Countdown to Tipoff Presented by BetMGM

Brian Noe, Rich Ohrnberger, and Jared Smith preview today's Final Four matchups, the women's Final between Iowa and South Carolina, the latest Shohei Ohtani controversy (that isn't), and much more! Plus, Parlay Platter, Prop It Up, Dogs are Barkin', and Rapid Fire!

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
College hoops fans, Welcome to the best basketball coverage on
the radio.

Speaker 2 (00:06):
Dude.

Speaker 1 (00:08):
Fox Sports Radios Countdown to tip Off is on what
quarter three?

Speaker 3 (00:12):
Pop it down and.

Speaker 1 (00:13):
It's presented by bet MGM, the King of sportsbooks.

Speaker 2 (00:19):
Stupid lay up and the buzzer is pure.

Speaker 1 (00:21):
This is Fox Sports Radios count Down to tip Off.
Here's Brian No, former Penn State All American, Rich Ornberger
and FSR betting analyst Jared Smith.

Speaker 4 (00:37):
Oh, the similarities are absolutely striking between the men and
the women.

Speaker 5 (00:43):
We will get to that momentarily.

Speaker 4 (00:44):
Hey, just like in basketball, as successful game plan starts
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Speaker 5 (01:00):
Good morning everybody. I'll tell you what. Now that we're
here with the final four.

Speaker 4 (01:04):
On the lady side, South Carolina undefeated taking on Iowa
in the championship game, seems like a bit of a
collision course, if you will. Seems similar on the men's side, right,
seems like Purdue Yukon on a collision course, it would
be quite the surprise if that's not what we get.

Speaker 3 (01:21):
Yeah, we've talked about this a lot.

Speaker 6 (01:23):
It feels like even though there was some fun coming
out of the opening round and the round of thirty
two of the bracket, by the time we got to
the sweet sixteen, it felt like things really sort of normalized,
like you were seeing a lot of the top seeds
out of their corner of the bracket make their way

(01:44):
to the deeper rounds of the tournament outside of NC State,
who's still alive as an eleven seed.

Speaker 3 (01:50):
But yeah, it sort of feels.

Speaker 6 (01:52):
Like on both sides, you know, a little bit like
lambs to slaughter that Purdue and Yukon are gonna face
each each other in the final.

Speaker 3 (02:00):
But we'll see.

Speaker 6 (02:02):
This is the reason why we love March, because we
don't know what's gonna happen, and obviously tonight, any today,
anything can happen, and that's why we'll be watching.

Speaker 2 (02:12):
Yeah, from a betting perspective, I don't think the two
games tonight offer as much intrigue on the spread as
we would hope. I think the Yukon game last night
against Iowa might end up being the best game of
the of the bunch, right, if there's two final four
games on the men, two final four games on the women,
I think I think that was the closest game that

(02:35):
we were going to see. But I'm wrong all the time,
and this tournament proves the smartest of prognosticators wrong all
the time. But let's just be honest, guys, this is
the matchup we want, like we want Purdue against Yukon.
I think we'd be disappointed if we didn't get it.
I think I've been saying for the last couple weeks now,
it's obvious to me that Purdue is the only team

(02:56):
that can can has a chance against Yukon because they
can and suffocate Clinging inside where I don't. I'll be honest,
I don't know if there's another big in the tournament
right now that can play with either Edie and or Clinging.
So when you have a dominant big man like that,
and we'll go through some of the numbers of just
how absurdly dominant Donovan Klingon has been in this tournament,

(03:19):
very hard to compete with that.

Speaker 4 (03:20):
I wonder if Tom izz though the Michigan State head coach,
would be disappointed if we don't get Purdue and Yukon
in the final. Right, remember his comments before the tournament
where everybody loves Cinderella until it's time for the next game. Tom,
They're like Alabama and Purdue.

Speaker 3 (03:40):
What is this?

Speaker 5 (03:41):
You know, something like that would be pretty funny.

Speaker 6 (03:43):
Yeah, it's It's one of those things where I think there's, well,
most of the people who watch college basketball, who care
about college basketball, probably wants to see the you know,
the the two time Wooden Award winner against what looks
like an unbeatable Huskies team, as opposed to see an
eleven seed take on Alabama. You know, NC State. Don't

(04:05):
get me wrong, it's a fun story. Alabama. They've turned
around their basketball program and they've become one of those
teams where last year I actually thought that Bama was
going to make a deeper run. They got snuffed by
San Diego State in my bracket. Look, I live in
San Diego. It felt sacrilegious to circle Bama in the

(04:27):
sweet sixteen, but I had them both there and I
picked the wrong team advancing. You know, it's but that's
that's how Haywire things can go. But as we get
closer to the final, the cream really does rise to
the top and the Huskies just look so complete. This
has been such a drubbing from the opening whistle tip

(04:50):
off in the opening rounds against Jesus, who was it stets.

Speaker 2 (04:54):
In And oh I had stets in first half in
that game, I might have been the worst bet I
made all year.

Speaker 5 (05:01):
I mean I need that as a drop.

Speaker 4 (05:03):
I need that I had stets It in the first half.

Speaker 6 (05:08):
Yeah, the format there is a more appropriate like March
third betting talk.

Speaker 3 (05:17):
Oh god, that's a perfect I.

Speaker 4 (05:18):
Could just picture the I don't know if it's bet
MGM or whatever, like uh, we always say, like the textbook,
if you look up whatever in the dictionary, you'll see
a picture by this.

Speaker 3 (05:29):
I can.

Speaker 4 (05:29):
I could just hear the the p s A in
my head, Like if you think you have trouble gambling,
this might be an example.

Speaker 5 (05:36):
I had Stetson in the first half.

Speaker 4 (05:38):
You know.

Speaker 2 (05:40):
That was over literally you know when they say from
the jump, that was literally over from the jump as
they jumped the ball up over.

Speaker 3 (05:49):
Yeah, yeah, that one.

Speaker 5 (05:51):
That ball is tipped.

Speaker 2 (05:53):
The game is always over. Oh gosh, I mean that's
how they did.

Speaker 6 (05:58):
I just I just pictured Jared just tearing up a
ticket like a physical yeah, in his in his living room, Jack.

Speaker 2 (06:07):
Looking on doing the segments for MGM on the air,
looking at the like, yeah, no, we're gonna lose this one. Guys,
We're in trouble.

Speaker 3 (06:13):
Yeah. I dislike Dan Hurley. I dislike it very much.

Speaker 2 (06:18):
Like I'm the one that screwed up the plane because
of the stets and loss.

Speaker 4 (06:22):
It's my fall I Look, man, if you're talking about
being mad, I get it with the stets in first
half line. But anybody who was on Illinois last game
against Yukon, look, that was what a six point game
at halftime?

Speaker 5 (06:38):
Very low scoring. Yeah, and then you know.

Speaker 4 (06:43):
That was the beginning of Yukon's thirty to nothing run.
They went on a thirty zero run against the best
offense in college basketball. And you talk about being mad
not only at the allion I but at their head
coach Brad Underwood. That was the dumbest game plan I've
I've ever seen. And what's worse is the total lack
of adjustments. When he was on court with Andy Katz

(07:06):
doing the interview in the first half, he was like,
if we get a thousand shots blocked, we get a
thousand shots blocked, and It's like, what is he talking.

Speaker 5 (07:15):
About right now? What is he saying?

Speaker 4 (07:17):
So that's the thing I'm looking at tonight, among many
other things, is you can't assist Yukon in drubbing you.
You know, they can do a just fight on their own.
So I'm really curious to see what the game plan is.
I would expect a bunch of three pointers from Alabama tonight,
and I don't know if that's gonna mix in a

(07:37):
football stadium with a weird backtrop and if you can't
shoot from distance and shoot from the outside, Alabama is
gonna get smacked tonight.

Speaker 5 (07:46):
But we'll see how well they shoot.

Speaker 3 (07:48):
Well.

Speaker 6 (07:48):
Listen, I Klingon, I'm glad you mentioned him. He's been
like a wrecking ball in the paint for the Huskies
and he's had some hit or miss stretches during the
regular season. But it it's all about how you finish
in all sports, right, It really doesn't matter how pretty
irregular season looks. It's what you do in the postseason bracket.

(08:08):
This is as true in college basketball as it is
in college football, as it is in you know, professional.

Speaker 3 (08:14):
Basketball, football, baseball.

Speaker 6 (08:16):
It doesn't matter, you know, in baseball, literally the architect
of moneyball, Billy Bean.

Speaker 3 (08:22):
He said it himself.

Speaker 6 (08:23):
He's like, yeah, we can use all these predictive algorithms
and measures and analytics to get a team into the postseason,
but the postseason is a crapshoot because you don't know,
you don't know until you get there what's going to happen.
And so you know, just like we've seen in the past,
certain great teams they get the early exit and it's

(08:46):
because they showed up unprepared. And other great teams like
this Huskies team who had an unbelievable postseason last year,
are continuing in stride. They look so dominant. Yeah, with
Stetson and Northwestern, I went back and looked it up.
Both of those were huge blowouts. And then, like you
said about a line, the same thing with STSU for

(09:07):
Yukon in both of those.

Speaker 3 (09:09):
Games in the Sweet sixteen and the Elite.

Speaker 6 (09:10):
Eight, it looked close at the half, and then they
just have this incredible ability in the second half. I
guess to make some adjustments at halftime and then absolutely
turn on the after burners. It's just they're a special
team this year. They are a really really special team.

Speaker 2 (09:27):
Yeah, it's Ali in his prime. It's the ropodope. They think,
you know, you think you're in the game, and then
you don't make as many adjustment. I don't know that.
Like the Brade Underwood thing was weird. They're known for that,
not making adjustments, kind of just rolling the ball out
and saying, our guys are more talented than your guys.
But you can't do that when you're facing Yukon. So
how about some numbers to show you just how good
Yukon's been in this tournament. And this is a weird

(09:48):
number to show how good they've been. But the fact
that they are four to zero against the spread, covering
the number by double digits, annihilating opponents, and they're shooting
twenty eight percent from three in the tournament, twenty five
for eighty nine. Now that's their offense. Like they run this.
Their regular offense during the regular season is like this

(10:10):
pattern motion offense. It's a lot of off ball screening.
It's a lot of guys running off the wings and
trying to get into the corner and make open shots.
When it's running well, guys are just wide open, taking
wide open threes. And they're a very good three point
shooting team. During the regular season thirty six percent. The
shots aren't falling in the tournament, so what do they do.
That's okay, let's just throw it down to Donovan Klingen

(10:32):
and let him go absolutely berserk. They are shooting in
the tournament from two point range over sixty percent. They
can just completely switch their normal offense and say, you
know what, we're gonna throw that out and we're just
gonna let Donovan cling because that's the advantage that we have.
It doesn't matter what kind of defense you play. If

(10:53):
the shots aren't falling from deep, they go inside. If
the shots are falling from the outside, well then you've
got no chance to begin with. So it's just it's
pick your poison with them. And then defensively, I mean
Donovan Klingen, it's unbelievable. Illinois shot three for twenty five
in that game from the Elite eight, and in their
twenty two minutes with Klingon on the floor, they were

(11:13):
zero for nineteen on shots directly challenging him. So offensively
they can go versatile. Defensively, you can't get to the paint.
You've got to just make a boatload of threes, and
obviously Illinois didn't do that, So I don't know what
the recipe is to beat them. You just hope in
a prayer and you just got to make a gigantic
amount of shots.

Speaker 4 (11:34):
Yeah, well that's the thing. You go back to Yukon's
last loss. It was against Creighton on the road, and
what does Creighton do well? Especially at home? They hit
a lot of long distance shots. And that's absolutely something
Alabama's gonna have to do because they play no defense none,
like they I've said all season long. They're a less

(11:55):
publicized Kentucky. You know, we focus on John Calipari and Kentucky. Kentucky,
Kentucky early exit, Kentucky. Just stylistically, Alabama is very similar.

Speaker 5 (12:06):
It's like the Spider Man meme. They're pointing at each other.

Speaker 4 (12:09):
That would be Kentucky style and Alabama style offensively, where
they are just looking to outscore you. They're not playing
a lick of defense. So if Alabama holds true and
is playing no defense against Yukon, who does play great defense,
you have to just be red hot. This is to me,

(12:30):
Alabama is more like a mid major in this one
where you've got to go golky. You know, you gotta
have someone just go crazy.

Speaker 6 (12:40):
Yes, and people say you never go full gol Key
this one, you gotta go full Golky. I really I
feel strongly about what you just said. Alabama feels like
a mid major against Yukon, and that what a compliment
to Dan Hurley and Yukon that you can take a
basketball program with the amount of money in athletic endownment,

(13:03):
with as much money as they have the name, image,
and likeness funneling into these players' pocketbuts to be able
to say that about Alabama going up against any team
in the final four, Yeah, you got to go out
there and play like you're a mid major and go
goal gye it up, kids, because Yukon's coming for you
and they're.

Speaker 3 (13:23):
Just a wrecking ball.

Speaker 6 (13:24):
It's dude, It's spooky what they've done in this tournament
over the past two years.

Speaker 3 (13:29):
It really is.

Speaker 2 (13:30):
I mean, so let's talk a little bit about Alabama
because I think, you know, obviously Yukon's going to get
the love, but Alabama's had a really nice run here.

Speaker 3 (13:38):
Nato.

Speaker 2 (13:38):
It's I think if you asked him if this team
was capable of this before the season, I think last
Thar's team was much better. He's had better teams, he's
had more talent, but I think this team has a
little bit of of the it factor. So midway through
the year, they moved Rylan Griffin to the four, and
he's kind of a guard, but they went really small
and since that point their offense has been absolutely electric.

(13:59):
And because they're very versatile, right, so they've got Griffin
and Mark Sears and Aaron Estrada. I mean, they've basically
got three guards on the outside that are all kind
of point guards, and they spread the floor and they
have great ball spacing, and they get into the paint
and then they kick out and they hit threes. And
if you help off the off of the drive, you're
gonna leave one of these shooters open in the corner.
The problem is, again it goes back to Donovan Clinging.

(14:21):
You are matching up I think, besides Edie, the most
dominant player in this tournament. Maybe you can even say
one A one B Clinging and Eadie. You are matching
that person up with a six foot ten undersized big man,
Nick Pringle. And if you don't run Pringle, then you've
got to go with the other guy. The you know,
the big guy that's shooting a bunch of threes for them.
Nelson and he is just now he might pull, he

(14:44):
might pull, clinging away from the room a little bit,
but it's just it's it's it's gonna be tough to
rebound and get a lot of size there in the middle.
I mean, goodness, gracious, Yukon's scoring margin in the paint
in this tournament is plus one eight team. They're out
scoring opponents in the paint one ninety eight to eighty.
I think Alabama's gonna really struggle to defend that inside,

(15:04):
and I think Klington's gonna have a big game.

Speaker 4 (15:06):
Yeah, you very well could be correct on that one,
because he's been sensational, especially the last game against Illinois.
I would just hope that he doesn't either block or effect.
I don't know, math is a little fuzzy, but like
eighty one Illinois shots, I would say in the ballpark
of what he did last game, you know, it seemed
like it where he had about five blocks, but he

(15:28):
changed so many shots because they're like, hey, let's just
keep attacking the rim on this clinging guy.

Speaker 5 (15:34):
That's a great strategy.

Speaker 4 (15:36):
Good lord, I hope Alabama isn't at dumb like Illinois was.

Speaker 5 (15:39):
Hey.

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Speaker 5 (16:12):
We are off and running.

Speaker 4 (16:14):
We've got Rich Ornberger, Penn State All American, Jared Smith
FSR betting analyst.

Speaker 5 (16:20):
I'm Brian No coming up next.

Speaker 4 (16:22):
Just because it sounds negative doesn't mean the truth is hatred.

Speaker 5 (16:27):
We'll explain it is.

Speaker 4 (16:28):
Fox Sports Radio's Countdown to tip Off, presented by BETMGM.

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Speaker 3 (16:44):
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(17:07):
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(17:37):
of the March Madness action here. Now listen. This might
sound negative, but it's just the truth. Watching the first
half of the Iowa Yukon Women's semi final was one
of the worst things I've ever seen in my life.

(18:00):
It was freaking brutal, missed layups, Iowa had nine turnovers,
just some of the sloppiest basketball I've ever seen. And
I started thinking about that, and I'm like, you know,
it's gonna sound incredibly negative, and I'm gonna sound like
a hater to some people, and some people are gonna
think I'm saying things that I'm not saying at all,

(18:21):
like I'm down on women's basketball as a whole, which
I'm not. And it just got me thinking, I'm like,
you should be able to call a spade a spade.
You don't have to dwell on it, but just don't
sugarcoat it. And if we're talking about equality, it's exactly
what it sounds like if you would say the same
thing about the men. And I'll give you an example

(18:42):
that Yukon Illinois first half was rough.

Speaker 5 (18:45):
Yeah, I was twenty nine to twenty three.

Speaker 3 (18:47):
Yep.

Speaker 4 (18:48):
If you would say that, like, man, that was a
rough first half, why wouldn't you say the same thing
about the women If you aren't, that is an equality,
And again, you don't have to dwell on it, but
just don't sugarcoat it. That was freaking brutal. It got
going better in the second half, but man, that first
half that's a torture video right there. If you did
something wrong, it's like, hey, you better eat your vegetables.

(19:10):
I'm gonna make it Rewatch that first half of the
yukont Iowa game.

Speaker 5 (19:14):
That was awful.

Speaker 3 (19:15):
Yeah.

Speaker 6 (19:15):
Look, there's been stinkers in a lot of sports that
I love. Look, women's college basketball doesn't.

Speaker 3 (19:21):
Do it for me. It never has.

Speaker 6 (19:23):
I am aware that is becoming more and more and
more palatable to a wider base of people. And I
watched the entire game last night, and I don't think
it proves anything anything to me personally. I enjoyed it
about the same as I normally do. You know, whether
it's the first half or the second half. I'm just

(19:45):
not as into it as I am the men's game.
It's just how it's always been for me. And by
the way, this isn't a sexist remark, because I love
women's volleyball. I watched that more than I would ever
watch men's volleyball. I married a women's volleyball player, for
crying out loud. I love the sport. I love women's tennis.
I like it a lot better than I like men's tennis.
I like women's soccer better than I like men's soccer. Like,

(20:07):
there's plenty of sports that do it for me more
from you know, on the on the playing field with
the women than it does with the men.

Speaker 3 (20:16):
But basketball is in one of those games.

Speaker 6 (20:18):
And like I said, there are plenty of sports that
I'm interested in where they can be absolute stinkers. Do
you remember it was like two years ago Colts Denver
Thursday night football.

Speaker 3 (20:29):
It was like a twelve thirteen.

Speaker 4 (20:31):
I was there. Yes, I bet the under. That's the
only way it was nice.

Speaker 6 (20:37):
It was a historically terrible primetime football game, Like historically
terrible Russell Wilson.

Speaker 3 (20:45):
We're expecting so much to his earlier this season. I
was like, oh, what a terrible game.

Speaker 6 (20:49):
Anyways, my point being, yeah, look, it doesn't matter if
you're into a sport. It doesn't matter if you're not.
It doesn't matter if it's women, it doesn't matter if
it's men. If it stinks, it stinks, And sometimes regardless
of the sport, it stinks.

Speaker 3 (21:03):
The first half between Iowa and Yukon was a terrible watch.

Speaker 6 (21:08):
And that is for anybody who's a fan of women's
college basketball or not a fan of it was it
was difficult to watch that.

Speaker 2 (21:16):
Yeah, it's a different sport and I have a very
unique perspective of this. So in another life, before I
did this what we're doing now, it was actually a
sports information director at multiple Division one college athletic programs.
The first place that I worked at was Florida Atlantic
and I was the women's basketball sid slash play by
play guy, So I traveled with the team and that

(21:39):
was my first I was twenty four years old. It
was my third job out of school. Basically I had
an internship and the one other job with minor league baseball,
and then I got the job at FAU. I also
did baseball, so I was doing men's sports as well,
but I got my first real glimpse of women's sports,
like up close and personal, traveling with the team, understanding
what Division one athletes go through on a daily basis,

(22:00):
and it was an eye opening experience. It's a very
different sport. It's played below the rim, it's not played
above the rim. The coaching is different, the scouting is different,
like everything that goes into it is. It's different. And
I know they're playing the same sport, but they are
not playing it in similar fashions. Again, it is played
below the rim, so there's a lot more cutting and

(22:20):
baseline stuff, and you know, it's just a different sport
and it can be a little bit difficult on the
eyes when those things aren't going well. I think the
other end of the coin is you give Gino Oriema
a ton of credit. I mean, he made Caitlyn Clark
look very ordinary for twenty minutes last night, and that
is no easy task. On the other end of the spectrum,

(22:41):
the equality thing you were talking about, Brian, I'll take
it a step further. Let's get on the refs for
that call last night at the end of the game, Like, yeah,
and it was the right call. Like we yell at
the refs just as much as we do in the
men's game. Well, let's yell at them in the women's game.
That was a terrible call in that spot. The game
had been officiated up to that point. Like, let's let

(23:01):
them play tonight because it was a very physical game.
As you guys talked about, the first half was kind
of a slog. They weren't calling a lot of fouls.
Yukon has a very thin rotation. If they called a
lot of fouls on Yukon, they probably wouldn't have been
then to finish the game. They only played six players.
They didn't call a whole lot on Iowa either, because
Paige Beckers, who's like one of the best scorers getting

(23:22):
into the paint, shot zero free throw attempts last night.
She didn't get to the line at all. So they
were calling the game very loosely, and then in that
spot they called it was a foul, but it was
kind of a nickel dimer and and I just I
hated that call in that spot to decide the game.
So if you want to be equal, let's also get
on the reps equally in the men's game as much

(23:44):
as we do in there in the women's game as
much you do in the men's game. Because I hated
that call last night in that spot.

Speaker 5 (23:48):
Yeah, it was.

Speaker 4 (23:49):
It was brutal because what Yukon was down by a point. Yeah,
they get called for an illegal screen with three point
nine seconds to go, and that led to the end
right there. We'll never know Paige Beckers had the ball,
would you have just shot it from three or create?

Speaker 5 (24:05):
We'll never know.

Speaker 4 (24:06):
So we were robbed of a moment right there. And
like you said, Jared, technically a file but completely a
nickel dimer. You swallow the whistles in that situation, I think.
But I just look, I want the women's game to
put it this way. There are some people that are
trying this product for the first time. It's this restaurant

(24:27):
in town that I'm hearing so much about, and if
you go there and you have a bad meal, you
might not go back again. And so there's a lot
more writing on this, and I just don't want someone
to watch last night and say, man.

Speaker 5 (24:40):
This sucks.

Speaker 4 (24:40):
I'm not trying this again, because you go back the
previous games before last night UKHN taking on what USC
when it was Paige Beckers Juju Watkins high level basketball.
The first half of Iowa LSU was a freaking shootout.
It was fantastic. So that's my thing. It's not to

(25:02):
be like this game STIGs. It's it's just like that
was brutal. There's nothing wrong with saying that first half
last night in the Yukon Iowa game was brutal. But furthermore,
I don't want someone as if they're going to the
casino for the first time, and like, let me give
rouletta try and you lose your money, Like Roulette sucks.
I'm not playing this again. I don't want that to
happen to the women.

Speaker 6 (25:22):
Yeah, I love I love that comparison about the restaurants
because I even look at it like almost in the
world of cuisines, like if you say to yourself, well,
I'm not really a sushi fan, but I guess I
will try this restaurant because everybody says it's really good.

Speaker 3 (25:36):
It's called Caitlin Clarks. Have you been anyways.

Speaker 6 (25:39):
It's out in Iowa, miles from any nearest ocean, but
I'm gonna try their sushi. And then you go and
you watch that first half and you're like, goodness, gracious,
my god.

Speaker 3 (25:48):
What is going on?

Speaker 6 (25:49):
Why have everybody? Well, look, I agree with you, it
will not be I'm not posting.

Speaker 3 (25:55):
My Yelp review after that one.

Speaker 6 (25:57):
I'm going to I'm going to bite my I'm gonna wait,
I'm gonna watch the final. I'm gonna watch more women's
college basketball next season because I like, Look, I like
the feeling when everybody's doing the same thing at the
same time and enjoying a shared experience. I like the
holidays for that reason, the fourth of July, the you know,
the wintertime holidays like Christmas and Hanukkah. You know, it's

(26:20):
when everybody's together doing the super Bowl, Right, When everybody's
together doing the same things, and you show up to
work the next week and everybody's talking about the same things,
it's interesting to me, right. And I think more now
than ever, people are tuned in and caring. And I
think Caitlin Clark is carrying a lot of water for
women's college basketball right now and they're trying to capitalize

(26:41):
on this and good for them. But people are caring
about this sport, and so am I. I want to
see them do better. I want to be more interested.
Last night was a poor representation because, like you said,
the rest let them play for the most part, and
it just was I mean, from just every aspect you
could ask for, it was. It was kind of a dud.

(27:03):
But look, the LSU game, the LSU Iowa game was fun. Uh,
this one, this one didn't meet I'm sure a lot
of people's expectations.

Speaker 3 (27:11):
But we'll see what the final looks like. Now.

Speaker 2 (27:13):
Yeah, I think no matter how good of the game,
how good a game will be, there will always be
naysayers in this particular arena because of just that's just
the way the world works.

Speaker 3 (27:24):
Yep.

Speaker 2 (27:24):
Unfortunately, I think women's basketball is always going to have
that glass ceiling because there's just there's just some people
out there who just don't care how good the product is.
They're just not going to watch. I'll say this from
a betting perspective, I prefer I prefer betting the women
to the men a million times, a million times out
of a million, and even two million times on Sunday

(27:45):
because it's an easier market to navigate. There's not as
many eyeballs on it, there's not as many people betting it,
and that allows for opportunities. I call it a softer market.
I know that sounds weird, like a you know, the
fluffy pillow you put your head down.

Speaker 3 (27:59):
You know.

Speaker 2 (27:59):
I'd rather have a much softer landing with a lot
of these numbers than the men, who a lot more attention,
a lot more eyeballs, a lot more people betting it.
The sportsbook spend more time curating those numbers and making
them a lot harder to beat. The women, they just
kind of throw the number up and they let the
market figure it out, and there's not a whole lot
of market to figure it out. So I love the

(28:22):
game itself because I have a deep rooted respect for
the players. Again, you want to talk about like overlooked
these women's basketball players. They're on buses going up and
down the country, all over and they don't get even
up one percent of the attention that the men's team
that the men's teams do. And then on the other hand,
you have to look past some of those difficulties with

(28:44):
the game. It is a tougher game to watch. Sometimes
it is not as artistically beautiful as dudes flying through
the air throwing dunks down. It's just it's a different game.
It's a little more I would call it scheme. And
if that scheme is thrown off by a really good coach,
say Gino Orima, it's gonna look like a really bad
product because they don't know what they're doing out there.

(29:05):
Because Gino's defense did a really good job throwing Caitlyn
Clark off her game for twenty minutes last night, and
even in the second half, she wasn't as gifted of
a score as you normally see. It was a little
bit more of a slog. But as Brian said at
the top of the segment, these games happened in the
men's sports all the freaking time, and it was just
one of those clunkers.

Speaker 4 (29:25):
Hey you talk about artistic beauty. Oh yeah, that's something
that you know, really registered with me because we have
someone on this show that is the walking, breathing definition
of that. With some artistic beauty to throw your way.
This is the one and only Isaac blowing.

Speaker 8 (29:43):
Crime, especially on the radio. I s the chisel jaw,
the granted features long ten, a flowing mainlike air.

Speaker 9 (30:03):
What the hell is the matter with you?

Speaker 3 (30:04):
No time picturing Fabia.

Speaker 8 (30:08):
Yeah, I'm telling you anything's possible in radio, folks, Anything's
possible in theater of the mind.

Speaker 9 (30:16):
Anything is possible.

Speaker 8 (30:17):
In the NCAA tournament, and in talking about Iowa was
a victory over Yukon. Iowa will be facing for the
national championship on Sunday, South Carolina after they knocked off
NC State on Friday night of the Final Four at
Cleveland seventy eight to fifty nine during Group to thirty seven,
and oh advanced to their third national championship game in
seven years. They will face Iowa after their seventy one

(30:41):
sixty nine win over Yukon. Caitlin Clark twenty one points,
nine rebounds and seven assists.

Speaker 9 (30:46):
In the NBA on Friday.

Speaker 8 (30:48):
Night, the Phoenix Suns jumped out to a fifteen to
nothing lead beat Minnesota ninety seven to eighty seven. The
Dallas Mavericks defeated Golden State what await to what six
without Luka Doncic because of right knee soreness. PJ Washington
thirty two points, including the game winning layup with four
point five to play. The Toronto Raptors broke a fifteen

(31:08):
game losing streak with a one to seventeen to to
eleven win at Milwaukee. Giannis Antedakumpo did not play because
of a hamstring injury. The Bucks have lost five of six.
The San Antonio Spurs winning at New Orleans what eleven
to one oh nine Victor Webbin Yama seventeen points, twelve
rebounds and nine assists. The Chicago Bulls defeated the New
York Knicks one away to one hundred. Javonte Green career

(31:32):
highs of twenty five points and thirteen rebounds, and in
Major League Baseball on Friday night at the Boston Red
Sox defeated the Angels in Anaheim eight to six for
their fifth consecutive win. Jaron Duran the go ahead home
run at the top of the eighth inning. Tyler O'Neil
added two more home runs for the Red Sox. Fellas,
I'm gonna go back to looking myself in the mirror.

Speaker 9 (31:53):
Back to you, Thank you.

Speaker 4 (31:55):
I Lo it is Fox Sports Radios Camp Down to
tip Off, presented by Ben MGM. Shortly after the show,
our podcast will be going up. If you miss anything
on today's show, be sure to check it out. Just
search Fox Sports Radio wherever you get your podcasts. Be
sure to also follow rate and review it again. Just
search Fox Sports Radio wherever you get your podcasts, and
you'll see the show posted right after we get off
the air.

Speaker 3 (32:15):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (32:16):
I was joking around, So I did a fill in
show for Milwaukee yesterday morning, and I was basically saying, Man,
the Bucks stink right now, right they had lost four
of five games, and I jokingly said, are we going
Raptors money line tonight?

Speaker 5 (32:31):
You know the way Milwaukee's playing?

Speaker 1 (32:33):
Good?

Speaker 2 (32:33):
Lord.

Speaker 5 (32:34):
I was just kidding around.

Speaker 4 (32:35):
And lo and behold they lose outright, and of course,
you know, local radio get a bunch of pushback like.

Speaker 5 (32:42):
Oh, no, Bucks are great, They're just a little banged up.

Speaker 3 (32:45):
It's fine.

Speaker 4 (32:46):
They'll crank it up and maybe go sixteen to oh
come postseason time, you know. And then they go out
and lose to a team that had lost fifteen straight.
I know, Giannis didn't play.

Speaker 5 (32:56):
They lost fifteen in a row.

Speaker 4 (32:58):
So you lose if you're the Bucks to the Wizards.
Doc Rivers questions your professionalism on the road. You come back,
you lose at home to the Grizzlies, and then you
go and lose to the Raptors. My gosh, what is
going on in Milwaukee right now?

Speaker 3 (33:14):
That's rough.

Speaker 6 (33:15):
I mean, especially when you think about all of the
moves that they've made to keep Jannis happy and to
keep this nucleus together. I hope for Milwaukee fans sake
that they pull it all back together and they get
this thing right, because right now it's not and it

(33:36):
doesn't matter. Look, it doesn't matter how hard you try.
Sometimes it just doesn't work. And it can be year
to year in the NBA, Like you remember when Kyrie
and Harden and Durant all assembled it was like, you know,
part of the Avengers coming together for one of the
movies out in Brooklyn that lasted for a cup of
coffee and then everybody goes, yeah, never mind that sucked.

(33:58):
We're just gonna we're gonna go ways, We're gonna hit
the whole dusty trail. And they all blew apart and
it never amounted to anything. Now, Jannis obviously has some
credentials to his name, and the Bucks have had success,
but I mean, this, this, this can fail. There's no
such thing as too good to fail in the NBA
because just around the corner there's another super team waiting

(34:20):
to take it down.

Speaker 2 (34:22):
Doesn't it sound a little similar to what we're dealing
with in the college basketball ranks. I mean, it's the Celtics,
and I know the West is a little bit tougher,
but is there anybody in the East that's beating the Celtics?
Like I know? And it's wild because it's like Yukon
and the Sweet sixteam was in Boston and now it's
the Celtics, and yeah, you know, it's like the Northeast,
the Hartford, Connecticut to you know, I ninety five contingent

(34:44):
there with Boston and Yukon. But it just seems like,
put the Celtics in the finals against one of these
Western contenders and let's roll the ball out. I just
especially now at the Knicks losing Julius Ran for the
rest of sas like, I don't know where that other
East contender is coming from. But I guess things have
surprised me before in the NBA.

Speaker 4 (35:04):
Yeah, well said man, It sure does seem like that.
It would be a major upset if the Celtics don't
come out of the East. Hey, we've got Jared Smith
FSR Betting analyst Rich Ornberger, Penn State All American. I'm
Brian know coming up next. Back to back successful weeks
of the parlay plattern Uh oh?

Speaker 5 (35:23):
Is that what we're looking at over here? Jared Smith?

Speaker 2 (35:26):
Possible to top last week?

Speaker 5 (35:30):
It was at least two to one? Did he get
up to how what was the payout last week?

Speaker 2 (35:34):
It was almost ten ten to one? Last week was
I will we'll recap it because this week's parlay is like,
you know, a drop in the bucket compared to that,
because it's just not as many games left. But last
week was last week was freaking off unbelievable.

Speaker 4 (35:49):
I'm sorry to short change you. I didn't realize the
payout was that that bit. So he'll deal detail last
week and then ride the momentum into this week. It
is Fox Sports Radios Countdown to tip Off presented by BETMGM.
It is Fox Sports Radios Countdown to tip Off presented
by bet MGM. Every time you make a wager at BETMGM,

(36:10):
you earn BETMGM Rewards points that can be redeemed for
things like for bonus bets and boost tokens. Gotta love
the boost tokens get a bigger payout. They can also
be converted to MGM rewards points that can be used
towards dining shows and hotel rooms at over twenty MGM resorts.

Speaker 5 (36:27):
All right, let's do this.

Speaker 1 (36:30):
Check this out parlay letter.

Speaker 4 (36:33):
Okay, mister successful parlay platter prognosticator Jared Smith almost a
ten to one payout last week.

Speaker 5 (36:42):
What do you have in store for us this week?

Speaker 2 (36:44):
I mean, let's just soak it in for a moment,
because we don't win these very often. I think maybe
in the two years or done this show, maybe have one,
two or three. We usually take really big shots, but
the reason why this one was special is just because
it was all four lee games, picking correctly all four
final four teams, and it was just bang bang, bang

(37:05):
bang two days of it. And then we get to
that NC State game at the end, which was the
only you know, underdog we picked. And I'll be honest,
the second half of that game, I there was not
a one moment in the second half where I did
not think NZ State was winning like that. That's how
confident I was with the wolf Pach. So here we go.
How can we follow up a ten to one four
team parlay with four different games in the LAIT eight. Well,

(37:28):
not a whole lot of options this week, guy, So
we're gonna we're gonna tighten it up. We're gonna try
to get another winner out there for you with a
much shorter payout. We're gonna do a two team same
game parlot. We're gonna do the perdue NC State game.
We're gonna put Lance Jones to record one steal in
the game. He has done this in eleven straight games
dating back to the end of February. He is the
reigning Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Year with Southern

(37:51):
Illinois last season transferred to Curdue. He's been fantastic on
the defensive perimeter. Also is a very clunch shot maker.
I love Lance Jones's game. He's gonna be huge tonight,
and then we'll take Zach Edy. The big fella will
go forty plus so over thirty nine and a half
points plus rebounds. I mean, goodness, gracious, the dude is
averaging thirty and sixteen in the tournament. That's well above forty.

(38:14):
And you just look at this game. I just I
don't know how DJ Burns or anyone on NC State
is gonna match up with Edie in the middle. He
might have twenty points and twenty rebounds in this game.
So this is a two leg same game parlay. I
love that MGM lets has put these together because to me,
Lance Jones to get one steel is like a layup

(38:34):
and then Zach Edy the forty plus points and rebounds.
That's the tough part of this parlay. But plus one
twenty over at bet MGM not a bad payout considering
we're getting basically one leg for free. It's like a
free bingo square with Lance Jones on the steel and
we're getting Zach Edy. In my opinion, plus one twenty
to go over forty points plus rebound.

Speaker 3 (38:55):
What do we think, bro?

Speaker 4 (38:56):
Look, First off, congrats on going from a ten to
one payout to just plus one twenty. And I'm being
honest here, right, because some people are like, you know,
I won the ten to one long shot, let me.

Speaker 5 (39:10):
Try nine thousand to one.

Speaker 4 (39:11):
I'm want a hot But seriously, it's smart to dial
it back. Not every opportunity is a ten to one,
you know, opportunity. Sometimes you do have to dial it back.
That's a good thing.

Speaker 2 (39:21):
Ye appreciate that.

Speaker 6 (39:22):
Working with Krakenberger last will Pill last week I filled
in for Schwartz on the other show. Okay, you know
what was fun about that chat when we got to
talking parlays was he was like, units are so important.

Speaker 3 (39:37):
And that's something that a lot of people.

Speaker 6 (39:38):
Don't see is the discipline in how much is wagered
on these parlays from Jared, Like every week it's the
same amount.

Speaker 3 (39:47):
It's a sprinkling, it's a consistency.

Speaker 6 (39:49):
So when you hit that ten to one, it feels
good because you're a discipline better.

Speaker 3 (39:54):
It's dude, this is fun.

Speaker 6 (39:56):
I was so pumped when I saw that parlay hit
last week.

Speaker 3 (39:59):
It was like a team the group dex with Thuts.
It was.

Speaker 2 (40:02):
And you're right about the parlays and Cracks fantastic at
that because he's not a big proponent of parlays. Obviously,
we do the show. We know people like the bet parlays.
That's why bet MGM wants us to do this segment.
And I understand why. I think this segment has always
been an opportunity for us to show you how to
bet parlays properly and not to just throw a bunch
of stuff out there and hope that it sticks. We

(40:24):
do one every single week. We're consistent with it every
single week. Sometimes they're fifty to one, sometimes they're plus
one twenty, but it's always consistent.

Speaker 5 (40:33):
I'll tell you what.

Speaker 4 (40:34):
It is pretty sweet if the last leg of your
parlay happens to start off badly. That wasn't a great
start for NC State against Duke last week, and you're thinking,
all right, it's probably not gonna come through, and then
it does. Oh it's a beautiful thing right there. Absolutely, Hey,
comeing up next. How important is the pace in this game?

(40:56):
We will dive in around the corner, you know, let's
talk strategy.

Speaker 3 (41:06):
Here.

Speaker 4 (41:06):
Huh, let's get out the protractors and the bar crafts.
Let's dissect this bad boy over here. Yeah, we've got
NC State against Purdue. Okay, so here's my question, which
pace would favor NC State more?

Speaker 5 (41:23):
Okay?

Speaker 4 (41:24):
Where I think of it this way, maybe it's not
as much pace as it is transition defense. What would
be ideal for NC State is if you play great
transition defense and you don't allow Purdue anything easy in transition,
because when Purdue is able to run and they can
do it, they're that much more deadly er right where

(41:47):
you've got Edie in the half court game. But if
you look, if Braden Smith pushes the pace you look
to score, get some easy opportunities in transition. A lot
of times they present themselves and sometimes Purdue is just
not willing to go down that road. I think NC
State's got to play great transition defense to limit the

(42:08):
easy baskets, which is obvious. But it's funny, right because
well then you still have strength playing through Zach Edy.
So but but again, let's let's start first things first.
It's good to play solid transition defense and limit easy opportunities.

Speaker 5 (42:25):
No one would say it's not so I.

Speaker 4 (42:27):
Think it starts with that for NC State, But then
you still have to defend this guy, Zach Edy on
back to back wouldn't awards not the easiest thing in
the world, But you can't allow you got to take
something away. And if you're allowing easy transition buckets and
you have to defend Edie, it's not gonna work for you.

Speaker 3 (42:47):
Yeah.

Speaker 6 (42:47):
Yeah, that's that's a great call. You have to slow
down Purdue. You have to make this a little bit
more of a half court game. You have to defend Edie. Well,
I'm saying these things like a checklist, like okay, well right,
well we got branches, yeah, get out or just check
check check.

Speaker 3 (43:06):
Yeah. It's not gonna be.

Speaker 6 (43:07):
As simple as picking up and walking out of a
grocery store Kroger's, Vaughn's Safe Way with produce. I promise
you that. But if you can somehow put a stop
to their transition offense, if you can somehow force them
to play a half court game, if you can d
up using your big who really only started playing significant

(43:31):
minutes late in the season for NC State, Mohammed Diara. Yeah,
to d up Edie, which is a tall task, and
I do mean that both figuratively and literally, because Edie's
a giant.

Speaker 3 (43:43):
Good luck there. If you can do all of.

Speaker 6 (43:46):
That, yeah, then you have a significant chance set at
a huge upset here.

Speaker 3 (43:50):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (43:51):
I'm glad you mentioned Diara because we were on his
rebounds prop member last week. Yep, and he had fifty.
I mean. And Marquette's a different animal, right, I'm not
talking about the Duke game. I'm talking about the Marquette game.
Marquette's a very different animal because they just don't have
as much size whereas obviously Purdue does. So the thing
about Purdue is they lost to Ohio State about midway

(44:14):
through February. That was the last time that they lost
or other than the Big Den Tournament. But you know,
their last real big loss, and it just you look
at the numbers in that game and then you look
at what they've done since. They've been very slow, one
of the slowest temples in the country actually two hundred
and fifty sixth in tempo since February eighteenth, which is

(44:36):
the day before or the day after they lost that
game in Ohio State. So their last like real, oh goodness,
gracious kind of loss. They've really played slow since and
and they're not a very fast tempo team to begin with.
And the thing that's really unique about their game this
year is I think they're more suited to play fast
because of Braden Smith. I mean, he's eleventh nationally in
his history. He is one of the better creators in

(44:58):
the country. When I w Perdue this year. The reason
why I was higher on Purdue this year coming into
the tournament is because they're much more comfortable in those
tight moments handling the ball. Last year it was all freshman. Basically,
they added Lance Jones, as we mentioned, the Missouri Valley
Defensive Player of the Year, gave some depth on the perimeter,
and then Braden Smith and Fletcher Lawyer, who were freshmen
on that team last year that lost to fairly Digginson. Well,

(45:20):
now they are sophomores, more experienced, They're more comfortable coming
off of ball screens. Edie is more athletic. They look
more suited to run if they need to run. The
question is how do they handle DJ Burns because he
is a really difficult task in the post. So in
transition I think he's not very good because he's not

(45:41):
very fleet of foot. But in the half court game,
in the post up game. I mean, he ate Kyle
Philipowski for lunch eighteen points on thirteen post up sets
against Philipowski, who fouled out of the game. And listen,
I know Zach EDI's big and tallt so is Kyle Philipowski.
So I think it is a very very interesting matchup

(46:01):
in the post between Burns and Edie. Edie I think
has the straight up post up offensive game set that
you might like, but Burns has this ability. He's like
a nimble polar bear out there, like he can find
ways to get into the paint and make it really
hard for you. So obviously, ANSWER State has to make three.
He's no doubt about that when you're basically double digit underdog.

(46:21):
But I think DJ Burns in the paint can give
Zach Edy a bit of a bit of a tussle.
And if you get the big man in foul trouble,
well then it makes things even more interesting.

Speaker 4 (46:31):
I think it's so important for NC State to force
turnovers tonight because listen, you're not gonna be swatting Zach
Edy shots left and right now. Okay, the guy is
a skyscraper, you know, And it reminds me of remember
Carl Malone with the Utah Jazz. I know, you do
the male man, but the way he played defense. He

(46:54):
was a pretty good defender, but he would swat down
on the ball in the post. He wasn't a shot blocker,
but he was really good at forcing turnovers. And that's
gonna be really important for NC State tonight because if
they play through Zach Edy, you're not gonna be blocking
his shots. Maybe they can swat down on the ball
force a few turnovers. If you can turnover Braden Smith

(47:16):
just hopefully having an Iowa women's basketball first half with
the nine turnovers, there's something like that where NC State
is forcing a lot of turnovers. We talk about takeaways
in football all the time, Forcing fumbles and interceptions very
important in basketball. We've talked about Iowa State in men's
college hoops this year. They've done a phenomenal job of

(47:39):
forcing turnovers. This is a big part of their success.
I think that's really important for NC State tonight. And
then obviously just outside shooting. You know, what is it
gonna look like in both games collectively? Is NC State
noticeably better shooting from distance than Purdue?

Speaker 5 (47:58):
I mean, if they are, that's a big deal.

Speaker 4 (48:00):
Who's the team that just says, you know, we're not
gonna shoot a bunch of threes? Is it you con
Maybe they just play inside more than not. So I'm
really curious to see how the three point shooting goes,
especially in this NC State Perdue game. But also Matt
Painter talked about it the Purdue head coach. When we
don't turn over the ball, we don't lose. So what
does NC State need to do? They need to force turnovers.

Speaker 6 (48:22):
When you are a significant underdog taking on a significant favorite,
what you have to do. I mean this is this
is very generalized, but I'll make it more specific in
a second. But what you have to do is you
have to take the favorite, the dominant opponent, out of
their game. You have to find a way to make

(48:45):
what seems so ordinary to them feel emotional. Now, what
do I mean about that? Like Zach Eaedy, he makes
exceptional basketball look easy. Right, he's under the hoop, he
plays great defense, You feed him the ball, he puts
it in the back. It's all very simple feel. It
feels like he's playing with middle schoolers out there. Sometimes

(49:05):
when we're talking about some of the best basketball players
on the planet, at least in the college realm up
against this guy, it's like waves breaking against rocks.

Speaker 3 (49:14):
Well, guess what, Sometimes you gotta break a rock. You know.

Speaker 6 (49:17):
In hockey, they call him enforcers, they call him goons.
They send him on the ice to get inside the
head of the star player, to maybe pick a fight,
to nudge somebody.

Speaker 3 (49:26):
And c State's got to play a little dirty here.

Speaker 6 (49:28):
I'm not talking about hurting anybody. I'm not talking about
getting anybody on the injured list, you know, especially if
you have an opportunity to see the boiler Makers in
a final, and that's gonna be really good for NCAA basketball,
and there's gonna be a lot of fan interest. But
I'm talking about throwing elbows into rip caages. I'm talking
about trash talking. I'm talking about making what's ordinary seem

(49:50):
harder somehow. For Perdue, you gotta get out there and
get inside some people's heads. You gotta ruffle some feathers,
even if it's not your personality, even if it gets
you you out of your game a little bit by
talking some stuff. You gotta go out there and say
something about somebody's sister. You gotta go out there and
you got to hit somebody a little bit low, you
know what I mean. Every once in a while, you

(50:11):
gotta go five on two at the bottom of a
pile in football. In basketball, you don't get away with
as much. You don't get away with as much, but
you got you gotta do something dirty to to just
get inside. We're here for business. We're not your friends.
We're not your friends. This is for the Final four,
this is for our chance to take a bite at

(50:32):
the apple. Screw you. You gotta make it personal sometimes,
so in my mind, the only way NC State this
feels very different from Yukon Alabama because I think Alabama,
if they're.

Speaker 3 (50:44):
Shoot or shoot, they have the skill to beat Yukon
straight up. If their offense shows up.

Speaker 6 (50:48):
With NC State, they don't have a chance unless they
get Purdue out of their game. So they got to
make this game personal, and Perdue has to feel like
this is going to be the second half of their
lives if they're going to win, if they're gonna escape
with their lives. That's how much pressure you have to
put on the boiling Makers to get a win. If
you're the wolf Pack.

Speaker 2 (51:08):
I think that's on Kevin Keats and I'll be honest,
I don't think Rick Barnes did a good job of
that in the Elite eight. You know why. So there's
two strategies, and it's kind of like how you're how
teams are trying to defend Kaitlyn Clark. You have two options.
You either defend Caitlyn Clark straight up, one on one.
You let her get her thirty thirty five points, and
you make sure that the other players are off their game.

(51:31):
They don't get those wide open looks because you're not
doubling off of Kitlan Clark. Rick Barnes had that decision
to make against Zach Edy in the Elite Eight, and
he said, Okay, we're just gonna let Zach do whatever
he wants. And whatever he wants is forty points and
twenty rebounds, which is basically the stat line, and we're
gonna make sure that none of the other players on Purdue,
most notably the three point shooters, because let's be honest,

(51:53):
that's Perdue's game. It's drive, it's kick, it's dump it
down to the big man, collapse and they have like
one of the top open three rates in the country
because everyone just collapses on Edy and Edie just kicks
it out. And maybe that's why we're gonna bet the
assist prop a little bit later on Zach. We'll get
that get to it. I think Kevin Keats has to
make that decision. Are you gonna take the Rick Barnes approach.

(52:16):
You're gonna not double Zach Edy, You're gonna let him
just go for all for forty points. I don't think
that's the right approach, right because you guys just said it,
and Rich I think you nailed it. Comfortability. If Purdue
knows it's easy to just dump it down and let
Zach Edy get a high percentage shot, that's easy. I
think the strategy, in my opinion, is to not let

(52:38):
Zach Edy beat you. Make one of these other shooters,
either Jones or Lawyer or Braden Smith, make one of
those guys step up in the big game and knock
down the big shots.

Speaker 3 (52:48):
Yeap.

Speaker 2 (52:49):
That is how I would defend Purdue tonight. Now that's
how I thought Tennessee was gonna defend Perdue because I
bet all the three point props for Purdue over and
I bet the Zach Edy assist prop to the over,
and all of it lost because Rick Barnes was just like, Oh,
we're just gonna let Zach Edy go off for forty
and twenty. Yeah, you lost the game. Rike probably not
the best strategy. I think Kevin Keats has to change

(53:10):
things up tonight. Do not let Ze make Muhammad d
r throw body after body after body on Zach Edy.
Make one of these other shooters for Purdue show you
that they can step up in a big game. I
don't know if they can, because everybody was bricking shots
against Tennessee if it wasn't for Zach Edy and Rick
Barnes's soft approach defensively, I think kind of season this

(53:32):
game tonight and not Purdue. So we'll see how Kevin
Keats plays it. He's pushed all the right buttons down
the stretch, but this is not an easy task tonight.

Speaker 5 (53:40):
No, I totally agree with you.

Speaker 4 (53:41):
And it's funny because sometimes we think of football and
basketball totally differently, and we shouldn't. Where what do we
talk about with Bill Belichick all the time is he's
not gonna let you beat him doing what you do best, right,
And it makes all the sense in the world in football,
and then sometimes we forget about that in basket ball,
and we're like, well, maybe it makes sense to guard

(54:04):
the other guys, the role players, more than Zach Edy.
Just let Edi get what he gets, but we're not
letting Fletcher Lawyer get good looks, you.

Speaker 5 (54:13):
Know, And I just disagree with that.

Speaker 4 (54:14):
You would basically be saying in football, if the Patriots
are taking on the Dolphins, would it makes sense for
Belichick to say, let Tyreek Hill go crazy if he
has one hundred and fifty yards receiving, great, But we're
not letting Durham smythe.

Speaker 5 (54:30):
Would at all.

Speaker 1 (54:31):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (54:33):
Yeah, I think you double Zach Edy and you make
the role players step up big as if they aren't
role players in the biggest moment.

Speaker 5 (54:40):
That makes way more sense to.

Speaker 6 (54:42):
Me, perfectly put, perfectly put, and it's one hundred percent true. Look,
being in the locker room with Belichick is no different
than being in the locker room with Gino Arima, Right.
I mean, what what he did with those girls against
or women against I Will last night is no different
than what I experienced with Balichick preparing for the New

(55:04):
York Jets, or for the Buffalo Bills, or for any
team we're facing. Because guess what, when you have a
special player. It's your job to stop that special player.
That's it. And you personally, when your team has a
special player, your job is to give them the best
opportunity to win their matchups. And so how do you

(55:25):
do that, Well, you create confusion, You change your offense,
you game plan if you can, or defensively, if you
have a special player in the defense, you can change
things to help highlight their talents and hide their liabilities
as well. And that's the reason why you saw Caitlin
Clark struggle for a half last night, because that's what
you do.

Speaker 3 (55:41):
Sports.

Speaker 6 (55:42):
They're not simple, they're very complex. But when you distill
it to the root causes of losses, usually it's because
a star player played really well.

Speaker 3 (55:51):
So how do you limit that?

Speaker 6 (55:54):
Well, guess what, if I'm facing Purdue, I'm trying to
look at Zach Eaty, not just not just the player
on the court, but holistically his personality, what makes him uncomfortable?
What games did he struggle in?

Speaker 3 (56:08):
Why?

Speaker 6 (56:09):
And I'm attacking him all night long because guess what,
that's your best chance. And guess what if you lose
going after Zach Edy, Nobody's gonna be like, oh bad
game plan?

Speaker 2 (56:21):
Right, Yeah, yeah, yeah, I think it's not easy. It's
not an easy decision that Kevin Keats has, There's no
doubt about that. It's just it's such a tough ask
because even if you throw bodies at him, it might
still not work. And if you were gonna rewind, right,
if we just you know, time travel back to Sunday

(56:43):
morning and I tell you Zach Edy has forty points
and sixteen re that's the only stat I tell you,
Zach Edy has forty points and sixteen rebounds against Tennessee.
Who are you betting before the game. You're betting Purdue.
Whereas if I say, Fletcher Lawyer hit five threes mm hmm,
You're like, all right, well, what else happened in the

(57:04):
game that because that's only fifteen points? Like what else
happened in the game? That allows me to feel comfortable
betting one side or the other. But if I were
to tell you one stat line before the game, that
Perdue game, and I said, yeah, Zaki Dy's got forty points,
you're running the window to bet more on Perdue. So
that's the mindset, right. But here's the problem for Kevin Keats.
Matt Painter. I know he's had a bad rap. I

(57:25):
think there's a different team, and he has the ability
to throw a curveball as well. And here's the curveball.
If all of a sudden they start doubling Zach Edy,
well how do you get out of a double team
pick and roll? And guess who's outside the top two
fifty nationally defending the pick and roll? Because DJ Burns is,
like you know, not exactly the most nimble out there.

(57:46):
It's the wolf Pack. So if they all of a
sudden start doubling Zach Edy in the post, well then
you bring Zach Edy out of the post, you bring
him up top, You let Braden Smith and Fletcher Lawyer
run the high pick and roll, and NC State really
struggles defending the pick and roll. So I think there's
going to be a little bit of a chess match here.
But to me, plan A has to be double, triple, quadruple.

(58:08):
Get the guy in the hot dog stand up top
to just throw bodies at Zach Edy and just make
you're right, make him feel uncomfortable. Because the easy plan
A for Purdue has to be get Zach dye the ball.
So I think you take that away and you see
how Purdue counters and then Kevin Keats and Matt Painter
it's gonna be this chess match throughout the night. Who

(58:29):
kind of blinks first and which coach has the better
ace up their sleeve. Maybe it's Lawyer or you know,
Smith knocking down a bunch of shots. But I think
NC State's got to play perfect defensively on Eadie. Let
Purdue then adjust, and then Kevin Keats has to adjust back.
I'll be honest. Of the two games, this is the
more intriguing to me because I think there is a
little bit more chess match going on, Whereas Alabama we

(58:51):
kind of know there's really only one way that they
can win the game against.

Speaker 5 (58:54):
You gun, right, no doubt.

Speaker 4 (58:56):
I'll finish it with another football comparison, right, Why not?
Is I think changing up your looks makes a lot
of sense, where if you're in the NFL, let's say,
and you're just like we're playing nickel the whole time,
just nickel, the other offense is going to figure that
out and they're going to start to pick that apart.
So I think NC State defensively, and I'm not saying
anything that Keats doesn't understand. He knows more than I'll

(59:18):
ever know about basketball, but I think changing up your
looks makes a lot of sense because you don't want
Lawyer and the shooters to get going, so you don't
want to just be like we're doubling Zachiaty every freaking time.
I think predominantly that makes the most sense. But I
think there is value in changing up your looks, and
hopefully when you change it up, you throw a few
curveballs you can confuse and create some turnovers, which is

(59:41):
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coming up next. I hate this strategy. Okay, I'm gonna bet,

(01:00:24):
and I'm curious if everybody else on the show is
on board.

Speaker 5 (01:00:27):
We'll find out.

Speaker 4 (01:00:27):
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(01:00:48):
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Speaker 5 (01:00:53):
Okay, so.

Speaker 4 (01:00:55):
Let's talk strategy here, shall we. There's something I hate.
I'm curious if you guys see it the same way.
So this applies to all basketball, whether it's the NBA,
college men's, women's whatever. Okay, the same scenario can present itself.
So Iowa last night in women's basketball, they had the

(01:01:18):
lead on Yukon. They had the ball up by one.
Iowa's up by one point. They have the ball with
about thirty eight seconds to go. Okay, so what is
Iowa do? They're like, let's run clock and let's run clock,
and let's run some more clock.

Speaker 5 (01:01:37):
And then Caitlin.

Speaker 4 (01:01:38):
Clark with about nine seconds left in the shot clock.
She's in scramble mode. She drives, she passes, the other
girl passes, turnover. You don't even get a good look,
and I'm just sitting there, like, just run your offense.
Run your freaking offense, get a good shot. Don't worry
about running every single second off the clock. Just move

(01:02:00):
the ball, set up a good shot, take the good shot.
I don't know how many times teams do this where
they're like, let's run the clock down, as if that's
more important than getting a good shot.

Speaker 5 (01:02:12):
You're only up by one point, run your.

Speaker 4 (01:02:15):
Offense instead of concerning yourself with the clock. How many
times will we see this at the end of quarters
or halves where you're just trying to run the clock
all the way down, and how often do you get
either a bad shot or no shot. I hate that
where and that strategy, especially with Iowa, and it could
have backfired because you're only up one and Yukon has

(01:02:36):
the ball with plenty of time to score. Just get
a good shot. Don't worry about running every second off.

Speaker 6 (01:02:42):
I Unless you're a team that practices these situations over
and over and over again, and you are comfortable running
that style of offense in those situations, I.

Speaker 3 (01:02:53):
Completely agree with you.

Speaker 6 (01:02:54):
If you're you're the type of team or the type
of coach who likes to focus on playing with urgency
during your practices when you're all by yourself and your gym.
Do not go to your game court and think that
your team is going to function well in those situational
moments if you don't practice it enough. And I think
that is a common blight on a lot of teams,

(01:03:17):
is they get into these situations where it's like, okay, guys,
we got to sustain this lead, so we're gonna switch
it into this weird gear where we're trying to possess
the basketball but not score, and all of your players
on the floor, you know, they still have this adrenaline
in this urgency that they're faced with, and they still

(01:03:39):
want to do the thing that they've been doing for
thirty eight minutes, and all of a sudden they got
to turn it off. It's really difficult unless you practice
it thoroughly. I would say maybe I will have that advantage,
maybe that they they've been able to do that throughout
their season, so they're better at it than other teams.
But still it makes me, you, Brian, it makes me

(01:04:01):
uncomfortable every time I see a team change their patterns
and become more conservative and get away from their personality
at the end of a game, because it just feels
like a lot of times players they're they're not meeting
the situation where it is.

Speaker 2 (01:04:17):
Yeah, how many how many times do you see this
in football?

Speaker 3 (01:04:20):
Oh?

Speaker 2 (01:04:20):
Yeah, up up a score late, Hey, let's just run
out the clock. Let's run the ball. Let's run the ball.

Speaker 5 (01:04:26):
Yeah, run the ball.

Speaker 2 (01:04:28):
Well, what if you're not a running team? That's right,
Like you're you're basically giving the ball back to your opponent,
and frankly it it usually backfires more than it doesn't,
like rarely in that situation, will you ever? And you
know how hard it is to sync up the clock

(01:04:48):
perfectly so you are taking the ideal shot as the
clock hits zero on the you know the shot clock.
That is so hard to do that it's almost like
you're trying to obtain perfection when in that particular situation,
just a good possession is enough to get you through,

(01:05:08):
especially when you're up one. If you're up two or
even three, I understand it. If you're up three, I
get it. There's no way we can lose here. All
we can do.

Speaker 5 (01:05:18):
Is tie and go to overtime.

Speaker 2 (01:05:20):
If we have a really bad possession in the final minute,
we give them the ball back and then they hit
a three. And also, if you're up three, then you
can foul. You can shorten the game. If you're up
to or less, or a foul or any kind of
bucket puts you either behind or tied, you need another
basket there. You need your best possession, whether that's a

(01:05:40):
shot in the first five seconds or at the end
of the shot clock. You need to get the best
possession possible because you are giving you're basically giving the
team another chance, even if it's on a short clock situation.
If you take a bad shot or if you're out
of your offense, you're giving the team a chance to
tie or take. So I agree with the nib zentbri.

(01:06:02):
It's maddening to see these teams just milk the clock
and think that extra five or ten seconds is really
gonna have an impact on the outcome.

Speaker 4 (01:06:08):
Yeah, listen, I think it's something in life you gotta consider.
Don't just consider the best case scenario, consider the worst
case scenario. Is there plenty of times where you just
consider the best We talk gambling on the show all
the time, and you could be like, hey, best case scenario,
I hit my three thousand dollars four leg parlay and

(01:06:29):
I good. I could retire, you know, like this is
gonna be awesome. Consider the worst case scenario. It goes
back to that scenario last night with Iowa. They've got
the ball up by one with about thirty eight seconds
to go. Best case scenario is what they went with. Right,
they're thinking, best case scenario, we run the clock down,

(01:06:49):
we get a good shot, we go up by at
least three. There isn't much time left. Hey, we might
be able to foul. Right, they can't go for a
quick two like this is great, this is a it's
nirvana here, though. Consider the worst case scenario. Well, we're
in scramble mode at the end of the shot clock,
we don't get a good shot, or we turn the

(01:07:10):
ball over and don't even get a shot. And oh,
by the way, we're only up by one and there's
plenty of time for you can to.

Speaker 5 (01:07:18):
Get a good shot.

Speaker 4 (01:07:19):
It's just not a smart strategy to be so worried
about running the clock down that you don't even get
a good shot. Run your offense, get a good shot.
If you take a good shot and there's twenty seconds
left in the game, great, you run your offense, there's
fifteen seconds left in the game. Great, Just don't hold
the ball and then scramble and not.

Speaker 5 (01:07:40):
Even get a good shot.

Speaker 4 (01:07:41):
That can't happen when you're only up by one at
the end of a game.

Speaker 3 (01:07:44):
Agreed.

Speaker 6 (01:07:45):
And again, it's very similar to our discussion about NC
State taking on Purdue. You know nobody is going to
complain about you trying to take away Purdue's greatest asset
and force them to play left handed.

Speaker 3 (01:08:00):
Ding up z D zach Edy. I call him ZD
because of the z Edy, But I like that. I
like that a little.

Speaker 6 (01:08:10):
He's got the oven at three fifty's melted, some cheese
in the paint. Noct You put you a nice little broiler,
you try the top. Look, the point is a little basil,
maybe some Peccerina romano. Look, the point is with ZD
or any other big or any other player, even if
it's a sharpshooter from outside you find a way to
stop somebody's greatest asset of their offense. Nobody's gonna turn

(01:08:33):
around after you lose and say, oh, you did it
the wrong way.

Speaker 3 (01:08:36):
Same as what you're saying, Brian.

Speaker 6 (01:08:37):
Like at the end of the game, if you're only
leading by one and there's enough time where regardless of
what you do, the ball's gonna end up in your
opponent's hands.

Speaker 3 (01:08:46):
Try to score. I get it.

Speaker 6 (01:08:48):
You can make it tough on an opponent by playing
not to lose and giving them a possession with mere
seconds left on the clock. But we've seen magical things
happen in the past, and so why even give them
an opportunity. If things don't go well, do what you do,
try to score the basketball and move on to the

(01:09:09):
next possession with hopefully three point lead instead of one,
or potentially a four point lead instead of one.

Speaker 3 (01:09:16):
I completely agree with you.

Speaker 2 (01:09:18):
Yeah, I don't think it'll change because I think these
coaches do get a little conservative in these spots, and
I think that's the biggest The biggest thing I noticed,
especially at the collegiate level, is some of these coaches.
We've seen it with Rick Barnes and with Matt painter,
and they get they get these bad raps sometimes because
of it. They just like players clam up in the moment,

(01:09:39):
coaches can clam up in the moment too, where you're
not afraid to, Like if you play with fear, especially
in basketball, where there's so many possessions, there's not one possession,
I think that's worth any more than the other. Like
you just have to continue. If your game is high possession,
high tech, like, keep playing that game. That's what got
you there. Why are you going away from it? And

(01:10:01):
to me, the best comparison is what we see in
the NFL. I mean, a team is up ten points late,
a team like the Dolphins, right, They're a high octane
offense that loves to throw the ball down the field
and all of a sudden.

Speaker 4 (01:10:11):
It's run.

Speaker 2 (01:10:12):
It's run, it's run, and then the team's got the
ball back and nothing happened. Like, wait a minute, what
just happened? We ran it three times, they called three
time out three times, and now we don't have the
ball anymore, and like thirty seconds went off the clock.
So it just I respect the coaches and again not
to completely dominate the conversation back to the football, but
it just it fits the narrative. I respect the coaches,

(01:10:33):
and I think Andy Reid and Mahomes are king of this.
Five minutes left in the game, you're up a score.
Play action, first down, play action, We're going down the field.
Why the defense is expecting you to run? They're expecting
you to play slow. The best option there is to
play fast. That's your best percentage, right. If we're talking
about making a plus EV wager, right expected value, the

(01:10:56):
best chance of getting the most value off that specific
play is to do it. But the defense is not
expecting you to do, which is to play fast. So
I again, it goes back to strategy and coaching, and
you've got the you got the plums on the sideline
to make the big call in the big play, like, well,
we'll see what happens tonight, Right if Purdue or Yukon,
I think it'll be more with Purdue, not Yukon. Yukon's

(01:11:16):
like a juggernaut. But if Perdue has a big lead
in the second half and all of a sudden they
slow it down, and you know, let's just go to
Zach Edy and do what or not? And then and
he states back in the game, why they've alligator blood.
They've been like the team all tournament that just cannot
be eliminated. So go for the knockout shot, right, be aggressive.
What do you've got to lose?

Speaker 4 (01:11:34):
Hey, listen, you said a couple of key things plums
ooh and a juggernaut, and I just thought of Issa
Kloe and Crown.

Speaker 3 (01:11:42):
You know what I mean.

Speaker 4 (01:11:43):
That's that's what I thought. I low with the latest
here fellas.

Speaker 8 (01:11:49):
Unfortunately I will not be recapping last night's women's Final Four.
And the reason is I have outsourced that to basketball
legend Magic Johnson.

Speaker 5 (01:12:02):
Oh you guys are right here, Yeah, all right.

Speaker 9 (01:12:04):
So here we go. This is what Magic tweeted about.

Speaker 8 (01:12:07):
South Carolina is seventy eight to fifty nine win over
NC State and I quote another great all around performance
for South Carolina to advance to the NCAA National Championship Game.

Speaker 9 (01:12:20):
Exclamation point.

Speaker 8 (01:12:21):
I'm really impressed with how Camilla Cardozo carrying her team
on the offensive end in the first half. Coach of
the Year Dawn Staley said Ashlyn Watkins would be a
key player to get the win, and she showed up
by grabbing twenty rebounds off the bench. A new NCAA
tournament record. Congrats to the entire team and coaching staff

(01:12:43):
for a chance at a perfect season. On Sunday unquote,
and the fans out there appreciative of Magic's tweet, Joey commenting, quote,
what would we do without this analysis?

Speaker 9 (01:12:55):
Anyway?

Speaker 8 (01:12:56):
Magic tweeted if i was seventy one sixty nine win
over yukon quote what a game too exclamation points, Normally
we would all be talking about Caitlin Clark, but Iowa
prevailed with a strong team effort led by Hannah Stulky's
twenty three points. Congratulations to the entire team and coaching

(01:13:16):
staff for advancing to their second straight national championship appearance unquote,
to which Shrvin commented, quote, thanks for the inside IRV anyway. Finally,
Magic tweeted, I'm really looking forward to the Iowa versus
South Carolina matchup for the National Championship. South Carolina is
the best team in the country and they have the

(01:13:38):
chance to prove it this Sunday unquote, to which Nelson posted,
imagine being the person that gets paid by Magic to
just summarize stuff on his x account unquote.

Speaker 9 (01:13:51):
There you have it from the final four.

Speaker 8 (01:13:53):
Unfortunately, Magic did not tweet anything about the NBA Friday night,
so I will try and funnel my way through that.
The Phoenix jumping out to a fifteen to nothing lead
in a ninety seven eighty seven win over Minnesota. The
Dallas Mavericks defeated Golden State what Away to one zero
six without Luka Doncic because of right knee soreness.

Speaker 9 (01:14:10):
PJ.

Speaker 8 (01:14:11):
Washington scored thirty two at the game winning layup with
four point five to play, and the Toronto Raptors broke
a fifteen game losing streak with a one to seventeen
to eleven win at Milwaukee without Giannis Antetokumpo, who did
not play because of a hamstring injury. The Bucks, all
told have lost five of six and in Major League
Baseball on Friday night, the Boston Red Sox defeated the

(01:14:31):
Angels in Anaheim eight to six for a five game
winning streak. Jaron Durant the go ahead home run in
the top half of the eighth inning. I almost called
him Duran.

Speaker 3 (01:14:41):
Duran.

Speaker 8 (01:14:41):
Tyler O'Neill hit two home runs fellas on behalf of magic.

Speaker 4 (01:14:45):
Back to you, guys, Thank you, I low it is
Fox Sports radios Cap Down to tip Off presented by
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(01:15:09):
pretty quick, but just a quick mention if you will.
Lebron on the call the illegal screen on Yukon at
the end three point nine seconds to go, it was
Iowa's ball basically ended the game. Lebron just tweeted, Nah,
I ain't rolling with that call, which I mean, hey,
you should sound like what you say in a tweet.

(01:15:30):
I can hear Lebron saying that, and many people felt
the same way. There's a brutal call in that moment
right there, and we'll never know what would have happened
had the call not been made. But hey, South Carolina
undefeated against Iowa in the final rematch from last year's
Final four. Pretty good matchup, Pretty good If that's any consolation.
I know it doesn't make Yukon fans feel any better.

(01:15:51):
But basketball fans, that is a great championship matchup. Hey,
we've got Rich Orenberger, Penn State All American, Jared Smith
FSR betting analyst. I'm Brian No coming up next. Prop
it up, so many prop bet opportunities. I'm considering something
that would be radical.

Speaker 2 (01:16:09):
Oh I like that.

Speaker 4 (01:16:11):
I might not go with it, but I'm considering booooz Yeah.
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(01:16:33):
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Speaker 5 (01:16:47):
The code countdown that's right.

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Speaker 5 (01:17:00):
All right, let's do this prop.

Speaker 1 (01:17:03):
It up player plays.

Speaker 4 (01:17:06):
Okay, so many opportunities prop betting wise, Jared, we'll start
with you.

Speaker 3 (01:17:10):
What do you like?

Speaker 2 (01:17:12):
Yeah, I think I'm gonna go back to the Zach
Edy assist prop. And again I bet this in the
Elite eight it was over. It was a one and
a half number. The juice to the over though, was
minus one ninety, and I thought to myself, well, that's
a lot of juice. But I just love the game
that Purdue plays to get him a lot of looks
at an assist, and I counted at least three clanks

(01:17:33):
off wide open kickouts where I would have gotten over
the hump. Edie finished with one assist in that game
against Purdue. So we see the odds go down for
minus one ninety in their last game. Now it's just
minus one fifty five. And again, what's changed the game total?
And this one's about the same in the mid one
forties compared to that Tennessee game. And I see a
very similar approach where maybe Rick Barnes didn't help as

(01:17:56):
much on Zachide. I think Kevin Keats will again double
teams zak Eady, and there will be a lot of
kickouts wide open threes. We just need some of these
produced shooters to knock them down. But I think we
get across the finish line this time. So Zach Edy
over one and a half assists.

Speaker 3 (01:18:10):
It is juicy.

Speaker 2 (01:18:11):
It MIGHTUS one fifty five, but significantly cheaper than it
was in the Elite A just a few days.

Speaker 3 (01:18:16):
All right, I love this one.

Speaker 6 (01:18:18):
How about twenty six and a half points, rebounds and
assists for Donovan Klinging with the Yukon Huskies. Look, I
just think that they have so many versatile weapons.

Speaker 3 (01:18:32):
Newton on the outside hitting threes. I mean they.

Speaker 6 (01:18:34):
Can, they can dish from the pain if they want to,
and it spreads the defense and it stresses the defense.
So I think Yukon's gonna feed the big man in
the paint, and when they can't, he's obviously gonna be
under the hoop.

Speaker 3 (01:18:48):
He's gonna be kicking.

Speaker 6 (01:18:49):
The ball back out to his shooters on the on
the wing and getting a lot of rebounds. So give
me that that points, assists, rebounds prop for the big
man in the Huskies jersey.

Speaker 3 (01:19:02):
I got Clinging going over twenty six and a half.

Speaker 5 (01:19:06):
Do you guys want radical?

Speaker 4 (01:19:07):
No, of course we do, come on, I died absolutely,
But then you need radical no, huh.

Speaker 5 (01:19:14):
It's one thing that won it or that we ever have.

Speaker 3 (01:19:17):
You need it? Also?

Speaker 5 (01:19:18):
Okay, here's what I think.

Speaker 4 (01:19:20):
Crack says this all the time, Bill Krackenberger. We do
countdown to tip off on Sundays here at Fox Sports Radio. Right,
check it out tomorrow. But Crack will always say this.
He wants to be on the bookmaker's side. Yeah, okay,
more time than that. It's going to go in your favor,
not every time, obviously, if you want to be on
the bookmaker's side. I'm looking at Zach. Edie rebounds. Okay,

(01:19:45):
it's juiced. The line is at thirteen and a half.
The over is juice to minus one sixty. Who's betting
the under on Zach? Nobody rebounds, right, nobody. I don't
think anybody is. If you're aligning yourself with the book,
you're on the under. It's a plus money. It's at
plus one twenty. If they're doubling Edie, which I think
they will, is he gonna get to fourteenth very well?

Speaker 2 (01:20:09):
Could?

Speaker 5 (01:20:10):
Jared said earlier you could get the closer to twenty.

Speaker 4 (01:20:12):
This could be one of the worst prognostications.

Speaker 5 (01:20:15):
I'm on the undervesto, I'm.

Speaker 4 (01:20:16):
On the bookmaker's side. Up, let's go, let's go sharp
no or dumbno. We'll find out coming up decks. We'll
break down that exact matchup. Man, the betting market doesn't
mean everything, but it certainly means something. Okay, So if
you're looking at this Alabama Yukon matchup, we know this Alabama,

(01:20:40):
They're gonna have to hit a lot of outside shots
a lot in this one. And if you just look
at the prop bet market, let's look at three pointers
for Alabama. Aaron Estrada is one of their shooters, number
fifty five, good player. His three point shooting prop bet

(01:21:01):
is set at point five, which makes me go, oh,
that's that's not a good sign right there. That's that's
We're in a football stadium where the Arizona Cardinals play.
You know, that's just something where in this particular matchup,
styles make fights against Yukon. Donovan Klingen protecting the rim

(01:21:26):
so masterfully against Illinois. It's not like Alabama is just
gonna be attacking the Rim. One drive after another. It
just didn't work at all for Terrence Shannon Junior, who's
gonna be a lottery pick from Illinois.

Speaker 5 (01:21:40):
He's fantastic player. He had nothing for Klingon.

Speaker 4 (01:21:44):
Mark Sears is not going to all of a sudden
just become Michael Jordan right and challenging Klingon at the rim.
So they're gonna shoot a lot of outside shots, and
you gotta hit a lot of out side shots, and
one of your shooters his three.

Speaker 5 (01:21:58):
Point prop is at point five.

Speaker 4 (01:22:00):
Really, it's just I don't see Alabama hitting enough outside
shots to win this game. And I don't want to
make Yukon out to be unbeatable because they aren't. But man,
they crank it up a couple of notches come NCAA
tournament time. Ten straight wins of at least ten points,
ten straight wins of at least thirteen points. It's insane

(01:22:21):
the run they've been on. And to have a jump
shooting team just drain shot after shot in a football stadium.

Speaker 5 (01:22:28):
I just don't see it.

Speaker 3 (01:22:30):
Well.

Speaker 6 (01:22:30):
I will say this, the reason why moneyball works in
baseball is because of volume. Is because you have such
an insane amount of opportunities to see the same. You know,
statistical what look like statistical anomalies bear out over the
course of a one hundred and sixty two game season

(01:22:51):
that eventually you can make sense of the numbers. And
to me, when I think about Alabama, for whatever reason,
I always think about moneyball. I always think about analytics.
I always think about volume because the way they win
is just shoot and shoot and shoot and shoot and shoot.
Like that's that's how this team is going to advance
and survive. I I look at everything he just said,

(01:23:15):
and I respect the opinion, but there's something about like,
even if it's not working, I.

Speaker 3 (01:23:21):
Don't think they get away from it.

Speaker 6 (01:23:23):
Even if even even if you know Spear or excuse me,
Mark Sears, over the course of the season, he was hitting,
you know, fifty plus percent from the floor.

Speaker 3 (01:23:32):
He was hitting forty three percent from three.

Speaker 6 (01:23:35):
You know, I even if his numbers are dramatically woefully
under that in this game as a one off, it's
not like they're going to back off having him take shots.
So I like, you know, his whatever his points prop
is another one that I'm looking at a nineteen and
a half and I just think, like, almost regardless of

(01:23:56):
the outcome of the game. I feel like he's gonna
get twenty points because it's the only chance they have
to even be in this game. So yeah, I think
from from the standpoint of the outside shooters, you know,
getting looks and taking chances and shooting, they're going to
have volume on their side. And so I like a

(01:24:16):
lot of the over props with Alabama offensively.

Speaker 2 (01:24:20):
Yeah. I looked at those and then I looked at
the Illinois Yukon box score, and I was like, oh, man,
if they can do that to Illinois's offense, which is
much more versatile than Alabama. Like we keep talking about
this with Zach Edy, Kevin Keats has a really tough
decision to make. He has to game plan this. He
has to get the ball out of the best player's hands. Well,

(01:24:43):
let's flip the script in this Yukon Bama game. Dan
Hurley is a pretty good coach too, and he's had
a whole week. I know they had some plane delays.
It's not going to impact the game at all. Don't
let that be a story or distract you from eyes
on the prize here. Dan Hurley's had a whole week
to watch Alabama's offense. What do you think he's seeing
all right, Well, they're kind of a one trick pony. Well,

(01:25:06):
in my opinion, Yukon runs the ideal defense to throw
off three point shooters. It's the drop coverage, right. We
talked about it with Creighton. The difference is, I think
Donovan Klingon is a much more skilled defender than Ryan Kalkbrenner.
And I know I love Kalkbrenner. He's a fantastic offensive player.
I think Klingon's a little bit tougher, a little bit metier,

(01:25:26):
a little bit bigger. He can patrol the paint, I
think a little bit more effectively. So the drop coverage
essentially is the Yukon guards when they're being screened. They
don't have to worry about where the screening player goes.
They know that Klingon is in the paint defending the paint.

Speaker 3 (01:25:46):
It is the.

Speaker 2 (01:25:47):
Guard's jobs to push the shooters away from the three
point line. We call it running them off the three
point line, right. That is what Yukon's job will be
tonight when they defend these high pick and rolls that
Alabama likes to run to get their shooters open on
these flare screens and these ball screens. I think that's
going to be Yukon's number one priority. Make Alabama beat

(01:26:10):
us on the interior. Take away their best option, which
is the three point shot. Doesn't mean that Alabama's not
going to be shooting a lot and there will be
a high volume. But to me, if I'm Dan Hurley
and you make Alabama a one dimensional team on the interior,
you take their chances of winning this game from like,
I don't know, five percent to like nil. So that's

(01:26:32):
what I would do if I was Dan Hurley, which
makes it really hard for me to get to the
window on over props on these Bama shooters.

Speaker 5 (01:26:38):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (01:26:39):
No, it's a great breakdown because listen, Dan Hurley is
an outstanding coach and he's no dummy. He understands what's
most likely going to be the game plan and how
it's gonna play out. Alabama's gonna rely on a bunch
of outside shots because we just saw the last game
Donovan Klingen was a human eraser, all right, So you

(01:27:03):
can't anticipate that. Mark Sears and Aaron Estrada and Ryland Griffin,
the game plan is just drive on clinging because it
works so well for Illinois they're not going to do that.
So what do you do if you're Yukon, you have
the ultimate safety net if you're over aggressive as a guard,

(01:27:24):
a defensive guard for Yukon, Right, you're over aggressive running
out to the three point line and your guy drives
past you, Well, guess so you have patrolling the paint
to help you out and to give you some assistance.
It is this guy named Klingon okay, who's seven foot two. Yes,
it is erasing shots and affecting shots, and so you

(01:27:47):
can be even more aggressive defending the three point line.
So yeah, I agree rich Alabama's gonna let him fly,
but a lot of these shots are going to be
contested tough looks because because you kind knows that's what
Alabama is gonna do, and they're gonna make it as
difficult as possible on them.

Speaker 6 (01:28:07):
Yeah, it's a great breakdown from Jared, and it's a
great point that you raised that I really was thinking
about Alabama in a vacuum, and I wasn't considering the
fact that even though Dan Hurley a head coach who
speaks like somebody who you're assuming the fall is coming
because he's extraordinarily vain and prideful, like he loves him

(01:28:27):
some attention. He is a tremendous basketball coach, so he's
got an ego that matches his talent. And I mean that,
I mean both of those things. And I think his
team actually plays with a healthy ego as well. And
it's part of the whatever, the recipe for success that
has benefited the Huskies so much, especially over these past

(01:28:48):
two seasons, especially in March. Yeah, it's a great point
about running the three point shooters off the line. It's
a great point about contesting these shots. But there's something
about urgency and about your back against the wall that
even forces bad looks to look good sometimes and it's
their only hope, right. I always think of it in

(01:29:09):
terms of the cornered animal is the most dangerous one
right now, the Crimson Tide, There's no question about it, folks,
that is the most cornered of the animals left in
these final four teams playing because they're going up against
a juggernaut and the only way they can make this
a ballgame is if they see some of those shots
going in. And that's also another thing, like I think

(01:29:31):
I'm gonna know whether or not while we're all talking
I just I just put in the mark Siars prop
So nothing you guys said, uh changed my mood.

Speaker 3 (01:29:41):
As we were speaking, like true.

Speaker 4 (01:29:43):
Oh no, okay, yeah, contest, Yeah, this here is over.

Speaker 5 (01:29:49):
That's great.

Speaker 2 (01:29:51):
Want to enjoy this awesome breakdown.

Speaker 3 (01:29:55):
Great job gang. Anyways, but it was.

Speaker 6 (01:30:01):
But it is one of those things where I think
I'll know if that props hitting in the first ten
minutes of this game, because I shooting is contagious, and
you know when it's gonna be a good night shooting
team wide when one of the guys, one of the
off ball shooters, sees the ball going for a teammate

(01:30:22):
and all of a sudden he hits his next shot.

Speaker 3 (01:30:24):
Good point. Because it is contagious. So within the first.

Speaker 6 (01:30:27):
Ten minutes, we will have the group text fired up
and I'll be like, yeah, this one's not cashing more.
I'll be like, oh, oh, I'm feeling pretty good about
my chances.

Speaker 2 (01:30:37):
We'll see when it's like forty to ten at halftime
and you got it's like it's like what are we
doing here? No, So I think there's a couple of
things here. First of all, shooters shoot, right. I know
it's like super cliche, but it it. That is what
this Alabama team will do. Like they don't care if
they start zero for ten. They will continue to shoot

(01:30:57):
because of the volume. And that's just that's just the
stuff that they play. If you want, if you want
me to look at one player on this Alabama team
that I think is the great equalizer or at least
let's call him an X factor. I think it's Grant
Nelson Because Grant Nelson is a big right who theoretically
can pull Clinging away from the basket, but he can

(01:31:19):
also shoot the three. Yeah, he's a little bit of
a stretch, right. He's actually, to me like one of
the more NBA suited players that Alabama has. Even though
he's just like this lanky dude who you know, steps
out and shoot three. He's not like physically gifted like
Clinging is just like a massive a human or eedie.
But he has a little bit of skill to him, right,
a little bit more finesse for a big, which is

(01:31:39):
what the NBA loves these days. But in this specific game,
it maybe will be the antidote to get Clinging out
of the paint. And we'll see how small Alabama goes. Right,
we mentioned Nelson they're big six ' ten and and
you know, I think this is the one guy that
maybe can pull him out of the paint. Pringle the

(01:32:00):
other big that they have, but he's more of a
traditional big and he's not a very beefy center, So
I think that's a bad mismatch. I wouldn't be shocked
if Pringle gets less minutes in this game than he
normally does. I think Grant Nelson, who, by the way,
I'm looking at his three point prop right now, it's
a half. He needs to hit one three and it's
minus one thirty five to the over. To me, that

(01:32:21):
would be the guy who can maybe throw a bit
of a change up to this Yukon defense.

Speaker 4 (01:32:26):
Well, I just thought back it was perdue. But think
about Zach Edy, right, He's not gonna be running out
to the perimeter to guard a three point shot. And
Gonzaga their big man, Graham e K He went two
for four from three, right, soit a good night.

Speaker 5 (01:32:44):
It's something to keep in mind. Hey, we've got some
breaking news with Iloh. Let's do this.

Speaker 1 (01:32:50):
Breaking news from Fox Sports.

Speaker 8 (01:32:53):
From Major League Baseball, the Cleveland Guardians have just announced
that their ace pitcher, Shane Bieber is going to need
season ending Tommy John surgery to reconstruct his ulner collateral ligament.

Speaker 4 (01:33:07):
Fellas, I think this means whoever wins the AL Central
will win sixty two games and have one hundred locks.

Speaker 2 (01:33:14):
You just having a really good spring to.

Speaker 5 (01:33:18):
The EDL Central.

Speaker 1 (01:33:19):
Man.

Speaker 4 (01:33:20):
If there's ever a division that can ill afford big
names getting injured, it's the AL Central goodness. So that's unfortunate.
Here's right there. You know, I'll say this if we
go back to the Bama Yukon matchup. I think what's
interesting about what we do here When we're looking at
the betting market and we're also just looking at who's

(01:33:41):
gonna win the game, sometimes those two things conflict with
each other. Yes, right where we both we all look
at Yukon winning this game. But as far as prop
bets go, if Alabama is losing by double digits late,
what are they going to be doing. They're gonna be
shoot a bunch of threes, right, I think they're gonna

(01:34:02):
be doing that throughout the game. But especially you're gonna
get a steady diet. If they're down by a lot
and it's getting late, you gotta let them fly. And
so you might on one hand, love Yukon to win
the game, but on the other hand, if you're saying, well, Bama,
this guy isn't gonna hit his over three point prop bet,

(01:34:22):
and this other guy he's not gonna get there either.
It's like based on game script. It's something Jared talks
about all the time. What's the situation of the game
most likely to be well point, You guys probably gonna
have a lead, they might have a big lead. And
what's gonna happen If that's the case, Alabama's gonna be
shooting a bunch of threes. The one thing to keep

(01:34:43):
in mind for the prop bets and also the game
in general, is a cornered animal. Shooting threes is a
different animal. Okay, It's one thing if you're cornered and
you're being threatened and you want to go after someone
show Okay, it's different than remaining calm, season on the line,

(01:35:06):
no pressure. It's slipping away. The lead is growing for Yukon.
Let me just remain focused and let it fly. As
if we've got a ten point lead. That is something
entirely different and makes it a lot more difficult.

Speaker 5 (01:35:21):
If indeed that is the situation.

Speaker 6 (01:35:24):
You know what's interesting is even though we have an
eleven seed going up against a team as capable as Purdue,
on one side, it feels like the the greater distance
between the two opponents is absolutely Yukon in Alabama.

Speaker 3 (01:35:40):
Right, So there's a little bit of that.

Speaker 6 (01:35:43):
It's not necessarily playing with house money, that's that's not
the right terminology, but there's a little bit of, Hey,
you know, we've got to throw everything in the kitchen
sink at the Huskies if you're Alabama. And that's the
reason why I feel better about those offense of props
going over than I do, like, say, for example, any

(01:36:05):
of the wolf Pack offensive props, because looking at it
from the underdog side, I just see the I see
the game being tighter, potentially tighter between Purdue and NC State,
which you could get into some of that situational basketball
we were talking about earlier, where maybe styles turn a
little bit more conservative and we could see a lower
scoring game, whereas with Alabama, defense is not a specialty.

(01:36:30):
I don't think they're gonna stop shooting, even like ten
or thirty minutes after the game.

Speaker 3 (01:36:34):
You might see the.

Speaker 6 (01:36:36):
You know, the confetti and the ladder is being taken
away that there's no more nets and the Crimsons Tide
is still out there shooting threes.

Speaker 3 (01:36:43):
Like I just I don't see it. I just don't
see it stopping.

Speaker 6 (01:36:48):
So it's one of those things where it's like, yeah,
there's pressure, there's no question, but maybe less than we're
giving credit for. Because I think we all feel the
same way about the Huskies. They're gonna be in the
national Championship. And when you're a team like Alabama, you
know you got a shot, but you also know who
you're facing, so there's a little bit of the pressure

(01:37:08):
taken off when if you get beat by the best
left in the bracket, you still have some bragging rights.

Speaker 3 (01:37:15):
It's just if.

Speaker 6 (01:37:17):
If you can get those shots to fall early, maybe
you got a shot at taken down the heavyweight champ
And that's where.

Speaker 3 (01:37:24):
I think the nerves will really set in. If it's
like if we're.

Speaker 6 (01:37:28):
Talking about an even game going into the closing five
minutes of this one, that's where I could see the
Tide players getting a little tight. Otherwise I think they're
gonna be chucking them up, and if they see some
shots go through early on, I think some of those
props can hit.

Speaker 2 (01:37:42):
Well. That's the thing. No one's kept it close against
you Kon in this entire tournament or last tournament. They
haven't played. They haven't been winning as an underdog in
March madness. It is a snowball effect. You start the game, obviously,
if you're gonna win as an underdog, you've got you
start the game hot, or at least you start it even,

(01:38:03):
and you just continue to apply pressure. You put doubt
in the favorites head that you're not just gonna pull
away and get a comfortable win and survive in advance
like this is in doubt. This game could go either way.
The more pressure you apply to the favorite, the easier
it gets for the underdog, and the harder it gets

(01:38:24):
for them. Whereas I think at the beginning of the game,
the pressure's on the underdog to start fast, because let's
be honest, if Alabama does what Illinois did in the
second half and it's a thirty to nothing wrong, or
let's say it's like twenty to five to start the
game for Yukon, forget it. The game's over at that point.
You might as well just move on. But if Alabama
can figure out a way to do what Illinois did,

(01:38:45):
which is keep the game close for twenty minutes and
then not implode in the second half. Well, you just
keep applying that pressure, and you keep getting to the
next play and the next possession and the next possession,
and all of a sudden, it's a you know, you're
at the under four time out and it's a two
possession game, one possesion gain. Hey, we're in this. But
I don't know if Alabama has the defensive integrity to
do that. That's the part that scares me. Guys, Yukon

(01:39:08):
has blown out every opponent they faced in this tournament,
and they're shooting twenty eight percent from three. When you
shoot that poorly in the NCAA tournament, you are usually
watching the nc DOUBLEA tournament in the later rounds. I
don't care how good of a team you are if
you shoot eight, ten, fifteen percent below your season average

(01:39:28):
from three. Live by the three, died by the three.
And the thing that scares me is what happens if
Yukon has a good shooting game against the bad Alabama defense,
Like they haven't had a good shooting game the entire tournament.
When was the last time they had a four game
stretch and didn't shoot it well. Like, if we do
get the Yukon good offense tonight and Alabama does not

(01:39:51):
have the defensive end, they do not have the defense
to hold up against the good offense. Oh that's where
I'm worried that this game could get at it. Hey,
Like we are going se Yukon shoot it well at
some point in this tournament. If it's tonight, this one's over.

Speaker 5 (01:40:05):
Hey.

Speaker 4 (01:40:05):
The Fox Sports Radio Bracket Challenge is live. See the
standings and get rules now at Fox Sports Radio dot com.
Two winners get the Ultimate College sports trip for two
with Graduate Hotels sponsored by Tractor Supply and Graduate Hotels
where college fans stay. We've got Rich Ornberger, Penn State

(01:40:26):
All American, Jared Smith FSR. Betting analyst, I'm Brian No
Coming up next. Will the dogs be barkin' or will
they be silent? We'll compare notes. It is Fox Sports
Radios Countdown to tip Off presented by BETMGM. It is
Fox Sports Radios Countdown to tip Off presented by bet MGM.

(01:40:46):
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Speaker 5 (01:40:55):
Be sure to also follow rate and review it again.

Speaker 4 (01:40:58):
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Speaker 5 (01:41:04):
All right, let's do this.

Speaker 1 (01:41:07):
The dogs are marking?

Speaker 2 (01:41:10):
Okay?

Speaker 5 (01:41:12):
Is that a statement or is that a question mark?

Speaker 3 (01:41:15):
At the end?

Speaker 5 (01:41:15):
You know, like the dogs are barking.

Speaker 6 (01:41:18):
Ron You know, I will read anything in the prompt
that's right, Yes.

Speaker 5 (01:41:24):
Anything, Yes.

Speaker 4 (01:41:26):
NC State nine and a half point underdogs against Purdue.
Alabama eleven and a half underdogs a Yukon you know,
spinal taps amps go to eleven, Alabama's betting line goes
to eleven.

Speaker 9 (01:41:45):
And a half.

Speaker 5 (01:41:46):
Is what happens over here? Are you smelling the dogs here?

Speaker 3 (01:41:50):
Barkin?

Speaker 4 (01:41:51):
Are you hearing them barking? I should say, with NC
State or Alabama?

Speaker 3 (01:41:56):
Listen.

Speaker 6 (01:41:57):
A day before the tournament started, NC State with seventeen
and fourteen overall. They were ranked eightyth in the net rankings.
The Wolfpack had lost ten of fourteen games.

Speaker 5 (01:42:12):
I mean, come on, like, come on, what they've done.

Speaker 6 (01:42:16):
It's like it's almost like it feels like, you know,
the glass slipper it's I mean, it's it's hanging on
by a toenail, baby, like we I am. I am
struggling to make sense of looking at an underdog on
a money line like oh with anything, I mean there
is I mean, what kind of odds are we getting

(01:42:37):
on a money line?

Speaker 3 (01:42:37):
Back? Right?

Speaker 5 (01:42:40):
Yeah, Bama's over five to one.

Speaker 2 (01:42:42):
Yeah Bam is bigger, Yeah, Bama is bigger.

Speaker 6 (01:42:44):
I can't, I won't. I don't. I don't even really
love getting the points. It's just this is so difficult poison,
all right. I will say this though, if there's a lean,
if there's a lean, and maybe it'll be come more
pronounced as we get to our rapid fire.

Speaker 3 (01:43:04):
The leen is on.

Speaker 6 (01:43:08):
NC State, Okay, it's just now, like I said, the slipper,
it's close to falling off the foot completely. But if
there's a game where I could see it going closer,
it's it's the wolf pack taking.

Speaker 3 (01:43:21):
On the tooilet mikers.

Speaker 6 (01:43:22):
So if there's a lean where I like the points,
and like I said, this may become more pronounced. I
have to think about it over the next what twenty
minutes or so before it's my turn to talk on
rapid fire. But yeah, maybe I like the points there
with the Wolfpack.

Speaker 2 (01:43:35):
What do you guys think, Well, I'll give you a
couple of nuggets here to chew on, right, Rich a
couple of chicken nuggets here. Okay, our wolf Pack nuggets
free to chew on as we move forward. So first
I'll read a quote from our pal Seamus McGee. Shout
out Shamus, and this quote might help you. This is
a direct quote from Shamus Betters love NC State. The

(01:43:56):
wolf Pack are attracting heavy action on the money line
and spread, and they are our biggest liability to win
the nc Double A. Oh, so if you want to
be on the side of the bookmakers today, you are
backing per Due. Here's the next nugget I will give you. Actually,
there's two of them. One of applies to the Alabama

(01:44:16):
game too, though, but this one applies directly at NC State.
NC State fourteen total losses. That is the most losses
ever to make the final four. The previous three teams
all had thirteen losses Syracuse in twenty sixteen, North Carolina
two thousand, Wisconsin in two thousand. All three of those
teams lost in the Final four. They did not make

(01:44:38):
the National Championship game. Finally, double digit favorites. Again, this
is more Alabama than it is NC State, because we're
close to double digits on NC State, but we're not
quite there. Double digit favorites in the Final four actually
are four to zero straight up, but they haven't covered
their last four times. Gonzaga was a fourteen point favorite

(01:45:00):
against UO Cla. This was three years ago. Remember that
was the Jalen Suggs half court buzzer beater overtime crazy game.
Well guess what, because I didn't cover Kentucky big favorite
in the title game in ninety six, didn't cover NC
State big favorite back in nineteen seventy four. They won
by twelve. They pushed and then duke in the Final

(01:45:20):
four back in ninety nine against Michigan, State won by
six as a eleven and a half point favorite. So
history says the big favorites win, But those games are
a little snugger than you might think. So again with
those nuggets, I still can't bet either the other dogs.
I can't do it. I can't do it.

Speaker 1 (01:45:38):
I can't do it.

Speaker 3 (01:45:41):
I love it.

Speaker 4 (01:45:43):
The one thing, okay, I think about this in betting
all the time, is I'm on the side or I'm leaning.

Speaker 5 (01:45:51):
Toward a side. What could go wrong?

Speaker 4 (01:45:54):
What could fly in the face of this angle of mine? Right,
I think Yukon being so dominant the last game, a
thirty to nothing run against Illinois in an Elite eight game,
the best offense in the country, the ALIONI I think

(01:46:17):
that it's not really the power of embarrassment that applies here.

Speaker 5 (01:46:22):
No one wants to get embarrassed.

Speaker 4 (01:46:24):
But Alabama knows they have to be absolutely laser focused
in this one, right, Like, we gotta be on it,
we gotta dot our eyes, cross our teas the whole
thing against Yukon, who looked so dominant. So from that standpoint,
I like Bama plus eleven and a half, just from

(01:46:46):
that standpoint of we saw Yukon at their peak. Yeah,
So it's really it's like in the regular season, Number
one is coming to town fresh off of fifteen point beatdown.

Speaker 5 (01:46:58):
You know, we gotta be ready.

Speaker 4 (01:47:01):
I expect Alabama to be laser focused, but again, I
don't know how well they're gonna shoot it in a
football stadium against Yukon. That's gonna make sole life dip,
make life so difficult for them shooting from the perimeter.
But I do expect Bama to be laser focused and.

Speaker 5 (01:47:18):
And eleven and a half is a lot of points.

Speaker 2 (01:47:19):
Man. Yeah, but I think of the two dogs, I
like Bama a little more, a little just because of
how much actions on NSI State. They're a public dog
NSY State tonight.

Speaker 3 (01:47:30):
And that's tough, man.

Speaker 5 (01:47:31):
I'll tell you what. These dogs will test your plums.

Speaker 2 (01:47:34):
Oh, hey, there's some plums in this game. Die Bama. Man.

Speaker 6 (01:47:38):
Man, you gotta have some guts to take the dogs
in these matchups.

Speaker 4 (01:47:42):
Hey, we got guts by the name of Isaac Lowen
Crown with us.

Speaker 5 (01:47:47):
Huh I low with the latest here? What's going on?

Speaker 8 (01:47:50):
Cleveland Guardian vans Fellaws feel like they've got their guts
ripped out this morning because of the big news a
short time ago in Major League Baseball, as the Guardians
announced that they're a pitcher Shane Bieber needs season ending
Tommy John surgery. The Guardian said Beab experienced a recurrence
of right elbow pain after his first two starts of

(01:48:10):
the season, and then imaging and evaluation revealed a re
injury to his ulnar collateral ligament. Beiaber, by the way,
won both of those starts. He did not allow a
run in twelve innings with twenty strikeouts, but now needs
season ending Tommy John surgery. On Friday night at the
Women's Final four, Iowa held off Yukon seventy one to

(01:48:33):
sixty nine Caitlin Clark twenty one points, nine rebounds and
seven assists. It'll be Iowa against South Carolina for the
National Championship on Sunday, after their seventy eight to fifty
nine win over NC State that gave them a thirty
seven to oh record. South Carolina in the National Championship
game for the third time in seven years. In the

(01:48:53):
NBA Friday night, the Phoenix Suns jumped out to a
fifteen to nothing lead went on to beat Minnesota ninety
seven to eighty seven. The Dallas Mavericks defeated Golden State
what away to one oh six, without Luka Doncic because
of right knees soreness.

Speaker 9 (01:49:06):
PJ.

Speaker 8 (01:49:07):
Washington scored thirty two, including the game winning a lamp
with four point five to play. And the Toronto Raptor
It's broke a fifteen game losing streak with a one
to seventeen one to eleven win at Milwaukee, which was
without Yiannis anteda kumpo because of a hamstring injury. The
Bucks have now lost five of their last six games.
Fellas back to You.

Speaker 5 (01:49:27):
Thank You, I Lo.

Speaker 4 (01:49:28):
It is Fox Sports Radios Campdown to Zip Off, presented
by Bett MGM. We'll have our picks at the end
of the show. Three apiece for us. But I kind
of want to learn more.

Speaker 5 (01:49:39):
About you guys.

Speaker 4 (01:49:40):
We've been doing the show for quite a while, right,
two plus years, and we've learned a lot about each other.
But there's still plenty more to be learned, I feel like,
and so this is a good story to learn more
about each other. This is a show, hey Otani.

Speaker 3 (01:49:56):
Right.

Speaker 4 (01:49:56):
Earlier this week, he hit his first home run as
a Dodger. Okay, And there was a longtime Dodgers fan,
Ambar Roman, who caught the ball. Okay, and so I
apparently they spoke right the fan and Otani. There was

(01:50:18):
an exchange made, and the fan goes home with two
signed hats, a signed bat and ball. Okay, This is
a guy Otani who desperately wanted this. Baseball means a lot, right,
he said, obviously, I have very It's a very special ball.

(01:50:40):
A lot of feelings toward it. I'm very grateful it's back.
The guy just signed a seven hundred million dollar contract.

Speaker 5 (01:50:45):
Okay.

Speaker 4 (01:50:46):
The fan is upset and says, this is not a
fair exchange, like I didn't get as much as I
should have gotten.

Speaker 5 (01:50:53):
This is the way I look at it.

Speaker 4 (01:50:55):
You have two options if you're a fan who catches
a ball that has value like this. You either say
no deal, I'm selling the ball for as much as
humanly possible, or you say, okay, we have a deal,
and you forever shut up about whatever you agreed to

(01:51:16):
make that deal for right, it can't be both where Okay,
that's that. You got a deal, sign bat and ball, great, awesome,
sounds good. And then the next thing you know, they
took advantage of me. No no, no, no, no, no no.

Speaker 5 (01:51:29):
You made a bad deal. It is on you. I
don't want to hear it.

Speaker 6 (01:51:33):
Yeah, listen, I completely agree with you. This is this
is up to your own discretion, Like you own that
that baseball. It's part of the contract you sign when
you buy a ticket. If a ball lands in the stands,
as per MLB rules their relationship with their fan base,
you get to walk away with that souvenir.

Speaker 3 (01:51:52):
Pretty cool. A lot of foul balls.

Speaker 6 (01:51:54):
Sometimes they trickle down the baseline and a bat boy
or girl pick up the ball. They to a young
fan and the you know, the the low rows like
it's fun, right, Baseball's fun. For that reason, nobody's getting
fined because they're blowing through baseball one hundred balls a game.
Who cares, right, We're gonna mut them up and we're
gonna send out our next batch of baseballs, you know,

(01:52:16):
the next game.

Speaker 3 (01:52:16):
It doesn't matter.

Speaker 6 (01:52:17):
Well, when when you when you sign that contract and
you catch that baseball, it's up to now your discretion
what you do with it.

Speaker 3 (01:52:25):
So if he kept it and.

Speaker 6 (01:52:28):
He wanted to, I don't know, hold it ransom until
a better deal came in from Showhy or the Dodgers,
or if he wanted to bring it to auction sooner
or later, well that's his own that's his own choice.
But I agree with you. I think it's really lame
to catch the baseball and then to cough it up
and be like and the Dodgers and show Hair a

(01:52:50):
bunch of a bunch of cheap skates. It's like, no, no, no,
you're a terrible negotiator, idiot, that's all that means.

Speaker 2 (01:52:57):
Yeah, I'll be honest. I feel like I would be
very now. I'm a little more cynical in this stage
of my life. If this was twenty years ago and
I was bright eyed, bushy tailed, eighteen year old Jared
going to a Yankees game, grew up loving the team,
and I caught an Aaron Judge and I know he
was around twenty years ago, but just stay with the

(01:53:17):
story here. And I caught like Aaron Judges like first
Yankees home run, I would probably give that ball back
for a lot less than what it was worth, just
for the experience of meeting Aaron Judge and getting some
sign memorabilia and being a part of that. At this
advanced stage of my life where I feel like I'm
really cynical towards every professional sports team for screwing me

(01:53:39):
over with a wager, at some point, I would probably
hold out for millions. I would be like, I would
be like, who is the last holdover or hold out
in the NFL who wanted like more money on his contract?
Like I would be the most annoying person ever. Like
they would offer me something and I would like verbally agree,

(01:54:00):
and then I would come back later and add stuff
to it, like like Kevin Costner and Draft Day, Like
I would be just a fierce nego because I've reached
that point where I don't have the same love for
my team as I do. Like I'm looking at the
picture of ambar Rome, like she's got the Dodgers gear on,
She's so happy to be in that moment. I think

(01:54:21):
she let her fandom get the better of her negotiating
power there and probably this is a lesson for.

Speaker 4 (01:54:27):
Life, right, Yeah, no, listen, I get it, I really do.
There's a difference between talking about it from the comfort
of your couch, yeah, and being in those exact shoes
where it's like, this is my team whatever.

Speaker 5 (01:54:42):
I'm a Cardinals fan.

Speaker 4 (01:54:43):
Albert Poohols just hit a historic home run, and I'm
gonna be that guy who holds out for top dollar
when I could just get a handshake and a sign poster.
You know, it's a different situation. I would still hold
out for as much as.

Speaker 2 (01:55:00):
I was eighteen and young, I wouldn't.

Speaker 5 (01:55:01):
But now, no, no, I hear you, and I probably
wouldn't have either.

Speaker 4 (01:55:04):
But you get older, you get wiser, and you're like,
this is a freaking awful deal. I have something of
great value. Nothing wrong with negotiating. This guy's got millions
in his seat cushions, you know what I mean. You're
not a bad person for negotiating top dollar. And if
you don't do that, that's fine too, but you can't

(01:55:26):
belly ache about it.

Speaker 3 (01:55:27):
Yeah.

Speaker 6 (01:55:28):
Literally weeks ago, he accidentally, I guess, lent four and
a half million dollars. Yeah, interpreter buddy, like so, I'm
pretty sure he could lend you.

Speaker 3 (01:55:39):
I don't know, like a cool two mil for the baseball.

Speaker 5 (01:55:42):
That's important to him, right right, Yeah, he's got it.

Speaker 4 (01:55:45):
Hey, we've got Rich Herenberger, Penn State All American, Jared
Smith FSR, betting analyst. I'm Brian No coming up next,
rapid Fire. We each have three picks. I've got some
good news and bad news for everybody, at least my standpoint.

Speaker 5 (01:56:01):
We'll get to that next.

Speaker 4 (01:56:02):
It is Fox Sports Radios Countdown to tip Off, presented
by bet MGM. It is Fox Sports Radios Countdown to
tip Off presented by bet MGM. Props to the crew,
huh Bo Benz entrusted producer. We got Chris Purfett, Technical producer,
and we also have Isaac Lohencron crushing the updates, crushing life,

(01:56:24):
Top of the Hour, up on Game in Great Hands
with LaVar Arrington. Get you all set for the Final
four and beyond. Might have some ball thoughts. Man, we
got so much basketball, didn't even get to Stefan Diggs.
That's how loaded we are with round ball.

Speaker 5 (01:56:42):
Over here.

Speaker 4 (01:56:43):
I'll keep you like right here, Fox Sports Radio up
on Game, Top of the Hour. All right, we've got
some bicks to make.

Speaker 3 (01:56:48):
Let's do it rapid fire.

Speaker 4 (01:56:54):
Okay, So I got some good news and bad news.
I had a winning week. That's good right out two
and one, and then you big xerx's both went three
to zero.

Speaker 5 (01:57:03):
I was excited about a B plus and you guys
got a plus. It says that is fun.

Speaker 4 (01:57:09):
Jared, we'll start with you, who has been crushing the
basketball picks.

Speaker 2 (01:57:12):
Yeah, let's let's keep it hot right now. Listen, this
is a short sample, but I think the college basketball
tournament it could be really fun if you're on the.

Speaker 3 (01:57:19):
Right side of these.

Speaker 2 (01:57:20):
So let's try to get on the right side. In
our final college hoots rapid fire of the season. I'm
gonna take Donovan klingon over nine and a half rebounds.
He's averaging ten in the tourney. We like that, and
he's got a big mismatch against Alabama's big Nick Pringle.
I think Clinging Klang Khang has a big game tonight
over nine and a half rebounds. I'm gonna go change
up here. How about Monday night the Women's final. I'm

(01:57:42):
gonna take South Carolina minus six and a half over Iowa. Listen,
everyone's gonna bet in Iowa in this game. I get it.
Kaitlyn Clark's good guys. South Carolina is undefeated. Everyone's talking
about Iowa and Kaitlin Clark. Nobody's talking about the game. Cocks.
You should They're pretty good and I think they win
with margin on Monday Night. Finally, I'm gonna give you
this is basically three plays in one go to the

(01:58:03):
futures market tab on bet MGM bet the exacta Yukon
to beat Perdue in the National Championship. It is minus
one twenty. Essentially, this is three bets Yukon money line,
Perdue money line tonight, and then Yukon money line again
on Monday Night. So we got Donovan Clinging over nine
and a half rebounds, tonight, South Carolina minus six and

(01:58:23):
a half in the women's final tomorrow, and then Yukon
over Purdue in the National Championship. The exacta to go
on Monday night.

Speaker 3 (01:58:31):
All right, check it out.

Speaker 6 (01:58:32):
I have only had one losing week, a one and
two week, so uh, not that bad over the course
of this college basketball tournament. I'm twelve and six. I'm
coming off this heater this three and oher week. I'm
gonna do what I did last week. I'm gonna stick
to the spreads. I'm gonna spread it out. Okay, I'm
talking straight up taking points and then given some NC

(01:58:57):
stayed plus nine and a half.

Speaker 3 (01:59:00):
I don't think they're gonna win this game.

Speaker 6 (01:59:01):
I don't give him a prayer to win this game
against Perdude, that's a better team.

Speaker 3 (01:59:05):
But I think that they.

Speaker 6 (01:59:06):
Will have enough moxie, enough guts to keep it close
enough to get within that nine and a half point
striking range. Now Yukon, it's a different story. Alabama. I
love their shooters, but I don't think they're gonna be
able to shoot up enough. I got Connecticut in the
first half minus six and a half. I got Connecticut
whole game spread minus eleven and a half in Dan Hurley,

(01:59:29):
I trust Huskies to the final and they're gonna do
it in historic fashion with another double digit finish against Alabama.

Speaker 5 (01:59:38):
Wow.

Speaker 4 (01:59:39):
Okay, so I'll give you a prop. I like Alex Caraban.
It's all about Donovan klinging with Yukon. He's a fantastic player.
Give me Caraban over thirteen and a half points. Alabama
doesn't play defense.

Speaker 5 (01:59:51):
I like that bet.

Speaker 4 (01:59:52):
I'm also gonna take Yukon in the first half minus
six and a half. I like it right at Bama
outside shooting football stadium, tough to get used to, and
for fun. I'm gonna go head to head with Jared Smith.
Uh huh yeah, let's go Iowa plus six.

Speaker 3 (02:00:09):
And a half.

Speaker 4 (02:00:10):
I listen South Carolina, they throw waves at you can
wear you down.

Speaker 5 (02:00:14):
I'm gonna take the star power in Caitlin Clark. Everybody
enjoy the action.