Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
It's time for coffee and Company fueled by Thornton's on
Sports Talk seven nine day. Now here's Nick coffee.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
That's right, it is coffee and Company fuel by Thornton's
here on Sports Talks seven ninety hour number two underway,
as we will make the most of the time we
have left. I don't just mean because next Friday will
be my last show. I mean we are out early
today because the Louisville Bats are in action. So if
you did miss the first hour, we discussed the big
changes coming, I guess the big change, the biggest changes
(00:42):
will be down the line when the playoff expands again.
But in the second year of the twelve team college
football Playoff, they have already decided to get rid of
the seating as far as the automatic top four spots
and buys going to conference championships. It's now just going
to be seated directly one through twelve, which is honestly
the way that it should be. Also, I mean, I
(01:04):
don't know if it's one of those things that I
could talk about it all day, but I don't think
it would be great for the show. But the Pacers,
I mean, how about my Indiana Pacers, Maybe they're your
Indiana Pacers too, or maybe you don't care about the Pacers,
but you just acknowledge that they have been one of
the most clutch, resilient teams we've ever seen in the
NBA postseason. That sounds like hyperbole, that sounds like an exaggeration,
(01:25):
but I'm not sure that it's incorrect. For them to
be able to come back and win last night. Unbelievable
and I enjoyed it. But even if you're not a fan,
you probably were entertained. No, unless you're a Knicks fan,
which that would be a real tough way to lose,
probably one of the most demoralizing losses that you could suffer.
I mean, they're up, they're in control, and the Pacers
(01:49):
just never stopped. And they've done it now three times again,
just looking at three specific wins they have this postseason,
it's crazy to think about, but it happened. I mean,
last night, they're down fourteen with two thirty five left,
(02:11):
they come back and win, and the series prior, they're
down seven with forty seven seconds left against the Cavs,
they come back and win, and then they're down seven
with forty seconds left of the Bucks in the first round,
they come back and win. All three of those are
single handedly, I mean, do it at once. It's an
(02:32):
all timer, just because those are the type of comebacks
that have never happened. The Pacers now have three of
them in the same postseason, which is just again, it's
crazy to think about it, but it was awesome to see.
And then this is just I think what makes it
so cinematic. I mean, I hate to use that word
because it sounds dramatic and over the top, but I mean,
(02:56):
everything playing out the way that it did last night.
The only thing that I guess put a little bit
of a damper on it as far as that you
can't make it up made for a movie kind of thing,
is that Haliburton's foot was on the line, so they
ended up.
Speaker 3 (03:07):
Going to overtime. But still, I mean.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
NBA teams going into last night's game oh and nine
hundred and seventy in the playoffs over the last twenty
seven years when trailing by fourteen or more points with
under three minutes left in regulation. Now it's one in
nine hundred and seventy because of what the Pacers did,
and then Reggie Miller being a nick killer and just
being the all time legend for the Pacers, the all
(03:33):
time great. He'll always, in my opinion, no matter what,
be the best player that ever played for them. When
people think of the Pacers in the playoffs, they probably
think of Reggie Miller for good reason. And for Aaron
Nesmith last night to turn in to Reggie Miller, I mean,
that was awesome. And this is my favorite favorite fact
slash stat of last night's victory for the Pacers. Only
(03:56):
two players have had twenty plus points and five plus
three pointers in the fourth quarter of a playoff game
on an opponent's home court. Both did so for the
Pacers at Madison Square Garden in the Conference Finals on
a Wednesday night. Reggie Miller did it June first, nineteen
ninety four. Aaron nee Smith did it last night. We'll
(04:17):
see what happens with the rest of this this series,
but I wouldn't be shocked if the Knicks just can't
recover from that, because, look, they could play well and
still lose to the Pacers in Game two, because the
Pacers are a really good team, and then you'd have
to go into Indiana and win one of two just
to keep the series alive, which is doable. I mean
(04:40):
the Pacers are beatable, but again, like, let's look at
what they've done. I mean, they won their first two
series four to games to one, did they not? I
don't think the Bucks got but one, and I know
the Cavs only won one game. Or maybe I'm wrong,
maybe they got two. Maybe I'm wrong. Either way, the
Pacers have been phenomenal and I'd love to see it.
(05:00):
And I talked a lot of crap about the playoffs
and especially you know how lack how not entertaining and
not competitive the NBA postseason has become in recent years.
And there's still have been some blowouts that you want
to avoid if you're the NBA, right, Like, you don't
want somebody in Game seven losing by forty points, which
that's happened. But in between there's also been some really
(05:24):
competitive and entertaining games and I've enjoyed it.
Speaker 3 (05:26):
I really have.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
Tonight we'll get game two of the Thunder and the Wolves,
which I haven't even looked at. I haven't looked at
anything on a sports book in a while. I usually
I've at least dabbled a little bit in the NBA
playoffs as far as wagering. But since the college basketball
season came to an end and I closed out, I've
(05:48):
yet to even open up any of these sportsbook apps.
But I'm interested tonight because Austin's got me feeling like
maybe it's a little play it's playoff playoff wager action.
But we've got tonight ok C minus seven and a half. Wow,
that's that's I mean, I I would if I'm just
throwing something out there, I would I would take plus
(06:10):
seven and a half Minnesota. But that's me still just
thinking that it'll be more competitive.
Speaker 3 (06:14):
But I don't know.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
The Thunder they're kind of like the Pacers in a
way that they've got guys that aren't big names but
can take over a game and help you win in
the postseason. Last night it was Aaron E. Smith and honestly.
Speaker 4 (06:29):
For the For the.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
Thunder, I think it's guys like Jalen Williams, who, again
we talked about him earlier this week, he's their best player.
It's really not close. Chet Holmgren is obviously a really
good player, and they've got good pieces like Hartenstein, and
they're they're they're a balanced team. But Jaylen Williams is
one of the best players probably in the NBA that
nobody knows about. But you can have Shae Gyiodas Alexander
the MVP and clearly their franchise player. He can have
(06:53):
an off night, and even an off night for him
is probably a pretty good day at the office. But
they can come at you in different ways. So I
think wishfully thinking I wanted to be a competitive series,
and I found myself kind of pulling for the Timberwolves
because I do really like Anthony Edwards, but he no
showed in the fourth quarter of that game in Game one,
and okay, see one thing that also, I don't know
(07:16):
if it's if you follow the NBA closely, you might
know this, but their atmosphere for a home game is insane,
Like it reminds me of like a crazy packed college
basketball atmosphere, because not to act like they don't have
anything else to do in Oklahoma City, but it just
seems like when they're good, they'll really really embrace it.
(07:37):
So she'll be a good should be a good game tonight,
and then tomorrow it'll be game two. It's eight o'clock
tip in the Garden once again, and as of now,
the Pacers are five and a half point dogs, I'd
hammer plus five and a half. All right, it's coffee
and company again. We are field about Thordon's here on
Sports Talk seven ninety. When it comes to the annual
CBS Sports College football coaching rankings, we now have all
(08:01):
one through sixty eight. They rankled all the power for coaches,
including Notre Dames coach and Jeff Bram has jumped up
two spots. We talked about it yesterday because yesterday we
got twenty six through sixty eight and Mark Stoops had
taken a big drop, fell to like thirty four I.
Speaker 3 (08:19):
Think it was. And we knew Brom last year was
at six. Was it thirty six?
Speaker 2 (08:24):
Yeah? It sounds I'm giving him too much credit, aren't I.
Here I go again, just gassing up my guys.
Speaker 4 (08:29):
Story at your guy.
Speaker 3 (08:31):
I can't, I can't be objective.
Speaker 4 (08:33):
Yeah, it's all right here.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
Yeah. So anyways, we knew Brom would be in the
top twenty five. He was there last year at nineteen,
and of course yesterday he was not featured in twenty
six through sixty eight, so I thought he'd probably stay
around where he was at nineteen. I think Austin guessed
what was it twenty or twenty one.
Speaker 4 (08:51):
Maybe, Yeah, I thought if he was going to fall,
it would be like twenty twenty one, twenty two.
Speaker 3 (08:56):
He jumped up.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
So he's gone from nineteen to now seventeen. So again,
like Jeff, Brom has always had the He's always had
the benefit of the doubt that a lot of coaches
don't have. And certainly we didn't get the same benefit
of the doubt as a program when Scott Saturafleld was
our coach. So I think, you know, Brom is just
(09:19):
a football guy. He's he's I mean, the Brom name
is certainly known for a lot of reasons, especially around here.
But one of the things that Stoops deservedly got credit for,
I argue he got too much credit for. Jeff did
the same thing and didn't get the same amount of credit.
I don't think because with Stoops there's no way to
(09:40):
say this without it sounding like I'm just taking a
run at him and doing the rivalry thing.
Speaker 3 (09:45):
I'm really not.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
But the reason Mark Stoops is viewed as a decent coach,
which he's a he's better than a decent coach, I
would say, and most people view him as a coach
that is better than being decent. But my point is
the only thing you could actually point to about Stoops
in his time as a head coach, because by the way,
he's only been a head coach at one place, that's Kentucky,
is that he made Kentucky not terrible and at times
(10:07):
they were pretty solid, times they were mediocre. But even
when they're mediocre, and they sustained a level of mediocre
consistently that had not really ever been done before at Kentucky. Therefore,
he gets a lot of credit for that, and he
deserves credit, But that doesn't mean that he's a top
twenty five coach, which he had previously been ranked by
the folks at CBS Sports. And again it's all a
(10:28):
matter of opinion. There's no way to know exactly who
the best coaches are. There's no It's not an exact
science by any means. But with Brahm, he did the
same thing at Purdue. And I mean, maybe, you know Purdue,
I guess they had more, you know, they had more
moments throughout the history of their program where they were successful.
(10:49):
They had blips throughout their existence where they were solid,
like the era with the era with Drew Brees and whatnot,
and they had a coach that was there a long
time that was really successful for their standard. But Brom,
I mean, I still think what he did at Purdue
is maybe the best thing on his resume. I mean,
he's only been at Louisville two years, so maybe that's
(11:11):
not a crazy thing to say, but I mean he
did take Louisville to the I mean, this is a
guy who went to the Big Ten Championship in the
ACC Championship in back to back years at two different schools.
I mean, he didn't win either of those games, but
still he did it at Louisville and it was their
best season and still their best season they've had since
they've been in the ACC. And at Purdue, I mean
what he inherited. I mean, Jeff Brom had a winning
(11:35):
record in Big Ten play during his six years at Purdue.
That may not sound like a real big accomplishment, that
may not sound like something that you would, you know,
put on a resume having a winning record, but he
also went three to zero first top three teams went
unranked at Purdue. The two previous coaches at Purdue prior
(12:01):
to Jeff, Darryl Hazel, went three and twenty four in
four seasons, Danny Hope with thirteen and nineteen in four seasons.
Jeff Brohm in six seasons, left Purdue with a winning
record in Big Ten play, and then he had ten
wins in his first year at Louisville, went to the
ACC title game. I mean, here, I am throwing out
(12:22):
all the accolades that a lot of Louisville fans already
know about their coach, because you know, he's our guy.
But I'm telling you what he did at Purdue is
worthy of I think more credit than it ever got,
just because again, they were awful for a long long
time and they never really elevated to become like a
consistently successful program when Jeff was there. You know why,
(12:47):
because nobody wins consistently at Purdue. Nobody does. They had,
you know, roller coaster type of a run where they
would be up and then down. But again, at the
end of the day, after six year, he had a
winning record in Big Ten play and he got into
the Big Ten championship game. And I know those sound
like not that impressive accomplishments, but again, you have to
(13:09):
consider it from the Purdue side of things that hadn't
been done at you know, Perdue, just like Kentucky with
Mark Stoops. He never got Kentucky to an SEC championship,
And to be honest, that would be much more difficult
than Jeff getting Purdue to the Big Ten championship because
at that time there were divisions and I don't think
the West was nearly as good as the East or
whatever they called their divisions in the Big Ten. So,
(13:32):
you know, but Stoops he won ten games twice at Kentucky's.
That is quite literally the one thing you could point
to out his resume that would have anybody viewing him
as a top twenty five, top thirty caliber coach. But
what did he ever really have the show for any
of those ten win seasons? Like, what's the biggest Honestly,
not to do the rivalry thing here, but the biggest
(13:54):
win for Mark Stoops in his time at Kentucky's probably
when he beat Louisville in Brom's first year. And I
don't say it because Louisville's some big, dominant monster, but
Louisville was a top ten team and you beat them
up their place. Now, were they actually a top ten
caliber team?
Speaker 3 (14:11):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (14:11):
We'll never know, but Jeff Brown being viewed as the
seventeenth the best coach in college football by those who
covered college football objectively of CBS Sports. It's nice to see,
but it really isn't that big of a surprise. And
we'll look at I don't want to run through the
entire list here, but man, there have been some big
movers up and down this list. But how about Mike
(14:33):
Norvell Austin. Mike Norvell went from being number twelve a
year ago, or I'm sorry, no, he was at number
eight a year ago. Now he's at number twenty five.
He fell seventeen spots, which, to be honest, they foolishly
decided to just run it with who's the bum at
(14:54):
Clemson that transferred and then went to Oregon State dju
Ukulilele or whatever. Yeah, I I mean he was terrible,
but I mean Florida State being as bad as they
were last year is really like had he not.
Speaker 3 (15:07):
Had the undefeated season.
Speaker 2 (15:13):
Before that, he'd be fired because they were worse than
they've been like ever. So he felt quite a bit.
But he's at number twenty five. Eli Drinkowitz also fell.
He went from number twenty one to twenty four. Brett Beilama,
he's at number twenty three. He's jumped up quite a bit,
which I'm not surprised that he's that he's carved out
(15:34):
some success at Illinois.
Speaker 3 (15:35):
He's a good coach.
Speaker 2 (15:35):
He was really good at Wisconsin, and then I guess
he had some moments at Arkansas and now that he's
been in Illinois. I mean, they're not elite, but they're
clearly in a good spot. Rtt Lashley is at number
twenty two for SMU. He jumped up a bunch. He
went from number forty five to twenty three. Kurt Signetti
at number twenty one, Mario Christobal at number twenty, Kirk
(15:58):
Ferenz at number nineteen, and he's somebody that Brohm jumped
ahead of. And then also Kenny Dillingham a big jump
for him. He was at number sixty four at a
sixty eight last year as he was entering I believe
was that his first year last year, No way, he
didn't go to Kenny Dillingham at Arizona State, like, don't
(16:20):
I think it was his second year, second year? I think, yeah, yeah,
So after his first season he came in at number
sixty four in these rankings because they went three and nine,
two and seven. Well, then last year they go eleven
and three, make it all the way to the playoff,
win a playoff game, and for that, I'm sorry they
didn't win a playoff game. They ended up losing that
one to Texas, which they should have won. The refs
(16:40):
swallowed their whistle. Arizona State should have won that game.
That's still I was at the upstairs bar at O'shay's
about to walk over to the YOUM Center with Austin
to watch the Louisville North Carolina game when that was
going on, and Arizona State had that thing won, and
they made some mistakes on their end, but I swear
the not calling targeting was just something that still pisses
(17:03):
me off thinking about. But anyways, Dillingham has mentioned is
at number eighteen, and then I said, Brahms at seventeen,
Josh Heipel at sixteen. He has jumped up from twenty
three to sixteen. I don't have any issue with that.
And then this is where we get to guys getting
a lot of love because of where they are, like
Lance Leepold is at number fifteen.
Speaker 3 (17:24):
I can't.
Speaker 2 (17:25):
I mean, again, what's he actually done not much, but
he's not sucking complete rear end at Kansas and that
is viewed as like a big accomplishment. Chris Climbing at
Kansas State. They've got him at number fourteen. Lincoln Riley
fell and he's fallen quite a bit in the last
few years because USC he's just not gotten it done there.
(17:46):
Lane Kiffin is at number twelve, no issue with that.
Kyle Whittingham is at number eleven, and then top ten.
Matt Campbell he's at number ten, and he jumped up
fifteen spots, which Matt Campbell I kind of felt like
he was the guy that would go down as a
really good example of somebody that did not leave when
they should have left a certain job because he had
(18:09):
it rolling at Iowa State, especially, you know, at a
place that doesn't win a lot. I mean, they were,
they are one of the worst Power five programs of
all time as far as just lacking any type of success.
But with him, you know, he's won a bunch of
games there. I mean he's I mean, he's got five
(18:31):
eight win seasons at a place like Iowa State that's
pretty rare. And then last year they went eleven and three.
So I don't know how good he would do at
a specific job, but his level of success consistently is
certainly why he's in this list and I can't really
dispute it.
Speaker 3 (18:47):
Kaylen de bor Is, how do you say his name?
Is it de Boer?
Speaker 2 (18:51):
De boor Kaitlin de boor to Bor? I don't know
why I say to bow or de Boer. I don't
even know her, just met her.
Speaker 4 (18:56):
Well it's spelled like that.
Speaker 2 (18:57):
Kenna buyra drink first. But yeah, Kaylen bor is at
number nine. He dropped from number seven to number nine,
and then Brian Kelly is at number eight, James Franklin
number seven. Marcus Freeman took a big jump from number
twenty four to number six. No, I don't have any
issue with that. I think Marcus Freeman is is in
a really good spot at Notre Dame to where they
(19:18):
should not only be able to sustain success, which they
typically always have, but I think he's I mean, he's
already done more than Brian Kelly did there as far
as just you know, they're they're now in that top
tier category, not that they were far from it, but
I wouldn't be shocked if Notre Dame's in the playoff
for the foreseeable future, and then in the top five
(19:38):
Dan Lanning at number five, Steve Sarkisian at number four,
Debo Sweeney number three, Ryan Day number two, and Kirby
Smart number one. So I don't really have any issues
with that with Ryan Day. He did, in fact get
the national championship, and I'm sure that's why he's where
he's at.
Speaker 3 (19:58):
But I don't know.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
We again foolish and unfair of me to act like
he hasn't accomplished much when he just won a national championship.
But I think Ohio State is just a program that
is built to run through the Big Ten with just
way better players than everybody other than the occasional team
that ends up just having a really good year in
the Big Ten. Like I don't see at any point
(20:20):
Ohio State taking a step back in Penn State stepping
ahead of them. Michigan clearly had a good run there
with Harriball. I don't think that's going to be sustainable.
So Ryan Day could run through the Big Ten every
year and I'll still probably not give him the credit
he deserves, just because I feel like he inherited.
Speaker 3 (20:36):
I mean Ohio State.
Speaker 2 (20:38):
I mean, you could make the case that they are
the program that is in fact built for success consistently
better than anybody. I mean, they don't because they don't
have the competition in their league quite like Georgia does
in the SEC with Texas, Bama, I mean, even LSU.
I mean, the Big Ten's a good conference with really good,
(21:00):
you know, good programs with a lot of history. But
Michigan they were nowhere near competitive with Ohio State at
that top spot until the last two years of Harball.
Speaker 3 (21:11):
And to be fair, they cheated to do that.
Speaker 2 (21:13):
I mean, so yeah, and then Dabo, I don't know,
I wouldn't have had him at number three, but I
do think it's this will be a big year for
Dabo because there's now real height once again surrounding Clemson
that there hasn't been in a while. And I mean
you just mentioned to me a moment ago Austin that
Cowherd was just gassing up Clemson and Club Nick.
Speaker 3 (21:34):
So look, they're coming to Louisville next year. I can't wait.
I hope we can take them out.
Speaker 2 (21:39):
Easier said than done, But yeah, Clemson the reason I
think this will be a big year for dabbo is
because if he does actually live up to what the
expectations are, that'll be a reminder. Yeah, this guy, he
was for some reason really against the portal, but man,
he's the.
Speaker 3 (21:53):
Hell of a coach.
Speaker 2 (21:54):
But if he falls short, I think it'll be the Okay, Yeah,
this guy's best days are in the rear view because
he just really his refusal to adapt to the new
world of college football is biting him in the rear
in which I think at this point it has. But
now now there's belief that their roster has, you know,
done it the old school way to where they should
have a really good team this upcoming season. All right,
(22:15):
quick break, we'll come back on the other side. Keep
it locked right here. Coffee and Company feel about Thornton's
on Sports Talk seven.
Speaker 1 (22:19):
Ninety Now back to Coffee and Company. Fueled by Thornton's
on Sports Talk seven nine.
Speaker 2 (22:26):
Day, I mentioned wanting to get into some wagering action
tonight with the second game of the Western Conference Finals.
But I just saw somebody share a vet ticket online
that put one thousand dollars on the Pacers to win
the Eastern Conference Finals. It was futures bet. It wasn't
something made recently, and it was probably made given these odds.
(22:49):
It was probably made when the Celtics were still alive
and clearly looked like maybe the best team. But you
also have to keep in mind even I even before
the Celtics lost to the Knicks, and of course Jalen
Brunson not jelling brunts, but Jason Tatum goes down with
that Achilles' injury. You know, the Cavs with the number
one seed in the East, so you know they had
they had the best record. I mean, they probably didn't
(23:09):
have the best odds. But anyways, if you put one
thousand dollars down, which I would never bet that much money,
but hey, some people do, and this would be a
big payout because it was plus three thousand on a
one thousand dollars bet, So you bet one grand to
win thirty grand, you'd collect thirty one thousand dollars. So
I'm hopeful that that's the result. And if that's the case,
(23:31):
then this person's gonna win a lot of money.
Speaker 3 (23:33):
Also, with the College Football Playoff.
Speaker 2 (23:35):
Making a change to the seating, they're not going to
give the top four seeds to conference championships. They're just
going to see this thing directly which I forgot about
the confusion, right because you would see the college Football
Playoff rankings and then you'd see the bracket, and you
would clearly see that things don't add up. And it
was because obviously they didn't seed it the way they didn't.
(23:57):
They didn't actually put the bracket together the way it
was seated. They had the conference championships just slotted into
those the college the conference champs just slotted into those spots.
Speaker 3 (24:08):
But uh, this is what we got last year.
Speaker 2 (24:12):
Oregon one as the as the one seed in the
with a bye, Georgia is the two seed with the bye,
Boise State with a three seed is a bye, and
then Arizona State winning the Big Twelve as the four
and got a buy. Here's what it would have looked
like had they done it then the way they're going
to do it moving forward. It would have been Oregon
(24:32):
number one still, but Georgia would have been the two
with a bye, Texas would have been the three with
the bye, and then Penn State would have been the four.
And then here are the matchups we would have had
in the first round, which these would have been better
instead of getting Clemson in and UH in Texas, we
would have got Clemson in Notre Dame instead of Tennessee
(24:57):
and Ohio State. We would have got Tennessee and SMU
instead of SMU, Penn State, we would have had Ohio State,
Arizona State, and then we also would have had Boise
State in Indiana. I mean, just we'll never know who
would have won those those hypothetical games, but that would
make it make more sense like that, when you just
(25:19):
look at the hierarchy of last year's college football as
far as the top teams, that would have been a
bracket that made more sense seeing teams like Boise and
Arizona State. I mean, it's not their fault, but I
mean they I think we all knew you could make
the case then honestly, those might have been the two
worst teams in the twelve team playoff. I mean that's
(25:39):
not fair to say. And again, Arizona State gave Texas
all they wanted. Boise you know, they just they got
beat by Penn State in a close game. But yeah,
I think this is the right way to do it.
Speaker 3 (25:50):
I really do. All right, I've.
Speaker 2 (25:53):
Got somebody bumping us here in the text line as
far as asking me to somebody just bumping their text
Marillier this feek that I read where they asked me
to give my top five Louisville football and basketball players
of my lifetime before I leave next week and no
longer you know am hosting the show, and I haven't
given it a whole lot of thoughts since you texted in.
Speaker 3 (26:13):
But why the hell not.
Speaker 2 (26:14):
I'm going to give you basketball now, just because why
not consider this some last few show spontaneousness energy from
me because I'm just doing this.
Speaker 3 (26:24):
Off the cuff.
Speaker 2 (26:24):
So top five basketball players of my lifetime Again, I'm
going to change the way you requested doing it. I'm
going to do it just that I remember because there
were some players that like. For example, I've all the
one player that I have no memory of watching play
at Louisville, but I wish I could have watched him play,
because I've heard how great he was was le Bradford Smith.
(26:47):
So he graduated from Louisville in nineteen ninety one. I
was three years old, so I have no memory. But
he was really good, so technically he might be in
consideration when it comes to like my lifetime, but I
didn't watch him place I can't really, you know, I'm
just going to base it off of guys that I watched,
so consider like nineteen ninety five on. That would be
how I'm ranking them, And Austin, I'm gonna ask you,
(27:10):
should I do it based off of just dudes who
I just feel like we're that good or do it
off of guys who clearly were good but also like
had some big accomplishments with great teams, Cause that makes
it hard to put together because like, for example, Terrence Williams,
I believe, is one of the most, if not the
most talented players I've ever watched at Louisville, but you know,
(27:32):
he didn't play for a Final four team. So I'm
gonna I'm just gonna instead of overthinking and I'm just
gonna deliver, I'm going Russ number one. And it's it's
easy to say, right, I mean, yeah, Russ was part
of a national championship team, played for some of the
best teams I ever watched at Louisville, and is a
consensus All American. Russ is arguably arguably the second or
(27:55):
third best player that's ever played here, So in my lifetime,
he's certainly number one. I would say, if you're ranking
best players in Louisville basketball history, it's west Unseld Griff
and then probably Russ. So Russ is number one for me,
and then after that. This is where my my heart
(28:15):
is getting in the way a little bit because I
don't know if this is totally accurate, but I'm going
to on Wheat. I mean, that's not a crazy thing
to put out there. It's not like he's just one
of my favorite players. He was also one of my
favorite players growing up. But he was also one of
the best that's ever played here.
Speaker 4 (28:32):
In my opinion.
Speaker 2 (28:34):
I mean his I mean he ranks. He was second
in school history in scoring until Rusk passed him. He's
third and assists. He was Honorable Mentioned All American and
a third team All American in his junior and senior year.
And there was one really random stat that he had
that no, yeah, here it is Duan Wheat. He was
(28:55):
the first player in NCAA history to amass career totals
of it least two thousand points, four hundred and fifty assists,
and three hundred three point field goals, as well as
two hundred steals. I don't know if that's been done since,
but shout out to Dewan Weed. He's going number two
for me after that. This is more difficult than I
(29:18):
thought because there's gonna be guys that I leave out
that I don't want to, but I can only do
top five, So I'm going I'm gonna go Terrence Williams.
I mean, that's probably not as well some Tea will
I mean I do too. Yeah, it's again the teams
he played for. I don't think anybody would would argue
(29:38):
against that. They were really, really talented and really good.
They just fell short of a final four and back
to back seasons losing in the Elite eight. And it's
nobody's fault. It's just programs like Louisville, you know, one
of the top ten programs, top eight programs of all time.
When you think of special seasons, they usually include five
(30:00):
final four better, right, And it doesn't get much better
than a final four other than winning a national championship.
So his team accomplishments aren't there. But I just I mean,
he was by the time he called it a career
at Louisville and went to the NBA. And by the way,
it was a lottery pick. There was really no big
weakness in his game. He developed a good three point shot.
He was always a phenomenal a phenomenal passer, and as
(30:24):
good of an athlete as we've ever had.
Speaker 3 (30:26):
That's not I don't. I don't.
Speaker 2 (30:27):
I mean when it comes to Tea Will I mentioned
there was really no weakness in his game towards the end.
One thing that probably is the biggest strength he has
is he was just a He was just an athlete, man,
I mean a six to six, two hundred and twenty
pound specimen that could jump out of the gym.
Speaker 3 (30:45):
So yeah, he's uh he has.
Speaker 4 (30:50):
I think.
Speaker 2 (30:52):
He has the third triple double in Louisville basketball history.
Can you name the first to Samaki Walker had it
in the nineties with ten blocks.
Speaker 4 (31:04):
Yeah, I knew Soaki had.
Speaker 2 (31:05):
And then the other one is super random, but I
love it. A lot of people unless you just know
the randomness of this so you know it, you'd never
guess it. Ellis Miles, Okay, So yeah, I'm gonna go
Tea well just because again he was he was that good.
Speaker 4 (31:21):
And then I'm not debating it. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (31:24):
After that, this is where it gets tricky because there's
a lot of guys I could slide at four and five,
I think, right like, I could go Peyton Siva and
I don't think anybody would really fight that, right, Like
Peyton point guard on a national championship team is I
believe the only this is a cool This is a
cool fact for Peyton. I believe he's the only player
(31:49):
other than Patrick Union Patrick Ewing to be three time
Big East Tournament All First Team Wow. And in fact,
he might be. He might be the only person since
Patrick Ewing to be a two time Big East Tournament MVP,
because you remember they won it in his junior and
(32:10):
senior season, the Big East Championship, which that's a hell
of a way to go out, and then it is
and then yeah, here's what it is. It's I think
he's the only He and Patrick Ewing are the only
two players that have won Big East Tournament MVP twice
but also three time first Team All m VP. Because
when Peyton was a sophomore, Kimba beat Kimba and Yukon
(32:31):
beat Louisville in that championship game in the Big East Tournament.
But but honestly, that year, Peyton, it's gonna sound crazy
to say Peyton got the best of Kimba in that
in the season that they played, I mean in the
Big East Tournament, Kimba got the best of Louisville and
Kimba went on to win a national championship that year.
So no, no discredit to him. But Peyton as a
sophomore really was was super competitive with with Kimba. So yeah,
(32:57):
I'm going Peyton number four, and I don't I don't
really have any issue doing that. And at number five, man,
leave some people. Here's where I'm gonna leave people out
because to be honest with you, in I mean, gosh, man,
I I'll just tell you I'm not going Donovan Mitchell.
A lot of people probably would just assume that because
(33:17):
Donovan is, I mean, Donovan is the best NBA player
from Louisville ever outside of West Unsell. Like I know,
Griff had a really good career in the NBA, but
there's no doubt that Donovan's overtaken that. Yeah, Donovan has
certainly overtaken that. So, I man, this is tough. I
could go I could go Tres I could go Francisco Garcia,
(33:46):
I could go Taekwon Dean, I could go Terry Rozier.
To be honest with you, I could go I don't
think I could go Gorgy, although Gorgy was really really good.
But then again, I'm not you know, there's no there's
no big man here in my top five, right, I
got a Terrence Jennings in there for laughs, Oh man,
shout out to TJ. I'm sor right he was.
Speaker 3 (34:09):
He's one that.
Speaker 2 (34:11):
I wish would have come back for his senior year
because he would have been a nice piece to have
on that twenty twelve team. O boy, Yeah, who do
I go with number five? I mean, I think I'm
gonna go Francisco Garcia, and I don't really have any because.
Speaker 3 (34:29):
I mean, he he was.
Speaker 2 (34:30):
Really Louisville broke through first time in the Patino Era
where they had a really good team that obviously made
it all the way to a Final four, and he
was the best player on that team, although he had
a great team around him with Taekwon and Larry O
and Ellis and those guys. But I'm gonna go I'm
gonna go Francisco just because he was I mean, he
(34:51):
was really really talented, and I mean another guy that
not really sure what the weakness was. He wasn't great
laterally as far as defense, which is one of the
reasons why they went two three with that squad. But
I mean, he was a really good passer, could shoot
the lights out of it, good enough athlete, just a
really skilled player. So I'm going that's my top five.
I'm going Russ Smith, Dewan Wheat, Terrence Williams, Peyton Siva,
(35:15):
and Francisco Garcia.
Speaker 4 (35:16):
I had a bad starting five to two. Small ball.
Speaker 2 (35:18):
Yeah, play small ball. We'll shoot the hell out of it,
right Peyton See is gonna find guys to spot up.
Speaker 4 (35:23):
Of course.
Speaker 2 (35:24):
All right, let's get to a break. We'll come back
on the other side. Wrap up the four o'clock hour
right here on Sports Talk seven.
Speaker 1 (35:28):
Ninety Now back to coffee and Company, fueled by Thornton's
on Sports Talk seven nine day.
Speaker 3 (35:41):
You know, there is one player that.
Speaker 2 (35:44):
I completely forgot about in my top five Louisville basketball
players of my lifetime, or at least most of my
life from what I can remember, there was one guy
that just completely slipped my mind.
Speaker 3 (35:56):
And he was really good.
Speaker 2 (35:57):
But I don't know if I would have him in
the top fives. You could make the case that Reese
is in consideration for spots four and five, and maybe
I don't know. With Reeese, he was really good, but
I think his first two seasons, it being the last
(36:17):
two of Denny, it just did those teams weren't very good,
so they're just those like, nothing really stands out in
those two seasons other than just knowing we weren't very
good and Denny's time was probably coming to an end.
But we did have a really good player in Ree's Gains.
So I still think I would put Cisco and Peyton ahead.
But the top three, I mean, I feel I mean,
(36:38):
as far as just these guys and their ability, I mean,
I'm going I feel really good about the top three.
I think four, five, six, seven, eight. It's really just
a mixed bag as far as how you want to
order them. But here's what I think I'm gonna do
next week for football. Austin won't be here tomorrow, so
I'm gonna save this for next week. At some point
for football, I'm gonna do how about top three receivers,
(36:59):
quarter backs, running backs, and defensive players overall? Yeah, I
mean that's not necessarily fair, I guess to the defense
fun but yeah, top three, I mean, I could maybe
do top five, y'all do top five, because I mean
with quarterbacks, I mean, we all know who's going to
be at the top, but I mean we've been so
(37:20):
spoiled with great quarterbacks at Louisville, not only in the history,
but certainly like in my lifetime. We talked about that
when Tyler Shutt got drafted, because you know, he's somebody
that that really you know, you only here one year,
and obviously he's a second round draft pick and had
a really good year as far as statistics, but he
just won't be remembered quite.
Speaker 3 (37:38):
Like other guys.
Speaker 2 (37:39):
But it's just because he was here only for a season,
whereas other guys you watched him play over many, many years.
And like, somebody asked me this right after the draft,
and I didn't really know how to answer it because
I think it's almost not a fair question based off
of just the difference in their careers. But who's a
better all time Louisville quarterback Malie Cunningham or Tyler Shuck?
(37:59):
Tyler Shit, y Uh, he only played one year and
there really wasn't a monumental moment for him.
Speaker 3 (38:05):
Malie Cunningham, he.
Speaker 2 (38:06):
Played here for five years and was good individually, but
really never had any big moment. I mean, honestly, in
one year Tyler's went at Clemson, even though he wasn't
like the only reason they were good, but he clearly
had a Remember that flip he did in the end
zone against Clemson that was so cool? Oh yeah, so yeah.
I mean I didn't think it's unfair because again it's
(38:28):
a totally different situation. But if you asked me if
I could only have one quarterback of those two to
lead a team, I mean, I'm going shuck, no offense
to Malik, but I just think Shuck was I mean,
you could utilize a lot of weapons with his arm,
and whereas Malie Cunningham, he just wasn't quite And that's
really I think what sets apart good quarterbacks and really
good quarterbacks is consistency. I mean, Malik at times was
(38:51):
really accurate with his deep ball. Times he wasn't.
Speaker 3 (38:55):
Sometimes.
Speaker 2 (38:55):
I think some of the hardest plays for him to
make was what appeared to you know.
Speaker 3 (39:01):
Me And what do I know.
Speaker 2 (39:02):
I've never played quarterback at a high level, never played
quarterback at all of my life, But like you know,
he just there's certain plays that you're like, well, How
did you not hit your receiver there?
Speaker 3 (39:08):
How do you not? How do you how is it?
Speaker 2 (39:10):
How is the ball not on time? So anyways, we'll
do that next week. Well, right now, we got to
get you a break.
Speaker 3 (39:15):
We'll come back.
Speaker 2 (39:15):
We've got one long segment for you here, I believe,
is how we're going to structure it. Because we're out
early due to the Louis of bats coming up, So
we'll hit the five o'clock hour running right here on
Sports Talk seven ninety
It's time for coffee and Company fueled by Thornton's on
Sports Talk seven nine day. Now here's Nick coffee.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
That's right, it is coffee and Company fuel by Thornton's
here on Sports Talks seven ninety hour number two underway,
as we will make the most of the time we
have left. I don't just mean because next Friday will
be my last show. I mean we are out early
today because the Louisville Bats are in action. So if
you did miss the first hour, we discussed the big
changes coming, I guess the big change, the biggest changes
(00:42):
will be down the line when the playoff expands again.
But in the second year of the twelve team college
football Playoff, they have already decided to get rid of
the seating as far as the automatic top four spots
and buys going to conference championships. It's now just going
to be seated directly one through twelve, which is honestly
the way that it should be. Also, I mean, I
(01:04):
don't know if it's one of those things that I
could talk about it all day, but I don't think
it would be great for the show. But the Pacers,
I mean, how about my Indiana Pacers, Maybe they're your
Indiana Pacers too, or maybe you don't care about the Pacers,
but you just acknowledge that they have been one of
the most clutch, resilient teams we've ever seen in the
NBA postseason. That sounds like hyperbole, that sounds like an exaggeration,
(01:25):
but I'm not sure that it's incorrect. For them to
be able to come back and win last night. Unbelievable
and I enjoyed it. But even if you're not a fan,
you probably were entertained. No, unless you're a Knicks fan,
which that would be a real tough way to lose,
probably one of the most demoralizing losses that you could suffer.
I mean, they're up, they're in control, and the Pacers
(01:49):
just never stopped. And they've done it now three times again,
just looking at three specific wins they have this postseason,
it's crazy to think about, but it happened. I mean,
last night, they're down fourteen with two thirty five left,
(02:11):
they come back and win, and the series prior, they're
down seven with forty seven seconds left against the Cavs,
they come back and win, and then they're down seven
with forty seconds left of the Bucks in the first round,
they come back and win. All three of those are
single handedly, I mean, do it at once. It's an
(02:32):
all timer, just because those are the type of comebacks
that have never happened. The Pacers now have three of
them in the same postseason, which is just again, it's
crazy to think about it, but it was awesome to see.
And then this is just I think what makes it
so cinematic. I mean, I hate to use that word
because it sounds dramatic and over the top, but I mean,
(02:56):
everything playing out the way that it did last night.
The only thing that I guess put a little bit
of a damper on it as far as that you
can't make it up made for a movie kind of thing,
is that Haliburton's foot was on the line, so they
ended up.
Speaker 3 (03:07):
Going to overtime. But still, I mean.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
NBA teams going into last night's game oh and nine
hundred and seventy in the playoffs over the last twenty
seven years when trailing by fourteen or more points with
under three minutes left in regulation. Now it's one in
nine hundred and seventy because of what the Pacers did,
and then Reggie Miller being a nick killer and just
being the all time legend for the Pacers, the all
(03:33):
time great. He'll always, in my opinion, no matter what,
be the best player that ever played for them. When
people think of the Pacers in the playoffs, they probably
think of Reggie Miller for good reason. And for Aaron
Nesmith last night to turn in to Reggie Miller, I mean,
that was awesome. And this is my favorite favorite fact
slash stat of last night's victory for the Pacers. Only
(03:56):
two players have had twenty plus points and five plus
three pointers in the fourth quarter of a playoff game
on an opponent's home court. Both did so for the
Pacers at Madison Square Garden in the Conference Finals on
a Wednesday night. Reggie Miller did it June first, nineteen
ninety four. Aaron nee Smith did it last night. We'll
(04:17):
see what happens with the rest of this this series,
but I wouldn't be shocked if the Knicks just can't
recover from that, because, look, they could play well and
still lose to the Pacers in Game two, because the
Pacers are a really good team, and then you'd have
to go into Indiana and win one of two just
to keep the series alive, which is doable. I mean
(04:40):
the Pacers are beatable, but again, like, let's look at
what they've done. I mean, they won their first two
series four to games to one, did they not? I
don't think the Bucks got but one, and I know
the Cavs only won one game. Or maybe I'm wrong,
maybe they got two. Maybe I'm wrong. Either way, the
Pacers have been phenomenal and I'd love to see it.
(05:00):
And I talked a lot of crap about the playoffs
and especially you know how lack how not entertaining and
not competitive the NBA postseason has become in recent years.
And there's still have been some blowouts that you want
to avoid if you're the NBA, right, Like, you don't
want somebody in Game seven losing by forty points, which
that's happened. But in between there's also been some really
(05:24):
competitive and entertaining games and I've enjoyed it.
Speaker 3 (05:26):
I really have.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
Tonight we'll get game two of the Thunder and the Wolves,
which I haven't even looked at. I haven't looked at
anything on a sports book in a while. I usually
I've at least dabbled a little bit in the NBA
playoffs as far as wagering. But since the college basketball
season came to an end and I closed out, I've
(05:48):
yet to even open up any of these sportsbook apps.
But I'm interested tonight because Austin's got me feeling like
maybe it's a little play it's playoff playoff wager action.
But we've got tonight ok C minus seven and a half. Wow,
that's that's I mean, I I would if I'm just
throwing something out there, I would I would take plus
(06:10):
seven and a half Minnesota. But that's me still just
thinking that it'll be more competitive.
Speaker 3 (06:14):
But I don't know.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
The Thunder they're kind of like the Pacers in a
way that they've got guys that aren't big names but
can take over a game and help you win in
the postseason. Last night it was Aaron E. Smith and honestly.
Speaker 4 (06:29):
For the For the.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
Thunder, I think it's guys like Jalen Williams, who, again
we talked about him earlier this week, he's their best player.
It's really not close. Chet Holmgren is obviously a really
good player, and they've got good pieces like Hartenstein, and
they're they're they're a balanced team. But Jaylen Williams is
one of the best players probably in the NBA that
nobody knows about. But you can have Shae Gyiodas Alexander
the MVP and clearly their franchise player. He can have
(06:53):
an off night, and even an off night for him
is probably a pretty good day at the office. But
they can come at you in different ways. So I
think wishfully thinking I wanted to be a competitive series,
and I found myself kind of pulling for the Timberwolves
because I do really like Anthony Edwards, but he no
showed in the fourth quarter of that game in Game one,
and okay, see one thing that also, I don't know
(07:16):
if it's if you follow the NBA closely, you might
know this, but their atmosphere for a home game is insane,
Like it reminds me of like a crazy packed college
basketball atmosphere, because not to act like they don't have
anything else to do in Oklahoma City, but it just
seems like when they're good, they'll really really embrace it.
(07:37):
So she'll be a good should be a good game tonight,
and then tomorrow it'll be game two. It's eight o'clock
tip in the Garden once again, and as of now,
the Pacers are five and a half point dogs, I'd
hammer plus five and a half. All right, it's coffee
and company again. We are field about Thordon's here on
Sports Talk seven ninety. When it comes to the annual
CBS Sports College football coaching rankings, we now have all
(08:01):
one through sixty eight. They rankled all the power for coaches,
including Notre Dames coach and Jeff Bram has jumped up
two spots. We talked about it yesterday because yesterday we
got twenty six through sixty eight and Mark Stoops had
taken a big drop, fell to like thirty four I.
Speaker 3 (08:19):
Think it was. And we knew Brom last year was
at six. Was it thirty six?
Speaker 2 (08:24):
Yeah? It sounds I'm giving him too much credit, aren't I.
Here I go again, just gassing up my guys.
Speaker 4 (08:29):
Story at your guy.
Speaker 3 (08:31):
I can't, I can't be objective.
Speaker 4 (08:33):
Yeah, it's all right here.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
Yeah. So anyways, we knew Brom would be in the
top twenty five. He was there last year at nineteen,
and of course yesterday he was not featured in twenty
six through sixty eight, so I thought he'd probably stay
around where he was at nineteen. I think Austin guessed
what was it twenty or twenty one.
Speaker 4 (08:51):
Maybe, Yeah, I thought if he was going to fall,
it would be like twenty twenty one, twenty two.
Speaker 3 (08:56):
He jumped up.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
So he's gone from nineteen to now seventeen. So again,
like Jeff, Brom has always had the He's always had
the benefit of the doubt that a lot of coaches
don't have. And certainly we didn't get the same benefit
of the doubt as a program when Scott Saturafleld was
our coach. So I think, you know, Brom is just
(09:19):
a football guy. He's he's I mean, the Brom name
is certainly known for a lot of reasons, especially around here.
But one of the things that Stoops deservedly got credit for,
I argue he got too much credit for. Jeff did
the same thing and didn't get the same amount of credit.
I don't think because with Stoops there's no way to
(09:40):
say this without it sounding like I'm just taking a
run at him and doing the rivalry thing.
Speaker 3 (09:45):
I'm really not.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
But the reason Mark Stoops is viewed as a decent coach,
which he's a he's better than a decent coach, I
would say, and most people view him as a coach
that is better than being decent. But my point is
the only thing you could actually point to about Stoops
in his time as a head coach, because by the way,
he's only been a head coach at one place, that's Kentucky,
is that he made Kentucky not terrible and at times
(10:07):
they were pretty solid, times they were mediocre. But even
when they're mediocre, and they sustained a level of mediocre
consistently that had not really ever been done before at Kentucky. Therefore,
he gets a lot of credit for that, and he
deserves credit, But that doesn't mean that he's a top
twenty five coach, which he had previously been ranked by
the folks at CBS Sports. And again it's all a
(10:28):
matter of opinion. There's no way to know exactly who
the best coaches are. There's no It's not an exact
science by any means. But with Brahm, he did the
same thing at Purdue. And I mean, maybe, you know Purdue,
I guess they had more, you know, they had more
moments throughout the history of their program where they were successful.
(10:49):
They had blips throughout their existence where they were solid,
like the era with the era with Drew Brees and whatnot,
and they had a coach that was there a long
time that was really successful for their standard. But Brom,
I mean, I still think what he did at Purdue
is maybe the best thing on his resume. I mean,
he's only been at Louisville two years, so maybe that's
(11:11):
not a crazy thing to say, but I mean he
did take Louisville to the I mean, this is a
guy who went to the Big Ten Championship in the
ACC Championship in back to back years at two different schools.
I mean, he didn't win either of those games, but
still he did it at Louisville and it was their
best season and still their best season they've had since
they've been in the ACC. And at Purdue, I mean
what he inherited. I mean, Jeff Brom had a winning
(11:35):
record in Big Ten play during his six years at Purdue.
That may not sound like a real big accomplishment, that
may not sound like something that you would, you know,
put on a resume having a winning record, but he
also went three to zero first top three teams went
unranked at Purdue. The two previous coaches at Purdue prior
(12:01):
to Jeff, Darryl Hazel, went three and twenty four in
four seasons, Danny Hope with thirteen and nineteen in four seasons.
Jeff Brohm in six seasons, left Purdue with a winning
record in Big Ten play, and then he had ten
wins in his first year at Louisville, went to the
ACC title game. I mean, here, I am throwing out
(12:22):
all the accolades that a lot of Louisville fans already
know about their coach, because you know, he's our guy.
But I'm telling you what he did at Purdue is
worthy of I think more credit than it ever got,
just because again, they were awful for a long long
time and they never really elevated to become like a
consistently successful program when Jeff was there. You know why,
(12:47):
because nobody wins consistently at Purdue. Nobody does. They had,
you know, roller coaster type of a run where they
would be up and then down. But again, at the
end of the day, after six year, he had a
winning record in Big Ten play and he got into
the Big Ten championship game. And I know those sound
like not that impressive accomplishments, but again, you have to
(13:09):
consider it from the Purdue side of things that hadn't
been done at you know, Perdue, just like Kentucky with
Mark Stoops. He never got Kentucky to an SEC championship,
And to be honest, that would be much more difficult
than Jeff getting Purdue to the Big Ten championship because
at that time there were divisions and I don't think
the West was nearly as good as the East or
whatever they called their divisions in the Big Ten. So,
(13:32):
you know, but Stoops he won ten games twice at Kentucky's.
That is quite literally the one thing you could point
to out his resume that would have anybody viewing him
as a top twenty five, top thirty caliber coach. But
what did he ever really have the show for any
of those ten win seasons? Like, what's the biggest Honestly,
not to do the rivalry thing here, but the biggest
(13:54):
win for Mark Stoops in his time at Kentucky's probably
when he beat Louisville in Brom's first year. And I
don't say it because Louisville's some big, dominant monster, but
Louisville was a top ten team and you beat them
up their place. Now, were they actually a top ten
caliber team?
Speaker 3 (14:11):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (14:11):
We'll never know, but Jeff Brown being viewed as the
seventeenth the best coach in college football by those who
covered college football objectively of CBS Sports. It's nice to see,
but it really isn't that big of a surprise. And
we'll look at I don't want to run through the
entire list here, but man, there have been some big
movers up and down this list. But how about Mike
(14:33):
Norvell Austin. Mike Norvell went from being number twelve a
year ago, or I'm sorry, no, he was at number
eight a year ago. Now he's at number twenty five.
He fell seventeen spots, which, to be honest, they foolishly
decided to just run it with who's the bum at
(14:54):
Clemson that transferred and then went to Oregon State dju
Ukulilele or whatever. Yeah, I I mean he was terrible,
but I mean Florida State being as bad as they
were last year is really like had he not.
Speaker 3 (15:07):
Had the undefeated season.
Speaker 2 (15:13):
Before that, he'd be fired because they were worse than
they've been like ever. So he felt quite a bit.
But he's at number twenty five. Eli Drinkowitz also fell.
He went from number twenty one to twenty four. Brett Beilama,
he's at number twenty three. He's jumped up quite a bit,
which I'm not surprised that he's that he's carved out
(15:34):
some success at Illinois.
Speaker 3 (15:35):
He's a good coach.
Speaker 2 (15:35):
He was really good at Wisconsin, and then I guess
he had some moments at Arkansas and now that he's
been in Illinois. I mean, they're not elite, but they're
clearly in a good spot. Rtt Lashley is at number
twenty two for SMU. He jumped up a bunch. He
went from number forty five to twenty three. Kurt Signetti
at number twenty one, Mario Christobal at number twenty, Kirk
(15:58):
Ferenz at number nineteen, and he's somebody that Brohm jumped
ahead of. And then also Kenny Dillingham a big jump
for him. He was at number sixty four at a
sixty eight last year as he was entering I believe
was that his first year last year, No way, he
didn't go to Kenny Dillingham at Arizona State, like, don't
(16:20):
I think it was his second year, second year? I think, yeah, yeah,
So after his first season he came in at number
sixty four in these rankings because they went three and nine,
two and seven. Well, then last year they go eleven
and three, make it all the way to the playoff,
win a playoff game, and for that, I'm sorry they
didn't win a playoff game. They ended up losing that
one to Texas, which they should have won. The refs
(16:40):
swallowed their whistle. Arizona State should have won that game.
That's still I was at the upstairs bar at O'shay's
about to walk over to the YOUM Center with Austin
to watch the Louisville North Carolina game when that was
going on, and Arizona State had that thing won, and
they made some mistakes on their end, but I swear
the not calling targeting was just something that still pisses
(17:03):
me off thinking about. But anyways, Dillingham has mentioned is
at number eighteen, and then I said, Brahms at seventeen,
Josh Heipel at sixteen. He has jumped up from twenty
three to sixteen. I don't have any issue with that.
And then this is where we get to guys getting
a lot of love because of where they are, like
Lance Leepold is at number fifteen.
Speaker 3 (17:24):
I can't.
Speaker 2 (17:25):
I mean, again, what's he actually done not much, but
he's not sucking complete rear end at Kansas and that
is viewed as like a big accomplishment. Chris Climbing at
Kansas State. They've got him at number fourteen. Lincoln Riley
fell and he's fallen quite a bit in the last
few years because USC he's just not gotten it done there.
(17:46):
Lane Kiffin is at number twelve, no issue with that.
Kyle Whittingham is at number eleven, and then top ten.
Matt Campbell he's at number ten, and he jumped up
fifteen spots, which Matt Campbell I kind of felt like
he was the guy that would go down as a
really good example of somebody that did not leave when
they should have left a certain job because he had
(18:09):
it rolling at Iowa State, especially, you know, at a
place that doesn't win a lot. I mean, they were,
they are one of the worst Power five programs of
all time as far as just lacking any type of success.
But with him, you know, he's won a bunch of
games there. I mean he's I mean, he's got five
(18:31):
eight win seasons at a place like Iowa State that's
pretty rare. And then last year they went eleven and three.
So I don't know how good he would do at
a specific job, but his level of success consistently is
certainly why he's in this list and I can't really
dispute it.
Speaker 3 (18:47):
Kaylen de bor Is, how do you say his name?
Is it de Boer?
Speaker 2 (18:51):
De boor Kaitlin de boor to Bor? I don't know
why I say to bow or de Boer. I don't
even know her, just met her.
Speaker 4 (18:56):
Well it's spelled like that.
Speaker 2 (18:57):
Kenna buyra drink first. But yeah, Kaylen bor is at
number nine. He dropped from number seven to number nine,
and then Brian Kelly is at number eight, James Franklin
number seven. Marcus Freeman took a big jump from number
twenty four to number six. No, I don't have any
issue with that. I think Marcus Freeman is is in
a really good spot at Notre Dame to where they
(19:18):
should not only be able to sustain success, which they
typically always have, but I think he's I mean, he's
already done more than Brian Kelly did there as far
as just you know, they're they're now in that top
tier category, not that they were far from it, but
I wouldn't be shocked if Notre Dame's in the playoff
for the foreseeable future, and then in the top five
(19:38):
Dan Lanning at number five, Steve Sarkisian at number four,
Debo Sweeney number three, Ryan Day number two, and Kirby
Smart number one. So I don't really have any issues
with that with Ryan Day. He did, in fact get
the national championship, and I'm sure that's why he's where
he's at.
Speaker 3 (19:58):
But I don't know.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
We again foolish and unfair of me to act like
he hasn't accomplished much when he just won a national championship.
But I think Ohio State is just a program that
is built to run through the Big Ten with just
way better players than everybody other than the occasional team
that ends up just having a really good year in
the Big Ten. Like I don't see at any point
(20:20):
Ohio State taking a step back in Penn State stepping
ahead of them. Michigan clearly had a good run there
with Harriball. I don't think that's going to be sustainable.
So Ryan Day could run through the Big Ten every
year and I'll still probably not give him the credit
he deserves, just because I feel like he inherited.
Speaker 3 (20:36):
I mean Ohio State.
Speaker 2 (20:38):
I mean, you could make the case that they are
the program that is in fact built for success consistently
better than anybody. I mean, they don't because they don't
have the competition in their league quite like Georgia does
in the SEC with Texas, Bama, I mean, even LSU.
I mean, the Big Ten's a good conference with really good,
(21:00):
you know, good programs with a lot of history. But
Michigan they were nowhere near competitive with Ohio State at
that top spot until the last two years of Harball.
Speaker 3 (21:11):
And to be fair, they cheated to do that.
Speaker 2 (21:13):
I mean, so yeah, and then Dabo, I don't know,
I wouldn't have had him at number three, but I
do think it's this will be a big year for
Dabo because there's now real height once again surrounding Clemson
that there hasn't been in a while. And I mean
you just mentioned to me a moment ago Austin that
Cowherd was just gassing up Clemson and Club Nick.
Speaker 3 (21:34):
So look, they're coming to Louisville next year. I can't wait.
I hope we can take them out.
Speaker 2 (21:39):
Easier said than done, But yeah, Clemson the reason I
think this will be a big year for dabbo is
because if he does actually live up to what the
expectations are, that'll be a reminder. Yeah, this guy, he
was for some reason really against the portal, but man,
he's the.
Speaker 3 (21:53):
Hell of a coach.
Speaker 2 (21:54):
But if he falls short, I think it'll be the Okay, Yeah,
this guy's best days are in the rear view because
he just really his refusal to adapt to the new
world of college football is biting him in the rear
in which I think at this point it has. But
now now there's belief that their roster has, you know,
done it the old school way to where they should
have a really good team this upcoming season. All right,
(22:15):
quick break, we'll come back on the other side. Keep
it locked right here. Coffee and Company feel about Thornton's
on Sports Talk seven.
Speaker 1 (22:19):
Ninety Now back to Coffee and Company. Fueled by Thornton's
on Sports Talk seven nine.
Speaker 2 (22:26):
Day, I mentioned wanting to get into some wagering action
tonight with the second game of the Western Conference Finals.
But I just saw somebody share a vet ticket online
that put one thousand dollars on the Pacers to win
the Eastern Conference Finals. It was futures bet. It wasn't
something made recently, and it was probably made given these odds.
(22:49):
It was probably made when the Celtics were still alive
and clearly looked like maybe the best team. But you
also have to keep in mind even I even before
the Celtics lost to the Knicks, and of course Jalen
Brunson not jelling brunts, but Jason Tatum goes down with
that Achilles' injury. You know, the Cavs with the number
one seed in the East, so you know they had
they had the best record. I mean, they probably didn't
(23:09):
have the best odds. But anyways, if you put one
thousand dollars down, which I would never bet that much money,
but hey, some people do, and this would be a
big payout because it was plus three thousand on a
one thousand dollars bet, So you bet one grand to
win thirty grand, you'd collect thirty one thousand dollars. So
I'm hopeful that that's the result. And if that's the case,
(23:31):
then this person's gonna win a lot of money.
Speaker 3 (23:33):
Also, with the College Football Playoff.
Speaker 2 (23:35):
Making a change to the seating, they're not going to
give the top four seeds to conference championships. They're just
going to see this thing directly which I forgot about
the confusion, right because you would see the college Football
Playoff rankings and then you'd see the bracket, and you
would clearly see that things don't add up. And it
was because obviously they didn't seed it the way they didn't.
(23:57):
They didn't actually put the bracket together the way it
was seated. They had the conference championships just slotted into
those the college the conference champs just slotted into those spots.
Speaker 3 (24:08):
But uh, this is what we got last year.
Speaker 2 (24:12):
Oregon one as the as the one seed in the
with a bye, Georgia is the two seed with the bye,
Boise State with a three seed is a bye, and
then Arizona State winning the Big Twelve as the four
and got a buy. Here's what it would have looked
like had they done it then the way they're going
to do it moving forward. It would have been Oregon
(24:32):
number one still, but Georgia would have been the two
with a bye, Texas would have been the three with
the bye, and then Penn State would have been the four.
And then here are the matchups we would have had
in the first round, which these would have been better
instead of getting Clemson in and UH in Texas, we
would have got Clemson in Notre Dame instead of Tennessee
(24:57):
and Ohio State. We would have got Tennessee and SMU
instead of SMU, Penn State, we would have had Ohio State,
Arizona State, and then we also would have had Boise
State in Indiana. I mean, just we'll never know who
would have won those those hypothetical games, but that would
make it make more sense like that, when you just
(25:19):
look at the hierarchy of last year's college football as
far as the top teams, that would have been a
bracket that made more sense seeing teams like Boise and
Arizona State. I mean, it's not their fault, but I
mean they I think we all knew you could make
the case then honestly, those might have been the two
worst teams in the twelve team playoff. I mean that's
(25:39):
not fair to say. And again, Arizona State gave Texas
all they wanted. Boise you know, they just they got
beat by Penn State in a close game. But yeah,
I think this is the right way to do it.
Speaker 3 (25:50):
I really do. All right, I've.
Speaker 2 (25:53):
Got somebody bumping us here in the text line as
far as asking me to somebody just bumping their text
Marillier this feek that I read where they asked me
to give my top five Louisville football and basketball players
of my lifetime before I leave next week and no
longer you know am hosting the show, and I haven't
given it a whole lot of thoughts since you texted in.
Speaker 3 (26:13):
But why the hell not.
Speaker 2 (26:14):
I'm going to give you basketball now, just because why
not consider this some last few show spontaneousness energy from
me because I'm just doing this.
Speaker 3 (26:24):
Off the cuff.
Speaker 2 (26:24):
So top five basketball players of my lifetime Again, I'm
going to change the way you requested doing it. I'm
going to do it just that I remember because there
were some players that like. For example, I've all the
one player that I have no memory of watching play
at Louisville, but I wish I could have watched him play,
because I've heard how great he was was le Bradford Smith.
(26:47):
So he graduated from Louisville in nineteen ninety one. I
was three years old, so I have no memory. But
he was really good, so technically he might be in
consideration when it comes to like my lifetime, but I
didn't watch him place I can't really, you know, I'm
just going to base it off of guys that I watched,
so consider like nineteen ninety five on. That would be
how I'm ranking them, And Austin, I'm gonna ask you,
(27:10):
should I do it based off of just dudes who
I just feel like we're that good or do it
off of guys who clearly were good but also like
had some big accomplishments with great teams, Cause that makes
it hard to put together because like, for example, Terrence Williams,
I believe, is one of the most, if not the
most talented players I've ever watched at Louisville, but you know,
(27:32):
he didn't play for a Final four team. So I'm
gonna I'm just gonna instead of overthinking and I'm just
gonna deliver, I'm going Russ number one. And it's it's
easy to say, right, I mean, yeah, Russ was part
of a national championship team, played for some of the
best teams I ever watched at Louisville, and is a
consensus All American. Russ is arguably arguably the second or
(27:55):
third best player that's ever played here, So in my lifetime,
he's certainly number one. I would say, if you're ranking
best players in Louisville basketball history, it's west Unseld Griff
and then probably Russ. So Russ is number one for me,
and then after that. This is where my my heart
(28:15):
is getting in the way a little bit because I
don't know if this is totally accurate, but I'm going
to on Wheat. I mean, that's not a crazy thing
to put out there. It's not like he's just one
of my favorite players. He was also one of my
favorite players growing up. But he was also one of
the best that's ever played here.
Speaker 4 (28:32):
In my opinion.
Speaker 2 (28:34):
I mean his I mean he ranks. He was second
in school history in scoring until Rusk passed him. He's
third and assists. He was Honorable Mentioned All American and
a third team All American in his junior and senior year.
And there was one really random stat that he had
that no, yeah, here it is Duan Wheat. He was
(28:55):
the first player in NCAA history to amass career totals
of it least two thousand points, four hundred and fifty assists,
and three hundred three point field goals, as well as
two hundred steals. I don't know if that's been done since,
but shout out to Dewan Weed. He's going number two
for me after that. This is more difficult than I
(29:18):
thought because there's gonna be guys that I leave out
that I don't want to, but I can only do
top five, So I'm going I'm gonna go Terrence Williams.
I mean, that's probably not as well some Tea will
I mean I do too. Yeah, it's again the teams
he played for. I don't think anybody would would argue
(29:38):
against that. They were really, really talented and really good.
They just fell short of a final four and back
to back seasons losing in the Elite eight. And it's
nobody's fault. It's just programs like Louisville, you know, one
of the top ten programs, top eight programs of all time.
When you think of special seasons, they usually include five
(30:00):
final four better, right, And it doesn't get much better
than a final four other than winning a national championship.
So his team accomplishments aren't there. But I just I mean,
he was by the time he called it a career
at Louisville and went to the NBA. And by the way,
it was a lottery pick. There was really no big
weakness in his game. He developed a good three point shot.
He was always a phenomenal a phenomenal passer, and as
(30:24):
good of an athlete as we've ever had.
Speaker 3 (30:26):
That's not I don't. I don't.
Speaker 2 (30:27):
I mean when it comes to Tea Will I mentioned
there was really no weakness in his game towards the end.
One thing that probably is the biggest strength he has
is he was just a He was just an athlete, man,
I mean a six to six, two hundred and twenty
pound specimen that could jump out of the gym.
Speaker 3 (30:45):
So yeah, he's uh he has.
Speaker 4 (30:50):
I think.
Speaker 2 (30:52):
He has the third triple double in Louisville basketball history.
Can you name the first to Samaki Walker had it
in the nineties with ten blocks.
Speaker 4 (31:04):
Yeah, I knew Soaki had.
Speaker 2 (31:05):
And then the other one is super random, but I
love it. A lot of people unless you just know
the randomness of this so you know it, you'd never
guess it. Ellis Miles, Okay, So yeah, I'm gonna go
Tea well just because again he was he was that good.
Speaker 4 (31:21):
And then I'm not debating it. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (31:24):
After that, this is where it gets tricky because there's
a lot of guys I could slide at four and five,
I think, right like, I could go Peyton Siva and
I don't think anybody would really fight that, right, Like
Peyton point guard on a national championship team is I
believe the only this is a cool This is a
cool fact for Peyton. I believe he's the only player
(31:49):
other than Patrick Union Patrick Ewing to be three time
Big East Tournament All First Team Wow. And in fact,
he might be. He might be the only person since
Patrick Ewing to be a two time Big East Tournament MVP,
because you remember they won it in his junior and
(32:10):
senior season, the Big East Championship, which that's a hell
of a way to go out, and then it is
and then yeah, here's what it is. It's I think
he's the only He and Patrick Ewing are the only
two players that have won Big East Tournament MVP twice
but also three time first Team All m VP. Because
when Peyton was a sophomore, Kimba beat Kimba and Yukon
(32:31):
beat Louisville in that championship game in the Big East Tournament.
But but honestly, that year, Peyton, it's gonna sound crazy
to say Peyton got the best of Kimba in that
in the season that they played, I mean in the
Big East Tournament, Kimba got the best of Louisville and
Kimba went on to win a national championship that year.
So no, no discredit to him. But Peyton as a
sophomore really was was super competitive with with Kimba. So yeah,
(32:57):
I'm going Peyton number four, and I don't I don't
really have any issue doing that. And at number five, man,
leave some people. Here's where I'm gonna leave people out
because to be honest with you, in I mean, gosh, man,
I I'll just tell you I'm not going Donovan Mitchell.
A lot of people probably would just assume that because
(33:17):
Donovan is, I mean, Donovan is the best NBA player
from Louisville ever outside of West Unsell. Like I know,
Griff had a really good career in the NBA, but
there's no doubt that Donovan's overtaken that. Yeah, Donovan has
certainly overtaken that. So, I man, this is tough. I
could go I could go Tres I could go Francisco Garcia,
(33:46):
I could go Taekwon Dean, I could go Terry Rozier.
To be honest with you, I could go I don't
think I could go Gorgy, although Gorgy was really really good.
But then again, I'm not you know, there's no there's
no big man here in my top five, right, I
got a Terrence Jennings in there for laughs, Oh man,
shout out to TJ. I'm sor right he was.
Speaker 3 (34:09):
He's one that.
Speaker 2 (34:11):
I wish would have come back for his senior year
because he would have been a nice piece to have
on that twenty twelve team. O boy, Yeah, who do
I go with number five? I mean, I think I'm
gonna go Francisco Garcia, and I don't really have any because.
Speaker 3 (34:29):
I mean, he he was.
Speaker 2 (34:30):
Really Louisville broke through first time in the Patino Era
where they had a really good team that obviously made
it all the way to a Final four, and he
was the best player on that team, although he had
a great team around him with Taekwon and Larry O
and Ellis and those guys. But I'm gonna go I'm
gonna go Francisco just because he was I mean, he
(34:51):
was really really talented, and I mean another guy that
not really sure what the weakness was. He wasn't great
laterally as far as defense, which is one of the
reasons why they went two three with that squad. But
I mean, he was a really good passer, could shoot
the lights out of it, good enough athlete, just a
really skilled player. So I'm going that's my top five.
I'm going Russ Smith, Dewan Wheat, Terrence Williams, Peyton Siva,
(35:15):
and Francisco Garcia.
Speaker 4 (35:16):
I had a bad starting five to two. Small ball.
Speaker 2 (35:18):
Yeah, play small ball. We'll shoot the hell out of it,
right Peyton See is gonna find guys to spot up.
Speaker 4 (35:23):
Of course.
Speaker 2 (35:24):
All right, let's get to a break. We'll come back
on the other side. Wrap up the four o'clock hour
right here on Sports Talk seven.
Speaker 1 (35:28):
Ninety Now back to coffee and Company, fueled by Thornton's
on Sports Talk seven nine day.
Speaker 3 (35:41):
You know, there is one player that.
Speaker 2 (35:44):
I completely forgot about in my top five Louisville basketball
players of my lifetime, or at least most of my
life from what I can remember, there was one guy
that just completely slipped my mind.
Speaker 3 (35:56):
And he was really good.
Speaker 2 (35:57):
But I don't know if I would have him in
the top fives. You could make the case that Reese
is in consideration for spots four and five, and maybe
I don't know. With Reeese, he was really good, but
I think his first two seasons, it being the last
(36:17):
two of Denny, it just did those teams weren't very good,
so they're just those like, nothing really stands out in
those two seasons other than just knowing we weren't very
good and Denny's time was probably coming to an end.
But we did have a really good player in Ree's Gains.
So I still think I would put Cisco and Peyton ahead.
But the top three, I mean, I feel I mean,
(36:38):
as far as just these guys and their ability, I mean,
I'm going I feel really good about the top three.
I think four, five, six, seven, eight. It's really just
a mixed bag as far as how you want to
order them. But here's what I think I'm gonna do
next week for football. Austin won't be here tomorrow, so
I'm gonna save this for next week. At some point
for football, I'm gonna do how about top three receivers,
(36:59):
quarter backs, running backs, and defensive players overall? Yeah, I
mean that's not necessarily fair, I guess to the defense
fun but yeah, top three, I mean, I could maybe
do top five, y'all do top five, because I mean
with quarterbacks, I mean, we all know who's going to
be at the top, but I mean we've been so
(37:20):
spoiled with great quarterbacks at Louisville, not only in the history,
but certainly like in my lifetime. We talked about that
when Tyler Shutt got drafted, because you know, he's somebody
that that really you know, you only here one year,
and obviously he's a second round draft pick and had
a really good year as far as statistics, but he
just won't be remembered quite.
Speaker 3 (37:38):
Like other guys.
Speaker 2 (37:39):
But it's just because he was here only for a season,
whereas other guys you watched him play over many, many years.
And like, somebody asked me this right after the draft,
and I didn't really know how to answer it because
I think it's almost not a fair question based off
of just the difference in their careers. But who's a
better all time Louisville quarterback Malie Cunningham or Tyler Shuck?
(37:59):
Tyler Shit, y Uh, he only played one year and
there really wasn't a monumental moment for him.
Speaker 3 (38:05):
Malie Cunningham, he.
Speaker 2 (38:06):
Played here for five years and was good individually, but
really never had any big moment. I mean, honestly, in
one year Tyler's went at Clemson, even though he wasn't
like the only reason they were good, but he clearly
had a Remember that flip he did in the end
zone against Clemson that was so cool? Oh yeah, so yeah.
I mean I didn't think it's unfair because again it's
(38:28):
a totally different situation. But if you asked me if
I could only have one quarterback of those two to
lead a team, I mean, I'm going shuck, no offense
to Malik, but I just think Shuck was I mean,
you could utilize a lot of weapons with his arm,
and whereas Malie Cunningham, he just wasn't quite And that's
really I think what sets apart good quarterbacks and really
good quarterbacks is consistency. I mean, Malik at times was
(38:51):
really accurate with his deep ball. Times he wasn't.
Speaker 3 (38:55):
Sometimes.
Speaker 2 (38:55):
I think some of the hardest plays for him to
make was what appeared to you know.
Speaker 3 (39:01):
Me And what do I know.
Speaker 2 (39:02):
I've never played quarterback at a high level, never played
quarterback at all of my life, But like you know,
he just there's certain plays that you're like, well, How
did you not hit your receiver there?
Speaker 3 (39:08):
How do you not? How do you how is it?
Speaker 2 (39:10):
How is the ball not on time? So anyways, we'll
do that next week. Well, right now, we got to
get you a break.
Speaker 3 (39:15):
We'll come back.
Speaker 2 (39:15):
We've got one long segment for you here, I believe,
is how we're going to structure it. Because we're out
early due to the Louis of bats coming up, So
we'll hit the five o'clock hour running right here on
Sports Talk seven ninety
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