Aaron Torres and Jason Martin React to an NBA Embarrassment and Dissect Michigan's National Title Win

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 2 (00:04):
What's going on? Well, then Fox Sports Saturday here on
Fox Sports Radio. Aeron Torres will be joining me momentarily.
I'm Jason Martin. Glad to be with you on a
Master Saturday that saw a whole lot of drama at Augusta.
That's something we're gonna definitely discuss. The NBA regular season

(00:25):
comes to an end tomorrow, we'll be able to jump
into that as well. There's some other things happening in
the world of sports, there always are. We are glad
to be here in Fox Sports Radio studios. Unfortunately for Aaron,
and perhaps this is why he is being fashionably delayed. Yukon,

(00:45):
unable to win their third national championship in four years,
put up a pretty solid effort, but Michigan was just
too strong, and I think that most of us saw
coming after the way that they dispensed Arizona on Saturday
now and in the process destroyed my bracket. Not that
anyone out there cares about my bracket, but a whole
lot of people felt like Arizona was the team to

(01:08):
be coming into this tournament, and when you actually get
to the end of it, I think we all missed it.
I think Michigan deserved to witness And when you really
go back and look at it, they were built to
win this national championship. So obviously pretty good week for them,
and they extend Dusty May according to reports that came

(01:28):
out on Saturday. So you also have that going on.
But let us start with Augusta. I'm sure Aaron and
popped in here in just a second. What took place
on Saturday. You start the day with Rory McElroy up
six strokes and he's threatening to make this a laugher.

(01:49):
But if you know Augusta, and if you know Rory's
history at Augusta, you knew you needed to watch on Saturday.
The narrative was going to be, okay, well, he got
that monkey off his back last year. He was able
to go ahead and get that victory. And because he
already has that green jacket, the pressure is kind of off.

(02:12):
So we should see a much looser, freer Rory Michaelroy
at Augusta this year. Well, if you actually paid attention
on Thursday and Friday, he got himself out of some
tricky situations. But if you look at it, and if
you look at the round that he had. What you
notice is he was not hitting the ball straight, He
was not hitting a lot of fairways. He was still

(02:34):
spraying the ball off the tee, and he was getting
himself out of trouble, and he did so to a
wonderful degree. His short game was awesome. He was making
a lot of putts, he was saving himself several times,
but he wasn't chewing up the course in the way
you would expect somebody to. That was a minus twelve

(02:56):
going into Moving Day, going into Master Saturday, and so
what hook place throughout much of Saturday's round was the
same thing we saw on Thursday and Friday, without the saves,
without the rescues. That became his problem. What you saw
him doing on Thursday and Friday that he bailed himself
out of. He couldn't bail himself out enough on Saturday.

(03:18):
And it was a day where the course was actually
playing to the player's advantage, where they were able to
go low. Scheffler hit a sixty five and Cam Young
hit a sixty five and really should have had a
sixty three. He missed a couple of putts that would
have put him in the outright lead going into Sunday,
but he becomes the first player I believe in master's history,

(03:39):
as I think Aaron is with us now. He becomes
the first player in master's history to be eight plus
shots down after thirty six holes and then have a
share of the lead after fifty four. But this is
the Rory McElroy experience. This is the Rory McElroy ride,
because now Sunday becomes cannot miss television. But if you

(04:02):
didn't watch Saturday because you thought he was gonna run
away and hide, but that six stroke lead, you missed
a very dramatic, compelling day that reminds you that the
biggest opponent in golf is usually between your ears, and
it has been for Rory, especially at this course throughout
his career. Aaron welcome. I did not take a shot

(04:22):
at Connecticut to open It's okay. I did suggest that
perhaps you were fashionably late, just because you were, you know,
still a bit down at the result of the National Championship.

Speaker 3 (04:34):
And this is how you know that we vibe because
I was ready to lead with the still hungover from
the loss for Monday, which, if our bosses are listening,
is one hundred percent not true at all.

Speaker 4 (04:45):
I will a little behind the scenes.

Speaker 3 (04:47):
So I, you know, I have headphones obviously for this show,
and you know, you pack and you repack and you unpack,
and somehow they just got left at the house. And
so it's seven p fifty nine fifty nine. Our great
friend Steve Disager is getting ready to do the up
date and I'm you know, I'm talking to Martin about
Michigan versus Ukon. I'm like, oh wait a second, I
have headphones here, So we were scrambling. I appreciate Mary

(05:07):
helping help kind of coordinate with you, and I do.
I know you roll with the punches and you're a pro,
and you've hosted a million solo shows as well. But
I apologize because I'm a professional and I'm prepared, and
we went right on air and you kind of got
thrown into the fire. So I actually appreciate you one
rolling with the punches, but two doing a great job
of setting up what we saw on Saturday. You're more

(05:30):
of a golf guy than I am anyway, and so
it was a perfect I was just gonna throw it
to you to tell us everything that happened, and you
basically gave the audience exactly what they needed to know
through the first what would it be thirty six?

Speaker 4 (05:43):
What is that? Fifty four holes of the masters?

Speaker 2 (05:45):
Fifty four holes? Yeah, now that doesn't require golf knowledge.
That just requires basic math, which yeah, us a question
mark with you.

Speaker 3 (05:52):
And with University Connecticut. Baby, that's we are they? You
know you you you hosted with the man who graduated
from the Harvard the Southwest. I don't think you could
call Yukon the Harvard of the Northeast because Harvard is
in the northeast. But yeah, that was some terrible math
on my part. So let me tell you this, so
you know, listen, I don't follow it hole by hole
like you did, like you do, I should say, and

(06:15):
I found what you said interesting. So you felt like
Rory didn't like he obviously had a by definition, a
historic Thursday Friday, but you felt like watching it hole
by hole that you didn't necessarily see a guy that
had the two best rounds in the history of this tournament,
relatively the two best opening rounds I should say, Thursday Friday,
relative to what you actually saw with your own eyeballs.

Speaker 2 (06:38):
I thought he was saving himself a lot. I thought
that I'm not saying that it was phony. I'm just
saying that there were holes there. It wasn't just a
dominant performance where te de Green he was just that good.
He was just doing Look, there are times throughout Tiger
Wood's career where Tiger would spray the ball all over
the place. But his short game was such magic and

(07:00):
his putter was such magic that it almost didn't matter
where he put it off the tee as long as
he didn't put it in the water. And so Rory
didn't have to hit seventeen of eighteen fairways in order
to do that if his short game and his rescue
work was solid. And on Thursday and Friday, when his
driver or when whatever he did off the tee kind

(07:22):
of didn't go where it needed to go, and you know,
maybe it hooked and hooked off the pathway into the
roof or something like that, he was able to bail
himself out. But that is a high risk proposition to
do over four rounds at a course like Augusta. And
so on Saturday, I felt like it bit him because
he was kind of trending towards this and kept getting

(07:44):
out of it, which actually, to his credit, it kind
of made you think, well, dude, if he's going to
be able to get out of this, then he should
be fine going into the weekend. But unfortunately, right out
of the gates, you could just tell, like, whatever the
swagger was. I even think Jim Nance said this on
the broadcast, the swagger that he was walking around with

(08:05):
on Thursday and Friday and when he's dealing, Rory does
have a swagger in the way that he walks, even
the way that he kind of throws his arms around
when he's walking. On Saturday, he didn't have that on Saturday.
He was gripping a little bit, and off the tee
he was just not good pretty much throughout the day.
He had a couple of decent shots off the tee,
but nothing spectacular, So he was chasing all day. He

(08:28):
was waiting for this kind of thing to happen. So
you add in guys like Cam Young and Scotti, Scheffler
going pretty low, justin Rose getting himself back into the mix,
some guys that many golf fans have never heard of
before being right there in the mix as well. Everybody
seemed to take advantage of the course conditions today except

(08:48):
the dude that had a six shot lead, and it
sets up for what should be an unforgettable Sunday.

Speaker 3 (08:53):
Yeah, so let me ask you this, so for people
who maybe don't follow golf on a day to day
basis but want to tune in on Sunday. Cameron Young
seven under sixty five on Saturday, obviously moving day, as
you referenced Scotty Scheffler with the seven under sixty five
as well. Now he's a couple shots back. Obviously he's
four shots back. But Rory and Cameron Young tied to

(09:14):
top the leader board. Sam Burns one back, Shane Lowry
won back from that, and then he got a group
at seven and eight under part that include Justin Rose,
Scotty Scheffler, Jason Day. Considering what you said about Rory,
you know before I came on about the reality that
he didn't play his best golf Saturday, Thursday, Friday despite

(09:34):
the overwhelming lead, and it kind of caught up with
him on Saturday. Do you still deem him to be
the favorite? Is the Cameron Young thing sustainable?

Speaker 2 (09:42):
Like?

Speaker 4 (09:42):
What do you expect from day four of the Masters
on Sunday?

Speaker 2 (09:46):
Cameron Young has been coming for a while. He's a
really talented player. We don't know what he's gonna be
able to do on Sunday at Augusta. He's never been
in a situation like this, so I don't know. I
don't know how confident you can be going in there.
And I'll say this for Rory. Rory with the lead

(10:07):
at Augusta has been treacherous, yeah, for years and years,
dating back to the awful final nine where he threw
the Masters away so many years ago. Rory that is
right in the fight, but doesn't have any breathing room.
I actually like him better in that role than entering

(10:28):
the final round with a three shot lead, because he
really is going to have the pressure on from the
very beginning, and I actually think that benefits him. Even
the green jacket that he won last year Aaron, that
wasn't easy. He ends up in a playoff with Justin
Rose that he easily could have lost. It was not
smooth sailing down through. So I actually think the fact

(10:50):
that it's going to be a struggle for a moment
one and he's very likely by the time he teas off,
he may not have the lead because somebody underneath him
that's pretty close. We have either gone low and it's
deep into their round or has started their round with
a couple of birdies and is either tied with him
or maybe even has taken the lead on him. So

(11:12):
he's gonna be chasing the scoreboard all day as opposed
to his own psyche. I think it's actually gonna play
to his advantage. I like his chances actually to win
the tournament, maybe more so than I would have if
he had a little bit of breathing room. If he
came in with six shots, I'd feel pretty good going
into Sunday if he had the same thing that he

(11:32):
had on Saturday, But if he had half of that
or a two shot lead, I would feel a little
bit wary. I think I still pick him to win
the thing.

Speaker 3 (11:41):
Though, well, it'd be interesting two twenty five tea time
along with Cameron Young, and as we just said a
second ago, he is tied with Cameron Young at eleven
under a lot of people within ground. I believe the
stat coming into the day was that there were only
two players within six shots of Rory mckor. There are

(12:01):
now let's see here, there are now nine players within
six shots of both Ry McElroy and Cameron Young with
the lead. Anything else to add before we get to
a busy weekend. By the way, I still got to
hear about how last week went. I was out, I
you know, did my annual trip to the Final four.
We got plenty of time to talk college hoops, but
anything else related to the Masters that people need to

(12:23):
be looking out for on Sunday.

Speaker 2 (12:25):
I mean, it's cool to see Jason Day back on
the first page of a leader board. He was one
of those young guns around the same time as Rory
and Adam Scott and just a lot of these really
likable players, and Day was a really likable guy. He
just dropped off the face of the earth. It felt
like he just he went from could easily win a

(12:46):
major to probably is not even gonna make the weekend.
And to see him at eight under, that's good, Like
I will really be rooting for him to play well
on Sunday. But yeah, I mean I think that I
think anybody from six under up has a chance to
win a tournament. So if you're out there thinking Scheffler

(13:07):
has no chance four shots at Augusta, when you look
at Cam Young, who's really never been in a position
of this kind of pressure, and Rory McElroy, who is
gonna have to battle himself throughout the day and then
you don't even talk about a guy like Burns, and
Burns has been in the mix recently and has even
been in the mix for majors recently, so he's somebody

(13:30):
to pay attention to. And Lowry is a former Open champion,
so there's a lot to like on Sunday. Sunday's gonna
be a great TV day and unlike Thursday and Friday, Aaron,
now go all you have to do is have CBS
and you'll actually be able to see the thing.

Speaker 4 (13:45):
Well, I'll tell you what.

Speaker 3 (13:45):
Why don't we come back and briefly touch on that
because this has been a talking point that I think
you and I have been pretty aggressive on and I listen,
we're certainly not the only ones in this space that
talk about this. But the ability to find or not
find the Masters, just go ahead and add it to
the NFL and the NBA, and you know, we gotta

(14:08):
discuss this because you sent me something that blew my
mind about where you can and cannot see the Masters.
This weekend we'll discuss that as well as a busy
week in the NBA. Yes, the WNBA college hoops as well,
plenty to discuss. It's great to be back. Thank you
for picking up the baton for me last week and

(14:28):
to lead the show.

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Speaker 3 (15:14):
Welcome back, everybody, Fox Sports Radio er tords Jason Martin.
We are broadcasting live from the Fox Sports Radio studios
for the best pregame show every weekend. Be sure to
tune into Fox Sports Radios Countdown presented by BETMGM. Fun Fact.
I saw Brian no at the Final four last week.
Only had a second to chat with him though, great guy.
Every Saturday and Sunday morning, Brian nohosts nine am to

(15:36):
noon Eastern six to nine Pacific, we couch down to
all the biggest games of the weekend. Tune into Countdown
presented by BEDMGM, every Saturday and Sunday morning right here
on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app. I am
back from Indy. By the way, J Martin. Our producer
Ryan Berschinger is back from his honeymoon. I'm just putting
on the spot. He was just telling me all about

(15:58):
it in the breaks, so now I'm just gonna harass
him to come up and just say what up? But Bush,
I don't know if you really want to share with
you what you were doing. But we hope you had
a great trip away. I did not realize this is
literally his first shift back off the honeymoon tours, and
Martin just got thrown into the fire.

Speaker 4 (16:13):
I didn't have headphones, you know, I just get thrown
into the fire. So it's good to have you back, though.

Speaker 7 (16:17):
Man, Oh thank you Eric. J. Mart It has been
so long.

Speaker 8 (16:20):
I didn't get a chance to catch up with you
during the break because I was I was telling Aaron
all about it. But man, yeah, we actually got married
last June. Yes, so we did a delayed honeymoon. We
got to go to Bali and then went to Tokyo
and it was phenomenal.

Speaker 7 (16:35):
It was a ton of fun. Wow, yeah, yeah it was.

Speaker 4 (16:39):
It was amazing real quick. So we'll make this a
sports tie.

Speaker 3 (16:42):
I have been told that Otani's face is on literally
everything in Tokyo.

Speaker 7 (16:47):
Everywhere.

Speaker 8 (16:47):
Yeah, everywhere, It's on in every train. There's an advertisement
somewhere with Otani's face. You want a bottle of green tea?
The first day I was there, I got a bottle
of ice green tea with a showy Otani on it.
We went to the Otani store at the New Balance
in Shinjuku, which is like their flagship store out there,
where the entire first floor of the store is dedicated

(17:10):
to show Aotani merchandise, and I got.

Speaker 4 (17:13):
A lot of stuff at.

Speaker 7 (17:16):
It was awesome.

Speaker 8 (17:17):
Also did get to go to a baseball game in Tokyo,
which was incredible. That is an amazing cultural experience if
you've never if you ever as a sports fan, if
you go to Tokyo, you have to go to a
baseball game, because it's completely different. The fans are chanting
the entire time the entire outfield seats. We were at
the Tokyo Dome, about seventy five percent of the outfield

(17:40):
seats are for the home team, and then there's a
section for the away team, and the fans do design
chants the entire time based on whoever is up at
the plate at the time, and everyone is super engaged,
super into it. They also have a ton of food,
incredible options of food wise, the entire bottom floor of
the Tokyo Dome is the is called the Gourmet Floor

(18:01):
or the Gourmet Level, where there's just an entire run
of like thirty different food stands.

Speaker 7 (18:07):
Just an amazing experience, a ton of fun.

Speaker 8 (18:10):
Not, however, one thing I will say not designed for
somebody six feet tall, because because we had to get
up after four innings to walk around a bit because
my knees were hurting really bad in those seats.

Speaker 7 (18:22):
But otherwise, just an incredible experience.

Speaker 3 (18:24):
Real quick, I was gonna ask a couple of questions
about the baseball experience. First of all, what was your
favorite show hey purchase outside of the Green Tea?

Speaker 8 (18:34):
I got a hat that it was really cool. The
guys working at the store could tell we were especially
excited to be there. I also, I have a pair
of New Balance shoes that I didn't realize are the
same shoes that Otani wears, so they thought I was
like such a massive fan, and I was like, no,
actually I just like these shoes. But I got one
of the hats that they didn't have on display, and

(18:55):
it's like a white and light blue hat, which I'm
very excited about. They also had a few hats that
they only sell at that Tokyo store that we brought
back from my family. So yeah, very excited.

Speaker 3 (19:06):
Well I will tell you as you know Bershin, as
you know probably Mantzi would know better than anybody. But
the reverse is true as well. I went to the
Dodgers team store a few days before Christmas to pick
up gifts, and this was obviously, remember December, there's obviously
no games going on one it was wall to wall,
which isn't totally surprising because it's obviously Christmas time. I'm

(19:29):
not being sarcastic and I'm not trying to sound weird
when I think about sixty percent of the people in
there were speaking Japanese.

Speaker 4 (19:35):
It was like clearly they.

Speaker 3 (19:37):
Were in town to do the tour of LA and
the Dodger Stadium tour with the stop in to Buyo
Tani gear from Dodger Stadium was very clearly a priority
for them as well.

Speaker 8 (19:49):
So yeah, I have noticed that, especially if you go
to any Dodger game now, the Japanese contingent at the
games is huge because it is absolutely now a tourist
the nation. For anybody who leaves Japan, they all want
to see Otani play person and it's awesome. He puts
on the show every time, like you did tonight.

Speaker 3 (20:07):
Well fantastic. Well, Bursch, it's good to have you back
for first, you know, thrown right into the fire here
with like I said, Torres in a scramble drill to
find some headphones at work. But j mart real quick
and great to have you back, Bursch, real quick, j Mart.
I did want to see you up on. So we
were talking about the Masters before we went to break
in the fact that Rory had this huge lead. You know,

(20:28):
you can't say he blew it because he's still a
top the leaderboard tide with Cam Young, but you brought
up an interesting point to me of the consumption of
the Masters. And I want to be quick on this,
but you know, for years, I've known that you could
only watch the opening few hours on the Masters app.
I've always thought it was crazy. It's just a constant

(20:49):
gripe that you see year over year over year. But
you and I have talked about for a long time
the state of being a sports fan with the NBA.
You know, you never know what game is on what channel,
And this is Peacock exclusive, and that's on NBC, and
this is on Amazon. You know, the NFL now has
exclusive Christmas Day games on Netflix. You know college basketball.
I said, as a Yukon fan, there were a bunch

(21:11):
of games that were Peacock exclusive and it's been a
frustrating experience. I didn't realize that this has even seeped
to the Masters.

Speaker 6 (21:18):
Now.

Speaker 3 (21:19):
How frustrating has it been for you to watch this event?
I believe on four different platforms if I'm not mistaken.

Speaker 4 (21:26):
But go ahead take it away.

Speaker 2 (21:28):
Yeah, I mean this has been a problem for a
long time, even dating before the fact, before the Masters app.
But the Masters Augusta National they control and make all
the decisions as to what kind of coverage you get.
They have their three sponsors that they've had forever, and
you do things exactly as they say, or they will

(21:48):
ban you. At Cherry Wingo actually, I think a few
days ago did some kind of a podcast or some
kind of a broadcast in which he lamented and kind
of went after ESPN. He was like, guys, need to
chill out with some of this nonsense. We don't need
w we'z the misz.

Speaker 4 (22:05):
I was gonna ask you about Hark Jason, Jason.

Speaker 2 (22:08):
Kevin Hard Yeah, Jason Kelsey thing seems like a nice guy,
but boy, they are just they are throwing him into
everything and that fatigue is real, folks. But to the
to the topic of hand, Thursday and Friday, and this
this was in an article that I read at Yahoo Sports,

(22:29):
so you can credit uh I think his name is
Chris Gordy for actually putting this out there. Thursday and
Friday Central Time from six to seven thirty am, Masters
dot Com is the only place you can watch seven
thirty to noon. You can watch Masters dot Com or
Paramount Plus from noon to two Amazon Prime only two

(22:49):
to six thirty ESPN, and then Saturday and Sunday it's
a little simpler. Masters dot Com Paramount Plus from nine
to one, CBS one to six, unless you're in Nashville
or in some kind of a area where Exfinity is
your only choice, because Comcast is in a fight right
now with a lot of the local channels, the local

(23:11):
CBS affiliates, And so when I turned on CBS today,
there was a message on the screen that said this
would raise your carrier rights. We were in a dispute.
We would not do this to our customers, So unfortunately,
you cannot watch this channel. And so luckily I had
Paramount Plus, so I was able to just go there
and watch it. But it was amazing how many people

(23:34):
were caught off guard by this. Our old friend Klay
Travis went crazy about this, apparently because I saw it
in articles that I was reading about the television coverage,
people screenshotting his tweets in these articles where he was
just like, it's a local channel. You're screwing over sports
fans and all this. It's like, dude, you couldn't watch
the National Championship game Monday in Nashville really on CBS.

(23:56):
You had to watch it on True TV or wherever
the I guess this TBS or whichever the network was.
Luckily you had that, but this carriage dispute has removed
it from cable places, which is why the ratings being
what they were had to be a boon because they
were losing out on some of their viewers because of this,

(24:17):
or at least they were losing losing out on CBS
and some older folks. I'm not sure if they even
knew what they were supposed to do. But this is
your premier event if you were golf. As much as
I love the US Open, the Masters is the joint.
It's it's arguably the greatest television event in sports, just
on a short basis, not like March Madness where you

(24:37):
have weeks or anything like that. This thing is compelling
almost every single year. You go into Saturday or which
is just when it gets really good, and finally it's
where you can sort of see it. But to split
this event across four different rights to where you have
to have multiple subscriptions if you actual want to watch

(25:00):
it all is preposterous, Like it's twenty twenty six, not
nineteen seventy five. Sure we don't need this on delay,
Like we can see the miracle on ice live now, Like,
these are things that are doable, but Augusta has just
always been this way and so for some reason, and
golf cannot, the PGA, nobody can make Augusta change their mind.

(25:25):
One thing Wingo mentioned was that there are broadcasters that
have been banned from the grounds of Augusta just for
asking a question or saying something on the broadcast that
they didn't like. Like that's how tight it is. I
think Mark Kalkovecia, the former big time PGA player, was
thrown off the grounds this week because he had a

(25:46):
cell phone. Like these are the things that happen at
this place. Like, but the fans not being able to
watch your premiere event, what exactly are we.

Speaker 3 (25:57):
Doing here, Eric, I don't know, And even to just
go to and I'll be honest, you know, I kind
of have it on in the background and when I
saw when I saw that it wasn't available in the morning,
my presumption was just it was the old school, you
gotta download the master's app. I didn't realize that it
went from this to Amazon Prime to whatever again.

Speaker 4 (26:21):
You know, the I listen, I get the.

Speaker 3 (26:24):
Notion of they run it, they this, they that, But
at some point, and I just feel like I'm making
this speech every week now of like, at some point
it should be about the fans. And at some point,
if it is, as you say, and I tend to
agree with you, like one of the great viewing experiences
in sports, it's like, do you have to make the

(26:45):
biggest possible amount of money on it or is it
possible to just do something good for the consumers that
actually want to watch it?

Speaker 2 (26:52):
You know? Yes, I mean, I mean that's it. I
mean there's not there's not that much that we need
to add to that statement. It's just it's so counterproductive.
And if you're if you're the PGA, like, I just
wonder how how hard you've pushed to fix this problem
or to get this thing under control or or are
you just or is everybody involved just making bukoos of

(27:15):
money because you're getting different you know, different players in
the game when it comes to these media rights. Either way,
you are taking an event in a sport that's still
rather niche yep, especially without a Tiger Woods in the mix,
and you're making it more difficult for people to watch.
And as we will speak about when we get to

(27:36):
the NBA here in a little bit. That is not
that's not the reci people. I mean, we're just coming
off of MLB coverage on Netflix being absolutely mulled in public.
Everybody hated this thing. There was all sorts of historyonics
and stuff going on that had nothing to do with baseball.

(27:56):
It looked like a side show. It looked like the
O Show. It was absolutely ridiculous, like the sports thing.
There was an article I talked Lardy about this last week.
There was an article in The Athletic I think it
was from Andrew Marshawn who basically laid out the cost
if you wanted to watch all one hundred and sixty
two Yankees games this season, it would cost you over

(28:18):
seven hundred dollarsh because of what you need in order
to see all of those games.

Speaker 1 (28:24):
Wow.

Speaker 4 (28:27):
Well, don't know what else there is to say, but.

Speaker 7 (28:31):
Yeah, you think not good?

Speaker 3 (28:32):
Yeah, no, you and you would think like I said
that the Masters would be different because because they can
be basically, for lack of a better term, but doesn't
sound like they are. Fox Sports Radio er towards Jason Martin,
broadcasting live from the Fox Sports Radio studios, will come back,
As j mart said, another disappointing day for the NBA.

Speaker 4 (28:53):
We'll discuss that next.

Speaker 3 (28:54):
A lot of those lately, but first, you know who
never disappoints Steve Disager?

Speaker 4 (28:57):
What is trending?

Speaker 5 (28:58):
Sir?

Speaker 9 (28:58):
Hello, gentlemen, and almost answered his own question. There to
the blue bloods at the Masters, it is nineteen seventy five,
and if it always is, they don't care about you.
They will never answer to you. Actually, it's kind of
what's wrong with the country that rich people feel the
rules don't.

Speaker 4 (29:15):
Apply to them.

Speaker 9 (29:16):
They need not operate as you the great unwashed. Do
remember about twenty years ago there's a women's group that
was protesting that the Masters did not have a single
female in their exclusive private club. What was the reaction
Once the women's group said, well, we're going to boycott
your sponsors, they said, fine, we'll do the whole weekend
commercial free.

Speaker 2 (29:37):
We don't care.

Speaker 4 (29:38):
What was it, Hoodi Johnson?

Speaker 2 (29:40):
Was that the guy Hoody Johnson?

Speaker 4 (29:41):
Yeah? No, blowfish, Yes, no, completely different. No women either,
But that's another conversation, just blowhard.

Speaker 9 (29:47):
As for show, Hey, Otani, you know this is an
incredible item from the great baseball researcher Sarah Langs. He
hit a leadoff homer tonight, so he now has an
on base streak going at forty five five straight games
dating back to last season. This is the longest active
on bay streak in baseball. He also holds the longest

(30:09):
current pitching streak amongst starters not allowing an earned run
in Major League Baseball, almost thirty straight innings the same.

Speaker 4 (30:18):
Guy with both.

Speaker 9 (30:19):
That's that's just astounding and ridiculous at the same time.
At Dodger Stadium, it is top of the ninth one out.
LA leads six to three over the Texas Rangers. Not
only the Otani long bawl in the first, but ti
Oscar Hernandez a three run homer also quite a comeback.
In Seattle, the Mariners have tied it up seven to
seven against Houston bottom of the sixth. It was a

(30:42):
seven to two lead and then five runs in the
fifth for Seattle. Julio Rodriguez a two run homer to tie.
He's betting one seventy five this year. The Padres gave
up three early homers and trailed the Rockies for nothing
in the third inning. It is now Padres nine to
five over Colorado. Rockies have bases loaded two outs in

(31:03):
the top of the ninth. Everything else is final, including
an a's win at the Mets eleven to three for
the Athletics Tyler Soderstrom two homers, five RBIs. Pittsburgh won
in eleven innings at the Cubs four to three. Tampa
Bay with two runs bottom of the tenth, beat the
Yankees five to four. Baltimore's Gunner Henderson with his sixth homer.
The O's beat San Francisco six to two. Wins for

(31:24):
Boston and Cleveland on the road. For Washington as well,
NAT's won three to one at Milwaukee. The NHL regular
season ends on Thursday. Fifteen games on the Saturday schedule,
including a Vegas overtime win against Colorado three to two.
Denver won the college hockey title. US women's soccer won
its exhibition against Japan two to one in San Jose.

Speaker 4 (31:45):
Michigan game.

Speaker 9 (31:46):
Basketball coach Dusty maya contract extension. Illinois freshman star Keaton
Wogler declared for the NBA Draft. The NBA is off
on this Saturday, the regular season and Sunday. All teams
play that day. We can not guarantee that all players
will be playing on Sunday.

Speaker 4 (32:03):
Did you see that stat yea night, I'll tell you
what to say.

Speaker 3 (32:07):
We're I was gonna say, I don't want to cut
off your your update if you have more, but I
promise you on the other side of the break, you
are welcome to hopitoric.

Speaker 2 (32:15):
Stuff happened in the NBA right now.

Speaker 3 (32:17):
None of it good, but you're you're welcome to hop
in on that conversation because I know you were in
last week.

Speaker 9 (32:21):
I'll just say as we head towards Sunday, Shay Giljes
Alexander is out and the thunder have already listed ten
players as out tomorrow. Jannis Antinakumpo's not playing in Milwaukee's
finale on Sunday, so he misses the final four weeks
of the season. Nicks have quite a few players resting,
including Karl Anthony Towns out quote managing an elbow injury.

(32:43):
Can we just say out loud that all these people
that are resting last night tomorrow, they're on teams that
aren't playing for the next week. Okay, Yeah, anyway, Cam
Young tied Rory McElroy at the Masters. McElroy led by
six strokes after the set and round, a Masters record
after Birdie's on six of the last seven holes Friday.

(33:04):
But in round three today Young shot sixty five, McElroy
shot seventy three, American Sam Burns one stroke. Back update,
the Padres have won nine to five against Colorado.

Speaker 3 (33:14):
Back to you, Thank you very much, Steve Saga, Fox
Sports Radio, Fox Sports Saturday and the Sunday Er Tors
Jason Martin broadcasting live from the Fox Sports Radio Studios.
The Sager just teat us up on what we are
gonna discuss next. Did your favorite NBA player play on
Friday night? Considering well, I was gonna say, j mart
considering that we had one hundred and sixty eight players unavailable.

Speaker 4 (33:39):
My guess is no. We'll discuss it all next. Fox
Sports Radio.

Speaker 5 (33:43):
dot com and within the iHeartRadio app. Search FSR to
listen live.

Speaker 3 (33:55):
Welcome back, everybody, Fox Sports Radio Er Tors Jason Martin.
We are broadcasting live from the five Sports Radio Studios Sunday,
final day of the NBA regular season. But as Jason
Martin just told you, a little bit of a historic
Friday night in the NBA. Jay mart let me set

(34:18):
this up and I'll throw it to you. I want
to be fair to the old association. We had one
hundred and sixty eight players listed as unavailable second to
last night of games in the NBA.

Speaker 4 (34:31):
No games on Saturday. Everybody plays Sunday.

Speaker 3 (34:34):
One hundred and sixty eight players deemed not eligible to play. Now,
to be fair, there were teams like Oklahoma City. They've
clinched the number one seed in the West, they had
no reason to play their players.

Speaker 4 (34:46):
I thought it was interesting. Wemby, to his.

Speaker 3 (34:49):
Credit, needed to play twenty minutes to get the sixty
five game threshold to compete for awards. He played the
twenty minutes then stayed in the game. But I bring
it up. A hundred undred sixty eight players total out
on Friday. I'll tell you what, man, there's any way
to get your fans excited for the playoffs, it's by

(35:12):
basically playing no one of consequence the night before the
season ends. What do you make of what we saw
or what we didn't see. Maybe what we didn't see
is the better way to put it. On Friday night.

Speaker 2 (35:24):
NBA going NBA, that's it, right, Like the expectation of
the NBA, like I could not have less expectation, and
yet somehow I'm still let down, Like I don't understand.
So the Burstinger actually sent us this comment, but it

(35:45):
backs up what we were already gonna talk about. And
this I think it was for ESPN, said Jami may Shack,
John Conchar and bezum Bang each had a triple double,
making Tonight's Grizz Jazz game the first to feature three
plays each with a triple double. Now I know who
Jamay Mayshak is or Jami Mayshack is because he played

(36:05):
at UT, he played at Tennessee.

Speaker 3 (36:07):
H Where did you ever think he was like a
surefire NBA player when you watched him there?

Speaker 2 (36:12):
I mean he had look, he had the body of
an NBA player, and he had some things that you
could see translating to the association. But I can't say
that he seemed like he was going to be a
household name in the NBA. Let's just say that. But
now he's got a triple double. I'm pretty sure Brownie
James doesn't have that, So good for him. This is

(36:34):
like to your point, right, if you've already made it, okay,
you're already in the playoffs or seating is where it
needs to be. You're Oklahoma City, You're not gonna risk
injuries to shake Gil just Alexander or your starters going
into the playoffs. The same thing happens in the NFL.
You're gonna maybe you play your quarterback for a series,
or play your starters for a series or two, just

(36:55):
so they don't you know, get cold or whatever. They're
in a bit of a rhythm, and then you take
him back out of the game. But these teams that
are like objectively tanking and basically have been for four months.
Like I'm not assuming I would love to know what
the attendance at said Memphis Utah game was, but imagine

(37:15):
if that's the game that you bought tickets for, that's
the one your family could afford, right, Like you're you know,
economy's tough right now. Gas is costing a lot. There's
just a lot of things that people have to worry
about other than that. Now, I would suggest that if
you have disposable income, Memphis Utah is probably not where
you want to spend that money. But let's say you do.

(37:39):
You've got one hundred and sixty eight NBA players sitting
out the final day of the regular season, which just
again the optics are awful. The commissioner can't seem to
do anything about it because he's already given up all
his leverage, and it just gives off the same vibe

(38:00):
that we get all the time from the NBA, which is,
these guys don't think they owe the fans anything. They
don't think that the fans matter. I don't think they
would say that if you sat them in a room
and actually broke it down to them that way. It's like, look,
you may care about the fans, but your actions speak differently.

(38:22):
What you say about them, what you think about them,
and how you behave as a result of said thoughts.
Those things need to match up or there's a big
disconnect here. And in the NBA, the disconnect between the
regular fan and the league athlete has never been greater
than it is right now.

Speaker 3 (38:43):
I don't disagree, and I think, you know, listen, I
think the products suffering. I was, you know, I don't
want to put words in anybody's mouth, but I was
talking to Chris Plank this week and he said, even
in Okase, there's really no juice, you know, around the thunder. Now,
maybe once the playoffs start, whatever. But it's just I
think the league is in a really tough spot. By
the way, I'm looking at the Memphis Utah box score,
and keep in mind, how about this, thirteen total players

(39:07):
played in this game, so only seven for Utah, only
six for Memphis. Listen, I'm not trying to I don't
know if toot my own horn would even be the
right thing here. I would say I am probably in
the top one percent of knowledge of college basketball of
probably most Americans. And I'm not saying that as a brag.

(39:28):
I'm just saying, like it's my job.

Speaker 2 (39:30):
Job.

Speaker 4 (39:30):
Yeah, I bring it up. There are.

Speaker 3 (39:34):
Two players in the starting lineup for Memphis that I
have literally never heard of. I will say this a
third one, Adama Ball I vaguely remember. Let's see here.
He began his career at Arizona, then I think he
ended up at Santa Clara maybe, but yeah, the point
I'm trying to make Lucas Williamson started an NBA game,

(39:58):
Never heard of him. Toby o'conne, that West Virginia legend
played in the Big Twelve, apparently never heard of them.
And I think I'm pretty good on the college hoops front,
and I'm bringing it up because I've never heard of
these people. Who was the one? John Conshard was the
guy we were talking about our texts. Perdue fort Wayne
Legend just had a triple double on Friday night for

(40:20):
the Utah Jazz. So listen, this is the state of
the league. Playoffs are starting. We'll see if the energy
and attitude around the league changes. But it's not a
good look. So I'll tell you what this is. Fox
Sports Radio enter towards Jason Martin. We are broadcasting live
from the Fox Sports Radio Studios. Not a great uh,
not a great weekend for the NBA, but great week

(40:41):
for college basketball. Michigan Champs ratings are through the roof.
We discussed it all. Next Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 1 (40:46):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio Radio.

Speaker 3 (40:49):
Welcome in everybody, Hour two tourists Martin, Fox Sports Radio.
We are broadcasting live. Yes, we are live midnight Eastern
Fox Sports Radio Studios. I Aaron Torres and back. I
was gone last week at the Final four. Arnie Spaniard
was in want to kind of recap some of the
storylines out of last weekend, j mart But since I

(41:11):
had some technical difficulties to lead the show. Let me
start by asking you, I you know, i'd say, how
did it go with the old Spaniard? But I feel
bad because of the circumstance in which he came in,
which is that his alma mater got destroyed on Saturday night.

Speaker 2 (41:30):
Dude, So this is a thing like I didn't realize,
but I figured it out within Like the first two
minutes last week, he was bummed, like he was legitimately sad,
like I could tell in his voice, in just his demeanor,
and it was immediately just kind of in my own head,

(41:52):
it was like, all right, we're not gonna play around
with us tonight. Sure, pull the jokes back and put
them back in the bag. Sure we're not gonna have
fun with this because he's actually hurting. And so it
was more of a subdued kind of somber show. He
definitely was not himself, in my opinion, not the Arny
that we know that we've both hosted so many times
with through the years. He's still I mean, he still

(42:15):
brought some energy at times, but you could just tell
he was and he was on text chains with his
friends and he said, oh so glad we didn't go.
And also other kind of stuff, and I did. I
couldn't help it. I was just like, I mean, maybe
they lost because you didn't go there.

Speaker 3 (42:29):
Well, I was gonna say, you know, this sounds weirdly counterintuitive.
I think that's why you do go because you know
you might not win, but you get the experience. You
get to see your friends Friday night, Saturday night. And
I will tell you this, and I mean, I can't
sit here and say that this is definitively true, but
I think hosting radio would be the last thing I
would want to do when my favorite team is that

(42:51):
close to a championship.

Speaker 4 (42:52):
I'll give you an example.

Speaker 3 (42:53):
There's been a few times around the NFL playoffs where
I've been called in to work for Mark Willard, who
the San Francisco forty nine ers on a day to
day basis when they are in the playoffs. And I
think part of it is I think Willard kind of
wants to really lock in on the games. He knows
he's gonna be talking about him all week. But I
and I don't want to speak for Willard, but I
think there's part of him that's like, I don't want

(43:14):
to be on air if something crazy happens or something
bad happens, and you know, that's that's why I think
you go, because you and if you don't go, you say,
you know, with respect to the bosses, maybe this is
one that I don't work, because, yeah, there is nothing
worse than coming on in the middle of that.

Speaker 4 (43:31):
And I don't remember.

Speaker 3 (43:33):
Everything that we talked about, but I do remember, so
for people who missed it, I came on at about
one twenty Eastern time in the final hour, and I
did tell Arnie. I said, I I thought my alma
mater might be in line for the same thing that
Arnie's alma alma mater. Excuse me god, on Saturday night.
It wasn't quite that. But Michigan does win the National

(43:54):
Championship final score in that one sixty nine.

Speaker 4 (43:56):
To sixty three. I got a lot of takeaways.

Speaker 3 (43:59):
Obviously, being in the building would be curious for your
thoughts on Michigan winning the second title in school history.
And as de Seger just told us moments ago, Dusty
May officially announced the team celebration today that he has
signed a long term extension to stay in Arbor.

Speaker 2 (44:14):
Yeah, so I set off the top of the show
that you know, I had Arizona in my bracket beating Duke,
and of course Yukon eliminated Duke in that classic, classic fashion.
I still can't believe that happened. And then Arizona got
just destroyed, and I told Arnie I was like, bro,
I had your guys going. I was rooting for him hardcore.

(44:36):
I wanted to see Tommy Lloyd seems like a good,
good guy like him. Nothing, it's Dusty May. But I
liked the vibe Arizona was bringing and I did feel
like they were complete and this was such a good
look at it. But then when you really watched Michigan
throughout the course of this tournament. I know you sent
me a text early in a tournament to this effect,

(44:57):
And the longer it went, the more I agreed with
them more I was like, yeah, I'm a fool too,
Like that's the best team, like when you look at
what they bring, what they have on the inside, of course,
and then just they've got a point guard who is
just a nuisance in Cado even when he doesn't score,

(45:20):
the way that he can move the basketball around, draw fouls,
be an irritant play, very aggressively, almost over the line
but seems to get away with it, so there's no
reason to stop him doing that. And then you know
you've got Winneborg that Linda board. That's just unreal, and

(45:40):
you don't even get him healthy. But they didn't even
need him generally for the way that they were playing.
They were just I don't think they snuck up on people.
I just think that as we got into the tournament
in Michigan, I think we forgot about how talented they
actually were, and so I felt like they were very
worthy champion. When we got to the end, it's just like, now,

(46:00):
you know what the best team in the costry won.
That team was better than Arizona. It wasn't a scenario
where they played that game ten times in Arizona went five.
I just think Michigan was way, way, way better than Arizona,
especially in that matchup. I think it's a bad matchup
for Arizona, but everybody that Michigan played was a bad
matchup for whoever that team was.

Speaker 4 (46:22):
So I largely agree with all of it.

Speaker 3 (46:24):
And it's you know, it's funny, as somebody who does
cover and follow college basketball a little bit earlier than most,
you know, I'm not gonna sit here and line and say,
you know, there's a lot of football that we're consuming
in November and December. But you go back to like November,
they played in that Big Vegas Tournament. They won their
three games there by forty, thirty and forty. I'm not exaggerate,

(46:46):
literally beat San Diego State by forty, Auburn by thirty, Gonzaga,
which at the time was playing really well, by forty,
and that really set the tone for the entire season.
And I do and I do think at their peak
they were the best. The one thing I will say
about Michigan and I for the record, I picked Arizona two.

(47:06):
The one thing about Michigan was they did at moments
play down to their competition. You know, they lost at
home to Wisconsin. And by the way, they were so
good that sometimes they could play bad for a half
and still win going away. Like there was a game
against Northwestern early in the season. They were down by
nine at the half, outscored them by nineteen in the

(47:27):
second half, and won by twelve going away. So that
you do the math there. Maybe the math was off
a little bit, but they won by twelve after trailing
by nine at the half, and so that was the
only thing was I worried about them being able to
put six games together. They were the best team, you know,
I think I told Arnie this last night or last week.

Speaker 4 (47:45):
I did have.

Speaker 3 (47:46):
Arizona because it, you know, team of destiny feels strong.
But it was a team that all season long. And
I know I've said this part last week from opening night.
It was you're playing the defending champs Florida in the
season opener. Everybody's talking about Florida and Todd Golden, He's
the next big thing, and Todd Golden is great. But
Arizona beats them and then they go to Yukon. And

(48:07):
we talked about this last week, but it just felt
like every turn they had been doubted and this was
the last big doubt that everybody had that they would
prove wrong. But to your point, Jmark, Michigan was very
clearly the best team. Let me ask you this. It
became a narrative after the fact, but four of Michigan's

(48:28):
starters were not in the program last year and were transfers.
All five starters transferred, but four of them were first
year transfers. This specific season on the Michigan Wolverines.

Speaker 4 (48:40):
Does that rub you the wrong way?

Speaker 2 (48:42):
Do you care?

Speaker 4 (48:44):
Do you not care?

Speaker 3 (48:45):
I'd be curious for your perspective, because it did become
a narrative of you know, this is the official death
of the way that we did things. Yeah, I think
it's a little hyperbolic. I'll explain why in a minute,
but curious for your perspective.

Speaker 2 (48:56):
It's just the new reality. I I tried to have
a problem with it, but increasingly my feeling was just this,
Michigan did it, but a whole lot of other programs
would have done it. If they could have done it,
they would have gotten those guys. This is just kind
of the new reality. And there's always been an advantage

(49:17):
to some schools at the expense of others when it
comes to recruiting. It's just it's a different advantage now,
and it does the transfer portal nil the money going
into these programs. What's going on from the athletic collectives
and now inside the actual athletic departments, what college athletics
is is different. But I will say this, you're still

(49:40):
if you're a Michigan fan, you're still cheering for what's
on the front of the jersey. If you're a North
Carolina fan, You're still cheering for what's on the front
of the jersey. You're cheering for the colors. The only
difference is there is a much more active turnstyle of
the individuals that are wearing that uniform year in and

(50:00):
year out. I don't love that it just becomes a
free for all. It feels like after every season to
see where a bunch of these guys are then going
to land and you know they're gonna look for greener
pastures over here and all this kind of stuff. It
just it doesn't feel the same because you're not You're
very usual. You're just very rarely gonna get the guys

(50:21):
that are in the same place for three four years anymore.
It just doesn't seem like you're gonna get that. But
we've seen one and done's for a long time. I
think it just crystallizes that because this is sort of
the end game of that. Because but I guess the
difference then is if you can pay the guys, then
you can get the guys, and if you offer them
the right thing, you can get the guys, as opposed

(50:43):
to it being I think even a much more limited
pool that was able to really construct the one and done.
It's the way say Kentucky and duked it for so long.

Speaker 4 (50:53):
Yeah, So a couple thoughts.

Speaker 3 (50:54):
One, you know, it does suck that it is, you know,
essentially a fineinancial game. I think to your point, in
some ways the field is more open now because there's
not you know, there's not fifty teams that could do
what Michigan did, but you know there's probably twenty twenty five.
A couple of things that you know I would push

(51:14):
back on, not you, but the narrative in general. You know, One,
being around Michigan and you know, being at all the
pressers and talking to their coaching staff and stuff. I
think the underrated part of it is you can have
all the money in the world, you still have to
get the right guys and guys that believe in a
greater good. And like that was because you know, it

(51:35):
was interesting. So like I think it was maybe his
Thursday press conference, I want to say Dusty May so
for people don't know, these guys have media availability every
single day, and so I think Dusty May said something
to the effect of, you know, recruiting is better now
because it used to just be you know, who was
the first guy showing up to the six am workout

(51:55):
and who wanted to stay the longest. And he's like, now,
it's it's not really about that. It's there's a financial
element to it, but there's also the fit in this,
in that and whatever. But I then took that quote
and I asked some of the assistant coaches, because we
have access to everybody, I said, but how do you, like,
how do you develop the character thing? Because it's easy
to see the talent of a yaxa Lenenborg or whomever,

(52:19):
and but how do you know that he's gonna buy
into something greater than himself? And the same with all
these other guys. And he gave a great answer. I mean,
it's it's the cliche. You do your homework like you
would anything else. But I think that's an important part
of it. You can have all the money in the
world if you don't pick the right guys and if
you don't get them to buy into something bigger than themselves,
then it doesn't matter. The last thing that I would say,

(52:40):
and this was the part that I really pushed back on,
is yes, if you go back and look at you know,
quote unquote transfer portal rankings a year ago from this time,
Yaxa would be the number one player in that portal class. Okay,
But and I pushed back on this hard on Saturday,
and I actually got to push back a die Mora,

(53:00):
who I would argue was probably actually their most important
player from what he did on the defensive end as well,
twelve points, seven rebounds, two and a half assists, almost
three blocks per game. He averaged six points in thirteen
minutes per game last year at UCLA. And so this
wasn't some We're just gonna outbid everybody for this seven

(53:24):
foot three behemoth. This was a guy and some UCLA
fans will push back on this, and I'll push back
on the pushback. This was a guy that was being
misused by Mick Cronin. He just was like, you can
argue it, you can fight it, you could debate it.
I'm sorry, you don't go from thirteen minutes a game
to the most versatile player in college basketball and the

(53:47):
backbone of a national champion. And it was kind of
the same with the guy that you mentioned, Elikado. I mean,
Eli Kado played at North Carolina last year. Was good,
not great. You know, if you go back and listen
to his final game North Carolina loss last year to
Ole miss. I believe they remember they played in the
first four and then they lost in the first round.

(54:08):
They asked him in the locker room. They said something
to the effect of do you want to come back
to North Carolina next year? And he said something in passing,
and I vividly remember this of something of I hope
to be back. He said something about it, I hope
to be back, but I'm not sure, or I hope
to be back, but it's out of my control. And
I think that's an important part of this too, is

(54:29):
I don't know all of the specifics of how he
left North Carolina for Michigan. I do know that a
lot of these guys they're not always welcome back at
the place that they are previously at, and so I
would use those two guys, Mores Johnson Junior, same kind
of deal. He was like the first big off the
bench at Illinois last year, and maybe he has a

(54:49):
bigger role this year. But like a Die Marris specifically,
I'm just here to tell you I live in LA
I watch a lot of UCLA games, and for whatever reason,
Mick Cronin just did not, so like, yes, some of
it is about money, but you still have to identify
the right guys, get him in the system, develop them, whatever.
And that's my soapbox speech on the Michigan Wolverines quote

(55:11):
unquote buying their way to a national championship.

Speaker 2 (55:13):
I mean, I think it's really well said, and I
think it's important. I think it shows it's still it
still takes a lot of skill for a coach and
for a coaching staff to put together a group of
guys and then get them to a championship, to get

(55:34):
that chemistry right, to understand how this person can be
utilized or maybe how this person was not in a
Mara's case, just not being used to the maximum of
his ability. But here at Michigan we got something for
him there. We can unlock him a little bit. There's
something else we can do here that we see in
him on film, So we're gonna go after him. Like,

(55:56):
I think that the job of being a coach has
changed a little bit because of how much more evaluation
you have to do of guys around the country in
order to spot those guys. But I don't know that
that takes away from anything. I think it's just it's
harder to get invested in individual athletes because they're gonna
break your heart and go somewhere else a lot of times.

(56:18):
But as long as you are as long as you
keep the main thing, the main thing, which is, dude,
you're a Yukon fan. You're a Yukon fan, and whoever's
wearing the Yukon jersey, you're good with that like that,
as long as you understand that that's what it has
to be now. But there's gonna be more change amidst
that time. I think you'll be.

Speaker 4 (56:37):
Okay, yep, No, it's a new world.

Speaker 3 (56:39):
And I'll close on this too, is you know, because
I you know, you get the we all get the
pushback all the time of well it was better ten
years ago or twenty years ago, And if you feel
that way, that's your progative. But I was thinking about
this right ten years ago. Dusty May gets the Michigan job.
He's got to keep all the I hate to say it,
but it's true. The lousy players on the last team

(57:01):
that for whatever reason, they either weren't good enough or
they weren't bought whatever. So year one's just a complete wash,
and then year two you hope he signs a good
enough recruiting class where you're competitive, and really you gotta
wait until year three or year four to actually be competitive.
It's like, is that more fun or is what Michigan
fans just experienced with the right coach of a national

(57:23):
championship in year two more fun?

Speaker 4 (57:25):
Now I'll take it one step further.

Speaker 3 (57:26):
And I think that transitions nicely into our next conversation
is you know, people say, oh, it was better in
the old days. Okay, well the old days Yuxcelendenborg just
goes pro and says, I can't make money in college.
I'm just gonna go to the G League or do whatever.
Alex Caraban is not playing for Yukon. A Daimar probably
never comes to the United States to play college basketball period.

Speaker 2 (57:46):
Littlone drifted straight out right.

Speaker 4 (57:48):
Exactly, and so the system isn't perfect.

Speaker 3 (57:52):
And I do think, and I say this, you know,
even as a Yukon guy who has some advantages at
my school. But Yukon just lost a player that they
were expect didn't have back next year to the transfer
portal yesterday.

Speaker 4 (58:02):
So yes, it sucks for everybody.

Speaker 3 (58:05):
But I will push back on this notion that it
was the good old days were so much better than
what we see right now. Fox Sports Radio eritorrs Jason
Martin broadcasting live from the Fox Sports Radio studios. And
let's continue that conversation, Jamart, because for all the whining
about how awful this whole situation is, the ratings just
keep going up, up, up, And I want to ask

(58:25):
you why next.

Speaker 2 (58:26):
Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 5 (58:27):
listen live.

Speaker 3 (58:39):
Welcome back, everybody, Fox Sports Radio Er tords Jason Martin
broadcasting live from the Fox Sports Radio Studios. Hey, be
sure to subscribe to the Fox Sports Radio YouTube channel.
Just search Fox Sports Radio on YouTube. You'll see our
best videos from all of your favorite shows. Don't stop there,
hit the thumbs up icon comment away.

Speaker 4 (58:56):
Let us know.

Speaker 3 (58:56):
Whose takes you like and even whose takes you don't.
Just search Fox Sports Radio on YouTube and subscribe. Gonna
come back talk more. College shops season is over, things
are still interesting though. Before we do, though, let's get
it over to the news desk. Steve Seger, what isred eying.

Speaker 9 (59:12):
The late ballgame in Seattle is in the bottom of
the eighth inning right Now Mariners seven Houston seven. Mariners
were down seven to two until a five run fifth
Julio Rodriguez, who's been struggling at the play, batting one
seventy two, did have the tying two run homer. Cal
Ralei a first inning two run homer. Again, games tied
seven to seven. Bottom of the eighth, Dodgers beat Texas

(59:33):
six to three, show he Otani a leadoff homer, taoscar
Hernandez a three run shot. The Padres trail Colorado for
nothing early, giving up three homers. San Diego wins at
home nine to five. Boston was ahead two to one
at Saint Louis in the ninth seven to one red
Sox the final the win to Ranger Suarez six score
less inning, six strikeouts. Cleveland led two to nothing at Atlanta,

(59:55):
going to the eighth inning six nothing. The final Braves
record falls to nine and six. At Baltimore's sixth homer
of the young season for gunner Henderson Orioles defeated San
Francisco six to two. The Oh's place catcher Adley Rushman
on the il ankle inflammation, by the way in that
Houston game, sixth homer of the young season for or
Don Alvarez of the Strows. Brewers offense went two for

(01:00:17):
thirty at home. Washington won at Milwaukee three to one.
Extra ding wins for Pittsburgh and Tampa Bay A's one
at the Mets eleven to six. Tyler Soderstrom of the
Athletics two homers, five RBIs. The NHL regular season ends
on Thursday. Tonight, Vegas in overtime, beat Colorado three to two.
Denver won the college hockey title in Major League Soccer

(01:00:38):
Colorado six to two over Houston. The NBA is off
for this Saturday. The regular season ends on Sunday. All
teams play that day and at the Masters, Rory McElroy
had led by six strokes to start the day. That
was unprecedented. To lead by six only halfway through the
tournament was a Masters record. Well, McElroy blew that advantage

(01:01:00):
the first twelve holes today came back to Tye cam
Young by the end of the day. In the third round,
Young shot sixty five, McElroy shot seventy three. American Sam
Burns one stroke back back to you.

Speaker 4 (01:01:12):
Thank you very much.

Speaker 3 (01:01:13):
Steve Saga, Fox Sports Radio, Fox Sports Saturday now Sunday
on the East coast there towards Jason Martin broadcasting live
from the Fox Sports Radio studios.

Speaker 4 (01:01:21):
Want to keep the.

Speaker 3 (01:01:21):
College basketball conversation going. Michigan, you are national champions, Yukon
runners up. By the way, j mart real quick before
we get to some TV rating stuff and he takes
on Yukon. I'll just be quick, is that. And I
was telling Martin Weiss this before the before our show
when when we were switching up. You know, you follow
a team on a day to day basis, sometimes you

(01:01:42):
kind of get caught forrest through the trees, can't see
the forest through the trees. And I think I had
that moment of realization with Dan Hurley. I know you
said you had Duke in the championship game. I did
not have Yukon going nearly as far as they did.
And I'll say this too really quick, and I want
your perspective. You know, anybody who just hates Stan Hurley
and thinks he's the worst and all that, I would

(01:02:04):
encourage you to go listen to his press conference after
the Michigan game was totally Humble admitted they were the
better team, said they did everything that they could, but
the better team won. But just curious, and we don't
have to spend a ton of time on this, but
but newfound refound appreciation for Dan Hurley because as a
guy who watches them every week and you've heard me
do the rants, I don't think this was anything close

(01:02:26):
to the second best team in the country. But history
will show that they finished as the national runners up, and.

Speaker 2 (01:02:31):
It's hard not to be impressed with what he's built there.
And I've said before I like having somebody that you
could view him as a villain, but if nothing else,
he's a character with a personality and sports needs that
kind of figure. Now, does he go too far sometimes, sure,

(01:02:53):
but every figure that does that is going to go
too far. What I sent you after the game, when
it was clear that Connecticut was not going to come
back and it just wasn't going to be their night,
was that what I was thinking about was some of
the great runs that we've seen in recent memory in
college basketball, and the one that came to mind was
Duke because in ninety they got crushed by UNLV in

(01:03:16):
the final, and then in ninety one, they came back
and won in the semi final and then beat that
Mark Randall Kansas team and beat them pretty badly, and
then and won their championship there. That was the Grand
Hill lu Game and all that. The following year they
get back and they beat the Fab five Michigan teams,
so they win two in a row. Ninety three, they're

(01:03:36):
not really in the mix in that final four. That's
the famous Timeout game where Chris Weber called the timeout.
Derek Phelps and Donald Williams and that crew from North
Carolina won the championship. And then in ninety four, Duke
got back to the title game, but they lost to
Corliss Williamson and Scottie Thurman, that great Arkansas team in

(01:04:01):
ninety four. So they went to three title games out
of four years, skipping the third year, and then in
the fourth win they actually lost that game. It was
a good game, but they lost it to a really
good Arkansas team that reminds me a lot of Connecticut,
because Connecticut won two in a row. Then they weren't
in the mix for a year. They weren't in the

(01:04:22):
title game, and then they got back and lost to
a really good Michigan team that Duke run is still remembered.
That was the Laate Iner career, the Hurly career, the
Grand Hill, the Thomas Hill, the Brian Davis like that
was really kind of the beginning. I understand that Danny
Ferry preceded all of that, but really the team that
brought them to the dance that made Duke what we

(01:04:45):
would know Duke to be. It wasn't the Tommy Amiker
Johnny Dawkins teams. It was those early nineties Duke teams,
and that run is still talked about, you know, thirty
five years later, and this Yukon team just did the
exact same. If you're looking at it from an accomplishment standpoint,
I think sometimes you can kind of underappreciate what Dan

(01:05:07):
Hurley and Yukon has accomplished over this last four or
five year stretch. It's been remarkable, and honestly, it's hard
not to gain a lot of respect for them throughout
the process because it has not been easy as college
basketball has shifted right around during this timeframe, and he's
still got his guys right there on the doorstep of

(01:05:31):
a third national title in four years. It's really impressive.

Speaker 4 (01:05:34):
I'll give you a crazy stat and we'll move on.

Speaker 3 (01:05:37):
Since the twenty twenty three NCAA tournament, how about this
Yukon eighteen and two in the last four NCAA tournaments,
the only losses to in twenty twenty five, last year
to the eventual champion Florida Gators, and to the eventual
champion this year in twenty twenty six, the Michigan Wolverine
so eighteen and two, two titles, three title games, the

(01:06:00):
only two losses in the last four NCAA tournaments to
the eventual champions. And by the way, last last last
thought on Yukon. I want to get to some stuff
on the ratings Alex Caraban, I know, you know, I
don't know what the equivalent is on Duke. I don't
know if it's Thomas Hill or something like that. I
don't know if he's going to play in the NBA,

(01:06:20):
how long he's going to play in the NBA. I
do think it's fair to say we will probably never
see a career like that again. Four you know he
play actually was five years. He did this thing, crazy
thing called a red shirt one year. I don't know
if you've ever heard of it, but yeah, red shirted
as a you know, a first year guy too.

Speaker 2 (01:06:39):
As a freshman, as a freshman, I'm going to start
Danna Rubb, but as a freshman when you were at
the final four for what would be Connecticut's first championship
under Dan Hurley, Alex Caraban came on with Arnie and me, oh,
the final four as a freshman, and he sounded like
a freshman. He's I mean, he's well spoken, but he
was he was oh, you know, you could tell he

(01:07:01):
was a baby. He was excited. It's it's very like
watching him during the Final four and watching him during
his final run, it's like, yeah, man, they don't make
him like this much anymore like guys that end up
being there their entire career. That's gonna be the exception,
not the rule.

Speaker 3 (01:07:16):
Well, and the thing too that I'll give him a
ton of credit on is that he he kind of
had to wear a lot of hats. It's not only
the four years, it's that, and it's not only just
the the three final fours and you know, three title
games and two championships. But you know, not to nerd
out for a second, but you know, the last chance
I get to nerd out on Alex carabin on a
national sports talk radio show.

Speaker 4 (01:07:36):
So no, you know, first couple of years.

Speaker 3 (01:07:38):
He's playing with all these NBA guys, you know, clinging
Steph Castle, who are unbelievable in the NBA right now,
by the way, Jordan Hawkins, all these guys, and he's
just this role player, He's the fifth guy. He can
come on, he can do his thing. Last year, you know,
was probably miscast as like the star of the team,
and probably that never was the role he was supposed

(01:07:58):
to be in and really had a.

Speaker 4 (01:08:00):
Really down year.

Speaker 3 (01:08:02):
There was like one game where he missed two free
throws that would have won a game and he lost.
And you know, he dealt with injuries, and like for
him to come back as a fifth year senior and
really just have just an incredible, incredible season where again
the stats don't show it, but every time they every
game they needed something a little bit different from him,

(01:08:22):
and he came through against UCLA. So how about this,
The winningest player in Yukon history had a career high
in the round of thirty two this year, So like
of all the games he could have a career high,
it was his fourth to last college game. And then
I didn't even realize this in real time, but they
said it at the podium. Played all forty minutes against Michigan,

(01:08:42):
did not come out. And the crazy part about the
Michigan Yukon thing is that you know, we knew that
Yukon was gonna kind of have to muck it up
to win the game. You kind of had twenty two
offensive rebounds in that game, which blew me away. Alex
Caraban was seventeen eleven, like I said, played all forty
minutes and just again every night, especially this season, they

(01:09:06):
needed something a little bit different from him. And yeah,
in the moment, you don't really realize it, but you
look back, you're like, Wow, three final fours, three national
championship games, two titles.

Speaker 4 (01:09:18):
It's not hyperb like.

Speaker 3 (01:09:19):
We will probably never see that again as long as
we were watching college basketball. Really quick, let's switch gears
because I do think this is kind of interesting. And
by the way, I want some Mike Malone takes. We
might have to save him for hour four, but we'll
find some.

Speaker 2 (01:09:33):
Time for him.

Speaker 4 (01:09:34):
I gotta get the Mike Malone takes.

Speaker 3 (01:09:36):
But the TV ratings were astronomical, So for people who
did not see this, now again Admittedly the games were
on Turner, TNT and TBS, and you know they weren't
on CBS, but most watched championship game in seventeen years
despite being on cable, eighteen million viewers peaked it over

(01:09:58):
twenty million viewers in that game. Overall the let's see here,
it was the most average viewers, up seven percent from
last year's second most watched tournament since nineteen ninety four.
Is there any one reason that you believe that we
are continuing to see essentially record setting numbers year over

(01:10:20):
year in college basketball or is it just really good
product that's getting better, more good players and il stuff
like that.

Speaker 2 (01:10:27):
I think that it is becoming increasingly rare at that
time of year to find guys that actually care about
winning games. I think that's part of it.

Speaker 4 (01:10:39):
In the sport of basketball.

Speaker 2 (01:10:40):
Yes, yes, but I mean it's early in baseball season too.
I'm not saying they're not, Karen, but like you got
a long baseball season, right, Like, there's just there's a
long grind there and it's right at the beginning of
that season. But yes, the bigger point is the NBA
and the lack of buy in that seen to emanate
from that league at every at every crevice really like

(01:11:05):
you can just see it kind of seeping up like poison.
And then the college guys just lay it on the line.
You talked about it with Alex Caravan playing forty minutes
in the game they weren't going to win, but he
didn't come out of that game at any point in time,
even like jackxel Lindelborg right like you think about the future, Yeah,
he's out there on one knee. Like these guys are

(01:11:26):
laying it on the line, and they're doing it from
the very beginning of the tournament. You have the human
inature story. You're still watching for the Cinderella early in
the tournament at the very least. But the buy in
and just the effort that is being put in, the
emotion that's being left on the floor, that's what sports

(01:11:47):
fans want because that's the passion that they have at
home and that's how they go to work and they
at least when they are, you know, trying to feed
their families when they were trying to do all those things,
they have to buy in, They have to give effort
or they're going to be replaced. And so you look
at there's no entitlement in the guys that are playing

(01:12:07):
on the field or on the floor once you get
to the NC DOUBLEA Tournament. I mean, there was one
guy who's you know, attitude was questioned during the course
of the regular season, fair or unfair. He didn't comment
on it for a while, and he let that narrative
run wild, and you know, for him, I hope it's
just a blip on the radar and he's gonna go
on to have a great career. And that's Darren Peterson.

(01:12:29):
But outside of that, you couldn't find guys that weren't
dialed in and invested from the very beginning of this tournament.
So when you see them bought in, it's very easy
for you to lose yourself in that product, in the storytelling,
in everything that's going on, and remember why you love sports,
and anything that reminds you why you love something, you're

(01:12:53):
gonna stay with. And I think the NC DOUBLEA Tournament
is such a pure example of that. In a you know,
in an increasingly fake culture, it's a very real feeling
to watch the NC DOUBLEA Tournament and see something that
feels genuine. When we have, you know, AI deep fakes

(01:13:14):
and slop all over the place. The NC DOUBLEA Tournament
is a place where we can go where we know
what to expect and we can actually look at those
real athletes and see that they care.

Speaker 3 (01:13:25):
I don't have much else to add. I don't think.
I think it's impossible to not in some way draw
a line. And it's so funny, right because that this
is what makes NBA fans mad. Is like when you're like, well,
the guys just care more, and it's like, but they do, though,
And I know you guys say that that doesn't Matt,
It matters whatever you're doing. To your point that you

(01:13:48):
made a minute ago about the you know, awful final day,
second to last day of the NBA regular season. People
are spending money, people are traveling, and I think, you know,
and I think it's I'm a perfect example of this
is MI Alma Mater lost in the national championship game.
I cannot sit here and say that they did anything
other than gave it one hundred and ten percent. And

(01:14:12):
I don't feel cheated at all by that team, even
though they didn't win the national title. I am sure
Illinois fans feel that way. I know Arizona fans were
frustrated in the moment, but I have no doubt that
over a thirty eight to thirty nine game season they
feel like they got their money. And I just and
I don't know how the other league, the NBA, I
just I don't know how you can't see the rise

(01:14:35):
of men's college basketball, of women's college basketball, the WNBA,
NBA ratings. I know, you know, you could find analytics
that say that that they were actually up a little
bit from last year, but the sport as a whole
feels down. And I don't know how you can't put
those two things together. So Fox Sports radioweer towards Jason
Martin broadcasting live from the Fox Sports Radio studios. We

(01:14:55):
will come back when we do Steve Disager. He's gonna
have plenty to share on a bi week across all sports.
A lot of football, well not a lot of football,
but there is some football with the draft, NBA, NFL,
Major League Baseball that could stuff saga next.

Speaker 5 (01:15:09):
Fox Sports Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk
lineup in the nation. Catch all of our shows at
Foxsports Radio dot com and within the iHeartRadio app. Search
FSR to listen live.

Speaker 3 (01:15:22):
Welcome back, everybody, Fox Sports Radio, Eric Geords, Jason Martin.
We are broadcasting live from the Fox Sports Radio studios,
as we do every week around this time. Let's get
it over to the news desk for an extended update.
Steve de Seger, take it away.

Speaker 9 (01:15:35):
We got stuff to get to, but can I just
get this off my chest?

Speaker 4 (01:15:38):
Stop charts.

Speaker 9 (01:15:39):
We really need to drop a couple of annual phrases.
And it popped up again today. CBS and others no
kept referring to this golf Saturday as moving Day. We
hear it every year at this time. I get why
guys are moving up and down the standings. The double
meaning is people are sometimes physically moving out or moving
in on a Saturday. Okay, great joke, I guess. However,

(01:16:02):
people do actually move on other days as well, and
more to the point, golfers also move up and down
the standings on all other days of the tournament. Please
stop with the moving day as if it means something.
When the word miss Noover would be in the dictionary,
that phrase moving day should be example number one. And

(01:16:24):
while we're at it, to everyone at NASCAR, please stop
calling the Daytona five hundred are Super Bowl? Are you
even aware of what a super Bowl is. The super
Bowl decides the championship. Daytona is the very first race
of your entire schedule for the year.

Speaker 3 (01:16:40):
This would be a great like June segment, we just
each you come up with like three things.

Speaker 2 (01:16:43):
Right, there's two. As for the ratios, No, it really
grinds Mike Gas, show me back right to produce us.

Speaker 4 (01:16:53):
Yeah, come back, keep this in the keep this in
the wheelhouse. Well, we'll leave this and then the other topic.

Speaker 9 (01:16:59):
We'll start with the phrase if you were on a
deserted island, or the phrase the Mount Rushmore.

Speaker 2 (01:17:05):
Oh, that, of course.

Speaker 4 (01:17:05):
Well never we did a great Mount Rushmore a few
weeks ago. Were you here for?

Speaker 3 (01:17:08):
You must have been here for the Mount Rushmore. Of
NBA players that just need to retire already, it was Lebron,
James Hard Draymond.

Speaker 4 (01:17:17):
It was one of the funniest more than four. Yeah,
we could have filled up a few Mount rushing.

Speaker 2 (01:17:22):
Yeah, there are plenty of candidates.

Speaker 9 (01:17:25):
Well, you did mention the TV ratings for college basketball.
This is for TBS, TNT, True TV, and the HBO
Mass Max streaming combined eighteen point three million viewers for
the Michigan win over Yukon on Monday. Impressive to me
because that's essentially the same rating that the final of

(01:17:46):
a year ago, a better game got on CBS, not
on cable when it was Florida Houston. However, we have
pre COVID had other finals with larger numbers, the larger audiences,
Virginia over Time twenty nineteen, certainly a Carolina final a
decade ago, a Duke final just before that. But it

(01:18:07):
very much impressed me that going to cable and again
this wasn't like one great game after another in this
final four. Still it was an impressive number for month.

Speaker 4 (01:18:18):
I will say you very random.

Speaker 3 (01:18:19):
It's gonna sound stupid, but until you're in baby, until
you're in the belly of the beasts back, you don't
realize how crazy big the Michigan fan base is. I mean,
I've been to probably about eight final fours. Now, I've
never seen a takeover of a building and I know
they're two two and a half hours away whatever it

(01:18:39):
had to be about ninety eight two Michigan fans and
you just I know, we know they put one hundred
and five people in the Big House every Saturday, But like,
it is crazy, how much, how many fans and how
big and how big that fan base is. And I
think them being a national brand probably helped the TV
rating as well.

Speaker 9 (01:18:57):
They are a national brand. And by the way, that
was once again, as we talked about on some of
the shows last weekend, at a football stadium, the Colt Stadium,
and they announced seventy two thousand for the semi finals there. So, yeah,
enormous crowd. We haven't had in a regular basketball arena
the final four since the mid nineties. But the entire
NCAA Men's tournament average per window nearly eleven million viewers combined,

(01:19:21):
which is up from last year and only behind a
decade ago, is the highest in many many a year.
So this is also very impressive because once again we're
dealing with some of these games on cable now. Granted,
when you compare to other years, keep in mind TV
ratings there perhaps a little more accurate. The audiences are
a little bit larger these days because they count out

(01:19:43):
of home viewing, which they did not. It's kind of
like when people compare college football stats like this running
back did that, Yeah, well the running back year compared
to they didn't count his bowl game stats so let's
do some apples versus apples. As for what's coming up
with the NBA to tomorrow. In the East, in the
regular season finales, three teams have a chance to clinch

(01:20:05):
the number six seed, important because that would avoid the
play in. Toronto gets the sixth seed with a win
or with losses by both Orlando and Philadelphia. Those are
the three teams going forward. The actual play in tournament
is Tuesday through Friday next week. In each conference, this
is how it goes. The seventh seed will host number eight.
The winner goes to the playoffs as seven seed. Losers

(01:20:27):
of seven eight get one more chance to get in
hosting the winner of nine versus ten.

Speaker 3 (01:20:32):
Back to you, awesome stuff to Sager, Thank you, good
for me to be back. Good to here to Sager,
and it's good to be back in general. With an
hour left, this is Fox Sports Radio Enter towards Jason Martin.
We are taking you up until two a m. Eastern
and we still got another hour. We're talking masters, We're
gonna talk a little WNBA expansion, Angel Reach traded a

(01:20:52):
lot still on the docket.

Speaker 7 (01:20:54):
This is.

Speaker 1 (01:20:56):
You're listening to Fox Sports. Really good radio.

Speaker 3 (01:20:59):
Welcome man, everybody hour three towards the mark Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 4 (01:21:03):
We are broadcasting live.

Speaker 3 (01:21:05):
Yes, we are live one am Eastern Time from the
Fox Sports Radio studios. We are taking you up till
two am Eastern. Bernie Fratto of The Bernie Fratto Show
follows us. Cannot wait to hear what Bernie has to
say about Oh, Chris Plank is in tonight. You know,

(01:21:25):
I talked to Chris Plank. You know what's funny. I
actually talked to Chris Plank yesterday and uh, I said
he had a really good theory on the college basketball ratings,
and I said, you need to come out with me
and Jason Martin and then I never really followed up
on it. But anyways, great guy, that Chris Plank. Great
guy that Chris Planks. So he is following us at

(01:21:46):
two am Eastern. Bernie Fratto, I didn't want to know
what that guy's doing tonight, but no, I'm kidding. Love
Bernie Fratto should match. By the way, new and improved
iHeart Radio app. You could stream us whenever you wherever
you happen to be. Catch us in all your favorite
Fox Sports Radio shows Live twenty four to seven in
the New and improved iHeartRadio app. Just search Fox Sports
Radio in the app to stream us live all day

(01:22:06):
every day. Be sure to select Fox Sports Radio is
one of your presets in the iHeart app, so we'll
always pop up at the top of your screen. Big
story of Saturday as we are into Sunday. In many
parts of the country, it was a very, very busy
day at the Masters. If you missed the top of
the show, J Mart really did a good job of

(01:22:27):
setting the stage. I had some technical difficulties in studio here,
but listen, I'll just set it up, and I want
J Mart to kind of share. He's the golf insider
here as far as I'm concerned, knows way more about
the sport than I do. But Roy McElroy entered Saturday
biggest lead ever through thirty six holes. Unbelievable start, six

(01:22:50):
stroke league, all gone within the first eleven holes of
the day. On Saturday, Rory was good, but the story
Rory was Cameron Young, who shot a seven under sixty five.
It was Scotti Scheffler who's shot a seven under sixty five.
And now all of a sudden we enter Master Sunday.

(01:23:10):
Roy McElroy tied atop the leader board with Cam Young.
Rory shot a one over seventy three. There are now
in total, nine players within six shots of the lead.
It will be a very busy Sunday at Augusta and
the leader's tee off at two twenty five Eastern time.

(01:23:32):
And I think we're gonna get a heck of a
day of golf.

Speaker 2 (01:23:34):
JMRT.

Speaker 4 (01:23:34):
What do you have to say about that?

Speaker 2 (01:23:35):
I mean, that's one hundred percent true. It was weird.
I was watching the coverage of holes fifteen and sixteen,
and this is when Rory was still the final group
was still on, like I think they were on fourteen,
and the two broadcasters, I don't know who they were.

Speaker 4 (01:23:52):
They were the second Jason Kelsey and Kevin Hart.

Speaker 2 (01:23:55):
No, thankfully no one of them was a Scottish woman,
but I could not get her name. They just started
asking I don't know if they were trying to fill
time or what. It was, just like, so, who do
you think is going to win tomorrow? Dude? Rory still
got like five holes to play today, and like, what
are you even talking about? And the woman said, justin Rose,

(01:24:20):
it's going to be his time. He's right there within
striking distance. He's been so close, he's been runner up twice,
and he's ready for this moment. I think he's gonna
wear the jacket. And like, just listening to it, I
was just kind of like, this is a weird conversation
to have because the Sunday that we are going to
get because of the Saturday, because it was a day

(01:24:42):
where guys were able to take advantage of the course
and go low, and then the leader who was just
dwarfing the field in terms of his scorecard, he couldn't
take advantage of the course. He struggled to a one over.
He's lucky, it was just that bad. He hit the
water on on eleven, right after cam Young had given

(01:25:02):
a couple of shots back. It felt like even after
a bad start and guys going low, Rory was gonna
be okay and he was still gonna have a four
or five shot lead.

Speaker 6 (01:25:11):
He was.

Speaker 2 (01:25:12):
I think he was at thirteen hunderd at that point.
And then he ends up putting it in the drink,
double boguing, and he just has to struggle home. He
makes a couple of putts, he makes a really big
putt a few holes later. That kind of at least
salvage is where he is. I think it was on fourteen,
but it was a big time butt that that really

(01:25:33):
I kind of didn't think he was gonna make because
of the distance, but he judged it beautifully and he
put it in and got one of his strokes back
right there. But this is the Rory McElroy experience and
those that thought just because he won last year, he
was gonna come in and if he played well, he
was just gonna run away with it. He still battles

(01:25:55):
himself sometimes and he didn't hit the ball nearly as
well as his score would indicate. On Thursday and Friday,
he just had a lot of saves man. He rescued
himself out of some serious treachery, and on Saturday he
wasn't able to do that, and that was really the
difference as other guys went low. So that was the
perfect storm to create the drama of guys that really

(01:26:18):
do have a shot to win this thing if they
can come out and put a sixty seven down, a
sixty five down again as we saw on Saturday. Now
will the course play that easy? Will the pen positions
be to the advantage of the players. On Sunday, we'll see.
I mean the pressure on Sunday at Augusta is unlike
anything else, maybe in sports, but certainly in golf. So
it becomes a mental test as much as just making

(01:26:40):
sure that you were hitting the shots. Everything seems to
be against you, and the course is probably even more
menacing at that point in time. So thinking about it
from that perspective, you would think that Rory is in trouble.
But I actually think he's gonna win because he struggled
on Saturday. He's faced some adversity green jacket that he

(01:27:00):
finally won last year, hear and he won in a playoff.
He didn't win that one easily either, and he was
against somebody that he really respected that could have easily
beaten him in justin Rose. And so now he has struggled.
His six shot lead is completely gone. Now he's tied
for the lead, there's guys nipping at his heels. By
the time he teas off, he may well not be

(01:27:21):
in the lead anymore. And I think he plays better
with the chip on his shoulder or with something to
prove or something to go do, as opposed to playing
for out front, especially at this course. So I actually
think he's gonna win because of Saturday. I think that
a lot of people would disagree with me, and I
may turn out to be very wrong. Offs a strange

(01:27:43):
game and it can be hard to predict. But I
like his chances because he's already faced the adversity. It's
not the back nine on Sunday. He did it on Saturday,
so he knows what can happen. And I think, you know,
get a good night's sleep and go out there again.
He knows how talent that he is, and I think
he's gonna win.

Speaker 4 (01:28:02):
Let me ask you a dumb question.

Speaker 3 (01:28:04):
I saw somebody reference that they actually thought that's why
there were so many low scores on Saturday was because
basically Rory had such a big lead that you couldn't
overthink it. You essentially just had to grip it and
rip it and just go out and do your best.
Do you think that Rory's big lead played a role
in so many low scores because you don't have time

(01:28:26):
to overthink it and play it safe. You just kind
of have to go out there and try to get
the best score that you can.

Speaker 2 (01:28:31):
To a degree, yes, I mean the golf is a
little bit different in that regard, but there is something like,
do you know how some quarterbacks don't operate great? But
there all of a sudden, they're in the two minute
warning and they just explode. It's just one of those
moments you don't even have time to think about it.
And then there's a freedom menaces, just like we're just
gonna go for broke because we don't have time to

(01:28:51):
overthink this and over analyze this. Well, these guys that
were they felt like they were kind of out of
it with Rory at twelve and the next closest at six,
all of a sudden, like they're kind of playing. They're
playing golf. It's almost like they're all playing for second,
but they're they're just golfing out there, and they're not
really even concerned with catching Rory hole after hole after

(01:29:14):
hole because they're not even within shouting distance. And so
you see these guys go low. And then on the
flip side, what Rory is watching is guys that he
knows are talented. Their scores are going lower and lower
and lower, and his is staying the same. It wasn't
he was bogeying all these holes. He was just kind
of treading water. He was a stock that had peaked,

(01:29:36):
and there were some other like new tech stocks or
something like that. They're just coming out of nowhere and
all of a sudden, they're nipping at his heels, and
I think that's when the pressure hits. But now that
he's already there, he's part of that fight, I think
that helps him out. But I think there's probably some
truth to the idea that guys play freer when they

(01:29:57):
are way behind or when it like they're out of
it because they have nothing to lose.

Speaker 3 (01:30:03):
Last kind of golf question, obviously, you said you feel
pretty confident about Rory. Big picture on Cameron Young, I mean,
this is a guy he's only got two career PGA
Tour wins, but has finished in the top ten at
all four majors, including the top four at three of
the four. Does he become sort of that feel good story,
Maybe not to the degree that Rory was last year

(01:30:25):
going for the first green jacket, but you know a
guy that feels like he's been on the cusp and
a lot of these big events and hasn't quite been
able to push through.

Speaker 2 (01:30:32):
Yeah. I mean, look, he's he's been a really talented
player for a long time, and I think it's just
is he ready for this moment? And it's hard to
bet on him there now. He has shown good resolve
and he has played really solid golf, and I definitely
think he's got the talent to win at Augusta. There's
no question in my mind about that. It's just is

(01:30:54):
he gonna be able to handle the mental hurle, because
I don't think any of us can fully appreciate what
it feels like to be on the first page of
the leaderboard within a couple of shots, even entering the
back nine on Sunday Augusta. That pressure is unlike anything
else in sports, except maybe making like a forty five
to fifty yard field goal when your team's down two

(01:31:15):
in the Super Bowl or something like that. Like that's
probably at least semi akin to it. But the problem
with golf and the thing that makes it so unique,
so much fun for many people to play, but also
just create so much stress it makes it hard to
just go out on a weekend and hit it is
that when something goes wrong, it's almost always your fault.

(01:31:39):
There's nobody else to blame. There's not a yeah, maybe
you can blame your caddy here and there, or somebody
might have coughed in your backswing or something, but generally speaking,
it's something you did. It's a choice that you made.
It's the fact that you missed the green by ten
yards or overshot it by ten yards and put it
in the drink, or misjudged it or picked the wrong club,
and that wears on you because the problem with that is,

(01:32:01):
let's say you do that on sixteen tomorrow. Would you
got to play two more holes and there's no breaks,
and that becomes I think that's what it is. The
pressure builds because hole after hole you have to maintain
yourself for hours, because it takes time. It's not even
something where you have a clock and you have ten
minutes left. It's like no, it's it's a grind and

(01:32:24):
it's a mental toll. So that's why it's hard to
pick a guy like Cam Young, just because he's so
new to the winning aspect of PGA Tour Golf that
for him to do this at Augusta, it's just gonna
be very impressive. It's gonna be hard for him, and
it's gonna it's gonna show a lot about what he
has built. But a lot of people have to lose

(01:32:45):
before they can win at AUGUSTA, no question.

Speaker 3 (01:32:48):
Well, cam Young does enter the day tied with Rory
McElroy atop the leader board, Sam Burns one stroke behind,
and I think I said it a minute ago. Nine
players within six shots. Scottie Scheffler, by the way, he
shot a seven under sixty five. He is back four
strokes back, tied for seventh right now, along with a
few other notable names.

Speaker 2 (01:33:09):
To hear him go after the reporter.

Speaker 4 (01:33:11):
I saw the quote, I didn't hear the audio.

Speaker 3 (01:33:13):
So the quote was because he missed a couple putts
that would have even had.

Speaker 2 (01:33:17):
He could have gone he could have gone lower.

Speaker 3 (01:33:19):
Basically, yeah, and he pulled the Mick Cronin, That's the
dumbest question I've ever heard.

Speaker 2 (01:33:23):
Basically, he just said, that's a dumb question. Next question.
But then later on he apologized and before the end
of that presser, and he took a question from the
reporter in questions Jason Soble like one minute later. So
it wasn't the same kind of deal exactly as Cronin.
But then later on he's like, you know what, earlier
I called a dumb question and a dumb question. It

(01:33:44):
wasn't even a dumb question, so I'm certainly not gonna
do that again. And he answered another question, so I
think he realized. He was just like, yeah, that was
probably not the best move, but he kind of fixed it,
unlike Mick cronin, who just leaned right on into it,
at least at first.

Speaker 4 (01:33:58):
By the way, there was a funny Mick story today.

Speaker 3 (01:34:01):
I will try to get the audio before the end
of the show, but this week, but I'll tell you
a funny mccronin story about midway through the year. He
was complaining about his team's toughness and he's like, it
was All Star weekend and you know, all the agents
are in LA and he said, I told my guy,
he said, I want you to go find me to toughest,
he said, toughest Eastern European vodka drinking twenty three year olds,

(01:34:24):
like I want them to have wrestled bears in their youth. Well,
UCLA got two commitments out of a couple of Eastern
European players this week in the portal. So mc cronin,
you know, that was one quote that he was good on.
And I did see the Scotty Sheffler quote in all seriously,
is I did not see the follow up though, so
and I was surprised because you know, I don't follow
this as close as you do. But he doesn't seem

(01:34:46):
like the type to say and do stuff like that.
So you know, listen, I think everybody has those moments
where and you know, it is the cliche of you know,
if we all had to go up to a podium
at the end of our work day and answer questions,
you know, you wouldn't be happy about it every single day.
But that's cool that he kind of caught himself and
you know, corrected himself. And I do know that Jason

(01:35:07):
Sobol is a very respected reporter in the in the media.
So anyway, Scotty Scheffler is four strokes back Cam Young
Roy McElroy tie the top the leader board. They will
tee off at two twenty five Eastern time. Fox Sports
Radio eritors Jason Martin, broadcasting live from the Fox Sports
Radio Studios. We'll come back a couple interesting stories from

(01:35:30):
the w NBA this week expansion, Angel Reese. Oh, we're
talking about it all, j mart Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 5 (01:35:40):
the nation. Catch all of our shows at Foxsports Radio
dot Com and within the iHeartRadio app. Search FSR to
listen live.

Speaker 3 (01:35:52):
Welcome back everybody, Fox Sports Radio, Eric Torris, Jason Martin.
We are broadcasting live from the Fox Sports Radio studios.
NBA regular season ends on Sunday, but really the end
of the NBA regular season just means one thing, j Martin,
We're one day closer to the NBA WNBA season. Baby,

(01:36:15):
that's right. Who you got this year? Have you have
you done your Have you done you? First of all,
have you done your WNBA fantasy drafts?

Speaker 2 (01:36:21):
Yet?

Speaker 8 (01:36:22):
My?

Speaker 4 (01:36:22):
What WNBA fantasy drafts?

Speaker 2 (01:36:25):
You know?

Speaker 6 (01:36:25):
Like you?

Speaker 2 (01:36:26):
I don't think I could do it because I couldn't
name enough players, Like I basically just have to go
to someone who had tabulated, like you know, the pre
draft lists and stuff, and just I just take the
best one, like, because I just don't know enough of
the players. Well, and if you think that's kind of

(01:36:46):
a shot, it.

Speaker 3 (01:36:47):
Is, it is fair enough. Well, let me ask you this.
You're gonna have to learn a lot more new players
because we got two new teams in the league this year.
Congrats to our new expansion teams this season in Portland
and Toronto. So that's that's a bunch of new players.
And then we found out this week that Detroit, Cleveland,

(01:37:11):
and Philly in twenty eight, twenty nine, and thirty are
getting w NBA teams. J Mart, So that is five
new teams in this league. What is your takeaway on
the en WNBA expanding by you can't quite say, hold on.

Speaker 4 (01:37:29):
Let me see here. I want to see something really quick.

Speaker 2 (01:37:31):
Let me see here.

Speaker 3 (01:37:31):
I want to see how many teams were in the
league last year. This is really good radio here, let's
see here. So last year there were thirteen total teams,
including the Golden State Valkyries. That was their first year.
So thirteen total teams were increasing the league by essentially
more than thirty three percent with five new teams between

(01:37:54):
now and twenty thirty. J martch So that's gonna be,
you know, about thirty three percent more players you got
to learn for your fantasy drafts by the time we
get to twenty thirty.

Speaker 4 (01:38:02):
How do you feel about that?

Speaker 2 (01:38:04):
I just don't get it, man, Well, man, I get it.
I guess from a short term perspective if you just
want to cash influx.

Speaker 6 (01:38:11):
But.

Speaker 2 (01:38:13):
Who is this a league that needs to expand? This
isn't new to us because we saw these stories a
few months ago, and we've mentioned this a few different times.
But this league doesn't need to expand. This league needs
to contract. There's not enough recognizable women players in the
WNBA to facilitate as many teams as they have. I mean,

(01:38:38):
unless we're gonna throw morality out the window. And at
which point can we put Kitlin Clark in a three
D printer or something like that? Can we clone her
like a sheep? Because unless you can clone her and
maybe a couple of others several times over and then
maybe change their hairstyles.

Speaker 4 (01:38:59):
That they just had, Caitlyn Clark got on a different
team with just a wig on, just pretending to be
somebody else.

Speaker 2 (01:39:06):
Yes, So what I'm saying like, if you could have
a league full of that, I know people, But we
have a league. No, you really don't. I mean, just
because you play games and you have a bunch of
teams doesn't mean you have a league. It's just it
boggles the mind, the arrogance to think that this is
a league that's gonna benefit by adding teams when it's

(01:39:27):
already razor thin. And it's just like they don't understand
that their boom is very finite, and they've already blown
half of it at least, because we don't know how
long Kaitlin Clark's going to play basketball. But once she stops,
so does the money train. Like I understand, Look, Page
Becker's like watching her play. There's some there are some

(01:39:49):
talented girls. I'm not suggesting they're not talented women in
the NBA. I am suggesting that the vast majority, and
by that I mean well over ninety percent of the
sports watch public in America doesn't care and is never
gonna care. And so you're just gonna bring this here
to cities that I just it's gonna five years from now,

(01:40:13):
this is gonna look absolutely ridiculous. And I think right
now we already know this is a bad.

Speaker 3 (01:40:19):
Idea, So very interesting slash ironic point on that you
say we won't care. Two of the three cities, Detroit
and Cleveland, had WNBA teams at one point that folded
because nobody went to their games. Now, admittedly it was
a different world WNBA Cleveland had a team from ninety

(01:40:40):
seven to two thousand and three. Detroit had a team.
On top about this, the Detroit Shock were a team
until two thousand and nine when they.

Speaker 4 (01:40:48):
Moved to Tulsa.

Speaker 3 (01:40:50):
How listen, I'm gonna offend one of our affiliates here
and I'm so sorry. How bad does business have to
be in Detroit that you're moving your team to Tulla.
They have since moved again, And listen, Chris Plank's coming up.
Oklahoma is a lovely state. I've been there. It's a
lovely state. But again, I Tulsa doesn't strike me as

(01:41:11):
the you know, the economic epicenter that you want to
move to to support.

Speaker 4 (01:41:16):
A professional franchise.

Speaker 3 (01:41:18):
So that's the funny part, or ironic part, or interesting part,
or however you want to describe it. Two of these
three places had a team and it did not work.
And I actually want to ask you sort of a
different question on but it is sort of related on
the players and how many players actually moved the needle.
And I want to ask you because I think I'm
the wrong person to ask. This feels like all the momentum,

(01:41:40):
even in the college game that we had two three
years ago, is gone.

Speaker 1 (01:41:45):
Now.

Speaker 3 (01:41:46):
Admittedly I was at the men's Final four, so obviously
there's gonna be more people plugged into the women's Final
four and my alma mater was playing in the women's
Final four. But it felt like two years ago when
it was Caitlin Clark versus South Carolina and Caitlin Clark
and Angel played in the Elite eight, that the sky
was the limit for women's basketball. To your point, even
last year, Page Beckers and you kind of win a

(01:42:08):
national championship, I don't. I guess the geno Don Staley
thing kind of gave itself.

Speaker 2 (01:42:14):
It was the only thing that there was talked about, yep,
regarding that at all, Like I mean, look UCLA and
credit to them, right, I mean, dominated won the championship
all that, but like this was not a like sporting
event that many people went out of their way to see.
This is I'm just telling you the truth of it,

(01:42:37):
not you know, trying to bury the women who played
in it or if you're a fan of it, like whatever,
I mean, you do you that's that's fine, Good for you.
I'm glad that you liked the product. But uh, it
didn't move the needle like it just there was no
star power there. There was nothing there. But to your point,
like you had Caitlin Clark, you had Angel Reese. You

(01:42:58):
had Page Beckers, and then you had you know, Juju Watkins, right,
So I mean there were a couple of players across
the country to watch. And then even after Caitlyn left,
you still had Paige and you still had Juju. And
then she got injured, but in Page was coming back
from an injury. Actually, but the sport is still one person.
It's one person defined. I understand she's not the best

(01:43:20):
player in the WNBA, right, but that doesn't matter. There
are people who sing better than Taylor Swift, but she's
the one. She's the one that moves the needle. That's
just the way things work. And so Caitlyn Clark, who
was just a wonder can in college and so exciting
to watch and became inspiring for a lot of young

(01:43:43):
girls and all this other stuff, you just that's not
gonna grow on trees, like you're not gonna find that everywhere.
And I don't know that you need to cash in
on that by opening up new franchises when there's still
only one Caitlyn Clark and whatever it is you who
put on the floor is not likely to be able

(01:44:03):
to replicate the success that she has found and garnered.
But again, the league's done a really good job of, like,
you know, neutering what she could do by allowing people
to brutalize her for the first few years of her career.

Speaker 3 (01:44:19):
Well, I'll tell you what. Caitlin Clark is obviously part
of the conversation. So is Angel Reese, who is on
the move?

Speaker 2 (01:44:27):
Yes she is.

Speaker 3 (01:44:28):
Oh, we'll discuss her next. Don't you worry. We got
Angel Reese takes for days. We'll discuss her in just
a moment before we do though, final time on our
show this evening, Steve Seger, what is trending?

Speaker 9 (01:44:37):
Angel Reaes traded this week to Atlanta WNBA preseason starts
in two weeks, and today Chicago signed Skuylar Diggins. By
the way, this note tonight, with spring football well underway,
one of the head coaches, Ted Ginn, junior from Ohio State.
He's the Columbus coach, was arrested in Texas for DUI.
With a game tomorrow, the UFL says offensive coordinator Hayley

(01:45:01):
is going to serve as interim.

Speaker 2 (01:45:04):
I haven't heard a few minutes. Absolutely.

Speaker 9 (01:45:07):
US women's soccer won its exhibition against Japan two to
one in San Jose, and Major League Soccer Colorado six
to two over Houston. Denver won the College hockey title. Meanwhile,
Colorado and the NHL was beaten in overtime Vegas three
to two over the Avs. NHL wins for Columbus and
Nashville wins for Tampa Bay and Dallas, which shut out
the Rangers two. Do not I think Rangers have been

(01:45:28):
shut out ten times this year. Carolina won for to
one at Utah. The NHL regular season ends on Thursday.
Edmonton and Vegas clinched their spots in the playoffs tonight,
still last couple of spots up for grabs in the
Western Conference. One spot left in the East. It belongs
to the Flyers right now. Reminder, NASCAR's Cup Series returned

(01:45:49):
Sunday on FS one, again from Bristol, Tennessee. Ryan Blaney
earned the poll. The series was off for Easter last weekend.
Michigan gave basketball coach Dusty maya coned extension. Illinois freshman
Keaton Wogler declared for the NBA Draft.

Speaker 2 (01:46:04):
Transfer.

Speaker 4 (01:46:04):
PJ.

Speaker 9 (01:46:05):
Haggerty will go from Kansas State to Texas A and M.
That'll be his fifth school in five years. Isaiah Johnson
is transferring from Colorado to Texas. The NBA was off
Saturday the regular season and Sunday, with all teams playing
that day. The play in tournament begins Tuesday. The real postseason,
the first round starts next Saturday. The NBA Finals don't

(01:46:26):
begin until June the third. Milwaukee's Giannis Antenekumpo will not
play in Sunday's finale due to his knee injury, so
he misses the final four weeks. Played just thirty six
games this season. Victor wimbin Yama, the Spurs, who did
play last game, questionable with sore ribs. The thunder list
ten players is out for Sunday. Shay giljis Alexander out

(01:46:47):
with an oblique injury. New York's Carl Anthony Towns out
Sunday managing an elbow injury. The Knicks will rest starters,
and Denver's Jamal Murray is out with a shoulder injury.
Cam Young tied Rory McElroy at the Mass. Mceroy had
led by six strokes after the second round of Masters
record and then shot seventy three today, while in round three,

(01:47:07):
Young shot sixty five. American Sam Burns one stroke back.
Shane Lowry, who had a hole in one.

Speaker 2 (01:47:12):
Today, is two back.

Speaker 9 (01:47:14):
Scottie Scheffler is up to a tie for seventh place
after his third round sixty five.

Speaker 2 (01:47:18):
He's four back.

Speaker 9 (01:47:19):
Dustin Johnson shot seventy five Saturday. He's tied for forty
four three overpar John Ram is five over Bryson De
Shambo missed the cut on Friday at six over. The
winner tomorrow gets four and a half million dollars. In
Major League Baseball's late Game, Seattle was down seven to
two to Houston in the fifth inning, but won the

(01:47:40):
game eight seven with a run bottom of the night.
The Astros have lost six in a row. The Dodgers
beat Texas six to three, Shoeotani a leadoff homer. Padres
came back to defeat Colorado nine to five. Wins on
the road for Boston and Cleveland Washington as well. The
Nats won three to one at Milwaukee as the Brewers
offense was two for thirty. Moore's Gunner Henderson with his

(01:48:01):
sixth homer, O's beat San Francisco six to two. Tampa
Bay with two runs bottom of the tenth, edged the
Yankees five to four. Pittsburgh won in eleven innings at
the Cubs four to three. The Pirates are nine and
five wins for Kansas City and Minnesota, wins for Detroit
and Cincinnati. That Detroit game was six to one over Miami.
Riley Green a homer and four RBIs the A's Tyler

(01:48:23):
Soderstrom two homers, five RBIs A's one at the Mets
eleven to six. The Mets losing pitcher code I Singa
was out early his team trailed seven to one in
the third. The Mets did call up veteran reliever Craig Kimbrel.
He pitched one scoreless inning today two strikeouts in that game.
Victories for Cincinnati and for Philadelphia, which beat Arizona four
to three, back to back homers for Kyle Schwarber and

(01:48:46):
Bryce Harper in the third inning.

Speaker 4 (01:48:47):
Back to you, Saga, have a great evening. Thank you
for all your help.

Speaker 3 (01:48:51):
To Saga, will be back on Sunday with Chris Plank
and already Spaniar and of course you from Salam and
Mark Willard. Chris Plank following us the top of the
hour of Fox Sports Radio Aeron towards Jason Martin, a
couple minutes left, do you want to stay on the
always riveting WNBA and you mentioned this, jam.

Speaker 2 (01:49:09):
Martin, you're the WNBA show of record.

Speaker 3 (01:49:11):
We are, we sure are. We got a lot of takes,
I'll tell you that much. Most of the mark good.
But that's okay. Uh all right, So pushback on something
you said last hour or last segment. Is that Uh no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,
just let me get there.

Speaker 4 (01:49:26):
So I sound like I'm arguing with my wife. She's like, oh,
what are you gonna tell me?

Speaker 5 (01:49:29):
Now?

Speaker 3 (01:49:30):
You said Kaylin Clark was the what you don't have
a league, you have a player. I will give Angel
Reese credit for this.

Speaker 4 (01:49:37):
People care.

Speaker 3 (01:49:38):
She was traded to the Atlanta Dream earlier this week.
And by the way, I don't disagree with you. I'm
just gonna I'm just setting up the point in defense
of Angel Reese. On Thursday, Stub Hubb revealed the Dream
have seen a fifteen percent increase in ticket sales since
the news was announced earlier this week. The ticket selling
platform said it was the largest single day spike in
team history. Also, oh, they have now scheduled so they

(01:50:02):
play in a five thousand seed arena outside of Atlanta.
But they have already scheduled five games at State Farm Arena,
which is obviously where the Atlanta Hawks play. But Angel
Rees traded earlier this week from Chicago to Atlanta. I
was traveling, so I don't know what the takes were

(01:50:24):
or what the logic was, but I am open to
hearing your thoughts on this, as Angel Reese is on
the move.

Speaker 2 (01:50:32):
Well, the one thing I did read and looked kind
of in the recent history of the Chicago franchise is
that they have a knack for losing players of some
you know recognition, renown, you know, people that names that
you would know. They've had this happen multiple times in

(01:50:53):
their franchise history, and so this is just the most recent.
This is the newest version of this kind of trend
and that they have gone through. And I don't know,
each situation may be different, but I would imagine they
didn't think she was gonna stay. They didn't feel like
she liked them. I don't know. Maybe she had conversations

(01:51:15):
with them and said, you know, get what you can
for me, but get me out of here. I don't know,
Like we don't know exactly what's going on, but I
can say this, there's no question she's probably somewhat difficult
to deal with. I mean, she has a bit of
Draymond dinner, maybe more than a little bit of Draymond dinner.
And so you you know, you send her to you know,

(01:51:36):
one of your one of the franchises. Look, you've got
executives there. They're pretty important in women's basketball writ large.
And Atlanta's a you know, a city close to LSU
where she played in college. You know, there's there's a
bit of a history there, and you know, give her
a fresh start or whatever, and she can go be
a star for that team, or at least somebody that
can sell tickets. To your point. But I don't know.

(01:51:59):
I mean I haven't I've seen anything that explains exactly
why they did it. But they got two picks back
for it. And the articles that I have seen have
said something like, well who won this trade? Because there
are arguments on both sides. So I don't know, what
what do you think? What do you think the.

Speaker 3 (01:52:17):
Reason is, Well, she's a big name. Yeah, she didn't
really contribute to winning. They went thirteen and twenty seven
her rookie year. Last year they went I believe let
me see if I got this correct.

Speaker 4 (01:52:33):
Ten and.

Speaker 3 (01:52:36):
Thirty four, So they were a combined twenty three and
sixty three if my math is correct, so sixty sixty three.
I thinks sixty three, sixty one, twenty three and sixty one.

Speaker 4 (01:52:51):
So not great.

Speaker 3 (01:52:52):
Um yeah, yeah, listen, she she is a big box
office straw all, I will say, And I don't have
any sourcing on this, so I'm gonna you know, I'm
gonna be delicate how I say it, but let's be honest.
Like transferred from Maryland to LSU. They won the Natty,
and you know, it was obviously her first year at LSU,

(01:53:13):
her second year if you remember, and a lot of
people don't. There was like a weird mid season suspension
that nobody could really explain and Kim Mulky like refused
to comment on, and so you have that didn't con
tribute to winning. Last year, there was a weird injury
that nobody could really explain, and you know, it was

(01:53:35):
the typical wasn't playing but then would show up on
social media seemingly not being injured. So it feels like
there's a lot to deal with. And you know, I
I they weren't winning enough to jug but I but
I also again, and I'm just trying to be fair
to both sides. Is I'm sure she was a box

(01:53:58):
office draw in Chicago as well, and so you know,
if she's a big enough box office draw, you'd think
you'd want to keep her. But clearly it feels like
behind the scenes, it's a lot to deal with. But
again the push pull of is it worth it If
she's box office Atlanta was willing to take that risk.
It's obviously paying dividends in terms of ticket sales and
things like that. But I mean we also have to

(01:54:18):
call a spade a spade. You know, nice player, you
know clearly has you know, the unique skill set of
being able to uh, you know, being able to rebound.
But you know, is she and you know, listen to me, fair,
Caitlin Clark, as you said, and I agree with you,
is not the best player.

Speaker 2 (01:54:36):
In the league.

Speaker 3 (01:54:37):
I mean, Angel Reese, for all of her individual accolades,
I don't know where she would rank among the best
players in that league. And so yeah, this is a
lot of word salad to get to the point that
you know, productive player has her moments. Last year, she
did average about fourteen and twelve, So I guess she
was better statistically than I thought she was.

Speaker 2 (01:54:58):
It's just probably a handful, right, Yes.

Speaker 3 (01:55:00):
I think without being a w NBA insider, which I
would never claim to be, I think we have a
track record that she's probably tough.

Speaker 4 (01:55:09):
To deal with behind the scenes.

Speaker 3 (01:55:10):
And again it goes to weird suspension in LSU that
nobody can explain, weird injury history in Chicago last year
that nobody wanted to explain, transferred from her home state
school in Maryland after two years. I mean, at some point,
you know, you know, it's like the Bill Bill Parcells quote,
you are what your record says you are, And you
know she's got a little bit of a track record
where weird stuff happens that nobody wants to talk about.

(01:55:33):
And so I'm guessing that Chicago, to your point, felt
like they could get value for her and they're ready
to go in another direction.

Speaker 2 (01:55:39):
So I agree. I mean, I think that's I think
that's as as possible as anything else. I haven't seen
anything definitive.

Speaker 3 (01:55:46):
So yeah, that that and we gotta get get to
break and come back. That that is the one thing
was I was looking for and hoping for but not expecting,
Like the athletic deep dive on what really happened. But again,
I understand that there aren't a lot of people that
cover the league. A lot of the people that cover
the league like having access and don't want to be
too critical, So I wasn't expecting anything, but that would

(01:56:10):
be my guest Fox Sports Radio Aaron towards Jason Martin,
broadcasting live from the Fox Sports Radio Studios.

Speaker 4 (01:56:15):
Will come back.

Speaker 3 (01:56:16):
Couple topics left before we hand it over to Chris Plank,
plenty more to discuss.

Speaker 2 (01:56:21):
Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 5 (01:56:22):
listen live.

Speaker 3 (01:56:34):
Welcome back everybody, Fox Sports Radio Air towards Jason Martin,
broadcasting live from the Fox Sports Radio Studios, one fifty
Eastern time. Chris Plank, the Man, the myth, the legend,
following us here in just a few minutes and the
pleasure of joining Plank on his serious show yesterday. He

(01:56:54):
is the man, a lot of good stuff. As always,
Let's stay on College for have a sex Jmar. We
don't have to spend a ton of time on this
but I think me and Brandon Deutsch are normal producer.
Were part of the first text chain when you saw
that Mike Malone was hired by the North Carolina Tarhials.
You texted us pretty shortly thereafter. You've had, you know,

(01:57:16):
six seven days to digest it. Mike, I guess it's Michael.
He prefers Michael.

Speaker 2 (01:57:20):
No, he does.

Speaker 4 (01:57:21):
Yes, I did not know that.

Speaker 3 (01:57:24):
But Michael Malone, NBA champion and now the head coach
of the North Carolina Tarios.

Speaker 4 (01:57:30):
What do you make of it?

Speaker 2 (01:57:31):
I mean, it was just it was just a name
that I never saw coming. The text I sent was
just Mike Malone question mark. And it wasn't because he's
a bad coach. It's just because, Wow, there's a name
that I was not anticipating. And I don't I mean,
he's a good coach. A lot of his success has

(01:57:52):
come with Jokich, but I mean that can be said
for almost every good basketball coach. They've had somebody throughout
a lot of their that has been responsible for what
they've done at least been able to execute on the floor.
So I don't know if that should be a knock. Obviously,
there was unfortunate circumstances that led to his exit in Denver.

(01:58:14):
But he's a championship winning coach. He can be kind
of bristly. I believe he can be kind of tough
on guys, But Hubert Davis is kind of the opposite.
At North Carolina, he brings a big time coaching pedigree,
and with college basketball increasingly being more like the NBA
in terms of how teams are constructed, what you have

(01:58:35):
to consult, what you have to consider when you're putting
together a team, I could see it, and then the
other thing is and I know that this has been
mentioned a lot. One of Tommy Lloyd's biggest strengths is
his international relationships and how he handles international basketball. He's
one of the best in the country being able to
spot that talent, bring it over and all that. Well,

(01:58:56):
the dude that is tight with Jokic, that's gonna help
you out because that guy, his agent is I think
the top international agent. He's the guy that's responsible for
a lot of those dudes that come over here. To
be in tight with Jokic would seemingly give you a
pretty good leg up on being able to get international talent,

(01:59:17):
which is increasingly becoming more and more important and valuable
on a NBA level, much less on a college level.
I mean it's that I think there is some method
behind this madness. This is not just yeah, just go
get another pro like you got Bill Belichick. I don't
think that's this at all. I saw that in a
couple of places and I just thought that's kind of

(01:59:37):
a lazy take. I don't I don't know exactly how
well this is going to work, but I'm like cautiously
optimistic that this move they let's just say this, they
could have done a whole lot worse than Mike Malone.

Speaker 3 (01:59:53):
Yeah, and I'll be quick here because we got to run.
But so I agree with everything you said. First of all,
this is not Bill Belichick. I don't know enough about
the NBA coaching carousel, but Belichick was basically unhirable. We
know he got one interview in that cycle when there
was eight nine head coaching jobs opening, wasn't seriously considered
for any of them. I'm pretty confident in saying Michael

(02:00:14):
Malone would have gotten an opportunity here. And so I'm
with you. The sport has changed, and a little inside
college hoops nerd stuff, they actually could, in theory return
a lot of players and it makes it easier.

Speaker 4 (02:00:26):
This isn't gonna be.

Speaker 3 (02:00:27):
He has to go into the portal and get thirteen
new guys. I think he'll be okay. It'll be a
fun story to monitor.

Speaker 4 (02:00:34):
We gotta get out of here.

Speaker 3 (02:00:35):
I want to thank the crew, Mary Mack on the board,
Ryan Bershinger back from his honeymoon, Steve de Seger from
my partner, Jason Martin I Meritorus. Make sure to download
the podcast and also make sure to stay plugged in.
Chris blank In for Bernie Fratto. Can't wait to hear
what he has to say. Fox Port Tridio

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