Speaker 1: It's time for coffee and company, fueled by Thornton's on
Speaker 1: Sports Talk seven to nine day. Now here's Nick coffee.
Speaker 2: All right, let's get it started hour number two. Here
Speaker 2: on a beautiful Thursday afternoon. Three straight days, we've had
Speaker 2: beautiful weather, and I don't know how beautiful the basketball's been,
Speaker 2: but I'm hopeful that tonight it is a beautiful thing
Speaker 2: we see in Charlotte as Pat Kelsey will coach his
Speaker 2: first postgame, a first postseason game, I should say, of
Speaker 2: his career at Louislle, which I hope is a long career,
Speaker 2: and I'm hopeful that tonight is as a big win.
Speaker 2: Louisll currently favored about ten and a half against Stanford.
Speaker 2: It'll be the second consecutive opponent meaning Stanford, because obviously
Speaker 2: that was who you ended the season with on Saturday,
Speaker 2: and that was a good I mean, louisvill won that
Speaker 2: game by twenty points, and I really think all in all, statistically,
Speaker 2: I mean, you once again got great production from Terrence Edwards,
Speaker 2: who's really turned it on late, and I kind of
Speaker 2: feel like good game. I mean, I wouldn't in no
Speaker 2: way would I even like nitpick Iraq like Saturday was
Speaker 2: anything other than great Louisville one by twenty. What a
Speaker 2: great sendoff for these special seniors. It was awesome. But
Speaker 2: what I'm getting at is like they won by twenty,
Speaker 2: and I don't feel like they really did anything overly
Speaker 2: impressive compared to you know, their standard. I mean just
Speaker 2: bob of twenty two from three point range forty four percent. Overall.
Speaker 2: They did out rebound Stanford, which was good. But what
Speaker 2: I'm getting at is, you know, Louisville, I feel like
Speaker 2: Saturday showed that they not only shouldn't have a lot
Speaker 2: of trouble with Stanford tonight. I think there's this scenario
Speaker 2: they may beat them worse than they did, which you know,
Speaker 2: I'm not saying that that's the bar that they need
Speaker 2: to beat them by more than twenty. I don't really
Speaker 2: because at this point, I mean, a close win against
Speaker 2: Stanford on a neutral court, it doesn't do it. I mean,
Speaker 2: it does, and it doesn't that hurts you by any means.
Speaker 2: So as much as I would really, really, you know,
Speaker 2: like to see Louisville below out everybody they play, We're
Speaker 2: at a point now where that doesn't matter, right, I mean,
Speaker 2: even if you like even if you win tonight and
Speaker 2: you feel like it wasn't as easy as you thought. Sure,
Speaker 2: that may make you feel a certain way with the
Speaker 2: potential matchup against Clemson tomorrow, but it's just kind of
Speaker 2: this point, like, you know, it's win or go home.
Speaker 2: Technically it's not for Louislle because they're gonna make the tournament,
Speaker 2: but you know, like you're not worried about resumes anymore,
Speaker 2: and even if you were worried about resumes, it'd be
Speaker 2: a waste of your energy mentally, because Louisville, again, I
Speaker 2: think they are just gonna come. It's gonna come down
Speaker 2: to the to the committee and their judgment because their
Speaker 2: net ranking and their Ken Palm and that kind of
Speaker 2: stuff is in line to where they could find themselves
Speaker 2: as a six or a seven, But you're seeing them
Speaker 2: as an eight in a lot of places. And I
Speaker 2: think it's just because, and I made the analogy earlier,
Speaker 2: they don't have a whole lot to get to work
Speaker 2: with to make themselves look more sexy by selection Sunday,
Speaker 2: whereas these other teams, who let's just say they're entering
Speaker 2: the conference tournament with the same you know, in the
Speaker 2: same neighborhood as Louisville. As far as fighting for a
Speaker 2: seed Louisville to be, I guess you know the bonuses.
Speaker 2: I don't think Louisville at any point has a chance
Speaker 2: to really drop very far because I think right now,
Speaker 2: if they're an eight, they lose to Stanford tonight, they
Speaker 2: probably stay at an eight. I think they beat Stanford
Speaker 2: and loose to Clemson tomorrow. It really will come down
Speaker 2: to two things. What the other teams that are fighting
Speaker 2: for us the same sea line as you do. But
Speaker 2: also just how the committee chooses to view you, because
Speaker 2: you can look at Louisville in a couple of different ways,
Speaker 2: and it just comes down to preference, and it comes
Speaker 2: down to, you know, an individual's opinion more so than
Speaker 2: any kind of a number. Now, I guess technically you
Speaker 2: could you could make set opinion and take a certain
Speaker 2: side based off a number. But what I'm getting at
Speaker 2: is Louisville does not have any real big wins. Their
Speaker 2: best win is against Clemson, and that's a good win,
Speaker 2: but it's not like an elite win. They don't have
Speaker 2: any bad loss. Really, their loss at Georgia Tech is
Speaker 2: as I mean, it's comparable to other teams that have
Speaker 2: a lot more losses than you, that are fighting for
Speaker 2: the same seed line. They may have two losses, similar
Speaker 2: to Georgia Tech for being honest. So where it hurts
Speaker 2: you is that you don't have a ton of big wins,
Speaker 2: or even really any big wins as far as you know,
Speaker 2: monumental wins to kind of make up for that one
Speaker 2: loss that was kind of a head scratcher, a loss
Speaker 2: that you shouldn't have, and you now are in conference
Speaker 2: tournament play where you have a chance to potentially get
Speaker 2: your best win that you currently have twice, which hey,
Speaker 2: that's better than going one and one against Clemson certainly,
Speaker 2: and then you've got Duke, so you know, for Louisville,
Speaker 2: I'm gonna still even if I tried my hardest to
Speaker 2: not pay attention to bracketology and what others are saying,
Speaker 2: level is gonna get as far as a seed Even
Speaker 2: if I tried, I wouldn't be able to do it.
Speaker 2: But I wish I could just not even think about it,
Speaker 2: because again, you don't really have a whole lot of
Speaker 2: control here, and you're probably not getting any higher than
Speaker 2: a six. I think right now, seven to eight is
Speaker 2: the most likely scenario, and that just means that you
Speaker 2: know you're gonna you're gonna have a a you know
Speaker 2: you're gonna have a challenge in your first game, although
Speaker 2: you should win. Although eight nine, man, it's really toss up,
Speaker 2: but I feeling more from the not I see a
Speaker 2: nine seed and I'm like, not that it matters, but
Speaker 2: like they should be the eight. It should be the
Speaker 2: other way around. But I just I would as much
Speaker 2: as it's out of our control and it's not gonna
Speaker 2: keep me from being excited about once again being involved
Speaker 2: in March Madness and having a team involved that you
Speaker 2: care about. I just think to play a two seed
Speaker 2: in the second round rather than one of these one seeds,
Speaker 2: it's still gonna be a tough task for Louisville regardless,
Speaker 2: But I just I don't know. To me, despite it
Speaker 2: only being really one difference as far as the seed line, right,
Speaker 2: you getting a seven instead of an eight, or you
Speaker 2: playing a two instead of a one. I just doted
Speaker 2: for for some reason it feels monumental to me. But again,
Speaker 2: it'll come down to what the committee decides, and nobody knows.
Speaker 2: Nobody like nobody has a clue because again the other side, like,
Speaker 2: you could look at Louisville as a team that is, yeah,
Speaker 2: they have only one real good win, but they're also
Speaker 2: twenty five and six and they did all you can
Speaker 2: do against the teams they played. They didn't just win
Speaker 2: the ACC. They didn't just win a bunch of games
Speaker 2: in the ACC. Going eighteen and two, they finished with
Speaker 2: a huge margin of victory. Only Duke, who of course
Speaker 2: is a one seed, beat teams worse than Louisville did.
Speaker 2: So again, maybe the Committee's like, look, we're not gonna
Speaker 2: fault them. Yeah, maybe there's room for doubt because there's
Speaker 2: not three or four, you know, top ten wins, but
Speaker 2: they're twenty five and six and they did beat up
Speaker 2: on a lot of the teams they played that they
Speaker 2: were supposed to beat. So we're going to reward them
Speaker 2: for winning. And it really comes down to that, is
Speaker 2: the Committee going to be in a mood to where
Speaker 2: they want to view Louisville and decide that they're factoring
Speaker 2: in winning and losing more than they you know, more
Speaker 2: than they typically do. We shall see, all right. This
Speaker 2: text came in earlier and I wanted to read it
Speaker 2: because I'm with you. I can't relate necessarily, but I'm
Speaker 2: glad you shared this. This was on the Ellen and
Speaker 2: Federal Credit Union text line five oh two four three
Speaker 2: eight ninety seventy three is the number again five oh
Speaker 2: two four three eight ninety seventy three the Ellen and
Speaker 2: Federal Credit Union text line. This text says Nick, I
Speaker 2: was very happy to hear that you were able to
Speaker 2: enjoy March Madness despite Louisville being so bad the last
Speaker 2: few years. I wish I was you. It made me
Speaker 2: so sad to even see bracketology or see people promoting
Speaker 2: the Instabla tournament, knowing Louisville was so bad. I feel
Speaker 2: alive again for the first time. It's awesome. That's from Karen. Well,
Speaker 2: thank you, Karen. I'm glad you shared that because I'm
Speaker 2: sure others are the same way. Like maybe when it
Speaker 2: comes to, like, you know, diehard Louisville fans, maybe I
Speaker 2: was in the minority as somebody that still was able
Speaker 2: to enjoy March Madness. I mean it felt a little flat,
Speaker 2: but Louisville for how many years, has not been relevant
Speaker 2: in the tournament. They've made it more than you know.
Speaker 2: In fact, Louis's made the tournament. Let's see. Gosh, this
Speaker 2: is crazy, but this can't be right. Since twenty fifteen
Speaker 2: has Loivill only made the tournament twice. I think that
Speaker 2: talks about right, because they made it in two thousand
Speaker 2: and fifteen when they lost in the elite eight. Ten
Speaker 2: years ago, sixteen they held themselves out, seventeen they made it,
Speaker 2: got upset early as a two seed by Michigan. Eighteen's
Speaker 2: the David Paget year. They didn't make it. Yeah, nineteen's
Speaker 2: Max's first year. Twenty twenty no tournament, twenty twenty one,
Speaker 2: first team left out, twenty twenty two mac leaves mid season,
Speaker 2: they don't make it, they're bad. And then twenty twenty
Speaker 2: three four wins, twenty twenty four eight wins. So yeah,
Speaker 2: they've only made that. So yeah, I mean, like more
Speaker 2: than anything, it wasn't like I was just able to
Speaker 2: block it out like it It never felt like the norm,
Speaker 2: because it's such a special thing around here, more so
Speaker 2: than it is really anywhere else in the world when
Speaker 2: it comes to riding with your team in March, when
Speaker 2: it comes to the NSTAA tournament. So even though there
Speaker 2: has been a real decade here where the results have
Speaker 2: just been I mean, look, even if you've made it,
Speaker 2: you only made it twice and get made the second
Speaker 2: weekend since twenty fifteen. So like, I don't think it
Speaker 2: was by design. I mean it for me, it just
Speaker 2: came down to realizing, hey, I'm now at least used
Speaker 2: to it. I've at least been able to get some
Speaker 2: experience in having to find ways to enjoy it when
Speaker 2: your team's not there. So, in all honesty, this is
Speaker 2: I don't say this to like you know, this isn't
Speaker 2: even I don't, I don't for me. I don't mean
Speaker 2: for this to be a joke because it wouldn't be
Speaker 2: a good joke. So I don't want anybody to think
Speaker 2: I'm trying to make a funy because it would probably fall flat.
Speaker 2: But in all seriousness, what really helped me be all
Speaker 2: in and love the NAI tournament was betting. I mean,
Speaker 2: it's awesome, and I'm not going to be the I don't, well,
Speaker 2: I guess I am. I'll be the corny guy. I
Speaker 2: don't want to be the corny guy. But if you
Speaker 2: put like a scenario in front of me where I'm
Speaker 2: like going to create legitimate differences in my life financially
Speaker 2: because of bets in the tournament, Like what I sacrifice
Speaker 2: that if it meant Louisville could go on a deep run,
Speaker 2: I'd probably have to give it some deep thought and
Speaker 2: think about, you know, my family and realize, you know,
Speaker 2: the industry that I work in, and also you know, realize, hey,
Speaker 2: I've survived with ten years without making the second week,
Speaker 2: and what's another year. Like, you know, I probably would
Speaker 2: make the decision that makes the most sense for me.
Speaker 2: But like in the moment and having this excitement because
Speaker 2: we're here and you know you're going to be there
Speaker 2: on selection Sunday, We're going to see this team playing
Speaker 2: the postseason season tonight. That kind of energy makes me think,
Speaker 2: you know what, like the joy would be way better
Speaker 2: than you know, putting some money in the bank account.
Speaker 2: But again, it would all come down to you know
Speaker 2: what kind of money that is. So again, I I'm
Speaker 2: excited as can be and I do feel like there
Speaker 2: And I said this yesterday on the show when we
Speaker 2: had the company man on, I think, like most fan bases,
Speaker 2: and I know this fan base pretty well, if we
Speaker 2: weren't sort of in this back from the dead season
Speaker 2: where it's just been such a fun ride. I think
Speaker 2: we would be insufferable as a fan base about our seed,
Speaker 2: will we not Austin like we would? You know, you
Speaker 2: know how we are on the internet. Like Louisville fans
Speaker 2: would be losing their mind about being disrespected when it
Speaker 2: comes to the seed. And some of them may be
Speaker 2: doing it, and they may have valid points as far
Speaker 2: as how could little be an eight? They're twenty five
Speaker 2: and six, But like it's been such a milder version
Speaker 2: of that because we are in the moment kind of
Speaker 2: just lost in watching this thing that doesn't even still
Speaker 2: seem to be real, meaning we went from winning four
Speaker 2: games to eight games to now winning twenty five and
Speaker 2: going eighteen and two in the conference, and I mean
Speaker 2: it again still doesn't seem real. It's but it's awesome.
Speaker 2: So again Louisville tonight in action against the Stanford team,
Speaker 2: and we'll talk a little more about them specifically a
Speaker 2: little bit later. I don't know if we need to,
Speaker 2: but kind of nerves you're feeling right now for it
Speaker 2: a you're feeling good about it, or if it was
Speaker 2: anybody other than the team I just watched Louisville beat
Speaker 2: Bout twenty five days ago, i'd be a little bit
Speaker 2: more nervous. However, I mean, I look, I don't say
Speaker 2: this just to you know, be able to claim, hey,
Speaker 2: I told you so, they could lose. I mean I
Speaker 2: say it because I mean it. Louisville could play poorly
Speaker 2: and lose to anybody. I mean, they don't have like
Speaker 2: they're getting I think nearly every bit possible out of
Speaker 2: the majority of the guys that are playing the major minutes.
Speaker 2: So you know, if for some reason you had a
Speaker 2: collective bad game from three of your four core guys,
Speaker 2: that would be a scenario to where you might lose
Speaker 2: to anybody, including Stanford, who has I believe the third
Speaker 2: best player in this conference. And it's not close. The
Speaker 2: big fella, I mean he's special. In fact, against Louisville
Speaker 2: on Saturday, and I kind of feel like it was
Speaker 2: one of those games where he, you know, in thirty
Speaker 2: four minutes he had let's see, seventeen, I mean Raynot
Speaker 2: had seventeen and eleven in thirty four minutes, was six
Speaker 2: or thirteen from the field, made three threes. I mean,
Speaker 2: he was, as the kids say, he was in his bag,
Speaker 2: and yet it didn't matter at Louisville still Blitznemer, so
Speaker 2: I kind of feel like he could go off. And
Speaker 2: if Louisville's able to kind of keep everybody else in check,
Speaker 2: which nobody else had double figures, then I feel like
Speaker 2: that's a pretty good recipe in this team should be
Speaker 2: should be able to get past stand for tonight. And
Speaker 2: one of the reasons, Austin, why I don't necessarily feel
Speaker 2: the nerves is because despite knowing that they could slip
Speaker 2: up and lose, I just I think we've got a
Speaker 2: coach that it'd be a real, real shocker to not
Speaker 2: only us but certainly him if he put a team
Speaker 2: on the floor, especially in a game like this where
Speaker 2: it's a tournament and like they weren't locked in and
Speaker 2: ready to play, you know what I mean. Like even
Speaker 2: when they nearly lost to Virginia Tech where it was
Speaker 2: a dud of a game, they came out ready, they
Speaker 2: were up eleven nothing, so you know, it doesn't change
Speaker 2: anything about the I guess you know the likelihood of losing,
Speaker 2: But when you end up losing games like this where
Speaker 2: you're the two seed and they're the whatever seed, the
Speaker 2: eight or maybe even I don't even know what they
Speaker 2: are to be honest with the Stanford is. But you know,
Speaker 2: if you had a history of just kind of coming
Speaker 2: out flat and looking like you didn't respect your opponent,
Speaker 2: then it'd be different. But this team, because of the
Speaker 2: guy leading them, I just don't think that's in their
Speaker 2: DNA at all. Don't mean they're guaranteed to win, but
Speaker 2: that does give me a little bit more confidence to
Speaker 2: where I'm I'm not thinking, Okay, are they Is this
Speaker 2: a trap game? That kind of thing. I think everybody
Speaker 2: that's been a part of this ride, Pat Kelsey in
Speaker 2: his entire group, they've just been so appreciative of this,
Speaker 2: of this season, that they've had the experience they had
Speaker 2: at Louisville and being able to kind of see this
Speaker 2: fan base coming back to life that I think they're
Speaker 2: not taking it for granted. So again, they could lose
Speaker 2: tonight and then lose in the first game in this
Speaker 2: tournament like that could happen, But if so, I don't
Speaker 2: think it's going to because they got complacent and they
Speaker 2: were feeling too good about themselves. In fact, somebody said
Speaker 2: this earlier on the text line, and I don't, I won't.
Speaker 2: We'll never know. Oh but if I and it's just me.
Speaker 2: And you know this may surprise some of you guys.
Speaker 2: I was not a high level college basketball player, so
Speaker 2: you know, I'm not built like these dudes. But as
Speaker 2: a as a human being, as a competitor, I would
Speaker 2: be absolutely fueled by Duke shenanigans. Not saying hey, bring
Speaker 2: me Duke. I wouldn't be going on social media calling
Speaker 2: out Cooper Flag and the Duke in the Duke Twitter
Speaker 2: account saying hey bring it, We'll see on Saturday night.
Speaker 2: You better come ready, better pack a lunch. Like I
Speaker 2: wouldn't have that attitude, but I would internally be like,
Speaker 2: all right, all right, like that because it's not something
Speaker 2: that's totally egregious. But make no mistake about it, the
Speaker 2: official Duke basketball Twitter account is disrespecting Louisville, Pat Kelsey
Speaker 2: and CHUCKI Hepburn they used all like in their own way,
Speaker 2: they're doing it. It's again, it's not egregious. We don't
Speaker 2: need to call the cops, but like, you don't need
Speaker 2: to be like there are guys who find motivation on
Speaker 2: the shoulder based off of nothing. This is at least something,
Speaker 2: so part of me kind of feels like these guys
Speaker 2: are gonna are gonna use that because they rarely you
Speaker 2: know they I mean they haven't really the Louisvill's been
Speaker 2: the good story, right, they're coming back from the dead.
Speaker 2: Can you look at what this guy's doing. Pat Kelsey,
Speaker 2: He's got it rolling, He's so likable. Look at his energy.
Speaker 2: Chucky Hepburn, He's having fun. He's he's he's amazing about that.
Speaker 2: Rain Smith, the Ause can light it up like they've been.
Speaker 2: They're not really on the radar of like people looking
Speaker 2: to tear him down. But Duke did some things to
Speaker 2: where we may see this group energized in a way
Speaker 2: that like they they feel disrespected in a way. And
Speaker 2: again I want to be clear, I'm looking at this
Speaker 2: from like a competitor standpoint, like Michael Jordan Kobe Bryant,
Speaker 2: two of the best competitors I've ever seen in sports.
Speaker 2: Like they would find that you could you could you
Speaker 2: could fart in the locker room, in the other locker room,
Speaker 2: the visiting locker room. They find out about it and
Speaker 2: take that as a sign as you're disrespecting my career,
Speaker 2: I'm coming for your neck, like you know what I'm saying,
Speaker 2: Like that's what they would do. And I don't know
Speaker 2: that's the extreme. But even if you're not an extreme competitor,
Speaker 2: you are out there competing. It's a competitive thing to
Speaker 2: where you'll find whatever to give you that kind of edge.
Speaker 2: And I don't think Louisville needed it. But and look,
Speaker 2: they may not even play due because they may not
Speaker 2: win the night. They may I win tomorrow, who knows.
Speaker 2: But anyways, I'm geared up ready for this this postseason
Speaker 2: run to start, and I hope that it is a
Speaker 2: run into Saturday and then more. All Right, we'll talk
Speaker 2: about Cooper Flag's ankle injury. I mean, there's not much
Speaker 2: of an update as far as what's already out there,
Speaker 2: but I think for Duke it makes total sense to
Speaker 2: just sit him. I wish they wouldn't, but I think
Speaker 2: that's probably what's going to happen. Also, we'll get you
Speaker 2: caught up on some other scores from around the country.
Speaker 2: Minnesota they fired their coach last night. Rarely when we
Speaker 2: ever talk about Minnesota basketball, but I think they should
Speaker 2: be thrown in there in that group of teams we
Speaker 2: talked about last week with Call in town. You remember
Speaker 2: we talked about how like one of the most some
Speaker 2: of the more random just like easy to forget, non relevant, irrelevant,
Speaker 2: I should say teams Minnesota's up there, Yeah, they have
Speaker 2: to be. So we got a lot to get to
Speaker 2: stick around Coffee and Company. Feel about Thorton's right here
Speaker 2: on Sports Talk seven ninety.
Speaker 1: Now back to Coffee and Company, fueled by Thornton's on
Speaker 1: Sports Talk seven nine day.
Speaker 2: So we got a close one between North Carolina and
Speaker 2: wake Forest currently Wake Forest up fifty one to fifty
Speaker 2: with seven minutes and forty two seconds left. Carolina looks
Speaker 2: like they are just right there on the bubble. I
Speaker 2: think a win here for Carolina keeps them in the
Speaker 2: same spot where it's it's just you hope that the
Speaker 2: committee favors you more than some other teams in your spot.
Speaker 2: And also you hope that there's no bit stealers out
Speaker 2: there meeting a team winning the conference tournament that wouldn't
Speaker 2: get in. And as we get later in the week
Speaker 2: here closer to selection Sunday, the bit stealers out there
Speaker 2: are I mean there's not I mean, I guess I
Speaker 2: mean a lot of the leagues that are not in
Speaker 2: the I mean like George Gonzaga and Saint Mary's played
Speaker 2: the other night. I mean, there wouldn't have been a
Speaker 2: bit still there because both those teams are making it regardless.
Speaker 2: So like the Mountain West, they could have a team
Speaker 2: win it that's not sniffing it, Like that's the league
Speaker 2: you get to worry about when it comes to the
Speaker 2: bid Steelers. And I guess technically it could happen from
Speaker 2: the bigger leagues, but you got to keep in mind,
Speaker 2: I mean a bid Steeler from the SEC would be
Speaker 2: in fact, it's not even possible. It would be a
Speaker 2: team that you know is already eliminated, like a South
Speaker 2: Carolina who lost yesterday. I mean the Big Ten, I
Speaker 2: guess could have a bid Steeler if I mean, I'm
Speaker 2: not even sure who's left in the Big ten. Northwestern
Speaker 2: like they could be a bid Steeler. So and I've
Speaker 2: always liked I remember like knowing that that was the thing,
Speaker 2: but not really paying attention to it, not really having
Speaker 2: any examples or any real memory of it until it
Speaker 2: happened to Louisville, and it, I mean, that is absolutely
Speaker 2: what kept Louisville out of the tournament because they were
Speaker 2: bubble ish, but they weren't even I think looked at
Speaker 2: as a team that was, you know, in real danger
Speaker 2: of not making it until the weekend went on, and
Speaker 2: then you saw Georgetown win the Big East with Patrick
Speaker 2: Ewings bomb ass somehow winning that was such a weird year, man, nobody,
Speaker 2: I mean, it's a very forgettable year of college basketball.
Speaker 2: Nothing made sense. Mick Cronin made a Final Four. Therefore,
Speaker 2: you know, it was some fluky stuff going on. Who
Speaker 2: else Colorado maybe was it Colorado or Oregon State won
Speaker 2: the Big Twelve or the I think Colorado won the
Speaker 2: Big Twelve or maybe they were in the Pact over
Speaker 2: the time. Either way, there were big stealers in that
Speaker 2: that I think like three or four of them, and
Speaker 2: that led to Louisville being left out. So it is
Speaker 2: something if you're on the bubble you got to worry about,
Speaker 2: all right. Some other scores from around the country. Earlier today,
Speaker 2: Duke they won seventy eight to seventy over Georgia Tech
Speaker 2: got down big, in fact, they were down twenty six
Speaker 2: to twelve in the first half, but and then Cooper
Speaker 2: Flag goes down with the ankle injury, and obviously they
Speaker 2: were not the same team without him. But you're able
Speaker 2: to see that Kan Kaneple has twenty eight points and
Speaker 2: eight assists. I mean, I know the kid from Texas,
Speaker 2: Trey Johnson, I think is his name, and there's other
Speaker 2: really good freshmen out there, but it's not a crazy
Speaker 2: thing to think that the two best freshmen in the
Speaker 2: country are both on duke Like Kankanniple's really really good
Speaker 2: and he's had a really good year. And I know
Speaker 2: George Tech's not great, but I mean when needed to
Speaker 2: kind of, you know, step up and take on a
Speaker 2: little bit more responsibility than he's already taking on, he's
Speaker 2: had no issue because he's that talented of a player.
Speaker 2: So the other matchups going on in the Power Conferences,
Speaker 2: You've got Houston up nine early in the second half
Speaker 2: against Colorado, BYU held on to beat Iowa State. So
Speaker 2: BYU quietly one of the hottest teams in the country.
Speaker 2: I think they are safely in at this point, and
Speaker 2: that was not the case like two weeks ago, so
Speaker 2: Iowa's date. They were on fire earlier this year, and
Speaker 2: now they've kind of crumbled. I mean, they were looking
Speaker 2: like a lock for a two for a while, just
Speaker 2: because they were in a great spot with the Big twelve,
Speaker 2: but they ended up losing. Looks like they lost four
Speaker 2: of their last seven games, some of those two teams
Speaker 2: that aren't very good, including a loss a loss to
Speaker 2: Oklahoma State, who's not good. So they ended up finishing
Speaker 2: thirteen and seven in the league and then lost today.
Speaker 2: So they still get in the tournament. But you know,
Speaker 2: I wonder if Alzolberger's name coming up for jobs maybe
Speaker 2: distracted them a little bit, because they've definitely fallen off
Speaker 2: a little bit, and they're a team that when you
Speaker 2: start to lose, even though you're not stacking up countless losses,
Speaker 2: they are a program. And I'm nerved out here because
Speaker 2: I know a lot of people don't care, especially about
Speaker 2: Iowa State, but they're the example when it comes to
Speaker 2: different ways you can go about manipulating the net rankings
Speaker 2: in the Quad system. They strategically schedule the worst of
Speaker 2: the worst and they play their starters thirty eight minutes
Speaker 2: and win by fifty and that way when you get
Speaker 2: to conference play and you get and you get, you
Speaker 2: get to the early stages of the net rankings coming out.
Speaker 2: They they won by such a big margin that it's
Speaker 2: you know, if you don't be if you beat a
Speaker 2: team by seventeen and they're in the three hundreds. That's
Speaker 2: going to hurt you in the net. You beat a
Speaker 2: team by forty five that's in the three hundreds, it'll
Speaker 2: boost you big, even though the reality is this, there's
Speaker 2: probably not a whole lot you can take one way
Speaker 2: or the other in those games that everybody involved, fans, coaches,
Speaker 2: referees and players on the court know that it's a
Speaker 2: waste of time because you know, you really mean, it's
Speaker 2: different conversation for a different day. But like, you shouldn't
Speaker 2: have three hundred and sixty something Division one teams. I mean,
Speaker 2: you just shouldn't. That's too many. Like there's way too
Speaker 2: many levels within the Division one level to where it's
Speaker 2: impossible to really know. Like when it comes to a
Speaker 2: team a tournament that we put sixty eight teams in
Speaker 2: and it comes down to assessings where teams have played
Speaker 2: thirty games. There's so many different types of teams that
Speaker 2: can have similar records, right, and that's why you have
Speaker 2: the net, the Ken palm, the quad system and all that.
Speaker 2: But those things can be easily manipulated or they could
Speaker 2: work against you, and you know it won't. It doesn't
Speaker 2: make a whole lot of sense why they work against you.
Speaker 2: But that's why I have no sympathy at this point
Speaker 2: in the game play for programs like wake Forest who
Speaker 2: strategically scaled and out. They strategically did it, but they
Speaker 2: didn't avoid scheduling the worst or the worst, and they
Speaker 2: barely won in some of those games. And that's why
Speaker 2: you can have the record that you have, meaning Wake
Speaker 2: I mean Wake Forest is sitting here with a I mean,
Speaker 2: in any other year, if you see an ACC team
Speaker 2: that's twenty one and ten in the regular season thirteen
Speaker 2: and seven, you wouldn't say that they're guaranteed to have
Speaker 2: a great seed, but you would not say they're a
Speaker 2: bubble team. And part of it is the ACC as
Speaker 2: a whole, and they're struggling with it like every other
Speaker 2: team in the league, trying to make the tournament. But
Speaker 2: they are also partial to blame because they could have
Speaker 2: saved themselves and they didn't. And they also, I mean,
Speaker 2: you don't you don't have any obligation to your conference.
Speaker 2: You can do whatever you want as far as a schedule,
Speaker 2: but they put themselves in a spot to where they
Speaker 2: need to win probably today and tomorrow in order to
Speaker 2: feel like they've even got a chance to make the
Speaker 2: tournament and that could have been avoided. And I go
Speaker 2: back to this, and I know I've said it many
Speaker 2: times and I just can't they can't get over it
Speaker 2: because everybody, like the ACC really has itself to blame
Speaker 2: for the way the tournament shaping up this year. Now overall,
Speaker 2: I guess technically they still have themselves to blame, but like,
Speaker 2: you got to get the bump coaches out and go
Speaker 2: hire good ones, like that's that's a big factor in
Speaker 2: what you gotta do. And they're doing that. I don't
Speaker 2: know if they're getting good coaches, but there's gonna be
Speaker 2: a big turnover in the ACC this year, and there's
Speaker 2: gonna be more even next year, I would imagine, because
Speaker 2: I think the guys that are getting the extra year.
Speaker 2: Maybe I'm wrong, but I feel like it's foolish, right, Like,
Speaker 2: what do you need to I mean, what makes you
Speaker 2: think Mike Young at virgin Tech, Jeff Capele at Pittsburgh.
Speaker 2: I already forgot what's the guy's name who's at Boston
Speaker 2: College who came from Charleston, Earl Grant. You don't you
Speaker 2: don't know if you're gonna go get anybody that's better.
Speaker 2: You could get somebody worse, right, because you don't have
Speaker 2: the option to just go get any coach you want.
Speaker 2: Look at who you are, but you really believe that
Speaker 2: haven't you seen enough to know that, like the ceiling's
Speaker 2: not very high at all for those guys, like coming
Speaker 2: back next year and winning five more games would be
Speaker 2: an improvement, But what are you really in a different situation?
Speaker 2: And with there being so much turnover, so much change
Speaker 2: every year in college basketball. Unfortunately for coaches, they're gonna
Speaker 2: be part of that too, right, why not start completely over?
Speaker 2: The fear of starting completely over is no should no
Speaker 2: longer be there for programs it used to be, right, Well,
Speaker 2: I mean, we could get rid of this coach and
Speaker 2: yeah he's not great, but man, we're decent. We could
Speaker 2: get a guy that's awful and that would be terrible. Yeah,
Speaker 2: but then you could also, you know, start over again
Speaker 2: if you need to. You don't want to do that,
Speaker 2: but I just when you've got coaches that have been
Speaker 2: there at least three years and the results haven't been
Speaker 2: good enough to where you feel like it's ever gonna
Speaker 2: work out long term, what's other than maybe just not
Speaker 2: having the money to buy them out. Why would you
Speaker 2: not just shake it up and make a change, because yeah,
Speaker 2: you could technically get worse, I suppose, but you're already
Speaker 2: not good. In fact, you're already bad. So anyways, the
Speaker 2: acc last time, I'll say it, and we'll move on. Carolina.
Speaker 2: They should they they would safely be in the tournament
Speaker 2: had they not lost to Stanford at home. Have they
Speaker 2: not lost at Pittsburgh? I mean they did. I'll make
Speaker 2: the case for Carolina. A lot of people are claiming that,
Speaker 2: you know, you are one and eleven in quad one,
Speaker 2: that you've had plenty of opportunity, you didn't cash in.
Speaker 2: You you prove you're not good enough. But yeah, but
Speaker 2: they're only like the only loss that Carolina has to
Speaker 2: like a team that everybody would tell you is lousy
Speaker 2: is is Stanford. I mean pitt technically, I guess, but
Speaker 2: pitt isn't terrible like Wakes on the bubble. Louisville's safely
Speaker 2: in the tournament. Florida's a top five team, Alabama's a
Speaker 2: top ten team, Michigan State is a top ten team,
Speaker 2: Auburn is a top five team. I was a number
Speaker 2: one team in the country. Kansas fell apart, but there's
Speaker 2: still Kansas. Like I know, I'm gonna sound like the
Speaker 2: acc Homer here, But like Carolina at twenty one and twelve,
Speaker 2: thirteen and seven, if they win today, they should be
Speaker 2: in over the teams that have god awful records even
Speaker 2: though they played in a better league. It'd be different
Speaker 2: if the losses for Carolina were two disastrous teams, then
Speaker 2: they're not. But anyways, like Carolina should just they should,
Speaker 2: they should be better. Wake Forest they're their own they're
Speaker 2: the biggest they're their own worst enemy. SMU. I mean,
Speaker 2: I don't really know enough about them. You know, they
Speaker 2: have some losses in non conference play that hurt them,
Speaker 2: Like they lost to Butler, who's terrible in the Big East.
Speaker 2: But their other losses have come against Wake Clemson. I
Speaker 2: guess losing to Stanford in Florida State will put you
Speaker 2: in your in the spot you're in. But again you
Speaker 2: also if you're I mean, like SMU, borderline bubble. But
Speaker 2: like with Wake Forest, their schedule in the non conference
Speaker 2: was so dreadful as far as bad teams they played
Speaker 2: that they barely beat that they're not even getting any bit.
Speaker 2: They're not even getting any bump for beating Michigan in
Speaker 2: the non conference, like that's a good win for them,
Speaker 2: but the numbers don't work out for them to where
Speaker 2: they get any value because of something they could have avoided.
Speaker 2: So anyways, currently Texas up thirty three to twenty five
Speaker 2: with fifty seconds left in the first half. They're taken
Speaker 2: on Texas A and M. Obviously a win for Texas
Speaker 2: would would help their situation. And Kentucky. I feel like
Speaker 2: Kentucky's fighting for seed lines with teams in their own conference,
Speaker 2: and I think A and M is one of them,
Speaker 2: so that that could be a good day for Kentucky
Speaker 2: if A and M ends up losing, and of course
Speaker 2: it would make you know, the path a little bit
Speaker 2: easier for him. All right, real quick, Minnesota they fired
Speaker 2: their coach last night, Ben Johnson. Three years I think
Speaker 2: three years might have been, yeah, three years, and he
Speaker 2: didn't make the tournament in any of those years. And
Speaker 2: you know, Minnesota, they are quite literally one of the
Speaker 2: more they let me look it up because I was
Speaker 2: gonna say they never made like any deep tournament run,
Speaker 2: and they have made one, but it got vacated. And
Speaker 2: this is one of the things that like you hear
Speaker 2: coaches say within college basketball, and I'm sure others have
Speaker 2: said it to not just people that are you know,
Speaker 2: on the inside of the sport, but like it's when
Speaker 2: you talk about that job opening up, is it a
Speaker 2: job that a mid major coach could you know, should
Speaker 2: go take this day and age? You should because you
Speaker 2: just don't have any opportunities you're gonna get and it
Speaker 2: is in the Big ten. And financially, if you're in
Speaker 2: like the SoCon, you take a Big ten job, even
Speaker 2: if you and you're out after three years, you're financially
Speaker 2: going to change your life because that's just such a
Speaker 2: big paybump. But Ben Johnson was there for four years,
Speaker 2: never made the tournament. The only term I mean, look
Speaker 2: at this the tur they made the round of thirty
Speaker 2: two twice since the mid nineties, and that was when
Speaker 2: they beat Louisville in twenty nineteen with Richard Patino and
Speaker 2: then in twenty thirteen. I think that was also when
Speaker 2: Richard was there. Maybe I'm wrong, but anyways, the only
Speaker 2: time they've ever been like successful where they made a
Speaker 2: run was in nineteen ninety seven. And I remember this
Speaker 2: team because they were really really good. They had Bobby Jackson,
Speaker 2: who I remember had like the silkiest baseline reverse layup
Speaker 2: that he would always I mean, he was really good,
Speaker 2: and that's the only time they were ever good in
Speaker 2: my lifetime. But they got caught cheating. I'm pretty sure
Speaker 2: at that point they were coached by former WKU head coach,
Speaker 2: Yeah Haskins. So what people say about Minnesota, don't take
Speaker 2: that job because the only way you can win there
Speaker 2: is if you cheat. So nowadays it's different because you know,
Speaker 2: what used to be considered cheating is now something you
Speaker 2: have to do, and it's not cheating if you you know,
Speaker 2: you got to go buy players. But the reason I
Speaker 2: want to talk about this is because one, I think
Speaker 2: Minnesota is a proven job that like good luck, right,
Speaker 2: I mean good luck being able to win there because
Speaker 2: the last time, the only time anybody's ever won there
Speaker 2: in the last thirty five years is when they cheated.
Speaker 2: So last night, this is this is what happened. And
Speaker 2: I probably didn't save myself enough time here, but I'll
Speaker 2: try to be as quick as I can. So after
Speaker 2: they lost last night in the Big Ten Tournament, Minnesota
Speaker 2: obviously flew back to UH to Minneapolis and their seasons
Speaker 2: over and whenever they got back into town, the athletic
Speaker 2: director had left Indianapolis because apparently the AD for Minnesota
Speaker 2: is on the selection committee, so he's been in Indianapolis
Speaker 2: getting prep for selection. Sunday. Well, he left the selection
Speaker 2: process to go back to his campus to fire his
Speaker 2: co coach. And it was in the middle of the night.
Speaker 2: They announced it at like two am, and a lot
Speaker 2: of people are claiming this was ruthless, this was heartless,
Speaker 2: what a classless move, And I'm thinking, how what like
Speaker 2: what else? I mean? In fact, I actually think what
Speaker 2: would have been more ruthless would have been to wait
Speaker 2: till like eight thirty this morning and you know, do
Speaker 2: it via phone or something like. I think this ad
Speaker 2: wanted to do it face to face, so he, you know,
Speaker 2: in the middle of the night, made his way back
Speaker 2: to Minneapolis so he could meet Ben Johnson face to
Speaker 2: face and let him know that the movie, I think,
Speaker 2: there's just no good way to fire somebody, is there,
Speaker 2: Like there's better ways to do it than others, But like,
Speaker 2: just imagine a scenario. Well, wow, I want to give
Speaker 2: I want to give the ad a lot of credit.
Speaker 2: He really fired that guy. He canned his ass with
Speaker 2: a lot of class, you know what I'm saying, Like,
Speaker 2: it's just like you can't like anybody claiming it was
Speaker 2: really like, again, there are bad ways to go about it,
Speaker 2: but I think even the most politically correct, classy way
Speaker 2: to fire somebody, you're still firing him. Like it's still
Speaker 2: a thing that's going to be a bitter situation for
Speaker 2: the person getting fired. But the ad I'll defend when
Speaker 2: it comes to like people attacking him for the way
Speaker 2: he went about it, I think, honestly I would have
Speaker 2: said that's the best way to do it. And it's
Speaker 2: a sign of respect that you are like you me,
Speaker 2: give an example, Charlie Strong. Say what you want about him.
Speaker 2: Everybody knew wh's taking the Texas job. He wasn't going
Speaker 2: to tell anybody who's taking the Texas job publicly until
Speaker 2: he met face to face with Tom Jersey to tell
Speaker 2: him everybody knew. And that's respect, Like that's I think
Speaker 2: that matters. Sure, So you know, there's right. So again
Speaker 2: respect to Mark Coyle the ad for firing Ben Johnson
Speaker 2: the way he did, but he's also a big liar
Speaker 2: in his press release about this job now opening. I'm
Speaker 2: gonna give you three things that he said that are
Speaker 2: just blatant lies that not even he believes. He says,
Speaker 2: these decisions are difficult and are made after careful consideration
Speaker 2: and evaluation. Here's the lie quote, the expectation for our
Speaker 2: program is to compete for championships. How how is it
Speaker 2: an expectation when you've never done it? Ever? And then
Speaker 2: he goes on to talk about the job itself. First
Speaker 2: five sorry, first six words in this quote lie here
Speaker 2: it is quote, this is an extremely desirable job. No
Speaker 2: it's not. Also, we offer everything that is needed to
Speaker 2: be successful. No, you don't I mean sure, like I
Speaker 2: mean you can. You don't want to talk about Yeah,
Speaker 2: we'd hope to get a great coach, but like we know.
Speaker 1: Who we are.
Speaker 2: We look in the mirror every day. You don't want
Speaker 2: to say that, but like, don't just don't just be delusional.
Speaker 2: Like that would turn me off if I was an
Speaker 2: ad or if I was a coach looking for an opportunity,
Speaker 2: because don't lie to me what the job is. Right.
Speaker 2: I know, I know you're gonna give me a pay
Speaker 2: pay bump. I know we're in a better conference, but like,
Speaker 2: don't lie to my face because we're starting off on
Speaker 2: the wrong foot if you tell me these lies, because
Speaker 2: that's what those are lies. All right, quick break will
Speaker 2: come back on the other side, wrap up the four
Speaker 2: o'clock hour, keep it rolling. It's coffee and company. Feel
Speaker 2: about Thorn's right here on Sports Talk seven ninety.
Speaker 1: Now back to Coffee and Company fueled by Thornton's on
Speaker 1: Sports Talk seven ninety.
Speaker 2: So Indiana lost today and I assume they're still in again.
Speaker 2: I'm basing it off of just the bracketology that's out there.
Speaker 2: But you know, in Indiana making the tournament would give
Speaker 2: Louisville another opponent that they can claim, you know, they
Speaker 2: beat that's in the field. But like, why would India.
Speaker 2: I mean, I don't know how Indiana is any more
Speaker 2: deserving than other Like the bubble is is very bad
Speaker 2: this year. So there's gonna be teams that I just
Speaker 2: don't understand how they're in. But also I can't really
Speaker 2: give you somebody that I can with certainty say is
Speaker 2: more deserving. And they put sixty eight teams in. But Indiana,
Speaker 2: I mean, they have the win against Purdue, but that
Speaker 2: doesn't really have the value that it that it you
Speaker 2: know that it did in previous years. And really outside
Speaker 2: of that, I mean, they beat Ohio State twice, but
Speaker 2: Ohio State fell a pardon now is not gonna make
Speaker 2: the tournament. So I mean, here, I am my acc loyalty.
Speaker 2: I suppose if I have any. I don't think I do,
Speaker 2: but maybe I do, because I mean Wake Forest in
Speaker 2: North Carolina to me, are I mean, I think more
Speaker 2: deserving than teams like Texas and Indiana because winning and
Speaker 2: losing should still matter. It shouldn't just be about what
Speaker 2: league you're in. I mean, and again, I'll go back
Speaker 2: to what I said thirty seconds ago. I'm not claiming
Speaker 2: those teams have great resumes, but they put sixty eight
Speaker 2: teams in and you getting in with a terrible record
Speaker 2: and a bunch of losses significantly below five hundred in
Speaker 2: your league. But hey, you're in consideration because your league's
Speaker 2: good and your formula, your net ranking is so good
Speaker 2: because of your league. Like that, that really is just
Speaker 2: saying that we know they're not good, but they play
Speaker 2: in a good league and our formula's flaweds, so we're
Speaker 2: going to put him in. Because I mean, it's just
Speaker 2: it makes no sense. I mean tournament doesn't need to
Speaker 2: be expanded. It does not. I mean, I think putting
Speaker 2: thirty two teams in would actually make it a better event,
Speaker 2: but that'll never happen, and I don't want to. I
Speaker 2: don't want to change anything about the tournament, adding or
Speaker 2: removing anybody. I'm just stating the whole the whole push
Speaker 2: for more teams is just I mean, it's it's about money.
Speaker 2: We know that, all right. You know what else I know?
Speaker 2: I know a lot of things I think maybe things
Speaker 2: I know aren't what I think they are. But one
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Speaker 2: o'clock hours coming up next to a lot more to
Speaker 2: get into. It's big night around here. I mean Pat
Speaker 2: Kelcey first postseason game for him tonight. I'm fired up
Speaker 2: just knowing that it's a game where there's something on
Speaker 2: the line, an opportunity to advance to the semi finals,
Speaker 2: something Louisvell's never done before in the ACC Tournament. Kentucky
Speaker 2: in action tonight as well. It's gonna be a late night,
Speaker 2: a lot of drunk Kentucky fans in Nashville, which I
Speaker 2: say that as a sign of respect. They'll probably have
Speaker 2: that place rocking, and it'll be a big home court
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Speaker 2: don't go anywhere, keep it lock right here. In sports,
Speaker 2: Talk seven ninety