Hour 1 - Bronny James

Doug Gottleib fills in for Colin for day 2 of the opening round of March Madness

Doug defends Kansas head coach Bill Self after a 1st round exit

Did Bronny James finally look like an NBA player?

 

Guest: GRANT MCCASLAND

#douggottliebshow

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
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Speaker 2 (00:21):
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Speaker 3 (00:26):
What up? Welcome In? This is the Herd. Wherever you
may be and however you may be making us part
of your day. Thanks so much. I'm Doug gottlieb In
for Colin Cowherd on an absolutely spectacular Friday in Southern California.
Absolutely spectacular Friday in Southern California. Welcome In. Had a

(00:49):
great time hosting with the boys being back in town
for a couple of days. Full disclosure, I had a
full day yesterday, full day yesterday. I don't know if
I shared this with you, Greg and Ryan and Ryan
part of the production crew. So yesterday's show and then

(01:13):
it's my work. It's like our celebration week for my
son's sixteenth birthday, so we have a We normally do
it when we lived in southern California on the Jewish
holidays because he went to a small private school, and
we'd go to six Flags during you know, one of
the high holidays and ride all the roller coasters and

(01:34):
just have a great time. We did it yesterday instead.
And then all the while, right, you got your your
cell phone's handy, we're watching the March Madness games. Then
the drive home, we're watching Kansas and Arkansas, and then
you watch all the games at the end as well. Right,
great thing about West Coast time is they were all
wrapped up and you're you're good, You're like, okay, I
saw Michigan, hold off, U see San Diego and shut

(01:58):
it down. Go to bed, wake up this morning. Oh yeah,
by the way, we'll get to Brownie James's best offensive
performance as a pro in the NBA last night. Full day. Uh,
all right, full day. It's good day, good day. But
I was we were watching Arkansas and Kansas, and I

(02:19):
got I got a text from a friend who was like,
h bill self, bill self, this thing might have passed
him by. And I was, I was. I don't know
if I was laughing or crying on the on the
inside at that text. So you mean to tell me

(02:41):
that a coach who just four years ago, won a
national championship and had a run of what was it
twelve consecutive Big Twelve titles. The game has passed him
by after signing a new contract with the Jayhawks over

(03:03):
the offseason, or there's a different way to look at it. Look,
it wasn't a well played game. It was an ugly game.
Self lost one of his best players to what appears
to be achilles injury. But I was watching Kansas play

(03:24):
and I was identifying, you know, their players and what
was going right and what was going wrong, And like, look,
I make no mistake about it. I have a ton
to learn. Anybody can learn watching the best of the
best of the best. You know, they mix and match
with a two three zone. There's a little triangle in two.
It really confused Arkansas and Arkansas just survived. Really was

(03:45):
because Kansas just turned the ball over so much. And
the things that when you games or lose you games
are you know, turnovers, basically defense, turnovers and rebounding. And
look at that game and Kansas had sixteen turnovers, had
one less offensive rebound, and only shot outshot them from

(04:10):
the free throw line. But you know, Arkansas took sixty
five shots. They took fifty eight and they lose the
game by seven points kJ Adams Hurch's Achilles ten. But
then I was watching their lineups and I was like, okay,
Hunter Dickinson played four years at Michigan. Zek Mayo just
transferred in from South Dakota State. Riland Griffin transferred in
from Alabama. AJ Storre who probably plays best game as

(04:34):
at Jayhawk. Last night, he transfers in from Wisconsin. David
quit had transferred in from Northern Illinois, and it it
didn't stun me, but there was an aha moment right
And obviously John cal Perry's in his first year at
Arkansas and his his team will look wildly different next year,

(04:54):
as he brought over several players, kept a couple from
Arkansas last year, and then brought over players you know
John L. Davis who was at Florida Atlantic. DJ Wagner
who was one of the players that came over along
with Big Z from from Kentucky. And I thought to myself,
hold on, this is a different sport than the one

(05:18):
both of these two men have coached in before. I
actually think Bill Salz like the perfect example. The guy's
the best of the best of the best. And you
could say the same thing honestly about John Caliperry. Different
ways of doing the same thing and same thing meaning
being a Hall of Fame coach. Both are in the
Hall of Fame. Both have won national titles, and Bill's

(05:39):
won two of them, two of them. And you look
at how they went about their business, right, John Calipery,
you know, evolved from what he was at UMass than
the NBA. And of course when he was at Kentucky
it was one and done's and he would go and
hand pick the best five freshmen that he could get,

(06:05):
and more often than not it would hit and whether
they got to the final four or one year one
national championship or were constantly competitive at the very top
of the sport, he became the signature of the one
and done era. Now, truth be told that even when
they won the national championship, one of the strengths of
that team with some of the veteran players, but he

(06:26):
picked off the top of the deck. Bill selve a
little bit different at Kansas, Right, they had guys that
you would call program guys, guys that improved over time.
Darnell Robinson, for example. We'd start their career at one
thing and play four or five years and evolved become
really good, all big twelve caliber players, and he would
sprinkle in one or maybe two one and dons and

(06:48):
then have a couple that were pros and maybe take
one transfer. And again, I don't think that it's just
COVID or just NIL, or just the transfer portal, or
just the fact that it's not just the transfer portals,
fact you can transfer without repercussion, transfer and not set out.
But those three things have changed their business dramatically, and

(07:14):
it's hard to adjust. Hard to adjust. My mom is
let's just say she's in her late seventies and we
go out to dinner the other night and she's had
a problem with her phone. She hands it to my son.
She's like, I've had this problem for a month and
won't do something, and my son presses two buttons. Problem

(07:36):
solved because he grew up frankly too much with a
phone in his hand. My mom still has a landline.
How many of you have a landline? And the point
is that here's the things that have changed. It started
with the G League Ignite, where players could go straight

(08:02):
to the G League for a year, get paid, and
then go presumably to the NBA. Did it all work
out great? Did a bunch of guys go No, but
it was a couple of year. Then there was overtime Elite,
which has since expanded. But did it all was Did
it take twenty thirty guys? No, but there were two

(08:22):
or three that mattered. A couple of them went to Australia.
One a year maybe would go to Australia. And for
John Caliperi, the pool and frankly four Bill self. The
pool of those one and done's on a given year
that can really impact a program was between five and fifteen,

(08:43):
and fifteen is probably too much. Really, it's two or
three and ten. And when you take just a couple
of them out there out of it, and then you
factor in that you know one would go to Ote,
one would go Overseas, one or two would go that
the night and now of a sudden that pool started
to shrink. Then you factor in that there are players

(09:05):
Kevin Durant, D'Angelo Russell are perfect examples of guys that
you know could have gone to Kentucky and been a
part of that one and done era, but instead chose
to have their own path. And you're fighting Duke for
these one and Don's and now of a sudden, instead
of getting the best five players in the country, you

(09:27):
might get one of the five best or one of
the and then you strike up a lean year and
it's hard. Then you go to COVID, and how did
COVID affect college basketball? By the way, Bill self had
a team that during the COVID could have won a
national championship. They were dominant. COVID canceled that tournament. But

(09:50):
if you go to COVID, that extended to where now
you're playing against guys that have a COVID year. I
don't know how many people who are listening to the
Herd know this, but if you not only do you
have a COVID year, that given that's the super seniors
you're seeing play college basketball this year, fifth and sixth
year seniors sometimes seven years. But now there's a recent
ruling that if you played junior college basketball or Anaia

(10:14):
basketball during any of those last four years this is
after the COVID year, that year doesn't count and you
get another year. So I don't care how good you are,
with exception maybe of Cooper Flag like he's a unicorn,
he's a generational player. Outside of that, all of these

(10:37):
other freshmen, you're eighteen nineteen, and look, a lot of
freshmen are twenty years old. A lot of seniors are
twenty three, twenty four to twenty five years old. Steven
Ashworth has played. They Creighton beat Louisville last night. Now, again,
part of it is he's a Mormon, he went on
a mission, But part of it is he also existed
during the COVID year. He's twenty five years old with

(10:59):
a wife and kid playing college basketball. So if you're
somebody who's always played freshman, what am I gonna? This
is a completely different landscape, a completely different sport. Then
post COVID, you have the transfer portal and no and
you can transfer without ramification. You don't have to sit out.

(11:22):
So everything you've built in terms of your culture, and
that's what Kansas is always built on their culture. Come in,
you're part of KU's program. They've had transfers before, but
they've never played four transfers at once. And again, it
doesn't mean that transfers. I was a transfer and I
didn't sit out at my school once set out of a
junior college. But when you have a team full of them,

(11:43):
and that's not how you've always coached, and coaching a
transfer that's played multiple years at another school. That's here's
the easiest analogy I give you. Go over to get
ready to watch the games today, go over to a
buddy's house, have them hand you their and say how
about it. And you're a spectrum guy and he's got
direct TV and you're like, wa, wait what He's got

(12:08):
Sonos and Direct TV and he's got one Universal remote
and you would look at that thing and it's not
your same universal remote you got. That's what it's like
to coach somebody who's who's played college basketball, has succeeded
in college basketball at a different level, a different school.
David Coit was at Northern Illinois and a star. Zeke

(12:32):
Mayo was a star at South Dakota State. But now
you have to completely change roles and you've played for
somebody else, and there's different verbiage and different ways of
doing things. And again you have a coach who's used
to coaching people a certain way and now he's coaching
you that same way, only you've been coached in program
by somebody else. And then you factor in nil into

(12:54):
the whole thing where, if we're honest with ourselves, there
were schools that were compensating student athletes above that of
your normal grant andate, room board, tuition and fees. Now
everybody can, So everybody can go and find players and

(13:15):
pay them to stay or pay them to transfer, or
you can go get an overseas player whose older experience
played professional basketball and can go and compete against your
college player. I don't know if you want to use
this as if this is an appropriate analogy, But Monday
I took my son to see Black Bag. Black Bag

(13:37):
is the new Stephen suddenheid movie. And Black Bag, by
the way, if you like short movies, it's like eighty
five minutes long. It's great, and it's really good. We're
sitting in the movie theater. It's like a private showing.
It's me and my son, nobody else, and I'm thinking

(14:00):
to myself, this is a it is a really good movie.
It was short, it was interesting, it's kind of a
spy flick. It's it's it's good. I would Rotten Tomatoes.
It was like in the ninety seven percent and Rotten Tomatoes.
But who goes to the movies anymore. Here's a guy
who's made some of the best, most clever movies in

(14:25):
the last twenty five years, and I have no idea
what it made opening Box. Of course it opens in March,
which means they didn't think that it was going to
do do huge numbers. But I guarantee, uh, you've seen
land Man more than you've ever heard of Black Back, right,
because the same people that are making the same shows,

(14:46):
in the same movies, they're getting left behind because their business,
their industry has changed, and whether they've it's changed because
of COVID or changed because of our viewing habits which
were only sped up by COVID, whatever it is, it's
a different sport than it ever used to be. I'm
watching John Caliperi come from behind and take down Kansas.

(15:09):
Two Hall of Fame coaches, two well invested programs, and
two guys who are coaching similarly, if not the same,
to how they've always coached. And it has worked and
it will work. But the business of the sport has changed. Yes,
Arkansas one, Yes, Kansas's mix. It just I don't know

(15:33):
what happened within the chemistry of that squad that caused
them to look so dysfunctional. But the game has passed
anybody by. It's just changed so quickly that you have
to level up or level over, or otherwise you're leveling home.

(15:54):
Doug Gottliebin for Colin. This is the Hurd Fox Sports Radio,
iHeartRadio app. We talked Bronnie a little bit at the
end of the show yesterday. Did you see what he
did last night? We'll discuss next in the Herd.

Speaker 2 (16:07):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
in noon eastern non am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
FS one and the iHeartRadio app.

Speaker 3 (16:16):
Doug Allibin for Colin. This is the Herd Fox Sports Radio,
iHeart Ready up. Grant mcastle and said to join us upcoming.
He's the head coach of Texas Tech. The Raiders only
four point lead at halftime, but then they end up
winning by ten against UNC Wilmington. We'll talk with Texas
Tech's second second year head coach, Grant McCaslin, who form

(16:39):
a Baylor assistant from a head coach at North Texas.
We'll get we'll get Grant in here in a moment.
In the meantime, uh, let's give him like a little
credit here to Bronnie James had finally had an NBA
game where you're like, all right, that that tape looks
like an NBA player. Now two people who are like,
all good and your first in your face, Browny awesome, right,

(17:04):
seventeen points, seven to ten from the field, five assists,
three rebounds, two of four from three. Yeah, he had
four turnovers. But you know Brownie was awesome last night,
playing a career high twenty nine minutes. Uh yeah, I

(17:25):
mean he shot the ball well. He looked for the
first time like an NBA player, And it's like the
number one thing you need in life, the number one
thing you need in sports is confidence and his ability
to maintain and even grow his confidence through Look, he
has not had not shot the ball well at all
until recently in the G League, right, percentages were thirties

(17:48):
and twenties from field in three Now it's forties and thirties.
And obviously in limited minutes, had shot the ball very
poorly with the Lakers and just look lost, all right,
look lost, looked overwhelmed, looked like I don't think he's
got it right. It's a fair assessment. Last night I
had some shots. It's also fair if We're going to

(18:09):
be the voice of actually reasonable, and I understand that
I operate in a world of sports radio and sports
television where you have to have unreasonable, polar opposite takes.
He can either be awesome or can't play, and there's
nothing in between. You're either Lebron or you're Jordan. You
can't go and they're different. I'd prefer Jordan, but I

(18:29):
respect that because you can and you can never throw
like you know, I, I mean, it's prime. I think
I might take Magic or Bird, you know, or you know,
some would say Kobe. I wouldn't, but some would say
Kobe or Tim Duncan or you know, you have all
these others that we have seen play. We're not allowed
to do that. Well, I get to host The Herd

(18:50):
and I get my own show, the Doug Gottlib Show
on Fox Sports Tradio. So I'm going to do that
because the reality is he was a minus thirty six.
They did get smoked. They threw out essentially a G
League roster, and the only other you know Laker to
do anything was Dalton connect who you know with the
Lakers is now based upon their roster now is probably

(19:11):
out of the rotation or or barely hanging on the
rotation as he's a rookie who they want to develop.
Here's JJ Reddick talking about Brownie after the game.

Speaker 4 (19:20):
You know, we've obviously monitored him in the G and
I feel like he's, you know, in those sort of
endgame situations when he's gotten a chance to play with us,
he's been he's been really good. So not surprised by tonight.
And I think his his confidence is growing because you

(19:42):
mentioned the word comfort. That's that's certainly there for him.
And I think the next step is is just you know,
becoming uh like a like an elite conditioned athlete. Because
when he does that with his physical tools and just

(20:05):
his like burst and his handle, and you know, we
think he's going to be an above average to really
good NBA shooter.

Speaker 3 (20:14):
Okay, there's there's actually a lot to kind of digest there. Okay,
can I tell you what I heard in the coach's
ear and trying to read now some of it is
he hadn't I actually don't buy the he's been really
good with us. He is not second lowest field goal
percentage in the NBA. You know, you're talking about four

(20:35):
minutes two minutes. He played sixteen minutes at Denver in
a blowout, you know, barely played and hasn't looked the part.
I don't think anybody would agree with that. And it's
hard to do anything in four minutes or two minutes anyway. Again,
if we're being fair, when he said he needs to
be an elite conditioned athlete, that was a little bit

(20:55):
of a I don't want to say shot, but that
it wasn't a positive note from your head coach. That
wasn't a positive note from your head coach if you
said he needs to be an elite because remember, it's
all about wording. JJ knows he has to knows he

(21:17):
has to be measured in his wording. And because it's
pretty obvious, I don't know, guys, if we've talked about this.
I have a friend who's worked for President Trump in
the first administration. And if you notice how people who
work for him or want to work with him, they
either bow at the altar or he tries to crucify them, right,

(21:41):
And the expression they had in the White House, it's
a real thing is you're either you're either at the
table or you're on the menu. And I love that
you're either at the table or you're on the menu.
And honestly, that's how Lebron treats people. You're either at
the table, you're on the menu. Ears are all in

(22:02):
Lebron's the greatest and Broni's gonna be awesome, or you're
on the menu, and he may tweet at you, he
may call you out or call you over in the
middle in the middle of a competitive basketball game. So
JJ has to be measured with everything he says. Because

(22:22):
Lebron's got rabbit ears, especially about his kid, we all
kind of do. And when he says he needs to
be an elite conditioned athlete that here's the translation, right,
if you do the coaching translation, bron He's not in shape.
Brini's not in shape. So the issue with the idea

(22:49):
that he'll become an above average to an elite shooter
is you can't show me anywhere so far in his
life that that has been the case. Aget. My issue
with Ronnie James in terms of the evaluation of Bronny
James has been every NBA player that has been or

(23:12):
every future NBA player I've seen outside of a couple
that are truly late bloomers, right, there are some guys
that are really late grew late high school, grew in
college or whatever. But if you say, hey, here's a
McDonald's all American, you can pick apart. You know, ten
high school games in their senior year where they were
the best player in the court by a mile. You're like, well,

(23:33):
that's a pro. You know, that's a pro. I can't
mention the school by name, but there's a school in
Wisconsin that I believe is the number one rank school
and they play the state playoffs for tonight in Madison,
and I went to see them play against another school.

(23:53):
They're both in Milwaukee, and there's a sophomore who's six
foot nine, and you're like, that's a problem. And so
my issue with Bronnie was like, there's never been a
moment where he's been an elite, elite shooter, So why
do we think he why we put that expectation that
he'll be in above average, too great shooter in the

(24:15):
NBA when that's never happened before. The part I do
agree with is he's getting more comfortable, he's getting confident,
and you're not gonna achieve anything if you're not confident.
Last night was the first night Bronnie James looked like
an NBA player. His confidence is still there. That's something
outstanding considering how Oft discussed his game is despite the

(24:36):
fact that he plays like two minutes a game for
the Lakers. But let's not get a twisted. He was
a minus thirty six. It was a blowout, and his
own coach said he's got to get into better shape.
So meanwhile, Texas Tech was fighting off UNC Wilmington and
Grant McCaslin was winning an NCAA tournament game as head
coach of the Red Raiders, and he joins us in

(24:57):
the herd on Fox Sports Radio. Coach, how are you, Doug?
What's up? Man? How are you not as good as
you coming into the game? Right when you throw on
the tape selection Sunday, you're watching Wilmington. What did you
think of the matchup?

Speaker 5 (25:15):
Well? I was concerned, and everybody is when you get
in the tournament and there's nobody you're not concerned about.
But legitimately because and I said this a few times
in preparation for the game, but we played coach Siddle
and you and C Wilmington. When I was at North
Texas in the Chances Championship of the Baha Mar So
I watched them play two games leading up to it,

(25:39):
scouting them closely, was around their program, watching them compete,
and man are they tough. And they won games that
they won because of their grit. They had a crazy
amount of belief. They were crazy physical, They rebounded well,
and so I wasn't confused on watching on film and going, oh,
they're kind of small, or maybe they don't do this well.

(25:59):
I just knew their fight level would be what it
needed to be and that part really concerned me. So
I was concerned to you know this, like, you can
face some teams that can score, but it's teams that
really believe that they're going to win or the ones
that can go in there and find a way to
win a game.

Speaker 3 (26:17):
How long did it take your team to adjust to
the factor in the NCAA tournament. And I say that
because you've coached it before, right, you know what this
is about, having played in it and covered it. I
know that you know it's just different. You know, the
environment's different, the expectation different, and you know, you just
got done playing and arguably the best or second best

(26:40):
conference in the country and there's a team that has
a hyphenated dame there and all of a sudden, it's
a ball game. How long did it take your team
to kind of adjust to playing in the NCAA tournament.

Speaker 5 (26:49):
Well, honestly, it didn't take this team very long. And
thankfully we recruited a team that every player that played
has played in the NCAA tournament and played multiple games games,
and so that was kind of intentional, not kind of.
It was intentional in the way we recruited because we
just felt like, you know, maybe some guys didn't have

(27:11):
the greatest numbers or whatever it may be, but they
had all had success on teams and played a role
that was significant on a team that was able to
compete in the NCAA tournament. I mean, every player, like
literally every transfer we've signed since we've been here in
the portal has played in the NCAA tournament. So I
do think that was a benefit we didn't handle the

(27:33):
end of the half. We got a little fatigued and
we got up fifteen, and we let them back in
the game and they cut it to four before the half.
But really to start the game, it felt like we
settled in pretty well.

Speaker 3 (27:44):
Yeah, I mentioned the the end of the half. It's
really interesting, right because you want to go in up ten,
up eleven to where they go into their locker room,
and no matter what belief they have, it's dwindling. Instead,
you had to think only up four. Like now, all
of a sudden, they're like, we got them, We're in
a good space. What was your message you'd half time?

Speaker 5 (28:06):
Well, it really keyed around offensive rebounding and limiting their
second attempts. And you know that's the great thing, you know, Doug,
about having these the technology that we have. So I
had six clips of them getting offensive rebounds or them
beating our guys, and I went in there and pulled

(28:26):
it up because you know, these tournament games you get
twenty minutes. So that was the first thing we showed them.
We showed them a few possessions offensively of things we
can do better, and then we showed them clips at
which we felt like we had holes in what we
were doing defensive rebounding wise. And so there's no argument anymore.
It's just these are the things we got to fix.

(28:46):
And it's not to say you can do it because
they're such a good team at rebounding specifically from the
guard spots, but it at least made it clear that
what the message was in order for us to win
the game.

Speaker 3 (29:00):
Yeah. Yeah, and you end up out rebounding them. You
only have six turnovers as well, right, I mean, when
if you out rebound a team and you only have
six turnovers despite the fact, which is kind of strangely,
you're a good free throw shooting tam didn't shoot the
ball well from the free throw line, like you're gonna
you're gonna win more often, more often than not, and
you did. Grant McCastle and joining us. He's head coach

(29:21):
at Texas Tech. He's been a head coach at ARC
State and UH and North Texas UH and now in
his second year at Texas Tech. They're twenty six and
eight and the reward is the Drake Bulldogs UH and
Ben McCollum, of course, has won for national titles and
Division two level. We played against the Parla this year.
How do you prepare for that pace? They one of
the slowest paces in the country. How do you prepare

(29:43):
for your team for that.

Speaker 5 (29:45):
Well, ironically, the three seasons before that before we got
here at Texas Tech, our North Texas team was the
slowest team in the country. And I talked to Ben
literally every day the second year I was a North
Texas and prep or the third year, I talked to
him basically every day for about an hour in prep

(30:06):
for that season. And I'm not joking. I mean it
was probably five months that I talked to him just
about every day, and we went over philosophy. He watched
film of our team and told me our offense sucked,
and so I went back and watched his teams and
saw how well they moved the ball. And so he
and I became really close. We've known each other a while,
but we became really close about eight years ago and

(30:28):
just we talked a lot, and so we modeled a
lot of our teams after the Texas Tech team and
the Virginia team with Tony Bennett that played in the
National championship game in nineteen And then I talked to
Ben because he had won so many national championships, like,
how could we do that at North Texas? So familiar
with that. I mean, you just got to be comfortable

(30:49):
with the fact that you're going to be in a grinder.
I mean, you can think you can speed teams like
that up, but you cannot. You really just got to
take advantage of the opportunities you get and be a
gritty team. And we're as to how you manage every
possession and don't panic. That's the key to these games.

Speaker 3 (31:05):
Don't panic. And it sounds easy, right, You're like, I've
done this, but it's different for your kids. It's it's
just it's it's very very different for those places. Grant
mccas and join us on the Doug Gottlieb Show on
Fox Sports Radio. Obviously coming from North Texas, coming from
Arc State to Tech and for people don't know, Tech
has an unbelievable level of investment, uh in not just

(31:29):
the program everybody talks about nil, but like practice facility,
the fans arena, Like the whole thing is National Championship ready,
I was. I started the show talking about here you
have Bill selfon and John Caliperry, and there are two
guys that have won national titles, two Hall of famers,
and I don't they didn't look uncomfortable, but it's such

(31:50):
a different environment for them. You know, Self had at
one point a lineup with four transfers out there, right,
it's just so very different for them. For you, what
has the kind of evolution of the sport been Like.

Speaker 5 (32:03):
Well, I mean, you know this, Doug, we needed it,
and so whether whether anybody likes it or not, it
feels like this is just what should have happened at
a more rapid taste over time, and we held on
to something that wasn't sustainable until it broke. And then
it just kind of broke everybody in a fashion that
feels like it's it's separated. You know a lot of

(32:27):
people quickly, and I do know, and you know this,
and I'm thankful that I've been turning over rosters and
teams and that experience of doing that and not having
the continuity gives you a different confidence level that of
what it is that you're looking for in a short
amount of time. And I just think that's extremely different

(32:48):
than Hey, we're going to get this guy and he's
going to be with us for four years. And that
mentality over time is helpful in some scenarios, but it
just wasn't my story and our story. I mean, I
was a part of rosters and I took you know,
junior college to Division two and then was at Arkansas State.
Then one year later I was at North Texas and
then we revamped that roster and flipped it in two

(33:10):
years and had transfers every year. So I will tell
you the biggest thing for me is really trying to
find the quality of a guy that you want to
be around every day, that you feel like believes in winning.
And I know that sounds easy, but it really is not.
It's unique to every team of finding that. And I
think the obsession with finding guys that really want to

(33:32):
win in a climate where everything's changing quickly is probably
the most valuable that you can find.

Speaker 3 (33:39):
No, I could not possibly agree with you more. I
had a conversation with a parent two days ago, three
days ago, talk for an hour. When I hung up
the phone, I talked to my staff and they're like,
what'd you think coaching? I said, we talked for an hour.
Now one second did the parent talk about, hey, my
kid can help you win? None of it? And I

(34:00):
was like, I think I'm gonna think. I'm think, I'm
gonna think I'm gonna pass. I see, you have the
day off, a day to prep. They run a million things.
He has guys, you know, Ben has guys that have
played for him for four and five years, four and
five years. How do you prep for a Drake and

(34:21):
Ben McCullum in you know, forty eight hours.

Speaker 5 (34:26):
Well, you know, it's it's crazy. But because we're so close,
and obviously Jeff Linder was an assistant in Emporia estate,
Ben took his spot when Jeff came and he and
I worked together at Midland College back in two thousand
and three. So it's a wild circle. But we actually
scrimmaged them at our place in October, So, I mean,

(34:49):
who would have thought?

Speaker 3 (34:50):
Not me?

Speaker 5 (34:51):
But when the first two brackets came up, first two.

Speaker 3 (34:53):
Reasons, that's that's that's that's crazy. That is that's that's
crazy crazy.

Speaker 5 (34:58):
So like when the first two bras it's came up
on in the NCAA tournament, and I knew they would
be somewhere around you know, a ten eleven, you know seed,
and I knew we were probably going to be a three,
and I was just like, don't say it, you know,
And so I sent the you know, a message to
Ben after the second bracket came out with the hand

(35:20):
over the face emoji, like is this really going to
be us? And sure enough, you know, there it came.
So I just you know, if you prepare basically in
regards to now we kind of know what it is
for both of us. I mean, they're not going to
be overly concerned about size and athletics because they played
Case State, they played in Missouri. I mean they're going

(35:42):
to be teed up for it. And at least we
have some film of trying to guard a lot of
their actions that we can at least reference. And our
guys have a genuine respect for the way those guys
compete and how good they are.

Speaker 3 (35:53):
Yeah, that'll be fun, fun and yet not fun. That's
that's right. Like why it was I based paid for
I got paid for a coaching clinic when we played
played there. As I walked away, I was like, hey, coach,
I got a lot of notes. I really appreciate the
coaching clinic. Thanks, thanks so much. Shook the hand and
he was he was really kind after beating us. Hey man,
always rooting for you, keep it going, and thanks so

(36:15):
much for being our guest on Fox Sports.

Speaker 5 (36:16):
Tradil No, you're the best, brother. Good good to catch up.
Talk to you soon.

Speaker 3 (36:20):
Thanks g Greg Grant McCastle and head coach of the
Red Raiders of Texas Tech. You want to talk about evolutions,
and obviously I think it happened when Chris Beard was there,
but uh, you know, I was obviously played in the
Big twelve and we're at Okahmam State. They opened that
arena went my senior year, so the ninety nine two

(36:41):
thousand and it's always been beautiful, and they used to
say it was too big. It's too big. It's too big,
it's too big, and now it might be too small.
It's they you can win NASH Championship there as as
Chris Beard nearly did, and uh and gret Mcastles got
a chance to win one this year. I'm Doug Gottliebin
for Collin. This the Hurt on Fox Sports Radio, the
iHeartRadio app are the Warriors title hopes in trouble. Wait

(37:04):
do you hear what happened next?

Speaker 2 (37:06):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
at noon Eastern nn am Pacific.

Speaker 6 (37:10):
Hey, Steve Covino and I'm Rich David and together we're
Covino and Rich on Fox Sports Radio. You could catch
us weekdays from five to seven pm Eastern two to
four Pacific on Fox Sports Radio. And of course the
iHeartRadio App. Why should you listen to Covino and Rich.
We talk about everything life, sports, relationships, what's going on
in the world. We have a lot of fun talking
about the stories behind the stories in the world of

(37:32):
sports and pop culture, stories that well other shows don't
seem to have the time to discuss. And the fact
that we've been friends for the last twenty years and
still work together. I mean that says something, right, So
check us out. We like to get you involved too,
take your phone calls, chop it up. As they say,
I'd say, the most interactive show on Fox Sports Radio,
maybe the most interactive show on planetar. Be sure to

(37:53):
check out Covino and Rich live on Fox Sports Radio
and the iHeartRadio app from five to seven pm Eastern
two to four Pacific, And if you miss any of
the live show, just search kobeen on Rich wherever you
get your podcasts, and of course on social media that's
Cavino and Rich.

Speaker 3 (38:07):
Doug Golliwan for Colin Cowhard. This is the heard Fox
Sports Radio iHeartRadio App. Welcome in. Grant MCCASLMS spoke glowingly
about Ben McCullum, the Drake Head coach has won four
national titles at the Northwest Missouri State. He'll join us
top of next hours. The head coach at Drake Bulldogs
took down the Missouri Tigers last night, got LED's start
to finish. And you know, I think the mainstream world

(38:31):
has learned what we in college basketball new, which is
Drake's been for you all year, undefeated in the non conference,
beate Vanderbilt, beat Kansas State. They're legit. And Ben McCollum,
obviously at Guy's a ball coach. He's pretty darn good.
He'll join us top of next hour. Plus you'll hear

(38:52):
interesting thoughts from Najie Harris on his former team, the
Pittsburgh Steelers. Speaking of the Pittsburgh Steelers, we have breaking
news as a part of Herdline News with Ryan Music.

Speaker 2 (39:03):
No, no, this is the Herdline News.

Speaker 7 (39:10):
Hello Ryan, Oh, Doug, good morning, And I don't know,
you know, normally Monday mornings, second hour we do where
Colin was right, where Colin was wrong. This will be
a little Herdline News, NFL update and a where Doug
Gottlieb was right. Breaking news coming out of Pittsburgh.

Speaker 3 (39:30):
That's right.

Speaker 7 (39:31):
Jerry Dulac a longtime reporter for Pittsburgh and the Steelers,
tweeting out breaking Aaron Rodgers is at the Steelers facility today,
an indication a deal with the team could be forthcoming.
Per sources, Aaron Rodgers Steelers facility deal potentially incoming, that tracks,

(39:53):
that tracks and for what I was referencing to those
who did'no. Yesterday on the show, Doug very C laid
out Aaron Rodgers making a announcement about the team he
will sign with in the middle of the start of
March Madness weekend. It's perfectly Aaron Rodgers.

Speaker 3 (40:11):
Now, I will say that it does. It's a little
bit like a holiday weekend, right, so it kind of
becomes a Friday news news dump, but it's a sports
holiday weekend. So yeah, Aaron Rodgers will be on the
bottom line on every broad sports broadcast network. I do
think that if we're honest with ourselves, no matter what
you feel about Aaron, positively or negatively, and how he

(40:34):
handles himself or even how he played this year with
the Jets, he started to look he looked washed early
in the year, but by the end of the year,
he's not vintage Aaron Rodgers, but he's a pretty good quarterback.
Totally a pretty good quarterback. Yeah.

Speaker 7 (40:49):
Him and Cousins were like in reverse. Cousins was better
early and then fell off a cliff. Rogers did not
look look right initially, and then you know, it feels
like most people tuned out because you sort of major
opinion formed your opinion. Ah, he can't play anymore. Ah,
the Jets are a dumpster fire. And actually the last
nine or ten games he was very much in that,
like you know, maybe like the fifteenth most productive, fourteenth

(41:12):
most productive quarterback in the league.

Speaker 3 (41:14):
Fair fair fair fair fair fairpoint, fair point.

Speaker 7 (41:18):
I was next, all right, you talked about this before
the break, before this NFL news is some NBA news.
Warriors got the win last night, but Steph Curry went
down hard, had to leave the game late in the
third quarter, driving to the hoop, hit up high by
two Raptors players, landed hard on his back. Warriors are
saying it is a pelvic conetusion injury.

Speaker 3 (41:39):
That's right.

Speaker 7 (41:39):
He was taken in for an MRI. No reported results
just yet. Head coach Steve Kerr after the game did
say Curry thought he might be able to make a comeback,
but we just decided not to risk anything. Hopefully it's
not bad. So the surging Warriors dealing now with a
potential injury, hopefully not serious.

Speaker 3 (41:59):
To Curry, I don't think you've ever heard of a
pelvic contusion. I would say though that when you think
of pelvis, we think of the front side. That's not
feels like a tailbone, right, Yeah, isn't a tailbone technically
a pelvic injury? I need a ruling. If you want
to tweet at us, let us let us know. Ye
one more.

Speaker 7 (42:18):
That is it for right now. We can do a
quick tournament update. You have Alabama taken on Robert Morris.
They're up eight in the early and the start of
that game. And then we also have Baylor taken on
Mississippi State. They have a four point lead over in
Mississippi State.

Speaker 3 (42:34):
And that's Ryan Music with the news.

Speaker 2 (42:37):
Well that's the news, and thanks for stopping by the
herd Line News.

Speaker 3 (42:42):
So I'm a you know, obviously in this form of
the business, it's been twenty three years. I'm a son
of a coach, brother of a coach, and now I
am a coach myself. Everybody in coach he knows that
Ben McCullum is, or now everybody in the mainstream world
knows who he is. The drake Head coach joins is
next in the Hurt Fuck Pork tradio