1/15/25 - The Mo Egger Radio Show - Mo Egger

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
I mean football we are, This is David. You're listening
to the Home of the Bengals, ESPN fifteen third right.
I'm ready for some football right now. It'd be nice
to hear Dave Lapping call of game right now with
Dan Horde right now, or at least this weekend. But
as things are, that's not gonna happen. But hey, yeah,

(00:21):
you get me today. Good afternoon, I mowegar. You're listening
to ESPN fifteen thirty. Thank you for joining us. I
hope you're having as good of a Wednesday as we are.
Hopefully you've stayed warm, because it's really really really really
really really really really cold, really cold. I know it's
not freezer ball cold. Well, I tell you what I

(00:42):
learned this on social media today. Guy who went to
freezer ball let's tell you about it gets triggered when
you mentioned him. Show preview video is on x or
Twitter or I guess. We still haven't agreed on what
we're calling it at moegar. Thanks to Emery Federal Credit
Union in your credit Union with heart since nineteen thirty nine,

(01:04):
Gonna Emery FCU dot org. We have a lot to
get to today. Terry Nelson's gonna join us from a Boulder, Colorado,
you see, is trying to break a four game losing
streak tonight. If you're a Bearckchad fan, chances are you've
done what I've done, which is you've laid awake at
night wondering how can Wes Miller get this team playing better?

(01:25):
How can they fix it? We're gonna ask Terry Nelson
how they fix it and if they can fix it
in time for it tonight coming up at four to twenty.
Certainly looking forward to that. Rick browing on the Musketeers
and the Norse. NKU basketball plays tonight. NKU is trying
to break a two game losing streak. The Norse battle
Cleveland State this evening. Rick is going to join us

(01:47):
at three forty five on that tilt as well as
what happened last night at the Sintas Center. The Musketeers
have a lot of work to do, but Xavier basketball
this season, they've got a pulse, and they have a
pulse mainly because of Ryan Conwell. If you are looking
for examples of a college basketball player putting his or

(02:09):
her team on their shoulders and saving the season, you
saw it last night. And Xavier six point win over
Villanova last night. Ryan was awesome, and he was particularly
awesome in the second half. He had twenty eight points.
He scored thirty four for the game. He was great
from the free throw line twelve or fourteen, He was

(02:29):
great from behind the arc, and he was great when
his team needed him to be great. I thought the
most important play of the game, and I was at
the Sinta Center last night. Villanova had an eight point
lead at halftime. I thought the most important play of
the game came when it really felt like the Musketeers
were a possession or two away from letting that game

(02:52):
at home and the season slip away entirely. So Villanova scores,
Eric Dixon makes a bucket to put him up fifty
four to forty eight, and the Villanova bench was feeling it.
And it's a six point game under five to go,
not an insurmountable deficit, but the way that offensively they

(03:13):
had struggled for much of the night and the way
the season had gone, you kind of felt like, you
know what, if XU doesn't score here and Villanova can
eat some clock and score eight points, might do it.
And Ryan Caldwell or Ryan Caldwell, Ryan Conwell. Ryan Caldwell
never did this. In Xavier, Ryan Conwell catches a pass

(03:35):
from David McKnight on the right wing drains of three.
Sean Miller instantly calls time out, and it felt like
from there Xavier was off and running, Ryan Conwell was
off and running, and the Musketeers get a badly needed
home win to improve to three and four and eleven
and seven overall. Here's Sean Miller on Conwell's performance after
the game.

Speaker 2 (03:56):
That's what makes his performance I think extra special. You know,
he not only did it in the most meaningful part
of the game. I think you finished with thirteen straight points.
You know you have thirty four for the game. But
he had to overcome foul trouble. He had to overcome
actually a couple of shots in the first half. He
can't get better looks than the ones he missed, and
you know, that can really weigh on you, that can

(04:18):
weigh on your confidence. But you know, man, he really
knocked them down when we needed them, and he played
like an all Big East performer here tonight. He was
the best player on the court. I also want to
say this, there's no doubt in my mind that if
our students weren't here that we would not have won.

(04:39):
We would not have had enough energy in the building
without them to win the game. A big reason we
won the game is because of our students. I mean,
they showed up in full force. It feels like God,
two months since they've been here, we missed them. We've
missed them in some games where we haven't played well.
But they inspired our group. They give us that home

(04:59):
court advantage that I think everybody associates with Xavier Basketball,
Cintas Center in the Big East, and we are very,
very grateful to have them back in the spring semester,
and I want to thank them for making a big
difference in tonight's game.

Speaker 1 (05:15):
Sean Miller after the game last night, his team now
eleven and seven. They are far from home free. They
are far from looking like a team that right now,
if the bracket was coming out, would have its name
on it. But it feels like, in part because of
how they took care of business against the Paul and
in part because of Ryan Conwell's performance last night, that

(05:36):
they've got a pulse. Now. The bad news is they're
about to begin Here's the word right we use it,
I think in college basketball more than any other sport.
The gauntlet. The gauntlet for the Musketeers includes on Saturday,
a road game against Marquette, a Marquette team that had

(05:57):
a much more difficult time than anybody would have imagined
against a Paul on the road last night, winning in
overtime and coming back from a big deficit by two points.
But still it's it's Marquette, a team that as of
right now, has yet to lose in the league, A
team that had its way with Xavier for about thirty
three minutes before XU came back in that game and
got a tough whistle at the end. Needless to say,

(06:20):
a road til det Marquette extraordinarily difficult. They follow that
up This is the teeth of the Big Ee schedule
for the Musketeers. They follow that up with a game
on the road against Saint John's. They follow that up
with a home game against Yukon. Their next three games
will come against opponents that have beaten them. Oh, and
then they have to go to Creighton, which is obviously

(06:41):
not going to be easy either. So the good news
the bad news is they're gonna go through a gauntlet here.
The good news is lots of opportunities for really, really,
really good wins. Their season will be decided, I feel,
and I don't think I'm really uncovering any new ground here.
Their season will be decided by how they play in
these next four games. But you can at least entertain

(07:04):
that possibly happening and being the case because of how
they took care of business last night. Unbelievable performance by
Ryan Conwell and Ashan Miller said precisely in the game
and in the season when Xavier basketball needed it. That's terrific.
So I I will talk more about this with Ric

(07:28):
Boring coming up at three forty five. I watched Ryan
Conwell do what I think a lot of college basketball
fans should ask, or have asked, or will be asking.
Can a player on their team do what Ryan Conwell
did last night. Don't get mad at me for doing this,

(07:49):
but fling it over to the Bearcats who played tonight
having lost four straight games, looking for a win to
save their season or a win to get their season
back on track. I fully believe that there are some
winnable games in the Big Twelve in front of them,
including a game tonight against Colorado, who has lost four
straight in the league. Now, a Colorado team that has

(08:10):
a win against Yukon, but a Colorado team that has
lost four straight in the league zho and four just
like you see. And I think something like winning six
of the next nine is doable. And if the Bearcats
can do that, they're sixteen to eight. They'll have a
puncher's chance. They're then gonna have back to back road
games Iowa State and West Virginia. Those are gonna be tough,

(08:32):
but they do finish with four or five on the road.
Forget that, forget six out of nine, forget the later
part of the schedule. Win a basketball game, win a
basketball game. How about win a basketball game? How about
score more than fifty points? How about score more than
forty points? Can you see do that tonight? Watching this
team over the last couple of weeks, really watching this
team since the beginning of the season, I think a

(08:53):
lot of us have asked, I know a lot of
us have asked, who's the guy, who's the guy that
can well say, get my back, I'll get us a bucket,
Get on my back, I'll get us a win, Get
on my back, I'll save the season. Do the Bearcats
have someone who can do what Ryan Conwell did last

(09:15):
night against an okay Villanova team at home if needed tonight,
same set of circumstances. Right less than five minutes to go,
they're down six, the game is about to slip away,
and if you lose tonight five straight losses. Is there

(09:36):
somebody who can do what Ryan Conwell did last night?
By the way, Ryan in the second half was awesome
before the five minute mark, keeping the team alive, keeping
the team oftentimes at least at arm's length. Do the
Bearcats have somebody who could do that? We might not
get that answer tonight. They may play a great team

(09:57):
game and have like four guys and double figures, nobody
has to carry them and they win the game convincingly,
and all's good in bear Cat Land. But at some
point this season, doesn't it feel like they're gonna need
somebody who says, in effect, jump on my shoulders. I
got us, jump on board, boys, I'll win this one

(10:19):
for us. Is there anybody who can do for you?
See what Ryan Conwell did for Xavier last night? So
far at best, I think the answer is, I don't know.
Do we get that answer tonight? Do we need to

(10:40):
get that answer tonight, and if we don't get it tonight,
when will we Our phone numbers are five point three
seven four nine, fifteen thirty and eight sixty six seven
oh two three seven seven six broadcasting from the ESPN
fifteen thirty made Well Restoration Studios, thanks to our friends
that made Well Restoration. If you're looking at your house

(11:02):
and it's been covered in snow now for over a
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Good to Madewell Restoration dot com. Uh, we have a
lot of ground to cover. Terry Nelson had just over
an hour. Five point three seven four nine fifteen thirty
is our phone number. I like listening to Sincy three sixty.

(11:25):
It's so much more fun doing this show with a
good local show on before us, not just any local show,
but a good one. And as you probably know, for
years we had a you know, an ESPN show or
a syndicated show on before us. Some of those shows good,
but rarely were they talking about the things most important
to you and I Cincinnati, and then we started Sincy

(11:48):
three sixty. When James or Pene worked here full time
and it was an hour show, and then when James left,
Tony took it over and it was an hour show,
and then it was a two hour show and ultimately
became a very good three hour show. I love it
for a lot of different reasons, not the least of
which is sometimes those guys give me things that now
I want to talk about, like the Zach Taylor thing,

(12:09):
and so I'll do that coming up in just a bit.
There's something I don't believe the Bengals are gonna do U.
And it's not because I have a lot of faith
in them, and it's not because I have a lot
of distrust when it comes to the Bengals. It's it's
because for years I've been told that they're this one thing.

(12:30):
I'll tell you what it is next on ESPN fifteen thirty,
Cincinnati sports station. Uh you miss anything on this show,
I don't know what you're doing. It's so damn important.
You can always go to the iHeartRadio app or go
to my page at ESPN fifteen thirty dot com. Podcasts
of this show are a service of a Long Neck
Sports grow with three incredible locations in northern Kentucky. You

(12:53):
got Wilder, you got Hebred and Richwood. There's always a
good time waiting for you at Long Next. I just
made that up. That sounds like like they should put
that in a commercial. I just made that up. There's
always a good time waiting for you. Somebody could steal that.
I might have to trademark that there's always a good
time waiting for you. On ESPN fifteen thirty go to
Long Next, wild are hebren and Richwood and watch sports

(13:15):
and eat stuff and drink beer. You could also put
that in a commercial. Watch sports, eat stuff, and drink
eat food, not just eat stuff. The Wings are awesome
at long Things, all right. Twenty three minutes after three o'clock.
Danner Paul Danner Junior yesterday on a whole bunch of
different things, the search for a defensive coordinator, and I
think some good conversations about some of the free agents

(13:38):
the Bengals have to make decisions on, and a lot
of good stuff yesterday with Paul, and the free agents
we talked about were not T Higgins, although it is
really hard to talk about the Bengals offseason without spending
a lot of time on T Higgins. No It's interesting

(13:58):
over the last couple of weeks, really is the T
Higgins thing whatever? When Joe Burrow in early December decided
to throw gasoline over the really was the smoldering T
Higgins topic, something we hadn't talked about a munch and
then you know, turns it into a thing and a
theme in the last month of the season, his desire
to see Tea back with the Bengals, and he described

(14:21):
him as a need. And now it's changed the conversation
where what was once thought to be an inevitability, which
was te leaving, feels like something that could very well happen.
Tea coming back. If that makes sense. I hope it does.
What's interesting about this is you're gonna find folks who,
let's say, the Bengals announced we are signing T Higgins,

(14:46):
but terms of the deal aren't immediately disclosed, and they
still haven't gotten the Jamar Chase deal done, which they
could do today if they really really wanted to, and
they haven't announced Joe Burrow doing any sort of restructure.
You will find people who instantly either say the Bengals
are spending irresponsibly or well, wonder well, god, what are

(15:11):
they gonna do with all the other positions, and you know,
I'll tell you what this is. Just, this is haphazard,
This isn't gonna work financially. And maybe those people are right.
But here's what I've come to understand about the Bengals
over the course of following this team and rooting for
this franchise for four decades. They're often accused of being cheap.

(15:35):
They're often accused of being frugal. Now, I don't really
think when it comes to player payroll they're cheap or frugal.
I think they're careful with their money, diligent about who
and who they don't invest in, and sometimes to their detriment,
oftentimes the things they decide to do financially or choose
to not decide to do financially, oftentimes those things come

(15:58):
back to haunt them. But I don't think anybody would
ever accuse the Cincinnati Bengals, the Bengals of being fast
and loose with money, of spending irresponsibly, of just throwing
money around and doing it with no regard to how

(16:20):
it's going to impact other areas of the organization. Right,
it's the Bengals, So why should I be overly concerned
that if t Higgins is a Bengal next season that
it's going to throw them into financial chaos. If there's

(16:40):
one thing the Bengals are exceptionally good at, its handling
their finances. You know, you could take the conversation to
other places speaking to Paul Danner has a piece today
about some cuts the Bengals can make to save money
against the It's a really good read. There are some

(17:01):
players that I think we are expecting to not be
here next year, like Sheldon Rankins and like Alex Kappa,
and then maybe some players that you can make a
case for moving on from or restructuring. Sam Hubbard would
be one of those players. Jermaine Pratt would be one
of those players. And if you do that, you have
a heck of a lot more money than you already
have to spend on players next year. But like, if

(17:24):
there's one thing the Bengals are good at, it's balancing
the books. Like they're pretty good at that. And let's
be honest, man, as much criticism as you want to
throw their way, they've usually been pretty good at it.
When it comes to not being in salary cap hell,
not having a lot of dead money. I think Paul

(17:45):
pointed out today in ten to the last twelve years
they've been among the best teams in the league and
not having a lot of dead money, Like there are
good arguments for or against whatever that dollar figure is,
using it on t Higgins and using it elsewhere, because
the Bengals do have so many different areas to fix.
But once they decide here's what we're doing with this

(18:08):
amount of money, it's the Bengals when it comes to
how they handle their money. I kind of trust them.
They've earned that trust. Now. They've obviously not made a
ton of player payroll decisions with what Joe Burrow is
going to be making moving forward, occupying such a large
chunk of money and a large percentage of overall player payroll.

(18:31):
But you can't say, I think, at least you can't
say in one breath, well, the Bengals are frugal and
they're cheap and they're a little bit too tight with money,
and then worry about how well if they signed T
Higgins financially, it's just gonna throw them at a whack, Like,
I don't think those two things mesh. If there's one
thing the Bengals do and do consistently and have done

(18:53):
for decades since before Paul Brown died. It's when they
make a decision about what to do with a lot
of money. That decision is made after a lot of
deep thought. It's made carefully, and so I worry about

(19:14):
can do Tobin identify the right players to draft and
to acquire and to keep and to maybe give larger
roles too, and to retain and let go, Like that's
that's fair. Roster construction. Roster construction was an issue this year.
But like I just I feel like if t Higgins

(19:34):
is a Bengal in twenty twenty five, and I know
we've talked about this a lot, but if he is
a Bengal in twenty twenty five, he's only going to
be a Bengal in twenty twenty five. If it makes
financial sense for the Bengals. Could that involve a restructure
of Joe's deal perhaps? Could it involve maybe Jamar taking
a little bit less perhaps, Could it involve team maybe

(19:55):
taking a little bit less. I don't know, I would
none of us know the answer to any of those questions.
But what we do know is the Bengals have a
track record of making good careful financial decisions. So I
don't really fear that if they signed T. Higgins, oh
my god, financially, chaos is gonna rain, because that's not

(20:16):
what has come to define this franchise. What has come
to define this franchise, at least in part, and at
times for good reasons, and maybe at times for some
not so good reasons, is when they might when they
make financial decisions, they do so very very carefully. They
do not spend discriminately, They do not spend irresponsibly. I

(20:36):
do three point thirty ESPN fifteen thirty, are your phone
calls are coming up? Five one three seven four nine
fifteen thirty and eight sixty six seven oh two three
seven seven six. I do want to talk about T
a little bit more later on, because you know what
the Bengals. We said the Bengals shouldn't do a couple
of weeks ago, they've done again. Rick Boring on XU

(20:58):
and NKU coming up in just about fifteen minutes on
ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati Sports Station thirty. You know, speaking
of the Reds, they have a caravan stop coming to
the Roberts Center in Wilmington, Wednesday, January twenty second a
week from today. It's free and it's open to the public.
Scheduled players and celebrities will include Brett Souter and Andrew Abbott,

(21:20):
Marty Brenneman, Del Castellini, catching coordinator Corky Miller, and most
importantly mister Red Legs at the Roberts Center in Wilmington.
And then you can go to Ralse American Grill and
hang out there too, get a cold.

Speaker 3 (21:33):
One.

Speaker 1 (21:34):
That's going to be at six thirty, free and open
to the public. Are we are we getting guys from
the caravan? Is that happening this year? That's always a
highlight of winter sports. Headlines are a service of Kelsey
Chevrolet home of lifetime power train protection and guarantee credit
approval from their family to yours for life Kelsey chev

(21:54):
dot Com. College Basketball Tonight U see in Colorado in
a battle of teams looking for their first Big twelve
win this season. Nine o'clock is your tip off on
seven hundred Wow Bearcats, coming off back to back performances
where they failed to score more than forty eight points.
MKU was on the road tonight against Cleveland State. Pregame
for that one starts at six thirty right here on

(22:17):
ESPN fifteen thirty. Also tonight, Dayton battles George Mason, the
Flyers trying to break a two game losing skid themselves hockey.
This evening, the Cyclones skate against Utah Downtown puck drops
at seven thirty. I was talking about T Higgins before.
When I say before, I mean last segment, not like
every other day for the last five or six weeks.

(22:40):
Joe Burrow wants T Higgins back. And when Joe said
he wants T Higgins back, there's been a lot of
folks who want T Higgins back, right because why, well,
Joe wants him back. And then like, legitimately that might
be very good reasoning, but you have a lot of
folks who kind of pivoted to really want to come
back once Joe said I want t back. Why because

(23:04):
Joe should get what he wants. I think there's a
limit to that. Does that limit include Joe's stated desire
about a head coach? Here's what I wonder. I'm the
first to admit I don't feel that strongly about Zach Taylor.
I'll also acknowledge that that might be the biggest indictment
against Zach Taylor, a head coach has been around for

(23:25):
six years and has had successes and failures. By now,
I guess I should feel strongly about him. I do fear,
and I think it's a legitimate fear, based on his
overall body of work that game situational football, game management,
that that stuff could cost them at precisely the worst time.

(23:47):
I mean, it almost did in that game against the
Denver Broncos that essentially extended their season. They overcame the
game mismanagement, but can you imagine what it would have
sounded like and what it would have felt like had
they lost that game because Zach Taylor chose to leave
too much time on the clock. Instead, t Higgins bailed

(24:09):
him out. I do fear that, in a situation with
a lot riding on it, a playoff game, a championship,
a Lombardi Trophy, that there's going to be a decision
made by this head coach that cost them the game.

(24:29):
I fear that because the thing that I have focused
on most in terms of criticism, and I'm the first
to give Zach Taylor a lot of credit for a
lot of different things, and I mentioned them some of
them before with Tony and Austin. You know, getting Jake
Browning up to speed last year when he had never
played a down of meaningful football in the NFL. That's

(24:50):
really good coaching. Sitting down every day and designing an
offense that functions around a terrible offensive line in the
playoff run to the Super Bowl a couple of years ago,
that's torrific coaching. Getting a rookie quarterback ready to play
game number one with no preseason and play at a
pretty decent level. That's good coaching, especially when you're teaching
the offense while he's sitting at his parents' basement or

(25:11):
living room in Athens, Ohio. So I'm the first to admit, man,
there are some things about Zach Taylor that are really
good that I really like, that have had a hand
in this team's success over the last couple of years.
That said, I've often spent time on this show, in
this studio into this microphone talking about situational football, game management,

(25:34):
micro decision making, stuff like that. But at the end
of the day, like if Zach Taylor, when we found
out that Zach is coming back, which I think we
all knew, but when the season ended and they didn't
do anything with Zach Taylor, I kind of felt like okay,
And had they decided we're moving on, I would have
felt like, yeah, okay, I just I don't I'll feel

(25:57):
that strongly about him. I feel strongly about a handful
of things. I don't feel that strongly either way. But
here's what I wonder for those who are convinced Zach's
not the guy and they would be better moving on,
which is a reasonable viewpoint to hold if you feel
that way, What if Joe Burrow came out and emphatically,

(26:18):
not by being asked a question, not in passing, not
with a few nice words, but emphatically endorsed Zach Taylor
the way he's endorsed T Higgins Like that to me
is what would be interesting. I you know, Joe has
come out on like four different occasions since December the
ninth and stated publicly and emphatically, with no gray area

(26:43):
at all, I want T Higgins back. And because of that,
you have a lot of folks, maybe not the majority,
but a lot of folks who are nodding along, going, hell, yeah,
Joe wants T I want ta. What if Joe did
that with Zach? And I'm talking about like going to
the end of the earth for Zach Taylor. That's bringing

(27:05):
him back as a need. I want him. He should
be the coach. I don't want to play for anybody else.
Then what's the reaction Again, Joe has said a lot
of really good things about Zach and their working relationship,
and I get the sense he likes playing for him,
and maybe that goes a long way. But we've talked
a lot about Joe's clout and Joe flexing his muscle.

(27:27):
What if he did that with his head coach. Many
have said, well, what if Joe came out and said
I want a different head coach? Well, then I think
we would all say, yes, go get it done. But whatever,
whoever it is, get it done. What if he did
the opposite? What if he did the opposite at the
end of a losing season, which Zach hasn't had since
twenty twenty. You tell me. Rick Boring joins US next

(27:52):
ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports.

Speaker 4 (27:54):
Station Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty. Traffic from the.

Speaker 5 (28:00):
UC Health Traffic Center. Don't let injuries slow you down.
The UC help orthopedics and sports medicine experts can help
keep you moving schedule a same day appointment at UCHealth
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(28:22):
left turn lane. And on Winton Road, an accident at
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Speaker 1 (28:29):
This report is sponsored by Rapid Radios. Rapid Radios are
instant push to talk walkie talkies offering national lt cover
get away from for this is ESPN fifteen thirty. Stick
around as soon as we're done, not as soon as
we're done. You get you get a half hour of
ESPN Radio and then and then we flip it over
to NKU Basketball in the Norse taken on Cleveland State tonight,

(28:52):
Rick Broring, we'll have that game along with Jim Kelch
tip off at seven o'clock. Rick joins us on Wednesday's
Musketeer Report, KU Radio, the Skinny Podcast, and the proprietor
of a great Facebook page as well.

Speaker 6 (29:06):
Hi, Rick, I appreciate that Facebook shout ut, No, how.

Speaker 1 (29:10):
Are you I'm doing I'm doing well. I said this
last week I'm enjoying the Facebook posts. Please keep them up,
thank you, sir, I certainly will. Yeah, thank you very much. Hey,
Ryan Conwell's good.

Speaker 6 (29:24):
Yeah, how about that? I mean that was type of
performance I think Xavier fans have been waiting for from him.
There's been those end of game situations in TCU, Cincinnati, Yukon, Marquette,
even Georgetown to some extent, although that was more of
a game where they were down the whole way and
trying to fight their way back into it. But each
of those games it felt like, who is the guy

(29:45):
for this team? We expected it to be Ryan Conwell,
but he just couldn't seem to come up big in
those clutch moments at the end of those games. But man,
he was fantastic in this game against Villanova. The entire
second half. He really was on fire. And and he
scored thirteen of Veger's final fourteen points in the game.
So if that's not clutch in the end of game situations,

(30:06):
I don't know what is.

Speaker 1 (30:07):
They're down six under five to go, he makes a three.
If that doesn't go, I think Villanova wins. And it's
a different story today. And so Ryan Conwell was awesome,
But You're not going to get twenty eight and a
half in the second half from him every single game.
And so now they go into a gauntlet, three of
the next four away from home against teams. They haven't
played Creyton yet, but they've lost a Marquette, they've lost

(30:28):
to Saint John's, They've lost to Yukon. Then they have
to go to Omaha and played Creaton. Then they have
to play at home of Georgetown team that beat them.
What have we what's been encouraging about these two victories
they've gotten that can make fans feel like they can
somehow sidestep what they have in front of them the
next four or five games.

Speaker 6 (30:47):
Well, I think the biggest thing is the second half
of that Saint John's game, the way it ended, and
we talked about this last week. You have your coach
talking about a lack of effort and you have Booze
raining down in the Cintas Center. I mean, I've been
covering the team for fifteen years, mo Andre' that's twice
now that that's happened really in that way, and the
last time they changed coaches when it happened. So not

(31:09):
that Xavier is anywhere near that point. Right now. But
my only point there is that so that to start
happening on January seventh, you start wondering, like, what is
the rest of the season going to look like?

Speaker 1 (31:19):
Because we still have fifteen games to play.

Speaker 6 (31:21):
And the way they turned it around, the bounce back
win against Apaul was good to see, especially on the road.
But then the win against Villanova, who had been playing well.
You know, they beat Cincinnati, they beat Yukon, They've they've
had some nice wins recently, and people were thinking pretty
highly of this Villanova team with the way they've been playing.
To get that win last night, I thought really said
something about this the way this team has responded Now,

(31:44):
I think Villanova is one of the teams that Xavier
matches up best against in the Big East because Villanova
is not as athletic. They don't have I mean, Eric
Dixon is fantastic, but he's more of a finesse, perimeter
oriented front court player, and they don't have as much
scoring firepower are in their front court that's going to
dominate you on the offensive glass like Saint John's, where
it's going to post you up a lot, like you

(32:06):
know Creighton might with Ryan Kulkbrenner or something like that.
So it's going to be interesting to see how they
handle some of these other pressure defenses like Marquette and
like Saint John's that they haven't fared well against over
the next few games. But I will say the four
games you mentioned coming up here that are going to
be really difficult. I do think the team they looked
best against and that they match up best against was Yukon,

(32:28):
and they have them at home. So maybe if you
can steal the one against Yukon and then you find
a way to win one of the other three games
on the road, I think as a Xavior fan, you
feel really good about that well.

Speaker 1 (32:37):
And you mentioned Dixon he had an eighteen point night.
I felt like it was a quiet eighteen points and
certainly relative to some of the games that he has had.
You mentioned you see he had a great game against
U see he wasn't necessarily efficient, and again it was
kind of a quiet eighteen points. What did you make
of their collective defensive effort against Eric Dixon?

Speaker 6 (32:56):
That was really impressive and I think Sean Miller called
that out too, and postgame press conference that that was
a big key to their win.

Speaker 1 (33:02):
It wasn't an overall.

Speaker 6 (33:04):
Great defensive performance from Xavier in terms of like their
points per possession efficiency number. But I think you can
go one of two ways against this Villanova team. You
can either decide we're going to let Eric Dixon get
his and make sure nobody else goes off against us
and hope we can outscore Eric Dixon.

Speaker 1 (33:19):
Five on one.

Speaker 6 (33:20):
Or you can say we're not going to let Eric
Dixon win and we're going to make anybody else on
that team beat us and see how it plays out
from there. Xavier chose option number two last night. They
double teamed him throughout the entire game. They got the
ball out of his hands or forced him into tough
jump shots, and I think that frustrated him. You know,
you mentioned at eighteen points it came on sixteen shots.

(33:41):
That's why it felt like it was quiet because he
wasn't making a lot of shots throughout the game. He
wasn't very efficient, and when he averages twenty five points
per game, holding him to eighteen is pretty good defense.
So they gave up thirty eight percent from three point range,
but it wasn't a ton of threes. They didn't get
absolutely killed from beyond the arc. So overall, I thought
it was a really good defensive game plan by Sean

(34:01):
Miller and his coaching staff and well executed by the players.

Speaker 1 (34:04):
Rick Boring Musketeer Report dot Com on x at Rick
Boring on Facebook at Rick Boring Tonight you'll hear him
with Jim Kelch on the call as NKU plays Cleveland
State on the road. That is as frustrated and as
exasperated as I have heard Darren Horn after an upset
loss at home and a lopsided one to Oakland on
Saturday night. What happened against the Grizzlies.

Speaker 6 (34:28):
Yeah, I mean, I think Oakland's matchup zone gave nk
U some real problems on the offensive and so that's
the first thing that fans are going to notice. But
from Darren Horn's perspective, I think the reason that he
was so frustrated with that performance was the lack of physicality,
the lack of toughness. NKU was dominated on the offensive
glass in that earth when they were on defense. Oakland

(34:49):
dominated them on the offensive glass and with second chance
points in that game, and that is not something that's
happened to them a lot this season, and it's not
something Oakland's particularly good at necessarily, so it was discouraging
to see them respond like that in the second half
when they were down at home, and I think that's
what really got to him. So NKU and Cleveland State
have played nothing but thrillers over the last two years.

(35:12):
They played five games during that span. All of them
have come down to the final possession. Whether it be
here in Cleveland, or whether it be in Highland Heights,
or whether it be in Indianapolis in the conference tournament.
All of them have come down to one possession. So
I'm expecting NK you to bounce back here tonight with
a really intense performance, and I wouldn't be surprised if
this is another close one between them in Cleveland State.

Speaker 1 (35:33):
Seven o'clock is tip off pregame at six point thirty.
Will you do like a Facebook postgame recap?

Speaker 6 (35:39):
Sure you want me to?

Speaker 1 (35:40):
I ask, what do you want me to? I'll do anything.
I have enjoyed your commentary. Facebook sucks, man. I'm just
like people get mad at Twitter. I look at Facebook.
The only thing I see on Facebook are people talking
about politics and announcing that someone died. So your Facebook
page when I go on that app, is. It's it's
like a beacon of hope on an otherwise dark horizon

(36:04):
of ugliness. And so yes, I want more of your
content on that particular social media app.

Speaker 6 (36:11):
All right, well, you know what, each week, why don't
we just come up with one piece of content that
you or your listeners give me to do on Facebook
and I'll just do that for you guys like that
would be a great way for me to generate more content.

Speaker 1 (36:21):
I'm writing this down, putting this down. Next one. Am
I here? Next man? Next Wednesday, Rick Facebook stuff. Okay,
very good. It's a homework assignment for me. That'll turn
into a homework assignment for you. Have a great call tonight, man,
thanks so much, Thanks Bo. That's Rick boring again. Tonight
six thirty. He and Jim Kelch have NKU on the
road against Cleveland State. Norse have lost consecutive games. Taking

(36:45):
on and Rick's right, the Norris and Cleveland State have
played in some very good games over the years.

Speaker 3 (36:50):
NK.

Speaker 1 (36:50):
You will be back at home for Wright State on Saturday,
and then a home game against Milwaukee next week. And
of course, get Rick's coverage of the Musketeers at Musketeerreport
dot com. You see plays the night the Bearcats on
the road against Colorado. Terry Nelson's going to join us
from Boulder, which is a beautiful city that is coming

(37:11):
up in just about twenty five minutes. My name is Moegar.
Your phone calls are coming up. On ESPN fifteen thirty,
Cincinnati Sports Station, United Heartland Insurance and point A one
thousand dollars. Enter this nationwide keyword on our website.

Speaker 7 (37:25):
Green.

Speaker 1 (37:26):
That's green. Enter it now, not with an E ATPM.

Speaker 8 (37:35):
What's up?

Speaker 1 (37:36):
It's uh three minutes after four o'clock. You get like
a free two minutes here? How about that free two
minutes for you? On ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 8 (37:46):
Did you get out?

Speaker 1 (37:46):
Guess answer? I got this. I don't Taran, I don't
know who Dean's Dean Simon is. Tarren just sent me
this story about how the Knicks could acquire Steph Curry
for Jalen Brunson, and it could happen. I don't know
who Dean Simon is. I don't know if Dean Simon's

(38:08):
like a well known MBA writer. I don't know. There
are a lot of things in life that could happen.
Sidney Sweeney could show up at the radio station today
and sit here in the studio and do the last
sixty minutes of the show with me. That could happen.
I'm not betting on it, but it could. You can't
say it cannot, so we will see. Yes, thank you.
I skimmed through that during the last forty five seconds

(38:31):
or so of that break. Speaking of basketball, not pro basketball,
college troops. You see Colorado tonight. Terry Nelson will be
on the call with that for that game with Dan Horde.

Speaker 8 (38:42):
No.

Speaker 1 (38:42):
I yelled Dan's name. That is going to be at
four to twenty. Look forward to that. Let's see. Brian
is calling from Marymont. You're on ESPN fifteen thirty. Brian,
How are you Ben?

Speaker 9 (38:55):
Oh?

Speaker 1 (38:55):
Sorry?

Speaker 7 (38:56):
Says it? Does?

Speaker 1 (38:56):
Say Ben? Does it says Ben? The guy's name is Ben.
I look at Ben and saw Brian. Not only can
I not read a clock, I can't read simple one
syllable names. Sorry, Ben? How are you very good?

Speaker 8 (39:09):
How you doing?

Speaker 1 (39:10):
I've been better, Ben, because I couldn't read your name correctly.
So somehow save this show?

Speaker 8 (39:16):
Now?

Speaker 7 (39:17):
What do you think about the defensive coordinator search?

Speaker 8 (39:19):
She was the third hire.

Speaker 1 (39:22):
What do I think about the search? As of right now. Yeah, Well,
I think it's I think it's interesting that we've seen
the name Al Golden a lot and Al Golden is
still working, And since he is still working and the
Bengals haven't hired anybody yet, I'm left to assume that

(39:44):
there is at least a chance that he ends up
being the guy. I don't know if he should be
considered the favorite. We had on Kelsey Conway last week,
who does a good job covering the team for the
Cincinnati Inquirer, and she seemed to believe that there was
a lot of validity to the thought that Al Golden
had a very good chance to be the defensive coordinator.

(40:05):
I could see pros and cons to that, but beyond that,
I'm just kind of waiting to see what they do.
I am a little bit more interested in what they
do with the personnel on defense, and if they do
something with Trey Hendrickson this offseason, then I am who
the defensive coordinator is. But I'll certainly acknowledge that is
a very important hire.

Speaker 10 (40:25):
You bet Troy's back at you.

Speaker 1 (40:28):
My guess is he is back, yes, But you know,
think of all the different things they could do here.
They could extend them, which would kind of fly in
the face of what they typically do with players once
they hit thirty. Trey will be thirty one by the
end of next season. It's certainly it's certainly valid if

(40:50):
you believe that he stands very little chance of playing
as well as he did this past season. They could
let things play out and tell him we're not going
to extend you, and you're going to come back and
play this season. And if you do that, I don't
think Trey would miss games, But would he do a
hold out? Would he do a hold in? Would he

(41:11):
not show up for OTAs and things like that for
a team that is I think desperate to avoid an
abnormal offseason, if you will, I don't know if that
is the best strategy. They could also choose to trade him,
and I don't think that's the strongest likelihood, but I'll
promise you that they've at least talked about it. Hey,

(41:33):
we have a player who could get us in return
some good draft capital, who's we're probably not going to
re sign, whose value has never been higher, and so
we need a lot of pieces in order to fix
our defense, and so we'll let Trey walk. My guess
is he is back, whether or not that's with a
year added to his contract, I have no idea, but

(41:56):
I do think he represents the most interesting offseason dynamic
because he's the one guy you could flip for draft capital.
He is under contract for next year, unlike t Higgins,
and there's certainly a good argument that can be made
that it makes sense to extend him for a year.
And maybe Trey Hendrickson is looking for more than that,
and maybe he's looking for more money this season. I

(42:18):
don't know, but he is a name that we are
gonna be mentioning a lot this offseason.

Speaker 6 (42:23):
We need to stop having ab normal offseasons, don't we?

Speaker 1 (42:27):
We do?

Speaker 8 (42:28):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (42:29):
I mean, you know training camp this year. You know,
I love Jamar Chase. But the Jamar Chase thing became
a thing, and it became a thing all the way
up until the hour or two right before the first
game of the season. Is he gonna practice? Uh, well
he is. He practiced, but now he's not gonna practice.
He's there, but he's not practicing. Is he gonna play

(42:51):
in the first game? Is he gonna not play in
the I mean, that was a thing, and it had
for the most part of a happy resolution for everybody
because came back and he played and he was awesome
this season. But you can't tell me that what that
thing was productive toward the goal of getting off to
a good start this This team had a relatively noisy

(43:15):
offseason last year, with Trey Hendrickson asking for a trade
and with t Higgins asking for a trade. I think
they need as least noisy an offseason as possible and
a very focused training camp because they have to do
whatever they can to avoid starting zero to two again.

Speaker 8 (43:34):
I totally agree.

Speaker 7 (43:35):
So that's all I have.

Speaker 1 (43:38):
And great minds, thank you very much.

Speaker 9 (43:39):
Like I.

Speaker 1 (43:41):
Think that's I think that's a big deal this coming season.
I think that's a big deal. Like there was a
lot of noise around the Bengals this offseason. Now, I
think the Bengals screwed up the Jamar Chase thing because
I think they should have gotten a deal done. I
do not understand why it would have been so hard
for them to say to Jamar Chase, Hey, we got

(44:04):
through all of training camp negotiating and now let's violate
our own policy about signing players or negotiating with players
once the season begins and go ahead and call him
up during the first off day of the season and
finish it and get it done. And instead they've kind
of put themselves at the mercy of Jamar, who had

(44:26):
an even better season this year and whose value as skyrocketed.
But regardless of how you feel about the Bengals role
in that, this past training camp, that was the story. Now,
Jamar was there and he was going through meetings, and
he was doing the bare minimum to avoid getting fined,
and I don't think he was, you know, being openly

(44:49):
being a distraction or causing a disruption, but that thing
became the theme of camp, and I I certainly believe
that that thing not being a thing during camp would
have been nice. Would that have guaranteed they start two
and oh or three and oh or at least win

(45:10):
their first game? Of course not. But there was a
lot of noise around the team during the off season
with the t Higgins thing and with the Trey Hendrickson thing,
and then camp started and a lot of noise about
Jamar Chase and none of that noise helped the ultimate
goal of winning. And then they've had off seasons where
you know, Jesse Bates a couple of years ago that

(45:32):
was a thing during training camp, and obviously all the
different Joe Burrow issues with an appendectomy and the wrist
and different injuries the calf two years ago, like a
lot of different things. I think what you're hoping for
this coming training camp, there are gonna be issues that
pop up during the offseason. They're gonna be players who leave,
and maybe it's somewhat controversial, and they're gonna be players

(45:53):
who they try to get in free agency who they
don't get, and maybe a player who leaves pops off
on social media. Maybe another player asked for a trade.
Maybe Trey Hendrickson asked for a trade. But I think
when when it comes time to get down to the
business of preparing for the season, it would be great
if Tony Pike goes to every training camp practice and
does hourly reports with us, right, I would love for

(46:16):
the overwhelming majority of those conversations to be about football
and what's actually happening in practice, and what's happening on
the field, and maybe what happened on the field during
a preseason game instead of all the other stuff that
seemed to dominate the conversation. Now, you know, we had
those conversations because that's what people were talking about. But

(46:37):
the Jamar Chase thing, and again, like, I don't think
Jamar was wrong. I think the Bengals mishandled it. But
you know, they have their way of doing things, and
it's been their way of doing things for a while.
But the Jamar Chase thing last summer became such a
thing that I think it's fair to wonder did it
get in the way of preparing for the season. The

(46:59):
answer should not be yes, but you can't say that
it definitively is yes or no. I just want this
year to be an offseason and a training camp where
there aren't that many things. But the Trey Hendrickson issue,
like I've talked about it a lot here over the
last couple of weeks. On one hand, you go, Trey

(47:19):
Hendrickson is a good player, they don't have enough good players.
Pay him, reward them, give him one year contract extension.
Is Trey going to say no to that because he's
looking to get to free agency? I don't know. I
don't know. Here's why I do no. Last year, Trey
Hendrickson wasn't thrilled with his contract status. More money, more years.

(47:41):
I'm gonna guess things haven't changed in that regard, and
he's probably now even less happy with his contract status.
So you can extend him, and maybe they do that,
and you could extend him for a whole bunch of years,
which I don't think they'll do. You could add one
more year to the deal, but like, what is that
gonna look like financially, because chances are it's gonna be

(48:03):
for an even larger sum of money than he's due
to make in twenty twenty twenty five, when his cap
hit is gonna be eighteen million bucks. You could say
to Trey, we're not gonna do a new deal, so
this is your walk year, and we hope you have
a great season and you're motivated by free agency and
in the short term we all win and then you're
gonna leave via free agency and we'll get a compensatory pick,

(48:26):
and maybe that's what happens. But then, is trade gonna
hold out? Is he gonna hold in? Is he gonna
show up at the last minute? Is he gonna ask
for a trade? I don't know, Or you could trade him,
and like nobody wants to trade Trey Hendrickson, Like your
defense had so few good players last year, but if

(48:47):
you view what they have in front of them as
like a huge undertaking, a big overhaul, and you're trying
to free up some money and acquire capital to make
the entire defense better. And maybe that's something they explore.
But I think it's the most interesting question of the offseason.

(49:08):
What happens with Trey Hendrickson and man On one hand, Yeah,
you know what, I could take some of that Trey money,
find younger players, find more players. I could take Trey,
get some draft picks back and use them. At the
same time, imagine telling the new defensive coordinator, you're walking
into a situation where you've got to repair this defense

(49:31):
from mostly scratch. Oh and by the way, we're gonna
take away your best defensive player. You're never even gonna
get a chance to coach him. It's tough. It is
the question of the offseason. We'll see how to answer it.
Five point three, seven, four, nine, fifteen thirty is our number.
Can the Bearcats win for the first time in twenty

(49:52):
twenty five? They played a night Terry Nelson's in Boulder
for the game. He joins us next on ESPN fifteen thirty.
Cincinnati Sports Team, Cincinnati's ESPN, fifteen thirty traffic from the
UC Health Traffic and fifteen to thirty. Moegger and the
Bearcats are desperate for a win tonight, looking for their
first Big twelve victory of the season, looking for their

(50:14):
first win of the twenty twenty five calendar year, and
looking to score more than forty eight points you see
in Colorado. Tonight tip off at nine pregame at eight
thirty on seven hundred Wlow with Dan Hord and Terry Nelson.
Tell Joins is from Colorado. How's boulder.

Speaker 8 (50:32):
It's a little bit warmer than it is in since
ninety's forty two degrees.

Speaker 3 (50:35):
Man, don't know much other than it's a lot of
restaurants around here.

Speaker 8 (50:39):
It's a beautiful place. But you know, anything below fifty,
I'm not toring.

Speaker 1 (50:45):
Forty two sounds tropical right now. I'm sure in every
social situation you have been in for a while, you
have been asked how to fix the Bearcat offense. When
you're asked that question, what's your response?

Speaker 3 (50:58):
Well, first of all, they got to have some purpose.
That's one of my keys for tonight. They got to
have purpose and what they do. They got a lot
of talent, tighten up the screening and be a little
bit more player centric. I know, the movement is to
get the defense, you know, moving and loosening up the defense.

Speaker 8 (51:16):
But at the same time, in those last five seconds.

Speaker 3 (51:19):
The ball better be in the hands of a playmaker
that knows how to make a play instead of you know, dribble, dribble,
gribble and then pass that the last second for somebody
to shoot up, you know, heave of a desperation shot
at the buzzer. So offensively, yes, the movement works, but
the last eight minutes is money time and it should
be centered around.

Speaker 8 (51:42):
Which I believe it should be. Dan skilling Jior. I
think he's the most dynamic player.

Speaker 3 (51:47):
He's the one that gets to the free to line
and the most he's the one that makes plays, and
he's a very good passer when he's double teamed.

Speaker 1 (51:53):
You know, I've had people say to me, I watched
this team offensively, and I don't know what the offense
is supposed to be. What is the offensive to be?

Speaker 3 (52:01):
Well, it's supposed to be high pick and rolls from
wing and top.

Speaker 8 (52:06):
So you throw it to one side, you bring your
big off the block, which opens up the middle.

Speaker 3 (52:10):
And there's supposed to be a pick and roll forcing
the help defender to come up and take the ball handler,
or if he hedges and returns, if your hedges and returns,
and you slip the pick by throwing the pass to
the roller to the basket, and you just keep doing
that around the perimeter. But the problem is they do
a lot of gold screens and so got screens. You
come up, you're about to set a screen, and then

(52:32):
the defense starts to adjust and you slip the screen
real quick, and that works that you can get the
pass in and against lesser defensive teams, it works tremendously well.

Speaker 8 (52:42):
You get a lot of lob dunks, you get a
lot of things like that, but it gets good defensive teams.

Speaker 3 (52:47):
They slide through that ghost screen and you don't really
get a chance to get any separation.

Speaker 8 (52:52):
With your ball handler.

Speaker 3 (52:54):
And so if you don't do that, then it's just
like you're just running around waisting clocks. So they pull
it back out ten seconds on the clock, they try
another one.

Speaker 8 (53:02):
They get nothing out of there.

Speaker 3 (53:03):
I mean, before you know what, they're shooting desperation shots
at the buzzer and it looks horrible.

Speaker 1 (53:07):
Can you can you screen and roll with a Z's
bandego if teams don't respect his ability to catch it
and score.

Speaker 3 (53:15):
Well, Ben Dagel's a little different, Yeah, because he can
catch and he can pass out of it. A lot
of times he doesn't look to score unless it's a
loved play, so even when he gets off into rebounds,
he'll catch it.

Speaker 8 (53:25):
He's looking for a three point shooter.

Speaker 3 (53:27):
However, I think he needs to hold his screen a
little bit more and let guys come, actually come off
of that screen and then brush off of it, keep
the defender on your back and roll to the rim.
Being quick, being you know, trying to work for speed
and trying to make things look nice doesn't necessarily bowl
well to the talent level that he has.

Speaker 1 (53:48):
You mentioned Dan Skillings, and I think we would all
agree that he's arguably the most talented player on the team.
Has a skill set that is impossible to replicate. Has
by now two plus seasons of college basketball experience. You know,
you hear people talk about alphas, and you hear people
talk about players that you know want the ball in
their hands when their team is down five with with

(54:08):
four minutes to go, they'll they'll go get you a
bucket in tough games against good teams and tough environments.
As Dann that guy, he's gonna have to be.

Speaker 8 (54:19):
I had a conversation with him and he said, you know, coach.

Speaker 3 (54:21):
Wants me to you know, move the ball. And you know,
he said, he's just you know, letting the play come
to him. And I said, well, the great ones never
let the play come to them, you know, if the
player's not coming to them, to go out and get it,
you know.

Speaker 8 (54:33):
And I gave him the situation where Dan Danny fortune was.

Speaker 3 (54:36):
You know, he went up the floor three or four
times one time and didn't touch the ball, and Michael
Horton was the plaint guard and he grabbed the rebound
and he.

Speaker 8 (54:44):
Michael Hordan was calling for the outlet. Then he said,
come get it.

Speaker 3 (54:46):
Michael was still calling for he said, just couldn't get
the ball. When he came and got the ball, he
shoved it in the stomach and he said, if I
don't touch the damn ball on this trip down there,
I'm gonna meet you in the hallway.

Speaker 8 (54:56):
I'm gonna kick you, you know what.

Speaker 3 (54:58):
And best believe he looked Huggins and the Huggins said,
you heard him run twenty five run the play. He
r ran that play three or four times in a
row and scored every time. But the great ones always
demand the ball. Huggs also said to us, he said,
why do you think Nick shoots the ball so much?
And Corey Blunt said, because he's a ball hall you know.
We all laughed, and he goes no.

Speaker 8 (55:18):
He calls for it the most, and when he doesn't
get it, he loops.

Speaker 3 (55:21):
Back around and he calls for it with his hands
and his eyes and his mouth. He's calling for the
ball and he wants the ball because he wants to.

Speaker 8 (55:29):
Do something with it. I don't think a lot of
these guys really want the ball.

Speaker 3 (55:33):
They try to get out the way and let the
ball handler do what they do. And the great ones
always demand the ball. If you demand the ball enough,
you will get the ball.

Speaker 1 (55:42):
Should they run more.

Speaker 3 (55:46):
Absolutely, I think that the offense works best in transition.
You watch practice, they have been really trying to get
back out to speed.

Speaker 8 (55:53):
You know, made or mess. Earlier in the season.

Speaker 3 (55:55):
They were scoring off with Maine baskets before you set up.
They were getting that ball out, much like Arizona that
was doing prior to our game. But they get the
ball out quickly and we have to run. The Bearcats
are very goodn't transition. It opens up the floor for
Sea Moss and Dade and Gizzle and all the guys
you're deep ball shooters. But it also allows the big

(56:16):
rim runs from one side to the other side to
get those easy transition dunks. And if you don't get it, it
force it's a defense to run back scramble.

Speaker 8 (56:24):
And now when you get twenty seconds on.

Speaker 3 (56:25):
The clock, the defense is a little gasping and you
can get into your action. But bringing the ball up,
setting it up and then running a play every set
is not going to help.

Speaker 8 (56:35):
This team because that's not where they excel. They excel
in the open floor.

Speaker 1 (56:40):
I watched Gisel James, and I see a player that
I feel like still has a ton of upside. But
I thought he would be closer to wherever that ceiling
is by now when I was watching him a year ago.
Why am I not seeing it right now?

Speaker 3 (56:55):
Well, you're converting the two guard into a point guard,
and his natural reaction is to go to work. When
you can put a cheetah in the zoo, they would
stand up on a chair and you know, put a
ball in his nose, but eventually it's gonna bite you.

Speaker 8 (57:07):
It shift you in and trying to play in the cage.

Speaker 3 (57:09):
You've got to let you got to let Jizsel get
some isols. You got to put them on the side
when that ball goes from one side to the left.
Don't always bring a guy to come over there and
sit on.

Speaker 8 (57:19):
The boss lane.

Speaker 3 (57:20):
Tell him to get out the way, move out the way,
let him cook a little bit, get some isol situations.

Speaker 8 (57:25):
He's very good in his mid range. He just hasn't
been making the midrange. And then you know, speaking with him.

Speaker 3 (57:30):
Yesterday, he goes, you know what, these are shots that
I make every day all day. He's been making him
in his house. So he's got a basketball court underneath
in the in the basement. He had to make five
hundred mid range shots before you know, he would come
up and eat dinner. He's very comfortable in the mid range.
If he had in any of the games that we've
lost we lost four in a row, any of those
games where he's on hitting his mid range jump shot,

(57:52):
it allows the defense to take a gasp and take
a breath and be like, okay, now we don't have
to be so desperate defense because we scored on offense.
But if you keep having empty trips that could be misshots,
that could be misfree throws, and you coming down, you
put a lot of pressure on your defense to keep
holding up and maintaining and pretty soon that damn's gonna bust.

Speaker 7 (58:14):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (58:14):
Simas Lukosch's we have watched since the start of Big
twelve play how how teams have highlighted him in the
scouting report and often designed their defenses around keeping him
from from getting going from the outside. What is the
counter to what defenses are doing with him.

Speaker 3 (58:33):
He's got to do a better job of and throwing
guys in the screens.

Speaker 8 (58:37):
Uh, you know, he's when he comes.

Speaker 3 (58:38):
Off the screens, there's normally about two or three feet
in between the screener and hem, which allows the defense
to slip right through. So he's got to do a
better job of setting the guy up to get screened.
The screener's got to do better job of screening. But
then he's got to learn to once he catches the
ball to play a little bit loose the defender up

(59:01):
step out him, make him back up. See if he's
a true defender. He's got to use his step backs,
he's got to use his eye steps, he's got to
pass and relocate. But you know, just because you don't
have the foot quickness of other guys in the league
that are great shooters, doesn't mean he can't be able
to get his shot off against good defense. You just
need to understand the angles that they play, where they're leaning,

(59:23):
set them up an eye eye movement, you know, looking
one way, knowing you want to go the other way.
He's got to become a master of his craft. He
knows what he's doing. I mean his dad taught him. Well,
dad taught in seven different countries. Professionally, he's a very
skilled offensive player.

Speaker 8 (59:35):
He's in a slump.

Speaker 3 (59:36):
He scored nineteen points total in league play. We're not
gonna win a lot of games with that.

Speaker 9 (59:41):
I know.

Speaker 3 (59:41):
West doesn't like to, you know, single out certain players
because it's a bearcat thing, and I get it.

Speaker 8 (59:47):
But at the same time.

Speaker 3 (59:48):
One of the most dynamic three point shooters that can
carry your team in the Big twelve needs to get going,
and sometimes you got to run plays to start the
game all for him. You know, run some some some
double down play where he's on the baseline. You got
a couple of screens coming off trying to free him up,
and maybe you get a slip because guys are so
worried about him that you slip to the rim and

(01:00:08):
get it dunk. But you have to get him going
early on, much like the Bulls would do with Bill
Cartwright or John Paxson. Give him the first two shots
and then that the that the team play from there.

Speaker 1 (01:00:19):
Uh. I'm desperate to see this team win tonight. I
know you are as well. I know everybody else is too.
I'll be listening. Thank you as always.

Speaker 7 (01:00:28):
Pretty good. Hey man, you know if you're left here.

Speaker 8 (01:00:31):
Fifthlair to Arena and I took it.

Speaker 1 (01:00:32):
For you, well you broke up, But what did you say?

Speaker 3 (01:00:37):
You left your charger, your iPhone charger at fifth Thair Torena.
I believe it was yours. I took it, and uh,
if I get the struggle for the state point, I'll
get it back to you.

Speaker 1 (01:00:48):
That's where it went. I'll be damn. I've been looking
for that. All right. Well, I'll see you Saturday. Hopefully
I get my charger back. Thanks so much? All right, Well,
Erry Nelson, nice of them to tell me. Now you
see in Colorado tonight. That's good. You see in Colorado
tonight at nine o'clock. Pregame at eight thirty with Dan
and Terry on seven hundred WLWD. We're guess free the

(01:01:11):
rest of the way on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station.
Cincinnati's Espnton Sports headlines a service of Kelsey Chevrolet, home
of lifetime power train protection and guaranteed excuse me credit
approval from their family the yours for life kelseyshow dot com.
College basketball tonight, you see is on the road against Colorado,

(01:01:32):
which you just heard an entire segment about the Bearcats.
So you chances are you knew that at nine o'clock
tonight on a seven hundred WLW pregame at eight thirty.
Also this evening, NKU is at Cleveland State. Game will
tip off at seven pregame at six thirty. On ESPN
fifteen thirty. Dayton battles George Mason Tonight Hockey this evening

(01:01:53):
the Cyclones host Utah. I think they're they're giving away
T shirts. Who's the siren sounder? That's what I want
to know. Who is the siren sounder for tonight's Cyclones? Game,
and uh, and can I do it one night?

Speaker 8 (01:02:08):
Now?

Speaker 1 (01:02:09):
You know we we lobbied them two years ago to
let Austin Elmore drop the puck for a game, and
they wouldn't even give him a hat. So I don't
I don't know if you sound the siren if you're
giving a hat or whatever. But if they ever need
a siren sounder, count me in. All right, what are
we doing?

Speaker 5 (01:02:28):
Now?

Speaker 1 (01:02:28):
Let's talk to Mike. Mike, you're on ESPN fifteen thirty. Mike,
How you doing?

Speaker 8 (01:02:31):
Man?

Speaker 1 (01:02:31):
What's going on?

Speaker 3 (01:02:33):
Hey?

Speaker 7 (01:02:34):
Pal? How are you doing, Budd?

Speaker 1 (01:02:35):
I'm fine, good, I'm I'm fine. More importantly, how are
you out there in Los Angeles?

Speaker 7 (01:02:41):
Uh?

Speaker 1 (01:02:41):
You're obviously talking to me right now, so you're safe.
What's going on? Oh? We lost Mike? Well, apparently the
answer is for the moment, not great. We lost Mike. Oh. Well,
hope he's okay. I hope he's called us. A couple
of days ago, was that Monday. It was Monday and

(01:03:02):
they had Mike is in a facility for veterans who
are dealing with critical illnesses, and the facility that he
was in they were evacuated because of the wildfires there
in Los Angeles, and it was still kind of him
to take a few minutes to give us a call.
If you have listened to this show for a while,
you know Mike has dealt with a lot of different
health issues. These specifics are none of my business to share,

(01:03:26):
but you know, he's dropped hints on this show, and
so I've thought about him and the men and I
think women that he has been housed with as we've
watched what's been unfolding in la In and hopefully Mike's okay,
And hopefully that was just a call being dropped because
we have yet to perfect cellular telephone technology, you know,

(01:03:47):
just in twenty twenty five, Yes, just to follow up
on Terry Nelson there, you know, he mentioned Dan Skillings.
I'm looking for. I like Dan Skillings. I mean, who
doesn't there they're better with him than without and we
saw that when they were without him for a long
stretch of time, and he's had a positive impact on
the season. But like I, it sounds like a very

(01:04:12):
cheap way of doing it when I do it this way.
But I watched a guy last night in Ryan Conwell
with Xavier last night, with the season very much hanging
in the balance and the game on the verge of
slipping away, put the team on his back. Does you
see have a guy like that? You know, it's easy

(01:04:34):
to focus on forty points, which is ghastly, and it's
easy to focus on forty eight points the game before that,
which is ghastly. But you know, it's like more so
just the late game execution and the late game inability
of anybody to step up and you know, be the guy.
And that's I think a lot of us coming into
the season wonder do they have someone like that? Do

(01:04:55):
they have someone who can keep the other team from
going on a ten zip run? Do they have somebody
who can can keep the other team from pulling away late?
Do they have somebody who in a situation where you're
down for three minutes to go, you're on the road,
possessions are at a premium, you have to score, goes
and gets you one, it gets to the free throw line,
or at least creates a play for someone else. And

(01:05:18):
over the course of this four game losing streak, but
even to a degree before then, we've been searching for
whoever that is. And you might not need that guy tonight.
Maybe tonight they play really well and win comfortably and
the game is not in doubt in the final couple
of minutes. But if this team is going to realize
the relatively hefty expectations that so many people had for

(01:05:41):
it before the season started, that guy's gonna have to emerge.
That guy is gonna have to emerge. Do they have
to score twenty eight points and a half?

Speaker 3 (01:05:51):
No?

Speaker 1 (01:05:53):
Do they have to get buckets when your team demands it? Yes?
Who is that guy? If it's Dan Skill, I don't
really care who it is. I think we're all being fair.
If we wonder two things about them offensively, Number one,
what is the offense, what is it trying to accomplish?
What are its strengths? And number two, who's going to
be that guy that can help you win games like

(01:06:15):
the one Xavier won last night? They did not win
that free and easy of any sort of difficulty. They're
down six with under five to go, and then Conwell
goes off and again, you're not gonna get twenty eight
points in the second half. Xavier is not gonna get
twenty eight points in the second half from Ryan Conwell.
Moving forward, That's not what I'm looking for. I'm looking
for a guy who can make the shot that he

(01:06:36):
made when they're down six to cut it to three,
to at least give him a chance. Who makes that shot?
Who makes that play? And do we find that answer tonight?
I mean, there is time for this to get better.
And I did this with Tony off the air yesterday
and I said, like, you know, get me through the

(01:06:59):
next nine games, get me six wins, and I'll feel like,
all right, sixteen and eight, we're good. Like then you
can kind of take off and you know, not take
off and win the league or take off and finish,
you know, sixteen and four in the conference, but like
take off from there and put yourself in a position

(01:07:20):
for the last you know whatever would be six to
seven games to at least feel like your team has
a chance. And the next nine games they're not going
to win all of them. Can they win? Can they
win six of them? The last nine games? And I
know this sounds weird for a team that's owned for

(01:07:40):
at Colorado home for Arizona State, home for Texas, attack
at BYU, at Utah home for WVU, which is not
going to be easy, at UCF and home for BYU,
home for Utah. That's before they go to Ames to
take on Iowa, state that this team can win six
of the next nine. You're six and seven in the league,
and uh, that would put him at sixteen and eight.

(01:08:03):
I take that. Take that right now now. If they
have done that, that would tell me that some of
the things we want to know have turned out for
the better, like they've carved out some sense of offensive identity,
or a guy has emerged as the dude that can
win games for them late. I think from an opponent standpoint,
there are a number of winnable games there, a number

(01:08:25):
of them. But it's got to start soon. No better
time than tonight in Boulder. We'll see, all right? Five
point three seven, four, nine, fifteen thirty? Mic is back?
Is he okay? I will do this again? Mike?

Speaker 7 (01:08:40):
All right, Yeah, I'm okay. Well, I apologize. My nurse
got fights and decided to start switching things and she
grabbed my damn what anyway.

Speaker 1 (01:08:52):
Well, wait, hang on a second, I'm interested in knowing
more about the feisty nurse.

Speaker 7 (01:09:01):
Well, let's put it like this. I've had better looking nurses,
some of them were quite lovely this one.

Speaker 1 (01:09:10):
But it needs to be a pot She's not in
the room right now, right, No, she's gone. Now okay.

Speaker 7 (01:09:18):
She had to come in and change my IV and
she grabbed the wrong cord and said, oh, I'm sorry,
mister watch. I said, well, you're sorry. I'm supposed to
be on the radio with my you know. I kind
of lost it and acted like a bit of a chirk,
but anyway, all.

Speaker 1 (01:09:33):
Right, And then and then she she disconnected the phone.

Speaker 7 (01:09:38):
Yeah, because my battery was low and I had a
pug there and then she pulled it out and I
was dead meat too. Sorry about that, cowboy.

Speaker 1 (01:09:46):
Are you okay? Where are you at now? They put
you back in the place you were living? What's going
on with the fire? Update me?

Speaker 7 (01:09:53):
No? No, no, the building the hostess clinic in La Jolla,
half of the cup So thank god they got us
out of there, really and down here at Camp Pendleton,
sleep on Cox. But that's okay, Cox. Aren't that there?
If you're tired? Not, so you do what you gotta do.
And now we're going down to San Diego to the

(01:10:14):
VA Hospital down San Diego. So that's a good thing. Yeah,
not too far, about forty five minutes drive something like that.
So they take us in the vans and stuff.

Speaker 1 (01:10:25):
I know next to nothing about Los Angeles, right as
you well know.

Speaker 7 (01:10:31):
So you were in Barney's Deanery.

Speaker 1 (01:10:34):
No I know Barney's Beanery. Is Barney's Beanery?

Speaker 7 (01:10:36):
Okay, I don't know. I haven't been up to Santa Monica.

Speaker 1 (01:10:40):
So the facility you were in was in La Jolla?
Is that l A? Or San Diego.

Speaker 7 (01:10:47):
That's a really hot hoity toity community on the coast,
just a bit north of San Diego, La Jolla, l
A j O l l A.

Speaker 1 (01:10:57):
And the and the fires reached there and burn down
the burn part of the place you were living.

Speaker 7 (01:11:03):
Yeah, it was just a that's what that's the problem though.
There's so much dry tender that stuff can just you know,
if the guy throws his cigarette out the window or
smokes a joint and isn't paying attention or any or
any kind of spark, that's how dry this this this
grass and this tinder is and so it's like walking

(01:11:27):
on egg shells.

Speaker 1 (01:11:29):
So the fire has reached like San Diego, the San
Diego area.

Speaker 7 (01:11:34):
Yes, well, just you know it's popping up here and
there and everywhere. You don't know where it's gonna pop up.
Typically the wind. The wind has the Santa Ana winds
have anything coming down this spark, but that doesn't mean
they can't because mother nature. So all of a sudden
they decided to come on down over the hill, over

(01:11:58):
the alcohol path, but went faut help instead of north
and boom. Now up in Sant Clementy, we started getting
a fire. And that's the one that came down to us.
Because San Clementi and La Joya aren't that far away,
maybe like from downtown to Norwood or something.

Speaker 1 (01:12:16):
Okay, all right, well, uh I needed a bit of
a southern California geography lesson, and you have given it
to me. What else besides that and the feisty nurses
on your mind?

Speaker 8 (01:12:27):
Well?

Speaker 7 (01:12:27):
Are we doing home dog again this year?

Speaker 1 (01:12:29):
My friends in baseball? Of course, we are the home
dog strategy, absolutely, But I think this will be our
fifth consecutive year doing the home dog strategy, and.

Speaker 7 (01:12:39):
It does seem to be successful what I've been doing
it for a long time. But I had a guy
call me today and he said, he said, do I
start playing home dog in the preseason? I said, no, no, no, no, no,
don't do that.

Speaker 1 (01:12:55):
Don't don't don't bet, don't bet on the spring training
a game. Don't bet well. I mean, first of all,
they're not really home teams or rental property. I mean
that don't don't bet on spring training baseball, don't did
the well, and and plus they don't play series. The
home dog strategy, from where I come from, like is
is you're essentially betting on the fact that sweeps are unlikely. Right,

(01:13:17):
they're betting. You're essentially betting if you're if you're betting
on a home underdog, you're you're you're essentially betting against
them getting swept. Right. That's so in spring training there
aren't three game series. They just play individual games.

Speaker 7 (01:13:38):
I thought you'd get a kick out. I did because
I thought, dude, if you're this absolutely oblivious to what's
going on, maybe you just shouldn't even consider way. It doesn't.

Speaker 1 (01:13:51):
It wasn't the feisty nurse you were talking to.

Speaker 8 (01:13:53):
Was it.

Speaker 3 (01:13:56):
There?

Speaker 7 (01:13:56):
There used to be a poster from National Lampoon and
it was a parody like everything they did on On
on a Nurse, and it was called the Night Nurse,
and it was this gnarly chick with a big wart
on her nose, just kind of the ugliest woman you
could imagine in your lives that you'd see in a

(01:14:17):
nightmare something.

Speaker 1 (01:14:18):
I hope for your sake that that's not what the
feisty nurse looks like. But as long as she is
keeping you healthy and alive, that's all we care about.

Speaker 7 (01:14:27):
Oh, she does her job right, she does her job.
She's a retired marine, So there's a person.

Speaker 3 (01:14:33):
She's gonna do her doo.

Speaker 7 (01:14:34):
I'm waiting for her ask me to salute her, and
then she's we're gonna Well.

Speaker 1 (01:14:39):
What else is on your mind? Mike?

Speaker 7 (01:14:42):
Well, I keep here. Okay, let's let's let me talk
about I talked to you about Tristan works, right, he's
believing the right tackle isn't that good? Nobody's that good,
but he's really good. Getticky.

Speaker 1 (01:15:02):
Yeah, Well, but the bucks are eliminated, so it doesn't matter.
He's on vacation.

Speaker 7 (01:15:07):
No, no, no. But what I'm saying is he's ranked
third behind Sewell and Lane Johnson. But he wasn't drafted
in the first round, so he's making he's making any
windows to the management down at Tampa that he might
want to go. And I found out today from Tony

(01:15:28):
that as long as you're not drafted, in the first round.
You're not locked into that five.

Speaker 8 (01:15:33):
Year deal or whatever it is, right.

Speaker 1 (01:15:36):
Correct, that's a four year contract. Correct, there's no fifth
year option for Luke Getikey, right or Yeah, Luketticky was
a second rounder if I'm not mistaken, in twenty two,
so this would be he would be going into his
fourth season this coming year.

Speaker 7 (01:15:52):
Yeah, And so that's why I was thinking maybe that
would be a guy the Bengals could entertain, because the
guy is really, really pretty good. I thought maybe he
could massage that over the next week or so and
tell me what you think later.

Speaker 1 (01:16:05):
Well, if he was drafted in twenty two, then he's
got one more year in Tampa Bay, so he obviously
couldn't be a Bengals off season target.

Speaker 7 (01:16:14):
Well, then I wasted my time in your time, Sorry
about this?

Speaker 8 (01:16:17):
Okay, real quick, let me go through.

Speaker 7 (01:16:20):
Let me go through the Reds lineup real quick. So
we got Cees at first base if he's healthy, he's
twenty five home run guy minimum. I would think if
Matt mcclean's healthy, we got potentially an all star second basement.
Ellie Marte who knows here, just putting in. I hope

(01:16:40):
Frank ConA just puts him in the left field and
leaves him there. You got to I call the elf,
which is Freedo. I call him the elf. I don't know.
He looks like an elf to me. He's our center fielder.
Now right field, we got Benson and Freley right, but
that doesn't make sense because they're both left handed hitters.
So what do you do with Benson because you're not

(01:17:01):
going to get.

Speaker 8 (01:17:01):
Rid of rail with.

Speaker 1 (01:17:05):
Anything besides play him every single day. I I I
think Will Benson was a nice story. I do not
view him as somebody who is getting regular playing time
on a team that's legitimately contending.

Speaker 7 (01:17:20):
That's right.

Speaker 1 (01:17:20):
And then, by the way, you mentioned you mentioned Marte.
If Candelario is health, and I mean, obviously you know
you're you're you're gonna need a d H. But if
if if Candelario is healthy and Cees is healthy, and
lux is healthy, and McLain is healthy and Dela Cruz
is healthy, where's Noelvi Marte going to play?

Speaker 7 (01:17:42):
That's you know, That's That's what I'm wondering. I mean,
because they didn't pick up the guy from Pittsburgh. He
just served me. They didn't pick him off just to
be a d H. Right. They picked him up with
the intention of playing third base.

Speaker 1 (01:17:55):
Correct, Candelario, Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 7 (01:17:58):
Yeah, Candelarius. So so Marte said, he gives his head
out of his rear end and figure out things now
on a pitching staff. We got Lodola, we got Green.
Now this singer, I looked into him a little bit.
He could be an any tea or for us, can't
He is maybe the third starter.

Speaker 1 (01:18:20):
Yeah, I mean he's a guy if you don't count
Nick Martinez, he's a guy who has gotten through a
full season in the starting rotation where you can't say
that about Abbot, and he can't say that about Hunter
Green or Nicolodolo or Rhet Louder. I mean, the guy
for me that I'm kind of most interested in seeing
what happens next with is Rhet Louder, who when he

(01:18:40):
got caught up last year, you know, let's face it,
the team had by then sunken out of contention. But
when they called him up last year, he was awesome.
And so do they build upon that and give him
a chance to start. If so, does he build upon
that and turn into a guy that you feel like
you're gonna win every fifth day with But I mean, like,
you know, they've they've got some options, they've got some

(01:19:03):
rotational depth. Their friend Charlie Goldsmith yesterday and his excellent
newsletter which people should subscribe to, did a good job
of outlining how Terry Francota teams. There's always rotational depth.
This is something they have built, and that is that
is a really really good thing. I wonder, Mike Offensively,
who can I count on? Because you gave me a
lot of ifs, right, Like, do I envision a world?

(01:19:26):
Do I envision a world where cees can hit twenty
five home runs?

Speaker 8 (01:19:29):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (01:19:29):
Yeah, absolutely? And do I envision a world where jam
Er Candelario hits twenty to twenty five home runs? Yeah?
And do I think, you know, Gavin Lux can can
maybe build upon his second half last year and offensively
proved to be an asset?

Speaker 9 (01:19:45):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (01:19:45):
And do I think Matt McClain can take what he
did in twenty twenty three and have that translate into
a productive and hopefully healthy twenty twenty five? Yeah?

Speaker 8 (01:19:56):
Sure?

Speaker 1 (01:19:57):
And do I do I think Ellie Dela Cruz can
take the next step up? Yeah? I think each of
those things can happen. I don't know if all of
them will, And that's the thing. Can each of those
things happen? Yes? Will all of them? I think you're
taking a major leap of faith if you say that
the answer is yes. I still wish they had a

(01:20:18):
guy whose offensive production I could wrap my brain around
going into the season. I feel like I can with Ellie,
and I certainly hope he can build upon what he
did last year and turn into a true superstar. But man,
there's a lot of unknowns. There's a lot of hard
to wrap your head around variables when it comes to
this team's offense, and that's that's maybe not so much

(01:20:40):
the case if they were to go get an established
bat to help play the outfield. But with each passing day,
such an outcome seems less and less likely. Mike, I
have to move on, man, stay healthy. We'll talk soon.

Speaker 7 (01:20:52):
I gotta go, But listen, what about DS that starts?
I think that's maybe the biggest question of all his
das Can he come back this year?

Speaker 8 (01:21:00):
Thanks?

Speaker 1 (01:21:00):
Well, yeah, I mean that's also fair. It is six
away from five ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 4 (01:21:07):
Mattie's ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 5 (01:21:11):
Traffic from the UC Health Traffic Center don't let injuries
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Speaker 1 (01:21:43):
This report is sponsored by all Right, I'll do that.
What's up for five? This is ESPN fifteen thirty am
Ba Lager. Thank you for listening. I'll be having an
awesome Wednesday. Awesome, I said, as I move the microphone
to a better position. Lots to get to this hour.

(01:22:04):
Five point three seven, fifteen thirty is our phone number.
I haven't posted the poll question yet. A lot of
moving parts in here. We're gonna get to that on
X at Loweger thanks to United Heartland Insurance. Go to
UHNS dot com. Got more on college basketball. It a bit.
Ryan Conwell with an awesome performance last night. That was

(01:22:26):
fun to be in attendance for the Musketeers. Uh pull
themselves off the map with wins on the road against
To Paul, then winning last night despite trailing much of
the game against Villanova. They did a good job on
Eric Dixon and Ryan Conwell did a good job of
saving Xavier season. It gets tougher with the game on
the road against Marquette this weekend. Meanwhile, you see plays

(01:22:47):
tonight on the road against Colorado NKU and action as
well road tiled for the Norse against Cleveland State, which
we'll hear live on ESPN fifteen thirty. We spent some
time on t Higgins today at the end of the
season when we were watching the Chiefs lay down. And
I don't say that from the perspective of someone who's

(01:23:09):
complaining about how the Chiefs played that last game. They
did what was best for them. But the Chiefs laid
down against the Denver Broncos. The main takeaway for most
of us was, don't put yourself in that position, which
the Bengals did, and that's why they're not in the postseason.
They put themselves at the mercy of another team. Don't

(01:23:29):
put yourself at the mercy of someone else. We do
this with the NCAA tournament, and we could do it
with the college football playoff too. Don't put yourself at
the mercy of the selection committee. Now, obviously every team
in those sports is at the mercy of the selection committee.
But there are the teams that are gonna make it
no matter what, and then there are bubble teams. If

(01:23:51):
you're a bubble team, sorry, you get whatever you get.
And if the committee looks at you and says, uh, sorry,
I don't feel bad for you. Don't put yourself in
a position where an outside forest determines your fate. Don't
do it. Don't do it in sports. Don't do it
in life. The best place to be we do it
in sports all the time.

Speaker 9 (01:24:11):
Right.

Speaker 1 (01:24:11):
We talk about a team that controls its own destiny.
They control their own destiny. They win these two games
and they're in. They win this game, and they win
the division. They win this game and they're going to
the postseason. They control their own destiny. The worst place
to be is where the Bengals were at the end
of the year, where they're they don't control their own destiny.
They can control their part, and then they need a

(01:24:32):
lot of stuff to happen around them. Don't put yourself
at the mercy of others. So this T Higgins thing, right, which,
let's be honest, we're not done talking about it. The
T Higgins thing. If you want T Higgins back, awesome.
I think financially there is a way to get it done.
I am in favor of T Higgins coming back. I

(01:24:54):
also could understand why the Bengals might say, we're gonna
do something else with those resources, and we have other
areas to fill that we feel like we can better
fill with the money that would go to T. Higgins.
But if you want T Higgins back, it's interesting. We
always do this. We talk about free agency, and we
talk about signing players from the team's position. Here's what's

(01:25:14):
good for the team, Here's what the team should want,
here's what I want for the team. Or we do
it from Joe Burrow's perspective. Joe, I'm sure wants T
Higgins on his team. And I'm sure of that because
he has said as much. What does T Higgins want?

Speaker 8 (01:25:29):
Like?

Speaker 1 (01:25:30):
It has to be an awesome feeling to be a
professional athlete, a really good one and hit free agency.
Now for some it's going to be better and obviously
more lucrative than others. I was thinking about this earlier
today because I got an email from a guy by
the name of Kenny. And I got an email from

(01:25:54):
Kenny in the middle of December, and I was going
through emails because I'm trying to be better at responding
to people, and I thought, I'm going to go through
a few, and I found one from Kenny from the
middle of December, and he wrote, he, I guess this
is a guy who likes to write papers in his
spare time. And he wrote a paper about Major League
Baseball's need for a salary cap. And it was good

(01:26:15):
and it was well thought out, and it's a topic
that I've kind of evolved on a little bit. And
it's a fair one if you care at all about baseball,
and it's going to be something that's talked about a
lot as we get closer and closer to the end
of the current CBA. But I wrote him back and
I said, one of the things that if you want
a salary cap you're going to have to do is
hope that the owners give something to players that's going

(01:26:37):
to be enough for them to cave on the salary
cap part. And the point that I made was, I'm
sure the players are going to want earlier free agency.
Now baseball players get it after six years. My guess is,
if you have any hope of getting them to change
their stance on the salary cap, you're gonna have to say, Okay, fine,

(01:26:59):
players can hit free agency earlier. Then there's a whole
different set of issues that would go from there. But
I was thinking, like, how cool it must be to
hit free agency. If you're an athlete in one of
the major professional sports leagues, that is an accomplishment. Man,
You have played long enough and you have been successful

(01:27:19):
enough to get past the point that the team controls you,
and team controls where you go, how much you play,
and in some cases how much you make. And now
in that league you can choose where you want to play. Obviously,
you have to have the interests reciprocated, you have to

(01:27:40):
have a team want you. But it's got to be
an awesome feeling. Let me think about it. If you're
T Higgins, right, you worked as hard as you could
your entire life to be drafted, You got drafted, You
get to the NFL, You work your tail off to
be a success, and now You've earned the right to
choose where you play, and there's going to be I
think it's fair to wonder, is there gonna be a

(01:28:02):
lot of interest in tea? Is a clear cut number one?
What's that going to look like financially? But there's gonna
be interest, and you have a chance to choose. Yes,
Joe Burrow wants you back. Yes, catching passes from Joe
Burrow is awesome. Yes, being on the same field as
Jamar Chase has its advantages. Yes, you might feel like

(01:28:24):
you can win here. Yes, you are beloved in this town.
But you mean to tell me that there isn't a
part of you that is excited about seeing what else
is out there. You've worked your entire life to get
to this moment. You've tried to get deals done with

(01:28:46):
the Bengals. You've changed agents, but you've tried to get
deals done with the Bengals. It hasn't materialized. And yet
you have survived, You've played, you've been productive, You've done
all the right things. You mean to tell tell me,
if you're T Higgins, you're not at least a little
bit interested in seeing what else is out there, Not

(01:29:08):
just financially either, but just seeing what else might be
out there. By the way, you can see what else
is out there and still come back. And so what
have the Bengals done, just like they did during the season,
this T Higgins thing. If they really want him back,
and if they really want him back so they can

(01:29:29):
make their most important player happy, they've put themselves at
the mercy of some things they cannot control. One of
those is T Higgins and his desire if he has
any to see what else is out there? If I
was T Higgins, I want to see what else is
out there? Right? Think about like having a chance to

(01:29:52):
do that in whatever field you're in, seeing what else
is out there. Maybe you're an employee working under a contract.
Maybe you're not, but that's gotta be especially if you're
really good at what you do, that's gotta be awesome.
And so are we sure that even if the Bengals
offer something that's competitive financially, that he's not at least

(01:30:16):
a little bit interesting, a little bit interested in taking
a look to see what else might be out there.
I would be like, I'll be honest with me, man,
you're T Higgins. You're just gonna sign the next piece
of paper shoved in front of you. You're just gonna
lock into being here for the remainder of your prime

(01:30:36):
years now, signing here, if you're t Higgins, that's not
a bad place to be because there is Joe Burrow,
there is Jamar Chase, there is a team. You know,
there's a coach, you know, there's an offense. You know,
there's a city that loves you. And you can probably
make a whole hell of a lot of money and
you might win here. But we always look at this
from the team's perspective because they haven't been able to

(01:30:58):
get a deal done. Now Tea's holding the cards. Yeah
that's cool, you want me, fine, but not until I
go talk to the Chargers or the Jets or the
Steelers or whoever, or the Chiefs. Like that's kind of
the scary thing, right. We did this when the Bengals
played the Chargers, a team that really doesn't have a
lot of like a list outside threats. And I'm sure

(01:31:21):
there are gonna be good teams who look at you
and go, good player, But man, I'm not sure I
can count on them to stay healthy. But now you've
put yourself at the mercy of not just the rest
of the league. But we do this with the Chiefs, right,
the Chiefs in that last game of the regular season, Well,
they don't want the Bengals to be in the playoffs
because you know, number one, their rivals, and that's a
big fu to the Bengals. And also you know they're

(01:31:43):
scared of the Bengals because of Joe Burrow's coming to
What better way to fire a shot across the bow
than to sign T Higgins. You might think that scenario
is far fetched. You might think no chance it happens.
You might not think the Chiefs are going to be interested.
You might not think t is going to be interested,

(01:32:04):
and you assume he's just gonna come here because he
likes it. And that's fine if that's the case, I
hope it is. But you've put yourself at the mercy
now of these scenarios that nobody wants to explore. It's
exactly what they did during the regular season. They put
themselves at the mercy as something almost completely beyond their control. Now,

(01:32:28):
Bengals can control the offer they make. Bengals can control
what they do with Joe and with Jamar. They can
control how they move the other pieces around financially and
on the roster. They can control the terms of the contract,
the guarantees, They can control that part of it. But
if T decides, I want to see what else is
out there. They have put themselves at the mercy of
the rest of the NFL and T Higgins, if you

(01:32:53):
really wanted him, you wouldn't have done that. So, you know,
we make this, I think, very clear cut, very black
and white. Pay tea, keep T, give T you what
he wants, Negotiate with T. Figure out a way to
make the rest of this stuff work. And I am
going to guess that something like that is out there.

(01:33:15):
Restructure something like that if they indeed are serious about
getting a deal done with T. Higgins. But the part
of this that we don't know is, even with a
new agent, your T Higgins, You've worked your entire life
to get to this point where you are an established, good,
coveted NFL player, and you know, be kind of interesting

(01:33:41):
to see what else is out there. Talk to other gms,
talk to other quarterbacks, talk to other wide receivers. Davante Adams,
I guess, was on k Adams Show and said that
he's here is the pack the Packers, his former team,
the Packers are looking at T Higgins, Well, of course
they are. Why would they be looking at T Higgins?
I'm not sure this any healthy Packers wide receivers right

(01:34:01):
now after their playoff loss to the Philadelphia Eagles. They
right now should all be looking at every potential free agent,
especially a guy as good as T Higgins. And some
of them are gonna have some pause because of his
injury history. But if you view this as the central
item of the offseason, the first domino that has to fall,

(01:34:22):
and a massive failure if they don't get it done.
And if you're worried about the possible fallout of not
giving Joe Burrow what he wants because T Higgins left, well,
what have they done. They've done exactly what they did
in December this year. They still have some things under
their control. They're still with the mercy of things they
have no control over. Who knows what another team might offer,

(01:34:48):
who knows, you know. And again I'm not trying to
scare anybody or hot take this and tell you that
I think here's what's gonna happen. But like, legitimately he
can be a free agent. And if I'm T Higgins man,
I certainly feel a very strong pull towards Cincinnati. I
know I am beloved here. There's so many things that

(01:35:10):
you could check off playing here with Joe, in this offense,
with this franchise. But what's behind the other thirty one doors?
You mean to tell me you're not interested if you're T. Higgins.
And there's a part of me that goes like, dude,
you had your chance, and you might have blamed my

(01:35:31):
old agent, but you had your chance. And so I'm
not closing off the possibility of signing here. But I'm
gonna take some calls. I'm gonna take some meetings, as
they say in the corporate world, and there's very little
the Bengals can do about that if he decides to
take those meetings. So you know, yes, it's one of

(01:35:54):
the to do items. Have a resolution to T. Higgins
and for a lot of us sign them and then
financially figure out the rest. But the inability, the failure
to get it done before now has them in painfully
familiar territory at the mercy of other teams, some of

(01:36:14):
which might be quite good, some of which could be
direct competitors of the Bengals. Twenty minutes after five o'clock
five point three, seven four nine, fifteen thirty eight sixty
six seven oh two three seven seven six on x
at moegar. This is ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports.

Speaker 4 (01:36:37):
Station, Cincinnati's ESPN.

Speaker 1 (01:36:40):
After five o'clock. This is ESPN fifteen thirty. I was
reading the story of this this guy. The Eagles played
the Packers in the NFL playoffs this weekend. Green Bay lost,
and a video went viral of a of an Eagles
fan who went on on what we'll call a misogynistic

(01:37:02):
tirade against a female Green Bay Packers fan, and the
woman involved here her boyfriend or I guess fiance, shot
video of this guy calling this woman names that I
cannot say on the radio. This guy, apparently, because the
video and viral, lost his job and is banned from

(01:37:24):
ever attending another Eagles home game again. I don't know
how enforceable that is. I'm sure if you care about
such things, you can find the video. If you're on
the internet a lot, you probably already have seen it.
It's a guy in an Eagles jacket and he's bending
over and he's cusping, his hands over his mouth, and
he has given it to this young lady and he's
not being very nice, and he's using language that again

(01:37:47):
I can't say on the air.

Speaker 8 (01:37:48):
Now.

Speaker 1 (01:37:48):
I always wonder with stuff like this, like what are
we not seeing? Was there a provocation? Was there something
else to this? But as a general rule, don't call
women names like, don't call people names like that, don't
get into altercations at sporting events. And so, more than anything,
what I want to know is if you're a guy
like this, and there have been others like this, and

(01:38:11):
you go to the football game, you're all fired up,
You're gonna go see your favorite team playing the postseason,
and then within twelve hours you find out a I've
gone viral and be my boss wants to talk to
me about this video on the internet. What's that feeling like?
Mister Caldwell, his name is Ryan Caldwell, not to be
confused with former Xavier musketeer Ryan Caldwell who owes me

(01:38:35):
beers for our annual Crosstown shootout. Bet not that Ryan Caldwell.
This Ryan Caldwell. Have you seen this video?

Speaker 8 (01:38:41):
Taran?

Speaker 1 (01:38:41):
I have, right, So it's not good. It's not a
good look. I just I want to know. So, the
game was on Sunday. At what point did this guy realize, Uh, oh,
what is that? Like, what is it like when you
get that phone call from your boss, your boss's assistant, Hey,

(01:39:02):
we need you to come in to have a conversation
about this video that's all over the internet and your
behavior on it.

Speaker 10 (01:39:12):
Oh they found him within twenty four hours.

Speaker 1 (01:39:13):
Oh, very quickly, Yes, very very very I mean so
the game was Sunday.

Speaker 10 (01:39:19):
By Monday, people knew knew who he was and who
he worked for, and that's when they started heckling the
company to fire.

Speaker 1 (01:39:25):
Yeah, so I saw, I saw. I didn't see it
on Sunday. I saw somebody. I saw somebody tweeting about
where the guy worked. It was in you know, if
you go to X it's the four U column, which
I think is largely useless. Most things I see on
the four you column they're not for me. But I
saw this, and it was somebody sharing the video and

(01:39:48):
sending a tweet to the place this guy worked. And
well then I became interested, and like interested from the
standpoint of like all right, Like first of all, why
go to a football game and do that? Like why why?
Like what's what? There's no good that can come of it.
There's no good in life that can come from verbally
harassing a woman, Like what are we doing here? Like

(01:40:09):
in a civilized, normal society. I know Philly fans are
harsher and tougher I guess than fans here, Like why
I cannot relate to that, especially like if you see
the guy with his phone out and it's like, all right,
I don't want to be the next Internet meme. I
don't want to be the today's Internet villain, So just don't.

(01:40:29):
Just like, there's a way to behave in normal society
and it's not what this guy is doing. But then
I'm wondering, like, all right, well, I mean, was was
there something else that happened to this man before the
guy started shooting? Or was the video edited and they
cut out whatever was being done to this guy? Like
why was he doing this? And I had a lot

(01:40:50):
of questions. And then I saw here during the break
that this guy, the company that he works for in
New Jersey initially came out and said we're aware of
the video, looking into it, we're gonna investigate. And now
they have come out and they have said, in so
many words, well we have fired him. But uh, you
know we we do support him, which let's be honest,

(01:41:12):
if you fire me, you're not supporting me. If I did,
I might deserve to be fired. But what we're I mean,
I'll try to find the thing here. It's like, b see,
I'm gonna.

Speaker 10 (01:41:22):
Be your CT partners, BCT Partners, Twitter, BCT Partners BC
and this is their their I don't know what they do,
but they they They tweeted like, we've offered grace and
support to our former employee.

Speaker 1 (01:41:42):
Well, if you fire me, I don't care about your
grace and support. Like if I ever get told MO,
we're done with you, okay, fine, at that point, your
grace and support kind of meaningless to me. Like when
I go home and tell my wife, like, hey, bad news,
no more job. We might have to make some adjustments
for a while, but we have the company's grace and support.

(01:42:05):
That's not gonna help us. That's now I'm you might argue,
not going to deserve to lose my job. This guy
did something and you could argue should have lost his job.
And I don't have any grace or support for this
guy because I don't like people who act like this.
I don't like bullies. I don't like people who yell
at women. I do wonder if there was provocation here,

(01:42:26):
But even if you're a provoked, be a grown up
and walk away, right. But I'm just I'm wondering, what
is it like that moment where you realize you are
the current Internet villain in the United States of America.
Because at every moment of the day in this country,
and I'm sure many others, there is an Internet villain.

(01:42:47):
We often try on this show, and it's been a
while since there was like a Cincinnati Internet vie. We
love getting Internet villains on the show. Somebody who says
something outrageous about one of our teams are City, we
like getting him on and Obby have a fun conversation.
What is it like to find out I'm the guy
that's trending, I'm the guy they're tweeting about, I'm the
guy who's being retweeted. I'm the guy that everybody's laughing at.

(01:43:11):
I'm the Internet villain of the moment. Oh, and by
the way, my phone's ringing, it's my boss. I hope
to never find out, and I don't, you know, really
behave this way, so uh when my phone rings and
it's the boss. It ain't gonna because of doing something
like this, at least I don't think. But I'm I'm
just I can't help but wonder, like if you're this guy.

(01:43:33):
This guy's like looks like a dude in his forties,
might have a family. I don't know, Uh, but was
like a professional for this BCT Partners your partner in
solutions that matter. Pretty ambiguous thing there for BCT Partners.
That moment when you realize, you know, he's maybe he's
in the parking lot. The Eagles have just polished off
the packers. He's high five in his buddies, and you

(01:43:56):
know he his phone buzzes and he looks at it.
Uh oh what I I want to know. I want
to know what that moment is like. So I want
to talk to mister Colwell. I don't want to talk
about him yelling at the woman, which let's you shouldn't do.

(01:44:19):
I want to talk about what it's like when you
realize you have just become infamous and there's going to
be severe, severe repercussions. I I that's that's like, that's
not a that's not a moment that that you want
to It's not a moment you want to live anyway,

(01:44:41):
i'lle you had fun at the game, and uh, congratulations
to him and his Eagles, and hope he enjoys the
game this week Eagles and Rams. It should be fun.
Can't go to it?

Speaker 10 (01:44:51):
I guess yeah. Big Dom was the one who enforced
the band Big Dom that.

Speaker 1 (01:44:54):
Like the dude on the sideline who last year was
kind of became a cult figure during the playoffs.

Speaker 10 (01:44:59):
Big yep. And he said he was going to reach
out to the Packers fan send her some Packers gear.

Speaker 1 (01:45:06):
So the Philadelphia security guy is going to send these
people Packers gear. They should invite him to the game
against the Rams. Although, I mean, would you really want
to go back? Now you're the Packers fan that's kind
of been made famous, that's probably not gonna be a
very pleasant experience. What is the moment like when you

(01:45:26):
realize I am now infamous for all the wrong reasons?
Oh and they know where I work? Oh? Like, what's
the conversation like with your boss or the HR person, Like,
hey man, this video that's you?

Speaker 7 (01:45:41):
Right?

Speaker 8 (01:45:41):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (01:45:43):
And you call the woman a throwing the blank?

Speaker 8 (01:45:46):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (01:45:47):
Okay, why'd you do that? All right, Well, we're gonna
have to let you go, but we support you and
offer our grace. That's the bead to me is the
funniest part. This person vile behavior, disgusting behavior can no

(01:46:08):
longer work for us, but we've offered our grace and support. Gee.
Thanks Rank calledwell T four away from six. I don't
feel sorry for this guy at all. I just don't. Don't.
Don't behave that way, even if you're provoked, like be
a grown up walk away. Don't behave that way. All right,

(01:46:30):
We killed a segment with that. This is the more
phone calls coming up. This is ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati
Sports Station.

Speaker 4 (01:46:36):
Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty traffic.

Speaker 5 (01:46:41):
From the UC Health Traffic Center. Don't let injuries slow
you down in.

Speaker 4 (01:46:45):
Fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station.

Speaker 1 (01:46:48):
Sports headlines are a service of Kelsey Chevrolet, home of
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to yours for life at kelseyshev dot com. I I'd
like to mention this earlier. FC Cincinnati has a re
signed Nick Haglan to the twenty twenty seven season, the
only player. The Cincinnati native is the only player to
have played in every season for FC Cincinnati. Since joining

(01:47:11):
Major League Soccer in twenty nineteen, top three in club
history and games played, games started, in minutes played. He
has made over two hundred and fifty career professional appearances,
and we'll be entering his twelfth MLS season in twenty
twenty five. Congratulations to Nick College Basketball. Tonight's you see
us on the road against Colorado. The Bearcats are zero

(01:47:32):
to four in the conference. The Buffaloes are oh and
four in the conference. Something's got to give. Tonight tip
off at nine o'clock on seven hundred WLW, and if
they win a game on we'll talk ourselves into it.
Nine o'clock tonight, pregame eight thirty on ESPN. Fifteen thirty
Tonight in Cleveland, NKU battles the Cleveland State Vikings. Norris

(01:47:54):
have lost two consecutive games. Darren Horn called his team
soft after they were all home lost to Oakland over
the weekend. Also tonight, the Dayton Flyers take on George
Mason and hockey. This evening downtown, the Cincinnati Cyclones skate
and play hockey. I think it's a two dollars beers.
Have we found out who's gonna ring the sound? The siren.

(01:48:16):
Not yet, not yet. Nobody has told us who's gonna
sound sound the siren, just saying I'm available for siren
sounding duties. They play Utah tonight, puck drops at at
seven at seven.

Speaker 11 (01:48:32):
Thirty, A lot of traffic downtown. Well, you got wrestlings tonight,
right yeah, right down the street. Wrestling's at the Brady.
Is that wrestling's there for two nights?

Speaker 8 (01:48:45):
Yes?

Speaker 1 (01:48:47):
So like the same people fighting against each other back
to back nights.

Speaker 10 (01:48:51):
Oh no, they have a big enough frosted way can split.

Speaker 1 (01:48:53):
It too night. So this is not w W. It's
ae w Yes and anybody I know participate in those
the aw bouts. No is this considered a better product
than WWE.

Speaker 10 (01:49:09):
That depends that you asked. But to me, no, no,
you're still a WW guy, correct, which I'll be going
to Indy for the Royal Rumble? When's that February first?
February first? Is the Royal Rumble?

Speaker 1 (01:49:19):
Is that at the where the pacers players that at
Lucas Oil.

Speaker 10 (01:49:22):
Lucas Oil really wow?

Speaker 1 (01:49:24):
And the Royal Rumble is still like a Battle Royal
where there's like eighty guys in the ring, thirty thirty
they've been doing that since I was a kid. Very good,
all right? Ae W wrestling happening downtown tonight along with
the hockey. So busy night, downtown, busy, busy night downtown.
I had one other thing. Oh yeah, the the Eagles

(01:49:47):
guy we were talking about. Actually he did release a statement.
I was sent this by Allan, thank you. He writes,
while attending an NFL game last Sunday to support my
beloved Eagles, and incident occurred that I deeply regret what
it began. This banter with two Packers fans sitting near
me escalated to something more serious, and I said things
that were unacceptable, and the heat of the moment, I

(01:50:07):
shows unforgiving words to address one of the fans, and
I want to apologize to her, to my wife, my family,
my friends, my former employer and colleagues. What's that conversation
like with your wife? Honey, you had a good time
at the game, but we have to have a talk.
So he says he's sorry, but he gets the Grayson

(01:50:28):
support of everybody. Jim, you're on ESPN fifteen thirty. How's
it going.

Speaker 7 (01:50:33):
It's going well. I'm going to take you back to
t Higgins if I can't.

Speaker 1 (01:50:37):
You can do whatever you want.

Speaker 9 (01:50:38):
Here, here's a thought for rocess. No, how about we
take the twenty two to twenty three million dollars in
cap space that we're going to have to use to
sign him, sign a couple of defensive players, which is
a very big need, and use the seventeenth pick in
the draft to replace him with the receiver.

Speaker 1 (01:50:57):
Very valid, So we need to do very valid. Look,
you watch college football the way I do. I see
I cannot recall a period of time as a college
football fan where I watch more wide receivers and go,
holy crap, that guy is going to be really good
in the NFL. What what you said just makes It
makes a whole lot of sense because they have an
enormous amount of defensive needs and it's not like there

(01:51:19):
aren't players in this offense that you should be able
to slide into t Higgins role and get something out of.
So I think what you said is something they are
thinking about, have thought about, and will continue to think about.
I can't argue against it now. I also can't argue
against keeping good players. And Tea is a good player,

(01:51:40):
but does he satisfy their biggest need? No, Jamar Chase doesn't.
He's not going anywhere, we hope, so you are. Any
any investment you want to make in the defense is
not one that I will argue against.

Speaker 9 (01:51:54):
I just don't think also from the cap hit with
him and Chase and Burrow, that you can build that
kind of team that you want with those three players
taking up.

Speaker 7 (01:52:06):
That kind of money on the cap. It just doesn't
work that way.

Speaker 1 (01:52:10):
Well, it depends on what that kind of money is.
And I think the t Higgins discussion does not really
happen without exploring what Joe Burrow is willing to give
up financially in order to make it happen.

Speaker 9 (01:52:25):
Right, But again that that that's something the players union
aren't is it going to want to have happened either.

Speaker 12 (01:52:31):
They're running a union there and every time they they
take the bar up, they you know, they they don't,
they don't want to take it and you know, lower
rate again they want the salaries to go up.

Speaker 1 (01:52:45):
I mean, the union, the union is not gonna like it.
But Joe Burrow sacrificing some money, which is his prerogative
to do and to not do. Joe Burrow sacrificing money
is not going to suddenly make quarterbacks cheap. I mean,
with the union like it. No, the Union is always
going to want their guys to to take top dollar
and not sacrifice anything. But Joe Burrows, you know, giving

(01:53:08):
up some money isn't suddenly going to bring down the
cost of really good quarterbacks.

Speaker 9 (01:53:12):
But mo, he could have done that before he agreed
that a fifty.

Speaker 8 (01:53:15):
Three million dollars a year salary.

Speaker 9 (01:53:17):
Sure he knew, he knew that, he knew the cap
before before he signed that contract.

Speaker 1 (01:53:21):
Sure.

Speaker 9 (01:53:22):
My point being is, you know, there's a way to
build a team, and and you know you have spread
the money around, there has to be a you know,
there there has to be some money spent on defense, especially,
but with the product we just saw this year, with
any kind of defense, you know, we we end up
in the playoffs and maybe even the championship game. And
and that's essentially what I mean. We've played games without

(01:53:45):
T Higgins before, you know, I mean, he's a guy
that probably misses two to three games a year.

Speaker 8 (01:53:50):
I haven't really went back and looked.

Speaker 9 (01:53:52):
But he's had issues and we we played well without him,
and I just don't think that we can build the
kind of defense that we need if we pay him
and Chase, you know, and burrow the kind of money
they're all looking at getting. And I'm not saying he's
not worth it, sure, I'm just saying, you know, financially,
that makes sense.

Speaker 1 (01:54:11):
Look, I think you can, but I think it's a
heck of a lot easier if you're throwing that money
at the defense. Like I don't subscribe, And you might
say I'm trying to have it both ways here, but
I don't subscribe to the belief that signing T Higgins
means they're gonna stink on defense next year. But I
do certainly acknowledge if you're taking this enormous amount of
money that would go to this player and now you're

(01:54:32):
going to send it to this side of the ball,
which needs help all over the place, are your odds
of having a better defense than twenty twenty five better? Absolutely?
That's what makes this so interesting. And Jim, we're not
done talking about it. Good to hear from you, as always.

Speaker 9 (01:54:46):
You take care, sir, A good day, all.

Speaker 1 (01:54:48):
Right man, Thank you. Like I that's the thing about this,
So let's say one of the first dominoes that falls
once free agency begins is T signs elsewhere Okay, it
might not be what Joe Burrow wants, it might not
be what I want, it might not be what you want.
Is at the end of the world. Well, if the

(01:55:09):
resources are deployed in a manner that fixes the other
areas that need to be fixed. No, all right, we're done.
Music plan anything you might have missed, and if you
missed most of this one, wow you have you have
really missed a classic. Go get on the iHeartRadio app

(01:55:32):
Thanks to our friends at Long Next Sports Group. Show's over.
We're back tomorrow recap of the Bearcat game and Brenda's
going to join us for that and so much more.
Have a great night. Thank you for listening. Thanks to
Tarren Bland for producing This is ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports.

Speaker 4 (01:55:49):
Station Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 5 (01:56:07):
Traffic from the UC Health Traffic Center. Don't let injuries
slow you down. The UC Health orthopedics and sports medicine
experts can help keep you moving. Schedule a same day
appointment at UCHealth dot com. Baltimore Avenue remains blocked off
from fire activity in both directions between McHenry Avenue and

(01:56:27):
President Drive. Traffic running slow northbound seventy one between Smith
Edwards and Ronald Reagan Cross County Highway. That's a six
minute delay. I'm at Eazalik with traffic

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