4/8/24 - The Mo Egger Show

Reaction to John Calipari leaving the University of Kentucky. Injuries continue to haunt the Red's and we talk NFL draft.

Episode Transcript

(00:01):
Hey, what's up. Good afternoon. My name is Meleger. This is
ESPN fifteen thirty. Thank you somuch for joining us. Hopefully, A,
you had an awesome weekend. B. If especially if you're north of
town you get off work, orif you're not working today, or if
you're retired or something, you couldjoin us today here at the Twin Peaks

(00:21):
in Westchester, home one of thetwo homes of the Tony and Mo Football
Show and something we've done every yearnow for a couple of years. Obviously,
Tony and I are here on Mondaysduring the football season, but we
always broadcast from either the Westchester orFlorence Twin Peaks on the Monday of the
NCAA Tournament Men's Championship game, andobviously that is tonight, in a game

(00:44):
that a lot of us are reallylooking forward to. If you're looking for
a place to watch Twin Peaks inWestchester, it could be a really fun
sports night. You got the Redsat six forty Reds and Brewers first of
four and then the basketball game tonight. You could just post up at Twin
Peaks right off I seventy five.It off at the Union Center Boulevard exit
and uh, and you are goodto go. It is also it's solar

(01:06):
eclipse day. Like everybody in theUnited States of America, the folks here
at Twin Peaks are engaged in solareclipse fever. In fact, as I
look out the the staff here atTwin Peaks, they've all gone outside,
They've got their solar eclipse glasses on, and it looks it looks weird outside,

(01:30):
a little eerie. Uh. Andand so we're we're broadcasting in the
middle of a solar eclipse. Andso I'm looking out in the parking lot,
a lot of folks just staring upinto the sky to see the moon
obscure the sun just a little bit. We are not here in Westchester,
I believe, in the path oftotality, but still it's it's sunny,

(01:55):
but it's not quite as sunny.It it feels as if it's I don't
know, it looks like it doesmaybe this time of day when the sun
comes down so much earlier. Sowe are obviously monitoring all things eclipse,
and eclipse fever has taken over thefolks here at Twin Peaks in Westchester.
And so we'll have that to havefun. With this afternoon. I think

(02:17):
what at three nine is when we'resupposed to have the most, the biggest,
what is the word that I'm lookingfor here, the most blockage of
the sun. So that's just afew minutes away. So we'll update you
on all things eclipse. I readand heard on the news this morning they
were informing people that you've got tobe prepared, You've got a plan ahead.

(02:39):
Let's make sure we're not snarling uptraffic. And so I left the
west side of Cincinnati kind of earlytoday to get here, and I'm happy
to report no major traffic issues gettingup. I seventy five to twin Peaks
here in Westchester. And if youget here, I have a pair of
solar eclipse glasses, so if youwant to look at the eclipse, you

(02:59):
are good to go. Obviously,busy sports weekend. In forty minutes,
Joe Dalleona, NFL draft expert forthe Believe podcast network, is gonna join
us. He is outstanding, hasjoined us in the past, and we
are getting closer and closer to theNFL Draft. We will get into the
Reds and what happened this weekend againstthe Mets at GABP Cincinnati loses two out

(03:22):
of three. I think the bignews, at least for me, yesterday
it was tj Antne came off themound after just one pitch with an issue.
How severe that issue is, Iguess we'll find out, and MRI
was going to be done today.Perhaps we'll get some news on the results
of that a little bit later on. Reds do play tonight against the Milwaukee
Brewers, and against the Milwaukee teamthat is off to a great start,

(03:44):
like it feels like almost everybody inthe National League Central is, including the
Reds, although five and four isnot as good as maybe six and three
would have been had they won thegame on Friday or won the game yesterday
afternoon, We're gonna get a lotto the Reds. We're gonna talk more
about Led de la Cruz, whoyou know, there's a there's a difference
between bailing on somebody and being frustratedwith somebody. I'm frustrated with Ellie de

(04:08):
la Cruz. But even though I'venever hit major league pitching, I think
I think I have a possible solution, maybe a temporary one, but a
possible solution to some of his offensiveissues. Now it's getting like a little
bit darker out like suddenly, almostall of a sudden. It's it's not

(04:30):
pitch black by any stretch of theimagination. It right now looks and these
windows are a little tinted if I'mnot mistaken, But outside it looks like
it does when you're wearing sunglasses.Would that be kind of an accurate way
of put it? Like it lookslike dusk? Yeah, it looks like
it does right now when you havesunglasses on. And as I look way

(04:53):
in the distance, if I looklike straight south, which I could do
here at Twin Peaks, it almostlooks like it does right before the sun
sets, which I guess theoretically it'sabout to for at least a few minutes.
Yeah, So there you go.We're closing in on I think peak
solar eclipse here in Westchester. Wow. My producer here on site, Mike

(05:14):
Mills, is showing me something thatis that is the total almost the total
blockage of the sun. That's thetotality that's just up in Hamilton, not
too far from here. If I'mnot mistaken, correct, Wow, it
looks weird out it does. Itlooks weird. This is not the sort
of view we would typically get frominside our studio, but we're kind of
surrounded by windows here and so itlooks strange. Speaking of strange, last

(05:41):
night was strange. We found outthat John Caliperry is close to becoming the
new head men's basketball coach at theUniversity of Arkansas. Buddy Matt Jones Kentucky
Sports Radio is going to join uscoming up at four oh five. This
divorce feels like it's about time forit to happen. That is a clumsy

(06:05):
way to put it. It justit felt this way after UK lost to
Oakland. It felt this way inthe immediate aftermath of that. It feels
this way now like it just feelslike it's a good time for these parties
to kind of separate. John Caliperryleaves with I think a really interesting legacy.

(06:29):
But I think the good parts ofthat legacy are for the most part
intact, and for me at least, they still obscure maybe some of the
things that have occurred over the lastcouple of years where Kentucky has fallen short
of the NCAA tournament, fallen shortin the SEC tournament. He gets the
soft landing of a place that hecan win at He gets the soft landing

(06:54):
of a new contract that's going topay him, I guess on an annual
basis a little bit less than hewas getting at Kentucky, is filled with
incentives that he could essentially use torecuperate the lost salary. He gets a
chance to go where I would imaginehe's going to be embraced, and Kentucky
fans, I think, for themost part, get what they want,
which is the John Calipery air tocome to an end a coaching search.

(07:17):
Now what the result of that coachingsearch ends up being, I have absolutely
no idea, but just listening toKentucky fans talk about John Caliperry, not
even in the aftermath of losing toOakland, but just over the course at
the last couple of years, itwas it was obviously tough if you're a

(07:38):
Kentucky fan watching the Wildcats lose toSaint Peter's a couple of years ago and
watching them not get to the secondweekend of the tournament. It has been
I'm sure frustrating if you're a Kentuckyfan, not having the Wildcats get to
a Final four over the last nineyears. But it was also in addition
to the on court stuff, youknow, all the games that ended with

(08:00):
you know, Kentucky almost barely losing, and the late game execution issues coming
to the forefront during those games,and you know, the unwillingness to perhaps
modernize his approach to team building.I think, more than anything, the
losing and losing is relative. It'snot like Kentucky was turning in a whole

(08:22):
bunch of twelve win seasons, althoughthey were pretty awful in twenty twenty one.
But I think if on top ofall that, it was just the
act, right the John Caliperry,the Act, which for years was so
endearing and I think welcomed and embracedin large part because it came with winning.

(08:46):
When the winning slowed down and theact remained basically the same, I
think the act kind of got tiresome. And so I think a lot of
Kentucky fans get exactly what they want. I think, to a large degree,
the University of Kentucky itself gets sortof what it wants, and John
Caliperry gets a great landing space.And I think for the most part,

(09:07):
his legacy at the University of Kentuckyremains intact. I do think though,
that it is interesting to talk aboutthat fifteen year run where at the outset
John Cala Perry helped make Kentucky basketballcool again, and he helped make it
seem larger than life again, whichit certainly felt like it was under Rick

(09:28):
Patino, and he built the brand, i think, to a large degree,
to being bigger than it already was, and it was already one of
the biggest brands in all of collegesports, one of the biggest brands in
all of sports. But there stillfeels something at least a little underwhelming about
Kentucky winning just one national championship underJohn Caliperry. Now, it's really hard

(09:52):
to win a national title, butrelative to the talent that he had,
relative to all the NBA first roundpicks and lottery picks, relative to you
know, just the overall bluster theand I use bluster endearingly because I've always
liked it. I think John CallaPerry's an interesting Character's a guy that we've

(10:15):
had on the show and have beenlucky enough to have on three different occasions.
But relative to the hype, relativeto the level of excitement that John
Kella Perry often created for that program. To have just one national title during
that stretch seems underwhelming, especially becausesuccess came so quickly, like that twenty

(10:37):
ten team with John Wall DeMarcus Cousinsremains one of my favorite UK teams of
all time, remains one of myfavorite college basketball teams I've watched as an
adult, and they go to theFinal four and eleven and they win the
whole thing with Anthony Davis in twentytwelve. If you would have told me
that night that twelve years later JohnCalipery would be lee and they will not

(11:01):
have won another national title, Iwould have said, I'll make that wager.
I'll make that wager against you.They'll win at least one more.
And obviously they came close in twentyfourteen with a team that during the regular
season sort of underachieved in twenty fifteenwhere they go thirty eight and zero and
losing the national semifinal to Wisconsin.If you would have said to me,

(11:22):
and I was at that Final fourin Indianapolis, when I walked out of
Lucas Oil Stadium that night, ifyou would have said to me nine years
later, John Calla Perry's gonna leaveand that will prove to be his last
Final four at the University of Kentucky. I would have said, you're out
of your mind, and yeah,they've come closed, they've made Elite eights.
It feels kind of underwhelming relative tothe instant success that Kentucky had,

(11:46):
relative to know how they won thewhole thing in twenty twelve, and you
know, what's happened over the lastcouple of years doesn't necessarily have to destroy
anybody's memories of those teams or makeanybody feel bad about coach Cal's legacy at
UK. But yeah, especially ifyou consider that during the Calipery run,

(12:07):
three different schools won multiple national titles. Connecticut can win its third. Villanova
won two during that run, Dukewon two during that run, including twenty
fifteen. That didn't seem like somethingwe would be entertaining twelve years ago,
when it felt like it was justgetting started, like it was really just
getting started. And yet here weare twelve years later and he leaves Lexington

(12:33):
with just one national championship. Thatdoesn't take away from what he did accomplish,
That doesn't take away from how hardit was to win that one title.
The I'll also say this in aday and age well before everybody was
building a new team every year.John Calipari did that. Sometimes it worked,
twenty thirteen, it did not,Sometimes it did. Twenty twelve,

(12:54):
that obviously did. I think itwas always a huge credit to him at
UK that with the election of talenthe would get for the most part,
for the most part, those teamswould always play really well together. It
always felt like he was really goodat getting everybody to buy into the team
concept. It always felt like hisbest teams hit a point in the season
where they took an extra step forwardand became all that more formidable as the

(13:16):
season came down the stretch. Buta lot of that went away post twenty
nineteen, and so it feels likeit's the appropriate time for a separation.
And what the University of Kentucky doesnext in relation to its basketball head coaching
position is beyond fascinating. I'll tellyou who I want to be their coach.

(13:37):
We'll do that coming up here injust a bit. Our phone numbers
are five point three, seven,four nine, fifteen thirty eight six six
seven oh two three seven seven six. Show preview video is available on Twitter,
slash x. Thanks to our friendsat Emory Federal Credit Union. Emory
Federal Credit Union, By the way, is the eclipse over? Emory Federal

(13:58):
Credit Union, your credit union withheart since nineteen thirty nine. Go to
EMORYFCU dot org. The eclipse isover. It's now the sun is back
out, the shadows have reemerged.It's did the temperature the temperature I'm sure
dropped. It's now getting warmer.So is the event over? That's it?
Okay, we almost It's not totallyover, but it's basically over,

(14:22):
is what we're saying. We're onthe back end of the eclipse right now.
All right, Well, so thereyou go. I was really exciting.
It is seventeen minutes after three o'clock. We're broadcasting from Twin Peaks in
Westchester and here till six o'clock.Come on out, have a beer,
get something to eat, and watchme do a radio show on ESPN fifteen
thirty, Cincinnati Sports Station, Cincinnati'sESPN. It's twenty three minutes after three

(14:46):
o'clock. This is ESPN fifteen thirtybroadcasting today from a Twin Peaks in Westchestern
during the football season. We'll beback for the Tony and Mo Football show
both here and at the Florence locationevery single Monday, starting in the Monday
after the Bengals first game, orI guess that the Bengals play on Monday
night, the Tuesday after the firstgame. We love coming here right off

(15:09):
I seventy five, I think isthe eclipse now over? The eclipse says
it's coming gone, and it's nowofficially over. Is it still happening like
elsewhere? Like if you keep goingnorth to the northeast, right, Yeah,
so it sort of curves like startsin the southwest and goes northeast.
And that's so in northern Ohio they'reenjoying the eclipse right now, which we

(15:31):
just had a chance to enjoy hereas eclipse as eclipses go, was that
considered a good one? Wasn't thatcloudy? Right? Folks were worried there
was gonna be too much cloud cover? Was pretty clear out today and a
pretty cool astronomical phenomenon that correct me? If I'm wrong, unless I live
to be about four hundred years old, I will never experience again. Correct,

(15:52):
Yeah, that's how it works,all right. Well, so a
once in a lifetime event here atTwin Peaks and now everybody trickling back inside
to enjoy cold beverage. I gotthe meatball skill at which you absolutely cannot
beat. Joe da Leone. We'regetting in a draft season NFL draft analyst
for the Believe Network. Joe wasoriginally going to be on our show on

(16:15):
Friday, and then we found outthat I was off, and I actually
did find out why I was off, But I appreciate Chad Brundle filling in.
Joe was nice enough to rearrange hisschedule and instead of joining us on
Friday, he is going to joinus today and we are looking forward to
that. Also. Matt Jones KentuckySports Radio coming up at four oh five
to talk about John Caliperi leaving UKand what's next for a Big Blue Nation

(16:38):
and Wildcats basketball. We talked abouttj Antone, and you know, to
me, that's what hovered over theaftermath of the loss itself, which was,
you know, frustrating on its ownmerit. Tj Antone is a guy
who's had multiple Tommy John surgeries,He's had setbacks, he gets back on

(17:00):
the mount. He's just a guy, and you know, you root for
everybody who's injured to be able tocome back and show what they can do.
You root for players to get somesort of payoff from the rehab process,
and then there are just certain guysthat just pull for a little bit
more, And for me at least, Tjntne is one of those guys.

(17:21):
He has talked with a great amountof transparency about the difficulty in coming back
from multiple Tommy John surgeries and howhard it's been, and the number of
times that he and his wife havetalked about the possibility of baseball in his
life being a thing of the past. Maybe it's a temporary thing, maybe
it's the sort of thing that couldend his season or end his career.

(17:42):
I don't know. I do knowthat you know, we talked about TJ
last week and how great it wasto see him back on the mound,
and how he struck out Bryce Harperin that game last week to end that
thrilling women in Philadelphia, and howawesome that moment was not just for the
team but for him, and howyou just you hope he can establish a

(18:03):
pattern of health enough to the degreethat if he does, then you start
to think about what sort of factorhe may or may not be in the
bullpen. Unfortunately, it just feelslike that's never going to happen. And
that is a bit of a pessimisticway of looking at things, but I
think that's kind of where we are, where you just look at the guy

(18:26):
and through no lack of effort,through no lack of trying, through no
lack of hard work, it justbut it feels like he's just going to
be the kind of guy that,even if he resumes his big league career,
even if he's back on the moundthis week, that every time he
goes into his motion, you're goingto fear that something bad is about to
happen. We're doing that with tjAntone. We were doing that with tj

(18:48):
Antne yesterday, and it sucks forhim. It stinks for the team though,
because I've said often I think thisteam's bullpen can be an asset,
and I still think it can evenin the absence of of tj Antone.
But you started to think about whatthis pen could be like if he does
establish a pattern of health, andwhat he can mean from maybe bridging the
gap to Alexis Diaz, what hecan mean maybe in the eighth inning,

(19:11):
what he could give David Bell,which is just another good, reliable option.
We talked on this show a lotlast week about Ellie Dela Cruz.
Ellie Dela Cruz, we saw morestrikeouts this weekend, We saw more errors
this weekend. We saw him dropa ball at second base on a throw

(19:34):
down to second base that you franklysimply cannot drop. The strikeout numbers continued
to frustrate he does. He hadhis hitting streak broken yesterday and he did
walk, but you could basically counton him to strike out two times a
game. And so, you know, we talked a lot about Ellie from

(19:55):
a from the standpoint of him,you know, having some lapses in the
field against the Phillies lass week,and a lot of folks use that as
a reason to make the argument thatEllie is not going to amount to what
a lot of people think he can. I think you can do both things
simultaneously. I think you can lookat Elie and be frustrated, be frustrated
by certain at bats like the oneon Friday, seventh inning, bases loaded,

(20:21):
he falls behind oh and two andyou just kind of know how the
at bat is going to end,which unfortunately ended with him taking strike three.
There are moments like that that areexceptionally frustrating and could keep this team
from winning ball games as it didon Friday, as it did in Philadelphia

(20:42):
last week, while still being hopefulthat the moment arrives where the light bulb
comes on with Ellie de la Cruz. What I can't help but wonder is
what would his numbers look like ifhe swung more often early in the count.
Ellie has had a seven played appearancesthis year where the count has gotten

(21:03):
to two. He has struck outin ten of those plate appearances. He
does not have a hit in anyof those plate appearances of the eleven when
he has swung at the first pitch, which a lot of people have talked
about, well, we want himto develop more patients. I'm kind of
wondering, and far be it fromme to tell a guy like Ellie how
he should hit. I kind ofwonder if maybe things should go in the

(21:26):
other direction, where instead of pleadingfor patients, you're now looking for him
to be a little bit more aggressive, especially as pitchers are starting him with
strikes. And I think we've seenthat a lot this year, where he
is starting in the whole oh tooneh and two because he's taking strikes in

(21:48):
his big league career. On theoccasions where he has swung the bat early
in the count, his numbers haveactually been quite good. We'll dive into
the specifics coming up here in justa bit. But I can't help as
I watch him, I can't helpbut wonder, for as much as we've
talked about wanting him to be morepatient, if now he's being a little

(22:08):
bit too patient at the plate andthat's putting him at a distinctive disadvantage,
especially considering the fact that he doesn'tlook like he knows how to hit with
two strikes. If you don't knowhow to hit with two strikes, it
would seem to me to be theeasiest way to avoid that is to not
have two strikes on you, Andso the way you do that is to
swing at strikes earlier in the count. We'll spend more time on that coming

(22:30):
up here in just a bit.Joe Dalleone on the NFL Draft in just
about fifteen minutes. We're broadcasting todayfrom a Twin Peaks in Westchester. We're
here till six o'clock tonight on ESPNfifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station at E's Sports
Station ESPN fifteen thirty. Sports headlinesare a service of Kelsey Chevrolily, home

(22:52):
of lifetime power train and protection andguarantee credit approval from their family to yours
for life, kelseyeshev dot Com,Reds and Brewers Tonight first to four at
GABP Graham Ashcraft and Aaron ashbyar Tonight'sPitchers six forty Tonight seven hundred wlwtj Antne
does go on the injured list withwhat they're calling elbow inflammation. Righty Carson

(23:14):
Spyers up from tripa A Louisville.Also, according to our friend Charlie Goldsmith
of since i dot com on Twitter, he writes that Jonathan India just left
pregame warmups with a team trainer.He was in pain. He followed this
up with and I'm reading from Charliehere. I didn't see it, but
he was potentially hit by a ballfrom the cage. He was standing very

(23:36):
far to the side and foul territoryout of the way he was hopping.
Afterward, they stopped batting practice.So something worth paying attention to Red's and
Brewers tonight. This is the partof the Sports Headlines segment where I read
you the starting lineup. Jonathan Indiais in at dhing leading off. Remember
got hit by a ball yesterday.Steers in left, Cees at first,

(23:56):
Candelario at third, Fairchild in center. Ellie is playing shortstop and batting six.
Stevenson behind the plate, Benson andEspinal your second basement and batting ninth.
According to a whole bunch of mediareports, Kentucky head coach John Caliperry
is finalizing a deal to become thenew head coach at the University of Arkansas.

(24:17):
Also, Aaron Bradshaw has hit thetransfer portal. NCAA title game tonight
Perdue and Yukon tip off at nineto twenty. The game live on Fox
Sports thirteen sixty, which means tonightwe get the annual gripes about the game
being on too late, gripes thatI understand, but I kind of like

(24:37):
the idea. Red's play at sixforty home, watch the ballgame, and
then settle in watch some hoops.Pretty good sports night, Pretty good sports
night, and you could watch bothhere at twin Peaks. We are looking
forward to that. On the JohnCaliperry thing, Matt Jones is going to
join us at four h five.I look, I'm not a Kentucky fan.
I think college basketball is more fun, especially in this area, when

(25:02):
Kentucky is really good. And youknow, let's be honest, it's not
like they were bad this year.Actually one of the most fun teams in
the country to watch this season.It's not like twenty twenty one being an
exception that they've been awful. Theyjust haven't had tournament success and the accumulation
of talent that John Calla Perry broughtto Lexington has not added up to a
Final Four appearance since twenty fifteen.But I think college basketball as a whole

(25:26):
is more fun when Kentucky is reallygood. I think college basketball in this
area is more fun to talk aboutwhen Kentucky is really good. And I
think it's at its most fun whenKentucky is really good and there's a big
time personality leading the program, Whichis why my guess is this won't happen.

(25:49):
My guess is, whoever the nexthead coach in Lexington is is not
does not come from the the namesthat got thrown out instantly last night.
Although I do think Natoates is agreat coach. I don't know if they
want to pay the eighteen million dollarbyo, but if I had my way,
it'd be Dan Hurley. Big personality, interesting guy, you know,

(26:12):
another East Coast dude which Kentucky hashad success with. Obvious winner, a
guy who's got some swagger about him, a guy who's gonna say stuff that
moves the meter, a guy whosesideline demeanor always moves the meter. Like
that's what I want. I thinkcollege basketball is better when UK is really
good and when it's being led bysomebody who really moves the meter. Tubby

(26:37):
Smith was a great coach, Hallof Fame coach. When's the last time
Tubby Smith said anything remotely interesting?Nothing against the guy, gentleman, Hall
of Famer, National champion. Ithink the sport is more fun when Kentucky's
brash and when it feels bigger thanthe sport. It hasn't in recent years.
It could with John Caliperry, itdid at the height of John Calipari,

(27:00):
and it definitely could with Dan Hurley. So me, that's what I'm
rooting for. Is it realistic?Probably not. If I'm Dan Hurley,
I go, dude, I prettygood spot here in stores, Connecticut,
but I don't know man it isKentucky. We will see more on that
in a bit. Matt Jones KentuckySports Radio is going to join us at

(27:21):
four h five. Let's switch gears. The NFL Draft is approaching. I
have questions. Joe Dale, Imfrom the Belief Network has answers. He
joins us next four o'clock ESPN fifteenthirty on Moeger. Matt Jones Kentucky Sports
Radio joins us in twenty minutes.We'll get to the Reds as well and
try to get an update on whatCharlie Goldsmith tweeted about Jonathan India is.

(27:44):
The Reds gets set to play theBrewers tonight. The NFL Draft is approaching,
and the Bengals sit in kind ofa weird position relative to where they've
been in recent years, where wehave either been talking about them drafting at
the end of round one or atthe beginning of round one. This year
the eight teenth overall pick. JoeDalleona has been on this show before.
He is the host of the firstteam on the Believe Network, which,

(28:06):
by the way, I've seen onValley Sports. He is a former Rhode
Island long snapper and every Year joinedus to talk about the draft thanks to
our friends at the Belief Network.Joe, it's good to have you on
Happy draft season. How are you. I'm doing great. It's crazy how
close for getting It feels like thiscycle started a week ago. But as

(28:27):
you mentioned, we're getting really close. It's time to start figuring out who
these picks are going to be.All right, So, in an ideal
world, as a Bengals fan withthe eighteenth pick, knowing the positions they
need to address, who do Iwant? I think right now there's two
home run players that would be perfectselections for the Bengals. The two that

(28:52):
stand the most out to me iseither Brock Bowers, the Georgia tight end,
or a Marius Men's the offensive tacklealso from Georgia, trying to add
to the receiving offensive weapon arsenal forJoe Burrow. I think that Brock Bauers
not only provides them with such adangerous threat up the middle, a really
good route runner or a tremendous athlete, he's also shown huge steps forward of

(29:15):
becoming a better blocker, and he'sgot really really just nasty intent that I
think is going to improve as hegets more acclimated to the game. I
truly believe in a couple of years, assuming that he doesn't deal with any
injury issues, he could be themost well rounded height end in the NFL,
which would be huge for the Bengalsoffense. And then outside of that,

(29:36):
Amarius min who is not a superexperienced offensive tackle, but one that
has a ridiculously high feeling because heis an unbelievable athlete. There's so many
pictures of him just walking around atthe NFL combine and you can see that
he is almost from another planet,how big and well put together he is.
He is so natural at the positiondespite only playing a very small sample

(29:57):
size of games. And I thinkbecause he's so raw and there's so much
work that could be done, andhow much improving he could do and get
even better than he already is rightnow, you could put him at either
off with the tackle spots, dependingon how the future of that position ends
up moving forward. All right,I'm going to ask you about the offensive
tackle position. Let me swing itback to brock Bowers, because as you

(30:18):
were outlining why he would make sense, I could see folks nodding along.
At the same time, I couldalso hear people going, look, they
could have drafted a tight end lastyear, they didn't. It was a
historically great class. The entire draftcame and went, they didn't take one,
So why are they going to takeone in round one this year?
What would you say to that?Well, my argument would be that there

(30:38):
was no brock Bowers available for themto take. And in this conversation,
might you know he might be awaste of time because right he's there's a
very good shot that he might notbe on the board. There's a really
good chance. I think the Jetsare one of the first teams that are
really going to run to the podiumif he's if he's still available. But
to answer your question, if he'sstill there at eighteen, that is a

(31:00):
guy that you don't pass up on. That is a rare tight end prospect
that is unlike one that we haven'tseen in a very good, very very
long time. Dulkin king Caid wasa good prospect, he was a good
athlete. Michael Mayer was a strongand well rounded player. That's very high
floor. And then we saw allthese high impact rookies like Sam Laporta,

(31:21):
and they obviously passed up on thoseguys, but I think that brock Bauer's
early impact would be far more significant, and then his long term future in
the NFL is that of potentially beingan All Pro for many years to come.
All Right, So if I makethe argument they should take brock Bauers,
and somebody says, well, yeah, they need a tackle though,
Okay, we're gonna take one onFriday. Give me one or two names

(31:42):
that I should I should use tomake the argument that they could wake to
Friday to take a tackle. Yeah, this tackle class is really deep,
and I think on Day two there'sgonna be a ton of guys that were
we're talking about as quality starting tackles. And I think that as your men
here, this might be better forthe Bengals after they made the free agency
investment in Trent Brown at the tackleposition to them. But I really like

(32:07):
Kingsley so Mattea from BYU. Hetested very well at the NFL Combine.
He moves really easily. He's gotall the physical requisite traits that you look
for, but needs a little bitmore developing. I also think that Tyler
Guyton, a former tight end whotransferred from tsu to Oklahoma is still filling
out his frame, but we sawat the Senior Bowl that if he's on
and he has his best reps,he can be a lockdown off at the

(32:30):
tackle prospect and then I think amore higher floor guy. Roger Rosengarden from
Washington, who played opposite of troyceo'tanu, is just super steady. I
don't think that he's necessarily going toget to the same level of some of
these other guys that we're talking abouttoday, but his steadiness makes him somebody
who can contribute early and then atthe same time if they want to bump

(32:52):
him into guard, if they wantto lock him in at right tackle in
a year or so. He's somebodywho has the range, the mobility,
all all the things that you lookfor to just be a quality starting guard
or tackle in the NFL. Andthat's what the Bengals reader right now need
Right now, they need steadiness,they need consistency, and I think that
rosen Garden could be one of thoseguys. Joe Dalleiona is with this Believe

(33:13):
Network NFL draft analyst. By theway, he is on Twitter slash x
at Joe dal leone. They needhelp on the interior of the defensive line.
How deep is this class at thatspot. Well, that's another position
group too that they're going to benefitfrom. This draft class having a ridiculous
grouping of early impact players at theinterior defensive line position. If they choose

(33:38):
not to maybe go the route ofJorjehon Newton in the first round, that's
another guy that could be on theradar. There are guys like Michael Hall
Junior from Ohio State that are reallydisruptive inchurior players. I also really like
McKinley Jackson from Texas A and msomewhere on Day two. He is a
hal to move. He is aso so explosive in his first step and

(33:59):
coming off the football. I alsoreally like guys like Dwayne Carter from Duke
and Byron Murphy from Texas. Bothare just really scout physical players. This
list could go on and on.There are just so many players on Day
two that could get drafted by anyteam, and especially the Bengals that turn
out to be either really good startingdefensive tackles or just really good rotational players

(34:21):
if they didn't want to wait untilDay three. And some of those Day
three names to pay attention to Ilike Mason Smith from LSU, Keith Randolph
from Illinois has a really tall,long frame. And then also to add
to that, somebody like Gabe Hall, who dominated the Senior Bowl out of
Baylor, is still putting things together. Wasn't super consistent this past year,
but if you can get him toplay well, he can be super dominant

(34:43):
as a starter or as a rotationaldefensive tackle. I think most of us
would be unsurprised if the Bengals tooka wide receiver. Not so much on
Thursday, but on Friday. Right, Tyler Boyd's no longer here. I
think T Higgins is going to playfor the team in two thousand, two
twenty four, but it doesn't appearthat he's in their long term plans.
And so you're looking for somebody inthe short term that could help out with

(35:06):
what they have and then replace Twho's going to leave. I know they
took a couple of wide receivers lastyear, but if I'm looking at that
position in Cincinnati on day two,give me some names. Yeah, this
is another I mean, it seemslike we're you know, we're talking all
these team needs perfect for the Bengalsand what they're looking for, and you
mentioned the fact that you're moving onlikely from T Higgins. I look at

(35:28):
somebody with a similar frame in XavierLaguette, who's just a big, physical,
strong guy, kind of similar toDK Metcalf but not fully there.
With his built up frame and thenhis long speed of running in the four
threes. He had a huge,massive improvement this year and I think that
he's only going to continue to getbetter. And then again, if they're
looking for more of a jump ballguy, Keon Coleman from Florida State has

(35:52):
this box out, power forward typeof a frame that I think is just
perfect in the back end of theend zone, throwing a fade or trying
to take up a first down,just throwing the ball to the sideline.
He's gonna come down with that football. If they're looking a little bit further
and they're looking for somebody who's alittle bit more of a spark plug,
I really like Jermaine Burton from Alabama, and then Javon Baker from UCF,

(36:13):
another smaller guy that's got good longspeed. There's just so many options this
year based on what the Bengals aretrying to do. If they're looking for
a bigger body, there's plenty ofoptions. And then if they're looking for
more of a slot type, aspace killer, whatever it might be.
There is so much diversity in thisreceiver class that is going to set them
up for figuring out the future ofthe position. Maybe even to the point

(36:35):
where you take one in the thirdround and then you come back around in
the seventh and take somebody else andyou could end up with two quality contributors
to your receiving group. Awesome insight. First of all, I know we
originally had you for Friday and wehad to move some stuff around, So
I appreciate your flexibility and willingness towork with us. As always, I'll
be listening and watching, and afterthe draft, I will be seeking your

(36:58):
opinion on what the Bengals did.Man. Thanks how much. Thanks,
of course, thanks for having JoeDalleone believe network NFL Draft analyst does a
terrific job. The news from aGABP regarding tj Antone is not good.
David Bell told reporters just a fewminutes ago that he is going to have

(37:20):
surgery on Friday. The tendon inhis elbow is torn. From the bone
and there is partial ligament tear,a partial ligament tear in his elbow,
so a tj Antone's twenty twenty threewould appear to be over. That is,
it sucks for the Reds and youdon't root for any player to get

(37:44):
hurt, and you, I thinkif you're a human being, you feel
sad whenever anybody deals with any sortof injuries, especially somebody who's just had
the hardest time staying healthy. Thishits really hard, man. I just
I like tj Antone a lot.We've had him on the show talking about

(38:05):
his roadback to recovery and his roadback to the mound and all the different
obstacles that he has had to overcome. For this to be the latest chapter
in what unfortunately has been a storyfilled with injuries and setbacks is really hard
to take. So you'll hear fromDavid Bell in just a bit, and

(38:27):
we'll have more as the week unfolds. But anyway, tj Antone's going to
have surgery on Friday. This procedureis likely to end his twenty twenty three
season. Plus Matt Jones is goingto join HISS Kentucky Sports Radio. I'm
sure he has been swamped today onJohn Calla Perry. He'll join us in
eight minutes. We're at Twin Peaksin Westchester. It's three minutes till four
o'clock on ESPN fifteen thirty, CincinnatiSports Station. This report is sponsored by

(38:53):
Staples Stories, your home for UKbasketball ESPN fifteen Kentucky Basketball lives here tarn
with the timely liner. There yougo, it's three minutes after four ESPN
fifteen thirty. Moeger, thank youso much for joining us. We're at
Twin Peaks in Westchester, hanging outtill six o'clock. Great place to post

(39:15):
up for happy hour, Red's gametonight. National Title game tonight as well.
The National title game in this areahas taken a back seat to the
story unfolding at the University of Kentucky, where it looks like John Caliperry is
on his way out taking the gigat the University of Arkansas. Since I
spent about twenty minutes listening to hisTwitter space last night, I cannot imagine

(39:39):
how busy Matt Jones from Kentucky SportsRadio has been. So we reached out
nice enough to join us. I'msure he has been swamped. It is
always good to have you, matit has been a while. How are
you anything for you? My friend? And you know, anyone at iHeartMedia
in Cincinnati will my visit except BillCunningham everybody else though, I me in

(40:05):
you just let me know when youneed me. Well, it has it
has felt over it the last weekand a half. It's been like,
you know, watching parents fight.You and Willie at each other's throat.
So you know, I don't knowwhose side to take. Oh. I
didn't know who he was until Iheard him on the UH on the opening
day and he was like, hey, Jack Raley, and I just loved

(40:27):
it. I was like, whois that guy? This was awesome?
So I guess I made him mad. But that's okay, You'll be fine.
I hear he does a good job. So he does. And I've
made him mad before as well,so for most of the last fifteen years.
At any point, if I lookat my phone and I see John
Caliperi is leaving the University of Kentuckyto take a job in the SEC,

(40:49):
well that's jarring shocking news. Lastnight though, when I saw this,
I was surprised, but I wasn'tstunned. Should I have been. I'm
only surprised that he's going to Fayetteville, Arkansas, right, Like, I'm
not surprised he's leaving Kentucky. Ithink he was kind of looking and there
are some reports now that he waslooking, Ohio State being one of the

(41:10):
schools he looked at. But I'msurprised he's going to Fayetteville, Arkansas.
I'm surprised he's gonna have to walkinto Rupperena next year. That's surprising to
me. I mean that, like, like that's gonna be wild. But
the relationship had essentially reached a conclusionwhere I think it was best for all

(41:31):
parties to separate. So in thatrespect, I'm not shocked and think it
was probably the right call. Andit feels like that's that's the consensus,
right like it was time and Okay, So where he goes is maybe interesting
and maybe surprising, and we candebate how well he's gonna do there,
and it's certainly gonna be gonna bean interesting dynamic when he when he walks

(41:52):
into rapp Arena. But just asan outsider, I looked at this when
they lost to Oakland and said,this is this is about as gone,
is about as far as it cango. It's time for all parties involved.
I feel like I feel like that'sthe consensus, and it seems like
you would agree. Well, let'sjust do some facts. Let's start the

(42:12):
year after COVID twenty twenty twenty one, Kentucky is nine to sixteen, worst
record in school history. Next yearthey end up losing in the first round
to Saint Peter's. Next year theylose ten games and end up losing in
the second round to Kansas State,and then this year losing the first round
to Oakland. So in the lastfour years, he said the worst regular

(42:35):
season ever and probably the two worstNCAA tournament loss is ever. And then
throw in mo In those four seasonshe had not one, not to but
twelve NBA players on the roster andstill made that happen. At some point,
you just have to say, wecan't keep doing this, right,
Like, I mean, this isan amazing accomplishment. But he has had

(42:59):
literally assuming Reed Shepherd, Rob Dillingham, and Antonio Reeves playing the NBA,
which I do. He has hadfifty NBA players in fourteen years, fifty
and they've had one title. Infifty NBA players, it's crazy. So
when you look at the overall run, I said this on social media last

(43:22):
night. If the night they beatKansas twelve years ago, you would have
told me he'd be leaving the Universityof Kentucky in a dozen years and that
would be the most recent title.I would have said, there's no way,
there's no way that's the case.And so how do you summarize the
era where you know, the firstseven or eight years, it was a
juggernaut. It was awesome, itwas awesome to watch Kentucky basketball was cool

(43:45):
again. Around every corner, therewas something cool happening. They play for
national titles, they're in the finalfour. They have these extraordinarily fun,
engaging players that realize a huge amountof team success. And then the last
seven or eight years, with theexception of twenty one, they haven't been
awful, but they haven't been anywhereclose to what they were the first half
of that run. So how doyou encapsulate the last fifteen years twenty ten

(44:08):
to twenty seventeen an A to anA plus, twenty eighteen to twenty twenty
four A C to a C minus. So I think the CALIPERI years are
a solid b like you won atitle, you went to four final fours.
But to be quite frank with you, if you look at Kentucky history,

(44:30):
the average is winning a title.All right. They've had five different
coaches win a title. So that'swhat you do here if you're a good
coach. So I think I thinkhis first eight years here amazing as good
a run as we've seen in collegebasketball, evenough it was just one title.
When you just consider the consistency,it was a to an A plus.

(44:53):
But the back half was bad,and the problem was I'm not sure
it was gonna get better. Thatwas the thing that I think made people
believe this needed to be a change. There was no notion of how this
was gonna get better. He wasbringing the exact same staff back, he
was gonna he had seven freshmen comingin yet next year, so he's gonna

(45:14):
try to win with freshmen again.And this year's class was not as good
as last year's class. So whyin the world would you have been excited
that it was gonna work. It'sprobably best for all parties, Yeah,
felt that way. Matt Jones,Kentucky Sports Radio. I watched the sit
down, the interview he did sittingnext to Mitch Bartenhart and somebody it might
have been you on your show,made the comparison to two people who are

(45:37):
sitting in couple's therapy who look likethey just don't want to be with each
other. Why did things turn sosour in the relationship between those two.
Well, I'm not sure they evergot along really well, but basically Cal
became, in my opinion, sortof two stuck in his ways, a
little too big for his breeches,and just kind of like he decided he

(46:00):
need anybody, and when he didthat, he turned a lot of folks
off, including the administration. ButI here's what I harken it to,
and this is I think the analogy. This is a couple, the UK
fan base, administration, just UKbasketball and Cal are like a married couple
who's set first seven or eight yearswas like the hottest marriage in the world.

(46:22):
And then you have kids and youlove each other and everything's going great.
And then you wake up after fifteenyears and you go, this isn't
work it anymore. We don't reallylove each other anymore. And then you
think, all right, well,let's try to stay together for the kids,
and then you just realize you can. So now they both will go
on their own, and I thinkwhat will happen is, just like in

(46:43):
a couple, both of them willgo get in the best chair of their
lives, both of them will gotry to meet somebody else, and we'll
see, like, we'll see whowins. But it wasn't gonna work together.
It just wasn't. And I thinka lot of the doom and gloom
around here was there was there's asense of inevitability. This isn't gonna work,
and yet we're still stuck in it. And now Arkansas kind of throws

(47:07):
a life wrapped out and actually givesKentucky and cal a chance to have a
second life, whereas before I'm notsure it looked like they could. Yeah.
Oh, but so everybody's thrown outideas for who should replace him on
the list of realistic candidates, whomakes the most sense. So let's just

(47:28):
assume that I think the two guysthat Mitch would be the most interest in
won't come, which is Jay Wrightand Billy Donne. Okay, so let's
assume they don't come. Then Ithink there are three guys. One is
Danny Hurley. I think it's awfulhard to get him the league, but
he makes half what he makes atKentucky, so I think they'll at least
talk to it, and then Ithink the most likely scenario is one of

(47:52):
these two people becomes Kentucky's coach,either Natos at Alabama or Scott Drew Att
Bayley. I think one of thosetwo guys probably becomes Kentucky's coach. If
you made me bet, if youcould pick, who do you want it
to be? I think Scott Drewis the safer choice in the sense of
I don't think he would fail.He is a great recruiter, a good

(48:15):
coach. I don't know that there'sever been a human being who did a
better rebuilding job than what he didin Baylor. They were the worst team
in the country coming off a murderinvestigation, and he took them to a
national championship. But I actually mightstill pick Natoates because I think he's upside.
I mean, Natos, Mo you'vebeen around. Natos has the personality

(48:37):
of it right, like there's away you have to be here. Rick
Patino was like that. John calfhere, he was like that and Natoates
has that same sort of cocky thingthat I think Kentucky basketball works. I
think either of those guys would dowell. I think either of those guys
would be better bets long term thancal Is because Cal's old. But I

(49:00):
would pick nadouts. But I thinkeither of Mark. All Right, I
know you're swamped. Cannot thank youenough. We'll do it again, man,
I appreciate it. Yeah, youknow, very very That's it's our
guy. Matt Jones, Kentucky SportsRadio, the absolute best. Listen to
those guys this this morning was athree hour show, and I went,

(49:21):
I had never been into Twitter spacebefore and I listened to to MATC do
one last night, I think inthe middle of while he was watching WrestleMania
or something, so awesome stuff andperspective and it did it just it felt
like it was his time. Butman, it's really hard to say that
a guy who you know took histeam to a national championship, another national

(49:42):
championship game had him in the finalfour. That run of twenty ten through
twenty fifteen was incredible, But ifyou look at the fifteen year stretch,
three programs won national titles. Meanwhile, he's accumulating all this NBA talent,
and like we were doing the OhioState thing when Chris Holtman got let go
and folks were wondering about Sean Miller, and my take at the time was

(50:06):
like, dude, I'd throw it, as we say, a Brins truck
at Natos. I would still dothat. I do believe Dan Hurley is
the most interesting because of where he'scoming from, his personality, how much
he's won, But Natos is froma personality perspective. I agree with what
Matt said very similar in that regardbig time, edgy, polarizing, can

(50:28):
move the meter, cocky like allthose things have applied to other head coaches
that have connected immensely well with thefan base and have obviously won a fair
amount as well. Quarter after four. Meanwhile, unfortunately, the news involving
tj Antone not great. I willadmit, like there's a baseball part of

(50:52):
this. You know you were hopingtj Antone, We were all hoping tj
Antone could add to the Reds bullpen. And maybe he's the eighth inning guy
or I just I'm crushed for him, and I there are certain athletes who
just I don't know. Man.I've met TJ antone twice in my life
and we've had him on the show. Just struck has always struck me as
a really easy guy to root for. And for him to have to go

(51:16):
through this again another surgery is ithurts and I had a really bad feeling.
I was at the ballpark yesterday.He throws one pitch, he comes
off the mound, Here comes DavidBell, here comes the training staff,
and you just feared the worst.And I'm I'm gutted for TJ and Tone

(51:40):
and you look, there are alot of folks for whom these guys,
you know, we don't want tohumanize them, and they make a lot
of money. Who cares it?You want to give people a chance to
be everything they can and and TJ'sbody has just not let him do that
on a consistent basis. And toput it in very blunt terms, it's
it is sixteen minutes after four o'clock. Our phone numbers are five one,

(52:04):
three, seven, four nine,fifteen thirty and eight six six seven h
two three seven seven six. We'llhear from David Bell, the Reds manager,
on TJ. Anton As we getsaid for tonight's game, Reds and
Brewers coming up at GABP. We'rebroadcasting this afternoon from Twin Peaks in Westchester.
By the way, now that theeclipse is coming gone, it is
gorgeous outside. Uh and we're we'repseudo outs like we're well, we're not

(52:29):
really outside, but we can lookoutside. It is spectacular outside, spectacular
inside here at Twin Peaks. We'rehere till six on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati
Sports Station Cincinnati in fifteen thirty CincinnatiSports Station twenty one. After four,

(52:49):
this is ESPN fifteen thirty mo Ag'rebroadcasting from Twin Peaks in Westchester. We
are here until six o'clock. Bythe way, you know we U We
broadcast the Tony and mofook All Showat Twin Peaks on Mondays during the season,
and we do basically half the showsat this location and then we do
half the shows at the Florence location. We are going to be broadcasting from

(53:13):
the Florence location on the Friday ofthe of the NFL Draft, which is
the twenty I shouldn't know this,the twenty sixth, Friday, April the
twenty sixth, Is that correct?Is that what it is. What's today's
date? The eighth? Okay,so today? Yeah, so Friday would
have been the fifth, so thatis the twenty sixth. So we're gonna
be at Florence on the Friday ofthe draft, which is always a fun

(53:34):
show because we have one to talkabout look ahead rounds two and three.
So that'll be at the Florence twinPeaks and we're looking forward to that.
Let's go ahead and hit this audio. This is thanks to our friend Olivia
Ray at Channel five. This isDavid Bell chatting with reporters a short while
ago and talking about TJ Antone andhis injury situation. Please obviously gonna have

(54:00):
the surgery and that will be theplan that he's playing. Going to have
the surgery doctor prem check on Friday, and yeah, beyond that after the
US you know what happens after that. Probably the best com of TJ.
But he sounded really positive and encouragedabout you know, what's what's in the

(54:23):
future and coming back. So let'sput the details on that. I think
he can. He needs some time, so he's not gonna be here today,
He's gonna be here tomorrow. You'retechnically in her daily it's hard for
you. I would. I don'tknow that for sure. I think that,
yeah, if I had to guess, but I I don't. Technically,

(54:44):
I don't know, all right.David Bell somewhere in the vicinity of
a microphone talking about tj Antone andanother surgery being needed again. He is
dealing with a tendon torn from thebone and a ligament tear in his pitching

(55:06):
elbow surgery on Friday. That isawful news. For what it's worth.
Carson spires up from a Triple ALouisville to take his place on the roster.
A couple of other things we toldyou before. Our friend Charlie Goldsmith
tweeted out that Jonathan India was ina fair amount of pain after something happened
during batting practice. He was hitby a ball. It was hit somewhere

(55:29):
in the leg. He appears tobe fine. He's taking batting practice,
So Jonathan India is good to go. Also, Nick Lidolo is going to
make his Red's debut on Saturday,so that's certainly some good news. But
the headline story tj Antone surgery onFriday, and who knows when and if
we will see him on a bigleague mound again. And I keep harping

(55:52):
on this, there are certain guysyou just you know, he came out
of that game last September and yourheart just bled for him, and you
know, it's it's I know it'shard for a lot of fans to relate
to, but it was hard seeingthat last September. Was hard seeing that
yesterday, and difficult to read thenews today and hear David Bell talk about
tj Antone needing a pretty significant surgeryon Friday. Over the weekend we had

(56:15):
some good Hunter Green talked about watchingFrankie montas pitch and he threw the ball
pretty well on Friday. We sawon Saturday what makes the Reds such a
difficult team to beat. How theycan nickel and dime you, How they
can beat you with speed, Theycan beat you with ingenuity on the base

(56:38):
pass, stealing home. They canbeat you by making you do things on
defense you don't want to do,by forcing the issue by being aggressive,
and then they can get the bigblast, which obviously they did from Spencer
Steer yesterday. They were just sortof shut down. We've talked a lot
about Ellie Taylor Cruz. It isinteresting if you look at the number.

(57:00):
I brought this up before. WhenEllie got to the big leagues, the
word was, well, they're gonnahave to teach him to be more patient
at the plate. They're gonna haveto he's got he can't be such a
free swinger. And we have seenthis year some examples of him showing a
little bit more patience at the plate, and at times I feel like a

(57:22):
little bit too much. The atbat on Friday, when he struck out
with the bases loaded, he tooktwo strikes to fall in the hole zho
and two. And I just can'thelp but wonder if, in an effort
to be a little bit more patient, that he is now becoming too patient

(57:49):
where been pictures are saying, youknow, we hate to make the comparison.
We saw this a little bit withJoey Vado in the mid twenty tens,
where pitchers knew he wasn't gonna swing, so let's just go ahead and
get ahead of strike. Now,Joey Vado was a terrific two strike hitter.
Ellie de la Cruz is not andand understanding the odds are significantly more

(58:10):
against you than they are if youdon't start oh and two. But Ellie
Dela Cruz on an o two countis for his career, and I'm just
using one basic metric here, aone sixty seven hitter after oh and two,
which means the count gets to ohand two and he doesn't get a

(58:34):
hit, or get on base orend the at bat with an out on
oh and two. After oh andtwo, he's batting a buck fifty.
He has never hit a home runin a played appearance where the count has
gotten to oh and two and again, like by and large, hitters are
going to be less good, lessproductive the further behind they are. Elie

(58:55):
Dela Cruz is far from the onlyhitter that has a hard time swinging the
bat and then being productive after fallingbehind h to two. But at the
same time, when he swings atthe first pitch throughout his big league career,
going back to last year, alimited sample size when he swings at
the first pitches ops is twelve hundreduh, he's batting four twenty two.

(59:19):
When he swings at a one tooh pitch, he's batting four to twelve.
So I this is a very rudimentary, admittedly probably short sighted way of
looking at things, the constant drillinginto his head to be patient. Do
we undo that by telling him,you know what, go up there and

(59:43):
hack a little bit more early inthe count, especially if pitchers are going
to continue to start you with strikes. And again the the at bat on
Friday night, when he came upwith the bases loaded, to me,
as soon as he fell behind ohand two, you kind of knew how
it was going to end, right, And so all right, ball one
is low, oh and then strikethree is a pitch on the outside corner.
He looks like he's really easy toget out when the count is own

(01:00:06):
too. By the way, he'szero for eleven this year, but when
the count gets down two with tenstrikeouts. So I'm no big league batting
instructor, but I can't help butwonder, Look, just if I look
at the numbers and I watch howteams are pitching him, do we just
tell him, let's throw that patientstuff away, and if you're getting a

(01:00:27):
strike early in the count, goahead and swing. And might that lead
to him swinging at some pitches earlyin the count that aren't strikes. Sure,
But what he's doing right now fallingbehind frankly isn't working. And I
know up until yesterday he had tohit in every game. And I'm I'll
still take all the Elie de laCruz stock that so many people want to

(01:00:47):
want to sell, But I wouldn'tmind tonight, wouldn't mind just in this
series seeing him be a little bitmore aggressive and perhaps fortune the forcing the
pitcher to in turn think a littlebit more carefully about throwing him one over
the plate just to start the atbat, because he's taking a lot of
those pitches and when he does,he is falling into a hole that he

(01:01:08):
has just not been able to getout of. Four thirty on ESPN fifteen
thirty our numbers of five point threeseven four nine fifteen thirty and eight sixty
six seven oh two three seven sevensix Brendanman and Jones on Baseball is coming
up in just about twenty minutes.We also had yesterday, on top of
the Reds game, the Caitlyn ClarkEffect, the women's national title game.

(01:01:31):
Yesterday, South Carolina wraps up innundefeated season. They beat Iowa and Kaitlyn
Clark and they end a women's collegebasketball season that I will always remember,
and I'm not someone who in hislife has watched a ton of women's college
basketball. But let's bring that aroundto the goat talk, because now the
debate is whether Kaitlyn Clark is thegoat. I have a simple thought on

(01:01:52):
that. I think it's a prettysimple thought. I'll share it with you
next on ESPN fifteen thirty twenty fiveAway from h ESPN fifteen thirty My name's
Mowega, broadcasting from a Twin Peaksin Florence. Sports headlines are a service
of Kelsey Chevrolet, Home of lifetimepowertrain protection and guaranteed credit approval from their

(01:02:13):
family to yours for life KELSEYSHEF dotcom Red's homestand continues tonight, first of
four against the Milwaukee Brewers at GABPGraham Ashcraft and Aaron ashbyardt Tonight's starting pitchers
will give you the starting line uphere in just a second. Unfortunately,
TJ atones twenty twenty three season isover. He will have surgery on Friday

(01:02:37):
for the issue that he suffered yesterday. He has a tendon torn from his
bone and a ligament tear in hispitching elbow. TJ Antone has had two
Tommy John surgeries already. Obviously,he's been placed on the injured list.
Carson Spiers is up from Louisville.Red's trying to bounce back after losing yesterday
afternoon three to one of the Mets. They lose two out of three over

(01:02:57):
the weekend. Tonight, Cincinnati willroll out this starting line up against lefty
Aaron Ashby, India's daching and leadingoff Steers and left Ces at first,
Candelario at third, Fairchild in center, Ellie Taylor Cruz at shortstop is batting
six, Tyler Stevenson catches, WillBenson is in right field, and Santiago
Espinal is playing second base and battingninth. On top of all of this,

(01:03:22):
Spencer Steer named the National League Playerof the Week. He had four
h nine with three homers, ninedriven in, a double, a triple,
three walks, five run scored,and a stolen base home in six
games last week. He let themajors in slugging percentage and total bases during

(01:03:43):
that stretch, and obviously had hisfirst career Grand Slam in the tenth inning
of Monday's game last week against thePhillies. Spencer Steer your National League Player
of the week college basketball news.John Caliperi is finalizing a deal to become
the new head coach at Arkansas.This according to a billion media reports.

(01:04:04):
Aaron Bradshaw is set to hit thetransfer portal. NCAA Tournament title game tonight.
Yukon and Purdue tips off a littlebit after nine on Fox Sports thirteen
sixty. You know women's basketball isWomen's college basketball is mainstream when it gets

(01:04:25):
the goat treatment right, debating whothe goats are and people screaming at each
other about who the goats are onthose shows where people scream at each other
about sports. I am folks aregonna say, well, Caitlin Clark and
obviously Iowa loses to a great SouthCarolina team in the title game yesterday after

(01:04:46):
Caitlin Clark got off to a greatstart in the first quarter yesterday, South
Carolina comes back and wins a reallyfun game to watch, and it capped
off the women's college basketball season thatI have been more invested in and in
then any other in my lifetime.I think you are being reasonable if your

(01:05:08):
take is that to be considered thegreatest of all time in your sport,
you should have a championship I don'tthink that's that unreasonable, But I also
feel like you're being reasonable if yougo look this particular individual player. First
of all, I mean, shedid play in two championship games. Also,

(01:05:30):
she created an amount of interest that'llhave a greater impact than any other
player that has won a title hasever made. I think that is a
reasonable take as well. I sawa tweet last night from a guy that
used to be heard on ESPN Radioall the time, who's an on air

(01:05:51):
performer whose work I love, JasonFitz, and he put out there on
social media. Sports media would besimpler and more accurate if we replace goat
debates with simply talking greatness. Likealcohol, top shelf can have as many
bottles as you want, they're alltop shelf. Great is great well as

(01:06:12):
well. Tears greater than sign absolutes. I agree with that. It's like
I love the NBA. I lovebasketball, but I love the NBA,
and so you know, for overa decade now, we've had to listen
to people scream at each other aboutLebron versus MJ. I'll be honest with
you. I could go back andforth on that, but the mere fact
that you're gonna put those two playersin the same conversation is a statement about

(01:06:35):
Lebron James greatness. Is Michael Jordanbetter? Fine? Is he not?
That's okay too, But those guysare clearly Tier one type guys. And
I guess for me, like youwill not be able to tell the story
of women's college basketball in the UnitedStates of America without including a signific chapter

(01:07:00):
on Caitlin Clark. And I don'tknow how many women's college basketball players you
could say that about. Like it'smaybe not the best comparison. I wouldn't
consider Magic Johnson to be the greatestbasketball player of all time. I wouldn't
consider Larry Bird to be the greatestcollege basketball player of all time. But

(01:07:21):
you cannot tell the story of theNBA. You can't tell the story of
college basketball either without mentioning those two. There are great players and Hall of
famers and players who had iconic careers, but like, if you're to tell
the history of a sport, youcould skip them, Like, not every

(01:07:42):
Hall of Famer is the same.I could tell the history of Major League
Baseball and not mention Ryan Sandberg,or I could tell the story of professional
basketball in this country and not mentioned. I don't know Mitch Richmond or Maurice
Cheeks. Very good players, Hallof Fame, deserving players. But then
there are athletes for whom you can'tyou can't skip them over when you talk
about the history of a sport.I'm no women's college basketball expert by any

(01:08:05):
stretch of the imagination, but Ithink just in terms of not only individual
accomplishment and the amount of points shescored, but the interest generated. Like
you can't tell the story of women'scollege basketball without talking about Caitlin Clark.
I will. You know. I'mstill a very casual women's college basketball fan.

(01:08:27):
But there I was on Friday witha couple of buddies of mine at
an establishment that you typically don't watchsports at, and we're all all in
on the game between Yukon and Iowa, all in on it. And because
somebody four years ago said to me, you'd really like watching Paige Becker's play,
I've become a big fan of hersand was rooting for Yukon. But

(01:08:50):
like I'll always remember that, I'llalways remember spilling out of Great American Ballpark
yesterday after the Reds game and acrossthe street at the grail. Everybody's watching
the women's game, and like notjust it's on in the background, like
paying close attention and picking sides androoting, and folks are gambling on it.
And there are a lot of reasonsfor that. It's an iconic South

(01:09:10):
Carolina team. You could argue,maybe the greatest basketball career ever belongs to
Dawn Staley, but the primary reasonfor that interest was Kaitlyn Clark. That
might not be, that might notmake her the goat, but again,
like tried telling the story of women'sbasketball in this country, not even just
college basketball, women's basketball in thiscountry without spending a lot of time on

(01:09:33):
Kaitlyn Clark, that's good enough forme. It's like you may think Michael
Jordan's the greatest NBA player ever,that's certainly a valid argument. Good luck
telling the story of basketball in thiscountry without referencing Lebron James and talking about
him extensively. You can't. Andso to me, that's where the upper

(01:09:54):
tier athletes are. Can I tellthis sports story and leave this person out?
And with Caitlyn Clark, the answeris obviously no, that's good enough.
Does that make her the greatest women'scollege basketball player of all time?
Does it really matter? Like it'san unofficial subjective title anyway, does it
matter? I've always that's always beenmy counter to Lebron versus MJ, like,

(01:10:17):
does it matter that much? They'reiconic players, They're great players.
They're players who's sole importance to theleague at their time could almost not even
really be measured. And guys thatyou can't players that you can't ignore when
you're telling the history of that league. And there are baseball players we can

(01:10:38):
do that with, there are footballthere are players across every sport that you
could do this with. If you'retalking about the history of women's college basketball
in this country, you have totalk about Caitlyn Clark. What I do
think will be interesting will be tosee if people who watched her in college
follow her to the WNBA, andI hope they do. I mean,

(01:11:01):
like, I'm interested in how shedoes as the number one overall pick by
the Indiana Fever And I've never saidthat about that league before. So there
you go. It is sixteen awayfrom five o'clock. And I didn't originally
think that moving screen call on Fridaywas a legit call. I think it
was the right call Brendanman and Joneson baseball coming up in just a few

(01:11:24):
minutes, a lot more on theReds, more on John Calla Perry leaving
the University of Kentucky, and andmaybe we'll find more red hitters that I
can give batting advice to. Wehave a lot to get to between now
and six o'clock. We're at TwinPeaks in Westchester, ESPN fifteen thirty,
Cincinnati Sports Station. Hey there,we're at Twin Peaks in Westchester, ESPN

(01:11:44):
fifteen thirty. By the way,if you can't make it to Augusta,
and if you can, awesome,But if you can make it to Augusta,
Golf's first Major, which gets underwayon Thursday, Wall to Wall TV's
here at Twin Peaks. They've got, by the way, a new menu
edition, the Tito's Transfusion, justeight dollars all day. You can catch

(01:12:06):
all of the master's action this weekendhere at Twin Peaks. And obviously you
got the National Title game tonight.You've got the Stanley Cup playoffs beginning in
less than two weeks, the NBAPlayoffs beginning in less than two weeks.
The NFL Draft is coming up,you name it. You could watch it
here at Twin Peaks. I thinkI'd like to try a Teeto's transfusion.

(01:12:30):
Go for one of those. Rightnow. We're here at Twin Peaks in
Westchester, broadcasting until six o'clock.And so if you're just getting off work
here in the next few minutes,stop by and see us. I will
tell you. I get a CNNalert on my phone. The total eclipse
has now concluded for the United States'right. The path of totality will continue

(01:12:54):
for portions of New Brunswick in Canadaand Newfoundland for another few minutes. But
you're in the United States, theeclipse officially over. That was a really
bizarre last couple of minutes or not, but a few minutes while we had
the eclipse here at like nine afterthree o'clock. So a lot more eclips

(01:13:15):
talk coming up. I'm sure JohnCaliperry is leaving. I am. I'm
left with kind of a weird thoughtthat is maybe fair, maybe not fair
about coach cayl leaving and the Redslose two out of three over the weekend
to the New York Mets. ButI'm gonna look at the bright side because
I think something important happened. We'lldo that as well, but first it's

(01:13:36):
time for Brendavan and Jones on baseball. Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty. Traffic from
the UC Health Traffic Center. Yousee, Health has been performing life saving
transplants and providing second chances in GreaterCincinnati for more than fifty five years.
There's a few accidents in your way. Seventy five South after Tylersville Road.
It's got the left lane blocked.Seventy five south after Sunday Road, the

(01:14:00):
pace from Route sixty three. Andthere's an overturned vehicle on Montana Avenue between
Ferncroft Road and Vienna Woods Drive.I'm John Crawford. Hey, what's up
bits? Five minutes after five o'clock. This is ESPN fifteen thirty. Good
afternoon on Molleggar. Thank you somuch for joining us. Onday, gorgeous,
gorgeous Monday here in Westchester, wherewe are broadcasting at Twin Peaks,
home of one of the homes ofthe Tony Remote Football Show. Every Monday

(01:14:24):
during the football season. It's obviouslynot football season, but but we come
to Twin Peaks every April. Wecome to to one there's two locations here
in the Greeter, Cincinnati area.You've got one here in Westchester, one
in Florence. And every April forthe Monday of the NCAA Tournament championship game,

(01:14:45):
we broadcast from Twin Peaks and thenwe always broadcast from Twin Peaks the
Friday of the NFL Draft. Willbe at the Florence location on the twenty
six, which is the Friday ofthe NFL Draft. But we're here tonight
in Westchester. If like it's oneof those days it's so gorgeous outside,
come on out. You could siton the patio here, you can hang

(01:15:05):
out, get a cold one forHappy Hour, get something to eat.
The Reds play tonight. They'll beon TV Yukon and Purdue tonight on TV.
And there's a billion TVs here,awesome staff, great menu. So
we love coming to Twin Peaks anda great place this weekend to watch the
Masters, a tradition unlike any otherTwin Peaks in Westchester. Very easy to

(01:15:26):
get you by the way right offI seventy five the Union Center Boulevard.
Exit. The big news last night, John Caliperry is apparently leaving Kentucky to
go to Arkansas. We actually havecomment from Cal that we'll get to here
in just a few minutes. Red'sover the weekend lose two out of three
to the Mets. Some good,some not so good. Among the not

(01:15:48):
so good would be tj Antone havingto leave the game with an elbow issue
that has turned out to be well, I think as worst case as worst
case scenario can be. Tj Antoneis going to have surgery on Friday for
an elbow injury. David Bell talkedabout this before the audio stunk, and

(01:16:12):
so we're not gonna read it againor we're not gonna play it again,
but he's gonna have surgery. Hehas a tendon torn from the bone and
a ligament tear in his pitching elbow, and so the surgery is gonna happen
on Friday. His twenty twenty threeseason is over, and now you just
kind of wonder about the next steps. This is a guy. Just forget

(01:16:38):
his second Tommy John surgery if youwill, had or forget the first Tommy
John surgery. The second one tookplace in twenty twenty one, cut his
season short. He didn't pitch intwenty two. He went through setbacks last
season that didn't get him to backon the mound until September. Just you

(01:17:00):
wonder, if you're tj Antone,you love pitching, You've worked hard when
healthy, you're a good pitcher.How much do you really want to put
yourself through what he's going to haveto put himself through to even try to
be back on the mound. Forhis sake, obviously, I hope he
does whatever he wants. And Ilove a comeback story as much as anybody,

(01:17:23):
so if he could figure out away to come back again, that
would be unbelievable. But it justfeels like that guy cannot catch a break.
And so the injury news for tjAntone not very good. The series
over the weekend Friday was the frustratinggame because, first of all, Hunter

(01:17:44):
Green pitched really well. I thought, you know, we talked last week
about you know, when Frankie Montaspitched well in his second start against Philadelphia,
got you hope Hunter Green was watchinghim, and apparently he was.
I thought a Hunter looked as goodand is locked in as I had seen
him in quite a while. Andif they get something resembling that version of
Hunter Green moving forward, that couldbe nothing but a good thing. Ellie

(01:18:09):
dela Cruz took a starring role thisweekend for reasons at times good and for
reasons really not so good. Andlike I'm doing two things at once with
Ellie de la Cruz. I understandhis stature, his position with the team,
what this team needs from him,what he means to the team,

(01:18:30):
what his ceiling is. All ofthat adds to a level of scrutiny that
other players don't necessarily have to dealwith. By the way, for what
it's worth, Spencer Steer named theNational League Player of the Week, and
so with Ellie de la Cruz,we parse through everything he does with a
very fine calm. That's what comeswith the territory. That's what comes with
being a projected star. The atbat on Friday was I think emblematic of

(01:18:58):
some of the things that could reallyrust rates who about Ellie dela Cruz.
Where bases loaded in the seventh inning, a chance to make a big impact
in the game, and he doesn'ttake the bat off his shoulder, And
so we've wondered today, is hemaybe being just a little bit too patient
considering the fact that the mo forEllie in the minor leagues and once he

(01:19:20):
got to the big leagues, washe's not patient enough. We'll dive more
to that here in just a bit. Last night I said this, we
had Matt Jones on the show aboutan hour ago. At any point over
the previous fourteen years, had youbeen on social media as I was last
night and you see a tweet mentioningthat John Caliperry is going to leave Kentucky

(01:19:45):
to go to Arkansas, that wouldbe really jarring. Last night, it
wasn't jarring. Now, maybe himgoing to Arkansas specifically as opposed to another
school, perhaps outside the SEC,or perhaps to a place where he doesn't
have to come back to Rupperna,maybe that would be a little bit less
surprising. But still, like Ijust kind of saw that last night,

(01:20:10):
and my initial reaction was, thisseems about right. It seems about right
for a fan base. And Ihate painting with a broadbrush, because if
you took I don't know one hundredthousand Kentucky fans, I'm sure you could
find many who would have been okaywith John Keller Perry staying in Kentucky.
But it felt like the consensus amongthe fan base was that it's time for

(01:20:33):
a separation. I watched the interviewthat cal did with Mitch Barnhart, the
athletic director. Some have called ita hostage video. It just it looked
to me like two people sitting ina marriage counselor's office who have kind of

(01:20:53):
given up on each other, butthere are financial reasons why they're going to
stay together, and they're not thrilledwith that. It used to be good.
It's not good anymore, but it'sjust best for reasons that have nothing
to do with raw emotion, foreveryone to stay together. And so John
Cala Perry gets, to a degreekind of the easy way out. I

(01:21:15):
mean, he gets to go toArkansas, a place where I think he
could have success. He still getsa pretty healthy chunk of money. He
also doesn't have to get fired.He also doesn't have to try to adjust
on the fly at a place wherethe scrutiny is going to be as intense

(01:21:41):
as it always is at the Universityof Kentucky. But this, to me
at least, just felt like adivorce that kind of had to happen for
all parties involved. I watched thatJohn Cali Perry thing with Mitch Barnhart.
He certainly didn't seem somebody like somebodywho was thrilled to be continuing as the
head coach at the University of Kentucky. And I don't know of many UK

(01:22:03):
fans who were thrilled with the suggestionthat UK was going to bring back John
Caliperry for a sixteenth season. Soit's a clean break, it's a clean
separation. I think the legacy ofCal's time in Lexington is really interesting because
on one hand, man, likeI've said this before, I think college

(01:22:24):
basketball were fun when Kentucky is reallygood, and I think Kentucky being good
and then having a coach with thepersonality of a John Caliperry is a lot
of fun. And I say thatas somebody who I'm a diehard UC fan,
but I think it's more fun thoseevery years from ten to fifteen,
if you love the sport, reallywere a blast. But if I would

(01:22:49):
have said in April of twenty twelve, after Kentucky won the national title beating
Kansas, if I would have saidthat that this will be UK's last national
championship with John Caliperry as the headcoach, I think you would have said,

(01:23:10):
there's no way, and yet herewe are twelve years later. Not
only was it his most recent andnow last title at Kentucky, three other
programs have won multiple titles during theJohn Keller Perry regime at uk One of
them might win a third tonight withYukon taking on Purdue. That to me

(01:23:32):
is kind of remarkable, and it'sI think also why it's it's kind of
hard to talk about the entire fifteenyear run as an overwhelming, smashing success
relative to the hype, relative tothe bluster, and I don't use that
those words insultingly relative to the theamount of NBA players and NBA first round

(01:24:00):
choices that came through Lexington. Tohave only one title is really underwhelming.
If I would have said in Marchof twenty fifteen, or I guess early
April of twenty fifteen, when Kentuckywas upset by Wisconsin in the Final four
in Indianapolis, that nine years laterJohn Caliperi will leave and that will be

(01:24:23):
his last Final four, you wouldhave said, I'm out of my mind,
and yet here we are, Andnot that they've had terrible teams.
The one in twenty twenty one washistorically bad, but relative to just where
the bar was set so early hereand how that program was the talk of

(01:24:45):
the sport and felt like it hadkind of re established itself as the premiere
program in all of college basketball.It has felt like anything but now for
quite a while. And so I'mreally curious as to how this is gonna
work for John Kella Perry at Arkansas. I'm really curious as to what adjustments
he makes to the way the moderngame is played. And I'm not just

(01:25:06):
talking about on the floor, butin regards to roster construction as well.
And if you're a Kentucky fan,really this you get the best of both
worlds here, right. You getJohn Keller Perry leaving the school doesn't have
to pay him thirty three million bucksto go away. His legacy can be
debated, but still, the Universityof Kentucky is an extraordinarily attractive job and

(01:25:30):
one of which there should be noshortage of interest, and one where I
think the right guy can very easilyget Kentucky basketball back to where it was
about ten years ago. And Idon't think anybody felt that way about John
Kelli Perry sticking at UK. Soreally interesting last twenty four hours. Matt

(01:25:50):
Jones was terrific with us before.If you missed it, we'll have that
on the iHeartRadio app our podcast ofour show, Service of Long Necks Sports.
Uh so we kind of in allover the place today. Good draft
stuff coming up at about five fortyfive as we inch closer to the NFL
Draft and the Bengals holding the eighteenthoverall pick. Our phone numbers are five

(01:26:11):
point three seven four nine fifteen thirtyeight six six seven oh two three seven
seven six works as well. It'sa gorgeous Monday afternoon broadcasting from a Twin
Peaks in Westchester on ESPN fifteen thirty. Cincinnati Sports Station's twenty one after five
ESPN fifteen thirty Moegger broadcasting from TwinPeaks in Westchester where we all enjoyed the

(01:26:32):
eclipse and now we're hanging out tillsix o'clock. It might stick around and
have a cold one to watch theRedskin tonight. Uh. Five point three
seven four nine fifteen thirty is ourphone number. Let's take a phone call
or to Mike go. You're onESPN fifteen thirty. What's up, hey,
pal? How you doing today?You have nice weekend. I'm I

(01:26:54):
had a wonderful weekend. How aboutyourself? Yeah, I can't complain.
I'm u moholland drive right now,although I may not be able to go
too much further because part of theroad might have slipped down into the canyon.
So I don't know what's going tohappen, but they got this part
of the road slip down into thecanyon. Yeah, I'm here a moholland

(01:27:15):
John. It goes from the HollywoodHills. It's up there by the Hollywood
Hill Hollywood time, and it goesall the way down to the ocean.
So when you get your head rangelike you've had the soil so sandy,
you know, you never can counton anything. But uh yeah, I
want something that interested in me earlier, and then I'd like to get to

(01:27:40):
the rick well not risk. Youknow with the college basketball go you had
mentioned you were mentioning your favorite likeyou know, people talk about their favorite
player Michael Gordon or this one orthat one, and I've always I'm always
in screed or who do you thinkit's a category? It's it's a dichotomy,
right, A lot of guys,who's your favorite player? But who

(01:28:02):
do you think is the greatest player? And you know, I think I'm
sorry, go go ahead, finish. No, I think that there's the
difference. There's a distinct difference there, And I think that your favorite players
are the guys that mean more toyou than maybe the guys that are considered

(01:28:25):
the greatest players. Yes, correct, Yeah, Like I'm always asked about
favorite Reds uh, And so forme it's it's like Larkin, Dave Parker,
Eric Davis, Johnny Quato, JoeyVado. Uh. Are there greater
players who played for the Reds,of course, but like you know,

(01:28:46):
much of it as players you connectedwith as a kid or just enjoyed watching,
or maybe had a personal interaction with, Like I favorite and best are
are mutually exclusive, and so likemy favorite players are often not the best,
But there there's somebody that I justyou know, enjoyed watching or again

(01:29:10):
might have had an interaction with apersonal interaction or like their story or whatever,
like their approach. Best and favoriteare are different things. And you
know that's okay if we all likedif everybody's favorite player was the best player,
sports would be a hell of alot less fun. Yeah, yeah,

(01:29:33):
Like like you know, Michael Good. OK. But a lot of
it, You're right, depends onyour formative years when it now. Sometimes
that can be when you're young.Sometimes it can be when you're a little
older. For whatever reason, Inever grew up a Lakers fan. I
grew up here. I watched theCincinnati Wylds get beat every year by the
Celtics and hated every second of it. Then I moved ol Way, luckily

(01:29:56):
enough, and it's Magic Brookie yearand I fall in love with the guy.
Uh, And he's my favorite player. But he's the greatest player.
Probably not, But I just thoughtthat was kind of an interesting time.
Like another one of my favorite players, and we've talked about this is to
this day, is Bernard King.I just never will never forget Bernard Change.

(01:30:17):
I think they call them bombs awayor something. And Tino was coaching,
Man, they could shoot the basketballmo. Yeah. Uh. Bernard
King and Patino I don't think intersected. I think they traded him to the
Bullets before Patino got there. ButI mean, yeah, look he is.
He would would you wouldn't even sayhe's the greatest New York nick ever,

(01:30:40):
but I would. I would arguethat. You know, for those
of us of a certain age whofell in love with a certain team,
there's often a guy who makes youa fan, or a player who makes
you a fan. Sometimes that playeris considered the best at what they do,
and sometimes, you know, notso much. I mean, I
know people who love Tom Tom Browning. It was obviously a very good pitcher

(01:31:02):
Reds Hall of Famer, you know, through a perfect game, won a
game in the World Series. Butyou know, you wouldn't say Tom Browning
is the best pitcher in the historyof the Rads. I'm not sure there
were many years where you would sayTom Browning was the best pitcher on the
Reds. But because of how heconnected with people, because of how he
worked, because of his tenacity,because you know, folks remember that the
perfect game. For a lot ofpeople, they will still tell you he

(01:31:26):
is their favorite pitcher. But it'sit's rare that you would say, well,
god, he was the best.He was their best pitcher. Favorite
and best are usually different things acrosssports. And you know that's again I'm
often asked about like my all timefavorite Reds and you know, first of
all, like I don't really mentionthe guys from the seventies, because I
didn't grow up watching those guys.But it was like, do I believe

(01:31:48):
Joe Morgan is like the greatest baseballplayer to ever play for the Reds?
Yeah, I mean Johnny Bench isthe second best baseball player to ever play
for the Reds. Yes, butI can't say their favorites because I didn't
grow up watching them. Yeah.It's just like, it's just like,
as much as I love the Lakers, that eighty three eighty four to six
Ers team that swept the Lakers inthe finals with Doctor and Tony and Cheeks

(01:32:13):
and Moses and Bobby Jones, that'sstill to this day the best season I've
seen a NBA team. Half,Well, I will correct you, because
that was eighty two eighty three.Fuck us, it's an a saying I
can't get my years right. Toogood, No, you have you called
me? I know I know that, Hey, the Patino thing real quicker

(01:32:34):
that the UK think we all knowRick. Well, I shouldn't say we
all know. I feel that RickPatino is other than John Wooden, is
the best coach that's ever coached collegebasketball. And I have backs to back
that up. Now, he startedout as an assistant coach at the University

(01:32:55):
of Wali, of all places.Then he goes to Providence and gets him
to a final four Providence, toa final four Providence. Then he goes
to the Knicks and brings them backfrom the pits and gets them in the
playoffs at least. Then he goesdown to Kentucky, gets him a championship,

(01:33:16):
goes back the next year, wouldhave had another one, but he
had a couple of very serious injuriesto a couple of his better players.
Then he leaves for Boston to takethat debacle that it turned out to be.
Tubby Smith walks in and takes histeam, wins another couple. Then
Rick comes back, goes to Louisvilleand wins another one. I just you

(01:33:39):
know, and the people are saying, well, Rick just said some things
about the nil and the portal andeverything. But I just noticed guy's a
basketball junkie, and I would giveI would give the world if I was
uk to get rich Petino back.That's all I got to say about it.
Well, I think Rick patino Isis the best coach of the last
forty years. I don't know.At the age of seven was seventy or

(01:34:01):
seventy one. Don't I don't know. I don't know. I don't know
how much that works against him.Rick Patino, for for all of the
controversial things that he has been involvedin, you can't deny the success.
And to me, it's it's wherehe won, the frequency with which he
won, winning a multiple schools,but also you know, kind of doing

(01:34:26):
it in ways like with a fullcourt press and embracing the three. They
were the program and the Kentucky wasin the early nineties that really decided to
weaponize the three point shot and didso well play a style of play that
unfortunately you don't see all that muchof anymore. And you know, he
he gets Kentucky to within a shotof the final four to his third season

(01:34:48):
while rebuilding the program in the ashesof probation and during a highly competitive era
of the Big East in the mideighties. He gets Providence of all schools
to the final four and he ushersLouisville into the Big East, and he
wins a national championship in twenty thirteen, which as much as people talk about,
well it's been vacated, he wonthat national title that obviously was Louisville

(01:35:11):
is still a member of the BigEast before they went to the American and
then the ACC. But he alsotook him to a Final four in two
thousand and five as members of ConferenceUSA. He goes to IONA, he
had IONA and the NCAA tournament,and my guess is he'll have Saint John's
in the tournament as well. Ithink he's the best coach at the last
forty years. And yeah, Iknow Mike Krzyzewski and Roy Williams and Jay

(01:35:33):
Wright and now Dan Hurley. Ithink at the frequency with which he won,
the way that he won, andthe number of stops that he won
at and he wasn't good with theCeltics, but you're right, Mike.
With the New York Knicks, likeeighty nineteen they had was terrific. He
gets into the playoffs in eighty eight. They were doing a lot of the

(01:35:53):
same things you saw him do atKentucky. They were shooting the three,
and they were playing press defense.He did that in the NBA that simply
does not happen. So there's alot of things you can make fun of
Rick Patino four. I certainly havedone that, but I do I think
he's the best college basketball coach ofthe last forty years. I appreciate the

(01:36:13):
time. Well, thanksful, lovepal Mike, That's what I do.
Twenty nine away from six o'clock fiveone three, seven, four nine,
fifteen thirty eight six six, sevenoh two three seven seven six We're here
at Twin Peaks in Westchester on ESPNfifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station four ten lines
a service of Kelsey Chevrolet home oflifetime power train protection and guaranteed credit approval

(01:36:38):
from their family to yours for life, kelseyshev dot Com Brewers in town first
to Ford Tonite at GABP Graham Ashcraftand Lefty Aaron Ashbeat Tonight Starting pitchers six
forty tonight on seven hundred WLW.Your starting lineup for the Reds this evening.
Are you ready to get out yourscorecards? The Reds have updated their

(01:37:00):
starting lineup, So Jonathan India wasoriginally in its dhing and then he was
hit by a ball during batting practice, and now he's not in the starting
lineup anymore. So the updated redstarting lineup fair Child in right, steering
left, Cees at first, Candelariois playing third, Stevenson is catching,
Ellie is at shortstop, batting sixth. Espinall's at second base, he is

(01:37:23):
hitting seventh. Benson is a dhingBubba Thompson bats ninth. So no Jonathan
India tonight at least not in thestarting lineup. No dj antone for the
rest of twenty twenty three. Heis gonna have surgery on Friday for the
elbow issue that cropped up yesterday.He's got a tendon that has been removed

(01:37:46):
from the bone and a ligament tearin his pitching elbow. This according to
David Bell, who chatted with reportersa little while ago. By the way,
the official diagnosis for Jonathan India isleg contusion. Leg contusion after being
hit by a stray ball during battingpractice again a six forty tonight Reds in
Milwaukee on seven hundred WLW. SpencerSteer named the National League's Player of the

(01:38:12):
Week for last week. John Kellaperryis finalizing a deal to become the new
head coach at Arkansas, according toa whole bunch of media reports the NCAA
Tournament Championship game tonight, I wasrooting for Houston at the outset of the
NCAA Tournament to win the whole thingfor a very simple reason. Their teams

(01:38:32):
in recent years have reminded me alot of some of the UC teams I
loved watching in the late nineties interms of how they play, and ils
are really like Jamal Shd. ButI do think we get a bit of
a rarity tonight, that we getthe two teams that all season a long
felt like the best two teams inthe country. A lot of advanced metrics

(01:38:54):
kem Palm would tell you the same, but these teams felt like the best
in college basketball all season long,and we get him opposing each other tonight,
which I think is really cool andI think makes for the potential for
a really good game. I likeYukon. Look in every game that Purdue
played, the one thing that theyhad that nobody else had was a guy

(01:39:20):
like Zach Edy. And by theway, I think there's a place in
the NBA for Zach Edy. DoI think he's going to be a star,
Not necessarily, but I think there'sa place in the NBA for him.
Connecticut can counter that with Donathan Blingen, who's not quite as big but
comparable a little bit more athletic aYukon. I think you could argue is

(01:39:42):
better when he's not on the flooroffensively, but they're not as good when
he's not on the floor defensively.It's quite simple for me. Yukon can
counteract with Purdue brings to the tablethis weapon that is really hard to counter.
Connecticut can counter. I also feellike, you know the game the
other night, Perdue blows out nC State, but Braden Smith struggled.

(01:40:08):
NC State did a good job againsthim. Connecticut can throw bigger bodies at
him, can throw more people athim. I also like is as dominant
as Yukon has been in the NCAAtournament. They're shooting just a shade over
thirty and a half percent from three, which is not great. On the
season they were. I think Iread the day sixty first in the country

(01:40:29):
in shooting the three. They've beeneven worse in the NCAA Tournament. At
some point, that's gonna regress backto the mean. It's gonna be positive
regression, and so I think Yukon'sgonna win the game. I think,
if you're making me pick, andI'll admit a team as good as Purdue,
if you're giving me nearly a touchdown, that's that's hard to stay away
from. But Connecticut all season longand certainly in the tournament has just hit

(01:40:54):
teams with these flurries that I thinkis coming tonight. I'm not sure Purdue
is gonna have an answer. Iwill lay the six and a half point
with Yukon and have the Huskies winninga second straight national championship. And then
you know, we'll see if DanHurley goes to uk and again, like
of all the scenarios, I've saidthis a bunch of different times, I
think in college basketball is more funwhen Kentucky's really good. I think Dan

(01:41:17):
Hurley right now might be the bestcoach in the sport. I think Dan
Hurley's personality not that he's some youknow, huge bull gregarious personality like a
John Caliperry, but he does coachwith an edge. He does do things
with an edge. He's willing totell you how he feels. He brings
a new school sensibility to things.I think it'd be a blast if Dan
Hurley was the head coach at theUniversity of Kentucky. If you're looking for

(01:41:41):
the radio call of the game tonight, it's on Fox Sports thirteen sixty twenty
minutes away from six. We'll talkNFL Draft possibilities for the Bengals when we
come back or A Twin Peaks inWestchester on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station,
broadcasting from A Twin Peaks in Westchester. And I thrilled to be here
back in studio tomorrow first hour theshow, of course, because it's Tuesday.

(01:42:03):
Our buddy Paul Danner Junior from theAthletic on a whole bunch of Bengals
related issues obviously, will also recapReds Brewers, look ahead to tomorrow night's
Game two of the series, andspend some time on the National Title game
as well. Speaking of the Bengalsin the draft, one of my favorite
draft podcasts is the First Team onthe Believe Network, which you could often

(01:42:26):
see on Bally Sports. Joe Dalleone, NFL draft analysts for the Belief Network,
is the host of that show,and he's with us now. It
is good to have you, Joe, I think for our fourth straight year.
All right, let's get right toit. Eighteenth overall pick. That's
where the Bengals are in Round one. Who do I want them to take?
I think right now, there's twohome run players that would be perfect

(01:42:47):
selections for the Bengals. The twothat stand the most out to me is
either Brock Bauers, the Georgia tightend, or a Marius Min's the offensive
tackle also from Georgia. If they'retrying to add to the receiving offensive weapon
arsenal for Joe Burrow, I thinkthat Brock Bowers not only provides them with

(01:43:08):
such a dangerous threat up the middle, a really good route runner or a
tremendous athlete, He's also shown hugesteps forward of becoming a better blocker and
he's got really really just nasty intentthat I think is going to improve as
he gets more acclimated to the game. I truly believe in a couple of
years, assuming that he doesn't dealwith any injury issues, he could be

(01:43:29):
the most well rounded height end inthe NFL, which would be huge for
the Bengals offense. And then outsideof that, Amarius men who is not
a super experienced off asive tackle,but one that has a ridiculously high steeling
because he is an unbelievable athlete.There's so many pictures of him just walking
around at the NFL Combine and youcan see that he is almost from another
planet, how big and well puttogether he is. He is so natural

(01:43:53):
at the position despite only playing avery small sample size of games. And
I think because he's so raw andthere's so much work that could be done,
and how much improving he could doand get even better than he already
is right now, you could puthim at either offensive tackle spot, depending
on how the future of that positionends up moving forward. All right,
I'm going to ask you about theoffensive tackle position. Let me swing it

(01:44:15):
back to brock Bowers, because asyou were outlining why he would make sense,
I could see folks nodding along.At the same time, I could
also hear people going, look,they could have drafted a tight end last
year. They didn't. It wasa historically great class. The entire draft
came and went, they didn't takeone, So why are they going to
take one in round one this year? What would you say to that?

(01:44:35):
Well, my argument would be thatthere was no brock Bowers available for them
to take. And and this thisconversation, might you know, he might
be a waste of time because righthe's there's a very good shot that he
might not be on the board.There's a really good chance. I think
the Jets are one of the firstteams that are really going to run to
the podium if he's if he's stillavailable. But to answer your question,

(01:44:56):
if he's still there at eighteen,that is a eyes that you don't passed
up on. That is a raretight end prospect that is unlike one that
we haven't seen in a very good, very very long time. Dalkin Gaid
was a good prospect. He wasa good athlete. Michael Mayer was a
strong and well rounded player. That'svery high floor. And then we saw
all these high impact rookies like SamLaporta, and they obviously passed up on

(01:45:20):
those guys. But I think thatbrock Bauer's early impact would be far more
significant. And then his long termfuture in the NFL is that of potentially
being an All Pro for many yearsto come. All Right, So if
I make the argument they should takebrock Bauers and somebody says, well,
yeah, they need a tackle though, Okay, we're gonna take one on
Friday. Give me one or twonames that I should I should use to

(01:45:43):
make the argument that they could waketo Friday to take a tackle. Yeah,
this tackle class is really deep,and I think on day two there's
gonna be a ton of guys thatwere we're talking about as quality starting tackles.
And I think that, as you'rementioning here, this might be better
for the Bengal after they made thefree agency investment in Trent Brown at the
tackle position for them. But Ireally like Kingsley so Mattea from BYU.

(01:46:08):
He tested very well at the NFLCombine. He moves really easily. He's
got all the physical requisite traits thatyou look for, but needs a little
bit more developing. I also thinkthat's Tyler Guyton, a former tight end
who transferred from PCU to Oklahoma,is still filling out his frame, but
we saw at the Senior Bowl thatif he's on and he has his best
reps, he can be a lockdownoff at the tackle prospect And then I

(01:46:30):
think a more higher floor guy.Roger Rosengarden from Washington, who played opposite
of troyce o'tanu, is just supersteady. I don't think that he's necessarily
going to get to the same levelof some of these other guys that we're
talking about today, but his steadinessmakes him somebody who can contribute early and
then at the same time, ifthey want to bump him into guard,

(01:46:51):
if they want to lock him inat right tackle in a year or so.
He's somebody who has the range,the mobility, all the things that
you look for to just be aquality starting guard or tackle in the NFL.
And that's what the Bengals read rightnow need right now. They need
steadyinges, they need consistency, andI think that Rosen Garden could be one
of those guys. Joe dalleonas withthis Believe Network NFL Draft analyst by the

(01:47:13):
way, he is on Twitter slashx at Joe da Leone, they need
help on the interior of the defensiveline. How deep is this class at
that spot. Well, that's anotherposition group too that they're going to benefit
from this draft class having a ridiculousgrouping of early impact players at the interior

(01:47:34):
defensive line position. If they choosenot to maybe go the route of jor
John Newton in the first round,it's another guy that could be on the
radar. There are guys like MichaelHall junior from Ohio State that are really
disruptive inchurior players. I also reallylike McKinley Jackson from Texas A and m
somewhere on Day two. He isa hal to move. He is a

(01:47:56):
so so explosive in his first stepand coming off the football. I also
really like guys like Dwayne Carter fromDuke and Byron Murphy from Texas. Both
are just really scout physical players.This list could go on and on.
There are just so many players onDay two that could get drafted by any
team, and especially the Bengals,that turn out to be either really good
starting defensive tackles or just really goodrotational players if they did want to wait

(01:48:20):
until Day three. And some ofthose Day three names to pay attention to,
I like Mason Smith from LSU KeithRandolph from Illinois has a really tall,
long frame. And then also toadd to that, somebody like Gabe
Hall, who dominated the Senior Bowlout of Baylor, is still putting things
together. Wasn't super consistent this pastyear, but if you can get him
to play well, he can besuper dominant as a starter or as a

(01:48:42):
rotational defensive tackle. I think mostof us would be unsurprised if the Bengals
took a wide receiver. Not somuch on Thursday, but on Friday,
right, Tyler Boyd's no longer here. I think T Higgins is going to
play for the team in twenty twentyfour, but it doesn't appear that he
in their long term plans, andso you're looking for somebody in the short
term that can help out with whatthey have and then replace T who's gonna

(01:49:06):
leave. I know they took acouple of wide receivers last year, but
if I'm looking at that position inCincinnati on day two, give me some
names. Yeah, this is another. I mean, it seems like we're
you know, we're talking all theseteam needs perfect for the Bengals and what
they're looking for, and you mentionedthe fact that you're moving on likely from
T Higgins. I look at somebodywith a similar frame in Xavier Laguette,

(01:49:29):
who's just a big, physical,strong guy, kind of similar to DK
Metcalf but not fully there with hisbuilt up frame and then his long speed
of running in the four threes.He had a huge, massive improvement this
year, and I think that he'sonly going to continue to get better.
And then again, if they're lookingfor more of a jump ball guy.
Keon Coleman from Florida State has thisbox out, power forward type of a

(01:49:53):
frame that I think is just perfectin the you know, back end of
the end zone, throwing him afade or trying to pick up a first
down, just throwing the ball tothe sideline. He's gonna come down with
that football. If they're looking alittle bit further and they're looking for somebody
who's a little bit more of aspark plug, I really like Jermaine Burton
from Alabama, and then Javon Bakerfrom UCF, another smaller guy that's got
good long speed. There's just somany options this year based on what the

(01:50:17):
Bengals are trying to do. Ifthey're looking for a bigger body, there's
plenty of options. And then ifthey're looking for more of a slot type,
a space killer, whatever it mightbe. There is so much diversity
in this receiver class that is goingto set them up for figuring out the
future of the position. Maybe evento the point where you take one in
the third round and then you comeback around in the seventh you take somebody
else, and you could end upwith two quality contributors to your receiving group.

(01:50:43):
Awesome insight. First of all,I know we originally had you for
Friday, and we had to movesome stuff around, So I appreciate your
flexibility and willingness to work with us. As always, I'll be listening and
watching, and after the draft,I will be seeking your opinion on what
the Bengals did. Man, Thanksso much, Thanks, of course,
thanks. Here you go. Joeda Leone does an awesome job the Believe

(01:51:03):
Network is an NFL draft expert andhis show is you can find it at
times on Balley Sports, Ohio hostof the first team on the Believe Network.
He is a former Rhode Island longsnapper. How about that if you
are just getting off work, it'sgorgeous out man, and you're north of

(01:51:26):
town and you're thinking, got itbe cool to just post up and have
dinner and watch the Reds or youwant to go somewhere tonight for the championship
game. Twin Peaks here in Westchester, Billion TVs. Awesome staff, great
menu. Might I suggest the meatballSkillett remains outstanding and the menu is extensive

(01:51:48):
beyond that, So Twin Peaks herein Westchester. We will be broadcasting from
the Twin Peaks in Florence on Friday, April the twenty sixth. We're back
in studio tomorrow with three oh five. Danner joins us in the first hour.
My thanks to Mike Mills for producingon site. Of course, our
guy tarn Back and Kenwood have agreat night. Thanks to the staff at

(01:52:09):
Twin Peaks as well, and we'lltalk to you tomorrow starting at three oh
five on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sportsstation. This report is spot