April 7, 2025 • 20 mins
On today's episode, Jason talks about who is to blame for Duke choking away the game late in their Final Four matchup against Houston, the dominance of Florida's Walter Clayton Jr., a preview of the Championship matchup between Florida & Houston, and more!
Click here to subscribe, rate and review all of the latest Straight Fire with Jason McIntyre podcasts!
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
This is Straight Fire with Jason McIntyre. What is up,
straight firefam, It's me Jason McIntyre, Straight Fire for Monday,
April seventh. Oh, this is gonna be a tough one, folks.
For starters. Let me just come out and say it.
I am recording this in late Sunday afternoon from Salt
(00:29):
Lake City, Utah. Yes, it is actually pretty lovely here.
It's not that cold, nice little downtown, kind of clean.
I'm not hating it. Friendly people for sure. So we're
recording this from Salt Lake City because my daughter's at
a volleyball tournament. We had a great Saturday, We're about
to play on Sunday, and our flight back has been
delayed and I don't think i'll be able to record
(00:51):
it late Sunday night, and I'm hosting the Herd tomorrow,
so I won't be able to wake up at the
butt crack of dawn and record it. So I'm getting
out of the way now. And that's probably a good thing,
because this whole duke loss Saturday night put me in
a bit of a fog of funk. Whatever word you
want to use. We'll get to that shortly. But as
I'm recording this. I just watched the Lakers put up
the most impressive half any NBA team has had this
(01:14):
season against a quality opponent. They drop seventy eight on
the free throw merchants. They are leading OKC by twenty
two in OKC Luka Doncic for as bad as he
was Thursday against the Warriors, and if you go back
to that podcast, I thought that was his worst performance
as a Laker, he has responded big time. He is
dominating this game. Twenty two points in the half, five threes,
(01:37):
five assists, zero turnovers. They are throwing everything at him,
including Lou dort aka the Dorcher chamber. He's getting cooked.
He has no chance against Luca chet Holmgrin on the
switches is getting annihilated. Lakers are making threes at are
ridiculous rate. There are fifteen of twenty two in the
first half. Now, listen, they could lose this game, because
(01:57):
again recording the Sunday afternoon, they might blow this game
and lose, and then I sound like an idiot. But
right now this jives with the take I had a
little over a month ago that the Lakers are not
afraid of Okac at all. Anyways, let's get to more
important matters and oh dear Houston seventy Duke sixty seven.
(02:20):
So for starters. Because I saw a lot of people
asking me this on social media, I did not answer
any of it. I did not lose money on this game.
I'm not upset because of a money loss. Okay, we
had Duke in the Calcutta You guys don't how that works.
You bid on teams and you get a portion of
winnings from the whole pot for every round in they advance.
(02:42):
So for the tournament, we ended up in the plus
thanks to mcne's state winning a game and Duke getting
to the final four. So we will have a small,
tiny ROI probably be able to buy, like, you know,
a pizza party for a seven year old, right, that's
what we could afford based on this. Now, it should
have been way better than that. It should cover upcoming
spring break trip. But Duke choked. There is no way
(03:03):
around it, folks. This is one of the biggest gags
I can remember in sports history. Duke led by fourteen
with eight seventeen left, They led by nine with three
zho three left, They led by seven with one twenty
seven to go. Folks, Duke was up six with forty
seconds left and never scored again, and Houston went on
(03:26):
a tear. It is just astonishing. I'll set the scene
for you. So we had finished volleyball. I was watching
the first half on my phone. Thanks to shout out
to Fubo, Cowherd got me a Fubo account, and it
is ridiculous. You can watch it anywhere. It's awesome. So
watching it as my daughter's team's winning in volleyball, and
then you know, we get to the hotel bar to
(03:46):
watch the second half and Duke is kind of in control.
Cooper Flag's having a ridiculously good game, and then all
of a sudden, they just kind of sort of start
to slow down. And you got to obviously give Houston
some credit. They're scrappy. Their defense was good. They're the
number one defense in the country. Duke made one basket
in the final ten minutes, I believe it was a
Cooper Flag three. At that point, I thought, oh, we
(04:08):
got this. It's over. And Houston in the first half,
I think they were like four for twenty two on
two point field goals or four for twenty some ridiculous number,
and Duke was in control. They had this game. Houston
did not win it. Duke lost it. And you know,
I cannot bury anyone on Duke. I know a lot
of people going after Cooper flag. Cooper Flag was phenomenal,
(04:29):
twenty seven seven and four, hit three threes, didn't miss
a free throw, had three blocks, was everywhere. But as
had been the case earlier in the season, now at
the time, he was seventeen years old. But he had
two chances earlier in the season, down one and he
couldn't score. And Duke lost both those games. One was
to Kansas. I forget to who the other one was to,
(04:50):
but he didn't deliver in the clutch. And again it's
a seventeen year old going against twenty twenty one, twenty
two year olds. I think Hunter Dickinson's like twenty four
from Kansas, And the same thing happened last night. Now
it should have never come to this, but trailing by
one Cooper Flagg and I had said this like five
minutes earlier, dude, stop fading away in the lane. Attack
(05:12):
the rim. You're getting fouled, And for some reason he
fades away and it goes front rim. Houston gets the board,
the guy makes the free. The terrible free throw shooter.
Oh no, the good free throw shooter makes the two.
They were up by three and then they end up winning.
But it should have never got to this. I don't
want to crush john Shire too much, but one of
the notes I had that we talked about last week
(05:32):
with Oh damn, I'm forgetting the guest. It was somebody good.
But Kelvin Sampson as a coach as a huge advantage
over john Shire. John Shire has never been to a
final four. Okay, John Shire is a young coach. I'm
sure he's gonna have a great career. It's tough to
win every game. But he had a loaded deck here
and they were favorites and they led by fourteen with
(05:55):
eight seventeen left. I mean, folks, you know this is
kind of on John Shire. I'm not going to put
it on flag listen. Tyrese Procter was just awful. I
feel so bad for the kid. Remember he couldn't miss
from three in the first two rounds of the tournament. Well,
in the final three games of March Madness, he couldn't
make a damn shot and he was zero for four
(06:16):
from deep against Houston. And compounding matters, he's a really
good free throw shooter. He missed the front end of
a one and one, up by one. Hold On, I
got the three point numbers. Last three games Arizona, Alabama
and Houston. He was a combined three for thirteen from deep.
Those are like my numbers in a rec league. And
it's not a big deal because the three I hit
are memorable and cool, but there's not a final four
(06:37):
on the line. I mean, come on, So Proctor just
choked City. But I cannot bury Proctor because I think
Shire really screwed things up having James inbound the ball. Now,
James had a good game. I like his game. I
think he's probably a pro. All those on the older side,
I probably have a really good international career. So cyon,
James only had seven points in five ree bounds. But
(07:00):
here's the problem. He got drilled going to the basket
or maybe it was no, yeah, it was going to
the basket, and he ends up hitting his head on
the ground hard and it was very clear that he
was concussed, like very obvious head drills the ground. One
of the dads I was watching with was like, well,
with all those braids, maybe it absorbed the hit and
(07:21):
like Duke didn't take him out of the game or anything,
and maybe he came out for like a minute or two,
but it was like he didn't even go to the
locker room. I didn't see a concussion test. And you
could tell. A couple of minutes later, he's driving baseline
and he just drills the ball like off his leg
and like, dude, what is that? And then for whatever reason,
john Shire had him inbounding the ball repeatedly when Houston
(07:45):
went full corp press and Duke could not inbound the friggin' basketball.
I mean, folks, that was one of the most frustrating
things I've seen as a as a sports fan, backing
aside just the inability to inbound the basketball. Dude, you
don't have an inbound play, And you know, I'm talking
with the dads, and I'm like, how about put everybody
(08:05):
on one side or a couple down the court and
just throw the ball up to Cooper Flag like just
a quick lob inbounds pass. They would foul him instantly,
like the guy's unstoppable. And just the turnovers on the
I mean, at one point, Houston had I think a
seven point play, so Crier hit a three, and then
on the play they called some kind of whack flagrant fowl.
(08:28):
The guy makes one free throw. I'll show it's a
six point play. He makes one free throw and then
then they get a dunk and it was a six
point play and like maybe seven seconds came off the
clock and I'm like, this is just not good. I
felt good most of the way, and at one point,
I let me see when it was oh when they
(08:52):
called the fowl on Cooper flag, which was total bullshit,
and I was so angry. I again, I'm with the
guys and I said to the bartender, I need my
check please, and the guys look at me, and I'm like,
this is over. We lost and you could just tell
the second they call that bogus foul on Cooper flag
over the back, and Warren Sharp has a great video
of it, and no, I'm not blaming the refs, but
(09:13):
CBS showed multiple angles. There was no foul, there was
no over the back, there was no shove, nothing. It
was two guys jostling for a ball. And I yes,
I'm gonna mention my men's league team here. So two
seasons ago, when we had Richard Jefferson, we lost on
an almost identical situation. We took a shot in a
(09:34):
tie game and our big guy who's six seven, not
Richard Jefferson, another guy is going up for the board
and they're like smallish captain who's like, I don't know,
six feet tall maybe is going up for the rebound
and they called a foul on. Now. I watched the
video multiple times and like, okay, I guess you could
call it, but it's like really a loose ball foul
(09:54):
in a tight game on like a misshot and like
Cooper Flag's looking incredulous at the referees, like are you serious?
And of course it's on like a guy who's like
a sixty two percent pre throw shooter. He goes to
the line and what happens He buries both. Anyways, I
could go on for at least an hour, and I
might do it on the Herd Monday about this loss.
(10:17):
Definitely one of the three worst losses I've suffered as
a gambler, not from a monetary standpoint, just because of
what the upside was leading by so much throughout the game. Folks,
this would really hurt. And again I haven't given her
Houston enough credit. Their defense was relentless crier was excellent.
Calvin Samson just a perfect press at the end. But again,
Houston didn't win this as much as Duke blew it. Now,
(10:39):
I will give my guy Preston Johnson Sports Cheetah a
shout out. He's in our Calcutta group and we had
a group text like, Hey, who would we rather face
Houston or Tennessee? And I was like, I don't want
to see Tennessee. You know, it's just an SEC team.
They're battle tested. I'm not that worried about Houston, their
game ending situations, their meltdowns, inability to score, and of
(11:00):
course what happens. We have to face Houston and they
and the game great. Now, remember Houston was getting revenge
for last year. Ironically, last year in the Calcutta we
had Houston shed goes down in the first half with
the ankle injury. At Duke wins I think by three
or four, although it never felt particularly that close. I'll
talk about Florida in a minute, the Florida Auburn game.
(11:21):
That was an excellent game, and I'll talk about tonight.
I forgot I probably should have shouted them out at
the beginning. Congrats to the Yukon women. They blew out
South Carolina in the National Championship. I confess I didn't
watch a game and shout out to Alex Ovechkin, who
is now the leading scorer in NHL history. He surpassed
Wayne Gretzky at the goal on Sunday. Unfortunately, guys, listen
(11:44):
and I got asked this by a dad here this
weekend in Salt Lake City. So, Jay, how are you
up on all this stuff? I mean, look, do you
see that Dodgers come back last night? And I'm like,
I did not. I'm like, I can't be up on everything.
Like I couldn't name for you ten NHL players right now.
The only NHL connection. This is real, This is not
made up. So in the Men's League playoffs, we were
(12:07):
having to face Timofey Mosgov in the semifinals. Now Mosgov
and I have become friends. We had like a shooting
contest the other day he won shocker, and that same
night Ovechkin was playing at the La Kings. Ovechkin Russian,
Moscov Russian and Mosgov told me, oh, I'm going to
the game with my family. I was like, oh, that's
(12:28):
that's just great. We end up winning the semifinal, and
that that's basically all I've got on you know, he's
at he's a great story. I'm just not a huge
hockey guy. You know, you get a little older, you
get the family, you just can't do everything. Like March
Madness is great. And I'm already thinking like, oh, man,
I guess I got to cash out the account. You know,
like I'm not gonna be I'm just not gonna be
really gambling on baseball. And I'll do some NBA. You know,
(12:52):
I have some Lakers futures. I have some other NBA futures.
We'll talk about that as the playoffs get closer. But yeah, anyway,
so real quick. Florida Auburn. Oh an interesting nugget, and
I have so many notes I have here again taking
while watching girls volleyball, twelve year volleyball, I should say,
but both of these semi final winners, Florida and Houston,
(13:14):
trailed at the half by six and eight, respectively, And
at halftime, my buddy Nico texts me, Hey, Jay, I
know we're on Florida. You think we add to it
at half? And I was like, yeah, I don't know. Man.
Auburn looks just really freaking good. They just I mean,
they were just dominating and they weren't missing shots. It
was essentially a clinic and Auburn just looked like the
(13:37):
better team my all eye, they looked like the better team,
and I didn't add to it. I just stuck with
my Florida and that paid off because you know, mister
Walter Clayton junior decided, Hey, you know what, I think,
I'm gonna go Shabaz Napier or Kemba Walker in the
NCAA tournament and Walter Clayton. So I submitted a mock
draft for NBA on Friday, and I don't look at
(14:01):
mont drafts before submitting mine because I don't want them
to impact how I thought think about players and positioning.
And I had Walter Clayton like in I think the
top twenty two. I like his game a lot. I
know he's on the older side. I know he's been
around the block, shall we say. And you know, the
NBA loves potential eighteen nineteen twenty year olds as opposed
(14:21):
to the twenty two twenty three year old guys, because
sometimes the twenty three year old players are you know,
dominating nineteen year olds and I don't care about any
of that. Walter Clayton is a freaking stud. The guy
had thirty four points I have here on my notes.
That is the most by any player in a Final
four game win since nineteen eighty one. I mean, Clayton
(14:43):
just took over that game late. Nobody could guard him.
He had five of eight threes. He's hitting impossible threes
that I'm like, why are you shooting them? Oh my gosh,
what a shot like? He was extraordinary. Bruce Pearl tried
the kitchen sink. I mean, folks, Bruce Pearl. They did
the hard double on screens. They threw not only guards
at him, but they threw Baker Mazara, who is a long,
(15:06):
twitchy defender. They threw him and none of them could
stop him. And Florida came back, storm back in the
second half. They were really, really tough getting to the
foul line. Now, they didn't shoot it great from the line,
only seventy percent, but Auburn was worse sixty nine. But
they made five fewer free throws. And Florida relentless on
the offensive glass with their big They're just too big.
(15:26):
That's why they're my pick against Houston. We'll get to
that shortly, but I just love this Florida team. Now,
a quick note on you know, one of my favorite
players to Hod Pettiford, the freshman from Alburt. I also
have him in the mock draft. I'm irrationally high on him.
I totally understand that not everybody feels the same way,
but it was one of those Oh shucks, he can't
(15:48):
hang with Clayton. The moment's a little big. It might
help him to come back to school. He had a
one of six shooting night, oh for four on threes,
did get to the line, made all his free throws,
but three turnovers, three fouls. Just not the kind of
performance you need from a stud freshman when other guys
aren't delivering. Broom was excellent in the first half and
(16:09):
then I don't really even know if he scored in
the second, and he just didn't do much Auburn. As
they like to say, the water got turned off and
Auburn's offense just shriveled up the forty six in the
first half, twenty seven in a second. As for tonight's game,
Florida Houston, So Houston opened as a one and a
half point dog, which is a mild surprise because they're
(16:32):
the higher rated team per Ken Pom. And I know
you could just say, well, Duke was higher rated than Uston.
Come on, Jesus, it's close. But Ken Palm has Houston
as slightly better and winning by one. Yet Florida opened
as a one and a half point favorite. Now, don't
be surprised. Money came in instantly on Houston. I think
(16:54):
the public is backing Houston. Listen, when you beat Duke,
of course they got to back you, right They Beacon
Zagaby five, Perdue by two, Duke by three. Those are
great wins. They have three top ten Ken Palm wins
in the tournament. Florida, which has a million all season,
only has two, and that's against Texas Tech where they
needed a crazy rally in Auburn, where they also needed
(17:15):
a good rally. I don't know. I just keep looking
at this that I'm saying Florida's depth is insane. What's
the whistle going to be like? Because Houston doesn't have
the depth. Florida loves to attack. They get to the
line almost better than anybody, and now they don't shoot
it great from the line. One hundred and sixty fifth
in the country, but it's not like Houston does either.
(17:37):
Houston is at one hundred and tenth in the country,
so they're both like marginal. But I just I had
to go with Florida here in this one. I think
the depth wins out. I don't know how you stop Clayton.
And yes, Houston has some dogs defensively us on maybe
this is his show me game. I think he's a
pro friend for Schilo, who was on the pod before
the tournament, he loves him. He struggled against Duke but
(17:58):
then hit a couple of big threes. The kid sharp
is tough, man is He was really getting it than
the Duke players. It was one of those veterans versus
young guy things, and they just couldn't They just couldn't
fight through the burly twenty two year olds. I'm sure
you guys saw the video or not the video the
picture on Instagram where they said every Houston player, all
(18:18):
the guys were shirtless and just shredded. Every Houston player
runs an under six minute mile. And these aren't like
young dudes. These are like big, burly beasts, and they
just were tougher than Duke. Now, I don't know that
they'll be tougher than Florida, which has some dogs. I
like Richard, I like Martin, obviously, Clayton and the bigs.
I just think it's I think I think it's Florida plus.
(18:41):
There's got to be a letdown right after taking down Duke.
How do you come down off that? I know it's
the coach's job to be like, hey, we got one
more to go, sure, but you just took down Cooper,
flag and Duke. I mean, just putting that in perspective
is just extremely difficult. I don't know how you rally
off a forty eight hours later like the come down.
(19:02):
I would not be surprised Florida jumped on him early,
Houston coming out maybe a little high on their own supply,
like hey, hey we're Houston. We just beat Duke, and
it's weird how things work. Do you remember when Michigan
State took down Zion Williamson in the Elit eight? Actually
it was not just Zion, it was Zion and Chet Homeward.
And I remember that because I had yes Duke and
(19:24):
that loss was just devastating. I felt so bad for Zion.
I felt worse for Cooper. Flag in this one because
I think they kind of got jobbed inability to inbound
the ball that dumb fell in the free throw line.
It's just a tough one for Duke Man. But anyway,
so Michigan State beat Zion or R J. Barrett in
the Elite eight, and then you know, six days later,
(19:45):
seven days later, whatever it was, they went out and
lost in the Final Four. Like it's tough to beat
an awesome team and then come out again and get
the dub. So I'm on Florida tonight to wrap up
what I think has been a t amendus college basketball season.
I do have in my notes here that this was
the most watched Final Four semifinals since twenty seventeen. Fifteen
(20:09):
million people tuned in. That's pretty damn good, right, I
think it should be a great game, and obviously, you know,
check out check me out on the hurd. I'll probably
be crying over the Duke loss, and please no White
Lotus spoilers. I won't be able to watch it Sunday night.
I'm gonna have to watch it hopefully Monday. I'll try
to be offline as much as possible because I don't
want to know who got killed, Who the killers. I
(20:30):
don't want to know any of that, so please don't
screw it up for me. Talk to you Tuesday.
This is Straight Fire with Jason McIntyre. What is up,
straight firefam, It's me Jason McIntyre, Straight Fire for Monday,
April seventh. Oh, this is gonna be a tough one, folks.
For starters. Let me just come out and say it.
I am recording this in late Sunday afternoon from Salt
(00:29):
Lake City, Utah. Yes, it is actually pretty lovely here.
It's not that cold, nice little downtown, kind of clean.
I'm not hating it. Friendly people for sure. So we're
recording this from Salt Lake City because my daughter's at
a volleyball tournament. We had a great Saturday, We're about
to play on Sunday, and our flight back has been
delayed and I don't think i'll be able to record
(00:51):
it late Sunday night, and I'm hosting the Herd tomorrow,
so I won't be able to wake up at the
butt crack of dawn and record it. So I'm getting
out of the way now. And that's probably a good thing,
because this whole duke loss Saturday night put me in
a bit of a fog of funk. Whatever word you
want to use. We'll get to that shortly. But as
I'm recording this. I just watched the Lakers put up
the most impressive half any NBA team has had this
(01:14):
season against a quality opponent. They drop seventy eight on
the free throw merchants. They are leading OKC by twenty
two in OKC Luka Doncic for as bad as he
was Thursday against the Warriors, and if you go back
to that podcast, I thought that was his worst performance
as a Laker, he has responded big time. He is
dominating this game. Twenty two points in the half, five threes,
(01:37):
five assists, zero turnovers. They are throwing everything at him,
including Lou dort aka the Dorcher chamber. He's getting cooked.
He has no chance against Luca chet Holmgrin on the
switches is getting annihilated. Lakers are making threes at are
ridiculous rate. There are fifteen of twenty two in the
first half. Now, listen, they could lose this game, because
(01:57):
again recording the Sunday afternoon, they might blow this game
and lose, and then I sound like an idiot. But
right now this jives with the take I had a
little over a month ago that the Lakers are not
afraid of Okac at all. Anyways, let's get to more
important matters and oh dear Houston seventy Duke sixty seven.
(02:20):
So for starters. Because I saw a lot of people
asking me this on social media, I did not answer
any of it. I did not lose money on this game.
I'm not upset because of a money loss. Okay, we
had Duke in the Calcutta You guys don't how that works.
You bid on teams and you get a portion of
winnings from the whole pot for every round in they advance.
(02:42):
So for the tournament, we ended up in the plus
thanks to mcne's state winning a game and Duke getting
to the final four. So we will have a small,
tiny ROI probably be able to buy, like, you know,
a pizza party for a seven year old, right, that's
what we could afford based on this. Now, it should
have been way better than that. It should cover upcoming
spring break trip. But Duke choked. There is no way
(03:03):
around it, folks. This is one of the biggest gags
I can remember in sports history. Duke led by fourteen
with eight seventeen left, They led by nine with three
zho three left, They led by seven with one twenty
seven to go. Folks, Duke was up six with forty
seconds left and never scored again, and Houston went on
(03:26):
a tear. It is just astonishing. I'll set the scene
for you. So we had finished volleyball. I was watching
the first half on my phone. Thanks to shout out
to Fubo, Cowherd got me a Fubo account, and it
is ridiculous. You can watch it anywhere. It's awesome. So
watching it as my daughter's team's winning in volleyball, and
then you know, we get to the hotel bar to
(03:46):
watch the second half and Duke is kind of in control.
Cooper Flag's having a ridiculously good game, and then all
of a sudden, they just kind of sort of start
to slow down. And you got to obviously give Houston
some credit. They're scrappy. Their defense was good. They're the
number one defense in the country. Duke made one basket
in the final ten minutes, I believe it was a
Cooper Flag three. At that point, I thought, oh, we
(04:08):
got this. It's over. And Houston in the first half,
I think they were like four for twenty two on
two point field goals or four for twenty some ridiculous number,
and Duke was in control. They had this game. Houston
did not win it. Duke lost it. And you know,
I cannot bury anyone on Duke. I know a lot
of people going after Cooper flag. Cooper Flag was phenomenal,
(04:29):
twenty seven seven and four, hit three threes, didn't miss
a free throw, had three blocks, was everywhere. But as
had been the case earlier in the season, now at
the time, he was seventeen years old. But he had
two chances earlier in the season, down one and he
couldn't score. And Duke lost both those games. One was
to Kansas. I forget to who the other one was to,
(04:50):
but he didn't deliver in the clutch. And again it's
a seventeen year old going against twenty twenty one, twenty
two year olds. I think Hunter Dickinson's like twenty four
from Kansas, And the same thing happened last night. Now
it should have never come to this, but trailing by
one Cooper Flagg and I had said this like five
minutes earlier, dude, stop fading away in the lane. Attack
(05:12):
the rim. You're getting fouled, And for some reason he
fades away and it goes front rim. Houston gets the board,
the guy makes the free. The terrible free throw shooter.
Oh no, the good free throw shooter makes the two.
They were up by three and then they end up winning.
But it should have never got to this. I don't
want to crush john Shire too much, but one of
the notes I had that we talked about last week
(05:32):
with Oh damn, I'm forgetting the guest. It was somebody good.
But Kelvin Sampson as a coach as a huge advantage
over john Shire. John Shire has never been to a
final four. Okay, John Shire is a young coach. I'm
sure he's gonna have a great career. It's tough to
win every game. But he had a loaded deck here
and they were favorites and they led by fourteen with
(05:55):
eight seventeen left. I mean, folks, you know this is
kind of on John Shire. I'm not going to put
it on flag listen. Tyrese Procter was just awful. I
feel so bad for the kid. Remember he couldn't miss
from three in the first two rounds of the tournament. Well,
in the final three games of March Madness, he couldn't
make a damn shot and he was zero for four
(06:16):
from deep against Houston. And compounding matters, he's a really
good free throw shooter. He missed the front end of
a one and one, up by one. Hold On, I
got the three point numbers. Last three games Arizona, Alabama
and Houston. He was a combined three for thirteen from deep.
Those are like my numbers in a rec league. And
it's not a big deal because the three I hit
are memorable and cool, but there's not a final four
(06:37):
on the line. I mean, come on, So Proctor just
choked City. But I cannot bury Proctor because I think
Shire really screwed things up having James inbound the ball. Now,
James had a good game. I like his game. I
think he's probably a pro. All those on the older side,
I probably have a really good international career. So cyon,
James only had seven points in five ree bounds. But
(07:00):
here's the problem. He got drilled going to the basket
or maybe it was no, yeah, it was going to
the basket, and he ends up hitting his head on
the ground hard and it was very clear that he
was concussed, like very obvious head drills the ground. One
of the dads I was watching with was like, well,
with all those braids, maybe it absorbed the hit and
(07:21):
like Duke didn't take him out of the game or anything,
and maybe he came out for like a minute or two,
but it was like he didn't even go to the
locker room. I didn't see a concussion test. And you
could tell. A couple of minutes later, he's driving baseline
and he just drills the ball like off his leg
and like, dude, what is that? And then for whatever reason,
john Shire had him inbounding the ball repeatedly when Houston
(07:45):
went full corp press and Duke could not inbound the friggin' basketball.
I mean, folks, that was one of the most frustrating
things I've seen as a as a sports fan, backing
aside just the inability to inbound the basketball. Dude, you
don't have an inbound play, And you know, I'm talking
with the dads, and I'm like, how about put everybody
(08:05):
on one side or a couple down the court and
just throw the ball up to Cooper Flag like just
a quick lob inbounds pass. They would foul him instantly,
like the guy's unstoppable. And just the turnovers on the
I mean, at one point, Houston had I think a
seven point play, so Crier hit a three, and then
on the play they called some kind of whack flagrant fowl.
(08:28):
The guy makes one free throw. I'll show it's a
six point play. He makes one free throw and then
then they get a dunk and it was a six
point play and like maybe seven seconds came off the
clock and I'm like, this is just not good. I
felt good most of the way, and at one point,
I let me see when it was oh when they
(08:52):
called the fowl on Cooper flag, which was total bullshit,
and I was so angry. I again, I'm with the
guys and I said to the bartender, I need my
check please, and the guys look at me, and I'm like,
this is over. We lost and you could just tell
the second they call that bogus foul on Cooper flag
over the back, and Warren Sharp has a great video
of it, and no, I'm not blaming the refs, but
(09:13):
CBS showed multiple angles. There was no foul, there was
no over the back, there was no shove, nothing. It
was two guys jostling for a ball. And I yes,
I'm gonna mention my men's league team here. So two
seasons ago, when we had Richard Jefferson, we lost on
an almost identical situation. We took a shot in a
(09:34):
tie game and our big guy who's six seven, not
Richard Jefferson, another guy is going up for the board
and they're like smallish captain who's like, I don't know,
six feet tall maybe is going up for the rebound
and they called a foul on. Now. I watched the
video multiple times and like, okay, I guess you could
call it, but it's like really a loose ball foul
(09:54):
in a tight game on like a misshot and like
Cooper Flag's looking incredulous at the referees, like are you serious?
And of course it's on like a guy who's like
a sixty two percent pre throw shooter. He goes to
the line and what happens He buries both. Anyways, I
could go on for at least an hour, and I
might do it on the Herd Monday about this loss.
(10:17):
Definitely one of the three worst losses I've suffered as
a gambler, not from a monetary standpoint, just because of
what the upside was leading by so much throughout the game. Folks,
this would really hurt. And again I haven't given her
Houston enough credit. Their defense was relentless crier was excellent.
Calvin Samson just a perfect press at the end. But again,
Houston didn't win this as much as Duke blew it. Now,
(10:39):
I will give my guy Preston Johnson Sports Cheetah a
shout out. He's in our Calcutta group and we had
a group text like, Hey, who would we rather face
Houston or Tennessee? And I was like, I don't want
to see Tennessee. You know, it's just an SEC team.
They're battle tested. I'm not that worried about Houston, their
game ending situations, their meltdowns, inability to score, and of
(11:00):
course what happens. We have to face Houston and they
and the game great. Now, remember Houston was getting revenge
for last year. Ironically, last year in the Calcutta we
had Houston shed goes down in the first half with
the ankle injury. At Duke wins I think by three
or four, although it never felt particularly that close. I'll
talk about Florida in a minute, the Florida Auburn game.
(11:21):
That was an excellent game, and I'll talk about tonight.
I forgot I probably should have shouted them out at
the beginning. Congrats to the Yukon women. They blew out
South Carolina in the National Championship. I confess I didn't
watch a game and shout out to Alex Ovechkin, who
is now the leading scorer in NHL history. He surpassed
Wayne Gretzky at the goal on Sunday. Unfortunately, guys, listen
(11:44):
and I got asked this by a dad here this
weekend in Salt Lake City. So, Jay, how are you
up on all this stuff? I mean, look, do you
see that Dodgers come back last night? And I'm like,
I did not. I'm like, I can't be up on everything.
Like I couldn't name for you ten NHL players right now.
The only NHL connection. This is real, This is not
made up. So in the Men's League playoffs, we were
(12:07):
having to face Timofey Mosgov in the semifinals. Now Mosgov
and I have become friends. We had like a shooting
contest the other day he won shocker, and that same
night Ovechkin was playing at the La Kings. Ovechkin Russian,
Moscov Russian and Mosgov told me, oh, I'm going to
the game with my family. I was like, oh, that's
(12:28):
that's just great. We end up winning the semifinal, and
that that's basically all I've got on you know, he's
at he's a great story. I'm just not a huge
hockey guy. You know, you get a little older, you
get the family, you just can't do everything. Like March
Madness is great. And I'm already thinking like, oh, man,
I guess I got to cash out the account. You know,
like I'm not gonna be I'm just not gonna be
really gambling on baseball. And I'll do some NBA. You know,
(12:52):
I have some Lakers futures. I have some other NBA futures.
We'll talk about that as the playoffs get closer. But yeah, anyway,
so real quick. Florida Auburn. Oh an interesting nugget, and
I have so many notes I have here again taking
while watching girls volleyball, twelve year volleyball, I should say,
but both of these semi final winners, Florida and Houston,
(13:14):
trailed at the half by six and eight, respectively, And
at halftime, my buddy Nico texts me, Hey, Jay, I
know we're on Florida. You think we add to it
at half? And I was like, yeah, I don't know. Man.
Auburn looks just really freaking good. They just I mean,
they were just dominating and they weren't missing shots. It
was essentially a clinic and Auburn just looked like the
(13:37):
better team my all eye, they looked like the better team,
and I didn't add to it. I just stuck with
my Florida and that paid off because you know, mister
Walter Clayton junior decided, Hey, you know what, I think,
I'm gonna go Shabaz Napier or Kemba Walker in the
NCAA tournament and Walter Clayton. So I submitted a mock
draft for NBA on Friday, and I don't look at
(14:01):
mont drafts before submitting mine because I don't want them
to impact how I thought think about players and positioning.
And I had Walter Clayton like in I think the
top twenty two. I like his game a lot. I
know he's on the older side. I know he's been
around the block, shall we say. And you know, the
NBA loves potential eighteen nineteen twenty year olds as opposed
(14:21):
to the twenty two twenty three year old guys, because
sometimes the twenty three year old players are you know,
dominating nineteen year olds and I don't care about any
of that. Walter Clayton is a freaking stud. The guy
had thirty four points I have here on my notes.
That is the most by any player in a Final
four game win since nineteen eighty one. I mean, Clayton
(14:43):
just took over that game late. Nobody could guard him.
He had five of eight threes. He's hitting impossible threes
that I'm like, why are you shooting them? Oh my gosh,
what a shot like? He was extraordinary. Bruce Pearl tried
the kitchen sink. I mean, folks, Bruce Pearl. They did
the hard double on screens. They threw not only guards
at him, but they threw Baker Mazara, who is a long,
(15:06):
twitchy defender. They threw him and none of them could
stop him. And Florida came back, storm back in the
second half. They were really, really tough getting to the
foul line. Now, they didn't shoot it great from the line,
only seventy percent, but Auburn was worse sixty nine. But
they made five fewer free throws. And Florida relentless on
the offensive glass with their big They're just too big.
(15:26):
That's why they're my pick against Houston. We'll get to
that shortly, but I just love this Florida team. Now,
a quick note on you know, one of my favorite
players to Hod Pettiford, the freshman from Alburt. I also
have him in the mock draft. I'm irrationally high on him.
I totally understand that not everybody feels the same way,
but it was one of those Oh shucks, he can't
(15:48):
hang with Clayton. The moment's a little big. It might
help him to come back to school. He had a
one of six shooting night, oh for four on threes,
did get to the line, made all his free throws,
but three turnovers, three fouls. Just not the kind of
performance you need from a stud freshman when other guys
aren't delivering. Broom was excellent in the first half and
(16:09):
then I don't really even know if he scored in
the second, and he just didn't do much Auburn. As
they like to say, the water got turned off and
Auburn's offense just shriveled up the forty six in the
first half, twenty seven in a second. As for tonight's game,
Florida Houston, So Houston opened as a one and a
half point dog, which is a mild surprise because they're
(16:32):
the higher rated team per Ken Pom. And I know
you could just say, well, Duke was higher rated than Uston.
Come on, Jesus, it's close. But Ken Palm has Houston
as slightly better and winning by one. Yet Florida opened
as a one and a half point favorite. Now, don't
be surprised. Money came in instantly on Houston. I think
(16:54):
the public is backing Houston. Listen, when you beat Duke,
of course they got to back you, right They Beacon
Zagaby five, Perdue by two, Duke by three. Those are
great wins. They have three top ten Ken Palm wins
in the tournament. Florida, which has a million all season,
only has two, and that's against Texas Tech where they
needed a crazy rally in Auburn, where they also needed
(17:15):
a good rally. I don't know. I just keep looking
at this that I'm saying Florida's depth is insane. What's
the whistle going to be like? Because Houston doesn't have
the depth. Florida loves to attack. They get to the
line almost better than anybody, and now they don't shoot
it great from the line. One hundred and sixty fifth
in the country, but it's not like Houston does either.
(17:37):
Houston is at one hundred and tenth in the country,
so they're both like marginal. But I just I had
to go with Florida here in this one. I think
the depth wins out. I don't know how you stop Clayton.
And yes, Houston has some dogs defensively us on maybe
this is his show me game. I think he's a
pro friend for Schilo, who was on the pod before
the tournament, he loves him. He struggled against Duke but
(17:58):
then hit a couple of big threes. The kid sharp
is tough, man is He was really getting it than
the Duke players. It was one of those veterans versus
young guy things, and they just couldn't They just couldn't
fight through the burly twenty two year olds. I'm sure
you guys saw the video or not the video the
picture on Instagram where they said every Houston player, all
(18:18):
the guys were shirtless and just shredded. Every Houston player
runs an under six minute mile. And these aren't like
young dudes. These are like big, burly beasts, and they
just were tougher than Duke. Now, I don't know that
they'll be tougher than Florida, which has some dogs. I
like Richard, I like Martin, obviously, Clayton and the bigs.
I just think it's I think I think it's Florida plus.
(18:41):
There's got to be a letdown right after taking down Duke.
How do you come down off that? I know it's
the coach's job to be like, hey, we got one
more to go, sure, but you just took down Cooper,
flag and Duke. I mean, just putting that in perspective
is just extremely difficult. I don't know how you rally
off a forty eight hours later like the come down.
(19:02):
I would not be surprised Florida jumped on him early,
Houston coming out maybe a little high on their own supply,
like hey, hey we're Houston. We just beat Duke, and
it's weird how things work. Do you remember when Michigan
State took down Zion Williamson in the Elit eight? Actually
it was not just Zion, it was Zion and Chet Homeward.
And I remember that because I had yes Duke and
(19:24):
that loss was just devastating. I felt so bad for Zion.
I felt worse for Cooper. Flag in this one because
I think they kind of got jobbed inability to inbound
the ball that dumb fell in the free throw line.
It's just a tough one for Duke Man. But anyway,
so Michigan State beat Zion or R J. Barrett in
the Elite eight, and then you know, six days later,
(19:45):
seven days later, whatever it was, they went out and
lost in the Final Four. Like it's tough to beat
an awesome team and then come out again and get
the dub. So I'm on Florida tonight to wrap up
what I think has been a t amendus college basketball season.
I do have in my notes here that this was
the most watched Final Four semifinals since twenty seventeen. Fifteen
(20:09):
million people tuned in. That's pretty damn good, right, I
think it should be a great game, and obviously, you know,
check out check me out on the hurd. I'll probably
be crying over the Duke loss, and please no White
Lotus spoilers. I won't be able to watch it Sunday night.
I'm gonna have to watch it hopefully Monday. I'll try
to be offline as much as possible because I don't
want to know who got killed, Who the killers. I
(20:30):
don't want to know any of that, so please don't
screw it up for me. Talk to you Tuesday.
Hosts And Creators
Colin Cowherd
Jason McIntyre
Popular Podcasts
True Crime Tonight
If you eat, sleep, and breathe true crime, TRUE CRIME TONIGHT is serving up your nightly fix. Five nights a week, KT STUDIOS & iHEART RADIO invite listeners to pull up a seat for an unfiltered look at the biggest cases making headlines, celebrity scandals, and the trials everyone is watching. With a mix of expert analysis, hot takes, and listener call-ins, TRUE CRIME TONIGHT goes beyond the headlines to uncover the twists, turns, and unanswered questions that keep us all obsessed—because, at TRUE CRIME TONIGHT, there’s a seat for everyone. Whether breaking down crime scene forensics, scrutinizing serial killers, or debating the most binge-worthy true crime docs, True Crime Tonight is the fresh, fast-paced, and slightly addictive home for true crime lovers.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.