4.29: 502UESDAY H1

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
All right, Derby Week rolls along here. Thanks for hanging out,
thanks for joining us wherever you're listening however you're listening,
certainly appreciate it. I know I stole that from Colin Cowherd.
I'm sure if you listen to the Herd then you've
heard him say that. But it's a great way to
you know, because again this day and age, you've got
people listening live, you've got people listening on podcast in

(00:24):
a lot of different ways. So big thanks to you,
and also thanks to Thornton's. As you likely know, if
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(00:44):
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Energy drinks for just seven bucks. That's one of the
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remind you that you could take us with you reever
you go. Listen live on the iHeartRadio app. Also listen
live at seven ninety Louisville dot com. And I was
thinking earlier, earlier, I was looking at I was on Instagram,

(01:27):
That's what it was. I couldn't remember which social media
platform it was, but I was on Instagram and I
was just scrolling. And obviously the algorithm targets things that
you're interested in, or maybe they you know, maybe they're
listening to us. And I know I'm not the only
one that has noticed this. In fact, I think it's
become like a conversation that you hear, maybe not frequently,

(01:48):
but there's just no scenario where you could be talking
about something without googling anything on.

Speaker 2 (01:56):
Your computer or your phone.

Speaker 1 (01:58):
Or clicking on anything and then sure enough, just you know,
you mention a product, you mentioned something, and then all
of a sudden you pop open a social media app Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat,
and then there's an ad for something that you just
discussed aloud. Like that makes people assume that they're listening

(02:18):
to you, which, hey, if it's targeting me for things
that they think I'm interested in, there's a good chance
they're right. So anyways, I was on Instagram and I
was just talking about the different Derby Festival events that
we have here, because to be honest with you, I
mean there's some that I've known of for a long time,
like I knew of them, but there's also many that
I didn't know was a thing. And I kind of

(02:39):
just did it, not a full deep dive today, but
just kind of looked at the entire schedule of the
Kentucky Derby Festival events and I didn't know that we
had a one million dollar hole in one golf contest.
I didn't know that we had Actually I knew of this,
I forgot about the bed races, which by the way,
took place this week. There was kind of some controversy.

(03:02):
As far as the winner, we can maybe get into
that a little bit later. I'm not sure if it's
super controversial, but there is somebody who had a picture
of two beds crossing the finish line and the one
that is crossing just a hair like it was clearly
a photo. Finish was not announced the winner, and it

(03:24):
sounds as if there's been some confusion on.

Speaker 2 (03:27):
Okay, there used to be a.

Speaker 1 (03:29):
Rule that everybody had to have their hands on the
bed as it crosses the finish line in order for
you to win, and maybe that's why they.

Speaker 2 (03:38):
Didn't get the victory and their competitor did.

Speaker 1 (03:40):
I don't know which companies it was that ended up
coming in first and second, but hopefully they just had fun,
because you know, if you were out there really competing
and there was a big prize on the line, you
know that could really be controversial. But anyways, looking at
all these great different events that we have here for
Kentucky to every festival season, it's just a reminder how

(04:00):
rare this is, and I get a little bit I
don't know in my own head sometimes when we get
close to Derby, because you know, I don't know if
it's fomo, which is you don't know what that means,
it's fear of missing out. I'm not sure if it's
that or if it's you know, an insecurity that I have,
But like, I wish I was more into horse racing sometimes.

(04:20):
But again, over the years, I've just convinced myself that
there's really no scenario where I'll ever be super into it,
but other people are. You know, it kind of makes
me feel like, hey, you know, I wish I shared
that same interest that some people have. But I was
talking with Paul Miles earlier today, one of our our
phenomenal reporters over their own news radio eight forty whas,
and he was we were just talking about what the

(04:43):
Derby's kind of turned into, not necessarily just Derby season,
but the Kentucky the Kentucky Derby itself. And I was
just thinking, to the people who come here in their
private jets that land at Bowman Field or and you know,
stay for a few days, maybe they just come for
the Derby and then fly out, Like do they realize
that we do these things, like we have a steamboat race,

(05:03):
Like that's to me, that's you know, some would say
maybe that's kind of weird. I think it's kind of cool.
So as we get closer and closer to you know,
the actual Kentucky Derby, which it'll be here before you
know it, Derby Week's rolling along pretty quickly. I'm just
I'm just trying to take it all in, right, because
I can't match the level of love and passion that
some people have for horse racing. So I'm just trying to,

(05:25):
you know, embrace all the things that come with Derby.
And I mean we've got a balloon fest, hot air balloons,
so you know, it's not just a horse race. There's
a lot that comes with it. And it's a special,
special thing around here. I know I've said it many
times this week. I know I've said it many times
in years prior, but there's just something about being in

(05:45):
Louisville during the Kentucky Derby Festival season and.

Speaker 2 (05:49):
It's it's good vibes, good energy, all right.

Speaker 1 (05:52):
So a lot to get into here today, and I'm
not really sure where to start, but I feel like
this is going to be a thing for many, many
many years to come, this time of year where we
talk about something that we didn't talk about for, you know,
decades prior and what I mean is once you get
to the end of the college basketball season, that's whenever

(06:16):
everybody's attention shifts to the portal and NIL, because NIL
has led us to players sticking around in college basketball
longer than they ever used to. And there's some real
numbers that I want to get into here in just
a moment that I think really makes me feel more

(06:36):
confident in what I've been saying for a while, and
that is that you know, the new world here with
NIL and the transfer portal, meaning now you get paid
to play, and now with the portal, you can go
wherever you want, seemingly as many times as you want.
So what that has done is that has made college
basketball a much better product, not only because you know,

(06:59):
you guys sticking around longer, but because you got you've
got free agency essentially where you can just you know,
build a team from scratch, just like Pat Kelsey did
a year ago. Like that, that's that's good for the game.
And yeah, there's the downside of it, where you don't
get guys to stick around for four years. The four
year player is going to be a real rare thing
moving forward, and that is and you know that sucks However,

(07:22):
I still believe that if you're just looking at the
pros and cons, I mean, it's way more beneficial for
college basketball.

Speaker 2 (07:31):
This new world is than detrimental.

Speaker 1 (07:33):
And I you know, I'm somebody who loves college basketball,
so I certainly appreciate that. So again, I don't see
any change as far as what I guess late March
and really all of April is and that is where
you get a feel for what your team's gonna look
like the following season and the NBA Draft. I mean,
you used to have guys that would go to the

(07:54):
NBA Draft knowing like they would turn pro, enter their
name and draft and know that they didn't have any
real chance of getting drafted, right, but they just decided, Look,
I don't want to stick around in college anymore. You know,
I can come back and get my degree whenever I'm
twenty one years old, and I want to go ahead
and start my pro career now, because you know, when

(08:16):
you're a professional athlete, Let's be real, in most instances,
you can't do that for the same amount of time
that folks can do most jobs that they have. Right,
like God willing, I won't need to have any athleticism
or be in great shape to do this for as
long as they allow me to do it. If you're
a basketball player, you got a window. And if you

(08:39):
spend four years in college, yeah, it would probably be
a great experience. I doubt anybody would ever regret that experience.
I'm sure there are some examples, and yes, you would
get an education and you'd live a good lifestyle, right
if you're I mean before an il, before anybody was
getting paid to play as far as you know, name,
image and likeness, they were still living a pretty good life.

Speaker 2 (08:58):
Right.

Speaker 1 (08:59):
They've got a I mean, these college athletes have nice
facilities they live in. They don't pay for health insurance.
I mean they're fed, and you actually even get like
a stipend, like the cost of attendance stipend. So like
even before that, you were still living a great lifestyle.
It wasn't as if you were out here just you know,
doing manual labor and being tortured, nothing like that. So

(09:22):
you know, like it would make sense that you would decide, hey,
you know, I'll come back and get my degree, because again,
why not go ahead and start making money and instead,
let's just say you've got a.

Speaker 2 (09:37):
Ten year pro.

Speaker 1 (09:38):
Let's say you're going to play till you're thirty two
years old, and by the time you get thirty three
or just you know, your body's not what it once
was and you no longer are playing at the level
to where you can earn a living doing it, G League.

Speaker 2 (09:50):
Europe, wherever.

Speaker 1 (09:52):
So if you left college at twenty you would have
had twelve years to do it. You leave college at
twenty three, you have less time. So again it's not
that big of a difference. But now you've got guys
that are turning down the NBA knowing that they would
get drafted, albeit maybe late first round, second round. They're

(10:14):
now turning that down to come back to college because
they're gonna make more money. So Draft Express put this
out earlier. Today, they're only one hundred and six players
that have entered the twenty twenty five NBA Draft, according
to the NBA's latest release.

Speaker 2 (10:30):
This is the.

Speaker 1 (10:31):
Lowest number of early entrants since twenty fifteen. And it's down. Yeah,
it's down from a peak of three hundred and sixty
three in twenty twenty one. Think about the timing here
in twenty twenty one, that was right before the NCAA's
NIL era officially started. So again, these numbers probably don't

(10:53):
really surprise you, but I just thought it was worth
sharing because again, I think of all the sports that
have you know, impact, been impacted differently with this new world,
I don't even think it's I don't think it's close.
College basketball has benefited from it more than any and
it's not just because of the obvious right that guys

(11:14):
stick around in college. You now have you know, guys
that are twenty two, twenty three, sometimes even older than
that playing and they're mature their experience. Maybe they don't
translate to the NBA, but you know, the product of
the game is good, and when you've got the portal,
you can go add guys that are twenty two, that
have played a bunch of college basketball that can come

(11:35):
in and really help you, you know, make a big
improvement from the year prior, or maybe even you know,
just sustain what you did the year prior. But let's
go back to where college basketball was before this happened.
I think I think it was suffering in a big way.
I mean, I'm gonna always love college hoops because you know,

(11:56):
that's just what we do around here. I mean, I
know not everybody probably is obsessed with it like I am,
but we're clearly a big college basketball market, both programs
here in town. I mean I think, let's I mean
in the state, I should say both Louisville and Kentucky.
Like when people think of our athletic programs, they think
of basketball, and I don't really see a scenario where
that we'll ever that will ever change. But you know,

(12:18):
when you've got top twenty five recruits coming in for
a year leaving, if they're one and dones, or guys
that stick around for a second year, because that's what
this wasn't. I mean, it wasn't widespread, but it was,
but it was growing. And what I'm talking about is
guys who weren't good enough to be you know, one

(12:41):
and dons right out of high school because they weren't
maybe they weren't developed yet, maybe they were still just
you know, all about potential. It wasn't about anything they
were actually ready to do and produce. So then you
would have guys that would come back for a second year.
And if you're a top twenty five recruit of McDonald's
All America and you're American and you're coming back for
a sophomore season, and it's because maybe your freshman season,

(13:04):
like you didn't you didn't really have a big role
because you weren't ready. Like it was almost as if
like you got to go pro after that year, because
at that point, if you keep sticking around in college
like you had no time to develop, I mean you did,
but you didn't want to. You would you would just
move on because guys who stuck around in college that
were really really highly regarded players. I mean, it was

(13:25):
viewed if you it was viewed that you were a
bust if you didn't leave early. And I just think,
you know, you go back to guys like DJ King,
Jalen Johnson for Louisville, I mean even EJ. Montgomery for Kentucky.
You know, clearly those guys weren't great. I think they
knew they were never going to make it to the NBA,

(13:48):
but they just decided to move on from college and
start their pro career. And look, maybe they don't regret
doing that, but there's also I think some level of
of of being worried that you're The longer you stick
in college, the more people were going to bring up
the fact that you were a McDonald's All American or
a top twenty five recruit, and if you're still in college,

(14:09):
it was just viewed as a bad thing that you
were a bust and you're you know, you know, your
story's over. Yeah, you're you're all right, you're decent, but hey,
they were really wrong about you. Will now, I mean,
you've got time to develop. I mean, because let's be real,
if you're not ready to play as a freshman and
you're at a high level, you're probably going to transfer
after your freshman season a to a program where you
can have a bigger opportunity.

Speaker 2 (14:31):
So I just think it's it's.

Speaker 1 (14:33):
Beneficial for literally everyone involved in college basketball. I mean,
I guess those that would probably say, hey, you're out
of your mind, this is killing us. It's probably the
mid majors, right, the coaches that are recruiting players and
developing them for a few years and then they're about
to enter a special season that they've been building for.

(14:56):
But then they're two best players. They leave because they
can go elsewhere and make more money, and they'd be
foolish not to do that. So yeah, I guess from
that aspect, there are some signs there are some downsides
of it, but they'll adapt, right, I mean, that's what
they have to do. I mean, it just sounds like something,
you know, unheard of, but I really don't think that

(15:19):
we're that far away from it being a very public
sales pitch from mid major and low D one programs
that we're selling you to come here and we'll give
you an opportunity right away and then you can get
the hell out. I mean again, think about that, a
coach selling you come here, you'll only be here for

(15:39):
a year, and then you can go.

Speaker 2 (15:40):
To a better program.

Speaker 1 (15:41):
Like that's just unheard of, and I'm sure that's not
going to be directly how it is, but that's probably
a good to an extent. I think that's probably a
good sales pitch because you know you can sell that. Hey,
with with coaches at the high majors now being able
to reload and add to their roster with grown experience
players that are twenty one, twenty two years old, most

(16:03):
coaches are choosing to do that, and I think that's
a trend that's only gonna grow. So you know, if
you're coaching at the low D one or mid major,
you can you know, you use that against those coaches, right, like, hey, yeah,
I know they offered you a scholarship, but let's be real,
you're gonna have to sit and wait for a long
time because they've got this guy back and that guy back,
and oh, by the way, they brought in two guys

(16:24):
that play on the wing just like you. So why
don't you come here. Yeah, it's not the SEC, it's
not the Big Ten, it's not the ACC. But you'll
get minutes, you'll put up big numbers, and then when
you hit the portal the next year, you'll have everybody
calling you again. I mean, I doubt that that will
be like the direct sales pitch, but I feel like
that's what you should do if you want to, you know,

(16:46):
I mean, if you're gonna make this work, because if
you just try to, you know, I mean again, you
could try whatever you want to keep guys to stay,
but it's just not realistic. You can't pay, and the
nil situation is just gonna be just gonna be much different. So,
I mean, I used to kind of worry about the
future of college basketball because you know, the product wasn't
great and you needed guys like Zion Williamson and Anthony

(17:10):
Davis to really bring eyeballs to the sport because you know,
of the product, meaning guys that everybody knew were probably
going to be stars in the NBA. And you can
tell when you watch them play for programs like Duke
in Kentucky. But you know, you don't get those guys
very often. That's a pretty rare thing. Well, now maybe
you don't have I mean, Cooper Flag was certainly a big,

(17:30):
big deal this year. But I think even though you know,
you may not have a guy that's viewed as just
this can't miss NBA prospect like Cooper Flag was the product.
When I say product, I mean the game like it's competitive,
you have you know, and there's a lot of parody too.
I mean that's another factor that I think makes it
a benefit to college basketball, meaning the new world that

(17:52):
we are, that we that we're in now with the
with nil and with with the portal. So I just thought,
you know, I just thought that number. I mean, that's
pretty crazy to see only one hundred and six players
enter the draft when just four years ago, right before
you get paid to play three hundred and sixty three
innered And another thing to keep in mind of the
one hundred and six that have entered this year, there's

(18:14):
many of them that know they're coming back to school
or at least probably expect to come back to school
because they're just going through this process to get the
experience and maybe get some good feedback from the NBA.
Like Otaga away at Kentucky, I mean, I think the
expectation is he's back for Kentucky next year, but he's
considered in one of those one oh six. And also
there's also guys from across across the pond in Europe

(18:35):
and other countries, international players that have entered the draft.

Speaker 2 (18:39):
So again, I don't know if this proof.

Speaker 1 (18:43):
I'm sure some would say, you know, they don't notice
much of a difference, but for me, like this is
this is a good thing. And yeah, it's not really
college basketball anymore. It's professional basketball, just you know, a
different version of it compared to the NBA. All Right,
a lot we're going to get into today, so make
sure you stick around.

Speaker 2 (19:01):
The ACC. Uh, they decided at least they're looking.

Speaker 1 (19:04):
Into doing something that I think would benefit the league
that I want to get to. Although I do have
a complaint about the ACC and I know I complain
about the ACC a lot, But I think if you have,
if you don't know where I'm going stick around, I
think you'll agree that there's reason to complain about what
they're just what they're going to do with some type
of ACC basketball scheduling change involving Louisville. So we can

(19:25):
get into that. Also, haven't talked about it much as
we get closer and closer to Derby, but Pat Kelsey
has a horse named after him. That's got to be
one of those things that you don't really think about
when you take the Louisville job, but you know, then
it happens and you're like, yeah, I guess this is
one of the perks at coaching at a place, you know,
like Louisville where they happen to have Churchill downs at
the Kentucky Derby. So we can get into all that

(19:47):
and a lot more. If you guys want to join
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It's coffee in company feel about Thornton's on Sports Talk
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(20:10):
feel about Thornton's here on Sports Talk seven ninety thanks
for hanging out with us. And we had somebody text
in on the text line and mentioned the I said controversial.
I don't really think it's that I was being, I
guess a little bit dramatic, but at least some people
did agree that they need to have, I guess, more
clarity in the rules as far as how you win

(20:31):
the bed races, which apparently so it's the sam Tech
Great Bed Races. And for those just now joining us,
it came up earlier because I was just talking about
all the kind of random derby events that we have,
and they've just some of them have been around a
long time that I don't often think about if you're
an outsider and you hear about all these events that
come with the Kentucky Derby Festival, you know, leading up

(20:54):
to the actual Kentucky Derby, the most exciting two minutes
in sports, like getting companies to old bed and race
one another against other companies like, that's kind of a
weird thing, but you know, it's interesting. I will say
this Tony Vinetti, believe it or not, he said something
earlier this week that I.

Speaker 2 (21:11):
Totally agreed with.

Speaker 1 (21:13):
The bed race is kind of awkward, and I would
have never thought, I mean it's I mean it's I
think it's kind of not just awkward, kind of weird.
And I wouldn't have said that had I not attended
the event years ago. So my wife, where she works,
they I don't know if they still participate in it,

(21:34):
but they did at one point, and she was a
part of it, and I think she was like the
one driving the bed and a bunch of her colleagues
were on the team and they were the ones pushing
it around. And just to see a lot of people
that you normally you know, are working with. I guess
it depends on what kind of work you do. Maybe
it's an office setting, maybe it's at a warehouse, maybe

(21:54):
it's at a a factory, or maybe even at like
a restaurant. Maybe it's hospitality, like you usually see your
colleagues in a work setting, and then.

Speaker 2 (22:05):
You've got you know, just.

Speaker 1 (22:08):
Put it this way, you get a visual of some
people in awkward poses, and maybe poses isn't even the
right word to use, because I'm not sure they're posing,
they're just, you know, like I'm looking at pictures that
somebody got from from the from the uh the race
that took place on Monday, and you know, I mean,
you guy, it's I don't know, it's just kind of weird.

Speaker 2 (22:27):
I don't know.

Speaker 1 (22:28):
Is there's something about seeing somebody you see you've seen
every day at work for ten years, and then you
see them, you know, moving around, and I don't know,
just just just trust me. It's if you've never been
to it, I'm sure you know it's fun. It's uh,
it's it's lovely, but you know, just my opinion, I'll
put it that way, all right. So the ACC yesterday,

(22:52):
uh well it kind of officially announced it, but it
came out yesterday from a variety of different reporters that
we're discussing something that the ACC is looking to do
to to help the basketball side of things. So CBS
Sports Brandon Marcello is the first that I saw that
put it out there, and uh, I'll just read directly

(23:12):
from his write up, it says the ACC is strongly
considering shrinking its conference basketball schedule to help boost the
leaguess inn CAA tournament profile, and the increasing expectation is
it'll be done, per sources. So, uh, I see this
yesterday and I'm thinking, okay, this is this is this
is good? Meaning, you know, last last year, right before

(23:34):
the season started, I was in Charlotte for the ACC
basketball media days they call it Operation Basketball, and I
was there for the first time in a couple of years,
and I remember kind of, you know, on my way
there on the flight, thinking, Okay, I wonder what the
the real you know, vibe is going to be given
the fact that the league has taken, in my opinion,

(23:54):
significant steps back as a basketball conference in recent years,
and the expectation this year wasn't that the ACC was
gonna be that good. And sure enough, that's exactly how
things played out. And if I'm being real, the ACC
can get better next year. But how much better I
don't know. So I thought maybe they would challenge other teams. Hey,

(24:15):
we gotta we got to collectively get better and improve
to to start, you know, getting some respect back. I mean,
it's not as if it's the worst league in the country,
but it's fallen quite a bit in the last decade,
and other leagues have gotten better. So instead of hearing
the commissioner and maybe other coaches during their you know,

(24:37):
their entire experience at the AEC Basketball Media Day is
kind of talking about, Hey, let's get better, let's let's
get back, let's let's get this thing back on track.
It was more of a hey, what can we do
to to convince the committee that they're wrong? What can
we do, uh, to you know, get more teams in
the tournament? But not because like we need to get better,
but like we need to just sell ourselves that And
I'm thinking, okay, you got, you gotta, you gotta. The

(24:59):
first issue here is you got to address the fact
that you're the league is not what it once was.
To me, it was like they were in denial and
didn't want to acknowledge that the league had taken big
steps back. They just wanted to act like it was
all the committees fauled And in fact, they were having
Lonardi Like I mean, if you remember the whole thing, Liken,
they they were they had Lonardi come and talk to
the AC. It wasn't at basketball media days. It might

(25:22):
have been one of the spring or fall meetings for
the league where like Leonardi was talking to coaches telling
them what they can do to better improve their resume.
Am thinking, first of all, Leonardi doesn't have anything to
do with the tournament, and you know him having three
four teams in in his bracketology in late February, like,

(25:43):
I mean, that wasn't that far off. So, I mean,
I was bummed to know that instead of acknowledging that
the league has fallen a little bit, they were just
in denial, acting as if they were being picked on. Well,
then you then you hear that they're going to make
a change to the ACC basketball schedule as far as
how many games you're going to play against conference opponents.
That's that's I mean, maybe they won't say it out loud,

(26:04):
but that's full on proof that you're well aware that
when you play twenty league games, I mean, that's going
to leave you having a huge you know, I guess
that's I think it's four more than some conferences. I
know some do eighteen, some do sixteen, but the ACC
does twenty, and they added to it was eighteen and
then they went to twenty when the ACC Network launched

(26:26):
just because they needed the inventory, but because the ACC
has fallen so much. I mean Louisville was a perfect example.
They went all through January winning games and it wasn't
their fault, but like they got nothing out of winning
those games because the league was down week actually, and
again you can't control that, but I guess they realize

(26:50):
now that you could have another situation where and I
still think Louisville was incorrectly seeded this year, and in fact,
I still would be convinced you could convinced me that
the committee just flipped Louisville and Memphis and put them
in the wrong spot. I mean, that's like the first
conspiracy theory that I'm getting closer and closer to just
believing and not even thinking it's a conspiracy theory.

Speaker 2 (27:12):
That's just what happened.

Speaker 1 (27:13):
But anyways, if you are like just just next year's expectation,
right like Carolina, maybe they'll be a lot better, or
maybe they'll be a bubble team again, because you know
that wouldn't shock me. Duke is gonna be Duke, They're
gonna have talent. Louisville, I mean, Louisll went eighteen and
two in the league and got a two seed or
I'm sorry, got an eight seed. Clemson, there's no scenario

(27:36):
they're able to sustain what they've done the last couple
of years because I mean, they had a special group
that had a good run for Clemson and now they're
kind of starting over. Miami certainly can get better because
they were awful. Will Wade at NC State, I guess
it really depends on what kind of roster he has
when it's all said and done, but they'll get better

(27:56):
with him.

Speaker 2 (27:56):
He's a good hire.

Speaker 1 (27:58):
Ryan Odom at VIRGINI, I mean, he's not Tony Bennett,
but I think that may actually be a good thing,
just because they need some new life and I think
when you've got players that can transfer any time they want,
it's going to be tough to get guys to stick
around in Virginia and play the style that Tony Bennett played.
So again, like maybe the ACEC is a lot better
next year, but we could certainly be in the same
situation we were in this past year where you've got

(28:20):
some teams that have good records and they're out of conference.
I mean, Louisville actually is the perfect example as to
why they should do this, because again, Louisville in the
non conference, they didn't have any losses against teams that
you would say are bad losses. I mean, in fact,
every team that beat them in the non conference made
the tournament, and they actually had you know, a few

(28:40):
decent wins in the non conference as well. And then
you get to ACC play and they went eighteen to two.
So I still think the committee got it wrong. But
in the real issue with the with how they seeded
the tournament with the ACC is that they just weren't consistent, right,
Like Carolina getting in is something that probably shouldn't have happened.

(29:04):
Clemson getting a five seed was it or a four
seed one of those two getting a one. It's like
they didn't see the ACC consistently right. The things that
got Clemson their seed and that got Carolina in, like
the things that they got credit for to get where
they were, Louisville didn't get credit for that. So anyways,
playing more non conference games giving you a chance to

(29:26):
go out there and add more valuable opponents, meaning that
there's something there's something to gain if you win, and
if you lose, it's not really a real hit, unless,
of course, you know, you get blown out so they're
going to go from twenty to eighteen. I wish they
actually would go from twenty to sixteen, to be honest
with you. So this is this is full on confirmation

(29:50):
and it's actually kind of a mean, I'm happy they're
doing it, but it's also kind of sad because I
think if you really consider what they're doing here is
like they know they want they need and want to
get more teams in the tournament, but if everybody's playing
twenty games, it's gonna leave you to have a not
not a real high ceiling as far as your seed line,
because I mean like the only real valuable win and
I mean like real value that that you were you

(30:11):
were getting and I guess everybody's you know, barometers different,
but like a resume win, a signature win, the only
one that existed in the ACC this past year was Duke.

Speaker 2 (30:22):
That was it.

Speaker 1 (30:23):
If if you beat Clemson, that's a good win, that's
that's a solid win, that'll you know, it has quad
one value. But like outside of that, what other win
are you getting in league play that that is going
to help you on selection Sunday. So you know, this
is the ACC confirming they realize their league is not
what it once was, and look, it could get back there.
And you know, I still think the potential is there

(30:44):
for the league to have seven, eight, maybe nine teams
in the tournament. I mean that that's not something that's crazy.
I mean we got to take baby steps, I suppose,
because you had Carolina as the last place team in
Louisville as an eight, Clemson as a as a four
or five, whichever it was, and they lost to McNee state,
and then of course Duke was a one seed. So

(31:05):
you know, this is a good thing.

Speaker 2 (31:06):
Now.

Speaker 1 (31:06):
What I don't like is the latest report from David Teal,
who does a great job covering the ACC for I
believe he works for the uh well, I think he
retired from writing for one of the newspapers in Virginia
in Newport News, Virginia. But he's as connected as anybody
I can think of in the ACC. And here is
what he put out there this morning. I'm sorry last night.

(31:27):
He says, if indeed ACC Men's basketball reduces the league
schedule from twenty to eighteen games where you play just
where you're going to play just one rival twice a season.
Here's so I guess you'll play every team once and
then one team twice. Would that add up to make sense?

(31:48):
So who is Louisville's rival in the ACC, you may ask,
I don't think we really have one, and I'm not
real big on creating rivalries, but I can tell you
what this is the school that there's like.

Speaker 2 (31:59):
Zero connection with.

Speaker 1 (32:00):
Like that makes no sense if you were you know,
there's no right and we over use the word rivalry
in sports way too much as it is. But if
you don't have a rival, what would you do? You
would pick a team where you have history with. Louisville
apparently would be paired with SMU and I just one.

(32:21):
I would rather play one of the really good teams
in the league, which you know, I know there haven't
been many lately, but like Duke and Carolina are clearly
going to play each other twice. N C State and
Wake Forest, FSU, Miami, Clemson, Georgetown, Cal, Stanford, Boston College,
Notre Dame, pitt and Syracuse, SMU and U of L.
So that is that is how they have it laid

(32:43):
out here. According to David Teal, so like SMU and
U of L put together just because of like being
you know, being outsiders, I mean, Louisvill's been in the
ACC for a decade. SMU's brand new. I think you
could put Louisville in Notre Dame together and it would
make better sense. I think you could put louis and
in Syracuse together because these are good basketball programs, like

(33:04):
basketball schools, and you could take Pittsburgh and SMU and
who would care? And you know, Boston College Notre Dame.
I g I guess there's some history there just as
far as the two teams to an extent, but I
just wish it would be somebody different than SMU. But
either way, getting rid of the twenty game league schedule
what it's going to do. And I'm sure they'll have

(33:26):
this conversation with each member of the league. You know,
we're doing this, and that means you can't go add
Popcorn State to take these two games. You've got to
go at you know, try to find somebody that will
play you to where you have a really really you know,
competitive game where there's not a whole lot to lose
if you do slip up, and sometimes just playing good

(33:47):
teams and you lose, as we've learned, it can actually
benefit you. Like you could beat a team by thirty
or lose by five to a really good team, and
your resume is better from the loss against a good
team than a win against a nobody. So I'm you know,
there's no better. And I really hammered on this when
Louisville played them, because it was just it was all

(34:07):
they're doing. But when Louisville ended up playing wake Forest,
and wake Forest had a good record and they had
you know, I mean that that should have been a
game where there was some value there if you get
to win. And yet because wake Forest decided to schedule
a bunch of non conference games against teams in the
three hundreds, and they barely won some of those games,

(34:27):
like Louisville got Louisville did Louisville beat a team that
honestly had a better Like they had a better win
at the time than Louisville did. And I thought wake
Forest had some good players, but like they were ranked
in the seven late of the high seventies in the net,
which made it a quad two game.

Speaker 2 (34:42):
So like some of this is just like you got
to be smart about how you schedule.

Speaker 1 (34:47):
So again, I think this is good news, And uh,
I'm curious if this takes place next year or the
year after, because if it's next year, I mean that
could give you some create. You know, we could see
some non conference matchups for Louisville on the schedule that
could really exciting. All right, stick around, it's coffee and company.
We're fuel about Thornton's right here on Sports Talk seven
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