Fox Sports Radio's Countdown Presented by BetMGM

Brian Noe, Rich Ohrnberger, and Jared Smith preview the days' action in men's college basketball, all the latest from around the NFL, remembering George Foreman, and more! Plus, Parlay Platter, Follow the Money, Prop It Up, and Rapid Fire! 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
This is Fox Sports Countdown.

Speaker 2 (00:04):
We're setting you up for the sports weekend and covering
all the action from the stadiums to the arenas. This
is Fox Sports Countdown rot the Sports beforn in Vegas.
The countdown starts nine line from the ti iraq dot

(00:25):
com Fox Sports Radio studios. Here's Brian no, Rich Hornberger
and Jared Smith.

Speaker 3 (00:34):
Oh what is going on?

Speaker 4 (00:35):
Welcome in Happy Saturday too. Yes, we get you all
set for March Madness Betting Action colore, very chalky NCAA tournament.
Thus far, I would like to report here, guys, good
morning to you. Guys are Rich and Jared am in
one of my bracket pools. I am proudly only trailing

(00:59):
roughly teen million people.

Speaker 5 (01:01):
Congratulations.

Speaker 3 (01:03):
I don't think bad at all.

Speaker 6 (01:05):
You know you're in front of me because even though
I was saying to you guys, and good morning to you, Brian,
good morning to you, Jared and everybody listening to us
right now, I know there's a lot of hand ringing
going on, because if you're anything like me, my brackets
are always chaos.

Speaker 7 (01:24):
I look at this, the tight spreads.

Speaker 6 (01:27):
Even if I have zero clue as to what either
of those teams look like playing basketball, and I just
sprinkle a little chaos in.

Speaker 7 (01:37):
There are a lot of upsets on my bracket.

Speaker 6 (01:40):
A lot of the bracket has been busted, and that's okay.
That's okay because one thing I did say while we
were on air together over the past two weeks and
actually ask Seamus this question, is if we should expect
more chalk, if we should expect more favorites to win

(02:00):
because of where we're at.

Speaker 7 (02:01):
In nil transfer portal fluidity.

Speaker 6 (02:07):
You know, the teams who are supposed to win at
this point, it almost feels like they will, and they
should because if you're a higher seed in the bracket,
to me, it signals that you may come from a
program that has a little bit more resource. There are
some obvious you know, teams who had miracle runs during

(02:29):
the season are incredible regular seasons and they somehow found
their way in a higher seed. But for the most part,
if you have some national recognition, if you were one
of those teams who metrically outperformed everyone else, the one
thing that typically goes in a direct relationship is the
amount of money that's pouring into your basketball program. So

(02:49):
I hope this isn't a result that we continue to
see throughout this tournament. I hope that this is in
a trend that lasts for years to come, but it
is something that I anticipated.

Speaker 8 (03:00):
So you're saying that Mount Saint Mary's in Norfolk State,
Robert Morris, Lipscombe, Troy Hey Acrons not too bad. Yeah,
they actually performed pretty well. They actually were one of
the few underdogs that covered covered the spread, but they
were within And guess who laid it with Bama like

(03:22):
a bozo.

Speaker 3 (03:23):
One of the few SEC teams.

Speaker 8 (03:25):
That you know, I would say. So to your original point, Rich,
I agree. I actually posted this last night and I'll
just read you the post. I'm not saying nil in
the transfer portal ruined mid major basketball in the early
rounds of the NC Double Attorney.

Speaker 5 (03:40):
But I'm not not saying that either. And I think there.

Speaker 8 (03:44):
Is something to be said because I'll just give you
the numbers right now. Twenty five and seven the favorites
went in the round of sixty four straight up. That's
the most wins since twenty seventeen. Against the spread, it
was nineteen wins. Again, it's the number which is the
most win since two thousand and eight. I mean it
was one of the chalkiest round of sixty four as

(04:05):
we've seen in a long time. And I think there's
something to that. I think there's something to the programs
that historically get these really crafty, gritty players that stay
for four years and they know this program inside it
out and they want to fight tooth and nail for

(04:26):
the Akron Zips or whoever. Right now, that fourth year
or even that third year, when you're an upper classman,
you're getting looks from Arizona, from Alabama because you're the
best player in your mid major conference.

Speaker 5 (04:42):
And I do think this could be it.

Speaker 8 (04:45):
This could be something that when we expand and it's
expanding people whether you like it or not, because there's
money in it. And that's the way that the cookies
crumbling in college sports these days. When it expands, I
don't know if it's going to be any better. It
might make it worse, it might dilute the product even more.

(05:07):
But that's the direction that we're in right now.

Speaker 5 (05:10):
Like it's like we.

Speaker 8 (05:11):
Can't do anything to change it, but keep an eye
on this next year. If we have another year, that's
all chalk. I think it's fair to say that this
is kind of the direction we're moving in.

Speaker 4 (05:21):
It might be I mean, listen, there might be some
truth to that. It's one of these deals where it
reminds me of the college football Playoff, right where you
had that that first round, some boat racing going on.
But it was the first first year of that expanded playoff.
So to your point, Jared, we need a little bit
more data. I go data. You guys go data. I

(05:42):
go data. You know, you know I'm made a tomato.

Speaker 5 (05:45):
I'm a star trek guy, I'm a flipper data.

Speaker 4 (05:49):
You can just kind of go back and forth, right,
Maybe not hardly, you know, like hard committed to one
of those, but I just think of you guys are right.
It's incredibly chalky all the first like the ones, the twos,
the threes, the four seeds all advanced. Not one upset
from a sixteen fifteen, fourteen thirty.

Speaker 5 (06:08):
That's wild to me. Not one weird bounce.

Speaker 4 (06:12):
Nope, yeah, yeah, but I just started thinking about, Okay,
Drake one Drake beat Missouri.

Speaker 3 (06:18):
Think about U.

Speaker 4 (06:20):
See, San Diego was pretty much in a coin flip
game against Michigan, right, was.

Speaker 6 (06:24):
An one miss three away from top Wolverines yep, and
covering the over you know, ever, anybody yeah, yeah, I
got if you would look at the total before that game,
that's crazy.

Speaker 5 (06:36):
Oh no, no.

Speaker 3 (06:38):
For anybody who might have been on that one.

Speaker 4 (06:40):
You know, I don't know who on this show might
have been on that. It would randomly know that off
the top.

Speaker 3 (06:44):
Of their head.

Speaker 4 (06:45):
You know, that's the way it goes sometimes. But hey, listen,
it's very chalky so far. But I'll tell you what
moving forward, this is funny. I used to go home.
I'm from South Bend, Indiana, as you guys know, but
the people listening might not, but shout out to the
war Room. It's the twenty seventh edition of The War Room.
Some of my friends from back home, they get together

(07:07):
every single year. They watch the first three days of
the tournament.

Speaker 3 (07:10):
It's awesome.

Speaker 4 (07:11):
And they have made fun of me all the time
because I would mostly root for favorites, like the whole
place is rooting for underdogs, whoever it may be. I
guarantee they were going ballistic for Robert Morris, and I'd
be the one guy that's like, yeah, but Baba's a
better team going forward. I'm more interested in them going forward,
and they're like, who invited this guy. You know, that's

(07:32):
how it would always go. But the point is, although
it was very chalky the first round, it sets some
it sets up some really tasty second round matchups, and
beyond right, you get some goliaths going against each other.
So that's the silver lining. If you're upset guy, and
you didn't get your upsets in the first round.

Speaker 6 (07:52):
Yeah, And that does actually make me feel better because
I am a college basketball fan. First, I think I'm
a sports better when it comes to the bracket. Second,
there are definitely sports who I or win. I watch them.
I'm more interested if I have a bet in on
them versus my bracket. Like, I don't mind if my

(08:13):
bracket gets busted. I don't know if I've ever won
a bracket pool. I don't know if I've ever you know,
really advanced very much further out of the opening two
rounds of the of the NCAA tournament.

Speaker 7 (08:26):
So it doesn't matter that much to me.

Speaker 6 (08:28):
What I'm what I really hope to see is a
lot of competitive basketball still, and I think we got
more of that on Thursday. Less of that yesterday outcomes
felt and maybe it was because my brain was trained
to it that the favorites were gonna win. From Thursday,
that outcomes felt more predictable on Friday, maybe you guys

(08:50):
felt different. But I love competitive March basketball. There's nothing
better because it's one and done. It's one and done.
It's a season where you know you're playing thirty plus
games and it comes down to a singular moment in Dayton, Ohio,
you know, miles away from the civilization you're from.

Speaker 7 (09:11):
I think it's amazing.

Speaker 6 (09:13):
I love the setup of this tournament and it really
truly does feel like, you know, the Cinderella story is
the perfect way to describe it, because you really can
have rags to riches moments where programs are nighted and
across the nation there are people still struggling to figure
out what state some of these schools are from. So

(09:35):
I love that stuff. I hope we see some interesting
storylines emerge here as this continues. But yeah, I guess
my hope right now is for more competitive basketball and
less predictable outcomes.

Speaker 5 (09:52):
Yeah. McNeice is not one of the fifty states, but
they are.

Speaker 7 (09:56):
They are.

Speaker 8 (09:57):
McNee State plays the first game today. Trying to find
McNee on a map.

Speaker 5 (10:02):
Now it's in Texas.

Speaker 8 (10:04):
I think, uh, I did win one bracket pool two
thousand and eight. I was a senior in college. Mario
Chalmers hit the shot for Kansas.

Speaker 3 (10:11):
Mario Chalmers, I always think of Steve.

Speaker 5 (10:15):
Yeah, that was so. I had Kansas.

Speaker 3 (10:18):
I had Kansas winning that and it was Memphis.

Speaker 5 (10:20):
That was I think that was. I don't know if
that was the Derek Rose Memphis. I think it might have. Yeah,
it was, it was. That was actually really great. That
was a fantastic championship game. Game went to overtime.

Speaker 8 (10:30):
Chalmers hit the shot and then Kansas won an overtime
eye Kansas. That was the first, first and only time
I've ever won the bracket pool Penn State a PI
bracket pool circa two thousand and eight.

Speaker 5 (10:41):
Been a minute.

Speaker 8 (10:43):
Yeah, it was not a very It was not a
very exciting first two days. And I always tell people
like I was hanging out with a couple buddies watching
the games here in Vegas that were in town, and
I always tell people like you, just this isn't I know,
this is a really fun week to come. It's a
hard week to be in town. The games start at
nine am and they are all day and you're in

(11:07):
Vegas like you don't like it's a weird.

Speaker 5 (11:09):
Thing because people come to Vegas they want to do stuff.

Speaker 8 (11:12):
You are chained to the sports book, to your television
for twelve hours.

Speaker 5 (11:17):
You can't go anywhere. And oh, by the way, you
do that on.

Speaker 8 (11:20):
Thursday, you're drained because you've lost all your money and
you go to dinner and you're like, oh my god,
and you gotta wake up again and do it the
next day.

Speaker 5 (11:28):
It's a tough week to be in Vegas.

Speaker 8 (11:30):
But I do think the games this weekend, to spend
it forward, are going to present more exciting opportunities for
watching experiences.

Speaker 5 (11:37):
That is the upside and the downside. Brian, you nailed it.

Speaker 8 (11:40):
The more upsets you have on Thursday and Friday, the
less quality games you have over the weekend. Now, to
be fair, even in the to spend it even more forward,
I think next week is going to be fantastic because
I do think we have fifteen to twenty really good
teams in college basketball this year, and unlike last year

(12:02):
where we knew Yukon and Purdue were just so much
better than everyone else, I think we don't have that
this year. I think I can probably name five or
six teams that are kind of on level ground. I
think Florida's really good. Yep, right, I think Auburn's really good.
I think Houston's really good. But they they they've all
been beaten. Like it hasn't been as dominant as we've

(12:22):
seen in the prior years, with Yukon just running rough
shot through this tournament. So I think next weekend Sweet
sixteen Elite eight, that's when the rubber really meets the road.

Speaker 5 (12:32):
So you might have some more chalk.

Speaker 8 (12:34):
I would not be surprised at the favorites with the
Remember last year in the round of thirty two, the
favorites went fifteen and one. Yep, it was only Clemson
that was the only underdog to beat Baylor in the
round of thirty two last year. Wouldn't be shocked if
we saw that again today and tomorrow.

Speaker 5 (12:48):
But next weekend, oh boy, giddy up.

Speaker 8 (12:50):
I think we're gonna have an absolute rock fight with
some of these games.

Speaker 4 (12:56):
Well, I'll just say real fast, I wonder what remains
constant and what changes.

Speaker 3 (13:03):
Meaning some of these teams.

Speaker 4 (13:05):
That either looked great in the first round, like Duke
Duke looked fantastic, they got Cooper flagged back which was
a big question mark with the ankle injury. He looked fantastic.
He said he felt one hundred percent and comfortable coming
back from that ankle injury. And then I wonder what changes,
You know, think Alabama hopes things change because they were

(13:25):
not impressive whatsoever against Robert Morris. You know, they had
Grant Nelson had a knee injury. He was questionable to play.
They had to bring him off the bench late in
the second half. They're like, this game's in doubt, Man,
get Grant in there. We don't know if we're going
to survive in advance against the fifteen seeds. So I
wonder what stays constant, Like Duke, do they remain on top?

(13:46):
What changes? Maybe Alabama looks better. I think they're going
to be peaks and valleys with Bama throughout this tournament.
But I think we're also conditioned to a team like Yukon,
who do they win every game by double digit last season?
You know, I in the tournament, right like, they were
so dominant that you might be like subconsciously thinking that's

(14:10):
the way it's gonna go again, right Like, But.

Speaker 3 (14:13):
I'm just curious.

Speaker 4 (14:14):
That's one thing that I have My eye on is
which teams ebb and flow, in which teams stay relatively constant,
whether it's good or bad. Because I think we're gonna
get a blend of bolt in this tournament for sure.

Speaker 6 (14:26):
Yeah, yeah, I think we probably will.

Speaker 7 (14:30):
Like you said, there is no.

Speaker 6 (14:33):
Overwhelmingly dominant team that has just ran through their field
of games to a conference tournament and then just laid
to waste those that they play with in you know,
at the top of the heat.

Speaker 7 (14:46):
But it's been there's been variety, and there's been injuries.
You know.

Speaker 6 (14:50):
Some of these teams, you know, and namely Auburn Duke
have played without star players, especially late in the season.
Some of these guys have just been sprinkled back into
the lineup and slowly but surely the teams have geled
around them. Again, that stuff always takes time. So we
could see some interesting storylines as this thing continues on.

Speaker 3 (15:14):
Oh yeah, yeah, very much so. And yeah Auburn.

Speaker 4 (15:17):
Auburn didn't look great in their first game either, and
it's like, man, they lost three or four and look
bad against the sixteen seed.

Speaker 3 (15:24):
What's going on with Auburn, right?

Speaker 9 (15:25):
You know?

Speaker 4 (15:25):
So I'm very interested about them going forward. To Hey,
we're off and running. We've got Rich Orenberger, Penn State
All American, Jared Smith FSR betting analyst.

Speaker 3 (15:34):
I'm Brian No.

Speaker 4 (15:35):
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(15:56):
don't win your first bet, All right, coming up next,
there's respect, but no friendship in sight.

Speaker 3 (16:03):
We'll give you details.

Speaker 4 (16:04):
It's Fox Sports Radios Countdown presented by BETMGM.

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(16:44):
Before we get to mutual respect, but no friendship between
Rick Patino and John Caliperi sad news in the world
of boxing. George Foreman passed away at the age of
seventy six, and man, you look at the credentials just
as an athlete, two time heavyweight champion, a gold medalist

(17:06):
at the sixty eight Summer Olympics. He became the oldest
man to win a heavyweight title at forty five years old,
which was stunning. It was twenty years between titles, which
was also the longest span between titles. And one of
the most random things I remember about George Foreman, it
was what he said about the rumble in the jungle

(17:27):
against Muhammad Ali where he was telling a story where
it was the rop of dope and you know, Ali
was just taking a pounding and George Foreman got punched
out right like he was dog tired. And at one
point in the match you had Ali whisper to him
like is that all you got George, and George said yeah,

(17:47):
he said, yeah, that's about all I got. I just
love that he completely owned that. But that's obviously all
in the boxing world. And he's more than just a boxer.
You know, he's got friend he's got families, got loved
ones who are gonna miss him like crazy. And I
liked Mike Tyson's tweet he put up their condolences to
George Foreman's family. His contribution to boxing and beyond will

(18:12):
never be forgotten. I think sometimes we forget about that
when it's a goliath in a sport, you think of
him as just an athlete, as much more than that.
But sad that he passed away. But what a life
man seventy six years and what an absolute life the
guy had.

Speaker 7 (18:27):
Yeah, there's no question.

Speaker 6 (18:29):
I don't remember obviously the Foreman of the seventies, you know,
when he and Ali fought in Zaire. But I started
becoming aware of George Foreman because his name was spoken
around my house a ton. My family were huge fight fans.

(18:49):
I grew up in the early nineties and that's when
Mike Tyson and Vander holy Field and George Foreman became
the top of that weight class lenox Lewis towards end.

Speaker 7 (19:02):
It was an unbelievable run for boxing.

Speaker 6 (19:05):
And when George Foreman came back, oddly enough, I didn't
love him like I was like, ah, you know, he
seems like a nice old guy, you know what I mean,
because he was thirty eight years old, which is so
odd because I'm thirty nine right now imagining coming back
to being a professional a man now after being retired
for about the same amount of time. By the way,

(19:26):
my career ended just before thirty. His career restarted just
before forty. If I tried to step foot onto a
football field right now, I.

Speaker 7 (19:35):
Would shatter like wedding crystal. It would be awful.

Speaker 6 (19:41):
But I remember becoming a bigger fan because his post
fight interviews. He spoke with such a charisma, and I remember,
you know, after the Cooney fight, it became real.

Speaker 7 (19:56):
He'd beat Cooney in.

Speaker 6 (19:58):
Atlantic City and then they were like, oh, he's gonna
have a title shot real soon, and I believe it was.
Holy Field was a year later, maybe a year and
a half later, and he fought Holyfield for the belt,
who was the undisputed heavyweight champion, And I mean, he
was just a dazzling, bludgeoning, always moving forward type fighter

(20:23):
who I mean would walk you down and and make
you hurt because he had fists like many refrigerators.

Speaker 7 (20:30):
He was.

Speaker 6 (20:31):
He was a great champion and gone too soon because
he was a fun guy to listen, uh talk when
when he took interviews and later in his life that
became less and less often. He was he was charisma personified.

Speaker 8 (20:48):
Yeah, I remember the that was the beginning of kind
of my sports fandom.

Speaker 5 (20:52):
Was the end of his career.

Speaker 8 (20:56):
That was kind of the great the last great time
of boxing.

Speaker 5 (20:59):
We haven't really had at a night like since the nineties.

Speaker 8 (21:02):
It's it's it's unfortunate that boxing has kind of taken
a turn over the last twenty years or so, and
it's more Mike Tyson fighting one of the Paul brothers
now that captures your attention than something like this, which
is just you know, for that to happen in today's
society would be wild. I mean, for a fighter of
that ilk to come back and to and to have
that second win was just unbelievable. I was doing some

(21:24):
reading about it earlier this morning about because I forget,
like I was really young when he had that comeback
like you just forget when you know that when that
took took center stage, I mean that fight against Holyfield,
I remember I caught I watched a little bit of
the highlights this morning to catch myself up on it,
and Yeah, that that was impressive.

Speaker 5 (21:42):
I wish I was older at the time.

Speaker 8 (21:45):
I was so young. I was six years old. I
wish I was older. I could have appreciated it more.
But going back and watching some of it this morning
was definitely garnering more of that appreciation.

Speaker 7 (21:53):
Well.

Speaker 6 (21:54):
And what's crazy is even even though he lost that fight,
the fact that he stuck with it afterwards right because
he was I mean, that was an incredible battle. And
I remember watching that fight with my parents. They let
me because my mom was such a big George Foreman
fan at the time because he I guess her dad
liked Foreman because a lot of people didn't like I'll.

Speaker 7 (22:14):
Leave because he was a draft dodger. Yeah, and so
they loved the.

Speaker 6 (22:18):
Fact that that Foreman was a champ who gave him trouble.

Speaker 7 (22:25):
Anyways, long story short, when Michael Moore.

Speaker 6 (22:27):
Took the belt from holy Field and then Foreman beat Moore,
I again, that was when I became more of a
Foreman fan, and I actually wish then going back where
I was rooting for holy Field in the first place
the first time around.

Speaker 7 (22:42):
I wish he had beat him the first time around
because people are like.

Speaker 6 (22:45):
Yeah, he won the belt, but he couldn't beat Holyfield.
I was like, yeah, but that was I mean, he
was recently retired. Like, so, I had completely flip flopped.

Speaker 7 (22:53):
On George forban.

Speaker 6 (22:54):
It's so funny, but but yeah, what a great champion,
what a great steward for a sport. There are certain
athletes who in their post career become almost more than
they were when.

Speaker 7 (23:07):
They were an athlete.

Speaker 6 (23:08):
And with the lean mean fact reducing machine.

Speaker 7 (23:12):
Lean mean.

Speaker 6 (23:14):
George for mcgrill, he almost became bigger than the sporty came.

Speaker 5 (23:18):
I had that.

Speaker 4 (23:19):
Well, that's the thing too. I saw that you a
week or so ago. I'm like, oh, by George Foreman grill,
But yeah, it does. It reminds me a bit of
John Madden right with Madden in the video.

Speaker 3 (23:30):
Yeah, George Foreman and the grill was a huge thing, the.

Speaker 5 (23:33):
Bigger afterwards than he was during his career.

Speaker 3 (23:35):
Yeah, they sold more than one hundred million units.

Speaker 7 (23:39):
Wow.

Speaker 10 (23:39):
It's very funny because the story, if you hear it
from another celebrity Hulk Hogan, is that he was the
first in line to get the grill, like to get
the sponsorship on the grill, but apparently like he wasn't
near his phone, like he was somewhere where he wasn't
near his phone in the agent gated gave it to
George Forman. Hulk Hogan ended up I guess getting a
smoothie plender and that nobody wro.

Speaker 4 (24:01):
Oh, well, yeah, I'm guessing it didn't sell one hundred
million units.

Speaker 5 (24:04):
No, no, if you can go look this up.

Speaker 10 (24:06):
Hulk Hogan tells the story very very funny, where he's like,
you know, kind of making fun of himself, like, and
you know, George Foreman got the grill and I got this,
you know, little thing.

Speaker 4 (24:17):
But rich Man to your point, I think about when
he became world heavyweight champ again at forty five years old.

Speaker 3 (24:27):
I'm forty seven, and.

Speaker 4 (24:29):
It seems like daily I'll wake up and be like, man,
I don't know if it's the bed my shoulders that
to be a heavyweight champion at forty five?

Speaker 5 (24:39):
Is that the worst comeback in sports?

Speaker 7 (24:41):
Is it?

Speaker 5 (24:41):
The greatest comeback in sports.

Speaker 7 (24:42):
It might be.

Speaker 4 (24:44):
It might be because of what it takes in that sport.
It's one thing for and I know this wasn't a comeback,
but it's one thing for Tom Brady to play in
his mid forties playing quarterback in the NFL. It's another thing.
To be a heavyweight boxer at forty five is insane.
I remember in his later years what stuck with me,

(25:05):
George Foreman.

Speaker 3 (25:06):
He wouldn't sit down between rounds.

Speaker 4 (25:08):
He would just stand in the corner, just be like, hey, man,
if I sit down, that says not good. I was
just gonna stand up this whole freaking fight. And I
love that about him. But man, personality and boxing will
miss him. And that's the thing. A lot of people
beyond boxing that have nothing to do with boxing will
miss him a ton too, because he was just a

(25:29):
charismatic guy. So hey, listen, thoughts and prayers with his
family and loved ones, because you know, death is always
a hard thing.

Speaker 3 (25:37):
But what a life for George Foreman.

Speaker 7 (25:40):
Hey.

Speaker 4 (25:40):
It is Fox Sports Radio's Countdown presented by BETMGM. If
we spin it forward here, really tasty matchup today. Ten
seeded Arkansas against the two seated Saint John's Red Storm.
How we've got Rick Patino against John Caliperi. Of course
former Can Huckey coaches. Both won a championship there and

(26:03):
they'll face off today in this matchup, and I cannot
wait for it.

Speaker 3 (26:08):
And I thought, what was interesting.

Speaker 4 (26:09):
I was watching a John Caliperi press conference last night
and he was asked about, Hey, are are you friends
with Rick Patino and what's the deal here?

Speaker 3 (26:19):
And he's like, oh, we're good. You know, we're good.

Speaker 4 (26:21):
We're exactly We're not bosom buddies here, but you know,
we respect each other. And you can tell that that
Cal has a lot of respect for Rick Patino. You
can tell, you can hear it in his words. But
he was like, look, he was talking about his great
relationships with other coaches, and he was like, he's great
friends with Rick Barnes coach. Cal is, he's great friends

(26:43):
with Tom Izzo, Mark Few and he said, but we're
not in the same league, right, you know, like when
you go up against Rick Patino, you're you're battling, You're battling,
like you're.

Speaker 3 (26:54):
Probably not gonna be the best of friends.

Speaker 4 (26:56):
It lends itself to ah Man I gotta beat this
freaking guys in my way again. So they respect each other,
but not exactly the tightest and the way that cal
explained it, you can absolutely understand the reasons for that.

Speaker 6 (27:10):
Yeah, I think that when you have an opportunity to
see Rick Patino and John cal Pari in March you have,
it feels like planets ligning a little bit, especially when
we think about the route that it's taken to get
back to this point for both of these coaches, you know,
and two very different opening round matchups to get here. Obviously,

(27:36):
the Razorbacks win over Kansas very different from Saint John's
thrashing of Omaha.

Speaker 7 (27:41):
But here we are.

Speaker 6 (27:43):
We have an opportunity to watch too well coached teams
who have been constructed in the eye of their creator
like these. These are two coaches who embed themselves in
the recruiting process, who are giving the couch pit bitches
to the recruits at home as high schoolers before him

(28:04):
being indoctrinated into the programs, who are active in the
transfer portal if they can lure a player from another
more prestigious program potentially to play at their school because
of the name recognition they have as coaches who have
been at the top of the heap for a long
time in college basketball.

Speaker 7 (28:21):
For good reason. This is a fun matchup. My lean
is Arkansas.

Speaker 6 (28:27):
I mean, I just from a talent disparity standpoint, but
a really fun matchup.

Speaker 8 (28:32):
Nonetheless, Yeah, I kind of think that Johnny's are the
right side here. I don't know, I'm fading the SEC
now I've been fading. I should have faded the SEC
the entire tournament. They're five and nine against the spread
so far, I know, and it's and here are the
five wins. It's Kentucky over Troy, and I should have

(28:52):
been all over Kentucky because there's a really good trend
coming into the tournament that if you're off a double
digit loss against the number, like a bad one like
twenty point or more loss against the spread, you tend
to do well in your first turning game. Kentucky's off
that hillacious blow out against Alabama and the SEC attorney
you thought they were going to bounce back strong. The
other wins were ole miss over UNC, and we all've

(29:14):
talked a lot about UNC didn't even I mean, I
think they deserve to be in the tournament. You want
to make the argument. Then West Virginia, I can you
know you're blue in the face. I know the bubble
Cunningham thing, but I think UNC at least proved that
they're one of the sixty four best teams in the field.
But when you go up against an old miss, you
really kind of come back down to earth, and they
had a terrible first half. Saint Mary's beat Vanderbilt didn't cover,

(29:36):
So Vanderbilt covered the number but lost the game. So
you know, it's kind of like a phony fagezy cover.
It was kind of a weird game. I think Mary's
probably should have covered that game, just had such a
bad first half that just couldn't overcome it. The other
two covers for the SEC was A and M against Yale,
which was a mismatch and I know Yale won last year,
but it was a mismatch and Arkansas as a dog

(29:57):
one of the few underdogs that actually did win out right,
eating Kansas, who I think we've all talked about a
lot about Kansas this year. Very overrated, so no surprise there.
So the wins for the SEC against the spread were
not very impressive, and I there's something to be said
about this SEC having a down tournament. We talked about it.

(30:17):
I think last week Ken Pomp put out that article
about the Big Twelve. Last year, the Big Twelve had
this historically good non conference season, didn't have anybody make
it past the sweet sixteen in the NCAA Tournament. I
don't think that's gonna happen with the SEC. I think
we're gonna see multiple teams in the Elite eight and
Final four. But I think those middle tier teams, which
I would put Arkansas in, I don't think they're as

(30:40):
good as the ratings are indicating. And I think because
of that, I'm gonna be fading a lot of those
teams this weekend.

Speaker 4 (30:46):
Yeah, and you know, when you look at Saint John's
as far as the matchup goes, you know, you look
at their defense, number one in the country. They switch
a lot, they're physical, they collapse on you, all those things.
They make layups, rins hard. Their three point defense is
really good. The question about Saint John's, We've kept on
banging the table. Can they make enough shots? Can Arkansas

(31:09):
force Saint John's into a game where they have to
make a good amount of shots?

Speaker 7 (31:13):
Right?

Speaker 11 (31:13):
Like?

Speaker 4 (31:14):
That's that's the challenge right there. And cal Going back
to his press conference, I thought was really interesting. He
made a point where he's like, I would guess that
Saint John's averages maybe about seventeen ish points off of turnovers,
and he's like, so if you have like double digit
live ball turnovers that lead to points, He's like, you

(31:36):
have no shot. We have no shot, So you have
to protect the basketball. So that's one thing to keep
an eye on turnovers leading to easy transition points for
Saint John's something to absolutely keep in mind. And how
about this game being in Providence with Rip Potito and
his roots coaching at Providence. I swear the committee is like,

(31:56):
this is like Bubba Cunningammy. He excluded him out for
the North Carolina conversations, and I feel like he just
walked back in like, all right, guys, how about this,
Maybe maybe we have RiPP Patino and Caliperi and let's
put it in Providence.

Speaker 5 (32:10):
Eye They do that a lot.

Speaker 8 (32:11):
You do notice that with the round of thirty two matchups,
the committee has a sense of humor.

Speaker 6 (32:16):
They do, they do, and also they have a sense
of what's the word a gravitas, Like they do want
fans to show up to these games. And like we
know sometimes you know, it be a UC San Diego
playing in the Midwest, where are they really going to
have a contingent of fans. No, but occasionally when you can,

(32:39):
when you can sort of put a coach or a
player or players back into a city that they have
some sort of historical precedent in, or you know, or
near a city, well then all of a sudden you
have a little bit more intrigued. So I do think
some of that stuff is intentional where where these teams
are placed. But yeah, in terms of this matchup, look,

(33:02):
Arkansas is one of the few teams in this bracket
or left in this bracket who can deal with Saint
John's length. They and what you said, Brian is not untrue.
I think that if Arkansas falls behind in any way,
it's gonna be because the Johnnys like to put you
in the pressure cooker. They're gonna force turnovers, They're gonna

(33:23):
try to get easy buckets in transition, and they do.
Here's where I could see Arkansas taking advantage and it
could be all game long. Saint John's has a little
bit of trouble stopping teams who like to play hard
to the rim. And Arkansas's free throw rate has been
surprisingly good as they've entered the postseason of college basketball.

(33:46):
So getting to the basket, taking a foul, getting to
the charity stripe, making your shots, that could be a
rubric for success for the Razorbacks against the Johnnys.

Speaker 7 (33:58):
I think it's.

Speaker 6 (33:59):
Possible that we see that we see the separation occur
in a very methodical fashion for Arkansas here today.

Speaker 5 (34:08):
Yeah, it's gonna be a fun game. I do think
it's gonna be a fun game.

Speaker 8 (34:12):
I'm curious how Boogie Flan bounces back, right, the freshman
that was injured for a big part of the year
for Arkansas, was supposed to play about ten to fifteen
minutes against Kansas, ended up playing twenty four minutes against Kansas.
Played really well, you know, seem definitely seemed like he
was in the flow of the game.

Speaker 5 (34:28):
Three steals, three.

Speaker 8 (34:28):
Assists, took a few shots, had six points, didn't have
a ton of you know, scoring opportunities. But I think
him bouncing back on forty eight hours rest is gonna
be key because you saw the athleticism that he brings
to the table. For the most part, this is a
relatively young Arkansas team. They do have John al Davis,
who's the you know, the senior from that FAU team
that made the run a couple of years ago, and

(34:49):
a dude the big man in the middle. Those are
the experienced players for Arkansas. The rest of the players
are pretty much underclassman. They had this stud kid, Theirero,
who was on his way back. They thought he might
be able to return today, but we actually just Rossin
just tweeted a few minutes ago that he's not gonna
play today. So I think Saint John's is gonna win
the game. Are they gonna cover the number? Probably? But

(35:12):
you never know, right, I mean these games, based on
what we've seen over the last two days, it feels
like it's a pretty easy weekend. Just pick the favorites
and you're gonna do well. But the best, best laid plans,
advice and men usually right.

Speaker 4 (35:29):
It just feels like there's gotta be a kind But
you think that, you know what the funny.

Speaker 8 (35:33):
Thing is, I think the madness has kind of taken
over the public mindset. Whereas usually when the favorites do well,
the public does really well. In the NFL, right favorites
doing well, and then we saw that in the NFL
this year in college basketball, I feel like the favorites
are actually the contrarian pick because everybody.

Speaker 4 (35:52):
Wants to buy into the madness. Everyone's like boo A five.

Speaker 3 (35:56):
Sell, what's what's going on here?

Speaker 4 (35:59):
We got rich Orner, Penn State All American, Jared Smith, FSR.
Betting analyst I'm Brian No. For each round of March
matchups at BETMGM, you have the opportunity to make predictions
about what will happen, including outcomes like game winners and
over unders. You'll earn points based on a scoring system,
and you could win a share of two hundred and

(36:19):
fifty thousand dollars in bonus bets based on your points
earned enter March Matchups two hundred and fifty thousand dollars.
Pick them free to play game at BETMGM. Earn points
from correct answers for a shot to win a share
of bonus bets. All right, Coming up, we've got the
parlay platter. We each have one selection. We pull it

(36:39):
together for a greater payout. We will compare notes.

Speaker 3 (36:42):
Coming up.

Speaker 4 (36:43):
It is Fox Sports Radios Countdown presented by BETMGM. It
is Fox Sports Radios Countdown presented by BETMGM.

Speaker 3 (36:51):
Smelling upset in college hoops.

Speaker 4 (36:53):
Use this March matchups underdog boost token at BETMGM to
score a bigger payout if your underdog bet wins minimum
plus two hundred.

Speaker 3 (37:03):
Odds or higher. All right, let's do this.

Speaker 4 (37:14):
Yes, we each have a voice. We each have a
voice in this edition of the parlay Platter. Share it,
start us off. What do you have?

Speaker 8 (37:23):
Yeah, the democratic platter is back. We're done with the
communist platter where I'm in control of all of the
railways in the commerce, the bob platter, the putin platter,
putin platters on hold for maybe they'll go back to
pudding platter.

Speaker 5 (37:37):
I'm old some bread pudding, all right.

Speaker 8 (37:40):
Gonzaga was bread pudding in their first round matchup. They
made Georgia look like Man, I'll tell you what. They
didn't look like an SEC team.

Speaker 5 (37:48):
So how about this?

Speaker 8 (37:49):
The Zags have made it to the Sweet sixteen in
nine straight attorneys, but they won't do it in ten
because they face Houston today and this is a tough matchup.
So this reminds me of the Big twelve Tournament. Remember
the Big twelve Tournament? Last weekend, guys, BYU scored ninety
six points. They went eighteen for thirty six from three

(38:10):
against Iowa State. Then they played Houston the next day
and they went from ninety six points to fifty four
points and eighteen may threes.

Speaker 5 (38:19):
To six for twenty eight from three.

Speaker 8 (38:21):
The Zags had a fantastic shooting game against Georgia twelve
for twenty from deep. They're gonna struggle today from deep
against Houston. I think the Kuges on the money line.

Speaker 5 (38:30):
First leg of the parlay.

Speaker 7 (38:31):
All right, all right, give me BYU.

Speaker 6 (38:35):
You mentioned them there a close dog to Wisconsin here
the Badgers. Here's basically what I'll distill this down to.
If BYU can be.

Speaker 7 (38:48):
Better on the offensive boards.

Speaker 6 (38:50):
I don't think there's many metrics that I like the
Badgers better than them in. So give me BYU on
the money line.

Speaker 7 (39:00):
That to the parlay. Stirred in the pot. Let's see
what kind of odds we can get with b nose pick. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (39:07):
I'm not gonna go crazy with the odds, you know.

Speaker 4 (39:09):
I'm not gonna give you like a first field goal scorer,
you know, but give me the Johnnies. I'll go money
line with the Johnny's here I put it this way,
I think that there's a better chance Saint John's covers
the spread than they lose the game outright. They're just
a better team than Arkansas here and the defense that

(39:29):
they play, the physicality. I just they've lost four games
by a combined seven points.

Speaker 3 (39:35):
Like even their losses are impressive.

Speaker 4 (39:37):
I just I don't see Saint John's losing the game
outright and not advancing to the Sweet six team. So
I'll take the Johnny's what minus three hundred, little bit
of added value on the in the parlay platter here,
but not bad when you're parlaying.

Speaker 3 (39:52):
Two other legs to it. Give me the Johnnys.

Speaker 5 (39:55):
Yeah, it's not bad.

Speaker 8 (39:56):
I mean we take Houston their minus to thirty five
Johnny's or three dollars face and then byu is basically
it's kind of a coin flip. I mean there are
one point dog gets, basically a coin flip PLUSQ.

Speaker 5 (40:07):
Eighty not bad.

Speaker 8 (40:09):
I'll be honest. I think this is a good parlay guys.
I think BYU's obviously the toss up game here, but
that makes the odds a little sweeter, and I think
Houston and Johnny's I think that in and.

Speaker 3 (40:19):
Of itself is a good parlay. All right, tasty?

Speaker 5 (40:22):
Right there you go?

Speaker 3 (40:23):
All right, come it up.

Speaker 4 (40:24):
Why is this player acting like his team is a
famous actor when it clearly is not.

Speaker 3 (40:32):
Yes, welcome in.

Speaker 4 (40:33):
I hope your Saturday is off to a fantastic start.
We want to tell you with March matchups here. Drive
to the rim during the best March matchups with a
bet MGM no sweat parlay token, log in and get yours.
If you don't win your bet, you'll get your stake
back in bonus bects. We'll get to one of the
tasty matchups here in just a couple of minutes. B

(40:54):
YU against Wisconsin, expecting points in this one.

Speaker 3 (40:58):
I would not be on the.

Speaker 4 (40:59):
Underson scanting the Badgers against BYU. But we start off
with ball, you know, ball always on the brain over
here and Aaron Rodgers he met with the Pittsburgh Steelers
for six hours yesterday, a six hours sit down. And
I think the first part of this is the Steelers

(41:20):
and Rodgers need each other, right Like the Steelers don't
have a better option than Rogers for this season, and
Rogers certainly doesn't have a better option than the Steelers
for this season, the Vikings have moved on. They're like,
you know, enough of this wishy, washy Rogers guy. We're
committed to JJ McCarthy. So I think they both need
each other. I think it makes sense if Rodgers wants

(41:41):
to continue his career. I think it's in Pittsburgh. I
think the options right now are Purple and Gold or retire.

Speaker 3 (41:47):
That's pretty much where it is right now. That's his market.

Speaker 6 (41:50):
I feel like Pittsburgh might be a match, I think,
and from from this standpoint, In this standpoint alone, I
feel like Rogers isn't going to sign with a team
that doesn't have a chance. And when you're coached by
Mike Tomlin, you have a chance. And so that's really
where I think.

Speaker 7 (42:11):
The interest stops for Rogers.

Speaker 6 (42:12):
I don't think he'd be all that interested to play
for the Steelers unless he was backed into the corner,
which I think he is right now, which is there's
a lot of teams out there who could use his help,
but he doesn't want to join arms with them because
they don't really have a chance to turn things around
in the near future, or at least that's what it
looks like on the outside looking in.

Speaker 7 (42:34):
This moment, and.

Speaker 6 (42:36):
Then you have a lot of teams that just aren't interested.
You know, they're on a path where they could potentially
have success. Maybe they are a quarterback away, and there's
only a few teams like this and they're just not interested,
the Vikings being one of them. You know, could Rogers
step into a situation that Minnesota hasn't be helpful? Yeah,
but Minnesota's like, do we want to sign up for

(42:57):
that headache?

Speaker 11 (42:58):
No?

Speaker 7 (42:58):
Thank you.

Speaker 6 (43:00):
I mean, that's truthfully where I think I think Rogers
is in his career. I think there's a lot of
teams out there who would would strongly consider. Okay, like
close your eyes and pretend there's no aura around Aaron
Rodgers and just think about the stats. A four time MVP,
a Super Bowl winner, a man with almost twenty years

(43:21):
of NFL veterans experience and success. He's the type of
player that you would want to step in and help
continue to groom an injured rookie quarterback coming back to
essentially replay his rookie season.

Speaker 7 (43:38):
Aaron Rodgers would be a perfect then, but he's just
not because of all the baggage that comes with him.

Speaker 5 (43:43):
I agree.

Speaker 8 (43:44):
I think the Vikings would be a good fit for that.
But I also think there's this there's just this cloud
around him, and.

Speaker 5 (43:55):
That's what happens when you're in contact.

Speaker 8 (43:56):
And I said this last year and I took he
four I'll say it again, Aaron. I hope you're listening
about content creator first quarterback second.

Speaker 5 (44:05):
That's the vibe I get, and there's nothing wrong with that.
I'm a content creator. We're all content creators here on
the show.

Speaker 8 (44:11):
The difference is none of us here on the show
also play quarterback in the NFL.

Speaker 5 (44:16):
This is our job. It's a full time.

Speaker 8 (44:18):
Job to do this and to be on shows and
to give your opinion in the media and to have podcasts.
And I know there are more players that are doing
this during their careers now more than ever, and that's great.
And I've said that publicly on this show that I
think professional athletes having their voices heard during their careers

(44:39):
is helping me as a handicapper. It's helping a lot
of fans get the inside, behind the scenes of what
goes on with these teams. But you need to have
discipline and you need to have a firewall at some
point because being a full time quarterback in the NFL
is a time commitment, and being a content creator and

(45:02):
focusing on creating content for your audience is a time commitment,
and there is only so much time in the day.
And I don't understand how you could do both. I
don't understand how I could do this job here with
you guys every week and be as prepared as I
am every week to give you the takes and the
angles and this and that, and then still go to

(45:23):
work work out, understand an offense, know the playbook, get
to know the coaches, this that, and be a full
time quarterback in the NFL. Like I just, I don't
understand how you can do both jobs. It's just it
to me. It's it's really hard. And I think Aaron
is kind of in between right now. He came out
with that Netflix documentary during the freaking season during the season.

(45:45):
I just I think a lot of teams are really
turned off by that. And I think that's why you're
dealing with this. And He's gonna milk this thing as
long as possible, you know why, Cause it's good content
to milk this thing as long as possible. And I
don't know, I mean, maybe Pittsburgh's the right answer, but
I wouldn't be shocked if it continues to milk.

Speaker 3 (46:03):
I'll tell you what.

Speaker 4 (46:04):
There's one other angle I wanted to throw at you
guys that I thought was hilarious this week. So I
halfway get it and that halfway don't. This is Cam Hayward,
longtime defensive lineman with the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Speaker 7 (46:16):
Right.

Speaker 4 (46:17):
He was on the Not Just Football podcast and he
was being asked about Aaron Rodgers and quarterback free agency
and all that good stuff. So this is his first
comment about the pitch for Aaron Rodgers.

Speaker 7 (46:29):
Check this out, frek Steeler.

Speaker 5 (46:31):
You don't.

Speaker 11 (46:32):
That's that's simple.

Speaker 1 (46:33):
That's the pitch.

Speaker 11 (46:34):
Like if you want me to recruit, that's the recruiting
pitch Pittsburgh Steelers. If you want to be part of it,
so be If you don't, no skin on my back.

Speaker 4 (46:43):
Okay, all right, So that's the first You either want
to be a Steeler or you don't take it or leave.

Speaker 5 (46:49):
Huh.

Speaker 3 (46:49):
That's the pitch.

Speaker 4 (46:50):
No, not a whole lot of wooing right there. Okay,
I get that, that's fine, But the other careless, Yeah,
the other part.

Speaker 3 (46:59):
Of this just crack me up.

Speaker 4 (47:00):
Where he's just like, oh, my gosh, I just switch
this switch over. Here's Cam Hayward on the same podcast.

Speaker 11 (47:09):
I wanna play football. I'm tired of talking about the
quarterback situation. I'd rather have it done. I don't know
what ends up happening. I don't know, man, Like this
is like I'm ready to move on in the free agency.
It's is too much.

Speaker 4 (47:28):
Going on, right That's the part that kills me here.
This is what I think about Cam Hayward. He's acting
like his team, the Steelers, is a famous actor. Now,
I think about how how many women would want to
be with a famous actor. That's a good looking guy.
He's got a ton of money, he's known. Like that's
what he's acting like, Like, Oh gosh, this free agency

(47:51):
and it's it's dragging on for multiple weeks now, Oh
my gosh, it's like, that's not what the Steelers are
right now. Thelast time the Steelers won a playoff game
was nine seasons ago. It was the twenty sixteen season.
Just to give you a refresher, it was the eighteen
to sixteen game the Steelers won at the Chiefs. There

(48:14):
was a holding penalty on a two point conversion. It
was called on Eric Fisher holding James Harrison. That's the
last time they won a playoff game. That was Antonio
Brown doing the Facebook live video in the locker room after.
That's the last time they've won. So that's the thing.
The Steelers. They're basically as a guy. They're a nine

(48:38):
to five guy with average looks, average bank roll. If
you want to date the hot girl, you're going shopping
on Sundays instead of watching the NFL. Okay, And the
Steelers are acting like.

Speaker 3 (48:50):
Oh my gosh, it's tragging on.

Speaker 4 (48:52):
For that's the position you're in, that's where you're at.
So I just found that hysterical. It's like, you're not
willing to wait what a couple extra days for Rogers
to make up his.

Speaker 3 (49:04):
Mind that that's where you are.

Speaker 4 (49:06):
So I just think the mentality is funny by the
Steelers right here.

Speaker 7 (49:09):
I don't disagree with you.

Speaker 6 (49:11):
I think that the Steelers' brand is probably more potent
than the Steelers, and that happens sometimes sometimes when fortune
flips and there's a little bit of a disturbance in
the forest. Like for years there the Dodgers, right they

(49:31):
were this regular season Darling, they would win their division constantly.
They would get to the postseason and flame out for
year decades. That was kind of the story with the
Dodgers is you knew that they were gonna get over
ninety wins, but as soon as they got to the
wild card or the divisional or the league series, something

(49:51):
was gonna go haywire. They were gonna be sent back
to La scratching their heads and trying to come up
with answers. Well, they still entered every conversation with the
same swagger. And when I say they, I'm talking about
a lot of different players over those decades who you
heard from. There's a swagger that comes with a brand,

(50:13):
and the Pittsburgh Steelers have that. They're traditionally one of
the better teams in the NFL. They play in a
fierce division in the AFC North. They have played runs
over the past half decade because it's been a long
time since they've had any sort of positive postseason momentum.

Speaker 7 (50:31):
But they still have that swagger.

Speaker 6 (50:33):
So this does not surprise me that longtime Pittsburgh Steeler
Cam Hayward is acting like, Hey, wh're the bell of
the ball, you know, let's get going or yet off
the pot.

Speaker 7 (50:44):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (50:45):
Meanwhile, they could really use Aaron Rodgers.

Speaker 8 (50:49):
Yes, yeah, Well, to be fair, so there's three teams,
and I don't even know if i'd put three anymore
because Jamis Winston last night. Maybe there's really only two
teams left that have a start quarterback opening next year.
I'll say I'll put the Giants still in the mix,
because I still would not be surprised if they obviously
they signed Jameis wins, I would not be surprised they
drafted a quarterback and that guy had a chance to

(51:11):
start as well. So, just for the sake of argument,
let's say that the Giants, the Browns, and the Steelers
are the three teams that are on my list right
now that don't have a starting quarterback listed for twenty
twenty five. I mean, of those three teams, let's say,
all right, Aaron, close your eyes, you have a choice.

Speaker 5 (51:30):
Giants, Browns are Steelers? Where you're going?

Speaker 8 (51:32):
I mean, I kind of think it's an obvious decision.
What are we waiting for at this point?

Speaker 4 (51:39):
Like the Browns, the Brown's offer is like, we can
pay you like three dollars.

Speaker 5 (51:44):
Yeah, we can pay we can pay you whatever.

Speaker 8 (51:48):
Or Deshaun Watson gets from his settlement and we will
pay you that money.

Speaker 5 (51:51):
I'm just kidding. What what are we waiting for? Now?
There's nothing more to wait for.

Speaker 8 (51:57):
The musical chair game is over. It's done. All the
quarterbacks have made their decisions. Even Jamis Winston has made
his decision. What are you waiting for?

Speaker 5 (52:10):
Aaron?

Speaker 8 (52:11):
Here's what you're waiting for. It's good content to drag
this thing out. I heard some of the networks are
maybe bidding for the decision to be aired live at
some point over the next month. I tweeted that are
we going to see an answer? So on March twelfth,
I said, whatever the maximum amount of time Aaron Rodgers

(52:32):
can milk this decision out. I'm still betting the over
on that.

Speaker 5 (52:35):
That was six days. That was ten days ago on
March twelfth.

Speaker 8 (52:38):
Then on March seventeenth, I replied with do we think
this thing goes through the final four and we make
it to the Major League Baseball season?

Speaker 5 (52:46):
What do we think, guys, does this decision make it
all the way to.

Speaker 6 (52:49):
The Final four next weekend? I think it's highly likely,
if not probable. And here's the reason why. I think
there's also a fair chance that he doesn't play football
at all.

Speaker 7 (53:03):
This season or at very least to start this season.

Speaker 6 (53:06):
So Aaron Rodgers is very valuable as a broadcaster and
an influencer as he is a football player at this
point in his career. And like we've seen with other players,
as they're making their transition from being a superstar athlete
to whatever the next iteration of their career is going

(53:27):
to be, they start feathering the bed. We saw with
Tom Brady, launched a production company, started making cameos and movies.
He started making movies before the end of his career.
Tom Brady was busy at work setting up his second career,
his life after football, And so I could very easily
at this point see Aaron Rodgers saying, you know, do

(53:48):
I really want to play for the Steelers and pausing
on it and then saying to himself, well, maybe if
they offer me a contract, I absolutely cannot refuse. But
if they don't, can I drag this out, get a
ton ton of steam around my name, have everybody talking
about me as the draft comes around, because I'll sprinkle

(54:12):
back out there that there are you know, I'll have
my agent talking about their certain teams who are still
interested in Aaron Rodgers.

Speaker 7 (54:17):
His name his name is name.

Speaker 6 (54:19):
It's mentioned the entire offseason, and then come the regular season.
At the first sight of a team with any sort
of chance to make a postseason bid has an injury
at quarterback, guess who name's gonna be the first out
of everybody's lips. And so I could see him, Brian,
I could see him stretching this out for maybe the

(54:39):
entirety of the season.

Speaker 3 (54:41):
I agree, I don't.

Speaker 4 (54:43):
I mean, I hear you, but it's far riskier to
play the Hey, someone's gonna get hurt in training camp,
where I'll have months to learn the playbook in the
system and learn my teammates. Right, Like, you could play
that game, but that's far riskier than what you have
on the table with Pittsburgh, you know, like you've got
DK Metcalf and George Pickens and move to throw to.

Speaker 3 (55:06):
That's pretty good.

Speaker 8 (55:07):
Really would have done it already though, Like it's been
twenty four hours since he left. I'm surprised that they
don't have a contract already ready.

Speaker 4 (55:13):
Well, Hey, well this is Aaron Rodgers we're talking about,
you know exactly.

Speaker 3 (55:17):
Yeah, but look at the other thing, look at his market.

Speaker 4 (55:21):
You think he said no to the Vikings. Why would
he say no and dry up his own market? And
the Vikings are like, we're good, We'll go with the
guy who's never taken an NFL snap before coming off
a major injury. We'll go with that guy instead of you,
Aaron Rodgers. When we do have a Super Bowl contending
type roster.

Speaker 3 (55:38):
You know what I mean, Like is market's trying up.
The Giants are like, we'll sign Jamis. We're good. So
what's his market outside of Pittsburgh. That's why it is
wait for an injury.

Speaker 7 (55:48):
Yeah, well, but he.

Speaker 5 (55:49):
Probably doesn't like Pittsburgh.

Speaker 8 (55:50):
Else he would have signed yesterday because they wanted to
sign him yesterday.

Speaker 6 (55:53):
I guess you're looking at it through a different lens, Brian,
because I'm not looking at it through the soul lens
of Aaron Rodgers the football player anymore. I'm just not
because there are so many emotions and feelings that get
discovered or just sort of quantified in the decision whether
to sign with a team or not down the stretch

(56:14):
of your career versus in the beginning of your career,
in the middle of your career. Look, if he was
thirty thirty five, I think I would agree with you.
If he was thirty two, I think I would agree
with you that geez, you know, his market drying up,
and that's a real concern.

Speaker 7 (56:30):
I don't think he's concerned at all.

Speaker 6 (56:31):
Well, I think he wants to play football, but I
also think that if the right team doesn't emerge with
the right contract and the right consolations heading his way,
he's not going to sign.

Speaker 3 (56:44):
That's fine.

Speaker 4 (56:44):
But the thing is, I understand you're making it more
than football, and that might be the way he's looking
at it. But the thing I come back to is
how much is this doing for him in his non
football post career. You're right, like dragging this out with
the Steelers? Is this given a major juice? Right where
it's just like, ohh Aaron Rodgers. Like most times when
people talk about Rogers, it's like this freaking guy Rodgers,

(57:08):
he's here, he goes with the Steelers, They're they're flirting,
and that's it.

Speaker 3 (57:12):
Like, this isn't giving him some major juice.

Speaker 4 (57:15):
If he's thinking about walking away from the NFL, the
only thing that's going to give him major juice is
coming back and balling out, like because otherwise his rep
is uh drama really talented, but he's the yeah butt
guy and dragging things out with the Steelers is not
going to give him some major juice and like right

(57:36):
the wrongs as far as his rep goes, he knows
this guy come out and ball out, and.

Speaker 5 (57:41):
I don't think he wants back to Pittsburgh.

Speaker 3 (57:43):
Hey might not.

Speaker 4 (57:44):
Well, we'll find out. We'll see what he wants to do.
And your guess is as good as mine. Hey, We've
got rich oron Berger, Penn State All American, Jared Smith,
FSR betting analyst. I'm Brian no. Get ready for tip
off with a March matchups odds boost token at bet mgm.
Use your token A or a bigger payout if your
March matchups bets.

Speaker 7 (58:03):
Hit all right.

Speaker 4 (58:04):
Coming up next our main man, Seamus McGee, team lead
of Sports Trading at BETMGM. He'll get us all set
for the second round of the NCAA tournament and he'll
have a shamous special. You know it's normally good. It's
Fox Sports Radios Countdown presented by BETMGM. It is Fox
Sports Radios Countdown presented by BETMGM. Use code Countdown at

(58:25):
BETMGM and receive up to fifteen hundred dollars back in
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Speaker 3 (58:47):
All right, let's do this.

Speaker 1 (58:49):
Follow the money, real good money.

Speaker 4 (58:52):
Ah yes, following the money with our main man, Seamus McGee,
team lead of Sports Trading at BETMGM. Top of the
morning to you, Seamus, Hope everything as well. You know,
I'm looking at a couple of these totals right Drake
against Texas Tech total is one twenty six and a half,
UCLA and Tennessee might be another rock fight one thirty

(59:16):
and a half in those games, and also these March
Madness games in general, typically, how often do you see
more under money than over money in a particular game?

Speaker 3 (59:27):
How often does that generally happen?

Speaker 9 (59:31):
Hey, guys, looks friend me back, and it's definitely happened
in a number of games so far this weekend. We're
taking some big bets for some bigger clients on unders
this week where we have to refer some overs, it
does kind of get a little weird. This is it's
a weird tournament to trade. Really. All year long, you're

(59:51):
rooting for unders and you're rooting for the favorites to lose.
Then you get some March madness and there's a lot
of flyers on some long shot money line. There's a
popular dogs, more public dogs than their are all year.
People will bet the unders instead of over, so it
can be tricky.

Speaker 8 (01:00:07):
It is funny because I posted this the other day,
or actually yesterday, because a lot someone asked me out
I'll read you the question. They said, you know, if
people are on the chalk, that means Vegas is probably
taking a bath. And in the NFL, that's what happens,
right Shamus. These money line favorites, the parlays, they crush,

(01:00:27):
you guys if the.

Speaker 5 (01:00:28):
Favorites have a good week.

Speaker 8 (01:00:30):
But in March madness, I think it's the opposite because
people buy into the madness and they want upsets. So
I actually think all the favorites and it was a
historically good year or round of sixty four for the
favorites probably means Vegas doing okay.

Speaker 9 (01:00:48):
Yeah, the results for the book have been i'd say
pretty good so far. You know, those fourteen through sixteen
seeds if they went out right, the money lines are
huge in those game games for a lot of times,
so it turns up being a negative result for the book.
But we didn't have any of those this round. In
the past two days, it's kind of been like a

(01:01:09):
Tales two halves for both days where we were crushing
the book. The books were crushing, you know, the first
you know, you know, six or seven games, and then
the night's late for us at least, uh weren't great,
Like you had a lot of favorites, a lot of
public favorites cashing and covering, a lot of parlays were
cashing late night. But the earlier games we were doing

(01:01:30):
pretty well.

Speaker 6 (01:01:32):
We got two one seats tonight Auburn and Houston. Who
do you think has a better chance to struggle coming
up later today? Is it going to be Auburn against
Creighton or is it going to be Houston against the Zags.

Speaker 9 (01:01:47):
This is real tough for me because I love Houston.
I think they're playing some of their best basketball right
now we have a Gonzagga team. I mean, this is
a top ten ten pound team that we're talking about.
I thought they were pretty under seated. A bit harsh
on Houston getting this for a second round matchup. They
have Auburn, who I feel like they haven't really looked
themselves in the past month. To get a Creighton team

(01:02:07):
who's buy a large been pretty inconsistent the past month
or so. But we saw it the other day like
they can get scorching hot. I lean Auburn here, but
the point spread for Houston is about three points lower
than it is for Auburn.

Speaker 4 (01:02:24):
How About let me throw one other game at you.
How about this BYU Wisconsin game. We're expecting quite a
bit of points. Do you like a side or a
total in this matchup.

Speaker 9 (01:02:34):
I've been on a whist pill all year. Picked him
last week on the show and that was good. But
BYU has been one of the better teams in the
country in the past month or so, so it's it's
gonna be really tight. If I had to pick a
side here, I probably take Houston minus one and a half.

Speaker 5 (01:02:53):
How about how about this that a double digit seed.

Speaker 8 (01:02:56):
Seamus has advanced to the Sweet sixteen in sixteen consecutive tournaments,
there's five of them left. Obviously, it's been a lot
of favorite so not a lot of double digit seeds left.
McNeice against Purdue, Colorado State, against Maryland, New Mexico, against
Michigan State, Drake, Texas Tech, Arkansas Place, Saint John's later today,
are we going to see that street continue or are

(01:03:18):
the double digit seeds going to get boxed out of
the sweet sixteen for the first time in nearly twenty years.

Speaker 9 (01:03:24):
A team and I were talking about this when we
signed on this morning. It just feels like in the
nil are thought like, oh, maybe a lot of these
mid majors will be a lot better and they'll be
better in the tournament. But it feels like there's a
there's a gap between a lot of these elite Power
Conference teams and the rest of the mid majors. I
couldn't see it happening today. I think, maybe, you know, McNeice,

(01:03:48):
maybe they can get one over on Purdue, but who
knows what's going on in that locker room. They looked
great against you know, for about thirty five minutes against Clemson,
but I mean, it's it's gonna be tricky. I'm not
sure if we'll see double Did you just see the
Sweet sixteen this year?

Speaker 6 (01:04:04):
What in the in the McGee household? What is the
the the flavor of the night? What are you most
looking forward to? Is it the Johnny's uh and and
Rick Patino taking on Calapari?

Speaker 7 (01:04:17):
Is it the.

Speaker 6 (01:04:18):
High flying action we're expecting to see with Wisco BYU.
Is it the defensive battle with the unknown Drake taking
on Texas Tech that one feel I have the least
amount of feel for that matchup.

Speaker 7 (01:04:33):
Which game are you looking forward to the most?

Speaker 9 (01:04:36):
I'll good forward a lot to this Gonzagas Houston game
because I, like I said before, gonzag I thought it
was pretty underseated, but like they didn't really have too
many huge wins over the course of the regular season.
But then they go in a big run, they win
the WC WCC tournament and you know, Houston, it's it's
kind of a regular season in Big twelve conference tournament champs.

(01:04:59):
That's that's the game of the night for me.

Speaker 4 (01:05:02):
All right, Seamus, it's time for the special. You know
what do you have for us with the patented Seamous
Special this week?

Speaker 9 (01:05:10):
And I was here in all this, Saint John's loves here.
But I I I one of my friends is in alumni.
I've never been more unimpressed in a thirty point win
than I was at Saint John's the other night. If
they even if they even played an average team the
way they played Thursday night, they probably get smoked in
that game in my opinion. Wow, So we're looking at

(01:05:32):
Arkansas first half on the spread. This Saint John's team.
They started slow for the most part of two or
three weeks. So I think Arkansas can get hot here.
And who knows if Saint John's gets down, Like, what
if they go down ten? Do they have the firepower
to get back in this? I know they hit fourteen
threes the other night, but this is a thirty one

(01:05:54):
percent three point shooting team. It's been an issue for
them all year. So I like Arkansas to keep it
the first half, maybe even take the first aff.

Speaker 4 (01:06:02):
Out right, Okay, interesting stuff. I don't hate it at all, Right,
I get what you're thinking, right there, Seamus.

Speaker 3 (01:06:08):
All right, Bud, Hey, good luck, hope you have a
good day. We'll catch you soon.

Speaker 7 (01:06:10):
Man.

Speaker 9 (01:06:12):
Thanks, guys, have a good one. Enjoy the games.

Speaker 4 (01:06:14):
There, he is Seamus McGee, team lead of Sports Trading
at bet MGM. A tractor Supply knows that a winning
season takes practice, teamwork, and a can do attitude. Thankfully
have a neighbor like tractor Supply, teamwork comes easy. Whether
you're caring for pets, chickens or a few acres. Our
team members will help you succeed season after season, tractor

(01:06:35):
Supply for life out here. Well, how about this, rich,
I'll take your question and throw it right back in
your freaking face.

Speaker 7 (01:06:43):
Huh.

Speaker 3 (01:06:43):
How about this?

Speaker 4 (01:06:44):
If you had one game to watch today? Which game
are you watching? NC tournament time?

Speaker 7 (01:06:51):
Right? Like?

Speaker 4 (01:06:52):
Why which game dof circled more than any other one?

Speaker 7 (01:06:56):
I would say today? It would I think.

Speaker 6 (01:07:00):
I agree with Seamus Well, I think BYU Wisconsin's gonna
be a high scoring game, like we discussed earlier, and
I have serious intrigue elsewhere. I think Houston because they're
of their more recent name recognition nationally. Seeing what their

(01:07:21):
track also looked like from the beginning of the season
a little bit of a shaky start, really pulled things
together nicely throughout the regular season and became a dominant
force in college hoops this year. Like expected, but they
pulled it all together. I think that game against the Zags,
who have real firepower up real game this year, that's

(01:07:43):
gonna be a fun watch, There's no question about it.

Speaker 7 (01:07:45):
I think I think Seamus nailed it.

Speaker 5 (01:07:47):
Hmm, what's my so is this the same question for me?
What's my savor.

Speaker 7 (01:07:51):
Question for you?

Speaker 5 (01:07:52):
Jared?

Speaker 3 (01:07:52):
In your freaking face as well?

Speaker 8 (01:07:54):
In my freaking face, I think this Michigan A and
m Gay is gonna be really good. I think this
is I think that game has the potential to be
really close obviously based on the line.

Speaker 5 (01:08:07):
I think BYU Wisconsin's gonna.

Speaker 8 (01:08:08):
Be a really good watch too, although everyone's betting the
over in that game, and you know it's gonna finish
sixty five sixty.

Speaker 3 (01:08:13):
Three because everyone because everyone.

Speaker 5 (01:08:15):
Thinks there's gonna be a lot of points.

Speaker 8 (01:08:17):
They thought that in Wisconsin Michigan too, and the Big
Ten Championship, and it was one of the biggest rock
fights of the year. So I agree that I think
Gonzaga Houston's an interesting one. Gonzaga's got Final four potential
for sure, and they're being seated like a team that
should be you know, out in the first or second round.

Speaker 5 (01:08:34):
But I wouldn't be shocked.

Speaker 8 (01:08:35):
If Houston just wiped the floor with them, because Houston's
really good.

Speaker 4 (01:08:40):
Listen, I'm interested in both the games I'm you're talking about,
like BYU Wisconsin Gonzaga Houston. Those are really good matchups
and they could be great games. The game I have
to see is Arkansas Saint John's. Yeah, I have to
see it because look, it's it's college basketball history playing
out right in front of you with cal and Rick Patino,

(01:09:01):
and that's a draw. I got to see the game
based on that coaching matchup, and I can't say that
about BYU Wisconsin or this is history. There's history on
the line with no there is it. It's not the same.
So the backdrop is what puts Arkansas Saint John's over
the top from me.

Speaker 3 (01:09:19):
How about tomorrow?

Speaker 4 (01:09:20):
If you look at the Sunday slate of games again,
if you can only watch one game, which is a
ridiculous questions.

Speaker 8 (01:09:28):
Of course we're gonna we're gonna watch watch one game.

Speaker 5 (01:09:31):
What are were smoking here?

Speaker 4 (01:09:33):
But if you can't, like Jared, you've got friends in town,
you're racing from here to there.

Speaker 3 (01:09:39):
What's the game that you're like? Guys? I can't go anywhere.

Speaker 4 (01:09:42):
At one thirty pm Pacific time today, right, Like, what's
the one game that you have to see and you're
not in your car, you're not driving anywhere, Like, which
is which one?

Speaker 1 (01:09:53):
Is it?

Speaker 3 (01:09:53):
Tomorrow?

Speaker 6 (01:09:53):
It's so crazy that you said one pm Pacific time
because around that time Illinois in Tucky tip off. And
I feel like that's that's the one that feels I
haven't looked ahead at all the lines, but it feels like.

Speaker 7 (01:10:07):
That's probably the tightest matchup.

Speaker 6 (01:10:11):
I I have a ton of respect obviously for both programs.
The year that Illinois have put together in the Big ten,
not a ton of Big ten schools represented in March. Yeah, Yeah,
that's that's the one that that's the one that I'm
most interested in tomorrow.

Speaker 5 (01:10:26):
M least interested in trying to think of the least
interesting game.

Speaker 8 (01:10:32):
Yeah, let's start from let's let's go least, let's go
least interested. I think Colorado State Maryland feels like a snooze. Okays,
like an I feel like Maryland. I think Maryland's really good, guys.
I think Maryland might just wipe the floor with that.

Speaker 7 (01:10:44):
I think Taylor is the biggest snooze.

Speaker 5 (01:10:47):
Oh, Yeah, Duke Baylor could be a snooze tomorrow.

Speaker 8 (01:10:49):
Duke might drop a half of like half a hundie
in the first half in that game.

Speaker 7 (01:10:53):
You might be able to turn that off at the
first ten minutes.

Speaker 5 (01:10:56):
Same with Yukon Florida.

Speaker 8 (01:10:57):
I think that so I think when Yukon finally Yukon
hasn't lost Attorney game three years.

Speaker 5 (01:11:03):
Guys, that's why.

Speaker 3 (01:11:04):
Yeah, it's crazy and that's the one. And that's the thing.
It could be a boat race.

Speaker 4 (01:11:08):
I wouldn't be at all Florida's gonna score on Yukon's
ragtag defense like crazy.

Speaker 3 (01:11:15):
This could be a boat race, really good.

Speaker 4 (01:11:17):
But that's the game I have to see with the
two time defending champion Yukon Huskies with Dan Hurley, does
he get punked in the second round by Florida? Who
a lot of people like to win a championship, Like,
that's the one I have to see.

Speaker 3 (01:11:29):
I do like the couple of them. Oregon Arizona should
be a good matchup.

Speaker 7 (01:11:34):
Yeap.

Speaker 4 (01:11:34):
Then it's funny because you think, oh, Pac twelve, It's like, nope,
it's Big ten versus Big twelve.

Speaker 3 (01:11:39):
That's how we have going on with Oregon in Arizona's
so weird.

Speaker 5 (01:11:42):
So weird.

Speaker 8 (01:11:42):
How about the Big ten eight no straight up eight
to no against the spread in the first round of
the Then the Big twelve is having a good so
the SEC is kind of pooping itself a little bit
against the number. At least Big ten, Big twelve been
pretty good so far. And how about your Mountain West there,
Rich couple of yesterday, I finally got off the schneid.

Speaker 6 (01:12:02):
Yeah, Mount West soon to be rest in peace. But also,
you know, I misspoke because I was like, yeah, you know,
I like this Illinois game. Not a lot of big Tech.
Everybody's in the Big ten. Now, I like, my brain
did exactly what you said, Brian. I looked at Oregon,
I look at UCLA, and.

Speaker 7 (01:12:21):
I don't see Big ten teams.

Speaker 6 (01:12:24):
Especially for whatever reason, my brain is much slower with
college basketball to make this transition.

Speaker 7 (01:12:29):
This is gonna take a while to get used to.

Speaker 1 (01:12:31):
I know it.

Speaker 3 (01:12:32):
Man, It's it's the San Diego Chargers all over again.

Speaker 4 (01:12:36):
It is like lh L Los Angeles. Oh my gosh,
that's gonna take me a long time to get used to.
But yeah, here we are welcome to the college landscape,
ever changing we've got Rich Ornberger Penn State All American
that remains constant. Yep, we've got Shared Smith FSR betting
analyst that remains constant. I'm Brian no that that remains

(01:12:58):
constant as well. I'm not done changing it to o
Jo Sinko or something like that.

Speaker 5 (01:13:02):
Hey.

Speaker 4 (01:13:02):
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Speaker 3 (01:13:33):
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Speaker 3 (01:13:41):
Prop it up.

Speaker 4 (01:13:42):
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Speaker 3 (01:14:00):
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Speaker 3 (01:14:23):
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I don't know, you're wrong, not quite like lake me.

Speaker 3 (01:14:41):
The stuff that comes out of my head. I don't
even know what's coming up next?

Speaker 7 (01:14:44):
Up?

Speaker 3 (01:14:45):
All right, Jared, we'll start with you, man, what's the
prop that you like?

Speaker 9 (01:14:48):
All right?

Speaker 8 (01:14:48):
Since we're all we're all on the over and this
BYU Wisconsin game, let's give you a prop from it.
John Ton Jay a couple of weird games. Remember right,
he's one of the best scores in the Big Ten.
Had a nine bagger against Michigan in the Big Ten Final,
but one for nine from two to zero for five
from three, did have a good day at the free
throw line, had a very low volume shooting game against Montana.

Speaker 5 (01:15:08):
How about this, guys, John Toanjay, one.

Speaker 8 (01:15:11):
Of the best scorers in the Big Ten, only attempted
five shots in that game against Montana, And I think
it's more of a team vibe, right.

Speaker 5 (01:15:19):
And the Badgers were scoring without them.

Speaker 8 (01:15:21):
They didn't really need a whole lot of Tonjay love
from the floor. He did shoot again nine for nine
from the line, but at some point Tonjay is gonna explode.
I think it's today. This is gonna be a fun
game against BYU. Twenty and a half is his point
total in this game. Again, he had fifteen points against Montana,
only attempted five shots, So if the attempts increase, I
think Tanjay goes over his point total today. Give me

(01:15:41):
over twenty and a half points with a Big Ten score.

Speaker 7 (01:15:44):
Wow two John's one team.

Speaker 6 (01:15:47):
I also have a Wisconsin John John Blackwell guard facing
BYU today looking at sixteen and a half points on
the prop mark to give me the over. Also, I agree,
I think this is gonna be a high scoring game
against the Koops. So he kicked off his tournament against
Montana with nineteen points seven of twelve shooting.

Speaker 7 (01:16:06):
From the field.

Speaker 6 (01:16:07):
He didn't make a three pointer in that game though,
interesting data point, especially against the coops now today who
really struggle with their perimeter defense. So I'm gonna I'm
gonna say Blackwell, who's great from the mid range, even
if he's cold from the arc, goes over the sixteen
and a half points today.

Speaker 4 (01:16:29):
Okay, since we're all on this BYU Wisconsin game, I'm
gonna give you a different problem. I don't have anything
circling in this one, but I like what you guys
are thinking. I'm gonna go to Purdue and McNeese, So
shout out to Will Wade. We all know the job
he's done at McNeese in two years, taking that team
to the tournament, winning a game, beating Clemson, who's a

(01:16:51):
good team. But Will Wade, he's talked openly about his
team not being able to match up against teams that
have front court size. And so I'm looking at Trey
Kaufman Wren. He can eat in this game.

Speaker 3 (01:17:03):
I like over six and a half rebounds.

Speaker 4 (01:17:06):
He's gonna do some work in the paint here, Maybe
take a peek at his point total. I think they're
gonna use Kaufman Ren early often throughout the game. He
had eight rebounds their first matchup in the Big Dance,
so I think he's gonna continue that against McNeice. Who Again,
if you're telling me they're not great against front court size, well,
Kaufman Ren's got front court size. I'll take him over

(01:17:29):
six and a half rebounds as one of them that
I have circled here today.

Speaker 7 (01:17:32):
Yeah.

Speaker 6 (01:17:33):
I like those matchup props where you look at a
team who maybe isn't used to playing the type of
size in their conference as they're going to see in
the tournament, and you could see a big do some
serious damage to some of these defenses in the round
of sixty four, in the round of thirty two.

Speaker 5 (01:17:54):
I like it.

Speaker 8 (01:17:55):
How about an under. We haven't given out an under today.
I'll give you an under. Everything's going over in the
by game, so I'll give you an under.

Speaker 3 (01:18:02):
Igor.

Speaker 8 (01:18:04):
I don't even know how to pronounce his last name, Demon, demean.
He's from Moscow, so maybe Demean or Demon.

Speaker 5 (01:18:09):
I don't know. Igor. We'll call him Igor on the show.
His three he's a freshman.

Speaker 8 (01:18:13):
His three point prop is one and a half and
he's had like a historic run of unders on his
three point prop. It's I think it's like, out of
all of his games played since the New year, I
think he's gone only over but twice until the game
against VCU when he had three. He went three for
seven from deep. Wisconsin's actually a really.

Speaker 5 (01:18:33):
Good three point perimeter defensive.

Speaker 8 (01:18:35):
Team and if he is the main scorer on this
BYU team. By the way, he's a freshman and he's
playing in his first ever Sweet six or round of
thirty two game. He played pretty well again in his
first of a round of sixty four game, but I
think the Wisconsin defense will be focused on the six
foot nine freshman today who hasn't really shot well from
three all year. Again, he's made just thirty nine all

(01:18:56):
season twenty eight percent.

Speaker 5 (01:18:57):
He had a good shooting game against VCU.

Speaker 8 (01:19:00):
I think he reverts back to bad igor in this game.
So under one and a half, mad threes minus one
thirty five over at that MGM.

Speaker 3 (01:19:09):
I like what you're thinking right there.

Speaker 4 (01:19:10):
And it's funny too, because I think Brendan Haywood was
doing that first game against VCU, and he stepped.

Speaker 3 (01:19:17):
Up and just stroke a three and he's like this, dude,
are we sure he's at twenty seven?

Speaker 1 (01:19:23):
How?

Speaker 3 (01:19:24):
But I hear you, I absolutely hear you.

Speaker 4 (01:19:28):
Yeah, regression to the meme, babymen, I'll give you another
under if we want to break out. Yeah, over undertake here,
come on Tennessee's Chas Lanier. Okay, his point total is
at sixteen and a half today. That's the highest point
total in this Tennessee UCLA game. Watch Kobe Johnson. Kobe,

(01:19:48):
Kobe will be matched up on Chas Lanier. I think
he's gonna do a great job on him, and I
think this is gonna be a rock fight. I think
it's gonna be a flower grinder. You know, we're working
the shot clock down. I think Lanear under sixteen and
a half points is a pretty good play.

Speaker 7 (01:20:05):
I like it.

Speaker 8 (01:20:05):
Mick Cronin is gonna be angry on the side of
the streaming at people.

Speaker 3 (01:20:09):
Yeah, Mick, it's a great recipe for an underfense.

Speaker 4 (01:20:12):
Yep, all right, coming up next, this is one tasty matchup,
maybe the tastiest of the entire day.

Speaker 3 (01:20:20):
Oh what is going on? College hoops on the brain?

Speaker 4 (01:20:24):
As we will whittle it down to the sweet sixteen
after today and tomorrow second round eight games coming at you.
How about Gonzaga and Houston. Love this matchup and I
would say a clash of styles in this regard. If
you look at Houston, they play the fifth slowest tempo

(01:20:45):
in the country. Gonzaga is in the top fifty at
least in terms of tempo. So clash of styles as
far as that goes. Gonzaga. They play solid offense, but
against Houston's defense, I cannot wait to see who gets
the better of who is it Gonzaga's offense or is
it Houston's defense. My money is on Houston's defense. But

(01:21:08):
we've seen Houston and occasionally like they'll choke the life
out of BYU right, that happened recently BYUS High Fly
and scoring points left and right. They play Houston, they're like, oh, okay,
no scoring today. But then we'll see Houston in certain
games where they're giving up points left and right and
you're like, Wow, what's going on over here? So that's

(01:21:29):
much rarer. We know Houston's defensive credentials. I think they're
gonna get the better of Gonzaga today. You mentioned this,
I think Jared earlier in the show Mark Few going
for his tenth straight Sweet sixteen. That is freaking insane.
I don't think it's gonna happen, but to have nine

(01:21:50):
in a row, to have nine in a row is
an amazing accomplishment.

Speaker 7 (01:21:55):
Yeah.

Speaker 11 (01:21:55):
Yeah.

Speaker 6 (01:21:56):
This Zags team, in my opinion, is pretty horribly underseated.
It's not often that you get a Metric Top ten
matchup in the round of thirty two, but here we are.
Both of these teams definitely treated their opening round game
as a warm up, you know, so not a lot

(01:22:18):
you could draw from that other than the fact that
the Zags kind of turned around a shooting deficit they
were in. They were a little cold, and they heat
it up, especially from perimeter. That to me is where
they have to win. Houston is going to slow down
this game, obviously. They play great defense that is built in,

(01:22:39):
baked into the DNA of this Cougar's team. So if
you could shoot over them, if you can increase the
tempo by shortening your possessions and hitting from the perimeter,
it's going to force Houston outside their comfort zone. And
the Zags have the type of firepower that can provide

(01:22:59):
these sort of results. So definitely an interesting game here.
I think this is the one to watch. I think
this one could have the most, i should say the
biggest impact on the bracket as a total, because you
could see the Zags topple Houston here and potentially make
a deep run potentially, or you could see Houston prove

(01:23:22):
a point here against a very very talented, underseated Gonzaga team.

Speaker 8 (01:23:28):
Yeah, if you go back and you look at Gonzaga's
losses this year and you try to analyze the games
that they've really struggled in, and they had a few clunkers, right,
Like they had a weird game against Santa Clair where
they gave up one hundred at home, and that's weird.
They had an overtime game against Oregon State where they
gave up a bunch of points. But if you really
go look at the tough teams Gonzaga has played this

(01:23:49):
year and the games they've struggled in, it's a lot
of Saint Mary's sixty two, fifty eight, seventy four sixty seven.
Like undervibes, UCLA lost the tight won sixty five sixty two.
They lost a relatively low scoring game to Yukon seventy
seven to seventy one, and then you had a couple
overtime games early in the year against Kentucky and West
Virginia that again, overtime variants kind of skews those results

(01:24:12):
a little bit. But my point being, if you can
contain Gonzaga and turn them into a team that plays
in the sixties like UCLA did, like Saint Mary's did,
I think that makes this team very one dimensional. And
I think that's where Houston is gonna thrive in this matchup.
Whereas Georgia is not a great defensive team. They played
in a tough sec they're not a great three point defense,

(01:24:34):
and they just allowed Gonzaga to do whatever they want.
I go back to what we saw with BYU in
that game against Iowa State last week in the Big
Twelve tournament, and they just did whatever they wanted. And
then they played Houston the next day. And Houston does
not let you do what you want. They make you
do what they want. And that's where I think this

(01:24:54):
number might get out of control. Like if Gonzaga they
went they they shot sixty percent from three against Georgia,
that that's you just you're just not doing that against Houston.
I don't care how good you are at making threes,
they're gonna make you go inside the arc.

Speaker 5 (01:25:09):
Calvin Sampson knows.

Speaker 8 (01:25:11):
He's about as good of a coach on a short
prep as you're gonna find. So I think if now,
if Gonzaga makes the threes, yes, they will be in
this game. But if I roll the dice a thousand
times and I say five hundred times, you're gonna get
you know, a three point average, I think that means
Houston's gonna win the game and probably covered.

Speaker 7 (01:25:31):
Well.

Speaker 3 (01:25:32):
That's the thing, man.

Speaker 4 (01:25:33):
A couple of things against Gonzaga is they don't have
a pro on the roster. And you think about some
of these years where getting to the sweet sixteen, they
had Jalen Suggs, they had a chet holme Grin. You know,
they don't have They don't even have a Drew Timmey
on this team, like an NBA guy, And they were
on the bubble for a lot.

Speaker 3 (01:25:52):
Of this season.

Speaker 4 (01:25:53):
That's the other thing with Gonzaga, and they struggle against
teams that are big and tough. Playing Houston, you know,
like that's yeah, that's not great. It's not a great matchup.
But hey, listen, the money some of the money has
come in on Gonzaga, where Houston is just favored by
four and a half right now. But I think that

(01:26:14):
Gonzaga was really impressive in the first round, and like
you said, Jared, they're just reigning threes.

Speaker 3 (01:26:19):
It's offense.

Speaker 4 (01:26:20):
You're like, whoa Zag's styles make fights, man, And I
just don't like this fighting matchup for Gonzaga against Houston's defense.
How about a different matchup completely BYU against Wisconsin.

Speaker 3 (01:26:34):
Yeah, where you're gonna see a lot more.

Speaker 4 (01:26:36):
Offense in this When the totals, I mean goodness, there's
a difference of about sixteen points with the two totals
in these two games, the Houston game now the Wisconsin game.

Speaker 3 (01:26:46):
But you mentioned this, Jared.

Speaker 4 (01:26:47):
You think about that Wisconsin Michigan Big Ten Championship game
with that absolute rock fight, and are in that Big
Ten tournament, and I can't see a rock fight in
this one.

Speaker 3 (01:27:00):
Cannot see that Greg guard.

Speaker 4 (01:27:02):
His offense has evolved certainly, and they can fill it up.

Speaker 7 (01:27:06):
Man.

Speaker 4 (01:27:06):
Wisconsin can score. So I think a big question in
this game is who's going to play better defense. Wisconsin
is top twenty five in both offense and defense, but
I think a large part of how this game is
going to be decided is who plays better defense. One
other thing to keep in mind at altitude, they're in Denver,
so BYU they're much more used to that than Wisconsin is.

(01:27:28):
So maybe a little bit of tired legs in the
second half for the Badgers. It's something to keep an
eye on.

Speaker 6 (01:27:33):
BYU, forty eight percent of their offense was generated beyond
the arc this year.

Speaker 7 (01:27:41):
I mean, so this is a perimeter shooting team.

Speaker 6 (01:27:43):
Now, Wisconsin, to your point, better metrically defensively than the Kougs,
but extenuating factors like conditioning at altitude and things like
that could take effect.

Speaker 7 (01:27:56):
Those things have their advantages.

Speaker 6 (01:27:58):
And a team that stop short of, you know, forcing
action to the paint and working for every bucket, like
for example, we were just talking about Houston a very
slow plotting style. They're exerting their force on the teams
that they face. That's that's not BYU style. They're very

(01:28:18):
much a hey, we're gonna take and make open threes.
That's what we're going to do. Wisconsin, I will say, though,
is right behind them in terms of three point volume.
There's just a significant gap in terms of percentage of
shots made from beyond the arc, So the Cougars they
have an advantage there. I would say it comes down
to who plays better defense here today, and in a

(01:28:41):
one off you can have a bad night defensively, you know, Wisconsin,
they could have confusion, they could have bad switches, There
could be some wrinkles in half court offense that the
Cougars are able to install ahead of this matchup that
can flummix a Badger's defense that has been shaky at
times but overall pretty good and definitely better than the

(01:29:02):
Cougars this season.

Speaker 7 (01:29:04):
So we'll see.

Speaker 6 (01:29:05):
But but yeah, expect fireworks. Both of these teams are
going to shoot the ball a ton. I Again, we
say this and gired you you pointed out earlier we're
probably going to see like a sixty two to sixty
five final, But it definitely does not feel like that's
going to be the case.

Speaker 5 (01:29:23):
Today, No, it doesn't.

Speaker 8 (01:29:24):
The Michigan game was fifty nine to fifty three, and
Michigan actually did make nine threes in that game, but
it was just it was a strange game defensively. I
think both teams, you know, it was the fourth game
in four days for Wisconsin. I think that Big Ten
Tournament is a gauntlet. I mean, teams are not asked
to play four games in four days at any point

(01:29:45):
during the regular season. I think it's weird that they
do it in the postseason format the way they do,
but that's the way that it's been for years. I
think it's turnovers are going to be absolutely crucial as well.
Both of these teams, I would say, are kind of
averaging that apartment. Wisconsin's been better lately, but Wisconsin's one
of those teams that their turnover rates really good overall,

(01:30:09):
but defensively, they don't force a ton of turnovers, and
that's where I think BYU has an opportunity. BYU's three
point defense been atrocious, not only this season but over
the last month. I mean they're allowing teams to make
almost fifty percent of their shots from three over the
last month forty six percent. That's three hundred and twenty
eighth in the country per Torvic over the last thirty days.

Speaker 5 (01:30:31):
So BYU again like the way that I played it.

Speaker 8 (01:30:34):
I gave you that Igor Demon under three point prop,
but I also put that in a same game parlay
and I did Tanja. We said Tanja over points I
did Tonja over points. I did Tanja over threes. That's
a very correlated leg. And then the Demon under threes
that's plus three thirty three that SGP over at bet MGM.

(01:30:56):
That's a pretty good look in this game. Again, I
think at this point the totals and the spreads are right, Like,
you're not gonna find a lot of value this morning
betting over one fifty five and a half b while
you Wisconsin like I think that. I think that number
is probably pretty right, and I don't think it's gonna
move a whole lot before game time. But the prop market,
as we've discussed, that's we get more robust prop opportunities

(01:31:18):
in the tournament because there's more markets available. So I
do think that would be a fun SGP get get
some good plus money there.

Speaker 5 (01:31:25):
Tanja over threes, Tanjy over points.

Speaker 8 (01:31:27):
And then that Demon kid under threes plus thirty plus
three thirty three.

Speaker 3 (01:31:33):
I do like that Igor spells his name E G
O R.

Speaker 5 (01:31:37):
It's like e or from Winnie the Pooh.

Speaker 4 (01:31:39):
Right, let me throw one other one at you, Rich.
I think this is the matchup for you, man, I
really do. It's Michigan and Texas a and M. And
here's why, so A and M. They're the best offensive
rebounding team in the nation. And think about Wolf and
Golden to twin taw for Michigan. You gotta love the

(01:32:02):
battle of the boards in Michigan. Ann, I'm telling you, man,
just boxing out, grabbing the loose ball like it's gonna
be a fun matchup.

Speaker 3 (01:32:12):
And Michigan is just so weird.

Speaker 4 (01:32:14):
Michigan is one of those teams where it's like good news,
they keep it close if they're the dog, bad news,
they keep it real close if they're the favorite. Right,
So they're the dog today, So that might be a
good news type scenario if you're a Wolverines fan. But
that matchup on the glass, man, I can't wait for that.
Can Wolf and Golden try to neutralize some of that

(01:32:36):
am M rebounding? They're number one in the nation and
offensive boards, Yeah, you gotta do a good job if
you're Michigan, obviously with defensive rebounding here.

Speaker 6 (01:32:44):
Yeah, rebounding and offensive rebounding specifically is almost like the
offensive line play of college basketball. So I do understand
why you're trying to turn my brain onto this one,
and I do I look at the game that I
probably watched closest in the round of sixty four after

(01:33:04):
San Diego State got bounced in the first four was
the UC San Diego Tritans taking on the Michigan Wolverines,
and Michigan was lucky to hang on in the second half.
There was a look at a major upset there for
the Tritons. So a good season and they packed their
bags admirably after that effort. But yeah, moving on to

(01:33:28):
the Wolverines facing A and M it really is a
little bit like that Spider Man meme.

Speaker 7 (01:33:33):
Just staring at each other in the mirror.

Speaker 6 (01:33:35):
You know who's gonna blink first, is really what it
comes down to. And I think this is going to
be one of those grinder games that could have an
impact on both of these teams bracket future. That's something
that's not often discussed. There are certain matchups that beat
down good teams and make them less effective as their

(01:33:57):
tournament continues. So key on that whoever prevails from this game,
depending on what their next matchup is. If it's a
good one, this could be a weighty game in terms
of how the legs feel after this and emotionally, depending
on how the game goes, it could be a turbulent
game for either side.

Speaker 7 (01:34:18):
So yeah, exciting game.

Speaker 6 (01:34:20):
Gonna be a little bit more in that rock fight category,
but exciting game than the last.

Speaker 8 (01:34:24):
Is it fair to say Michigan's the better coach team
here with Dusty May over Buzz Williams.

Speaker 5 (01:34:29):
What do we think about that statement.

Speaker 4 (01:34:31):
I don't think that's crazy at all. I don't think
Dusty's a fantastic coach.

Speaker 8 (01:34:34):
Yeah, I think that's the edge for Michigan in this game, right,
And I think that's something. Keep in mind, half of
the games in the tournament are played on very short prep, right,
Basically you get thirty six hours essentially.

Speaker 5 (01:34:47):
Tom Izzol was talking about it.

Speaker 8 (01:34:48):
I remember late last night I was watching his postgame interview.
He's like, I gotta get back to work. I think
he was talking to Rostein.

Speaker 5 (01:34:54):
He's like, I gotta go back to work. John, I
don't know what you're talking about. We got a game
in like thirty six hours.

Speaker 8 (01:35:00):
The coaching matters more in this round than it does
next week, right, because shorter prep. Next week you get
four days off, get a lot of time off. You know,
the prep isn't as intense, So the coaches that are
better in that regard. I think have an edge in
this scenario, and I think it's fair to say that

(01:35:20):
is Michigan's edge in this game. That might be their
only edge in this game. I think A and M
is better athletes, definitely upfront. I think Michigan might have
a little more skill upfront in terms of their shot making.
Like Danny Wolf can take you off the dribble, not
a lot of seven footers can do that.

Speaker 5 (01:35:37):
Golden can shoot the three.

Speaker 8 (01:35:39):
Not a lot of seven footers can shoot threes like
Wolf and Golden can both do that. But A and
M's bigger, faster, stronger in every category.

Speaker 5 (01:35:47):
And I think.

Speaker 8 (01:35:48):
Michigan's turnovers is going to be what does them in here.
So the number is probably right. I don't want to
lay more than three with A and M. But I
think A and M wins the game, and I think
it's the turnovers in the backcourt which is the advantage
for the ACT. But they are the better coach team Michigan,
and that could be interesting if things get tightly.

Speaker 3 (01:36:07):
Last little point I'll make.

Speaker 4 (01:36:08):
It's a trip watching Michigan play where you're mentioning Jared
Danny Wolf just handling the ball. He's the guy who
initiates offense. They run their offense through their seven footers.
And it's not just like Trey Donaldson dumps the ball
down low like it's the nineteen nineties in the NBA
or something, you know, like back to the basket. Danny

(01:36:28):
Wolf is at like the three point line, dribbling and
initiating offense, and Donaldson, a guard, is just like cool man.
I'll just play off ball. It's wild to watch them
play man. But it's a good matchup here against A
and M. But think about everything that Danny Wolf has
asked to do, dribbling, initiating offense, get on the glass,

(01:36:50):
especially against A and M. Right, that's a lot of
responsibility for Danny Wolf. And we'll see if Golden can
do his work as well. But that's a tasty matchup.
I like that one, all right. We've got Rich Orenberger,
Penn State All American, Jared Smith FSR betting analyst. I'm
Brian no smelling upset in college hoops. Use this March

(01:37:11):
matchups Underdog boost token at Betting MGM to score a
bigger payout if you're underdog. Bet wins minimum plus two hundred.

Speaker 3 (01:37:19):
Odds or higher. Head on over there and get in
on that.

Speaker 7 (01:37:23):
All right?

Speaker 4 (01:37:23):
Coming up next, is it an indecent proposal or is
it actually decent?

Speaker 3 (01:37:29):
We'll compare notes.

Speaker 4 (01:37:30):
It's Fox Sports Radios Countdown presented by BETMGM. It is
Fox Sports Radios Countdown presented by BETMGM. You can stream
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(01:37:51):
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Radio in the iHeartRadio app and it'll always pop up
on the top of your screen. All right, So again,
ball on the brain. We'll be quick here because we've
got basket. We've got hoops on the brain as well.

(01:38:12):
But the Detroit Lions, some would say, Chris purfets Detroit Lions. Huh,
trusted technical producer on this fine show. They have made
a proposal. I think it's a decent proposal. Some would
say indecent. So they submitted a proposal that would seed
playoff teams based on regular season record only. We're ignoring

(01:38:38):
whether you won your division or not. Right, you're ten
and seven and won your cesspool division, who cares you
don't get an automatic playoff game. You've got to have
a good record to earn a home playoff game.

Speaker 3 (01:38:51):
I love this proposal. I would absolutely vote for it.

Speaker 4 (01:38:55):
I don't know that the NFL owner is going to
be racing to vote for this, because everybody's in it
for their own good and their own well being, so
I it might take a few years for this to
go through, but I think it's absolutely the way it
should be done. Like which is more impressive. This is
what happened last year. The Rams won the NFC West,
which was clearly down. They're ten and seven. The Vikings

(01:39:18):
in the Gauntlet NFC North were fourteen and three. The
Vikings had four more wins than the Rams. But the
Vikings are playing on the road because they're a wildcard team.
I think it's dumb. I think it's ridiculous the way
it is. I think they absolutely should change it. I
am completely on board with the Lions saying seed all
these teams based on regular season record.

Speaker 3 (01:39:40):
Forget about winning divisions.

Speaker 6 (01:39:42):
I think I like the division system as it's set up,
and I understand the gripe, and I think it is
kind of ridiculous to see potentially, you know, a thirteen
win second place team, you know, visit an nine when
you know first place team like that doesn't make sense,

(01:40:04):
it doesn't.

Speaker 7 (01:40:04):
I get it. I completely get it.

Speaker 6 (01:40:07):
However, the the thing that the NFL has cornered the
market in is urgency, and down the stretch of the
regular season when divisions are still alive, it creates more
urgency than there would be if we were basing this
off of record alone. Because while seeding matters, man, those

(01:40:30):
those division titles matter too, and so you have certain
teams playing for a higher seed, you have other teams
just trying to win their division. And it creates more
avenues to have potential success and then air go. The
regular season is more interesting, and so.

Speaker 4 (01:40:49):
Can Rich Can I play Devil's advocaca please do?

Speaker 7 (01:40:54):
Yeah?

Speaker 4 (01:40:55):
Let me let me poll holes here and you're you're
welcome to pole holes as well.

Speaker 3 (01:40:59):
Jared's here.

Speaker 4 (01:41:00):
But it just reminds me of last year, Rich, right
where think about the Rams. The Rams were gonna win
their division. They rested everybody in Week eighteen. Yeah, because
they knew they're gonna be at worst a four seed. Like,
what do you think do they rest everybody if they're
gonna be a seven seed?

Speaker 7 (01:41:15):
You know what I mean?

Speaker 4 (01:41:16):
Like they're gonna be the bottom of the whole heap
in the play. I don't know that they're resting their guys,
but if you're automatically gonna be a three or a
four seed at worst, yeah, you might rest your guys
and say screw it. Would rather be healthy, right, Like
I think that the way it's set up can lead
to a less competition.

Speaker 3 (01:41:35):
I think there's more if it's just based on record.

Speaker 6 (01:41:37):
Yeah, I just feel like if you have a situation,
and like we do often in the NFL, I'm sure
if we went back and studied over the past decade,
you know how many times there is a bunch of
teams that are mired at the top and maybe one
or two teams that are really have you know, isolated
themselves from the rest of the pack, and then it'll

(01:41:59):
become more of a battle of the basement instead of
intrigue at.

Speaker 7 (01:42:02):
The top of the mountain. And so I'm looking for less.

Speaker 6 (01:42:06):
Teams to be securely slotted in their space is heading
into the postseason, not more. And I fear that if
we go to an overall record reseeding in once we
break it off into the postseason, there're gonna be more
teams who are potentially resting their players than we do
in the current divisional setup, because sometimes it's it's obvious

(01:42:32):
who who is going to be seated higher and lower
heading down the stretch of the season.

Speaker 7 (01:42:36):
If we were to base it off of record alone.

Speaker 8 (01:42:40):
I'll be honest, I'm really torn on this one. So
we were talking about this in the group jet this week.

Speaker 4 (01:42:45):
Come on, come over to this side, Jared Records, baby,
come on.

Speaker 8 (01:42:49):
Well, I think that makes sense in terms of the
gambling element to it, like because we get these really
funky matchups in the first round of the playoffs where
the road team is fab and I.

Speaker 5 (01:43:00):
Think it's like weird.

Speaker 8 (01:43:01):
It's just it's not that it's bad, it's just different.
Usually home field in the NFL matters, and it maybe
hasn't mattered as much recently, but I think that it
still matters a little. I think it matters more in
college than it does in the NFL. But then on
the other side. You get these teams in these divisions
that are playing these cupcake schedules, and it kind of
changes how we feel about some of these teams.

Speaker 5 (01:43:23):
I think it was.

Speaker 8 (01:43:24):
A really, really good year for the NFC North, and
I think that is what is accelerating this discussion more
than your average year, where the NFC North usually is
not gonna have what was it, three teams with eleven
or more wins, Like that's crazy, that's probably not gonna
happen again for another however many years it's been since
the last time it happened, But there is something to

(01:43:46):
be said about the division mattering, And I'll be honest,
I'm very fifty to fifty on this. I think Brian's
point makes a lot of sense from the future of
the league, a balance league, making sure that the playoffund
games make a lot of sense. But then there's the
inner child nostalgia in me that thinks that division should
matter a little bit and winning your division is important.

Speaker 5 (01:44:09):
So all right, Brian, you win this round.

Speaker 8 (01:44:13):
I think because in my future self, I see the
gambling mattering even more, and I see the wins and
what you do in the regular season mattering even more.
For the postseason, and I think that is where I'm
like fifty one percent. But still winning your division should matter.
I do think it should matter for something.

Speaker 4 (01:44:31):
You should get a playoff perth, that's where it matters.
But you don't get the extra cherry on top home
the home game just by winning your home your division. Like,
you go back, I've been yelling about this for fifteen years.
At least you go back to remember when the Saints
won the Super Bowl the nine season. The next season,
the twenty ten season, they had four more wins than

(01:44:53):
the seven and nine Seahawks.

Speaker 3 (01:44:56):
Yet they're on the road.

Speaker 4 (01:44:58):
And that was the epic Marshawn Lynch beast quake run
where he had the sensational run for a touchdown. It
was shaking so much it actually showed up on the
Richter scale. Like a seven and nine team is hosting
a playoff game, and what bothers?

Speaker 3 (01:45:14):
That makes sense? Bother me a little bit, it makes
zero sense.

Speaker 4 (01:45:18):
Yeah, right, that's where I would say, this last little
point here, we'll move it back to hoops unless you
guys want to chime in.

Speaker 3 (01:45:25):
Hey I have, yeah, I.

Speaker 6 (01:45:26):
Have, I have a couple of because because I'm I'm
just ready to go.

Speaker 4 (01:45:30):
Let let me say one thing, rich let me let
me say one thing, and I'll throw it to you.

Speaker 3 (01:45:34):
People just get used to stuff. Okay, we're used to
in the NFL.

Speaker 4 (01:45:39):
You win your division, you host a home playoff game,
Right that, that's what we're used to. I think of
it like this, if it were the other way around,
if we just based it on record, Right, we're seeding
them one through two, three, four, five, all the way
down the list based on record. Who is saying, Hey,
you know what, I got an idea, let's change to

(01:46:00):
if you win your division, you get a home playoff game. Yeah,
you could be under five hundred, you could have four
fewer wins than the wildcard team, but you should. You
should host a playoff game because you won your crappy division.

Speaker 3 (01:46:13):
No one's saying that, nobody.

Speaker 4 (01:46:15):
We're just used to the way it is, and a
lot of people don't want to let go of that.

Speaker 6 (01:46:19):
I think that we as a society have this weird
compulsion to try to improve things that are perfect, Like
why do we all need new cell phones every single year?

Speaker 7 (01:46:31):
We don't what the camera.

Speaker 6 (01:46:33):
Is a couple megapixels better on the new iPhone?

Speaker 7 (01:46:37):
No, it's just status.

Speaker 6 (01:46:39):
It's just improving upon something that doesn't really need much improvement. Now,
if there was a major innovation, yeah sign me up.
But when we're talking about something that isn't broken and
arguing over.

Speaker 7 (01:46:52):
You know these these these ideas.

Speaker 6 (01:46:54):
That have been spitballed around by the way for decades
and decades.

Speaker 7 (01:46:59):
This is a megalith.

Speaker 6 (01:47:02):
We have the best possible postseason in professional sports right now,
and we want to change it.

Speaker 4 (01:47:09):
It is I prob they've tweetd that they added a
seventh team.

Speaker 3 (01:47:13):
We only have one team with a bye.

Speaker 4 (01:47:15):
They've tweaked the playoff system incrementally many times.

Speaker 6 (01:47:19):
But this wouldn't be a small addition where you're adding
a team and you're you're reducing it by one by
you're completely flipping how seasons will be played out because
divisions will no longer matter as a matter of fact. Historically,
tougher divisions like the AFC North the NFC East at

(01:47:39):
times where they catabalize each other because they're better teams
facing each other as opposed to playing in like the
AFC South, you know what I mean, Like where you
might have two teams with double digit records because the
other two teams are absolute garbage. We're gonna reward more
of the AFC South and then we're going to punish

(01:48:00):
the AFC North for beating the ever living dog out
of each other, like.

Speaker 7 (01:48:04):
No, thank you, no, thank you. Don't.

Speaker 6 (01:48:07):
Also, this will eventually hurt small market teams or smaller
market teams. I mean also home field advantage and and
weather play an enormous factor in the.

Speaker 4 (01:48:19):
Post games and win freaking games, and spare me your tears.

Speaker 7 (01:48:24):
No, no, no. Schedule and balance is a real thing.
Schedule and balances.

Speaker 8 (01:48:27):
What's the part that I agree with where the schedule
does matter a little bit.

Speaker 5 (01:48:31):
Yeah, you need to bake more if you want to
do this.

Speaker 4 (01:48:35):
The AFC South the NFC South have been easier paths
and they're not winning more games than teams in the
NFC North, and you're hosting games.

Speaker 5 (01:48:45):
It was a it was a weird like the but
the NFC.

Speaker 8 (01:48:47):
No, I don't think basing this full opinion on one
weird time.

Speaker 7 (01:48:51):
Again.

Speaker 4 (01:48:52):
I gave you a beast quake from the twenty ten season.

Speaker 7 (01:48:56):
I gave two examples over the course of twelve.

Speaker 4 (01:49:00):
Which there are many. It's a three hours showy. I
don't have time eat.

Speaker 6 (01:49:05):
Yeah, but but, but let me give you, let me
give you the tertiary or unintended consequence of this, all
of a sudden, divisions don't matter all of a sudden.

Speaker 7 (01:49:15):
Instead of having.

Speaker 6 (01:49:16):
A team, Instead of having a team play against the
Jags twice and the Colts twice and the Texans twice,
you're going to want them to play against better competition
or frankly, worst competition.

Speaker 7 (01:49:28):
If the only things we're looking at is w's and l's.

Speaker 6 (01:49:32):
So again, schedule imbalances based on divisions are going to matter.

Speaker 7 (01:49:36):
More steeply in this brave new world you're pitching.

Speaker 6 (01:49:39):
I think it's dumb again, going back to my original point,
what you want to add a couple of megapitzels to
what's already perfect or potentially completely rooined by turning this
thing on its ear. The NFL is the most popular
sports for a sports league for one reason and one
reason alone. They have cornered the market on urgency. They've

(01:50:01):
given everybody a chance with salary caps. They've given everybody
a chance with the NFL Draft, which by the way, doesn't.

Speaker 7 (01:50:08):
Even feel legal.

Speaker 6 (01:50:09):
I'm not even sure how they've gotten away with this,
but whatever, I digress to prove the point that the
competition in the NFL, based on the way it's broken
down divisionally and all the other restrictions they have in place,
had made this the most urgent.

Speaker 7 (01:50:23):
League to pay attention to you. And you want to completely.

Speaker 4 (01:50:26):
Flip that formula this, I want to change it because
the Lions, if they lose at home in Week eighteen,
they're a five seed playing on the road.

Speaker 3 (01:50:34):
That's dumb.

Speaker 5 (01:50:35):
Well, all these and.

Speaker 7 (01:50:40):
That better.

Speaker 4 (01:50:47):
Wins better even if you drop that game, four wins
better than the Rams.

Speaker 5 (01:50:56):
Football team win Rams Lion.

Speaker 4 (01:50:59):
Yeah, the Rams should have won games. The Rams should
have started off better than one and fourth. The Rams
should have beaten the Arizona Cardinals instead of losing forty
one to ten.

Speaker 8 (01:51:06):
Here the Rams had to play the Chiefs and the
Chargers and the AFC West, where the NFC North got
to play the AFC South, the Typers, Jags, and the Colts.
That's the part that needs to change if we are
going to do this for real, we need to stop
with the division versus division matchups and we need to

(01:51:27):
do a balance schedule where you play the teams that
you are lined against in the other conference and not
just one division straight up, because any team that gets
to play any division in the NFC, that gets to
play the AFC South is in an advantage winning games
any other.

Speaker 5 (01:51:47):
It's true, though, Brian, that listen.

Speaker 4 (01:51:49):
If there's no balance, there is balance out of your head,
there's zero balance, like.

Speaker 8 (01:51:54):
You can eliminate that situation.

Speaker 7 (01:51:57):
And there's no say.

Speaker 4 (01:52:00):
There are thirty two teams and you play seventeen games,
get balanced out of your mind. It will never exist ever, ever,
ever can There are teams that are good, there are
teams that are bad. Every year the ACA balance schedules,
you can't, you can't possibly, but look look at the
Washington Commanders. They the Commanders went from four and thirteen

(01:52:20):
to the NFC title game.

Speaker 3 (01:52:21):
They went from the outhouse to the penthouse.

Speaker 4 (01:52:25):
Good luck coming up with balanced schedules from year to
year when these teams have results that are completely different.

Speaker 5 (01:52:32):
No, but I'm not.

Speaker 7 (01:52:33):
I can't.

Speaker 3 (01:52:33):
I agree.

Speaker 8 (01:52:34):
I agree with that. It's hard to do it in
the moment. But the division format, the way that the
schedule is structured now, where the NFC whatever plays the
AFC whatever every year and it's very regimented, that needs
to change. We need to eliminate the cross conference divisional

(01:52:54):
matchups and just say this is your schedule and this
is who you play based off.

Speaker 5 (01:53:00):
Of last year's records.

Speaker 8 (01:53:01):
But you have to remove the container of every team
in the NFC North has to play every team in
the AFC South because it just so happens that this
is the fourth year of that format. That makes no
That makes as little sense as the as what the
you know, the Lions going on the road being a
five seed if they would have lost that last game.

Speaker 3 (01:53:22):
I'll tell you this.

Speaker 4 (01:53:22):
I'll tell you this on this we're in the middle
of March madness and we're loving about the NFL likes.

Speaker 3 (01:53:28):
But I'll tell you this.

Speaker 4 (01:53:30):
You know what's funny is nobody talks about balanced schedules.

Speaker 3 (01:53:35):
And we got to stop with this.

Speaker 4 (01:53:37):
AFC division plays this one NFC division. No one talks
about that until we talk about this Lion's proposal in
home playoff games going away from like automatically from the
division champs. Like what if this proposal wasn't on the table.
Why isn't anybody yelling about the lack of balance schedules anyway?

Speaker 3 (01:53:56):
Shouldn't that matter anyway?

Speaker 4 (01:53:58):
Why is it all of a sudden mad or just
when we're talking about maybe home playoff games going away
for division winners if your record isn't good enough.

Speaker 3 (01:54:06):
I don't understand that part of it.

Speaker 6 (01:54:07):
I understand where your brain is, but you're skipping over
the one fact that balance schedules don't matter as much
in the current system because you have another route, because
if you win your division, you have another route.

Speaker 7 (01:54:21):
So you're right. If we were in the situation that.

Speaker 6 (01:54:25):
You're trying to get us to where record is the
only thing that mattered, then having a balanced schedule would
matter a lot more. But with a divisional route, you know,
kind of like with March Madness, the second best in
my mind postseason in all of sports, behind the NFL.
March Madness works because it's not just at large bids

(01:54:47):
based on record and metrics. It's also conference tournament championships,
so you can have you know, brack or not bracketbuster,
but bid stealers out of these conferences and that stuff
that makes it more equitable.

Speaker 3 (01:55:03):
I'm glad you brought that up, Rich.

Speaker 4 (01:55:05):
So if the NFL, if you're doing a March Madness comparison, yeah, okay,
if you win your lower division, you're in the tournament.

Speaker 3 (01:55:13):
You're not automatically a four seed, you know what I mean.

Speaker 1 (01:55:15):
You got to earn that.

Speaker 6 (01:55:16):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (01:55:17):
The NFL is like, screw it, you're a three seed.
You you were ten and seven in the AFC South. Yeah, great,
three seed host a home playoff game. The NCAA tournament
doesn't work like that. You actually have to have a
good record to have a good seed. You can't just
win your division.

Speaker 8 (01:55:32):
Unzaga should file for emotion to get the seedings changed
by the committee.

Speaker 4 (01:55:44):
We've got Rich Orenberger, Penn State All American, Jared Smith
FSR betting analyst.

Speaker 3 (01:55:48):
I'm Brian No.

Speaker 4 (01:55:50):
Tractor Supply knows that a winning season takes practice, teamwork,
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neighbor like Tractor Supply, teamwork comes easy. Whether you're caring
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life out here.

Speaker 7 (01:56:09):
All right.

Speaker 4 (01:56:09):
We actually will talk hoops coming up next, but that
was a life chat.

Speaker 3 (01:56:14):
I love it.

Speaker 4 (01:56:15):
We'll have a three picks each in rapid fire. Stay
tuned for that. It's Fox Sports Radios Countdown presented by BETMGM.
It is Fox Sports Radios Countdown presented by BETMGM. Get
ready for tip off with a March matchups odds boost
token at BETMGM. Use your token to score a bigger
payout if your March matchups bet hits. Also, shortly after

(01:56:38):
the show, our podcast will be going up. If you
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Just search Fox Sports Radio wherever you get your podcasts,
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Just search Fox Sports Radio wherever you get your podcasts,
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our trusted producer the Dodger Zone podcast, Chris Purfett, our

(01:57:00):
technical producer, extraordinary Pride of Detroit podcast and crushing the
digital side that would be Sauger posting our clips does
a great job. Top of the hour up on Game,
LaVar Arrington, TJ. Hushman, Zada Plaxa Co Burst. They've got
you covered in about eight minutes from now. Keep it
locked here on Fox Sports Radio. We got picks to make.

(01:57:22):
Let's do it.

Speaker 1 (01:57:25):
Rapid fire.

Speaker 4 (01:57:28):
All right, Jared, we start with you, what do you
like a lot of chalk today, which means all the
dogs will cover, probably because I'm betting all the favorites
pretty much except for this early game.

Speaker 8 (01:57:36):
But I'll give you Saint John's minus seven and a half
aginst Arkansas. There's better numbers available, there's some sevens, but
we'll give you the bet MGM number seven and a
half minus one oh five. The Boogie Flann injury came
back by twenty five minutes. I was surprised for Arkansas
against Kansas. I will see if he adds that kind
of bounce back. And I just think the Johnny's are
a little bit tougher in the trenches.

Speaker 5 (01:57:55):
And I think they're gonna cover this number.

Speaker 8 (01:57:57):
Ginzaga minus four and a half against Houston.

Speaker 5 (01:57:59):
We talked about this in the parlay platter.

Speaker 8 (01:58:01):
The Zags are sweet sixteen, darling, but they just had
a ridiculous run through the you know, the three point
shooting in their last round. So I think Houston is
actually sorry I flipped that. Houston minus four and a
half against Gonzaga.

Speaker 5 (01:58:12):
Agains. Zaga is not a favorite against Houston, but I think.

Speaker 8 (01:58:15):
The Houston defense is gonna shut down ba Gonzaga three
point attack. Just like they did the BYU in the
Big twelve tournament last week. And I'll like four and
a half with Tennessee. I know Rick Barnes is usually
a pumpkin in the tournament, but I think this Tennessee
team is a very, very high octane unit, and I
think they have enough to get past UCLA shot up
really well against Utah State. So Saint John's minus seven
and a half against Zaga minus four and a half

(01:58:37):
Tennessee minus four and a half.

Speaker 5 (01:58:38):
A lot of chalk today, all right.

Speaker 6 (01:58:39):
I think I'm on the opposite side of Jared on
two of these bets.

Speaker 7 (01:58:43):
So let's get.

Speaker 6 (01:58:44):
Into Oh, I don't trust the Cougars. I think the
Zags are coming off that hot first round and they'll continue.
So give me the Zags plus four and a half.
And then, yeah, I am on the opposite side. I
think the Arkansas raise. I think though the Pigs have
the length to match up with the Johnnies. Give me

(01:59:05):
the dogs there. Those are the only two dogs I'm
taking today. And then also give me Wisconsin a favorite. Uh,
this is actually the narrowest spread we have today, minus
one and a half over BYU.

Speaker 7 (01:59:17):
I trust Wisconsin's defense more.

Speaker 4 (01:59:20):
All right, Okay, I'm gonna go with two of my
props here I mentioned earlier.

Speaker 3 (01:59:24):
I like him.

Speaker 4 (01:59:25):
Give me Trey Kaufman Wren from Purdue over six and
a half rebounds, Will Wade if McNeese he's talked about. Hey,
they struggle with front court size, so I expect Ren
to get his. I also like chas Lanier of Tennessee
under sixteen and a half points. He went crazy twenty
nine points in the first round, but matched up against
UCLA's Kobe Johnson and Mick cronin Dada. I think chas

(01:59:50):
Lanier goes under and then tomorrow. Give me Florida minus
nine and a half. I think Florida puts it on
the two time defending champs Yukon.

Speaker 3 (02:00:00):
I think they win by double digits. Hey, enjoy all
the hoops action. We'll catch you soon. Have a good one.