March 11, 2026 • 48 mins
Kelsey Conway joins Mo to talk Bengals free agency, Rick Broering previews Xavier vs Marquette in the Big East Tourney and more, and Mo wonders if the Bengals are ever going to sign a linebacker.
All of this happened while Mo watched the Bearcats play UCF.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati's sports station. Are we sure they
have nothing else to say? On the Kentucky post game show?
Are we sure? Hi? Moeger, ESPN fifteen thirty five, toll four,
thank you so much for joining us. There's a ton
going on today, and this is one of those days
(00:21):
where I wish we had like six hours. We're only
basically gonna have two, But that's okay. We'll make the
most of it. Kelsey Conway is going to join us
at four twenty on the Bengals in free agency and
to see if Duke Tobin and the personnel staff at
the venue formerly known as Paul Brown Stadium is on vacation.
Maybe everybody's out watching college basketball today. It feels like
(00:42):
that's what everybody here is doing. Let's start with that. Obviously,
you just heard it from Nashville. Kentucky pulls away ish
laid against LSU, knockoff the Tigers eighty seven to eighty two.
The Wildcats will take on Missouri tomorrow, another daytime game,
another twelve thirty tip on ESPN. In fifteen thirty, the
Wildcats advanced to the second round in Nashville. Meanwhile, the
(01:05):
Bearcats are playing right now, and I thought for the
most part yesterday I maintained my composure today is it's
still an elimination game. If the Bearcats lose today, it's
I think impossible for all of us to imagine this
team having its name called on Sunday. If they win
this game, I think the prevailing sentiment is still going
(01:28):
to be that they need another one and they'll have
a golden opportunity against Arizona tomorrow if they win this game.
If they win this game, though, and lose, I think
it would be interesting. There's lots of other games we're
paying attention to right now. Cincinnati Bearcats got off to
an eleven to two start. You see Leeds, you see
have twenty one to twenty. This has been a sloppy game.
(01:50):
The Knights are shooting thirty one percent. The Bearcats are
shooting thirty two percent. The turnovers are starting to mount
for Cincinnati seven so far. With just over four minutes
to go, you see is up a point. The biggest
game easily of the West Miller Era, slightly bigger, I
guess than yesterday. So we're monitoring that we've got some
(02:10):
college basketball to get to next hour with our friend
Rick Brooring Musketeer Report dot Com also color analysts for
the NK you broadcast, and we'll kind of put a
bow on NKU season. We'll look ahead to tonight though
Madison Square, Garden, Xavier, and Marquette. I have not seen
Trey Carroll's name on the Big East Availability Report. Will
(02:30):
get a sense from Rick as to whether or not
Trey could go and how they could beat Marquette, either
with or without him, and see if he would give
the Musketeers a chance if they would advance to round
two where they would play Yukon. I mentioned on top
of area teams playing, there are a handful of games
that if you're a Cincinnati fan you're probably playing. Paying
(02:51):
a close attention to. One of them involves SMU. SMU
won its game yesterday. They're playing today against Louisville in
the tournament. That game is very early in the second half.
The Cardinals have a one point lead. And I'm not
going to take any bracketologists projections as gospel. I think
that sometimes gets lost here. Like whatever these bracketologists are
(03:14):
putting out there, whether it's our guy Hunter Sansom or
the world renowned Joe Lonardi, they're just opinions. They're just projections.
But you look at some common themes teams around the bubble,
teams on the bubble, teams listed as last four in,
teams listed as last four out, so you see SMU.
They're playing tonight. Indiana plays this evening against Northwestern, which
(03:36):
won its first round game in the Big Ten Tournament.
Auburn is playing right now, and I think this is
a really interesting team because they're sixteen and fifteen, and
obviously they've been at the kind of the they've been
a part of the Miami debate because of Bruce Pearl's comments.
Auburn's sixteen and fifteen with a seven and eleven record
in the SEC. The Tigers are still, according to some bracketology,
(04:00):
justs a tournament team. And if ever there's been an
argument for not expanding the tournament, and there are many,
maybe it's the candidacy of this year's Auburn team. The
Tigers are taking on Mississippi State under four minute time
out in Nashville. It is twenty eight to twenty two
in favor of Mississippi State, so Auburn is down by
(04:22):
six points. If you're a UC fan, you're paying attention
to Cal tonight the Golden Bears take on Florida State.
You're paying attention to Oklahoma tonight as the Sooners take
on South Carolina, so we'll keep an eye on the
bear Cat game. I'll try to maintain my composure. We've
got the Reds in action today. We've got more on
Hunter Green, including one of our experts from Ortho Sinsey,
(04:44):
doctor Jonathan Slaughter, on the procedure that he's having and
what's next, not just in the coming weeks, but maybe
over the course of the next couple of years. Trey
Hendrickson is a Baltimore Raven and you know what I
like it. I like that a lot. And chances are
you're not wired like me. But if you're a Bengals fan,
(05:05):
maybe I can bring you over to my side and
maybe between now and six o'clock the Bengals find a
linebacker so they don't have to rush out there. Demetrius
Knight and Barrett Carter as sophomore starters Week one of
the twenty twenty six season. All that ahead, four o'clock,
ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
Now do you write two lanes are blocked from an
accident up to a ten minute delay from Smith Edwards
westbound seventy four after Montana Avenue accident on the left shoulder.
He's found two seventy five traffic stopped from Graves Road
to Dixie Highway for President Trump's visit. I'm Medi Zelek
with Traffic Team thirty, Cincinnati's Sports.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
All right, here we go. It's five after four. This
is ESPN fifteen thirty. Now the show, Kenny really begin, Mulgar,
thank you so much for joining us. U S is
up twenty seven to twenty four, or Dave Thomas three
pointer from the corner is no good? One forty to
go before halftime. Bearcats an elimination game for Cincinnati. Kelsey
(06:09):
Conway is gonna join us in fifteen minutes. Kelsey is
as big of a Bearcat fan as any of us,
and so I'm gonna pull her away from the game
and we're gonna talk about the Bengals search for a linebacker,
the Trey Hendrickson story, and the Baltimore Ravens backing out
of that Max Crosby deal with the Las Vegas Raiders.
That's the biggest story in the NFL right now. And
(06:30):
you could certainly understand why. It's interesting. It's chaotic, it's dubious,
there's a lot of skepticism. There's lots of ripple effects
to the Trey Hendrickson thing, to the Max Crosby thing,
to the Ravens and Raiders. But here, forget about Trey
Hendrickson for a second. Who's going to play linebacker for
the Bengals in twenty twenty six? Like as soon as
(06:54):
as soon as the euphoria, if you will, or as
soon as the dust settled on what the Bengals did
on Day one, which I think excited us all. Brian
cook boy a mafe like good signings, bold signings, the
sort of signings that felt like they were in line
with what we thought the Bengals were going to have
to do this off season and to a large degree,
what Duke Tobin said the Bengals were going to do
(07:14):
this off season. But the immediate question in the aftermath
of those two signings was what's next. We asked that
on Monday night. I asked it to Paul Danner Junior
on this show yesterday.
Speaker 3 (07:30):
Everyone has been talking about that, We've been talking about
as sort of the thing. One of the things before
this started that you were most interested to see was okay,
But what's their view of linebacker going to be? And
I think we have felt like they were at least
they have expressed a desire to add a veteran in there.
But we've now seen a lot of the linebackers come
(07:53):
off of the board.
Speaker 1 (07:55):
I mean, using your thing from last week as a guide,
I've got more names crossed off than I do available,
no doubt, but the top two are still available.
Speaker 3 (08:02):
Yes, And so I think there is a lot more
heat across the league on Caden Ellis right now than
there is on Leoshanal. So if that, you know, one
price is going up and I don't think the other
one is at this point, so that probably that's probably
(08:23):
more likely. But I that's in the they're working on.
They're working on that position certainly, but that to me,
it's not the only one. Yeah, I mean, I think
that's the one that's in focus. But and I do
think that that list has been paired down channel We've
just said it. He just feels like the perfect fit.
So if they can find a way to get that done,
(08:43):
I think that's that feels like you'll feel so good
to me. That's the one that I think if you
hit that, you you check that box and you bring
in him, it feels like, Okay, you did it.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
Like there's other things.
Speaker 3 (08:56):
The rest of it is, you're always going to have
a rest of it that is putting pieces together that
you need to find a couple of diamonds in the
rough or bargain players. That's always going to be a
part of this. But the big boxes you needed to
check that you probably needed to spend on. That's the
last one that I have unchecked.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
All right, So that's Paul Danner Junior. Just about twenty
four hours ago. You could hear the entire conversation on
the iHeartRadio app. Twenty four hours later, Well, Leo Chanal
is not coming, He's going to the Washington Commanders. Kaden
Ellis reportedly the Bengals really didn't flirt with all that
mush much back in New Orleans. This after we've crossed
(09:37):
off the names to Mario Davis, Eric Wilson, Alex Singleton,
Alex Angeloni, Nakobe Dean, Devin Lloyd, Kwi Walker, Like, maybe
some of those names were at the top of your list,
and maybe some of those names were on your list.
Maybe some of those names were not on your list. Regardless,
none of those guys are coming to Cincinnati now. Bobby
Wagner is still out there, and I don't know that
(09:58):
there's a We don't know that there's a ton of
reasons to be opposed to bringing Bobby Wagner in, But
there is one big one. It's the fact that he's
thirty seven years old now certainly plays like a guy
who has gas in the tank and can provide a
lot of the things we saw lacking from the Bengals
linebacker play last year, I think, namely reliability, and you
can come up with no one better for your two
(10:20):
young linebackers who struggled so much last year to attach
themselves to. But we're kind of getting thin here, Like
I mean, when folks are floating the name a Keen
Davis Gate out there and Levante David who's also old,
and some of the names that we were not entertaining
(10:43):
or talking about all that much before free agency started,
it feels like, well, it feels like either the Bengals
have whiffed or it feels like the Bengals are not
going to be able to get what I think we
all believed prior to the offseason and through much of
last year they desperately need. It feels like with each
(11:06):
passing minute there's an increased likelihood of Night and Carter
playing more than I think any of us would like.
There's maybe an increased sense that, you know what, the
Bengals couldn't multitask. One thing they got credit for on Tuesday,
and we brought it up yesterday, was you know, they
(11:27):
were in on John Franklin Myers. He obviously goes to
the Tennessee Titans, and yet when that didn't work out,
that to not preclude him from the Bengals from getting
deals done with Brian Cook and boy A Mafey. But
now you can't help but wonder was this a little
bit too much for the Bengals to bite off Brian
(11:49):
Cook and Boye Mafey And let's just say Leoshanal was
attacking safety and edge and linebacker all pretty much at
precisely the same time. A little bit too much for
the Bengals to do all at once. We don't know
the answers. Now you have to consider the recent history here,
(12:12):
like by ownership's own admission about a year ago. Yeah,
you know what, we were a little behind in free
agency because we were so tied up in the contract
extensions for Jamar Chason T Higgins. It's one of the
many reasons why those two deals should have been done
forever ago. They could multitask now. Maybe this ultimately has
a fix, right, Maybe there is somebody in free agency
(12:34):
they signed that is an ideal fit. Maybe it doesn't
cost all that much. Maybe it's a Keen Davis Gaither.
Maybe it is Bobby Wagner. Maybe it's somebody that we're
not even thinking about. Maybe Duke Tobin has a trick
up his sleeve that we are not even close to anticipating.
Maybe he's playing chess and everybody else is playing checkers.
Maybe in the draft there's a transformative linebacker that is
(12:56):
a rookie. The two guys who were rookies last year
can learn from. I don't know. You certainly don't have
to add players the first couple of days of the
free agency cycle in order to obtain good free agents.
That said, you watched the Bengals last year. We watched them.
We saw the linebacker play. It stunk like for lack
(13:17):
of a better way of putting it, and I don't
think anybody is saying that the Bengals should completely give
up on Carter and Night. I don't know that anybody
is saying that neither guy could play for the team
this year. I don't know that anybody is saying that
neither guy could start for the Bengals Week one. But
I think as last season unfolded, and even as recently
(13:37):
as yesterday, folks close to the team, who cover the team,
who watched the team last year all agreed, like, hey
man went and got the safety, went and got the edge.
But you know what need the linebacker. It is an
important position. It is a position of desperate need. Well,
so far, what they have done and what they have
(13:57):
gotten doesn't match desperate need. And so lots of questions,
namely who's gonna play linebacker and who else is out
there that they could get and that would make sense
for them, and that would make sense for them and
get and actually provide an upgrade. I hope we're not
(14:17):
asking this question tomorrow. The sad thing is we were
asking this question yesterday thirteen minutes after four o'clock. The
Trey Hendrickson thing, like, there's there's lots of tentacles to
this and large ripple effects, and you know, there's the
mechanics of the Max Crosby thing and how that fell.
(14:38):
Apart as it relates to us here, I am probably
in the minority, but I kind of like Trey Hendrickson
going to the Baltimore Ravens, and there's like the part
of me that just loves absurdity and humor. And for
reasons that I'm not entirely sure I ca I totally articulate,
(15:02):
Trey Hendrickson just makes me laugh because that ordeal, which
took forever and is seemingly sort of still ongoing, took
so many twists and turns that it was just it
was funny. And so Trey Hendrickson to me is funny.
But as a villain, as a as a Bengals character,
(15:22):
Trey Hendrickson playing for the Baltimore Ravens is a lot
of fun. And you know me, I love fun. Fourteen
minutes after four o'clock, it's halftime in Kansas City. Cincinnati
has a one point lead twenty seven to twenty six.
Bearcats have been really good from behind the Arc six
of twelve. Cincinnati ain't making their twos no no, no,
(15:45):
huge inside presence so far for the Bearcats, although Mustapha
Cham has had a quality half eleven and seven did
make both of his three point shots. You see is
three of seventeen from inside the arc, and they were
awful at the free throw line yesterday, only six attempts,
but they have made just three ucf is, shooting a
thirty two percent. The Bearheads have defended, they have been
at times sloppy on the offensive end. Eight turnovers. Here's
(16:08):
here's my halftime prediction. Are you ready send this to
Dan and Terry. If the turnover number is five or
less in the second half, you see, will win. If
the turnover number is larger than five, you see, will lose.
There's sort of a World Baseball Classic tiebreaker element to
what I just said, which we've got to spend a
few minutes on that a little bit later on lots
(16:29):
of ground to cover. By the way, you can tweak
the show at Maegger thanks to Delta Dental. Delta Dental
is building healthy, smart, vibrant communities for all. Good to
Delta Dental, Oh dot com. Rick Brooring in about thirty
minutes on Xavier and Nku are one of our experts
from Ortho Sinsey doctor Jonathan Slaughter on Hunter Green coming
(16:50):
up in the five o'clock hour reaction from Kansas City.
Maybe here from Wes Miller. I don't know how much
time we'll have for phone calls today, but if we do,
you'll hear me throw it at the number. Sixteen minutes after
four o'clock, we'll talk Bengals, Ravens, Trey linebackers, and more
with our friend Kelsey Conway.
Speaker 4 (17:08):
Next Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty traffic.
Speaker 2 (17:14):
From the UC Health Traffic Center. The new uc Ohcher
Wellness Suite is a home for transformative whole person well
being backed by Science. Register for classes now visit UCHealth
dot com. Westbound seventy four after Montana Avenue. Police are
on the scene of an accident. It's off on the
left shoulder. About a ten minute delay back from my
(17:35):
seventy five westbound on the Ronald Reaken Highway. Also an
accident after playing Field. Twenty minute delay northbound on seventy
one from Smith Edwards to Kenwood at Ezelk with traffic.
Speaker 1 (17:47):
This report is sponsored by Red Mullager. You are about
to listen to a conversation between two total pros. Because
our favorite college basketball team is playing right now in
a huge game, a game that could help them take
a major step towards the NCAA tournament, and yet very gamely,
we are going to talk about the Cincinnati Bengals, which
(18:08):
is that that's the team that Kelsey Conway covers for
The Inquirer and Cincinnati dot Com and she's actually providing
news while this game is happening right now. I just
retweeted her on Twitter. She's with us now. Hi, Kelsey,
Hey Mo, how you doing. I'm well, do you want
to play linebacker for the Bengals?
Speaker 5 (18:27):
Oh? No, No I don't. But you know, I wish
I had better news hopping on this call. And you know,
I thought about when I put out some of my
stuff on X, like purfasing it by saying, like Bengals
fans like, don't kill the messenger, because unfortunately, I just
head back to back X posts that I'm gonna put
(18:50):
together in a notebooks he'll be available on Cincinnati dot
Com about who the Bengals aren't interested in. And so
I tried to comb through what's left of the positions
that they need people at and see what I could find,
and didn't find a lot of great news, so we
can get into it on this show. But yeah, it's
(19:15):
been it's been a hard day to figure out exactly
what the Bengals plan has been since day one. So
I know we'll get into it and you can ask
me all your questions.
Speaker 6 (19:24):
But I just wanted to bring that up at the
top of my appearance on this show.
Speaker 1 (19:28):
So you could not have me. No, no, well, let's
let's let's sort of backtrack a little bit here, because
you put this on social media. This is before four o'clock.
League year is now underway. You wrote, we're thirty minutes
away from the new league year, and the Bengals have
added two players during the legal tampering period, Boye Mafe
and Brian Cook, and as you wrote, there's still time
to add players. I thought the Bengals would have added
(19:49):
more by now. If if you would have told me
on Monday afternoon about four o'clock, once we saw who
they had signed, I think I think most of us
would have been surprised, and most of what have said.
Most of us would have said it's unlikely that forty
eight hours later, those are still the only two names.
I think most would agree, and so I guess the
question is what has happened since Monday afternoon. That leaves
(20:12):
those two guys who agreed to terms on Monday as
the two most recent guys who have agreed to terms
with the Bengals.
Speaker 5 (20:20):
I don't know, and I say that because usually you
hear like, okay, they were in the mix, they were
a finalist. So then from those clues you can kind
of put together like, Okay, here's who they were in on.
I've made a number of calls also been following some
of the reports from other prospects, and I have not
(20:42):
gotten any sense of who they have really targeted that
they've missed out on. So there's been conflicting reports, you
know about Devin Lloyd, and it seemed every like everybody
wanted to believe that the Bengals were in on that,
and then that came out and wasn't you know true.
But let me just run through some names for you
(21:03):
that I can tell you that they haven't been in on.
And that's where I don't know what their plan has been.
They were not in on Kaden Ellis, they were not
in on I just posted this, but Arnold Uber Katie,
they weren't in on him. They weren't in on Kay Love,
on Chase, on they and you know, I'll talk about
another one that I just posted, but specific to that position, Like,
(21:26):
they weren't in on any of those guys. Those were
all guys that I thought that they could put together,
you know, a contract that would be in line with
what the bangals like to do in free agency. So
for them to have not even been a finalist or
in on those guys, I'm having a hard time connecting
the dots as far as who they were targeting and
(21:47):
what their plan is. I know they were targeting Boy Mafe,
they were successful in getting that done. They were clearly
targeting Brian Cookie were successful in getting that done. As
far as who else they were targeting, I haven't been
an to get a nail on that because some of
these guys that seem like logical fits at the positions
that they need, they haven't either been in the mixed owner,
(22:09):
they haven't been a finalist. So I'm struggling to figure
out what their plan after Boy Mafe and Brian Cook
has been is their.
Speaker 1 (22:17):
Plan thirty seven year old Bobby Wagner.
Speaker 5 (22:22):
I have a hard time believing that that's their plan.
I mean, you know how it is with the Bengals
with people you know up in the age category. So
I think it's a matter of a matter of they
truly must believe that they have their their groups that
(22:44):
they have. They're buying the growth that they saw in
the in the second half of the season. But what
they said is the combine to us Al Golden telling us,
you know, we need a Sam linebacker. We know we
asked me tres I to do stuff that he's probably
not good enough at. We need to put him in.
Speaker 6 (23:03):
A position to succeed.
Speaker 5 (23:04):
So where's your Sam linebacker? That's where I started with
making making calls for players that would fit back. They
were not a finalist for any of those players that
I just mentioned. Okay, so what happens there. The other
position that I'm almost like perplexed that they haven't moved
on is defensive cackle and and so I saw bubbling
(23:28):
up on social media, you know, Bengals fans asking after
a report came out from Pro Football Talk that Dallas
Cowboys defensive tackle Osa Odgizua, you know, could potentially be
up for trade because the Cowboys have added to that position.
And so I made some calls around the league, and
(23:50):
the Bengals haven't shown any interest as far as his
side talking to his side, So it's not coming via
a trade right now. I mean, there could be one
in the works that they're keeping completely hush hush, but
people other teams aren't in the mix of giving away.
They're either one or top two d tackles, especially in
(24:12):
a year where the free agency crop wasn't great and
the draft crop isn't great. So that's another one where
I'm struggling to figure out, like, Okay, if they're not
going to sign one of these guys in free agency,
are they going to try and trade for a guy
who's currently on another team. Well, one of the most
logical fits to me would have been Osa, and they're
not headed in that direction. So long story short, I
(24:35):
don't know what their plan is after Day one.
Speaker 1 (24:39):
It feels like specifically to those two positions, and I think,
frankly a little bit more so linebacker, just because I
think there were more names out there that seem to
fit what they should be looking for. It feels like
last year. It feels like last year for the entire defense,
it was well, you know, toward the end of the season,
we won those games, and yeah, you could say we've
feasted on bad quarterbacks, but we did just enough to
(25:02):
essentially bring all those dudes back, and then we saw
what the results were, and so I think in the
back of any fan's mind has to be that. And
then you think ahead to this coming season, and it's like,
are they really going to go into this season with
Carter and Knight playing these significant roles that they were
forced to play in last year? Like, are is it
really gonna be bj Hill and Chris Jenkins and guys
(25:24):
who were on the team last year. I saw that
movie before, and yeah, man, they upgraded its safety and
I think they're They're okay on the edge, just especially
if Miles Murphy ends up continuing his ascension. But I
think the frustrating thing for me you talk about plan,
it feels like last year's plan specific so far at
least to detackle on linebacker. I hope that changes. I'm
fearful that it won't.
Speaker 5 (25:47):
I can completely see why you're saying that, and I'm
thinking the same thing where I think it's different than
it was last year is that they finally admitted they
needed a real guy at safety. At least they did that, right, Okay,
so at least they acknowledged that they weren't good enough
at that position. But what I look at day one
(26:09):
is those guys were signed to replace guys that left.
So I'm not saying that the Bengals are better yet
because they signed Brian Cook and Boye Mafe because keep
in mind, you're not just replacing Trey Hendrickson's production. You're
also replacing josepho size production. Those are two guys that
(26:31):
gave you a lot off the edge. So really, Boye
Mafe is just a piece of how you replace that
production and you hope it works and then safety you
upgrade it there. But the Bengals defense right now is
not a better unit than it was when it ended
the season. And that's where I'm perplexed because you see
(26:53):
teams like the Washington Commanders who made it a point
after a bad year on defense, we are going to
fix this, and they went out and they addressed it completely,
made over their defensive line, you know, with Odafeoway going there, Klevon,
Chase on and then adding Leoshanal like they had a
(27:14):
clear plan and they executed it. And I thought that
the Bengals were going to do that, and they did it.
And you know, of course there's still time. You know
that you can't the Bengals are playing a game on Sunday,
but they're really missing the window on some players. And
just to your point about the linebackers, nobody was saying
(27:35):
that the Bengals needed to go out.
Speaker 6 (27:37):
And sign a mic linebacker to take over for Barrett Carter.
Speaker 5 (27:40):
What everybody was hoping for was that they would bring
in a leader who has experienced that can push those
guys along. And is it not like the best case
scenario to have real competition in training camp at linebacker?
And that to me is where I I'm totally just perplexed.
(28:02):
And I hear you that it sounds a lot like
last year. And for Duke to Oven to go up
to the podium and say, you know, we have the resources,
the ban will set themselves up for their fans to
be upset in a way with that statement because they
haven't backed it up.
Speaker 1 (28:18):
Can they not multitask? And the reason I bring this
up was by their own admission last year from ownership.
You were there at the owners meetings, Hey, you know
we were kind of locked into getting Jamar and t done,
and that kind of precluded us from devoting all the
attention and resources we would have liked to free agency.
I thought that was an incredibly lame excuse, but the
(28:40):
message was we couldn't multitask. Can they not multitask and
go try to get the guys they got on Tuesday,
I'm sorry on Monday and even the players they tried
for but didn't get on Monday, all the while reach
out to and negotiate with players at other positions who
have signed with other teams.
Speaker 5 (28:59):
So there, there's my response that is going to be
I think it's a little bit twofold here. Keep in
mind this, and I'm not going to get.
Speaker 6 (29:06):
Into specifics, but I think this is an important piece
of information for Bengals.
Speaker 5 (29:10):
Fans to keep in mind. Free agency is very much
a one team can show interest in that player. The
bad player and his representation have to want to be
in Cincinnati, they have to want to negotiate with the Bengals.
They have to want their player to be there. The
(29:32):
Bengals have had history with some agents that represent a
lot of players, and that comes in the factor here
in free agency, because the player gets to choose so
if the Bengals were up against another team and that
agent of that player has had bad negotiations with the Bengals, like,
(29:55):
let's not forget that, that could maybe come into the conversation.
So that's an important piece of information. Don't think that
the Bengals reputations somehow, some way finds it finds its
way into free agency at times with specific agents. Also,
the other part of what you're saying is can they
not multitask? That's where the constant questions about the scouting
(30:20):
staff come into play, because if you can't have a
big enough scouting staff where they can handle many of
these things going on right now, like they're trying to book,
like when they're doing the pro days, they're trying to
do draft stuff while they're doing like, there's a lot
going on. But you don't help yourself get rid of
those questions about the size of your scouting staff when
(30:42):
it seems like they can't operate and do multiple things
at a high level at one time. And so I
think that's going to continue to be a question when
when you ask questions like can they not multitask? Well,
then having a really small staff doesn't help in situations
like this. But I think based off of what I
(31:03):
know about the Bengals and what they thought going into
free agency, I said, I said it, you know a
number of times, temper your expectations because the Bengals didn't
think the defensive crop at some of the positions that
they needed was as good as the outside did. And
(31:24):
I know that's frustrating for fans to hear. And you
can say, well, they'd at least be better than what
they had. Sure, definitely, but the Bengals. The Bengals didn't
have high enough grades on a lot of these players,
and that's why clearly you thought them not being the
mix for some of these guys that you could say
they need. So I think there's a lot there as
(31:47):
far as how the Bengals ended up where they are
right now, and that is with just two new players
when they probably needed about four to five new starters
on defense right now.
Speaker 1 (31:58):
One more Kelsey Conway from The Inquirer and Cincinnati dot Com,
where she, by the way, takes your mail bag question.
She is also on Twitter at Kelsey L. Conway. What
is your overarching takeaway from Trey hendrickson joining the Baltimore
Ravens and the route that was taken for him to
get there.
Speaker 5 (32:17):
I think it's coomical that, you know, of course Trey
Hendrickson is gonna end up with the team in the division,
and it'd be a new storyline, you know. No, I
actually think he signed well, I don't know if it's
official yet, but he went to the Ravens just so
that two week a year you continue to talk about him,
since I know how much he loved to talk about
(32:38):
Trey Henderson.
Speaker 7 (32:39):
But on a more serious note, I was on a
Baltimore podcast this morning and they asked, like, what was
the reaction from Bengals players about.
Speaker 5 (32:52):
Trey going to the to the Ravens. And what I
thought was the most interesting thing is as I actually
talked to a Bengals player this morning and I asked,
and it wasn't that they're fearful of Tray being in
the division. It was more of a relief that they
don't have to go up against Max Crosby and that
he's not going to be in the division. So I
thought that was really interesting about the whole situation. But
(33:17):
I think it unfolded perfectly for Trey. I thought it
was very interesting that he waited it out, and I
thought him waiting it out might not work in his favor.
But it always felt like Trey was going to end
up going to a team that's legit, you know, trying
to win a Super Bowl. I didn't see him going
to a team that was, you know, kind of in
(33:37):
a rebuild mode. So it went basically how I expected
it when it was he was going to wait it
out because he didn't feel that the teams were meeting
his value. You know, Trey, I'll tray the entire time
with the Bangles, thought he was in the upper echelon of.
Speaker 6 (33:52):
Edge rushers, and the league told you.
Speaker 5 (33:55):
This past week, you know, they didn't view him how
he viewed himself. But it ended up working out for Trey.
And it'll certainly be interesting because I covered a lot
of training camp reps of Trey and Orlando going at
it with each other, and it's going to be fascinating
to see the Bengals knowing, like what his weaknesses are
(34:16):
vice versa Trey knowing you know, how to beat Orlando Brown. Like,
the storylines are going to be really interesting there.
Speaker 1 (34:22):
I can't wait. I'm excited because I'm a fan of
interesting and fun and Trey Hendrickson playing against the Bengals
twice years. Interesting and fun. By the way, we're winning
the game thirty four to thirty one, so I think
we're plus two. Since you jumped on the phone with me,
you've been good luck. I know you have a lot
going on. I'll let you run.
Speaker 5 (34:39):
Thank you as always, Thanks so much for having me on.
Speaker 1 (34:42):
You're the best. Kelsey Conway. Read her coverage of the
Bengals at The Inquirer and Cincinnati dot com and submit
a mail bag question for while you're at it, and
follow her on Twitter as well at Kelsey L. Conway
covering the Bengals while her beloved Bearcats are playing. Cincinnati
is on top thirty four to thirty one Quick sports headlines.
Speaker 4 (35:01):
Next Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.
Speaker 1 (35:06):
Traffic from the UC Health Traffic Center.
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The new uc Ohcher Wellness Suite is a home for
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with a thirty minute delay back from seventy five. Police
also there on scene working to clear and Indiana southbound
(35:32):
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Speaker 1 (35:39):
This report is sponsored by Brad versus Bengals.
Speaker 3 (35:41):
Like ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati sports station, Now.
Speaker 1 (35:45):
We're waylaid for their sports headlines or a service at
kelsey Chevale, home of lifetime powertrain protection and a guaranteed
credit approval from their family to yours for life kelseyshev
dot com. I wish, I wish I had news for
you when it comes to the benk adding, a linebacker or anybody,
but I got nothing I could tell you. Trey Hendrickson
(36:05):
is going to sign with the Ravens four years one
hundred and twelve mil. Could be worth a deal up
to one hundred and twenty million dollars sixty mil fully guaranteed.
Trey will play against the Bengals twice. In twenty twenty six.
College basketball under fourteen to go in Kansas City, u
SE leads UCF by a score of thirty six to
thirty two. Earlier today, in that event Big twelve Tournament,
(36:29):
Iowa State crushed Arizona State ninety one to forty two.
Xavier plays Marquette tonight at Madison Square Garden in the
Big East Tournament. Winner will take on Yukon will chat
with Rick Boring in just a second. Kentucky a winner
today in the SEC Tournament over LSU eighty seven to
eighty two. The Wildcats will take on Missouri tomorrow at
twelve thirty on ESPN fifteen thirty. Also in that event
(36:50):
in Nashville, thirteen minutes to go, Auburn a forty eight
to forty lead over Mississippi State. In the ACC Tournament,
SMU leads Number twenty five Louisville fifty eight to fifty seven,
just under two minutes to go in that one. Iowall
won today in the Big Ten Tournament overro Missouri seventy
five to sixty four. The Hawkeyes will take on Ohio
(37:11):
State tomorrow. Indiana battles Northwestern tonight in Chicago in that event.
By the way, there is a game happening right now
in New York in the Biggiest Tournament. Butler leads Providence
thirty six thirty one under three to go. Matt McClain
his fifth home run of the spring. Cincinnati has gone
yard three times today, Noelve Marte his second, Jose Travino
his first, Cincinnati on top of the Brewers in goodyear
(37:33):
three to two reds batting bottom of the second inning,
opening day starter Andrew Abbott on the hill for Cincinnati
and Mexico and Italy are going to play in the
World Baseball Classic and I'm too dumb to understand the tiebreaker.
You know who's not dumb, our friend Rick Brooring from
Musketeer Report dot com. By the way, because Tarn wants
to do this yesterday, I was composed, but he wants
(37:56):
to broadcast this live on Twitter, so if something crazy
happens in the UC game, you could see my reaction.
So you could watch this show right now on Twitter
at Moeger. And because we're bringing in Rick Browing an
hour later than usual, you can actually watch this conversation
as Rick, Rick and I talk on zoom. This is
this is really exciting. We're really leaning into technology today.
(38:17):
By the way, this on the heels of Charlie Goldsmith's
cell phone from nineteen ninety seven that he used yesterday. Hi, Rick,
what's up? MAO H A lot a lot? How about yourself?
Speaker 8 (38:29):
Yeah, I was just watching the Bearcats very good.
Speaker 1 (38:33):
You're gonna watch the Musketeers tonight. Is Trey Carroll gonna play? Well?
Speaker 8 (38:37):
The injury report just came out from the Big East
and he is not on it. So that would lead
everyone to believe that he is available in what role?
How close to one hundred percent is he going to be?
We don't know, but it sounds like he's gonna give
it a go.
Speaker 1 (38:52):
All right good. I think of the first Marquette game,
Xavier got crushed on the glass and they turned the
ball over a lot. I think of the second Marquette game,
they were better on the glass and they took better
care of the ball. Is that what tonight comes down to?
Speaker 2 (39:07):
That?
Speaker 8 (39:08):
And shooting the three point shot? I mean the second game,
that was the other big part of it. I mean,
they were just bombs away. They made sixteen threes in
that game, and when they make twelve or more threes
this year, they're seven to one. So that's been a
huge part of their success. When they've been successful, I
think that makes it much easier for them to pull
off a win. Now, part of that that you have
(39:28):
to talk about is last time they were at Madison
Square Garden this season against Saint John's was one of
their worst shooting nights of the year. So Sat John's
obviously a different team defensively than Marquette is. But that's
the last time they shot in this arena, so that's
definitely something I'm gonna have my eye on.
Speaker 1 (39:43):
How the hell did Marquette beat Yukon on Saturday.
Speaker 8 (39:47):
It's a really good question. Has to be terrifying to
go into this game knowing they just beat Yukon. They've
won five of their last six, so they're clearly playing
their best basketball of the season. Now, you know, again,
how did they pull that one off?
Speaker 1 (40:01):
I don't know.
Speaker 8 (40:02):
It feels a little bit fluky. Maybe the pressure got
to Yukon in that situation or something. But I think
this is It's been two close games the first two
times these two teams played. I would expect another close
game here tonight, assuming Trey Carroll is able to play
and is somewhere near one hundred percent receavior.
Speaker 1 (40:18):
What's interesting to me is Trey Carroll playing tonight, but also,
if you win, you got to bring him out there
in a consecutive night against an already extraordinarily tough task
in Yukon. I'm actually, and they have to win the
game tonight. I get that, I'm I'm, i'm is equally
interested in what he would look like if they did
have to play a game tomorrow. I don't know that
they have much of a shout at even hanging with
(40:40):
Yukon even if he does go. But I guess for
me that's what's more interesting than tonight.
Speaker 8 (40:45):
Yeah, I think that's fair to say. I mean, based
on the fact that he was struggling to move around.
It's a hip injury where he fell on it. I
don't know what the actual diagnosis was, but we consume
maybe some type of contusion or whatever. Got to imagine
the second day after playing a night game, he's not
gonna feel too great. But like you said, I don't
know that I would care too much about that either way,
because they haven't had a chance against Yukon either time
(41:06):
they played on the season.
Speaker 1 (41:08):
Is I know you're not a bracketologist? Is this season
the most convincing argument against ncublea inevitable in all likelihood
ncablea tournament expansion?
Speaker 8 (41:19):
You know, I think it's I summed this up best
in a text message we shared a few nights ago,
when I said We've been talking about tournament expansion for
far too long. I sent you a screenshot of some
guy who commented on this from like twenty and eleven,
and I enjoyed his take back. Then, we've been talking
about this like every single year. At this point, I
just don't care. Do whatever you're gonna do with the tournament.
(41:40):
Just let me watch it and don't make me listen
to the complaints about it for two months leading up
to the tournament. That's by far worse than actually expanding
the tournament is listening to everybody whine about the possibility
that at some point we might expand the tournament for
the last fourteen years, that's been pretty annoying.
Speaker 1 (41:54):
On Yeah, and I've participated in that a lot. I
just I look at the bubble this year and and
you sees a part of this conversation there's like I
look at certain bracketology projections and I see Auburn at
sixteen and fifteen in the tournament. If that's what we're
coming close to including in a sixty eighteen field, what
kind of wreck what kind of wretched teams are we
(42:16):
going to include in a seventy sixteen field?
Speaker 8 (42:19):
I think it will not go this way. But let
me throw this out to you. This is something I've
been told by people who do scheduling for high major teams.
They've made the claim to me that if the tournament
field were to be expanded, they would be much more
open to scheduling more difficult, high profile, interesting non conference
matchups because there's more margin for air. You don't feel
(42:41):
like one loss could cost you your ticket into the
Big Dance if that were the case. And again, I
don't actually believe that's what they would do with that opportunity.
I think they'd still just try to skate by and
find the easiest path into the tournament. But if that
were the case, and they were to schedule more interesting
non conference games, would that make it better from your perspective?
Speaker 1 (43:00):
Yeah, to a degree, if there's if that actually happens,
I've spent trust that I've spent a lifetime hearing coaches
say we'll play anybody, anywhere, anytime, and then you know
their their schedule looks like Travis Steels this year, no
knock on Miami. But I mean that's I I hear
that every year from coaches won't play anybody, and then
they never do so I'm skeptical that that would be
(43:22):
the case. Rick Boring is with this Xavier and Marquette
tonight put a bow on NKU in the Horizon Lead Tournament.
I thought, I thought at halftime that that being as
good of a game as it was, and I know
they took a lead early in the second half, it
felt like a house of cards because I didn't I
didn't think they were going to be able to defend
Right State, and I kind of felt like as the
(43:42):
game unfolded, I ended up being right.
Speaker 8 (43:45):
Is that a fair perspective, Yeah, And I think that's
you know, I certainly don't speak for the program or
the coaching staff or anything like that, but from my perspective,
that's what made it a little bit easier to swallow,
is at the end of that game, you just felt like, Okay,
Right State was clearly the better team this year. They
beat them three times, and in that third game, like
you said, NK, you was playing right with them for
(44:06):
the first half, felt like they were playing pretty well,
and then once again they just couldn't guard Right State
down the stretch and they made the necessary plays, and look,
we were wondering, how would some of those young guys.
You know, they play two freshmen a lot of minutes,
they play a sophomore a lot of minutes on that team.
How would they react to being in that weird arena,
in a one and done environment for the first time.
(44:26):
And there were multiple occasions where NK you had just
a little bit of momentum in the second half, had
a good defensive possession where they take it right down
the final seconds of the shot clock, and three different
time those young players for Right State banged buzzer beating
shot clock beating three pointers and those were all daggers.
I mean, that's what you got to do if you're
gonna win a championship.
Speaker 1 (44:46):
I felt like NKU season this year was weird. Is
that a fair way of characterizing it?
Speaker 8 (44:51):
Yeah, it is. I think there were a few things
going on there. One, this is the first time, you know,
as much as we feel like we've been in the
transfer portal era for a while, this is the first
time NKU really turned over a large portion of its
roster in the transfer portal. They've really retained a lot
of guys every season and just added a guy here,
a piece there for depth. It's never been their main
guys this year, they finally did that. I think for
(45:12):
the first time. It took them a little bit longer
to settle into their defense. They changed their defense a
lot more than they ever have. And then you also
had that stretch a little past the midway point of
conference play where they had a lot of guys out
with injury, had LJ Wells down, Cal Robinson down, Donovan
Rocko to not a Harri down. And they struggled through
that stretch which kind of put them in a bit
(45:33):
of a spin and cost them some seating position. But
then right by the end of the season, once again
it seemed like they were playing their best basketball. They
had some momentum going into the tournament, and they got
back to the semi finals.
Speaker 1 (45:45):
I think what's interesting about what happens this offseason is,
you know, the Norse are going to have to replace
the school's all time leader and field goal percentage, Mitchell Minor,
who leaves NKU with a field goal percentage of one
hundred percent pride to Scott Heist. And so I guess
there's a two part question there, how do you replace
him and what plans might be made to honor him.
Speaker 8 (46:06):
I was walking through the hallways over at the Truest
Arena today and I was looking around, I couldn't find anybody.
I was like, what is going on? And uh, actually
that's what I heard they were. They were having team
meeting staff meetings about how do we replace Mitchell Minor?
So I don't know if anyone has the answer for
one the field Yeah, right right, So I would probably
(46:27):
be making a lot more money if if I knew
the answer to that question.
Speaker 1 (46:30):
Yeah, well, get to the bottom of that. We'll maybe
talk about it next week at the Holy Grail. Thank
you was always good to see you. We'll talk next week.
I will say.
Speaker 8 (46:37):
Mitchell Minor might be making appearance on the Darren Horn
TV show. Oh later this month.
Speaker 1 (46:41):
Will he be introduced as the school's all time leader
and field goal percentage three for three is perfect.
Speaker 8 (46:47):
I might know the guy in control of that, so
I'll run it past him.
Speaker 1 (46:51):
Very good. Thanks man, We'll see We'll see you next week.
Rick Brooring Musketeer Report dot Com. Follow him on Twitter
at Rick Broing Bear. Can let's have a seven point
lead eleven fifty eight to go in Kansas City really
quickly here? Because some of these other games could have
an impact on Cincinnati. Louisville has taken a lead in
(47:13):
the final minute over SMU sixty two to fifty eight.
Auburn continues to lead over Mississippi State fifty six to
fifty three. It is six away five by the way
now from five o'clock, Trey Hendrickson going to the Ravens.
I think is awesome and we'll explain next on ESPN
fifteen to.
Speaker 4 (47:33):
Thirty Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty Traffic.
Speaker 2 (47:39):
From the UC Health Traffic Center. The new uc Ohcher
Wellness Suite is a home for transformative whole person well
being backed by Science. Register for classes now visit UCHealth
dot com. Westbound seventy four after Montana Avenue left two
lanes are blocked off from an accident with a thirty
minute delay back from seventy five least also there on
(48:01):
scene working to clear in Indiana southbound two seventy five
after US fifty and Lawrenceburg accident locking the left lane.
I'm at ezelic with traffic
ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati's sports station. Are we sure they
have nothing else to say? On the Kentucky post game show?
Are we sure? Hi? Moeger, ESPN fifteen thirty five, toll four,
thank you so much for joining us. There's a ton
going on today, and this is one of those days
(00:21):
where I wish we had like six hours. We're only
basically gonna have two, But that's okay. We'll make the
most of it. Kelsey Conway is going to join us
at four twenty on the Bengals in free agency and
to see if Duke Tobin and the personnel staff at
the venue formerly known as Paul Brown Stadium is on vacation.
Maybe everybody's out watching college basketball today. It feels like
(00:42):
that's what everybody here is doing. Let's start with that. Obviously,
you just heard it from Nashville. Kentucky pulls away ish
laid against LSU, knockoff the Tigers eighty seven to eighty two.
The Wildcats will take on Missouri tomorrow, another daytime game,
another twelve thirty tip on ESPN. In fifteen thirty, the
Wildcats advanced to the second round in Nashville. Meanwhile, the
(01:05):
Bearcats are playing right now, and I thought for the
most part yesterday I maintained my composure today is it's
still an elimination game. If the Bearcats lose today, it's
I think impossible for all of us to imagine this
team having its name called on Sunday. If they win
this game, I think the prevailing sentiment is still going
(01:28):
to be that they need another one and they'll have
a golden opportunity against Arizona tomorrow if they win this game.
If they win this game, though, and lose, I think
it would be interesting. There's lots of other games we're
paying attention to right now. Cincinnati Bearcats got off to
an eleven to two start. You see Leeds, you see
have twenty one to twenty. This has been a sloppy game.
(01:50):
The Knights are shooting thirty one percent. The Bearcats are
shooting thirty two percent. The turnovers are starting to mount
for Cincinnati seven so far. With just over four minutes
to go, you see is up a point. The biggest
game easily of the West Miller Era, slightly bigger, I
guess than yesterday. So we're monitoring that we've got some
(02:10):
college basketball to get to next hour with our friend
Rick Brooring Musketeer Report dot Com also color analysts for
the NK you broadcast, and we'll kind of put a
bow on NKU season. We'll look ahead to tonight though
Madison Square, Garden, Xavier, and Marquette. I have not seen
Trey Carroll's name on the Big East Availability Report. Will
(02:30):
get a sense from Rick as to whether or not
Trey could go and how they could beat Marquette, either
with or without him, and see if he would give
the Musketeers a chance if they would advance to round
two where they would play Yukon. I mentioned on top
of area teams playing, there are a handful of games
that if you're a Cincinnati fan you're probably playing. Paying
(02:51):
a close attention to. One of them involves SMU. SMU
won its game yesterday. They're playing today against Louisville in
the tournament. That game is very early in the second half.
The Cardinals have a one point lead. And I'm not
going to take any bracketologists projections as gospel. I think
that sometimes gets lost here. Like whatever these bracketologists are
(03:14):
putting out there, whether it's our guy Hunter Sansom or
the world renowned Joe Lonardi, they're just opinions. They're just projections.
But you look at some common themes teams around the bubble,
teams on the bubble, teams listed as last four in,
teams listed as last four out, so you see SMU.
They're playing tonight. Indiana plays this evening against Northwestern, which
(03:36):
won its first round game in the Big Ten Tournament.
Auburn is playing right now, and I think this is
a really interesting team because they're sixteen and fifteen, and
obviously they've been at the kind of the they've been
a part of the Miami debate because of Bruce Pearl's comments.
Auburn's sixteen and fifteen with a seven and eleven record
in the SEC. The Tigers are still, according to some bracketology,
(04:00):
justs a tournament team. And if ever there's been an
argument for not expanding the tournament, and there are many,
maybe it's the candidacy of this year's Auburn team. The
Tigers are taking on Mississippi State under four minute time
out in Nashville. It is twenty eight to twenty two
in favor of Mississippi State, so Auburn is down by
(04:22):
six points. If you're a UC fan, you're paying attention
to Cal tonight the Golden Bears take on Florida State.
You're paying attention to Oklahoma tonight as the Sooners take
on South Carolina, so we'll keep an eye on the
bear Cat game. I'll try to maintain my composure. We've
got the Reds in action today. We've got more on
Hunter Green, including one of our experts from Ortho Sinsey,
(04:44):
doctor Jonathan Slaughter, on the procedure that he's having and
what's next, not just in the coming weeks, but maybe
over the course of the next couple of years. Trey
Hendrickson is a Baltimore Raven and you know what I
like it. I like that a lot. And chances are
you're not wired like me. But if you're a Bengals fan,
(05:05):
maybe I can bring you over to my side and
maybe between now and six o'clock the Bengals find a
linebacker so they don't have to rush out there. Demetrius
Knight and Barrett Carter as sophomore starters Week one of
the twenty twenty six season. All that ahead, four o'clock,
ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
Now do you write two lanes are blocked from an
accident up to a ten minute delay from Smith Edwards
westbound seventy four after Montana Avenue accident on the left shoulder.
He's found two seventy five traffic stopped from Graves Road
to Dixie Highway for President Trump's visit. I'm Medi Zelek
with Traffic Team thirty, Cincinnati's Sports.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
All right, here we go. It's five after four. This
is ESPN fifteen thirty. Now the show, Kenny really begin, Mulgar,
thank you so much for joining us. U S is
up twenty seven to twenty four, or Dave Thomas three
pointer from the corner is no good? One forty to
go before halftime. Bearcats an elimination game for Cincinnati. Kelsey
(06:09):
Conway is gonna join us in fifteen minutes. Kelsey is
as big of a Bearcat fan as any of us,
and so I'm gonna pull her away from the game
and we're gonna talk about the Bengals search for a linebacker,
the Trey Hendrickson story, and the Baltimore Ravens backing out
of that Max Crosby deal with the Las Vegas Raiders.
That's the biggest story in the NFL right now. And
(06:30):
you could certainly understand why. It's interesting. It's chaotic, it's dubious,
there's a lot of skepticism. There's lots of ripple effects
to the Trey Hendrickson thing, to the Max Crosby thing,
to the Ravens and Raiders. But here, forget about Trey
Hendrickson for a second. Who's going to play linebacker for
the Bengals in twenty twenty six? Like as soon as
(06:54):
as soon as the euphoria, if you will, or as
soon as the dust settled on what the Bengals did
on Day one, which I think excited us all. Brian
cook boy a mafe like good signings, bold signings, the
sort of signings that felt like they were in line
with what we thought the Bengals were going to have
to do this off season and to a large degree,
what Duke Tobin said the Bengals were going to do
(07:14):
this off season. But the immediate question in the aftermath
of those two signings was what's next. We asked that
on Monday night. I asked it to Paul Danner Junior
on this show yesterday.
Speaker 3 (07:30):
Everyone has been talking about that, We've been talking about
as sort of the thing. One of the things before
this started that you were most interested to see was okay,
But what's their view of linebacker going to be? And
I think we have felt like they were at least
they have expressed a desire to add a veteran in there.
But we've now seen a lot of the linebackers come
(07:53):
off of the board.
Speaker 1 (07:55):
I mean, using your thing from last week as a guide,
I've got more names crossed off than I do available,
no doubt, but the top two are still available.
Speaker 3 (08:02):
Yes, And so I think there is a lot more
heat across the league on Caden Ellis right now than
there is on Leoshanal. So if that, you know, one
price is going up and I don't think the other
one is at this point, so that probably that's probably
(08:23):
more likely. But I that's in the they're working on.
They're working on that position certainly, but that to me,
it's not the only one. Yeah, I mean, I think
that's the one that's in focus. But and I do
think that that list has been paired down channel We've
just said it. He just feels like the perfect fit.
So if they can find a way to get that done,
(08:43):
I think that's that feels like you'll feel so good
to me. That's the one that I think if you
hit that, you you check that box and you bring
in him, it feels like, Okay, you did it.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
Like there's other things.
Speaker 3 (08:56):
The rest of it is, you're always going to have
a rest of it that is putting pieces together that
you need to find a couple of diamonds in the
rough or bargain players. That's always going to be a
part of this. But the big boxes you needed to
check that you probably needed to spend on. That's the
last one that I have unchecked.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
All right, So that's Paul Danner Junior. Just about twenty
four hours ago. You could hear the entire conversation on
the iHeartRadio app. Twenty four hours later, Well, Leo Chanal
is not coming, He's going to the Washington Commanders. Kaden
Ellis reportedly the Bengals really didn't flirt with all that
mush much back in New Orleans. This after we've crossed
(09:37):
off the names to Mario Davis, Eric Wilson, Alex Singleton,
Alex Angeloni, Nakobe Dean, Devin Lloyd, Kwi Walker, Like, maybe
some of those names were at the top of your list,
and maybe some of those names were on your list.
Maybe some of those names were not on your list. Regardless,
none of those guys are coming to Cincinnati now. Bobby
Wagner is still out there, and I don't know that
(09:58):
there's a We don't know that there's a ton of
reasons to be opposed to bringing Bobby Wagner in, But
there is one big one. It's the fact that he's
thirty seven years old now certainly plays like a guy
who has gas in the tank and can provide a
lot of the things we saw lacking from the Bengals
linebacker play last year, I think, namely reliability, and you
can come up with no one better for your two
(10:20):
young linebackers who struggled so much last year to attach
themselves to. But we're kind of getting thin here, Like
I mean, when folks are floating the name a Keen
Davis Gate out there and Levante David who's also old,
and some of the names that we were not entertaining
(10:43):
or talking about all that much before free agency started,
it feels like, well, it feels like either the Bengals
have whiffed or it feels like the Bengals are not
going to be able to get what I think we
all believed prior to the offseason and through much of
last year they desperately need. It feels like with each
(11:06):
passing minute there's an increased likelihood of Night and Carter
playing more than I think any of us would like.
There's maybe an increased sense that, you know what, the
Bengals couldn't multitask. One thing they got credit for on Tuesday,
and we brought it up yesterday, was you know, they
(11:27):
were in on John Franklin Myers. He obviously goes to
the Tennessee Titans, and yet when that didn't work out,
that to not preclude him from the Bengals from getting
deals done with Brian Cook and boy A Mafey. But
now you can't help but wonder was this a little
bit too much for the Bengals to bite off Brian
(11:49):
Cook and Boye Mafey And let's just say Leoshanal was
attacking safety and edge and linebacker all pretty much at
precisely the same time. A little bit too much for
the Bengals to do all at once. We don't know
the answers. Now you have to consider the recent history here,
(12:12):
like by ownership's own admission about a year ago. Yeah,
you know what, we were a little behind in free
agency because we were so tied up in the contract
extensions for Jamar Chason T Higgins. It's one of the
many reasons why those two deals should have been done
forever ago. They could multitask now. Maybe this ultimately has
a fix, right, Maybe there is somebody in free agency
(12:34):
they signed that is an ideal fit. Maybe it doesn't
cost all that much. Maybe it's a Keen Davis Gaither.
Maybe it is Bobby Wagner. Maybe it's somebody that we're
not even thinking about. Maybe Duke Tobin has a trick
up his sleeve that we are not even close to anticipating.
Maybe he's playing chess and everybody else is playing checkers.
Maybe in the draft there's a transformative linebacker that is
(12:56):
a rookie. The two guys who were rookies last year
can learn from. I don't know. You certainly don't have
to add players the first couple of days of the
free agency cycle in order to obtain good free agents.
That said, you watched the Bengals last year. We watched them.
We saw the linebacker play. It stunk like for lack
(13:17):
of a better way of putting it, and I don't
think anybody is saying that the Bengals should completely give
up on Carter and Night. I don't know that anybody
is saying that neither guy could play for the team
this year. I don't know that anybody is saying that
neither guy could start for the Bengals Week one. But
I think as last season unfolded, and even as recently
(13:37):
as yesterday, folks close to the team, who cover the team,
who watched the team last year all agreed, like, hey
man went and got the safety, went and got the edge.
But you know what need the linebacker. It is an
important position. It is a position of desperate need. Well,
so far, what they have done and what they have
(13:57):
gotten doesn't match desperate need. And so lots of questions,
namely who's gonna play linebacker and who else is out
there that they could get and that would make sense
for them, and that would make sense for them and
get and actually provide an upgrade. I hope we're not
(14:17):
asking this question tomorrow. The sad thing is we were
asking this question yesterday thirteen minutes after four o'clock. The
Trey Hendrickson thing, like, there's there's lots of tentacles to
this and large ripple effects, and you know, there's the
mechanics of the Max Crosby thing and how that fell.
(14:38):
Apart as it relates to us here, I am probably
in the minority, but I kind of like Trey Hendrickson
going to the Baltimore Ravens, and there's like the part
of me that just loves absurdity and humor. And for
reasons that I'm not entirely sure I ca I totally articulate,
(15:02):
Trey Hendrickson just makes me laugh because that ordeal, which
took forever and is seemingly sort of still ongoing, took
so many twists and turns that it was just it
was funny. And so Trey Hendrickson to me is funny.
But as a villain, as a as a Bengals character,
(15:22):
Trey Hendrickson playing for the Baltimore Ravens is a lot
of fun. And you know me, I love fun. Fourteen
minutes after four o'clock, it's halftime in Kansas City. Cincinnati
has a one point lead twenty seven to twenty six.
Bearcats have been really good from behind the Arc six
of twelve. Cincinnati ain't making their twos no no, no,
(15:45):
huge inside presence so far for the Bearcats, although Mustapha
Cham has had a quality half eleven and seven did
make both of his three point shots. You see is
three of seventeen from inside the arc, and they were
awful at the free throw line yesterday, only six attempts,
but they have made just three ucf is, shooting a
thirty two percent. The Bearheads have defended, they have been
at times sloppy on the offensive end. Eight turnovers. Here's
(16:08):
here's my halftime prediction. Are you ready send this to
Dan and Terry. If the turnover number is five or
less in the second half, you see, will win. If
the turnover number is larger than five, you see, will lose.
There's sort of a World Baseball Classic tiebreaker element to
what I just said, which we've got to spend a
few minutes on that a little bit later on lots
(16:29):
of ground to cover. By the way, you can tweak
the show at Maegger thanks to Delta Dental. Delta Dental
is building healthy, smart, vibrant communities for all. Good to
Delta Dental, Oh dot com. Rick Brooring in about thirty
minutes on Xavier and Nku are one of our experts
from Ortho Sinsey doctor Jonathan Slaughter on Hunter Green coming
(16:50):
up in the five o'clock hour reaction from Kansas City.
Maybe here from Wes Miller. I don't know how much
time we'll have for phone calls today, but if we do,
you'll hear me throw it at the number. Sixteen minutes after
four o'clock, we'll talk Bengals, Ravens, Trey linebackers, and more
with our friend Kelsey Conway.
Speaker 4 (17:08):
Next Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty traffic.
Speaker 2 (17:14):
From the UC Health Traffic Center. The new uc Ohcher
Wellness Suite is a home for transformative whole person well
being backed by Science. Register for classes now visit UCHealth
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(17:35):
seventy five westbound on the Ronald Reaken Highway. Also an
accident after playing Field. Twenty minute delay northbound on seventy
one from Smith Edwards to Kenwood at Ezelk with traffic.
Speaker 1 (17:47):
This report is sponsored by Red Mullager. You are about
to listen to a conversation between two total pros. Because
our favorite college basketball team is playing right now in
a huge game, a game that could help them take
a major step towards the NCAA tournament, and yet very gamely,
we are going to talk about the Cincinnati Bengals, which
(18:08):
is that that's the team that Kelsey Conway covers for
The Inquirer and Cincinnati dot Com and she's actually providing
news while this game is happening right now. I just
retweeted her on Twitter. She's with us now. Hi, Kelsey,
Hey Mo, how you doing. I'm well, do you want
to play linebacker for the Bengals?
Speaker 5 (18:27):
Oh? No, No I don't. But you know, I wish
I had better news hopping on this call. And you know,
I thought about when I put out some of my
stuff on X, like purfasing it by saying, like Bengals
fans like, don't kill the messenger, because unfortunately, I just
head back to back X posts that I'm gonna put
(18:50):
together in a notebooks he'll be available on Cincinnati dot
Com about who the Bengals aren't interested in. And so
I tried to comb through what's left of the positions
that they need people at and see what I could find,
and didn't find a lot of great news, so we
can get into it on this show. But yeah, it's
(19:15):
been it's been a hard day to figure out exactly
what the Bengals plan has been since day one. So
I know we'll get into it and you can ask
me all your questions.
Speaker 6 (19:24):
But I just wanted to bring that up at the
top of my appearance on this show.
Speaker 1 (19:28):
So you could not have me. No, no, well, let's
let's let's sort of backtrack a little bit here, because
you put this on social media. This is before four o'clock.
League year is now underway. You wrote, we're thirty minutes
away from the new league year, and the Bengals have
added two players during the legal tampering period, Boye Mafe
and Brian Cook, and as you wrote, there's still time
to add players. I thought the Bengals would have added
(19:49):
more by now. If if you would have told me
on Monday afternoon about four o'clock, once we saw who
they had signed, I think I think most of us
would have been surprised, and most of what have said.
Most of us would have said it's unlikely that forty
eight hours later, those are still the only two names.
I think most would agree, and so I guess the
question is what has happened since Monday afternoon. That leaves
(20:12):
those two guys who agreed to terms on Monday as
the two most recent guys who have agreed to terms
with the Bengals.
Speaker 5 (20:20):
I don't know, and I say that because usually you
hear like, okay, they were in the mix, they were
a finalist. So then from those clues you can kind
of put together like, Okay, here's who they were in on.
I've made a number of calls also been following some
of the reports from other prospects, and I have not
(20:42):
gotten any sense of who they have really targeted that
they've missed out on. So there's been conflicting reports, you
know about Devin Lloyd, and it seemed every like everybody
wanted to believe that the Bengals were in on that,
and then that came out and wasn't you know true.
But let me just run through some names for you
(21:03):
that I can tell you that they haven't been in on.
And that's where I don't know what their plan has been.
They were not in on Kaden Ellis, they were not
in on I just posted this, but Arnold Uber Katie,
they weren't in on him. They weren't in on Kay Love,
on Chase, on they and you know, I'll talk about
another one that I just posted, but specific to that position, Like,
(21:26):
they weren't in on any of those guys. Those were
all guys that I thought that they could put together,
you know, a contract that would be in line with
what the bangals like to do in free agency. So
for them to have not even been a finalist or
in on those guys, I'm having a hard time connecting
the dots as far as who they were targeting and
(21:47):
what their plan is. I know they were targeting Boy Mafe,
they were successful in getting that done. They were clearly
targeting Brian Cookie were successful in getting that done. As
far as who else they were targeting, I haven't been
an to get a nail on that because some of
these guys that seem like logical fits at the positions
that they need, they haven't either been in the mixed owner,
(22:09):
they haven't been a finalist. So I'm struggling to figure
out what their plan after Boy Mafe and Brian Cook
has been is their.
Speaker 1 (22:17):
Plan thirty seven year old Bobby Wagner.
Speaker 5 (22:22):
I have a hard time believing that that's their plan.
I mean, you know how it is with the Bengals
with people you know up in the age category. So
I think it's a matter of a matter of they
truly must believe that they have their their groups that
(22:44):
they have. They're buying the growth that they saw in
the in the second half of the season. But what
they said is the combine to us Al Golden telling us,
you know, we need a Sam linebacker. We know we
asked me tres I to do stuff that he's probably
not good enough at. We need to put him in.
Speaker 6 (23:03):
A position to succeed.
Speaker 5 (23:04):
So where's your Sam linebacker? That's where I started with
making making calls for players that would fit back. They
were not a finalist for any of those players that
I just mentioned. Okay, so what happens there. The other
position that I'm almost like perplexed that they haven't moved
on is defensive cackle and and so I saw bubbling
(23:28):
up on social media, you know, Bengals fans asking after
a report came out from Pro Football Talk that Dallas
Cowboys defensive tackle Osa Odgizua, you know, could potentially be
up for trade because the Cowboys have added to that position.
And so I made some calls around the league, and
(23:50):
the Bengals haven't shown any interest as far as his
side talking to his side, So it's not coming via
a trade right now. I mean, there could be one
in the works that they're keeping completely hush hush, but
people other teams aren't in the mix of giving away.
They're either one or top two d tackles, especially in
(24:12):
a year where the free agency crop wasn't great and
the draft crop isn't great. So that's another one where
I'm struggling to figure out, like, Okay, if they're not
going to sign one of these guys in free agency,
are they going to try and trade for a guy
who's currently on another team. Well, one of the most
logical fits to me would have been Osa, and they're
not headed in that direction. So long story short, I
(24:35):
don't know what their plan is after Day one.
Speaker 1 (24:39):
It feels like specifically to those two positions, and I think,
frankly a little bit more so linebacker, just because I
think there were more names out there that seem to
fit what they should be looking for. It feels like
last year. It feels like last year for the entire defense,
it was well, you know, toward the end of the season,
we won those games, and yeah, you could say we've
feasted on bad quarterbacks, but we did just enough to
(25:02):
essentially bring all those dudes back, and then we saw
what the results were, and so I think in the
back of any fan's mind has to be that. And
then you think ahead to this coming season, and it's like,
are they really going to go into this season with
Carter and Knight playing these significant roles that they were
forced to play in last year? Like, are is it
really gonna be bj Hill and Chris Jenkins and guys
(25:24):
who were on the team last year. I saw that
movie before, and yeah, man, they upgraded its safety and
I think they're They're okay on the edge, just especially
if Miles Murphy ends up continuing his ascension. But I
think the frustrating thing for me you talk about plan,
it feels like last year's plan specific so far at
least to detackle on linebacker. I hope that changes. I'm
fearful that it won't.
Speaker 5 (25:47):
I can completely see why you're saying that, and I'm
thinking the same thing where I think it's different than
it was last year is that they finally admitted they
needed a real guy at safety. At least they did that, right, Okay,
so at least they acknowledged that they weren't good enough
at that position. But what I look at day one
(26:09):
is those guys were signed to replace guys that left.
So I'm not saying that the Bengals are better yet
because they signed Brian Cook and Boye Mafe because keep
in mind, you're not just replacing Trey Hendrickson's production. You're
also replacing josepho size production. Those are two guys that
(26:31):
gave you a lot off the edge. So really, Boye
Mafe is just a piece of how you replace that
production and you hope it works and then safety you
upgrade it there. But the Bengals defense right now is
not a better unit than it was when it ended
the season. And that's where I'm perplexed because you see
(26:53):
teams like the Washington Commanders who made it a point
after a bad year on defense, we are going to
fix this, and they went out and they addressed it completely,
made over their defensive line, you know, with Odafeoway going there, Klevon,
Chase on and then adding Leoshanal like they had a
(27:14):
clear plan and they executed it. And I thought that
the Bengals were going to do that, and they did it.
And you know, of course there's still time. You know
that you can't the Bengals are playing a game on Sunday,
but they're really missing the window on some players. And
just to your point about the linebackers, nobody was saying
(27:35):
that the Bengals needed to go out.
Speaker 6 (27:37):
And sign a mic linebacker to take over for Barrett Carter.
Speaker 5 (27:40):
What everybody was hoping for was that they would bring
in a leader who has experienced that can push those
guys along. And is it not like the best case
scenario to have real competition in training camp at linebacker?
And that to me is where I I'm totally just perplexed.
(28:02):
And I hear you that it sounds a lot like
last year. And for Duke to Oven to go up
to the podium and say, you know, we have the resources,
the ban will set themselves up for their fans to
be upset in a way with that statement because they
haven't backed it up.
Speaker 1 (28:18):
Can they not multitask? And the reason I bring this
up was by their own admission last year from ownership.
You were there at the owners meetings, Hey, you know
we were kind of locked into getting Jamar and t done,
and that kind of precluded us from devoting all the
attention and resources we would have liked to free agency.
I thought that was an incredibly lame excuse, but the
(28:40):
message was we couldn't multitask. Can they not multitask and
go try to get the guys they got on Tuesday,
I'm sorry on Monday and even the players they tried
for but didn't get on Monday, all the while reach
out to and negotiate with players at other positions who
have signed with other teams.
Speaker 5 (28:59):
So there, there's my response that is going to be
I think it's a little bit twofold here. Keep in
mind this, and I'm not going to get.
Speaker 6 (29:06):
Into specifics, but I think this is an important piece
of information for Bengals.
Speaker 5 (29:10):
Fans to keep in mind. Free agency is very much
a one team can show interest in that player. The
bad player and his representation have to want to be
in Cincinnati, they have to want to negotiate with the Bengals.
They have to want their player to be there. The
(29:32):
Bengals have had history with some agents that represent a
lot of players, and that comes in the factor here
in free agency, because the player gets to choose so
if the Bengals were up against another team and that
agent of that player has had bad negotiations with the Bengals, like,
(29:55):
let's not forget that, that could maybe come into the conversation.
So that's an important piece of information. Don't think that
the Bengals reputations somehow, some way finds it finds its
way into free agency at times with specific agents. Also,
the other part of what you're saying is can they
not multitask? That's where the constant questions about the scouting
(30:20):
staff come into play, because if you can't have a
big enough scouting staff where they can handle many of
these things going on right now, like they're trying to book,
like when they're doing the pro days, they're trying to
do draft stuff while they're doing like, there's a lot
going on. But you don't help yourself get rid of
those questions about the size of your scouting staff when
(30:42):
it seems like they can't operate and do multiple things
at a high level at one time. And so I
think that's going to continue to be a question when
when you ask questions like can they not multitask? Well,
then having a really small staff doesn't help in situations
like this. But I think based off of what I
(31:03):
know about the Bengals and what they thought going into
free agency, I said, I said it, you know a
number of times, temper your expectations because the Bengals didn't
think the defensive crop at some of the positions that
they needed was as good as the outside did. And
(31:24):
I know that's frustrating for fans to hear. And you
can say, well, they'd at least be better than what
they had. Sure, definitely, but the Bengals. The Bengals didn't
have high enough grades on a lot of these players,
and that's why clearly you thought them not being the
mix for some of these guys that you could say
they need. So I think there's a lot there as
(31:47):
far as how the Bengals ended up where they are
right now, and that is with just two new players
when they probably needed about four to five new starters
on defense right now.
Speaker 1 (31:58):
One more Kelsey Conway from The Inquirer and Cincinnati dot Com,
where she, by the way, takes your mail bag question.
She is also on Twitter at Kelsey L. Conway. What
is your overarching takeaway from Trey hendrickson joining the Baltimore
Ravens and the route that was taken for him to
get there.
Speaker 5 (32:17):
I think it's coomical that, you know, of course Trey
Hendrickson is gonna end up with the team in the division,
and it'd be a new storyline, you know. No, I
actually think he signed well, I don't know if it's
official yet, but he went to the Ravens just so
that two week a year you continue to talk about him,
since I know how much he loved to talk about
(32:38):
Trey Henderson.
Speaker 7 (32:39):
But on a more serious note, I was on a
Baltimore podcast this morning and they asked, like, what was
the reaction from Bengals players about.
Speaker 5 (32:52):
Trey going to the to the Ravens. And what I
thought was the most interesting thing is as I actually
talked to a Bengals player this morning and I asked,
and it wasn't that they're fearful of Tray being in
the division. It was more of a relief that they
don't have to go up against Max Crosby and that
he's not going to be in the division. So I
thought that was really interesting about the whole situation. But
(33:17):
I think it unfolded perfectly for Trey. I thought it
was very interesting that he waited it out, and I
thought him waiting it out might not work in his favor.
But it always felt like Trey was going to end
up going to a team that's legit, you know, trying
to win a Super Bowl. I didn't see him going
to a team that was, you know, kind of in
(33:37):
a rebuild mode. So it went basically how I expected
it when it was he was going to wait it
out because he didn't feel that the teams were meeting
his value. You know, Trey, I'll tray the entire time
with the Bangles, thought he was in the upper echelon of.
Speaker 6 (33:52):
Edge rushers, and the league told you.
Speaker 5 (33:55):
This past week, you know, they didn't view him how
he viewed himself. But it ended up working out for Trey.
And it'll certainly be interesting because I covered a lot
of training camp reps of Trey and Orlando going at
it with each other, and it's going to be fascinating
to see the Bengals knowing, like what his weaknesses are
(34:16):
vice versa Trey knowing you know, how to beat Orlando Brown. Like,
the storylines are going to be really interesting there.
Speaker 1 (34:22):
I can't wait. I'm excited because I'm a fan of
interesting and fun and Trey Hendrickson playing against the Bengals
twice years. Interesting and fun. By the way, we're winning
the game thirty four to thirty one, so I think
we're plus two. Since you jumped on the phone with me,
you've been good luck. I know you have a lot
going on. I'll let you run.
Speaker 5 (34:39):
Thank you as always, Thanks so much for having me on.
Speaker 1 (34:42):
You're the best. Kelsey Conway. Read her coverage of the
Bengals at The Inquirer and Cincinnati dot com and submit
a mail bag question for while you're at it, and
follow her on Twitter as well at Kelsey L. Conway
covering the Bengals while her beloved Bearcats are playing. Cincinnati
is on top thirty four to thirty one Quick sports headlines.
Speaker 4 (35:01):
Next Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.
Speaker 1 (35:06):
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Like ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati sports station, Now.
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We're waylaid for their sports headlines or a service at
kelsey Chevale, home of lifetime powertrain protection and a guaranteed
credit approval from their family to yours for life kelseyshev
dot com. I wish, I wish I had news for
you when it comes to the benk adding, a linebacker or anybody,
but I got nothing I could tell you. Trey Hendrickson
(36:05):
is going to sign with the Ravens four years one
hundred and twelve mil. Could be worth a deal up
to one hundred and twenty million dollars sixty mil fully guaranteed.
Trey will play against the Bengals twice. In twenty twenty six.
College basketball under fourteen to go in Kansas City, u
SE leads UCF by a score of thirty six to
thirty two. Earlier today, in that event Big twelve Tournament,
(36:29):
Iowa State crushed Arizona State ninety one to forty two.
Xavier plays Marquette tonight at Madison Square Garden in the
Big East Tournament. Winner will take on Yukon will chat
with Rick Boring in just a second. Kentucky a winner
today in the SEC Tournament over LSU eighty seven to
eighty two. The Wildcats will take on Missouri tomorrow at
twelve thirty on ESPN fifteen thirty. Also in that event
(36:50):
in Nashville, thirteen minutes to go, Auburn a forty eight
to forty lead over Mississippi State. In the ACC Tournament,
SMU leads Number twenty five Louisville fifty eight to fifty seven,
just under two minutes to go in that one. Iowall
won today in the Big Ten Tournament overro Missouri seventy
five to sixty four. The Hawkeyes will take on Ohio
(37:11):
State tomorrow. Indiana battles Northwestern tonight in Chicago in that event.
By the way, there is a game happening right now
in New York in the Biggiest Tournament. Butler leads Providence
thirty six thirty one under three to go. Matt McClain
his fifth home run of the spring. Cincinnati has gone
yard three times today, Noelve Marte his second, Jose Travino
his first, Cincinnati on top of the Brewers in goodyear
(37:33):
three to two reds batting bottom of the second inning,
opening day starter Andrew Abbott on the hill for Cincinnati
and Mexico and Italy are going to play in the
World Baseball Classic and I'm too dumb to understand the tiebreaker.
You know who's not dumb, our friend Rick Brooring from
Musketeer Report dot com. By the way, because Tarn wants
to do this yesterday, I was composed, but he wants
(37:56):
to broadcast this live on Twitter, so if something crazy
happens in the UC game, you could see my reaction.
So you could watch this show right now on Twitter
at Moeger. And because we're bringing in Rick Browing an
hour later than usual, you can actually watch this conversation
as Rick, Rick and I talk on zoom. This is
this is really exciting. We're really leaning into technology today.
(38:17):
By the way, this on the heels of Charlie Goldsmith's
cell phone from nineteen ninety seven that he used yesterday. Hi, Rick,
what's up? MAO H A lot a lot? How about yourself?
Speaker 8 (38:29):
Yeah, I was just watching the Bearcats very good.
Speaker 1 (38:33):
You're gonna watch the Musketeers tonight. Is Trey Carroll gonna play? Well?
Speaker 8 (38:37):
The injury report just came out from the Big East
and he is not on it. So that would lead
everyone to believe that he is available in what role?
How close to one hundred percent is he going to be?
We don't know, but it sounds like he's gonna give
it a go.
Speaker 1 (38:52):
All right good. I think of the first Marquette game,
Xavier got crushed on the glass and they turned the
ball over a lot. I think of the second Marquette game,
they were better on the glass and they took better
care of the ball. Is that what tonight comes down to?
Speaker 2 (39:07):
That?
Speaker 8 (39:08):
And shooting the three point shot? I mean the second game,
that was the other big part of it. I mean,
they were just bombs away. They made sixteen threes in
that game, and when they make twelve or more threes
this year, they're seven to one. So that's been a
huge part of their success. When they've been successful, I
think that makes it much easier for them to pull
off a win. Now, part of that that you have
(39:28):
to talk about is last time they were at Madison
Square Garden this season against Saint John's was one of
their worst shooting nights of the year. So Sat John's
obviously a different team defensively than Marquette is. But that's
the last time they shot in this arena, so that's
definitely something I'm gonna have my eye on.
Speaker 1 (39:43):
How the hell did Marquette beat Yukon on Saturday.
Speaker 8 (39:47):
It's a really good question. Has to be terrifying to
go into this game knowing they just beat Yukon. They've
won five of their last six, so they're clearly playing
their best basketball of the season. Now, you know, again,
how did they pull that one off?
Speaker 1 (40:01):
I don't know.
Speaker 8 (40:02):
It feels a little bit fluky. Maybe the pressure got
to Yukon in that situation or something. But I think
this is It's been two close games the first two
times these two teams played. I would expect another close
game here tonight, assuming Trey Carroll is able to play
and is somewhere near one hundred percent receavior.
Speaker 1 (40:18):
What's interesting to me is Trey Carroll playing tonight, but also,
if you win, you got to bring him out there
in a consecutive night against an already extraordinarily tough task
in Yukon. I'm actually, and they have to win the
game tonight. I get that, I'm I'm, i'm is equally
interested in what he would look like if they did
have to play a game tomorrow. I don't know that
they have much of a shout at even hanging with
(40:40):
Yukon even if he does go. But I guess for
me that's what's more interesting than tonight.
Speaker 8 (40:45):
Yeah, I think that's fair to say. I mean, based
on the fact that he was struggling to move around.
It's a hip injury where he fell on it. I
don't know what the actual diagnosis was, but we consume
maybe some type of contusion or whatever. Got to imagine
the second day after playing a night game, he's not
gonna feel too great. But like you said, I don't
know that I would care too much about that either way,
because they haven't had a chance against Yukon either time
(41:06):
they played on the season.
Speaker 1 (41:08):
Is I know you're not a bracketologist? Is this season
the most convincing argument against ncublea inevitable in all likelihood
ncablea tournament expansion?
Speaker 8 (41:19):
You know, I think it's I summed this up best
in a text message we shared a few nights ago,
when I said We've been talking about tournament expansion for
far too long. I sent you a screenshot of some
guy who commented on this from like twenty and eleven,
and I enjoyed his take back. Then, we've been talking
about this like every single year. At this point, I
just don't care. Do whatever you're gonna do with the tournament.
(41:40):
Just let me watch it and don't make me listen
to the complaints about it for two months leading up
to the tournament. That's by far worse than actually expanding
the tournament is listening to everybody whine about the possibility
that at some point we might expand the tournament for
the last fourteen years, that's been pretty annoying.
Speaker 1 (41:54):
On Yeah, and I've participated in that a lot. I
just I look at the bubble this year and and
you sees a part of this conversation there's like I
look at certain bracketology projections and I see Auburn at
sixteen and fifteen in the tournament. If that's what we're
coming close to including in a sixty eighteen field, what
kind of wreck what kind of wretched teams are we
(42:16):
going to include in a seventy sixteen field?
Speaker 8 (42:19):
I think it will not go this way. But let
me throw this out to you. This is something I've
been told by people who do scheduling for high major teams.
They've made the claim to me that if the tournament
field were to be expanded, they would be much more
open to scheduling more difficult, high profile, interesting non conference
matchups because there's more margin for air. You don't feel
(42:41):
like one loss could cost you your ticket into the
Big Dance if that were the case. And again, I
don't actually believe that's what they would do with that opportunity.
I think they'd still just try to skate by and
find the easiest path into the tournament. But if that
were the case, and they were to schedule more interesting
non conference games, would that make it better from your perspective?
Speaker 1 (43:00):
Yeah, to a degree, if there's if that actually happens,
I've spent trust that I've spent a lifetime hearing coaches
say we'll play anybody, anywhere, anytime, and then you know
their their schedule looks like Travis Steels this year, no
knock on Miami. But I mean that's I I hear
that every year from coaches won't play anybody, and then
they never do so I'm skeptical that that would be
(43:22):
the case. Rick Boring is with this Xavier and Marquette
tonight put a bow on NKU in the Horizon Lead Tournament.
I thought, I thought at halftime that that being as
good of a game as it was, and I know
they took a lead early in the second half, it
felt like a house of cards because I didn't I
didn't think they were going to be able to defend
Right State, and I kind of felt like as the
(43:42):
game unfolded, I ended up being right.
Speaker 8 (43:45):
Is that a fair perspective, Yeah, And I think that's
you know, I certainly don't speak for the program or
the coaching staff or anything like that, but from my perspective,
that's what made it a little bit easier to swallow,
is at the end of that game, you just felt like, Okay,
Right State was clearly the better team this year. They
beat them three times, and in that third game, like
you said, NK, you was playing right with them for
(44:06):
the first half, felt like they were playing pretty well,
and then once again they just couldn't guard Right State
down the stretch and they made the necessary plays, and look,
we were wondering, how would some of those young guys.
You know, they play two freshmen a lot of minutes,
they play a sophomore a lot of minutes on that team.
How would they react to being in that weird arena,
in a one and done environment for the first time.
(44:26):
And there were multiple occasions where NK you had just
a little bit of momentum in the second half, had
a good defensive possession where they take it right down
the final seconds of the shot clock, and three different
time those young players for Right State banged buzzer beating
shot clock beating three pointers and those were all daggers.
I mean, that's what you got to do if you're
gonna win a championship.
Speaker 1 (44:46):
I felt like NKU season this year was weird. Is
that a fair way of characterizing it?
Speaker 8 (44:51):
Yeah, it is. I think there were a few things
going on there. One, this is the first time, you know,
as much as we feel like we've been in the
transfer portal era for a while, this is the first
time NKU really turned over a large portion of its
roster in the transfer portal. They've really retained a lot
of guys every season and just added a guy here,
a piece there for depth. It's never been their main
guys this year, they finally did that. I think for
(45:12):
the first time. It took them a little bit longer
to settle into their defense. They changed their defense a
lot more than they ever have. And then you also
had that stretch a little past the midway point of
conference play where they had a lot of guys out
with injury, had LJ Wells down, Cal Robinson down, Donovan
Rocko to not a Harri down. And they struggled through
that stretch which kind of put them in a bit
(45:33):
of a spin and cost them some seating position. But
then right by the end of the season, once again
it seemed like they were playing their best basketball. They
had some momentum going into the tournament, and they got
back to the semi finals.
Speaker 1 (45:45):
I think what's interesting about what happens this offseason is,
you know, the Norse are going to have to replace
the school's all time leader and field goal percentage, Mitchell Minor,
who leaves NKU with a field goal percentage of one
hundred percent pride to Scott Heist. And so I guess
there's a two part question there, how do you replace
him and what plans might be made to honor him.
Speaker 8 (46:06):
I was walking through the hallways over at the Truest
Arena today and I was looking around, I couldn't find anybody.
I was like, what is going on? And uh, actually
that's what I heard they were. They were having team
meeting staff meetings about how do we replace Mitchell Minor?
So I don't know if anyone has the answer for
one the field Yeah, right right, So I would probably
(46:27):
be making a lot more money if if I knew
the answer to that question.
Speaker 1 (46:30):
Yeah, well, get to the bottom of that. We'll maybe
talk about it next week at the Holy Grail. Thank
you was always good to see you. We'll talk next week.
I will say.
Speaker 8 (46:37):
Mitchell Minor might be making appearance on the Darren Horn
TV show. Oh later this month.
Speaker 1 (46:41):
Will he be introduced as the school's all time leader
and field goal percentage three for three is perfect.
Speaker 8 (46:47):
I might know the guy in control of that, so
I'll run it past him.
Speaker 1 (46:51):
Very good. Thanks man, We'll see We'll see you next week.
Rick Brooring Musketeer Report dot Com. Follow him on Twitter
at Rick Broing Bear. Can let's have a seven point
lead eleven fifty eight to go in Kansas City really
quickly here? Because some of these other games could have
an impact on Cincinnati. Louisville has taken a lead in
(47:13):
the final minute over SMU sixty two to fifty eight.
Auburn continues to lead over Mississippi State fifty six to
fifty three. It is six away five by the way
now from five o'clock, Trey Hendrickson going to the Ravens.
I think is awesome and we'll explain next on ESPN
fifteen to.
Speaker 4 (47:33):
Thirty Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty Traffic.
Speaker 2 (47:39):
From the UC Health Traffic Center. The new uc Ohcher
Wellness Suite is a home for transformative whole person well
being backed by Science. Register for classes now visit UCHealth
dot com. Westbound seventy four after Montana Avenue left two
lanes are blocked off from an accident with a thirty
minute delay back from seventy five least also there on
(48:01):
scene working to clear in Indiana southbound two seventy five
after US fifty and Lawrenceburg accident locking the left lane.
I'm at ezelic with traffic
Mo Egger News
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