2/24/25 - The Mo Egger Radio Show - Mo Egger

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Cincinnati's sports station, ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 2 (00:04):
All right, there we go. It's three oh three. This
is ESPN fifteen thirty on Moweger. Thank you so much
for joining us. Hope you had a great weekend. We're
gonna do something here we typically do not do, which
take a guest right when the show starts. But when
you have a chance to talk with the head coach
of the Save Your Musketeers, you go, okay, we're throwing

(00:25):
out the playbook. We're going to talk to him. X
you coming off a win on the road yesterday afternoon
against Seaton Hall, getting set for a massive tilt on
Saturday against Creighton at home.

Speaker 3 (00:36):
U the XU head coach kind enough to join us, I.

Speaker 2 (00:40):
Believe before he goes out recruiting hitting the road coach,
it's good to have you, am I correct, you're squeezing
us in before you jump on a plane.

Speaker 4 (00:48):
I am mog yep.

Speaker 5 (00:49):
I am glad to be on with you, though.

Speaker 2 (00:51):
Man's it's always it's always good to have you. Congratulations
on the win yesterday. For a while it felt like
you guys were gonna get out New Jersey with a
blowout victory, and it didn't necessarily go down that way.
Ryan Conwell makes a terrific shot off a great action
at the top of the key coming out of a
timeout a seat and Hall at that point had cut

(01:13):
the game to a three point deficit. Give me an
idea of what you're telling your guys during that timeout.

Speaker 3 (01:20):
Well, you know the.

Speaker 5 (01:21):
Thing about Seaton Hall is and if you followed them,
you know they obviously don't have a great record, but
in particular their style, in particular their style at home
low is it just makes for a different type of game.
It's the best way I can describe it. In the
full court press, they foul and they're very physical on
the offensive glass. They play a lot of different players,

(01:44):
and they drive the ball, maybe more than any team
in the Big East. So when you're on the road,
especially late in February early March, you know there's a
physicality and a toughness element that you have to handle.
I thought we did a good job in that area,
but they hit us with the comeback. When you play

(02:04):
against the press, you know, sometimes once you break it,
it's like you did it. You know, there's a relief
that sets in with your team, and what you fail
to realize is you're no longer running any half court offense,
and you're not playing with force, and you're not doing
the things that you normally do when you have the
ball five on five at your own baskets. And that's

(02:25):
really what we did. You know, we survived the Press.
A lot of our turnovers didn't happen against the Press,
but we just did not execute, and a lot of
our turnovers and ineptness happened when we had the ball
in our own front court against their defense. So at
the end of the day they made their comeback. I
do think that both Zach Fremantle hit a big shot

(02:45):
in the left corner, Ryan Conwell hit a big shot
at the top of the key, and we were able
to finish with a win, you know. As you know,
they did virtually the same thing to Yukon about a
week or so earlier, and Yukon left with the loss.
So winning on the road late in February, I think
that was our goal. How it happened, I wish we
could have been a little bit better, but I do

(03:07):
think we earned the right to win. And now we
move on.

Speaker 2 (03:11):
How do you simulate how do you assimilate the way
Seaton Hall a team like Seaton Hall plays, Yeah, you really.

Speaker 5 (03:19):
Prepare for it. It's a full court press. Well, you
know see Saint John's. You know, they obviously are a
better overall team and they have some of that in
them as well. Ditto from Marquette. So you know, I
think when you look at the twenty game schedule in
the Big East, you're roughly dealing with, you know, eight games,
so to speak of a team that can really put

(03:39):
that style up there. So as we keep going through it,
I think we get better. Like I said, the press
in essence, you know yesterday wasn't the actual factor in
their comeback. It was more along the lines that when
you break it, if you don't score quickly, you have
to now run the offense as if they didn't press,
and we didn't do a good job in that area.

Speaker 2 (04:00):
You last joined me prior to the home game against Georgetown.
You won that night, you took the loss against Villanova
on the road, and have since won four straight games.
I mentioned you have a huge one against Creighton coming
up on Saturday. Give me a blanket assessment of what
you've liked most about your team during the four game
winning streak.

Speaker 5 (04:22):
But I do think that We've worked tirelessly to be
ready for every game. I know that might seem like
a given, but you know, you get to the late
lateness of the year and you've practiced a lot. You know,
sometimes you tend to want to skip over the practice
part and just get right to the next game. You know,
as you know, part of it is the good programs.

(04:44):
The teams that seem to have the most juice in March,
they continue to work and improve and add to the
things they were doing better. And we have a group
that works that works between games. I think we've gotten better.
Are rebounding would be one thing that I would point
out to you, our defensive rebounding. It was our achilles

(05:05):
heel for a lot of this season, and I think
we're a far better defensive rebounding team today than we
would have been, for example, a month or two ago.
And that's a good thing. Down the stretch, you have
to be able to when you get that stop, you
have to be able to get the ball, and so
we've worked hard in that area. And so I think
really our collective attitude and our defensive rebounding are the

(05:28):
two things that stand out for me.

Speaker 2 (05:30):
Are what our practices like, this could be a dumb question,
and if it is, don't be shy.

Speaker 3 (05:35):
You go ahead and tell me.

Speaker 2 (05:36):
But what are practice is like in late February and
early March compared to when you're practicing in October and
through November.

Speaker 5 (05:45):
Yeah, I think a lot of it depends on the
philosophy of the coach. There's a lot of ways to win,
and there's a lot of ways to build your team.
Some coaches, you know, I think, you know Hugs that
you see Mick at you see for a long period
of time, I don't think necessarily worried about how long
their team would have been out on the court, and
it worked for them. You know, their teams were tough minded,

(06:08):
just seemed to that's how they do it. I think
there are other coaches, you know, Duke, for example, for
many many years. If you really look at coach k
even be a guy that would practice for an hour,
forty five minutes, an hour and fifteen minutes at the
very end of the year to be the most ready
for games. I'm probably somewhere in between that. You know,

(06:28):
we're trying to be on the court less now than ever, However,
when we're on the court, I think we're trying to
be productive, We're trying to get better. We're trying to
play and be alert, communicate, not skip steps. So it's
a balancing act for us where we want to have
energy a guy like daveon McKnight bo the worst thing
that I could do for him is wear him down.

(06:49):
He's got a great attitude, he's a senior. He knows
what to do and how to do it, and we're
asking him to do a lot in that forty minute game.
So you know, why would you beat him up unnecessarily
between games? So that awareness of you know, trying to
get your guys fresh and ready for the game and
yet maybe limit the time that they're actually on the court.

(07:10):
That's what we're doing right now.

Speaker 2 (07:13):
You and I talked about Dalen Swain when you join
me three weeks ago before the Georgetown game, and we
were kind of going through his impact on the defensive
side of the floor. Where you talk about asking the
guy to do a lot. You ask him to do
a lot on that side of the floor, and that's
there's how he contributes offensively. He has had, I think,
top to bottom a terrific season. Give me sort of

(07:35):
the same question a blanket assessment of what you've seen
from Dalen as the years unfolded.

Speaker 4 (07:41):
Yeah, I think.

Speaker 5 (07:41):
Dalen has improved the most from the start of the
season until now of any of our players.

Speaker 4 (07:47):
To some degree.

Speaker 5 (07:48):
That makes sense because he's the youngest guy on our team.
You know, a year ago, he played the entire Big
Eiast season as an eighteen year old freshman. You know,
this year, he's in his second year. He's still nine.
Team's going to play the entire sophomore year as a
nineteen year old the Big East in particulars and older
league veterans, right, guys that are twenty two and twenty three.

(08:11):
So he's getting bigger, stronger, still maturing, still learning a lot,
but he's really played some great basketball. You Know, the
analogy that I give you on Swain is he's that
ultra talented wide receiver and he's got all this immense talent,
and what we're just trying to do is get him
to run his routes cleaner, get him the block and
the running game more, you know, just just to be

(08:32):
more efficient because he can impact the game of basketball
in so many ways, and yet it takes a lot
of It takes a lot of concentration. It takes a
lot because we're asking him to check the box not
in one area, but in all areas. He can do it.
And I think when our team has been at its
best this season, I'll go back to the Yukon home game.

(08:54):
You look at the box score and it's like a
couple of defensive rebounds or a lot of defensive rebounds,
a couple of offensive rebounds, assist very little turnovers, a block
shot at a couple of steels. You know, he just
he can impact it in a lot of ways. And
I think this game on Saturday is not only big
for our team, but I think, you know, having him
at the forefront of a lot of good stuff could

(09:15):
bring out the best in our team.

Speaker 2 (09:16):
On Saturday Saturday four thirty tip off, Xavier hosting Creighton.
You played him in Omaha a few weeks ago. You
and I talked right after that game. They could be
if you're not a coach and you're just watching hoops.
There was fun to watch as anybody in the country,
with the way they run offense. When you go back
to the first forty minutes against them in Omaha and
you start to talk with your team, this week about

(09:38):
playing them on Saturday.

Speaker 3 (09:39):
What things are you going to point out?

Speaker 5 (09:42):
Well, first of all, you know, we played a really
tough in Omaha. They made eight of their last ten
to three point shots to put us away. Playing at Omaha,
the crowd is a big factor, and I thought they
had just an amazing home court on the night and
we played them as well. But you know, Steven Ashworth
one of the oldest players in college basketball and a

(10:03):
terrific point guard. And Ryan Kulkbrenner, who I believe if
you really look at just history, the impact he's made
in his program is as significant, maybe as any college
player has in the last decade. I mean, he's going
to be the fourth time defensive player that he's in
the Big East, and yet he's going to go down

(10:23):
I think as the second all time leading scorer in
Creighton history.

Speaker 4 (10:27):
He's just a monster.

Speaker 5 (10:28):
He's seven foot one, he's smart, he can do it
at both ends, and you know, like a good point
guard who makes his teammates better, Ryan Kulkbrenner can do
that from the center position. So first I start with
those two, and then you know, I think where Creighton
is electric is their pace when they break the game open.
They tend to do it in transition, shooting threes, really

(10:51):
just kind of playing with just a great togetherness, but
playing fast, and we have to be aware that when
that game gets like that, we can't break down. And that,
by the way, that's the same with us when we
have the ball, when we're playing the pace, we have
to be more efficient because it's going to be a fast,
exciting game on Saturday.

Speaker 3 (11:10):
Two home games remain.

Speaker 2 (11:12):
This is my last chance to talk with you before
you play your your Senior Day game, and you've you're
going to honor a lot of kids that day. I
know a week from Saturday seems so far off in
the distance when you have two games between now and then,
But you have you thought at all about what Senior
Day is going to be like for you this year?
With you know, you start with Zach Fremantle, who's college

(11:33):
basketball career it feels like it started a decade ago,
has been such a huge part of this program and
fortunately he's been able to play this year because there
was a stretch where we weren't sure when he was
going to see the floor again. Have you started to
think at all about what Senior Day is going to
be like this year.

Speaker 4 (11:48):
Not senior Day.

Speaker 5 (11:49):
But I don't think there's a day that goes by
that you don't reflect on each of those guys, and
every one of them is different, you know, do Zach
and Jerome's stories speak for themselves, and they've been here
in our program longer, so there's just greater familiarity with
their respective games and careers and what they've accomplished, both
from our fans perspective, but also you know, me as

(12:11):
their coach. But you also have guys who didn't start
with us who've come here recently, like Daveon McKnight, who
I think has given everything. Everything is blood, it's sweat,
it's tears to what we do. I don't know if
he's ever skipped the practice, missed the workout, or ever
came into a game, you know, not playing to win

(12:33):
and playing one hundred percent. You learn to really appreciate
and respect those guys, and what you really want for
those guys more is for them to finish their career
on top as part of the tournament, you know, as
part of the successful story. And we have that in
our hands. We have to just continue to be good,
play every game like it's our last. You know, I

(12:54):
would just say this about Saturday. Our crowd is a
huge impact on our own court advantage. When you look
at our Yukon win, we would have not won that
game if our crowd wasn't at the level that it
was at. It started with our students, but it really
permeated throughout the building and if you were here for
that game and you followed that game, like you know,

(13:16):
Yukon had to play our energy as a team and
they had to play, you know, in this amazing on
campus arena and go against our crowd as well. And
I hope that some of what you just asked me about,
and you talk about honoring the team or seniors, that
we can go and do this together and give ourselves
the best chance to win that next game, because that's it,

(13:37):
you know, we can't skip steps. It's about this week
and it's about being ready on at four point thirty
on Saturday for what's the biggest game of the season,
Creton at home.

Speaker 2 (13:46):
Yeah, it's it's a heck of a challenge. Should be
a great atmosphere four thirty on Saturday. I know you
have to jump on a plane. By the way, I
really cook what is in this day and age, what
college basketball has changed. How is recruiting chain?

Speaker 5 (14:02):
It's changed a lot. It really is up tied down
five times over because I would describe it to you,
you know, flying on a plane and trying to put
it together at the same time. I think I speak
for pretty much all coaches that all of us are
doing the best that we can and hoping some guardrails
and legislation will take hold to help everybody, the players,

(14:27):
you know, their agents, their families, not just the universities,
but everybody. And I think that time's coming.

Speaker 2 (14:35):
I hope, so travel safe. I can't thank you enough
for doing this. As always, good luck on Saturday, and
hopefully we can chat throughout the course of the month
of March. Thanks so much, coach, You've got it my pleasure.
That's our guy, Sean Miller. Xavier winning yesterday in New
Jersey against Seaton Hall, tipping off at four point thirty
on Saturday with a home tilt against great By the way,
they announced I think just a short while ago that

(14:58):
the Senior Night game, which is a week from Saturday,
is going to be a four to thirty tip off
as well. That is Xavier hosting Providence actually four o'clock
game against Providence. First things first, four to thirty on Saturday.
XU with a win yesterday against Seaton Hall, which felt
like it was going to be a.

Speaker 3 (15:14):
Pretty easy one for a while, and then not so much.

Speaker 2 (15:17):
Ryan called Ryan Conwell with a huge shot at the
top of the key just inside the last minute, and
the Musketeers win a fourth consecutive game and have clinched
at least a five hundred record in Big East play
in the regular season. I did see. I believe there
are tickets available for Saturday at go Xavier dot com.
All right, there you go, nineteen after three o'clock. We

(15:39):
appreciate coach Miller's time. That's the very very rare guest
out of the shoot that we typically don't too. So
let me set up a couple of things. Show run
down available on Twitter at moeger Thanks to Emory Federal
Credit Union your credit union with heart since nineteen thirty nine.
Go to EMORYFCU dot org. Thanksanks to Chad Brendel for

(16:01):
filling in on Friday. I had a three day weekend.
During that three day weekend, a lot went down. We
have a lot to talk about between now and six o'clock.
We'll get to it when we come back. Twenty after
three on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station.

Speaker 6 (16:15):
Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty traffic from.

Speaker 7 (16:19):
The UC Health Traffic Center. Around forty percent of cancers
are preventable. Lifestyle changes and screenings can make a difference.
Call five one three, five eighty five. UCCC still got
that accident on North Bend Road, that one east of
Lantana Avenue southbound two seventy five construction has got that down.

(16:40):
The one lane at the Indiana Kentucky state line. That
four repairs in place on the Carrol Cropper Bridge will
be there through the summer on that Ezalic with traffic.

Speaker 2 (16:51):
It is twenty four minutes after three o'clock. This is
ESPN fifteen thirty on my legger. Thank you for joining us.
By the way, Elie Dela Cruz has a hit and
a run scored. Reds are playing the Dodgers right now,
top of the second inning in good Year Cactus League action.
It's a one nothing Cincinnati. The Reds today are giving

(17:13):
the baseball to I had this jotted down. I am
an absolute, absolute mess today, absolute mess.

Speaker 3 (17:23):
Brady Singer is pitching today.

Speaker 2 (17:25):
That's the sort of thing I should have known, and
I knew that, and I wrote it down. Brady Singer
is in his second inning of work. He has recorded
four outs. He has struck out all four guys that
he has retired. Ellie Dela Cruz has a hit and
a run scored. He is three for three on the season.
He is batting one thousand. He hit two home runs
on Saturday, one from each side of the plate, eight

(17:47):
hundred and fifty nine feet worth of home runs. Now
you may say, MO, it's a spring training game. The
game didn't count, the stats don't count. He's not going
to get any credit for hitting Cactus League home runs. Stop, MO,
don't do this. You're better than that, MO number one. No,

(18:08):
I'm not number two. Remember how it works with Elie
Dela Cruz. Okay, when he has a bad game, and
he had bad games last year. When he does something bad,
When when he strikes out in a big situation, and
he led the planet in strikeouts last year, or he
makes a big error, especially a big error on a

(18:30):
on a relatively easy play, or he makes a mistake
on the basis if he gets picked off, if he
crosses that invisible line between aggressiveness and stupidity. Things that
he does. Okay, I have to listen to how Elie
Dela Cruz is overrated. Uh, sell your Ellie stock. He's

(18:52):
they should bench up. He's overrated. And I listened to it.
I will give you a voice. I'll give you a platform.
I got a phone. Go ahead say that stuff.

Speaker 3 (19:02):
And god knows, last year, every time Ellie had a
bad game, I'd have it thrown in my face.

Speaker 2 (19:08):
Mo, your boy's not as good as you think. He
can't lead the league in errors, can't lead the league
in strikeouts. He's got a lot of talent, but he
doesn't know how to play. You're overrating this. Go okay, fine,
But when he has a good game, you know how
it works.

Speaker 3 (19:25):
Right.

Speaker 2 (19:25):
I then get to talk about how awesome Ellie Dela
Cruz is going to be, and how I'm going to
bet on his talent, and how when we do that
silly game where we buy and sell our invisible stock
in athletes, I'll buy all the Elie Dela Cruz stock
there is. I'll do that. You know how it works.
I'm guessing that if on Saturday, Ellie Dela Cruz committed

(19:48):
a couple of errors that would be thrown in my face,
or if in his first two at bats he's struck out,
that would be thrown in my face. Even though it's
a spring training game, a game that doesn't cat. The
stats don't count, the errors don't count, the strikeouts don't count.
But that didn't happen. Instead, on Saturday, he hit a

(20:08):
home run his first time up, and then came up
the next time and hit a home run. The first
one was four hundred and fifty feet, the next one
four h nine. So we can do this during spring training.
I'm here for it. I'm gonna start it. He's now
three for three, three runs scored, two homers. Ellie Taylor
Cruz NL MVP odds plus twenty two hundred. Do you

(20:29):
have the highlight from today?

Speaker 3 (20:32):
Give me now?

Speaker 2 (20:33):
Give me, give me, give me some highlights from Saturday.
Give me some radio, give me some Tommy throw, give
me some Jeff Brownly hit it, Tarren.

Speaker 3 (20:38):
That's gonna be one of the keys for Dayla Cruz
this year.

Speaker 8 (20:40):
The pitch swung on to this, ball's launched high and
deep right center field. That goes Thomas. He's on the track.
He looks up, it is gone. Yeah, Ellie drives it
out of here to rite center field. It's two to
one Guardians on day, La Cruz's first home run of
the year.

Speaker 3 (20:55):
And I believe that was a breaking ball that day.
La Cruz hit out to right center field. Hmm.

Speaker 2 (21:03):
Yeah, all right, there you go. There's that was the
first one. Do you have the second one?

Speaker 3 (21:09):
Well, play for you later there it is. This is
his second at bat.

Speaker 8 (21:12):
Yes, the swings and sends the deep right center field
that goes the center fielder Thomas. He looks up and
he's done it again. Yeah, Ellie Dala Cruz five. That's
this saving home run bats to start Cactus League play.

Speaker 3 (21:31):
Yes, that'll be the MLB highlight. Hell yeah, it was
damn straight cowboy wan a towering bomb cield.

Speaker 2 (21:40):
Yeah, Tommy Thraw, Jeff Brandley, Red's radio network, do not
tell me, Do not tell me. It's just just a
couple of meaningless Cactus League homers. He should save him
for the regular season, because you know, damn well, what
would happen if on Saturday first inning, guy hits a
ground ball to him and he boots it, or he
makes a play to his left picks it up and
and throws it into the stands. Or his first time

(22:02):
up he strikes out. Looking in a second time up,
he swings at a pitch eight feet out of the
strike soon and he strikes out again.

Speaker 3 (22:08):
You know what'd be thrown in my face. So I'm
getting out in front of this.

Speaker 2 (22:11):
When Ellie does something awesome, I get to talk about
how awesome he is going to be.

Speaker 3 (22:15):
Is he likely to win the award?

Speaker 2 (22:17):
No, because shoe heey O Tani is in the National League,
and so is Mookie Betts.

Speaker 3 (22:22):
He's in the National League as well.

Speaker 2 (22:25):
But but Ellie Dela Cruz I think represents awesome value
at plus twenty two hundred to be the National League MVP.
Fernando Tatis is in the National League. Juan Soto's now
back in the National League. Bryce Harper is in the
National League. Ellie Dela Cruz plus twenty two hundred. I
just I don't know. I think it's worth a flyer.

(22:48):
He's you know, he's got to cut down on the
strikeouts and he's got to cut down on the errors.
But I'm gonna guess he does those things and then
does the other stuff he did well last year even better.
I'm betting on the talent, and I'm betting on the
Hall of Fame manager to help him get everything Ellie
needs to get out of that talent if that makes sense,
and I'm not sure it does. So we'll keep you

(23:09):
updated on what's happening in Goodyear. Today, Reds and Dodgers
playing Ellie de la Cruz one from one, a single
and a run scored. He is on paste about one
thousand in the Cactus League, which would set a record.
Twenty nine away from four o'clock. We have a lot
of ground to cover between the baseball, the combines happening
this week, Duke Tobin's going to talk tomorrow at the
College Hoops and this weekend FC Cincinnati wins lots happening.

(23:32):
Five point three seven four nine fifteen thirty is our
phone number. Eight six six seven oh two thirty seven
seventy six works two sports headlines are next on ESPN
fifteen thirty, Cincinnati Sports Station.

Speaker 6 (23:45):
Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 7 (23:48):
Traffic from the UC Health Traffic Center. Around forty percent
of cancers are preventable. Lifestyle changes and screenings can make
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(24:12):
Charles Drive and Fort Washington Way. Right now you are
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kelseyshev dot Com. Reds are playing the Dodgers right now
in a goodyear. They are in the bottom of the
second inning. Cincinnati leads the ball game by a score
of two nothing. I've got it on here in studio.

(24:42):
It's on MLB Network. Backup catcher Jose Trevino is at
the plate right now because I'm in here doing stuff.
Austin Hayes doubled in Ellie de la Cruz for the
Reds first run. I do you have the tea God
plain the highlight.

Speaker 8 (25:01):
This ball is hit high in the air and hit
pretty well deep right field. Back goes Hernandez. He looks up.
It's off the Wall, It'll score day La Cruze Stevenson
being waved around third, he will score Hayes on his
way to third, and he's out by a mile.

Speaker 3 (25:15):
The relay gets Hayes at third. What's he doing?

Speaker 8 (25:18):
But not before he's got himself a two run.

Speaker 3 (25:23):
Uh single, double double.

Speaker 1 (25:26):
You know, somewhy is upset like, oh look look, base running.

Speaker 2 (25:29):
Starting already, already already now, So here's the deal. Because
I'm a disorganized mess right now and it probably sounds
like it on the air. I've got the game on
MLB Network. I've also got my laptop up. My laptop
says the Reds and Dodgers have played two innings and
it's one nothing Cincinnati. When MLB Network went to break,

(25:54):
it said it was two nothing Cincinnati through two innings.
So is it one nothing? This is really important stuff.
We we are nothing if not accurate. We want to
give the correct information the Reds. We know the Reds
are winning, we know the Dodgers have no runs. It
is either one nothing or two nothing through two innings.

Speaker 3 (26:15):
In goodyear. I will absolutely do my best to keep
you updated.

Speaker 2 (26:19):
Right now, they're in a commercial break and I'm watching
a commercial for Blue Buffalo dog food.

Speaker 1 (26:23):
Everything I'm reading says one one nothing.

Speaker 2 (26:26):
Why do they have two nothing on the graphic at
MLB dot com, I'm not sure.

Speaker 3 (26:31):
I saw that.

Speaker 2 (26:31):
In the second inning, Candelario singled and then he got
thrown out trying to stretch his head into it. So
we've had We've already made two outs on the bases today. Yes,
I thought Tito was gonna fix that. Tito is going
to fix the base running.

Speaker 5 (26:49):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (26:50):
And then Gavin Lux walked, and then Jake Frayley grounded out,
and then Trevino he flew out to left field. That's
no run scored. You're right, but see it says nothing.
Right on TV, it says two nothing. Top three. Carson
Spyers is throwing warm up pitches. When did this invisible
run get scored by the Reds? And by the way,

(27:12):
this is the Dodgers feed, right, this is the Dodgers.

Speaker 1 (27:14):
Yes, this is the.

Speaker 2 (27:16):
Los Angeles Dodgers, the defending world champions, the what many
would say, the premier franchise in the sport, and yet
their television network is giving us what we believe is
the incorrect score. MLB dot Com says one nothing. ESPN
dot Com what does who is producing the game? For one,
are the radio stations down there? Now it's back, it

(27:36):
says one nothing. They finally fixed it, all right, And
this is really important stuff, this Cactus League game. I
strive to give people a fair and accurate information. So
there you go. Sean McClain just hit a double den
the left field line. I might just call it a
play by play from this game. Brady Singer on the

(27:57):
mound for Cincinnati. He started wing two innings, didn't give
up a run. College basketball Kentucky now seventeenth DP, Top
twenty five, twenty first AP Top twenty five, Wildcats losing
to Alabama on Saturday. The Mark Pope Show is tonight
at six pm on ESPN fifteen thirty. You might be thinking, well, yes,
tonight also the Sean Miller Show. No, because, as you
just heard in our conversation with the coach, Sean is

(28:20):
out recruiting tonight and so we can't do a show.
So his show will be tomorrow. Xavier, coming off their
win at Seaton Hall yesterday, Musketeers did place a couple
of players on the Big East Weekly Honor Roll. Ryan Conwell.
I said, a couple of players Ryan Conwell is one
player college baseball you see is now twenty third in

(28:41):
the national rankings. Shows off to a great start. Let's
just take a phone call see if somebody can rescue this. Bob,
Bob and bowling Green.

Speaker 3 (28:49):
Bob.

Speaker 2 (28:50):
I wanted you to call in on Thursday because I
wanted someone to talk about hockey with, and yet you
were nowhere to be heard.

Speaker 9 (28:58):
What happened though?

Speaker 1 (29:00):
What about it?

Speaker 2 (29:01):
Well, because the US was playing Canada in the Four
Nations face off, and you're a huge hockey guy, and
everybody I know was was going to be watching hockey
on Thursday, and I was looking for somebody to talk
about the game with.

Speaker 3 (29:13):
And well, we didn't call it.

Speaker 10 (29:17):
I apologize. I did watch the game, and for the
second time in his career, the great Jordan Bennington stood
on his head and go for the Canadians. Incredible.

Speaker 3 (29:31):
Yeah, that was awesome.

Speaker 10 (29:32):
And that's of course where they won the Stanley Cup
back in twenty nineteen.

Speaker 2 (29:36):
Yeah, that was That was a that was a really fun,
high end, sort of from out of left field sporting
event that three weeks ago I didn't think was going
to capture the imagination of as many people as it did.
That was well done, as as a win for Gary
Bettman in the National Hockey League.

Speaker 4 (29:52):
Oh, no question about it.

Speaker 10 (29:53):
And you know what, it was the only game of
the series that I watched, But no, it was it
was great. All right?

Speaker 3 (30:00):
Well, well what else is on your mind, Bob?

Speaker 9 (30:03):
Well, all right, let me let me start with this
mom Yeah, in the last I don't know, ten days
or so, Josh Reid has turned out to be a
pretty good basketball player.

Speaker 3 (30:17):
He has.

Speaker 10 (30:19):
And here's what I'm curious about. This is a guy
that I guess three years ago or so the coach
recruited and brought in and you know, obviously brought him in.
They can this guy's a pretty good basketball player. What's
taken him this long to get on the floor with
any meanful moment?

Speaker 2 (30:40):
Well, I think to be fair, you know, Josh was
they were giving him a fair amount of minutes early
in the season, if you go back to you know,
really before they played Xavier, he was playing fourteen to
fifteen minutes a game, and frankly, for the most part,
really never did anything to distinguish himself and earn more
playing time. Once the more dificult game started, and once

(31:01):
the more difficult games started you know, he got a
token minute at the end of the first half again Xavier.
He didn't play against Dayton. He didn't play that much
in their first couple of Big Twelve games, and I
think that was a reflection to the fact that when
he got an opportunity in November and December, he didn't
take advantage of it. I think what has happened since
is Wes Miller has just gotten to the point where
he's trying anything and trying Josh Reed has paid dividends.

Speaker 3 (31:24):
It has stuck.

Speaker 2 (31:25):
But I kind of viewed Josh's lack of playing time
earlier in the Big Twelve schedule as an indictment against
what he wasn't able to do back in November and December.

Speaker 10 (31:35):
Yeah, I you know, mo, I understand what you're saying,
and there may be something to that, for sure, but
I just I don't know. I find it curious that
the guy just has an on and off switch where
he suddenly turned it on and he's turned out to
be a pretty good player the.

Speaker 2 (31:53):
Last five games. Specifically, I think they have always felt
like he could help them defensively. I think it was
it's been a matter of what's he been able to
get him on the offensive end, and what he has
given them on the offensive end. To me, you know,
he has shot it well. I think if you go
back over the last five games, he's shooting it close
to a sixty percent clip. But I also think he's
not trying to do things he can't do right, He's

(32:15):
not trying to do things that are maybe out of
bounds for him offensively. I think he's taken advantage of
the fact that the point guards have made some plays
to create shots for him. But yeah, the light bulb
has come on. And I'll be honest with you. You know,
a month ago, I was wondering, like, all right, two
and a half years into this, for Josh, can he
play at this level? Can he play in the Big twelve?

(32:37):
And the way he's played over the last five or
six games would suggest the answer is yes.

Speaker 3 (32:41):
They're going to need even more of its starting tomorrow.

Speaker 4 (32:45):
Oh, no question.

Speaker 10 (32:46):
And you know, I feel like Dan Skillings and some
of the other guys have gotten chance after chance after
chance to prove that they belong there, and I don't know,
with Josh, it just seemed like, you know that that
chance for him really came with a lot of a

(33:09):
lot of issues for the other guys, you know, the
fact that they weren't able to do what Wes needed.
But yeah, I think the guy, you know, he's really
looked very good here in the last ten days or so,
and I just I'm just curious as to what he
would have looked like if he'd gotten a lot more
minutes early in the year.

Speaker 2 (33:30):
Uh, maybe maybe he would have maybe he would be
playing even better at this point. But again, I go
back to November and December when they were playing you know,
Howard and schools like that, and even NKU and Georgia Tech.
I think he was getting a fair amount of minutes
because at the time it felt like Wes was playing everybody,
and understandably so in a lot of those games, you
want to give as many people an opportunity to show

(33:51):
what they can do. I don't know that Josh distinguished himself,
you know, And even if you go back last year,
I mean, you know, he he I don't know what
he averaged minute wise, but he played a fair amount
last season and frankly, often to me looked like a
guy who was in a little bit over his head
in the Big twelve. Again, the way he's played over

(34:12):
the last five or six games has been awesome. I
think time will obviously tell if this is a flash
in the pan, a little bit of an outlier, or
if this sort of four tends something even bigger and
better as we get to March and then obviously next
season as well.

Speaker 10 (34:27):
Hey, hey, ma, I felt very much the same way
as you just spoke about. I really thought the same thing,
and to your point, maybe it still is the case.
But somewhere along the line, I'd like for someone to
really maybe just pose that question the West Josh Reid. Yeah,

(34:49):
about Josh Reid in particular, and just hey, when you
know what's going on? I mean, is he just suddenly
turned into a guy that can average ten point it's
a game and and and really his shooting percentage is
very good and he's able to actually just shoot pre
throws as well, Yes.

Speaker 3 (35:07):
Which this team badly needs. Yeah, no doubt about that.

Speaker 10 (35:11):
Although the other day had won the game for him.

Speaker 3 (35:13):
Yeah no.

Speaker 2 (35:14):
So so Wes was asked about Josh after the b
YU game, and you know, that was the best game
he had played as a Bearcat.

Speaker 3 (35:23):
I think most of us.

Speaker 2 (35:26):
Kind of said the same thing, and and Wes went
out of his way to say it's the best he
has played, it's not the best he will play. I
think he's always had a high opinion of Josh. Again,
I sometimes the light bulb comes on, man, I mean,
you know, I there there's a long list of college
basketball players that I have watched that I've wondered, can

(35:46):
they play at a certain level or are they were
they misrecruited? Do they really belong here? And then they
figure it out, you know, and and Josh is maybe
one of those players. Again, I'm I'm gonna be interested
to see so much riding on the next four games.
I'm going to be interested to see if he can
continue to give this team what he has because if

(36:07):
the answer is no, then I wonder who makes up
for it. Because you mean you mentioned Dan Skillings. I
have no idea what they can count on from that
guy on a game to game basis. And you could
say that about a lot of players on the team,
especially now not having Semas Lucasis. Somebody has to give
them really good minutes. And the good news is Josh
has and I hope it continues.

Speaker 3 (36:24):
Bob. It is always fun to talk to you, man.
Thanks so much.

Speaker 5 (36:27):
Okay, well, thank you.

Speaker 3 (36:28):
There you go.

Speaker 2 (36:29):
By the way, the Dodgers have a tied the game
at one, David Body with a double and it's won one.
Top three Cactus League Baseball five point three seven four
nine fifteen thirty is our.

Speaker 3 (36:41):
Our phone number. I you know, the Josh Reid thing.

Speaker 2 (36:46):
If you go back and look at his game logs,
you'll see in November and December he was playing, I think,
on average, fifteen minutes a game, and let's be honest,
wasn't really doing anything to distinguish himself or make anybody
feel like that was a guy that should get a
lot of playing time once the real hard games start.
And you know, fine, I think out of desperation was

(37:08):
born opportunity for Josh and he has taken advantage of it.
And that's terrific. And you know, look, maybe maybe the
light bulb has just come on. Maybe he has just
started to figure out how he can best help this team.
I don't know what it is.

Speaker 3 (37:23):
It has to continue. That's part of it too.

Speaker 2 (37:26):
This is not just some sort of like luxury piece
like if Josh Reed goes back to playing the way
he was in November and December, tomorrow night against Baylor
and certainly on Saturday against Houston. Well, because of injury
and just because of how the roster is constructed, I
don't know where that production, where those good minutes are
going to come from. So not only is it a

(37:48):
fun story, not only is it a pleasant surprise, it's
also badly needed. And it's badly needed for this to continue.
It is a ten away from four o'clock five point
three seven, uh fifteen.

Speaker 3 (38:02):
I haven't even.

Speaker 2 (38:03):
Done as much as throw a topic out there and
we're fifty minutes into the show. Anything you might have
missed on this show you can go listen to on
the iHeartRadio app. You know, I gotta I got an
email here asking how about some love for the UC

(38:25):
baseball team. Why don't you have coach bischelon. Well, we
did last week and if you missed it, go listen
to it on the iHeartRadio app. We also had on
with this Jake Goldey U see linebacker, and you can
if you miss that conversation, you can go listen to
it on the iHeartRadio app.

Speaker 3 (38:41):
And we had Tommy Thrall on.

Speaker 2 (38:42):
The show last week Voice of the Reds and Scott
Saderfield was on this show last week, though not with me.
He was with Chad. But it's on my page on
the iHeartRadio app. If you missed any of that stuff,
go get caught up. Podcasts of this show are a
service of Long Neck Sports Grill nine away from four o'clock.
This is ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station.

Speaker 6 (39:05):

Speaker 7 (39:08):
a difference. Call five one three five A five UCCC Southound,
Hamilton Middletown Road. It is an accident at Jerry Couch
full of ar. Traffic through there is slow from State
Route sixty three northbound seventy five. Traffic is slow between

(39:32):
Mitchell Avenue and Town Street right now. If you're going
through there, expect a five minute delay on that. Ezelic
with traffic.

Speaker 3 (39:40):
Reports, it's it's back to being two to one.

Speaker 2 (39:46):
The Reds have not scored since we were on four
minutes ago, but they have tacked back on the run
because it has been determined that before Austin Hayes was
thrown out trying to stretch a double into a triple.
That not only did Elie de la Cruz score his

(40:07):
third run of the spring, Tyler Stevenson scored ahead of
the last out being made, And apparently there was some
confusion down there in a goodyear, and so the Reds
didn't score just one run in the first inning. They
scored two, and so as a consequence, they lead the
ballgame two to one as the Dodgers get set to

(40:28):
come to the plate in the bottom of the third inning.
I'm not sure in the history of spring training baseball,
either in the grape Fruit League or the Cactus League,
that there has ever been this amount of scrutiny aimed
at a scoring decision or whether or not a run
was scored. This is illustrative, if you will, of the

(40:50):
sort of in depth, honest coverage we like to give
you on ESPN fifteen thirty. We don't want you walking
around thinking that the Reds are playing a game and
the score is tie, when in fact it's two to one.
So due to some sleuthing, I think that's the right word,
we have gotten to the bottom of this and a

(41:10):
Reds winning two to one. Ellie de la Cruz just
grounded out to second base, so his chances of batting
one thousand during the Cactus League have evaporated. I do,
and I was joking, not really, but I was having
some fun before with the people who went, Ellie has
a bad game or does something bad, and he does

(41:31):
a lot of bad stuff. You know, he's got to
stop doing bad stuff as often as he does. And
if he does, I think the talent is going to
shine through. And we've got a guy here who has
the capability of being one of the very best players
in all of baseball. That's the central storyline of the season.
There aren't many many others, but like, that's that, to

(41:54):
me is the biggest one. Does Elie Dela Cruz go
from fun, highlight real guy to a dude who is
legitimately considered one of the top players in the sport?
Do the Reds have legitimately one of the top players
in the sport on their team this year that we
almost take for granted the awesome stuff he does because

(42:19):
he does everything well, And we might dive into that.
There was also something that Baseball did late last week
that some gave it a lot of credit for. I
need help understanding why we should give baseball credit for
punting ESPN. I do not understand this. We'll have a

(42:39):
poll question kind of related to it and talk about
Duke Tobin's availability tomorrow at the combine. Lots of ground
to cover, two hours to cover it all with coming
up on four o'clock on ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 11 (42:50):
Team thirty.

Speaker 2 (42:51):
Right, it's four oh four. This is ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 3 (42:55):
I'm o Edgar. Thank you so much for joining us. Thrill,
thrill that you're here. Had a great weekend.

Speaker 2 (43:01):
Lots going on in sports, lots. By the way, that
ball game right now is a two to one. Reds
are still winning. They haven't they haven't taken the run
off the board yet in goodyear. So there you go.
Our numbers are five point three thirty. We'll have a
pole question. Yeah, go ahead.

Speaker 1 (43:23):
Did you take the day off for the Biglow Tournament?
This year will have repeat last year?

Speaker 2 (43:27):
No, we're going to have a repeat of last year.
I will be working during the Big twelve tournament. So uh,
if you recall last year when they beat West Virginia
in round one, which was on a Tuesday, That game
went overtime and it Dane Thomas was awesome. I had
thirty one points, and it was that game was going

(43:48):
on while I was on the air, and.

Speaker 3 (43:50):
We basically, I basically embarrassed myself.

Speaker 2 (43:54):
And I essentially was just watching the game and rooting
for UC and going through all the gesticulations and history
onics that I go through during Bearcat games while I
was on the air. And it wasn't great. It wasn't
a good look. It certainly didn't sound good. But yes,
though we did go viral. But yeah, depending on when

(44:15):
they play, and chances are they're gonna end up playing
on Tuesday, depending on when they play, I could very
well be on the air while the Bearcats are playing,
which the track record is pretty good when that happens,
going back to when they were in the Big East.
So we will see, we will see.

Speaker 3 (44:33):
Yeah, I look forward.

Speaker 2 (44:34):
First things first, got to beat Baylor tomorrow, which is
still a Q as of today in the net rankings. Baylor,
despite losing Colorado is thirtieth in the net rankings, so
the Cats tomorrow will have a Q one opportunity against
Baylor unless things change tonight. There you go, had something

(45:01):
else reds later. I think Austin Hayes has just hit
a home run to run job. Here you go, Austin Hayes.
He goes yard. Good offseason pickup.

Speaker 1 (45:12):
You know how good we are. We have the audio
of that.

Speaker 3 (45:14):
Really, go ahead and give it to me. Here's the pitch.

Speaker 8 (45:18):
Hey Swingson's one high into the air. It's hit pretty well.
The left field Rosario is gonna turn and watch it
sail over the bullpins just in front of the video board.

Speaker 3 (45:28):
Out of here to left field.

Speaker 8 (45:29):
A two run home run for Austin Hayes and the
Reds leaded four to one.

Speaker 3 (45:34):
There you go.

Speaker 2 (45:34):
That's off Tanner Scott a lefty, and Austin Hayes is
on this team because he could really rake against lefties,
and I am gonna do him a solid because I
know he deserves it and wants it.

Speaker 3 (45:46):
He's counting on this.

Speaker 2 (45:47):
I am disregarding everything that happened with him last year
with leg injuries, the kidney issue, forget about it. Historically,
Austin Hayes has been awesome against lefties. And you just
hit a home run to left field against one. It's
now four to one. Cincinnati Reds are still batting in
the bottom of the fourth inning. This is the most

(46:07):
comprehensive coverage of a spring training game you could have
without actually being at the game or calling the game.
Speaking of baseball, because I was this went down last week.
And if you're a longtime baseball fan, and if you're
of a certain age, you can remember what it was

(46:28):
like when ESPN got into the Major League baseball business.

Speaker 3 (46:32):
I was in nineteen nineties.

Speaker 2 (46:34):
You know, the Reds won the World Series, and I
remember when this happened, and ESPN suddenly started showing five
games a week. They had Wednesday doubleheaders, Friday doubleheaders, and
they had the Sunday night baseball game. And this was groundbreaking,
right because you know, there was already a lot of
baseball if you had cable at TBS, WGN, depending on

(46:55):
your part of the country, WWR, and you had your
local team. But now ESPN was carrying games, and not
only that, ESPN was devoting a nightly highlight highlight show
to Major League baseball. And in nineteen ninety and again
if you're you know, too young to remember this, pardon
me for sounding old. This was a landmark thing.

Speaker 3 (47:13):
This was huge.

Speaker 2 (47:15):
I mean, if I'm forty seven years old, So if
you can remember that time in your life. If you
are roughly my age. When ESPN got baseball, it was
a big deal. It's like, wait a minute, there's there's
gonna be a sports center for baseball every night, and
there's gonna be more games on during the week, and
and then you know, as the nineties unfolded and you

(47:37):
got to September, if there was ever a Pennant race,
like the last great Pennant Race that I can remember
was nineteen ninety three Giants Braves Giants first year Barry Bonds.
Braves had won the nl West title the previous two years,
and the Giants had a huge lead. Atlanta caught them
and there was like this three week sprint to the

(47:59):
NLS title. And it was awesome because the Braves would
play most of their games, obviously in the eastern part
of the US, and the Giants were always playing games
in the western part of the US, even though they
were in the same division for some reason. And ESPN
in September would show nightly games that mattered in the
Pennant race, and so you could watch the Atlanta Braves

(48:20):
and then you could watch the Giants, and I think
the Giants won one hundred and three games that year
and didn't make the playoffs, and it was really the
last great Pennant Race because it was the last year
without a wildcard, and so for a generation, actually maybe
two of us, ESPN and Baseball go hand in hand.
Last week, Rob Manfred decided we're opting out. We're getting

(48:41):
out of the baseball business with ESPN, and we're going
to opt out of a deal that pays US five
hundred and fifty million dollars a year. A lot of folks,
including people that I work with, thought this is good.
Baseball's doing the right thing here. And Rob Manfred, in
his statement about leaving ESPN opting out of the three

(49:03):
remaining years in their deal, made reference to the fact that, well,
ESPN really doesn't cover baseball that much. And there's some
truth to that, right, Like if you watch the daytime
shows where they yell and scream at each other all
day long, they very rarely do anything baseball related, and
when they do, it's typically really bad because the folks

(49:24):
on those shows probably don't watch a lot of baseball,
probably don't pay very close attention to the sport of baseball,
and so if it's not maybe Yankees related or Dodgers related,
they're really not paying attention. I'm going to venture to guess,
and I'm just using him because he's the highest profile
person on ESPN.

Speaker 3 (49:42):
Stephen A.

Speaker 2 (49:43):
Smith has watched zero Cincinnati Reds games in his entire.

Speaker 3 (49:46):
Life, and so they just don't talk a lot of baseball.
Rob Manfred in his statement, basically said we're disappointed with
the lack of coverage by ESPN of Major League based
and a lot of people saw that and were like.

Speaker 2 (50:02):
Yeah, yeah, you tell him Rob. All right, two things
about this. I am not the most savvy business person
by any stretch of the imagination, But if a sports
network is paying you five hundred and fifty million dollars

(50:26):
a year, which admittedly is chump change compared to what
Fox is paying Baseball, and chump change compared to what
ESPN is going to be paying the NBA moving forward,
or what ESPN is paying the NFL, but still five
hundred and fifty million dollars a year, are you really
in a position.

Speaker 3 (50:45):
To back out of that deal?

Speaker 2 (50:51):
Like I get it, ESPN doesn't cover baseball the way
a lot of us grew up with ESPN covering baseball,
and far be it from me to question business acumen
of Rob Manfred. But by the way, Jake Freeley just
got hit by a pitch that looked like it hurt.
Are you really in a position to walk away from
a deal that is going to pay you five hundred

(51:11):
and fifty million dollars? They're streaming deals with Apple and
Roku and Peacock. They have a Sunday morning game on Peacock.
Pay them combined about one hundred million dollars. Those are
separate in an age where the regular season has never
mattered less. Baseball is carried on ESPN and the regular
season and they have had over the last two years

(51:33):
exclusive rights to the best of three wild card series.

Speaker 3 (51:37):
Those air solely on ESPN.

Speaker 2 (51:38):
They put some of the games on ABC, but ESPN
owns the rights to those games. So they're essentially getting
Sunday Night baseball, a handful of random regular season games
as their schedule permits, and one early round of postseason
play with your regular season never having mattered less than

(51:59):
it does right now.

Speaker 3 (52:01):
And that's true.

Speaker 2 (52:02):
Right the regular season doesn't matter as much as it
used to. We have more playoff teams, and that's you know,
that's not a criticism. I think it's it's true that
the regular season has been devalued by adding postseason teams.
Are you really in a position to walk away from
a deal that pays you one and five hundred and
fifty million dollars a year? Are they really going to
recoup that anywhere else? So there's number one. Number two

(52:23):
is ESPN does not cover baseball the way it used to. Frankly,
no national sports outlet covers baseball the way it used to.
I mean even local newspapers don't cover baseball the way
it used to. MLB Network covers baseball really well, because
it's a network about baseball owned by Major League Baseball.

Speaker 3 (52:47):
Beyond that, you know, there are certain times a.

Speaker 2 (52:50):
Year when there's not a lot going on, you'll see
baseball highlights on Sports Center. But you know, when we
get into May and the NBA playoffs are happening, in
the Nachel Stanley Cup playoffs are happening, and there's a
NonStop avalanche of football news, chances are baseball is going
to be shoved to the back seat unless something significant
happens on a certain night. And when you watch the

(53:13):
First Take or those FS one shows, were they just
yell at each other all day they barely ever talk
about baseball. You're not gonna see they're not gonna be
going into great detail breaking down the nuances of the
National League Central race. So a lot of folks have
seen that and said, well, if ESPN's going to treat

(53:33):
baseball the way it does, this is what baseball should
have done. Good for baseball for doing this to ESPN,
which doesn't do right by baseball by covering it. My
question is this, if baseball was covered on ESPN the
way it's covered, the way it covers the NFL, or

(53:54):
the way it covers the NBA, would anybody really pay
attention like we pine over baseball tonight back in the
day when you know, number one the me watch quick
pitch on MLB network. You could catch the highlights, however,
and whenever you want on MLB Network. I'm sort of
convinced that while baseball on the local level for most

(54:20):
markets has never been better, and the sport I think
is in a really good place, the pitch clock has
been awesome. We have achieved a level of parody that
a lot of people claim baseball was never able to achieve,
and we've done that without a salary cap. But most
baseball fans. I know, with the exception of maybe the
World Series, if their team isn't playing, they're not watching.

(54:47):
Like every Sunday night there's an ESPN Sunday Night baseball game.
I like having it on. I think I'm a little
bit of a baseball nerd. I also think I'm kind
of the outlier here. I say most baseball fans are
not watching that, or not watching the games they show
on FS one on Saturdays or the games they show

(55:07):
on TBS on Tuesday nights, many of which do run
concurrent to your favorite team playing. Like as much as
ESPN has been beaten up for its lack of baseball coverage,
I'm not sure that covering the sport in greater detail
is really serving an audience that's there. I think there's

(55:27):
a great appetite for each fan's local team or own
favorite team. I think in Cincinnati there's a great appetite
for Reds coverage, and there's a lot of good Reds
coverage out there. I think there's a tremendous appetite for
Reds coverage. I don't think there's much of an appetite

(55:47):
for coverage of the other teams. Coverage of the sport
as a whole coverage of the playoffs, and I think
ESPN's programming strategy has mirrored that all the while they
still have been paying Baseball five hundred and fifty million dollars,
and so the the opt out, I think is from

(56:08):
a business perspective, sort of stupid from the standpoint of them,
you know, taking a shot at ESPN's baseball coverage, which
everybody seemed to rally around last week. If they increased
their coverage, would anybody really pay close attention? I would
love it if the answer is yes, and I think
I would pay closer attention. I'm not sure most baseball

(56:31):
fans would. Might have a poll question sort of geared
toward that incredible sports talk radio topic coming up in
just a bit eighteen minutes after four o'clock. Tomorrow is
going to be a very interesting day in Indianapolis. The
Combine is getting out away this week. Duke Tobin is
going to talk, Zach Taylor is going to talk. I

(56:54):
think we know what they're going to be asked. We'll
get to that next on ESPN fifteen.

Speaker 6 (56:58):
Thirty, Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty Traffic.

Speaker 7 (57:06):
From the UC Health Traffic Center. Around forty percent of
cancers are preventable. Lifestyle changes and screenings can make a difference.
Call five one three five eighty five UCCC still seeing
that accident southbound on Hamilton Middletown Road over at Jerry
Couch Boulevard. That one is south of State Route sixty

(57:26):
three northbound seventy one. Traffic running slow between Red Bank
Road and Ronald Reagan Cross County Highway. A three minute
delay on that ezalk with traffic.

Speaker 11 (57:36):
This report is sponsored by Matt.

Speaker 2 (57:38):
Four of this is ESPN fifteen thirty on my Leger.
The Mark Pulp Show tonight at six on ESPN fifteen thirty.
Be here for that, take a phone call or tip
five one three seven four nine, fifteen thirty. Phil is
on ESPN fifteen thirty. Good afternoon, Phil, How are you?

Speaker 12 (58:01):
I'm great? You No, I have breaking news.

Speaker 3 (58:03):
Yeah.

Speaker 12 (58:05):
I work at I work at CVG and the Miss
Express is on site at CVG.

Speaker 3 (58:10):
The Express.

Speaker 12 (58:12):
Yeah, it's something to do with summer slam and professional wrestling.

Speaker 3 (58:16):
I don't know.

Speaker 12 (58:16):
I stopped. I stopped watching h So Barbers in college.

Speaker 2 (58:20):
So wait a minute. The miss, the misses around tearing.
The Miss is a wrestler. Right, yes, so the miss
has his own plane.

Speaker 3 (58:28):
Uh bus bus?

Speaker 2 (58:29):
Okay, why if why is the bus? Is the bus
taking him to the airport or picking him up?

Speaker 12 (58:39):
I cannot tell you that security clearest level about five
grades above me. But I did see.

Speaker 3 (58:44):
It all right, very good, very good.

Speaker 12 (58:47):
The real reason I called was like I was listened.

Speaker 13 (58:49):
I just got in my car and then pretty pretty
good observation about baseball coverage. And I wonder if MLB
finally woke up and they're like, we need we need
someone who will help us market stars from theF is like,
chart which stars you want to market and someone from
me will He's like, you know the stars, It's like no,

(59:10):
which ones?

Speaker 12 (59:11):
They're like the stars Like like you see what I'm saying.
It's like they've slept on this for so long and
they've woken up and they're so far behind it. You's like,
you know what, once't you actually have a strategy. Yeah,
we'll talk, but until then, we're not going to do
all the work for you.

Speaker 3 (59:29):
Yeah, I mean I do.

Speaker 2 (59:31):
Phil, thank you very much, and we appreciate the news
about the MIZ. I've heard for years that baseball needs
to do a really good job of marketing at stars,
and I feel like I feel like the marketing of
stars in sports anymore happens organically. Women's college basketball didn't

(59:51):
market Caitlyn Clark. Caitlyn Clark became a thing. Now, when
Caitlin Clark became a thing, the networks that had access
to Iowa basketball put Iowa basketball on TV at every turn.
I don't know that ESPN is going to get a
sizeable bump by just putting show Hey O Tani on

(01:00:15):
TV every time it can, or putting Aaron Judge on
TV every time it can, or putting Ellie Dela Cruise
on TV every time it can. Like I think the
marketing of baseball stars, I think that really only goes
so far.

Speaker 3 (01:00:28):
I mean, I you know, if.

Speaker 2 (01:00:33):
If let's say that a national outlet decided we're gonna
put the Reds on because Ellie Dela Cruise is on
the cover of MLB the show right, and he's his
clips go viral and he's really popular and he's one
of the most talked about players in the sport. I
just I don't think anybody would really watch I mean,

(01:00:53):
last October, and I know there's there are a lot
of folks who don't like the big markets, and I
understand that, But you had a world series last year
that had no shortage of star power. I don't know
what the ratings were. I don't care what the ratings were.
I know I was excited for it. The series ended
up being kind of a dud. The most two most

(01:01:14):
memorable moments are the Freddie Freeman walk off Homer in
Game one and the two chuckleheads trying to take the
glove of Mookie Betts in Game four. Other than that,
not that many memorable moments. But it was a series
chock full of stars like former MVPs, current MVPs, all stars,
dudes who are likely to be in the Hall of Fame.

(01:01:38):
I don't know many people who actually watched. I know
people who checked in here or there, or might have
caught an inning or two while flipping around if there
was a break in the college football game they were watching,
they paid attention. I don't know many people who really
paid attention. I don't know that many hired for more
folks who are like I'm tired of big markets, no
interest in New York versus LA and Mike cow To.

(01:02:00):
That was I bet you had no interest in Texas
versus Arizona, a relatively anonymous world series. So I've heard
this for years. They need to do a really good
job of marketing their stars. I heard this when Mike
Trout was putting together, putting together before he got hurt.
Every single year and absolute hall of fame resume, and

(01:02:21):
I'm like, oh, you can watch his games if you
want to buy MLB dot TV. I don't think anybody did.
You could watch his games on MLB Network when they
show him. I don't think anybody did. I don't think
it was much of an appetite for Mike Trout, mainly
because his team stunk. Also, just don't think it's a
huge appetite for baseball if your team's not playing again,
give me dead wrong about that. And I say, this

(01:02:43):
is somebody who loves to consume the sport, who loves
to consume other teams, who loves to sit there on
a weeknight and put on the West Coast games as
I do stuff around the house. But the criticism of
ESPN lobbied by the commissioner of the sport, that everybody
rallied around that criticism seems pretty hollow when you're criticizing

(01:03:04):
ESPN for not serving an audience that's probably not there
to begin with, And I guess that's my point. Twenty
eight after four o'clock. I think we're gonna do Paul
Dayner Junior tomorrow, not like we normally do, where he's
with us in studio for an hour, because he'll be
in Indianapolis for the combine and Duke Tobin's gonna talk

(01:03:26):
and Zach Taylor is going to talk, And historically there's
not a lot of news that comes from those sessions
in Indianapolis. But this is a different type of offseason,
mainly not just because of the decisions they have to
make involving t Higgins and Trey Hendrickson, mainly because of

(01:03:48):
the public pressure being put on the Bengals by the
face of the franchise. We'll spend some time on what
tomorrow may look and sound like next on ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 6 (01:04:00):
Cinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty Traffic from.

Speaker 7 (01:04:04):
The UC Health Traffic Center. Around forty percent of cancers
are preventable. Lifestyle changes and screenings can make a difference.
Call five one three five A five UCCC All Earlier
accidents now cleared However, traffic stop and goes southbound seventy
five between Western Avenue and Fort Washington Way, that a

(01:04:25):
five minute delay and southbound seventy one slow traffic. Martin
Luther King Junior drive the four seventy one six minute
delay at Ezlek with traffic.

Speaker 11 (01:04:35):
This report is sponsored thirty.

Speaker 2 (01:04:39):
Sports Headlines are a service about Kelsey Chevrolet Home of
fifetime power train protection and guaranteed credit approval from their
family to yours for life.

Speaker 3 (01:04:50):
Kelseyshev dot com.

Speaker 2 (01:04:52):
You know I was talking before about how Ellie Delacruz
hit two home runs on Saturdays, first to at Patch
of the Spring to Homer, and then he started the
red scoring today by getting a hit and scoring a run,
And how you might want to think about Ellie Dela
Cruz as a possible MVP long shot, MVP wager MVP winner.

(01:05:14):
You might want to think about Ellie Dela Cruz winning
the MVP this year. Oh, but a new challenger has
emerged in one Austin Hayes. Off the bat of Hayes,
and now he swings and hammers this one high and
deep to right center field, and that ball's gone.

Speaker 3 (01:05:31):
Have a day, Austin Hayes.

Speaker 8 (01:05:35):
Six RBIs for Hayes, two two run home runs and
a two run double wow.

Speaker 2 (01:05:43):
Seven to one reds Tommy Thrall on the Reds Radio
Network and Fox Sports thirteen sixty Austin Hayes. You just
heard what he has done so far today two homers,
three hits, six runs driven in Redsley the Dodgers seven
to one. They have played five innings in goodyear. Brady
Singer started win two innings and was quite good. Struck

(01:06:03):
out four. College Basketball Kentucky seventeenth AP Top twenty five Pole,
twenty first in the coaches poll. The Mark Pope Show
is tonight at six pm on ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 3 (01:06:14):
Ryan Conwell named to the.

Speaker 2 (01:06:15):
Big East Honor Roll for his role in Xavier's wins
this past week. Musketeers off until Saturday, XU hosting Creighton
U see home tomorrow night for palor Utah has fired
their head coach.

Speaker 3 (01:06:29):
What else do we have?

Speaker 2 (01:06:30):
Miles Robinson MLS Team of the Match Day for match
Day number one. FC Cincinnati winning on Saturday night one
nil over the New York Red Bulls. They're back at
it against Matagua in the CONCACAFF Champions Cup and home
on Wednesday. College baseball U SEE ranked now twenty third
after wining two after winning two out of three over
the weekend against u n LV twenty five away from

(01:06:55):
five o'clock. So the NFL Scouting Combine is this week,
which means all the media that covers NFL teams are
going to be in Indianapolis, and there's gonna be media
availability for all the gms and all the coaches, and
Duke Tobin gets his turn tomorrow. Zach Taylor gets his
turn tomorrow, and this kind of kicks off the off season,

(01:07:15):
This kind of kicks off the draft process, and it
is the first real availability of Duke Tobin, well since
Joe Burrows started to talk incessantly, if you will, about
t Higgins and about what he wants the Reds to
do this offseason and the direction he wants to see
the front office take the team.

Speaker 3 (01:07:37):
And so tomorrow will be interesting.

Speaker 2 (01:07:38):
Typically when Duke Tobin talks, this is no criticism of him,
but there's not a lot of noteworthier, newsworthy stuff that
comes out of that availability. Not that we're guaranteed to
get a lot tomorrow, but this is a different offseason. Yes,
the Bengals have some significant decisions to make about t

(01:07:59):
and Jamal and what they do with those players and
Trey Hendrickson. And I'm not sure there's a team that
has been talked about as it relates to the offseason
more over the last couple of weeks than the Bengals.
But this is different because for two and a half months,
Joe Burrow has been making it abundantly clear what he wants,

(01:08:21):
what he wants the Bengals to do, who he wants
the Bengals to sign, how he wants the team to look,
what he wants the team to do with their salary
cap situation, abundantly clear. He wants t he wants Jamar,
he wants Trey, and my guess is he wants all
three of those guys under new deals, including guys who

(01:08:42):
are under contract for this coming season, Jamar and Trey.
And Joe was on a you know, the whole national
tour at the Super Bowl where he won on every
national show and podcast and obviously all of his media availabilities.
At the end of the year and this entire time,
Duke tob And has talked He's done a couple of
one on ones. He hasn't done a press conference, he

(01:09:04):
hasn't done an availability where he's asked by anybody who
can get in, anybody with a credential questions. I think
it's going to be really interesting to see number one,
what sort of questions is Duke asked? And then number two, obviously,
how does he answer questions specifically about what Joe Burrow
has stated he wants the Bengals to do. This is

(01:09:28):
fascinating and I'm going to assume that Duke is prepared
and knows what's coming and has crafted answers that, you know,
tow the company line and don't reveal that much and
don't make noise. But still, we have not seen a
Bengals executive be forced to answer questions with this being

(01:09:51):
the predominant dynamic. The dynamic not being who are they
going to draft, or what are they looking for or
even which free agents may they go after?

Speaker 3 (01:10:00):
They're going to be asked. I think some pretty pointed questions.

Speaker 2 (01:10:02):
Zach Taylor's going to talk tomorrow as well, some pretty
pointed questions about how they feel about what Joe Burrow
has been saying about what the Bengals need to do.
We were on a week ago today, right Presidents Day, Yeah,
we could go Today. We had James Rapine with us
and he reported the Bengals were planning to use the
franchise tag on t Higgins. The tag window runs from

(01:10:27):
the eighteenth at four o'clock through March fourth, which is
obviously next week. That is seven six five, that's Tuesday,
March fourth, so they've got eight more days NFL teams
do to figure out if they're going to apply the
franchise tag to a player. I guess the question that
I want to ask tomorrow and the answer that I
want is like, all right, First of all, well, they

(01:10:50):
acknowledge that the plan is to tag T Higgins. Number two,
are they actually going to negotiate with them?

Speaker 11 (01:10:59):
Like?

Speaker 3 (01:10:59):
Is is is this going to be?

Speaker 2 (01:11:02):
And I know we had James on last week who
said the intention is different, but they tagged him last
year and then it legitimately felt like they they they
never they never really exchange figures, talk terms or.

Speaker 3 (01:11:23):
Negotiated like are are are they?

Speaker 2 (01:11:29):
Are they seriously and legitimately negotiating with them?

Speaker 3 (01:11:34):
By the way, there are.

Speaker 2 (01:11:37):
Lots of rumors out there about you know, team maybe
still ending up with the Patriots to acquiring t Higgins.

Speaker 3 (01:11:46):
Sorry, I lost my train of thought there.

Speaker 2 (01:11:48):
Like, that's what we've we've talked about the likelihood of
them tagging him. Is the tag gonna come with the
Bengals really in good faith negotiating with him. I don't
know that Duke Tobin is going to answer that question
specifically tomorrow. I don't know if he's going to be
asked specifically that question tomorrow. I don't know if by
tomorrow they've gone ahead and made it known that they're

(01:12:08):
tagging Tea Higgins. But like, tomorrow is kind of going
to be an interesting day because this is the first
time the Duke is going to be asked, I think
questions and not in a you know, one on one
in situation, like in an environment where the questions are
going to be coming from a lot of people, from
a lot of people, from a lot of different outlets
about what Joe Burrow has had to say about this
team and what it should do this offseason. The goods

(01:12:30):
ass are going to be interesting to see if he's
asked questions about Jamar Chase because Duke's last on the
record comments about Jamar Chase use the word framework, right,
We've got a framework for a deal, but the framework
should be blown up. If you were Jamar Chase, you
would want to blow that framework up. Right, does the
does the framework get blown up? Does the framework get

(01:12:51):
blown up? Do you have to start from scratch? And
I guess if you were really trying to get him
to speak the truth? How much do you regret not
get things past the finish line last year with t
Higgins instead of having to revisit this with him coming
off a triple crown season. But tomorrow is going to

(01:13:14):
be interesting. As we say, I cannot recall a Duke
Tobin or Bengals executive media availability that has occurred in
an environment like this. They've had to answer for players
not being happy, They've had to answer for players requesting trades.
They've had to answer for players threatening perhaps to retire

(01:13:36):
if they don't get traded. What no one has really
had to answer to is what Joe Burrow is saying
about what the Bengals need to do and all the
commentary that has come with those comments. So what questions
get asked and how do they get answered? Tomorrow seventeen

(01:13:58):
away from five o'clock, number are five, one, three seven
four nine, fifteen thirty and eight sixty six, seven oh
two three seven seven six. We'll throw a pole question
out here during the break. We will address another pole
question when we come back on ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 6 (01:14:11):
Cincinnati Sports Station, Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty traffic.

Speaker 7 (01:14:17):
Call five one three five eighty five. UCCC traffic is
stop and go southbound on seventy five between Western Avenue
and Fort Washington Way. That is a seven minute delay

(01:14:38):
at the moment northbound seventy one. Also some slow traffic
between Red Bank and fight for Road, up to a
five minute delay on at ezleic with traffic.

Speaker 11 (01:14:48):
This report is sponsored.

Speaker 3 (01:14:50):
Miners did not.

Speaker 2 (01:14:52):
Sheldon Rankins did whether there is a movement online for
them that I cut genostone. That's my geno stone noise
five one thirty seven four nine fifteen thirty. Uh, go ahead, Mike,
you're on ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 3 (01:15:11):
What's up?

Speaker 4 (01:15:12):
Wow, that's the fastest service ever. You You and Karen
are can't give you any well?

Speaker 2 (01:15:20):
Last week, you know there was a show. I think
it was Thursday. We did not get to you, and
you sent me a heated email. You were mad, you
were butt hurt almost and I didn't want to repeat
of that.

Speaker 4 (01:15:31):
No, And I apologize sometimes when they give me some
of this MEDICINEISS and I shouldn't even I shouldn't even
try to call then because it kind of kind of
I'm uncomfortable and it puts me in a funk. So
I won't do that anymore. I apologize.

Speaker 3 (01:15:45):
It's okay, what's on your mind?

Speaker 4 (01:15:47):
Hey, I've been Somebody turned me on to this guy
and it's coming up in the draft. And I went
back and started looking at some tom from Alabama on
the defense, and there's this linebacker they got. You may
have heard of him. His name is Tehug Campbell. This
guy is I don't know if we'll be around when

(01:16:08):
they picked, but if he is, he is a headhunter,
he can rush the past or he's extremely quick, he's
a physical specimen. I just I'm so impressed with this
Teahag Campbell. Do you know anything about him?

Speaker 2 (01:16:25):
So not a ton, but I do follow the Twitter
feed Gridiron Grating, and I saw just scrolling through last
night that the folks who run that account tweeted something
to the effect of Gihad Campbell being on the Bengals
somebody who should be on the Bengals short list at

(01:16:45):
seventeen with a comparison to Micah Parsons. Now that's a
pretty heavy comparison, but that was the That's what I
could tell you about him right now.

Speaker 4 (01:16:58):
Yeah, I'm just impressed because I watched him play several games.
I might have seen him have a couple of bad plays,
but I mean, this guy, he's just so aggressive and
he's animated, not not to the point. Well he might
get a couple of flags during the year because he
gets a little carried away, but boy, if you talk
about desire with a capital D, and he'll he can

(01:17:21):
really rush. Man, He's really fast. But I saw him
intercept the passer too, and yeah, he just he gotta
check him out a little bit if you can't.

Speaker 3 (01:17:30):
I's on my radar now, Mike, Thank you very much.
What else my pleasure?

Speaker 4 (01:17:36):
You know, Tony and Austin's inn a mount rushmore for
the Reds. What would be your four? I hit him
with mine, but I think my four are no brainer.

Speaker 3 (01:17:47):
But Rose Bench Morgan Larkin.

Speaker 4 (01:17:52):
Yep, that's Rose. Bench morn to me, well, I'm a
little I gotta go Frank Robinson because that's when I
was growing up and he was my hero. So I
got Frank Pete and Little Joe and Johnny.

Speaker 3 (01:18:07):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:18:07):
I mean, you can't argue with Frank Robinson, right, I
mean if I'm not sure anybody in the history of
the franchise has put together consecutive seasons like his sixty,
sixty one and sixty two, where and a lot of
folks don't know this, he led the league in ops
and slugging percentage all three years. There's obviously what he
was able to accomplish post Cincinnati, after the Reds made

(01:18:28):
the worst trade in franchise history, and they did go
to the World Series in nineteen sixty one, and he
was the MVP that year. I think, though, a mount
Rushmore to me is the players that you most identify
with a franchise, and the players you most identify with
a franchise should ideally at least be ones that you
connect with winning the whole thing. And with Bench and

(01:18:50):
Rose and Morgan and Barry Larkin, you identify those players
with winning because they were each on teams that won
World Series. But Frank Robinson's an all time great, like
in the not an all time great in Red history,
and an all time great five hundred and eighty six
home runs MVPs in both leagues. Like if if you

(01:19:10):
want to make the case, he should be on your route. Rushmore.
Though he came before my time, nobody could take him
A major issue with that.

Speaker 4 (01:19:19):
Yeah, and the thing is the Red like you said,
the worst trade they've ever made, mo with in in
quotation marks and he goes over to Baltimore, just goes
ahead and wins the Triple Crown.

Speaker 2 (01:19:33):
It's it's, it's it's it's not only the worst trade
in Red history, it's one of the most lopsided trades
in all of Major League Baseball history.

Speaker 4 (01:19:40):
It's your you have as Mike, you do.

Speaker 3 (01:19:44):
The same we have.

Speaker 2 (01:19:45):
From Tom Pellisero of NFL Network reporting the Bengals are
hiring Sean Decigh as senior defensive assistant. Sewan Decie is
a former defensive coordinator with the Chicago Bears and the
Philadelphia Eagles, who Tom writs played a key role in
the Rams game planning last year. He is now headed
to Cincinnati to join Al Golden staff. He was the

(01:20:09):
d C with the Eagles in twenty twenty three. He
was the defensive coordinator that got let go and got
replaced by a big fangio. This season, he was also
with the Bears as their DC. It's interesting he had
a pair of one year Stints's DC with Chicago in
twenty one Philly in twenty twenty three. Was also the
associate head coach and defensive assistant with the Seattle Seahawks

(01:20:30):
under Pete Carroll in twenty twenty two, and as I
mentioned before, a senior defensive assistant with the Rams last year.
And he is coming over to work for Zach Taylor
and Al Golden with the Bengals. That according to Tom
Pella Sero of NFL Media.

Speaker 1 (01:20:47):
And early on his career when Al Golm was take to.

Speaker 2 (01:20:51):
Temple, oh yeah he was. He was a part time
grand assistant. He was a part time Grant assistant. So
he knows Al Golden. Well, good, very good.

Speaker 3 (01:21:03):
All right.

Speaker 2 (01:21:03):
Uh so there you go everything you ever wanted to
know about Sean Decig who is coming to Cincinnati to
join the Bengals coaching staff as a defensive assistant. Maybe
Duke Tobin to be asked a lot of questions about
Sean design Maybe Zach Taylor will be asked a lot
of questions about Sean. Excuse me, Sean decide. There's a

(01:21:26):
good rundown today. Bill Barnwell of ESPN dot com, who
is one of my favorite football writers, kind of does
a little bit of a free agency preview and does
it kind of according to Tears and writes extensively about
t Higgins and kind of dives into whether t Higgins
is a true number one wide receiver.

Speaker 3 (01:21:47):
And at the end of the day, that's one of.

Speaker 2 (01:21:49):
The questions that hovers over all of this, right, whether
he's a true number one in the Bengals offense.

Speaker 3 (01:21:57):
He's not.

Speaker 2 (01:21:59):
That's okay. They've got a number one wide receiver. His
name is Jamar Chase. He may have heard of him.
And at the heart of this entire thing, which we
have been talking about now for so long, there is
one of the questions if he were to actually get
to free agency, which if they franchise tag him, and

(01:22:24):
according to most that doesn't seem to be that seems
to be the most the strongest possibility. That's the likelihood
here he's not gonna get to free agency. Is there
a true number one wide receiver market out there for
t Higgins? Now there is a market, clearly, there have
to be teams that view Tea is their clear cut

(01:22:45):
number one.

Speaker 3 (01:22:46):
But along with everything.

Speaker 2 (01:22:48):
That he has excuse me, everything that he has done,
along with everything that he has accomplished in Cincinnati, questions
about durability, but also legitimate questions about how much his production,
how much his profile is tied to being in an
offense that for the majority of his careers had Jamar
Chase running along with him, And we might not ever

(01:23:12):
find out because the Bengals, obviously it still feels like
the strong money though the smart money is on them
tagging him, and if they do, he's not going to
hit free agency. But around the league, is he truly
viewed as a number one? My guess is with some teams, yes,
there would be others who would say.

Speaker 3 (01:23:32):
We're still not sure. This is ESPN fifteen thirty. My
name is Kyle Tequila, hosted Listening to the Home of
the Bengals, ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 2 (01:23:41):
I Dave, it's a five after five. This is ESPN
fifteen thirty. Good afternoon.

Speaker 3 (01:23:46):
I'm my Leger.

Speaker 2 (01:23:47):
Thank you so much for listening. Hopefully you've had an
awesome Monday. Put a good Monday for Austin Hayes. Austin Hayes,
the newly acquired Austin Hayes starting in left field this afternoon,
having a day red to playing a Cactus League game
against the Dodgers. They lead seven to one, bottom of
the seventh inning. They're playing in Goodyear today. Austin has

(01:24:08):
two homers, he has three hits, and he has driven
in six.

Speaker 3 (01:24:12):
That's good.

Speaker 2 (01:24:13):
Brady Singer pitched when two innings, struck out four no runs.

Speaker 3 (01:24:18):
That's good. Carson Spires Carson.

Speaker 2 (01:24:21):
Spiers had these kind of fleeting moments last year in
spot opportunities where you thought, maybe this guy can be
a part of the solution long term.

Speaker 3 (01:24:30):
Today he was terrific.

Speaker 2 (01:24:32):
The games on MLB Network this afternoon and watching Carson
Spiers was encouraging. Two innings of scoreless baseball. He struck
out five and again seven to one. The score is
relatively meaningless, but it is still kind of cool to
see some of that stuff. It was talking with Austin
and Tony as their show was coming to an end.

(01:24:53):
They put a poll question up about what constitutes successful
season for the red Is it finishing above five hundred,
is it simply making the playoffs? Is it advancing in
the playoffs? Is it winning the World Series? They've got
to make the playoffs this year. I think for any
of us to feel good, not just about the season,

(01:25:15):
but where this is going, I would have a hard
time if they made the postseason in a full one
hundred and sixty two game season for the first time
since twenty thirteen. I would have a hard time calling
the season of failure, even if.

Speaker 3 (01:25:30):
They lost in Round one.

Speaker 2 (01:25:32):
I do think though, that if let's say they get
in as a wild card, make the postseason exit quietly,
I think all that's going to do is ramp up expectation,
and I think we will look at this season differently
if moving forward they don't go back to the postseason
and don't eventually win in the postseason, and don't eventually

(01:25:53):
really seriously can tend for a championship. I think one
of the interesting things about this year for the Reds
is the fallout if this doesn't work this year, and
this is not something any of us really want to entertain,
Like we all want to think about the Reds winning
the division and winning ninety or more games and getting
to the postseason and advancing in the postseason and maybe

(01:26:17):
advancing deep into the postseason and perhaps playing in the
World Series, and I don't know, maybe winning it like
that would be awesome. Like, we all want to think
positive things, and I think most of us are pretty
excited about what this season might hold. I think most
of us are pretty encouraged by some of the developments
from goodyear. I think most of us feel like this

(01:26:38):
team ceiling is reasonably high. I think most of us
feel like this team can outperform some of the statistical
projections for it. But you know, let's face it, and
I know this is something that I have brought up before.
This is year five of this It's not year five
for many of the players, but it is really year

(01:27:00):
five of the Reds going in a pretty specific direction,
with the core of the team being their own homegrown guys,
building a core that they could build around by acquiring
young players via trades, Spencer Steer, Christian and Karnassi on
strand guys like that. Hunter Green is going to pitch

(01:27:24):
in the big leagues this season. This will be his
fourth Big league year. This will be the fourth big
league year for Nick Lodolo. This will be the third
big league year for Ellie de la Cruz. It's a
young ish team, but it's not a team full of
dudes who haven't been around for a while, right, It's
not that young of a team. This process, though, has

(01:27:46):
been going on since twenty twenty one. At the end
of the twenty twenty season, Dick Williams decided to leave.
Nick Crawl took over that offseason, and we griped about
it a lot, but the Reds didn't spend any time
really making the twenty twenty one team better.

Speaker 3 (01:28:06):
They gave away relief pitchers.

Speaker 2 (01:28:08):
They really didn't go all in at the trade deadline
and the moment the twenty twenty one baseball season ended.

Speaker 3 (01:28:15):
They gave away Tucker Barnhurt. Then there was a lockout.
Then they traded away Sonny Gray, They traded away Jesse Winker,
they traded away a Yuhaneo Suarez. We can debate the
merits of those moves, and we can certainly talk about
what the fallout from those moves have been, but those
were moves aimed at putting the Reds on course to compete,

(01:28:36):
I think at the earliest, in the middle of the decade. Well,
here we are.

Speaker 2 (01:28:41):
There's been the bottoming out of twenty twenty two, one
hundred losses. There has been the really fun summer of
twenty twenty three, a season that ended with the Reds
finishing just outside the postseason with eighty two wins. There's
been last year, which was a year that marked the
end of David Bell's regime. Some good, some frustration, some injury,

(01:29:03):
some underachievement, some letdown. But I think a little bit
of an understanding that it wasn't that unreasonable to suggest
that maybe the team was gonna take a little bit
of a step back from twenty twenty three because in
twenty twenty three they were ahead of schedule. Okay, fine,
In my mind, at least everything they have been doing
has been pointing toward winning now, winning in twenty twenty five,

(01:29:26):
winning in twenty twenty six, winning in twenty twenty seven.
And if that happens, great, then what Nick Krawl will
have done and what the Castellinis will have told Nick
Krawl to do will have worked. It'll have paid off.
I don't know if it's gonna pay off, and winning
a World Series. You need some luck, you need some
things to go your way. The baseball postseason is random.

(01:29:48):
But everything that he started in twenty twenty one, I
believe was done with the idea that we're gonna go
through some lean years. We're gonna take some hits from
a a pr perspective, but man, when we get into
the middle to second half of the decade, we're going
to be able to say, told you so, told you,

(01:30:10):
told you this was what we needed to do, told
you this was gonna work. And if this season ends
up being a winning one, and if this season ends
up with the Reds playing beyond Game one, sixty two,
they're going to be able to do that. And I
think there's gonna be a sense of yes, this if
it hasn't been seen through its completion, this is working.

(01:30:32):
But if the Reds do as many advanced statisticians seem
to think they'll do, which is lose seventy or win
seventy five games, or finished with a record comparable to
last year seventy seven and eighty five, or finish with
a losing record, or finish with just enough wins to

(01:30:53):
be on the outside looking in the playoffs, then what.

Speaker 5 (01:30:58):
Then?

Speaker 2 (01:30:59):
What like what's next? Like last year it was all right,
they underwhelmed. You might have argued they underachieved, it was
time for a new manager. And nothing against David Bell.
I think we would all agree, just in terms of
reputation and resume. They upgraded, right, Terry Francone is a

(01:31:19):
Hall of Famer, all right, So you could not have
done more with the managerial position they have. And I'll
give them credit for this. They have stuck to a plan.
You know, as much as I think they should have
gone all in with the team in twenty twenty three
at the trade deadline, they've really not deviated from the
plan that was set forth in the winter between twenty

(01:31:41):
twenty and twenty twenty one, which has been aimed at
getting young, replenishing the pipeline, drafting well, building around our
own guys. No more valleys, no more peaks, maybe a
steady climb. And again, like this plan, if it was
ever going to pay off, it was going to pay

(01:32:01):
off right around now. What if there is no payoff?
None of us want to explore that. I don't want
to explore that, man, I want to be talking baseball
deep in October. I'm going to go spend a late
October day or night at gab Pete.

Speaker 3 (01:32:16):
We all want that, right, But what hovers over this.

Speaker 2 (01:32:22):
Is I think a little pressure for this franchise to
have a significant breakthrough. What might that mean for their
strategy at the deadline? What might that mean for Nick
Crawl If we are talking about them not making the
playoffs in October? What might that mean for the direction

(01:32:44):
they've chosen to take. What might that mean for any
number of players on this team?

Speaker 3 (01:32:48):
Right now?

Speaker 1 (01:32:51):
You know.

Speaker 3 (01:32:55):
It cost David Bell his job last year.

Speaker 2 (01:32:58):
I'm gonna guess if the Reds fall short of the postseason,
they're not going to bang Terry Francona. They're not going
to pay another manager not to manage. What sort of
changes would that necessitate, What sort of public angst would
the franchise have to deal with?

Speaker 3 (01:33:21):
What's the fallout?

Speaker 2 (01:33:22):
What happens next If by the end of this season
we go, man, this still isn't working, or we're being
told you've got to wait yet another year. I think
it's pretty basic this year, make the playoffs, and I
think we're all going to feel pretty good about what
they did in twenty twenty five.

Speaker 3 (01:33:43):
Miss the playoffs again, which a lot of folks seem
to think they're going to do.

Speaker 2 (01:33:51):
There are a lot of people who think this team's
poised for a breakout. Jim Bowden had a list at
the Athletic dot Com of six teams kind of on
the cusp of breaking through. ESPN called him one of
baseball or Buster only called him Baseball's most improved team.
And I think they're one of Baseball's most improved teams,
mainly because a lot of dudes who didn't play last year,
didn't play much last year, are healthy, which certainly helps.

Speaker 3 (01:34:15):
But as much as there are the hopes.

Speaker 2 (01:34:19):
That we all have that they play in the postseason,
and as much as you might be convinced that they
will deliver on those hopes, I think it's worth wondering
what happens if they don't. This is not something we
were asking last year. Maybe we should have, because again,

(01:34:40):
falling short last season did mean David Bell got banged.
This it's not something we were asking in twenty twenty three,
a twenty twenty three that were coming off a one
hundred lost season and we were just hoping the Reds
would play competent baseball and keep us interested into the summer.
They did that man, that year was awesome, and twenty
twenty two kind of felt like the almost necessary bottoming

(01:35:01):
out right. No expectations for that season. This year, there
are expectations. They are fair and legitimate expectations. You don't
hire Terry Francona if you're not wearing the weight of expectation.

Speaker 3 (01:35:22):
What happens if they don't live up to it? I
don't know the answer.

Speaker 2 (01:35:28):
It's probably not well, suddenly they're gonna just clean house
and go and sign a bunch of old, aging, veteran
expensive players. But as much as we've talked about a
plan and the Reds having won and the Reds sticking
to one, plans only matter if they work. Plans only
matter if there's an eventual payoff. Doesn't the payoff have

(01:35:50):
to start coming this year? Can the payoff come if
they don't make the postseason this year?

Speaker 3 (01:35:59):
I don't.

Speaker 2 (01:36:00):
For most of us, the answer is yes, you are
welcome the chime in five one, three, seven, four, nine,
fifteen thirty and eight six six, seven oh two, three,
seven seven six. Busy college basketball weekend u U se
goes home or wins at home on Saturday against a
very okay TCU team. Xavier hangs on to beat a

(01:36:24):
bad Seaton Hall team. You'll hear Sean Miller coming up
in just about twenty minutes. You see is getting set
to host Baylor tomorrow. The shine has kind of come
off of that game with the Bears losing to an
awful Colorado squad. It seems doable to beat Baylor and
beat k State and beat Oklahoma State. You don't want

(01:36:45):
to look ahead because they do have a game tomorrow,
that Houston game. Every time the Kooks take the floora
looks more and more daunting. More on that coming up
here in just a bit. Uh, what do we have?

Speaker 1 (01:37:01):
The Wrath home run?

Speaker 2 (01:37:02):
All right, very good Reds are piling on, piling on
the La Dodgers. It is now eight to one. Sal
Stewart just went deep. Yes, eight to one, Sal Stewart
cost yard bottom of the eighth inning. There you go, Tarren,
thank you very much. Red's have two homers from Austin
Hayes and one from Sal Stewart. So good stuff from Goodyear.

(01:37:23):
They interrupted a Kirby Yates interview on the Dodgers TV
broadcast to a show us that Sal Stewart home run.
It is at nineteen minutes after five o'clock. This is
ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati Sports.

Speaker 6 (01:37:33):
Station, Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty traffic.

Speaker 7 (01:37:39):
Call five one three five eighty five UCCC westbound Ronald
Reagan Highway. It's a disabled vehicle on the ramp to
Hamilton Avenue, setbound running road and accident before Dorchester Avenue

(01:38:00):
and Auburn Avenue. And accident near McGregor Avenue northbound seventy
one traffic slope from Norwood Lateral to fight for road
on at Ezelek with traffic.

Speaker 2 (01:38:10):
This report is sponsored by WHOA, WHOA?

Speaker 3 (01:38:14):
Who was that was?

Speaker 10 (01:38:17):
That?

Speaker 9 (01:38:17):
Was that?

Speaker 2 (01:38:18):
A piece of imaging A new piece of imaging on
the radio station Wow twenty three after five o'clock. This
is ESPN fifteen thirty. Stuff that only matters to people
like me. Hey, speaking of the iHeartRadio app, you can
find anything you may have missed on this show or

(01:38:40):
since he three sixty. Go there and you can find
interviews and entire shows and say really anything. And if
it's stuff you you've heard but you want to hear
it again, well we just we put all the stuff
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and again and again and again on the iHeartRadio app.
Podcasts of this show are a service of Long Neck

(01:39:02):
Sports Grill with three locations in northern Kentucky. No better
place to watch college basketball, no better plays to watch
the NFL Combine this week than.

Speaker 3 (01:39:12):
Long Neck Sports Grill.

Speaker 1 (01:39:13):
There you go.

Speaker 2 (01:39:14):
Was just texting with Paul Danner Junior. He is an
Indy for the Combine. The schedule is Duke Tobin's going
to talk at three point thirty while we are on
the air. Zach Taylor is going to talk at four
o'clock tomorrow while we are on the air, So we'll
try to get that to you. And so Dana and
I trying to work out a time for him to
come on, which I'm leaning Wednesday, Leaning Wednesday to get

(01:39:37):
kind of a reaction to wrap up to the day
at the Combine and everything's said by Zach, Duke and
others Live Duke in Live act tomorrow, Live Duke and
Live Zach tomorrow. I believe we can stream that we
can carry those things correct.

Speaker 3 (01:39:50):
We can't.

Speaker 2 (01:39:51):
Oh, very good, So we'll have a lot. We'll be
the place to be tomorrow with Live Duke and Live Zach.
I cannot wait. I cannot wait. Love the combine. I've
actually been to an NFL scouting combine. And if you're
big into like I don't know NFL media and you

(01:40:14):
get geeked out when you see NFL media people at
bars in Indy, that the combine is at your bag man,
So there you go.

Speaker 3 (01:40:22):
Dane will be there. We'll chat with him. I think
on Wednesday, I think.

Speaker 1 (01:40:25):
I wonder Steve Smith to be there.

Speaker 2 (01:40:27):
Steve Smith Senior had an interesting weekend on social media
where a guy on Twitter has gone after Steve Smith
because he has what he purports to be evidence that
Steve Smith is sleeping with his wife. Now, my understanding
is this guy has deleted his Twitter account like he

(01:40:51):
sent a bunch of tweets to Steve Smith and then
copied like the NFL Network, the Ravens who he played
for the Panthers, and then for some reason he copied
any coolers on it, which I didn't understand.

Speaker 3 (01:41:03):
Has Steve Smith responded to.

Speaker 1 (01:41:04):
This no other than the phone call that he recorded
him record.

Speaker 2 (01:41:08):
So the guy apparently called Steve Smith, recorded it, put
it on Twitter, and Steve said, sorry, man, Steve Smith
married correct, Yes, Steve Smith still on NFL network. Yes,
all right, Well it's kind of an interesting story.

Speaker 3 (01:41:25):
I guess. I wonder if Steve is going to respond,
but I yes, I was.

Speaker 2 (01:41:29):
I was checking that out on social media on Saturday.
It was doing that before the Bearcat game. We haven't
talked much about UC. On Saturday, they beat TCU. This
was a game I was kind of worried about because
I talked a little bit about this last week. They
lose to Wes Virginny the way they do, and you know,

(01:41:50):
it might be a bit of a stretch to say
that that game.

Speaker 3 (01:41:52):
Burst their bubble, but there was a real.

Speaker 2 (01:41:57):
Deflation, if that's the right word, that I think a
lot of has felt after the West Virginia game, because
we've kind of made this about finishing ten and ten
in the league, and let's face that they have a
monumental task on Saturday with the game against Houston, and
so if you're assuming they lose to the Kugs, not
the Cougars, the Kougs, if you're assuming they lose to

(01:42:19):
the Kougs, then well, okay, then that's going to give
them more than ten losses. And we talked about them
having to go ten and ten, and so I wondered
how that would translate into their performance and effort on Saturday,
and they actually played pretty well, scored the game's first
thirteen points. TCU made things interesting ish late in the

(01:42:40):
first half. As the second half unfolded, I felt pretty
comfortable about the outcome the rest of the way.

Speaker 3 (01:42:48):
It was a comfortable win.

Speaker 2 (01:42:49):
I'm not sure it was a win that has changed
anybody's mind about what this team is capable of doing
moving forward. Let's be honest that they beat Baylor tomorrow,
and Baylor whacked him in Waco last month. We're all
going to talk ourselves into them having a chance against
against Houston.

Speaker 3 (01:43:05):
We will see. I do think the emergence of Josh
Reed has been pleasant.

Speaker 2 (01:43:10):
I am not convinced this team can beat Houston without
Seamas Lucasius. I'm not entirely convinced they can beat Houston
with Seamoss Lucasius. And so we'll see how things unfold
with him as as the week moves on. But Wes
Miller said after the game on Saturday that he couldn't
even move his his arm with the bump shoulder over
his head, and so we'll see, but they they played well.

Speaker 3 (01:43:33):
I just I hate that this is what we're doing.

Speaker 2 (01:43:35):
I hate that, you know, we talked before the season
about how the bar was going to be to make
the n CUBA Tournament. For me, it was not just
make the n Cuba Tournament, but make it with ease.
Make it so that in the final couple weeks of
the season, we're talking about the Bearcats playing for seeding.
We're looking at bracketology, not so much to see where
they are in relation to the bracket next four out,

(01:43:58):
last four out, but to see where they are on
the bracket and maybe explore high of a seed they
can get. And so I hate that we're doing this,
watching this team with almost no margin for error, hoping
that they can do something like win their last five
games just to finish at five hundred in the Big twelve.

(01:44:18):
And I think if they do that, they'll be an
NCAA tournament team. Again, it's still asking them a lot
to beat Baylor, beat Kansas State, who took care of
them in Manhattan and then pull off a major upset
against Houston.

Speaker 3 (01:44:31):
There is still I think many would.

Speaker 2 (01:44:34):
Say that, aside maybe from the Xavier game this year,
because of all the pressure on Wes Miller to beat
Xavier for the first time, there's still that signature regular
season win that really makes people perk up, really gets

(01:44:54):
people excited, really makes people believe, and really makes an
impact in the outcome of their season that West Miller
has yet to get. Saturday is going to be an opportunity. Yeah,
they're going to be huge underdogs, but Saturday is going
to be an opportunity for one as long as they
take care of business. Tomorrow five thirty on ESPN fifteen thirty.

(01:45:17):
My conversation with Sean Miller is coming up in ten
minutes on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station.

Speaker 6 (01:45:22):

Speaker 7 (01:45:26):
a difference. Call five one three five eighty five UCCC
westbound Ronald Reagan Highway. It's a disabled vehicle that off
on the ramp to Hamilton Avenue on Auburn Avenue. It's

(01:45:46):
an accident near McGregor Avenue, southbound seventy one traffic moving
slow from Martin Luther King Junior Drive toward four seventy one.
A three minute delay on that ezaic with traffic.

Speaker 2 (01:46:00):
Chevrolet Home of lifetime powertrain protection and guaranteed credit approval
from their family to yours for life, Kelsey chef dot com.
Red's lead the Dodgers eight to one. La Is batting
in the ninth inning. La Is down to the last out.
Cincinnati got two homers from Austin Hayes. Sal Stewart also

(01:46:20):
hit one. Brady Singer pitch two innings, struck out four,
did not give up a run. Carson Spider's pitch two
innings did not give give up a run and he
struck out five. So, so far, so good for the
day at the yard. For the Reds playing today in Goodyear,
I believe yes, they are off no game tomorrow. They
take on the Angels on the road on Wednesday afternoon

(01:46:43):
college basketball. The Mark Pope radio Show will be tonight
at six o'clock as soon as we're done. On ESPN
fifteen thirty. The Kentucky Wildcats held steady in the AP
Top twenty five poll. I don't think they played terribly
the Wildcats against Alabama. That Alabama what they could do offensively,

(01:47:07):
and we saw this in the first matchup. Kentucky won
that one. They're offensively something to behold. And I know
they had lost a couple of games going into a
really fun Missouri team and obviously an outstanding Auburn squad.
Alabama's gonna shoot fifty two to fifty three to fifty
four percent against a lot of teams, especially ones that
aren't great on the defensive end, which Kentucky is not.

(01:47:31):
That Wildcat team. I can be convinced they'll win two
games in March. I can be convinced that not only
will they lose in the first round of the NCAA Tournament,
but it might not necessarily be close. And injuries and
being shorthanded has obviously had a ton to do with that.
The coach will talk about that tonight at six on
ESPN fifteen thirty. There is no Sean Miller show tonight.

(01:47:54):
It'll be tomorrow night at seven on fifty five KRC.

Speaker 1 (01:47:58):
We need eight or nine for Kentucky, eight or nine.

Speaker 2 (01:48:02):
In the SEC tournament, Yes, because that means we're preempted. Yes, Well,
with where things stand currently, n I was gonna say
they're right now, eighth or ninth in the SEC.

Speaker 3 (01:48:13):
They're tied. I'm trying to pull this off.

Speaker 2 (01:48:16):
They're tied with Mississippi State, if memory serves me. Correct
at seven and seven? All right, So an eight nine
game would tip off at one, Yes, which would we'd
have a show.

Speaker 3 (01:48:28):
We'd just be on late. Correct. Okay, that's fine, Good
with that.

Speaker 4 (01:48:33):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (01:48:34):
Let's see Ryan Conwell Big East on a roll for
his performances in Xavier's last two wins, including yesterday, hit
that huge shot with just over fifty seconds to go
to help the Musketeers to a road win. Four straight
for XU. What else do we have? Miles Robinson named
to the MLS Team of the Match day for his
work in Cincinnati's won nothing win over the New York

(01:48:57):
Red Bulls. Kevin Denke his acquisition is paid off, scored
the only goal on Saturday night. It was cold out,
didn't look cold on Apple TV. Chris Whittingham called that
match on Saturday. He will join us on Wednesday, and
college Baseball, you see, entered the D one Top twenty
five for the first time in program history. Last week

(01:49:19):
took two out of three this weekend against a UNLV
and now they have moved up to twenty three. So
congratulations to a Jordan Bischel and his club. That team,
and we've had Jordan Bishell on the show, and you know,
when they're good early in the season, there's some excitement
that builds and people talk about like, yeah, I'm gonna

(01:49:40):
go to games once they start playing at home, and then, unfortunately,
and I think this happens just with area college baseball teams,
the home slate starts and the weather still stinks. UC's
first home game is going to be against Toledo a
week from Wednesday. I would like to think that these

(01:50:00):
subarctic temperatures that we have been enjoying for weeks on end,
or maybe a thing of the past, just be really cool.
And you can apply this to Xavier, you can apply
this to Miami, you can apply this to NKU.

Speaker 3 (01:50:13):
You'd just like to see.

Speaker 2 (01:50:14):
Those programs get a bit of a break from a
weather perspective, because it would be it'd be cool if
in a town that fancies itself is a big baseball
town and where there are such passionate followings for respective
programs from the schools. If college baseball in this market
could be at least a little bit of a thing,

(01:50:35):
we will see.

Speaker 3 (01:50:36):
We will see.

Speaker 2 (01:50:38):
You'll hear my conversation with Sean Miller next on ESPN
fifteen thirty, Cincinnati Sports.

Speaker 6 (01:50:43):
Station, Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty. Traffic from the.

Speaker 7 (01:50:49):
UC Health Traffic Center. Around forty percent of cancers are preventable.
Lifestyle changes and screenings can make a difference. Call five one, three,
five eight five UCC. Pull that off on the ramp
to Hamilton Avenue. On Auburn Avenue, it's an accident near

(01:51:09):
McGregor Avenue southbound seventy one. Traffic moving slow from Martin
Luther King Junior Drive toward four to seventy one, a
three minute delay. I'm at Ezeleic with traffic.

Speaker 2 (01:51:20):
Austin Hayes hid two homers. Meanwhile, Xavier won yesterday. Four
straight wins for the Musketeers. XU has clinched at least
a five hundred record in Big East play, a massive
tilt coming up on Saturday at home at the Cintas
Center against Creighton at four point thirty. The head coach
of the Xavier Musketeer Sean Miller kind enough to give

(01:51:43):
us a few minutes on the recruiting trail.

Speaker 3 (01:51:46):
Let me.

Speaker 2 (01:51:47):
Let's start with yesterday. The game kind of felt like,
I don't want to say, you were gonna win with ease,
but Seaton Hall cut it to three over a minute
to go. That was not what I was expecting with
ten minutes left, and so some anxiety among Xavier fans. Eventually,
Conwell comes out of the timeout hits the three at
the top of the key. But take me into that

(01:52:09):
time out a little bit more than a minute ago.
Seaton Hall has cut it to three. What are you
telling your team?

Speaker 5 (01:52:16):
Well, you know the thing about Seaton Hall is and
if you followed them, you know they obviously don't have
a great record, but in particular their style, in particular
their style at home bow is it just makes for
a different type of game. It's the best way I
can describe it. In the full court press. They foul
and they're very physical on the offensive glass. They play

(01:52:38):
a lot of different players, and they drive the ball,
maybe more than any team in.

Speaker 3 (01:52:43):
The Big East.

Speaker 5 (01:52:44):
So when you're on the road, especially late in February
early March, you know, there's a physicality and a toughness
element that you have to handle. I thought we did
a good job in that area, but they hit us
with the comeback. When you play against the press, you know,
sometimes once you break it, it's like you did it.

(01:53:05):
You know, there's a relief that sets in with your team,
and what you fail to realize is you're no longer
running any half court offense, and you're not playing with force,
and you're not doing the things that you normally do
when you have the ball five on five at your
own baskets. And that's really what we did. You know,
we survived the press. A lot of our turnovers didn't
happen against the press, but we just did not execute,

(01:53:28):
and a lot of our turnovers ineptness happened when we
had the ball in our own front court against their defense.
So at the end of the day, they made their comeback.
I do think that both Zach fremannle hit a big
shot in the left corner, Ryan Conwell hit a big
shot at the top of the key, and we were
able to finish with a win.

Speaker 11 (01:53:49):
You know.

Speaker 5 (01:53:49):
As you know, they did virtually the same thing to
Yukon about a week or so earlier and Yukon left
with the loss. So winning on the road late in February,
I think that was our goal. How it happened, I
wish we could have been a little bit better, but
I do think we earned the right to win, and
now we move on.

Speaker 2 (01:54:07):
How do you simulate how do you assimilate the way
Seaton Hall, a team like Seaton Hall plays, Yeah, you really.

Speaker 5 (01:54:15):
Prepare for it. It's a full court press. Well, you
know see Saint John's. You know, they obviously are a
better overall team and they have some of that in
them as well. Ditto from Marquette. So you know, I
think when you look at the twenty game schedule in
the Big East, you're roughly dealing with, you know, eight
games so to speak of a team that can really
put that style up there. So as we keep going

(01:54:38):
through it, I think we get better. Like I said,
the press in essence, you know yesterday wasn't the actual
factor in their comeback. It was more along the lines
that when you break it, if you don't score quickly,
you have to now run the offense. As if they
didn't press, and we didn't do a good job in
that area.

Speaker 2 (01:54:56):
You last joined me prior to the home game against Georgetown.
You won that night, you took the loss against Villanova
on the road, and have since won four straight games.
I mentioned you have a huge one against Creyton coming
up on Saturday. Give me a blanket assessment of what
you've liked most about your team during the four game
winning streak.

Speaker 5 (01:55:18):
But I do think that we've worked tirelessly to be
ready for every game. I know that that might seem
like a given, but you know, you get to the
late lateness of the year and you've practiced a lot.
You know, sometimes you tend to want to skip over
the practice part and just get right to the next game.
You know, as you know more part of it is

(01:55:39):
the good programs. The teams that seem to have the
most juice in March. They continue to work and improve
and add to the things they were doing better. And
we have a group that works that works between games.
I think we've gotten better. Are rebounding would be one
thing that I would point out to you. Our defensive rebounding.

(01:56:00):
It was our Achilles heel for a lot of this season,
and I think we're a far better defensive rebounding team
today than we would have been, for example, a month
or two ago, and that's a good thing. Down the stretch,
you have to be able to when you get that stop,
you have to be able to get the ball. And
so we've worked hard in that area. And so I

(01:56:21):
think really our collective attitude and our defensive rebounding are
the two things that stand out for me.

Speaker 2 (01:56:26):
Are what are practices like? This could be a dumb question,
and if it is, don't be sy. You go ahead
and tell me. But what are practice is like in
late February and early March compared to when you're practicing
in October and through November.

Speaker 5 (01:56:41):
Yeah, I think a lot of it depends on the
philosophy of the coach. There's a lot of ways to win,
and there's a lot of ways to build your team.
Some coaches, you know, I think, you know hugs that
you see Mick at you see for.

Speaker 4 (01:56:54):
A long period of time.

Speaker 5 (01:56:55):
I don't think they necessarily worried about how long their
team would have been out on the court, and it
worked for them. You know, their teams were tough minded
and just seemed to that's how they do it. I
think there are other coaches, you know, Duke for example.

Speaker 3 (01:57:10):
For many many years.

Speaker 5 (01:57:11):
If you really look at coach Ky even be a
guy that would practice for an hour, forty five minutes,
an hour and fifteen minutes at the very end of
the year to be the most ready for games. I'm
probably somewhere in between that. You know, we're trying to
be on the court less now than ever. However, when
we're on the court, I think we're trying to be productive,
We're trying to get better, We're trying to play, be alert, communicate,

(01:57:35):
not skip steps. So it's a balancing act for us
where we want to have energy. A guy like Davion
McKnight moo, the worst thing that I could do for
him is wear him down. He's got a great attitude,
he's a senior. He knows what to do and how
to do it, and we're asking him to do a
lot in that forty minute game. So you know, why

(01:57:55):
would you beat him up unnecessarily between games? So that
awareness of you know, trying to get your guys fresh
and ready for the game, and yet maybe a limit
the time that they're actually on the court. That's what
we're doing right now.

Speaker 3 (01:58:09):
You and I talked about Dalen Swain.

Speaker 2 (01:58:12):
When you join me three weeks ago before the Georgetown game,
and we were kind of going through his impact on
the defensive side of the floor, where you talk about
asking the guy to do a lot, You ask him
to do a lot on that side of the floor,
and that he's there's how he contributes offensively. He has had,
I think, top to bottom a terrific season. Give me
sort of the same question, a blanket assessment of what

(01:58:33):
you've seen from Dalen as the years unfolded.

Speaker 5 (01:58:37):
Yeah, I think Dalen has improved the most from the
start of the season until now of any of our
players to some degree. That makes sense because he's the
youngest guy on our team. You know, a year ago,
he played the entire Big Eiet season as an eighteen
year old freshman. You know, this year, he's in his
second year. He's still nineteen. He's going to play the
entire sophomore years in nineteen year old. The Big East

(01:59:01):
in particular is an older league veterans, right, guys that
are twenty two and twenty three. So he's getting bigger, stronger,
still maturing, still learning a lot, but he's really played
some great basketball. You Know, the analogy that I give
you on Swain is he's that ultra talented wide receiver
and he's got all this immense talent, and what we're

(01:59:22):
just trying to do is get him to run his
routes cleaner, getting the block and the running game more,
you know, just just to be more efficient, because he
can impact the game of basketball in so many ways,
and yet it takes a lot of It takes a
lot of concentration. It takes a lot because we're asking
him to check the box, not in one area, but
in all areas. He can do it. And I think

(01:59:45):
when our team has been at its best this season,
I'll go back to the Yukon home game. You look
at the box score and it's like a couple of
defensive rebounds or a lot of defensive rebounds, a couple
of offensive rebounds, assist very little turnovers, lock shot, a
couple of steels. You know, he just he can impact
it in a lot of ways. And I think his

(02:00:05):
game on Saturday is not only big for our team,
but I think, you know, having him at the forefront
of a lot of good stuff could bring out the
best in our team on Saturday.

Speaker 3 (02:00:14):
Two home games remain.

Speaker 2 (02:00:16):
This is my last chance to talk with you before
you play your your Senior Day game, and you've you're
gonna honor a lot of.

Speaker 3 (02:00:22):
Kids that day.

Speaker 2 (02:00:23):
I know, a week from Saturday seems so far off
in the distance when you have two games between now
and then. But have you have you thought it all
about what Senior Day is going to be like for
you this year? With you know, you start with Zach Fremantle,
who's college basketball career it feels like it started a
decade ago, has been such a huge part of this
program and fortunately he's been able to play this year
because there was a stretch where we weren't sure when

(02:00:45):
he was going to see the floor again. Have you
started to think at all about what Senior Day is
going to be like this year?

Speaker 3 (02:00:51):
Not Senior Day, but I don't think.

Speaker 5 (02:00:53):
There's a day that goes by that you don't reflect
on each of those guys, and every one of them
is different. You know, the Zach and your Wrong stories
speak for themselves, and they've been here in our program longer,
so there's just greater familiarity with their respective games and
careers and what they've accomplished, both from our fans perspective,
but also you know me as their coach, but you

(02:01:16):
also have guys who didn't start with us who's come
here recently, like Daveon McKnight, who I think has given everything.
Everything is blood, it's sweat, it's tears.

Speaker 3 (02:01:28):
To what we do.

Speaker 5 (02:01:29):
I don't know if he's ever skipped the practice, missed
the workout, or ever came into a game, you know,
not playing to win and playing one hundred percent. You
learn to really appreciate and respect those guys, and what
you really want for those guys more is for them
to finish their career on top as part of the tournament,
you know, as part of the successful story. And we

(02:01:50):
have that in our hands. We have to just continue
to be good, play every game like it's our last.

Speaker 4 (02:01:58):
You know.

Speaker 5 (02:01:58):
I would just say this about sad our crowd is
a huge impact on our home court advantage. When you
look at our Yukon win, we would have not won
that game if our crowd wasn't at the level that
it was at. It started with our students, but it
really permeated throughout the building and if you were here
for that game and you followed that game, like you know,

(02:02:19):
Yukon had to play our energy as a team and
they had to play you know in this amazing on
campus arena and go against our crowd as well. And
I hope that some of what you just asked me about,
and you talk about honoring the team or seniors, that
we can go and do this together and give ourselves
the best chance to win that next game, because that's it,

(02:02:41):
you know, we can't skip steps. It's about this week,
and it's about being ready on at four point thirty
on Saturday for what's the biggest game of the season,
creating at home.

Speaker 2 (02:02:50):
Yeah, it's a heck of a challenge. Should be a
great atmosphere of four thirty on Saturday. I know you
have to jump on a plane, by the way, really quick.
What is in this day age college basketball has changed?
How has recruiting changed?

Speaker 5 (02:03:05):
It's changed a lot. It really is up tied down
five times over. Because I would describe it to you,
you know, flying on a plane and trying to put
it together at the same time. I think I speak
for pretty much all coaches that the call with us
are doing the best that we can and hoping some

(02:03:25):
guardrails and legislation will take hold to help everybody, the players,
you know, their agents, their families, not just the universities,
but everybody and I think that time's coming.

Speaker 2 (02:03:39):
I hope, so travel safe. I can't thank you enough
for doing this. As always, good luck on Saturday, and
hopefully we can chat throughout the course of the month
of March. Thanks so much, Coach, You've got it MO
my pleasure. Shawn Miller, head coach of the Savior Musketeers.
We appreciate the time that Sean Miller show is not
tonight at seven o'clock because, as you just heard, he
is going recruiting. He'll be on his show tomorrow at

(02:04:00):
seven pm on fifty five KRC. We will be on
our show tomorrow at three five. We'll have Duke Tobin
live from Indie, Zach Taylor live from Indie, and so
much more. Have an awesome night. Thank you for listening.
Thanks to Taran Plan for producing. This is ESPN fifteen
thirty Cincinnati Sports Station.

Speaker 3 (02:04:30):
Hey, you run a business and s

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