March 31, 2025 • 30 mins
Houston Cougars HC Kelvin Sampson joins The Herd to talk about his team's run in the NCAA Tournament and more
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to The Herd podcast. Be sure to
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Speaker 2 (00:21):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
I always felt the perfect combination for a college basketball coach,
and Jim Beaheim's done this, and Mark Fugh's done this,
and Mike Krzyzewski because he coaches like Mark fu USA basketball.
Kelvin Sampson at Houston. He spent six years in the
NBA on several teams, and it gives you a sense
of where you want to take the players. It's the
(00:45):
ultimate destination. And he's now with the Houston Cougars. This
was a program that I grew up with that was
Fi Slama Jama. But when Kelvin took him over, they
weren't a drought. They had a four or five year spell.
They weren't they were not a viable team. And he
now joins US live. They face Duke coming up in
the game of the tournament. You know, I asked Mark
Few a week ago, I said, who don't you want
(01:07):
to play? He goes, yeah, I'd rather miss on Houston.
I've seen enough of them. You have created a team
that's no fun to play. So that's beyond recruiting. That's culture.
When you when you got to Houston, you've done it
four times. You did it at Washington State, you did
at Oklahoma, you did it Montana Tech. I think it
(01:29):
was what is it about you in the first year
or two? How do you change not just recruiting, how
do you change culture in basketball?
Speaker 3 (01:42):
I think one of the attributes a head coach has
to have is yes to have a clearly defined way
he wants to win the game. And you don't have
to pick the defensive event or the offensive vent, but
you have to have something that your kids will believe in.
And I think culture starts with being on time. It
starts with giving your best effort. It starts with your
(02:04):
body language, being responsible so you don't have to be
held accountable, being someone that has the right attitude every day.
I spent a lot of time coaching attitude and effort
before we can ever be a good team.
Speaker 4 (02:18):
I mean that sounds simple, Colin, but.
Speaker 3 (02:21):
All the great cultures have kids that will play for
something bigger than themselves, you know, and that's in this
day and age. We had eight out of our top
ten players return the year before it was the same thing.
I think we've had three kids transferring ten years that
were in our top ten players. So we haven't lived
(02:43):
in the portal, although we do believe in the portal.
But we have kids that when they come in as freshmen,
they become sophomoores juniors, and now they're seniors in our
senior class this year. Last year, we're juniors, and they
were held accountable the seniors that are own and now
that they're seniors, they fully balled into the things that
(03:05):
we believe in. I've got a great staff. My staff
is either my family or former players are support staff
as former.
Speaker 4 (03:14):
Managers, so not really a resume guy.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
I don't take phone calls from people to tell me
who they think would be good for us.
Speaker 4 (03:21):
I kind of make that decision on my own.
Speaker 3 (03:23):
So I think the program part goes with the culture,
and that's been good for us.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
You know what you sound like, coach, You sound like
a warm weather villanova. That's what I said. No, I
mean he would go. He would go to the DMV
get tough kids. Villanova kids were loyal, they played beyond themselves.
They play good defense, and it's really a lot of
times in college basketball of a team is defense first
over offense. It may not be as glamorous. I like
(03:51):
your athletic ability. I like your aggressiveness. I think it
initiates your offense. You know, you look at that tape.
You've been in the NBA. You put that tape. Been
to watch Cooper flag. He reminds me of Jason Tatum
a little bit, like he's kind of good. He's kind
of good at everything.
Speaker 4 (04:07):
What is everything?
Speaker 1 (04:08):
What do you do when you face a guy? And
Kelvin he's going to get his I mean, he's going
to score. What's the mindset facing a kid like that
that is kind of special?
Speaker 4 (04:21):
Well? Less than well?
Speaker 3 (04:24):
I guess about twenty four hours ago we were playing
Tennessee in Indianapolis.
Speaker 4 (04:29):
And we got back last night.
Speaker 3 (04:31):
I guess around eleven or eleven thirty, got up this
morning and did my analyzing, did our analysis of the
Purdue in Tennessee games, And really haven't watched Duke a lot,
but I have watched him enough over the course of
the year. The first thing that jumps out to me
(04:54):
is what a great job John did and putting his
team together. You know, for example, bring and a kid
like Scion James in to pair next to Cooper Flag
and Canepo and the big hid inside because he's smart,
he's tough, doesn't require a lot of shops. It's got
a lot of winner in him. Cooper Flag was going
(05:17):
to be the centerpiece. How they fit everybody around them
is what's so impressive. How do you start stop Cooper Flag?
But that's kind of a silly question. You don't. But
you have to be the best version of yourself. You know,
we played in the Big Twelve the last two years,
and you know, whether it's Kansas or Iowa State or
Texas Tech, there's a lot of really good teams and
(05:40):
all those teams had a best player.
Speaker 4 (05:42):
So we'll come up with something. Now, will it be
good enough? I don't know. Maybe it will, maybe it won't.
Speaker 3 (05:47):
But at the end of the day, every team has
to focus on what they do good and try to
beat their best version themselves for that forty minutes. But
that forty minutes, we have to be the best version
of the Houston Cougar.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
We can be what did you learn in the NBA
that you think even today you think about it occasionally.
That helps you as a college coach because you spent
six years there. That's a spell of time.
Speaker 4 (06:10):
Yeah. I spent three years with Scott Skiles.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (06:13):
Then I spent three years with Kevin McHale. One of
my best friends and coaching is Greg Popovich. So Pop
got me started with the Spurs, and then a month
later I'm.
Speaker 4 (06:27):
With Scott Skiles.
Speaker 3 (06:29):
I think Scott probably helped me the most because he's
a little bit of a basketball savant, extremely smart, prepared, organized,
He understood how to hunt matchups. He was extremely good
in the last two minutes of the game, situational basketball,
(06:51):
taught spacing, understood how to teach hand coach the game.
Speaker 4 (06:56):
He really opened my eyes up.
Speaker 3 (06:58):
Being with the Spurs just just reinforced the things that
I believed in with culture because Pup really do.
Speaker 4 (07:04):
Pup really did.
Speaker 3 (07:07):
When he was coaching the Spurs during that period, he
ran his He ran his program like a college team.
Speaker 4 (07:15):
He had unbelievable character.
Speaker 3 (07:17):
Guys like Tim Duncan and minw Genoble and Tony Parker,
guys like that that totally bought into everything he said.
They allowed him to coach him and Scott. Scott just
took me to another level in terms of the x'es
and o's and opening my eyes to the importance of
space and how do you get shots out of space
(07:38):
and you don't have to rely so much on sets
every single time if you can get paint touches and
have proper space and that can become your offense. So
and then with Kevin McHale, it was just been a manager.
Speaker 4 (07:51):
You know. Kevin knew how to treat players, players respected him. Yeah,
so I.
Speaker 3 (07:56):
Got a little bit from all those guys. It was
an unbelievable experience for me. It was almost like being
a crash course in advanced basketball lytics.
Speaker 2 (08:08):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
in Noone Easter non a em Pacific on Fox Sports
Radio FS one and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (08:16):
Yeah. You know, I was saying this, that is that
I think the NBA and I like the NBA. But
I told Adam Silver when he was on my show
five six weeks ago, I said, I think you guys
have marginalized college basketball. I said, the G League Jalen
Green's amazing. He disappears. I said, the reason I know
who's ion is is college basketball. I think the coaching's better.
(08:38):
I think the kids are treated well, I said, frankly,
if you play for a top ten college basketball team,
you're getting four to eight million dollars of free marketing.
It's incredible, I said. Or you can make a couple
hundred thousand dollars in the G League. Like I, I
look at the NIL as a booies college basketball. It's
your ally. You know what you say? Listen, you can
(09:00):
pay a ninety percent of the G League and I'll
put you on TV thirty times. Is that kind of
how you view it? That that the NIL? Initially it's
like oh boy, wild wild West. But in a weird way,
I think it's your best friend. Actually, Zach EATI can
stay for another year. How do you How do you
view ANIL?
Speaker 3 (09:19):
I think the the h antithesis of the G League
is college basketball. Now, guys aren't leaving early to go
to the G League. They have to take too much
of a pay cut. I think older players are becoming
more in vogue for the NBA because of that.
Speaker 4 (09:36):
Yeah, you've got guys You've.
Speaker 3 (09:37):
Got guys coming out in their fourth year now that
are demanding or can get a big contract instead of
going out early and languishing on the quad Cities the
Erie Pennsylvania four o'clock flight.
Speaker 4 (09:50):
In the morning.
Speaker 3 (09:51):
They're not doing that for a lot of reasons. But
the NBA is getting older because of that. But I
think college basketball is getting better. You look at all
the veteran teams. Now, duke is an outlier, but who's
always been an outlier because they always get you know,
they get the best players, and good for them. That's
(10:11):
they don't need to apologize for that. There's very few
dukes in the world. But if you look at teams
like us, you know we have a very veteran team
and we have we have guys that could have put
their name in the draft a couple of years ago.
Speaker 4 (10:27):
I've got four guys in NBA right now.
Speaker 3 (10:29):
Quentin Grimes, who stayed with me for through his third year,
Marcus Sasser State four years, Jamal Schett State four years,
Jars Walker was a lottery pick. But most our guys
are older guys, and the reason they're staying now is
because the NIL it is what it.
Speaker 1 (10:47):
Is, Kelvin Samson plus winning record three Final four appearances.
This team is athletic, they are tough, they're physical, and
I meant that as the greatest complet Villanova South because
I have so much respect. I knew Roley and Jay
Wright really well, and you guys remind me of tough kids.
(11:07):
They're going to class, they're working hard, they're coming back
and they become great pros. Grimes, by the way, was
actually really plan well right now. Calvin, good luck to you.
I can't wait to watch it and you've built another
great program.
Speaker 4 (11:20):
Thank you, Thank you, Colin. Appreciate you having me on.
Speaker 1 (11:23):
You Bet Kelvin Sampson, Houston Cougar basketball coach thirty six
years j mac. He started at Montana Tech, Washington State, Oklahoma, Indiana, Houston.
Speaker 5 (11:36):
He's an amazing coach.
Speaker 6 (11:37):
They've run into some unlucky stuff the last few years
in the tournament because he's had some loaded teams.
Speaker 5 (11:42):
And it's a rematch. Last year.
Speaker 6 (11:44):
Remember, Duke probably should have lost to them, but Houston's
best player, Shed got hurt yep, and then Duke was
able to pull away. So Houston revenge on the mind.
Speaker 5 (11:52):
I don't think they.
Speaker 4 (11:53):
Can do it.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
Can you imagine doing well. He's a tough matchup for Houston. Now,
remember you only have two bigs, no depth of Purdue
gave Houston everything they could handle, but Purdue could not.
Purdue got worked on the offensive glass. Purdue got worked
on that inbounds play.
Speaker 6 (12:09):
At oh That was a phenomenal one of the players
of a tournament.
Speaker 5 (12:14):
Yeah, that was an outstand Yeah.
Speaker 1 (12:15):
And Purdue just couldn't hit. Neither team shot the ball
particularly well in three point shots, but Purdue needed to
hit shots. Everybody was complaining about the officiating and push offs.
And my take is, you can't get worked on the
offensive glass and you can't miss. You can't shoot twenty
nine percent on threes and beat Houston. Yeah, but I'll
tell you Purdue's become a big time program.
Speaker 5 (12:35):
Let's give an eye on their star, Braden Smith. Why
I hear he may go on the portal. We'll see.
I don't know. He's very good. Okay, he's a good player.
Speaker 1 (12:43):
Yeah.
Speaker 7 (12:44):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
Jaym Marck with the.
Speaker 4 (12:45):
News, No, no.
Speaker 2 (12:49):
This is the herdline news, all right, mister NBA.
Speaker 5 (12:52):
There was a bit of a brawl, a melee, if.
Speaker 6 (12:54):
You will, in the NBA involving the new look bad
boy Pistons, Ron holland the young fella. They got Isaiah
Stewart look at the finger pointing nas Reeed's had enough.
Dante Devincenzo said just let me just grab you, and
they got Chaotic a million ejections, Rudy Gobert in the
thick of it, but actually a bit of a peace
maker there. I'm just telling you this is a new
(13:15):
look Detroit Piston's team.
Speaker 5 (13:17):
This franchise has been.
Speaker 6 (13:18):
Down for a while, and they don't like the way
they're officiated. They don't they feel like their staff went
off last week. Yeah, they feel like I don't know
if they're wrong. I think Detroit feels like, Okay, we're
tired of hearing. Detroit is young and they don't get
kind of the league whistle. Their complaint is you're giving
everybody else to whistle, like show us respect, and they're
not necessary So I watched some of their highlights and
(13:41):
some of their complaints, and they're not necessarily wrong.
Speaker 5 (13:44):
Yeah, there is a lambier mahorn Field to this team.
Speaker 6 (13:48):
Like Isaiah Stewart is a bad dude, Okay, not like
a bad human being, but just on the court. He
is rugged, he's facing a lengthy suspension here. He got
into it with Lebron before, and the guy's not to
be trifled with.
Speaker 5 (13:58):
Coming off the.
Speaker 6 (13:59):
Court, points at his jersey No Detroit, and I gave
him feel of.
Speaker 1 (14:03):
Those back Vincenzo Villanova.
Speaker 6 (14:06):
Guys. He tough, he's so punk, he's not gonna get
pushed around. I'm just telling you, I don't want to
see this Pistons team in the first round because they're
not going to go down lightly. Kate Cunningham's a star
and they just have some bruisers who're not afraid to
mix it up. That's a team I don't like playing
in the men's league. The guys who just don't care,
they don't care about going to work Nick Day with
a black eye. That Pistons team, man, I'm just telling
(14:27):
you be careful with them.
Speaker 5 (14:29):
Next ups go.
Speaker 6 (14:30):
To Stefan Diggs, the new Patriots wide receiver signed on Friday,
and you know people are curious how he's gonna help
Drake may Well. Here is what Diggs is saying about
joining New England, comparing Drake may to Josh Allen.
Speaker 4 (14:47):
I'm excited.
Speaker 7 (14:47):
I really look forward to it. It's crazy because when
you ask around, he has a lot of similarities. Well,
people say through the Gray Bonyax a lot like Josh
And you know that was my guy. So I'll look
forward to meaning connected with him.
Speaker 4 (14:58):
We played him last year. He shows a lot of fight.
Speaker 7 (15:00):
He got that fiery quarterback I want to win my say.
So you know that's something I get excited about and
love to be around. But as far as like his
development as a quarterback, I feel like, you know, that's
not really too much of my job.
Speaker 4 (15:10):
My job is to get up and catch the ball.
Speaker 1 (15:12):
They haven't had a number one receiver.
Speaker 5 (15:14):
Wait a minute, wait, did you know.
Speaker 3 (15:15):
What he just said?
Speaker 6 (15:16):
What as far as developing a quarterback, that's not really
part of my job.
Speaker 1 (15:21):
That's my job. It's not his job is to get
open catch the ball. That's not his job.
Speaker 5 (15:26):
A young quarterback who's like what Drake By is like twenty.
Speaker 1 (15:28):
Three years old. I'm a wide receiver. I'm working on
my craft, you work on yours. Just all get open
and I'll catch What a.
Speaker 5 (15:34):
Team player Colin Cowhert is.
Speaker 6 (15:36):
I gotta do me, you do you, I'll do my job.
Speaker 1 (15:40):
Well, I'm saying I'm a wide receiver. I'm with a
wide receiver group. My job is to right read, run
my route and catch the ball.
Speaker 5 (15:48):
It's want to be a veteran leader in the huddle
or in the locker room.
Speaker 1 (15:51):
Quarterbacks lead receivers. Receivers don't lead quarterbacks.
Speaker 6 (15:54):
You think Drake May's going into the locker room and
commanding respect because the second year quarterback.
Speaker 1 (15:58):
Yeah, I do.
Speaker 5 (16:00):
Silent respect and digs.
Speaker 1 (16:03):
We know, now, let's slow down. He's been a little choppy,
but he's a little you know, he's a receiver. I
just bake it in, like I always know with my wife,
she's gonna snap at me once a day. What's a day, Yeah,
she I just know I'll do something and she'll ask
me to do something for a third time. And I'm
thinking about some sports rant. So I just bake it
into the ritionship, right, And once a day she's gonna
(16:24):
snap and she won't throw anything at me or anything.
Speaker 2 (16:27):
I would hope not.
Speaker 5 (16:28):
Wait, this is quite the reveal.
Speaker 1 (16:31):
A terrible show. At least once a day, I'll be
asked to do something for a third time, and I
bake it in that she will be frustrated with me.
I bake in wide receivers. You guys are all gonna
be needy like three times a season. It's I baked
it in.
Speaker 5 (16:46):
I get to snap out like every fourth day, maybe
not every day.
Speaker 1 (16:49):
You know. My wife did the other day she did this.
She put the dry cleaning out in the open in
the hallway in the bedroom, and then she moved it
to front of the stairs the next day, hoping you'll
then yesterday she moved it to the front door. And
my thing is, could you just ask me to take it,
I'll do it. But she just she's like, well, I
(17:10):
figured you'd figure it out. And I'm like, I don't
figure much out.
Speaker 5 (17:12):
A little passive aggressive.
Speaker 1 (17:13):
At the time, and just tell me do stuff.
Speaker 5 (17:15):
Do you think she's listening right now?
Speaker 1 (17:16):
She doesn't even know what I do. She taks time
on accountant.
Speaker 5 (17:19):
I don't.
Speaker 6 (17:20):
I'm not a mind reader, right, that's is that what
you said. I'm not a mind I didn't argue.
Speaker 1 (17:23):
I never argue. I've never won an argument, not going
to start now. But she kept moving it throughout the
course of the house, and I was like, I'm saying,
I'm taking that as a sign that it's my turn
to do.
Speaker 6 (17:35):
But I've got to focus on this rid about the
new bulling pit bats in baseball.
Speaker 3 (17:40):
That's right.
Speaker 6 (17:41):
Yeah, final story, Colin is the UFL kicked off Week
one of their second season, and one of the biggest
moments was in the Michigan Panthers game.
Speaker 5 (17:49):
Take a listener who sealed their victory.
Speaker 8 (17:54):
Time tries to out of it.
Speaker 1 (18:09):
How about that?
Speaker 5 (18:09):
You hear that kind of Kua his younger brother.
Speaker 6 (18:12):
Oh yeah, he's got two brothers that were playing and
he's both scored.
Speaker 5 (18:17):
In Week one.
Speaker 6 (18:19):
Who's out of here talking about retiring? His brothers are
just stacking.
Speaker 5 (18:22):
You know, it's huts down.
Speaker 1 (18:23):
So I watched Pooka Nku. I saw his high school
tape Utah, and I saw him go play at Washington.
He's a good young player. And then I watched him
at b y U. I would have never guessed he
was as good as a pro. He was a fifth
round pick. Yeah, like there. It was funny like when
Cooper Cup was at Eastern Washington. Both the Rams and
the Chargers liked him. I was told after the draft
(18:44):
the Chargers are like, if they didn't take him, we
loved him, like Pooka Nakua, Like George Kittle. I remember
watching him. He played at Iowa. Yes, yeah, I remember
watching George Kittle in college. I'm like, oh, he's a
good player. I would have never guessed George Kittle. It's
so much harder to identify football talent because fit you know,
(19:06):
you play with Kyle Shanahan, or you play with Andy Reid.
Like sometimes you see guys and you're like, you know,
it's very obvious. Like Aiden Hudginson at Michigan. You're like, yeah,
that guy's gonna be really good. But or Joe Altd
Notre Dame. You're like, he's gonna be a really good tackle.
Phuka Nakua caught me off guard, and you were right
because during camp, Matt Stafford, do you remember that OTAs
(19:29):
told everybody, dude, we got a star.
Speaker 6 (19:31):
I remember I gave that out of his fantasy advice
before he played a snack.
Speaker 5 (19:33):
You said, you know, sometimes you get lucky. You meet
some people who know something.
Speaker 1 (19:37):
You told me, you said, he is lighting up camp.
Speaker 5 (19:39):
I'll see what I can do.
Speaker 6 (19:40):
But this draft has me concerned about my guy, Jalen Milroe.
I maintain he's going early and Chris FeliCa is pushing back.
Some people are like Milroe no shot at first round.
My people are saying he's gonna go first round, but
we'll see. I don't know where you are on Milroe yet, h.
Speaker 1 (19:55):
He needs the right fit. Well if he no, I
mean not like like he really eads the right fifth. Yeah,
he's a better Anthony Richardson.
Speaker 5 (20:05):
That's not saying much.
Speaker 1 (20:06):
Well, he actually does. He throws a nice ball. He's
just accuracy wise on you.
Speaker 5 (20:13):
Know, Josh Allen and Wyoming right, not as.
Speaker 1 (20:16):
Turnover prone, but they just you're not quite sure what
you're getting series the series.
Speaker 6 (20:20):
But again it matters, like he said, Kittle at Iowa,
I mean with the Iowa offense runs in quicksands in
the last twenty years, So you wouldn't expect any of
those guys to really pop.
Speaker 1 (20:30):
And it's like when you watch the tight end from
Penn State, you know he's great. Oh he's caught seventeen
balls against sc What I mean Like, you're like, oh,
this guy's gonna be But there are every draft will
have like multiple players. You're like, I.
Speaker 6 (20:45):
Watched him in college. Where did this come from? And
Jamiyor Kims was good in college. I didn't see Oh
my gosh, he is explosive as l with the Lions.
You know they've said him.
Speaker 1 (20:55):
Oh the other one is armor On Saint Brown. So
I watched him in high school in southern California's dad
was mister Olympia, and he comes to us. He's very
good as a freshman. Then I feel like he plateaus
a little bit and he wasn't a good speed guy.
He was a hard worker. He was a great kid.
Everybody liked him. But I kind of felt like and
he went in the fourth round, and I kind of
felt like, he'll be a fifty five catch guy. No
(21:16):
idea he would be one of the ten best receivers
in the league. I would have guessed. He was a
ten year veteran, well liked, hard worker, kind of a
good two. Maybe not even a great two. He's an
excellent one. Yeah, Like just and you and I watch
a lot of college football. Yeah, George Kittle, amer On
Saint Brown, who was the first one I talked about. Oh,
(21:39):
Pooka nakula Ya. I'm sorry we never guess that. J
mckl anws.
Speaker 2 (21:45):
Well, that's the news, and thanks for stopping by.
Speaker 1 (21:48):
The Herd Line News five in LA.
Speaker 2 (21:50):
It's the Herd be sure to catch live editions of
The Herd weekdays and Noone Eastern a em Pacific.
Speaker 9 (21:56):
Hey, Steve Covino and I'm Rich David and Together where
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Speaker 1 (22:28):
So check us out.
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We like to get you involved too, take your phone calls,
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Speaker 1 (22:52):
The new torpedo bat the Yankees are using, and I
think some of it's aesthetics if you put a picture
of them here, and I apologize to the video audience,
but the bat on the top is the new bat.
Now it looks like it's like twenty five to thirty
percent bigger. But you know, it's not breaking the rules.
The lengthest in circumference is not illegal. So and if
(23:16):
you see players during the game, people say, well, it
looks like a bowling pin. I've heard that it's a
bowling pin. So I trust the governing body. I mean,
sometimes leagues introduce things and don't tell the players, like
David Stern, the late commissioner, and said, hey, we've got
a new basketball. The players are like, yeah, we don't
like that. They did that once, I think with a
(23:37):
football or something, and Peyton mannings that I can't grip it.
And so the Yankees are hitting all sorts of home runs.
There are people that are complaining Aaron Judge is not
using it. It's clearly helping. So the only question is
when do the rest of the teams use it. So
here's the Yankees Jazz Chism on his new bat. Oh,
I love my bet.
Speaker 2 (23:58):
Yeah.
Speaker 10 (23:58):
I mean I think you could tell it's working pretty
well for me. But I mean, it doesn't feel like
a different bat. It just helps you in a little way.
Speaker 4 (24:07):
I guess.
Speaker 10 (24:08):
It gives you a feeling of just feeling like you
have more to work with, you know what I mean.
Like you probably don't have more to work with, but
it feels like it, you know what I mean. So
it gives you that extra confidence in your head to
be able to go out there and hit anything.
Speaker 1 (24:24):
What do you make of it? I mean, over the
weekend they're setting records.
Speaker 6 (24:28):
Love me, just love news stories that are fresh and
brand new and outside the box. This is gonna shake
up baseball. That's undeniable, right you would say that instantly.
Speaker 1 (24:36):
Oh, there's absolutely no question.
Speaker 5 (24:38):
The demand for these bats is going to be through
the roof.
Speaker 1 (24:40):
And it's the Yankees that's a huge part of this.
The tush push wouldn't matter if it was Jacksonville.
Speaker 6 (24:46):
If nobody would Kuncke Brewers with these bats, yes, would
it be as much of a hubbub.
Speaker 1 (24:50):
So, by the way, the Twins catcher Ryan Jeffers used
a torpedo bat yesterday he went oh for four. So
it doesn't work for everybody. Again, baseball is a different sport.
It's a lot of mental you know, hockey, basketball, football,
it's too fast. Golf and baseball. You sit around a
lot thinking that's what you've seen great all time golfers
(25:12):
like Ian Baker, Finch or David Duvall. I mean they go,
they get into their head. A Rod just literally can't
hit Barry Bonds. So I wouldn't mess with it if
I was a good hitter. Well, but if I'm hitting
two forty eight, why not even the Warriors, the.
Speaker 6 (25:29):
Three point Warriors, remember they went ballistic from three.
Speaker 5 (25:32):
The Houston Rockets tried it.
Speaker 6 (25:33):
Do you remember that Game seven where they missed like
twenty four to threes in a row. Yeah, Like, it's
not gonna wor out automatically. You're using the bulling pin
dat you're automatically?
Speaker 1 (25:41):
Well yeah, I mean there is something to be said
that Kevin Durant Stephan Clay playing together are not anybody else?
Speaker 5 (25:48):
Eric Gordon and whoever else there.
Speaker 1 (25:50):
Here's Aaron Boone, Yankee manager, on the new bats.
Speaker 11 (25:54):
You know, trying to be the best we can be.
I mean, it's one one of the things that you know,
gotten pointed out. But you know, I say to you
guys all the time, we're trying to win on the margins.
We have a big organization that are invested in a
lot of different things where we're trying to be better
in every possible way. The reality is it's all within
(26:17):
Major League standards.
Speaker 1 (26:19):
Yeah, it's I think if it was the Orioles, we
wouldn't care as much. The Evil Empire. Listen, Baseball. We
had Rob Manford on last week. If you look at
the last seven or eight things that have happened in baseball,
eliminate defensive shift, Otani goes to the Dodgers, pitchclock, torpedo bats,
(26:42):
Yankee Dodger World Series. Baseball's on a heater.
Speaker 5 (26:45):
It's not a heater, you know.
Speaker 1 (26:46):
I mean they've had about seven or eight either cultural
changes or significant moves that have all worked in their favor.
They Baseball's on. I mean, you've got to be honest
in our business. Is I gave baseball about fifteen years old,
but they have had for the last two years. The
game is infinitely more watchable you know, and some of
(27:08):
this too is we have to be remember this. Not
only are the Yankees a big brand, they did lead
baseball in Homer's last year, so they are a team capable.
This isn't the Twins, and suddenly they're doubling the rest
of the sport.
Speaker 6 (27:25):
You think Baseball presses their luck with this golden bat
ticket thing.
Speaker 1 (27:29):
Not this year?
Speaker 5 (27:30):
Not this year?
Speaker 6 (27:30):
Okay, because that would I think that's spicy. Maybe you
save it, you keep your powder dry. Hey, let's ride
this wave. Let's wait till next year and then implement it.
Speaker 1 (27:39):
But it's just like baseball. I believe that ESPN and
Baseball will get a deal done. I think you can't
give it up now. I just I think if you
think they come back to the market, yeah, I just
I think it's just. I mean, I got Bryce Harper
and Philadelphia Soto and New York Judge in New York,
I got three stars, five stars.
Speaker 5 (27:56):
On the Dodger, I got torpedo bats.
Speaker 1 (27:58):
I mean, I've got the the Cubs could be interesting.
Braves actually are struggling, and now the Dodgers and the
Braves play. So Atlanta's not off to a good start,
but it's just it does matter in every sport not
named the NFL where your star's playing.
Speaker 5 (28:12):
You and all the NFL's kind of I mean, I
know we didn't.
Speaker 6 (28:14):
Dive into it, but this toush push, I'm so you're
reading about it sounds like the toush push is going
to be eliminated.
Speaker 1 (28:20):
Colin.
Speaker 6 (28:21):
That ticks me off. I think that's a dumb move
by some So, well, you're not allowed to push mostly
in the who you Stephen Jones, that' suffs like he's
exact what we don't allow.
Speaker 1 (28:29):
Pushing in the league. Well, they do allow some pushing.
An offensive lineman could kind up Sirianni's.
Speaker 5 (28:35):
Starting to pop off. I don't This is going to
be a little bit.
Speaker 1 (28:38):
Some of it is resentment for Philadelphia, Yeah, because they're
a super aggressive team in trades and drafting. And again,
if this was the Jaguars, we this would not be
some of it is. The greatest compliment is imitation, Yes,
or criticism. Both are great compliments if somebody. If somebody
imitates me or criticizes me, you matter, and the Philadelphia
(29:00):
Eagles matter a lot in the National.
Speaker 6 (29:02):
Football what's the saying. The highest form of flattery is
imitation or something like that.
Speaker 1 (29:06):
And the Eagles are people copied it so and unlike
the wildcat it's got legs. It's just I think we
undervalue how much of this is Jalen Hurts, who is
historically strong and small. So you can't you know, Josh
Allen does it or Herbert and you can take the
top off, you can jump over the pop. You can't
(29:26):
do anything with Jalen Hurts.
Speaker 5 (29:28):
Daniel Jones tried it and like his center got dinged up. Yeah,
like yeah, it is.
Speaker 1 (29:33):
All right, good stuff. Kelvin Samson stopped by today. Matt
Hasselbeck stopped by today, and yes, I think the I
think the torpedo bat is here to stay. It was
so funny, like people were freaking out, you know, everybody
was like yeah, of course the Yankees about it. There
is just something about guys in sports. There are certain
(29:54):
brands that just are polarizing. Regardless. This is the minute
they start winning, people get ticked off. The college basketball
Crown is next to Utah and Butler on FS one
Thanks for listening to The Herd podcast. Be sure to
catch us live every weekday on Fox Sports Radio in
noon to three Eastern nine am to noon Pacific. Find
your local station for The Herd at Fox Sports Radio
dot com, or stream us live every day on the
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Speaker 2 (00:21):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
I always felt the perfect combination for a college basketball coach,
and Jim Beaheim's done this, and Mark Fugh's done this,
and Mike Krzyzewski because he coaches like Mark fu USA basketball.
Kelvin Sampson at Houston. He spent six years in the
NBA on several teams, and it gives you a sense
of where you want to take the players. It's the
(00:45):
ultimate destination. And he's now with the Houston Cougars. This
was a program that I grew up with that was
Fi Slama Jama. But when Kelvin took him over, they
weren't a drought. They had a four or five year spell.
They weren't they were not a viable team. And he
now joins US live. They face Duke coming up in
the game of the tournament. You know, I asked Mark
Few a week ago, I said, who don't you want
(01:07):
to play? He goes, yeah, I'd rather miss on Houston.
I've seen enough of them. You have created a team
that's no fun to play. So that's beyond recruiting. That's culture.
When you when you got to Houston, you've done it
four times. You did it at Washington State, you did
at Oklahoma, you did it Montana Tech. I think it
(01:29):
was what is it about you in the first year
or two? How do you change not just recruiting, how
do you change culture in basketball?
Speaker 3 (01:42):
I think one of the attributes a head coach has
to have is yes to have a clearly defined way
he wants to win the game. And you don't have
to pick the defensive event or the offensive vent, but
you have to have something that your kids will believe in.
And I think culture starts with being on time. It
starts with giving your best effort. It starts with your
(02:04):
body language, being responsible so you don't have to be
held accountable, being someone that has the right attitude every day.
I spent a lot of time coaching attitude and effort
before we can ever be a good team.
Speaker 4 (02:18):
I mean that sounds simple, Colin, but.
Speaker 3 (02:21):
All the great cultures have kids that will play for
something bigger than themselves, you know, and that's in this
day and age. We had eight out of our top
ten players return the year before it was the same thing.
I think we've had three kids transferring ten years that
were in our top ten players. So we haven't lived
(02:43):
in the portal, although we do believe in the portal.
But we have kids that when they come in as freshmen,
they become sophomoores juniors, and now they're seniors in our
senior class this year. Last year, we're juniors, and they
were held accountable the seniors that are own and now
that they're seniors, they fully balled into the things that
(03:05):
we believe in. I've got a great staff. My staff
is either my family or former players are support staff
as former.
Speaker 4 (03:14):
Managers, so not really a resume guy.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
I don't take phone calls from people to tell me
who they think would be good for us.
Speaker 4 (03:21):
I kind of make that decision on my own.
Speaker 3 (03:23):
So I think the program part goes with the culture,
and that's been good for us.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
You know what you sound like, coach, You sound like
a warm weather villanova. That's what I said. No, I
mean he would go. He would go to the DMV
get tough kids. Villanova kids were loyal, they played beyond themselves.
They play good defense, and it's really a lot of
times in college basketball of a team is defense first
over offense. It may not be as glamorous. I like
(03:51):
your athletic ability. I like your aggressiveness. I think it
initiates your offense. You know, you look at that tape.
You've been in the NBA. You put that tape. Been
to watch Cooper flag. He reminds me of Jason Tatum
a little bit, like he's kind of good. He's kind
of good at everything.
Speaker 4 (04:07):
What is everything?
Speaker 1 (04:08):
What do you do when you face a guy? And
Kelvin he's going to get his I mean, he's going
to score. What's the mindset facing a kid like that
that is kind of special?
Speaker 4 (04:21):
Well? Less than well?
Speaker 3 (04:24):
I guess about twenty four hours ago we were playing
Tennessee in Indianapolis.
Speaker 4 (04:29):
And we got back last night.
Speaker 3 (04:31):
I guess around eleven or eleven thirty, got up this
morning and did my analyzing, did our analysis of the
Purdue in Tennessee games, And really haven't watched Duke a lot,
but I have watched him enough over the course of
the year. The first thing that jumps out to me
(04:54):
is what a great job John did and putting his
team together. You know, for example, bring and a kid
like Scion James in to pair next to Cooper Flag
and Canepo and the big hid inside because he's smart,
he's tough, doesn't require a lot of shops. It's got
a lot of winner in him. Cooper Flag was going
(05:17):
to be the centerpiece. How they fit everybody around them
is what's so impressive. How do you start stop Cooper Flag?
But that's kind of a silly question. You don't. But
you have to be the best version of yourself. You know,
we played in the Big Twelve the last two years,
and you know, whether it's Kansas or Iowa State or
Texas Tech, there's a lot of really good teams and
(05:40):
all those teams had a best player.
Speaker 4 (05:42):
So we'll come up with something. Now, will it be
good enough? I don't know. Maybe it will, maybe it won't.
Speaker 3 (05:47):
But at the end of the day, every team has
to focus on what they do good and try to
beat their best version themselves for that forty minutes. But
that forty minutes, we have to be the best version
of the Houston Cougar.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
We can be what did you learn in the NBA
that you think even today you think about it occasionally.
That helps you as a college coach because you spent
six years there. That's a spell of time.
Speaker 4 (06:10):
Yeah. I spent three years with Scott Skiles.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (06:13):
Then I spent three years with Kevin McHale. One of
my best friends and coaching is Greg Popovich. So Pop
got me started with the Spurs, and then a month
later I'm.
Speaker 4 (06:27):
With Scott Skiles.
Speaker 3 (06:29):
I think Scott probably helped me the most because he's
a little bit of a basketball savant, extremely smart, prepared, organized,
He understood how to hunt matchups. He was extremely good
in the last two minutes of the game, situational basketball,
(06:51):
taught spacing, understood how to teach hand coach the game.
Speaker 4 (06:56):
He really opened my eyes up.
Speaker 3 (06:58):
Being with the Spurs just just reinforced the things that
I believed in with culture because Pup really do.
Speaker 4 (07:04):
Pup really did.
Speaker 3 (07:07):
When he was coaching the Spurs during that period, he
ran his He ran his program like a college team.
Speaker 4 (07:15):
He had unbelievable character.
Speaker 3 (07:17):
Guys like Tim Duncan and minw Genoble and Tony Parker,
guys like that that totally bought into everything he said.
They allowed him to coach him and Scott. Scott just
took me to another level in terms of the x'es
and o's and opening my eyes to the importance of
space and how do you get shots out of space
(07:38):
and you don't have to rely so much on sets
every single time if you can get paint touches and
have proper space and that can become your offense. So
and then with Kevin McHale, it was just been a manager.
Speaker 4 (07:51):
You know. Kevin knew how to treat players, players respected him. Yeah,
so I.
Speaker 3 (07:56):
Got a little bit from all those guys. It was
an unbelievable experience for me. It was almost like being
a crash course in advanced basketball lytics.
Speaker 2 (08:08):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
in Noone Easter non a em Pacific on Fox Sports
Radio FS one and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (08:16):
Yeah. You know, I was saying this, that is that
I think the NBA and I like the NBA. But
I told Adam Silver when he was on my show
five six weeks ago, I said, I think you guys
have marginalized college basketball. I said, the G League Jalen
Green's amazing. He disappears. I said, the reason I know
who's ion is is college basketball. I think the coaching's better.
(08:38):
I think the kids are treated well, I said, frankly,
if you play for a top ten college basketball team,
you're getting four to eight million dollars of free marketing.
It's incredible, I said. Or you can make a couple
hundred thousand dollars in the G League. Like I, I
look at the NIL as a booies college basketball. It's
your ally. You know what you say? Listen, you can
(09:00):
pay a ninety percent of the G League and I'll
put you on TV thirty times. Is that kind of
how you view it? That that the NIL? Initially it's
like oh boy, wild wild West. But in a weird way,
I think it's your best friend. Actually, Zach EATI can
stay for another year. How do you How do you
view ANIL?
Speaker 3 (09:19):
I think the the h antithesis of the G League
is college basketball. Now, guys aren't leaving early to go
to the G League. They have to take too much
of a pay cut. I think older players are becoming
more in vogue for the NBA because of that.
Speaker 4 (09:36):
Yeah, you've got guys You've.
Speaker 3 (09:37):
Got guys coming out in their fourth year now that
are demanding or can get a big contract instead of
going out early and languishing on the quad Cities the
Erie Pennsylvania four o'clock flight.
Speaker 4 (09:50):
In the morning.
Speaker 3 (09:51):
They're not doing that for a lot of reasons. But
the NBA is getting older because of that. But I
think college basketball is getting better. You look at all
the veteran teams. Now, duke is an outlier, but who's
always been an outlier because they always get you know,
they get the best players, and good for them. That's
(10:11):
they don't need to apologize for that. There's very few
dukes in the world. But if you look at teams
like us, you know we have a very veteran team
and we have we have guys that could have put
their name in the draft a couple of years ago.
Speaker 4 (10:27):
I've got four guys in NBA right now.
Speaker 3 (10:29):
Quentin Grimes, who stayed with me for through his third year,
Marcus Sasser State four years, Jamal Schett State four years,
Jars Walker was a lottery pick. But most our guys
are older guys, and the reason they're staying now is
because the NIL it is what it.
Speaker 1 (10:47):
Is, Kelvin Samson plus winning record three Final four appearances.
This team is athletic, they are tough, they're physical, and
I meant that as the greatest complet Villanova South because
I have so much respect. I knew Roley and Jay
Wright really well, and you guys remind me of tough kids.
(11:07):
They're going to class, they're working hard, they're coming back
and they become great pros. Grimes, by the way, was
actually really plan well right now. Calvin, good luck to you.
I can't wait to watch it and you've built another
great program.
Speaker 4 (11:20):
Thank you, Thank you, Colin. Appreciate you having me on.
Speaker 1 (11:23):
You Bet Kelvin Sampson, Houston Cougar basketball coach thirty six
years j mac. He started at Montana Tech, Washington State, Oklahoma, Indiana, Houston.
Speaker 5 (11:36):
He's an amazing coach.
Speaker 6 (11:37):
They've run into some unlucky stuff the last few years
in the tournament because he's had some loaded teams.
Speaker 5 (11:42):
And it's a rematch. Last year.
Speaker 6 (11:44):
Remember, Duke probably should have lost to them, but Houston's
best player, Shed got hurt yep, and then Duke was
able to pull away. So Houston revenge on the mind.
Speaker 5 (11:52):
I don't think they.
Speaker 4 (11:53):
Can do it.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
Can you imagine doing well. He's a tough matchup for Houston. Now,
remember you only have two bigs, no depth of Purdue
gave Houston everything they could handle, but Purdue could not.
Purdue got worked on the offensive glass. Purdue got worked
on that inbounds play.
Speaker 6 (12:09):
At oh That was a phenomenal one of the players
of a tournament.
Speaker 5 (12:14):
Yeah, that was an outstand Yeah.
Speaker 1 (12:15):
And Purdue just couldn't hit. Neither team shot the ball
particularly well in three point shots, but Purdue needed to
hit shots. Everybody was complaining about the officiating and push offs.
And my take is, you can't get worked on the
offensive glass and you can't miss. You can't shoot twenty
nine percent on threes and beat Houston. Yeah, but I'll
tell you Purdue's become a big time program.
Speaker 5 (12:35):
Let's give an eye on their star, Braden Smith. Why
I hear he may go on the portal. We'll see.
I don't know. He's very good. Okay, he's a good player.
Speaker 1 (12:43):
Yeah.
Speaker 7 (12:44):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
Jaym Marck with the.
Speaker 4 (12:45):
News, No, no.
Speaker 2 (12:49):
This is the herdline news, all right, mister NBA.
Speaker 5 (12:52):
There was a bit of a brawl, a melee, if.
Speaker 6 (12:54):
You will, in the NBA involving the new look bad
boy Pistons, Ron holland the young fella. They got Isaiah
Stewart look at the finger pointing nas Reeed's had enough.
Dante Devincenzo said just let me just grab you, and
they got Chaotic a million ejections, Rudy Gobert in the
thick of it, but actually a bit of a peace
maker there. I'm just telling you this is a new
(13:15):
look Detroit Piston's team.
Speaker 5 (13:17):
This franchise has been.
Speaker 6 (13:18):
Down for a while, and they don't like the way
they're officiated. They don't they feel like their staff went
off last week. Yeah, they feel like I don't know
if they're wrong. I think Detroit feels like, Okay, we're
tired of hearing. Detroit is young and they don't get
kind of the league whistle. Their complaint is you're giving
everybody else to whistle, like show us respect, and they're
not necessary So I watched some of their highlights and
(13:41):
some of their complaints, and they're not necessarily wrong.
Speaker 5 (13:44):
Yeah, there is a lambier mahorn Field to this team.
Speaker 6 (13:48):
Like Isaiah Stewart is a bad dude, Okay, not like
a bad human being, but just on the court. He
is rugged, he's facing a lengthy suspension here. He got
into it with Lebron before, and the guy's not to
be trifled with.
Speaker 5 (13:58):
Coming off the.
Speaker 6 (13:59):
Court, points at his jersey No Detroit, and I gave
him feel of.
Speaker 1 (14:03):
Those back Vincenzo Villanova.
Speaker 6 (14:06):
Guys. He tough, he's so punk, he's not gonna get
pushed around. I'm just telling you, I don't want to
see this Pistons team in the first round because they're
not going to go down lightly. Kate Cunningham's a star
and they just have some bruisers who're not afraid to
mix it up. That's a team I don't like playing
in the men's league. The guys who just don't care,
they don't care about going to work Nick Day with
a black eye. That Pistons team, man, I'm just telling
(14:27):
you be careful with them.
Speaker 5 (14:29):
Next ups go.
Speaker 6 (14:30):
To Stefan Diggs, the new Patriots wide receiver signed on Friday,
and you know people are curious how he's gonna help
Drake may Well. Here is what Diggs is saying about
joining New England, comparing Drake may to Josh Allen.
Speaker 4 (14:47):
I'm excited.
Speaker 7 (14:47):
I really look forward to it. It's crazy because when
you ask around, he has a lot of similarities. Well,
people say through the Gray Bonyax a lot like Josh
And you know that was my guy. So I'll look
forward to meaning connected with him.
Speaker 4 (14:58):
We played him last year. He shows a lot of fight.
Speaker 7 (15:00):
He got that fiery quarterback I want to win my say.
So you know that's something I get excited about and
love to be around. But as far as like his
development as a quarterback, I feel like, you know, that's
not really too much of my job.
Speaker 4 (15:10):
My job is to get up and catch the ball.
Speaker 1 (15:12):
They haven't had a number one receiver.
Speaker 5 (15:14):
Wait a minute, wait, did you know.
Speaker 3 (15:15):
What he just said?
Speaker 6 (15:16):
What as far as developing a quarterback, that's not really
part of my job.
Speaker 1 (15:21):
That's my job. It's not his job is to get
open catch the ball. That's not his job.
Speaker 5 (15:26):
A young quarterback who's like what Drake By is like twenty.
Speaker 1 (15:28):
Three years old. I'm a wide receiver. I'm working on
my craft, you work on yours. Just all get open
and I'll catch What a.
Speaker 5 (15:34):
Team player Colin Cowhert is.
Speaker 6 (15:36):
I gotta do me, you do you, I'll do my job.
Speaker 1 (15:40):
Well, I'm saying I'm a wide receiver. I'm with a
wide receiver group. My job is to right read, run
my route and catch the ball.
Speaker 5 (15:48):
It's want to be a veteran leader in the huddle
or in the locker room.
Speaker 1 (15:51):
Quarterbacks lead receivers. Receivers don't lead quarterbacks.
Speaker 6 (15:54):
You think Drake May's going into the locker room and
commanding respect because the second year quarterback.
Speaker 1 (15:58):
Yeah, I do.
Speaker 5 (16:00):
Silent respect and digs.
Speaker 1 (16:03):
We know, now, let's slow down. He's been a little choppy,
but he's a little you know, he's a receiver. I
just bake it in, like I always know with my wife,
she's gonna snap at me once a day. What's a day, Yeah,
she I just know I'll do something and she'll ask
me to do something for a third time. And I'm
thinking about some sports rant. So I just bake it
into the ritionship, right, And once a day she's gonna
(16:24):
snap and she won't throw anything at me or anything.
Speaker 2 (16:27):
I would hope not.
Speaker 5 (16:28):
Wait, this is quite the reveal.
Speaker 1 (16:31):
A terrible show. At least once a day, I'll be
asked to do something for a third time, and I
bake it in that she will be frustrated with me.
I bake in wide receivers. You guys are all gonna
be needy like three times a season. It's I baked
it in.
Speaker 5 (16:46):
I get to snap out like every fourth day, maybe
not every day.
Speaker 1 (16:49):
You know. My wife did the other day she did this.
She put the dry cleaning out in the open in
the hallway in the bedroom, and then she moved it
to front of the stairs the next day, hoping you'll
then yesterday she moved it to the front door. And
my thing is, could you just ask me to take it,
I'll do it. But she just she's like, well, I
(17:10):
figured you'd figure it out. And I'm like, I don't
figure much out.
Speaker 5 (17:12):
A little passive aggressive.
Speaker 1 (17:13):
At the time, and just tell me do stuff.
Speaker 5 (17:15):
Do you think she's listening right now?
Speaker 1 (17:16):
She doesn't even know what I do. She taks time
on accountant.
Speaker 5 (17:19):
I don't.
Speaker 6 (17:20):
I'm not a mind reader, right, that's is that what
you said. I'm not a mind I didn't argue.
Speaker 1 (17:23):
I never argue. I've never won an argument, not going
to start now. But she kept moving it throughout the
course of the house, and I was like, I'm saying,
I'm taking that as a sign that it's my turn
to do.
Speaker 6 (17:35):
But I've got to focus on this rid about the
new bulling pit bats in baseball.
Speaker 3 (17:40):
That's right.
Speaker 6 (17:41):
Yeah, final story, Colin is the UFL kicked off Week
one of their second season, and one of the biggest
moments was in the Michigan Panthers game.
Speaker 5 (17:49):
Take a listener who sealed their victory.
Speaker 8 (17:54):
Time tries to out of it.
Speaker 1 (18:09):
How about that?
Speaker 5 (18:09):
You hear that kind of Kua his younger brother.
Speaker 6 (18:12):
Oh yeah, he's got two brothers that were playing and
he's both scored.
Speaker 5 (18:17):
In Week one.
Speaker 6 (18:19):
Who's out of here talking about retiring? His brothers are
just stacking.
Speaker 5 (18:22):
You know, it's huts down.
Speaker 1 (18:23):
So I watched Pooka Nku. I saw his high school
tape Utah, and I saw him go play at Washington.
He's a good young player. And then I watched him
at b y U. I would have never guessed he
was as good as a pro. He was a fifth
round pick. Yeah, like there. It was funny like when
Cooper Cup was at Eastern Washington. Both the Rams and
the Chargers liked him. I was told after the draft
(18:44):
the Chargers are like, if they didn't take him, we
loved him, like Pooka Nakua, Like George Kittle. I remember
watching him. He played at Iowa. Yes, yeah, I remember
watching George Kittle in college. I'm like, oh, he's a
good player. I would have never guessed George Kittle. It's
so much harder to identify football talent because fit you know,
(19:06):
you play with Kyle Shanahan, or you play with Andy Reid.
Like sometimes you see guys and you're like, you know,
it's very obvious. Like Aiden Hudginson at Michigan. You're like, yeah,
that guy's gonna be really good. But or Joe Altd
Notre Dame. You're like, he's gonna be a really good tackle.
Phuka Nakua caught me off guard, and you were right
because during camp, Matt Stafford, do you remember that OTAs
(19:29):
told everybody, dude, we got a star.
Speaker 6 (19:31):
I remember I gave that out of his fantasy advice
before he played a snack.
Speaker 5 (19:33):
You said, you know, sometimes you get lucky. You meet
some people who know something.
Speaker 1 (19:37):
You told me, you said, he is lighting up camp.
Speaker 5 (19:39):
I'll see what I can do.
Speaker 6 (19:40):
But this draft has me concerned about my guy, Jalen Milroe.
I maintain he's going early and Chris FeliCa is pushing back.
Some people are like Milroe no shot at first round.
My people are saying he's gonna go first round, but
we'll see. I don't know where you are on Milroe yet, h.
Speaker 1 (19:55):
He needs the right fit. Well if he no, I
mean not like like he really eads the right fifth. Yeah,
he's a better Anthony Richardson.
Speaker 5 (20:05):
That's not saying much.
Speaker 1 (20:06):
Well, he actually does. He throws a nice ball. He's
just accuracy wise on you.
Speaker 5 (20:13):
Know, Josh Allen and Wyoming right, not as.
Speaker 1 (20:16):
Turnover prone, but they just you're not quite sure what
you're getting series the series.
Speaker 6 (20:20):
But again it matters, like he said, Kittle at Iowa,
I mean with the Iowa offense runs in quicksands in
the last twenty years, So you wouldn't expect any of
those guys to really pop.
Speaker 1 (20:30):
And it's like when you watch the tight end from
Penn State, you know he's great. Oh he's caught seventeen
balls against sc What I mean Like, you're like, oh,
this guy's gonna be But there are every draft will
have like multiple players. You're like, I.
Speaker 6 (20:45):
Watched him in college. Where did this come from? And
Jamiyor Kims was good in college. I didn't see Oh
my gosh, he is explosive as l with the Lions.
You know they've said him.
Speaker 1 (20:55):
Oh the other one is armor On Saint Brown. So
I watched him in high school in southern California's dad
was mister Olympia, and he comes to us. He's very
good as a freshman. Then I feel like he plateaus
a little bit and he wasn't a good speed guy.
He was a hard worker. He was a great kid.
Everybody liked him. But I kind of felt like and
he went in the fourth round, and I kind of
felt like, he'll be a fifty five catch guy. No
(21:16):
idea he would be one of the ten best receivers
in the league. I would have guessed. He was a
ten year veteran, well liked, hard worker, kind of a
good two. Maybe not even a great two. He's an
excellent one. Yeah, Like just and you and I watch
a lot of college football. Yeah, George Kittle, amer On
Saint Brown, who was the first one I talked about. Oh,
(21:39):
Pooka nakula Ya. I'm sorry we never guess that. J
mckl anws.
Speaker 2 (21:45):
Well, that's the news, and thanks for stopping by.
Speaker 1 (21:48):
The Herd Line News five in LA.
Speaker 2 (21:50):
It's the Herd be sure to catch live editions of
The Herd weekdays and Noone Eastern a em Pacific.
Speaker 9 (21:56):
Hey, Steve Covino and I'm Rich David and Together where
Covino Rich on Fox Sports Radio. You could catch us
weekdays from five to seven pm Eastern two to four
Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and of course the iHeartRadio app.
Why should you listen to Covino and Rich. We talk
about everything life, sports, relationships, what's going on in the world.
We have a lot of fun talking about the stories
(22:16):
behind the stories in the world of sports and pop culture,
stories that well other shows don't seem to have the
time to discuss. And the fact that we've been friends
for the last twenty years and still work together. I
mean that says something, right.
Speaker 1 (22:28):
So check us out.
Speaker 9 (22:29):
We like to get you involved too, take your phone calls,
chop it up. As they say, I'd say the most
interactive show on Fox Sports Radio, maybe the most interactive
show on planetar. Be sure to check out Covino and
Rich live on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app
from five to seven pm Eastern, two to four Pacific,
And if you miss any of the live show, just
search Covino and Rich wherever you get your podcasts, and
of course on social media that's Covino and Rich.
Speaker 1 (22:52):
The new torpedo bat the Yankees are using, and I
think some of it's aesthetics if you put a picture
of them here, and I apologize to the video audience,
but the bat on the top is the new bat.
Now it looks like it's like twenty five to thirty
percent bigger. But you know, it's not breaking the rules.
The lengthest in circumference is not illegal. So and if
(23:16):
you see players during the game, people say, well, it
looks like a bowling pin. I've heard that it's a
bowling pin. So I trust the governing body. I mean,
sometimes leagues introduce things and don't tell the players, like
David Stern, the late commissioner, and said, hey, we've got
a new basketball. The players are like, yeah, we don't
like that. They did that once, I think with a
(23:37):
football or something, and Peyton mannings that I can't grip it.
And so the Yankees are hitting all sorts of home runs.
There are people that are complaining Aaron Judge is not
using it. It's clearly helping. So the only question is
when do the rest of the teams use it. So
here's the Yankees Jazz Chism on his new bat. Oh,
I love my bet.
Speaker 2 (23:58):
Yeah.
Speaker 10 (23:58):
I mean I think you could tell it's working pretty
well for me. But I mean, it doesn't feel like
a different bat. It just helps you in a little way.
Speaker 4 (24:07):
I guess.
Speaker 10 (24:08):
It gives you a feeling of just feeling like you
have more to work with, you know what I mean.
Like you probably don't have more to work with, but
it feels like it, you know what I mean. So
it gives you that extra confidence in your head to
be able to go out there and hit anything.
Speaker 1 (24:24):
What do you make of it? I mean, over the
weekend they're setting records.
Speaker 6 (24:28):
Love me, just love news stories that are fresh and
brand new and outside the box. This is gonna shake
up baseball. That's undeniable, right you would say that instantly.
Speaker 1 (24:36):
Oh, there's absolutely no question.
Speaker 5 (24:38):
The demand for these bats is going to be through
the roof.
Speaker 1 (24:40):
And it's the Yankees that's a huge part of this.
The tush push wouldn't matter if it was Jacksonville.
Speaker 6 (24:46):
If nobody would Kuncke Brewers with these bats, yes, would
it be as much of a hubbub.
Speaker 1 (24:50):
So, by the way, the Twins catcher Ryan Jeffers used
a torpedo bat yesterday he went oh for four. So
it doesn't work for everybody. Again, baseball is a different sport.
It's a lot of mental you know, hockey, basketball, football,
it's too fast. Golf and baseball. You sit around a
lot thinking that's what you've seen great all time golfers
(25:12):
like Ian Baker, Finch or David Duvall. I mean they go,
they get into their head. A Rod just literally can't
hit Barry Bonds. So I wouldn't mess with it if
I was a good hitter. Well, but if I'm hitting
two forty eight, why not even the Warriors, the.
Speaker 6 (25:29):
Three point Warriors, remember they went ballistic from three.
Speaker 5 (25:32):
The Houston Rockets tried it.
Speaker 6 (25:33):
Do you remember that Game seven where they missed like
twenty four to threes in a row. Yeah, Like, it's
not gonna wor out automatically. You're using the bulling pin
dat you're automatically?
Speaker 1 (25:41):
Well yeah, I mean there is something to be said
that Kevin Durant Stephan Clay playing together are not anybody else?
Speaker 5 (25:48):
Eric Gordon and whoever else there.
Speaker 1 (25:50):
Here's Aaron Boone, Yankee manager, on the new bats.
Speaker 11 (25:54):
You know, trying to be the best we can be.
I mean, it's one one of the things that you know,
gotten pointed out. But you know, I say to you
guys all the time, we're trying to win on the margins.
We have a big organization that are invested in a
lot of different things where we're trying to be better
in every possible way. The reality is it's all within
(26:17):
Major League standards.
Speaker 1 (26:19):
Yeah, it's I think if it was the Orioles, we
wouldn't care as much. The Evil Empire. Listen, Baseball. We
had Rob Manford on last week. If you look at
the last seven or eight things that have happened in baseball,
eliminate defensive shift, Otani goes to the Dodgers, pitchclock, torpedo bats,
(26:42):
Yankee Dodger World Series. Baseball's on a heater.
Speaker 5 (26:45):
It's not a heater, you know.
Speaker 1 (26:46):
I mean they've had about seven or eight either cultural
changes or significant moves that have all worked in their favor.
They Baseball's on. I mean, you've got to be honest
in our business. Is I gave baseball about fifteen years old,
but they have had for the last two years. The
game is infinitely more watchable you know, and some of
(27:08):
this too is we have to be remember this. Not
only are the Yankees a big brand, they did lead
baseball in Homer's last year, so they are a team capable.
This isn't the Twins, and suddenly they're doubling the rest
of the sport.
Speaker 6 (27:25):
You think Baseball presses their luck with this golden bat
ticket thing.
Speaker 1 (27:29):
Not this year?
Speaker 5 (27:30):
Not this year?
Speaker 6 (27:30):
Okay, because that would I think that's spicy. Maybe you
save it, you keep your powder dry. Hey, let's ride
this wave. Let's wait till next year and then implement it.
Speaker 1 (27:39):
But it's just like baseball. I believe that ESPN and
Baseball will get a deal done. I think you can't
give it up now. I just I think if you
think they come back to the market, yeah, I just
I think it's just. I mean, I got Bryce Harper
and Philadelphia Soto and New York Judge in New York,
I got three stars, five stars.
Speaker 5 (27:56):
On the Dodger, I got torpedo bats.
Speaker 1 (27:58):
I mean, I've got the the Cubs could be interesting.
Braves actually are struggling, and now the Dodgers and the
Braves play. So Atlanta's not off to a good start,
but it's just it does matter in every sport not
named the NFL where your star's playing.
Speaker 5 (28:12):
You and all the NFL's kind of I mean, I
know we didn't.
Speaker 6 (28:14):
Dive into it, but this toush push, I'm so you're
reading about it sounds like the toush push is going
to be eliminated.
Speaker 1 (28:20):
Colin.
Speaker 6 (28:21):
That ticks me off. I think that's a dumb move
by some So, well, you're not allowed to push mostly
in the who you Stephen Jones, that' suffs like he's
exact what we don't allow.
Speaker 1 (28:29):
Pushing in the league. Well, they do allow some pushing.
An offensive lineman could kind up Sirianni's.
Speaker 5 (28:35):
Starting to pop off. I don't This is going to
be a little bit.
Speaker 1 (28:38):
Some of it is resentment for Philadelphia, Yeah, because they're
a super aggressive team in trades and drafting. And again,
if this was the Jaguars, we this would not be
some of it is. The greatest compliment is imitation, Yes,
or criticism. Both are great compliments if somebody. If somebody
imitates me or criticizes me, you matter, and the Philadelphia
(29:00):
Eagles matter a lot in the National.
Speaker 6 (29:02):
Football what's the saying. The highest form of flattery is
imitation or something like that.
Speaker 1 (29:06):
And the Eagles are people copied it so and unlike
the wildcat it's got legs. It's just I think we
undervalue how much of this is Jalen Hurts, who is
historically strong and small. So you can't you know, Josh
Allen does it or Herbert and you can take the
top off, you can jump over the pop. You can't
(29:26):
do anything with Jalen Hurts.
Speaker 5 (29:28):
Daniel Jones tried it and like his center got dinged up. Yeah,
like yeah, it is.
Speaker 1 (29:33):
All right, good stuff. Kelvin Samson stopped by today. Matt
Hasselbeck stopped by today, and yes, I think the I
think the torpedo bat is here to stay. It was
so funny, like people were freaking out, you know, everybody
was like yeah, of course the Yankees about it. There
is just something about guys in sports. There are certain
(29:54):
brands that just are polarizing. Regardless. This is the minute
they start winning, people get ticked off. The college basketball
Crown is next to Utah and Butler on FS one
Hosts And Creators
Colin Cowherd
Jason McIntyre
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