3/24/25 - The Mo Egger Radio Show - Mo Egger

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

Speaker 2 (00:05):
You go, what's up? I don't know why I just
made a pirate noise. I don't know why I just
did this. What's up? This is ESPN fifteen thirty. I'm Moegar.
Thank you for listening. Hope you had an awesome weekend.
Really quick. My thanks to Chad Brendel for filling in.
I was out on Friday because this guy doesn't work

(00:28):
on the Friday of the first round of the NCAA tournament.
And Chad also filled in on Thursday because this guy
does a show from the Holy Grail on the Thursday
morning of the NCAA Tournament. And that is when we
started talking about Sean Miller and Texas University of Texas
interest in Shawn Miller. He is departing to take over

(00:48):
the Longhorns. By the way, entire show Rundown is available
on Twitter right now at moegar thanks to Emery Federal
Credit Union, your credit union with heart since nineteen thirty nine.
I have a question for you about the Reds as
we get closer and closer to opening day, first pitch
is seventy three hours away, and the ongoing saga of

(01:08):
Trey Hendrickson continues, Plus Mark Pope gets Kentucky back to
the Sweet sixteen, and people are angry that the good
teams are winning in the men's version of the NCAA Tournament.
Let me begin with this. Just about thirty minutes or
so ago, Xavier University sent out a statement from Greg Christopher,
the director of Athletics at XU, acknowledging that Sean Miller

(01:32):
is leaving. Should I read the whole thing? Chances are
you have read the whole thing if you care, but
it acknowledges that Sean is leaving. Thanks him for playing
a key role in getting Musketeer basketball back on track,
getting XU back to the Sweet sixteen a couple of
years ago and into the NCAA Tournament this year. Greg
writes that he guided our program through a rapidly evolving

(01:55):
college basketball landscape and was a great partner in that process.
Throughout his tenure. He had the full support of the
president and our board. Support that will continue with our
next head coach. I think it's important to mention this,
Greg Wrights. The search for our next head coach has
already begun. I bet it has. And by the way,

(02:15):
you know how most of these they say we're going
to conduct a national search. This doesn't say national search.
Wonder why, and Greg writes, we are moving quickly to
find the right leader for our program. We understand the
importance of competing in the Big East and the significance
of having a top tier coach to lead us forward.
So there you go, Greg Christopher acknowledging that Sean Miller

(02:37):
is leaving, by the way, really quick, let me do this.
Sean Miller, since his return, has been always kind enough
to come on our show and appear whenever we have asked,
whether it's during the season, including a week ago today,
just this past Monday, sometimes during the preseason and during

(02:59):
the offseason. Has been engaging and fun, and we've always
enjoyed having him on the show. And you know, I'll
be honest with you, I didn't know Sean Miller that
well when he was here. The first time. Our show
started in two thousand and seven and moved to the
afternoon right after he left to go to Arizona. We

(03:22):
had not had him on, and so I wasn't sure.
I wasn't sure what it was going to be like.
And Sean joined our show whenever we asked and was
a lot of fun and would play around and invited
me on his podcast, which it feels like that's not
gonna happen. And so on a personal level, having a
chance to have him on the show and spend a

(03:44):
little bit of time with him and get to know
him just a little bit, I can't thank him enough.
And I mean that. And maybe that doesn't matter to
you if you're an aggrieved Xavier fan right now, but
it matters to me. There's always hurt feelings. There's always
hurt feelings with stuff like this, whether it's a college
basketball coach leaving or a college football coach leaving, or

(04:07):
maybe a great player in the transfer portal, maybe that
creates some hurt feelings. And whenever there's hurt feelings, I
try to help because I've read today that well, Xavier
fans should feel betrayed. Why if you feel betrayed, I'll

(04:28):
be honest with you. And he might get mad at
me for saying this. That's not Sean Miller's fault. That's
your fault. That's your fault for putting yourself in a
position to feel betrayed by a coach taking another job,
a more high paying job. I'm not gonna argue whether
or not Texas is a better job. To me, that's anecdotal.

(04:49):
Xavier basketball is a good job. It has its challenges.
Texas basketball is a good job. It has its challenges.
I think most of us know what they are. But betrayed,
I'm gonna help you. Man. You will save yourself a
lot of hurt if you do what I do and

(05:11):
you do what I don't do, or if you don't
do what I don't do. But that made that make sense.
You will save yourself a lot of hurt if you
do what I do and if you avoid doing what
I avoid doing what I do. Is I understand and
acknowledge that these relationships are transactional. They're jobs. Their high

(05:38):
profile jobs. They're jobs that a lot of people care about.
Their jobs that a lot of people have an emotional
investment in. But there their jobs. They're workplaces. They're prestigious,
they're lucrative, high paying, can open up a lot of doors,
can make you very, very wealthy. They're jobs. These relationships

(06:01):
between coaches and universities are transactional in nature. Coaches use
the universities to get something out of the relationship, and
the universities use the coaches to get something out of
the relationship. So I in all of these, whether it's football, basketball,
whether it's a school that I root for very very passionately,

(06:24):
whether it's one that I kind of watch from a distance,
whether it's one that I admire and care about but
don't necessarily have the same amount of emotion invested in,
like this year. I understand what these relationships are. They
are transactional. What I don't do is get wrapped up
in narratives like I did this and I'm a UC

(06:47):
football fan man, like Luke Fickle left. I like it
because Luke Fickle did a great job here, and I
still think is a really good football coach. But was
was I hurt?

Speaker 3 (06:58):
No?

Speaker 2 (06:58):
Did I feel betrayed? No, because I didn't get all
wrapped up in narratives that really weren't based on anything truthful.
You would hear this all the time. Well, he'll never leave,
he's got six kids, he likes it here, his wife
likes it here, she takes arobics classes here. He's gonna

(07:19):
be different. Uh huh okay, Well, good luck with that.
I never bought into any of that. None of that
ever made sense. To me my focused on. I hope
he does as good a job as he can while
he's here. Understanding chances are he's not gonna retire here,
so when he left, God knows. I was willing to
sift through the rubble of the program when he left,

(07:40):
because you have to do that, and certainly willing to
talk about who they should hire to be the next
head coach. But the emotional part of it, yeah, man,
I kind of tip my hat. I thank Luke Fickle
for what he did here. It's the greatest coach in
the history of the program. I think that there should
be a Luke Facu Luke Fickle statue outside Knippert Stadium
one day and all right, let's move on. Sean Miller.

(08:02):
I guess if you allowed yourself to get caught up
in these narratives of, well, you know what, he left once,
but surely he won't do that again, then you probably
feel betrayed today. Did Sean Miller ever say he was
never going to leave? Oh yeah, but he just built
a new house. Okay, I mean if if again, if
if you saw that and allowed yourself to buy into

(08:25):
that as well, that's that's why he's he's never gonna
leave this coach who up and left before, he'll never
do it again again. If if you allowed yourself to
buy into that narrative, maybe you feel betrayed today. I
encourage you to do what I do. Don't buy into
those things, because if you don't, you're never gonna feel betrayed.
You may feel sad. I can understand if you're a

(08:46):
Xavior fan feeling sad. I can understand feeling worried about Well,
the portal can open up and Sean Miller might take
with him the Texas guys like Dalan Swain who has
apparently ended the transfer portal and Ryan Conwell, like, you
don't want that, but that's not Sean Miller's fault. That's
just that's the era we're in. And the portal, which
I'm a fan of, opens today and I'm not a

(09:08):
fan of that, But that's not Sean Miller's faults. There's
also this, and maybe you can help me understand this. Yeah, well,
you know what, Xavier. They gave Sean Miller a lifeline.
They threw him a life preserver. They gave him a
job when nobody else would. Really do you believe that?

(09:30):
Did you watch the NCAA Tournament this weekend. Did you
see Will Wade coaching in it? Did you see Rick
Patino coaching in it? Coaches who for whatever reason, have
each dealt with some level of disgrace or dishonor been
bounced from programs in some cases, have dealt with harsh

(09:52):
or even not so harsh NCAA tournament punishments. Both coaching
in the NCAA Tournament. One just got a new job,
Will Wade to NC State. Do you really think that
if Xavier didn't give Sean Miller a chance to coach,
that he would have been permanently out of coaching. Again,

(10:12):
if you've created this narrative of God, if not for
Xavier University, Sean Miller would have had to go to
like some outpost in the Philippines to coach basketball, or
he would have to take a job coaching sixth graders
at some school that didn't have a coach. Like really,
a coach of Sean Miller's caliber was just never going

(10:32):
to get a chance to coach again. Look, these two
parties used each other. I do not say that as
a criticism. They used each other. That's what happens. They
used each other Xavier used Sean Miller and took advantage
of his availability and willingness to come back to pull
themselves out of the miserable final stanzas of the Travis

(10:55):
Steele era. They used him to get Xavier back into
the NCAA tournament after a pretty lengthy draft. They used
him to get the program to matter again, to maybe
get donors nil contributors engaged again, and Sean, for the

(11:16):
most part, gave them what they were looking for. Didn't
have a very good year last year, but Sam winched
around last season the Sweet sixteen two years ago, with
a lot of the players who were holdovers from the
previous regime, plus Soule Boom and a team that this
year made a great run to get to the tournament,
won a game in the first four, and obviously lost

(11:38):
on Friday Night. Sean used Xavier to repair his reputation,
make some money, and remind everybody that he's a really
good coach. Oh, and go find the next gig. You're
not going to feel as betrayed or as disappointed or
as aggrieved if you understand there's always he's a next gig,

(12:02):
always a next gig. And so I got a phone
number if you want to chime in five point three seven,
four nine, fifteen thirty. If you feel betrayed today, I
hate to say this, I feel like you've put yourself
in a position to feel betrayed. I don't recall Sean

(12:23):
Miller ever pledging his forever allegiance to Xavier University. I
don't recall him at any point saying I'm never leaving,
you know what, I'm here for the rest of my career.
If he said those things, you could remind me of them.
I do not recall him saying those things. I don't

(12:44):
recall him ever lying about the Texas thing. I don't
recall any of that stuff. So in the absence of that,
if you are feeling and again like I understand being disappointed,
the dude's a good coach. The good news is well,
you can sort of run it back and do what

(13:04):
you just did with Sean Miller and do it with
Chris Mack. And I think if we were taking odds
on who the most likely successor is going to be,
you would you would start there. There are perhaps other
names we can discuss. Our buddy Rick Boring has a
hot board right now. You can check out at Musketeer
Report dot com. And there's some interesting names on it
beyond Chris Mack. But I mean, you know this, this

(13:26):
could be quite simple for Greg Christopher. Okay, well we
ran it back with Sean Miller. Now let's just run
it back with Chris Mack. Their departures weren't apples to apples,
but why not? And you bring back to a good job,
a good coach who in his last year coaching at
this school took Xavier to the NCAA tournament with a
won next to their name or one seed that year.

(13:48):
So I but I understand the disappointment, Like, all right, yeah,
Sean Miller is a good coach, and I understand that
you couldn't even like put a bow on the season before,
like the coach just bounces. That's just kind of how
the business works. But from an emotional part of this,
I read our buddy Jason Williams and The Inquirer. But betrayal, Man,
there's the sports colinists love getting worked up about how

(14:11):
somebody should feel betrayed when a coach leaves. If you
feel betrayed, I think it's because you've allowed yourself to
buy into narratives that weren't based in reality. What was
reality was these two parties were going to use each
other for three years, for two years, for five years,
or seven years, I don't know. And look, yeah, it's
true Shawn's older than he was when he left sixteen

(14:32):
years ago, and so maybe that was going to be
a little bit of a factor. But I don't know.
Did you really allow yourself to believe that Sean Miller,
with a reputation as a very good coach, and by
the way, what the stuff that he got in trouble
for now being legal? Did anybody really think coaching at

(14:52):
Xavier University, a school that has a well earned reputation
for being a place where coaches go and then move
on to somewhere else, did we really think that there
weren't going to be other opportunities for him. If the
answer is yes, you allowed yourself to feel that way.

(15:15):
And so if you feel betrayed this afternoon, that's not
Sean Miller's fault. Sorry, it's not. These two sides used
each other, and again that is not a criticism, that's
just it's college athletics. You may hate how college athletics
are working right now, that's fine, but that's the reality
of it. Twenty minutes after three o'clock at Moeger on Twitter.

(15:36):
We'll talk about this a lot throughout the course of
the afternoon. That on top of the NCAA tournament itself,
which the games themselves this weekend were not like the
best ever, but the matchups this weekend, this coming up
weekend should be awesome. Kentucky's performance, that's the word that applies,
especially early in the second half, as Mark Pope in
his first season, gets Kentucky to a Sweet sixteen behind

(15:58):
the sweet shooting of former and flyer Kobe Brea and
the defense of the one armed Lamont Butler. A really
fun team to watch, uber successful first season, and they
get to the Sweet sixteen the same weekend that John
Caliperi does. We've got people complaining that we're not getting
upsets in the NCAA Tournament. We have to address those
folks as well. Meanwhile, we're getting closer and closer to

(16:19):
opening Day. By the way, broadcasting not this show, but
from noon to three Tony Austin and myself from Smoke
Justice in Covington. We have broadcast from Smoke Justice with
the exception of the COVID year every year every year
since Smoke Justice opened, and we'll be back there on Thursday.

(16:39):
We hope to see you there. Spring training is effectively over.
The Reds do have a game against the Dayton Dragons tomorrow.
I want to know did we learn anything about the
Reds over the course of the last six weeks plus.
There's some Trey Hendricks in chatter today and there's reporting
that he is perhaps going to be willing to sit
out games, hold out, not play football this year. If

(17:02):
the Bengals don't get a long term deal done with
then we have to address that as well. It is
twenty two minutes after three o'clock. My name is moeger
elated that you're with us today on ESPN fifteen thirty
Cincinnati Sports.

Speaker 1 (17:13):
Station Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty. Traffic from the UC.

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Learn more at UCHealth dot com. Northbound seventy five entrance
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Speaker 2 (17:50):
Anything you may have missed on this show you can
find on the iHeartRadio app. We did our show Thursday
morning from the Holy Grail before day one of the
NCAA tournaments. We had with us. Dan Hord was with us,
Richard Skinner was with us, Shannon Minor was with us.
Rick Boring was our first guest out of the shoot
and we you know, Xavier played the night before that

(18:10):
great comeback win over Texas, and we talked about the game.
We talked about what was next, which obviously was a
matchup against Illinois, but we did discuss the the Sean
Miller rumors, which it was interesting how quickly that story
accelerated on Thursday, and from Rick's perspective Musketeer Report dot Com,
you know, he had been at ud Arena for the

(18:32):
game and Xavier in Texas and all the Texas beat
people were talking about how Sean Miller was a leading
candidate to take over for Rodney Terry when Texas fired him.
Not if Texas fired him. But when Texas fired him,
it was a good conversation. If you want to go
listen to it, it's on the iHeartRadio app. By the way,
Rick is going to join us tomorrow. He has been

(18:53):
a very busy man. So we're gonna chat with Rick
Boring tomorrow and may have more hard news by then.
But I do encourage you to check out his coverage
of the story, including his hot board at musketeer Report
dot com. Podcast of this show, by the way, a
service of Long Necks Sports Grill. I am a huge
fan of Chris Mack. Chris did that show with us

(19:15):
two years ago after Louisville before Charleston, and did the
NCAA tournament preview show and was awesome. And when he
was at Xavier, was good to our show and joined
us while he was at Louisville, and so you know,
he's a terrific coach. Had a lot of success here,
took Xavier to an elead eight, won a Big East

(19:35):
regular season championship, had Xavier as a one seed in
twenty eighteen, and you know, a disappointing early round postseason,
lost to Florida State in Nashville. But is a terrific
coach and had a twenty four to nine season this
year at Charleston. I have spoken with people who have
who have expressed to me that Chris would have interest

(19:57):
in the job, and if he takes it, it's a
little bit of a different set of circumstances. When Sean
Miller returned to Xavier, it had been fourteen years. With Chris,
it's been a while, but less than a decade. Many
of the same people still in place, so a little
bit of a different dynamic. But is an awesome coach.
He's a great coach, and I think the expectation would

(20:20):
be that Chris Mack, understanding the transfer portal realities that
every coach has to deal with in terms of players
leaving and then having to assemble a roster, would have
his work cut out for him. Although you know, I
watched Mark Pope yesterday with a team that he brought
some dudes with him, but walked into a situation where

(20:42):
he had no players basically and then had to assemble
a roster on the fly and had a great year
first year in what was the best conference that we've
had in college basketball in quite a while, and then
had a team that yesterday put on a clinic in
beating Illinois to advance to the Sweet sixteen. It can
be done. You can turn things around in one year.
Pat Kelsey sure did at Louisville. You can get it.

(21:06):
You can get it flipped in one year. But I'm
sure instantly narratives will be created yet again. Right, Well,
here comes Chris Mack and he's from here and he
played there, and so he'll never do that to us
again again. Man, Like, I am certainly not going to

(21:28):
tell anybody whether or not they should be disappointed if
I was a SAVI a coaching change. When you have
a good coach, even if you know you can hire
another really good coach, it's hard. It's a disruption to
the program that you don't want to have to go through.
I was disappointed when Luke Fickle left. I was disappointed
when Mick Cronin left. I understand why a lot of

(21:50):
people were kind of exasperated with Mick. I got that,
but like Luke Fickle, nobody wanted him to leave. I
was disappointed, but I didn't go on social media, and
you know I'm gonna I'm gonna take back all the
nice things I said about him, and I hope Wisconsin
loses every game, and my feelings are hurt, and oh
my god, I can't believe. Like, I just I root

(22:13):
for coaches to do a really good job while they're here.
It's harder than ever before to leave a program in
better shape than when you took it over, because now
all the players can just leave. I just I hope
that the coach, while he's in the position that he
is taking, does as good a job as possible. Sean
Miller did a good job. The body of work these

(22:34):
last three years was good. But if you're gonna do
this now, let's say it's Chris Mack and convince yourself, well,
I'll never do that too. He'll never leave again. You know,
he's from here. I mean, he wouldn't. He wants to
stay here for the rest of his life. This is
where his family is. By the way, that may be
the case, and he may stay here for the remainder

(22:56):
of his coaching years, and if so, he's gonna have
a ton of success. But at some point you just
have to interrupt the cycle of like being hurt because
you've allowed yourself to create narratives that aren't necessarily based
on reality and the most likely outcome. So we will see,

(23:16):
we will see. But you know again, I don't know
that Sean Miller ever did anything publicly to make anyone
think that today's outcome or I guess yesterday's outcome was
was never going to happen. We'll see, We'll see. Five
point three seven four nine, fifteen thirty is our phone number. Uh.

(23:37):
I want to be and for the most part am
optimistic about the Reds, but well, the butt is next
on ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 1 (23:50):
Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty traffic.

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Speaker 1 (24:26):
Yeah, seven fifteen.

Speaker 2 (24:28):
I had to come back the next day and called him.
Coach Andrew Sports headlines are a service of Kelsey Chevrolet,
Home of Lifetime powertrain excuse me powertrain protection and UH
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(24:49):
Kelsey chev dot Com. Sean Miller is leaving for Texas. Sean,
don't you know it's not official? Or you know it's
not official? I should say you know it's unofficial until
the coach changes his Twitter handle and Twitter bio. And so,
even though Xavier has issued a statement acknowledging that Sean

(25:11):
is leaving and that they're searching for a new coach,
if you go to at Sean Miller XU, it's still
at Sean Miller XU, and it says still still listed
as the Seddler Family men's basketball head coach at Xavier University.
So just keep that in mind. Cameron Fletcher, Dalen Swain,

(25:33):
and Trey Green have entered the transfer portal. Portal opens today.
I I love this era of college basketball that we're
in because I like free agency. Free agency is a
lot of fun in the NFL, and it's a lot
of fun in the NBA, and it's a lot of
fun in college basketball. I like there being off season

(25:54):
transactions that give US college basketball things to discuss during
the offseason. I just think the offseason should begin when
we actually get to the offseason. Having the portal open
while there are still sixteen schools playing for a championship
is silly in my opinion. The Arizona portion of the

(26:17):
exhibition slate for the Reds is over. They will be
in Dayton tomorrow to play the Dragons and an exhibition
tilt that I predict will take about an hour and
forty five minutes to play. Then it's the Reds and
Giants on Thursday, Opening Day at GABP. FC Cincinnati news
Evander has been named to a Team of the Match day.
He had two goals in FC Cincinnati's two to two

(26:40):
draw against Atlanta on Saturday. And one other piece of news,
FC Cincinnati announced today that the United States women's national
team and the Republic of Ireland women's national team will
play a friendly a match at the stadium on the
West End of Cincinnati Sunday, June twenty ninth. There you go.

(27:01):
That is the third time the US women's national team
will have played at the soccer stadium on the West
End of Cincinnati. Speaking of the Reds, as I was.
Opening Day is Thursday. The Reds and the news over
the weekend. Alexis Dz is going to start the season
on the injured list with a hamstring issue. Alexis Dz
did not have a good spring training. Spencer Steer is

(27:23):
going to start the season on the injured list, although he,
I guess is going to be with the team and
continue to hit, and the expectation is he is going
to be able to play reasonably soon. We've known now
for a little while Tyler Stevenson's going to start the
season on the injured list. Here's my question about the
Reds as spring training comes to a close. When spring
training started, a lot of the questions I heard were

(27:48):
about the corner positions offensively, at least the corner positions
both on the infield and in the outfield. About the
depth at the bottom of the roster, especially in the outfield,
About whether or not the Reds had done enough in
the offseason to sufficiently improve the offense. And there were

(28:09):
some questions about the bullpen. As spring training has come
to an end, I feel like the same questions still
exist now. I'm the first to acknowledge that you're not
going to get a lot of hardcore answers, real hard
answers during spring training. The games don't count. Spring training
is not long enough to tell us all that much

(28:30):
like you can get fooled easily during spring training. But
it it feels to me like there are, because of
the injuries to Steer and Stevenson specifically, that there are
more questions coming out of spring training than there were
going in. Now, that doesn't mean the Reds is going
to be bad this season. For what it's worth, I

(28:50):
think the Reds are going to win somewhere between eighty
two and eighty four games. How's that. I do not
believe they're gonna be good enough to win ninety, But
you can take me down a road where that ends
up being the outcome. And I don't think they're gonna
lose ninety games, although you can take me down a
road where that is the outcome. I think the variance

(29:12):
for the Reds this year is pretty wide. I think
there's a world where the Reds win ninety games. The
starting pitching is even better than a lot of us expect.
They maintain optimum health and a collection of players that
includes Matt McClain, Elie Dela Cruz Christian and Karnassi on
strand and a handful of others. They end up having

(29:32):
like career years. Stevenson comes back from being injured and
never gets hurt again. Like, do I think all of
those things can happen? Short? Now? Are all of those
things happening the most likely outcome? No? And I could
see there being a world where the starting pitching is
a disaster, they don't hit at all, they have a
whole bunch of injuries, and they lose ninety games. Again,
that doesn't feel like the most likely outcome, but it

(29:54):
certainly feels like a plausible one. I think the truth
is probably somewhere there in the middle. I think they're
gonna be better on one run games, because statistically they
almost have to be. I think Terry Francona makes a
positive difference. I think the starting pitching is gonna be good.
I don't think this team's gonna score consistently enough. I
don't think they have enough lineup depth. I worry a

(30:16):
lot about the Steer and Stevenson injuries. I think they're
gonna finish somewhere between eighty one and let's say eighty
four wins. By the way, eighty four wins could have
him in the postseason. I doubt it, but could. I
also don't think anybody's gonna run away and hide in
the National League Central But I do think that if
you were paying attention when spring training started, most of

(30:38):
the questions that most people have, they seem to be
the same questions, except you add to it when Spencer
Steer gonna come back? And when's Tyler Stevenson gonna come back?
And both those injuries are concerning to me, And we're
gonna do our injury report on Wednesday with one of
the experts from WORTHO Sincy, but start with Stevenson. It

(30:58):
just feels like oblique injuries. There's never even Terry Francona
when the injury first went down acknowledged, Like the timeline
can always be kind of weird to pinpoint, but it
does feel like with oblique injuries, the roadback is often
filled with complications. Plus he plays a really demanding position,

(31:22):
So I'm concerned about Tyler Stevenson. And Jose Travino is
a nice backup option and I think they did a
good thing by giving him a contract extension, But Tyler
Stevenson is the better offensive player for a team that,
even with Tyler Stevenson in the lineup for one hundred
and thirty five forty games, was gonna have offensive issues.

(31:42):
Now there are more offensive questions, and I think it's
fair to ask that about the first maybe week or
so of the season. But how many how many times
are we going to be talking about Tyler Stevenson and
his oblique I don't know. I fear I don't know.
I fear we will be talking about those things quite often.
And then the Spencer Steer thing. I'm sure this is

(32:04):
really frustrating for Spencer, where he's got a shoulder issue
that goes back to last year he rested a ton.
They can't find any structural damage, and yet it has
been balky, that's the word I keep reading, balky enough
that he's not going to start the season on the
active roster again. This may be as clean and as

(32:27):
simple as Spencer is going to continue to hit and
work out and within a week or two he's going
to be back on the active roster and he goes
and he has an excellent season. But we're talking about
two injuries, one of which they really can't figure out
what's wrong with him. And this goes back to last
offseason or to last year all off season he rested,
he didn't do all that much. It's still a problem

(32:49):
that tells me I should be afraid of this becoming
kind of a recurring thing. And then because of the
nature of Tyler Stevenson's injury and the position that he plays,
I can't help but think that that injury is going
to be kind of a recurring thing. And those are
two really important players. The other thing is, you know,
I read Sea Trent Rosecrans has coverage to the Reds

(33:11):
from the athletic and a handful of other people who
have acknowledged like the Reds are probably gonna have to
go get some help at the deadline. And my response
to that is, uh, you know, you are allowed to
make trades now. There's no rule that says you can't
make a trade until right before the deadline. You go
wire players right now, add them to your team. But

(33:35):
we're already talking about or a lot of us are
already wondering what are they gonna do with the deadline,
which tells me if we're already before the season starts
wondering what could they go get? Are they gonna be buyers,
Are they gonna be aggressive? They should have already, you know,
traded for somebody added to the team, gone a little

(34:00):
bit more. All in, if before the season we're wondering
what could they get at the deadline, that also tells
me that my questions about the offense are validated. So
we'll see. But I really do wonder if they're going
to score enough. And I think we would be asking

(34:20):
that regardless of what just happened in Arizona. But when
you add to it, at the beginning of spring training,
we weren't talking about Spencer Steers starting the season on
the injured list. We did pretty quickly once the Cactus
League game started, and we weren't talking about Tyler Stevenson
starting the season on the inj list easier either, And
we're doing that, so already built in questions about the

(34:43):
Reds offense, and then you add to it questions about
Stevenson and Steer, and then you look at the bottom
of the depth chart in the outfield, there's a lot
of familiar suspects that just I can't help but believe
they should have done a little bit more to make
the offense better this offseason. And every time I hear
somebody talk about what they can still go get from

(35:03):
another team. Number one, don't wait till July thirty first.
Number two, Uh yeah, they should have added another piece
this past offseason. Nine Away from four o'clock five point
three seven four nine fifteen thirty. More on Sean Miller
leaving taking off for Texas. I it's funny. I know

(35:30):
who I root for, and I know because of who
I root for, if I talk about Xavier it some
think I'm coming from a place of having an agenda.
I am still answering mean tweets and emails from UC
fans when I kind of shrugged my shoulders at the
emotional damage done by Luke Fickle leaving. I still get

(35:52):
yelled at by people for the things we were doing
during what I think was a period of time where
I grew most as an on air performer, and that's
when Brian Kelly left. Because Brian Kelly leaving emotionally didn't
bother me. I just I don't form these attachments to coaches,
so I want them to do well. I certainly want

(36:15):
them to be a part of our show. I don't
convince myself that this coach is going to be different.
I don't make them out to be bigger than what
they are, which is they're dudes who have a lot
of upward mobility, and if they're good at what they do,
they're gonna have a lot of lucrative chances. I don't
begrudge anybody of that. Now. If you lie, if you
leave people at a lurch, if you misrepresent yourself, if

(36:37):
you claim to be something that it turns out you're not,
well that it's a little bit of a different story.
I don't think that Sean Miller did that. Eight away
from four o'clock plus. Should the Bengals force Trey Hendrickson?
Should they call his bluff? We'll get to that in
the four o'clock hour as well on ESPN fifteen thirty
Cincinnati Sports Station.

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Speaker 2 (37:35):
This report is sponsored by Major League Baseball. Right it's
four oh four ESPN, fifteen to thirty on Molager. Thank
you for listening today. Hope you had a very good weekend.
We'll get into the Bengals and the latest on Trey
hendrickson coming up in just about twenty minutes. More on
the Reds later on as well, including the return of

(37:59):
Brennman and Jones. We hope on baseball that coming up
at four fifty forty five minutes from right now. We'll
have some poll questions for you this hour on Twitter
at Moe Egger. The big story, one of the big
stories in college basketball, and I think the big sports
story here locally, is that Sean Miller has left Xavier University.

(38:23):
The school has made that if Shawn hasn't changed his
bio and his Twitter feed yet put the school acknowledging
via a statement from Greg Christopher, the athletic director, about
an hour and a half ago, that Sean is departing
after three years his second stint, obviously three years in
and reporting being done. I believe the first person that

(38:43):
I saw with this was Jeremy Row from Fox nineteen
reporting on the perhaps mutual interest between Xavier and Chris Mack.
And you know, we'll see if it's as quick and
as easy as that. We'll see if Greg Christopher chooses
to cast a wide net just for the sake of

(39:04):
casting a wide net. We'll see how this unfolds. What
is always the case is time being of the essence. Always.
What is always the case is time being of the essence.
There's a reason why, you know, we talked sixteen years
ago when Brian Kelly left to be Notre Dames football
coach in a different era, well before the transfer portal,

(39:27):
like he's gotta leave now because he's got to start
recruiting immediately at Notre Dame. Well that's been accelerated over
the last decade and a half plus by the transfer portal,
which is open today, and multiple Xavier players have left,
according to different reports, including Dalen Swain. We'll see if
he ends up with Sean Miller and Austin the new coach,

(39:48):
and Xavier has any chance of retaining him. I when
these situations come up, I get called jaded. I don't
think I'm jaded. I think I'm realistic. I love sports.
I love sports for a lot of different reasons. It's

(40:09):
the best form of entertainment. It's unscripted, it's more unpredictable
than anything you'll see in Hollywood. I love watching great
athletes do great things. I love the spirit of competition.
I can get really hokey if you want. I love
sports because of the characters and the personalities, and frankly,
I often think the characters and the personalities are what

(40:31):
are most fun to talk about, and more more so
than in many cases than strategies and x's and o's
and stats. Like I love sports for a thousand different reasons.
I could won't do this, but I can do a
three hour show just reciting for you all the reasons
why I love sports. I obviously wouldn't be doing this
if I didn't love sports, and I love the sports.

(40:53):
I love that the characters that sports can create, like
McNee states STU manager who's getting nil deals and is
apparently getting paid a lot of money to follow will
Wade to NC State. I like out of nowhere stories.
I think Mark Pope coming back to Kentucky, replacing a

(41:15):
huge figure in John Kelli Perry having the sort of
team that watching them was the antithesis of the teams
that came before him, being more than competitive in the
SEC and then getting Kentucky to the Sweet sixteen behind
that performance yesterday, which the first like seven or eight
minutes of the second half yesterday offensively, Kentucky was the

(41:37):
best basketball team I've ever seen. I'm exaggerating, but only
a little bit, and being a ud guy. Seeing Kobe
Braa have the success he has had and putting that
team offensively on his back in the second half was
awesome to watch. It's cool story. I think it's a
neat story that Kentucky goes to the Sweet sixteen a
day after John Calla Perry takes Arkansas to the Sweet

(41:58):
sixteen beating Rick Pattie, you know, Saint John's team which
could not buy a bucket on Saturday. I just I
love stories, and I love the personalities, and I love
the characters. But what I don't do as a sports
fan is make people out to be what they're not.
I don't attach superhuman qualities to them. I don't pretend
to My favorite athletes are infallible human beings. I don't

(42:21):
make them out to be heroes. I don't make college
basketball and football coaches out to be more than what
they are largely mercenaries looking for the next opportunity, trying
to take wherever they are, and trying, in many cases,
if not most, to parlay it into a better situation,
sometimes parlay it into a better situation at the same school.

(42:46):
How many times have you seen a college basketball coach
have success and then parlay that into well, not just
a higher salary, but better facilities, a higher assistance pool,
more perks of the job. I've watched happened firsthand, so
I don't I'm not jaded. In fact, I'm as unjaded
as you'll find. I understand how this works. Sean Miller

(43:11):
is an awesome coach. I'd be very disappointed if I
were a Xavier fan because of the disruption in the program.
I'd be excited about the possibility of hiring Chris Mack
if that's the direction they going. But but I I
stop at this place where people get betrayed and hurt,
because I understand what these these relationships are all about

(43:34):
and I just I feel like in life, if you
don't allow yourself to be sucked in emotionally, you're not
going to be hurt on the back end. I do
not allow people who have hurt me before to hurt
me again. I don't, just I don't. In my relationship
with this company, it's it's transactional, man. I I've used
this place to make a living. I've gotten a lot

(43:57):
out of it. I'd like to think they've gotten a
lot out of me. If and when the relationship ends,
I'm not going to feel like I was stabbed in
the back or because I haven't made the relationship out
to be more than it is. Same here, But if
you it's like if you're if you're dating somebody, and
you're dating somebody who like their last relationship, they cheated

(44:22):
and maybe maybe you're the person they cheated with, and
then you get into a long term relationship with them
and they cheat again. Honestly, can't be that surprise, now,
can you. So if you want to hire a coach
who's not going to leave your program, piece of advice,

(44:44):
don't hire the coach who already left your program. I mean, sorry,
if your whole thing is we want to coach. Two
things about this. We want a coach who's never going
to leave. You should probably not hire a coach who

(45:06):
has left one place, especially yours. I mean, let's be honest,
and this is no knock on Sean Miller. You can't
be that surprised he did it once. You cannot be
that surprised he did it before and never at any

(45:30):
point said I'm not going to do it again. Boy,
I learned from my mistake. The other thing is, if
you want a coach who's never going to leave, then
you should probably hire a really bad coach. We used
to do this with UC football all the time, right

(45:52):
because for years, and I think this has changed, but
for years it was I just want a coach who's
gonna stay here, which, by the way, Luke Stickle, Luke
Fickle stayed for an eternity. He is here for a
really long time, five years. That is forever in college football.
And my take was cool, you better hire the next
Rick Minter, then he is here for ten years. I

(46:17):
don't care about that. I want the guy who's gonna
do well, gonna win, gonna make the brand bigger, gonna
help them transition to whatever new area they're going in,
whether it's a new conference, whatever it is. If they're
going to leave, just do really good while you're here.
If the priority is coach who's going to stay, Hire
a mediocre coach, Hire a coach that nobody's going to
want to hire. Hire a coach that is never rumored

(46:40):
to go anywhere, and at some point, if they start winning,
and if they're rumored a lot, chances are there's going
to be an opportunity they have. And if the opportunity
is higher paying, which in many cases it is, it
certainly is here a pretty good chance of coach bolts.
I think there's like two if the priority is and
this should not be the priority. Like I think if

(47:00):
you're whether you're a great Christopher or John Cunningham or anybody,
the priority is just hire the best person and then
be good enough and resourceful enough to be ready for
the inevitable change that's gonna happen if the coach we
have is any good. Again, this isn't jaded, This is
just this is how it works. Man. Look, dude, I

(47:20):
used to hear people for years talk about how well,
Mick will never leave here. Sure about that? Because he
nearly went to UNLV. Chris, Chris will never leave here. Okay,
how'd that work out for you? But if you if
your thing is let's let's hire coaches who never leave,

(47:42):
you may want to avoid the person who left you once.
I mean it's it's it's like asking somebody on a
date who has stood you up before. You know what,
I'm not going to ask that person on a date
because that one time they stood me up. How about
we not do that? So watch this Sean Miller get hired,

(48:05):
and I remember the Pet Rowley, I remember the press event.
I remember him calling our show from Madison Square Garden
like that's a really fun time. And again like Sean
Miller's an awesome coach, it should have been a really
fun time. But if the whole thing then was well
he'll never leave, like were you asleep? Were you in
a coma when he left the first time. But if

(48:26):
you really want to prioritize the coach who's never gonna go,
then prioritize the coach who's boring and never wins. To
those two things, never does anything to appear on the
radar of someone else, sticks around and coaches forever. At
the exact same place. And look, there are long time
coaches who could stay in one place and do really,

(48:50):
really well. And Chuck Martin at Miami has been in
that position forever. I don't know how many offers he's
had to leave there. And maybe it's a unique situation
where someone has found job that he really is happy with,
has enjoyed, can have success at no knock on someone
like that who's a good, good coach, but legitimately in

(49:10):
this sport at this level. Like if if item number
one on your list is coach who's going to stay,
find a coach who's gonna achieve very uninspiring results. I mean,
I hope to God Wes Miller gets things turned around

(49:30):
at you See, I have not read Wes Miller in
one article connecting him to another job since he arrived
at U. See he's been there for four years. If
next season the Bearcats win twenty five games, get a
top five seed, and advance in the tournament, even before
they do, you'll read about him in connection to other jobs.

(49:51):
I hope that happens. Now. At that point, we'll talk
about whether or not it's best for him to stay
or go. But I want UC basketball to get to
a place where the coach is being written about and
talked about as potentially leaving. Well, Sean Miller did have
success and with that was always going to come other opportunities,

(50:17):
I believe. And you can get mad at me for
saying this. If those opportunities were surprising to you, and
if him taking one of those opportunities was shocking to
you and hurtful to you, then maybe maybe you should
look inward and just kind of understand that this is

(50:38):
I keep saying they used each other, and it sounds
like I'm insulting Xavier and Sean Miller. I'm not. That's
what happened here. These two parties used each other and
both got a lot out of it, a lot out
of it. So Sean Miller two point zero was a success.
And I think objectively that's very easy to say if

(51:01):
your emotions and feelings are all tied up and whether
or not the coach was going to leave, or for
you allowed yourself to believe he won't do that to
us again, I I know how it sounds when I
say this. I think that's I think that's a U problem.
Eighteen minutes after four o'clock, should the Reds. I'm sorry.

(51:22):
Should the Bengals tell Trey Hendrickson that's a U problem? Next?

Speaker 1 (51:27):
Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty traffic.

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Waynesfield Road. Traffic is slow northbound seventy one seventy five
between turf Way Road and the Brentce Spence Bridge, looking
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Speaker 2 (51:50):
This report is.

Speaker 1 (51:51):
Fifteen thirty twenty two for four.

Speaker 2 (51:55):
ESPN fifteen thirty. Do what I just said there, Join
us on Thursday at Smoke Justice noon to three hang out.
If you don't have a ticket to the game, watch
the game there. You have a tickets to the game,
walk across the bridge and go to the game. After
you hang out with us at Smoke Justice five three,
fifteen thirty, so over the weekend. Jeremy Fowler of ESPN,

(52:18):
who looks like a cast member from the movie Porky's
said quote about Trey Hendrickson quote he has no intention
of playing under his current contract, which has one year
and sixteen million dollars left. He has a new deal,
he needs a new deal, but the Bengals have simply
not shown an eagerness to trade Hendrickson. He is also,

(52:45):
Jeremy wrote this week that he's essentially not ruling out
It's entirely possible, according to Jeremy, based on what he's hearing,
that Trey Hendrickson sits out the year if he doesn't
get a new deal. But here's the exact quote. I
think it's entirely possible, based on what I'm hearing, for
him to set out the year if he doesn't get

(53:06):
a new deal. I think that's his mindset right now.
This is from earlier today on the Pat McAfee show,
Ian Rappaport from NFL Media talking about a potential deal
getting done for Trey right here in Cincinnati. It's been rumors.
I don't know how true. This is Trey interesting. Are

(53:28):
we getting him or what are we to reunite him
in leew or what?

Speaker 4 (53:32):
Good question?

Speaker 5 (53:33):
Good good question, And I'm sure there's interest, it seems
to me.

Speaker 2 (53:38):
So here's sort of the Bengals stance.

Speaker 5 (53:39):
I mean, obviously we saw they paid the two stud receivers,
right they paid Jamal Higgins got nice contract from jamar Imy.
Great contract, Higgins, really nice, really nice deal as well.

Speaker 2 (53:51):
The Bengals do not like.

Speaker 5 (53:54):
Letting good players leave the building, even if it's for
like a huge draft pick.

Speaker 2 (53:57):
They don't like it.

Speaker 5 (53:58):
They like to develop, draft, develop, sign their own guys,
and I think they get annoyed that people think that
they don't sign their guys. So Hendrickson is awesome. He
deserves a lot of money. I think his next contract
is going to be above thirty. Is it going to
beat you know, Max Crosby. I don't know, but it's
going to be above thirty. And I think the Bengals

(54:19):
are working No, I think I know the Bengals are
working on and I know they would like to keep
him in the building. They would like to pay him,
and I think they would like people to stop saying
why don't the Bengals pay their guys because they do.
And I think getting Hendrickson done at a at a
money and a value that makes sense for both sides
will be a great way for the Bengals to be
like see like c you know.

Speaker 2 (54:43):
Yeah, there you go. Ian rappaport I talked about this
a little bit last week. Right now, I think neither
side is wrong. If I were Tray Hendrickson, first of all,
that would be awesome. Second, I would be I would
be seeking thirty million dollars plus because us and I'm

(55:03):
assuming that what is being reported is correct. I have
hit the market. I've talked to other teams. Other teams
have shown a willingness to give me thirty mil even more.
And so when I come back to the Bengals, I'm
starting there. I don't go to another team that says, yeah, man,
we'd give you thirty two, and then come back to
the Bengals and go tell you what I'll take twenty five. Like,

(55:24):
I don't think they're wrong here. The basic position of
the Bengals I also do not believe is wrong, which is,
we don't think your past production is going to be
repeated further down the road in twenty twenty six and
twenty twenty seven, so we don't want to pay you
that much more. So I don't think the Bengals are wrong,
and I don't think Trey Hendrickson is wrong. And does

(55:44):
that mean there's a stalemate. Does that mean they find
common ground? I don't know. I don't know. I don't
think any of us do right now. Two things though,
One you just heard of the Bengals don't want to
be labeled as the team that doesn't pay people who cares.

(56:05):
Who cares if you're comfortable with how you approach players,
and you do indeed have a track record of paying
players who cares. Now, let's be honest. The way they've
handled this Jamar Chase and t Higgins thing, we've certainly
beaten this to death could have been handled better because

(56:27):
they probably could have gotten both players for cheaper than
they ended up paying them. But if the primary motivation
with Trey Hendrickson is we need to prove to everybody
that we will pay players, if you believe that you do,
you'll have a track record to point to. By the way,
while the Bengals have certainly put together a track record
of not letting not being able to replace very good

(56:47):
players when they leave, there is a track record of
paying guys. I mean, did anybody pay attention to what
they were doing in twenty twenty and twenty twenty one
when they were accused of over paying in free agency?
There are a lot of players they paid. They didn't
have any of their own guys because the team stunk,
so they had to go overpay elsewhere. Over the last

(57:10):
couple of years, there haven't been that many really good
players that you're like, holy crap, they got to pay
that guy now. Jesse Bates would obviously be an exception
to that, but a fair amount of players who have
gotten second deals. In fact, you could argue the Bengals
ended up where they ended up in the late Marvin
Lewis years because of their reluctance to move on from
guys that they just kept playing or kept paying. So

(57:32):
the motivation, the primary motivation, should be we want to
pay Trey Hendrickson because we think he's a good investment,
not we're gonna pay him because we need to show
everybody we will pay. Like you've got Jamar Chase, Joe Burrow,
and t Higgins on your team. You'll pay players have
players on your Super Bowl team that some said were overpaid.

(57:53):
The other thing here is calling Trey Hendrickson's bluff. I
may be in the I don't think trading Trey Hendrickson
makes any sense. They've not addressed edge rusher. They were
bad at getting to the quarterback last year. It might
be really nice to think that Joseph Osaiah is going
to turn into a great player under Al Golden and

(58:15):
I certainly hope that happens, but it's hard to bank
on that. Uh, they need Trey Hendrickson this coming season,
and he is under contract, and I know I'm in
the minority here. I have no problem taking Trey and
that contract which he signed willingly and saying to him like, uh, yeah, dude, sorry,

(58:37):
you didn't have to sign this. You did, and so
we're going to go ahead and expect you to show
up and if he ends up not playing, then he
ends up not playing. Like, I don't think you can
make decisions based on someone throwing a temper tantrum and
an NFL player making the kind of money that Trey

(58:59):
stands to make in twenty twenty five deciding, you know what,
in the in the absence of a new deal, I
am gonna sit on the sideline and instead of making
twenty one million dollars this year, I'm going to sit out.
You know what, man, then throw your temper tantrum. I'm
gonna I'm gonna call Trey Hendrickson's bluff here. And again

(59:21):
I'm I'm not a I don't think any of us
should be opposed to getting a long term, long term
deal done with him. But are you really gonna pay
him more than you think you should because you're worried
about him holding out? What's wrong with calling his bluff?
Do you believe that Trey Hendrickson will sit out and
miss games? I don't, And and if and if he does,
I don't think he's gonna miss a lot of games.

(59:46):
And I just I'm I'm not convinced that he's gonna
miss any. That may mean he holds out, that may
mean he doesn't show up for training camp, that may
mean he doesn't play in the preseason. I have a
hard time believing, especially at his age, that he is
gonna leave those game checks where you leave game checks,
that he's not gonna cast those checks. And so again,

(01:00:10):
like if they can find good common ground, fine, but
if it's like, well, they've got to pay him to
prove they they can pay players. They just signed T
Higgins and Jamar Chase like that. That's the thing that
just happened last week, that that literally just happened. So
there's some guys they just paid, and I would argue

(01:00:32):
paid more than they had to, which is not what
you do when you're cheap. But the other thing is like,
if you in the absence of finding common ground, if
it's well, pay trade because he's gonna hold out, Like
all right, dude, then let's let's see if you actually
do it. I just don't think you can make decisions
because you're worried about somebody taking an extreme position and

(01:00:54):
a guy who's due to make twenty one million dollars
a year. You can calculate on your own what that
is per game, but it's obviously more than a million dollars.
You're gonna leave that kind of money on the table,
you know what. Let's see if you're actually gonna be
willing to do it. It continues twenty eight away from
five o'clock. I heard on TV this morning that the

(01:01:16):
death of college basketball is going to be the fact
that there are no upsets in the NCAA tournament. I
find that to be absurd. And that's next on ESPN fifteen.

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Thirty Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty Traffic.

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Are a service of a Kelsey Chevrolet Home of lifetime
powertrain protection and guaranteed credit approval from their family to
yours for life kelseyshev dot com. Sean Miller is leaving
Xavier that according to Xavier, it is going to be
the coach at Tech. The statement doesn't say anything about Texas,
but it does mention that he's leaving and the search

(01:02:25):
for our next head coach has already begun. I wonder
who they may have contacted. Meanwhile, what else do we have?
The Reds have wrapped up spring training during Dayton tomorrow
to take on the Dragons. By the way, what are
we going to start hearing about the Reds winning a
new ballpark?

Speaker 6 (01:02:47):
Oh?

Speaker 2 (01:02:48):
Oh, you don't think that's coming up soon? Okay? FC
Cincinnati's a Vander named to the Team of the Match
day for this week. He had two goals. Unfortunately, so
did Atlanta and the match ended in a draw, but
still two goals for a. Vander FC Cincinnati picked a
big point on Saturday. It was a day game, and
I badly wanted to go, but my daughter had basketball.

(01:03:12):
The great team beat the black team and that one.
I think we're not yet keeping score, or if we are,
I lost track. But my kid got her first bucket.
Crossey scored in a basketball game, her third ever game.
It's not true her third ever game in the league
she is in, but went in second grade. So I

(01:03:33):
couldn't go to the soccer. But what I loved about
the soccer on Saturday was day game weekend sports. More
games need to be played during the day, including the tournament.
By the way, we have all these day games on
Thursday and Friday. And then there was a tournament game
that tipped off at like ten o'clock last night, which
doesn't make any sense. A good one too, Arizona and Working.

(01:03:56):
Speaking of the tournament, this is from first take. So
the tournament has been so far, very very chalky. You've
got four major conferences represented in the NCAA Tournament. The
SEC's regular season dominance has continued in March, obviously, including Kentucky.

(01:04:17):
And so what we have left is a combination of
teams from the SEC and from the Big twelve, and
you've got some Big ten. And people are not happy
about this. I guess some are calling this something that
is going to lead to the ruination of the sport.
College basketball is doomed. This American institution that has survived

(01:04:40):
point shaving scandals and educational scandals and scandals where classes
have been invented and we've had FBI investigations, this American
institution is now going to be ruined because the really
good teams are winning in March. That's a part of
the conversation from today where I think the only person

(01:05:03):
you're gonna hear talking is Steven A. Smith.

Speaker 7 (01:05:07):
If this continues, it would be the death of college
basketball because college basketball.

Speaker 2 (01:05:14):
Listen what I'm saying, Coach.

Speaker 7 (01:05:16):
This has no effect on the allure of college basketball
during the season, but March madness, the madness of March
owns sports for that four to five week period beginning
somewhere in March through the early part of April owns sports.
NFL season is done. The Draft is approaching but hasn't arrived. JET,

(01:05:39):
the NBA playoffs are approaching but hasn't arrived.

Speaker 2 (01:05:42):
JET.

Speaker 7 (01:05:43):
Baseball season is just getting underway. Other than Opening Day,
you ain't really thinking about it. March Madness. The NCAA
Tournament is where it's at. What I'm talking about when
I allude to such a drastic, hyperbolic statement, albeit in
some people's eyes, I'm talking about the NC Double A Tournament.
No matter what's going on during the college basketball season.

(01:06:05):
If you Endureham, you're looking at Duke in North Carolina,
you're raleigh're looking at NC State, You're down and you
know you're in the Pac twelve.

Speaker 2 (01:06:12):
You're looking AT's there for. You're looking at UCLA. You
said people like that. Not not them anymore, not in
that conference.

Speaker 7 (01:06:17):
But you hear what I'm saying. My point, Michigan and
Ohio State, Big Ten, all of this other stuff. But
the NC Double A Tournament is where it's at. And
what is the appeal? What is the allure? Anybody has
a chance because of Cinderella. That's what gravitates you.

Speaker 8 (01:06:32):
So when we have, you know, something, a system in
place that says it's compromising that if there was no nil,
if there was no trade portal chase a right and.

Speaker 2 (01:06:44):
You have zero, is that it We're done? Uh? Does
anybody remember the tournament two years ago when in a
final four game, Florida Atlantic played San Diego eight. Did
you watch that game? Does anybody remember that tournament? Because

(01:07:08):
what I remember, which, by the way, an iconic final
four game won at the Horn by San Diego State.
What I remember was everybody complained that the final four
had two schools that nobody knew anything about. Brian Dutcher,
the coach at San Diego State, has been around for
quite a while. Kind of an interesting story. Assistant in

(01:07:30):
the Fab five teams at Michigan followed Steve Fisher to
San Diego State, got the head gig, was in the
final Final four, played for the national championship, got blown
out by Yukon. But what I remember, and Dusty May
was the coach of Florida Lantic. He's obviously now in Michigan.
Two years ago, just two years ago, I watched some
of the same folks who are complaining that we had
a very chalky, non upset filled tournament, complained that in

(01:07:54):
the final four, we had two schools that nobody had
really heard of, plus Miami of Florida, which, while we
all know what the U is, not exactly a big
basketball brand. We've had Saint Peter's Maker run end of
the Elite eight, right, We've had Oakland last year beat Kentucky.

(01:08:14):
It feels to me like when there's a lot of upsets,
it's something that we all have a lot of fun
with as the upsets are happening, but then when we
have to watch those teams again, there's not a lot
of interest. What we have this week coming up in
the Sweet sixteen, the Regional semis and then the Regional
finals with a field filled with schools from the Big
Ten and the SEC and the Big twelve and the
ACC is We've got major brands, huge coaches, a lot

(01:08:38):
of NBA potential, and what I think is going to
be an awesome weekend of basketball, an awesome matchup weekend
of of basketball. This weekend with these matchups. Now, yeah,
the allora the tournament, you might argue, is that anything
can happen, and anything can still happen. Here's what's interesting

(01:09:00):
to me, Women's college basketball, Women's basketball as a whole
but women's college basketball has never been more popular, and
we have household stars in women's college basketball right like
Paige Becker's of Yukon is everywhere. Juju Watkins at USC
is everywhere. And it goes without saying when she was
an Eyewa, Caitlin Clark was everywhere. Women's basketball as a

(01:09:21):
whole has never been more popular. The game. The National
Championship Game has aired on broadcast television. They get huge
ratings for it. I think the National Title game last
year on the women's side, I think the ratings were
higher than the men. It's not exactly apples to apples,
but still I think even if you're not into women's
college basketball, you would acknowledge the women's game has never
been more popular. It's never been more mainstream. What's interesting

(01:09:45):
about that is in women's college basketball in the NCAA Tournament,
there are never cinderellas. Never the last seven final fours,
there hasn't been a team seated lower than third. Those
teams have been seated first. It's like nineteen ones, five twos,

(01:10:06):
and four threes. There's not a San Diego State, a
Florida Atlantic, a Saint Peter's to be seen. Now, there's
a lot of reasons why women's college basketball is more
popular than it's ever been. But I've got to think
one of the reasons why is the really good teams
the South Carolinas and the Yukons in Notre Dame, like

(01:10:30):
the bigger brands, win and they're still alive when we
get to the signature event in the sport. The stars
advance in the tournament. Caitlin Clark did not win a
national title, but her teams were not one and done.
So if one of the reasons for women's college basketball's
exponential growth is the really good teams win in March,

(01:10:54):
am I really to believe that the really good teams
winning in March is going to be what kills the tournament.
On the men's side, now, some are going to argue, well,
it's nil is widening the gap between the haves and
have nots, and there's certainly some validity to that. There
have always been haves and have nots in the men's
side of the NCAA tournament, and we've had upsets in
recent years. I think what you're getting this weekend is

(01:11:17):
a bit of an anomaly, a bit of an aberration,
and by the way, in this tournament, Colorado State did
still play and came this close to winning last night.
You may argue they should have won based on your
view of how traveling should be called. And Drake played
in the second round of this tournament, and again it
was a little bit more chalky than some McNeese was
blowing out. Clemson made the second round. You have larger conferences,

(01:11:43):
and you also have a lot of like stars from
schools in the American and in Conference USA that jump
up to the next level and play in the Big Ten,
or play in the Big twelve, or play in the SEC.
But I just I think most college basketball fans, as
much as the upsets are cute, they're fun. When we
watch the Sweet sixteen, and when we watch the Elite eight,

(01:12:05):
and when we watch the Final four, number one, we
want to see our teams. And if you root for
a team from outside the Power four, I guess in
college basketball you roll the Big easton and it's the
Power five, you want to see your team. But beyond
our teams, what do we want to see. I don't
know about you, man. I want to see Duke in Arizona,
and I want to watch Houston play Perdue. And I

(01:12:26):
want to watch Florida Maryland. And I want to see
Kentucky Tennessee. And I want to watch Cooper Flag and
I want to watch jen I Broom and I want
to watch tom Izzo try to get his first national
title in a quarter of a century. And I think
I have a lot of company because when we have
San Diego State playing Florida Atlantic in the Final four,

(01:12:49):
I am the only other person watching five point three
seven four nine, fifteen thirty. We are overdue to take
phone calls. We do have Brendan Ban and Jones on
baseball coming up in just a few minutes. I am
here to help you. I'm here to help you, Xavier Fans,
I am here to help and I'll provide some more
help coming up in five oh five on ESPN fifteen

(01:13:10):
thirty Cincinnati Sports.

Speaker 1 (01:13:11):
Station Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty Traffic.

Speaker 3 (01:13:16):
for better tomorrows. Learn more at UCHealth dot com. Dale
Road is closed due to an accident between Mulhauser and
Peter Place. Expect that to remain closed through the rush hour,

(01:13:37):
so an alternate route would be the best, and northbound
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Speaker 2 (01:13:47):
Gusting from the more La Logger House. On Wednesday for
opening day, eve Eve I said three to six broadcast
from there in a while. We hope to see you there.
That is, it's gonna be a lot of fun tomorrow
in the show. Paul Danner Junior joins us. Rick Brooring
is going to be with us. Rick has been very

(01:14:09):
busy Musketeer Report dot com. And by the way, he
and I were talking about Sean Miller maybe leaving on
Thursday morning, and this was the day after Xaviers went
over Texas in the first four and date, which was
a great game and an awesome atmosphere. And I've noticed
some tweets were deleted that were sent to us on

(01:14:31):
Thursday morning from folks angry, angry at the fact that
we were talking about Texas and their potential interest in
Sean Miller, which has turned out to be real interest
in Shawn Miller. More on that coming up. We have
your phone calls as well. We have three poll questions

(01:14:52):
on Twitter at Mullager thanks to United Heartland Insurance go
to uh I dot com. I have three today. Should
Xavier fans feel betrayed? Who should Xavier's next head coach be?
I've given you two choices, And is the NCAA tournament

(01:15:12):
ruined because we don't have a bunch of Cinderella's. Vote
now and listen to Brendivan and Jones on.

Speaker 1 (01:15:17):
Baseball New Treatments for ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati Sports.

Speaker 2 (01:15:24):
Cincinnati Sports Station. How's it going? Mouegger, ESPN fifteen thirty,
Thank you for listening. I hope this has been the
greatest Monday of your life. It's been a good monday.
If you're Sean Miller, you just took a new gig
that's going to pay a lot more money. We'll see.
Xavier made it official about thirty minutes or so before

(01:15:45):
we went on the air, Greg Christopher, the director of
Athletics at XU, thanking Sean for his time and announcing
the search for a new coach has gotten started as
you might imagine it should. And it feels like if
if you were to wager an amount of money that
matters to you on who the next head coach would be.

(01:16:07):
It feels like, uh, you would you would probably start
with Chris Mack. There's been reporting that there's mutual interest,
and if I was great Christopher, I would certainly be
happy running it back with a guy who when he
was here, despite the short term focus on how it
ended and some of the hurt feelings, did really an

(01:16:28):
awesome job. I mean, you know, two it was last
three years. They were a two seed in a one
seed sandwich around run to the elite eight, and you know,
things went sideways the way they did. A Louisville had
a good year coaching this year at Charleston. But I'd
be more than happy to run it back with Chris Mack.
Boring's gonna join us tomorrow. Rick Boring Musketeer Report dot com.

(01:16:50):
He's got his big board on his website if you
want to go check that out. I I'm interested in
the concept that Sean Miller betrayed as Xavier. I read
that today Jason Williams in The Acquirer, who's obviously a
terrific columnist, or the hurt feelings that have come out
of this. I don't mean to come off as jaded

(01:17:14):
I don't mean to come off as cynical. I don't
think i'm either. I'm realistic. I know what these I
know what these relationships are. They're they're very transactional. They're
business arrangements. In this case, this was a business arrangement, right.
Sean Miller came back to a lot of fanfare and
for the most part, did what he was he was

(01:17:35):
brought here to do. Like Travis Steele has obviously gotten
the Miami University program on track. And I root for
Travis because I think he's a good man, and you know,
we'll see what what his college basketball future holds. But
is doing a really good job at Miami that had
a very good year this year. They came agonizingly close
to the NCAA Tournament, and for my money, got snubbed

(01:17:56):
when the NIT bracket got drawn up. But as a
a good, good coach, a good fit at Miami. It
did not work out at Xavier for whatever reason. But
I think it's easy to forget how kind of rough
and miserable things were in the closing moments of the
Travis Steele regime. Like I remember that NIT game when

(01:18:20):
Xavier won the NIIT, I remember that first game. I
was at the Centa Center that night. I remember how ugly.
I remember how just kind of off putting the atmosphere was.
I remember what the program felt like, and at that
point it had been years since Xavier had made the
NCAA tournament. And then Sean Miller gets hired and there

(01:18:41):
was this instant just rejuvenation, surge of energy, which you
could understand why because Sean Miller is a terrific coach,
and you know it was noteworthy because obviously Sean had
been here before and maybe some old wounds got healed
by him coming here. But the directive was very clear

(01:19:02):
in this era that we're in get this thing fixed,
and get it fixed quickly. Get it fixed with players
who were on the NIT championship team, add some pieces
from the outside. Su Le Boom was a huge part
of that team in Shawn Miller's first season back, and
get this program to look and feel and play more

(01:19:24):
like a Xavier men's basketball program. And that happened. That's
what Sean Miller was here for, got him back to
the tournament they go to out of three years. Last
year was not good by any stretch. This year was good.
I have a hard time calling it an overwhelming and
smashing success. I would have a hard time calling it
an unmitigated failure. But this was a transactional relationship, right.

(01:19:48):
Sean Miller used Xavier to repair his reputation and as
a platform to remind everybody I'm a really damn good
college basketball coach, and Xavier you Sean Miller to get
the program back on track, re engage fans, sell tickets,

(01:20:09):
make it more of a player in the Big East.
These two sides got out of each other exactly what
they wanted, I'm sure, especially the fact given the fact
that the transfer portal is open and for what it's worth,
the biggest name that I think everybody is paying attention
to would be Dalan Swain. He has reportedly put his
name in the portal. I have not yet seen anything

(01:20:31):
about Ryan Conwell. But these two sides, this was a
This was a transactional relationship, and both got what they
wanted out of the transaction. Transactional relationships, to me are
not emotion based. They're not They're not based on feelings.

(01:20:52):
And I know I've I've done this a couple of
times this afternoon, and I know this has been a
theme of mine when coaches that you see have moved on,
like Luke Fickle. I know I brought this up when
John Caliperry came back to came back to Rapperina like again,
and not apples to apples by any stretch. But I

(01:21:14):
think if you feel betrayed, I think if you feel hurt,
if you're a Xavier fan, if you feel hurt, I
don't think that's Sean Miller's fault. I would blame Sean
Miller if he misrepresented himself. I don't think he did.
I would blame Sean Miller if he made a statement

(01:21:34):
where he said, Amy and I are going to live
in Cincinnati for the rest of our lives and I'll
be the coach at Xavier for the rest of my career.
To the best of my knowledge, that never happened. I
think if you're hurt, and there's a difference between hurt
and disappointment, disappointment's one thing concerned. Would be one thing concerned.

(01:21:58):
Whenever there's a coaching change, there's more unknown than at
any point. And by the way, you could also get
the thing right back on track very quickly. And if
it's Chris Mack or Luke Murray or anybody else. Hopefully
they do. You could get it right back on track
with the portal with nil. Pat Kelsey did it, Mark

(01:22:18):
Pope did it. The next guy, Xavier can do it.
To a large degree, Sean Miller did it. I can
understand even some frustration. What I can't understand the folks
who their feelings are hurt, Like I think, in many cases,
not all your feelings get hurt if you allow your
feelings to get hurt. There are people in my life

(01:22:40):
I will not allow to hurt my feelings because I
just I'm not going to invest that much in them emotionally.
There are people who, if they hurt me, will have
hurt my feelings because I invest in them emotionally. College
basketball coach is a different type of job, and yes
there is an emotional attachment we all have to our
teams into our program. But if you invest in Sean

(01:23:00):
Miller to the degree that his departure is betrayal, that
is not Sean Miller's fault. So the way to do
this moving forward is to save yourself a lot of
time and a lot of energy and just understand these
are transactional relationships and within that transaction one guy is
supposed to do the best possible job he can or

(01:23:21):
she do the best possible job. They can win as
many games as they can, represent the school well, recruit,
do all those things, and the school's going to benefit,
the program's going to benefit. In me as a fan,
that's going to make me happy. But if you're gonna
wrap yourself up in these weird narratives that really aren't
based on anything, then eventually you're going to be hurt when,

(01:23:44):
not if the coach leaves. I've been told this sounds
cynical and sounds jaded. It's neither. When Luke Fickle left,
I mean I remember those Luke Fickle years because I
love them. I love those teams. And starting with year two,
there is this constant work is he gonna leave, He's
gonna go? Remember he flirted with Michigan State, he didn't go.

(01:24:06):
And then you know there was how things unfolded with
Notre Dame and you see in the college football playoff
and Fickle didn't go there. Marcus Freeman did. And there
are a lot of folks who use that as a
reason to come up with this narrative that Luke would
never leave. He'll never do that to us. He won't
do that to the players. He's got six kids. Amy

(01:24:26):
likes it here. Amy likes to go to yoga class here. Oh,
they'll never leave. And when he did, those folks had
their feelings hurt. I was disappointed. I was concerned about
the program. I wasn't entirely sure about the person that
they replaced him with. And skepticism about Scott Saderfield to
this day is very reasonable. But like I wasn't emotionally

(01:24:47):
stabbed in the heart. Like I didn't make Luke Fickle
out to be someone that he's not. I wouldn't do
that with Sean Miller either. It's a basketball coach, it's
not a hero, doesn't have superhuman quality. So dude who
came here to work and then used the good job
that he did here to go find what he thinks
is a better opportunity. We can debate whether or not

(01:25:09):
Texas is a better opportunity. There's pros and cons. Certainly
going to pay him a lot more. But you know,
if you create these narratives that are based on what
you wish and what you imagine, and you try to
craft a little fairy tale that makes you feel better,

(01:25:31):
and you know, you tell yourself, God, he'll never do
that again. He learned the error of his ways. Yeah yeah, yeah,
he jilted us once, but he won't do that again. Okay,
well based on what And you know, I heard this
a lot o he you know, he built a house here,
so what And again, like, this isn't critical of Sean,
it's not critical a xavior. It's not even critical of

(01:25:53):
college basketball and how it works. It's just how it works.
And yeah, man, I mean, it would be great for
a lot of these programs if they can find someone
who's stuck around for twenty five years and became the
coach k Xavier became the Nick Saban of U. See,
chances are it's not gonna happen. And this is this

(01:26:18):
is a coach with a track record of leaving this school,
and it is a school that has a track record
and has often thrived in the face of it of
having head coaches use it to bounce elsewhere. I don't
use the term stepping stone because it gets thrown around
as something that you say to piss off the fans
of the team that you're root against. But there's always
another gig, there's always another job. There's always another opportunity.

(01:26:41):
Precious few coaches may say no to all those opportunities.
Most at some point are gonna look at them, and
most of those are at some point gonna say yes.
Does it suck, Sure it does. It stinks to have
to start from scratch when you kind of have to
start from scratch every everywhere with your program, with the portal.
It's hard. Coaching changes are hard. You see basketball is

(01:27:03):
where it is to a degree because there were two
coaching changes in two years, and both coaching changes were
late in the cycle. But there is the practical part
of this. There's the logistics part of this, which is
get a new head coach, hire them quickly. There's the
mechanics of it being Chris Mack if it is and
not being Chris Mack if it's not. I would have

(01:27:24):
no issue if I was a Xavier fan with bringing
Chris Mack back. Didn't mean to do that intentionally. And
is he going to get right to work? Can he
convince some of these players that Xavier fans want to
stay at Xavier to stay? How effective can he be
in the portal? What can he do with nil? Does
he have any relationships to repair based on how he

(01:27:44):
left the first go round, Like, there's the practical and
logistical part of that, and those are really good conversations
to have, really good Does he bring any players with
him from Charleston? Like? How does he get the roster?
What does the coaching staff look like? Like there's lots
of and logistical questions and a fair amount of uncertainty,
and that uncertainty stinks. Uncertainty in life stinks. But the

(01:28:09):
sitting there and crying, and you can get mad at
me and go, well, Mo, you're a UC fan, dide
I have you see fans get mad at me when
I say this about the football situation. I just don't
get that caught up in Oh, this coach would never leave.
They'll never do that. And here are the reasons I've
made up as to why they want. These are transactional relationships.

(01:28:31):
These are business relationships, nothing more, nothing less. And if
you take that approach as a fan, you can certainly
emotionally invest in the success of the program, but you're
not going to be so invested in the coach that

(01:28:52):
when he leaves your heartbroken again. Man, Like I love
UC football, I love Luke Fickle. I didn't make him
out to be somebody that he wasn't. Football coach. This
guy who's going to have opportunities at a school that
has a track record of being good enough to give

(01:29:15):
a coach a chance to boost their resume and take
advantage of other opportunities. I just I think I'm in
the minority here, so I can't tell you what to do.
All I could tell you is what I do. And
I just I wouldn't put myself to be in a
position to be emotionally scarred by a basketball coach. Be disappointed,
wonder what's next, talk about where what direction the program

(01:29:39):
goes in, Discuss the ways the new head coach can
can experience the same short term success Sean Miller did
in year one. Feel betrayed. No, And then there's also this,
and I know I'm late. We are going to take
some phone calls because I've babbled all afternoon long. There's
this belief out there. I guess that, well, you know Xavier.

(01:30:00):
This was different because Xavier gave Sean Miller a lifeline.
They gave him an opportunity when he was on the
outside looking in. Man, ask yourself, this was nobody going
to ever hire Shawn Miller in twenty twenty two. That's

(01:30:21):
when this was right, three years ago, twenty twenty two.
You mean to tell me that if Xavier never came
along and hired Seawan Miller, that he would still be
on the outside looking in, like that part of it, man,
And I can be dead wrong that part of it.
I've seen that a lot, as if he was gonna
end up having a coach like some junior high team

(01:30:41):
right or like repair his reputation at the NIA NAIA level,
which I can't even say. I know Xavier hired a
coach who was out there, who was really good that
they didn't have to vet nearly as much because he
had been here. Sean Miller was a free agent. Made
a lot of sense for a lot of schools to
hire Shawn Miller. You know this this well, they gave

(01:31:02):
They gave him an opportunity when no one else would.
I've watched Will Wade coach in the NCAA tournament and
then bounce. Will Wade actually got suspended by the NCUBLEA
for the Christian Dawkins thing at LSU and uh Rick
Patino has worked at two schools since he was exiled

(01:31:26):
out of college basketball. If you can coach, there's going
to be room for you, especially in the era where
everything's legal now. So yeah, man, it's awesome. Xavier hired
Sean Miller, no brainer, easy higher, great coach. But this
concept out there of well, they threw him a life

(01:31:47):
preserver and nobody else would come on. All right, phone
calls her next twenty one after five o'clock. We'll update
the pole questions as well on ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati
Sports Station.

Speaker 1 (01:31:59):
Since ESPN fifteen thirty traffic.

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From the UC Health Traffic Center for National Doctor's Day,
for better tomorrows. Learn more at UCHealth dot com. Southbound
Princeton Glendale Road is closed due to an accident between
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through the rush hour, so you're gonna want to seek

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an alternate route. And northbound seventy one's got an accident
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Ezeleik with traffic.

Speaker 2 (01:32:34):
This report Day, which is Thursday at Smoke Justice in Covington,
Tony Austin and Me broadcasting noon to three on Thursday,
tonsurprises awesome food. We were talking last week about the
Federal Burger at Smoke Justice. It is going to be awesome,
and then walk over the bridge and go to the game,
or if you're just gonna hang out watch the game

(01:32:55):
somewhere watching it, Smoke Justice gonna be a lot of fun.
We have been every year since Smoke Justice opened. The
Reds wound down the Cactus League schedule with a win yesterday,
thirteen twelve at thirteen two over the Guardians. They play
a game tomorrow. We should have some sort of contest
where we guess the exact time of tomorrow's game that
thing starts. They play the Dayton Dragons at six' Ten

(01:33:20):
wednesday is an off. Day will that game tomorrow be
over before the sun goes? Down like we're past daylight
savings so it gets darker. Later that thing will be
over by eight o'clock tomorrow and not because we're in
the pitch clock, era the won't be a lot of

(01:33:43):
swinging at the first. Pitch speaking Of, dayton that is
going to go To scott And dayton and he dropped,
Off so, Instead, Mike, mike you're, Up you're ON espn fifteen.
Thirty what's going?

Speaker 4 (01:33:52):
On thank?

Speaker 3 (01:33:54):
You?

Speaker 4 (01:33:54):
Mom so how do you really feel About Sean?

Speaker 2 (01:33:57):
Miller to define? Job he left?

Speaker 4 (01:34:02):
You correct me? Here how? Funny?

Speaker 2 (01:34:03):
Dude, hey h AM i? Wrong?

Speaker 6 (01:34:08):
No, no, no, no, no you're not you know, No
you're not wrong at.

Speaker 4 (01:34:10):
All you. Know IT'S i thought you were talking about
it for a long, time but it things like a
critisize it's your?

Speaker 2 (01:34:16):
Show is that not the biggest story going on in
local sports? Today? Yeah, no it is my job to
talk about the biggest stories in local. Sports yeah it.
Is it is my.

Speaker 4 (01:34:27):
Bad, okay that's a illness is taking over my?

Speaker 2 (01:34:31):
Brain. Okay?

Speaker 4 (01:34:32):
Uh what's up With Nick Wadolo's is he? GONNA i
was so hopeful For. Nick he looked like such a
start off on the last couple of. Years what's the? Word?

Speaker 2 (01:34:44):
Uh the word this? Is this is a huge year for.
Him now he threw. Yesterday he finished up the spring
with a pretty solid appearance early in the. Spring what
he was doing left a lot to be. DESIRED i
think the overall profile of he did In arizona was all, right.

Speaker 4 (01:35:04):
Yeah because he look so, promising didn't?

Speaker 3 (01:35:07):
He?

Speaker 4 (01:35:07):
Yes last couple of.

Speaker 2 (01:35:08):
Years, WELL i, think, YEAH i think the big thing
for him is just staying. Healthy you, know we we
have SEEN i, mean, dude yesterday he was. Awesome he went,
six gave up a, run struck out, seven didn't walk
anybody like. That it's obviously just a spring training, start
but the last one you're gonna, go you, know essentially

(01:35:30):
pitch pitch the same amount of time that you are
in a regular season. Game he, was he was. Fine
but this is this is a really big year for.
Him and it's a really big year For Andrew, abbott
and even though he's going to start the season in the,
bullpenants it's a big year For Graham. Ashcraft like, Like
nickolodolo has been at this now for a. While this
is his fourth big league. Season we have seen, flashes

(01:35:51):
we haven't seen them consistently, enough and we haven't seen
him get through a full. Season Nicko loodolo has still
not made fifty big league, starts and so the big
question about him is can he get through the full
season healthy and appearing close to thirty, games and then
with that do the performances become more?

Speaker 6 (01:36:10):
Consistent and the thing these guys have turned into him
and a boats had turned Into Well, martinez we know,
that but those two guys have It. Modolo they've turned
in some great performances against some of the better teams
in the in The Major league last couple of.

Speaker 4 (01:36:26):
Years so, Yeah i'm that. Rotation.

Speaker 2 (01:36:30):
NO i, mean, look if if The reds are, good
and and if they are as good as we hope
and in some cases as good as we, THINK i
think we all agree that the main reason why is
going to be the starting, pitching which was a major
asset last. Year if this team falls flat on its,
face there's gonna be a lot of reasons for. That,

(01:36:52):
offensively maybe their floor was lower than we, feared but
chances are it's going to be the starting pitching doesn't
live up to. Expectation the good and it is, again
it was a strength last. Year Nick lodola was a
part of. That Nick martinez was a part of that
in that swing. Role Ret louder toward the end of
the season was a part of. That Hunter green was
a part of. That, like there's there's a lot there

(01:37:13):
but for this team to for this team to realize
the hopes that we all have for, it it's all
going to have to come together very, quickly and they're
going to need a lot of guys who haven't yet
gone through a full big league, seaton a full big
league season healthy to do so this.

Speaker 4 (01:37:26):
Year but, boy it's, promising and you know they have
some confidence because they've done it. All, RIGHT i was
just looking at, Today finally The dodgers finally got their
rotation now, Back so they Got glass now, going and
they Got Dustin may who's taking about eight years to come,
back so hopefully he'll do lo and Then snell and
Then yamamoto And sazaki who probably be ones and twos

(01:37:49):
for somebody else's barring. Injuries The dodgers were brutally hurt
last year in their pitching staff a year. Long So
i'm hopeful for.

Speaker 2 (01:37:58):
THAT i, REALLY i really hope they get things turned
around The. DODGERS i really hope they can can find
a way to sneak into the postseason for the first
time in a.

Speaker 4 (01:38:07):
While typical, typical, RIGHT i, mean, like.

Speaker 2 (01:38:15):
Yeah they, did they had, all they had, All they
had all sorts of health issues with the starting rotation last, year,
right and they won ninety eight games and won The World. Series.

Speaker 4 (01:38:28):
Yeah the poor, Guys, yeah those poor man Hey rooke
on THE, NCAA i was looking at a LIST i
forget where it was of the ten best performances in
championship games over the, years and they listed ten. GUYS
i don't have it in front of. Me Danny manning
was on their a bunch of guys you know already,

(01:38:52):
know but they didn't Have walton on the.

Speaker 6 (01:38:54):
List and he has.

Speaker 4 (01:38:56):
The greatest single performance in seventy three Against, memphis who
was a good team Was Keith, lee who was An
All american power. Forward here's the interesting. Fact so he
goes twenty one for twenty. Two you knew, that and.

Speaker 6 (01:39:08):
They did thirteen, rebounds seven block shots to.

Speaker 4 (01:39:14):
Assist but this caveat is he had four dunks that
they all waved off or else he would have had fifty.

Speaker 2 (01:39:21):
Whatever, Well so that, performance that, performance which was over
fifty years, ago which anybody who follows college basketball and
knows anything about its history acknowledges that that is the
single greatest title game performance that wasn't on the, List
like was it like the top ten of the last

(01:39:41):
twenty five years of this? Century because how could you
have that list Without Bill Walton in seventy three at
the very top of.

Speaker 4 (01:39:50):
It, well you're gear, right it probably was over the
last twenty or twenty five. Years, now it would have
been further back than, that But Danny manning that that
was way back. In it was eighty Eight, yeah, yeah,
yeah that was Against michigan.

Speaker 2 (01:40:06):
Thirty one and eighteen to go along with five. Steals
it was Against. Oklahoma, Yeah.

Speaker 4 (01:40:11):
Oklahoma that was. It thanks for your, Time, mom you the, Best.

Speaker 2 (01:40:14):
Mike thank you very. Much. Paul questions and service Of
United Heartland insurance go to H u H i n
s dot com for any one of your insurance, needs home, boat, auto,
business you name it thell. Insurance that's not their. SLOGAN
i just said THAT uhi N s dot com. Should

(01:40:36):
Does xavier fans feel? Betrayed fifty two point two percent
disagree with me and say, yes, Why like someone betrays
you if they lie to. You Did Sean miller? Lie
i'm like legitimately asking did he did he? Lie lion

(01:40:56):
say he was going to be there for? Good who
should be the next head, Coach Chris mack or someone?
Else this is pretty close to fifty to fifty slight
slight edge toward someone, else and is THE Ncaa tournament
room because we don't have a bunch Of. Cinderellas seventy
one point six percent say. No upsets in THE Ncaa

(01:41:18):
tournament are a lot of fun when they. Happen there
are also a drain on interest as the tournament moves.
On one of the biggest reasons why the women's tournament
has never been more popular is there's not a drain
of interest or a drain on interest because the high
profile teams with the stars always play in the second

(01:41:41):
weekend and always populate the final. Four, look, man IF
i was a fan of a team that was seated, twelfth,
YES i would want to see that team seeded twelfth
in The sweet. Sixteen in the absence of, that give
me what we have coming up this. Weekend it is
twenty four away from six. O'clock by the, way we
have A Marked pope show right The sweet sixteen BOUND

(01:42:02):
Uk wildcats getting said for a matchup Against tennessee On.
Friday Mark pope will talk about that on his show
coming up at six ON espn fifteen Thirty Cincinnati Sports.

Speaker 1 (01:42:13):
Station CINCINNATI'S espn fifteen. Thirty traffic from THE Uc.

Speaker 3 (01:42:20):
Health Traffic center For National Doctor's, day we honor THE
uc health physicians who are leading breakthroughs for better. Tomorrows
learn more at UCHealth dot. Com suthbound seventy one seventy.
FIVE a disabled vehicle is on the entrance ramp from
Twelfth street Southbound Princeton Glendale road closed off due to
an accident Between mulhauser And Peter. Place And State route

(01:42:43):
one twenty three closed off Between Mason, Morrow milgrove And Waynesville.
Road i'm At ezelek with traffic.

Speaker 2 (01:42:50):
This and guaranteed credit approval from their family to yours.
Life kelseyshev dot com made it Official Sean miller is.
Leaving Sean miller has not yet changed His twitter, bio
and as far As i'm, concerned that's when it becomes
real when a coach changes Their twitter, bio or their

(01:43:11):
profile pick or their. Username ALTHOUGH i did see that
someone already Has Sean Miller i'm looking for now Coach
miller AT Ut Greg christopher with a statement earlier today
acknowledging what we had already heard and what was reported

(01:43:33):
yesterday That Shawn miller's off To austin to take over
The Texas LONGHORNS uk is in The sweet. Sixteen that
performance yesterday by The, wildcats especially early in the second
Half Kobe, brea was. Awesome kentucky made fifteen of their
first nineteen, shots But Lamont, butler playing with that bump,
shoulder controlled the game over both. Halves The wildcats advance

(01:43:57):
Beat illinois Played. Tennessee mark talks about it on his
show tonight at six ON espn fifteen to. Thirty The
reds have finished up The Cactus. League they've got a
game tomorrow In dayton against The Dayton. Dragons Alexis das
is going to start the season on the injury list
with a. BUMHAMMY a, BUMHAMMY i. Said Ian rapperport OF

(01:44:20):
Nfl media reports that The bengals continue to Engage Trey
hendrickson in discussions about a long term. CONTRACT Fc Cincinnati's
evander had two goals On saturday that earned him a
spot on The team of The match day for this.
WEEK Fc cincinnati Tied atlanta at. Two the team today
did announce that THE us women's national soccer team is

(01:44:43):
going to play The republic Of ireland's women's soccer Team
Women's National team Of match at The stadium on The
west end Of. Cincinnati that'll be On, Sunday june the
twenty ninth at three. O'clock so there you. Go third
time THE us women's national team will have played at
The stadium soccer stadium on The west end Of cincinnati At.

(01:45:05):
Muleger On, twitter five point three seven nine fifteen thirty
and eight sixty six seven oh two three seven seven
six are the the phone. Numbers, YEAH i, Mean I've
i've talked about The Sean miller thing a lot, today
and coaching changes are are interesting in this day and
age the portal Like i'm Maybe i'm in the minority,

(01:45:29):
here Maybe i'm. NOT i want everyone to get. PAID
i want myself to get, paid BUT i want LIKE
I i'm watching the McNeese game Against purdue and they're
talking about the student manager going viral and now he's
getting a bunch of nil, Deals like. AWESOME i want
college basketball players to get the. BAG i have no
issue with freedom of. MOVEMENT i think this era that

(01:45:52):
we're in is. BETTER i like having transactions in the.
OFFSEASON i like making head coaches work. LIKE i love
this era that we're. In and by the, way the
on court product has been, terrific but the encore product
in college basketball this season was was. Phenomenal now that
we're bad, games of, course but. PHENOMENAL i think the

(01:46:13):
sport's in a really good place right. Now that, said
to port the portal opening date today is, absurd AND
i know college football coaches deal with this as. Well
John Calla perry talked about this after his team Beat
Saint john's On, saturday, EXPRESSING i think some amount of

(01:46:34):
surprise that the portal was opening up. TODAY i, mean you,
know you think about it from that, perspective and he's
not the only one or obviously fifteen others who are
getting on the men's, side getting ready to play in
The sweet, sixteen holding out Legitimate final four national championship,
hopes and dealing with everything that comes with. That all the,
while you've got to you've got, to like you, know

(01:46:56):
re recruit your own guys and do it with. Urgency
you also have to keep an eye on the portal
for players that you may want a pluck for next year's.
Team it is a, lot and SO i know the
window is shortened this. Year the window in men's basketball opens,
today it. CLOSES i Think april to twenty, second so
it's a smaller. Window how you don't push this back

(01:47:19):
a few WEEKS i do not. Understand and even for
cases like, this like the one here At xavier Where
Sean miller is, left new coach is gonna come, in
i'd i'd like to see and not that let's just,
say for the sake of, example it Is chris, mack

(01:47:40):
not that he's not going to have a chance to
reach out To xavier players who put themselves in the.
PORTAL i JUST i don't, know. MAN i think athletic
directors and people who hire coaches are going to make,
better more, informed more well thought out decisions if they're
not operating with the gun at their. Head that is
the transfer portal opening up right. Now AND i think
you're give coaches a little bit of a better chance

(01:48:02):
to be organized at the outset of the offseason and
when they walk into their, jobs if they're not instantly
having to deal with the deluge of kids already more
than five hundred today who have put their names in the. Portal,
again this is Not i'm not some cranky old guy
who wants to see us go back to the old.
WAY i do not want the transfer portal to go.

(01:48:23):
AWAY i do not believe we should have rules restricting player,
movement and god, KNOWS i do not want nil to go.
AWAY i love almost everything about this era that we're,
in and AGAIN i probably am in the, minority BUT
i do think there are some very, quick common sense
things you have to have put in place in your,
sport and one of them is to not have the

(01:48:45):
transfer portal open while you still have four rounds of
your postseason still. Happening and, AGAIN i know this was
a thing in college football as. Well it's twelve away
from six ON espn fifteen Thirty Cincinnati Sports.

Speaker 1 (01:48:58):
Station CINCINNATI espn fifteen Thirty traffic.

Speaker 3 (01:49:03):
From THE Uc Health Traffic center For National Doctor's, day
we honor THE Uc health physicians who are leading breakthroughs
for better. Tomorrows learn more at UCHealth dot. Com Southbound
Princeton Glendale road remains closed off due to an accident
Between mulhauser And Peter. Place southbound seventy one seventy five

(01:49:24):
disabled vehicle on the ramp from Twelfth street And State
route one twenty three blocked from a fallen tree Between Mason,
Morrow milgrove And Waynesville. Road i'm At ezelek with.

Speaker 2 (01:49:34):
Traffic this report is sponsored by The Dwyer, company the
only name because this is a full service sports talk radio.
Show The reds are done In, arizona but there are
other teams still. Playing seattle leads The padres seven to,
six and the ninth, Inning atlanta has a ten to
two lead over The. Cubs and there were a bunch
of other games earlier. Today DO i have to read the?

(01:49:57):
Scores does anybody spring training?

Speaker 3 (01:49:59):
Game?

Speaker 2 (01:50:00):
THOUGH i asked what was going on in? Baseball Alexis
daz is going to start the season on the injured,
list and so Is Spencer, steer and so is Is Tyler.
Stevenson wouldn't it be? Cool AND i know there are
pros and cons to The reds potentially trading For Luis.

(01:50:21):
Robert one of them is MAYBE i can't Say Luise
robert like you can find people who don't like the
idea of The reds giving up a lot to get,
him and that's that's a different. Discussion But i've read
two pieces over the last day or so that have
kind of outlined what The reds have done in spring
training and what the composition of their team is going to,
be and how it's been altered a little bit by

(01:50:42):
the injuries to steer Into stevenson and a little bit
less So Alexis daz who didn't have a great, Spring
and in both it is acknowledged The reds if they're
if they're in the, hunt could be in the market
for a bat at the. Deadline why acknowledge that now

(01:51:02):
instead of advocating to go fill that need? Now you,
KNOW i don't know IF i did a good job
of making that make. Sense but if you know it's
going to be in need at the, deadline go ahead
and address it. Now And i'm optimistic about The. REDS
i think a lot of, us there's a lot of
us who are kind of WHERE i, am where you
think the team has a chance to be, better maybe

(01:51:22):
sitting on your hands when it comes to thinking they're
going to win the. Division ALTHOUGH i think from a
gambling perspective there's great value On cincinnati and we've got
a baseball gambling guy we're going to talk to On wednesday.
Show but as spring training, STARTED i think a lot
of us felt, Like, god you know, what it would
have been cool if they could have gone and gotten
just one more. Bat and, now especially if you look

(01:51:44):
at the lack of depth in the, outfield and if
you look at what's happened With steer and you look
at what's happened With, stevenson still kind of feel the same.
Way we'll talk about that on tomorrow's. Show we'll also
talk about it On thursday At Smoke justice from noon to,
three so'll be. There we are. Done my thanks To
Taran bland for producing and to you for. Listening The
Mark Pope show is. Next have an awesome. Night this

(01:52:06):
IS espn fifteen Thirty Cincinnati Sports.

Speaker 3 (01:52:08):
Station one of life's greatest mysteries has finally been solved
at The dogs

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3/24/25 - The Mo Egger Radio Show

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