March 24, 2023 • 34 mins
Jason Smith and Mike Harmon break down all the hottest stories from the Sweet 16, the Lakers are showing no signs of being done with LeBron, Berman is back to calling the UConn and Kansas State big wins, and so much more!
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to The Jason Smith Show with Mike
Harmon podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weeknight
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(00:25):
Sports Radio. Greetings and welcome inside hour or two of
The Jason Smith Show with my best friend Mike Harmon
on John Wick Night. We are now three and a
half hours away from going to see John Wick four.
Get those fours up, Get them fours up. I said,
(00:47):
do you want have the best review I've read about it? Well?
Far is that if you love John Wick at between
ninety minutes and two hours, you're gonna love it at
two hours and forty five minutes. Yeah. Makes sense to me. Yeah,
you know, because you're gonna need a distraction because for
the next three hours, we're gonna remind you how much
the Jets need Zeke Elliot, because they're gonna need all
(01:09):
the running backs they can get because Aaron Rodgers is
still a packer pilp him home by eight ya. That's right.
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(01:30):
Right now, at halftime, it has been all UCLA, and
I gotta say this now in case it goes bad
in the second half. I feel great about my UCLA
National Championship prediction and in my bracket after watching this
first half. This was some kind of first half. Mike,
you talk about coming out of the gate and Drew
Timmy looks like he's gonna score fifty, right, He's got
(01:53):
fifteen in the first ten minutes, and then suddenly Timmy
stops scoring. Nobody else could pick up the slack. Even
though they are shooting fifty percent from the floor. It's
mainly all Drew Timmy. But you watch UCLA defend, you
watch them be able to do whatever they wanted to offensively.
Tire Campbell's having a huge game thirteen and five. And
I told you as the NCA tournament went on, he
(02:14):
was going to be a guy that just rises and
rises because he's gonna good bye. That makes this engine go.
They have injury issues. Yes, they're missing Jalen Clark, they're
missing one of their big they're missing Bona, But it
doesn't matter. This UCLA team, when you get to the tournament,
it is all about the guards having the ball in
your hands. He's got Thirteenimi Hakez has twelve and six rebounds.
(02:35):
It has been an unbelievable first half for the Bruins.
Now still a second half to go. Gonzaga is a
great team, but right now I feel awesome about Ula.
This is the team I expected to see because the
reason I think people were down a little bit on Ucla.
Look you see their record. Of course they were a
two seed. We watched them all year long, right we
get to see a lot of Ucla. They play in
(02:55):
our window. And how many games did you see them
playing against a second tier Pac twelve team that shouldn't
have even been in the game, and yet midway through
the second half it's fifty eight fifty six. It's like,
what the hell's happening? And then usual would have enough
to hold on it win at the end. They clearly
play to the competition. They've done it all season long,
and I get it when you're a team that goes
(03:16):
deep in the tournaments and you're returning some of the
same guys you got your eye on March, in December
and January and early parts of February. But UCLA is
a team that rises to the level of the opponent.
So I am not surprised. Expected a big effort against Gonzaga,
and I got a huge effort in the first half. Well,
we talked about it last week. I mean it's look,
it's the annual chorus, but you know, you reiterate it
(03:37):
for the audience that's with us today and with this
particular tournament. It's the where do you find the veteran players,
the seniors, juniors among that are leaders that have been
through some of these hard moments, and in a tournament
where it changes on a dime, you're facing squads that
give you all you can handle. I mean, that was
(03:58):
the Northwestern game. Not to pump my guys up too much,
but you know that was a struggle. And then you
come out of that, you exhale, and as you always say,
you may you might get a bounce, right, you propel
yourself forward. It can go one way or the other.
In this case, obviously they rise up and knowing that
Bona was probably not going to be available, you change
(04:19):
up your strategies. And for Cronan and his staff so far,
they've they've been able to pull those strings. But going
back to having those veteran players that seem like they've
been there a decade, just like Timmy on the other side,
because we've been forever, but Hokes and company leading the
way that even with injury omissions, that you're able to
(04:43):
close those gaps and figure out a strategy that at
least for one half, get you into a dominant position
because think about the defense that you play. Yeah, you
don't have the big down low, but you were able
to withstand any early strategies we get into our are
fun halftime adjustments? Smith, What do you do because if
(05:04):
they collapse, guys now have to hit shots. I don't
know that you're gonna ever hit at the clip that
we saw at the Case State Michigan State game. But
guys are gonna be tested on Gonzaga to come up
with big shots here in the second half. No, there's
no there's no halftime adjustments. Peyton Manning says, all they
do is eat oranges at halftime. Come on, there's no halftime.
It's a big myth. No, no one adjusted half time
(05:26):
because Peyton Manning was prepared for every circumstance. They sets
maybe no, no, no, they just pick up they check
their phones at halftime, they get online. They maybe they
buy a couple of things. Hey, you're gonna do some
online shopping. Oh second, now I'll be right out there.
Hang on, Hey, I just gotta finish. Hang on Amazon
delivery Monday. Great. Yeah, I'm ready for the second half. Now.
We don't do any halftime adjustments. That's all we do.
(05:46):
Eat orags, that's all we do. So again, yeah, we're
getting ready for the second half. It is forty six
thirty three U sill A with the lead over Gonzaga. Meanwhile,
midway through the second half, suddenly Florida Atlantic has turned
this into a game. They trailed Tennessee by a point
thirty nine thirty eight. It was a good first half
(06:07):
for Tennessee. They were in control most of the way.
But now is a one point game here with just
over ten minutes left to go in the second half.
So we'll have more on this game, both of these
games as they proceed throughout the night, but earlier tonight, Look,
you mentioned right off the top of the show, we
had one game that was not a great one. It
was great, A few were Yukon. And we had one
(06:28):
nailbiter that was fantastic and that was Kansas State over
Michigan State in overtime ninety eight ninety three, and what
can you say? I was really other than wow? I mean,
what can you say so far about the night? That
was from Marquisnoel, the guy sets an NCAA record, And
I put that in quoach because Steve Disager told us
(06:49):
there was a consolation game in like nineteen forty seven
where someone had more assists in the game, but Noel
twenty points, nineteen assists as Kansas State moves on to
the Elite eight beating Michigan State. And we've had a
lot of big moments so far in the tournament. We've
had big games, big shots, big buzzer beaters. But I
(07:11):
don't know that I have a more favorite moment than
this play, which goes down with less than a minute
to go in regulation, where every possession is absolute gold.
And here's the play here's what Marky's Noel does to
get Kansas State the lead. Kansas State has the ball,
we're tied at ninety two, marks the river shots, slams
(07:33):
a end. Noel ties the record with his eighteenth assist
shots with the alley oops, slam AT's ninety four at
ninety two. K State love from half court in a
reverse dunk unreal Westwood won. Gary Cohen on the call.
There the alley oop. Yeah, the alley oop to Johnson
part of his twenty two point night. And it sounds like, oh, okay,
(07:53):
great alley you play. But this is some kind of
guts this is this is in major league. You have
no morburs, right marbles. This was a play where Noel
did the fake arguing with the coach to relax the defense,
and he throws up a alley you pass from about
ten feet behind the three point line. He he's dribbling
(08:16):
the ball at the top and he starts arguing with
the coach on the sideline. You can see it's like,
what do you want? And the coach is yelling and
he's yelling, and that gets the defense to relax a
little bit, and he just he just shot puts that
ball to a perfect space for Johnson for the slam.
I mean, there's running a play like that, and then
there's running a play like that in the final minute
(08:38):
of overtime in the NCAA tournament to get to the
Elite eight. Who I don't know that I'm gonna have
a more favorite play than that, because that's guts, man,
that's that's you have no marble, that's marble's man, that's
a marble's play right there, and hit the internet and
took it over immediately because in game right there, you're
calling the game and it's like, all right, there's there's chirping.
(09:01):
They were chirping with Matine Cleaves. I mean, there was
so much going on along the sidelines. But he had
thrown up a bad thirty five foot jump shot right
he went Steph Curry earlier, so waiting for another that
and then well he got away with one where there
was one tipped that they got the ball back. But
(09:21):
on this particular play, I mean, that's I mean, that's
just ridiculously run right the guts to go and do
that to trust. However, many times you've run that before
during and after a practice horsing around when you got
nothing else to do. Hey, let's just go to the
court and keep tweaking some randomness. I mean, that was
(09:43):
the excellence of execution personified. And don't forget he also
sprained his ankle pretty badly to where it looked like
he was gonna be done for the night. So there
was a bit of gripping for the Kansas State Wildcat
faithful and those in the arena and anybody really watching
the game. He's like, all right, here's one of the
big stars off to a massive start. Is he gonna
(10:05):
be able to finish? Well? You know, it's only appropriate
in this week that we give the nod and the
wink and celebrate the legacy because it's that time. It's
the Willis Reed moment at the NC Double a tournament
for this year that he comes back out and has
such a dominant performance twenty points, nineteen assists, seven of
eighteen from the field in the ninety eight ninety three win.
(10:27):
And then you know they also got the extra two
points at the end when he was yelling, this is
my city. I'm the captain. Now no he didn't say
the second part. He didn't, but you say that, I
think people just normally assume that because you say that
so much that they actually do say it. Some guys do.
We certainly do here in the hallowed halls of Fox
(10:47):
Sports Radio. I mean when we own a segment like
that Lamar Jackson bit, I'm the captain, and that's I
am your captain. You gotta get the podcast. If you
missed that last hour, gotta listen to the whole show,
go back and grab it at an audio will be
up when we finish to night at eleven PM. As
Jason gets in the car and goes with a fully
(11:08):
stocked trench coat, all the pockets filled with his favorite snacks,
colas and everything else. Four four here, how many big
macs are making it? How does that work? Burgers in
the pockets? How does that work? I don't think No,
I don't think I have enough time to stop and
get burgers and then get to the to the movie
theater right to meet you guys. Well, if you're okay
(11:30):
with missing the previews, no, no, come on, they're gonna
have previews for John Wick five and Top Gun three.
I don't want to miss those. Come on, man, I
can't have that now. Look, obviously, the big question remaining
the only question remaining for the big Kansas State win
over Michigan State is how would Burman have called the
highlights for Kansas State winning? I mean, how would he
(11:52):
have done that? Right? I would do And also how
would he have called Yukon and you know, winning and
moving on to the Elite eight. That's the that's the
last big question we really have. So we'll have that
coming up next as well as maybe the hottest take
involving Lebron James of his career. Oh here we go, yeah,
(12:13):
keep it right here. That's coming up next. Jason and Mike,
This is Fox. Be sure to catch live editions of
The Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at ten
pm Eastern, seven pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and
the iHeart Radio app Fox Sports Radio. The Jason Smith
Show with My bast friend Mike Harmon. Happy john Wicknight.
(12:34):
A lot of people, a lot of people at john
Wick four will be They're all gonna be. Oh, it's
gonna be beautiful. It's got the bulletproof suit. Oh I
can't wa. I wrote a sign for the three hundred kill.
Yeah really nine three hundred club. Yeah, let's go Stott
He's got two hundred and ninety nine kills through three movies.
Now I'm I'm being serious. When he kills that first
(12:56):
person in John Wick four Tonight, Yeah, do they stop
the movie and we celebrate it like Lebron passing Kareem
abdul Jabbard. Then we get back to the movie. I
think we should. I think we should. Little bit, Yeah,
that's number three hundred. He get Canna Reeves gets to talk.
It'll be a short speech, you know, because John Wick's
character doesn't talk all that much. He would say like,
I'd like to thank everybody who died in the movie. Okay, great,
(13:20):
thank you, all right, great everybody. It's like all the
times that we monitor movies for how many curse words? Right?
How many times the F bomb gets dropped in a movie?
The same thing here? Yeah, Adam Silver comes out, congratulates
John Wick on the three hundred and here's the three
hundred more. John all right, great, I got the back end.
I got the rest of this movie. I might get
three hundred more by the end of this film itself.
(13:41):
But will the presenter look more like Rob Manford did
the other night at the end of the World Baseball clients?
I mean, who are we kidding guys, We're gonna be
in the process of literally standing up and the second
kill is gonna happen, we'd have to sit right back down. Yeah,
that's yeah, you're right, you're right, yeah, yeah, sure, they
would be looking like we're doing the wave, or we
call a time out and have them turn the lights on. Well,
(14:01):
I think that's what has to happen, is like it
has to be very organic, where the kill happens and
then boom, right and everybody stops, someone comes in, Confetti
goes off, and you know, okay, we have to stop
right now. Well, Jason or what could happen is right
after he hits three hundred, he does what Lebron did
and fakes an injury and sits out for a while.
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, oh yeah yeah, and he'll get
his three hundredth kill and Anthony Davis won't celebrate. I'm
(14:24):
rooting for the bad guys. I'm not standing up for you.
Butler comes out, oh oh oh, that's nicely done. But
right now NCAA Tournament Florida Atlantic look Out could be
headed to the Elite eight. They lead Tennessee forty eight
forty one. It's been a big second half for them. Meanwhile,
(14:47):
Ucla up ten over Gonzaga fifty four forty four drew
Timmy's got twenty five and nine boards, and UCLA is
still up ten. We'll have more on this game as
it continues to unfall old against a lot of time
left here with fifteen minutes. But we had a couple
of big results early tonight. Yukon with a big blowout
win over Arkansas, Kansas State out last Michigan State in
(15:09):
overtime ninety eight ninety three. Marquise Noel with an unbelievable
night there. So the big question is how would Chris
Berman announce these results? Oh? Boy? Howd announced these results?
And here we go? What do you want? First? You
want how how Yukon uh moves on? Or do you
want Kansas State? What do you want first? Let's go
(15:30):
kay State. Let's get the Wildcats in because first ubiquitous
UH simple name that they stole from US UH TJ
today feeling like Christmas for Noel and the Wildcats. That's
not that Jo, That's good, I can I can get
with that. The first Noel to take Kansas State to
(15:52):
the Elite eight since twenty eighteen. T j okay cool
for Noel Born is the king of the Sweet sixteen.
See that one. You can put on a T shirt.
Noel certainly no Coward against Michigan State today. Look, I
get literary on you. Now, Hey, I'm not just a
(16:14):
John Wick shoot him up down. I'll get literary on
you with Noel Coward. Yeah, you want to explain to
um well, folks that don't read a lot who he was? Right?
Read a lot? You? Um am? I raw, no, no, no.
I think during your course of your career, you get
a little bit of Noel Coward, don't you. I mean
(16:34):
I would, I would think, no, can you go to
school and stuff? When you go to school and stuff,
I'll take English playwrights for well. I didn't get get
any of him when I was in school. I mean
that came later. But yeah, okay, okay, all right, very good,
and nobody that now we're an audience of two. Okay, alright, alright,
very good, very good. T J. Lizzo normally puts the
(17:00):
in Iszo, but today it was Kansas States. WHOA how
he's gonna come in? John wickew t J. The Michigan
State lost today was about damn time. For Iszo. Who's
gonna who's gonna go after him harder? Is it gonna
(17:20):
be Iszo or John Smoltz. Oh, oh no, No, it's
gonna be Steve Garvey. Absolutely is gonna be Steve Garve
should be Hall of Famer Steve Garvey. Uh so uh
Now Yukon Yukon congratulates Yukon and Dan Hurley. You know, hey, look,
big day for Hawkins as well, leading Yukon and scoring TJ.
(17:43):
Yukon were the winners when all the hurly burly was
done and the battle was lost and won. Yeah, TJ. Well,
I come on, everybody's day. Come on, you know, everybody
taking that Shakespeare and knows hurly Burley in the battle
lost Shakespeare. I no, but people, people go to high school,
no Shakespeare, you do, sure they do. So you're saying
Berman didn't go to high school. No I didn't. I
(18:05):
didn't say. I said. People that's what I put together.
They get No, I'm sure he went to high school.
He went. They went to Brown, right, I think it
went to Brown. He was not a high school. Oh no,
but well, I think you I don't think you can
jump right from middle school to Brown. I think you can. Actually,
I don't know that you can. Brown's a pretty good school.
I don't know that you can do that. You don't
think you could have been homeschooled and gone a doogie
house or route. I don't know, man. I have to
(18:27):
think that if there was some kind of crazy way
to be homeschooled through high school and get to great
schools like on a regular basis, more people would do that. Yeah,
my child's best child in class, graduate, highest average really, yes,
top one percent? Yes, got an A and every class. Right?
What school was it? Um? It was in the living room.
(18:48):
It was University of Phoenix. What's that? What's that? I
was home schooled? Oh? Okay, I gotta think more people
would have done that, Star pupil, Well, you still have
to pass a bunch of proficiency tests, and I would
and proved yourself to a bunch of guys and women
suited up and ready to uh excoriate what you've worked
so hard to attain. Well, what if you're homeschooled and
(19:10):
your parents are grading your test? Well, boy, you only
got six out of ten? Right, so what did I
get a hundred? Congratulations? Nice job? But wait I got
four wrong? Nope, I don't see any I don't see
any red marks on that paper. You had everything right,
Brown University, get ready. I can understand your rationale for
choosing that answer, and I applaud you for doing it. TJ.
(19:32):
Ukon's in the Elite eight. You can't be serious. I
am serious, and don't call me Hurly. Oh no, Mike
too far. I don't know about Larry and Moe, but
it was a big night for Hurley and Ukon. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
(19:55):
Yukon's in the Elite eight Extra Extra. Read all about
it in the early edition of the newspaper. All right,
that's it. You got Kyle Chandler in again. You're done,
t J. There's no more stranger things than Hawkins and
Yukon in the Elite Eights. T J. Turn out, you're done.
(20:18):
Usually with Hawkins we talk about eleven, but this is
the Elite eight for Yukon. Too far. Oh, and that
that's pretty good. There's no going back now, TJ. The
new Sheriff of Hawkins is Hawkins and Yukon as they
advanced to the Elite eight, TJ. Even TJ's left, David
(20:41):
is seeking safe harbor and Hawkins. Hawkins is the new sheriff.
He just he just gets up at leads, all right,
I'm done. I'm done. Just stuff like Bernie at weekends.
M Burman thinks he's still around, but he isn't. Be
sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith Show
(21:04):
with Mike harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven pm
Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeart Radio app.
Doesn't it feel like the Lakers are kind of done
with Lebron? Yeah? Doesn't it feel like they're done? I mean,
I know he's got the contract extension that that's gonna
you know, kick in. He's got an estimated forty six
million for next year with a player option. But this
(21:27):
last this injury was such a big deal for them,
you know, the fact that he gets hurt and now
I'm not available. I feel like we talked about at
the time where where you realize, Okay, you can't count
on Lebron anymore. Right, We were past that point where
you can't count him to be on the floor because
he's just getting hurt way too much and the Lakers
can't count on him. It's whenever he plays as a bonus.
(21:49):
But now I almost feel like the Lakers feel like
they're done with him, Like all right, you pass cap
and that's great and you won every but now you
got to get us in the playoffs here and now
you're hurt again, and it feels like they're done. Just
the feel with the team. Austin Reeves has the big
night last night, you know, him and D'angela Russell combined
for you know, fifty points. And Reeves is shooting the
ball well, he gets in a great rhythm. He takes
(22:11):
a lot of shots, and it's crazy that we're talking
about well Austin Reeves is pushing Lebron's up, but it's like, wait,
what Just the fact these conversations and things are out there,
it sort of feels like the Lakers are done with
Lebron and I don't know what happens from here on
out because it gets messy. But Lebron coming back and
the fact that he's now at odds with the Lakers
when he can come back, when he can't. You have
(22:32):
two reports. One says yeah, he's progressing and hopefully the
end of the regular season, and Lebron feels need to
put out a statement saying no evaluation just mean no
other sources are they they've gotten the point where I
think they've gotten what they want to out of each other.
And the Lakers got a championship and they wanted more,
but that was it. And Lebron got the brand of
Los Angeles and he got to pass Kareem Abdul Jabbar
(22:54):
and break the all time record, and now it's like, Okay,
we've each gotten as much as we're going to get
from the other, and now now we're done. And I
feel like like the Lakers are pushing that that they
feel almost like the Packers and Aaron Rodgers, where Okay,
we've gotten what we've wanted out of him. It's not
been great, but we did what we could. The last
couple of years he won the MVP. That's awesome. Now
(23:15):
he's not the MVP anymore. We want to move on
and it sounds shocking, but that's how it goes. And
I kind of feel like it's the same point with
the Lakers and Lebron, now, where Okay, we've gotten all
really going to get out of you, and now our
team is not any better and we're not winning, and
look at the way they play when you're not on
the floor, And maybe there's a future here without you,
that we can make our team better somewhat sooner. Maybe
(23:36):
there's some kind of trade or a situation where things
work out, because it doesn't always end great, you know
for players, Just to ask Aaron Rodgers, you don't always
get to ride off into the sunset whenever you want to.
I feel like they're at that point now where they're
done with Lebron and now from here on out it's
just going to be messy. Yeah, Just wondering in terms
of the sourcing and and all of that fun stuff,
(23:58):
you know, wild them often you play along versus Bristling.
Did you plant this if you're the Lakers to get
make him the bad guy? Right? Could you still had
enough people that'll carry water for him at every turn.
Nobody's gonna go quite as blunt as tie shirt saying, ah,
he got his record, he quit. But yeah, I paraphrase it,
But it's just that idea, right, Look how hard he
(24:20):
worked those last couple of weeks, the extra minutes, the
extra stress when we knew he was already playing through
an injury, right, wasn't that the report we kept getting
He's playing through the foot, an ankle and all of
that stuff, And then he's going thirty eight a night
and hustling and grabbing every opportunity to bolster his point total,
(24:44):
and then he couldn't finish that game and they lose
to Okasee and he's been unavailable since. And the frustration
has to be huge because Davis had to wear it
and he's certainly, you know, has had to step in
multiple times during his tenure here and answer questions about
it liability either for Lebron or well himself. On the
(25:04):
a's feeling all right, But this was a scheduled thing
from you know, like a month ago. So it's it's
really the dumpster fire floating on the river gif right now,
as as well as component parts of that team is
play are is playing? Depending what you want to conjugate with,
there is the idea that um with Lebron James, they've
(25:24):
just had enough of having to kick the can down
the road. It's like, you know what, this this will
snuff him out. He's got to say something if this report,
if he wants to disagree with this report, and he did,
and now it's it's on him because it's all all right,
So how are you feeling? Give me more than that
don't just push back on all the reporters that you
and your team have been feeding reports too forever. Hey, guys,
(25:48):
I'm gonna go against John this one. You gotta get
me this. I need to flex. Why are you where
where you are? Well? Okay, so then where are you? Like?
What's noth I mean? I mean? So you wonder how
much does he want to come back? The same question
is at the end of last year, Because what did
I tell you was going to happen last year? When
the looks like the Lakers weren't going to make the playoffs,
(26:09):
Lebron was going to somehow find a way to not play.
What happened? He didn't play almost all the way down
the stretch, right, I told you exactly how that's going on.
Same thing was happening here Lebron looks like the Lakers
might not make the playoffs, and Lebron's not played for
a long time. You wonder how much does he want
to play? I don't even know. I didn't know what
motivates him anymore as a player, But now I feel
the injury that he had the Lakers that was like, okay,
(26:32):
you know what, now, now we're done. They shouldn't have
signed him to the extension. They should have let him go.
They got what they were gonna get, and instead, no,
we have to keep them. They felt the pressure. We
got to keep him here. We gotta keep Lebron James,
we have to have a big star. And now it's okay,
now we're ready, we're done, ready to move on. And
that's kind of where the Lakers are. And this whole thing.
I can't say I blame them, because okay, so why
(26:54):
are you, Why are you and the team at odds
with your health? If everybody's on the same page, that
should never happen. You should never know, be on the
same page with your team as far as your health goes.
And maybe it's just them saying maybe Lebron can come
back at the end of the regular season as a
as a like a carrot at the end of the
stick for the for the Lakers, or you know, that's
(27:15):
a that's a bad example, but just like a you know,
it's something to point to look forward to. Hey, let's
keep it afloat here. Maybe Lebron can get back and
really help us. And now Lebron is saying, oh, hey, no,
you know, no, no, that's not gonna. I don't know
where I'm at. I don't know if I could play anymore.
You know, it's weird, like it could be just be
as simple as the Lakers want to give people hope
they could come back, and Lebron still just says no, No,
(27:35):
I don't even know if that's gonna happen. Now, Remember
we have had a number of instances now we're going.
I mean it's always been there, but it's really been
pushed the last few years of star players with big
disagreements with training staffs and internal people. Now I've made
all my rants about different training staffs and where you
see high incidences of injuries year after your Chargers Ravens
(28:00):
were the two examples. They both change things up. But
go back to Kawhi Leonard and part of the reason
he left San Antonio, Anthony Davis a little bit with
New Orleans and on down the line, it's the we
think you're healthy enough to play. No, I'm not okay.
Why won't you work with us to actually get to
the point where you are though? Why is it droughted
(28:22):
in secrecy in this case? If you want to talk
for yourself, give your fans give you your Lakers brass
heads up as to what the hell's going on? If
you want to give it to Shams or whoever is
going to be the star, to be your guy, or
whoever it may be, maybe that guy that's helping Lamar
(28:42):
Jackson gets to carry his water too, whoever it is,
at least give give some bit of clarity. Don't just
protest of no, that's not true. Okay, then what is
Twitter at? How about a Fresco Mike gets swollen dumped?
And now is when the messy part starts. No, Rush
King Reeves? How can the Lakers move on from Lebron
(29:05):
in the offseason? How that's where we're at right now.
Reeves is one hundred million dollars player. Now let's go,
He's one hundred million real question who's better right now?
Lebron or Austin Reeves. Lebron look on sunglasses though he's
on the floor. Austin Reeves is on the floor. He's
playing of course. Ah, hey, you know who's back. Florida
(29:26):
Atlantic about to punch their ticket to the Elite eight
and Elite Tennessee by seven with ten seconds left to go.
It's been a great second half of Florida Atlantic outscoring
Tennessee forty to twenty eight. They look like they're ready
for the Elite eight. But coming up next, Um, somebody
had a pro day today and surprise, surprise, it was awesome.
(29:48):
I'm so excited, but still people are gonna hate. I
love it. That's next right here, Jason and Mike Fox.
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at ten pm Stern seven
pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app.
I want to have a gun, blow hot dogs into
(30:09):
the stands. Fox Sports Radio. The Jason Smith Show with
my best friend Mike Harman live from the tirerac dot
Com Studios. Gonzaga has come all the way back a
huge second half. Ucla and the Zags are now tied
(30:30):
at sixty one apiece, six and a half to go
in regulation. There have been five ties, five lead changes,
Gonzaga down double digits. This is kind of what they do,
and here they are back behind Drew Timmy and his
thirty three points to have a sixty one sixty one
tie up with the Bruins again six minutes left to go.
(30:51):
Chipping away, Malick I Smith off the bench with eleven,
showing some spark from someone other than Drew Demand. So
we'll have more on this game coming up in a
few minutes. But today was actually Bryce Young's pro day
at Alabama, and surprise, surprise, he was great. He saw
some of the video online him dropping sometimes. He threw
(31:12):
one pass where he was rolling out to his left
and he stopped and he chucked it fifty yards down
field in stride, hitting the receiver near the end zone.
He was incredible. But yet all people want to talk
about as his height, his way, his stature. Well, before
I tell you how that's a load of crap, let's
(31:32):
hear from Nick Saban, who was asked that question by
a reporter. Hey, a great day from Bryce Young. You know,
how do you feel about his height situation there? Coach? Coach?
A lot has been made about the height of your quarterback.
You've coached a lot of football, You've watched a lot
of tape. Does that matter? I don't think so. I
think you should ask the people that had to play
against the last couple of years and see if they
(31:54):
think it affected his performance. So I really don't. I
think he's so instinctive the processes so well, he prepares
so well, he's got a quickness in the pocket, he
plays the position like a point guard in basketball, so
and his production and consistency and performance have been off
the charts. So most of the time those things will
(32:14):
translate to the next level. Boom, there you go. I
think you should ask the guys have played against how
good he was. You know this is This drives me insane, Mike,
because it happens every year because teams ignore the tape
that a guy puts out there, and the tape on
Bryce Young is awesome, and they get caught up in well,
(32:36):
he's not tall enough, and well he doesn't weigh enough.
Guys don't get weak before the draft because all I'm
worried about how tall he is or how much he
will um. You put an offensive line in front of him,
you protect him. It's pretty simple. If the guy is great,
the guy is great. But every year teams talk themselves
out of quarterbacks because they get scared or they get
(32:59):
hung up on things other than how did the guy
play at college and how does his game translate to
the next level. That's it, and it's ridiculous that, especially
a league where We've seen smaller players get drafted now
and succeed, whether it's Drew Brees or Kyler Murray. These
guys all get in and they all play pretty well.
And you could already tell that. You see that the
(33:20):
Panthers are gonna talk themselves into CJ. Stroud, right a right,
Josh McCown with a statement today saying, Hey, when you're
here in Carolina, we'll hook you up. They're gonna talk
themselves into CJ. Stroud and out of Bryce Young, and
the Texas are gonna sit back and go, oh my goodness,
we're getting the guy we should have gotten all along,
and we don't have to worry about being mad at
Lovey Smith anymore. This is awesome. Well what it's gonna
(33:41):
be curious to see him. And it's a lot of
poker playing at this point. So you've got that going
for you as you go through these pro days, a
lot of noise trying to cut through. Certainly, you know,
Steve Smith, Bryce Young is work out today. Wonderful, wonderful
display of why you deserve to be the first overall
quarterback to be picked in this year's draft. Smith rolling
(34:03):
around on the ground with David Tepper. He's gonna do
everything he can to sell. Smith also used the term
salivating to describe the effect of Young's workout, so they're
they're excitable about it, and there's more data as you
suggest between Russell Wilson, who's also shorter. You know he
(34:26):
had a hell of a run even if we didn't
like him last year, Breeze, Kyler, etc. May not be
a long sample size for some of these guys, but
certainly they get the job done as well as the
six five guys. Talk yourselves out of it. Way to go.
We're gonna talk ourselves out of Bryce Young because he's
not very tall. Biggest story of the NCAA tournament coming
(34:47):
up next. This is Fox
Thanks for listening to The Jason Smith Show with Mike
Harmon podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weeknight
ten pm to two am Eastern seven to eleven pm
Pacific on Fox Sports Radio. Find your local station for
The Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon at Fox Sports
Radio dot com, or stream us live every night on
the iHeartRadio app by searching FSR. You're listening to Fox
(00:25):
Sports Radio. Greetings and welcome inside hour or two of
The Jason Smith Show with my best friend Mike Harmon
on John Wick Night. We are now three and a
half hours away from going to see John Wick four.
Get those fours up, Get them fours up. I said,
(00:47):
do you want have the best review I've read about it? Well?
Far is that if you love John Wick at between
ninety minutes and two hours, you're gonna love it at
two hours and forty five minutes. Yeah. Makes sense to me. Yeah,
you know, because you're gonna need a distraction because for
the next three hours, we're gonna remind you how much
the Jets need Zeke Elliot, because they're gonna need all
(01:09):
the running backs they can get because Aaron Rodgers is
still a packer pilp him home by eight ya. That's right.
We're live for the ti Irac dot Com studios. Tirect
dot com will help you get there an unmatched election, fast,
free shipping, free road hazard protection, over ten thousand recommended installers.
Tirac dot com the way tire buying should be well.
(01:30):
Right now, at halftime, it has been all UCLA, and
I gotta say this now in case it goes bad
in the second half. I feel great about my UCLA
National Championship prediction and in my bracket after watching this
first half. This was some kind of first half. Mike,
you talk about coming out of the gate and Drew
Timmy looks like he's gonna score fifty, right, He's got
(01:53):
fifteen in the first ten minutes, and then suddenly Timmy
stops scoring. Nobody else could pick up the slack. Even
though they are shooting fifty percent from the floor. It's
mainly all Drew Timmy. But you watch UCLA defend, you
watch them be able to do whatever they wanted to offensively.
Tire Campbell's having a huge game thirteen and five. And
I told you as the NCA tournament went on, he
(02:14):
was going to be a guy that just rises and
rises because he's gonna good bye. That makes this engine go.
They have injury issues. Yes, they're missing Jalen Clark, they're
missing one of their big they're missing Bona, But it
doesn't matter. This UCLA team, when you get to the tournament,
it is all about the guards having the ball in
your hands. He's got Thirteenimi Hakez has twelve and six rebounds.
(02:35):
It has been an unbelievable first half for the Bruins.
Now still a second half to go. Gonzaga is a
great team, but right now I feel awesome about Ula.
This is the team I expected to see because the
reason I think people were down a little bit on Ucla.
Look you see their record. Of course they were a
two seed. We watched them all year long, right we
get to see a lot of Ucla. They play in
(02:55):
our window. And how many games did you see them
playing against a second tier Pac twelve team that shouldn't
have even been in the game, and yet midway through
the second half it's fifty eight fifty six. It's like,
what the hell's happening? And then usual would have enough
to hold on it win at the end. They clearly
play to the competition. They've done it all season long,
and I get it when you're a team that goes
(03:16):
deep in the tournaments and you're returning some of the
same guys you got your eye on March, in December
and January and early parts of February. But UCLA is
a team that rises to the level of the opponent.
So I am not surprised. Expected a big effort against Gonzaga,
and I got a huge effort in the first half. Well,
we talked about it last week. I mean it's look,
it's the annual chorus, but you know, you reiterate it
(03:37):
for the audience that's with us today and with this
particular tournament. It's the where do you find the veteran players,
the seniors, juniors among that are leaders that have been
through some of these hard moments, and in a tournament
where it changes on a dime, you're facing squads that
give you all you can handle. I mean, that was
(03:58):
the Northwestern game. Not to pump my guys up too much,
but you know that was a struggle. And then you
come out of that, you exhale, and as you always say,
you may you might get a bounce, right, you propel
yourself forward. It can go one way or the other.
In this case, obviously they rise up and knowing that
Bona was probably not going to be available, you change
(04:19):
up your strategies. And for Cronan and his staff so far,
they've they've been able to pull those strings. But going
back to having those veteran players that seem like they've
been there a decade, just like Timmy on the other side,
because we've been forever, but Hokes and company leading the
way that even with injury omissions, that you're able to
(04:43):
close those gaps and figure out a strategy that at
least for one half, get you into a dominant position
because think about the defense that you play. Yeah, you
don't have the big down low, but you were able
to withstand any early strategies we get into our are
fun halftime adjustments? Smith, What do you do because if
(05:04):
they collapse, guys now have to hit shots. I don't
know that you're gonna ever hit at the clip that
we saw at the Case State Michigan State game. But
guys are gonna be tested on Gonzaga to come up
with big shots here in the second half. No, there's
no there's no halftime adjustments. Peyton Manning says, all they
do is eat oranges at halftime. Come on, there's no halftime.
It's a big myth. No, no one adjusted half time
(05:26):
because Peyton Manning was prepared for every circumstance. They sets
maybe no, no, no, they just pick up they check
their phones at halftime, they get online. They maybe they
buy a couple of things. Hey, you're gonna do some
online shopping. Oh second, now I'll be right out there.
Hang on, Hey, I just gotta finish. Hang on Amazon
delivery Monday. Great. Yeah, I'm ready for the second half. Now.
We don't do any halftime adjustments. That's all we do.
(05:46):
Eat orags, that's all we do. So again, yeah, we're
getting ready for the second half. It is forty six
thirty three U sill A with the lead over Gonzaga. Meanwhile,
midway through the second half, suddenly Florida Atlantic has turned
this into a game. They trailed Tennessee by a point
thirty nine thirty eight. It was a good first half
(06:07):
for Tennessee. They were in control most of the way.
But now is a one point game here with just
over ten minutes left to go in the second half.
So we'll have more on this game, both of these
games as they proceed throughout the night, but earlier tonight, Look,
you mentioned right off the top of the show, we
had one game that was not a great one. It
was great, A few were Yukon. And we had one
(06:28):
nailbiter that was fantastic and that was Kansas State over
Michigan State in overtime ninety eight ninety three, and what
can you say? I was really other than wow? I mean,
what can you say so far about the night? That
was from Marquisnoel, the guy sets an NCAA record, And
I put that in quoach because Steve Disager told us
(06:49):
there was a consolation game in like nineteen forty seven
where someone had more assists in the game, but Noel
twenty points, nineteen assists as Kansas State moves on to
the Elite eight beating Michigan State. And we've had a
lot of big moments so far in the tournament. We've
had big games, big shots, big buzzer beaters. But I
(07:11):
don't know that I have a more favorite moment than
this play, which goes down with less than a minute
to go in regulation, where every possession is absolute gold.
And here's the play here's what Marky's Noel does to
get Kansas State the lead. Kansas State has the ball,
we're tied at ninety two, marks the river shots, slams
(07:33):
a end. Noel ties the record with his eighteenth assist
shots with the alley oops, slam AT's ninety four at
ninety two. K State love from half court in a
reverse dunk unreal Westwood won. Gary Cohen on the call.
There the alley oop. Yeah, the alley oop to Johnson
part of his twenty two point night. And it sounds like, oh, okay,
(07:53):
great alley you play. But this is some kind of
guts this is this is in major league. You have
no morburs, right marbles. This was a play where Noel
did the fake arguing with the coach to relax the defense,
and he throws up a alley you pass from about
ten feet behind the three point line. He he's dribbling
(08:16):
the ball at the top and he starts arguing with
the coach on the sideline. You can see it's like,
what do you want? And the coach is yelling and
he's yelling, and that gets the defense to relax a
little bit, and he just he just shot puts that
ball to a perfect space for Johnson for the slam.
I mean, there's running a play like that, and then
there's running a play like that in the final minute
(08:38):
of overtime in the NCAA tournament to get to the
Elite eight. Who I don't know that I'm gonna have
a more favorite play than that, because that's guts, man,
that's that's you have no marble, that's marble's man, that's
a marble's play right there, and hit the internet and
took it over immediately because in game right there, you're
calling the game and it's like, all right, there's there's chirping.
(09:01):
They were chirping with Matine Cleaves. I mean, there was
so much going on along the sidelines. But he had
thrown up a bad thirty five foot jump shot right
he went Steph Curry earlier, so waiting for another that
and then well he got away with one where there
was one tipped that they got the ball back. But
(09:21):
on this particular play, I mean, that's I mean, that's
just ridiculously run right the guts to go and do
that to trust. However, many times you've run that before
during and after a practice horsing around when you got
nothing else to do. Hey, let's just go to the
court and keep tweaking some randomness. I mean, that was
(09:43):
the excellence of execution personified. And don't forget he also
sprained his ankle pretty badly to where it looked like
he was gonna be done for the night. So there
was a bit of gripping for the Kansas State Wildcat
faithful and those in the arena and anybody really watching
the game. He's like, all right, here's one of the
big stars off to a massive start. Is he gonna
(10:05):
be able to finish? Well? You know, it's only appropriate
in this week that we give the nod and the
wink and celebrate the legacy because it's that time. It's
the Willis Reed moment at the NC Double a tournament
for this year that he comes back out and has
such a dominant performance twenty points, nineteen assists, seven of
eighteen from the field in the ninety eight ninety three win.
(10:27):
And then you know they also got the extra two
points at the end when he was yelling, this is
my city. I'm the captain. Now no he didn't say
the second part. He didn't, but you say that, I
think people just normally assume that because you say that
so much that they actually do say it. Some guys do.
We certainly do here in the hallowed halls of Fox
(10:47):
Sports Radio. I mean when we own a segment like
that Lamar Jackson bit, I'm the captain, and that's I
am your captain. You gotta get the podcast. If you
missed that last hour, gotta listen to the whole show,
go back and grab it at an audio will be
up when we finish to night at eleven PM. As
Jason gets in the car and goes with a fully
(11:08):
stocked trench coat, all the pockets filled with his favorite snacks,
colas and everything else. Four four here, how many big
macs are making it? How does that work? Burgers in
the pockets? How does that work? I don't think No,
I don't think I have enough time to stop and
get burgers and then get to the to the movie
theater right to meet you guys. Well, if you're okay
(11:30):
with missing the previews, no, no, come on, they're gonna
have previews for John Wick five and Top Gun three.
I don't want to miss those. Come on, man, I
can't have that now. Look, obviously, the big question remaining
the only question remaining for the big Kansas State win
over Michigan State is how would Burman have called the
highlights for Kansas State winning? I mean, how would he
(11:52):
have done that? Right? I would do And also how
would he have called Yukon and you know, winning and
moving on to the Elite eight. That's the that's the
last big question we really have. So we'll have that
coming up next as well as maybe the hottest take
involving Lebron James of his career. Oh here we go, yeah,
(12:13):
keep it right here. That's coming up next. Jason and Mike,
This is Fox. Be sure to catch live editions of
The Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at ten
pm Eastern, seven pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and
the iHeart Radio app Fox Sports Radio. The Jason Smith
Show with My bast friend Mike Harmon. Happy john Wicknight.
(12:34):
A lot of people, a lot of people at john
Wick four will be They're all gonna be. Oh, it's
gonna be beautiful. It's got the bulletproof suit. Oh I
can't wa. I wrote a sign for the three hundred kill.
Yeah really nine three hundred club. Yeah, let's go Stott
He's got two hundred and ninety nine kills through three movies.
Now I'm I'm being serious. When he kills that first
(12:56):
person in John Wick four Tonight, Yeah, do they stop
the movie and we celebrate it like Lebron passing Kareem
abdul Jabbard. Then we get back to the movie. I
think we should. I think we should. Little bit, Yeah,
that's number three hundred. He get Canna Reeves gets to talk.
It'll be a short speech, you know, because John Wick's
character doesn't talk all that much. He would say like,
I'd like to thank everybody who died in the movie. Okay, great,
(13:20):
thank you, all right, great everybody. It's like all the
times that we monitor movies for how many curse words? Right?
How many times the F bomb gets dropped in a movie?
The same thing here? Yeah, Adam Silver comes out, congratulates
John Wick on the three hundred and here's the three
hundred more. John all right, great, I got the back end.
I got the rest of this movie. I might get
three hundred more by the end of this film itself.
(13:41):
But will the presenter look more like Rob Manford did
the other night at the end of the World Baseball clients?
I mean, who are we kidding guys, We're gonna be
in the process of literally standing up and the second
kill is gonna happen, we'd have to sit right back down. Yeah,
that's yeah, you're right, you're right, yeah, yeah, sure, they
would be looking like we're doing the wave, or we
call a time out and have them turn the lights on. Well,
(14:01):
I think that's what has to happen, is like it
has to be very organic, where the kill happens and
then boom, right and everybody stops, someone comes in, Confetti
goes off, and you know, okay, we have to stop
right now. Well, Jason or what could happen is right
after he hits three hundred, he does what Lebron did
and fakes an injury and sits out for a while.
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, oh yeah yeah, and he'll get
his three hundredth kill and Anthony Davis won't celebrate. I'm
(14:24):
rooting for the bad guys. I'm not standing up for you.
Butler comes out, oh oh oh, that's nicely done. But
right now NCAA Tournament Florida Atlantic look Out could be
headed to the Elite eight. They lead Tennessee forty eight
forty one. It's been a big second half for them. Meanwhile,
(14:47):
Ucla up ten over Gonzaga fifty four forty four drew
Timmy's got twenty five and nine boards, and UCLA is
still up ten. We'll have more on this game as
it continues to unfall old against a lot of time
left here with fifteen minutes. But we had a couple
of big results early tonight. Yukon with a big blowout
win over Arkansas, Kansas State out last Michigan State in
(15:09):
overtime ninety eight ninety three. Marquise Noel with an unbelievable
night there. So the big question is how would Chris
Berman announce these results? Oh? Boy? Howd announced these results?
And here we go? What do you want? First? You
want how how Yukon uh moves on? Or do you
want Kansas State? What do you want first? Let's go
(15:30):
kay State. Let's get the Wildcats in because first ubiquitous
UH simple name that they stole from US UH TJ
today feeling like Christmas for Noel and the Wildcats. That's
not that Jo, That's good, I can I can get
with that. The first Noel to take Kansas State to
(15:52):
the Elite eight since twenty eighteen. T j okay cool
for Noel Born is the king of the Sweet sixteen.
See that one. You can put on a T shirt.
Noel certainly no Coward against Michigan State today. Look, I
get literary on you. Now, Hey, I'm not just a
(16:14):
John Wick shoot him up down. I'll get literary on
you with Noel Coward. Yeah, you want to explain to
um well, folks that don't read a lot who he was? Right?
Read a lot? You? Um am? I raw, no, no, no.
I think during your course of your career, you get
a little bit of Noel Coward, don't you. I mean
(16:34):
I would, I would think, no, can you go to
school and stuff? When you go to school and stuff,
I'll take English playwrights for well. I didn't get get
any of him when I was in school. I mean
that came later. But yeah, okay, okay, all right, very good,
and nobody that now we're an audience of two. Okay, alright, alright,
very good, very good. T J. Lizzo normally puts the
(17:00):
in Iszo, but today it was Kansas States. WHOA how
he's gonna come in? John wickew t J. The Michigan
State lost today was about damn time. For Iszo. Who's
gonna who's gonna go after him harder? Is it gonna
(17:20):
be Iszo or John Smoltz. Oh, oh no, No, it's
gonna be Steve Garvey. Absolutely is gonna be Steve Garve
should be Hall of Famer Steve Garvey. Uh so uh
Now Yukon Yukon congratulates Yukon and Dan Hurley. You know, hey, look,
big day for Hawkins as well, leading Yukon and scoring TJ.
(17:43):
Yukon were the winners when all the hurly burly was
done and the battle was lost and won. Yeah, TJ. Well,
I come on, everybody's day. Come on, you know, everybody
taking that Shakespeare and knows hurly Burley in the battle
lost Shakespeare. I no, but people, people go to high school,
no Shakespeare, you do, sure they do. So you're saying
Berman didn't go to high school. No I didn't. I
(18:05):
didn't say. I said. People that's what I put together.
They get No, I'm sure he went to high school.
He went. They went to Brown, right, I think it
went to Brown. He was not a high school. Oh no,
but well, I think you I don't think you can
jump right from middle school to Brown. I think you can. Actually,
I don't know that you can. Brown's a pretty good school.
I don't know that you can do that. You don't
think you could have been homeschooled and gone a doogie
house or route. I don't know, man. I have to
(18:27):
think that if there was some kind of crazy way
to be homeschooled through high school and get to great
schools like on a regular basis, more people would do that. Yeah,
my child's best child in class, graduate, highest average really, yes,
top one percent? Yes, got an A and every class. Right?
What school was it? Um? It was in the living room.
(18:48):
It was University of Phoenix. What's that? What's that? I
was home schooled? Oh? Okay, I gotta think more people
would have done that, Star pupil, Well, you still have
to pass a bunch of proficiency tests, and I would
and proved yourself to a bunch of guys and women
suited up and ready to uh excoriate what you've worked
so hard to attain. Well, what if you're homeschooled and
(19:10):
your parents are grading your test? Well, boy, you only
got six out of ten? Right, so what did I
get a hundred? Congratulations? Nice job? But wait I got
four wrong? Nope, I don't see any I don't see
any red marks on that paper. You had everything right,
Brown University, get ready. I can understand your rationale for
choosing that answer, and I applaud you for doing it. TJ.
(19:32):
Ukon's in the Elite eight. You can't be serious. I
am serious, and don't call me Hurly. Oh no, Mike
too far. I don't know about Larry and Moe, but
it was a big night for Hurley and Ukon. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
(19:55):
Yukon's in the Elite eight Extra Extra. Read all about
it in the early edition of the newspaper. All right,
that's it. You got Kyle Chandler in again. You're done,
t J. There's no more stranger things than Hawkins and
Yukon in the Elite Eights. T J. Turn out, you're done.
(20:18):
Usually with Hawkins we talk about eleven, but this is
the Elite eight for Yukon. Too far. Oh, and that
that's pretty good. There's no going back now, TJ. The
new Sheriff of Hawkins is Hawkins and Yukon as they
advanced to the Elite eight, TJ. Even TJ's left, David
(20:41):
is seeking safe harbor and Hawkins. Hawkins is the new sheriff.
He just he just gets up at leads, all right,
I'm done. I'm done. Just stuff like Bernie at weekends.
M Burman thinks he's still around, but he isn't. Be
sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith Show
(21:04):
with Mike harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven pm
Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeart Radio app.
Doesn't it feel like the Lakers are kind of done
with Lebron? Yeah? Doesn't it feel like they're done? I mean,
I know he's got the contract extension that that's gonna
you know, kick in. He's got an estimated forty six
million for next year with a player option. But this
(21:27):
last this injury was such a big deal for them,
you know, the fact that he gets hurt and now
I'm not available. I feel like we talked about at
the time where where you realize, Okay, you can't count
on Lebron anymore. Right, We were past that point where
you can't count him to be on the floor because
he's just getting hurt way too much and the Lakers
can't count on him. It's whenever he plays as a bonus.
(21:49):
But now I almost feel like the Lakers feel like
they're done with him, Like all right, you pass cap
and that's great and you won every but now you
got to get us in the playoffs here and now
you're hurt again, and it feels like they're done. Just
the feel with the team. Austin Reeves has the big
night last night, you know, him and D'angela Russell combined
for you know, fifty points. And Reeves is shooting the
ball well, he gets in a great rhythm. He takes
(22:11):
a lot of shots, and it's crazy that we're talking
about well Austin Reeves is pushing Lebron's up, but it's like, wait,
what Just the fact these conversations and things are out there,
it sort of feels like the Lakers are done with
Lebron and I don't know what happens from here on
out because it gets messy. But Lebron coming back and
the fact that he's now at odds with the Lakers
when he can come back, when he can't. You have
(22:32):
two reports. One says yeah, he's progressing and hopefully the
end of the regular season, and Lebron feels need to
put out a statement saying no evaluation just mean no
other sources are they they've gotten the point where I
think they've gotten what they want to out of each other.
And the Lakers got a championship and they wanted more,
but that was it. And Lebron got the brand of
Los Angeles and he got to pass Kareem Abdul Jabbar
(22:54):
and break the all time record, and now it's like, Okay,
we've each gotten as much as we're going to get
from the other, and now now we're done. And I
feel like like the Lakers are pushing that that they
feel almost like the Packers and Aaron Rodgers, where Okay,
we've gotten what we've wanted out of him. It's not
been great, but we did what we could. The last
couple of years he won the MVP. That's awesome. Now
(23:15):
he's not the MVP anymore. We want to move on
and it sounds shocking, but that's how it goes. And
I kind of feel like it's the same point with
the Lakers and Lebron, now, where Okay, we've gotten all
really going to get out of you, and now our
team is not any better and we're not winning, and
look at the way they play when you're not on
the floor, And maybe there's a future here without you,
that we can make our team better somewhat sooner. Maybe
(23:36):
there's some kind of trade or a situation where things
work out, because it doesn't always end great, you know
for players, Just to ask Aaron Rodgers, you don't always
get to ride off into the sunset whenever you want to.
I feel like they're at that point now where they're
done with Lebron and now from here on out it's
just going to be messy. Yeah, Just wondering in terms
of the sourcing and and all of that fun stuff,
(23:58):
you know, wild them often you play along versus Bristling.
Did you plant this if you're the Lakers to get
make him the bad guy? Right? Could you still had
enough people that'll carry water for him at every turn.
Nobody's gonna go quite as blunt as tie shirt saying, ah,
he got his record, he quit. But yeah, I paraphrase it,
But it's just that idea, right, Look how hard he
(24:20):
worked those last couple of weeks, the extra minutes, the
extra stress when we knew he was already playing through
an injury, right, wasn't that the report we kept getting
He's playing through the foot, an ankle and all of
that stuff, And then he's going thirty eight a night
and hustling and grabbing every opportunity to bolster his point total,
(24:44):
and then he couldn't finish that game and they lose
to Okasee and he's been unavailable since. And the frustration
has to be huge because Davis had to wear it
and he's certainly, you know, has had to step in
multiple times during his tenure here and answer questions about
it liability either for Lebron or well himself. On the
(25:04):
a's feeling all right, But this was a scheduled thing
from you know, like a month ago. So it's it's
really the dumpster fire floating on the river gif right now,
as as well as component parts of that team is
play are is playing? Depending what you want to conjugate with,
there is the idea that um with Lebron James, they've
(25:24):
just had enough of having to kick the can down
the road. It's like, you know what, this this will
snuff him out. He's got to say something if this report,
if he wants to disagree with this report, and he did,
and now it's it's on him because it's all all right,
So how are you feeling? Give me more than that
don't just push back on all the reporters that you
and your team have been feeding reports too forever. Hey, guys,
(25:48):
I'm gonna go against John this one. You gotta get
me this. I need to flex. Why are you where
where you are? Well? Okay, so then where are you? Like?
What's noth I mean? I mean? So you wonder how
much does he want to come back? The same question
is at the end of last year, Because what did
I tell you was going to happen last year? When
the looks like the Lakers weren't going to make the playoffs,
(26:09):
Lebron was going to somehow find a way to not play.
What happened? He didn't play almost all the way down
the stretch, right, I told you exactly how that's going on.
Same thing was happening here Lebron looks like the Lakers
might not make the playoffs, and Lebron's not played for
a long time. You wonder how much does he want
to play? I don't even know. I didn't know what
motivates him anymore as a player, But now I feel
the injury that he had the Lakers that was like, okay,
(26:32):
you know what, now, now we're done. They shouldn't have
signed him to the extension. They should have let him go.
They got what they were gonna get, and instead, no,
we have to keep them. They felt the pressure. We
got to keep him here. We gotta keep Lebron James,
we have to have a big star. And now it's okay,
now we're ready, we're done, ready to move on. And
that's kind of where the Lakers are. And this whole thing.
I can't say I blame them, because okay, so why
(26:54):
are you, Why are you and the team at odds
with your health? If everybody's on the same page, that
should never happen. You should never know, be on the
same page with your team as far as your health goes.
And maybe it's just them saying maybe Lebron can come
back at the end of the regular season as a
as a like a carrot at the end of the
stick for the for the Lakers, or you know, that's
(27:15):
a that's a bad example, but just like a you know,
it's something to point to look forward to. Hey, let's
keep it afloat here. Maybe Lebron can get back and
really help us. And now Lebron is saying, oh, hey, no,
you know, no, no, that's not gonna. I don't know
where I'm at. I don't know if I could play anymore.
You know, it's weird, like it could be just be
as simple as the Lakers want to give people hope
they could come back, and Lebron still just says no, No,
(27:35):
I don't even know if that's gonna happen. Now, Remember
we have had a number of instances now we're going.
I mean it's always been there, but it's really been
pushed the last few years of star players with big
disagreements with training staffs and internal people. Now I've made
all my rants about different training staffs and where you
see high incidences of injuries year after your Chargers Ravens
(28:00):
were the two examples. They both change things up. But
go back to Kawhi Leonard and part of the reason
he left San Antonio, Anthony Davis a little bit with
New Orleans and on down the line, it's the we
think you're healthy enough to play. No, I'm not okay.
Why won't you work with us to actually get to
the point where you are though? Why is it droughted
(28:22):
in secrecy in this case? If you want to talk
for yourself, give your fans give you your Lakers brass
heads up as to what the hell's going on? If
you want to give it to Shams or whoever is
going to be the star, to be your guy, or
whoever it may be, maybe that guy that's helping Lamar
(28:42):
Jackson gets to carry his water too, whoever it is,
at least give give some bit of clarity. Don't just
protest of no, that's not true. Okay, then what is
Twitter at? How about a Fresco Mike gets swollen dumped?
And now is when the messy part starts. No, Rush
King Reeves? How can the Lakers move on from Lebron
(29:05):
in the offseason? How that's where we're at right now.
Reeves is one hundred million dollars player. Now let's go,
He's one hundred million real question who's better right now?
Lebron or Austin Reeves. Lebron look on sunglasses though he's
on the floor. Austin Reeves is on the floor. He's
playing of course. Ah, hey, you know who's back. Florida
(29:26):
Atlantic about to punch their ticket to the Elite eight
and Elite Tennessee by seven with ten seconds left to go.
It's been a great second half of Florida Atlantic outscoring
Tennessee forty to twenty eight. They look like they're ready
for the Elite eight. But coming up next, Um, somebody
had a pro day today and surprise, surprise, it was awesome.
(29:48):
I'm so excited, but still people are gonna hate. I
love it. That's next right here, Jason and Mike Fox.
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at ten pm Stern seven
pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app.
I want to have a gun, blow hot dogs into
(30:09):
the stands. Fox Sports Radio. The Jason Smith Show with
my best friend Mike Harman live from the tirerac dot
Com Studios. Gonzaga has come all the way back a
huge second half. Ucla and the Zags are now tied
(30:30):
at sixty one apiece, six and a half to go
in regulation. There have been five ties, five lead changes,
Gonzaga down double digits. This is kind of what they do,
and here they are back behind Drew Timmy and his
thirty three points to have a sixty one sixty one
tie up with the Bruins again six minutes left to go.
(30:51):
Chipping away, Malick I Smith off the bench with eleven,
showing some spark from someone other than Drew Demand. So
we'll have more on this game coming up in a
few minutes. But today was actually Bryce Young's pro day
at Alabama, and surprise, surprise, he was great. He saw
some of the video online him dropping sometimes. He threw
(31:12):
one pass where he was rolling out to his left
and he stopped and he chucked it fifty yards down
field in stride, hitting the receiver near the end zone.
He was incredible. But yet all people want to talk
about as his height, his way, his stature. Well, before
I tell you how that's a load of crap, let's
(31:32):
hear from Nick Saban, who was asked that question by
a reporter. Hey, a great day from Bryce Young. You know,
how do you feel about his height situation there? Coach? Coach?
A lot has been made about the height of your quarterback.
You've coached a lot of football, You've watched a lot
of tape. Does that matter? I don't think so. I
think you should ask the people that had to play
against the last couple of years and see if they
(31:54):
think it affected his performance. So I really don't. I
think he's so instinctive the processes so well, he prepares
so well, he's got a quickness in the pocket, he
plays the position like a point guard in basketball, so
and his production and consistency and performance have been off
the charts. So most of the time those things will
(32:14):
translate to the next level. Boom, there you go. I
think you should ask the guys have played against how
good he was. You know this is This drives me insane, Mike,
because it happens every year because teams ignore the tape
that a guy puts out there, and the tape on
Bryce Young is awesome, and they get caught up in well,
(32:36):
he's not tall enough, and well he doesn't weigh enough.
Guys don't get weak before the draft because all I'm
worried about how tall he is or how much he
will um. You put an offensive line in front of him,
you protect him. It's pretty simple. If the guy is great,
the guy is great. But every year teams talk themselves
out of quarterbacks because they get scared or they get
(32:59):
hung up on things other than how did the guy
play at college and how does his game translate to
the next level. That's it, and it's ridiculous that, especially
a league where We've seen smaller players get drafted now
and succeed, whether it's Drew Brees or Kyler Murray. These
guys all get in and they all play pretty well.
And you could already tell that. You see that the
(33:20):
Panthers are gonna talk themselves into CJ. Stroud, right a right,
Josh McCown with a statement today saying, Hey, when you're
here in Carolina, we'll hook you up. They're gonna talk
themselves into CJ. Stroud and out of Bryce Young, and
the Texas are gonna sit back and go, oh my goodness,
we're getting the guy we should have gotten all along,
and we don't have to worry about being mad at
Lovey Smith anymore. This is awesome. Well what it's gonna
(33:41):
be curious to see him. And it's a lot of
poker playing at this point. So you've got that going
for you as you go through these pro days, a
lot of noise trying to cut through. Certainly, you know,
Steve Smith, Bryce Young is work out today. Wonderful, wonderful
display of why you deserve to be the first overall
quarterback to be picked in this year's draft. Smith rolling
(34:03):
around on the ground with David Tepper. He's gonna do
everything he can to sell. Smith also used the term
salivating to describe the effect of Young's workout, so they're
they're excitable about it, and there's more data as you
suggest between Russell Wilson, who's also shorter. You know he
(34:26):
had a hell of a run even if we didn't
like him last year, Breeze, Kyler, etc. May not be
a long sample size for some of these guys, but
certainly they get the job done as well as the
six five guys. Talk yourselves out of it. Way to go.
We're gonna talk ourselves out of Bryce Young because he's
not very tall. Biggest story of the NCAA tournament coming
(34:47):
up next. This is Fox
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