March 13, 2018 • 39 mins
Doug thinks the Vikings made the right move by signing Kirk Cousins because they are ready to win now. He also gives props to Drew Brees for taking less money to stay with the Saints. Plus PAC 12 Commissioner Larry Scott joins the show to share their recommendations to the NCAA for fixing college basketball.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is the best of the Doug Gottlieb Show on
Fox Sports Radio. Boom, What Up America, Doug Gottlieb Show,
Fox Sports Radio. Oh, what a day we've had in
the National Football League. Huh, how crazy is the day? Um,
(00:23):
I'm gonna have to bring Dan Buyer here in a second,
just because the the updates are coming fast and furious. Uh,
We've got a great show for you. We'll get you
ready for the n c A Tournament, which technically, I
guess kicks off, Uh, technically kicks off tonight, although the
reality of it is your brackets not really do until Thursday.
I'll be posting an entire line by line pick of
(00:45):
of every pick in my draft, very pick in my
bracket on Twitter, and I can always help you with
your brackets and maybe it'll maybe maybe they'll help you
as um as mc cronin's gonna join us upcoming in
fifteen minutes since Nanni Barrick had squad did in fact
get a number two seed, but they do have a
big injury. Do you have a big injury? And we'll
get an update as to their injured status and if
(01:09):
he thinks that this year they can kind of break
through and get to his first Final Four as a
head coach. So Mick Cronin gonna join us in fifteen minutes.
The stories have come fast and furious, and I'm sorry,
Steve de Seger is in actually for Dan Buyer, So
my apologies Steve. But uh, there's a there's a lot. Uh.
(01:30):
Mark's Lee is gonna resign with Jacksonville Jaguars. That just
came out. But it started. It started with case Keenum
who ends up with the Denver Broncos. And you had
to think when case Keenum ended up with the Denver
Broncos that obviously they were out of the kirk Cousins,
the kirk Cousins recruiting or kirk Cousins recruitment and um,
(01:59):
then we had, of course a goodbye letter from kirk
Cousins to the Washington Redskins. He only tagged two teams.
They were the Vikings and the Jets. Now the sudden
started heat up. Kirk Cousins is expected to sign with
the Minnesota Vikings a three year deal which has initially
been reported as fully guaranteed. Of course, remember initial reports
(02:22):
don't mean actual contracts. Initial reports are texts from agents
two reporters. Doug Baldwin from the Seahawks has already come
out and said, Kirk Cousins and my hero because he's
finally got a guaranteed deal. A couple of things here. First,
I've told you before, and I mean it, no one
(02:43):
ever sat next to the football player when they need
a little help on a test, all right. And that
doesn't mean that Doug Baldwin is not that smart. That
just means that football players follow in line with this
narrative of there's not guaranteed contracts. Yes there are. Rookies
have had guaranteed contracts since this new collected Bartning agreement
(03:04):
came in. Once they took once they put the rookie
salary scale in. Remember Cam Newton's contract fully guaranteed. Now
it's not as much money in terms of upfront money
as what Sam bradforgot in the fifty one million dollars
when he came out of college. But um uh, but
(03:27):
they have been fully guaranteed. I like trends in the
National Football League, and I think the trend that we've
seen has not been the one that you've assumed we've seen.
There is a lust for star quarterbacks. There is a
lust for Hall of famers, and that lust will cause
(03:49):
Buffalo to move mountains to move up to get whoever
they think they're guy is. It will cause the Buffalo Bills,
who traded for Tyrod Taylor, to draft another quarterback in
the top for likely, it'll cause the New York Giants
to think about Jetti singing Eli Manning for another quarterback,
even though they have Davis Webb. You look around the
(04:11):
league and the Bills, the Browns, the man Look look
what it did for the Kancity Chiefs. Alex Smith was fine.
He wasn't great, he wasn't bad, he was fine. But
he's out like yesterday's news. And now they got Pat
Mahomes who they think has the armed talent to take
them to the next level. There's a lust for those guys,
(04:32):
But does that win your Super Bowl? Who wouldn't be
the Super Bowl? Who won the Super Bowl last year?
Al right? That would be the Philadelphia Eagles. They did
so with Nick Foles, who's a journeyman, backup, quasi starter right.
Don't get me wrong. They wouldn't have been in position
to play for the Super Bowl had they not had
(04:53):
a player who many people believe is a burgeoning superstar
as their normal starting quarterback. But the fact is you
can win Super Bowl with a backup quarterback or with
a with a a fifteen to twenty five guy. You
go back and you look the Atlanta Falcons should have
won a super Bowl, and granted Matt Ryan's a little
bit better then you maybe think he is. That Ryan's
(05:17):
probably eight to fifteen in the league, closer to fifteen
than he is to eight. You even go back to
when the Denver Broncos won the Super Bowl and we
think Peyton Manning payment through nine touchdowns seventeen receptions. You
look at the Seahawks when they won a Super Bowl. Granted,
Russell Wilson has become one of those top eight ten
(05:38):
quarterbacks in the game, but at that point in time
he really wasn't and he's a third round draft pick.
You look at what the what frankly even even Kansas
City is doing now, what the Redskins are doing now
is if you can pay a little bit less than
top dollars best, if you can get up what the
(06:01):
Cowboys have been able to do, kind of copying the Seahawks.
You don't need the world's greatest quarterback to win a
Super Bowl. You keep chasing after the world's greatest quarterback,
and the misses are what we've seen in Denver. You know,
they kept trying to get another guy. They kept trying
to find another guy. Those swings and missus and strikeouts,
(06:22):
you're better off putting it in play. What's happened in
the NFL is the opposite of what's happened in baseball.
In baseball, it's become about the strikeout in the home run.
In football, it's become about the single in the double.
Kirk Cousins is fine. He's not as good as the
other two elite quarterbacks in that division. He's not. He's not.
(06:46):
He's not Aaron Rodgers. I don't think anyone is. And
he's not Matt Stafford. But you know what, the Vikings
have Stefon Diggs, they have out of dealing. They're gonna
get Dalvin cooked back as well. They have a team
around him. And they looked at around, they said, Hey,
the Eagles one that's beat us badly with Nick Foles. Right,
(07:08):
you win with an ensemble cast. You win in the
NFL generally, generally you win having the best fifty three. Sure,
the Patriots have Tom Brady. But the likelihood of finding
a Tom Brady is slim to none, and slim just
(07:30):
walked out the door. Like all the things have to
be aligned in order for you to get that next
superstar quarterback. And even sometimes then they gotta lead along
with people. They gotta not get hurt, they gotta not
lose their confidence. You gotta you gotta buy into Sometimes
they're gonna have a bad year early on. I'm looking
at the Indianapolis Colts, ys anybody in the NFL, and
(07:53):
and they'd say, hey, healthy Andrew Luck talent wise as
good as anybody in the game. Look at their last
two years. If you build a good enough team around him,
you just be okay at quarterback, you can be fine.
It'd be better than average. So as the moves come in,
(08:14):
I look at the Seahawks, and I look at the
the Broncos and the Seahawks especially. I mean say, I
look at the Vikings and I and the Vikings think, hey,
our super Bowl window is closing. You get about a
three year window, maybe a four or five year window.
If you load up with dudes on the defensive side
(08:35):
of the football and you get enough playmakers on offense,
just get the deal done, get the ink drive. And
you know what, I also don't hate what Denver did
Case Keenum for what is it, eighteen million dollars. If
you look at the going rate for a star wide
receiver and the and what Case Keenum is making, you
(08:55):
can get Keenum in a star Wide receiver for the
same price as you can get Kirk Cousins. It actually
makes a ton of sense. And teams realize that if
you get cost certainty and he gets something below twenty
million dollars, you got a chance. And the only reason
the Vikings were willing to overpay was two things. One
(09:16):
the Kirk Cousins had leverage with the Jets, and two
they had to have a guy who was going to
be healthy. And they didn't think Case Keenum was good enough.
And I don't think anybody thinks Case Keenu is good
enough and Cousins is modestly better. He's a little bit bigger,
got a little bit better arm, equally confident, very smart,
and you're gonna surround him with better pieces next year
(09:37):
because Dalvin Cook will be back healthy. But what a
fascinating day in the National Football League. The NFL has
figured out what Baseball figured out a long time ago.
What Basketball has figured out recently, which is whether you
call it Hot Stove League or whether it July Free
Agency NBA, it makes us pay attention to your league.
Be sure to catch live editions of The Doug gott
(09:58):
Leaps Show weekdays at three p m. Easter noon Pacific
on Fox Sports Radio and the I Heart Radio app.
Mccronin joins us on The Doug Otlip Show on Fox
Sports Radio. Mick, how are you? I'm doing a great
man house of family. Good good? Actually I called your game,
uh Sunday, but I was. I was in and out
and you were in the locker room, and I saw
all your family and your friends are around there. I
(10:20):
saw you celebrating. I didn't want to disrupt you after
the game, but that was just another kind of hard
fought slugfest. Know those conference tournaments. May you playing those
teams for the third time? Three straight games against the
team for the third time, isn't It's by Sunday enough enough?
You know your your team. I don't know. Was it
(10:40):
the best thing that happened to you that you lost
at home to Wichita, Because it seemed to it seemed
to I don't know if it refocused you. But then
you go in you beat Wichita Wichita to help you
win the league out right, and then you and then
you beat Houston, who was kind of a distructor in
the league. Good change after you lost at home to
which ta Uh you know, I think I think we
(11:01):
you know, as a coach and the staff, I think, um,
what we try to do is always evaluate our game
plan and instead of just blaming our players. Uh, you know,
I think I think that that's the worst thing you
can do as a coaching staff. I think, you know,
you can maybe be upset with some things you didn't execute,
but then you need to when you leave the locker room,
(11:24):
you need to point the finger at yourself and as
a staff, figure out, okay, what we need to do
to become good enough to be the top ten team.
Uh So yeah, I mean so sure, there's things that
we we tried to get better at, some adjustments that
we tried to make. So you know, I try to
turn that loss at home against which it's all State,
(11:45):
into a positive, especially defensively, we just couldn't stop them. Uh,
But I would tell you the other things. We had
thirteen turnovers the first time we played which it's all State,
and the loss, and then at which it's all State,
we only had five and two of those or shot
clock violation. Uh one was an offensive foul. So we
(12:05):
only had two live ball turnovers in that game on
the road. So and you know, turnovers kill your defense.
So we were just trying to focus on taking care
of the ball better. And then we've tried to make
some defensive adjustments to uh that uh, you know for
obviously game plan the game plans a little bit different,
but some things defensively to make sure that we got
(12:28):
more solid. We're giving up too many points. You have
some incredible veterans. Uh. Jacob Evans is and he's a veteran,
but he's he's super young. You got you know, you
got Gary Clark uh and Kyle Washington. Kyle hit that
huge three which which puts you put your head. What
felt like for good against Houston? What? What? What has
this group of veterans been like to coach considering you know, look,
(12:51):
you can go either way. When you get to be seniors,
guys can have senior itis and tune you out. You'll
be worried about the league and or guys can lock
in and say, hey, this is my last go around.
What does this have been like? Especially Washington Clark, Well,
you'll you'll know what I mean by this. It seems
like we started practice last week. And when the year
goes quick for you as a coach, it's a rare thing.
(13:14):
That means. That means you're having a good time, you're
winning games, and you like your players. But when, but
when when? Uh, it's on the other side of that coin. Man,
The year seems like it takes five months, can take
three years. So uh, the Gary, Gary Clark, Kyle Washington,
Jacob Evans, Jared Comberland, Justin Jennifer, Kane Brown, He's like vettering, guys.
(13:39):
They're basketball savans, so they're in the basketball and they
they have really helped in the Sear Brooks, Tray Scott,
the play a lot for us get better. So right
like just right right now, we just got guys. I'm
fortunate I've been doing this long enough man that it's
not you. I mean, you call enough games, Doug. It's
(14:01):
the same team, don't win every year, but the coaches
don't change. The personnel changes. So personnel is everything. And
I've been really lucky because the guys you mentioned, uh
that their veteran leadership and guys that really want to
win and just just they're just good guys. And they
also are very tough. They're tough minded guys because, like
(14:24):
you said, I mean to win that game out which
at Toll State was unbelievable. They're said, they got such
a great home crowd and and such a great team,
and obviously Greg Marshall is just an excellent coach. But
so it's been fun. Maybe you know, now I gotta
get him refocused because we gotta put them to trophies
in the closet and make sure we're not staring at
him every day that we just won, because we we
(14:46):
we gotta get our eyes on a different prize and
we gotta get focused on Georgia State. Um okay, So
did Jacob hurd his hand and uh not not until
the last game he jammed his finger really bad. Here
gonna limit him. No, No, he's all right. Just uh,
I think it's scared more than anything once he realized
(15:06):
he didn't break his finger. You know, today's different, Ara man.
When we played you just you know taping ice buddy, Yes,
you got some like listen. I'd like to say, mr
are tough, but you got some pretty tough. You got
some pretty tough. Did you hear what Ron Hunter said?
He said, we're staying at the He said, we're staying
at the Comfort in and we're eating at Wendy's. Whereas
I forget what he said. You guys are staying like
(15:27):
the Four Seasons and uh and eating great steaks. Um,
how are the accommodations. Well, first of all, Ron's a
friend of mine, and what I want to tell his
players is, I know Ron's done well financially. He's got
plenty of money to get them better food and better accommodations,
so that he's a great guy. I get on all
(15:49):
that stuff. Fun man. He know Ron loves the sound bite.
He's a good dude, and and he owes me a
favor anyway, because all his son wanted to play at
Cincinnati r J. I was only UH school to offer
him at the high level, but I rescinded it so
he would play for his dad. So Rono's me for
the rest of his life. Man mc cronin joining us,
(16:10):
I know you're I know you know your family was
was there in Orlando when you won the a C
Tournament title for the first time. Um, have you thought
about what it would mean for you personally to to
get to a final four? I mean, and for people
who haven't followed your story, you know, to come back
to your hometown and you're trying to resurrect something that
(16:30):
that Huggy obviously had an amazing level. People forget since
that he won the league one different leagues seven I
think seven consecutive years, won the league, you know, great
Midwest Conference Conference USA and onto the to the Big
East and just an incredible and so look, they were
on you early in your career and then you almost
left a couple of years ago to to win the league,
to win the tournament, to get to a final four.
(16:52):
Have you allowed yourself to think what that would what
that would mean? Well? Sure, if you're eating okay, when
when you're you do what we do? Uh, and we've
been to the tournament now eight consecutive years. You're crazy
if you don't look at it and think, you know,
think you want to be one of those teams going
to the final four. And that's what drives you. I mean,
that's what Uh. Even though even though Ron doesn't realize
(17:15):
that that takes me to drive through a Wendy's when
I'm going around high school games in Vegas all summer,
you know, so when you're sitting in those gyms, that man,
that's what we do, what we do. Uh, So he's sure.
I mean, you you gotta think you you've got a
chance to get there, and you know you gotta get
as you know, you gotta be healthy, you gotta get
(17:36):
the right draw. I think you've called. You called one
game I lost by a tenth of a second. Uh.
You know, so the ns A tournament's wild, you know,
and I think we all wanted you know, I was
so happy from mark few last year. And Frank Martin
and I used to eat at Wendy's all the time
together when we were high school coaches and and and
we couldn't even afford the fries. But when you see
(17:59):
your friend do it, and you see see you see
guys like Frank who who's who I came up coaching
with in the high school ranks. Uh, you see Gonzaga
making sure it makes you think, you know, you want
it even more. And then obviously when you get a
two seed, you maybe you maybe feel like, uh you
can smell the kitchen. You might not be back in there,
(18:20):
but you can smell it a little bit closer than
than being out in the parking lot. But a long
way to go, man, a long way to go. Sure,
it would mean the world to make it obviously here
in my hometown and be unbelievable. Um, you know, you
guys last year, last year I lost to U C.
L A. But the I called the Saint Joe's game
where you were dunking the basketball and it literally was,
(18:40):
you know, like a tenth of the second. The year
before you won on on a last second deal with Perdue,
and then you lost a close one to Harvard. So
is there is there? Is there? Is there something that
you've gleaned, something that you learned from those close games
that in this preparation period for the tournament you guys
can put in or you guys can work on that
that helps you win those because I mean, like, look,
(19:01):
that's what everyone, even the top seeds, there usually is
a game in which they somehow survive and early on
and that propels them to a run. Is there anything
specific that you've been able to learn from your experiences? Well,
you lay, you better work on eight games situations, because
you're everybody you play is one of the best at
(19:21):
large teams or they won their conference and they're really good.
So Georgia States really good, hot shooting team, they got talent,
So you have to expect close games and you better
be prepared for all eight games situations, no doubt about that.
That's why I think it's been good for us that
our which at All State game came to the last play,
(19:41):
our Houston game came to the last seconds, and that's
happened to us here in the last weeks. I think
we lead the country in margin of victory, uh, and
that that's not going to help us in the n
c A tournament. So we uh, we've got to make
sure we spend time this week. We just did today
on you know, down three, up three, uh, you know
(20:02):
everything all the above, out of bounds, underside, full court,
you need a basket or full court, you're on defense,
and what you're gonna do in those situations because you
may be out of time mouse, but man, Cloth, you know,
I think you're right, And no matter who wins this
thing is going to have to escape a game where
they maybe could have got beat or should have got
beat so, but I really tell you this, Doug, I
(20:24):
think that the inner drive of your players that you
know when you get when you you go to Nashville,
for us, what's their mindset? You know? Are we happy
to be in this tournament? Are we going down here
to get two wins because we expect to be playing
next week? You know? Are we happy to be you know?
(20:45):
I really think that that if I've learned anything, I
think that you're You've got to get your guys in
that mode. Now. You also got to be fortunate like
you don't you don't want to have to play against
Alonzo Ball in California in the in the set round.
So uh we get we've played our way into a
better seed. Uh so you know now it's how it's
(21:06):
helped us to take advantage of it on two straight
years of thirty win seasons have been remarkable. Congrats on
the on the regular season and conference tournament title. More wins.
I'm sure to come. Best of luck, Tim Nich Let's
talk soon. Okay, well, hopefully we'll stay alive. We'll do
it again next week, fair enough, then we'll be your
good luck. John mc cronin mc cronin from the Cincinnati
Bearcats getting ready for Georgia State. They got a kid
(21:26):
to Marcus Simmons, who's tremendous. Fox Sports Radio has the
best sports talk lineup in the nation. Catch all of
our shows at Fox sports Radio dot com and within
the I Heart Radio app. But Drew Brees is gonna
shun other deals and get twenty seven million guaranteed. Breezes.
Deal will be written as a two year deal, but
it actually is a one year deal with a team
option after the first year. Uh. That's what he confirmed
(21:50):
to Adam Schefter earlier today. There's a couple of things
that come into my mind. Okay, first, this actually does
play into the uh, some of what we've talked about
with the up coming NFL draft. I I understand that
we think that a player is it's all based upon
tangibles or maybe even clutchness and what he does the
(22:11):
intangibles or what he does in the football field. But
foot but quarterback is a position of work ethic, a
position of leadership, and a position of consistency. You've gotta
be the same guy day in day out. You gotta
be a leader day in day out. You gotta work
to get better and you have to lead day in,
day out, because these are grown men. They see through
(22:32):
it when you're just if you show up on Sunday
you give a big pregame speech like, Yo, where were
you Wednesday? I was here at seven. You weren't here
till nine. Position of leadership, it is an alpha position,
but it's one to which you can't be such an
alpha that you don't bring everybody in. And I don't
know if that pulled at the heart strings of Drew Brees,
that Zach Street and the offensive line they get him.
(22:56):
But I do think it it comes down to a
bunch of different little fact could have gone out and
gotten more sure, But do you want to go to Arizona?
Do you want to go to Minnesota? Do you want
to go to the Jets? And know, you know, when
you've made a hundred million dollars playing quarterback and you
played in one place for the past you know eight years,
you've rebuilt your career, you won a Super Bowl and
(23:19):
you kind of feel like you're getting close, Like just
take a good amount of money, enough to make you
feel respected, to make you feel happy. It's not changing
your lifestyle. You're never touching any of that money. And
Drew Brees also is going to go into TV as
soon as he's done. Everybody knows that just take that
money and stay and you know, get what, get enough
(23:41):
of what you're worth to feel good about how the
team feels. But don't get so much that you turned
somebody upside down. You shake him out. And so this
is the right decision, the right decision. I work with
a guy named Chuck Wilson who was one of the
originators of an old ESPN radio show called Game Night,
and he told me, and he's right. And I've usually
(24:04):
not always, but I've usually lived my life by the
credo of they don't take a job just because of
the money. If the money is there, great, if you
really like what you're doing and the money is decent
or close, like, do the job that you want to do,
work for the people you want to work for. And
that appears to be what Drew Brees decided. I think
it's pretty awesome. Now. They also they they overpaid him
(24:24):
on previous contracts, and so some of this is, hey,
we took care of you last time. We couldn't put
a defense around you. Some of that was us, some
of that was you, all right, I hear you, I'm
gonna stay. I mean, the options of going somewhere new
sounds great, but when you got four kids, you're already
embedded in the community. Ride this thing out. Be sure
(24:47):
to catch live editions of The Doug gott Leap Show
weekdays at three p m. Easter noon Pacific on Fox
Sports Radio and the I Heart Radio app. Let's get
you a little breaking news update here Steve the Seger.
Breaking news from Fox Sports. The NFL items are not ending.
NFL Network reports the Packers are signing tight end Jimmy Graham.
(25:09):
In fact, NFL Access calls it a three year deal.
Graham's last four seasons with the Saints, he had at
least eighty five catches each year. He just finished a
third season with Seattle, his best year with the Seahawks,
when he had about nine yards receiving. Jimmy Graham to
Green Bay. Well, I mean obviously that's huge. You know,
you you get to the you get um uh, you
(25:33):
finally get a legit pass catching star and a guy
can go up and make plays for Aaron Rodgers. I've
I've told people before, like Adams is suddenly becoming maybe
a go to guy um. I like to move obviously
for the for the Packers, and they're a team that
you know, the big the big flaw with with Graham
(25:53):
is he doesn't block anybody. You know, he is not.
But it's not like the Packers are ever shown the
inpensity to consistently run the football. And I'd love to
know what, Steve did you say what the dollar amount was?
No dollar amount listed just three years? Mm. Well, obviously
even you have a new regime a top the Green
Bay Packers and this is part of it. And that's
(26:15):
a that's a big get to go out and get um.
But Davante Adams was becoming a star last year. On
the other hand, he did not have a thousand yards receiving.
Of course, Aaron Rodgers didn't play the whole year. You
got Randall Cobb. Jordy Nelson has not been the same
since knee injury. This becomes like an ensemble cast and
he becomes, you know, the most important. The Martel's Bennett
(26:37):
thing just didn't work, just didn't work. You know, they
tried Richard Rodgers as well. They those they didn't work.
But Jimmy Graham, that dog a hunt, especially with the
type of passer you have with Aaron Rodgers. Fox Sports
Radio has the best sports talk lineup in the nation.
Catch all of our shows at Fox sports Radio dot
(26:57):
com and within the I Heart Radio app. The Pack
twelve commissioned to task force in order to find a
way for smart change in college athletics. And they've released
their findings. And this is right before the n c
A tournament. Do we have Commissioner Scott? Is he joining us? Oh?
All right, so I'll give you a couple of the
(27:19):
bullet points as to what their what the the task
force calls upon. Then Larry scottill join us from the
Pack twelve. The PAC twelve task Force recommended changing n
rules who allow players who are drafted to remain eligible
to play in college basketball they don't sign a pro contract,
allow them while in school to get advice from agents.
Also similar to n c A rules for college baseball players,
(27:43):
also allow schools to pay for expenses for athletes families
in cases of demonstrated financial aid um. They want to
hold regional combines in July. The coaches could attend these
for recruiting purposes, but would be prohibit it from attending
traditional AU tournaments held during the same month. That's interesting.
(28:04):
Trying to eliminate AU or the or or you know,
the meat market idea of AU. UM expanding the number
of visits five year junior year, five year senior year
to make a more maybe well rounded decision to farm
out the n c AS enforcement process, created educational seminars
and mentoring programs for recruits and their families. Require full
(28:28):
disclosure of contracts between schools, coaches and shoe companies. That's
fascinating as well. Let's welcome in Larry Scotty's Commissioner of
the PAC twelve. UM. Look, there's a bunch of findings
that your task force found. What do you think is
the easiest to implement? Well, the easiest implement are the
ones that the can control. You know, we're calling on
(28:49):
the NBA and NBA players associate should do some things too. UM.
So I would say, uh, you know, the recruiting calendar,
the recruiting rules, uh, educational efforts, things of that nature
are completely within the control of the schools and it's
just a question of the will to do these things
and throwing the resources at it and making a commitment.
(29:10):
So you know, a lot of things in there, um,
are very doable and doable in a in a reasonably
short period of time. I think the most complicated are
the ones where we need the NBA and NBA Players
Association to step up and be part of the solutions.
All right, Well, that that's in regards to the one
and done. It's commonly misassociated with the n c A,
and that's really that's an NBA and NBA p A
(29:33):
collectively bargained upon rule that you have to go to
school for one year or um or you know, be
than be nineteen years old in order to apply for
the NBA draft. You can't go to the G League
straight out of of high school play for a year
before applying for the NBA draft. Let me play for you, Larry.
Something that Steve Kerr said last week, a simple solution
he found he found that could could help make the
(29:56):
entire situation better. I also think one of the things
the n c A needs to look at is, UH,
if the kid signs with an agent and declares for
the draft and he doesn't get drafted, welcome him back,
you know, why not? What's the what's the harm? You know,
we're gonna we're gonna talk about all this. Uh, you know,
amateurism and all this stuff. But if we if we're
(30:17):
truly trying to do the right thing for the kid.
A kid declares for the draft and doesn't doesn't get
drafted and realizes, you know what, I should go to college,
welcome him back, do something good for the kids, and
and uh, don't just kind of keep this ruse going.
It's you know, it's we all know what's going on,
and let's do what's best for the kids and give
(30:39):
them some options and work together between the NBA and
the n c A and find the right system. I
think it's entirely doable if everybody just opens their eyes. Larry,
do you agree or disagree? Completely agree? And so we've
incorporated steep suggestion in our recommendation. I've spoken to him
about it, and I consider Steve Kerr one of the
(30:59):
most full leaders, certainly in basketball, and very influential. So
in our recommended reforms, you know, we want the NBNAB
Player Association to give these young men a choice, let
them declare for the draft out of high school. But
if you know, they wind up not being drafted as
high as they sink, and you know, there are a
(31:21):
lot of a lot of kids out there that have
an overinflated sense of their ability and might think they're
gonna go high in the draft and they find out
they're drafted low or maybe a G League player as
an NBA player. Uh, we're proposing the rules allow them
if they don't sign a contract to go play for
a team, would allow them to maintain their eligibility and
choose to be a student athlete instead. Then if they
(31:44):
come to college, that's great, like baseball, like football, after
their junior year, they can go out for the draft again.
So we've incorporated Steve's suggestions into our proposal. Okay, well,
he also said, I believe he also mentioned that if
you are in college and you declare for the draft,
you didn't get drafted, you could then come back. Is
that because the problem with that, and even the problem
(32:05):
with declaring for the for the draft and then going
to school is the timelines all screwing, right, Like if
you're a coach. If you're a coach, you're the drafts
not until the end of June, after the NBA playoffs,
and you know you're you gotta have everybody on campus.
Many teams have kids on campus in the summer getting
ready for their freshman year. If not, you're on campus
in August into September. But you gotta know who you're
(32:26):
gonna have, who you're not gonna have. How do you
how do you alleviate that part of the issue. Well, yeah,
this is no small gift by the n c A
and the and the schools made all reek havoc for
our coaches and trying to figure out what their rosters
like how to allocate their scholarships. But you know, I
think we're at the point where we have to look
(32:47):
at this from the student athletes perspective and doing what's right.
And you know, coaches will adapt. They won't like it,
but they'll have to adapt. I guess my thought is, Larry,
and you know, having an agent is the kids have
the information. They just oftentimes, like most of us when
we are that age, we choose to not use it
(33:07):
right Like I understand it's you know that we can
tell them you're not gonna get drafted, you're not gonna
get drafted, you shouldn't put your name in the draft,
but they do it anyway. Um, and we're talking about
such a small number of student athletes now as opposed
to the larger number. I understand that social media and
the media itself will tell you to adjust, but is
(33:29):
it really that necessary. Well, there's also a lot of people,
you know, there's a lot of um, you know, first
class agents out there doing the right thing, given the
kids great information, accurate information. Some of them won't listen
to it. But there's also a lot of people out
there that uh, you know, aren't don't necessarily have the
(33:50):
kid's best interests at heart, that are persuading them to
go telling them what they want to hear. And um, um,
you know, we we don't want kids to um, make
bad choices, make mistakes, and forego the possibility of an
education because they made a mistake or made a poor choice.
(34:11):
So I don't know exactly how we're going to have
to adjust our system to allow them to come back
to school and maintain their eligibility if they don't find
out till you know, late in the spring that they've
got a kid actually coming back that they thought was
going to the NBA. But I think we can figure
it out. Um. There's also you are not and the
(34:33):
task forces. They're not proponents of either pay for play
or or of the Olympic model. Correct, absolutely not pay
for play. I mean we past for states, still firmly
believe in the collegiate model, believe it should be students
not employees. Um. You know, would like to see the
NBA build up the G League so that if you
(34:53):
want to get paid to play basketball, go play in
the NBA or go play in a minor league you
know that pays you the recently in the G League.
That's the role of the NBA. The role of college
sports is to educate young men and women and if
they want to come, not to get paid. So um
firmly on outside uh piece of the Olympic models. Some
(35:14):
ideas have been floating around that it was not part
of the mandate of our committee because as you know, Doug,
it's currently being litigated. Uh so we're not floating ideas
and something that's in the courts right now. Larry Scott
joining us. Last thing I can't help but but but
bring up the fact USC did finish in second place
in your league, did get left out of the n
(35:35):
c A tournament. Should be pointed out that while they
played really well, they were swept by u c l A.
They did they didn't beat Arizona they didn't beat Arizona State,
and because you didn't, you don't have the you don't
have even schedules. You know, you're not playing everyone twice.
Second place can be a little bit disingenuous because you're
not you're not playing as difficult as schedule in some
(35:56):
cases as other teams. Um, how buch of this do
you think comes from the FBI investigation? How much of
it do you think comes from being the pack twelve
and time zone? I'm wondering, now, do you have a
chance to catch your breath and think about usc S
exclusion from the n c A tournament and some of
the poor seeds. Arizona wins, your league wins, the league
(36:16):
tournament only gets a four seed. What you think is
behind the league being viewed as such? Yeah, Look, I've
heard what the chairman the committee had to say. I've
spoken to some other other people. I've got no reason
to believe that, you know, the issues around USC and
their assistant coach had anything to do with it. Likewise,
for Arizona, I think the committee chairman gave a clear
(36:39):
explanation as to what they were looking at. They placed
a lot of value on non conference wins against teams
that were in the tournament. USC didn't have a lot
of those, but they did have an impressive performance within
our conference UM and so and and as a result.
You know, I don't think it's a PAC twelve issue
because while USC was disrespected in their conference, performance was
(37:03):
not valued. Arizona State got in the tournament. In Arizona
State was the ACE team in our league. I don't
hear anyone saying, you know, wow, the Pact twelve was
really inflated in their value because their ACE team got in.
I think the committee has been consistent in valuing higher
UM individual wins you had against tournament teams, especially if
(37:24):
they were away or neutral site, and I think they
consistently applied that. The conclusion I'm left with dougs. I
don't like the criteria that they used. I think I
think the pendulum has swung a little bit too far.
I think big wins in November compared to who are
the best teams in the country come March UM ought
to be recalibrated. You know, I watched these teams all year,
(37:48):
and if you watch USC during our tournament, you know
where they were dominant on their way to the championship. Game.
They were beating Arizona, who you know is a Final
Four caliber team. They were beating Arizona and a halftime.
I mean they look like a tournament team for anyone
that watched them. So, UM, I don't quibble with the
decisions the committee made and the explanations. UM, I'm gonna
(38:13):
look forward and we're going to engage in a conversation
about tweaking their criteria because I do think there should
be a higher value on the complete body of work
and how you look in March going into March Madness
compared to six months prior, catching teams at the beginning
of their season. What about expanding the number of of
of of conference games. Uh, that is something we have
(38:36):
put on the table and I would like to see happen.
I'd like to see our teams play each other more,
have less of this imbalanced schedule, especially you know sometimes
our teams have to buy buy teams to come in
and play against them. I think it's better for the
student athletes, better for our fans, better for the strength
of our conference to play more against each other. So
we're gonna be evaluing whether we move from eighteen to
(38:56):
twenty conference games. Great stuff, Larry Scott. The Ask Force
UH findings have been released. You can find those online. Larry.
Look forward to seeing u c l A play obviously,
get a chance to see Arizona play a little bit
later on this week. Best and luck to your conference,
and thanks for joining us on Fox Sports Radio. Thanks
for having you. Du
This is the best of the Doug Gottlieb Show on
Fox Sports Radio. Boom, What Up America, Doug Gottlieb Show,
Fox Sports Radio. Oh, what a day we've had in
the National Football League. Huh, how crazy is the day? Um,
(00:23):
I'm gonna have to bring Dan Buyer here in a second,
just because the the updates are coming fast and furious. Uh,
We've got a great show for you. We'll get you
ready for the n c A Tournament, which technically, I
guess kicks off, Uh, technically kicks off tonight, although the
reality of it is your brackets not really do until Thursday.
I'll be posting an entire line by line pick of
(00:45):
of every pick in my draft, very pick in my
bracket on Twitter, and I can always help you with
your brackets and maybe it'll maybe maybe they'll help you
as um as mc cronin's gonna join us upcoming in
fifteen minutes since Nanni Barrick had squad did in fact
get a number two seed, but they do have a
big injury. Do you have a big injury? And we'll
get an update as to their injured status and if
(01:09):
he thinks that this year they can kind of break
through and get to his first Final Four as a
head coach. So Mick Cronin gonna join us in fifteen minutes.
The stories have come fast and furious, and I'm sorry,
Steve de Seger is in actually for Dan Buyer, So
my apologies Steve. But uh, there's a there's a lot. Uh.
(01:30):
Mark's Lee is gonna resign with Jacksonville Jaguars. That just
came out. But it started. It started with case Keenum
who ends up with the Denver Broncos. And you had
to think when case Keenum ended up with the Denver
Broncos that obviously they were out of the kirk Cousins,
the kirk Cousins recruiting or kirk Cousins recruitment and um,
(01:59):
then we had, of course a goodbye letter from kirk
Cousins to the Washington Redskins. He only tagged two teams.
They were the Vikings and the Jets. Now the sudden
started heat up. Kirk Cousins is expected to sign with
the Minnesota Vikings a three year deal which has initially
been reported as fully guaranteed. Of course, remember initial reports
(02:22):
don't mean actual contracts. Initial reports are texts from agents
two reporters. Doug Baldwin from the Seahawks has already come
out and said, Kirk Cousins and my hero because he's
finally got a guaranteed deal. A couple of things here. First,
I've told you before, and I mean it, no one
(02:43):
ever sat next to the football player when they need
a little help on a test, all right. And that
doesn't mean that Doug Baldwin is not that smart. That
just means that football players follow in line with this
narrative of there's not guaranteed contracts. Yes there are. Rookies
have had guaranteed contracts since this new collected Bartning agreement
(03:04):
came in. Once they took once they put the rookie
salary scale in. Remember Cam Newton's contract fully guaranteed. Now
it's not as much money in terms of upfront money
as what Sam bradforgot in the fifty one million dollars
when he came out of college. But um uh, but
(03:27):
they have been fully guaranteed. I like trends in the
National Football League, and I think the trend that we've
seen has not been the one that you've assumed we've seen.
There is a lust for star quarterbacks. There is a
lust for Hall of famers, and that lust will cause
(03:49):
Buffalo to move mountains to move up to get whoever
they think they're guy is. It will cause the Buffalo Bills,
who traded for Tyrod Taylor, to draft another quarterback in
the top for likely, it'll cause the New York Giants
to think about Jetti singing Eli Manning for another quarterback,
even though they have Davis Webb. You look around the
(04:11):
league and the Bills, the Browns, the man Look look
what it did for the Kancity Chiefs. Alex Smith was fine.
He wasn't great, he wasn't bad, he was fine. But
he's out like yesterday's news. And now they got Pat
Mahomes who they think has the armed talent to take
them to the next level. There's a lust for those guys,
(04:32):
But does that win your Super Bowl? Who wouldn't be
the Super Bowl? Who won the Super Bowl last year?
Al right? That would be the Philadelphia Eagles. They did
so with Nick Foles, who's a journeyman, backup, quasi starter right.
Don't get me wrong. They wouldn't have been in position
to play for the Super Bowl had they not had
(04:53):
a player who many people believe is a burgeoning superstar
as their normal starting quarterback. But the fact is you
can win Super Bowl with a backup quarterback or with
a with a a fifteen to twenty five guy. You
go back and you look the Atlanta Falcons should have
won a super Bowl, and granted Matt Ryan's a little
bit better then you maybe think he is. That Ryan's
(05:17):
probably eight to fifteen in the league, closer to fifteen
than he is to eight. You even go back to
when the Denver Broncos won the Super Bowl and we
think Peyton Manning payment through nine touchdowns seventeen receptions. You
look at the Seahawks when they won a Super Bowl. Granted,
Russell Wilson has become one of those top eight ten
(05:38):
quarterbacks in the game, but at that point in time
he really wasn't and he's a third round draft pick.
You look at what the what frankly even even Kansas
City is doing now, what the Redskins are doing now
is if you can pay a little bit less than
top dollars best, if you can get up what the
(06:01):
Cowboys have been able to do, kind of copying the Seahawks.
You don't need the world's greatest quarterback to win a
Super Bowl. You keep chasing after the world's greatest quarterback,
and the misses are what we've seen in Denver. You know,
they kept trying to get another guy. They kept trying
to find another guy. Those swings and missus and strikeouts,
(06:22):
you're better off putting it in play. What's happened in
the NFL is the opposite of what's happened in baseball.
In baseball, it's become about the strikeout in the home run.
In football, it's become about the single in the double.
Kirk Cousins is fine. He's not as good as the
other two elite quarterbacks in that division. He's not. He's not.
(06:46):
He's not Aaron Rodgers. I don't think anyone is. And
he's not Matt Stafford. But you know what, the Vikings
have Stefon Diggs, they have out of dealing. They're gonna
get Dalvin cooked back as well. They have a team
around him. And they looked at around, they said, Hey,
the Eagles one that's beat us badly with Nick Foles. Right,
(07:08):
you win with an ensemble cast. You win in the
NFL generally, generally you win having the best fifty three. Sure,
the Patriots have Tom Brady. But the likelihood of finding
a Tom Brady is slim to none, and slim just
(07:30):
walked out the door. Like all the things have to
be aligned in order for you to get that next
superstar quarterback. And even sometimes then they gotta lead along
with people. They gotta not get hurt, they gotta not
lose their confidence. You gotta you gotta buy into Sometimes
they're gonna have a bad year early on. I'm looking
at the Indianapolis Colts, ys anybody in the NFL, and
(07:53):
and they'd say, hey, healthy Andrew Luck talent wise as
good as anybody in the game. Look at their last
two years. If you build a good enough team around him,
you just be okay at quarterback, you can be fine.
It'd be better than average. So as the moves come in,
(08:14):
I look at the Seahawks, and I look at the
the Broncos and the Seahawks especially. I mean say, I
look at the Vikings and I and the Vikings think, hey,
our super Bowl window is closing. You get about a
three year window, maybe a four or five year window.
If you load up with dudes on the defensive side
(08:35):
of the football and you get enough playmakers on offense,
just get the deal done, get the ink drive. And
you know what, I also don't hate what Denver did
Case Keenum for what is it, eighteen million dollars. If
you look at the going rate for a star wide
receiver and the and what Case Keenum is making, you
(08:55):
can get Keenum in a star Wide receiver for the
same price as you can get Kirk Cousins. It actually
makes a ton of sense. And teams realize that if
you get cost certainty and he gets something below twenty
million dollars, you got a chance. And the only reason
the Vikings were willing to overpay was two things. One
(09:16):
the Kirk Cousins had leverage with the Jets, and two
they had to have a guy who was going to
be healthy. And they didn't think Case Keenum was good enough.
And I don't think anybody thinks Case Keenu is good
enough and Cousins is modestly better. He's a little bit bigger,
got a little bit better arm, equally confident, very smart,
and you're gonna surround him with better pieces next year
(09:37):
because Dalvin Cook will be back healthy. But what a
fascinating day in the National Football League. The NFL has
figured out what Baseball figured out a long time ago.
What Basketball has figured out recently, which is whether you
call it Hot Stove League or whether it July Free
Agency NBA, it makes us pay attention to your league.
Be sure to catch live editions of The Doug gott
(09:58):
Leaps Show weekdays at three p m. Easter noon Pacific
on Fox Sports Radio and the I Heart Radio app.
Mccronin joins us on The Doug Otlip Show on Fox
Sports Radio. Mick, how are you? I'm doing a great
man house of family. Good good? Actually I called your game,
uh Sunday, but I was. I was in and out
and you were in the locker room, and I saw
all your family and your friends are around there. I
(10:20):
saw you celebrating. I didn't want to disrupt you after
the game, but that was just another kind of hard
fought slugfest. Know those conference tournaments. May you playing those
teams for the third time? Three straight games against the
team for the third time, isn't It's by Sunday enough enough?
You know your your team. I don't know. Was it
(10:40):
the best thing that happened to you that you lost
at home to Wichita, Because it seemed to it seemed
to I don't know if it refocused you. But then
you go in you beat Wichita Wichita to help you
win the league out right, and then you and then
you beat Houston, who was kind of a distructor in
the league. Good change after you lost at home to
which ta Uh you know, I think I think we
(11:01):
you know, as a coach and the staff, I think, um,
what we try to do is always evaluate our game
plan and instead of just blaming our players. Uh, you know,
I think I think that that's the worst thing you
can do as a coaching staff. I think, you know,
you can maybe be upset with some things you didn't execute,
but then you need to when you leave the locker room,
(11:24):
you need to point the finger at yourself and as
a staff, figure out, okay, what we need to do
to become good enough to be the top ten team.
Uh So yeah, I mean so sure, there's things that
we we tried to get better at, some adjustments that
we tried to make. So you know, I try to
turn that loss at home against which it's all State,
(11:45):
into a positive, especially defensively, we just couldn't stop them. Uh,
But I would tell you the other things. We had
thirteen turnovers the first time we played which it's all State,
and the loss, and then at which it's all State,
we only had five and two of those or shot
clock violation. Uh one was an offensive foul. So we
(12:05):
only had two live ball turnovers in that game on
the road. So and you know, turnovers kill your defense.
So we were just trying to focus on taking care
of the ball better. And then we've tried to make
some defensive adjustments to uh that uh, you know for
obviously game plan the game plans a little bit different,
but some things defensively to make sure that we got
(12:28):
more solid. We're giving up too many points. You have
some incredible veterans. Uh. Jacob Evans is and he's a veteran,
but he's he's super young. You got you know, you
got Gary Clark uh and Kyle Washington. Kyle hit that
huge three which which puts you put your head. What
felt like for good against Houston? What? What? What has
this group of veterans been like to coach considering you know, look,
(12:51):
you can go either way. When you get to be seniors,
guys can have senior itis and tune you out. You'll
be worried about the league and or guys can lock
in and say, hey, this is my last go around.
What does this have been like? Especially Washington Clark, Well,
you'll you'll know what I mean by this. It seems
like we started practice last week. And when the year
goes quick for you as a coach, it's a rare thing.
(13:14):
That means. That means you're having a good time, you're
winning games, and you like your players. But when, but
when when? Uh, it's on the other side of that coin. Man,
The year seems like it takes five months, can take
three years. So uh, the Gary, Gary Clark, Kyle Washington,
Jacob Evans, Jared Comberland, Justin Jennifer, Kane Brown, He's like vettering, guys.
(13:39):
They're basketball savans, so they're in the basketball and they
they have really helped in the Sear Brooks, Tray Scott,
the play a lot for us get better. So right
like just right right now, we just got guys. I'm
fortunate I've been doing this long enough man that it's
not you. I mean, you call enough games, Doug. It's
(14:01):
the same team, don't win every year, but the coaches
don't change. The personnel changes. So personnel is everything. And
I've been really lucky because the guys you mentioned, uh
that their veteran leadership and guys that really want to
win and just just they're just good guys. And they
also are very tough. They're tough minded guys because, like
(14:24):
you said, I mean to win that game out which
at Toll State was unbelievable. They're said, they got such
a great home crowd and and such a great team,
and obviously Greg Marshall is just an excellent coach. But
so it's been fun. Maybe you know, now I gotta
get him refocused because we gotta put them to trophies
in the closet and make sure we're not staring at
him every day that we just won, because we we
(14:46):
we gotta get our eyes on a different prize and
we gotta get focused on Georgia State. Um okay, So
did Jacob hurd his hand and uh not not until
the last game he jammed his finger really bad. Here
gonna limit him. No, No, he's all right. Just uh,
I think it's scared more than anything once he realized
(15:06):
he didn't break his finger. You know, today's different, Ara man.
When we played you just you know taping ice buddy, Yes,
you got some like listen. I'd like to say, mr
are tough, but you got some pretty tough. You got
some pretty tough. Did you hear what Ron Hunter said?
He said, we're staying at the He said, we're staying
at the Comfort in and we're eating at Wendy's. Whereas
I forget what he said. You guys are staying like
(15:27):
the Four Seasons and uh and eating great steaks. Um,
how are the accommodations. Well, first of all, Ron's a
friend of mine, and what I want to tell his
players is, I know Ron's done well financially. He's got
plenty of money to get them better food and better accommodations,
so that he's a great guy. I get on all
(15:49):
that stuff. Fun man. He know Ron loves the sound bite.
He's a good dude, and and he owes me a
favor anyway, because all his son wanted to play at
Cincinnati r J. I was only UH school to offer
him at the high level, but I rescinded it so
he would play for his dad. So Rono's me for
the rest of his life. Man mc cronin joining us,
(16:10):
I know you're I know you know your family was
was there in Orlando when you won the a C
Tournament title for the first time. Um, have you thought
about what it would mean for you personally to to
get to a final four? I mean, and for people
who haven't followed your story, you know, to come back
to your hometown and you're trying to resurrect something that
(16:30):
that Huggy obviously had an amazing level. People forget since
that he won the league one different leagues seven I
think seven consecutive years, won the league, you know, great
Midwest Conference Conference USA and onto the to the Big
East and just an incredible and so look, they were
on you early in your career and then you almost
left a couple of years ago to to win the league,
to win the tournament, to get to a final four.
(16:52):
Have you allowed yourself to think what that would what
that would mean? Well? Sure, if you're eating okay, when
when you're you do what we do? Uh, and we've
been to the tournament now eight consecutive years. You're crazy
if you don't look at it and think, you know,
think you want to be one of those teams going
to the final four. And that's what drives you. I mean,
that's what Uh. Even though even though Ron doesn't realize
(17:15):
that that takes me to drive through a Wendy's when
I'm going around high school games in Vegas all summer,
you know, so when you're sitting in those gyms, that man,
that's what we do, what we do. Uh, So he's sure.
I mean, you you gotta think you you've got a
chance to get there, and you know you gotta get
as you know, you gotta be healthy, you gotta get
(17:36):
the right draw. I think you've called. You called one
game I lost by a tenth of a second. Uh.
You know, so the ns A tournament's wild, you know,
and I think we all wanted you know, I was
so happy from mark few last year. And Frank Martin
and I used to eat at Wendy's all the time
together when we were high school coaches and and and
we couldn't even afford the fries. But when you see
(17:59):
your friend do it, and you see see you see
guys like Frank who who's who I came up coaching
with in the high school ranks. Uh, you see Gonzaga
making sure it makes you think, you know, you want
it even more. And then obviously when you get a
two seed, you maybe you maybe feel like, uh you
can smell the kitchen. You might not be back in there,
(18:20):
but you can smell it a little bit closer than
than being out in the parking lot. But a long
way to go, man, a long way to go. Sure,
it would mean the world to make it obviously here
in my hometown and be unbelievable. Um, you know, you
guys last year, last year I lost to U C.
L A. But the I called the Saint Joe's game
where you were dunking the basketball and it literally was,
(18:40):
you know, like a tenth of the second. The year
before you won on on a last second deal with Perdue,
and then you lost a close one to Harvard. So
is there is there? Is there? Is there something that
you've gleaned, something that you learned from those close games
that in this preparation period for the tournament you guys
can put in or you guys can work on that
that helps you win those because I mean, like, look,
(19:01):
that's what everyone, even the top seeds, there usually is
a game in which they somehow survive and early on
and that propels them to a run. Is there anything
specific that you've been able to learn from your experiences? Well,
you lay, you better work on eight games situations, because
you're everybody you play is one of the best at
(19:21):
large teams or they won their conference and they're really good.
So Georgia States really good, hot shooting team, they got talent,
So you have to expect close games and you better
be prepared for all eight games situations, no doubt about that.
That's why I think it's been good for us that
our which at All State game came to the last play,
(19:41):
our Houston game came to the last seconds, and that's
happened to us here in the last weeks. I think
we lead the country in margin of victory, uh, and
that that's not going to help us in the n
c A tournament. So we uh, we've got to make
sure we spend time this week. We just did today
on you know, down three, up three, uh, you know
(20:02):
everything all the above, out of bounds, underside, full court,
you need a basket or full court, you're on defense,
and what you're gonna do in those situations because you
may be out of time mouse, but man, Cloth, you know,
I think you're right, And no matter who wins this
thing is going to have to escape a game where
they maybe could have got beat or should have got
beat so, but I really tell you this, Doug, I
(20:24):
think that the inner drive of your players that you
know when you get when you you go to Nashville,
for us, what's their mindset? You know? Are we happy
to be in this tournament? Are we going down here
to get two wins because we expect to be playing
next week? You know? Are we happy to be you know?
(20:45):
I really think that that if I've learned anything, I
think that you're You've got to get your guys in
that mode. Now. You also got to be fortunate like
you don't you don't want to have to play against
Alonzo Ball in California in the in the set round.
So uh we get we've played our way into a
better seed. Uh so you know now it's how it's
(21:06):
helped us to take advantage of it on two straight
years of thirty win seasons have been remarkable. Congrats on
the on the regular season and conference tournament title. More wins.
I'm sure to come. Best of luck, Tim Nich Let's
talk soon. Okay, well, hopefully we'll stay alive. We'll do
it again next week, fair enough, then we'll be your
good luck. John mc cronin mc cronin from the Cincinnati
Bearcats getting ready for Georgia State. They got a kid
(21:26):
to Marcus Simmons, who's tremendous. Fox Sports Radio has the
best sports talk lineup in the nation. Catch all of
our shows at Fox sports Radio dot com and within
the I Heart Radio app. But Drew Brees is gonna
shun other deals and get twenty seven million guaranteed. Breezes.
Deal will be written as a two year deal, but
it actually is a one year deal with a team
option after the first year. Uh. That's what he confirmed
(21:50):
to Adam Schefter earlier today. There's a couple of things
that come into my mind. Okay, first, this actually does
play into the uh, some of what we've talked about
with the up coming NFL draft. I I understand that
we think that a player is it's all based upon
tangibles or maybe even clutchness and what he does the
(22:11):
intangibles or what he does in the football field. But
foot but quarterback is a position of work ethic, a
position of leadership, and a position of consistency. You've gotta
be the same guy day in day out. You gotta
be a leader day in day out. You gotta work
to get better and you have to lead day in,
day out, because these are grown men. They see through
(22:32):
it when you're just if you show up on Sunday
you give a big pregame speech like, Yo, where were
you Wednesday? I was here at seven. You weren't here
till nine. Position of leadership, it is an alpha position,
but it's one to which you can't be such an
alpha that you don't bring everybody in. And I don't
know if that pulled at the heart strings of Drew Brees,
that Zach Street and the offensive line they get him.
(22:56):
But I do think it it comes down to a
bunch of different little fact could have gone out and
gotten more sure, But do you want to go to Arizona?
Do you want to go to Minnesota? Do you want
to go to the Jets? And know, you know, when
you've made a hundred million dollars playing quarterback and you
played in one place for the past you know eight years,
you've rebuilt your career, you won a Super Bowl and
(23:19):
you kind of feel like you're getting close, Like just
take a good amount of money, enough to make you
feel respected, to make you feel happy. It's not changing
your lifestyle. You're never touching any of that money. And
Drew Brees also is going to go into TV as
soon as he's done. Everybody knows that just take that
money and stay and you know, get what, get enough
(23:41):
of what you're worth to feel good about how the
team feels. But don't get so much that you turned
somebody upside down. You shake him out. And so this
is the right decision, the right decision. I work with
a guy named Chuck Wilson who was one of the
originators of an old ESPN radio show called Game Night,
and he told me, and he's right. And I've usually
(24:04):
not always, but I've usually lived my life by the
credo of they don't take a job just because of
the money. If the money is there, great, if you
really like what you're doing and the money is decent
or close, like, do the job that you want to do,
work for the people you want to work for. And
that appears to be what Drew Brees decided. I think
it's pretty awesome. Now. They also they they overpaid him
(24:24):
on previous contracts, and so some of this is, hey,
we took care of you last time. We couldn't put
a defense around you. Some of that was us, some
of that was you, all right, I hear you, I'm
gonna stay. I mean, the options of going somewhere new
sounds great, but when you got four kids, you're already
embedded in the community. Ride this thing out. Be sure
(24:47):
to catch live editions of The Doug gott Leap Show
weekdays at three p m. Easter noon Pacific on Fox
Sports Radio and the I Heart Radio app. Let's get
you a little breaking news update here Steve the Seger.
Breaking news from Fox Sports. The NFL items are not ending.
NFL Network reports the Packers are signing tight end Jimmy Graham.
(25:09):
In fact, NFL Access calls it a three year deal.
Graham's last four seasons with the Saints, he had at
least eighty five catches each year. He just finished a
third season with Seattle, his best year with the Seahawks,
when he had about nine yards receiving. Jimmy Graham to
Green Bay. Well, I mean obviously that's huge. You know,
you you get to the you get um uh, you
(25:33):
finally get a legit pass catching star and a guy
can go up and make plays for Aaron Rodgers. I've
I've told people before, like Adams is suddenly becoming maybe
a go to guy um. I like to move obviously
for the for the Packers, and they're a team that
you know, the big the big flaw with with Graham
(25:53):
is he doesn't block anybody. You know, he is not.
But it's not like the Packers are ever shown the
inpensity to consistently run the football. And I'd love to
know what, Steve did you say what the dollar amount was?
No dollar amount listed just three years? Mm. Well, obviously
even you have a new regime a top the Green
Bay Packers and this is part of it. And that's
(26:15):
a that's a big get to go out and get um.
But Davante Adams was becoming a star last year. On
the other hand, he did not have a thousand yards receiving.
Of course, Aaron Rodgers didn't play the whole year. You
got Randall Cobb. Jordy Nelson has not been the same
since knee injury. This becomes like an ensemble cast and
he becomes, you know, the most important. The Martel's Bennett
(26:37):
thing just didn't work, just didn't work. You know, they
tried Richard Rodgers as well. They those they didn't work.
But Jimmy Graham, that dog a hunt, especially with the
type of passer you have with Aaron Rodgers. Fox Sports
Radio has the best sports talk lineup in the nation.
Catch all of our shows at Fox sports Radio dot
(26:57):
com and within the I Heart Radio app. The Pack
twelve commissioned to task force in order to find a
way for smart change in college athletics. And they've released
their findings. And this is right before the n c
A tournament. Do we have Commissioner Scott? Is he joining us? Oh?
All right, so I'll give you a couple of the
(27:19):
bullet points as to what their what the the task
force calls upon. Then Larry scottill join us from the
Pack twelve. The PAC twelve task Force recommended changing n
rules who allow players who are drafted to remain eligible
to play in college basketball they don't sign a pro contract,
allow them while in school to get advice from agents.
Also similar to n c A rules for college baseball players,
(27:43):
also allow schools to pay for expenses for athletes families
in cases of demonstrated financial aid um. They want to
hold regional combines in July. The coaches could attend these
for recruiting purposes, but would be prohibit it from attending
traditional AU tournaments held during the same month. That's interesting.
(28:04):
Trying to eliminate AU or the or or you know,
the meat market idea of AU. UM expanding the number
of visits five year junior year, five year senior year
to make a more maybe well rounded decision to farm
out the n c AS enforcement process, created educational seminars
and mentoring programs for recruits and their families. Require full
(28:28):
disclosure of contracts between schools, coaches and shoe companies. That's
fascinating as well. Let's welcome in Larry Scotty's Commissioner of
the PAC twelve. UM. Look, there's a bunch of findings
that your task force found. What do you think is
the easiest to implement? Well, the easiest implement are the
ones that the can control. You know, we're calling on
(28:49):
the NBA and NBA players associate should do some things too. UM.
So I would say, uh, you know, the recruiting calendar,
the recruiting rules, uh, educational efforts, things of that nature
are completely within the control of the schools and it's
just a question of the will to do these things
and throwing the resources at it and making a commitment.
(29:10):
So you know, a lot of things in there, um,
are very doable and doable in a in a reasonably
short period of time. I think the most complicated are
the ones where we need the NBA and NBA Players
Association to step up and be part of the solutions.
All right, Well, that that's in regards to the one
and done. It's commonly misassociated with the n c A,
and that's really that's an NBA and NBA p A
(29:33):
collectively bargained upon rule that you have to go to
school for one year or um or you know, be
than be nineteen years old in order to apply for
the NBA draft. You can't go to the G League
straight out of of high school play for a year
before applying for the NBA draft. Let me play for you, Larry.
Something that Steve Kerr said last week, a simple solution
he found he found that could could help make the
(29:56):
entire situation better. I also think one of the things
the n c A needs to look at is, UH,
if the kid signs with an agent and declares for
the draft and he doesn't get drafted, welcome him back,
you know, why not? What's the what's the harm? You know,
we're gonna we're gonna talk about all this. Uh, you know,
amateurism and all this stuff. But if we if we're
(30:17):
truly trying to do the right thing for the kid.
A kid declares for the draft and doesn't doesn't get
drafted and realizes, you know what, I should go to college,
welcome him back, do something good for the kids, and
and uh, don't just kind of keep this ruse going.
It's you know, it's we all know what's going on,
and let's do what's best for the kids and give
(30:39):
them some options and work together between the NBA and
the n c A and find the right system. I
think it's entirely doable if everybody just opens their eyes. Larry,
do you agree or disagree? Completely agree? And so we've
incorporated steep suggestion in our recommendation. I've spoken to him
about it, and I consider Steve Kerr one of the
(30:59):
most full leaders, certainly in basketball, and very influential. So
in our recommended reforms, you know, we want the NBNAB
Player Association to give these young men a choice, let
them declare for the draft out of high school. But
if you know, they wind up not being drafted as
high as they sink, and you know, there are a
(31:21):
lot of a lot of kids out there that have
an overinflated sense of their ability and might think they're
gonna go high in the draft and they find out
they're drafted low or maybe a G League player as
an NBA player. Uh, we're proposing the rules allow them
if they don't sign a contract to go play for
a team, would allow them to maintain their eligibility and
choose to be a student athlete instead. Then if they
(31:44):
come to college, that's great, like baseball, like football, after
their junior year, they can go out for the draft again.
So we've incorporated Steve's suggestions into our proposal. Okay, well,
he also said, I believe he also mentioned that if
you are in college and you declare for the draft,
you didn't get drafted, you could then come back. Is
that because the problem with that, and even the problem
(32:05):
with declaring for the for the draft and then going
to school is the timelines all screwing, right, Like if
you're a coach. If you're a coach, you're the drafts
not until the end of June, after the NBA playoffs,
and you know you're you gotta have everybody on campus.
Many teams have kids on campus in the summer getting
ready for their freshman year. If not, you're on campus
in August into September. But you gotta know who you're
(32:26):
gonna have, who you're not gonna have. How do you
how do you alleviate that part of the issue. Well, yeah,
this is no small gift by the n c A
and the and the schools made all reek havoc for
our coaches and trying to figure out what their rosters
like how to allocate their scholarships. But you know, I
think we're at the point where we have to look
(32:47):
at this from the student athletes perspective and doing what's right.
And you know, coaches will adapt. They won't like it,
but they'll have to adapt. I guess my thought is, Larry,
and you know, having an agent is the kids have
the information. They just oftentimes, like most of us when
we are that age, we choose to not use it
(33:07):
right Like I understand it's you know that we can
tell them you're not gonna get drafted, you're not gonna
get drafted, you shouldn't put your name in the draft,
but they do it anyway. Um, and we're talking about
such a small number of student athletes now as opposed
to the larger number. I understand that social media and
the media itself will tell you to adjust, but is
(33:29):
it really that necessary. Well, there's also a lot of people,
you know, there's a lot of um, you know, first
class agents out there doing the right thing, given the
kids great information, accurate information. Some of them won't listen
to it. But there's also a lot of people out
there that uh, you know, aren't don't necessarily have the
(33:50):
kid's best interests at heart, that are persuading them to
go telling them what they want to hear. And um, um,
you know, we we don't want kids to um, make
bad choices, make mistakes, and forego the possibility of an
education because they made a mistake or made a poor choice.
(34:11):
So I don't know exactly how we're going to have
to adjust our system to allow them to come back
to school and maintain their eligibility if they don't find
out till you know, late in the spring that they've
got a kid actually coming back that they thought was
going to the NBA. But I think we can figure
it out. Um. There's also you are not and the
(34:33):
task forces. They're not proponents of either pay for play
or or of the Olympic model. Correct, absolutely not pay
for play. I mean we past for states, still firmly
believe in the collegiate model, believe it should be students
not employees. Um. You know, would like to see the
NBA build up the G League so that if you
(34:53):
want to get paid to play basketball, go play in
the NBA or go play in a minor league you
know that pays you the recently in the G League.
That's the role of the NBA. The role of college
sports is to educate young men and women and if
they want to come, not to get paid. So um
firmly on outside uh piece of the Olympic models. Some
(35:14):
ideas have been floating around that it was not part
of the mandate of our committee because as you know, Doug,
it's currently being litigated. Uh so we're not floating ideas
and something that's in the courts right now. Larry Scott
joining us. Last thing I can't help but but but
bring up the fact USC did finish in second place
in your league, did get left out of the n
(35:35):
c A tournament. Should be pointed out that while they
played really well, they were swept by u c l A.
They did they didn't beat Arizona they didn't beat Arizona State,
and because you didn't, you don't have the you don't
have even schedules. You know, you're not playing everyone twice.
Second place can be a little bit disingenuous because you're
not you're not playing as difficult as schedule in some
(35:56):
cases as other teams. Um, how buch of this do
you think comes from the FBI investigation? How much of
it do you think comes from being the pack twelve
and time zone? I'm wondering, now, do you have a
chance to catch your breath and think about usc S
exclusion from the n c A tournament and some of
the poor seeds. Arizona wins, your league wins, the league
(36:16):
tournament only gets a four seed. What you think is
behind the league being viewed as such? Yeah, Look, I've
heard what the chairman the committee had to say. I've
spoken to some other other people. I've got no reason
to believe that, you know, the issues around USC and
their assistant coach had anything to do with it. Likewise,
for Arizona, I think the committee chairman gave a clear
(36:39):
explanation as to what they were looking at. They placed
a lot of value on non conference wins against teams
that were in the tournament. USC didn't have a lot
of those, but they did have an impressive performance within
our conference UM and so and and as a result.
You know, I don't think it's a PAC twelve issue
because while USC was disrespected in their conference, performance was
(37:03):
not valued. Arizona State got in the tournament. In Arizona
State was the ACE team in our league. I don't
hear anyone saying, you know, wow, the Pact twelve was
really inflated in their value because their ACE team got in.
I think the committee has been consistent in valuing higher
UM individual wins you had against tournament teams, especially if
(37:24):
they were away or neutral site, and I think they
consistently applied that. The conclusion I'm left with dougs. I
don't like the criteria that they used. I think I
think the pendulum has swung a little bit too far.
I think big wins in November compared to who are
the best teams in the country come March UM ought
to be recalibrated. You know, I watched these teams all year,
(37:48):
and if you watch USC during our tournament, you know
where they were dominant on their way to the championship. Game.
They were beating Arizona, who you know is a Final
Four caliber team. They were beating Arizona and a halftime.
I mean they look like a tournament team for anyone
that watched them. So, UM, I don't quibble with the
decisions the committee made and the explanations. UM, I'm gonna
(38:13):
look forward and we're going to engage in a conversation
about tweaking their criteria because I do think there should
be a higher value on the complete body of work
and how you look in March going into March Madness
compared to six months prior, catching teams at the beginning
of their season. What about expanding the number of of
of of conference games. Uh, that is something we have
(38:36):
put on the table and I would like to see happen.
I'd like to see our teams play each other more,
have less of this imbalanced schedule, especially you know sometimes
our teams have to buy buy teams to come in
and play against them. I think it's better for the
student athletes, better for our fans, better for the strength
of our conference to play more against each other. So
we're gonna be evaluing whether we move from eighteen to
(38:56):
twenty conference games. Great stuff, Larry Scott. The Ask Force
UH findings have been released. You can find those online. Larry.
Look forward to seeing u c l A play obviously,
get a chance to see Arizona play a little bit
later on this week. Best and luck to your conference,
and thanks for joining us on Fox Sports Radio. Thanks
for having you. Du
Host
Doug Gottlieb
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