April 5, 2019 • 21 mins
It's the best of The Odd Couple with Chris Broussard and Aaron Torres! Today, Chris and Aaron debate whether or not Giannis Antetokounmpo is the best player in the NBA. The blue bloods are out of the NCAA Tournament and the guys talk about the negative effects on the Final Four. Chris and Aaron give their takes on the comments made by Notre Dame Women's Baskteball Head Coach Muffet McGraw on the lack of female coaches in men's basketball.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to the Best of the Odd Couple podcast.
Be sure to catch us live every weekday from seven
pm to ten pm Eastern four to seven Pacific on
Fox Sports Radio. Find your local station for The Odd
Couple at Fox Sports Radio dot com, or stream us
live every day on the iHeartRadio app by searching f
(00:21):
s R. You're listening to the Best of The Odd
Couple with Chris Brush and Rod Harker. Yannisaddi Kompo had
a tremendous game last night. They beat the Philadelphia seventy
six ers in Philadelphia, and he outplayed Joel Embead by
(00:42):
a wide margin. Yannis goes for forty five points, thirteen rebounds,
six assists, and five blocks, including four on Mbead. And
this was without Eric Bledsoe's arguably their second best player,
and he was ejected three minutes in the game for
throwing a ball at nbat. And Chris Middleton, who was
(01:04):
an All Star for the Bucks, he only played twenty
five minutes because he's coming off a growing injury. And
I said today on first Things First, and I think
it rocked the NBA world. It rocked the NBA world. Now, look,
I don't officially give the title of best player in
the world a way to anybody in the regular season. Okay,
(01:24):
you have to deliver in the postseason. But the fact
is Jannis Adeta Kompoe right now is playing like the
best player in the world. I believe he'll deliver in
the playoffs if he and I don't say they have
to win it. I don't expect them to win the championship.
I'm not even saying they have to get to the finals,
(01:45):
but if they do, have to probably get to the
Eastern Conference finals because first round they'll have a week
sister that they can beat, and then second round most
likely Boston, and they should. If they lose to Boston,
then there's a problem. But if they beat Ball and
then they get to the conference finals and maybe lose
to Philly or Toronto, and Yannis plays well throughout the playoffs,
(02:08):
then I'll be ready to say he's the best player
in the world. Yeah, that last part is what concerns me.
If they lose to Boston, if they lose to phil
whoever is it's hard for me to believe that anybody.
I think he's certainly the most uniquely skilled player in
the NBA right now, incredible and like last night, he
did it. He drove to the basket, he posted up imbid,
(02:29):
he posted up embid, used to jump hook, used the
turnaround jumper. He even hit three three pointers, He hit
mid range jumpers, he led the fast break, and as
I said, he block shots on defense, got deflections. I mean,
he's arguably the best defensive player in the world. The
only weakness, if you will, in this game is three
(02:50):
point shooting, and he's getting better at that. This dude,
we've never seen anything like it. I agree, most unique
most uniquely skilled player in the NBA. My only concern
is when you give a title like the best player
in the world to a guy that's never won a
playoff series, like, it's hard for me to go down
that road. He's the most uniquely skilled. He is the
(03:11):
future of this league as we start to look at
what life is going to be like after Lebron. That's
my only hesitation though, is he has, you know, unbelievable flashes. Well,
he plays great every night, instantly, right, but I just
need to see it in the postseason when it counts,
when teams have two, three, four games to try and
slow him down. How far can he take Milwaukee. I
(03:32):
agree with you. I don't think he needs to win
a title. Nobody's being Golden State, at least in my opinion.
But I just need to see it a little bit
more in the games that truly, truly, truly matter what
they do need to win a series or really too.
I'm saying Eastern Conference finals is where you have to go.
But right now he's playing tremendous basketball. Who so, who
would you say right now? I mean, it's been Lebron
(03:53):
James for a decade, and to our point, Lebron James,
at least my book, and I think in many people's eyes,
he became the best player in the world. I would
say in two thousand and seven. Now the Kobe fans
out there might not agree, Like Rob g he's shivering
right now. But Lebron when he scored forty eight against Detroit,
(04:18):
that was a great Detroit Pistons team, that was a
championship team there, Rashid Wallace, Rip Hamilton, Ben Wallace, Chauncey Billups,
and he put forty eight on them in the playoffs,
led Cleveland to a four to two series victory in
the conference finals, and even though they got swept by
San Antonio. That didn't deter me, or most people, or
(04:39):
a lot of people from saying Lebron James is now
the best player in the world. So that's what I'm
looking for from Jannis. Doesn't have to win it, but
as long as you play well and you're just as dominant,
if not more, in the playoffs as you are in
the regular season. So let me ask you this, though
uniquely skilled player, like we all agree, but to me,
(05:03):
the best player in the world is the guy that
you want in your corner, in your foxhole in the playoffs.
Win games matter. I think you could argue, and also,
you know, also has to be awesome and do all
those things, you know, so I think you could legitimately,
I don't. I think it's hard to argue Lebron based
on how he played post injury. And of course the
conversation becomes, is this the new Lebron? Can't he stay
(05:24):
healthy for however many regular season games and then into
an extended playoff run. It might be Katie to me
because two time finals MVP. I know he really took
off when he got you know, a seventy three win
team behind him, right question, But that's to me is
like I've seen it from Katie on the biggest stages
(05:46):
two years in a row. He's still relatively young. I
believe he just turned thirty, and like the regular seas
you know, you know how it is with the wars,
like the regular season doesn't matter now for sure exactly.
And so to me, like, if I got to go
to war with one guy right now, it's probably Katie,
to be honest, Yeah, I mean KDS certainly in the discussion, KD,
maybe Lebron, though you can't give it to Lebron because
(06:08):
he didn't lead his team into the playoffs. Yannis, here's
the question about KD though, and he is their best player,
but is he the most important player on his team? See,
and that's where you know he's not. Yeah, no, well
I don't think he is. And what concerns me about
my own argument is like he, like I said, he
didn't really take off until he had the dudes behind him,
(06:31):
So you don't think he took off in okay. See,
I mean he was great, but he also had some
duds there late in that Golden State series. So listen,
I just think that that guy is so good. He's
been so clutch. He's hit so many big shots over
these last two years. But I gotta be honest, it
does worry me. And this has been my argument on
Kadi for a while is you know, we're seeing a
(06:53):
different side of him now that he's got four all Stars,
you know, three future in the brash, you know, talking
on that track. He's told me that that's the real
KD because I said to him, like, you weren't like
this in Okay. See he said this is the real me,
he said, I was putting up a front. Then. See.
I have a lot of thoughts on that. I know
we gotta get to break. I actually think I don't
(07:13):
think he knows who he is, and I don't think
he liked the backlash that came when he came to
Golden States, so he had to kind of get a
hard shell, of hard exterior. But I think and this
is a conversation you know that we've been having for
years with all of his kind of public you know,
back and forth and all that stuff with the media,
exactly is is I think that I think that's his exterior.
(07:34):
I think he's trying to be tough and I'm not.
This isn't me like always a fag tough guy. But like,
I just think that that's part of it is. I
don't think this is who he really is. I just
don't think he's comfortable enough in his own skin to
tell the haters to you know what, awesome? What about Harden?
Oh man, he Harden is awesome. I mean, and he's
actually trying defensively, like he's up there around the league
leaders and deflections and Steve not a great defender behind
(07:56):
any stretch. But it's not the old narrative it was
four years ago, where it was like he's a joke defensively,
he's got to be And look, the playoffs are huge
for all these guys, hardened KD of course and Yannis.
So let's see who delivers. Let's see Kyrie deliver. Not
that he's in the conversation for bus player in the World.
Be sure to catch live editions of The Odd Couple
(08:17):
with Chris Brussard and Rob Parker weekdays at seven pm
Eastern four pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the
iHeartRadio app. We are here in Minneapolis for the Final four,
and it's been a great tournament, yep. But a lot
of people are just let's let's just keep it real. Sure,
(08:37):
the NCAA Tournament is followed for the most part by
casual fans. There are those diehard college basketball fans out there, obviously,
but you bring in so many casual fans because of
the tournament. And the casual fan does not know who
Texas Tech is. They do not know. They may know Virginia.
(08:59):
Virginia's on marquee of the slow, boring team, right right,
but you're right, that's their image. And then you got
Auburn first time in the final four, and of course
Michigan stayed another team that people may know or should know,
but you have an interest in theory. We were talking
about this before the show began, and you think that
(09:20):
everything that could go wrong did go wrong for the
NCAA Tournament last weekend. And I'm a college basketball guy.
I love it, but obviously I like when their stories
and it's foremost, you know, foremost, and so like as
an example, that Duke Michigan State game was Zion Williamson
eighteen million viewers, eighteen million, and so you and I
(09:42):
were talking before the show, and I just think you
can go region my region. Those four lead A games,
as you said, it was great in the lead up
to the Elite Eight. But you could argue that the
TV execs and what we do and an interest that
we got the wrong result in all four games. We
know that Duke would have brought a ton of eyeballs.
I Williamson Kentucky is a big brand, even though obviously
(10:03):
their players change every year per due Carson Edwards became
a household name last week. And then even Gonzaga. I
know that they're kind of a weird brand. It's a
small school in Spokane, Washington, but they have one a
couple of really good players. Ruy Ha Chimura for them
is from Japan. He brings a huge following with him.
He could be he will be the first Japanese player
(10:27):
drafted this year. So I just think all four of
those results for interest purposes, went the wrong way last weekend. No,
there's no question, you're right. And here's the deal. Upsets
are great in weekends one and two, but then when
you get the deeper you get in the tournament at
the end of the day, I want to see the
big names, the big name players, and the big name
(10:49):
schools deep in the tournament. I don't minus Cinderella or
maybe two. But I gotta see some some you know,
thorough brands, some Duke or Kentucky or North Carolina, somebody
like that in the final four. And I do think
it hurts. I've been saying for years that a mid
major is going to win a championship soon, Butler almost
(11:12):
did it. Now, Texas Tech and Auburn aren't mid majors,
but they're pretty you know what I mean. They're in
major conferences, but they're not powerhouses. So you know, the
deal is, You've got these teams with third and fourth
and even fifth year players, and they've got more chemistry,
more trust between the players. Their basketball IQs are higher,
(11:33):
there's more synergy between them and the head coach. And
the most talented teams in the country now are made
up a freshman who really don't have any chemistry, have
one foot out the door thinking NBA. And that's why
I think we have a scenario like this where you've
got some of these teams that don't get the one
and done, don't get the Blue Chippers, but they keep
(11:54):
their guys three and four years and they got a
chance to win a national title. I saw stat this week.
I believe none of these top one hundred recruits in
last year's recruiting cycle will be in playing in the
Final four. Wow. Yeah, I think one of them is
at Texas Tech, but he redshirted this year because of injury.
But when you were just talking about that, think about
that Michigan State team that beat Duke. I mean, a
(12:15):
bunch of big, grown men, you know, physical, the kid
that hit the big shot, fifth year senior cash Is Winston.
Like he's not on any mock draft board, but like
that dude just knows how to play basketball. He was
the best player on the court last week twenty and ten.
And so I don't I don't disagree with you at all.
Even Villanova last year that that had a bunch of
guys drafted. They were third and fourth year guys, you
(12:37):
know when they won the championship. Look, we know one
and Done is going away in a couple of years.
And look, what's fair in American life in my view
is that if you're good enough to go to the pros,
you should be able to go. So I'm all for
the kids being able to go out of high school,
but what would be best I think for the game
of basketball at both the NBA and the collegiate level
(13:00):
would be if the kids went to college and state
three years or so, two or three years. I totally agree.
There are so many guys that are going to get
drafted high in this draft, and this is gonna sound insulting.
It's not intended to be. They don't know how to
play basketball. I don't know how to play defense, they
don't know how to be a member of a team.
And it's no disrespect they're nineteen years old. But this
draft especially is really bad. Yeah, no, no question. And
(13:22):
NBA guys are telling me after the first two or
three then you don't have great players. Be sure to
catch live editions of The Odd Couple with Chris Broussard
and Rob Parker weekdays at seven pm Eastern, four pm Pacific.
The Notre Dame coach Muffett McGraw. I love saying that name.
I mean, it's a great name. She had some strong
(13:47):
words that she said after their game. It was really
a feminist manifesto, if you will, and here's some of
it that we're going to respond to. Fit McGraw, Notre
Dame head coach. When you look at men's basketball and
ninety nine percent of the jobs go to men. Why
shouldn't one or ninety nine percent of the jobs and
(14:09):
women's basketball go to women. Maybe it's because we only
have ten percent women athletic directors in Division one. People
hire people who look like them, and that's the problem. Wow,
she said a mouthful, and she said even more that
we didn't didn't play. But I want to focus in
(14:31):
on her saying, if ninety nine percent of the coaches
of men's basketball are men, then why should ninety nine
percent of the women's basketball coaches be women. Obviously you've
got a lot of men's coaches and women's basketball. You
don't have any female head coaches in men's basketball at
(14:54):
the college or at least the Division one college level.
I don't even know if you have any at the
lower levels, and certainly not obviously in the NBA. You
got some assistance Becky Hammond, and you know, maybe one
day she'll become a head coach. I'm gonna say this,
I have I would have no problem if, because let's
(15:15):
say it said, one hundred percent of the head coaches
that I said, in men's basketball or men I would
have no problem if one hundred percent of the coaches
and women's basketball were women interesting, no problem whatsoever. Now
if they end up having it for Becky Hammond or
a Nancy Lieberman or somebody ends up coaching the team
in the NBA, fine, you know, but I'm certainly not
(15:38):
in that group that's like, we gotta get a female
head coach in the NBA, we gotta get a female
coach in men's Division one basketball. I think it's fine
the way it is, and I get it. There's a
there's a it's not fair because you got so many
men coaching women, get rid of them. I'm fine with it.
Like I think sex segregation has its place. Interesting, I
(15:59):
don't want girls in high school wrestling against boys. If
you want a girls to play football, then make a
girls football league. They don't need to compete with boys.
I don't want to see Leila Ali or whoever the
great female boxer is of the tay fighting men. There's
a place for sex segregation, particularly in sports. Now you
can have coaches of the opposite sex, of course, but
(16:22):
I'm I'm cool with what Muffett McGraw said. I don't
know if she was advocating that we get rid of
the men's coaches in women's basketball. Or what she's just saying,
we need more women's coaches in men's basketball. But I
would be fine if men coached men and women coach women.
So why why do you say that just from the
(16:43):
perspective of if we took all the males out of
female coaching, why is that okay for you? Because it
would be equal because then you'd have men coaching men. Yeah.
Now some people would say, we'll just have more women
coaching men, you know, which is I guess you could
go that route as well. I'm just saying, if we
want to make things equal, then I'm fine with getting
(17:06):
rid of it. Now. Look, the reason there are men
coaching women in basketball is because if you go way
back to when women's basketball really started beginning and picking
up decades ago, I remember women used to play three
on three. You know, when I went to high school,
I went to high school in different plays. I was
in Ohio, I was in Iowa for two and a
(17:26):
half years, and Iowa in the mid eighties. I don't
know when they ended it, but they played three on
three basketball to women like half like you had three
on three on both sides. So one team would have
three girls on offense and then on the other side
of the court with the same team would have three defenders.
So you had girls that literally only played defense, and
(17:47):
you had girls that only played office. It was six
on six, and I mean girls would average forty five points.
I mean it was. It was a crazy I wish.
But my point is, so when girls really started in
initially playing basketball and getting serious about it, you know
you had men coaching them, because men have been coaching
and playing the game for a lot longer and that
(18:08):
has just maintained over the years. But now, of course
you got plenty of women that coach. If you want
to get the men out of the w NBA as
far as coaches out of Division one college wrestling, I'm
fine with it. Let the women coach them and let
the men coach the men. I'm not saying again, I
don't mind it if there's a female head coach in
the NBA, but I wouldn't mind it if it was
(18:29):
the other way either. Yeah. I think Muffett McGraw's brought
her point, and I think she's right on this is
one exactly what she said, which is people hire people
that look like them. And I think her point was
it's not that women aren't qualified to do the job.
It's that we're not given the opportunity. And I can't
speak for the NBA, but I know that that's kind
of a big topic in college basketball right now, is
(18:52):
with minority head coaches. Is they're just not getting the
opportunities and it's an old boys network and jobs are
being filled by guys that have failed two three other
places because they know the right people. Because, let's be honest,
a lot of she said, a lot of the ads
are male and not female. Well, a lot of them
are white too, and that's why. And so that in
(19:13):
college basketball right now is a big issue where where
it doesn't feel like minorities are getting the same chance
as everybody else is. So I get her point, and
I'm actually sympathetic to her point in the sense that like,
just give the job to people who are qualified. But
I think her point then becomes, how do we get
qualified if we're not given a chance Because males are
taking up disproportionately to men's basketball. Males are taking up
(19:36):
a lot of jobs in women's basketball, right And what
she's saying, to your point is we need more female ads. YEP,
I think that's one thing she's sharing, and we would
hire you know, they would hire more women to if
she's right about people hiring people that look like them.
But I just that's my whole point is I would
(19:58):
be fine with it. Like I said, I think there's
times I don't think everything obviously needs to be segregated.
My daughters went to an all girls high school, interesting,
and they loved it. You know, you had more girls
obviously in leadership positions. You had more girls in math
and science because they're not there with the boys. You know,
(20:18):
Obviously segregated schools used to be and I'm not talking
about racially, I'm talking about sex used to be more popular.
My father went to an all boys high school, you know,
and I think all boys or all girls schools would
be great, to be honest, because I know as a
boy going to high school, the biggest distraction was girls.
(20:40):
Oh that's the only reason I wanted to go for
a lot of times, you know, I mean really like
I would have been a much better stud I was
a good student anyway, but I probably would have been
a better student if they're girls weren't around. See, I
don't think I would have gone to school if there
weren't girls around. I've been like, no, I'm good, I'm
gonna get me a job. I don't care if I'm
fourteen years old, So no, I mean, listen, I'll be honest.
You know. I had read the quotes, but I hadn't
(21:03):
heard the audio. I actually think it's a pretty interesting point.
I'm not at the place where I where I'm with
you where it's like men should only be coaching men.
And I know you're not saying that. Yeah, yeah, but
but I think like her point of, like anything else
in life, how do you get opportunity is a fair one,
and yes, we want more women, but if women aren't
(21:24):
doing the hiring and women aren't getting opportunities as assistants,
they're not going to become head coaches. And then we
have the problem where x number of or x percentage
of you know of of of women's coaches are males, right,
Thanks for listening to the Best of the Odd Couple podcast.
Be sure to catch us live every weekday from seven
pm to ten pm Eastern four to seven Pacific on
Fox Sports Radio. Find your local station for The Odd
Couple at Fox Sports Radio dot com, or stream us
live every day on the iHeartRadio app by searching f
(00:21):
s R. You're listening to the Best of The Odd
Couple with Chris Brush and Rod Harker. Yannisaddi Kompo had
a tremendous game last night. They beat the Philadelphia seventy
six ers in Philadelphia, and he outplayed Joel Embead by
(00:42):
a wide margin. Yannis goes for forty five points, thirteen rebounds,
six assists, and five blocks, including four on Mbead. And
this was without Eric Bledsoe's arguably their second best player,
and he was ejected three minutes in the game for
throwing a ball at nbat. And Chris Middleton, who was
(01:04):
an All Star for the Bucks, he only played twenty
five minutes because he's coming off a growing injury. And
I said today on first Things First, and I think
it rocked the NBA world. It rocked the NBA world. Now, look,
I don't officially give the title of best player in
the world a way to anybody in the regular season. Okay,
(01:24):
you have to deliver in the postseason. But the fact
is Jannis Adeta Kompoe right now is playing like the
best player in the world. I believe he'll deliver in
the playoffs if he and I don't say they have
to win it. I don't expect them to win the championship.
I'm not even saying they have to get to the finals,
(01:45):
but if they do, have to probably get to the
Eastern Conference finals because first round they'll have a week
sister that they can beat, and then second round most
likely Boston, and they should. If they lose to Boston,
then there's a problem. But if they beat Ball and
then they get to the conference finals and maybe lose
to Philly or Toronto, and Yannis plays well throughout the playoffs,
(02:08):
then I'll be ready to say he's the best player
in the world. Yeah, that last part is what concerns me.
If they lose to Boston, if they lose to phil
whoever is it's hard for me to believe that anybody.
I think he's certainly the most uniquely skilled player in
the NBA right now, incredible and like last night, he
did it. He drove to the basket, he posted up imbid,
(02:29):
he posted up embid, used to jump hook, used the
turnaround jumper. He even hit three three pointers, He hit
mid range jumpers, he led the fast break, and as
I said, he block shots on defense, got deflections. I mean,
he's arguably the best defensive player in the world. The
only weakness, if you will, in this game is three
(02:50):
point shooting, and he's getting better at that. This dude,
we've never seen anything like it. I agree, most unique
most uniquely skilled player in the NBA. My only concern
is when you give a title like the best player
in the world to a guy that's never won a
playoff series, like, it's hard for me to go down
that road. He's the most uniquely skilled. He is the
(03:11):
future of this league as we start to look at
what life is going to be like after Lebron. That's
my only hesitation though, is he has, you know, unbelievable flashes. Well,
he plays great every night, instantly, right, but I just
need to see it in the postseason when it counts,
when teams have two, three, four games to try and
slow him down. How far can he take Milwaukee. I
(03:32):
agree with you. I don't think he needs to win
a title. Nobody's being Golden State, at least in my opinion.
But I just need to see it a little bit
more in the games that truly, truly, truly matter what
they do need to win a series or really too.
I'm saying Eastern Conference finals is where you have to go.
But right now he's playing tremendous basketball. Who so, who
would you say right now? I mean, it's been Lebron
(03:53):
James for a decade, and to our point, Lebron James,
at least my book, and I think in many people's eyes,
he became the best player in the world. I would
say in two thousand and seven. Now the Kobe fans
out there might not agree, Like Rob g he's shivering
right now. But Lebron when he scored forty eight against Detroit,
(04:18):
that was a great Detroit Pistons team, that was a
championship team there, Rashid Wallace, Rip Hamilton, Ben Wallace, Chauncey Billups,
and he put forty eight on them in the playoffs,
led Cleveland to a four to two series victory in
the conference finals, and even though they got swept by
San Antonio. That didn't deter me, or most people, or
(04:39):
a lot of people from saying Lebron James is now
the best player in the world. So that's what I'm
looking for from Jannis. Doesn't have to win it, but
as long as you play well and you're just as dominant,
if not more, in the playoffs as you are in
the regular season. So let me ask you this, though
uniquely skilled player, like we all agree, but to me,
(05:03):
the best player in the world is the guy that
you want in your corner, in your foxhole in the playoffs.
Win games matter. I think you could argue, and also,
you know, also has to be awesome and do all
those things, you know, so I think you could legitimately,
I don't. I think it's hard to argue Lebron based
on how he played post injury. And of course the
conversation becomes, is this the new Lebron? Can't he stay
(05:24):
healthy for however many regular season games and then into
an extended playoff run. It might be Katie to me
because two time finals MVP. I know he really took
off when he got you know, a seventy three win
team behind him, right question, But that's to me is
like I've seen it from Katie on the biggest stages
(05:46):
two years in a row. He's still relatively young. I
believe he just turned thirty, and like the regular seas
you know, you know how it is with the wars,
like the regular season doesn't matter now for sure exactly.
And so to me, like, if I got to go
to war with one guy right now, it's probably Katie,
to be honest, Yeah, I mean KDS certainly in the discussion, KD,
maybe Lebron, though you can't give it to Lebron because
(06:08):
he didn't lead his team into the playoffs. Yannis, here's
the question about KD though, and he is their best player,
but is he the most important player on his team? See,
and that's where you know he's not. Yeah, no, well
I don't think he is. And what concerns me about
my own argument is like he, like I said, he
didn't really take off until he had the dudes behind him,
(06:31):
So you don't think he took off in okay. See,
I mean he was great, but he also had some
duds there late in that Golden State series. So listen,
I just think that that guy is so good. He's
been so clutch. He's hit so many big shots over
these last two years. But I gotta be honest, it
does worry me. And this has been my argument on
Kadi for a while is you know, we're seeing a
(06:53):
different side of him now that he's got four all Stars,
you know, three future in the brash, you know, talking
on that track. He's told me that that's the real
KD because I said to him, like, you weren't like
this in Okay. See he said this is the real me,
he said, I was putting up a front. Then. See.
I have a lot of thoughts on that. I know
we gotta get to break. I actually think I don't
(07:13):
think he knows who he is, and I don't think
he liked the backlash that came when he came to
Golden States, so he had to kind of get a
hard shell, of hard exterior. But I think and this
is a conversation you know that we've been having for
years with all of his kind of public you know,
back and forth and all that stuff with the media,
exactly is is I think that I think that's his exterior.
(07:34):
I think he's trying to be tough and I'm not.
This isn't me like always a fag tough guy. But like,
I just think that that's part of it is. I
don't think this is who he really is. I just
don't think he's comfortable enough in his own skin to
tell the haters to you know what, awesome? What about Harden?
Oh man, he Harden is awesome. I mean, and he's
actually trying defensively, like he's up there around the league
leaders and deflections and Steve not a great defender behind
(07:56):
any stretch. But it's not the old narrative it was
four years ago, where it was like he's a joke defensively,
he's got to be And look, the playoffs are huge
for all these guys, hardened KD of course and Yannis.
So let's see who delivers. Let's see Kyrie deliver. Not
that he's in the conversation for bus player in the World.
Be sure to catch live editions of The Odd Couple
(08:17):
with Chris Brussard and Rob Parker weekdays at seven pm
Eastern four pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the
iHeartRadio app. We are here in Minneapolis for the Final four,
and it's been a great tournament, yep. But a lot
of people are just let's let's just keep it real. Sure,
(08:37):
the NCAA Tournament is followed for the most part by
casual fans. There are those diehard college basketball fans out there, obviously,
but you bring in so many casual fans because of
the tournament. And the casual fan does not know who
Texas Tech is. They do not know. They may know Virginia.
(08:59):
Virginia's on marquee of the slow, boring team, right right,
but you're right, that's their image. And then you got
Auburn first time in the final four, and of course
Michigan stayed another team that people may know or should know,
but you have an interest in theory. We were talking
about this before the show began, and you think that
(09:20):
everything that could go wrong did go wrong for the
NCAA Tournament last weekend. And I'm a college basketball guy.
I love it, but obviously I like when their stories
and it's foremost, you know, foremost, and so like as
an example, that Duke Michigan State game was Zion Williamson
eighteen million viewers, eighteen million, and so you and I
(09:42):
were talking before the show, and I just think you
can go region my region. Those four lead A games,
as you said, it was great in the lead up
to the Elite Eight. But you could argue that the
TV execs and what we do and an interest that
we got the wrong result in all four games. We
know that Duke would have brought a ton of eyeballs.
I Williamson Kentucky is a big brand, even though obviously
(10:03):
their players change every year per due Carson Edwards became
a household name last week. And then even Gonzaga. I
know that they're kind of a weird brand. It's a
small school in Spokane, Washington, but they have one a
couple of really good players. Ruy Ha Chimura for them
is from Japan. He brings a huge following with him.
He could be he will be the first Japanese player
(10:27):
drafted this year. So I just think all four of
those results for interest purposes, went the wrong way last weekend. No,
there's no question, you're right. And here's the deal. Upsets
are great in weekends one and two, but then when
you get the deeper you get in the tournament at
the end of the day, I want to see the
big names, the big name players, and the big name
(10:49):
schools deep in the tournament. I don't minus Cinderella or
maybe two. But I gotta see some some you know,
thorough brands, some Duke or Kentucky or North Carolina, somebody
like that in the final four. And I do think
it hurts. I've been saying for years that a mid
major is going to win a championship soon, Butler almost
(11:12):
did it. Now, Texas Tech and Auburn aren't mid majors,
but they're pretty you know what I mean. They're in
major conferences, but they're not powerhouses. So you know, the
deal is, You've got these teams with third and fourth
and even fifth year players, and they've got more chemistry,
more trust between the players. Their basketball IQs are higher,
(11:33):
there's more synergy between them and the head coach. And
the most talented teams in the country now are made
up a freshman who really don't have any chemistry, have
one foot out the door thinking NBA. And that's why
I think we have a scenario like this where you've
got some of these teams that don't get the one
and done, don't get the Blue Chippers, but they keep
(11:54):
their guys three and four years and they got a
chance to win a national title. I saw stat this week.
I believe none of these top one hundred recruits in
last year's recruiting cycle will be in playing in the
Final four. Wow. Yeah, I think one of them is
at Texas Tech, but he redshirted this year because of injury.
But when you were just talking about that, think about
that Michigan State team that beat Duke. I mean, a
(12:15):
bunch of big, grown men, you know, physical, the kid
that hit the big shot, fifth year senior cash Is Winston.
Like he's not on any mock draft board, but like
that dude just knows how to play basketball. He was
the best player on the court last week twenty and ten.
And so I don't I don't disagree with you at all.
Even Villanova last year that that had a bunch of
guys drafted. They were third and fourth year guys, you
(12:37):
know when they won the championship. Look, we know one
and Done is going away in a couple of years.
And look, what's fair in American life in my view
is that if you're good enough to go to the pros,
you should be able to go. So I'm all for
the kids being able to go out of high school,
but what would be best I think for the game
of basketball at both the NBA and the collegiate level
(13:00):
would be if the kids went to college and state
three years or so, two or three years. I totally agree.
There are so many guys that are going to get
drafted high in this draft, and this is gonna sound insulting.
It's not intended to be. They don't know how to
play basketball. I don't know how to play defense, they
don't know how to be a member of a team.
And it's no disrespect they're nineteen years old. But this
draft especially is really bad. Yeah, no, no question. And
(13:22):
NBA guys are telling me after the first two or
three then you don't have great players. Be sure to
catch live editions of The Odd Couple with Chris Broussard
and Rob Parker weekdays at seven pm Eastern, four pm Pacific.
The Notre Dame coach Muffett McGraw. I love saying that name.
I mean, it's a great name. She had some strong
(13:47):
words that she said after their game. It was really
a feminist manifesto, if you will, and here's some of
it that we're going to respond to. Fit McGraw, Notre
Dame head coach. When you look at men's basketball and
ninety nine percent of the jobs go to men. Why
shouldn't one or ninety nine percent of the jobs and
(14:09):
women's basketball go to women. Maybe it's because we only
have ten percent women athletic directors in Division one. People
hire people who look like them, and that's the problem. Wow,
she said a mouthful, and she said even more that
we didn't didn't play. But I want to focus in
(14:31):
on her saying, if ninety nine percent of the coaches
of men's basketball are men, then why should ninety nine
percent of the women's basketball coaches be women. Obviously you've
got a lot of men's coaches and women's basketball. You
don't have any female head coaches in men's basketball at
(14:54):
the college or at least the Division one college level.
I don't even know if you have any at the
lower levels, and certainly not obviously in the NBA. You
got some assistance Becky Hammond, and you know, maybe one
day she'll become a head coach. I'm gonna say this,
I have I would have no problem if, because let's
(15:15):
say it said, one hundred percent of the head coaches
that I said, in men's basketball or men I would
have no problem if one hundred percent of the coaches
and women's basketball were women interesting, no problem whatsoever. Now
if they end up having it for Becky Hammond or
a Nancy Lieberman or somebody ends up coaching the team
in the NBA, fine, you know, but I'm certainly not
(15:38):
in that group that's like, we gotta get a female
head coach in the NBA, we gotta get a female
coach in men's Division one basketball. I think it's fine
the way it is, and I get it. There's a
there's a it's not fair because you got so many
men coaching women, get rid of them. I'm fine with it.
Like I think sex segregation has its place. Interesting, I
(15:59):
don't want girls in high school wrestling against boys. If
you want a girls to play football, then make a
girls football league. They don't need to compete with boys.
I don't want to see Leila Ali or whoever the
great female boxer is of the tay fighting men. There's
a place for sex segregation, particularly in sports. Now you
can have coaches of the opposite sex, of course, but
(16:22):
I'm I'm cool with what Muffett McGraw said. I don't
know if she was advocating that we get rid of
the men's coaches in women's basketball. Or what she's just saying,
we need more women's coaches in men's basketball. But I
would be fine if men coached men and women coach women.
So why why do you say that just from the
(16:43):
perspective of if we took all the males out of
female coaching, why is that okay for you? Because it
would be equal because then you'd have men coaching men. Yeah.
Now some people would say, we'll just have more women
coaching men, you know, which is I guess you could
go that route as well. I'm just saying, if we
want to make things equal, then I'm fine with getting
(17:06):
rid of it. Now. Look, the reason there are men
coaching women in basketball is because if you go way
back to when women's basketball really started beginning and picking
up decades ago, I remember women used to play three
on three. You know, when I went to high school,
I went to high school in different plays. I was
in Ohio, I was in Iowa for two and a
(17:26):
half years, and Iowa in the mid eighties. I don't
know when they ended it, but they played three on
three basketball to women like half like you had three
on three on both sides. So one team would have
three girls on offense and then on the other side
of the court with the same team would have three defenders.
So you had girls that literally only played defense, and
(17:47):
you had girls that only played office. It was six
on six, and I mean girls would average forty five points.
I mean it was. It was a crazy I wish.
But my point is, so when girls really started in
initially playing basketball and getting serious about it, you know
you had men coaching them, because men have been coaching
and playing the game for a lot longer and that
(18:08):
has just maintained over the years. But now, of course
you got plenty of women that coach. If you want
to get the men out of the w NBA as
far as coaches out of Division one college wrestling, I'm
fine with it. Let the women coach them and let
the men coach the men. I'm not saying again, I
don't mind it if there's a female head coach in
the NBA, but I wouldn't mind it if it was
(18:29):
the other way either. Yeah. I think Muffett McGraw's brought
her point, and I think she's right on this is
one exactly what she said, which is people hire people
that look like them. And I think her point was
it's not that women aren't qualified to do the job.
It's that we're not given the opportunity. And I can't
speak for the NBA, but I know that that's kind
of a big topic in college basketball right now, is
(18:52):
with minority head coaches. Is they're just not getting the
opportunities and it's an old boys network and jobs are
being filled by guys that have failed two three other
places because they know the right people. Because, let's be honest,
a lot of she said, a lot of the ads
are male and not female. Well, a lot of them
are white too, and that's why. And so that in
(19:13):
college basketball right now is a big issue where where
it doesn't feel like minorities are getting the same chance
as everybody else is. So I get her point, and
I'm actually sympathetic to her point in the sense that like,
just give the job to people who are qualified. But
I think her point then becomes, how do we get
qualified if we're not given a chance Because males are
taking up disproportionately to men's basketball. Males are taking up
(19:36):
a lot of jobs in women's basketball, right And what
she's saying, to your point is we need more female ads. YEP,
I think that's one thing she's sharing, and we would
hire you know, they would hire more women to if
she's right about people hiring people that look like them.
But I just that's my whole point is I would
(19:58):
be fine with it. Like I said, I think there's
times I don't think everything obviously needs to be segregated.
My daughters went to an all girls high school, interesting,
and they loved it. You know, you had more girls
obviously in leadership positions. You had more girls in math
and science because they're not there with the boys. You know,
(20:18):
Obviously segregated schools used to be and I'm not talking
about racially, I'm talking about sex used to be more popular.
My father went to an all boys high school, you know,
and I think all boys or all girls schools would
be great, to be honest, because I know as a
boy going to high school, the biggest distraction was girls.
(20:40):
Oh that's the only reason I wanted to go for
a lot of times, you know, I mean really like
I would have been a much better stud I was
a good student anyway, but I probably would have been
a better student if they're girls weren't around. See, I
don't think I would have gone to school if there
weren't girls around. I've been like, no, I'm good, I'm
gonna get me a job. I don't care if I'm
fourteen years old, So no, I mean, listen, I'll be honest.
You know. I had read the quotes, but I hadn't
(21:03):
heard the audio. I actually think it's a pretty interesting point.
I'm not at the place where I where I'm with
you where it's like men should only be coaching men.
And I know you're not saying that. Yeah, yeah, but
but I think like her point of, like anything else
in life, how do you get opportunity is a fair one,
and yes, we want more women, but if women aren't
(21:24):
doing the hiring and women aren't getting opportunities as assistants,
they're not going to become head coaches. And then we
have the problem where x number of or x percentage
of you know of of of women's coaches are males, right,
Hosts And Creators
kelvin washington
Rob Parker
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