Fox Sports Radio’s Countdown Presented by BetMGM

Brian Noe, Rich Ohrnberger, and Jared Smith talk today's slate of NBA, Geno Smith traded to the Raiders, Xavier Worthy arrested in Texas, Lakers still staying hot in the West, and more! Plus, Parlay Platter, Prop It Up, and Rapid Fire! 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
This is Fox Sports Countdown. 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, presented
by Ben mg the King of Sportsbooks. The Countdown starts

(00:23):
now line from the ti iraq dot com Fox Sports
Radio Studios. Here's Brian no, Rich Hornberger and Jared Smith.

Speaker 2 (00:33):
Oh, welcome in.

Speaker 3 (00:34):
Good morning everybody here as we get you all set
for college hoops the NBA. We got all kinds of
NFL news to react to, but you know what, we
start with history. Okay, history matters. We saw history never
been done before in the history.

Speaker 4 (00:54):
Of the NBA.

Speaker 3 (00:55):
Last night, Nicola Yokish, the first ever thirty twenty game,
had thirty one points, twenty two assists in twenty one
rebounds as the Nuggets beat the Suns in overtime. That's unbelievable.
What Joker was able to do is crazy. He had
a triple double early in the third quarter and then

(01:16):
had another triple double. He had two triple doubles of
the same game and records the first ever thirty.

Speaker 2 (01:22):
Twenty twenty game.

Speaker 3 (01:24):
When you can say this has never been done in
the history of whatever league. Think about the NBA with
Wilton Kareem and and never been done before. Joker has
done it. And bigger picture, Nikola Jokic is the MVP
this season. He's not gonna win it, but he's averaging
a triple double. I don't know if people realize that

(01:44):
he's averaging a triple double this season. He's had this
has never been done before either. He's top three in points, rebounds,
and assists. He's number three in points and rebounds, He's
number two in assists as a big guy. SGA has
been phenomenal. Shay Gilgess Alexander will win MVP. He's been

(02:05):
a scoring machine. Okay, see the second best record in
the entire league. But Nicola Jokic, he has the all
around game. This is the best statistical season of his career.
He's a three time MVP. This is the best season
he's had. So this is voter fatigue defined. He should
win it. He's not going to. Jokic is the true

(02:27):
MVP this season.

Speaker 4 (02:29):
I agree with you, and you know what, I have
a question.

Speaker 5 (02:32):
Do you believe a big man could have a thirty
twenty twenty triple double, say in the nineties, like is is.

Speaker 4 (02:43):
Today's game.

Speaker 5 (02:45):
The suitable environment that Jokic needed to in order to
have this kind of successful night.

Speaker 3 (02:53):
Yeah, you're right, Yeah, I think so. The game is
a lot different now than it was. Also, the Suns
defense couldn't guard you, Me and Jared, you know, like.

Speaker 6 (03:02):
Yeah, that's also true, or Jackpot or anyone else.

Speaker 4 (03:06):
Really that's right.

Speaker 3 (03:08):
Well, have Jackpott and Brianna that's our starting five, you know, great,
we'll score in the one twenties easily on the Sun's defense.
But yeah, you're right, Rich, Like, the style of basketball
has a lot to do with it. But think how
many great players are playing here and now, and nobody
has sniffed it in any era thirty twenty twenty.

Speaker 2 (03:28):
So it's still incredibly special what Joker did.

Speaker 6 (03:33):
Yeah, it really is. MVP odds did move last night too.
I'm not one hundred percent sure that it's a slam dunk,
that it's SGA. I'm like, like, the odds are telling
us it's like seventy percent. So maybe maybe let's leave
it at this. If Jokic has another thirty twenty twenty

(03:53):
in his bag before the end of the regular season,
you know that that could tilt the odds because the
way I always view voter fatigue when I'm trying to
handicap these award markets, we're obviously removing our opinion, and
our opinion is Nicole is the MVP. Well, what are
the voters think? The voters have told us multiple times,

(04:14):
there's straw polls. Tim bon Temps of ESPN does this.
He'll pull the voters and he'll put out the results
the voters are telling us as that sga Well.

Speaker 4 (04:24):
Voter fatigue.

Speaker 6 (04:25):
Sometimes you have to do something that you've never done
before to raise the bar. Well, we just saw it
last night, and maybe he has another Like maybe he
saw the straw poll and got a little bit upset.
He's like, O, hold do my Jokic choice? Hold on,
hold on, hold on? No, no, no, no, Like maybe
maybe there's some room here for me to get MVP.

(04:45):
That was a terrible yogic impression, But you guys, it.

Speaker 5 (04:49):
Was more boris bad enough, But that's it was like
borat essentially is what it was.

Speaker 2 (04:56):
Yeah, no doubt.

Speaker 3 (04:57):
It's funny too because Joker doesn't care about any of
this stuff.

Speaker 2 (05:01):
You know, they interviewed him.

Speaker 3 (05:03):
He was on with SVP on Sports Center after the
game and SVP is like joker man, it has never
been done in the history of the league.

Speaker 2 (05:10):
What do you have to say? How do you frame this?

Speaker 3 (05:12):
And he's like, we we didn't play good against Sacramento
the night before.

Speaker 4 (05:17):
That's a better You'll get your pression right.

Speaker 3 (05:20):
Yeah, But he doesn't care. He couldn't care less about
any of this stuff. He doesn't care about shine or
getting his quote unquote respect or is just doing.

Speaker 2 (05:31):
He just wants to win. That's it.

Speaker 3 (05:32):
He just wants to win, which I can completely appreciate.

Speaker 2 (05:37):
But I listen this. We went through this in the NFL.

Speaker 3 (05:40):
Lamar Jackson had a better statistical season and you can't
tell me for a second. Josh Allen had a great
year with the Bills and he was surrounded by less
and they had a better record. All of that matters,
But you can't tell me for a second if Lamar
Jackson hadn't won an MVP before this last season, that
he would have won.

Speaker 4 (06:01):
Both are close to It was close.

Speaker 2 (06:04):
It was close, but same thing.

Speaker 3 (06:05):
Here are you telling me if SGA is the three
time MVP and Jokic hasn't won MVP before that SGA
is winning another MVP there's no way. So that factors
in and it sucks, but you know the way it goes, man,
it's gonna go that way again. SGA will win this thing.

Speaker 4 (06:23):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (06:23):
When subjectivity is tied to an award all of a sudden,
and most awards, by the way, do have some level
of subjectivity tied to them, there's there's no way the
right guy is going to win the award every time.

Speaker 4 (06:37):
It's just not gonna happen.

Speaker 5 (06:38):
You know, you turn on the Academy Awards, everybody says, oh,
it's political, you know, it's this, it's that.

Speaker 4 (06:44):
It's like, yeah, right, of course it is.

Speaker 5 (06:46):
Because when you have a criteria that is left up
to being decided by people and not facts, people get
things wrong and people insert themselves and their own criteria
area into award giving. That's the reason why the Heisman
feels wrong sometimes. That's the reason why MVPs routinely feel wrong.

(07:08):
That's the reason why I think that a lot of
players don't care whether or not they go to the
Pro Bowl anymore in the NFL, because it's been diluted,
it's been watered down. There's so much subjected activity that
gets added into it.

Speaker 4 (07:22):
It's not as meaningful as it used to.

Speaker 5 (07:24):
Be, you know, And I feel that's where we're heading
with all of these leagues MVP awards. It's not who's
the best that year. It's not who, hands down was
the most valuable player. It's, you know, a popularity contest.
It is a spinning wheel. Yeah, probably one of the

(07:44):
top three players wins it every year, but it's it's
rarely the person who should win it, and it's been
that way for a long time.

Speaker 6 (07:52):
Yeah, And it's the end of the regular season too,
so you know what, I'm assuming that there's going to
be a lot of different opinions once we get to
the postseason and how these players shake out.

Speaker 4 (08:04):
Last year, Jokic.

Speaker 6 (08:05):
Dominated the competition and SGA did get a lot of
first place votes last year, so I think that's a
big part of it too, is SGA got the majority
of the second place votes and the third place votes
and a few handfuls of first Like I'm looking at
the ballot now from last year, yollkicch had seventy nine
first place votes. SGA had fifteen. So it's not like

(08:27):
SGA was from completely off the like, you know, coming
from out of nowhere. Like this has now been I
think that's a big part of it too. This has
been building now for a couple of years. With the
Thunder last year they almost kind of pushed it to
the to the top where they could really be seen.
And now SGA and really the Thunder season has been
so prolific that it's almost just been assumed that he's

(08:48):
gonna win it. But maybe Jokic has a really good
month in him, and maybe Denver overtakes LA for that
two seed, and maybe that is something that even this
playing field a little bit. But I think right now
SGA still gets it, even though I agree Jokic is
probably the better overall player top to bottom for what
he does.

Speaker 3 (09:07):
Well, I'll tell you real fast before we get to
the NFL news, that was like WHOA where did that
come from? Last thing I'll say is I wish the
voters would look at a season in a vacuum, because
that's the way it should be. It shouldn't be hey,
the previous season or previous seasons or history. And well,
you know, Jordan deserved to win MVP certain years and

(09:30):
didn't win it. So it's like, okay, so we got
it wrong before and it makes sense to continue getting
it wrong. When you start thinking about Jokic and the
historical significance of if he won his fourth MVP, voters
will really.

Speaker 2 (09:43):
Think of it like that.

Speaker 3 (09:44):
It's so broken to think of it like that, where
it should just be this season and this season alone
in a vacuum. Oh Tani, I don't care if he
wins the next nine nlmvps. If he deserves it, then
you're doing doing a disservice with your vote if you
vote somebody else just because it's like, well, I mean,

(10:06):
nobody else has done that, and uh, you know we
we had other MVPs that should have been named that weren't.
That's the wrong way to think about it. So I
wish voters would just look at this season and this
season alone. E gauge who has been more valuable for
the league, not just their teams. If you put Jokic
and his production on whatever team, is that a bigger

(10:28):
impact than putting SGA and his brilliant scoring, his tremendous defense,
and put that on a random team, which is more
valuable for the league. That's your job to vote on it,
and in my opinion, it's Jokic. I don't think the
votes are going to reflect that though, because they think
beyond just this season. Now with that, we turn the

(10:49):
page to the NFL. The Raiders have a new quarterback
and his name is Geno Smith.

Speaker 2 (10:56):
Listen, you guys.

Speaker 3 (10:58):
Ever think that have this reaction where you're like, man,
I wish this wasn't my opinion.

Speaker 2 (11:02):
You ever you.

Speaker 3 (11:03):
Ever have that where you're like, I wish I saw
Max Crosby, who's a tremendous defense event. He tweeted out
LFG like let's e F and go and it had
like ten exclamation points and skull and crossbone emojis, and
I'm like, man, it just shows how awful life has
been as a Raider. I mean, you're this fired up

(11:26):
for it? You should be right, like, God bless you,
but you're this fired up for Cheeto Smith. You know,
you're still in the same division as Mahomes and Herbert
and Bone.

Speaker 2 (11:37):
Cheeto Smith's the worst quarterback in the.

Speaker 3 (11:39):
Division, right, Like, and we're like, let's go it. We're
we're cooking with grease, right And no, you're not. You're
not doing anything, sorry, Raiders, Like, like, girlfriend's over here,
she's a Raider fan. I'm like Hey, your your team
made a trade. It's not gonna do anything for you.
Like that's where you're at right now. I wish this
wasn't my opinion, but it's the truth, is it not.

Speaker 4 (12:00):
It's it's I would say this. I think it's an upgrade.

Speaker 5 (12:04):
I don't think it's I don't think it's a monumental
franchise shaking change. But I do think it's an upgrade.
And I do also think that you could still do
the thing that they should do, which is seriously considered
drafting a high level quarterback this year and upgrade your

(12:25):
quarterback situation this offseason, think Vikings. So I'm not saying
Sam Donald was Gino Smith. Gino Smith I think was
you would say at the start of the season last year,
Geno Smith would be a better option to bridge your
franchise to a draft pick. Sam Donald turned out great
for the Vikings. I give a lot of credit to

(12:46):
their head coach Kevin O'Connell. But if Gino Smith can
be that for the Raiders, can be the guy who
you know is earning it on another prove it year
in his career, which we know what Gino can do
and approve it year, I think that's a pretty good
situation also, depending on who they draft. Imagine the lessons

(13:08):
you can learn from a guy who has toiled on
the bench and has squandered the opportunity of being a
high draft pick early in his career, only to re
emerge as a starter at the level that he soon
taught the NFL he was capable of.

Speaker 4 (13:27):
Now. So going back to what he said.

Speaker 5 (13:29):
Brian, I don't think this is an earth shaking acquisition
by the Raiders, but it's certainly something and it could
teach a young quarterback who they may still be drafting
high in this draft a lot of lessons that he
learned along the way instead of having to go through
those lessons along the way.

Speaker 6 (13:49):
I'll go on the record right now, I'm actually a
little bit higher on this movie I think than you guys.
And Chip Kelly is the reason why I think Chip
Kelly and Gino Smith are a really good match. I
think what Chip Kelly wants to do, which is a
get Brock Bowers the ball a gajillion times and be short,
quick passing game. You know, play action accuracy. Gino Smith,

(14:12):
over the last four years one of the best quarterback
accuracy rates in the league now, not when he's under pressure,
and not when he's dealing with some of the you know,
the issues that I think a lot of quarterbacks have
to deal with when the offensive line stink. Seattle's offensive
line went through it over the last couple of years, right,
they had those great cornerstone tackles going through some injuries there.
But I think when Gino's upright, he's a good option.

(14:35):
And that's the key for me, Is and I agree
with you, he probably maybe he's like three and a
half like maybe him and bow Knicks, because bo Nick's
a little less experienced but obviously more mobile, but Gino's
got the experience but less mobile. Like maybe I'd put
them on a level playing field. But yes, obviously behind Mahomes,
behind Herbert, but major upgrade, I mean in this Raiders.
And that's why I'm interested in maybe a Raiders win

(14:58):
total in like the six six and a half range,
depending on what they do in the draft, because I
do think the defense will keep them in games like
They're not gonna go ask Geno Smith to go out
there and drop thirty five every game like that. Raiders
defense pretty formidable, and that's never been a question it's
can the offense be I mean the Raiders offense The
last three year has been a disaster, absolute disaster. Since

(15:19):
Derek kr left, it's been I haven't really seen any
positives from the Raiders offense. So you take a team
that was bottom five, bottom ten inaccuracy quarterback production in
the last three years, and all of a sudden, you
put a guy who at least can be serviceable, right like,
you go from bottom five to league average. Well, that's

(15:39):
a pretty big jump in offense. So I think that's
something that at least is a positive. Are the Raiders
a playoff team? Probably not. Are they a team I'm
considering in any capacity to make a no, But if
they win total six six and a half, They've always
competed in that division, even with bad quarterback play. So
we have to keep it in relative terms to where

(15:59):
the Raider the ceiling is. And I think this is
a massive upgrade.

Speaker 3 (16:03):
Okay, coming up, I want to give you some positivity
I do, and then a hard dose of reality.

Speaker 2 (16:11):
Okay, I want to do both those things.

Speaker 4 (16:13):
You're good at those things. You're good.

Speaker 2 (16:15):
Thank you.

Speaker 3 (16:16):
It's Jared Smith FSR Betting analyst Rich Ornberger Penn State
All American.

Speaker 2 (16:21):
I'm Brian know Hey.

Speaker 3 (16:22):
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(16:43):
you don't win your first bet. All right, coming up next? Also,
what's the song Let's Go all the Way?

Speaker 4 (16:50):
Right?

Speaker 2 (16:50):
You know that song?

Speaker 4 (16:51):
Right?

Speaker 3 (16:51):
I don't know who sings it? But can they go
all the Way? We'll investigate that as well. It is
Fox Sports Radios Countdown presented by BETTEGM.

Speaker 1 (17:01):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at foxsports Radio
dot com and within the iHeartRadio app. Search FSR to
listen live.

Speaker 3 (17:13):
It is Fox Sports Radio's Countdown presented by BETMGM. Come
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Speaker 2 (17:29):
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Speaker 2 (17:39):
And so much more. See I. I argue this would
be a great karaoke duet.

Speaker 4 (17:46):
Right.

Speaker 3 (17:47):
You just go up there as a team and say,
we're a tag team in this thing, and you just
have someone with the monitor, let's go, oh the way,
and then you have the higher let's.

Speaker 2 (17:55):
Go in the bat oh smash hit right the bars.

Speaker 6 (18:02):
Karaoke night, karaoke night for the crew.

Speaker 3 (18:05):
We gotta make that happen, Jared, You and I we
gotta do something for the tournament. I'll be back in Vegas.
Oh yeah Friday, so we gotta get yeah. I like
that idea. We'll durgo it. Really something, you know, gotta
do something one of these.

Speaker 6 (18:19):
On there that's on your high end of idea scale
right there.

Speaker 3 (18:22):
There, Thursday or Friday, something's going down. That's all I
go down.

Speaker 2 (18:26):
Okay, So as far as let's go all the way.

Speaker 3 (18:30):
The Lakers, ooh, the Lakers they are playing some basketball
right now.

Speaker 2 (18:36):
Do you give them a chance to win it all?

Speaker 4 (18:38):
I don't.

Speaker 3 (18:40):
This is a nice little two week stretch. They're playing
great basketball. I give them their dude, they don't have
a front court like they've got Jackson Hayes.

Speaker 2 (18:50):
That's it. That's the list. I'm sorry.

Speaker 3 (18:52):
They're gonna get tripped up, probably in the West. I'd
be impressed if they won the West. I'd be very
impressed if they did that. I just don't see them
winning best of seven series one after another when you're
relying solely on Jackson Hayes as your front foord.

Speaker 2 (19:09):
Guy, look at who you're yo.

Speaker 3 (19:11):
Get's just had a thirty twenty and twenty game last night.
If you're going up against the Nuggets yet, good luck.
They've lost eight of the last nine against the Nuggets.

Speaker 2 (19:21):
With Anthony Davis. It's like a fantastic big guy. I
just and Luca they won the trade. I'm not doing that.

Speaker 3 (19:28):
But you gotta have a front court in the West,
and the Lakers just don't. I just don't see them
having a long shelf life.

Speaker 5 (19:36):
Yeah, I even you know, you go back to the
Splash Brothers when the Warriors were popping off. They they
always had a rim protector. They always had Draymond Green,
who could be, you know, almost like a hockey enforcer
on the court. There was always something defensively that could
counteract a bad night shooting for Steph and Clay and

(19:58):
the Lakers right now, they have you know, I look,
capable scorers. Luca or Lebron could go off or either
or together could have big nights offensively. But it's not
like they're exactly known to be, you know, defensive specialists.
Lebron more so than Luca, but Luca definitely not. You
look at the floor in front of the rim, there's

(20:19):
just so many avenues for opportunity. It comes down to this,
Can the Lakers outscore everyone in the West throughout the
course of an entire postseason? Probably not, you know what
I mean. So I'm with you, Brian. I think that
they're gonna get tripped up at some point or you're
going to have a team that's able to lock them

(20:41):
down defensively, and it's going to be a very different
looking Lakers team.

Speaker 4 (20:46):
And maybe this is a part of the plan.

Speaker 5 (20:49):
Maybe Lebron signed off on this fully knowing, Hey, we
don't have all the pieces we need, and we know
we can't collect all those pieces this year, but maybe
we look forward to the uh, you know, the twenty
five to twenty six season. Uh, we we get you know,
a big guy out of the draft. We get a
big man out of the draft, and we go and
chase down a title before I hang up the basketball

(21:11):
shoes for good.

Speaker 6 (21:13):
Yeah, Lebron's worried about confronting Steven A. Smith at halftime
of the game. Little maybe you should focus on on
a little bit of defense now there. I think there's
there's a vibe to Denver that says they've been down
this road so many times. We haven't seen the best
version of the Denver Nuggets. And let's be honest, it's
gonna be that in the two three. So you're gonna

(21:35):
get just like we got last year in the two seven. Right,
the Lakers won the play in and they played the
Nuggets in the first round and didn't didn't really go
very well. I think this year the Nuggets defense is
a big question mark because all of a sudden, they're
given up one hundred and sixteen points per game. They
were under one ten last year. Yeah, So I but

(21:56):
we but we expect that to change, right, because defense
is effort and this not Teams played a lot of
basketball over the last three years, so what was the
motivation to bring their best defense in Janguary? You know,
in December, I think you're gonna start to see Denver
round into form, just kind I don't want to say defensively.
Last night. I know they gave up a ton of points.
On the other side, it was a you know, fluky,

(22:16):
funky overtime game. But I do think defensively, you'll start
to see this Denver defense give a little bit more
effort and figure things out. On the other side, the
Lakers defense, which was a disaster last year, it's actually
pretty good this year. Like it's in a one eleven
per game, like, I mean, that's other than the Thunder
which are having like a historic season. The Lakers have
one of the best defenses in the Western Conference, at

(22:37):
least on paper. I agree with your take. I think
if it was like a one game roll of the
Dice Lakers Nuggets West semi final game seven, I think
I would take Luca and Lebron seven game series. Nuggets
get home court at altitude over the long haul, four
out of seven I think I would take Denver, right Like,

(22:58):
I think that's kind of how I frame it, And
it doesn't really help you guys from a betting standpoint
trying to figure out who's gonna win. But it feels
like in a one game scenario, I'd rather take Luca
and Lebron in the long because that's the thing that
the NBA playoffs. People don't realize. It is long. It
is a long second season, and I think over the
long haul, the Lakers might struggle because of that depth.

Speaker 3 (23:18):
Well, a great matchup tonight, the Celtics hosting the Lakers.
That is awesome stuff right there. Boston favored by seven
and a half. And that's the thing that's a small
little glimpse. I mean, that's the defending champs. Boston Real
front court, you know, like I know Perzingis is, you know,
a euro front court guy.

Speaker 2 (23:39):
He's more of a perimeter guy, but he can bang.

Speaker 3 (23:41):
He's a great rim protector, and he's better than what
the Lakers have in the front court, that's for sure. Also,
old man Al Horford still doing his thing. I love
Al Horford. The guy is ageless. But if you look
at the path in the West for the Lakers, and
you're looking at again matching up front court to front court.
If you're going against Jokich, you're gonna get smashed. If

(24:04):
you're going up against say the Grizzlies with Jaren Jackson Junior,
he's gonna eat Who do you have with Zach Eady?
Like this, this is a problem. And I love Lebron
and Luca, don't get me wrong. That's a lot of firepower.
But you can't be this week in the front court
if you're matched up against OKC, who plays better defense,

(24:26):
Like look at the front court there. Chet Holmgren is
a little bit more like porzingis, but Hartenstein is gonna
eat you alive on the glass. Like you have to
have more than what the Lakers do. And everybody seems
to be all giddy about a two week stretch when
they're beating teams, or they lost to the Hornets, they
beat the Jazz a couple of times. It's like you
realize the quality in the West that you're gonna see.

(24:49):
I just I am not high on the Lakers. It's
not the hate on them. It's I'm hating on their
lack of a front court. Not that it says Lakers
on the front of their jersey.

Speaker 5 (24:57):
No, it forces you in to defensive strategies when when
you have a team that can highlight an offensive big
man or or even you can't drive the lane because
you don't have the size or set up offense in
the paint because you don't have a big man who
can contend with some of the other guys that you
mentioned around the league and around the West specifically.

Speaker 4 (25:20):
But what you can.

Speaker 5 (25:22):
Do, and they're going to have to adjust and get
really good at this, is you can play a lot
of zone where you have a lot of help in
the paint. You're gonna have to throw a lot of
fresh bodies at the problems you have in the paint
and just hope that either your perimeter defenders can get
out to the wings and get out to three point

(25:43):
line to defend to defend fast enough with a good
ball movement team, because that's that's your only shot. You know,
you're gonna have a couple of your depth players in
foul trouble because you're going they're gonna be tesked every
time that big guy gets the.

Speaker 4 (25:57):
Ball in his hand. You're going to foul them.

Speaker 5 (26:00):
We're gonna send them to the line and we're gonna
take our chances there, and anytime they're moving the ball,
maybe we'll loosen the paint up. But then that exposes
you if they get good at it. Though, if they,
you know, down the stretch of the season they work
this out, I mean, I'm not gonna give them no chance.
But like I said at the start, Brian, I think

(26:20):
I agree with you more than I don't. I think
the Luca trade was the start of a two year
plan for Lebron to win his his fifth title and
to get closer to MJ.

Speaker 6 (26:30):
How funny is it that Boston's odds on to win
the East minus won twenty five, even though they're clearly
clearly the number two team in the East. Yeah, and
Cleveland just doesn't get the respect. I think that's the
more interesting question. Like we know, I feel pretty confident
you're gonna have Lakers Nuggets in that second round, and

(26:50):
you would think it's gonna be a pretty good series.
I do not know what the Boston Cleveland vibe is
gonna be, assuming we do get that in the Eastern
Conference Final. I think we will. And I love my knicks.
I love my Knickerbuckers. But Jalen Brunson's injury and just
the way that Tibbs runs these teams to the ground
during the regular season. It's not the Bucks here right like,

(27:13):
It's just it's just not And Giannis is fantastic, but
it's just the Eastern Conference feels like very much a
two team race, whereas the West it feels like there's
a third horse in there. I don't know who that.
I don't know which of the Lakers, Nuggets, you know,
teams I would pick right now. I think depending on
the price in the series, I would take Denver, especially
if they have home court. But Cleveland Boston, like the

(27:34):
market is begging you to take the Calves, like they
are begging you to bet the Calves plus two ten
to win the East. They're gonna have home court in
that series. I don't know.

Speaker 4 (27:42):
I don't really vibe it.

Speaker 3 (27:43):
What do you think about the Cavs, guys, Well, Calves
are really good, but they're they're a team where they're
gonna have to prove it to you to truly buy in.
You know, it's just their their history is what it is.
They've had a fantastic regular season, don't get me wrong.

Speaker 2 (27:57):
Are they capable of beating Boston.

Speaker 3 (27:59):
Yeah, I think they are. Are you gonna run to
the betting window and say, give me the Calves over Boston.
Probably not. So it's one of those teams where they
have to prove it to you. It's sort of like
your deadbeat father, you know, and you're like, I really
don't think he's gonna take me to the mall today,
you know, And he has to pick you up and
take you to the mall today for you to believe
like he's gonna show up and do that. That's how

(28:21):
I feel about Cleveland, right because they just they've come
they've come up short time and time again. By the way,
I know someone who's fond of Cleveland. That would be
Charles Barkley. She had an epic rant for the Ages
on Thursday. Did you catch this? He's talking about ESPN
talking about the Warriors and the Lakers every day and

(28:41):
overlooking OKAC and the Calves.

Speaker 2 (28:43):
Here's a little taste of that.

Speaker 6 (28:45):
The Lakers are doing Greek, the Wars are doing Greek.

Speaker 7 (28:48):
But Oklahoma City and the Calves been bawling for six months,
y'all talking about Teaser had two great weeks.

Speaker 3 (29:01):
It's true, it is true, but Listen, we understand that
the interest for the Calves and Okac isn't the same
as the Lakers and the Warriors. So there's a reason
why first take is successful and all that. But it
was a great rant by Barclay and call it out
as future teammates at ESPN.

Speaker 2 (29:19):
Right, I love that man, real fast.

Speaker 3 (29:22):
I'll put a boat and then I'll give you something
positive and a dose of reality. This is why the
Lakers are so fascinating because they have real strength. They've
got a real ceiling with Lebron and Luca, and they
have a real floor which is no front court of note.

Speaker 2 (29:38):
And it's gonna.

Speaker 3 (29:40):
Be really interesting to see what wins out come playoff
time because they have the potential to have a deep
run and they have the potential to flame out immediately
and it's gonna be a great ride. Now Here, here's
the positivity in the dose of reality. So if we
go back to Geno Smith traded to the Raiders, here's

(30:01):
the positivity.

Speaker 4 (30:02):
Rich.

Speaker 2 (30:02):
I like what you had to say.

Speaker 4 (30:04):
Okay, oh there you go.

Speaker 3 (30:05):
If the Raiders draft a young guy and they match
him with Gino, Gino is a much better mentor than
I would say Aaron Rodgers would be.

Speaker 2 (30:14):
I don't think Rogers would be like, let me take
this young buck under my wing here.

Speaker 3 (30:18):
So so yeah, we don't know if the Raiders are
going to double dip in the quarterback market, and if
they do that, that looks a lot different if you've
got say Geno and shaduor Sanders.

Speaker 2 (30:28):
So that part makes sense.

Speaker 3 (30:29):
Also, the Raiders schedule, so they played the AFC South
and then also the NFC East. So listen real fast
to this home schedule for the Raiders. They play their
three teams in the division. Then they host Jacksonville, Tennessee
the Cowboys, Giants, Bears, and Browns.

Speaker 2 (30:51):
It's pretty doable, right, pretty doable.

Speaker 6 (30:53):
Right, we got now here we go.

Speaker 3 (30:56):
Okay, the dose of reality here, here's the dose of reality.
This is some MLS stuff. Okay, this is like Major
League Soccer. You know, MLS has done this for years
where it's like, hey, our ratings are up ten percent
compared to our previous sucky ratings.

Speaker 2 (31:14):
You know what I mean.

Speaker 3 (31:14):
It's like, yeah, if you compare yourself to yourself, that's
one thing. If you compare yourself to the competition that's another.
So if you compare the Raiders now to the Raiders
last season.

Speaker 2 (31:25):
Yeah they're better.

Speaker 3 (31:26):
But if you compare the Raiders now to the rest
of the AFC West and the rest of the AFC,
they aren't.

Speaker 2 (31:32):
Going anywhere at all.

Speaker 3 (31:35):
So that's the difference is, Yeah, they're better, but they're
not going anywhere.

Speaker 2 (31:39):
They're not good enough to go anywhere.

Speaker 5 (31:41):
I always have a hard time writing off a team
before I get to see them. Who's made some staggering changes,
And I feel like in the case of the Las
Vegas Raiders, it has been a lot of the same
you know, lobs over the plate year after year after year.
You know, the Derek Carr experience. It never panned out

(32:04):
and and it very much so kind of hit the
same somber note every season. What they've moved on to
since then has been a just a clown car.

Speaker 4 (32:15):
You know.

Speaker 5 (32:16):
There's so many quarterbacks, none of them really particularly entertaining
or exciting. And now this Gino Smith is a real
starter in the NFL. Is he a top tier starter? No?

Speaker 4 (32:30):
Has he dabbled with that? Yeah?

Speaker 5 (32:33):
Do I think that him? With Chip Kelly and with
a head coach who has experience and ability like Pete
Carroll does.

Speaker 4 (32:41):
That interest me.

Speaker 5 (32:42):
Yeah, and that's more than I can say about the
Raiders for a long long time. And again to the
point I made earlier, if you draft a quarterback and
Gino Smith is the voice in his ear helping him
bridge the gap from college to the NFL game, he's
more than more than capable of helping guide the ship because,

(33:02):
by the way, that's what he was used for time
and time and time again until he became a starter
again in this league. So he knows the ropes, he
knows how to do that, and they'll do a good
job for you.

Speaker 6 (33:14):
Yeah, I think I think Gino's gonna get a new deal.
I think that's kind of where the reason why the
trade occurred in the first place is because the Seahawks
didn't want to give Gino a new deal and the
Raiders were willing. And I think that's why the compensation
was relatively cheap, Like getting a starting quarterback who I
would say is an average starting quarterback in the league.
Say which you want about I think Geno Smith is

(33:35):
an average starting quarterback in the league. He's definitely not
below average. He's definitely better than what the Raiders have
had for a third round pick. I think that's a
pretty good deal if the Raiders do end up getting
some production out of him. That's why I don't think
the Raiders will draft a quarterback in the first round
because they're gonna probably have to give Gino thirty five
to forty million dollars, and I don't think they want

(33:56):
to have a quarterback who's obviously the starter having And
at six you might get Shador. You might not, but
you might get Shittar. You might also want to get
Jackson Dart later on in the draft too. That could
be another option, or Quinn Viewers or another one of
these guys, maybe a Will Howard another maybe a project
later in the draft. I think makes sense. But I
don't think the Raiders are going to go quarterback at six.

(34:18):
I'll tell you who I would take at six right now.

Speaker 4 (34:20):
If you want to really.

Speaker 6 (34:21):
Give Gino the best chance to have a good year one,
you take Ashton Genty at six, and you say, okay, Gino,
you got your stud tight end, you got your stud
running back. They have no receivers. They need to go
get a receiver. But at least at least he has
a semblance. Because I'm looking at the Raiders skill position
group right now, and it ain't pretty. I could barely

(34:43):
name two of these guys like it's a joke, Like
you gotta get Gino.

Speaker 2 (34:48):
Some help or else.

Speaker 6 (34:49):
You just traded a third round pick and probably a
forty million dollar extension for what. So I think that's
the key right now for the Raiders. How can you
get Gino help and how can you make that transition easy?

Speaker 3 (34:59):
Hey super fast? Does this fire you up? She's honest question.
A quarterback who throws twenty one touchdown passes and fifteen
interceptions in a season, does that fire you up?

Speaker 4 (35:09):
That's what Gino did last year.

Speaker 3 (35:11):
That's what Gino did, like with DK Metcalf, Jackson Smith
and Jigba and Tyler for a big.

Speaker 6 (35:16):
Part of the end of the year. He had a
bad injury. So I think, yeah, I think it doesn't
fire me up, but obviously you have to keep it
in perspective.

Speaker 4 (35:23):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (35:23):
Again, the perspective that Jared's keeping is the right perspective.

Speaker 4 (35:27):
This is the Raiders.

Speaker 5 (35:29):
If this were the Kansas City Chiefs, I would be like,
oh my god, what are they doing again?

Speaker 3 (35:34):
This goes back to my original point. This shows how
sucky life has been for the Raiders. Very true, fire
up for Chino real fast. Our guy Chris Purfett has
something real quick here.

Speaker 4 (35:44):
I think we're.

Speaker 8 (35:45):
Doubting the ability of the plan of Gino Smith to
dump off two hundred times to brock Bowers.

Speaker 2 (35:50):
That's true.

Speaker 6 (35:51):
Brock Bowers just got in a big upgrade.

Speaker 2 (35:53):
To another two hundred dump to brock Bowers.

Speaker 3 (35:56):
He's gonna have a hundred hours catches next year, fifteen
catches for seventy two yards.

Speaker 6 (36:01):
You know, I've already bet the brock Bauers receptions over.

Speaker 8 (36:03):
Problem Mind Daily Fantasy and Fantasy League Darling for this
year coming up.

Speaker 4 (36:08):
They bet right to that.

Speaker 3 (36:09):
All right, We've got Rich Heronberger, Ben State All American
Jared Smith FSR betting analyst. I'm Brian know. Every Sunday
through the rest of the NBA regular season, BETMGM will
be running the NBA Sunday Splash Jackpot. Users will have
the opportunity to win a share of fifty thousand dollars
in bonus bets if their player scores the most three
pointers on that Sunday. All you have to do is

(36:31):
opt in to the Sunday Splash Jackpot promotion and place
a ten dollars plus NBA player three pointers bet up
to one time each Sunday. If your player scores the
most three pointers on that Sunday, you'll win a share
of fifty thousand dollars in bonus bets. All right, Coming
up next to par lay platter High stakes. There's a

(36:53):
lot riding on this platter. We'll explain next. It is
Fox Sports Radio's Countdown, presented by BETMGM.

Speaker 1 (37:00):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at foxsports Radio
dot com and within the iHeartRadio app. Search FSR to
listen live.

Speaker 3 (37:11):
It is Fox Sports Radio's Countdown presented by BETMGM. On
Friday's BETMGM, authorized gaming operator of the NBA, is making
first field goal scorer wagers more exciting with second Chance.

Speaker 2 (37:25):
What's second chance ever?

Speaker 3 (37:26):
Bet on your favorite player to score the first field goal,
only to see him make an assist to his teammate
for an easy layup.

Speaker 4 (37:32):
Well.

Speaker 3 (37:32):
With BETMGM Second Chance, you'll get your stake back in
cash if your first field goal scorer scoes second instead
of first.

Speaker 2 (37:39):
All right, let's do this.

Speaker 1 (37:42):
Check this out our late letter.

Speaker 3 (37:45):
All right, High stakes and the platter today. Let me
explain something really quickly here for Jared Smith. So our
trusted producer Bo Benson is not with us today. He's
at a bachelor party in Arizona for another Fox Sports
radio producer, Ryan Bershinger.

Speaker 2 (38:04):
Even Normaga Madoff says Connor McGregor.

Speaker 3 (38:06):
McGregor, try first first is getting married, baby, So Bo
is out there to celebrate.

Speaker 2 (38:14):
He's in a betting state.

Speaker 3 (38:15):
He's away from outdated California, who is not embracing sports betting.
He can get after it today with the marlay platter
in Arizona.

Speaker 2 (38:24):
So you're at pressures on, that's right, Jared.

Speaker 3 (38:28):
The advice you give out is gonna have financial consequences.

Speaker 2 (38:32):
So what do you have cooked up for us today?

Speaker 6 (38:34):
Well, my first message is to bersh there's still time
to back out, Bud. You know you don't have to
go through it. I'm just kidding, all right.

Speaker 1 (38:43):
Yeah.

Speaker 6 (38:43):
We actually we're hot right now. We hit last week,
We've hit two out of the last three parlay plotters,
and if you've been with us.

Speaker 4 (38:50):
The last three years, that's a heater. Baby.

Speaker 6 (38:54):
Let's start with a very good game between Missouri and
Kentucky and the SEC I'm gonna put Missouri on the
money line. Missoo's off back to back losses, bad losses
at Ban Diyadou, but they're eighteen and one at home
this year. Two very good offensive teams. We know Kentucky
can shoot it, we know Missouri can shoot it. But
here's the difference. Kentucky on the road is turnover happy

(39:14):
and they're just three and six away from Lexington this year.
Missoo's about a five and a half point favorite. Today
at home will put the Tigers' first leg in the
money line. Parlay, Let's go on the road to the
Little Apple in Manhattan, Kansas. We're put in Iowa State
on the money line. Parlay cyclones at k State today.
Iowa stateed off a bad loss at home to BYU.
They are finally back at full strength. They've got their

(39:35):
starting five, but they haven't played a lot of basketball
together this year due to the injuries, so they need
something to feel good about themselves heading into the postseason
road revenge spot case State won by nineteen and ams
five weeks ago. I think Iowa State gets to win today.
Kansas on the money line. They are hosting Arizona today.
You're betting on Kansas, Terrett, what the heck are you doing?
There's blood in the streets of Lawrence. Bill self's putting

(39:57):
out these statements. The Jayhawks. They battle against Houston, lost
by sick covered the number. They're three to one against
the spread in the last four games. Arizona is a
fade on the road, very subpar shooting team. They rely
way too much on Kleb Love. Kansas goes on the
money line against Arizona. Miszoo Iowa stake Kansas all on
the money line plus two twelve at bet MGM. What

(40:19):
do we think, guys?

Speaker 4 (40:20):
I really do. I like the Missouri pick.

Speaker 5 (40:22):
I like Kansas that that stat about Arizona a little
wonky on the road is good too.

Speaker 4 (40:27):
I think woo, I think you set up report.

Speaker 2 (40:35):
I hope that it. I hope he hits.

Speaker 3 (40:37):
I hope the parlay hits and Bo wins cash and
everything's great. You know, fingers crossed coming up next? The
last meeting was bad? Will it be more of the
same today?

Speaker 4 (40:49):
Oh?

Speaker 2 (40:49):
What's going on? Everybody?

Speaker 3 (40:51):
Hope your Saturday is off to a fantastic start. I'll
tell you what. It can only get better from here
because we've got Alabama against Auburn today. Another matchup did
not go well for role Tide last time at home
against Auburn.

Speaker 2 (41:06):
Now they're on the road.

Speaker 3 (41:07):
That was the game where Auburn was what five for
twenty six from three point range. Yeah, and it did
not go well. But that's the beauty of the three
point line. You know, Bama's cooking a lot more offensively,
more efficient from three, which they can be all of
a sudden, they're a live dog. They're a seven and
a half point underdogs on the road here. I think

(41:28):
of you now, Jared, when the totals get high like
this in college basketball, it's one seventy seven and a half,
and I'll literally just be thumbing through all the lines
on bet MGM and I'll see one seventy seven and
a half and I'll picture you going, whoa, hey, it
is that a lot of points I've had there, you have.

(41:49):
It's a lot of points in college basketball. But hey man,
they are more than capable of going over this total here.

Speaker 4 (41:56):
Yeah, yeah, they are.

Speaker 5 (41:57):
Both of these teams offensively, I think have what at
s take. I'm curious if we aren't gonna see a
little more defense this time around, you know, not just
cold shooting, but like actual tough nodes defense, because, as
we discussed many times over the past bunch of weekends,
since the college basketball season has taken full swing and

(42:18):
really stolen the attention of the sports viewing public, defense
does win you championships. Defense does help you play deep
into March. So this is where you start to hone
the finer edge in the regular season against teams that
you know resemble or actually maybe tournament teams that you

(42:40):
will face somewhere down the road.

Speaker 6 (42:42):
Here, I'm vibeing the upset in this game, guys, I
really am wow, really Okay, Yeah, I think BAM is
very live here. I mean, obviously they're always live because
of the style that they play. I mean, how often
is bab A been a eight point dog this year?
It hasn't happened like it's happened. And you go back
and look at the box score from the first game

(43:04):
Bama was in the game, despite the fact that they
could not hit a three, like five for twenty six
is probably probably one of the worst shooting nights of
the year. And you go back and look at what
Auburn did in that game. Jani Broom was incredible nineteen,
fourteen and six. And also Denver Jones had a huge
game sixteen points, three for five from deep. Denver Jones
is hurt. He's probably not gonna play tonight. Jani Broom

(43:24):
also looks like he's on fumes. It looks like both
shoulders are going through injuries. I think this Auburn team
and this is just what the SEC does. I think
this Auburn team peaked about two weeks ago, and I
think over the last two weeks they are just limping
to the finish. And that's not to say they can't
find a second wind. Maybe not next week in Nashville
in the SEC tournament, but you know, the NCAA Tournament,

(43:45):
they can find a second win because they're gonna get a,
you know, an easy matchup in the first round. He
kind of ease into it as the number one seed.
But for today in the Eyebob, the Iron Bowl of Basketball,
I think this is Bama's game. Plus I know it's
I love that term. This feels like a Bama bet
to me, and I think they'll shoot it better tonight.

(44:07):
And I think Auburn, what do they have to play for.
They've already clinched the number one seed in the SEC tournament.
They're gonna be the number one overall seed in the
NCAA tournament. They've got like one hundred quad one wins.
Like if you're Auburn and I know it's a rivalry game,
I'm not saying they're not going to try to win,
but in the back of their minds, they're like, man,
we got bigger fish to fry. We've already gone into
tuscaloosen won this year. I think Alabama's very live today.

Speaker 3 (44:30):
Yeah, it's funny because last Saturday we're doing the show
and one of my rapid fire picks was Kentucky plus
the points plus like four and a half at home,
and they got crushed, like Auburn just ran right over them.
And then a couple of nights later, Tuesday night against
A and M, Auburn loses by eleven and I'm like, thanks, guys,

(44:52):
why couldn't you.

Speaker 2 (44:53):
Have lost by eleven? But it was a rapid fire pick.

Speaker 6 (44:56):
They looked rough the other night.

Speaker 3 (44:58):
But that's the thing, though, Jared is like, like, that's
life in the SEC. Where it does it's wearing you
down because it's such a gauntlet, even for a team
that's as talented as Auburn is when you're facing the
quality that you're seeing in the SEC this season, game
after game after game after game.

Speaker 2 (45:17):
It does wear you down.

Speaker 3 (45:19):
You saw a worn down Auburn team on the road
against A and M.

Speaker 2 (45:23):
And give Texas A and M credit.

Speaker 3 (45:25):
I'm not taking it away from them, but Auburn, as
good as they are, they've they've been wearing down. So
that's the question I have for some of the top
teams in the SEC. Do they look like they they're
in the fifteenth round right come tournament time or do
they look fresh. There's a lot of time in between
for them to get their legs underneath them. But I'm

(45:46):
curious the top teams in the SEC if they look
fresh or if they look like they've been through a
gauntlet this season, because they have been through a gauntlet.

Speaker 5 (45:54):
Yeah, Well, sometimes even if you have a tough conference,
it doesn't really translate to what's needed in March. I mean,
how many times have we seen it's like, wow, you
know how many SEC teams and then by the time
it whittles down to a field of you know, sixteen,
there's one or two left, or you know, I mean
even some of the mid major conferences like you'll see

(46:16):
this happened all the time out of the Mountain West,
you know, where all of a sudden they dwindled to
the point where round of thirty two there isn't a
single team in. It can happen, you know, and it
can be a result of how hard you had a
fight to get into the tournament in the first place.

Speaker 4 (46:31):
Here's what I will say.

Speaker 5 (46:34):
Perimeter shooting can can make you look a lot more fresh.
And we know how it can be a little bit spontaneous,
it can be a little bit stop and go. But
for teams who are good on the perimeter, like Alabama
has shown they can be, and good in transition like
Alabama has shown they can be. I don't hate Jared's

(46:56):
point that this could be, you know, an upset because
when you look at the paltry outside shooting that the
Crimson Tie put up last time these two face each other.
Plus the fact that they're better on the offensive boards
by miles than Auburn is on the defensive glass, I
think second chance points plus you know, kickout passes.

Speaker 4 (47:19):
If they have a hotter night.

Speaker 5 (47:20):
Behind the three point line, we could see the Crimson
Tie take this one.

Speaker 6 (47:25):
Yeah, I'm calling it right now. I'm calling the upset.
Alabama's winning this game. Here's an interesting history lesson. By
the way, do you remember last year when Auburn won
the SEC Tournament and then lost to Yale in the
first round of the NCAA Tournament.

Speaker 4 (47:38):
Yeah.

Speaker 6 (47:39):
Yeah, The SEC Tournament next week is going to be
very interesting. I would be fading those top seeds. Here's
an interesting history lesson. The SEC right now, in terms
of historical database, has the second best margin of victory
of any conference since Ken Palm's been tracking this for
a long time. The nineteen ninety seven AC, the twenty

(48:01):
twenty four Big Twelve. Last year's Big Twelve were the
next two. Those two conferences combined, by the way, only
had two teams go to the Elite eight.

Speaker 4 (48:12):
Wow.

Speaker 6 (48:13):
So having historically good regular seasons in terms of conference
play is not necessarily a ticket to the Final four.
That is gonna be an interesting dynamic when we get
to the NAA Tournament. Because everyone is convinced the SEC
is winning it all, I'm not so sure you're gonna
have four, five six teams from the SEC and the

(48:34):
Sweet sixteen. I would not be surprised if it's the
other way where the SEC might be a little bit
overrated headed to the big dance.

Speaker 3 (48:43):
Well, and the other thing is Jared, You've paid close
attention to the Player of the Year race h heading
wise in between Cooper Flag and Jani Broom, so much
is tied to teams success. And if you look at
say Auburn today, if you like them to potentially lose
as a seven and a half point favorite at home,

(49:05):
that has a huge ripple effect in the Player of
the Year market because it's so close between Broom and Flag.
They've both been tremendous this season. Where if you look
at Auburn in their path to winning the SEC to
win the conference championship, that's a much tougher path than
what Duke has to win the ACC. So Cooper Flag

(49:26):
and Duke win the ACC and Jeni Broom and Auburn
don't win the SEC, it's going to Cooper Flag, you know.
So I think you have to handicap it based on
the team's success or lack thereof, not just the player's success. Here,
I think Flag has a better shot to win it.

Speaker 5 (49:41):
Yeah, It's it's gonna be an interesting finish to the season.
One of the things that I'm curious and Jared, I
want to ask you first, but Brian, I want you
to win as well. Is this going to be a
chalky bracket this year?

Speaker 4 (49:55):
Like?

Speaker 5 (49:55):
Are we going to see a lot of the better
teams events? Because where we're at and I think we
touched this with Seamus last week and he'll join us
in a little bit from bet MGM. But like nil,
I mean the fact that transfer portals wide open? Is
is it in fact the rich getting richer? So as
like almost a little you know, future look at what

(50:18):
the bracket may present for us.

Speaker 4 (50:20):
Should betters really concentrate on.

Speaker 5 (50:22):
The fact that that's the truth? And it's going to
get pretty chalky here for a little bit.

Speaker 6 (50:26):
I'm gonna be fading a lot of the SEC teams
against the spread in the tournament. I think I think
I've made that decision.

Speaker 4 (50:31):
Ok.

Speaker 6 (50:31):
I think there's some teams that are on my cell list,
but I don't necessarily think it's a chalky situation. I
do think there's like six really good teams in college basketball.
I think there's two elite team. I think Auburn and
Duke are elite teams. I would be surprised if both
of them missed the final four. I think Florida is
very underrated. I think of the yeah of the number

(50:53):
one seeds, like I think the number one seeds are
gonna be Duke, Auburn, Houston, and Florida. Like, I feel
pretty good about that right now. I think of those
four number one seeds, Auburn's probably a little bit overrated.
Florida is probably a little bit underrated. Like, I think
those teams are a little more equal in the market
than they're being priced right now. I think Duke's really good.
To Brian's point about the Player of the Year, I

(51:13):
would still vote for Jenni Broom today, but the voting
doesn't take place for another ten days. The voting takes
place between March seventeenth and March twenty fifth. That's when
the votes are actually cast. Well, if Duke gets bounced
in the sweet sixteen, you know that's right when the
first weekend of the NCAA tournament's happening. Like, if Duke

(51:36):
doesn't make the sweet sixteen, if Auburn doesn't make the
sweet sixteen, I'm not saying that's gonna happen, but those
things could tilt the vote. Dramatically because recency bias is
a hell of a drug. People are casting the vote
first weekend of the NCAA tournament, that is probably what
they're going to be waiting the most. I think for
the rest of the bracket, Like, I think there's some
really underrated teams that could sneak in outside the one line.

(51:57):
I think Texas Tech's really good. I think Maryland is
better than people think. I think Michigan State is intriguing,
even though they can't make a three. I think those
team and Alabama, if they can make their threes like
they have the highest they were in the final four
last year, people forget like they have a very high
upside as well. But in terms of chalk, I don't
think you're gonna see all four one seeds make the
final four.

Speaker 4 (52:18):
I think if you had to go.

Speaker 6 (52:19):
Over one and a half one seeds, you probably priced
that at minus money. But I think that's kind of
where I draw the line right there.

Speaker 3 (52:26):
Well, I think it's like most tournaments rich it's gonna
be both. You know, you're gonna get your chalky favorites
advanced deep into the tournament, and then you're gonna have
these crazy upsets as well. I don't think it's gonna
be one without the other. I think it's gonna be
a blend of both, because it's just it's such a
massive tournament. You know, there's so many teams in this

(52:48):
where like Jared's talking about a couple of one seeds
probably gonna get bounced and you're gonna be like, WHOA,
what happened? Houston's out already? How did they lose? To
fill in the blank, random team, you know, like that
can happen. I would I put my money on both.
I can't imagine it's gonna be the Year of the
Cinderella collectively, or it's the Year of Chalk collectively. I

(53:10):
think it's gonna be a mixture of both.

Speaker 5 (53:12):
I agree, Yeah, yeah, I mean that's how it seems
to always work out. And by the way, that's the
beauty of a postseason tournament bracket this large is because
you are making room for chaos, and I think that's fun.
I think I think that's the reason why everybody gets
so gripped, especially in the first two rounds of this postseason,

(53:33):
and you have, you know, grandmothers and frat boys in
the same bracket pools. It's because everybody, everybody likes the
Cinderella story, and and it's a postseason that actually affords
the opportunity to have a team come from out of nowhere,
you know, and and every single you know, betting expert,

(53:57):
sports analysts like US or sports talks, you can say
whatever you want about a matchup. You don't know until
they hit the hardwood.

Speaker 4 (54:05):
And I love that.

Speaker 5 (54:06):
So it does make sense that it's sort of like
by nature of having sixty four teams battle it out,
and more than that with the first four tournament. But
to have that many teams in the pool, there's gonna
be some level of variance that you're not expecting.

Speaker 4 (54:23):
But yeah, I'm curious if we're ever going.

Speaker 5 (54:25):
To see the scale the scales tip because of the
obvious benefit some of these bigger powerhouse schools in college basketball,
the boost they've been given because of the new climate
of college sports, college athletics overall with the NIL and
transfer portal.

Speaker 6 (54:42):
I think college basketball, I don't want to say it's
insulated from it, but I think it's it's not as
I think the impact of NIL is not as felt
as significantly in the hoops world as it is in
the football world. Hey, there's so many more teams, so
many more players, so you get this natural ebb and
flow to the move like you see these players like
players have always been transferring college basketball, and they cone

(55:04):
to the new team and all of a sudden, they're
great right away. I'll give you another sleeper team that
I think is very I think the ACC is a
having a down year. I don't think that's debatable, but
I actually think Clemson is very underrated in the ACC.
I think they were in the Elite eight last year
and they brought back a lot from that team. They've
beaten Duke, Like Duke is considered right and Duke is

(55:25):
the favorite to win the championship right now because of
Auburn's little decline over the last week.

Speaker 4 (55:32):
Clemson beat Duke.

Speaker 6 (55:33):
And Clemson's got the size to match up with the
big teams, and they also have a really good coach.
I think Brad Brown has done a really good job
with this program. Again, they were in the Elite fricking
eight last year. They beat Baylor to beat Arizona, lost
a tough game to Bama to go to the Final four.
I think Clemson, because of where the public perception is

(55:54):
on the ACC right now. It's all about if you
want to find value in the betting market, you gotta
fade the narrow. The narratives right now is SEC is dominant.
Oh my god. I will be betting against the SEC
in almost every game in the NC Double A Tournament.
The ACC stinks. I will be betting on Clemson probably
every game in the NC Double A Tournament because the
value right now says, well, Clemson can't land because they're

(56:17):
in the ACC. And I think that's kind of the
mindset I have heading into the Big Dance.

Speaker 2 (56:22):
I don't dislike it.

Speaker 3 (56:24):
I just love the idea of when the bracket comes
out and you're looking at your you know, the betting lines,
and you're like, oh, I guess I'm on Drake today. Huh,
I guess this SEC team?

Speaker 4 (56:38):
Right? Like?

Speaker 3 (56:39):
You know, like you're you're not just fading the SEC team.
You're embracing the underdog right.

Speaker 6 (56:45):
Match up dependent don't just blindly fade them if they're
playing like you know, Southern Illinois Edwardsville or something like
right right right?

Speaker 2 (56:53):
No, I got But Hey, I don't dislike it.

Speaker 3 (56:55):
I just like the idea of, oh gosh, I guess
I'm embracing this random team.

Speaker 2 (57:00):
All right, let's go Roadrunners.

Speaker 3 (57:02):
You know we've got rich Oronberger, Penn State, All American,
Jared Smith, FSR betting Analyst.

Speaker 2 (57:08):
I'm Brian.

Speaker 5 (57:09):
No.

Speaker 3 (57:09):
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(57:30):
you don't win your first bet, All right, coming up next.

Speaker 2 (57:33):
They're choosing the wrong We'll explain.

Speaker 3 (57:38):
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Speaker 2 (57:59):
That's not at all.

Speaker 3 (58:00):
Sign up with bet MGM today, and you'll get instant
access to countless basketball betting options, including new look, same
game parlays, teasers, live bets, and so much more. All right, fellas,
So the Cincinnati Bengals, they have given defensive end Trey
Hendrickson permission to seek a trade, which to me, I

(58:24):
don't understand what they're thinking over here. I think they're
prioritizing the wrong T, which would be T Higgins, their
wide receiver, who I think highly of. T Higgins is
a very good player. I think he could be a
legitimate number one receiver elsewhere. But they're trying to re
sign both Jamar Chase and T Higgins, their stud wide receivers,

(58:46):
while they're giving Trey Hendrickson, who's a fantastic defensive end,
permission to seek a trade. Their defense is what screwed
up their season last year. I don't know why they're
going even more all in offenseensively, or at least looking
to do that. You can find wide receiver depth in
the draft. You go back to It splows my mind.

(59:08):
You go back to the twenty thirteen draft, okay, because
everybody else was their rookies last year. But just for
a little bit more seasoning. Listen to all this talent
in the draft. You had Jackson Smith and Jigbug go
to the Seahawks twentieth overall. Zay Flowers goes twenty second
to the Ravens. Those are first round picks. Then you
go even deeper. Jayden Reid has made an impact with

(59:31):
the Packers, Rashie Rice with the Chiefs, Tank Dell with
the Texans before he got hurt. Uh, you even go
down even further. Puka Nakua hello in the fifth round.
Like there's talent throughout the draft. As far as wide
receivers goes, I don't know why the Bengals would be
looking to not only pay Jamar Chase a premium, which

(59:53):
makes sense, but then double dip and then pay t
Higgins a premium with a long term extension. I think
you gotta let someone go, and if anybody, it should
be T Higgins. Joe Burrow is an upper echelon quarterback.
It's not like he's gonna wilt into nothing if he
doesn't have wide receiver studs all around him. I say

(01:00:13):
keep Trey Hendrickson. Put some money into that defense instead
of going all in offensively. I don't like the approach
by the Bengals here.

Speaker 5 (01:00:21):
I think certain teams they have the gift of ownership
that can make quality investments and other teams don't. And
we see this more so in sports like baseball than
we do in football, but it does rear its head
in football sometimes, especially when we're talking about contract extensions

(01:00:42):
and retention of potential free agents. And that's where the
Bengals are at. They're between a rock and the hard
place because they have an owner who is classically cheap.
He does not want to pay enormous guarantees to retain talent.
So what's the only way around that. You got to
younger and cheaper in certain spots on your roster. So

(01:01:03):
that's exactly what they're doing. Defensively, he's going to keep
the guys or keeping fans in their seat. He's seeing
way more receiver jerseys than he has defensive end jerseys
coming through the gates at his ballpark, at his stadium.

Speaker 4 (01:01:20):
I mean, we see this all the time. This is
the decision, are we.

Speaker 5 (01:01:24):
Gonna get rid of the fantasy football darling, or we're
gonna get rid of a guy who's bedrock cornerstone to
our success. And you have your answer, and so they're
gonna go into the draft and they're gonna probably try
to improve this defense as best they can using what
capital they have, but they're not gonna spend.

Speaker 6 (01:01:44):
That's exactly I agree, one hundred percent. I think they
have the seventeenth overall pick. By the way, weird nugget,
every team has their first round pick for the first
time since two thousand and two, first time ever in
the thirty two team era. There are no now it
could change changed Shange. As of March eighth, all thirty

(01:02:05):
two teams hold their first round pick all right, seventeenth
overall pick. Dame Brugler of The Athletic did his post
combine mock last week, or maybe it was earlier this week.
I forget what they It is four days ago, so yeah,
earlier this week. He's been pretty accurate with these mocks,
the post combine mocks over the years. He had Bonick's
going to Denver last year. Everyone was like, what Boe
next month to Denver? Will Johnson corner from Michigan going

(01:02:28):
seventeenth to the Bengals, like and Will Johnson all American
got hurt end of the year, but obviously very talented.
That feels like what the Bengals are going to do here.
It feel and Rich alluded to it perfectly. It's the
fantasy generation that we are in. You put Joe Burrow
with Chase and t Higgins. The sky's the limit. Sky's

(01:02:49):
the limit on the defensive side as well, in terms
of how many points they might be allowing. But that's
how they're going to address it. Like they're kind of
showing you their hand here by these two moves, right
franchising Higgins who should absolutely rename himself to Tag Higgins
after two straight years, after two straight years of the
franchise dag and they're going to address the defense in

(01:03:10):
other areas. Do I agree with it? I'd say him
like sixty forty agree with it. But the defense was
really mad for the Bengals last year. I think that's
why people might be against it, But I understand the vision.
Rich laid it out pretty perfectly and clearly that's the
direction the Bengals are going in.

Speaker 3 (01:03:27):
Well, that's what's crazy to me too, is man, you
look at the production last season. We'd all know what
Joe Burrow did, he was sensational, but you look at
the wide receiver production.

Speaker 2 (01:03:37):
So Jamar Chase.

Speaker 3 (01:03:40):
How about this one hundred and twenty seven catches for
seventeen hundred and eight yards and seventeen touchdowns. That's the
reason why he was a triple crown guy, right, Let
all three of those categories. Meanwhile, t Higgins, these are
great numbers. Two seventy three catches for nine to eleven
and ten touchdowns. Yeah, those are great numbers. And he

(01:04:01):
was banged up, right like t Higgins missed time, he
started nine games, put up those No, it's in what
he did. Yeah, it's crazy as a number two receiver,
you know. So their credentials speak for themselves. But Trey
Hendrickson had seventeen and a half sacks last season. He
held together that defense that was their Achilles heel. I

(01:04:24):
think Trey Hendrickson is the most underrated player in the
entire NFL. Fair Like, who talks about Trey Hendrickson seventeen
and a half sacks? We're all talking about you know what,
and we talk about Miles Garrett as we should.

Speaker 4 (01:04:39):
But t J.

Speaker 3 (01:04:40):
Wats has stud Trey Hendrickson is putting up numbers that
are neck and neck with those guys and gets no
shine none.

Speaker 2 (01:04:47):
He's fantastic.

Speaker 3 (01:04:48):
And if he had the name recognition, do you think
the Steelers, like, if Hendrickson had the name recognition of TJ.
Watt or Miles Garrett, would they be looking to move him, Like, yeah,
go ahead, seek a trade, test your value. No way,
he just he doesn't have the name Rich.

Speaker 2 (01:05:06):
You explained it very well.

Speaker 4 (01:05:07):
Man.

Speaker 3 (01:05:07):
If if you had Hendrickson jerseys all over the place
like TJ. Watt, I don't think they're giving him permission
to seek a trade.

Speaker 5 (01:05:14):
No, no, yeah, listen. Uh, that's the part of this
business that's really difficult, uh for players when when you're
when you're in the business, because you realize in college
football you're like, oh, yeah, like you know, it's for
the love of the game. But then the longer there,
you're like, well, actually, no, not really, because enormous salaries

(01:05:35):
depend on how well I play. And so this is
this is this is more of a business than it's
than I've ever been exposed to in high school football.
Then you get to the pros and the reality of
the situation is it's all business. And sometimes that business
isn't the business of football. Sometimes that business is the
business of public relations. This is a public relations move.

(01:05:58):
The reason why t Higgins got the tract and Trey
Hendrickson did not is because of the amount of merchandising
around the player who's staying and versus the player who's
shopping a trade. Right now, that's the reality of this business.
It is a business first, and when you're in the
business of making money, it doesn't matter if the headliner

(01:06:21):
is a crumeier band.

Speaker 4 (01:06:23):
Then you know the upstart.

Speaker 5 (01:06:25):
Band who's playing garages and you know clubs and bars
around town. If they are making more money for the arena,
guess what, You're not booking the garage band. That's how
it works. And I'm not even saying I'm not comparing
Trey hendricks into a garage band. I mean he is
a tremendous football player and like you said, Brian, arguably

(01:06:46):
one of the top five, maybe top three, most underrated
players in the NFL. That is a great conversation I have.
He may top the list because of his insane productivity
versus how low is Q rating is. But this decision
was based on his visibility, not on his ability.

Speaker 6 (01:07:06):
And this isn't the first time the Bengals have gone
down a road like this. They're a very uniquely run franchise.
So if you go and look at the gms in
the NFL, you take Jerry Jones's name out of the
list because he's his own boss. Duke Tobin, the GM
of the Bengals, is the longest tenure GM in the league.
Nineteen ninety nine, before the turn of the century. That

(01:07:28):
dude was running the Bengals and they did it with
Marvin Lewis for years where they just kind of let
the mediocrity kind of waft in the building. And it's
a very uniquely run franchise, I think, and so I'm
not surprised that they're going in a route that maybe
is a little bit contrariant.

Speaker 4 (01:07:44):
Now, the defense this year is going to be also.

Speaker 6 (01:07:46):
Brand new, Al Golden, fresh out from your boy Notre
Dame there Brian coming into the Bengals DC room this
year to be the defensive coordinator. You would think that
they want a fresh start, right, You would think that
they want to wipe this late clean and let Al
Golden come in there and probably pick some of the
groceries and say, hey, I like this scheme, I like
this guy, he fits here, this is this So I'm

(01:08:07):
not surprised that they're kind of wiping the slate clean
on the defensive side. New DC disaster season last year,
and the offense was pretty good, So you just try
to keep running that back and try to continue to
put that kind of output on the offensive side. And
obviously we're going to see some significant changes on the
Bengals for the defensive side.

Speaker 2 (01:08:25):
Yeah, yeah, no doubt, it's a lot of change.

Speaker 3 (01:08:28):
But that's the crazy thing is what screwed up the
season was the defense collectively wasn't good, and it's like,
you know what, let's let Trey Hendrickson go and let's
go all in offensively.

Speaker 2 (01:08:41):
It's what, wait what?

Speaker 3 (01:08:43):
I just don't see how that makes sense year over
a year and also building it for your future, Like,
look at the Chiefs. The Chiefs aren't dummies, you know,
they're like, we gotta let Tyreek Hill go. We trust
Patrick Mahomes. That would be like the Bengals are looking
to do. Would it make sense if the Chiefs did this, Hey,
let's let Chris Jones go and let's go all in

(01:09:05):
offensively and keep Tyreek Hill.

Speaker 2 (01:09:07):
I don't think that approach would make nearly as much sense.

Speaker 6 (01:09:10):
As Yeah, right, it's an interesting angle.

Speaker 2 (01:09:13):
Yeah, it's I don't understand it.

Speaker 3 (01:09:14):
Hey, be sure to check out the Fox Sports Radio
YouTube channel. Just search Fox Sports Radio on YouTube and
you'll see a whole bunch of video highlights from our shows.
Be sure to subscribe so you always have instant access
to our Fox Sports Radio videos on YouTube. It is
Fox Sports Radio's Countdown, presented by bet MGM. This was
news that we'll just throw out there. Unfortunate if it's true.

(01:09:38):
But Will Kunkle he is at Fox twenty six in Houston.
According to him, he tweeted this out where Chiefs wide
receiver Xavier Worthy. He was arrested last night in Williamson County, Texas.
There are criminal charges of assault against a family or
household member by impeding their breathing or circulation. So not

(01:10:00):
what we want to hear right there. Obviously, I think
we immediately speed to the football part of this, which
is disrespectful.

Speaker 2 (01:10:06):
Again, this is a charge. We'll see how this shakes out.

Speaker 3 (01:10:09):
But if there was a victim, like, first and foremost
our thoughts are with that person. But then you get
to the football aspect of this, and it's like.

Speaker 2 (01:10:19):
Hey, what's gonna happen.

Speaker 3 (01:10:20):
Remember the Rashie Rice thing where there was an accident
and he fled that that just went away when he
was hurt. So I don't know if there's there's gonna
be any sort of suspension as far as that goes.
Maybe that possible suspension with Xavier Worthy here, the Chiefs
traded Joe Tooney, their offensive guard who was playing tackle

(01:10:40):
for a good chunk of the season, traded him to
the Bear. So a lot of change going on with
the Chiefs who were just in the Super Bowl.

Speaker 4 (01:10:47):
Yeah, no question about it.

Speaker 5 (01:10:48):
And you remember, if I'm remembering this correctly, the Rashi
Rice incident in Dallas Fort Worth area where he fled
the scene of a multiple car accident where injuries occurred.
The NFL still hasn't levied their punishment on Rashid right.
I'm sure that's because not everything has been squared away

(01:11:11):
legally yet, or if it has, they're still quote unquote
investigating and making that decision. But that was the reason
why they brought in Xay if you're worthy in the
first place, Like that was the like Xavier Worthy was
supposed to be the guy who just in case Rice
wasn't ready to go after his fabulous rookie season. Well,

(01:11:32):
at least we have this speedster. We'll see if he
can catch the football at the NFL level. Well he did,
and he was capable and competent, helped them make their
way to their next Super Bowl, and then all of
a sudden, more problems. You know, it's weird man, Andy
Reid has. Speaking of public relations, Andy Reid has done
a better job than any football coach of keeping the

(01:11:56):
clean image of his football program intact through some of
the worst behavior we've seen maybe in a decade. Yeah,
how many Chiefs players Tyreek Hill included that receiver room
has been riddled with horrible behavior. Now I understand this
worthy situation is alleged at the moment, but if this

(01:12:18):
becomes factual at any point this offseason, my goodness, How
have the.

Speaker 4 (01:12:22):
Chiefs kept such a squeaky.

Speaker 5 (01:12:24):
Clean image even though they've been, I mean just involved
in some of the things that have been the least
savory storylines we've seen in the NFL over the past
five to ten years.

Speaker 6 (01:12:37):
Yeah, this is this is not I texted the group
this morning when I saw this news break, I was like,
this is just it's gotten to the point now where
you gotta and Rich I think you commented too, like
the Chiefs are having some issues now with some of
this off the field stuff, like this is becoming a thing,
and that's not a thing that you want. You know,
we want to be talking about the Chiefs. You know,

(01:12:57):
how are they going to rebuild from a really tough
Super Bowl aws and bounce back and get back to
the top of the mountain. This is not the kind
of news you want a month and a half before
the draft, because now this is the off season storyline.
It's not how can the Chiefs get back to Super
Bowl champs? It's why are all these things happening to
Kansas City? Are we gonna have to deal with some

(01:13:18):
kind of a wide receiver? You know, are the Chiefs
wide receiver needy? Even though they have Rice and Worthy?
You know, those are two really good young receivers. But
are they gonna be able to be eligible for the
entire season? Now, Like, these are not the questions you
want to be asking yourself heading into the draft, but
but this is the situation, the reality. We'll Kunkle, by
the way, does a great job. I used to work
with them in Michigan fantastic local reporter down there in Houston,

(01:13:42):
and that's where this story broke, so I trust his reporting.
And it looks like the mugshot coming from the Texas
you know, police station that he was arrested in. And
this is gonna be a thing over the next few
weeks as Kansas City tries to shake this out.

Speaker 3 (01:13:57):
It's wild because two things come to mind. Is it
was just the combine the other week, and Xavier Worthy
was tweeting out there's fast, then there's me.

Speaker 2 (01:14:08):
Which is true.

Speaker 3 (01:14:10):
It is he's got so much ability, and it's like,
just don't screw it up by making stupid decisions. It's
a little bit like Georgia football where you're like, what's
going on here with It's like the Fast and the Furious.
I don't know if it's just playing on a loop
at the training facility and they leave and they're like,
let's go drag race, you know, but it keeps happening.
And now you look at the Chiefs in a similar

(01:14:33):
manner where you're like, what is going on with these
receivers and some of this behavior over here. Our technical
producer Chris Burffett has something for it.

Speaker 8 (01:14:40):
Well, since our usual producer bo is not here. I
guess it's speaking his honor. Like you know, he was
talking about all last year how the forty nine ers
felt like a team even though they didn't win the
Super Bowl, they were having a super Bowl hangover, And
I mean, it's starting to feel like the Chiefs are
kind of on that track too. It may just be
like you're just hit a weird curse when you lose

(01:15:01):
the Super Bowl. Just everything seems to just not go
your way. And this good for the Raiders, Good for
the Raiders. Gosh, yeah, you know, Tom Brady's done it again,
Tom Brady, I.

Speaker 4 (01:15:20):
Will, I will.

Speaker 5 (01:15:22):
My closing statements on this whole thing is the fascination
I have with the Chiefs is, even though they've had
a little bit of what you were talking about, Brian,
kind of a toxic culture similar to that of the
Georgia Bulldogs in college football, where they seem to have
an off the field issue every offseason. In spite of
it all the flowers. You gotta give to Andy Reid

(01:15:44):
and the culture he's created around Kansas City is distractions
do not matter. So you give him a ton of credit.
You give Andy Reid a ton of credit. Because not
only have they had off the field distractions in the
negative light, but in the positive light with Taylor Swift,
and they've still gone to back to back to back
Super Bowls in this era where it's really difficult to
do that.

Speaker 2 (01:16:05):
Yeah, amen to that.

Speaker 3 (01:16:06):
Yeah, well said, that's Rich Rich Orenberger, Ben State All American.
We've got Jared Smith FSR betting analyst. I'm Brian no.
On Fridays, BETMGM, authorized gaming operator of the NBA, is
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(01:16:27):
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of first. All right, Coming up next, Prop it Up.
We will look at the prop betting market and compare notes.
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(01:16:48):
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Speaker 2 (01:17:07):
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Speaker 3 (01:17:09):
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Speaker 2 (01:17:27):
All right, let's do.

Speaker 1 (01:17:27):
This prop it up player plays.

Speaker 3 (01:17:33):
Ah, yes, the prop betting market here. Jared, we start
with you. What's something you have circled?

Speaker 6 (01:17:38):
Well, I've got this Duke Carolina game. Circ We haven't
talked a whole lot about it yet today it is
a very intriguing matchup for Duke. They're a big favorite
in the game, North Carolina not as much on the line.
It does look like they're actually they've been winning a
little bit lately, but I don't think their defense is
very good. I think Cooper Flag is gonna.

Speaker 4 (01:17:56):
Have a big game.

Speaker 6 (01:17:56):
I think he can see the Wooden Awards squarely in
his sight. So you got a big game the last
nine these two teams faced each other. I'll give you
the numbers right now. Twenty one points, eight rebounds, seven assists.
His point prop today at bet MGM is twenty and
a half, his rebound prop seven and a half plus
money to the over. I would bet both of them.
You can combine them together if you want little SGP action.

(01:18:17):
I did a twenty point six rebound SGP for plus money,
but for simplicity purposes, over twenty and a half points
over seven and a half rebounds for Trooper Flag today.
I think he has a big game in the regular
season finale against his rival Bitarhals.

Speaker 5 (01:18:32):
Okay, give me Miles Bridges under thirty one and a
half points and rebounds playing the Nets.

Speaker 4 (01:18:39):
Pretty good rebounding team.

Speaker 5 (01:18:40):
He's only hit this stat at this number eight of
the last fifteen, and so that sounds like, well, maybe
it tips your favor over the line the thirty one
and a half, but not against the Nets. I like
Bridges going under the thirty one and a half points rebounds,

(01:19:01):
So there we're at points rebounds. Miles Bridges, give me
the under.

Speaker 3 (01:19:06):
Okay, man, A lot of temptations over here has so
many options here. Yeah, I'm thinking about you know what.
Initially I love Jani Broom. He's had a sensational season.
But when you start thinking about his props where his
point total is twenty and a half, I could see
him going over that. His rebounding total is eleven and

(01:19:26):
a half. That's high, but I could see him going
over that. The question is his health that ankle, you
know what I mean, Like, don't you pause a little bit,
Jared and rich Right, you know it's like I want
to but if I see him, you know, it takes
one weird landing and he's wobbling around a little bit,
and you're like, shoot, I need like seven more rebounds

(01:19:48):
here that I'm gonna stay away from that one. I'm
gonna stay away today. If anything, maybe you look to
fade him and go on the under. But they're playing
Baba who plays zero defense. I'm not comfortable with Daddy.

Speaker 2 (01:20:00):
I'm gonna go to the NBA. Give me Jason Tatum.

Speaker 3 (01:20:04):
I've talked trash about the Lakers lack of a front court.
It's time to put my money where my mouth. Give
me Jason Tatum. Over eight and a half rebounds today.
He's been a low key, really solid rebounder for the Celtics.
I think it's because of his scoring ability that's what
gets your attention. But the rebounding ability is there. I'll

(01:20:24):
take over eight and a half at minus a dollar
ten here today for Jason Tatum and the Celtics.

Speaker 2 (01:20:30):
Okay, there you go. There's my play all right.

Speaker 3 (01:20:33):
Coming up next, we get back to ball and we
got a lot of really good hoops.

Speaker 6 (01:20:37):
Matchups that as well.

Speaker 3 (01:20:41):
Oh what's going on? I hope your Saturday is going
swimmingly so far. Just gets better and better. I'll tell
you what, man, We'll get to the college hoops matchups
here momentarily. But I just can't get enough of the
reaction of the Raiders. Geno. Smith traded a third round

(01:21:02):
pick for Geno, and it's just it's it's funny to
me because.

Speaker 2 (01:21:09):
I get it right. It's fueled by what you just
had that.

Speaker 3 (01:21:14):
Right, right, Davis, right there, real they just have They
had Gardner minshew, they had Aidan O'Connell.

Speaker 4 (01:21:22):
Jimmy Garoppolo for a stint, Derek.

Speaker 3 (01:21:24):
Right, Derek Carr, consistent play for a while, and now
it's like streamers in confetti.

Speaker 2 (01:21:31):
Oh baby, super.

Speaker 6 (01:21:33):
Coming to Vegas.

Speaker 3 (01:21:35):
And it's just funny, right if you look at the
rest of the division, I mean obvious is Chiefs fans.
You think MAVs fans are going crazy right now with
Luca getting traded. Imagine if somehow, in some crazy universe,
the Chiefs are like, you know what, let's trade.

Speaker 2 (01:21:52):
Mahomes and get Geno Smith in here.

Speaker 6 (01:21:53):
Stop right.

Speaker 3 (01:21:55):
I know, but it's just insanity. But imagine just what
if the Chargers. Can you imagine the Charger fans like, hey,
we don't have Justin Herbert anymore. We've got Geno Smith.
They'd be like, what are we doing right now?

Speaker 2 (01:22:09):
Right?

Speaker 3 (01:22:10):
Like?

Speaker 2 (01:22:10):
So, I like, I can't help, but think of it
that way.

Speaker 3 (01:22:14):
When I'm looking at the Raiders getting Gino and it's
like they're doing cartwheels in the streets, it just shows
how badly you guys have sucked for so long at quarterback. Well,
it's just the reality. I hate to be doom and gloom,
but that's the true.

Speaker 5 (01:22:29):
If you have a diverse friend group, right, And what
I mean by that is you have you know, people
at different points in their life, you know, like you
have you know some some of your friends are married,
some of your friends are single trying to figure out
their lives. You know, depending on perspective, things seem rosier
or bleaker. So you're talking about the Chargers who are

(01:22:51):
married to Justin Herbert happily. If they all of a
sudden dumped him and went out with Gino.

Speaker 4 (01:22:57):
You'd be like, what are you doing? Like what do
you like?

Speaker 5 (01:23:01):
You were you were dating a supermodel and now and
what what it's like? It's so But that perspective is
from that standpoint because the platitude that Los Angeles sits
on right now. But Las Vegas, we just discussed it
look no offense to Gardner Minshew. I want to have
a beer with Gardner Minshew more than maybe any other
human on the planet. He seems like the most interesting

(01:23:22):
man in the world. I want to I want to
split a medello with him.

Speaker 4 (01:23:26):
I want to figure out.

Speaker 5 (01:23:27):
I want to figure out what makes that guy tig
But in terms of being a starter in the NFL,
when he's a starter for your football team, it means
that things aren't going well. It means that your starter
got injured. It means that you were playing musical chairs
and the music stopped and you were left standing like

(01:23:47):
That's the reason why Gardner Minshew is your starter when
you're in a situation like the Raiders have been for
a couple of seasons with the names we just mentioned
at quarterback, Aiden O'Connell, Derek Carr on the decline during
the end of his time with the Vegas Raiders, and
then they sat him on the bench to keep him
healthy before getting him out of there, Jimmy Garoppolo for

(01:24:08):
a short stint. The perspective is rosie when you trade
for a guy like Geno Smith for multiple reasons, and
we laid this out earlier, but for our new listening
audience right now, I mean Gino Smith has a tremendous
amount of NFL experience.

Speaker 4 (01:24:22):
Gino Smith has been through the wars.

Speaker 5 (01:24:24):
He was a guy who was supposed to be a
game changing player when he was first drafted and did
not work out, so he had to learn a lot
as a backup in this league. He was a bridge
quarterback how many times throughout the course of his career
before finally earning his way onto the field during an
open competition with Drew Locke for a Seattle team that
was left for dead in the NFC West, and he

(01:24:46):
had a fabulous breakout season.

Speaker 4 (01:24:48):
As a starter. Now has he played to that level since?

Speaker 1 (01:24:51):
No?

Speaker 5 (01:24:53):
But I will say this, the fact that he has
shown the ability to do that is intriguing. The fact
that he's working, which Kelly is intriguing. The fact that
he's been a bridge quarterback so many times over again,
and he's got those leadership qualities, those intangibles that you
want in a leader on your field at that position
is intriguing.

Speaker 4 (01:25:12):
I think the Raiders made a huge upgrade.

Speaker 6 (01:25:15):
I did this exercise last night now that Gino's in place,
because I think we can, you know, we can go
back and forth about how what the ceiling is for Geno.
I think the Raiders win total probably going to be
in the six to seven range, and I think there
is going to be some appetite for the over But
we'll see. We'll see what the number, We'll see what
they do in the draft. The rest of the quarterback
situations in the NFL become very intriguing now because I

(01:25:39):
don't think a lot of people expected Gino to be
in Vegas. I think a lot of people, including the
Seahawks GM, which last week at the combine, did an
interview with Mike Florio and said, yeah, no, Gino's our guy.
And then life comes at your fest in the NFL.
So now you've got the Seahawks with a quarterback opening.
You've got the Vikings with JJ McCarthy may be healthy,

(01:26:01):
maybe not so. The Vikings might have an opening two
week one if if JJ's not one hundred percent. You've
got the Colts that look to be willing to move
on from Anthony Richardson. You've got the Jets with Aaron
Rodgers who just departed. You've got the Giants who are
more desperate than I was chasing women at penn S Date,
trying to get every quarterback in the NFL to come
to them, and nobody seems to want to go. And
then you've got, of course, the Browns and the Titans
at the top of the draft, who obviously need a quarterback.

(01:26:23):
I don't think Will Levis the experiment might be one
more year, but I think Tennessee is going to be
very interested in trying to add someone in the quarterback market.
Of Course, the Browns to Sean Watson, they just restructured
him for like the eighth time in the last six weeks,
and he's probably not gonna play this year. I got one, two, three, four, five, six, seven,
eight teams in the NFL if you want to clude
the Steelers in that mix with Russell Wilson and Justin

(01:26:44):
Fields and how they handle that. A lot of quarterbacks
that we still need to figure out who are going
to be homes in twenty twenty five, Like what's the
exercise here? I think Sam Darnold to the Seahawks makes sense.
I think Russell Wilson's staying in Pittsburgh makes sense. I
think the Giants moving up in the draft and take
cam Ward makes sense. I've heard Kirk cousins name floated
to Cleveland. Kevin Stefanski, former offensive coordinator in Minnesota. Could

(01:27:06):
see a reunion there with Kirk Cousins and Stefanski the Titans.
I mean, what are the Titans do? Like I just think,
and now that we have the Geno Smith answer it
kind of you know, the musical chairs continues. We keep
playing this game, but there's a lot of open seats
in the NFL with quarterbacks, and I do not. I mean,
we got a lot more movement to come over the

(01:27:27):
next few weeks.

Speaker 3 (01:27:28):
Well that's what makes me wonder, you know, all we
heard last year was hey, bo Nicks is not really
a first round talent, you know, and then he was
the starter all season long for Denver. And so it
gets me thinking, with all those teams that you mentioned, Jared,
that are gonna need a quarterback outside of cam Ward

(01:27:48):
and Shaduur Sanders, is there a guy that gets drafted
who starts day Washington?

Speaker 4 (01:27:55):
You know?

Speaker 2 (01:27:55):
Right? Is it gonna be Jackson Dart?

Speaker 3 (01:27:57):
Is it gonna be someone like Tyler Shock or Jalen Milroe? Right, Like,
we're just so focused on cam Ward and Shaduer Sanders,
But this is a game of musical chairs, and when
the music stops, like these these teams are gonna have
someone at quarterback and it might be a rookie not
named Ward or Sanders. You know, that's a very real

(01:28:20):
possibility for a team here like the Seahawks, where do
they go with their their quarterback situation? Do they go
the Sam Donald route? Do they go young? Because to me,
you know, it's the Spider Man meme. It's Gino Smith
and Sam Darnald are pointing at each other. And I
know Donald had the better season statistically last year, but

(01:28:44):
you know, you swop them out. You put Gino over
there with Justin Jefferson and that supporting cast, he might
look a little bit better. He did have a good
supporting cast in Seattle. But I just don't think there's
a whole lot of separation between Sam and Gino. So
does Seattle look and say, hey, we're upgrading from Gino

(01:29:04):
with Sam Darnold, minus Tyler Lockett and probably minus Dk Metcalf,
I don't think you are. So I don't know if
they go the Sam route or if they look to
the draft. A lot of questions with a lot of
these teams at QB.

Speaker 4 (01:29:18):
Yep, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 5 (01:29:20):
And you heard Daniel Jeremiah, draft analyst color analysts discussing
that in NFL circles it does sound like DK Metcalf
is going to be lured away from the franchise by namely,
the New England Patriots are getting very aggressive trying to
shape up their roster ahead of this season.

Speaker 4 (01:29:40):
Drake May showed.

Speaker 5 (01:29:41):
Great progress as a rookie and great promise as a rookie,
and you have nothing at receiver to speak of in
New England, and so throwing a rookie into that situation
where you have nowhere to go with the football that's
really of note and still having a pass season. Man,

(01:30:02):
can you imagine how much better the Patriots offense would
have looked last season, which Drake may have DK Metcalf
was out there. So I think there's gonna be a
team or teams very interested in the DK sweepstakes. And
there's a lot of teams with a lot of cap
room all of a sudden, probably more than half the
room has a pretty good cap projection in terms of
being able to lock down somebody special to help their

(01:30:25):
team defensively or offensively. And the Patriots need a ton
of help on that offense. So I think that could
be a great, great pickup for them. And then going
back to what you were talking about, you know, Seattle
the other side of this equation, we're you know, we're
lauding the Raiders from the perspective of the fan base
and the franchise. How good of a leap they just

(01:30:45):
took with Gino Smith because it is sizable.

Speaker 4 (01:30:48):
But what does Seattle do now?

Speaker 5 (01:30:50):
And that is a head scratching question because they're going
to be losing assets, not gaining in my opinion, or
you know, staying neutral quarterback potentially.

Speaker 6 (01:31:02):
Yeah, and if they lose d Kay all of a sudden,
Sam Darnald's like, do I really want to go to Seattle?
Go from the indoors stadium and when outdoors stadium, I
just lost my best receiver, Tyler Lockett's also gone. All right,
here are my prediction. I'll make some predictions right now
because that's what we do on the show. I do
think Seattle is going to try to chase down Sam Donald.
I'm hearing a lot of that where they're smoke, there's fire.

(01:31:23):
I'll go with that. I think the Steelers keep Russell Wilson.
I think he's a cheap option. He knows the offense.
I think they run it back with Russ another year.

Speaker 4 (01:31:30):
The Jets.

Speaker 6 (01:31:31):
I'm hearing some buzz with Justin Fields. I think from
what from what I'm hearing, Hey, you're telling you're appreciating
the choir bright I'm a freaking Jets fan. We go
from Aaron Rodgers who can't get out of his own way,
to now Justin Fields. But that seems to be a
direction that they want to go in. I think the
Browns and Kirk Cousins makes a lot of sense because
of the Stefanski connection, so I'll go Jets, Justin Fields,

(01:31:54):
Brown's Kirk Cousins. I think the Titans and the Giants
will be cam Wardchador Sanders.

Speaker 4 (01:31:58):
I don't know which one will be which.

Speaker 6 (01:32:00):
I think the Giants will likely try to move up
and take cam Ward one. That makes sense if you
think there's gonna be a trade, but those trades can
be tricky. Going from three to one is gonna cost you. However,
if Joe Shane's gonna lose his job if he gives
up to twenty six twenty seven first round pick, He's
not gonna be around to make those picks anyway. So
maybe the Giants just push all the chips.

Speaker 4 (01:32:18):
Into the middle.

Speaker 6 (01:32:18):
They try to go up and get cam Ward and
try to save Joe Shane and Brian Dables' job. So
I think Giants Titans make sense cam Ward shaudor Sanders.
I think Aaron Rodgers in Minnesota makes a ton of
sense too. I think you get one Bridge year with
Rogers with Kevin O'Connell, great offensive court, great offensive mine,
head coach, and you get that indoor vibe for Aaron Rodgers.

(01:32:39):
And oh, by the way, the Jets Vikings old quarterback
connection just seems to be like this weird karma thing
where Brett faarthrows from the Jets to the Vikings, and
I could see Aaron Rodgers doing it too, And that
leaves the Colts with a big question mark. And I
think that's the team to really kind of target as
your X factor because Indy's got an owner who is

(01:33:01):
very much a gunslinging type of owner, and I don't
think they're happy with Anthony Richardson. So if you want
to talk about a wild card team in the draft
and free agency to really make that splash move to
shake things up, I think the Indianapolis Colts have got
a great running back, good defense, They've got all the
pieces in place. They play in a division that's up
for grabs. I don't think anyone's really dominating that AFC South.

(01:33:23):
You've got Indy, I think is a wildcard sleeper team
to make some crazy moves for a quarterback.

Speaker 3 (01:33:28):
Well, the whole QB carousel thing, it makes me think
of the past and the present, right like going into
this year's.

Speaker 2 (01:33:36):
Draft, look at last year's draft.

Speaker 3 (01:33:39):
Because you mentioned rich you mentioned the Patriots with Drake
May I would much rather be the Patriots, right now
with a young guy who looks to be a potential
franchise quarterback in Drake May. He was good last season
all things considered, with not much around him at all,
you know, And so you apply that to this year's draft.

(01:34:01):
You know, the Titans or the the Giants that don't
have a really good supporting cast. Ideally, you'd love to
have a great supporting cast, talented roster, and then you
get the quarterback, but you're probably not gonna be drafting
first or third like the Titans or the Giants if
you have that. So I would much rather be the

(01:34:22):
Patriots than the Jets. The Jets have a way better
roster top to bottom. They don't have a quarterback. The
Patriots don't have a lot of talent roster wise, but
they look to potentially have a franchise quarterback. I'd much
rather be the Patriots. Yes, they've got almost one hundred
and thirty million dollars in cap space.

Speaker 2 (01:34:43):
Imagine if they did get DK Metcalf.

Speaker 3 (01:34:45):
All of a sudden, you start plugging gaps and filling
holes and it's like, wow, all of a sudden, we've
got Drake May and this guy and that guy.

Speaker 2 (01:34:55):
Meanwhile, the Jets.

Speaker 3 (01:34:56):
Are like, yeah, we're gonna try it out with Justin
fields Over.

Speaker 2 (01:34:59):
You're like, good luck with all of that.

Speaker 3 (01:35:02):
Yeah, but that's the thing is I would rather I'd
rather have the QB in place, whether my roster sucks
or not, and then I would just try to build
that up as quickly as possible. But if you don't
have a quarterback, you're freaking dead. I don't care how
talented your roster is. You have to have all time
talent to be a true player and have a deep

(01:35:22):
playoff run, like all time talent. Otherwise you're not even
gonna make the playoffs. Most likely, the Bengals had Burrow
with MVP numbers and didn't make the playoffs. Yeah, you
know what I mean, like that, that's insanity to me,
But that's what we're looking at in the NFL.

Speaker 5 (01:35:39):
If Joe Burrow had an eleven win season, he wins
MVP like that, Like that's how good Joe Burrow was
this season. I mean, to me, the reason why he
wasn't in the conversation, he wasn't in the race at
all is because team results. I mean, if you look
at his numbers, they were astonishing this season and.

Speaker 4 (01:35:59):
You're absolutely right.

Speaker 5 (01:36:00):
Even greatness at quarterback personified in execution couldn't get the
Bengals over.

Speaker 4 (01:36:06):
The hump because of how paltry their defense was.

Speaker 5 (01:36:09):
So if you don't have a quarterback, you are left
for dead unless you're playing for Mike Tomlin, because he
is the only coach who on a consistent basis can take,
you know, chicken scratch and turn it into chicken salad
over the past half decade.

Speaker 3 (01:36:23):
And that's just getting there, though, Rich That's not making
a deep run.

Speaker 2 (01:36:26):
That's just getting to.

Speaker 4 (01:36:27):
That's just getting to the dance.

Speaker 5 (01:36:29):
And so you need to have a what I mean,
if we're really going to like put this in perspective,
a top five, top ten coach all time to just
get to the playoffs consistently without a quarterback.

Speaker 4 (01:36:43):
How many teams have a top five head coach?

Speaker 5 (01:36:46):
The answer is one, maybe two, including the Chiefs, you
know what I mean, Like, that's it, that's it, that's it.
That's all you're looking at here in the NFL right now.
So you need a quarterback. And so there are certain
teams who are going to be making decisions this offseason
where they know they're punting and we know why teams
punt in the NFL, it's because you're playing the long game,

(01:37:08):
all right. This offensive drive isn't going anywhere, so we're
gonna flip the field. We're gonna play a little chess
instead of checkers here, and we're going to try to
see what happens on defense so that we're set up
for a better position to score an attack on the
next offensive series.

Speaker 4 (01:37:22):
So if you're.

Speaker 5 (01:37:23):
Bringing in a Russell Wilson or Justin Fields this offseason,
it's because you're punting on this season, or your name
is Mike Tomlin and you're trying to get back to
the postseason somehow.

Speaker 6 (01:37:34):
It's a great way of putting it. It really is,
because I think you have the teams that are in
that shove mode, and the Patriots are that team. They
see the vision like the Patriots are going forward on
fourth down. They've got the quarterback, go bring in the receiver, yep,
go get to that next level. Whereas I think the
Steelers punt, Jets punt. The Giants are desperate to try

(01:37:58):
to go forward on fourth down. But the Giants are
at fourth and twenty six at their own eight yard
line and they're trying to throw a Hell Mary, to
get Kyler Murray, to get Aaron Rodgers. I think they're
gonna end up getting a quarterback in the draft. I
think that's probably the most reasonable option for them. The
Browns are an intriguing team because now you got this
Miles Garrett situation floating around right, Like Miles Garrett tried

(01:38:21):
to meet with the owner Jimmy has Them this week
and Jimmy Haslam said, no, I'm good, you can go
talk to the GM. So I think you got teams
that are gonna be in the mix for Miles Garrett.
We saw I think it was Dion Dawkins, Bill's left
tackle said we're Miles Garrett away from the super Bowl.

Speaker 4 (01:38:37):
Baby. Hard to argue with that.

Speaker 6 (01:38:39):
If they got the production from Von Miller in that defense,
maybe the Bills would be playing for the super Bowl
instead of the Chiefs this year. But you get some
really interesting dynamics setting up in Cleveland now, because I
think Miles Garrett is a piece that a lot of
teams are gonna be interested in. I know there's a
Philly connection with the GM of Cleveland as well, and
we know how aggressive Howie Roseman has been in recent years.

(01:38:59):
So that is an interesting name for Miles Garrett. But
how the Browns handled the Miles Garrett situation might impact
the top of the draft because I think Abdell Carter,
in my opinion, is the number one player in the draft,
and I could see Garrett getting hipped out of town
and come on down, Abdoll Carter, You're gonna be our
next defensive end of the future. And then it's just
what do they do at quarterback?

Speaker 4 (01:39:19):
So there's this is this is this little six.

Speaker 6 (01:39:22):
Week stretch here leading up to the draft where you
don't want to believe what you hear, but you have
to gain some kind of knowledge from the information that's
being put out there. So you just trying to take
little strands of it. And the quarterback carousel is just
I mean, all eight of those teams Seahawks, Steelers, Vikings, Colts, Jets, Giants, Browns, Titans,
all eight of those teams will be aggressive in the
quarterback market over the next six weeks.

Speaker 3 (01:39:42):
I thought the Bills were maybe a Miles Garrett and
the league not being fixed away from winning this.

Speaker 6 (01:39:49):
Yeah, that's the whole reason why, right, Yeah, you got
to stop on that last drive where the Chiefs marks
it down, the field scored, the game winning.

Speaker 2 (01:39:55):
You know driv Oh no, no, no, it's fixed here.

Speaker 4 (01:39:58):
It's totally fix fix.

Speaker 3 (01:40:01):
We've got Rich Ornberger, Penn State All American, Jared Smith
FSR betting analyst, I'm Brian No. Use Code Countdown at
betmgm and receive up to fifteen hundred dollars back in
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(01:40:23):
Code Countdown and you'll get up to fifteen hundred dollars
back in bonus bets if you don't win your first bet,
all right, coming up next. If you're in the market
for a little bit of defense, a little bit of defense,
this might be the matchup for you. It's Fox Sports
Radios Countdown presented by BETMGM. It is Fox Sports Radios
Countdown presented by BETMGM. You can stream the show and

(01:40:47):
all of our Fox Sports Radio shows live twenty four
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And one of the newest features in the app is
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So be sure to preset Fox Sports Radio in the

(01:41:08):
iHeartRadio app and it'll always.

Speaker 2 (01:41:11):
Pop up at the top of your screen.

Speaker 3 (01:41:14):
Okay, so we've got number six Saint John's at number
twenty Marquette today and I just love watching the fluctuations
in the market here. I'm just watching this on the
bet MGM app, and it'll be Marquette minus three and
a half. Now it's Marquette minus four and a half. Wow,

(01:41:34):
it's minus you know, a dollar fifteen. Now it's a
minus a dollar ten. Like it's just up, down, up down.
Like the total is is ticked up a bit to
minus one forty five. The over that's at a minus
a dollar fifteen. So like it's just the money has
been moving in this game. And something to keep in mind,

(01:41:55):
both teams they get after it defensively. They rank first
and second in the Big East in points allowed per game.
You also have Saint John's, they're number two in the
nation in defensive efficiency. So it's kind of interesting seeing
the total tick up a bit when these are the
top two teams defensively in the Big East.

Speaker 2 (01:42:15):
So what do you think, Rich, Are.

Speaker 3 (01:42:16):
We looking at a little bit of a rock fight
to the tune of at least the under or do
you see points being scored in this one?

Speaker 5 (01:42:23):
No, I think you nailed it the former instead of
the ladder. I think Saint John's obviously they win on rebounds,
they win as stoppers defensively, but Marquette has turned the
ball over a ton like. In terms of defensively, they're good.

(01:42:43):
They're good, fast hands against you know teams do overdribble.
They're they're really good at pickpocketing, shooting guards and getting
in passing lanes. Uh, They're they're they're a talented defensive
team as well. So you perfectly laid out this is
gonna be a Big East battle. But it's gonna be

(01:43:04):
one on the boards. It's gonna be one in effort.
All the effort stats, the rebounding, the steals, the transition
off of turnovers.

Speaker 4 (01:43:13):
That's how this game will be won.

Speaker 6 (01:43:15):
Big East Basketball, Baby, I love it.

Speaker 4 (01:43:19):
Saint John's.

Speaker 6 (01:43:20):
We need to really take a strong look at what
Saint John's has done this year and where their tournament
hopes might lie. I mean, you go back and look
at their seasons. So they lost two games in the
non con They lost to Baylor on a neutral in
double overtime by a point. Baylor's a good team top
thirty and ken Palm. They lost to Georgia on a
neutral by a field goal three points, and George is
a sneaky good SEC team. I honestly think George is

(01:43:41):
a little undervalued in the SEC. They could be an
interesting team come turney time. Then they lost two games
in Big East play at Creighton by a point. And
Omaha is no easy place to play unless you're Peyton Manning,
I guess. And then they lost at Nova by two points.
So if you take their four combined losses this year one, three, one,
and two. I'm no math major, but that's four losses

(01:44:04):
by a combined less than ten points. I mean, that
is really really good work by Rick Patino in his
first season at Saint John's. I mean, I am blown
away or e shoose me the second season of Saint John's,
I am blown away by what he's been able to
do with I would say, a very limited offensive lineup,

(01:44:25):
and it just kind of goes to show you how
good of a coach he is to get the most
out of these kids. Now, Candarry Richmond's a good offensive player.
He kind of does a little bit of everything. But Luis, yeah,
Elo four. I always get his name wrong, Ela floor
EO four.

Speaker 4 (01:44:38):
Like these are.

Speaker 6 (01:44:38):
Bangers up front. They are, and it's tough to say
their names, but they can play.

Speaker 3 (01:44:44):
Lewis he's really good offensively, he is. But that's the
test with Saint John's or the question with Saint John's
can they make shots? Can they make shots? Because if
they can in the tournament, their defense and their rebu
speaks for itself. But can they make enough shots? Even
today on the road at Marquette, are they gonna be

(01:45:06):
able to.

Speaker 2 (01:45:06):
Make enough shots?

Speaker 3 (01:45:07):
And that's why you're seeing the point spread move the
way it is. That's why you're seeing Marquette as a
four and a half point favorite against the number six
team in the nation and the Johnny's right there. So
that's the question, can you make shots? Especially on the road.
I got a question for both of you guys. Are
you more non con or rom com you know, like

(01:45:29):
non conference or romantic comedies?

Speaker 2 (01:45:32):
Where do you get down on that exactly. They're rich.

Speaker 3 (01:45:35):
You like the comedies right there? Do you like non
conference more than comedies?

Speaker 4 (01:45:39):
I'll tell you right now. I like. I'm a comedy guy.

Speaker 5 (01:45:44):
I'm actually I'm actually hosting a this is a little
bit off the beaten path, but I'm hosting morning radio
show on a classic rock station as well these days.

Speaker 4 (01:45:53):
And I spoke with Harlan Williams, who's a common.

Speaker 2 (01:45:56):
Yeah, I've talked to him before too. He's awesome.

Speaker 4 (01:45:58):
It's great.

Speaker 5 (01:46:00):
Is by the way, what you see, Yes, half Baked,
he played the trooper who pulled over the shack and wacken.

Speaker 4 (01:46:08):
Remember he takes a swig of the beer. That wasn't beer, right?

Speaker 2 (01:46:12):
What was it?

Speaker 4 (01:46:13):
Was it?

Speaker 2 (01:46:14):
I forget?

Speaker 3 (01:46:15):
Like it was the ab workout right? Like he had
a small part in another movie he was talking about.

Speaker 4 (01:46:21):
Along came uh no, was it something.

Speaker 2 (01:46:24):
About it about Mary?

Speaker 4 (01:46:25):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (01:46:25):
Yeah, yeah second abs or I forget what whatever the
workout was?

Speaker 6 (01:46:29):
Yeah?

Speaker 5 (01:46:29):
Yeah, he played the serial killer that got picked up
the hitchhiker. He was like, that's not eight minute ABBS
seven seven As Harlem joined us on the show, and
he was talking about how he's bringing back R rated
comedies like, he's like, we're gonna go for it all.

Speaker 4 (01:46:46):
He's like, we're pitching it to streamers.

Speaker 5 (01:46:48):
So you may see this this this picture where he
plays a demented wingman, as he described it. So, if
you're asking me flat out what I'm more interested in,
it's comedies, you know, give me how.

Speaker 3 (01:47:00):
About rom coms? Though romantic comedy is different than comedies.

Speaker 5 (01:47:04):
That's true. I'm also married man. Okay, So when when
we're looking for the popcorn watch at the end of
the night, like, you know, something that isn't going to
give bad dreams and good vibes.

Speaker 4 (01:47:16):
You throw on a rom com? I mean who so?
I mean we're so far away from college basketball.

Speaker 2 (01:47:21):
Player, you know, it's like, is gonna give us nightmares?
It's a rock fight, you know.

Speaker 3 (01:47:29):
Yeah, get a rock fighter too, It could be a
nightmare worthy. Hey, how about number two Duke at North Carolina?
Yeah where the first go around this was all Duke,
that was at Cameron. This is on the road. So
North Carolina. Can they keep it within ten? Their offense
has been good, they've put up points. But against Duke.

(01:47:52):
That's the thing with Duke, man, they can score and
they can prevent you from scoring like that's they have
the best of both. They are not like all of
Bamble where they can run and gun, but they can't
play a lick of defense or some other team where
they can get after it defensively and they.

Speaker 2 (01:48:06):
Cannot shoot at all. Duke can do both.

Speaker 3 (01:48:09):
So the North Carolina's got their hands tied or full.
We're trying to at least keep this game close. They
got visions of winning this thing, but it's gonna take
a lot. Hey, last time we saw Duke lose, it
was on the road at Clemson.

Speaker 4 (01:48:22):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:48:23):
I just North Carolina's not on Clemson's level. I just
I don't see North Carolina winning this game at all.

Speaker 5 (01:48:28):
You got a Player of the Year contender with flag
Duke absolutely boat race un ce first rattle out of
the box. Different tar Heels team this time around. They'll
be much tighter. But like you've laid out, I think
Duke is one of the pre eminent teams in the
nation this season. So, I mean, if there's a lean,

(01:48:49):
it's it's the way of the Blue Devils today.

Speaker 6 (01:48:52):
Yeah, I'm not stepping in front of Duke right now. No,
I and the market is this thing got back down
now under double digits. Awesome, North Carolina money at eleven eleven,
ten and a half ten still now down to nine
and a half. I don't like North Carolina's defense. They
can't defend the Lick outside the top one hundred and
Torvik's defensive ratings over the last month. I think the

(01:49:12):
interesting question with Duke going forward. Oh, by the way,
three teams in college basketball this year are perfectly balanced
top ten in both Ken Pom offense Ken Pom defense.

Speaker 4 (01:49:24):
Yeah, one of them's Houston, one of.

Speaker 6 (01:49:26):
Them's Florida, surprisingly enough, Yeah, Gators are pretty dangerous. And
then the other one's Duke. I'll take it a step
further with Duke. Duke is the only team in college
basketball top five Ken Palm offense, Ken Bomb defense. I mean,
you can make the case that the market thinks so
Duke's the best team in the country. They're the favorite
right now to win the national championship. Obviously rivalry game,

(01:49:46):
obviously on the road. It's interesting because Duke doesn't really
have anything to play for it. They're gonna be a
number one seed than the number one seed in the ACC.
The only thing they have to play for is the
pride element just like Auburn today in a rivalry game.
The different is Auburn is literally on field like they are,
like if there was a marathon race, like Auburn is
like crawling to their finish line, where like they they're

(01:50:10):
cramping out there, but they got to get someone to
you know, massage out their hammies there. Whereas Duke seems
to be hitting their stride right now, playing some really
really good basketball. I mean, listen to some of these
scores over the last two weeks for Duke. They beat
Illinois the Garden one ten, sixty seven. Illinois is a
really good team. They beat purdueing home yesterday, scored a
bunch of points.

Speaker 4 (01:50:30):
They beat them.

Speaker 6 (01:50:31):
By forty Miami ninety seven to sixty down there in
Coral Gables, Florida State one hundred to sixty five. And then, oh,
by the way, they only beat Wake by thirty three
at home on Monday, ninety three to sixty. I mean,
these are obliterations. I am not stepping in front of
the Duke train today.

Speaker 5 (01:50:49):
No, No, that's a top notch defense like you mentioned,
And what a what a dangerous compliment to have such
a devastating scorer like Flag and then on the opposite
side of the court, have the type of ability on
the glass and also just just shutting down players or
I should say teams from where they're strongest. I mean,
if you want to bang with them in the paint,

(01:51:10):
good luck. If you want to try to, you know,
shoot their eyes out from beyond the arc, good luck,
because they're good perimeter defenders as well. Duke's a pretty
complete team. They're a very complete team, and I like that.
There are other teams that it feels like some tournament
time can contend with them. But this, this this matchup,

(01:51:33):
even though, like you said, Jared, you know, there's some
some some shifting in the force, there's disturbances in the
force toward the tar heels.

Speaker 6 (01:51:42):
It's all yeah, great Admiral Lackbar reference, great reference.

Speaker 2 (01:51:50):
You can throw out stats for days.

Speaker 3 (01:51:52):
But Duke, they score just over eighty points per game
and they limit their opponents to fewer than sixty two
points per game. Man, they are the only team in
Division one that can claim that that's it, that's the list.

Speaker 2 (01:52:06):
It's Duke.

Speaker 3 (01:52:07):
So I think the really interesting matchup is Duke's defense
against North Carolina's offenseuse North Carolina's at home. They've had
some good offensive games. They've put up points. You know,
from a betting perspective, you're like, Okay, we're over forty
points in the first half, we're over eighty points for
the game. That's just cash cash, you know, if you're
playing the over so they can put up points. I

(01:52:28):
don't know if they're gonna be scoring a lot against Duke, though,
that's the matchup to watch. By the way, Can I
throw out a football stat at you guys?

Speaker 4 (01:52:35):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (01:52:36):
That blew my mind today.

Speaker 3 (01:52:38):
So there was a promo playing during our show from
Ben Maller and Ben Mahler mentioned Leslie O'Neil, the old
defensive end, most notably for the Chargers.

Speaker 2 (01:52:50):
And I just looked up.

Speaker 3 (01:52:51):
I'm like, you know what old Leslie O'Neill do in
his career statistically?

Speaker 2 (01:52:56):
You know how many sacks? Where does he rank?

Speaker 3 (01:52:59):
And this my mind? Do you realize that Leslie O'Neill
had one hundred thirty two and a half sacks in
his career, which is the exact same number as Lawrence Taylor.

Speaker 4 (01:53:12):
That's right?

Speaker 3 (01:53:12):
How about that man LT and Leslie O'Neil on the
nose in terms of official sacks? There's an unofficial leader
board as well, but the official sacks leaders they're tied
for fourteenth in the history of the NFL. Leslie O'Neill
and LT at a buck thirty two and a half.
That I was like, Wow, I didn't realize Leslie was

(01:53:34):
doing work like that to an LT level.

Speaker 2 (01:53:37):
That's insane right there. So yeah, we did share that
with it.

Speaker 4 (01:53:40):
It is.

Speaker 5 (01:53:40):
It is a little shocking, and it goes a long
way to prove the point we were discussing a little
bit earlier on about a player like Trey Hendrickson. You
know this league, and you know what all sports leagues,
all sports leagues are like this. You have greats and
you have stars. Lawrence Taylor was a star, absolutely, Leslie

(01:54:01):
O'Neill was great, And I'm not diminishing O'Neill for what
he was to the league or what he did during
his career, an outstanding career, but he wasn't a star.
There's a difference. Lebron James is a star. Jokich is great,
you know what I mean, Kawhi Leonard is a great.
There there are contemporary versions of this in every league.

Speaker 4 (01:54:24):
It just it and and.

Speaker 5 (01:54:26):
There's a promotional vehicle behind certain players and we're aware
of that. But yeah, that is a stunning statistic. You
just you just dug up there. That's pretty cool.

Speaker 2 (01:54:36):
Yeah, and that's true. Rich, Right, there's a wow factor.

Speaker 3 (01:54:40):
You know that there was a wow factor with lt
that there wasn't there with with Leslie O'Neil, even though
Leslie was fantastic at his gig. But that's where you
bring it to modern day Trey Hendrickson. You're right, that's
he is fantastic, but he doesn't have the wow factor.
And I unfortunately, I think that's why the Bengals are
gonna screw this up and they're they're looking to move him.

(01:55:03):
I think that's a mistake. Hey, shortly after the show,
our podcast will be going up. If you missed anything
on today's show, be sure to check it out. Just
search Fox Sports Radio wherever you get your podcasts, and
be sure to follow, rate and review it again. Just
search Fox Sports Radio wherever you get your podcasts, and
you'll see the show posted right after we get off
the air. We've got Rich Orenberger, Penn State, All American.

(01:55:23):
He'll blow towards some pork shoulder. He goes rom com
over non con We've got Jared Smith FSR betting analysts.
You go non con over rom com Do you not, Jared?

Speaker 4 (01:55:34):
I do? Do you want to hear it?

Speaker 6 (01:55:35):
Really crazy nugget because I'm because like usually UNC Duke
is ranked versus ranked. The ACC is not how to
rank versus rank conference game all season.

Speaker 3 (01:55:44):
Wow, that's insane right there, That's that's crazy.

Speaker 4 (01:55:48):
All right?

Speaker 2 (01:55:49):
Uh, I'm Brian. No, I'll go non con over run there.

Speaker 4 (01:55:54):
Why not?

Speaker 3 (01:55:55):
Coming up next, rappid Fire, Three selections of Peace, we
keep track and bragging rights bets are on the line
over here. One of us had a sucky week, might
be me if you can tell by my voice.

Speaker 2 (01:56:08):
Try to write this chip.

Speaker 3 (01:56:09):
It is Fox Sports Radios Countdown presented by betmgm. It
is Fox Sports Radio's Countdown presented by Bett MGM. Hey,
be sure to check out the Fox Sports Radio YouTube channel.
Just search Fox Sports Radio on YouTube. You'll see a
whole bunch of video highlights from our shows. Be sure
to subscribe so you'll always have instant access to our

(01:56:31):
Fox Sports Radio videos on YouTube. Hey, props to the crew.
Our producer today, Patty Sweek filling in for Bo Benson,
had a bachelor party in Arizona. Always good hanging with
Patty our technical producer, Et Shordinaire, Chris Purfett, Pride of
Detroit podcast.

Speaker 2 (01:56:51):
Check it out.

Speaker 3 (01:56:53):
Rocking the Digital. That'd be our guy. Sager posts our
clips on social media. Does a great job coming up
top of the out. LaVar Arrington, TJ. Huschman, Zada, Plexico,
Burris up on game Don't Go Anywhere. That's nine minutes
away here on Fox Sports Radio. All right, we got
some picks to make. Let's do it.

Speaker 1 (01:57:14):
Rapid fire.

Speaker 2 (01:57:17):
Alrighty, Jared, we start with you.

Speaker 4 (01:57:19):
What do you like.

Speaker 6 (01:57:20):
Let's start in the mid major ranks Furman and Sanford.
I'm gonna go over one fifty five and a half.
This is the Southern Conference quarterfinals down there in Smashville,
North Carolina. High variance game. Both teams love to shoot
the three, top thirty five and three point right this year.
I think the winner of this game is actually very
live to upset the number one seed Chattanooga in the
next round. But I think you're just gonna see points,

(01:57:41):
very appealing offensive game. Over one fifty five and a half.
Ferman in Sanford, I'm going you mass Lowell plus one
and a half at Maine. What the heck conference is
this the America East Quarterfinals.

Speaker 4 (01:57:52):
These teams have played twice this year.

Speaker 6 (01:57:55):
Main won both games by one point each game eighty six,
eighty five and zero time in January and seventy one
to seventy just four days ago. I think the Riverhawks,
who were actually took second preseason to win this conference,
have a pretty decent shot that I only win this game,
but also move on to the next round and perhaps
to be for the championship. I'm going you mass Lowl
plus one and a half at Maine. Finally the main event,

(01:58:16):
I will go Alabama plus eight and a half. The
market's moving against the Tide this morning. They are at
Auburn today the Eyebob Iron Bowl of Basketball road revenge
spot Brooman Jones banged up for Auburn. Alabama heavily relying
on the three, but I think they make enough here
to keep things close. Auburn's gonna be the number one
overall seed no matter what happens this week and next week.
Give me Bama plus eight and a half.

Speaker 5 (01:58:37):
Okay, my turn had a two to one week last week.
I'm gonna just pick up where Jared left off there.
I think the first time in the Eyebob the Iron
Bowl of Basketball, we saw Alabama just have a cold
night shooting. I like the plus eight and a half
they're getting here against Auburn, a very complete team, but
I think a better shooting night for the Crimson Tide.

(01:58:59):
Staying college basketball Saint John's Marquette I called it earlier
rock fight one forty four and a half.

Speaker 4 (01:59:07):
I believe this is the total. Give me the under there.

Speaker 5 (01:59:10):
Both teams big on the effort categories, big on the
defensive stats. I'm big on the under today, Duke, You
and Ce Duke. Last time around boat race the tar
Heels by seventeen. I'm thinking the same thing happens here, Duke.
They are just sharpening the clause for the tournament. I
like them Minus nine and a half was last I

(01:59:33):
looked at this spread. I think I would take them
up to ten and a half. So nine and a
half favorites. Duke, give me the Blue Devils.

Speaker 2 (01:59:42):
Okay, let me start with an over here.

Speaker 3 (01:59:45):
I'm gonna say Kentucky and Missouri over one seventy and
a half. You're looking at two of the top seven
scoring teams in the country. So I'm looking at points today,
we're scoring them, and then the dogs are barking for me.
I'm with Alabama plus eight and a half. You know,
we get the three point shooting is gonna be better

(02:00:05):
than five for twenty six like it was last game.
Auburn has been on fumes, you know, so I think
keeping it with an eight Crimson Tide are more than
capable of doing that.

Speaker 2 (02:00:15):
And then I'll go to the NBA.

Speaker 4 (02:00:17):
Give me the.

Speaker 3 (02:00:18):
Pistons at the Warriors Detroit plus six and a half.
They've been playing feisty basketball over there, and hey, shout
out to Chris Burfett in Pride of Detroit podcast.

Speaker 2 (02:00:29):
You know, Detroit, Maybe what's going on here