2/20/25 -The Mo Egger Radio Show

Episode Transcript
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No one covers the Bengals like ESPN fifteen to thirty,
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Speaker 4 (00:16):
And it didn't relate to that. What's up. It's five
minutes after three o'clock. This is ESPN fifteen thirty, Alm Moegar,
thank you for joining us. Hopefully you're having just a
terrific Thursday afternoon. Spoiler alert, it's my Friday. Not that
anybody cares about that. We got three hours of stuff
and we are all over the place today. In about

(00:37):
fifteen minutes, our guy Tommy Thrall, voice of the Reds
from Goodyear, getting sent to begin this would be his
sixth season as voice of the Reds. Cactus League openers
on Saturday. In fact, I think I turn this on
during the break MLB Network. I think there's a spring
training game today. I believe it's Dodgers Cubs, the two

(00:58):
teams that open the regular season against each other in Japan. Anyway,
Tommy is gonna join us in just about fifteen minutes.
We are looking forward to that. Chad Brenda later on
this hour, Lori Lindsay MLS Season Pass Apple TV five
twenty on FC Cincinnati, who was pretty dominant last night
beating Matagua in the Conka CAF Champions Cup. We're gonna

(01:18):
join or Lori is gonna join us? Coming up at
five twenty. Entire show rundown available on Twitter at moegar.
Thanks to Emery Federal Credit Union, go to EMORYFCU dot
org become a member Emory Federal Credit Union, your credit
union with heart since nineteen thirty nine. You can become

(01:39):
a member just like me. If you're a Bearcat fan,
just like me, you are I have to imagine extraordinarily
frustrated with last night's loss. There are certain games, and
it's easy to say this after the fact. I'll acknowledge this.
It's easy to say this after the fact. But there
are certain games we're in real time. There's a moment

(02:02):
and you go uh oh, Like remember Game three against
the Giants in twenty twelve, when Brandon Phillips got thrown
out trying to go to third base, And even though
that game was in the first inning, even though they
were up two games to nine, there's a really good chance,
you said, to yourself. Uh oh, I did. I'll never
forget that. At the game with my buddy, the late

(02:25):
Rich Wahlberg, and I went, We're we're gonna remember that,
aren't we like you? Just you know, you just know.
Last night, UC led the game forty seven to forty one.
They had defended really well for a large stretch at
the end of the first half, and at the beginning
of the second half, Jisel James was making shots. The
Bearcats were not playing great, but in what amounted to

(02:48):
a must win game on the road against a team
with a comparable resume or at least comparable metrics, they
are seven minutes and forty four seconds away from getting
a massive road victory. A massive road victory. Now, a
six point lead is not insurmountable. They still would have

(03:09):
had a lot of work to do. But there's a
timeout on the floor. It's the under eight minute timeout.
Dylan Mitchell is set to go to the free throw line,
and if you're like me, you're going, okay, can these
two get a stop? And with seven minutes to go,
you're gonna have an eight point lead. Again, the game's
not over by any stretch. Lots of teams have come

(03:31):
back from down eight, especially at home, especially against not
great teams. But sign me up for that, right, I'm
feeling pretty good. If you're a Bearcat fan, I'm thinking
you're feeling pretty good. They're defending, they're playing hard, a
Gisel James is making shots. They can get out of
there with a win. And then, if you're like me,
and for the most part, I hope you're not, you're thinking,

(03:51):
you know what, if they could just steal this one,
they come home for the next two and maybe, just
maybe they're not dead yet. I started to think about bracketology.
I started to think about our guy, Nky bracket guy,
who's gonna join us at four to twenty. And then
Dylan Mitchell missed two free throws. Now you're still up six.

(04:12):
You can still defend. Those two free throws would not
have clinched the game. Missing the two free throws didn't
necessarily clinch the game for West Virginia. A lot of
stuff had to happen. A lot of stuff did happen
subsequent to that. The Bearcats miss the front end of
a one and one dayde Thomas, they get a shot
clock violation. I'm been a basketball fan my entire life. Man,

(04:35):
I love the sport. There is nothing, and I mean
nothing that drives me nuts more than a team on
offense getting a shot clock violation that could have been avoided.
It could have been avoided. They come out of a
time out as things are starting to snowball, and they
get an over in back violation and not an over
and back violation caused by pressure defense or a half

(04:56):
court trap, an over and back violation caused by f
basketball stupidity. Everything else that happened afterward, West Virginia making shots,
Cincinnati not making shots, the Mountaineers continuing their edge on
the glass, the weird late second comeback, the two threes
by Dan Skillings, Cincinnati getting the ball back miraculously with

(05:18):
a chance to tie the game running a good action
Tyler Betsy being wide open, missing a shot that I
was more than okay with him. Taking all that other
stuff a blur, All that other stuff forgettable. Because when
I think of last night's game, and when I think
of this season, the way it is gone and the
way it looks like it's going to go, I'm gonna

(05:39):
think of last night's game. And when I think of
last night's game, I'm thinking of that stretch from the
seven to forty four mark UH to about the five
to forty mark last night when Dylan Mitchell missed a
couple of free throws. Dayda Thomas misses the front end
of a one and one, they don't get stops on
the other end, they commit a shot clock violation. They

(05:59):
turn the ball over over again, zero pressure in over
and back violation. That was the season in a nutshell.
That was the game last night. That game last night,
for my money at least, and you can disagree. At
five point three, seven four nine, fifteen thirty the most
frustrating UC loss of the season. They've lost eleven games, right,

(06:20):
this is this is gonna be a team that finishes
the season with twelve thirteen, fourteen, fifteen losses. I have
lost a lot of games, lost a lot of games
in a lot of different ways. They've been blown out,
They've lost close games. They've lost on the road. They've
lost at home. They've lost games that were there for
the taking. They've lost games they had no chances of winning.
They've lost games because they haven't scored. They've lost games

(06:43):
because they haven't defended. In every conceivable way. They have
lost this season. The game last night, for my money,
at least, the single most frustrating loss in what has
been I believe the single most frustrating season I can remember.
Here's Wes Miller after the game last night. You know, listen,

(07:04):
we're frustrated.

Speaker 5 (07:05):
We've been playing so much better the last couple of
weeks and played well against Iowa State on Saturday and
had some good moments in here, had a lead there
and the latter part of the game on the road
against a good team, and then it just you know,
went sideways on us a little bit in a lot

(07:27):
of different ways. We had some opportunities to convert on
the free throw line and couldn't do it. They their
pressure really impacted us, whether it was turning the ball over,
which we had a number of those in bad situations.
We hadn't been turned the ball overall game, but we
had quite a few there that were spread around, and
then we couldn't even get into action because of the pressure.

(07:48):
So it was we kind of found ourselves on our
heels and they find a way to make a couple
of big shots to get that two possession lead there late.
I was really proud that the guys kept playing and
found a way to have a shot to tie it.
You know, that was a that's pretty incredible to even
be in that position when you're down nine with hardly

(08:08):
any time left in the game. So you know, proud
of that. But we've been playing better. We had a
really bad stretch there for the last six seven minutes
of the game. But we can't let that effect us
mooving forward.

Speaker 4 (08:22):
When you have such a small margin for error, and
this team does a small margin for air team, and
a small margin for air season and a small margin
for aer game, those stretches come back to haunt you.
Missing your free throws comes back to haunch you. Two
for seven last night, getting out rebounded minus eight on
the glass. That catches up to you, up to you.
They were pretty good with the basketball last night, only

(08:44):
six turnovers. They did have stretches where they played okay.
They had stretches where they really defended at a high level.
But the margin for error is such that you're not
allowed a two or three or four minute stretch where
suddenly you make dumb plays, miss free throws, give up session,
give up rebounds, and lose. You can't And so I

(09:04):
guess this is what I'm wondering, and Tony and Austin
were touching on this as well. They're now fifteen and eleven,
They're five and ten in the conference. They could still
finish at five hundred in the league, and if they do,
they're an NCAA tournament team at twenty and eleven going
into Kansas City. Let's be honest, that's gonna be really

(09:26):
tough to do. If we put it mildly, they have
to go to Houston, they have to play a pretty
good TCU team, they have to beat a Baylor team
who beat them by twenty five, they have to beat
Kansas State, who beat them, and then they have the
Oklahoma State game. So I think a lot of folks
looked at last night is that's that's the game where

(09:47):
the bubble burst. I'm kind of interested in what happens now,
what happens now with this team this year, and might
not play well enough to make anybody who's out on
West Miller change their mind, might not play well enough
to give anybody reason to think this season was a success.
I'm not even talking about that. I'm just I'm kind
of curious from a standpoint of the makeup of the team. Emotionally, mentally,

(10:11):
from the standpoint of what it says about effort, and
from the standpoint of just hoping that the thing doesn't
totally unraffle here, I'm kind of curious what's next. I've
asked at certain points of the season, like how bad
can this get? When they got smoked by BYU and
lost by twenty eight points, I asked that question. When
they got beaten by Baylor were not competitive in the

(10:33):
second half, I asked that question. When they played West
Virginia the first time, in a game that still almost
defies description, I asked, how bad might this get? What's next?
And I was asking not knowing. Now. The good news
is they came out of the West Virginia game the
first one and won their next three, and God is
thinking that this season could be a successful one. Yet again,

(10:55):
how do they come out of this one? Because after
last night it really does feel like their bubble burst.
I'm not even sure they were really that close to
the bubble to begin with last night. So if we've
wondered about effort and energy and buy in and all
those things all season long, well, what do we think
about those things after a couple of games? That suddenly

(11:17):
don't seem to matter nearly as much. What's the atmosphere
going to be like on Saturday? What is the team
reaction to an atmosphere on Saturday that might not be great?
And from a win loss perspective, we have talked a
lot about well, when these many games get to ten
and ten and they're good, well, how we all gonna
feel if not ten and ten, but in the big

(11:38):
twelve they finish. Dare I say like seven and thirteen,
six and fourteen, because I hate to say that those
things are on the table. Five point three, seven four
nine fifteen thirty is our phone number? Eight six six
seven oh two three seven seven six works as well.
I Meanwhile, the Reds are getting set to play games
on Saturday, two of them. Tommy Thraw will call one

(11:59):
of he joins us from Goodyear Next on ESPN fifteen
thirty Cincinnati Sports.

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This report is sponsored by Delta. Less than forty eight
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(13:01):
Cactus League opener, and another season of Reds on radio
getting underway. The voice of the Reds joining us from
sunny and warm goodyear. Tommy Thraw, it is good to
have you as always. Thank you for joining us.

Speaker 8 (13:12):
How are you hey, appreciate it, mooth, thanks for having
me on it is. It is delightful out here. The
sunshine and bright, and it is plenty warm.

Speaker 2 (13:21):
It is outstanding awesome.

Speaker 4 (13:25):
I will live vicariously through you, especially on Saturday. The
vibes are great. There's a lot of optimism. Everybody stoked
about Terry Francona. I think we all agree that the
Reds have had a productive offseason in terms of player acquisition.
But a a Terry Francona camp, going to the nuts
and bolts and tell me how it's different.

Speaker 8 (13:45):
It's just it's hard to explain exactly what's different, other
than the attitude.

Speaker 2 (13:49):
Just seems to be so so.

Speaker 8 (13:52):
Positive, and not that it wasn't before, but it's just different.
I think everybody's focus now is on strictly win. It's
it's it's not about else, It's just what what do
we need to do to win? And that's everybody's focus.
That's been the messaging that the Terry Francona has delivered
to the team all the way through.

Speaker 2 (14:12):
And it's it shows up. I mean, guys are just
a little bit more focused.

Speaker 8 (14:16):
They're hungry too, and I think that just comes from
some guys that didn't have years that they wanted to
have last year. Christian Internaci and Strand looks better than
I've ever seen him. Look, I mean he looks tremendous.
You talk about a guy that is driven, a guy
that is focused.

Speaker 2 (14:32):
This is a guy.

Speaker 8 (14:32):
That's on a mission, uh to prove that that he
belongs to the big leagues, and that's what he's gonna
have to do. I mean, guys are gonna have to
earn their spots. Albe Marte if he's gonna make this team,
and I'll be honest, I think it's a long shot.
But if he's gonna make the team out of camp,
he's got to earn it. And uh, that's that's kind
of the the way the messaging is too. If guys

(14:53):
are if guy's gonna be on this team, they're gonna
earn it. Obviously some spots are filled, but uh, it's
it's great. It's good to see Matt McLain healthy. That's
been tremendous. But like I said, the focus just solely
on winning and a lot of the guys, you know,
Tito's great and he has a lot to do with that,
but a lot of guys are are out to prove
something this year, and Graham Ashcraft.

Speaker 2 (15:14):
Is another guy that that fits into that category.

Speaker 4 (15:16):
What parts of this team are you most interested in
learning more about? Starting on Saturday.

Speaker 8 (15:22):
I'm kind of curious to see how this whole bullpen's
going to play out.

Speaker 2 (15:25):
And then the other thing is who's going to be
this team's.

Speaker 8 (15:27):
Third basement when the season starts. Damer Candelario looks great.
Like I said in Carnassion, Strand is another guy that
didn't just come into camp looking good. He's moving really well.
He's everybody that I've talked to who's been really impressed
with his footwork at third base and his.

Speaker 2 (15:46):
Ability to move around around third base.

Speaker 8 (15:49):
So, you know, I think before the thought was, well,
it's probably just a DH type of guy that can
play some first base. He wants to be able to
prove that he can play third base. And I think
Candelai came into camp in a similar situation. I think
he wants to prove that he can still play third base.
He came in in great shape, lost a bunch of weight,
He's very lean, he's moving well, and so I think

(16:12):
that's that's gonna be one of the things I'm kind
of watching for is is who's gonna take over third base. Now,
it could be a situation where you have a few
guys sharing that spot with Cees and Candelario kind of
bouncing back and forth between first and third. But that
that's gonna be one to keep an eye on. But
like I said, the bullpen. There's probably really only one

(16:35):
spot that's open out there. But I think this team,
especially the way Tita likes to run a bullpen, I
think they're going to need a good bullpen.

Speaker 2 (16:43):
So we'll see how the arms look out there this spring.

Speaker 4 (16:46):
Yeah, you know, that's that's an area the team. To me,
that is interesting because you know, they late in the
offseason Nick Krawl went and got some guys and got
some guys who've had success, acquired pitchers who have closed
and so maybe we don't get an answer to this
during spring training, and maybe there's no need to find
an answer because he ends up being really, really good.
But I'm kind of curious as to how much of

(17:07):
a strangle hold Alectis Taz has on the closer spot.

Speaker 8 (17:10):
Well, he took a big step in the right direction
with that by coming into camp in really good shape
and ready to go. I think Trantito said this right
out of the gate. Look, he was probably playing catch
up a little bit last year, meaning he didn't come
into camp maybe.

Speaker 2 (17:25):
Quite as ready. He came into camp ready to go
this year.

Speaker 8 (17:27):
So I think that's a big step in the right direction,
which kind of says that, you know, he's a guy that.

Speaker 2 (17:32):
Understands that it's got to be a better year.

Speaker 8 (17:34):
Of course, playing for different manager, you want to kind
of prove that you're the guy too, So I think
that is something that kind of benefits.

Speaker 2 (17:44):
Him coming into the season.

Speaker 8 (17:45):
So I don't think that it's automatically his, but I
think he wants to prove that it is, which is
something that's very healthy for this team.

Speaker 4 (17:55):
You mentioned a guy who's going to pitch on Saturday,
not the game that you're going to call Graham Ashcraft.
If things go well for him over the next four
or five weeks, what's his role in this club?

Speaker 8 (18:06):
I think if things go well, there's going to be
an opening in the rotation. I'm not so sure, even
though I think he's okay and I think he's healthy,
But just because he hasn't thrown in four or five weeks,
I don't know that Rhet Louder is going to be
a guy that's going to make the rotation out of
spring training.

Speaker 2 (18:22):
Just because I think they're going to be really, really
cautious with him.

Speaker 8 (18:26):
That kind of opens up a rotation spot. And I
think Graham, if he proves that he can get it done,
I think he stays in the rotation at least for now,
and I think that's a good thing. If he can
earn his way into the rotation, there is nothing wrong
with that at all, because he has a chance to
still be a really, really good starting pitcher on this team,
and I think he wants to prove that he can be.

(18:47):
He's got to be able to get through five innings
a little easier than he's done in the past. That's
going to be something that'll be big for him. But
he seems to be another guy that's on a mission.
But I don't know that the bullpen is a bad
able to fail safe for him.

Speaker 2 (19:02):
It's scary to.

Speaker 8 (19:03):
Think about how good he could be in the bullpen,
and I really think that at some point that's going
to be his fate. But you know, if he's in
the rotation to start the year, I don't think there's
anything wrong with that.

Speaker 4 (19:14):
I think the most interesting acquisition this offseason is Austin
Hayes because I know what he can do against left
handed pitching, and everybody, you know, even folks connected to
the Philly said they didn't get the true Austin Hayes
last year because of the whole kidney issue, so thankfully
he's healthy. I think he can help. I think one
of the questions a lot of folks have had all
winter long has been is this team gonna have enough

(19:35):
offense from the corner roulefield spots. What do you say
to that?

Speaker 8 (19:38):
Well, the thing that I've said to that all along is,
I don't know. I think I think when you're looking
at it just from that aspect, it's a little bit
more of a broader picture type of thing. I look at,
can this team prevent more runs this year than they
did last year, then maybe don't need as much offense.
And I think that the thing this team is capable

(19:59):
of doing this year. I think they are going to
be better than that.

Speaker 2 (20:02):
I think you're going to see the infield defense improve.

Speaker 8 (20:05):
I think the pitching is going to take a step forward,
and I think offensively, this team's going to be able
to take advantage of more opportunities than they did last year.
This team was not very good at taking advantage of
RBI opportunities, at least the way I saw it last year.
I thought there were a lot of opportunities that they
left on the table. I think that's going to be

(20:25):
something that'll be cleaned up. So because of that, I
think they are going to be good enough to take
the step forward that they need to take, regardless of
maybe getting a little bit more production out of the
corner outfield. I think Spencer Steel is going to have
a nice year. I'm not sure that he'll start the
year in left field, but I think eventually he'll be.

Speaker 2 (20:42):
Back out there.

Speaker 8 (20:43):
The shoulders kind of bothering him a little bit. He's
going to start throwing soon. And Austin Hayes I think
makes right field a better spot because I think he
is so to answer your question, I think you will
get a little bit more production out of there because
I think Austin Hayes is a guy that's poised for
a big year. You know, I mentioned some of the
other guys that are hungry because of this team's performance

(21:08):
last year.

Speaker 2 (21:09):
He's won that's.

Speaker 8 (21:09):
Hungry because of his performance last year elsewhere. He's this
is an All Star player two years ago. I think
he wants to prove that that's still who he is.
He's on a mission to show that last year was
not who he was, and he.

Speaker 2 (21:24):
Also wants to prove that he can hit right handed.
Pitching not just left handed pitching.

Speaker 8 (21:27):
He's done it in the past, but he got off
to a really slow start last year then kind of
fell into a tune role and never had a chance
to get.

Speaker 2 (21:34):
Out of it.

Speaker 8 (21:35):
I think if he's healthy and he's locked in, I
think he can hit both right handed and left handed
pitching and give you a little bit more production out
of the right field spot.

Speaker 4 (21:44):
All right, one more. We've talked about a lot of
guys who stand to be reds in twenty twenty five.
When you're calling some of these Cactus League games and
you get into the seventh or eighth inning and your
scorecard looks like my daughter's coloring book because of all
the changes, give me one or two guys that you're
going to perk up when they end of the game,
either positionally or on the mound.

Speaker 2 (22:04):
Cam Collier is definitely one.

Speaker 8 (22:06):
Really excited to see what he's capable of. Edwin Arroyo
is another one. You know, he set out all last
year the shoulder issue similar to Matt McClain's injury last year.

Speaker 2 (22:15):
So I'm excited to see where he's at right now.

Speaker 8 (22:20):
And because of what I said before, I don't know
that Noelvie Marte is gonna be on the scene to
start the year.

Speaker 2 (22:25):
He's another guy that I'm gonna be curious to see.

Speaker 8 (22:28):
Now, obviously we've seen him, so I don't know that
he counts. But the other guy that I will put
into that category from a pitching perspective is Zach Maxwell.
I think Zach Maxwell and Luis may are two guys
that are probably going to be able to help this
bullpen at the major league level at some point during
the season. Maxwell's gonna be fun with. I'm excited to

(22:48):
watch him pitch.

Speaker 4 (22:51):
Excited to listen on Saturday season cank in here soon enough.
Always appreciate the time, Tommy, Thank you so much.

Speaker 8 (22:58):
All right, sounds good. Hopefully the sounds of spreeing can
melt some of that snowback home.

Speaker 4 (23:05):
You know what. I've tried everything else, so well, we'll
see if it works on Saturday.

Speaker 2 (23:09):
Thanks so much, man, Thanks a lot, appreciate it.

Speaker 4 (23:13):
The voice of the Reds Tommy Thrall Reds Guardians on Saturday,
first pitch at three oh five pregame at two thirty
five down the Hall on a seven hundred WLW Year
six with Tommy Thrall as the voice of the Reds.
It's hard to believe. And I said this to somebody
in the office this morning, like we were talking about,

(23:34):
you know, Red's broadcasters, and I mentioned Tommy being on
the show, and I'm like, I want this team to
be in the postseason for a thousand different reasons. Mainly
I want Tommy to have like one of those calls
that just goes viral and people associate him with and
maybe this will be the year. It is twenty eight
away from four o'clock. Excuse me, Chad Brendle's gonna join us.

(23:55):
Coming up in just about ten minutes on ESPN fifteen

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Day, Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.

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(25:48):
because like that's the sort of thing that it just
it's this ominous. It's not even a headline, and so
I click on it and it's just a link to
a bunch of pictures of Ken Griffy Senior. But like
I looked at that, I'm like, oh my god, no, no,
I mean that that would be awful right on another

(26:10):
one of the Grade eight. We just lost Pete Rose
Joe Morgan a couple of years ago. Ken's Ken Junior's dad. Fortunately,
Ken Senior is okay, But this made me think for
a second, like, well, it doesn't say like Cincinnati Red's
legend Ken Griffy Senior has been named coach somewhere or
has had a sandwich named after him somewhere. It just

(26:32):
that's the sort of thing like when you see an
I feared the worst. So if we're gonna do this,
can we write click here to look at some pictures
of Ken Graffy Sr. Just so people like me don't
have a any heart attack thinking something really bad happened
to Ken Griffy sor Red's going through workouts today and Goodyear.
You just heard us talk to Tommy Thraw. Cactus League
openers on Saturday, Reds and Guardians and Reds and Brewers.

(26:55):
Red's Guardians game will be in Goodyear because that's where
both Terry Francone is gonna go to the game and Mary,
which is where the Brewers train, because he doesn't want
to deal with like, you know, the hugs and the
greetings he's gonna get from the people with the Guardians,
like they're in the same complex. Anybody who has wanted
to go say hi to Terry Francona probably already has.

(27:21):
What else do we have? The Wes Miller Show is
tonight at eight o'clock on seven hundred WLW. College basketball
this evening locally, Ohio State will host Northwestern. I think
that's all I got for local sports headlines. No, the
Joe Burrow hasn't made any headlines. No Bengals. We do
have life lessons from the Bengals. Tonight, you got the
big hockey game. I'm stoked for this. We're gonna spend

(27:44):
some time on this a little bit later on the
US versus Canada in the Four Nations Championship Final best
on best, which is my new favorite term that I
never heard until like Saturday night. So we're all rooting
for fights, and we're all rooting I think, at least
I am for the United States of America. Win for

(28:07):
FC Cincinnati last night over Matagua in the CONKA CAF
Champions Cup, a really well rounded, well played game. The
Orange and Blue got Pavel Buka to score a couple
of goals and Kevin Denkey to score a couple of goals,
and then evander had won at the end, and Pat
Noonan seemed pretty happy after the game last night. Also,
we talked extensively about the frustration of last night's excuse

(28:31):
me UC game. The Kentucky Wildcats got a badly needed victory,
a terrific second half performance on both ends of the floor,
and they blitzed Vanderbilt eighty two to sixty one. The
Wildcats are now eighteen and eight, seven and six in
conference play. And now you know they were coming off
that loss, and they're so shorthanded right now, you get
Alabama now coming off consecutive losses. They were crushed by

(28:54):
a really fun Missouri team last night, UK has to
go to Vanderbilt. I still have a home game against Auburn,
and they wrap up the season by going to Columbia
to play that Missouri team. Kentucky needed to win last
night and got it in the second half. Looked good
in getting it. Chad Brendle on the Bearcats, who were
the exact opposite last night.

Speaker 9 (29:13):
Next Natty's ESPN fifteen thirty.

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Traffic from the UC Health Traffic Center.

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Traffic slow southbound seventy five between Western Avenue and Fort
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(29:44):
northbound seventy one seventy five between Donaldson Road and Twelfth
Street on that ezelk with traffic.

Speaker 4 (29:50):
This report. It's sponsored by State. It's thirteen away from four.
This is ESPN fifteen thirty on OEGAR. Thank you so
much for listening today. On Thursdays, we talked with our
friend Chad Brendle from Bearcatjournal dot com, who is going

(30:11):
to be hosting this show tomorrow because I will be off.
There's a lot to talk about. Chad is here on
Twitter at Chad Brendle. I briefly jumped into the aftermath
last night, Chad, thinking you guys would make me feel
better and you failed.

Speaker 11 (30:28):
That was not a field. That was not much of
a therapy session.

Speaker 4 (30:32):
No, no, no, no it no it was not. I'm
just gonna ask you this, where where do you want
to start? Where do you want to start with last
night's game.

Speaker 11 (30:47):
Talking about something else? Uh? I mean, I don't know.

Speaker 2 (30:58):
We could.

Speaker 11 (30:59):
Can we talk about like the the middle twenty minutes
of the game.

Speaker 4 (31:05):
Sure?

Speaker 11 (31:07):
Yeah, that was a lot of fun those middle twenty minutes,
Like they you know, those they went from like down
nine to like up six, and like felt like they
had control of the game and they're gonna go into
Morgantown and do what they were supposed to do and
get a nice quad one road win and we could
all at least feel good for a couple of a
couple more days. And then Dylan Mitchell went to the

(31:31):
line up six with two free throws and Humpty dumpty
had a great fall.

Speaker 4 (31:38):
Well yeah, as soon as he missed those two free throws,
I started to get a really, really bad feeling that
was only amplified as the the next few minutes played
themselves out. I think there's a lot of us that
if you would have said on February the twentieth, they'll
have eleven losses, they will have ten big twelve losses,

(32:00):
would have said, uh huh, not by February twentieth, and
yet that's where we are. What did most of us
get wrong most about this.

Speaker 11 (32:08):
Team that they didn't have a star that you know
the I think, excuse me, the weather is not doing
well with me.

Speaker 4 (32:22):
I understand.

Speaker 11 (32:23):
I think that the anticipation or the belief that a
couple guys were gonna make that leap is something that
you can't do in this league. You know that that's
something that works in the American where you know you're
just cycling. Okay, well this guy's next, so we're gonna

(32:44):
trust that he's going to be able to do it.
If you look around this league, that's not how these
teams are built. They are built on guys that have
done it. They are built on stars that are stars,
not stars that might become stars, and then they have
guys around them that maybe can you know, fill into
those roles. I think Aaron said it best on the

(33:05):
Aftermath last night. Though they got a lot of supporting actors,
they don't have a lead man. And you know, I
think where the And I hate to do this because
the thing is a really good player and this is
not too Maybe it's it's part of what wasn't fair
to him. I don't know that Gisel James is the

(33:26):
number one guy. I mean, he is a guy that
relies on the mid range jump shot, which is the
worst shot in basketball. When he has that mid range
jump shot cooking, he looks good when he doesn't. I
was looking at the numbers today, Mo. He's made more

(33:46):
than to more than one three in four Big Twelve games.
Out of fifteen, he's made more than two threes twice.
So he's a mid range jump shooter that doesn't give
you a consistent outside shot. And I think that belief
that he was gonna be your like go to guy

(34:10):
with the ball in his hands is kind of the
error in roster construction that is hurting the team the most.
They don't have a two guard. Really, they don't have
a two guard on the roster. Dan Skilly is that
best of three? They don't, you know? And maybe that
was gonna be Connor Hickman, but he's hurt and we're
probably not gonna see him again the rest of this year.

(34:32):
So not going out and getting a bona fide scorer,
it is hurting this team a lot. And I hear
a lot more. You know what makes me laugh. You
know what phrase makes me laugh when looking at this roster,
positionless basketball?

Speaker 2 (34:49):
It's a lot.

Speaker 11 (34:56):
They have two point guards, they have like six that
are three fours, and they have, you know, two centers.
Like the positionless basketball is just not true in this league.
You have to have a guy when when the wheels
start to fall off that you can clear out, get
him the ball and have him go get a basket

(35:16):
to calm things down. Because if you go back and
look at that stretch they got looks right like Dylan
Mitchell had a point blank look. He also threw maybe
one of the worst passes in the history of basketball
to he gets some paint touch. Josh Reed is wide open,
standing and waiting on the wing. I don't know who

(35:37):
the hell he threw that ball to like Josh Reed
had had to be Randing, but he had to be
Chris Carter making a sideline catch to get that thing
as far away from him as it was thrown. And
then he shoots it off the top of the backboard
because he wasn't set like it's just a failure in

(35:57):
looking at the big twelve and not yet understanding what
it takes to actually be a really good team in
this league. They bet on Gigsel, they bet on Dan
and it didn't work.

Speaker 4 (36:11):
So roster construction obviously falls at the desk of the
head coach. And when you're going through a season like
this and you've been the head coach at a program
for as long as West has, there's gonna be a
lot of criticism that comes his way. Is that where
the most fair and legitimate criticism starts with roster construction?

Speaker 11 (36:30):
I think so, And you know, I do think look
like trying to figure out this league on the fly
as a team coming into it with a younger coach.
Yes he's been a coach for a while, but he's
never been a coach at this level. Trying to figure
out the right buttons to push is a challenge, and

(36:50):
so far his belief on what it was going to
take to win in this league has not worked. They
went with a bunch of big guys last year. The
league was more physical than it was. It felt like
they built like a big East roster last year, right,
Like you're gonna have to have a bunch of guys
you can throw in at the four and five and
be physical at the rim, and that wasn't really the

(37:13):
formula in this league. And this year. One of the
things I do think is a problem. How many guys
on this roster do you think can comfortably hold more
than like two hundred and fifteen pounds? Like where's the
six eight to two hundred and thirty five pound guy
that everybody in this league has? Right? And I think

(37:34):
that's part of why you're getting beat up on the
glass so much, is that they just don't have the
muscle to compete with a lot of the teams that
are that are sending three and four guys to the
rim and just out physically Cincinnati, because really that's the
one I've been doing this long enough fortunately that you

(37:56):
don't really get a whole lot wrong, because you know
what it looks like coming off of last year. I
thought this was going to be one of the ten
best rebounding teams in the country. They're not one of
the ten best rebounding teams in the Big Twelve. No,
that is a dreadful rebounding West Virginia team. Like they

(38:20):
are bad at rebounding, bad on offense and defense. And
they out rebounded Cincinnati by eight, coming off a game
where they got rebounded by eighteen, and the response was
we kept it within eight. Like when they played well
in that game, they were good on the glass, and

(38:42):
they got dominated in the opening segment of the game
and the opening two segments of the game and the
closing two segments of the game. West Virginia kicked their
tail up and down the court. What they have four
offensive possessions with three shot attempts. That can't happen if
you're gonna win in this league game it happen.

Speaker 2 (39:03):
In the in the.

Speaker 4 (39:04):
Era we're in now, How does someone like yourself forecast
what next year might look like with the objective being
to have a team that is dramatically better in so
many areas than this one is.

Speaker 11 (39:22):
I mean, you almost have to tear it down, like
the thought process of we're gonna we're gonna have a
balanced roster that you know, there's not one great player,
but there's a bunch of good players. Because because I
do think like there are a bunch of Big twelve
quality players on this roster, there's just not enough top

(39:46):
of the conference level big twelve players on this roster.
And if that means you gotta you're gonna have to
answer some tough questions in terms of what the top
of the roster looks like in regards to the money
that you're spending, because spreading out, you know, I would

(40:06):
say probably two and a half million dollars of their
budget is spread out amongst the starting five, but nobody's
making a million dollars. Like I'm confident in saying that,
there's probably nobody that's even within a couple hundred thousand
of making a million dollars. You've got to have one
or two million dollar players on this roster. And it

(40:27):
feels weird talking about that in college basketball, right, but
it's reality. It is absolute fact. If you look at
these teams that they're playing, almost all of them have
at least one and usually two million dollar valuation level
guys at the top of the roster, and I think

(40:48):
it has to start there. And unfortunately, the only way
you get there is to clear out the top of
the roster. And I don't know, like I don't know
exactly what that looks like, but I think you're starting
five has to look drastically different next year than it

(41:08):
looks right now, and I think that's when they has
to start.

Speaker 4 (41:12):
Yeah, God, can they Can they afford eight million dollar player?
Do they have? Are those resources available?

Speaker 11 (41:19):
I think in this particular window it is because you
still have nil. It's gonna after July first have to
be used differently. But guess what, you're recruiting the portal
in April, March, in April, so you clear out the
decks on your NIL going into July first, and then

(41:42):
in July first you get your nil, which, if you
follow the math on the way most teams are planning
on doing this, they should have four roughly four million
dollars in revenue share coupled with your NIL. Well, that
should allow you to get to a point where you

(42:04):
have at least one, potentially two million dollar players on
your roster. And look, the reality is a lot of
next year is going to depend on how good is
shanabiahs because he's going to be somebody that that just
you're going to have to count on heavily next year.

(42:27):
It's you recruited him to be a scorer, to be
a bucket getter. He's gonna get the ball and get
a chance to be a bucket getter. You need somebody
else to go alongside him, and then you're gonna need
a you know, a big man that can score, because
that's Dylan Mitchell is as much good as he does,

(42:49):
he's not a guy that's gonna consistently get you twelve, thirteen,
fourteen points and as ease, we know that's not his game.
So you've got to go hit. I got a name
I know that I love mom. I don't think they
can get them because I think, but I would if
it was me, I would put just whatever this kid

(43:11):
kind of wants you write to check. His name is
Yaxxell Londonborg plays at UAB and he averages twenty and ten,
and I you know, I would say, hey, here you
are the missing piece that we need at the four
or the five, whichever one you want to use them.

(43:32):
But you go get you a guy that can get
you fifteen twenty points consistently and go get you eight
nine rebounds on a night in, night out. Basis, Finding
that guy is going to be expensive. But you can't
bet on somebody you think might do it. You gotta
go get somebody that's shown they can do it. And
I mean that's honestly where I would start.

Speaker 4 (43:52):
Yackxell Londenborg. Great, I'm gonna spend my weekend watching yackxell
Londenborg highlights. You've given me a homework, Simon, I have
to run. Thank you, as always, dudes, averaging eighteen and eleven,
he's shooting fifty six percent from the field. Yes, give
me yaxol Lendenborg. Awesome, I'm in I just looked them up,
Yaxol Lendenborg.

Speaker 11 (44:12):
Yes, all right, let's go do we've agreed, well, you'll
watch his tape and you'll send me you'll send me
a text tonight that says yeah, yes, please, let's do that.

Speaker 4 (44:23):
Done all right, it'll happen, Chad, I'll be listening tomorrow.

Speaker 2 (44:26):
Thank you, all right, Thanks Bob dav.

Speaker 4 (44:29):
Chad Brendel Bearcat Journal dot com Way late as always,
ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 1 (44:35):
Now your chance to win one thousand dollars. Enter this
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That's bills.

Speaker 4 (44:42):
Enter it now, what's up? We are way late because
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ESPN fifteen thirty. My name is Moegor. Thank you for
joining us. Hopefully you're having the greatest Thursday of your life.
Nky Brown Guy, the official bracketologist of the Moegger Show,
is going to join us at at four twenty bracketology.

(45:08):
Even though the Bearcats lost, but well again his thoughts
on Xavier Kentucky, Ohio State, and a handful of others.
We have a life lesson provided by the Bengals, we
have international pucks, and we have an MLB Network analyst
picking the Reds to win the National League Central. I
am excited for that. We'll have that for you this hour,

(45:30):
you know quickly. I talked about this pretty briefly with
Tony Pike and Austin Elmore at the end of their show.
Since he three to sixty, U see loses and it
feels like the bubble burst last night, and again I'm
not exactly sure how close to the bubble day were
I think there is a natural reaction by some when

(45:53):
a season goes awry in this era two point two,
things like the money these guys are making and the
portal and nil. And I'll hear you know, it's really
hard to coach players nowadays. It's really hard to get
players to play for you. If it is, then you

(46:15):
shouldn't be in this profession. We've had in college sports.
We've had coaches who have decided, you know what, this
era of college sports is not for me. Tony Bennett
quit and retired after you know, a successful run as
the head coach at Virginia. I was watching him. He
was on TV the other night at the Virginia Duke

(46:36):
game and basically said, like, this isn't for me. Nick
Saban said, this isn't for me. There are coaches who
have decided, you know what, this isn't for me, and
that's okay. Like whenever there's change in any industry, you're
going to have people who decide like, this just isn't
my jam. We've had that in our business. We've had
that in our industry. We're folks who twenty five years ago,

(46:57):
all you had to do was host a radio show,
have said, you know I don't really want an Internet presence,
and I don't want to blog, and I don't. I don't.
I don't want to be on social media, and Okay,
that's cool, nothing wrong with that. It's not for you,
that's okay, and you've had that in college sports. I
give those coaches credit. I give like a guy like
Nick Saban, and admittedly it's easy when you've accomplished everything

(47:18):
to walk away and go I'm good. His legacy is intact.
But I give credit. As much as I am a
proponent of the era that we're in right now and
want these guys to get paid every time they can
get their hands on. I can respect someone who's like,
you know what, this isn't for me. I am not
willing to adapt, and so I'm just gonna get out
because that beats staying in and complaining. There are a

(47:41):
lot of coaches who are gonna stay in and continue
to complain. I can. I can respect and appreciate the
ones who have decided I'm out. But if the reaction
to what's happened with the Bearcats this year is well,
it's hard to get players to play when they're getting paid.
Miss me with that, miss me, with that now, it's

(48:02):
hard to get players. It's hard to get players to
play hard. Well, not everywhere. I mean, I watch a
lot of college basketball. I love watching the teams at
the top of the SEC. Love watching Alabama got smoked
last night, love watching Auburn. I have become a fan
of Houston's basketball program because they are the program that

(48:24):
to me most looks on the floor a year in
and year out, like the Bearcat teams that I revere.
I watch them play really really hard, play with an edge,
play with toughness. Locally here, Xavier's team is not great.
They're gonna sweat on selection Sunday. In all likelihood, we'll
see if they beat Creighton. But I've seen improvement, and

(48:48):
I see effort, and I see guys who, for the
most part, have bonded to Sean Miller's system. They're imperfect,
they're not great, they're shorthanded, they're not a Sweet sixteen
caliber team. But it doesn't look like Sean Miller has
a hard time getting them to play, and so the
issues aren't nil or what they're getting paid. The issues

(49:10):
can be roster construction. That's fair to talk about as
it relates to the Bearcats. The issues can be a
coach's ability to connect with a certain group of players. Look,
there have been awesome head coaches, awesome head coaches across
sports who have had teams that they just can't figure out,
that they just can't figure out how to get a

(49:32):
lot out of them individual teams. Other teams they've had
no issues getting as much as they could out of
their players. But I am sorry, I absolutely refuse to
subscribe to the belief that, well, it's just really hard
these days to get guys to play well. It is

(49:53):
if you have the wrong guys. I have a friend
of mine who runs a business where he's got to
employ a lot of high school and college kids, and
I was telling him, like, I got a job at
a restaurant when I was in high school, and I
was the first high school kid this dude ever hired.
And he used to say, like, you know, he hired me.

(50:14):
He was basically like a friend of my mom's and
he's like, I don't hire high school kids. You can't
count on them. And I used to think, like, yeah,
that's the way to do it, right for years and
years and years, and then later in life, I have
a friend of mine who runs a similar type business
and has to hire high school and college kids, And
I'm like, yeah, high school kids are always calling out,
they did not reliable. He's like, well, no, I mean,

(50:34):
if you hire the right high school kids, you're good.

Speaker 2 (50:38):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (50:39):
There are some high school kids that are hard to motivate,
college kids that are hard to motivate, that don't understand
the value of work, that don't understand the value of responsibility,
that just call off, call out, don't show up, don't care. Well,
don't hire them. So the issue isn't well, it's hard
to get kids to play. The issue is you might
have a group of guys that are hard to get

(50:59):
to play, but you picked them. They're your guys, are
your players. This is not an indictment against the generation.
I watch a lot of college sports. I watch a
lot of college football and basketball. I see some absolute dudes,
some absolute dogs. And I'm not just talking about the
guys who have a chance to play at the next level.
I watch more women's basketball than I ever have. I

(51:24):
watch Yukon play South Carolina on Sunday. You can blew
them out. Geno ORIM Obviously, as a program that's been
a dynasty for thirty years. Right, I see some of
those kids. No problem competing, there, no problem getting better there.
This is not the fault of well, they're making money
now and so it's hard to get them to play.

(51:46):
It is if you got the wrong people like it,
absolutely is. I'm sure there are people. I'm sure there
are college athletes who they get their money and they're good. Right,
they stop trying, they stop working. If they're a part
of your program. You made a mistake by evaluating them.
You made a mistake by bringing them in. You made

(52:06):
a mistake by not understanding that that's somebody that if
they get paid, they're gonna lose their hunger. I absolutely
refuse to subscribe to the belief that, well, this this generation,
it's really hard to get them to play. You watch
Florida play, you watch Tennessee they're not great defensively. I
watch Kentucky play. They play together, they know their roles
on offense, and they're not perfect.

Speaker 2 (52:28):
I mean not.

Speaker 4 (52:29):
You know, your your roster might be flawed. But this
this thing that we're gonna take UC struggles this year
and pin it on well, they're getting paid, Well, they're
getting paid everywhere. Hire the right people, recruit the right people,
get the right people, get people. And by the way,
I don't know that this is the reason the case.
I don't know that this collection of players is has

(52:52):
been ruined by money. I don't know, but I refuse
to buy that as a reason. What I will buy
as a reason is exactly what you had said. There's
no star, there's no real go to guy. They've got
too many supporting cast members. They haven't improved, they have
too many guys who only bring one skill set to
the table. The collection of pieces just doesn't really fit

(53:13):
like there's there are a lot of things from a
basketball perspective I will listen to and subscribe to. You
miss me entirely with well, it's just really hard to
get kids to play. No, it's not. If you got
the right guys, it is not. I refuse to believe that.
I think saying that is lazy. I think it's a

(53:34):
lazy indictment against kids these days, which people my age
love to rant and rave about kids. These days, you
got young people who don't want to come to work,
who can't figure it out, who are lazy, who don't
understand commitment, who don't understand responsibility. It's not the fault
of a generation. It's your fault for bringing those people in,

(53:54):
hiring them as part of your company, recruiting them to
be a part of your basketball team. And if you're
running a program and you throw your hands up and go, well,
kids these days just can't be coached. Dude, get out, legitimately,
get out. I absolutely, I mean, there are a lot

(54:15):
of things that frustrate me about the Bearcats this season.
I refuse to listen to well, it's really hard this
day and age. By the way, I'm old enough. I
listened to coaches thirty years ago talk about how hard
it was to coach kids thirty years ago, Like that
is the ultimate old man get off my lawn rant. Well,

(54:38):
kids these days. I listened to Mick cronin ten years
ago talk about how well these guys are two into
their phones. That might be a thing. Still got them
to play, Still got him to play really damn hard.
You know, I get it. There's a lot of folks,
especially my age, they see a kid making the kind
of coin that college kids are making in a drive

(55:00):
some nuts. Jealousy could be a powerful thing. Look, man,
there are a lot of kids making a lot of
money playing college sports that want to get better, buy in,
want to be great teammates, driven by winning, driven by
individual success, play hard, commit to a team, do all
the right things. There've always been players like that. There've

(55:21):
always been players who don't embody those things. Find the
right ones. It's always been about finding the right ones.
Find the right ones pre nil, find the right ones
during nil. That is an absolute lazy fail safe that
people default to because they just don't like the era
we're in. You might not like the era we're in,

(55:43):
but we're not coming out of it. The responsibility of
a coach, responsibility of an athletic department to bringing the
right people, pay them bringing the right people. If you
want to say Wes Miller has brought in some of
the wrong people, okay. If you want to say Wes
Miller has put together a poorly constructive roster, that's certainly valid.
If you want to say that some of these players

(56:04):
have turned out to be disappointments relative to what we
thought that they would be, Okay, we'll have those conversations.
What we're not gonna do, at least what I'm not
gonna do is even try to subscribe to the belief that, well,
you know, you can't. You can't coach guys these days
because of the money stop. Kelvin Samson figures out a way.

(56:26):
Tj Osselberger figures out away. Mark Pope has figured out.
Pat Kelsey's figured out a way. John Shires figured out away.
Cooper Flag's making good money, isn't he? You watch that
dude play? I that that. I've heard that on a
handful of occasions this year. Tony brought it up to me,
and I think has the similar point of view as I.

(56:49):
I that drives me nuts. Nineteen minutes after four o'clock
five point three, seven, four nine, fifteen thirty. In one hour,
Lori Lindsay MLS Season Pass Apple TV on FC Since
who looked good last night? Can they look as good
on Saturday? She's got the call. She's on our show
coming up in one hour. First, a few minutes with
the official bracketologist of The Moeger Show on ESPN fifteen

(57:11):

Speaker 9 (57:12):
Station Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 7 (57:17):
Traffic from the UC Health Traffic Center at u See Health.
best tomorrow possible. That's boundless care for better outcomes. Expect
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(57:39):
a three minute delay right now up to a seven
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this report.

Speaker 4 (57:49):
It's sponsor in fifteen thirty on Maegar. If you love
hearing famous analysts say nice things about your favorite team,
you'll love what we play for you coming up at
four thirty five. But first, you know, last week we found,
after a long search, not really the official bracketologist of

(58:12):
the Moeger Show. His name is Hunter Sandsum. He is
NKY bracket guy on x at Bracket NKY and and
we were you know, we got him on because we thought,
why waste our time with these you know, big names,
big shot people like Joe Lonardi. There's a guy in
our backyard who's just as good, if not better, And
I think the bracket matrix will prove that he's better

(58:33):
and so let's reach out, let's get him on, let's
see if he's any good. And if he is, he
will have earned the unpaid title of official bracketologist of
the Moeger Show. And kind of like the mafia, once
you say yes, we don't let go, and all we
do is annoy you. So I appreciate you joining us again. Hunter.
How are you?

Speaker 12 (58:50):
I'm great?

Speaker 2 (58:51):
How are you now?

Speaker 4 (58:52):
I'm good? How is your life change since you became
the official bracketologist of the Moegger Show.

Speaker 12 (58:57):
I mean, it's been a whirlwind, the long search being over.
It's just great to be here.

Speaker 4 (59:03):
I understand. Well, I appreciate you doing this. Are we
still operating under the assumption that Xavier has to win
out to have their name called on selection Sunday? Or
is there any wiggle room at all?

Speaker 12 (59:17):
There is maybe just a little bit of wiggle room.
But they have to beat Creighton next Saturday on the first.
If they lose that, I don't see a path for them.

Speaker 4 (59:29):
If they lose to Creighton and don't win the Biggiaesst Tournament,
they have no chance. That's my belief. Yes, if they
beat Creighton but lose to Butler or lose. I mean,
they're not going to lose a seat in Hall. But
if they lose to a team that you would not
get real credit for winning, but you would get ding
for losing to. You don't think that necessarily would disqualify them.

Speaker 12 (59:50):
So I don't think Butler would be I mean that
would be their second Quad two loss. If they did
lose to Butler, I don't think that would necessarily kill them,
especially if they pick up a win over a tournament
level team like Creighton.

Speaker 4 (01:00:03):
All right, uh so UC fans are despondent, and now
many of like, you know, move the goalpost, right, because
it was all along like, well, they've got to get
to ten and ten in the Big twelve, and you know,
now they they may do that. They're gonna have to
win out. But you know some are like, well, you know,
maybe if they're nine and eleven, I uh, I shake
my head at that. Nine and eleven would require them

(01:00:24):
to do what in Kansas City.

Speaker 12 (01:00:28):
Nine and eleven would probably require them to win in
Kansas City.

Speaker 4 (01:00:32):
The entire thing, the whole.

Speaker 12 (01:00:34):
The non conference, Yes, the non conference schedules. Two week
Dayton has not panned.

Speaker 11 (01:00:39):
Out very well.

Speaker 12 (01:00:40):
Neither has Zeger they're both just Quadrant two wins. They
right now don't have a Quadrant one win. That's a
big deal, that's a problem. I don't see a path
for them without either winning out and picking up two
quadrant one wins here or winning in Kansas City.

Speaker 2 (01:00:55):
All right.

Speaker 4 (01:00:55):
So, but if they do went out, we're back in
it where we're talking about like ten and ten and
are good and don't have to go to Kansas City
and win any games. Correct, can't take a bad loss
in Kansas City.

Speaker 12 (01:01:06):
But if you get to ten and ten in the
regular season, I think could be okay.

Speaker 4 (01:01:10):
All right, how much since you and I last talked,
Because I watching all the games this past weekend, it
felt like from a bear cat perspective, Major missed opportunity
because all the teams they needed to lose lost, But
from a Xavier perspective, what happened around them mattered a
lot more than them simply beating to Paul, is that
a fair way of putting it?

Speaker 12 (01:01:29):
Yes, I just want to say that Cincinnati loss last
night was brutal. I won't go too deep into it
because I don't want to bring up those hard thoughts.

Speaker 4 (01:01:38):
Go ahead, go ahead now, just to twist the knife.
Go ahead, man, it's more than welcome. Do it. It
s There's nothing you can say that's gonna make me
hurt as much as I already do. I painful.

Speaker 10 (01:01:51):
I just absolutely painful.

Speaker 12 (01:01:53):
I was sitting there just I was grimacing, and I
actually thought of you, and I was like, if I
have to go on the show tomorrow or Friday or
whenever you reach back out and talk about this, I
am gonna feel awful.

Speaker 4 (01:02:02):
But it I just absolutely have brutal way to lose.

Speaker 12 (01:02:06):
But I think Cincinnati lost. Sorry, they lost their opportunity
last night, I think in a big way, and everything
around Zavier mattered a lot more than then beating to Paul. Obviously,
losing to De Paul would have been heartbreaking and killed
them as well.

Speaker 4 (01:02:20):
But they won.

Speaker 11 (01:02:21):
They're okay.

Speaker 12 (01:02:23):
TCU is a team to keep an eye on, another
Big Twelve team that kind of jumped up over Xavier
for me in the last couple of days though.

Speaker 4 (01:02:30):
Really yeah, TCU very quietly and they've beaten some pretty
bad teams, but I think very quietly they're not in
that wrung at the top of the Big Twelve where
Iowa State is, where Houston is but I do think
I think a lot of UC fans have kind of
taken that game on Saturday for granted, yeah, it won't

(01:02:51):
be easy. They're hot right now. How bad is this
going to be? If they expand the tournament to seventy six.

Speaker 12 (01:02:58):
Well, right now, Cincinnati and Xavier, Indiana would all three
be pretty clearly in. And I mean we're talking fifteen
and eleven Cincinnati, fifteen and eleven Indiana, I mean seventeen
and ten Xavier. They're a combined four and thirty six
thirty seven in Quad one games right now, and they

(01:03:20):
would be pretty easily in the tournament.

Speaker 4 (01:03:22):
So so what I should be doing is change my mind,
and I should actually want there to be seventy six
teams in the NCAA tournament.

Speaker 12 (01:03:30):
I say we expand the regular season as opposed to
expanding the tournament. But that is a conversation for a
whole different side conversation.

Speaker 4 (01:03:38):
I like how you I like how you think I
asked you about Indiana last week. The Hoosiers, set to
make a coaching change, have lost six out of seven,
and you you still have them at least on your
sheet on the outside looking in. But as long as
you have them on your graphic. I have to ask
about them. Is it realistic that Indiana could still make
the NCUABLEA tournament.

Speaker 12 (01:04:00):
Since they're not Wow sorry, like Cincinnati and Xavier. I
think Indiana has to win out, but they will probably
still have to win.

Speaker 4 (01:04:07):
A game or something in the Big Ten tournament.

Speaker 12 (01:04:09):
They're on very thin ice right now.

Speaker 2 (01:04:11):
All right.

Speaker 4 (01:04:12):
I asked you last week what the seed ceiling was
for Kentucky. They have since lost a game very shorthanded
on the road against Texas and came back and played
well in the second half last night. I feel like,
and you're you're an expert when it comes to this,
I feel like the idea of them getting a one
seed is a little bit too far fetched at this point.

Speaker 12 (01:04:31):
I agree that lost to Texas, even though it's a
quad one loss, that's not a great loss at all,
and I think they are now probably a two seed ceiling.

Speaker 4 (01:04:41):
What about Louisville. What's Louisville ceiling? At the beginning of
a season, I did not think I would be looking
at Pat Kelsey's team as a lot to make the tournament,
and yet here we are. They are going to make
the tournament.

Speaker 12 (01:04:54):
Ceiling wise, probably a four. I have been currently floating
between a six and a seven them, but they don't
have any quality wins left or anything. So if they
would like win out, maybe they jump up to four
or five. But I think a four is probably the
highest third of one.

Speaker 4 (01:05:12):
Yeah, so we're in this level of transparency. You know,
I'm old enough. When I was a kid, they would
they put the bracket on TV. But they there wasn't
you know, there wasn't much transparency. They wouldn't tell you
much about the process. They wouldn't tell you who the
last four teams on the outside looking in were. If
the Bearcats end up being one of those teams, should
they hang a banner at fifth third Arena? They should?

Speaker 12 (01:05:37):
I am gonna hold the controversial comment that I started
to say and leave it at that.

Speaker 4 (01:05:42):
Go ahead, Come on, good, give me a controversial comment.
We're okay with that on this show. Go ahead.

Speaker 12 (01:05:47):
I think that if they don't make the tournament, there
needs to be some serious reconsideration of everything in the program.

Speaker 4 (01:05:54):
But wow, again, I know, I don't I don't know
that that's that controversial.

Speaker 10 (01:05:59):
Okay.

Speaker 12 (01:06:00):
I didn't know if I should bring that up on
the radio live, but that is my That is my statement.
The talent level that had this year, it is vastly
disappointing to me.

Speaker 4 (01:06:11):
They've underachieved fifty. They should not be fifteen and eleven.
They've underachieved. I have no I have no issue saying
that whatsoever. All right, Well, I appreciate you doing this.
You know, the idea was UC was gonna win and
we were gonna get you on and and talk about like, yeah,
they're going in the right direction, and the opposite happened.
But Xavier's playing well and if they beat Creighton Musketeer

(01:06:33):
fans should feel really good. Obviously they have to take
on a dreadful seat in hall team. First, we'll be
reaching out Nky bracket Guy on Twitter at bracket Nky.
Is there anything else you would like to promote or mention?

Speaker 12 (01:06:46):
No, that is it. I just appreciate the time and
look forward to coming back.

Speaker 4 (01:06:51):
Well, we can't wait to have you.

Speaker 2 (01:06:52):
All right.

Speaker 4 (01:06:53):
That's that's our guy. That is the official bracketologist of
the Mullegger Show. Hunter Sansum Nky bracket Guy. Follow him
on Twitter. We're gonna try to get him like a
million followers. It is twenty eight away from five o'clock.
You want to hear Harold Reynolds say the Reds are
going to win the division. Well, the answer is yes,
good news. You're gonna get your wish. Next on ESPN fifteen.

Speaker 6 (01:07:14):
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Speaker 4 (01:07:52):
This re mines are a service of Kelsey Chevrolet Home
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to yours the for Life Kelsey chev dot Com. Reds
are going through another day of workout, saying goodyear. The
Cactus League schedule is underway right now in at Camelback Ranch.

(01:08:12):
The Cubs lead the Dodgers by a score of six
to three. Chicago is batting in the top of the
fifth inning. Both teams wearing blue jerseys today. Meanwhile, the
Reds play two games on Saturday, one against the Brewers
that is in Maryvale, which is it's an okay complex,
It's not in the coolest part of town. And the

(01:08:32):
other is in Goodyear, which is in a nice complex
and a part of town that is growing. Three o'clock,
first pitch on Saturday. Resident Guardians on seven hundred wl W.
The Wes Miller Show is tonight at eight o'clock on
that same radio station. You could talk about last night's
U SEE loss to West Virginia. Meanwhile, in the area tonight,

(01:08:57):
Ohio State is in action in Big Ten playing buck
guys of an NCAA tournament team. I believe they host
Northwestern at six thirty and you got the pucks. Tonight
the four Nations face off championship tilt, the United States
of America battling Canada. So there you go. This is

(01:09:19):
from MLB Network. If you are hoping to play the
card all season long. Nobody believes in the Reds. Nobody
believes in them, well, not entirely true, because Harold Reynolds does. Here,
he is on MLB Tonight talking with his cohort and
co host Robert Flores.

Speaker 9 (01:09:39):
Are the Brewers in your mind right now still the
favorite or the team to beat in that division?

Speaker 11 (01:09:46):
Yeah?

Speaker 10 (01:09:47):
I think the team for me is the Reds.

Speaker 13 (01:09:49):
Yeah, you know, I know we're talking a lot about
the Cubs and we're talking about the Brewers. The challenge
will be the Reds. I think they got better. I
think they're younger, They're going to continue, and I take
Terry Francona's a game changer. The divisions better, Pittsburgh pitching
staff is better. That's tough three game set with those
three guys, so.

Speaker 10 (01:10:10):
That's even better.

Speaker 13 (01:10:11):
I think the division is a lot tighter than it
was last year.

Speaker 4 (01:10:15):
There you go, Harold Reynolds, Harold now, Robert Flores, he agrees,
he not along, So there you go. All right. So
if you are hoping to play the card that nobody
believes in them, nobody believes in the Reds, well, Harold
Reynolds does. I think if you were forced to wager

(01:10:37):
an amount of money that matters to you on one
team to win the division, I think the smart wager
would be on the Chicago Cups, and frankly, everything they
have been not doing for half a decade has been
building to this. I think the Kyle Tucker trades a

(01:10:59):
big deal. I think they've made their starting rotation better.
I think they've made their bullpens slightly better. Still a
little bit of a question mark, but I don't think
it's far fetch to imagine the Reds winning this division.
I think a lot of that is based on the
fact that I think everybody would be surprised if the
NL Central winner has, you know, ninety seven or ninety

(01:11:21):
eight wins. Chances are we're talking about a division winner
that is playing in the first round of the playoffs,
But don't I don't think it's far fat I think
the variance for this team is part of what makes
it so interesting, and there's a lot there. But I
would be unsurprised if they finished with seventy five losses,
seventy four or seventy five losses. I'd be unsurprised if

(01:11:43):
they finish with eighty eight or eighty nine wins. I
think there's a very large range. I think the biggest
X factor in the division, however, is the Pittsburgh Pirates
starting pitching. I mean, first of all, they might have
the best pitcher in baseball right now in Paul Schemes,
a good young staff. It feels to me like there

(01:12:03):
may be eight years away from all the pieces coming together.
But I think that's a wildcard in the division and
not a wildcard team. I think that's something in that
and we'll go with X factor. But sure, I am,
and maybe more than some, I am a huge believer
in what the Reds are doing with their starting pitching.

(01:12:25):
It wasn't that long ago that Graham Ashcraft was considered
one of the big three. Could be I'm sure if
you will be, but could be on the outside looking in.
And you know, the Ret Louder thing, unfortunately has slowed
down because of the elbow sort is that he dealt
with when camp started. But you know, that's that's a
that's a prized asset in this organization. And Nicolodolo is

(01:12:48):
still a prized asset in this organization. And Hunter Green
was an All Star last year. I I think you
could do two things. You could look at the standings
last season, and I think think you could look at
the overall numbers of the starting staff and walk Away
unimpressed with what the red starting pitching did last season.

(01:13:08):
Trip be told, for much of the year it was
well above league average. It fell apart at the end
of the season because of injuries and then they were,
you know, running a lot of guys out there, relievers
and bullpen games and stuff like that, and so you know,
some of the numbers like average start length got reduced.
But the starting pitching for most of the season last
year was really really good, and I think the fun

(01:13:30):
thing about that is it may get even better. So
but anyway, there you go, Harold Reynolds predicting the Reds
to to win the division. Sign me up for that.
We haven't done any Bengals stuff today. There's been no
hot takes out there about Jamar Chase and t Higgins.

(01:13:52):
I do think there's a life lesson when it comes
to the Bengals. We're gonna get to that. And we
also have to come up with a poll question on
Twitter thanks to United Atlanta Insurance, might make it about
tonight's hockey tilt on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports.

Speaker 9 (01:14:04):

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At u see Health, You'll find comprehensive care that's so
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Speaker 10 (01:14:41):
This reporting sponsored by Rapid Rating.

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I screwed that up? Pole questions are a service of
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(01:15:07):
Pole questions are a service of United Heartland Insurance. Got
a uh CHI and has stuck. Sometimes there are a
lot of moving parts. Sometimes there's a lot of stuff
that happens. And you know this, this is live, Okay,
this isn't some podcast where we wait, we screwed up.

(01:15:27):
Let's go back and erase all that and hit record. No,
this is live. So when the host me makes a mistake,
which I make dozens per show, it's all out there
for everybody to behold. It's all out there for everybody
to pick apart. That's that's the beauty. That's why this medium,
that's why what we're doing right now is the best.

(01:15:47):
But it's also the most challenging part of broadcast. There's
no script here, there's no teleprompter, there's no go back
and erase that and we'll start over. No, we're live.
So pole Questions are a service of United Heartland Insurance.
United Heartland Insurance has offices in Hamilton, Burlington and Cincinnati.

(01:16:11):
And if you needed something insured, they're gonna insured for you.
It could be your car, or your boat, or your
could be your house, could be your business, could be
your your commercial fleet, whatever it is, go to uh
I NS dot com United Heartland Insurance. Tonight, the NHL
has found something here the Four Nations Final where the

(01:16:35):
US is gonna play Canada. These two teams just played
on Saturday night. Chances are you saw the highlights where
there were three fights in the first nine seconds of
the game, and the the NHL has like found something here.
It's gonna be fun to see the other sports leagues
try to emulate it. Although baseball the World Baseball Classic

(01:16:56):
works and I was when when that started, I think
was two thousand and nine, was deeply skeptical that that
was going to work. Those games work. You know, people
love to represent their country. People love to play sports
with their country's flag on their chest, and they love
to represent their cut. I think it's you know, the

(01:17:18):
NBA is talking about let's do the US versus the world.
It might work, but representing the rest of the world
is a little bit different than representing your home country.
And so this has worked for that reason. But you
need buy in from players, and the players have bought in.
There's also, regardless of how you feel about this, a

(01:17:42):
very heated political environment that were well some of us
are just watching, others are really participating in. But it
hovers over this game. And I'm not going to dive
into the nuts and bolts of that by any stretch
of the imagination. But you know, and the games in Canada,
the Star Spangled banner got booed. They're playing tonight, I

(01:18:05):
guess in Boston, so maybe, oh, Canada is gonna get
boot I don't know, but it has added some juice
to an environment that was already going to be really heated.
There are there's also a great history of the US
and Canada having some heated games against each other in
this sport. I am, as you probably know and can

(01:18:26):
probably tell, a very very casual hockey. I like the
sport of hockey. I just like other sports more. But
tonight that's gonna be and it also like it. It
positioned it. It's across multiple days, but it doesn't drag
on for weeks on end. It's kind of filling a
void post football, pre March madness. The ratings have been good.

(01:18:48):
I'm guessing the ratings for tonight are gonna be through
the roof. Paul question asks if you're gonna watch, early voting,
seventy two point seven percent say yes, I'm gonna watch.
And now what I'm curious is how much of the
interest in this is going to translate into better ratings
for the regular season when it restarts this weekend. TNT

(01:19:12):
and ESPN carry the National Hockey League, and their regular
season ratings have been way way down this year, and
there's obviously gonna be a bump when we get to
the postseason playoff hockey is awesome, but I wonder how
much of this is gonna create a little bit more
interest in the actual NHL regular season once it starts
this weekend. But that'll be and let's be honest, there's

(01:19:33):
a lot of us who are going to watch the
night and we're rooting for a fight, and we're rooting
for We're rooting for like multiple fights, and so we'll
see if we get some. But that'll be fun to
watch tonight. Vote now at Moegger on Twitter again, Paul
questions Thanks to United Heartland Insurance, got a u h
I NS dot com. FC Cincinnati played late last night

(01:19:58):
in Honduras against Matagua and played really well, got lots
of contributions from the newcomers. They now set their sights
on a home tilt against the defending Eastern Conference champion
New York Red Bulls. We're gonna talk with one of
the broadcasters from Apple TV MLS Season Pass on the
call coming up at five twenty Lori Lindsay will have

(01:20:18):
the call along with Chris Whittingham. Lorie joins us in
just about twenty five minutes the Bearcat game last night.
There are certain sporting events that when your team loses,
you can you can point out the turning point as
the turning point is taking place. That happened last night.

(01:20:41):
And the Bengals, you might have heard, they want to
sign Jamar Chase, and they want to sign t Higgins
and they should. They also should have already done this.
We'll get to that as well. A lot of ground
to cover between now and six o'clock on moegar. This
is ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports station.

Speaker 1 (01:20:58):
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Enter this nationwide keyword on our website. Okay, that's pay
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Covers the Bengals like ESPN fifteen to thirty Cincinnati's sports station,
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Speaker 4 (01:21:17):
It's four minutes after five o'clock. This is the best
Q fifteen thirty on mogar. Thank you so much for
joining us. Hopefully you're having the greatest Thursday ever ever,
I said Laurie Lindsay. Apple TV mL season pass is
going to join us in just about fifteen minutes. A
few Bengals things as well, and we'll go to goodyear

(01:21:40):
coming up in just about thirty minutes too. Red's going
through another day at workouts, getting set for Saturday's Cactus
League openers because they play two games. It is awesome.
I got Cubs Dodgers on right now, sixth inning, like
those those first few innings of any game from Florida
or Arizona. It just warms the heart. Whose heart doesn't

(01:22:04):
need a little warming On a daylight today when it's
like twelve degrees out for what feels like the four
hundredth consecutive day. We've talked a lot about the Bearcat
game last night. There are certain sporting events. Maybe there
are certain moments in life, but there are certain sporting
events were in real time something bad happened, and it
might be otherwise benign or innocuous or not that big

(01:22:28):
of a deal, but it feels like a pivot point
last night in the game against West Virginia, a game
that the Bearcats for a good fifteen minute stretch defensively
did everything they could do to seize control of the game,
A game that Gisel James did just enough to help
the Bearcats seize control of a must win game, a

(01:22:51):
game against a team that is also doing everything it
can to make the tournament with a at least a
similar metrics profile. Bearcats win that game last night, we're
talking about a team that has won four out of five.
Bearcats win that game last night, maybe we're getting excited
about what they could still do with consecutive home games
coming up on Saturday and on Tuesday. There're seven minutes

(01:23:15):
and forty four seconds away from winning. Now, the game
is not in hand by any stretch. It was forty
seven to forty one. It's a six point game. They're
on the road. There have been a lot of teams
so with much less time to go and larger leads
have blown them. But seven forty four to go, Dylan
Mitchell was just sent to the free throw line after

(01:23:35):
missing a layup and getting an offensive rebound and getting fouled.
And during the timeout, if you're a Bearcat fan, if
you're a Bearcat fan like me, you are maybe saying
to yourself, get these two, get a stop, and then
you're gonna have the ball up eight roughly seven minutes
to go. Again, the game's not over. Victory is not gearing,

(01:24:01):
but you feel pretty good, especially given the fact they
dug themselves a nine point hole in the first half,
and then Dylan Mitchell missed those free throws. Now, I
hate to pin any game on one player, one moment
by one player, but be honest with me, if you're
a UC fan, right then and there, you knew there

(01:24:25):
was other stuff. There was like this two minute stretch
from that seven forty four mark on where the Bearcats
had Dylan Mitchell missed a couple of free throws. They
missed the front end of a one and one daan A. Thomas,
they had this weird shot clock violation, they had an
over and back turnover. In the middle of all this,

(01:24:47):
they gave up a couple of buckets, and you just knew,
now there was How the game ended with this insane
comeback at the end. Dan Skillings banks in a three,
makes another West Virginia can't get the ball in, so
the Bearcats get a last shot. And it was a
good shot. It was a good action and a shot

(01:25:07):
taken by a guy that a lot of us I
think are pretty comfortable taken. Tyler Betsy's a good outside shooter.
The shot didn't go. But when I think of that game,
I'm gonna think of how I started to feel the
moment Dylan Mitchell missed those free throws, And when I
think of this season, I think, if you're a Bearcat fan,
when you think of this season, which has been defined

(01:25:29):
by frustrating losses, lots of different types of losses, losses
at home, losses on the road, close losses, blowout losses,
losses where they've blown leads in a season filled with
frustrating losses. For me, at least, last night took the cake.
Part of it was where we are in the season.

(01:25:51):
Part of it is the small margin for air this
team has because it came into last night with ten
losses already, but it was an opponent that was there
to be beaten. It was a game that it kind
of felt like could have changed the conversation about what
they have in front of them the last five had
they won, and a game that felt like was going

(01:26:13):
to shut the door to their NCAA tournament chances if
they lost. It was also a game that was very
much there for the taking, a game where they did
enough good things to put themselves in a position to win, but,
as has often been the case this season, they can
finish the deal. Deeply frustrating, last night I guess two
things I wonder. One is I wonder how this goes

(01:26:37):
the rest of the way, because last night felt like
the air came out of the balloon. Now, look, you
certainly can convince me that if they win their next
five they're a tournament team. What you're going to have
a hard time convincing anybody of is that they will
win their next five. And so I've asked at different
points this season, like how bad might this bet? How

(01:26:59):
bad might this get?

Speaker 2 (01:27:00):
Right?

Speaker 4 (01:27:01):
It's kind of what I'm I'm I'm I'm wondering now,
Like we've talked about this team's effort and lack thereof
at times, and lack of focus at times, and at
times it feeling like, you know, the season's about to unravel.
And to this team's credit, after the first West Virginia game,
they did come back and play really well and they
won their next three. But I think last night for
a lot of fans and last night, maybe, and I

(01:27:23):
can't say this for sure, but maybe for some of
the folks on the team kind of felt like it right,
the door is shut, the tournament's no longer a likelihood.
How does that impact the effort on Saturday? How does
that impact their performance on Saturday? How does that impact
the vibe at the game on Saturday and noon tip off?

(01:27:48):
I think that's interesting. I also think and I believe,
Wes Miller will be the coach of the Bearcats next season,
and I badly want him to succeed because I think
Wes is a really, really good guy. I badly want
this to succeed for my own selfish reasons, but like,
it's no fun to go through a coaching change. It's

(01:28:09):
no fun to watch coaches get let go, and especially
when they haven't accomplished what they were brought here to accomplish.
So yeah, on a very human level, I want this
to work. But I also think this is gonna be
a really tough sell job for a lot of folks.
I look at social media. I most of my friends
are UC fans, or at least many of them are.

(01:28:31):
I do this for a living. I think you're hard
pressed to find a lot of people who really feel like,
you know what this is. This is this is gonna end,
not this season, but this is gonna end with what
we all want, which is the Bearcats being back to
being an NCAA tournament perennial. I think how this gets
sold and spun and explained once the season is over,

(01:28:55):
if the season continues to go the way it appears
it's going, is really gonna be interesting to watch, really
gonna be interesting to observe how people react to the
way this gets spun explained. Rational. I'm not sure rational
is the right word. I it's gonna be tough. And

(01:29:18):
I again, like I talk to sports fans for a living,
and most people in my orbit are sports fans, and
there's there's growing skepticism that this is going to work
the way so many of us want. I think Wes
Miller will be the coach next year, and I'm on
board with that. I think, you know, number one, he's

(01:29:39):
got good players coming in. Number two. While I think
it's never been easier to get things turned around by
using players from outside. They've had two coaching changes this
decade and both have necessitated starts from scratch, and while
it's doable, I think it's really hard to do. And
so I I I want Wes to be the coach

(01:30:01):
next year, but I also understand that's gonna be a
really hard sell for a lot of people. And how
this gets sold, and how this gets explained, and how
this gets talked about, and how this gets in some
circles maybe even excused. What the reaction to what you
see is selling As it relates to year five of
a basketball coach who hasn't been to the NCAA tournament yet,

(01:30:23):
I think is what's gonna be. It's gonna be interesting
to pay attention to. It is thirteen minutes after five o'clock.
We've been pretty heavy on the Bengals. We're always heavy
on the Bengals, but this week, as it relates to
t Higgins and Jamar Chase and the news came out yesterday,
the salary cap is going up, which we all knew.

(01:30:43):
The streaming and gambling money are just now starting to
hit this league and the cap is only gonna go
up and up and up and up. The Bengals have
cap space. Here's what I can't help but wonder what
if they get the Jamar Chase thing done last August

(01:31:07):
and what if Joe Burrow spoke up about t Higgins
a year ago? Are both these things done? And how
much more money would they have to spend had they
gotten those things done? The Jamar Chase thing most notably
like I I can't help but think there's like some

(01:31:28):
sort of like life lesson there. When when someone presents
to you a pretty obvious opportunity, maybe you should take
advantage of it. Because the Bengals were given an opportunity
by Jamar Chase last year that was pretty obvious. Hey,
I want to be here, Go ahead, let's get a
deal done because I'm really good and I'm playing with

(01:31:48):
Joe Burrow and if I have this sort of season
I'm capable of, it's gonna cost you even more. So instead,
let's go ahead and get that done. Now he can't
go back in time. It is a what if that
would drive? Like let's say last year that Jamar Chase
was gonna get let's use basic numbers here, thirty MILLI year,

(01:32:10):
and now he's gonna get forty. Can you imagine what
this team could do with that ten million bucks? Because
as much as we all discuss, you know often if
you sign these expensive players are gonna have a hard
time making the rest of the team better because of
the money allocated to a handful of players. Okay, the
player last year tried to make it easy on you.

(01:32:31):
Go ahead and get it done. Pay me now if
you don't, Okay, you're gonna have to pay me more.
If I'm as awesome as I can be, and if
I'm as awesome as you know I am and can be, Like, that's.

Speaker 14 (01:32:45):
A what if?

Speaker 4 (01:32:46):
Right, Like what would they be doing with that money
right now that they're gonna have to give to Jamar
Chase on top of what they are already gonna have
to give him. And you know, obviously Joe Burrow might
have looked at last season and said, well, let's see
what else we can do at wide receiver, Let's see
what kind of team we have, and then spoke up
once what they had at wide receiver proof to not
be as good as T Higgins. I wonder what this

(01:33:09):
would have looked like. And I wonder what it would
look like now, excuse me? Had Joe spoken up last summer?
Five point three, seven, four, nine, fifteen thirty is our
phone number. FC Cincinnati looked good last night beat Matagua,
and now they set their sights on the home opener
in the first game in the MLS or the MLS

(01:33:30):
regular season. Laurie Lindsay has the call MLS season pass
Apple TV, and she joins us next on ESPN fifteen

Speaker 9 (01:33:38):

Speaker 7 (01:33:44):
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best tomorrow possible. That's foundless care for better outcomes. Expect
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(01:34:07):
accident there onto the left shoulder southbound seventy one. Traffic
slow from Dana Avenue to Liberty Street. I'm at Ezelek
with traffic.

Speaker 4 (01:34:15):
This report is FC Cincinnati played well last night. It's
hon Dorris. Is there a common tat Champions Cup tilt
against Matagua and now the Orange of Blue home on
Saturday night to open up the MLS regular season with
the game against the New York Red Bulls. You can
watch it on MLS Season Pass on Apple TV, which

(01:34:36):
they have made easier to access this year. And a
great broadcasting team. Our buddy Chris Whittingham on the call
alongside Laurie Lindsay, who is kind enough to give us
a few minutes before she makes a way to Cincinnati
for US Saturday Night's match. Laurie, it's good to have you.
Thank you for your time. How are you?

Speaker 14 (01:34:55):
Yeah, great, Thanks for having me.

Speaker 2 (01:34:57):
Good to be chatting with you.

Speaker 4 (01:34:58):
I appreciate I appreciate you doing this. The start of
a new season, so lots of questions. What are you
looking forward to finding out about FC Cincinnati on Saturday Night?

Speaker 14 (01:35:09):
Yeah, well mostly I'm just excited I think about this
matchup in general, but just to get the twenty twenty
five season underway, see where everybody's been putting work in
in the off season. But I'm really excited about you know,
obviously if you're gonna lose out on Luco Acosta and
him going to FC Dallas, and what is Evander and

(01:35:31):
Dink going to bring to the attack. So really excited
about some of the attackers that Seasoncinnati has brought in
and see what they'll do in terms of scoring and
just providing a lethal attack all season.

Speaker 4 (01:35:45):
Yeah, and good early returns from the new guys. Last night.
You mentioned they lose Lucho Acosta, a former MVP. They
gained an MVP finalist from last year and so the
comparisons are natural and to be expected for those who
have watched a lot of Loot Show, but not a
ton of a Vander. Compare the two for me, Yeah.

Speaker 14 (01:36:06):
I mean I think in a lot of ways very similar.
Both of them are wonderful individually. I mean, obviously, so
much of the attack went through Luco and getting him
the ball at his feet, and I think we'll actually
see the exact same with Evander. What I'm interested in
is just how quickly he can learn. Obviously, you reference
the goalie scord last night, so it looks like he's

(01:36:28):
slipping in seamlessly. But in a lot of ways you
can compare these two players slight differences, but for the
most part, I would it's almost a like for like.
And now you get a Vander who's going to be
wanting to approve himself coming from Portland and obviously him
being a partner with DNK. So I think it's actually

(01:36:48):
more less about comparing the two, in my opinion, but
just seeing that all of the pieces come together for
Cincinnati this year in terms of the attack.

Speaker 4 (01:36:58):
Yeah, and you mentioned ken K, who I thought was
the best player on the field in that game last night.
We've gotten a glimpse of what he can bring to
the table for this team. How do you expect that
to look as the season unfolds.

Speaker 14 (01:37:11):
Oh, you used to get another lethal attacker, right, And
that's what I mean, like in terms of I think
you're going to see a little bit more variety from
SC Cincinnati in the attack this year, because it won't
just as I was saying, like in terms of comparisons,
like with Glucho, so much went through him and at
times then that could become predictable. Regardless, Yes, we know

(01:37:32):
his social qualities. He could get himself out of pressure.
So I think you have more attackers that are going
to be able to showcase with their ability because you
can play through a vandor you can play through din K.
They can combine it. But then you have Kubo depending
on we saw him play a couple of different positions
last night, So there's an ability I think to have
more variety than they've seen in the last few years.

(01:37:54):
And so I'm excited about den K. I think he's
going to provide a lot of goal scoring attributes. But
then and also like I said, that's going to open
up some other players in the attack if if all
eyes are on him.

Speaker 4 (01:38:06):
Laurie Lindsay is with us MLS Season Pass Apple TV
Saturday Night FC Cincinnati hosting the New York Red Bulls.
It's a New York team.

Speaker 2 (01:38:15):
You know.

Speaker 4 (01:38:15):
Last year, all we did was talk about how good
Miami was, how good Columbus was, and how good we
hoped FC Cincinnati was, And surely one of those three
teams had to come out of the East and then
it ends up being the New York Red Bulls. Do
they have a similarly composed team this year?

Speaker 10 (01:38:33):
Yeah, I believe so.

Speaker 14 (01:38:34):
I mean, obviously they lost some pieces. Ras in the back,
you get Tolkien, who's going to has gone to Germany,
but you get you get a couple of the players,
get Hack in the back, you get Troopo Moting up
top the center. Ford has a ton of experience. I
think it provides a little bit of a different look

(01:38:55):
for them in terms of his hold up plague and
played between the lines, even though he's regarded as.

Speaker 2 (01:38:59):
A center four.

Speaker 14 (01:39:01):
But so I think that they're gonna be a very
similar team, but now with more experience. And I think
the hope for them is that Forestburg will stay healthy
because that was the big talk last year. They started
off with the vengeance, then slowed when they lost him
due to injury for several months, and then once he returned,
obviously we saw the form that they were in at

(01:39:22):
the lot of part of the season and then obviously
losing to the Galaxy at MLUS Cup. So I think
this is actually a very similar team with again a
bit more experience now under their belts.

Speaker 4 (01:39:34):
So it'll be interesting to see.

Speaker 14 (01:39:35):
How they start this season, and especially against that FC
Cincinnati team.

Speaker 3 (01:39:41):
Where.

Speaker 14 (01:39:43):
I think there's some differences in these two teams obviously,
but there are some similarities as well.

Speaker 4 (01:39:49):
How wide open do you expect the East to be?

Speaker 14 (01:39:52):
Oh goodness, I think the East is just gonna be
a battle all season long. I am like so pumps
and yeah, I think it's hard to predict. I mean, obviously,
you know there's a lot of talk about Messi and
him staying healthy and in our Miami.

Speaker 4 (01:40:06):
And rightfully so.

Speaker 14 (01:40:07):
But I think just wide open. And that's why I
think this game regardless, I mean, anytime as a professional player,
getting off on the front foot and building a little
a little bit of momentum in these first games so necessary,
regardless if you're and we don't expect the team to
be at their best yet.

Speaker 4 (01:40:27):
It should be a lot of fun. I think the
weather is going to be better than it has been here,
maybe a little bit warmer, so it should be a
good atmosphere. You and Chris have a great call. We
do appreciate the time, Laurie, thanks so much.

Speaker 14 (01:40:39):
Yeah, thank you, appreciate it.

Speaker 4 (01:40:40):
Stay warm, you got it. Lori Lindsay match analyst MLS
Season Pass Apple TV. She and our buddy Chris Whittingham
have the call Saturday night, FC Cincinnati hosting the New
York Red Bulls, the reigning Eastern Conference champions. Of course,
you could also hear the match on Fox Sports thirteen
sixty with our buddy Tommy g who is going to

(01:41:02):
be on Sincy three sixty tomorrow, so have that to
look forward to. Twenty eight after five o'clock. My name
is Mogar polp question overwhelmingly so the responses are gonna
watch the hockey tonight on Twitter at Moegar thanks to
United Heartland Insurance. That's gonna be. That's gonna be one
of those fun one off events. I like it when

(01:41:23):
we're all rooting for the same team. And we're all rooting.
I guess, I guess for the United States. Let's see,
we're gonna go to goodyear. Tommy thro All Next, ESPN
fifteen thirty, Cincinnati Sports.

Speaker 6 (01:41:34):
Station, Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 9 (01:41:39):
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Speaker 7 (01:41:40):
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(01:42:03):
Glendale Roade. It's the right lane blocked off from an
accident that between Progress Place and Crussettville Road.

Speaker 10 (01:42:09):
That he's not like with traffic this.

Speaker 4 (01:42:11):
Year thirty I'm o Eggers Sports headlines and service at
Kelsey chevro Life home of lifetime power train protection and
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dot com. There are no sports headlines. It's a very
light sports day. Let's go to goodyear. Tommy Thraw, Voice
of the Reds, your sixth season. So this is your
first as it is with everybody else, first spring training

(01:42:33):
with Terry Francona at the Helm. As we say, how
would you describe a Terry Francona spring training.

Speaker 8 (01:42:41):
It's just it's hard to explain exactly what's different, other
than that attitude just seems to be so so positive,
and not that it wasn't before, but it's just different.
I think everybody's focus now is on strictly winning. It's
it's not about else, It's just what we need to
do to win, and that's everybody's focus. That's been the

(01:43:03):
messaging that the Terry Francona has delivered to the team
all the way through, and.

Speaker 2 (01:43:09):
It's it shows up. I mean, guys are just a
little bit more focused.

Speaker 8 (01:43:12):
They're hungry too, and I think that just comes from
some guys that didn't have years that they wanted to
have last year. Christian Internaci and Strand looks better than
I've ever seen him. Look, I mean he looks tremendous.
You talk about a guy that is driven, a guy
that is focused. This is a guy that's on a
mission to prove that that he belongs to the big

(01:43:33):
leagues and that's what he's gonna have to do. I mean,
guys are gonna have to earn their spots. Albe Marte
if he's gonna make this team, and.

Speaker 2 (01:43:40):
I'll be honest, I think it's a long shot.

Speaker 8 (01:43:41):
But if he's gonna make the team out of camp,
he's got to earn it. And that's that's kind of
the the way the messaging is too. If guys are
if guy's gonna be on this team, they're gonna earn it.
Obviously some spots are filled, but it's it's great. It's
good to see Matt McClain healthy. That's been tremendous, But
like I said, the focus solely.

Speaker 2 (01:44:00):
On winning and a lot of the guys.

Speaker 8 (01:44:03):
You know, Tito's great and he has a lot to
do with that, but a lot of guys are are
out to prove something this year.

Speaker 2 (01:44:09):
Great Ashcraft is another guy that that fits into that category.

Speaker 4 (01:44:13):
What parts of this team are you most interested in
learning more about? Starting on Saturday.

Speaker 8 (01:44:19):
I'm kind of curious to see how this whole bullpen's
gonna play out.

Speaker 2 (01:44:21):
And then the other thing is who's going to be
this team's third basement when the season starts.

Speaker 8 (01:44:26):
Damer Candelario looks great, like I said in Carnassi and
Strand is another guy that didn't just come into camp
looking good.

Speaker 2 (01:44:34):
He's moving really well.

Speaker 8 (01:44:36):
He's everybody that I've talked who's been really impressed with
his footwork at third base and his ability to move
around around third base. So, you know, I think before
the thought was well, it's probably just a DH type
of guy that can play some first base. He wants
to be able to prove that he can play third base.
And I think Candelario came into camp in a similar situation.

(01:44:58):
I think he wants to prove that he can bill
played third base. He came in in great shape, lost
a bunch of weight, he's very lean, he's moving well,
and so I think that's that's gonna be one of
the things I'm kind of watching for is is who's
gonna take over third base. Now, it could be a
situation where you have a few guys sharing that spot
with Cees and Candelario kind of bouncing back and forth

(01:45:22):
between first and third. But that that's gonna be one
to keep an eye on. But like I said, the bullpen,
there's probably really only one.

Speaker 2 (01:45:31):
Spot that's open out there.

Speaker 8 (01:45:34):
But I think this team, especially the way Tita likes
to run a bullpen.

Speaker 2 (01:45:37):
I think they're going to need a good.

Speaker 8 (01:45:38):
Bullpen, So we'll see how the arms look out there
this spring.

Speaker 4 (01:45:42):
Yeah, you know, that's that's an area the team. To me,
that is interesting because you know they late in the
offseason Nick Crawl went and got some guys and got
some guys who've had success, acquired pitchers who have closed
and so maybe we don't get an answer to this
during spring training, and maybe there's no need to find
an answer because he ends up being really, really good.
But I'm kind of curious as to how much of

(01:46:03):
a strangle hold Alexis Tz has on the closer spot.

Speaker 8 (01:46:07):
Well, he took a big step in the right direction
with that by coming into camp in really good shape
and ready to go. I think Trentito said this right
out of the gate. Look, he was probably playing catch
up a little bit last year, meaning he didn't come
into camp maybe quite as ready. He came into camp
right as go this year. So I think that's a
big step in the right direction, which kind of says that,

(01:46:28):
you know, he's a guy that understands that it's got
to be a better year. Of course, playing for different manager,
you want to kind of prove that you're the guy too,
So I think that that is something that kind of
benefits him coming into this season. So I don't think
that it's automatically his, but I think he wants to
prove that it is, which is something that's very healthy

(01:46:49):
for this team.

Speaker 4 (01:46:51):
You mentioned a guy who's going to pitch on Saturday,
not the game that you're going to call Graham Ashcraft.
If things go well for him over the next four
or five weeks his role in this club.

Speaker 8 (01:47:02):
I think if things go well, there's going to be
an opening in the rotation. I'm not so sure, even
though I think he's okay and I think he's healthy,
But just because he hasn't thrown in four or five weeks,
I don't know that Rhet Louder is going to be
a guy that's going to make the rotation out of
spring training. Just because I think they're going to be really,
really cautious with him. That kind of opens up a

(01:47:23):
rotation spot. And I think Graham, if he proves that
he can get it done, I think he stays in
the rotation at least for now, and I think that's
a good thing. If he can earn his way into
the rotation. There is nothing wrong with that at all,
because he has a chance to still be a really,
really good starting pitcher on this team, and I think
he wants to prove that he can be.

Speaker 2 (01:47:43):
He's got to.

Speaker 8 (01:47:44):
Be able to get through five innings a little easier
than he's done in the past. That's that's gonna be
something that'll be big for him. But he seems to
be another guy that's on a mission. But I don't
know that the bullpen is a bad fail to fail
safe for him. It's scary to think of about how
good he could be in the bullpen, and I really
think that at some point that's going to be his fate.

(01:48:06):
But you know, if he's in the rotation to start
the year, I don't think there's anything wrong with that.

Speaker 4 (01:48:11):
I think the most interesting acquisition this offseason is Austin
Hayes because I know what he can do against left
handed pitching and everybody, you know, even folks connected to
the Philly said they didn't get the true Austin Hayes
last year because of the whole kidney issue. So thankfully
he's healthy. I think he can help. I think one
of the questions a lot of folks have had all
winter long has been is this team going to have

(01:48:31):
enough offense from the corner roulefield spots? What do you
say to that?

Speaker 8 (01:48:35):
Well, the thing that I've said to that all along is,
I don't know. I think I think when you're looking
at it just from that aspect, it's a little bit
more of a broader picture type of thing. I look at,
can this team prevent more runs this year than they
did last year, then maybe don't need as much offense.
And I think that the thing is this team is

(01:48:55):
capable of doing this year. I think they are going
to be better than that.

Speaker 2 (01:48:58):
I think you're going to see the infield deepen and improve.

Speaker 8 (01:49:01):
I think the pitching is going to take a step forward,
and I think offensively, this team's going to be able
to take advantage of more opportunities than they did last year.
This team was not very good at taking advantage of
RBI opportunities, at least the way I saw it.

Speaker 2 (01:49:17):
Last year.

Speaker 8 (01:49:17):
I thought there were a lot of opportunities that they
left on the table. I think that's going to be
something that'll be cleaned up. So because of that, I
think they are going to be good enough to take
the step forward that they need to take, regardless of
maybe getting a little bit more production out of the
corner outfield.

Speaker 2 (01:49:32):
I think Spencer Steel is going to have a nice year.

Speaker 8 (01:49:34):
I'm not sure that he'll start the year in left field,
but I think eventually he'll be back out there. The
shoulders kind of bothering him a little bit. He's going
to start growing soon. And Austin Hayes I think makes
right field a better spot because I think he is
so to answer your question, I think you will get
a little bit more production out of there because I
think Austin Hayes is a guy that's poised for a

(01:49:57):
big year. You know, I mentioned some of the other
guys that are hungry because of this team's performance last year.
He's won that's hungry because of his performance last year elsewhere.
He's this is an All Star player two years ago.
I think he wants to prove that that's still who
he is. He's on a mission to show that last

(01:50:18):
year was not who he was. And he also wants
to prove that he can hit right handed pitching, not.

Speaker 2 (01:50:22):
Just left handed pitching.

Speaker 8 (01:50:23):
He's done it in the past, but he got off
to a really slow start last year, then kind of
fell into a tune role and never had a chance
to get.

Speaker 2 (01:50:30):
Out of it.

Speaker 8 (01:50:31):
I think if he's healthy and he's locked in, I
think he can hit both right handed and left handed
pitching and give you a little bit more production out
of the right field spot.

Speaker 4 (01:50:40):
All right, one more. We've talked about a lot of
guys who stand to be reds in twenty twenty five.
When you're calling some of these Cactus League games and
you get into the seventh or eighth inning and your
scorecard looks like my daughter's coloring book because of all
the changes. Give me one or two guys that you're
going to perk up when they ended the game, either
positionally or on the mound.

Speaker 8 (01:51:00):
Cam Callier is definitely one. Really excited to see what
he's capable of. Edwin Arroyo is another one. You know,
he set out all last year the shoulder issue similar
to Matt McClain's injury last year.

Speaker 2 (01:51:11):
So I'm excited to see where he's at right now.
And because of what I said before.

Speaker 8 (01:51:18):
I don't know that Noelvie Marte is going to be
on the scene to start the year. He's another guy
that I'm gonna be curious to see. Now, obviously we've
seen him, so I don't know that he counts. But
the other guy that I will put into that category
from a pitching perspective is Zach Maxwell. I think Zach
Maxwell and Louise May are two guys that are probably
going to be able to help this bullpen at the

(01:51:39):
major league level at some point during the season. Maxwell's
gonna be a fun with I'm excited to watch him pitch.

Speaker 4 (01:51:47):
Excited to listen on Saturday season. Cak in here soon enough.
Always appreciate the time, Tommy, Thank you so much.

Speaker 2 (01:51:54):
All right, sounds good.

Speaker 8 (01:51:55):
Hopefully the sounds of spring can melt some of that
snowback home.

Speaker 4 (01:52:00):
Ah, you know what, I've tried everything else, so we'll
see if it works on Saturday. Thanks so much, man, Thanks.

Speaker 2 (01:52:08):
A lot, appreciate it.

Speaker 4 (01:52:09):
Tommy throw three h five on Saturday, Reds and Guardians
on seven hundred WLW as Tommy begins his sixth season,
Hard to Believe, sixth season as the voice of the
Reds on radio. A few minutes with Chad Brundle on
the Bearcats.

Speaker 9 (01:52:23):
Next Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 10 (01:52:28):

Speaker 7 (01:52:31):
At uce Health, you'll find comprehensive care that's so personal
it makes your best tomorrow possible. That's boundless care for
better outcomes. Expect more at UCHealth dot com. Keep an
eye out for an accident on col Rain Avenue at
Compton Road, North Bend Road. It's another accident between West
Fork and Cheviot Road. Northbound Princeton Glendale Road. It's the

(01:52:53):
right lane blocked off from an accident that between Progress
Place and Crescentville Road. I'm at Ezelek with traffic.

Speaker 10 (01:53:00):
This report is sponsored by Raparo Off.

Speaker 4 (01:53:03):
So you'll have a Chad from three to six. I
know he's going to talk a lot about the Bearcats
and more from the loss last night. Let's do a
few minutes here really quick. A lot of us got
this season wrong. Thought this would be an NCAA tournament
team and one that got in with ease. What did
we most get wrong about this.

Speaker 11 (01:53:22):
Team that they didn't have a star that you know
the I think, excuse me, the weather is not doing
well with me.

Speaker 4 (01:53:35):
I understand.

Speaker 11 (01:53:36):
I think that the anticipation or the belief that a
couple of guys were going to make that lead is
something that you can't do in this league. You know
that that's something that works in the American where you
know you're just cycling. Okay, well this guy's next, so

(01:53:57):
we're gonna trust that he's going to be able to
do it. If you look around this league, that's not
how these teams are built. They are built on guys
that have done it. They are built on stars that
are stars, not stars that might become stars, and then
they have guys around them that maybe can you know,
fill into those roles. I think Aaron said it best

(01:54:18):
on the Aftermath last night. Though they got a lot
of supporting actors, they don't have a lead man. And
you know, I think where the and I hate to
do this because the thing is a really good player
and this is not too Maybe it's part of what
wasn't fair to him. I don't know that Gisel James

(01:54:39):
is the number one guy. I mean, he is a
guy that relies on the mid range jump shot, which
is the worst shot in basketball. When he has that
mid range jump shot cooking, he looks good when he
does it. I was looking at the numbers today, Mo
He's made more than and to more than one three

(01:55:03):
in four big twelve games out of fifteen, he's made
more than two threes twice. So the mid range jump
shooter that doesn't really give you a consistent outside shot.
And I think that belief that he was gonna be
your go to guy with the ball in his hands

(01:55:25):
is kind of the error in roster construction that is
hurting the team the most. They don't have a two guard. Really,
they don't have a two guard on the roster. Dan
Skilling is that best of three they don't, you know,
And maybe that was gonna be Connor Hickman, but he's
hurt and we're probably not gonna see him again the
rest of this year. So not going out and getting

(01:55:48):
a bona fide scorer, it is hurting this team a lot.
And I hear a lot mough. You know what makes
me laugh. You know what phrase makes me laugh when
looking at this roster positionless basketball, it's a lot.

Speaker 4 (01:56:09):
They have two point guards, They have like six guys.

Speaker 11 (01:56:13):
That are three fours, and they have, you know, two centers.
Like the positionless basketball is just not true in this league.
You have to have a guy when when the wheels
start to fall off that you can clear out get
him the ball and have him go get a basket
to calm things down. Because if you go back and
look at that stretch they got looks right like Dylan

(01:56:36):
Mitchell had a point blank look. He also threw maybe
one of the worst passes in the history of basketball too.
He gets a paint touch. Josh Reed is wide open,
standing and waiting on the wing. I don't know who
the hell he threw that ball to, Like Josh Reed
had had to be Randing, he had to be Chris
Carter making a sideline catch to get that thing as

(01:56:59):
fall away from him as it was thrown, and then
he shoots it off the top of the backboard because
he wasn't set like it's just a failure in looking
at the Big twelve and not yet understanding what it
takes to actually be a really good team in this league.
They bet on Gigsel, they bet on Dan, and it

(01:57:21):
didn't work.

Speaker 2 (01:57:23):
In the in the.

Speaker 4 (01:57:24):
Era we're in now, how does someone like yourself forecast
what next year might look like with the objective being
to have a team that is dramatically better in so
many areas than this one is.

Speaker 2 (01:57:42):
I mean, you.

Speaker 11 (01:57:43):
Almost have to tear it down, like the thought process
of we're gonna we're gonna have a balanced roster that
you know, there's not one great player, but there's a
bunch of good players. Because because I do think like
there are a bunch of Big twelve quality players on

(01:58:03):
this roster, there's just not enough top of the conference
level big twelve players on this roster. And if that
means you got to you're gonna have to answer some
tough questions in terms of what the top of the
roster looks like in regards to the money that you're spending,

(01:58:24):
because spreading out, you know, I would say probably two
and a half million dollars of their budget is spread
out amongst the starting five, but nobody's making a million dollars.
Like I'm confident in saying that, there's probably nobody that's
even within a couple hundred thousand of making a million dollars.
You've got to have one or two million dollar players

(01:58:46):
on this roster. And it feels weird talking about that
in college basketball, right, but it's reality. It is absolute fact.
If you look at these teams that they're playing, almost
all of them have at least one and usually two
million dollar valuation level guys at the top of the roster,

(01:59:07):
and I think it has to start there. And unfortunately,
the only way you get there is to clear out
the top of the roster. And I don't know, like
I don't know exactly what that looks like, but I
think you're starting five has to look drastically different next

(01:59:27):
year than it looks right now, and I think that's
why it has to start.

Speaker 4 (01:59:32):
Yeah, they can they afford a million dollar player? Do
they have? Are those resources available?

Speaker 11 (01:59:40):
I think in this particular window it is because you
still have an IL. It's gonna after July first have
to be used differently. But guess what, You're recruiting the
portal in April, March and April, so you clear out
the decks on your NIL going into July first, and

(02:00:02):
then in July first you get your NIL, which, if
you follow the math on the way most teams are
planning on doing this, they should have four roughly four
million dollars in revenue share coupled with your NIL. That
should allow you to get to a point where you

(02:00:24):
have at least one, potentially two million dollar players on
your roster. And look, the reality is a lot of
next year is going to depend on how good is Shaanabias.

Speaker 4 (02:00:37):
Chad Brendle Bearkat journal dot Com hosting this show tomorrow
from three to six, which means I won't be here,
which means free day weekend. Back at it Monday at
three h five. Enjoy yourself, enjoy your weekend, enjoy your life,
and enjoy Chad tomorrow. Thanks to a Terran Bland for producing.

(02:00:57):
Thanks to you for listening. Have an awesome line. This
is ZESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati sports station

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