV skyline.
Speaker 5: Chile.
Speaker 3: Uh, well, it's Chile the country. Am I saying that? Oh?
Speaker 5: No, No, you're right. I would just chill.
Speaker 3: Well, well, I mean.
Speaker 5: He's making a funny about Ohio.
Speaker 2: I know, I know that you were making the funny,
Speaker 2: but I also thought, I hope you were and of
Speaker 2: funny because I feel like I might have said that
Speaker 2: wrong that it says for Chile in but that just
Speaker 2: doesn't No, you're right, But if they're from Chile, are
Speaker 2: they Chilean or am I saying Chile a wrong like
Speaker 2: sometimes let us say Chile and then I'm like, well
Speaker 2: that can't be you know, that can't That doesn't sound right.
Speaker 2: But either way, they were arrested following an ongoing investigation
Speaker 2: involving the burglaries of multimillion dollar homes in multiple states.
Speaker 2: So these four men were arrested in Clark County, Ohio
Speaker 2: after being pulled over by Ohio State Patrol.
Speaker 3: And this is a quote here.
Speaker 2: It says all four males were identified as being illegally
Speaker 2: in the country or overstaying their permissions.
Speaker 3: That's what the.
Speaker 2: Arrest reports said, as all of them provided fake IDs.
Speaker 2: So when it comes to Burrow, Core documents added that
Speaker 2: authorities found an old Lashue shirt and bingals hat that
Speaker 2: they did confirm came from Joe Burrow's house.
Speaker 5: Wow, was still in their car.
Speaker 2: Yeah again, dumbass, right, Like the search of the vehicle
Speaker 2: the suspects were also in discovered. What it says here
Speaker 2: that it's like it's a two Husky automatic center punch
Speaker 2: tools wrapped in a cloth towel, which, of course, this
Speaker 2: is the tool that they were claiming was being used
Speaker 2: by a South American theft group. According to authorities, what
Speaker 2: they were doing, because I mean I was I wasn't
Speaker 2: fascinated by this, but I mean I feel like it's
Speaker 2: a known like there's a lot of people, like if
Speaker 2: you're a famous athlete and somebody wanted to maybe pick
Speaker 2: a time when they know you're not home, it might
Speaker 2: be when they turn on TV and know that you're
Speaker 2: at work. But I would just assume that maybe you
Speaker 2: have security, maybe you have like somebody that watches your
Speaker 2: home or stays there. And that's that's what happened with Burrow.
Speaker 2: A girl that was staying there. She called police whenever
Speaker 2: somebody was trying to break into the home. So they
Speaker 2: just assume, well, he's not here, we can break in.
Speaker 2: There's nobody here. We'll just have to bypass the you know,
Speaker 2: the the alarm and what they were doing. And this
Speaker 2: this makes sense, you know, I don't. I don't think
Speaker 2: like a criminal, but you know a lot of criminals
Speaker 2: are effectively until they get caught because they're pretty smart.
Speaker 2: They usually end up doing something stupid that gets them caught.
Speaker 2: But it sounds like they're using different tools that like
Speaker 2: jam your Wi Fi to where your your security system
Speaker 2: is connected to Wi Fi. Right, Well, if you're, well,
Speaker 2: if they can, if they can like jam your Wi
Speaker 2: Fi or like put it on like airplane motor something,
Speaker 2: what they're going to do is when they break in
Speaker 2: at that time, the alarm's not gonna work. But because
Speaker 2: the why, because there's like no connectivity at all, you're
Speaker 2: not even getting any notification that you like, the only time,
Speaker 2: the only way you would know, it sounds like is
Speaker 2: if you just happen to actually check your system, like
Speaker 2: on your phone at that time, and you know what,
Speaker 2: they probably assume you're not going to do that. In fact,
Speaker 2: it just sounds weird thinking that Joe Burrow would be
Speaker 2: the one checking his phone to see like what's on
Speaker 2: with the security cameras at his house.
Speaker 3: That's what he's checking on.
Speaker 5: The surface protab after he just threw a pick.
Speaker 2: So, uh, they've they've been caught, and I guess it
Speaker 2: sounds like their their tips and their leads were were
Speaker 2: accurate as far as just where they think this was
Speaker 2: coming from. It was a South American organized crime group
Speaker 2: and they were able to figure out where these guys lived,
Speaker 2: and they you know, they were able to I guess
Speaker 2: just get lucky because again, what happened here is that. Uh.
Speaker 2: I guess these guys probably would have been caught regardless.
Speaker 2: I don't know if they were, because they broke in
Speaker 2: and started stealing stuff, and I guess maybe they did
Speaker 2: realize once they were in the in the act that
Speaker 2: that somebody was there, so.
Speaker 3: Maybe they bailed.
Speaker 2: But what I've always found to be really stupid is
Speaker 2: stealing something that might technically be worth an insane amount
Speaker 2: of money, but it's so rare, you know. One of
Speaker 2: the reasons why it's worth so much money that you
Speaker 2: can't you can't fence it because like, it has no
Speaker 2: value if you have to.
Speaker 3: Keep it hidden.
Speaker 2: Like if I stole Joe Burrow's super Bowl ring, which
Speaker 2: he doesn't have, but if he did have one, I
Speaker 2: would have, that has no value because I would have
Speaker 2: to find somebody that just has throw away money that
Speaker 2: would want to buy Joe Burrow's super Bowl ring and
Speaker 2: never tell a soul that they had it. They would
Speaker 2: just have to keep that possession of themselves. And I look, right,
Speaker 2: sports memorabilia is cool. I just have never been able
Speaker 2: to really get into it because when they tell me
Speaker 2: that such and such as jersey or some a card
Speaker 2: went for this amount of money. I don't like you
Speaker 2: can say that, and I guess by definition you're correct.
Speaker 2: If somebody paid a billion dollars for it, then by
Speaker 2: definition it was worth a billion dollars to somebody and
Speaker 2: that transaction was made. But like, no, it's not worth that. So, like,
Speaker 2: you know, I hate saying this because there's a lot
Speaker 2: of people that I'm sure that are really big into
Speaker 2: sports memorabilia, because I would assume people that listen to
Speaker 2: the show, you know, are sports fans. But like you
Speaker 2: must be really well off to be able to like
Speaker 2: pay for that stuff, because again, it really the value
Speaker 2: of it is just what you decide you can pay
Speaker 2: for and of course, like what somebody would be willing
Speaker 2: to sell it for. But when I hear if somebody
Speaker 2: stealing a certain item, I'm like, well, okay, good luck,
Speaker 2: Like hopefully it just means a lot to you to
Speaker 2: have internal and you keep it to yourself because the
Speaker 2: scenario where like you really cash in on it is
Speaker 2: just by somebody who is stupid rich that they just
Speaker 2: wants to be able to claim they have it. It
Speaker 2: makes sense like certain items, like if you stole all
Speaker 2: the valuable items in the you know, if you stole
Speaker 2: all of the valuables as far as like electronics and
Speaker 2: maybe even vehicles, Like you can you know you can.
Speaker 2: You can find the right people in an organized crime
Speaker 2: to where you can still make a lot of money
Speaker 2: off off your crime. But there's certain things to where
Speaker 2: you just really have no. I mean, it's cool to
Speaker 2: say you have it and you know that it's really valuable,
Speaker 2: but like, good luck on cash it in.
Speaker 6: I mean like me trying to break into like Rick
Speaker 6: Flayer's house to steal like his robe that he wore
Speaker 6: a WrestleMania or steal one of his championship belts.
Speaker 5: Like, yes, it's valuable. Who am I going to sell
Speaker 5: this to? Though?
Speaker 2: And one of the big components as to why people
Speaker 2: want that stuff is for clout.
Speaker 3: They want to be able to say they have it. Well,
Speaker 3: if you say you.
Speaker 2: Have something that is clearly something that was stolen, then
Speaker 2: like you're gonna go to jail.
Speaker 5: You just can't flaunt that.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and again if.
Speaker 2: You have no, if you don't have any way, like
Speaker 2: if it's just in your closet locked up and you've
Speaker 2: got something like that, like a like a big memorabilia
Speaker 2: item from an athlete.
Speaker 3: What good is it doing you Like you just are
Speaker 3: sitting there.
Speaker 2: You're probably worried you're gonna get caught at some point,
Speaker 2: and you have no way to like cash in on it.
Speaker 2: So anyways, there's a lot of things like that that
Speaker 2: just fascinate me that people would really like not realize, Hey,
Speaker 2: this really isn't worth the risk. I could get caught
Speaker 2: and go to jail and get in trouble. And even
Speaker 2: if I do get away with it, where where's where's
Speaker 2: the payday? So anyways, we got another hour to go,
Speaker 2: It's game day. We'll talk a little more about this
Speaker 2: SMU match up with Louisville tonight as we roll along.
Speaker 2: Keep it locked right here on Sports Talk seven ninety