March 20, 2025 • 35 mins
Rick Broering joined us Thursday morning to talk about Xavier's win over Texas, the Longhorns' Sean Miller dreams, the Muskies' chances against Illinois and the NCAA Tournament.
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Podcasts of The Mo Egger Radio Show are a service of Longnecks Sports Grill.
Listen to the show live weekday afternoons 3:00 - 6:00 on ESPN1530.
Listen Live: ESPN1530.com/listen
Get more: https://linktr.ee/MoEgger
Follow on X: @MoEgger
Instagram too: @MoEgger
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
No one covers the Bengals like ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati's
sports station.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
All Right, what's up? Good afternoon, No, good morning, Good morning.
This is ESPN fifteen thirty. If you are expecting to
hear Clinton and Friends, that is being bumped today. Our
apologies to listeners of that show. Typically obviously, I'm on
ESPN fifteen thirty in the afternoon from three o'clock until six,
(00:29):
but let's be honest. During that time frame, I am
going to be where I am right now watching college basketball.
It is our annual NCAA tournament preview show. We are
broadcasting from downtown Holy Grail, which this week celebrated it's
fourteenth anniversary, it's fourteenth birthday. How about that. Congratulations to
the folks here at the Holy Grail, a must before
(00:52):
and after any Reds game, and a must if you're
out and about looking for a place to watch college
basketball today, tonight, tomorrow, tomorrow night. We thank them for
having us. We also thank the folks at Coors like
rabin Ice cold, Corus light and watch the tournament Mountain
Cold refreshment made to chill. We are here till noon
since he three to sixty comes your way when we're done.
(01:12):
Austin Elmore flying solo. If you're thinking of coming to
the ground, get here soon, because if you're one of
the first sixty four people in the door. We do
this every year. We give you a team. Now you
don't get a chance to pick the team, but we
give you a team, and if your team wins the
national championship, you win a weekend golf getaway thanks to
(01:34):
Bertram Golf. You can learn more about Bertram Golf at
Bertram goolf packages dot com. We also have Dave Matthews
tickets to give away. We have Is that a ball
signed by the entire nineteen ninety eight Kentucky Wildcats? Is
that what we have? That's a hell of a prize
National championship team. We've got a Rick Patino signed basketball,
We've got cors Light swag. We've got so much more.
(01:57):
And leading us off a guy who was working until
what time last night.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
It doesn't matter when it's March. We just go until
we sleep in May or whatever. John Rothstein said, I.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
Understand our guy, Rick Browing Musketeer Report dot com. Do
you have to list all your jobs?
Speaker 1 (02:11):
Here's the thing you always do this and you make
it out to look like I'm working seventeen jobs. One
of them you list is a podcast. It's one podcast
a week. It's just I do things that are fun. Mo.
I'm not working overly working. I'm not working too many jobs.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
Get it.
Speaker 1 (02:24):
Well, it's like a bit, you know, I don't like.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
No, it's not a bit. I don't even know what
you like. Let's say Xavier plays Friday tomorrow night and loses,
which we're gonna talk about last night's game, which you
were at. I don't know what you even do for
like the next six months, so you're kind of seasonally busy.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
Thank you. Yes, that's exactly right. It's not that I'm
overly working. I get people texting me about that when
you say it, and I'm like, it's not I'm at
home hanging out with my kid.
Speaker 2 (02:46):
Like in the middle of June. I have no clue
what you're doing.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
It's johnsfer Portal is always Well, that's that's true.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
Let's talk about last night. You were there at Udy Arena,
and first of all, we were just talking about this.
The atmosphere last night was awesome, and you would expect
it to because Xavier's closed the date. We get that,
but I was at that game in twenty fourteen when
they played NC State. The atmosphere was different. The atmosphere
last night seemed awesome. The game lived up to it,
the atmosphere seemed awesome.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
So I have a little scientific evidence to back this up.
I said, as we were sitting in the media workroom,
was that as loud as any Xavier home game this year?
To some of the other writers in new room, and
they're like, I think that sounds about right.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
Well.
Speaker 1 (03:24):
Sam Green, the photographer for the en Choir, had his
Apple Watch on. He said, well, it said it got
to one hundred and five decibels. Wait, no, one hundred
and thirteen decibels during the game, because I haven't seen
that all year. And he went through his watch data
and said he checked. He said the last time his
watch had registered something that loud, he was out filming
air fighter jets. Wow, that were roaring past him. So yeah,
(03:44):
I think it was pretty loud in UDI Arena.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
Probably louder than any date and home game as well this.
Speaker 1 (03:48):
Year, probably this year. Yeah, not typically.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
At halftime, I felt like Xavier was gonna win, And
that seems weird because they couldn't get any stops. Texas
is racing up and down the floor. They score forty
seven points. I think that's the most amount of point
Xavier is given up and a half and half and
the first half all season long. And yet I felt
like despite all the foul trouble that they dealt with
in the first half, despite this, Texas onslaught offensively. They
(04:16):
were right there. And so I was talking to my
wife during the game and I said, I think Xavier's Okay.
I'd be lying if I said I predicted Xavier was
going to win. But I think if you watched the
game and maybe didn't know what the score was, I
think you would have thought the game was a little
bit more lopsided. And I'm going, it's eight points. They
can overcome this, and they did.
Speaker 1 (04:34):
Yeah, that's exactly right. I think there was a point though,
after halftime, a little bit, you know, a few minutes
into the second half, where it started feeling again like, oh,
they just can't get stops against this text They.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
Got it back to ten with about thirteen to go,
and I started feeling nervous, and then.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
Xavier scored again, and then it went right back to ten. Again,
and it's like, I just don't know if this Xavier
defense is athletic enough to keep these Texas players in
front of them. And that's where I really give Sean
Miller and his staff a ton of credit the way
they were able to get the defense back on track.
The original game plan was, hey, we got to stay tight.
You can't let their athletes get downhill and drive through
(05:09):
the lane without us swiping and getting some help defense
in there. But early in the game they made those
four to threes in the first half and Xavier's defense
started expanding and they couldn't slow down the drives for
a long time. But at some point in the second
half they were able to find that defense again and
really tighten up, and it was really impressive down the
stretch what they.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
Did tighten up on defense. Dalan Swain had a lot
to do with that in the final eight nine minutes
of the game against Trey Johnson. And then the performance
of Marcus Foster last night. You know it's you and
I talked yesterday afternoon and in the course of leading
up to the game talking about how the Muskies beat Texas.
I don't recall Marcus's name coming up that often.
Speaker 1 (05:45):
Yeah. Well, the one time we talked about it when
you asked me, what what is Zager's biggest advantage in
this game, and I mentioned spot up shooting, and he's
one of the names I brought up because that's his game,
is not creating off the dribble, not making his own shot.
But if you leave him open or you let him
off the screen freely and catch and shoot, he can
do that. And it just so happened that he was
being guarded by Trey Johnson, the star freshman who's ready
(06:08):
to go to the NBA, and quite honestly, for the
last two months of the season, it's looked like on
the defensive end, he's had the NBA on his mind
because he has not paired at all.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
On that end.
Speaker 1 (06:17):
And Marcus Foster, to his credit, took advantage of that.
He punished Trey Johnson in the second half of that game,
scored sixteen of his twenty two in the second half,
and a lot of that was because the freshman just
wasn't tough enough defensive.
Speaker 2 (06:28):
The shot of the game arguably made by John Hugley.
And what's interesting is watching on TV. Look, that's I
get it, that's maybe not the shot you want, but
when he's open, he makes him.
Speaker 1 (06:37):
He's been proving that he can make that shot. He
has a ton of confidence and shooting that open three
as a trailer.
Speaker 2 (06:42):
I think twenty four or forty for the season, right,
something like that.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
I mean, it's a great percentage at this point.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
I don't know that Speir Odidius and Jim Spinnarko doing
the game for True TV, which this is great. This
is the four days a year I watched True TV.
I don't know that they knew that that's a shot
he can make and has often made it. This year.
He's got to be wide open, but he was last night,
and he can the three.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
In fairness, asking those two to be prepared and ready
for anything they're watching is a bit like Star eight games.
Eight games has been the last CBS broadcast in the
NFL for like fifteen years. Do you not move up
at all?
Speaker 2 (07:16):
He's like the voice of the Browns. Yeah, Jim's pernarcle's
pretty good. Usually, No, you know who? I don't know.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
I mean, maybe it's a wake.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
Well. I watch a lot of NBA League Pass. He
did the NETS games for years.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
If you're over seventy five, it's probably time to stop
and see that games. He's gotta be. He looked like
he was in the grave last night.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
Not a gym spinarcyle guy.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
It's not the best.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
Well, they were dramatically caught off guard by John Hughgley,
not just being open but making the shot. And I thought,
like when he started to lift and I thought, that's
a shot I seen to make.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
Yeah, admittedly it did catch me a little off guard
in that moment too, because that the the arena was
so tense at that moment and it was so proxavior.
They love John Hughley right now. Anything he does positive
it's a huge pop. I mean honestly, when that shot
went in, I thought the roof might come off.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
Yes, no doubt. All right, So now they go to
Milwaukee to play Illinois. Do you like this matchup where
do they have an advantage over the fighting alignment?
Speaker 1 (08:13):
It's hard to say you like a matchup with like
an eleven verse six and it's a talented team that's
going to score a lot of points. It can put
one hundred on you any given night. But what I
would tell you is I don't think it's a matchup
that presents the biggest issues for Xavier. What Xavier really
struggles with is teams that are very athletic, very long,
very tough defensively, that won't let them swing the ball around,
(08:34):
won't let them get their offense moving, won't let Ryan
Conwell get open for threes. And I don't think that's
Illinois m O. They want to get an up and
down game. They're fine with you scoring a lot of
points as long as they can shoot their threes and
do what they want to do. So in terms of
a six to eleven game, I feel like you've really
got a chance. If you're a Zavier fan.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
Yeah, I mean, yes, they're an eleven seed, and understandably
and deservedly so, I don't think that over the last
month they have played like an eleven seed like that.
Eleven is indicative the overall body of work, as it
should be, but the overall body at work is one thing.
How they've played over the course of really since the
first couple of Big East games, that's not an eleven seed.
(09:12):
That's not a first four in team. I get it,
I get why they were where they were, But if
I'm going like just January one, that's that's not a
that's not a first four in last four in team.
Speaker 1 (09:22):
Yeah, I think most people are familiar with Ken Poms
at dance Metrics at this point. Bart Torvik is a
site that basically does the same thing. But one thing
it has is you can sort by dates, so you
can say, just from this date to this date, how
has this team been playing? And when you do that,
for Xavier for the date range that you just mentioned,
they are top twenty five is in offense and like
(09:42):
top fifteen ish in defense. That equates to the type
of team that usually is a much higher seed and
is capable of making a run in the postseason. So
to your point, I think a lot of opposing coaches
that are looking at Xavier right now are saying, yeah,
this is a good team that we're playing. We better
be ready.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
All right, let me advance the cond to potentially Sunday.
What would you say about a Xavier Kentucky matchup?
Speaker 1 (10:05):
For Xavier a three seed that's all banged up and
is the exact type of matchup you're looking for.
Speaker 2 (10:10):
Not great defensively to begin with, much less so with
lamon Butler's issue, And.
Speaker 1 (10:14):
What would you say is Kentucky's biggest issue this year,
they're lack of athleticism. That's perfect Xavier. That's probably the
biggest concern for them matching up with higher seed teams
is are they going to be two athletic? Are they
going to be oversized for Xavier? And in that matchup,
I don't think they will be. And you pointed out
the Galant Butler situation, Jackson Robinson not being available. Kentucky
is so banged up that I'm just not sure you
(10:36):
can be confident what Kentucky team you're gonna get in
the postseason.
Speaker 2 (10:39):
Yeah. I talked with somebody late last night who's a
huge UK fan, and I said, like, from a Xavier perspective,
I like their chances against Kentucky more than I like
their chances against Illinois.
Speaker 1 (10:51):
I think that's right. Yeah, I mean, because Illinois has
multiple guys that are very healthy right now, and Will
Riley starting to play. One of their talented freshmen who's
like a six to seven ball handler Score is starting
to play really well right now. So they've got multiple
weapons that cause problems that scare you, where as Kentucky's like,
you kind of know who their guys are gonna be
right now with them being banged up, and you know
(11:11):
what you're getting.
Speaker 2 (11:13):
Did did Rodney Terry get tarmaced after the game? Did
they let it get on the team bus? How did
this work out? Buddy?
Speaker 1 (11:18):
It was done before we were out of the press conference.
The tweet was out there, and then all a sudden,
guys are looking at their phones and asking. While we're
there in the press conference, he said, it's in God's hands. Now,
that's a good way to look at.
Speaker 2 (11:28):
They shook hands, and I said out loud, like coach
Terry should have sean like, you got a gig, you
got an opening? Anybody leaving like any? I mean? That
was I had read the stories leading up to selection
Sunday that the word was he had to win two
games in March, and I didn't know if that math
changed with them having to play in the first four
if it was, you got to win three games. So
as the final seconds were unfolding, I thought, like, I
(11:50):
hope Rodney Terry's really enjoying himself, gets that first four pin,
and I hope they let him back on the team plane.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
The interesting thing is their athletic director, del Conte, is
known for having his next hire lined up. That's the
way it's been for the other sports, the big hires
he's made. So if that's the case, you got to
think there might be someone who's already been interviewed, already
been vetted, and ready to take that job. The question
is who is it? If that's the case, I mean,
he's a Grant mccaslan. The Texas sites are all writing
(12:19):
about Sean Miller after that game and the job he
did last night, So there are going to be that
could be a fast and furious job Sean Miller in Texas.
I don't think that's the case, But if you go
to Texas's sites today, the name that they're all bringing
up is Sean Miller because the job he did last night.
Speaker 2 (12:34):
That's just because they won the game last night. So
the fans are like, you know, frothinking about that they
want him or is that like a legitimate thing.
Speaker 1 (12:39):
No, it's it's because all of those sites, as recently
as this week, have been talking about the fact that
last time, when Rodney Terry got the job, he played
his way into the job by making that run in
the season to the Elite eight. Sean Miller was rumored
to be the top candidate on Texas's list that time. Obviously,
Rodney Terry beats Seawan Miller that year in the NCAA tournament,
so then it didn't happen been But now a lot
(13:01):
of Texas beat writers believe that Sean Miller would still
be a target.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
This is a stupid question. Why don't they just rehire
Chris Beard. He's coaching, he's in this tournament.
Speaker 1 (13:11):
You and I are in agreement on that. I think
when you're the school that was the one who fired
him for what happened is his whole domestic dispute situation,
it's a tough sell.
Speaker 2 (13:21):
To I don't know what happened with that situation. I
know the guy is coaching in the SEC right now,
right yeah, so, but he might have been toxic two
years ago. Doesn't strike me as that toxic.
Speaker 1 (13:31):
Here's the other thing. I don't know. Do you open
yourself up to lawsuits if you do that you fired
him for cause? Can you now bring him back and
say it's fine to bring him?
Speaker 2 (13:38):
I don't know how. I don't put it this way.
Speaker 1 (13:40):
Texas ain't hiring Chris Beard that much, I know, Okay,
But Sean Miller, perhaps you're gonna hear his name. I
can tell you that I do not think Sean Miller
is a top candidate right now from the Sean Miller
side of things. Yeah, but you're going to hear his
name right.
Speaker 2 (13:54):
It is eighteen minutes after ten o'clock. I want to
talk about the tournament as a whole, because I bet you,
like everybody has a bracket strategy. I bet you don't
know see and I know you well enough, yep. I
bet you You're just pick the teams you think are gonna.
Speaker 1 (14:09):
Win pretty much, and oftentimes I don't fill out a bracket.
I just kind of do the games as they're going.
You can you know you don't fill out a bracket.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
You're communist? What's wrong with you?
Speaker 1 (14:18):
Or I will Now I've got a sons. We got
to get into.
Speaker 2 (14:20):
My seven year old daughter this morning, filled out of bracket.
Speaker 1 (14:23):
Oh, let's kids fill out brackets.
Speaker 2 (14:24):
Yeah, she did it, she did it. I've got it
here in the most boring way possible until almost the
very end.
Speaker 1 (14:33):
What are you shaming? Bracket? Shaming your daughter? But public area,
But it's probably going to win. Yeah, that's how it works.
Speaker 2 (14:39):
That's why brackets are we'll run through her bracket when
we come back. Okay, we're here at the Holy Grail
downtown Cincinnati on the air until twelve o'clock. The games
tip off right around twelve ten twelve fifteen. Will be
here all after known Rick Boring Musketeer Report dot com,
uh on Twitter at Rick Boring and he's lost all
his other jobs, so that's all we'll talk about. It's
(14:59):
nineteen after ten o'clock here at the Grail on ESPN
fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Stage for ten o'clock This morning,
were at the Holy Crawl downtown Cincinnati, previewing the first
round of the NCAA tournament, talking about last night's Xavier
come from behind winning you the Arena over Texas and
Rick Boring reporting that Shawn Miller's leading candidate Texas.
Speaker 1 (15:20):
How why are you doing that? Xavier people. I'm not
trying to do this. I'm not trying to start. That's
just let's let's be and talk about on Texas.
Speaker 2 (15:30):
That's what's being talked about on Texas sites. That doesn't
mean there's any validity to it.
Speaker 1 (15:33):
Yeah, but but I mean I do think the Texas
writers believe Sean Miller will be a candidate, all right,
well not Brad Underwood.
Speaker 2 (15:42):
Xavier beats them. Brand Underwood's a good coach.
Speaker 1 (15:44):
I think they should just keep going with the transit
of property all the way through the tournament. That's like, right,
right now, Xavier's the coach. But if Illinois wins, then
Brad Underwood is the next coach, and then if Kentucky wins,
Mark Pope would be your next coach, and you just
go from there.
Speaker 2 (15:57):
I'm going to tell you something that has nothing to
do with anything, all right. We broadcast from the Final
Four in twenty fifteen. Kentucky was him. Yep. We did
the Final Four radio row. You get all these coaches,
and most of them I had no interest in talking
to Chris Mack. We had a lot of interest. Chris
had no interest in talking to anybody else, so he
did like eight segments with us.
Speaker 1 (16:15):
It was great, talking about Bengals and Reds.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
Yes, it was awesome. It was like he sought us out.
He's like, can I just like go on with you
so I don't have to talk to this station in
San Francisco whatever. But the only other coach I really
enjoyed talking with was Brad Underwood. Really genuinely nice guy.
We talked about. He worked for Bob Huggins, had been
at Stephen F. Austin, Like I think he might have
still been at Stephen F. Austin. But he was the
(16:39):
guy that I enjoyed talking with the most.
Speaker 1 (16:41):
I don't mean this negatively. I've never heard anything bad
about Brad Underwood, but I don't think I've ever heard
someone say that before, like, Oh, he's a great personality.
Speaker 2 (16:47):
I enjoyed talking with him. And Ben Hallan.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
I've heard Ben Hallen's a very engaging guy, very nice guy.
Speaker 2 (16:52):
And Ben Hallen was cool because he coached at Northern Arizona.
When you see beat them in the NCAA tournament.
Speaker 1 (16:58):
Oh, I bet he appreciated you bringing that up.
Speaker 2 (17:00):
Northern Arizona almost won the game, but then Dwan Baker
hit a three with like four seconds to go, broke
his heart and he was cool talking about it.
Speaker 1 (17:07):
You gotta appreciate that.
Speaker 2 (17:08):
I do appreciate that, all right. Uh, since you're like
the zager guy, can we talk about the Big East
teams in the tournament? Sure? Uh? How much how much
pause should I have.
Speaker 1 (17:21):
For Saint John's I want to love the Saint John's team.
I want to pick Saint John's. I did pick them
into the final four. I want to pick them to
win it all potentially. Yeah, there's just the fact that
you worry about some team throwing a junk defense out
there and they just can't make a shot and they
find themselves in that situation. But they they've got a
(17:41):
really fun team to watch. They play super hard. Their
style feels chaotic, but it's really organized, and they have
the best coach of all time, Rasino leading them. For
saying that gives me a lot of confidence.
Speaker 2 (17:54):
Look, there's that, but there is that butt.
Speaker 1 (17:56):
What is the butt that they can't shoot and that
that concerns you.
Speaker 2 (17:59):
I think for a lot of the butt is it's
what we used to say about Houston that you need
you need the right whistle six raight games.
Speaker 1 (18:07):
Where you can foul and not get called. And I
can foul trip, but.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
I think that don't foul to the way that Houston
did when Calvin Samson really got the program going. But
they're really physical.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
I think that's right. The other issue they have is
they got a really difficult bracket. I mean, Florida's plain
as was anyone in the country. That's in the same
region as them, and there are a few other teams
in there that have a chance to make a run,
So that would concern me as well.
Speaker 2 (18:27):
People get mad at me when I say exactly what
you just said, that Rick Patino is the greatest college
basketball coach of all time.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
I mean, you can have an argument against him being
the greatest of all time, but there's no argument that
he's in the conversation oh know that about him?
Speaker 2 (18:40):
I mean, he's he might not be the greatest human
being of all time. That's not what we are care
about that. That's not what college basketball coaches. I'm not
looking for great human beings. If he gets Saint John's
to a Final four, after he did that at Providence,
got Kentucky to multiple final fours, international title, got Louisville
to multiple final fours, international title, which still happened, and
(19:00):
then gets Saint John's to a Final four, Are you
kidding me?
Speaker 1 (19:03):
That would be incredible.
Speaker 2 (19:04):
I guess the greatest of all time?
Speaker 1 (19:05):
Yeah, I mean I already believe he is. But if
he does that, I don't think there's any conversation that
can be had about anyone.
Speaker 2 (19:11):
And to do it across like multiple eras of the sport.
You know, he was a guy. This is what's interesting
to me about Saint John's and a little bit more
so year one, last year than this year. I guess
when they weren't very good. But at Kentucky he shows
up and they embraced the three. Even in Providence before
he got to Kentucky. They're shooting more threes than anybody. Well,
now everybody's shooting threes and Saint John's really doesn't shoot him.
Speaker 1 (19:32):
Yeah, and he's still winning. Yeah, he's always reinventing himself
and fine, like all these older coaches, you hear complaining
about the sport's ruined. I'm ready to get out. Rick
Patino's coming up with new idea after new idea for
the nc LA and how they should change the sport
to evolve even farther.
Speaker 2 (19:46):
Yeah, that's why I like Rick Patino. It's why I
like Tom Izzo. You know you're right. Jay Wright leaves,
Mike Krushcheweski leaves, Tony Bennett leaves him. Fine, like changes
him for everybody. I understand it. I like the ones
who said it and go okay, fine, like this this
is what it is. I'm still great. I'm still resourceful.
I'm gonna figure out a way to make it work.
Speaker 1 (20:04):
Yeah, I don't like the whininess of it all. It's
like you cast your checks for tens of millions of
dollars over the course in the last decade or however
long for some of these coaches. Don't whine on your
way out. If it's time for you to leave, that's fine,
but quit telling us that the sport's been ruined. Uh.
Speaker 2 (20:16):
What do you make of Creighton versus Louisville?
Speaker 1 (20:19):
Great first game to start this thing off. Louisville's obviously underseated.
They shouldn't be there. R Creighton's a really dangerous team
in that eight and nine game two that can make
a run. I think everyone's on Louisville because they were
underseated so much, But I think Creighton's just as dangerous,
and I think that's gonna be a fantastic game.
Speaker 2 (20:38):
Yukon. It's weird for a Yukon team to be flying
under the radar, but they are.
Speaker 1 (20:43):
They are, and that would make me concerned about in
their bracket.
Speaker 2 (20:46):
Yes, I don't think that Oklahoma team's especially good. They're susceptible,
they're susceptible. Porter Moser really hasn't been the same since
he left the old nun at Loyola.
Speaker 1 (20:56):
Yeah. Yeah, since the don't get Jed Demuci started on
her sister Jean. Sister Jean. He's not a fan of that, really, Yeah,
just taking up too much of the shine from the
I understand.
Speaker 2 (21:07):
During that run, could you name any Loyola players? No,
but you can name sister Jean who didn't score a point.
Speaker 1 (21:12):
And after the fact, we're still running. She's like Dicky V.
We're still runner out there. She's in the grave already, Like,
let her die with some dignity. We don't have to
keep runner back out there for clicks.
Speaker 2 (21:20):
While we're talking about leagues, you're familiar with Robert Morris
out of the horizon, Bobby Moo will play Alabama, who
can't guard anybody. Do you give Bobby Mo a chance
to be competitive?
Speaker 1 (21:30):
No, unfortunately not. I think Alabama is just a really
difficult matchup for most teams, but especially sixteen seed type teams.
That's a tough team to upset. But Bobby Mo was
a fun story this year, and Andy Tool, their head coach,
saved his job, right, I mean he had not done
anything since they moved up to the Horizon Le.
Speaker 2 (21:45):
He was going to get waxed.
Speaker 1 (21:46):
He was very likely.
Speaker 2 (21:47):
Was he going to get rod?
Speaker 1 (21:49):
Yeah, and he found a way to lead him to
a championship in the regular season and the tournament and
now he's dancing.
Speaker 2 (21:54):
Did get an extension for that?
Speaker 1 (21:55):
I would hope, so get one of those deals he deserves.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
You like a Kelvin Keats where it's like, man, we
want to fire this guy, but now they're good and
we're stuck with him, and then they fire him a
year later.
Speaker 1 (22:03):
But here's the terrible thing. If you're Andy Toole, Yeah, okay,
you've built this thing. You finally got the chance to
make the run. And now you've got two players that
are definitely going to the transfer because they just played
really well.
Speaker 2 (22:12):
But it isn't that like just the reality of like
let's say NK, you won the Horizon League tournament and
they're playing today regardless of how they do within twenty
four to forty eight hours with the portal opening Monday,
aren't we reading the same thing? The players are gonna.
Speaker 1 (22:29):
Bolt absolutely and they embrace it now. I mean, Darren
Horn just said on The Darren Horn Show this past
week when we recorded it. That it's it's almost like
a minor league situation now, and every year is year
to year. You're trying to build the best roster for
that year, and once it's over, you move on to
the next season. You don't try to hang on to
something you had last year that worked if guys are leaving.
Speaker 2 (22:48):
How'd Marquise worked for Missouri this year?
Speaker 1 (22:51):
Had a nice year, came off the bench the team. Yeah,
obviously the team. Obviously he's not going to play nearly
the same role he did at NKU there, but he
made some big shots for them, He played some portin
minutes off the bench for them, and obviously cashed a
huge check this season. So it worked out really well
for him. It's exciting, Yeah, it is. It's awesome.
Speaker 2 (23:06):
Do you want to hang out for one more segment
or do you want to give way to Richard Skinner,
Shannon minor Dan Hortz coming later?
Speaker 1 (23:12):
It's your show. I'll do whatever you want.
Speaker 2 (23:14):
I like talking to you.
Speaker 1 (23:15):
I love talking to you.
Speaker 2 (23:16):
Great, very good. Rick Brooring Musketeer Report dot com And
since you mentioned it, the host of the Darren Horne
TV show right which I can watch again because they
put Fandool Sports Network back on aulta Fiber.
Speaker 1 (23:27):
We're back, baby, Yeah, I can watch myself again.
Speaker 2 (23:30):
That's really nice. James and James Repeene's on all the time.
If you're ever like at a place like this and
a Red's game has been over for an hour, there's
James Rapine.
Speaker 1 (23:40):
Or if you're ever in like a dark situation you're
in your house at two thirty in the morning watching
Fandel Ohio, Yeah there's James.
Speaker 2 (23:46):
There's James. I can't tell you how many, Or like
you watch the Reds game the night before and then
you went to bed and you turn on the TV
the next day and it's still on the channel you
had on last night. There's James Rapine.
Speaker 1 (23:58):
That's tough to wake up to.
Speaker 2 (23:59):
You know, he got his start on my show.
Speaker 1 (24:01):
People forget that, they do. Yeah, he was your producer
who struggled as a producer and now he's a great
as a talent. He's struggling well, you know, pretty good.
He was doing his best.
Speaker 2 (24:10):
But I gave him.
Speaker 1 (24:11):
Yeah, that's why I should have said. You made it
hard on him, and you you ridiculed him a little bit.
Speaker 2 (24:16):
I ridiculed him a lot.
Speaker 1 (24:17):
Yeah, and now he's a star.
Speaker 2 (24:19):
He is a start. He's twenty eight away from eleven o'clock.
We're here at the Holy Grail downtown Cincinnati, thanks to
our friends at Coors Light, Hot Bracket, Cold Refreshment, COR's Light.
Stay refreshed with Coors Light, round after round here till noon.
Be one of the sixty first sixty four in the
door we have room for you. Get a team, your
team wins the title, you win a weekend golf getaway
(24:41):
thanks to Bertram Golf. It is a twenty eight from eleven.
NCAA tournament preview show rolls on on ESPN fifteen thirty,
Cincinnati sports station. Sincey three sixty.
Speaker 1 (24:53):
It was such a disappointing loss for many reasons last night.
It's our playground for sports fans like you.
Speaker 2 (24:59):
Really since he's three.
Speaker 1 (25:01):
Sixty today at twelve noon on ESPN fifteen.
Speaker 2 (25:05):
Thirty, twenty four away from eleven o'clock. This is ESPN
fifteen thirty. We are broadcasting today from the Holy Grail
until twelve noon. Richard Skinner's going to join me, and
at eleven o'clock in less the Bengals go sign a guard.
Then he's Brandon shirt run out and go cover that.
We want to thank our friends at Sports Investments. Sports
(25:26):
Investments is the Tri States leader in the finest memorabilia.
Check them out on Montgomery Road in Montgomery and at
sports investments dot com. They have given us some really
cool stuff to give away. I'm not a UK fan,
but I would like that ball signed by the ninety
eight national title team.
Speaker 1 (25:42):
Yeah, that's pretty cool. I mean that's college of basketball history,
not just Kentucky correct.
Speaker 2 (25:45):
Yeah. I would like the Rick Patino ball as well,
and then I would pull it out of the case
and write greatest coach of all Time underneath his signature.
Speaker 1 (25:52):
I don't know if that helps the value or hurts it,
but I would I would like that probably doesn't help.
Speaker 2 (25:56):
Yeah. Is there a lower seated team you like?
Speaker 1 (26:01):
I don't know about lower seeded, but I'll give you
my Final four dark horse. Yeah, Michigan. Okay, I like
Michigan one. I mean just the run they put on
the Big Ten Tournament I thought was impressive. Saw them
early in the season when Xavier played them and they
smacked Zavier. I thought they looked tough to match up with.
I saw them late in the season they still looked
really difficult to match up with. They just seemed to
me like a team that's been consistent throughout the season.
(26:22):
They've played at a high level, and they can win
in different ways. They have some talented, tough guards that
can score, but they also have a couple of really
big front court players that can give you some serious
problems inside as well.
Speaker 2 (26:33):
On my daughter Crosley, her bracket has Michigan beating UC
San Diego but then falling to Texas A and M.
Speaker 1 (26:40):
Well, in that case, let me change my pick. Texas
A and M is the team we need to be
talking about.
Speaker 2 (26:45):
So here's the strategy that she and it's a good strategy,
although lazy. She just picked the higher seeded team in
every game until we got to Saint Mary's versus Alabama,
and then suddenly, out of nowhere because we went left
to right right, so they're all the way on the
right side. Suddenly, out of nowhere, she decides, I like
Saint Mary's, like the Gaels the Gaels.
Speaker 1 (27:07):
Yeah, yeah, naturally.
Speaker 2 (27:08):
I don't know. Every other game she picked the higher
seeded teams, and I think she's going to win the
pool that I will enter her.
Speaker 1 (27:16):
I don't hate that strategy.
Speaker 2 (27:18):
No, not at all. Yeah, the rest of us adults,
we get all cute about it, and she's like, yeah,
I'm just gonna take the teams that are. She would
ask like, all right, so the one means it's better
than a sixteen. I'm like yeah, She's like, cool, well
then I'm taking Auburn And then we just went on
down the list.
Speaker 1 (27:33):
Yeah, it's perfect. It's the midwit memal, you know if
you've ever seen that online. But it starts out as
like the simpleton says like the most basic things, like, well,
that team's better than that team, right, I'll just pay
that team yeah, And then all the experts get lost
in the middle. Yeah, and then the truly enlightened ones
get back to right where you start. It goes, I'm
just going to pick the best team, right, Like that
seems like the right way to do it.
Speaker 2 (27:51):
Well, it is the one sporting event where the people
who put it together tell you who should win.
Speaker 1 (27:56):
And the last two years, the higher seeded teams have
crushed from against the spread perspective, which has not been
historically the case. But we've sort of seen a transition
the last few years.
Speaker 2 (28:08):
Am I allowed to ask who you picked a way
the whole thing.
Speaker 1 (28:11):
Sure, okay, I think Duke is the heavy favorite to
one at all. Sure should be. Yeah, I'll get with Duke.
Speaker 2 (28:19):
Not concerned about Flag Zacher.
Speaker 1 (28:21):
I would be concerned about it. But here's the thing.
I think Duke is actually good enough to win it
without Cooper Flag and if he's healthy, it just makes
him that much more of a favorite.
Speaker 2 (28:29):
When Duke played Kentucky and the uh what do they
call the Champions Classic? Yes, I thought kan k Nipple
was going to be one of the big villains of
college basketball. Just fits the profile. Never really took didn't.
Speaker 1 (28:39):
Develop that way. One didn't he wasn't really quite good enough,
and two he's not like kicking groins and tripping people.
That's kind of what you got to do as a
Duke white guy to be famous.
Speaker 2 (28:49):
I thought he was going to like own the mantle
and be like the guy that everybody hated. And you know,
he's on a team with Cooper Flag is probably gonna
be the player of the year in the country. Would
you go Cooper Flagg er, Jani.
Speaker 1 (28:58):
Broom, Cooper Flag.
Speaker 2 (29:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (29:00):
I love Cooper Flagg's game. I think he is perfect
not just for the NBA, but basketball at every level
right now. And he's a little bit of an old
school guy too. Everyone wants to spot up and shoot
the three. He can do a little bit of that,
but he really drives right at you and makes you
guard him without fouling, and that's tough to do.
Speaker 2 (29:16):
So if you had to pick a team, if you
had to put an amount of money that mattered to
you on one team to win it, it would be due.
Speaker 1 (29:24):
I mean, now we're getting too perceived odds. I would
still go with you.
Speaker 2 (29:27):
I'll go with you. Yeah. Uh, I want Houston to
win it. Here's yeah, here's why I hesitate. I don't
trust teams in March that aren't great at getting to
the free throw line. I agree with that, and they're
not great at getting to the free throw line.
Speaker 1 (29:41):
I also don't trust teams where their weakness is usually offense,
and not that they're not a good offensive team, but
at the end of the day, when teams try to
squeak wins out in the fifties or sixties, I don't
like that in the NCAA tournament, and that seems to
be what Houston always runs into. Eventually, they always run
into a team that just outscores.
Speaker 2 (29:58):
Now, you hear this when you talk to to Bearcat fans,
that Houston plays a brand of basketball that reminded a
lot of us of the UC teams that many of
us grew up loving. And that's why I'm rooting for them.
Speaker 1 (30:11):
Yeah, I think that's right. I see they remind me that.
That makes sense because the mc cronin era, it felt
like UC was trying to catch up to Houston and
do what Houston was doing. Yeah, the Bob Huggins era
felt more of like what Houston is.
Speaker 2 (30:24):
Yeah, yeah, where the brand is. And in frankly, I
think the brand sort of obscures how good they really are.
When he first got that program turned around offensively, it
was throw it up, have it come off the rim,
and go get it. That's not what they are anymore,
but they still have carried with them toughness, play hard defense,
(30:46):
rebounding and all of that looks familiar. And and so
I'm rooting for Houston from that.
Speaker 1 (30:53):
Perspective, I'm with you. I also think he's done such
a great job there. He's been so consistent. He was
a guy who had to revive his career over texting
rules that are silly to begin with in the first place.
You look at what we're doing now in college basketball.
It's like this guy used to be a villain and
label as a cheater in the sport, and now he's
been so consistent with the way he's built that program
that I'd love to see him break through because I
(31:14):
do like watching his staff.
Speaker 2 (31:15):
And you talked to you referenced something that we were
talking about off the air. It is interesting and even
like some of this applied to Sean Miller when he
got hired where at Xavier the second time, where it
was like, oh, yeah, got in trouble at Arizona And
my take was, yeah, you could pay players now, So
I don't care. And I'm watching Will Wade right just
being talked about as the guy at NC State. I
(31:36):
love the candor his press conference where his team's getting
set to playing the tournament at McNeice and he's asked
about have you been contacted by NC State and he's like, yeah,
I talked to him, Like I love that. So this
is a dude who had LSU, got in trouble for
all sorts of stuff.
Speaker 1 (31:49):
They're all kind of cool with now, Yes, And the
thing that's great about Will Wade is even going back
to the LSU situation, He's always been honest and the
only one who's been like, I understand what's going on
of you are playing in this fake world that isn't real.
Let me know when you want to come. Like I
can coach basketball, I can win you games, let me
know when you want me.
Speaker 2 (32:08):
So that's why I loved John Caliperry in his first
six to seven years at Kentucky. Yes they won a ton,
but he was like college basketball's most honest man. Look,
let's be honest about what we're doing here. I want
to use you to win games. You want to use
us to build a brand and jump to the NBA
after one year. Let's drop this illusion of it's all
(32:30):
about education. Let's drop this illusion that it's all about
school loyalty. Let's understand the transaction that's at play here
and get the most out of each other, and we'll
all benefit from it. He was painfully honest. A lot
of people didn't like it then and maybe still don't
like it now, But that's what I've always loved about
John CALIPERRAI I do too.
Speaker 1 (32:48):
It's fun to see the guys who are themselves and
who aren't afraid to speak the truth and are put
themselves out there and are still really good. And those
are two guys that I would put in.
Speaker 2 (32:58):
That guy, John Calipery have a team that can Kansas.
Speaker 1 (33:01):
He has a team that can be Kansas, because Kansas
isn't very good. But neither's John Caliperry's team. And I'll
be honest, I think he's lost his magic. I don't
think he's getting back. It's not that he can't coach anymore,
but I don't think he has that spark where they're
gonna make an impressive run as an underseeded team.
Speaker 2 (33:16):
Yeah. I mean, I think every Kentucky fan would would agree.
Speaker 1 (33:20):
You've just seen it too many times now in late
game situations and in big games. His teams do not
perform well and they look like a team that quite
honestly isn't always that well coached.
Speaker 2 (33:30):
But I do want to see John Caliperry coach against
Rick Patino in round two.
Speaker 1 (33:35):
It'd be unbelievable. The reports from the people in Lexington
who have covered those guys and the pettiness and how
much they actually hate each other Yeah, I'm dying for
that matchup to happen.
Speaker 2 (33:46):
Yes, I'm dying for I'm in. I don't know how
many years you've done this with me, but I can't
thank you enough.
Speaker 1 (33:52):
Yeah, we gotta be closing it on like a decade now, right,
it's been going on a while. Yeah, yeah, I love
doing it.
Speaker 2 (33:56):
Well. What we can do is we can add this
to like the list of things, you know, so we
could say NCAA tournament preview show regular.
Speaker 1 (34:04):
At some point, it's just going to get down to
where it's basically an intro for me when I come
on your show, and then like thirty seconds of talking
and then the segment's over, because that the longest part
of this show is now you reading off all.
Speaker 2 (34:15):
My next year, We're not even going to invite you.
We're just going to assume that you're you're gonna be here.
I'm in. Count me in unless the Norse are playing,
and then I'll you know what, I'll make I'll make
it to the show either way, and I'll drive to
whoever the Norse are if need be. I'm gonna hold
you to that.
Speaker 1 (34:30):
Count count me in.
Speaker 2 (34:31):
I'm gonna have Austin clip that audio and I'll throw
that back in your face.
Speaker 1 (34:34):
I will do it.
Speaker 2 (34:35):
Rick Prooring. Check out his website Musketeer Report dot com
full coverage of last night's Xavier win over Texas and
what lies ahead, which is a matchup tomorrow night in
Milwaukee against Illinois. We are here at the Holy Grail
until twelve noon. Austin Ellmore takes over since E three
sixty at noon. Chad Brendall hosts my show today at
(34:56):
three oh five. We are going to be here at
the Grail all day long watching hoops. We're here on
the air till twelve o'clock thanks to our friends at
cors Light on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports station
No one covers the Bengals like ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati's
sports station.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
All Right, what's up? Good afternoon, No, good morning, Good morning.
This is ESPN fifteen thirty. If you are expecting to
hear Clinton and Friends, that is being bumped today. Our
apologies to listeners of that show. Typically obviously, I'm on
ESPN fifteen thirty in the afternoon from three o'clock until six,
(00:29):
but let's be honest. During that time frame, I am
going to be where I am right now watching college basketball.
It is our annual NCAA tournament preview show. We are
broadcasting from downtown Holy Grail, which this week celebrated it's
fourteenth anniversary, it's fourteenth birthday. How about that. Congratulations to
the folks here at the Holy Grail, a must before
(00:52):
and after any Reds game, and a must if you're
out and about looking for a place to watch college
basketball today, tonight, tomorrow, tomorrow night. We thank them for
having us. We also thank the folks at Coors like
rabin Ice cold, Corus light and watch the tournament Mountain
Cold refreshment made to chill. We are here till noon
since he three to sixty comes your way when we're done.
(01:12):
Austin Elmore flying solo. If you're thinking of coming to
the ground, get here soon, because if you're one of
the first sixty four people in the door. We do
this every year. We give you a team. Now you
don't get a chance to pick the team, but we
give you a team, and if your team wins the
national championship, you win a weekend golf getaway thanks to
(01:34):
Bertram Golf. You can learn more about Bertram Golf at
Bertram goolf packages dot com. We also have Dave Matthews
tickets to give away. We have Is that a ball
signed by the entire nineteen ninety eight Kentucky Wildcats? Is
that what we have? That's a hell of a prize
National championship team. We've got a Rick Patino signed basketball,
We've got cors Light swag. We've got so much more.
(01:57):
And leading us off a guy who was working until
what time last night.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
It doesn't matter when it's March. We just go until
we sleep in May or whatever. John Rothstein said, I.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
Understand our guy, Rick Browing Musketeer Report dot com. Do
you have to list all your jobs?
Speaker 1 (02:11):
Here's the thing you always do this and you make
it out to look like I'm working seventeen jobs. One
of them you list is a podcast. It's one podcast
a week. It's just I do things that are fun. Mo.
I'm not working overly working. I'm not working too many jobs.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
Get it.
Speaker 1 (02:24):
Well, it's like a bit, you know, I don't like.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
No, it's not a bit. I don't even know what
you like. Let's say Xavier plays Friday tomorrow night and loses,
which we're gonna talk about last night's game, which you
were at. I don't know what you even do for
like the next six months, so you're kind of seasonally busy.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
Thank you. Yes, that's exactly right. It's not that I'm
overly working. I get people texting me about that when
you say it, and I'm like, it's not I'm at
home hanging out with my kid.
Speaker 2 (02:46):
Like in the middle of June. I have no clue
what you're doing.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
It's johnsfer Portal is always Well, that's that's true.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
Let's talk about last night. You were there at Udy Arena,
and first of all, we were just talking about this.
The atmosphere last night was awesome, and you would expect
it to because Xavier's closed the date. We get that,
but I was at that game in twenty fourteen when
they played NC State. The atmosphere was different. The atmosphere
last night seemed awesome. The game lived up to it,
the atmosphere seemed awesome.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
So I have a little scientific evidence to back this up.
I said, as we were sitting in the media workroom,
was that as loud as any Xavier home game this year?
To some of the other writers in new room, and
they're like, I think that sounds about right.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
Well.
Speaker 1 (03:24):
Sam Green, the photographer for the en Choir, had his
Apple Watch on. He said, well, it said it got
to one hundred and five decibels. Wait, no, one hundred
and thirteen decibels during the game, because I haven't seen
that all year. And he went through his watch data
and said he checked. He said the last time his
watch had registered something that loud, he was out filming
air fighter jets. Wow, that were roaring past him. So yeah,
(03:44):
I think it was pretty loud in UDI Arena.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
Probably louder than any date and home game as well this.
Speaker 1 (03:48):
Year, probably this year. Yeah, not typically.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
At halftime, I felt like Xavier was gonna win, And
that seems weird because they couldn't get any stops. Texas
is racing up and down the floor. They score forty
seven points. I think that's the most amount of point
Xavier is given up and a half and half and
the first half all season long. And yet I felt
like despite all the foul trouble that they dealt with
in the first half, despite this, Texas onslaught offensively. They
(04:16):
were right there. And so I was talking to my
wife during the game and I said, I think Xavier's Okay.
I'd be lying if I said I predicted Xavier was
going to win. But I think if you watched the
game and maybe didn't know what the score was, I
think you would have thought the game was a little
bit more lopsided. And I'm going, it's eight points. They
can overcome this, and they did.
Speaker 1 (04:34):
Yeah, that's exactly right. I think there was a point though,
after halftime, a little bit, you know, a few minutes
into the second half, where it started feeling again like, oh,
they just can't get stops against this text They.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
Got it back to ten with about thirteen to go,
and I started feeling nervous, and then.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
Xavier scored again, and then it went right back to ten. Again,
and it's like, I just don't know if this Xavier
defense is athletic enough to keep these Texas players in
front of them. And that's where I really give Sean
Miller and his staff a ton of credit the way
they were able to get the defense back on track.
The original game plan was, hey, we got to stay tight.
You can't let their athletes get downhill and drive through
(05:09):
the lane without us swiping and getting some help defense
in there. But early in the game they made those
four to threes in the first half and Xavier's defense
started expanding and they couldn't slow down the drives for
a long time. But at some point in the second
half they were able to find that defense again and
really tighten up, and it was really impressive down the
stretch what they.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
Did tighten up on defense. Dalan Swain had a lot
to do with that in the final eight nine minutes
of the game against Trey Johnson. And then the performance
of Marcus Foster last night. You know it's you and
I talked yesterday afternoon and in the course of leading
up to the game talking about how the Muskies beat Texas.
I don't recall Marcus's name coming up that often.
Speaker 1 (05:45):
Yeah. Well, the one time we talked about it when
you asked me, what what is Zager's biggest advantage in
this game, and I mentioned spot up shooting, and he's
one of the names I brought up because that's his game,
is not creating off the dribble, not making his own shot.
But if you leave him open or you let him
off the screen freely and catch and shoot, he can
do that. And it just so happened that he was
being guarded by Trey Johnson, the star freshman who's ready
(06:08):
to go to the NBA, and quite honestly, for the
last two months of the season, it's looked like on
the defensive end, he's had the NBA on his mind
because he has not paired at all.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
On that end.
Speaker 1 (06:17):
And Marcus Foster, to his credit, took advantage of that.
He punished Trey Johnson in the second half of that game,
scored sixteen of his twenty two in the second half,
and a lot of that was because the freshman just
wasn't tough enough defensive.
Speaker 2 (06:28):
The shot of the game arguably made by John Hugley.
And what's interesting is watching on TV. Look, that's I
get it, that's maybe not the shot you want, but
when he's open, he makes him.
Speaker 1 (06:37):
He's been proving that he can make that shot. He
has a ton of confidence and shooting that open three
as a trailer.
Speaker 2 (06:42):
I think twenty four or forty for the season, right,
something like that.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
I mean, it's a great percentage at this point.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
I don't know that Speir Odidius and Jim Spinnarko doing
the game for True TV, which this is great. This
is the four days a year I watched True TV.
I don't know that they knew that that's a shot
he can make and has often made it. This year.
He's got to be wide open, but he was last night,
and he can the three.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
In fairness, asking those two to be prepared and ready
for anything they're watching is a bit like Star eight games.
Eight games has been the last CBS broadcast in the
NFL for like fifteen years. Do you not move up
at all?
Speaker 2 (07:16):
He's like the voice of the Browns. Yeah, Jim's pernarcle's
pretty good. Usually, No, you know who? I don't know.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
I mean, maybe it's a wake.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
Well. I watch a lot of NBA League Pass. He
did the NETS games for years.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
If you're over seventy five, it's probably time to stop
and see that games. He's gotta be. He looked like
he was in the grave last night.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
Not a gym spinarcyle guy.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
It's not the best.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
Well, they were dramatically caught off guard by John Hughgley,
not just being open but making the shot. And I thought,
like when he started to lift and I thought, that's
a shot I seen to make.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
Yeah, admittedly it did catch me a little off guard
in that moment too, because that the the arena was
so tense at that moment and it was so proxavior.
They love John Hughley right now. Anything he does positive
it's a huge pop. I mean honestly, when that shot
went in, I thought the roof might come off.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
Yes, no doubt. All right, So now they go to
Milwaukee to play Illinois. Do you like this matchup where
do they have an advantage over the fighting alignment?
Speaker 1 (08:13):
It's hard to say you like a matchup with like
an eleven verse six and it's a talented team that's
going to score a lot of points. It can put
one hundred on you any given night. But what I
would tell you is I don't think it's a matchup
that presents the biggest issues for Xavier. What Xavier really
struggles with is teams that are very athletic, very long,
very tough defensively, that won't let them swing the ball around,
(08:34):
won't let them get their offense moving, won't let Ryan
Conwell get open for threes. And I don't think that's
Illinois m O. They want to get an up and
down game. They're fine with you scoring a lot of
points as long as they can shoot their threes and
do what they want to do. So in terms of
a six to eleven game, I feel like you've really
got a chance. If you're a Zavier fan.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
Yeah, I mean, yes, they're an eleven seed, and understandably
and deservedly so, I don't think that over the last
month they have played like an eleven seed like that.
Eleven is indicative the overall body of work, as it
should be, but the overall body at work is one thing.
How they've played over the course of really since the
first couple of Big East games, that's not an eleven seed.
(09:12):
That's not a first four in team. I get it,
I get why they were where they were, But if
I'm going like just January one, that's that's not a
that's not a first four in last four in team.
Speaker 1 (09:22):
Yeah, I think most people are familiar with Ken Poms
at dance Metrics at this point. Bart Torvik is a
site that basically does the same thing. But one thing
it has is you can sort by dates, so you
can say, just from this date to this date, how
has this team been playing? And when you do that,
for Xavier for the date range that you just mentioned,
they are top twenty five is in offense and like
(09:42):
top fifteen ish in defense. That equates to the type
of team that usually is a much higher seed and
is capable of making a run in the postseason. So
to your point, I think a lot of opposing coaches
that are looking at Xavier right now are saying, yeah,
this is a good team that we're playing. We better
be ready.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
All right, let me advance the cond to potentially Sunday.
What would you say about a Xavier Kentucky matchup?
Speaker 1 (10:05):
For Xavier a three seed that's all banged up and
is the exact type of matchup you're looking for.
Speaker 2 (10:10):
Not great defensively to begin with, much less so with
lamon Butler's issue, And.
Speaker 1 (10:14):
What would you say is Kentucky's biggest issue this year,
they're lack of athleticism. That's perfect Xavier. That's probably the
biggest concern for them matching up with higher seed teams
is are they going to be two athletic? Are they
going to be oversized for Xavier? And in that matchup,
I don't think they will be. And you pointed out
the Galant Butler situation, Jackson Robinson not being available. Kentucky
is so banged up that I'm just not sure you
(10:36):
can be confident what Kentucky team you're gonna get in
the postseason.
Speaker 2 (10:39):
Yeah. I talked with somebody late last night who's a
huge UK fan, and I said, like, from a Xavier perspective,
I like their chances against Kentucky more than I like
their chances against Illinois.
Speaker 1 (10:51):
I think that's right. Yeah, I mean, because Illinois has
multiple guys that are very healthy right now, and Will
Riley starting to play. One of their talented freshmen who's
like a six to seven ball handler Score is starting
to play really well right now. So they've got multiple
weapons that cause problems that scare you, where as Kentucky's like,
you kind of know who their guys are gonna be
right now with them being banged up, and you know
(11:11):
what you're getting.
Speaker 2 (11:13):
Did did Rodney Terry get tarmaced after the game? Did
they let it get on the team bus? How did
this work out? Buddy?
Speaker 1 (11:18):
It was done before we were out of the press conference.
The tweet was out there, and then all a sudden,
guys are looking at their phones and asking. While we're
there in the press conference, he said, it's in God's hands. Now,
that's a good way to look at.
Speaker 2 (11:28):
They shook hands, and I said out loud, like coach
Terry should have sean like, you got a gig, you
got an opening? Anybody leaving like any? I mean? That
was I had read the stories leading up to selection
Sunday that the word was he had to win two
games in March, and I didn't know if that math
changed with them having to play in the first four
if it was, you got to win three games. So
as the final seconds were unfolding, I thought, like, I
(11:50):
hope Rodney Terry's really enjoying himself, gets that first four pin,
and I hope they let him back on the team plane.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
The interesting thing is their athletic director, del Conte, is
known for having his next hire lined up. That's the
way it's been for the other sports, the big hires
he's made. So if that's the case, you got to
think there might be someone who's already been interviewed, already
been vetted, and ready to take that job. The question
is who is it? If that's the case, I mean,
he's a Grant mccaslan. The Texas sites are all writing
(12:19):
about Sean Miller after that game and the job he
did last night, So there are going to be that
could be a fast and furious job Sean Miller in Texas.
I don't think that's the case, But if you go
to Texas's sites today, the name that they're all bringing
up is Sean Miller because the job he did last night.
Speaker 2 (12:34):
That's just because they won the game last night. So
the fans are like, you know, frothinking about that they
want him or is that like a legitimate thing.
Speaker 1 (12:39):
No, it's it's because all of those sites, as recently
as this week, have been talking about the fact that
last time, when Rodney Terry got the job, he played
his way into the job by making that run in
the season to the Elite eight. Sean Miller was rumored
to be the top candidate on Texas's list that time. Obviously,
Rodney Terry beats Seawan Miller that year in the NCAA tournament,
so then it didn't happen been But now a lot
(13:01):
of Texas beat writers believe that Sean Miller would still
be a target.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
This is a stupid question. Why don't they just rehire
Chris Beard. He's coaching, he's in this tournament.
Speaker 1 (13:11):
You and I are in agreement on that. I think
when you're the school that was the one who fired
him for what happened is his whole domestic dispute situation,
it's a tough sell.
Speaker 2 (13:21):
To I don't know what happened with that situation. I
know the guy is coaching in the SEC right now,
right yeah, so, but he might have been toxic two
years ago. Doesn't strike me as that toxic.
Speaker 1 (13:31):
Here's the other thing. I don't know. Do you open
yourself up to lawsuits if you do that you fired
him for cause? Can you now bring him back and
say it's fine to bring him?
Speaker 2 (13:38):
I don't know how. I don't put it this way.
Speaker 1 (13:40):
Texas ain't hiring Chris Beard that much, I know, Okay,
But Sean Miller, perhaps you're gonna hear his name. I
can tell you that I do not think Sean Miller
is a top candidate right now from the Sean Miller
side of things. Yeah, but you're going to hear his
name right.
Speaker 2 (13:54):
It is eighteen minutes after ten o'clock. I want to
talk about the tournament as a whole, because I bet you,
like everybody has a bracket strategy. I bet you don't
know see and I know you well enough, yep. I
bet you You're just pick the teams you think are gonna.
Speaker 1 (14:09):
Win pretty much, and oftentimes I don't fill out a bracket.
I just kind of do the games as they're going.
You can you know you don't fill out a bracket.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
You're communist? What's wrong with you?
Speaker 1 (14:18):
Or I will Now I've got a sons. We got
to get into.
Speaker 2 (14:20):
My seven year old daughter this morning, filled out of bracket.
Speaker 1 (14:23):
Oh, let's kids fill out brackets.
Speaker 2 (14:24):
Yeah, she did it, she did it. I've got it
here in the most boring way possible until almost the
very end.
Speaker 1 (14:33):
What are you shaming? Bracket? Shaming your daughter? But public area,
But it's probably going to win. Yeah, that's how it works.
Speaker 2 (14:39):
That's why brackets are we'll run through her bracket when
we come back. Okay, we're here at the Holy Grail
downtown Cincinnati on the air until twelve o'clock. The games
tip off right around twelve ten twelve fifteen. Will be
here all after known Rick Boring Musketeer Report dot com,
uh on Twitter at Rick Boring and he's lost all
his other jobs, so that's all we'll talk about. It's
(14:59):
nineteen after ten o'clock here at the Grail on ESPN
fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Stage for ten o'clock This morning,
were at the Holy Crawl downtown Cincinnati, previewing the first
round of the NCAA tournament, talking about last night's Xavier
come from behind winning you the Arena over Texas and
Rick Boring reporting that Shawn Miller's leading candidate Texas.
Speaker 1 (15:20):
How why are you doing that? Xavier people. I'm not
trying to do this. I'm not trying to start. That's
just let's let's be and talk about on Texas.
Speaker 2 (15:30):
That's what's being talked about on Texas sites. That doesn't
mean there's any validity to it.
Speaker 1 (15:33):
Yeah, but but I mean I do think the Texas
writers believe Sean Miller will be a candidate, all right,
well not Brad Underwood.
Speaker 2 (15:42):
Xavier beats them. Brand Underwood's a good coach.
Speaker 1 (15:44):
I think they should just keep going with the transit
of property all the way through the tournament. That's like, right,
right now, Xavier's the coach. But if Illinois wins, then
Brad Underwood is the next coach, and then if Kentucky wins,
Mark Pope would be your next coach, and you just
go from there.
Speaker 2 (15:57):
I'm going to tell you something that has nothing to
do with anything, all right. We broadcast from the Final
Four in twenty fifteen. Kentucky was him. Yep. We did
the Final Four radio row. You get all these coaches,
and most of them I had no interest in talking
to Chris Mack. We had a lot of interest. Chris
had no interest in talking to anybody else, so he
did like eight segments with us.
Speaker 1 (16:15):
It was great, talking about Bengals and Reds.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
Yes, it was awesome. It was like he sought us out.
He's like, can I just like go on with you
so I don't have to talk to this station in
San Francisco whatever. But the only other coach I really
enjoyed talking with was Brad Underwood. Really genuinely nice guy.
We talked about. He worked for Bob Huggins, had been
at Stephen F. Austin, Like I think he might have
still been at Stephen F. Austin. But he was the
(16:39):
guy that I enjoyed talking with the most.
Speaker 1 (16:41):
I don't mean this negatively. I've never heard anything bad
about Brad Underwood, but I don't think I've ever heard
someone say that before, like, Oh, he's a great personality.
Speaker 2 (16:47):
I enjoyed talking with him. And Ben Hallan.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
I've heard Ben Hallen's a very engaging guy, very nice guy.
Speaker 2 (16:52):
And Ben Hallen was cool because he coached at Northern Arizona.
When you see beat them in the NCAA tournament.
Speaker 1 (16:58):
Oh, I bet he appreciated you bringing that up.
Speaker 2 (17:00):
Northern Arizona almost won the game, but then Dwan Baker
hit a three with like four seconds to go, broke
his heart and he was cool talking about it.
Speaker 1 (17:07):
You gotta appreciate that.
Speaker 2 (17:08):
I do appreciate that, all right. Uh, since you're like
the zager guy, can we talk about the Big East
teams in the tournament? Sure? Uh? How much how much
pause should I have.
Speaker 1 (17:21):
For Saint John's I want to love the Saint John's team.
I want to pick Saint John's. I did pick them
into the final four. I want to pick them to
win it all potentially. Yeah, there's just the fact that
you worry about some team throwing a junk defense out
there and they just can't make a shot and they
find themselves in that situation. But they they've got a
(17:41):
really fun team to watch. They play super hard. Their
style feels chaotic, but it's really organized, and they have
the best coach of all time, Rasino leading them. For
saying that gives me a lot of confidence.
Speaker 2 (17:54):
Look, there's that, but there is that butt.
Speaker 1 (17:56):
What is the butt that they can't shoot and that
that concerns you.
Speaker 2 (17:59):
I think for a lot of the butt is it's
what we used to say about Houston that you need
you need the right whistle six raight games.
Speaker 1 (18:07):
Where you can foul and not get called. And I
can foul trip, but.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
I think that don't foul to the way that Houston
did when Calvin Samson really got the program going. But
they're really physical.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
I think that's right. The other issue they have is
they got a really difficult bracket. I mean, Florida's plain
as was anyone in the country. That's in the same
region as them, and there are a few other teams
in there that have a chance to make a run,
So that would concern me as well.
Speaker 2 (18:27):
People get mad at me when I say exactly what
you just said, that Rick Patino is the greatest college
basketball coach of all time.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
I mean, you can have an argument against him being
the greatest of all time, but there's no argument that
he's in the conversation oh know that about him?
Speaker 2 (18:40):
I mean, he's he might not be the greatest human
being of all time. That's not what we are care
about that. That's not what college basketball coaches. I'm not
looking for great human beings. If he gets Saint John's
to a Final four, after he did that at Providence,
got Kentucky to multiple final fours, international title, got Louisville
to multiple final fours, international title, which still happened, and
(19:00):
then gets Saint John's to a Final four, Are you
kidding me?
Speaker 1 (19:03):
That would be incredible.
Speaker 2 (19:04):
I guess the greatest of all time?
Speaker 1 (19:05):
Yeah, I mean I already believe he is. But if
he does that, I don't think there's any conversation that
can be had about anyone.
Speaker 2 (19:11):
And to do it across like multiple eras of the sport.
You know, he was a guy. This is what's interesting
to me about Saint John's and a little bit more
so year one, last year than this year. I guess
when they weren't very good. But at Kentucky he shows
up and they embraced the three. Even in Providence before
he got to Kentucky. They're shooting more threes than anybody. Well,
now everybody's shooting threes and Saint John's really doesn't shoot him.
Speaker 1 (19:32):
Yeah, and he's still winning. Yeah, he's always reinventing himself
and fine, like all these older coaches, you hear complaining
about the sport's ruined. I'm ready to get out. Rick
Patino's coming up with new idea after new idea for
the nc LA and how they should change the sport
to evolve even farther.
Speaker 2 (19:46):
Yeah, that's why I like Rick Patino. It's why I
like Tom Izzo. You know you're right. Jay Wright leaves,
Mike Krushcheweski leaves, Tony Bennett leaves him. Fine, like changes
him for everybody. I understand it. I like the ones
who said it and go okay, fine, like this this
is what it is. I'm still great. I'm still resourceful.
I'm gonna figure out a way to make it work.
Speaker 1 (20:04):
Yeah, I don't like the whininess of it all. It's
like you cast your checks for tens of millions of
dollars over the course in the last decade or however
long for some of these coaches. Don't whine on your
way out. If it's time for you to leave, that's fine,
but quit telling us that the sport's been ruined. Uh.
Speaker 2 (20:16):
What do you make of Creighton versus Louisville?
Speaker 1 (20:19):
Great first game to start this thing off. Louisville's obviously underseated.
They shouldn't be there. R Creighton's a really dangerous team
in that eight and nine game two that can make
a run. I think everyone's on Louisville because they were
underseated so much, But I think Creighton's just as dangerous,
and I think that's gonna be a fantastic game.
Speaker 2 (20:38):
Yukon. It's weird for a Yukon team to be flying
under the radar, but they are.
Speaker 1 (20:43):
They are, and that would make me concerned about in
their bracket.
Speaker 2 (20:46):
Yes, I don't think that Oklahoma team's especially good. They're susceptible,
they're susceptible. Porter Moser really hasn't been the same since
he left the old nun at Loyola.
Speaker 1 (20:56):
Yeah. Yeah, since the don't get Jed Demuci started on
her sister Jean. Sister Jean. He's not a fan of that, really, Yeah,
just taking up too much of the shine from the
I understand.
Speaker 2 (21:07):
During that run, could you name any Loyola players? No,
but you can name sister Jean who didn't score a point.
Speaker 1 (21:12):
And after the fact, we're still running. She's like Dicky V.
We're still runner out there. She's in the grave already, Like,
let her die with some dignity. We don't have to
keep runner back out there for clicks.
Speaker 2 (21:20):
While we're talking about leagues, you're familiar with Robert Morris
out of the horizon, Bobby Moo will play Alabama, who
can't guard anybody. Do you give Bobby Mo a chance
to be competitive?
Speaker 1 (21:30):
No, unfortunately not. I think Alabama is just a really
difficult matchup for most teams, but especially sixteen seed type teams.
That's a tough team to upset. But Bobby Mo was
a fun story this year, and Andy Tool, their head coach,
saved his job, right, I mean he had not done
anything since they moved up to the Horizon Le.
Speaker 2 (21:45):
He was going to get waxed.
Speaker 1 (21:46):
He was very likely.
Speaker 2 (21:47):
Was he going to get rod?
Speaker 1 (21:49):
Yeah, and he found a way to lead him to
a championship in the regular season and the tournament and
now he's dancing.
Speaker 2 (21:54):
Did get an extension for that?
Speaker 1 (21:55):
I would hope, so get one of those deals he deserves.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
You like a Kelvin Keats where it's like, man, we
want to fire this guy, but now they're good and
we're stuck with him, and then they fire him a
year later.
Speaker 1 (22:03):
But here's the terrible thing. If you're Andy Toole, Yeah, okay,
you've built this thing. You finally got the chance to
make the run. And now you've got two players that
are definitely going to the transfer because they just played
really well.
Speaker 2 (22:12):
But it isn't that like just the reality of like
let's say NK, you won the Horizon League tournament and
they're playing today regardless of how they do within twenty
four to forty eight hours with the portal opening Monday,
aren't we reading the same thing? The players are gonna.
Speaker 1 (22:29):
Bolt absolutely and they embrace it now. I mean, Darren
Horn just said on The Darren Horn Show this past
week when we recorded it. That it's it's almost like
a minor league situation now, and every year is year
to year. You're trying to build the best roster for
that year, and once it's over, you move on to
the next season. You don't try to hang on to
something you had last year that worked if guys are leaving.
Speaker 2 (22:48):
How'd Marquise worked for Missouri this year?
Speaker 1 (22:51):
Had a nice year, came off the bench the team. Yeah,
obviously the team. Obviously he's not going to play nearly
the same role he did at NKU there, but he
made some big shots for them, He played some portin
minutes off the bench for them, and obviously cashed a
huge check this season. So it worked out really well
for him. It's exciting, Yeah, it is. It's awesome.
Speaker 2 (23:06):
Do you want to hang out for one more segment
or do you want to give way to Richard Skinner,
Shannon minor Dan Hortz coming later?
Speaker 1 (23:12):
It's your show. I'll do whatever you want.
Speaker 2 (23:14):
I like talking to you.
Speaker 1 (23:15):
I love talking to you.
Speaker 2 (23:16):
Great, very good. Rick Brooring Musketeer Report dot com And
since you mentioned it, the host of the Darren Horne
TV show right which I can watch again because they
put Fandool Sports Network back on aulta Fiber.
Speaker 1 (23:27):
We're back, baby, Yeah, I can watch myself again.
Speaker 2 (23:30):
That's really nice. James and James Repeene's on all the time.
If you're ever like at a place like this and
a Red's game has been over for an hour, there's
James Rapine.
Speaker 1 (23:40):
Or if you're ever in like a dark situation you're
in your house at two thirty in the morning watching
Fandel Ohio, Yeah there's James.
Speaker 2 (23:46):
There's James. I can't tell you how many, Or like
you watch the Reds game the night before and then
you went to bed and you turn on the TV
the next day and it's still on the channel you
had on last night. There's James Rapine.
Speaker 1 (23:58):
That's tough to wake up to.
Speaker 2 (23:59):
You know, he got his start on my show.
Speaker 1 (24:01):
People forget that, they do. Yeah, he was your producer
who struggled as a producer and now he's a great
as a talent. He's struggling well, you know, pretty good.
He was doing his best.
Speaker 2 (24:10):
But I gave him.
Speaker 1 (24:11):
Yeah, that's why I should have said. You made it
hard on him, and you you ridiculed him a little bit.
Speaker 2 (24:16):
I ridiculed him a lot.
Speaker 1 (24:17):
Yeah, and now he's a star.
Speaker 2 (24:19):
He is a start. He's twenty eight away from eleven o'clock.
We're here at the Holy Grail downtown Cincinnati, thanks to
our friends at Coors Light, Hot Bracket, Cold Refreshment, COR's Light.
Stay refreshed with Coors Light, round after round here till noon.
Be one of the sixty first sixty four in the
door we have room for you. Get a team, your
team wins the title, you win a weekend golf getaway
(24:41):
thanks to Bertram Golf. It is a twenty eight from eleven.
NCAA tournament preview show rolls on on ESPN fifteen thirty,
Cincinnati sports station. Sincey three sixty.
Speaker 1 (24:53):
It was such a disappointing loss for many reasons last night.
It's our playground for sports fans like you.
Speaker 2 (24:59):
Really since he's three.
Speaker 1 (25:01):
Sixty today at twelve noon on ESPN fifteen.
Speaker 2 (25:05):
Thirty, twenty four away from eleven o'clock. This is ESPN
fifteen thirty. We are broadcasting today from the Holy Grail
until twelve noon. Richard Skinner's going to join me, and
at eleven o'clock in less the Bengals go sign a guard.
Then he's Brandon shirt run out and go cover that.
We want to thank our friends at Sports Investments. Sports
(25:26):
Investments is the Tri States leader in the finest memorabilia.
Check them out on Montgomery Road in Montgomery and at
sports investments dot com. They have given us some really
cool stuff to give away. I'm not a UK fan,
but I would like that ball signed by the ninety
eight national title team.
Speaker 1 (25:42):
Yeah, that's pretty cool. I mean that's college of basketball history,
not just Kentucky correct.
Speaker 2 (25:45):
Yeah. I would like the Rick Patino ball as well,
and then I would pull it out of the case
and write greatest coach of all Time underneath his signature.
Speaker 1 (25:52):
I don't know if that helps the value or hurts it,
but I would I would like that probably doesn't help.
Speaker 2 (25:56):
Yeah. Is there a lower seated team you like?
Speaker 1 (26:01):
I don't know about lower seeded, but I'll give you
my Final four dark horse. Yeah, Michigan. Okay, I like
Michigan one. I mean just the run they put on
the Big Ten Tournament I thought was impressive. Saw them
early in the season when Xavier played them and they
smacked Zavier. I thought they looked tough to match up with.
I saw them late in the season they still looked
really difficult to match up with. They just seemed to
me like a team that's been consistent throughout the season.
(26:22):
They've played at a high level, and they can win
in different ways. They have some talented, tough guards that
can score, but they also have a couple of really
big front court players that can give you some serious
problems inside as well.
Speaker 2 (26:33):
On my daughter Crosley, her bracket has Michigan beating UC
San Diego but then falling to Texas A and M.
Speaker 1 (26:40):
Well, in that case, let me change my pick. Texas
A and M is the team we need to be
talking about.
Speaker 2 (26:45):
So here's the strategy that she and it's a good strategy,
although lazy. She just picked the higher seeded team in
every game until we got to Saint Mary's versus Alabama,
and then suddenly, out of nowhere because we went left
to right right, so they're all the way on the
right side. Suddenly, out of nowhere, she decides, I like
Saint Mary's, like the Gaels the Gaels.
Speaker 1 (27:07):
Yeah, yeah, naturally.
Speaker 2 (27:08):
I don't know. Every other game she picked the higher
seeded teams, and I think she's going to win the
pool that I will enter her.
Speaker 1 (27:16):
I don't hate that strategy.
Speaker 2 (27:18):
No, not at all. Yeah, the rest of us adults,
we get all cute about it, and she's like, yeah,
I'm just gonna take the teams that are. She would
ask like, all right, so the one means it's better
than a sixteen. I'm like yeah, She's like, cool, well
then I'm taking Auburn And then we just went on
down the list.
Speaker 1 (27:33):
Yeah, it's perfect. It's the midwit memal, you know if
you've ever seen that online. But it starts out as
like the simpleton says like the most basic things, like, well,
that team's better than that team, right, I'll just pay
that team yeah, And then all the experts get lost
in the middle. Yeah, and then the truly enlightened ones
get back to right where you start. It goes, I'm
just going to pick the best team, right, Like that
seems like the right way to do it.
Speaker 2 (27:51):
Well, it is the one sporting event where the people
who put it together tell you who should win.
Speaker 1 (27:56):
And the last two years, the higher seeded teams have
crushed from against the spread perspective, which has not been
historically the case. But we've sort of seen a transition
the last few years.
Speaker 2 (28:08):
Am I allowed to ask who you picked a way
the whole thing.
Speaker 1 (28:11):
Sure, okay, I think Duke is the heavy favorite to
one at all. Sure should be. Yeah, I'll get with Duke.
Speaker 2 (28:19):
Not concerned about Flag Zacher.
Speaker 1 (28:21):
I would be concerned about it. But here's the thing.
I think Duke is actually good enough to win it
without Cooper Flag and if he's healthy, it just makes
him that much more of a favorite.
Speaker 2 (28:29):
When Duke played Kentucky and the uh what do they
call the Champions Classic? Yes, I thought kan k Nipple
was going to be one of the big villains of
college basketball. Just fits the profile. Never really took didn't.
Speaker 1 (28:39):
Develop that way. One didn't he wasn't really quite good enough,
and two he's not like kicking groins and tripping people.
That's kind of what you got to do as a
Duke white guy to be famous.
Speaker 2 (28:49):
I thought he was going to like own the mantle
and be like the guy that everybody hated. And you know,
he's on a team with Cooper Flag is probably gonna
be the player of the year in the country. Would
you go Cooper Flagg er, Jani.
Speaker 1 (28:58):
Broom, Cooper Flag.
Speaker 2 (29:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (29:00):
I love Cooper Flagg's game. I think he is perfect
not just for the NBA, but basketball at every level
right now. And he's a little bit of an old
school guy too. Everyone wants to spot up and shoot
the three. He can do a little bit of that,
but he really drives right at you and makes you
guard him without fouling, and that's tough to do.
Speaker 2 (29:16):
So if you had to pick a team, if you
had to put an amount of money that mattered to
you on one team to win it, it would be due.
Speaker 1 (29:24):
I mean, now we're getting too perceived odds. I would
still go with you.
Speaker 2 (29:27):
I'll go with you. Yeah. Uh, I want Houston to
win it. Here's yeah, here's why I hesitate. I don't
trust teams in March that aren't great at getting to
the free throw line. I agree with that, and they're
not great at getting to the free throw line.
Speaker 1 (29:41):
I also don't trust teams where their weakness is usually offense,
and not that they're not a good offensive team, but
at the end of the day, when teams try to
squeak wins out in the fifties or sixties, I don't
like that in the NCAA tournament, and that seems to
be what Houston always runs into. Eventually, they always run
into a team that just outscores.
Speaker 2 (29:58):
Now, you hear this when you talk to to Bearcat fans,
that Houston plays a brand of basketball that reminded a
lot of us of the UC teams that many of
us grew up loving. And that's why I'm rooting for them.
Speaker 1 (30:11):
Yeah, I think that's right. I see they remind me that.
That makes sense because the mc cronin era, it felt
like UC was trying to catch up to Houston and
do what Houston was doing. Yeah, the Bob Huggins era
felt more of like what Houston is.
Speaker 2 (30:24):
Yeah, yeah, where the brand is. And in frankly, I
think the brand sort of obscures how good they really are.
When he first got that program turned around offensively, it
was throw it up, have it come off the rim,
and go get it. That's not what they are anymore,
but they still have carried with them toughness, play hard defense,
(30:46):
rebounding and all of that looks familiar. And and so
I'm rooting for Houston from that.
Speaker 1 (30:53):
Perspective, I'm with you. I also think he's done such
a great job there. He's been so consistent. He was
a guy who had to revive his career over texting
rules that are silly to begin with in the first place.
You look at what we're doing now in college basketball.
It's like this guy used to be a villain and
label as a cheater in the sport, and now he's
been so consistent with the way he's built that program
that I'd love to see him break through because I
(31:14):
do like watching his staff.
Speaker 2 (31:15):
And you talked to you referenced something that we were
talking about off the air. It is interesting and even
like some of this applied to Sean Miller when he
got hired where at Xavier the second time, where it
was like, oh, yeah, got in trouble at Arizona And
my take was, yeah, you could pay players now, So
I don't care. And I'm watching Will Wade right just
being talked about as the guy at NC State. I
(31:36):
love the candor his press conference where his team's getting
set to playing the tournament at McNeice and he's asked
about have you been contacted by NC State and he's like, yeah,
I talked to him, Like I love that. So this
is a dude who had LSU, got in trouble for
all sorts of stuff.
Speaker 1 (31:49):
They're all kind of cool with now, Yes, And the
thing that's great about Will Wade is even going back
to the LSU situation, He's always been honest and the
only one who's been like, I understand what's going on
of you are playing in this fake world that isn't real.
Let me know when you want to come. Like I
can coach basketball, I can win you games, let me
know when you want me.
Speaker 2 (32:08):
So that's why I loved John Caliperry in his first
six to seven years at Kentucky. Yes they won a ton,
but he was like college basketball's most honest man. Look,
let's be honest about what we're doing here. I want
to use you to win games. You want to use
us to build a brand and jump to the NBA
after one year. Let's drop this illusion of it's all
(32:30):
about education. Let's drop this illusion that it's all about
school loyalty. Let's understand the transaction that's at play here
and get the most out of each other, and we'll
all benefit from it. He was painfully honest. A lot
of people didn't like it then and maybe still don't
like it now, But that's what I've always loved about
John CALIPERRAI I do too.
Speaker 1 (32:48):
It's fun to see the guys who are themselves and
who aren't afraid to speak the truth and are put
themselves out there and are still really good. And those
are two guys that I would put in.
Speaker 2 (32:58):
That guy, John Calipery have a team that can Kansas.
Speaker 1 (33:01):
He has a team that can be Kansas, because Kansas
isn't very good. But neither's John Caliperry's team. And I'll
be honest, I think he's lost his magic. I don't
think he's getting back. It's not that he can't coach anymore,
but I don't think he has that spark where they're
gonna make an impressive run as an underseeded team.
Speaker 2 (33:16):
Yeah. I mean, I think every Kentucky fan would would agree.
Speaker 1 (33:20):
You've just seen it too many times now in late
game situations and in big games. His teams do not
perform well and they look like a team that quite
honestly isn't always that well coached.
Speaker 2 (33:30):
But I do want to see John Caliperry coach against
Rick Patino in round two.
Speaker 1 (33:35):
It'd be unbelievable. The reports from the people in Lexington
who have covered those guys and the pettiness and how
much they actually hate each other Yeah, I'm dying for
that matchup to happen.
Speaker 2 (33:46):
Yes, I'm dying for I'm in. I don't know how
many years you've done this with me, but I can't
thank you enough.
Speaker 1 (33:52):
Yeah, we gotta be closing it on like a decade now, right,
it's been going on a while. Yeah, yeah, I love
doing it.
Speaker 2 (33:56):
Well. What we can do is we can add this
to like the list of things, you know, so we
could say NCAA tournament preview show regular.
Speaker 1 (34:04):
At some point, it's just going to get down to
where it's basically an intro for me when I come
on your show, and then like thirty seconds of talking
and then the segment's over, because that the longest part
of this show is now you reading off all.
Speaker 2 (34:15):
My next year, We're not even going to invite you.
We're just going to assume that you're you're gonna be here.
I'm in. Count me in unless the Norse are playing,
and then I'll you know what, I'll make I'll make
it to the show either way, and I'll drive to
whoever the Norse are if need be. I'm gonna hold
you to that.
Speaker 1 (34:30):
Count count me in.
Speaker 2 (34:31):
I'm gonna have Austin clip that audio and I'll throw
that back in your face.
Speaker 1 (34:34):
I will do it.
Speaker 2 (34:35):
Rick Prooring. Check out his website Musketeer Report dot com
full coverage of last night's Xavier win over Texas and
what lies ahead, which is a matchup tomorrow night in
Milwaukee against Illinois. We are here at the Holy Grail
until twelve noon. Austin Ellmore takes over since E three
sixty at noon. Chad Brendall hosts my show today at
(34:56):
three oh five. We are going to be here at
the Grail all day long watching hoops. We're here on
the air till twelve o'clock thanks to our friends at
cors Light on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports station
Mo Egger News
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