Speaker 1: But nine day, Holy crap, I don't know who the
Speaker 1: hell we think when we are.
Speaker 2: Get off our show, idiots.
Speaker 1: The kids are playing to tail off. Your countries are
Speaker 1: screwing it up.
Speaker 2: Gold Play Inner Murals, Brother, gold Play Inner Murals.
Speaker 1: They're supposed to be mature adults, but they're really not.
Speaker 1: Who's the kid here?
Speaker 2: Who's the kid here? Are you kidding me?
Speaker 1: Now?
Speaker 2: Here's Nick Coffee.
Speaker 3: I'm gonna ask the question if we're ready or not?
Speaker 3: Meaning are we ready to get this thing started? And
Speaker 3: it really is is pointless to ask the question because
Speaker 3: it doesn't matter if you're ready.
Speaker 1: I'm ready. My name is Nick Coffee. I hope you
Speaker 1: knew that. Austin Montgomery. I know you know him. He's
Speaker 1: the travel chief. I know he's ready, right, I stay ready.
Speaker 1: We're ready.
Speaker 3: So collectively we're all ready. And if you're not ready,
Speaker 3: you'll be. You'll be up to speed.
Speaker 1: Here soon.
Speaker 3: It's coffee and company, and we are fueled by Thornton's
Speaker 3: here on sports to seven ninety on a beautiful, beautiful
Speaker 3: Tuesday afternoon here in Louisville, Kentucky, beautiful. Right now as
Speaker 3: we speak, it is three oh one and by you
Speaker 3: know who knows in the next ten minutes, maybe it's
Speaker 3: not as beautiful. But when I made my way from
Speaker 3: my vehicle here in the garage at for Street Live it,
Speaker 3: I mean, it was one of those beautiful days. So
Speaker 3: hopefully that that continues. And we're gonna take you up
Speaker 3: until not six o'clock because unless I'm wrong, aren't we
Speaker 3: out early today for the Bats?
Speaker 4: Yes?
Speaker 1: Bats, Gay Spas back.
Speaker 3: So we'll be we'll be out of here about five
Speaker 3: thirty ish today, So two and a half hours.
Speaker 1: That's a little bit less than what you're.
Speaker 3: Used to, so let's just all join in and making
Speaker 3: sure we make the most of these next two and
Speaker 3: a half hours. Derby is over, obviously, and yesterday was
Speaker 3: a big recap and enjoyed doing that. And uh, you know,
Speaker 3: Derby is a tricky thing for me, as I've probably
Speaker 3: discussed more than I really needed to. But you know,
Speaker 3: it's such a big deal around here. But obviously it's
Speaker 3: just not something that I have as much as much
Speaker 3: knowledge and I guess or interest when it comes to
Speaker 3: horse racing. But the Derby event, everything that comes with it,
Speaker 3: that's been a big focus in the last week and
Speaker 3: some change and it's been fun, but I want to
Speaker 3: shift gears here, or maybe I should more so say
Speaker 3: turn the page, because there's a lot.
Speaker 1: Of other things I want to get into. And we'll
Speaker 1: do that.
Speaker 3: We'll have some pubb'll mix it up, and I hope
Speaker 3: you guys will stick with us. You can take us
Speaker 3: with you wherever you go. You can listen live on
Speaker 3: the Hour radio app. Also listen live at seven ninety
Speaker 3: Louisville dot com.
Speaker 1: And I say all that to say, but.
Speaker 3: You know, this is me letting you know that I
Speaker 3: don't want you to think that we're going to just
Speaker 3: do horse racing stuff the rest of the show after
Speaker 3: we start with it. But it is worth mentioning that
Speaker 3: we did get some news. But then I believe the
Speaker 3: last hour or so that this year's Kentucky Derby winner
Speaker 3: sovereignty winner of Derby one point fifty one is going
Speaker 3: to miss the Preakness Stakes, which obviously eliminates all potential
Speaker 3: of a triple crown. And I from what I've gathered
Speaker 3: again and i'm i'm i'm I'm sharing this just based
Speaker 3: off of literally what I've what I've read from the
Speaker 3: coverage at NBC, the coverage at by Pat forty at
Speaker 3: Sports Illustrated and just some This is this is where
Speaker 3: I am when it comes to just kind of knowing
Speaker 3: like where to go when it comes to get legitimate
Speaker 3: trust information you can trust when it comes to these
Speaker 3: kind of things. Is that you know, it's just people
Speaker 3: who I know that love horse racing. And apparently Bill Mott,
Speaker 3: trainer of Sovereignty, is old school to where he will,
Speaker 3: not to say others don't, but he is believed to
Speaker 3: be somebody that will not necessarily worry about chasing that
Speaker 3: triple crown. He'll think about the horse first. And it
Speaker 3: sounds as if owners do trust Bill Mott to where
Speaker 3: as much as a triple crown would be you know,
Speaker 3: would be amazing because those don't happen very often. They're
Speaker 3: making the decision that they believe is best suited for
Speaker 3: the horse.
Speaker 1: Sovereignty.
Speaker 3: So again, I think it was about about one thirty
Speaker 3: when the news broke that Sovereignty will be skipping the Preakness,
Speaker 3: and it was the Pimlico Race course, of course, you
Speaker 3: know the Preakness event itself. They released a statement kind
Speaker 3: of putting it out there and Pat forty and I'm
Speaker 3: not picking up Pat at all. I just I'm reading
Speaker 3: directly from because that's the first place I saw it.
Speaker 3: As far as the news being broke, not to say
Speaker 3: he deserves credit for breaking it. Maybe he just put
Speaker 3: it out there and I happen to see it at
Speaker 3: that time. But the last sentence in his post is
Speaker 3: what I wanted to kind of start with it, because
Speaker 3: it says horse racing is the king of self inflicted wounds.
Speaker 3: And I mean, I wouldn't be the one that could
Speaker 3: tell you if that's fair or foul, but like I
Speaker 3: kind of get why he's saying it, right because if
Speaker 3: you are Pimlico and the Preakness, I mean, you already
Speaker 3: don't get anywhere near the attention and the coverage that
Speaker 3: the derby gets and that'll never change. But the scenario
Speaker 3: where you do, I mean, like this is the worst
Speaker 3: case scenario for them. No, like they'll have I mean
Speaker 3: assume they'll still have plenty of people that attend, plenty
Speaker 3: of people that wager, but like best case scenario for them,
Speaker 3: and it's all I mean winsl. I mean, I know
Speaker 3: this has happened before, and we can look back and see,
Speaker 3: you know, just how common it is. But for the
Speaker 3: Preakness race. To know that the horse who just won
Speaker 3: the Derby is already out, like that's gotta be a like,
Speaker 3: I get it like that, that does seem as if
Speaker 3: it is a self inflicted wound. But again, who's self
Speaker 3: inflicting it?
Speaker 1: Right? Like that?
Speaker 3: That's what interested me today to where I you know,
Speaker 3: believe it or not. I'm not trolling you, I'm not.
Speaker 3: This is this is in a bit, it's the truth just
Speaker 3: kind of here, you know. And again I'm not picking
Speaker 3: on Pat forty like you said something crazy, but who
Speaker 3: inflicted the wound? When you say self inflicted? Is it?
Speaker 1: Is it Bill Mott and his team? Is it?
Speaker 3: Is it the fact that these races aren't spread apart,
Speaker 3: meaning with more time in between. Because again, this is
Speaker 3: where I'm just being transparent. I'm out there on any
Speaker 3: telling you guys, I don't have a clue what you know?
Speaker 3: What is what the consensus opinion is for those that
Speaker 3: do enjoy horse racing as this, you know, the sport itself,
Speaker 3: and don't just think about the Derby. They think about,
Speaker 3: you know, the other races like the Belmont and the Breakness.
Speaker 3: But could they make some adjust because this I think
Speaker 3: could turn into at least maybe a conversation about the
Speaker 3: ball rolling to adjust the schedule here, because it's been
Speaker 3: a long time, right, Like, we went many many, many years,
Speaker 3: many decades without having a triple crown winner, and then
Speaker 3: it happened with American Pharaoh, and then not long after
Speaker 3: it happened to Justify. But all I it was almost
Speaker 3: like it was on a loop when you would hear
Speaker 3: people discuss a triple crown, the chances of it happening,
Speaker 3: that kind of stuff. What I feel like I heard,
Speaker 3: you know, my memory, if you know, my memory is
Speaker 3: relatively solid. I feel like what I heard more than
Speaker 3: anything when it comes to that loop, I reference was, well,
Speaker 3: you know, it's just not realistic, it's just not practical.
Speaker 3: It's this day and age. There's just such little time
Speaker 3: between races. Therefore it'll never happen again. And when you
Speaker 3: say self inflicted wound, I wonder if that's more so
Speaker 3: because they don't realize they could make some slight adjustments
Speaker 3: that might in fact make, you know, make this a
Speaker 3: little bit more doable for horses to go from Derby
Speaker 3: to to Preakness or you know, is it saying that
Speaker 3: you know the trainers and the owners are at fault
Speaker 3: for not wanting their horse to run in the second
Speaker 3: leg of the triple Crown.
Speaker 1: You know, I think the.
Speaker 3: Triple Crown again, and this is where I get out
Speaker 3: there and I'm just you know, I'm not in my
Speaker 3: comfort zone. So I'm letting you guys know ahead of
Speaker 3: time a triple crown happening when it did with American
Speaker 3: Pharaoh and then and then justify that really did debunk
Speaker 3: those who said it would never happen again. And it's
Speaker 3: one thing to get one triple crown winner since I mean,
Speaker 3: who was the one before that, I mean it wasn't
Speaker 3: secretaryat was it.
Speaker 4: The last triple crown winner before before we had the
Speaker 4: two before American Pharaoh. Yeah, I mean I could look
Speaker 4: that up.
Speaker 3: I mean yeah, and actually if you could look it up,
Speaker 3: because I want to know the year when it was,
Speaker 3: because I think I sometimes exaggerate just how long it
Speaker 3: we went without one.
Speaker 1: But it just seemed to be.
Speaker 3: And again, I'm talking about folks who are into horse
Speaker 3: racing like it's what they do, meaning that they their fans,
Speaker 3: they cover it and they you know, it's it's the
Speaker 3: it's their gig. It just became from what I gathered
Speaker 3: in their minds something. Well, we need to just stop
Speaker 3: talking about because it'll never happen again. Let's just get
Speaker 3: over it. Let's just realize that that will not be
Speaker 3: doable again. And then it happened twice, you know, in
Speaker 3: a in a relatively short amount of time.
Speaker 1: I got it.
Speaker 4: Last one before American Pharaoh was do you remember the
Speaker 4: horse name?
Speaker 2: Affirmed?
Speaker 1: Yes, I don't know why the hell I said, Secretary
Speaker 1: Seattle Secretary was two before him. Okay, And so there
Speaker 1: have been one.
Speaker 4: Two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve,
Speaker 4: only thirteen triple crown winners.
Speaker 1: I mean it cause and again, when was the first one.
Speaker 4: That was back in nineteen nineteen where it was Sir Barton?
Speaker 1: So nineteen nineteen up until a firm? What year was affirm?
Speaker 1: He was nineteen seventy eight. Yeah, so we're talking about
Speaker 1: a it happening.
Speaker 3: I mean, even even as many times as it happened,
Speaker 3: like I feel, I think from nineteen nineteen on until
Speaker 3: a firm, it's still not something that was happening super frequently.
Speaker 1: Right, It's pretty rare, pretty hard to do.
Speaker 4: Nineteen nineteen, nineteen thirty nineteen thirty five, then two years
Speaker 4: after that nineteen thirty seven and forty one, forty three,
Speaker 4: forty six, forty eight. Then that's where we had like
Speaker 4: almost a twenty year drought, was seventy three, seventy seven,
Speaker 4: seventy eight with the firm, and then we had that
Speaker 4: drought again until twenty fifteen. In twenty eighteen.
Speaker 3: So wow, so gosh, it's crazy. So justify I was
Speaker 3: twenty eighteen. Yes, wow, I for some reason thought it
Speaker 3: was much more recent than that. Believe it's been that long.
Speaker 3: But again it went from being something we thought we'd
Speaker 3: never see to happening twice. And you know, here I
Speaker 3: am being so hyper focused more so just on the
Speaker 3: derby and seeing all the attention deservedly. So that was
Speaker 3: given yesterday once we got the TV ratings. As far
Speaker 3: as the amount of people that viewed, I mean, it
Speaker 3: was the most watched derby.
Speaker 1: In a long long time.
Speaker 3: It proves that big, big events here in America, when
Speaker 3: it comes to sports, they still will gravitate to people
Speaker 3: to where they're going to stop what they're doing. It's
Speaker 3: appointment viewing. They're going to make sure they're able to watch.
Speaker 3: So then you know, to see that love and then
Speaker 3: it be ended with a little caveat of well for
Speaker 3: a sport that's struggling, for a sport that you know
Speaker 3: is you know is dying, as some say, that's pretty good.
Speaker 3: So like if you could do things that could prevent
Speaker 3: that from happening, like why why not make adjustments? Like
Speaker 3: the Derby is going to be fine regardless, right, Like
Speaker 3: the Derby is in a world of its own when
Speaker 3: it comes to like ever having to worry, Like they
Speaker 3: don't have to worry about interest and attendance, right And
Speaker 3: I don't know enough about the Bellmont or the Preakness
Speaker 3: to know sort of where they are, but they're not
Speaker 3: Churchill downs in the Derby. So like, if there's things
Speaker 3: that they could do to extend from the Derby, meaning
Speaker 3: giving people a more realistic shot at looking at a
Speaker 3: triple crown winner because you have stretched out these races,
Speaker 3: like why not do that? So Mike Rodgers is the
Speaker 3: VP of Form I gather, He's the VP of Pimlico
Speaker 3: Race Course, which of course is where the Preakness is.
Speaker 1: Here's his quote.
Speaker 3: We receive a call today from trainer Billmont that sovereignty
Speaker 3: will not be competing in the Preakness. Bill informed us
Speaker 3: they would point towards the Belmont Stakes. We extend our
Speaker 3: congratulations to the connections of sovereignty and respect their decision.
Speaker 3: We continue to see the excitement building toward the milestone
Speaker 3: celebration of the one hundred and fiftieth Preakness Stakes, and
Speaker 3: we look forward to an incredible weekend of world class
Speaker 3: racing and entertainment. So, I mean, there's there's no scenario
Speaker 3: if you're Billmont or the ownership group that you wouldn't
Speaker 3: I mean, you're doing this because you care about the horse,
Speaker 3: right Like, there's no other reason why you would not
Speaker 3: do it like you would, you know, I don't think
Speaker 3: it's a scenario where they felt like they got lucky
Speaker 3: in the Derby and don't want to you know, risk
Speaker 3: really you know, being I don't think. I mean, again,
Speaker 3: what do I know? But I just I would highly
Speaker 3: be shocked if that has anything to do with it.
Speaker 3: So the biggest reaction that I've been able to gather
Speaker 3: in the last hour and a half since this news
Speaker 3: broke is that, hey, why don't we why don't we
Speaker 3: spread these races out a little bit like the Derby
Speaker 3: should always be the first Saturday in May. To be fair,
Speaker 3: if there's one race in the triple Crown that deserves
Speaker 3: to be able to say we're going to do this
Speaker 3: however we want. It's the Derby, but the Preakness, why
Speaker 3: not do it? Why not do it in you know,
Speaker 3: early June. Maybe you make it the first Saturday in June.
Speaker 3: Hold the Belmont, you know, make it a fourth of
Speaker 3: July kind of thing. Whatever weekend happens to, you know,
Speaker 3: fall closest to fourth of July.
Speaker 1: Do it.
Speaker 3: Then it gives you more of I think a modern
Speaker 3: schedule where you know all three you know you can,
Speaker 3: you can realistically being you know a little bit better,
Speaker 3: better prepared to to be able to run in all three.
Speaker 3: So anyways, that's the news following two days after Derby.
Speaker 3: We now know that this year's Derby winner is not
Speaker 3: going to be participating in the Breaknas.
Speaker 1: But and again, I mean.
Speaker 3: I if it's if it's the right reason for the horse,
Speaker 3: then you know that's really all that matters. It's the
Speaker 3: right reason. But I think the chase of a triple
Speaker 3: crown really became realistic again because it went so we
Speaker 3: went so long without one.
Speaker 1: Then we had too.
Speaker 3: Well, now we already know there's no there's no shot
Speaker 3: at one because the guy who you know, the horse
Speaker 3: that just won Derby is already is already out. So
Speaker 3: I don't really know, Like this is one of those
Speaker 3: things where, yeah, it sucks, because we would all probably
Speaker 3: like to see at least a chance to see if
Speaker 3: we could have another triple crown winner. As Austin just mentioned,
Speaker 3: with those numbers, it's very rare, so you know, to
Speaker 3: know already that like it's not happening, it does suck.
Speaker 3: But who you mad at the person that wants to
Speaker 3: keep a horse safe? You know, like I just you know.
Speaker 1: It's a bummer.
Speaker 3: But sometimes when you realize like things just didn't work
Speaker 3: out the way that you wanted something, you know there's
Speaker 3: a result you don't like, or a decision that's been
Speaker 3: made that that maybe impacts you in a negative way,
Speaker 3: Like all that sucks, But if you have no route
Speaker 3: to really point it back to, like.
Speaker 1: But like you could eat you could, you know, you
Speaker 1: could deal with it a little bit better.
Speaker 3: But I just to see that the news and then
Speaker 3: it turned to well, hey, horse racing man, they just
Speaker 3: can't get out of their own way self. Inflicted wounds,
Speaker 3: like who we mad at here? Like who did something wrong?
Speaker 3: I mean, if anything, I would assume that if this
Speaker 3: race was maybe a little bit later than the current
Speaker 3: date that's scheduled, then maybe that maybe sovereignty would be
Speaker 3: able to go. And if so, I think you point
Speaker 3: the finger at the schedule and whoever decided on that
Speaker 3: probably ain't even around anymore, like horse racing seems to have,
Speaker 3: and again i'd say seems to have because I'm letting
Speaker 3: you know right now, I've stepped out, I've stepped out
Speaker 3: of said comfort zone, and I'm now sharing thoughts on
Speaker 3: horse racing, well aware that I'm not as informed as
Speaker 3: a lot of you listening, and also horse racing will
Speaker 3: be found without my thoughts, my suggestions. They understandably so
Speaker 3: would not have any interest in any kind of suggestions
Speaker 3: that I would make. But horse racing again seems to
Speaker 3: have a little bit of like the the golf element
Speaker 3: to it, to where like it's historic and it's the
Speaker 3: way we've always done it, so that's just the way
Speaker 3: it is. And I get sort of the mindset behind
Speaker 3: that from the purists. But like this day and age,
Speaker 3: you got to grow the game. You got to you
Speaker 3: got to understand that if you want people at a
Speaker 3: high level to be interested in engaging in your event,
Speaker 3: your content, whatever it is you're doing. I meant the
Speaker 3: end of the day, horse racing is what entertainment.
Speaker 1: It's business.
Speaker 3: I mean the people who make a lot of money
Speaker 3: and are the ones who own the horses and are
Speaker 3: trainers that kind of stuff. But like if it's on television,
Speaker 3: it's because people can watch it and they can wager
Speaker 3: on it.
Speaker 1: Like that's that's that's what it is. It's entertainment.
Speaker 3: So you got to keep in mind there's a lot
Speaker 3: more competition in twenty twenty five for people to be entertained,
Speaker 3: and if a slight adjustment to the schedule would give
Speaker 3: you a better ability to really make these other you know,
Speaker 3: really just the second leg, because you know, the the Bellmont,
Speaker 3: it just comes down to, like, all right, do they
Speaker 3: knock off the first couple of legs and if so,
Speaker 3: that's the best case scenario obviously for the Belmont, But
Speaker 3: they can't control that, and you know.
Speaker 1: They have to know that going in.
Speaker 3: But with the Preakness, when horses decide not to go,
Speaker 3: and it's just because it might be too close and
Speaker 3: they don't have enough time to rest. That to me
Speaker 3: seems like an easy fix. And I'm thinking, like, who
Speaker 3: says no? I mean, especially given this time of year,
Speaker 3: Like I could be totally wrong here, And again, disclaimer,
Speaker 3: I'm stepping outside of not even a comfort zone, Like
Speaker 3: I'm just out here rambling about things that, like, you know,
Speaker 3: a lot of you are probably thinking, the hell's this
Speaker 3: scut talking about? Didn't he know that the Preakness race
Speaker 3: is on this, Like I'm assuming NBC has all so
Speaker 3: the Preakness and the Belmont.
Speaker 1: Don't know.
Speaker 3: But if I'm wrong, I'll stand correct. But it only
Speaker 3: makes sense, right, Yeah, it only makes sense. So I
Speaker 3: mean again, you're not competing on NBC with a lot
Speaker 3: of other things to put on television at that time,
Speaker 3: Like a slight adjustment that could make it a.
Speaker 1: Little more doable. I think.
Speaker 3: Put it this way, it can't hurt, right, Like, what
Speaker 3: what's what's the downfall? I mean that again, And maybe
Speaker 3: there is legitimate downfall and a reason why they don't
Speaker 3: do it, And I'm just, you know, that ignorant. That's
Speaker 3: certainly a possibility. But to see the winner on Saturday,
Speaker 3: and there'd be so much, you know, energy, and you know,
Speaker 3: I think after the Derby it's always the first question
Speaker 3: that comes to mind for people once they sober up. Hey,
Speaker 3: you think we could have a triple Crown winner? And
Speaker 3: a lot of times we don't. More often than not
Speaker 3: we don't. But this is the moment where you really
Speaker 3: never know, right, Like you're sitting here thinking this race
Speaker 3: or this this this horse Sovereignty clearly did enough to
Speaker 3: generate enough buzz to be in the conversation as one
Speaker 3: of the favorites and got it done, got the win,
Speaker 3: and the lead up to the Preakness about can Sovereignty
Speaker 3: get the second leg down and get even closer to
Speaker 3: you know, the pinnacle of horse racing, the Triple Crown,
Speaker 3: and it's already eliminated, and I just feel like, you know,
Speaker 3: it could be avoided if there was a slight change.
Speaker 3: But again that's just my thoughts on it. I'll step
Speaker 3: now back into like, you know, my comfort zone because
Speaker 3: I rarely just get out there and share like, hey,
Speaker 3: here's what horse racing should do, because again, like they
Speaker 3: don't need to appeal to me, but if it's such
Speaker 3: a oh, they can't get out of their own way
Speaker 3: and it's based simply off schedule. I mean, I don't
Speaker 3: think it would be a real big deal to make
Speaker 3: a slight adjustment. And the reason again, the root of
Speaker 3: why I'm bringing all this up is because for the
Speaker 3: longest time, when we were told we'd never see another
Speaker 3: triple Crown winner, most people referenced that two things. One,
Speaker 3: it's just unrealistic to expect this much out of a
Speaker 3: horse in these three races and now amount of time.
Speaker 1: That was the biggest factor.
Speaker 3: The other was, well, there's just so many horses in
Speaker 3: the Derby that like, sometimes you end up with a
Speaker 3: random winner of the Derby that really wasn't that impressive,
Speaker 3: but the other horse is just gassed out. Because the
Speaker 3: Derby is such a long race and there's so many horses,
Speaker 3: you really never know what you're gonna get. Kind of
Speaker 3: like sometimes you'll get a team that you know wasn't
Speaker 3: that good, but man, they got hot. They made the
Speaker 3: Sweet sixteen, they made the Elite eight. I always find
Speaker 3: myself comparing other things in sports to you know, college basketball, like,
Speaker 3: for example, the college football playoff appearance to me is
Speaker 3: now considered like basically a final four of college football,
Speaker 3: like it is basketball so all right, we got a
Speaker 3: lot to get to. Let's get our first time out
Speaker 3: out of the way. And if you guys want to
Speaker 3: join us on the show, you certainly can do it.
Speaker 3: You could text in five oh two four three eight
Speaker 3: ninety seventy three. That's the Eleenent Federal Credit Union text line,
Speaker 3: and you could also give us a call five O
Speaker 3: two five seven one seventy nine hundred.
Speaker 1: Give it lock right here.
Speaker 3: It's Coffee and Company and we are fueled bout Thornton's
Speaker 3: on Sports Talk seven to ninety.
Speaker 2: Now back to coffee and Company, fueled by Thornton's on
Speaker 2: Sports Talk seven nine day.
Speaker 3: That's right, it's coffee and Company fuel by Thornton's here
Speaker 3: on Sports Talk seven ninety. Appreciate you guys hanging out
Speaker 3: with us, Nick Coffee, Austin Montgomery alongside and real quick.
Speaker 3: This is something that hit the news wire today and
Speaker 3: I thought, initially it seems kind of kind of.
Speaker 1: Silly.
Speaker 3: Maybe I mean, Silly's not the word I was aiming for,
Speaker 3: but nothing else came to mind. But Clemson and Notre
Speaker 3: Dame have agreed to a twelve year series in football
Speaker 3: from twenty twenty seven to twenty thirty eight, and you
Speaker 3: may wonder, why the hell does anybody care, and may
Speaker 3: there may not be a person that's listening that cares.
Speaker 3: But I think if you're in the ACC in both
Speaker 3: football and basketball, your best course of action would be
Speaker 3: to understand where the league is, understand realistic expectations, or
Speaker 3: really just being realistic with yourself as far as how
Speaker 3: much better the league can get. So I think Clemson
Speaker 3: here is well aware that we can't just have years
Speaker 3: where we have Notre Dame on the schedule because of
Speaker 3: the ACC arrangement twice in a six year window. We're
Speaker 3: gonna need if we want to impress the committee to
Speaker 3: get into the college football Playoff, we need to absolutely
Speaker 3: have a annual opponent on the schedule that will give
Speaker 3: us big time value if we beat them, and wouldn't
Speaker 3: kill us if we lose if we lose a close game,
Speaker 3: because that's what it seemed like.
Speaker 1: It's started to turn into.
Speaker 3: Like if you lose if you have a good record, like,
Speaker 3: for example, if Louisville, and maybe they aren't the best
Speaker 3: example actually, because nobody really gave respect to the ACC,
Speaker 3: but prior to Louisville's loss to Stanford, let's say they
Speaker 3: finished the season nine to three and all three losses
Speaker 3: are to Miami, Notre Dame, and SMU. I mean pains
Speaker 3: me to say it, Austin, but they might have been in.
Speaker 3: Like I don't think they would have got in, but
Speaker 3: I mean Clemson got in, all right, I mean like
Speaker 3: they might. Clemson got in because they won they won
Speaker 3: the league, I guess, But as far as the championship.
Speaker 1: Didn't the win the championship game? They did, right, Clemson
Speaker 1: beat s MU and the AC championship.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so so they got in regardless. But you know,
Speaker 3: maybe because Louisville beat Clemson at Clemson the way they did,
Speaker 3: maybe Louisville would have been able to somehow edge SMU.
Speaker 3: It's it's silly to go back and think about that,
Speaker 3: but you know, the A this this tells me a
Speaker 3: couple of things. One, Clemson's aware that they're gonna have
Speaker 3: to schedule an annual It can't just be South Carolina
Speaker 3: because you're you know, obviously Shane Biemer has done a
Speaker 3: good job and they're in a better spot now than
Speaker 3: they well, they.
Speaker 1: Seem to be hit or miss.
Speaker 3: Beemer will have a year where it looks as if
Speaker 3: he's gonna have to coach for his job, and you know,
Speaker 3: then he has a good year, then he'll he'll he'll
Speaker 3: take a step back. But they've got Clemson every year
Speaker 3: as an annual opponent, and they also have, uh, they
Speaker 3: now have Notre Dame as an annual opponent starting in
Speaker 3: twenty twenty seven. So two things to take from this,
Speaker 3: and I'm sure I'm reaching a little bit, But if
Speaker 3: the SEC does go to nine games in their conference schedule,
Speaker 3: which right now Greg Sanki what he's doing is really
Speaker 3: not even try me.
Speaker 1: He's not hiding it.
Speaker 3: They want to If they're going to go to nine,
Speaker 3: then they're going to make adjustments on their end where
Speaker 3: they will no longer like they'll they'll probably encourage South
Speaker 3: Carolina to not schedule Clemson. They'll encourage Kentucky not to
Speaker 3: schedule Louisville because they're going to non conference games.
Speaker 1: So a couple things.
Speaker 3: This is maybe Clemson giving themselves an added non conference
Speaker 3: opponent that will give them big value with a win
Speaker 3: and won't kill them if they lose if they lose
Speaker 3: South Carolina, or they're just of the opinion that they're
Speaker 3: going to need maybe two non conference resume opportunities, meaning
Speaker 3: big value with a win, not a killer if you lose,
Speaker 3: because what they do in league play will no longer.
Speaker 1: It's just it's you know, beating up.
Speaker 3: And in fact, for years now, running through the ACC
Speaker 3: just hasn't hasn't actually given you a whole lot of respect,
Speaker 3: And and I can't I argue.
Speaker 1: That the respect is deserved.
Speaker 3: Like Clemson would do enough to where sometimes they would
Speaker 3: run through the ACC and then they would get to
Speaker 3: the College Football Playoff and they'd win because they're Clemson
Speaker 3: in that in that era, but anybody else, like who
Speaker 3: else in the ACC has had really good years where
Speaker 3: they're getting some national love, some national relevance because mostly
Speaker 3: what they're doing against the league, and then it pays
Speaker 3: off to where it's like, wow, what a statement by
Speaker 3: the ACC. It just hadn't played out that way. So
Speaker 3: you know, I think if you're Louisville, you know, and
Speaker 3: by the way, credit to Jeff Brown. You know, he's
Speaker 3: tried to get some big time non conference games on
Speaker 3: the schedule with teams from the SEC, not including Kentucky,
Speaker 3: and they just you know, they don't, they don't, they
Speaker 3: don't want to play. And I you know, I don't
Speaker 3: really cause when I was, when I was looking and
Speaker 3: when I initially when this story broke this morning, I'm
Speaker 3: thinking to myself, why does Clemson need to do that?
Speaker 3: Because you know, right now, like the way it stands
Speaker 3: as of today, going off just the one year we
Speaker 3: have with the expanded playoff, the way it's set up, like,
Speaker 3: you really don't need to go out and really schedule
Speaker 3: really tough in the non conference because are you really
Speaker 3: going to get credit for it?
Speaker 1: Right?
Speaker 3: Because if you know, for for a while it's been
Speaker 3: we'll look, if you win your you win your conference,
Speaker 3: then you're in. Well now they're you know, the auto
Speaker 3: bids as far as getting in if you win your league.
Speaker 3: That's still on the table as far as the discussion.
Speaker 3: But rightfully so the scenario where the top four seeds
Speaker 3: who get buys are just the conference champs.
Speaker 1: Like that can't be. That can't be it.
Speaker 3: So I think you're gonna see some decisions as far
Speaker 3: as scheduling moving forward that give programs like Clemson's done
Speaker 3: here a little bit of landing room regardless of how
Speaker 3: this shakes out, right, because I mean, I think it's
Speaker 3: a areas because the SEC you know, for as arrogant
Speaker 3: as they are, they don't do anything out of conference.
Speaker 3: They beat up on each other, and that doesn't prove
Speaker 3: that they're not like they're not the best league. But
Speaker 3: they also like they won't schedule non conference games unless
Speaker 3: they're guaranteed a certain amount of auto bids to the playoff,
Speaker 3: which you know, it's just it's Sankee doing what. Like
Speaker 3: Sankie's the commissioner of the Southeastern Conference. So literally everything
Speaker 3: he's throwing out there, everything he proposes, every bit of
Speaker 3: his role is to look out specifically for his conference.
Speaker 3: Like I don't fault him for that at all. I mean,
Speaker 3: that's literally his job. That's like an agent. If you
Speaker 3: know your client's got a great deal and a great
Speaker 3: salary and a couple of years ago by like you're
Speaker 3: probably going to think, well, I gotta try to get
Speaker 3: him more because that's what I'm paid to do. That's
Speaker 3: how I'm incentivized. So you know, I just the college
Speaker 3: football layoffs future is not like in doubt we're gonna
Speaker 3: have it. But the discussions going on most recently at
Speaker 3: this college football Playoff spring meeting that took place in Dallas.
Speaker 3: Whatever comes out of this is gonna be like a
Speaker 3: big deal, and it's just tough to know exactly what
Speaker 3: transpires because I think guaranteeing a certain amount of spots
Speaker 3: per conference is stupid as hell because you just never know,
Speaker 3: even if it's unrealistic or if it's something that's never
Speaker 3: been done before. It is insane to think that, Okay, automatically,
Speaker 3: in this expanded playoff that includes fourteen teams instead of twelve,
Speaker 3: we're gonna give four guaranteed to the SEC and four
Speaker 3: to the Big Ten. Who's to say that the Big
Speaker 3: Ten may fall off the cliff and be the worst
Speaker 3: league in the world. You're gonna tell me we're putting
Speaker 3: thirty roughly thirty percent of the of the of the
Speaker 3: event is going to feature teams that stink. And again
Speaker 3: I'm not saying that that's realistic about that's gonna happen,
Speaker 3: but this is a step in the direction of like
Speaker 3: truly not making about if you if you guarantee certain
Speaker 3: spots per conference, or if you do something unheard of,
Speaker 3: which no way they'll ever do it, but it was
Speaker 3: at least thrown out there, and that's the TV viewership
Speaker 3: being a factor and how you get in any anything
Speaker 3: in that lane, especially especially, but also just guaranteeing spots
Speaker 3: based off your league. That is the full blown confirmation
Speaker 3: that that you know, you're operating with the mindset that
Speaker 3: results don't matter. And I think people are already operating
Speaker 3: with that, and that's why you had so many people.
Speaker 1: You can't tell me we're not one of the twelve
Speaker 1: best teams in the country.
Speaker 3: You didn't you didn't show that, you didn't do that,
Speaker 3: you didn't get those results at all. Therefore you're not
Speaker 3: one of the twelve best. Like that's like saying teams
Speaker 3: who missed the like Kansas Jayhawk basketball this year, biggest
Speaker 3: best roster, most expensive roster. They lost in the first
Speaker 3: round that ten seeded John Caliperi. So with that, like
Speaker 3: do we think, Okay, well, you know you can't, but
Speaker 3: you can't tell me Kansas sit in elite with Hunter
Speaker 3: Dickinson and you know all those guys Bill self, Like,
Speaker 3: come on, now, you can't tell me they're not, so
Speaker 3: let's just go and throw them in the final. For me,
Speaker 3: it's Kansas Like that that sounds.
Speaker 1: Crazy, right, That's what people are.
Speaker 3: That's the same rhetoric you're hearing when it comes to
Speaker 3: the college football argument. And I mean, I know I
Speaker 3: sound like poor ACC guy, but look, I've been clear,
Speaker 3: I don't give a damn about the ACC. I hope
Speaker 3: it does well because that, you know, vodes well for
Speaker 3: Louisville because clearly how good your conferences is a big
Speaker 3: factor and the kind of respect that you get and
Speaker 3: the opportunities that you have.
Speaker 1: But liked, ACC has been.
Speaker 3: Falling off a cliff and basketball in recent years, and
Speaker 3: in football, I do think it took a little bit
Speaker 3: of a step in the right direction last year. But
Speaker 3: like I've never acted like the ACC's great, but that's
Speaker 3: not what.
Speaker 1: This is about. Like the like for example, South Carolina last.
Speaker 3: Year, they are actually they're probably the best example to
Speaker 3: give you because you know, South Carolina, they were one
Speaker 3: of those where you can't tell me that we're not
Speaker 3: you know, we're not one of the twelve best teams,
Speaker 3: and they were basing that just off of the fact
Speaker 3: that they played. They had they had a good record
Speaker 3: in a really good league. However, I mean, you didn't,
Speaker 3: like you went nine and four, right, like your your
Speaker 3: losses are to lsu Ole miss by a billion. You
Speaker 3: lost Tobama, like you know you beat some good teams
Speaker 3: along the way, but like you just would be in,
Speaker 3: Like South Carolina would have been the team that just
Speaker 3: got in because of their league and no other data
Speaker 3: point or resume win that like puts them there. Their
Speaker 3: best win was against who I mean, I'm I'm looking,
Speaker 3: Their best win was a thirty four to thirty victory
Speaker 3: over Missouri, or you could say their best win and
Speaker 3: this is where this is where it would get where
Speaker 3: it would get real rich because objectively speaking, again, their
Speaker 3: losses aren't aren't too bad teams, but their wins are
Speaker 3: like they went nine and four and felt like, I mean,
Speaker 3: come on, nine and four overall five and three in
Speaker 3: the SEC.
Speaker 1: You can't tell me we're not one.
Speaker 3: And the only reason I keep saying that is because
Speaker 3: both Lane Kiffin, who was kind of foolish and hilarious
Speaker 3: actually for him to tout that when he lost at
Speaker 3: home to a Kentucky team that did not beat another
Speaker 3: SEC team, like you like, Lane's going to be Lane,
Speaker 3: but like that's hilarious to actually think that you would
Speaker 3: not need to be held accountable for that disastrous loss
Speaker 3: with really no other wins that would that would make
Speaker 3: up for that so last year South Carolina went nine
Speaker 3: and four overall wins Old Dominion, Kentucky, Akron, Oklahoma, Texas,
Speaker 3: A M, Vandy, Missouri, Clemson. You could make the case
Speaker 3: Clemson is their best win. So if you're gonna be
Speaker 3: one of these SEC teams, that's just making it all about, well,
Speaker 3: come on, we can't be held at the same standard.
Speaker 3: We play in a real league with real teams. You
Speaker 3: didn't beat any of those real teams you're talking about,
Speaker 3: and your best win is against a team that comes
Speaker 3: from a league that you think is inferior that you
Speaker 3: barely beat. I mean, I'm sure I'm more you know,
Speaker 3: focused on this than others. But whatever comes of these
Speaker 3: meetings that are taking place in the offseason about the
Speaker 3: future of college football is going to be a big,
Speaker 3: big deal. And as much as I think this past
Speaker 3: year was, I mean, what happened this past year was
Speaker 3: there was a realization that won you shouldn't just get
Speaker 3: in if you win your conference championship game, because that really,
Speaker 3: you know, not every conference is created equally, right, But
Speaker 3: that also like there's now so many teams in these
Speaker 3: leagues that like, it is damn near impossible for you
Speaker 3: to put together a schedule ahead of time and know
Speaker 3: if it's gonna be a good enough schedule to make,
Speaker 3: you know, to make a big, good enough impression. Like
Speaker 3: for example, Indiana, And I'm not gonna defending them like
Speaker 3: they were, you know, great and got picked on. But
Speaker 3: Indiana last year they rolled through their schedule, did they not?
Speaker 3: They played and beat the defending national champions Right?
Speaker 1: Who else did they beat? Like Indiana?
Speaker 3: Like they they lost to Ohio State, And you know,
Speaker 3: I know the Michigan win wasn't wasn't really all that
Speaker 3: impressive in the grand scheme of things, But like nobody
Speaker 3: knows that ahead of time.
Speaker 1: That's who's on the schedule. They just won the national championship.
Speaker 3: So you know, like I don't know how you fix that,
Speaker 3: because year in and year out, there's just gonna be
Speaker 3: teams that their scheduled that the league gives them based
Speaker 3: off of just random I don't know, flipping a coin.
Speaker 3: However the schedule is set up, is gonna give one
Speaker 3: team a better ability to find themselves in that playoff
Speaker 3: than others. And that's just that at this point that
Speaker 3: just seems kind of unavoidable. Yeah, so they beat let's
Speaker 3: see I felt like there was one other, one other
Speaker 3: win that, like in real time, wasn't that impressive. But yeah,
Speaker 3: it was it Washington that got to the championship game
Speaker 3: before Calen de Bor left. It didn't Michigan beat Washington
Speaker 3: the National Championship or did I dreamed that they? They?
Speaker 4: They beat Michael Pennix.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so that's what it was.
Speaker 3: For some reason, I was still thinking Saving was there,
Speaker 3: but Savan got beat by Michigan in in that first round.
Speaker 1: McCarthy.
Speaker 3: So Indiana, like imagine telling Indiana on paper last year
Speaker 3: around this time, and I think everybody expected Washington take
Speaker 3: a step back because their coach went to Alabama and Harball.
Speaker 1: Went to the NFL.
Speaker 3: But like Indiana got crushed for their schedule, and again
Speaker 3: it wasn't a strong schedule because of things they can't control.
Speaker 3: But imagine ahead of time saying you will play two
Speaker 3: of your nine conference opponents against two teams that last
Speaker 3: year played in the National Championship Game.
Speaker 1: But yet, sorry about your luck.
Speaker 3: That's just too weak of a schedule, Like you can
Speaker 3: never predict that, So I don't have a perfect way
Speaker 3: to do it. But giving away guaranteed number of bids
Speaker 3: by conference is the clear wrong way to do it.
Speaker 3: And it's again I think that it would be the
Speaker 3: first real proof and there's been proof there, but this
Speaker 3: would be the ultimate realization that they don't care about
Speaker 3: what you do. It's a popularity contest, it's TV viewership,
Speaker 3: it's TMZ. Because although it seems completely unrealistic and I
Speaker 3: can't see a scenario where it happens. However, what happened
Speaker 3: in this country five years ago, a global pandemic. Nobody
Speaker 3: saw that coming right.
Speaker 1: Shook a lot of the world. Up to this day.
Speaker 3: There's probably still people that are in a different position
Speaker 3: in their world now because of that.
Speaker 1: Things change.
Speaker 3: Never know, but imagine a scenario where one of these
Speaker 3: leagues falls off a cliff and they just completely suck.
Speaker 3: We're gonna guarantee that they get a certain amount of
Speaker 3: teams in like it doesn't make any sense. It should
Speaker 3: always be about what you do, not about what you're
Speaker 3: expected to do. And any benefit of the doubt, like
Speaker 3: benefit of the benefit anybody getting benefit of the doubt
Speaker 3: in sports, and it happens, and sometimes it is it
Speaker 3: is unavoidable. Like Carolina, I think they got the benefit
Speaker 3: of the doubt bout getting any civil a tournament as
Speaker 3: the last team probably so probably helped that they their
Speaker 3: ad was on the on the committee or the president
Speaker 3: of the committee. But still like benefited. Doubt to an
Speaker 3: extent is inevitable in all aspects of life. But in sports,
Speaker 3: anybody like just wanting that to be a bigger factor,
Speaker 3: a bigger force. What you're doing is limit Like just
Speaker 3: why even play Like, eh, you know, like if we
Speaker 3: do that, then like why even care about upsets anymore?
Speaker 3: Like why you can play the game, Like because how
Speaker 3: many times you've seen an upset and you know, the
Speaker 3: team that just won in a David Versullia situation, like
Speaker 3: you know.
Speaker 1: They aren't every day going to be able to do that.
Speaker 1: But that's what makes sports great, right.
Speaker 3: The unexpectedness, the spontaneousness. If they're slotted positions in the playoff,
Speaker 3: it'll it'll I don't say it'll ruin college football, but
Speaker 3: like it just eliminates the ultimate root of what sports
Speaker 3: is competition, winning and losing results getting you where you
Speaker 3: want to go or eliminating you from doing what you
Speaker 3: want to do. It's really not that complicated. So again,
Speaker 3: just looking at notre dame scheduling or Clemson scheduling Notre Dame.
Speaker 3: That's just what had me thinking that if you're not,
Speaker 3: because I have a hard time thinking that the Big
Speaker 3: ten and the SEC are going to get their way.
Speaker 1: So if you're in one.
Speaker 3: Of these other leagues like the SEC, I'm sorry, the
Speaker 3: ACC or the Big twelve, like, you're gonna have to
Speaker 3: find ways to cause you're not gonna get guaranteed spots.
Speaker 3: And the scenario where the ACC or the Big twelve
Speaker 3: has a.
Speaker 1: Big year, we're like, damn, this league's loaded this year.
Speaker 1: You kidd me.
Speaker 3: Miami's on fire. Jeff Broms got it rolling with Louisville.
Speaker 3: How about Virginia Tech. They finally woke up from the dead.
Speaker 3: Look at Pittsburgh, they got the best defense in the country.
Speaker 3: Not to mention, you know, maybe Bill Belichick, maybe he
Speaker 3: gets rolling, Like although I'm not saying that's like gonna
Speaker 3: happen soon, but like if it did, there'll only be
Speaker 3: two spots in the playoff for the ACC because the
Speaker 3: Big ten in the SEC are just letting you know, ay, no,
Speaker 3: we got the you know you got you got some
Speaker 3: cute teams there. And again, this is not a conversation
Speaker 3: about which league is better. But if we're just going
Speaker 3: to decide moving forward for the rest of time, it's
Speaker 3: just been dedicated that these leagues get this amount of
Speaker 3: spots like that that that's stupid, at least in my opinion.
Speaker 3: It is all right, quick break, we'll come back and
Speaker 3: wrap at the three o'clock hour. On the other side,
Speaker 3: stick around right here on Sports Talk seven ninety.
Speaker 2: Now back to coffee and company fueled by Thornton's on
Speaker 2: Sports Talk seven nine day.
Speaker 1: As we get the four o'clock hours started.
Speaker 3: I want to take a look at Jeff Borzello if
Speaker 3: he has I mean, I don't want to. I mean,
Speaker 3: Jeff Borzell is actually a pretty good looking god. To
Speaker 3: be honest, I didn't mean to say I want to
Speaker 3: get a look at him, but I'm just saying, like,
Speaker 3: we'll take a look at his updated rankings at ESPN.
Speaker 3: He's a college basketball writer for the Four Letter Network
Speaker 3: and with some moves made, you know, really a lot
Speaker 3: of the movement made in the portal was pretty early.
Speaker 3: In fact, I still feel like the biggest moves made
Speaker 3: took place before the National Championship game actually happened. But
Speaker 3: there have been some other big moves made, including some
Speaker 3: players losing or i'm sorry, teams losing players that they
Speaker 3: had counted on. So we'll tell you where Louisville and
Speaker 3: Kentucky fall as of right now. And I think Louisville
Speaker 3: they took a hit because you know, they lost James
Speaker 3: Scott and that's not a big hit and they didn't
Speaker 3: take a big drop, but clearly that's a guy that
Speaker 3: was viewed as a legitimate, nice returning piece that's now
Speaker 3: not there. As for Kentucky, I mean, I really don't
Speaker 3: know what would have changed for them, but they also
Speaker 3: because there's the thing, if you drop, it may not
Speaker 3: because you didn'ything wrong. It's because other teams made moves
Speaker 3: that just put them ahead of you. And I really
Speaker 3: think at the end of the day, that's probably what
Speaker 3: happened more than any But we'll say you where both
Speaker 3: teams locally here currently stand in ESPNS some early rankings.
Speaker 3: And look, there are still good players out there. I
Speaker 3: just kind of feel like at this point, how many
Speaker 3: are out there that are gonna genuinely change.
Speaker 1: How you view a team as far as their ceiling.
Speaker 3: Also, I mean, we'll always like we could have ten
Speaker 3: straight years of Kansas happening, meaning you put all your
Speaker 3: money into this roster, paid more than any program in
Speaker 3: the country did for their roster, you bring back all
Speaker 3: Americans like they did in Hunter Dickinson.
Speaker 1: And yet it just doesn't work. We could have that
Speaker 1: happen every year.
Speaker 3: But I'm telling you, man, the height machine in college basketball,
Speaker 3: no matter what, we'll never just we'll never have the mindset.
Speaker 1: Well, you know, we'll see. Yeah, they got a lot
Speaker 1: of pieces, but how's it gonna work? Man?
Speaker 3: They got a good roster, but you know, how are
Speaker 3: these egos gonna blend? And those are legitimate questions. But like,
Speaker 3: if you see a team on paper that looks like
Speaker 3: they could be special, they're gonna always be propped up.
Speaker 3: But again just a reminder, and look, there's certain teams
Speaker 3: they ended up being really good, and we can sit
Speaker 3: back and say, yeah, we saw that coming. They were
Speaker 3: really good, right, they did what was expected. But you
Speaker 3: should always keep in mind as well that there are
Speaker 3: teams that you know, you just don't know how like Indiana.
Speaker 3: They never got a ton of preseason hype as far
Speaker 3: as being like, you know, top ten.
Speaker 1: But I still say this to this day.
Speaker 3: Indiana had a good roster. They paid good money for it.
Speaker 3: I think they fell flat on I think they paid
Speaker 3: big for guards that clearly just couldn't couldn't adjust to
Speaker 3: a higher level in the Big Ten. But like they
Speaker 3: were a mess. I mean, Indiana getting beat the way
Speaker 3: they did by Louisville and the Bahamas was a beautiful
Speaker 3: thing to see, just to be honest with you, but
Speaker 3: it should have never happened. But you don't just win
Speaker 3: because you went out and bought a big roster with
Speaker 3: great players. You gotta get the pieces that fed And
Speaker 3: that's just that's one of the new ways of that's
Speaker 3: one of the new wrinkles here in college basketball. Guess
Speaker 3: I should say one of the new wrinkles of the
Speaker 3: of the portal element that I think is gonna be
Speaker 3: more beneficial is that we'll see continua. We'll continue to
Speaker 3: see examples of teams that you thought they had all
Speaker 3: the talent needed, but the pieces just didn't fit. It
Speaker 3: just didn't align. And there's no way to know if
Speaker 3: that if that's gonna work until you know you get
Speaker 3: out there and play like coaches are going to try.
Speaker 1: To get a feel for a player's.
Speaker 3: I guess selflessness, right, will he will he be willing
Speaker 3: to come in as a new guy and embrace whatever
Speaker 3: roles needed for the greater good of the team, or
Speaker 3: is he a guy that's that's here and he wants
Speaker 3: you know, for example, PJ Haggerty leaving Memphis, I mean
Speaker 3: he wanted four million dollars and a guarantee that he's
Speaker 3: going to be the starting point guard. Like kids talented,
Speaker 3: But is I mean, like you think that's gonna be
Speaker 3: good for your locker room?
Speaker 1: Right?
Speaker 3: So that's that excites me because yeah, there's gonna be
Speaker 3: some teams that look really good on paper, but I'm
Speaker 3: always going to think back to my mind, like you
Speaker 3: just don't know how it's gonna work, And coaches can
Speaker 3: do every bit of crossing t's dotting eyes and still
Speaker 3: just not knowing until they get out there and you
Speaker 3: see how all these how all of it works together.
Speaker 1: And that's what I wouldn't say I have any fear about.
Speaker 1: But when it comes to Louisville, I.
Speaker 3: Really do believe that one of the biggest factors in
Speaker 3: them the team being able to kind of salvage what
Speaker 3: seemed to be like I remember doing the show right
Speaker 3: after the the acc SEC challenge when Louisville got mopped
Speaker 3: by Ole Miss, and I remember thinking to myself, all right,
Speaker 3: that wasn't a good look, but I still think there's
Speaker 3: some pieces here to where this team might be able
Speaker 3: to sniff the tournament. And I got bombarded with like
Speaker 3: you were alrighty, your mind, your delusional, your cardboy home
Speaker 3: homer and full effect here, and I'm like, I'm not
Speaker 3: saying they're going to be great, but like they're playing
Speaker 3: good teams. And they ended up this isn't and I
Speaker 3: told you some moment, but they ended up obviously putting
Speaker 3: together a pretty good season and they played some really
Speaker 3: good basketball for a good chunk of it. And there's
Speaker 3: a lot of components that went into that forward to work,
Speaker 3: but I really think one of the most important ones
Speaker 3: was that these guys they did work really well together.
Speaker 3: Like there was no ego, there was no jealousy. It
Speaker 3: was really just, hey, whatever we got to do to win,
Speaker 3: and you always.
Speaker 1: Want that, but that's not as easy to obtain.
Speaker 3: So what I'm getting at is like Louisville could have
Speaker 3: a team that is maybe more talented, with better potential,
Speaker 3: more pro upside as far as the pieces and the personnel,
Speaker 3: and they could play you know, a much tougher schedule
Speaker 3: and not have nearly as good of a record and
Speaker 3: it not work out. Because again, like I just think
Speaker 3: last year was the perfect storm, and I say that knowing, yes,
Speaker 3: how could it be the perfect storm? They had a
Speaker 3: bunch of injuries and it seemed as if they never
Speaker 3: got to even play as the team that Pat Kelsey bill,
Speaker 3: which all that's true, but after that, that's when it
Speaker 3: just kind of you know, they never felt sorrd for themselves.
Speaker 3: They never worried about individual accolades. They just bought in,
Speaker 3: played hard and one and competed at a high level.
Speaker 3: And they were a reflection of the guy that was
Speaker 3: coaching him on the sideline. And I hope that that's
Speaker 3: easy to replicate. But we just don't know, you know
Speaker 3: what I mean. Like that's why last year was so special,
Speaker 3: because like I.
Speaker 1: Remember thinking, like, this is fun as hell. I don't
Speaker 1: know how good this team is.
Speaker 3: I don't really know how they stack up with the
Speaker 3: best teams in the country, but man, they're gonna fight
Speaker 3: and they're gonna play hard, and that's always the expectation.
Speaker 3: But obviously we had fallen far below expectation in recent years.
Speaker 3: All right, quick break, we got two more were actually
Speaker 3: I lied. We got an hour and a half because
Speaker 3: we got to get a little bit early today because
Speaker 3: the Louisville bads.
Speaker 1: But that's okay.
Speaker 3: We'll make the most of these next ninety minutes or so,
Speaker 3: so keep it locked. It's coffee and company. We are
Speaker 3: fueled by Thornton's right here on Sports Talk seven ninety