Softy & Dick 3-10 Hour 3: Paul Allen & Mike DeCourcy, Fun w/ Audio

In the third hour, Dave Softy Mahler and Dick Fain chat with Paul Allen, Vikings’ Play By Play Voice, about the Seahawks signing Sam Darnold, then get some Fun with Audio before talking to Mike DeCourcy about Duke, Cooper Flagg and more NCAA basketball.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Re receivers right, Sam Darnald out of the shotgun. Jones
picks up a blitzer passed right, caught Addison to the
dam touch down Jordan Addison makes it thirty four to
twenty one, and for Sam Donald, that's a high five.
For the first time in his career, He's thrown five

(00:22):
touchdown passes in.

Speaker 2 (00:24):
The game, back to pass.

Speaker 3 (00:25):
And he's taken down for a nach time.

Speaker 2 (00:28):
Eight sacks on Sam Donald.

Speaker 4 (00:30):
He's holding it too long.

Speaker 2 (00:32):
Just run rowing man dodgeez, oh geez. That guy. He
could have stuck around.

Speaker 5 (00:38):
He could have been a legend in Minneapolis, but the
Vikings said, no, we're gonna stick with the kid. We're
gonna stick with JJ McCarthy and let Sam Donald walk
to Seattle to be the savior the Seahawks have been
looking for instead well joining us right now on the
air by Salton pepper haired Midwestern football savant, best buddy

(00:59):
from Minneapolis from KFA and the voice of the Vikings,
Paul Allen with us, PA, how are you, Paul?

Speaker 1 (01:05):
Hey?

Speaker 3 (01:05):
What's going on? Boys? We've got to be serious.

Speaker 1 (01:08):
It involves a team losing a quarterback who was quite accomplished,
and a team within the last what forty eight seventy
two hours, losing a quarterback to a former coach and then.

Speaker 3 (01:20):
Getting a new quarterback. So what do you need?

Speaker 2 (01:23):
Well, let's talk about all of it.

Speaker 5 (01:24):
I mean, JJ McCarthy obviously is there for a reason
because you think he's going to be a star down
the road. But why wasn't Sam Darnald re signed by
the Vikings? Why not bring him back? And maybe he
had a legend and maybe JJ McCarthy's need doesn't recover,
But why is Sam Darnald a Seahawk and not a
Viking anymore?

Speaker 6 (01:41):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (01:42):
I don't with respect, I don't think they operate in
hypotheticals like that, softman. So you know, the plan when
you go one to ten with Sam is that he
leaves an organization and a coaching staff. As much as
Seahawks fans you know, may not, I want to hear it.
The Niners staff has some high end to it and

(02:04):
it bears its fruit in many different ways. So when
he got out of that Carolina jet situation, he just
needed to be turned out for a little bit, kind
of like a racehorse, you know, with.

Speaker 6 (02:13):
Some kind of attendant, and just had to go.

Speaker 1 (02:15):
To a farm and run in the bluegrass of Lexington,
Kentucky for a year, then you come back and race.
So now Donald comes into a system and a coaching
staff led by the coach of the Year where clearly
it worked.

Speaker 6 (02:31):
Clearly when O'Connell has.

Speaker 1 (02:33):
Had to use Josh Dobbs that they squeeze as much
passing out of him as they possibly can a couple
of years ago until he throws a hospital ball to
Justin Jefferson and that was the expiration date Darnald. Clearly
they squeezed super high in play out of him, and
to follow it during the course of the year, from

(02:54):
the Giants game all the way through the nine sacks,
it was fascinating to watch.

Speaker 3 (02:59):
Sam Arnold pushed through three terrible.

Speaker 1 (03:02):
Interceptions at Jacksonville, tried to throw a couple more of
the next game against Tennessee, and then go lights out
for a month and a half. And it also was
fascinating during the course of the equation to and this
is an underappreciated facet of Sam Darnold last year that
I just don't think enough people put enough emphasis on.

(03:22):
The Vikings running game was okay. You know when Kenneth
Walker's rolling man. You know, it's just not that consistently. Secondly, TJ.
Howkinson missed half the year, so you know, whether you
like TJ or not, he's probably a top eight tight end,
so he didn't have him half the year. And when
they were playing Thursday night football at SOFI, they lost

(03:45):
Christian Darisol left tackle for the year, and that's one
of the three best left tackles in the NFL maybefore.
Uh So, Okay, it was shrewd and swift to get
Cam Robinson and he mostly helped until the end when.

Speaker 3 (03:58):
He fell apart.

Speaker 6 (03:59):
But so that's Donald in totality, okay.

Speaker 1 (04:03):
And the O'Connell staff after the Shanahan staff is a
backup to Purty that plays a major factor into this.
I don't know Mike McDonald. I know Leslie Fraser incredibly well.
I talked to him a lot about the staff and
it's just about what he loves there, what he loves
about McDonald. And you've got Clint kobiec Now I know

(04:23):
him really well. Clint really has blossomed over the years
and absolutely earned that situation.

Speaker 6 (04:31):
Now the land the plane on Sam.

Speaker 1 (04:32):
Here's the a topic all right, when it comes to
why wouldn't the Vikings go either a deal three years,
you know, fifty five promise whatever, one, O one, whatever
it is. When they grafted McCarthy, Okay, he's off the knee,
but clearly they think he's doing well. Daniel Jones trapped
on the practice squad. He's the new horse with the
tendon who needed to be turned out from the New

(04:54):
York market. And Daniel Jones is expected, if needed, to
be the next Sam Darnald. Okay, that's not maybe he will.
It's what they've seen with Dobbs, Nick Mullins and Sam Donald.
It's not maybe. It's expected around here.

Speaker 3 (05:13):
Okay.

Speaker 1 (05:13):
So now finally, on Donald, here's your a topic, man,
and you and I shoot straight, all right. That nine
sack playoff game. I ain't putting a lot of that
on Sam. You played the vitriolic highlight because that's what
you do, and it's been on social media and I
was screaming and cool the game before. That's a major problem, Okay.

(05:34):
It's a major, major problem in the equation because the
most pressure Sam Donald felt all of his career as
the lead vocalist for this band that won fourteen games
was that standalone game Sunday night at Ford Field, where
the winner gets the one and five times inside the
red zone, specifically around the ten. The protection was good,

(05:58):
the play calls got the guys over, and the guys
ran the right routes.

Speaker 6 (06:02):
And he missed five touchdowns, not two, not.

Speaker 1 (06:05):
Three, He missed five, and the Lions were begging to
get beat. So when I bring that up to general
manager Quasiado flamensat the Indianapolis scouting combine two weeks ago,
and you know, I'm not bulldog journalist guy, but I
stuck to my guns. I'm like, you know, He's like, Okay, well,
if you shoot ten three pointers and you miss two,

(06:26):
kind of like what I'm talking about there, where you're
still laid to ten. Yeah, but if you missed the
two in the biggest situation of the year, that rules everything. Sure,
So I couldn't get that out of my mind this offseason.
I got and I kind of always knew that Darnald
wouldn't be the quarterback this year because of McCarthy.

Speaker 6 (06:43):
But that's your.

Speaker 1 (06:43):
Synopsis, and it also needs to be fairly taken into
account what he pushed through this year after being beamed
a third overall pick failure, and you're getting a good
quarterback if he can handle the press, sure in the
right moment.

Speaker 5 (07:01):
Well, okay, so Paul Allen's with us, and before Dick
jumps in here, I want to just put yourself in
our shoes, all right, because you know Sam Donald better
than us. You saw him play more than we did.
You have an idea what Clint Kobix wanting to do
in Seattle? If you were Scottie Seahawk fan in Seattle
looking for an upgrade at quarterback, looking to get back

(07:23):
to the glory days of Russell Wilson's heyday as a
Seahawk when he was an MVP candidate. Here maybe a
top five QB in the NFL. Have we found the
guy in Sam Donald?

Speaker 1 (07:36):
Well, you know the how do you feel about the
offensive line?

Speaker 2 (07:41):
Not great right now? But ask me in a month.

Speaker 3 (07:44):
Okay.

Speaker 1 (07:45):
Now, the Vikings the Minnesota Moving Company when it was
Darisaw over to right tackle Brian O'Neill, Well, we were
onto something, man. Darisaw goes down, You've got to make
some changes. The Vikings don't run, I mean they may
run fifty three percent of the time, just runs a
different way and it's more of the identity, which is needed.
So with Donald now Clint Kobiak, you know his father Gary,

(08:09):
with the zone reads and the bootlegs. You're gonna love
when Sam.

Speaker 3 (08:13):
Darnald goes on a bootleg.

Speaker 1 (08:15):
Okay, and I'd bet a lot of money that Clint's
gonna call a lot of bootlegs obviously off play action.
You're gonna love that. Sam's athletic ability is fantastic. Sam's
accuracy is mostly fantastic. Again, there were patches last year
like I don't know, five to six and do it.
We're at Jacksonville and like my radio show the next day,

(08:36):
Vikings win like nine six or ten to seven or something,
and Jacksonville ain't great, and I'm like, he is Sam
Darnald who they said he was, which was ridiculous when
people were like, why are you gonna give anybody ten
million dollars? Didn't you watch the Jets or Carolina?

Speaker 3 (08:54):
All right?

Speaker 1 (08:54):
I mean, Sam wasn't great there. But if some fool
thinks justin Jefferson and TJ. Howkinson putting double moves is
synonymous with Robbie Anderson and Ian Thomas, then you need
to start you need to start following lacrosse, okay, because
they do things a little differently here, and so Sam
gets into all that. He responds, bushes through stuff and

(09:17):
was super tough, super super tough guy. So when it
comes to the next Russell Wilson, man, I got a
lot of respect for Russy's Hof. I can't say Sam
is Hof at the stage of his career, but I
can't say.

Speaker 6 (09:29):
That about Geno either.

Speaker 1 (09:31):
So you know you have with Kubiak and with that
staff and with the deliberate nature taken with Sam Darnold,
you will get productivity out of him and that that's
pretty much the only way I can see it right now.

Speaker 4 (09:42):
Well, I'm gonna alter Softi's questions just a little bit.

Speaker 3 (09:44):
Pa.

Speaker 7 (09:45):
I don't believe we have the answer necessarily as the
next Russell Wilson. But I feeled that we got better
at quarterback. But you're the one that saw Sam Darnell
a lot more than I did. Do you feel the
Seahawks got better at quarterback?

Speaker 3 (09:58):
Yeah?

Speaker 6 (09:58):
And you guys saw Geno Smith.

Speaker 3 (10:00):
More than me.

Speaker 6 (10:00):
So I mean, you know you're you're gonna magnify.

Speaker 1 (10:04):
The metaphorical warts or the problems with Gino every bit
as much as I'm gonna do the same thing with Sam.

Speaker 3 (10:11):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (10:11):
Yeah, Darnold is the better quarterback at this stage of
their careers.

Speaker 6 (10:14):
I would rather have those two.

Speaker 1 (10:17):
But again, okay, so say you get things going on defense,
you resigned on Jaren Reed, you get you get.

Speaker 6 (10:22):
A lot of things going all right?

Speaker 3 (10:24):
Uh, the Smith and Jigma is unbelievable.

Speaker 1 (10:27):
I mean it's I hadn't watched him a lot till
we were there live last year.

Speaker 3 (10:30):
Are you kidding me with that thing?

Speaker 6 (10:32):
So that's he's high end.

Speaker 1 (10:34):
So yeah, good starting points here, But when you get
in that biggest game at the end of the season
and all the pressures on you, you got to push
through that, then I think he's good.

Speaker 5 (10:44):
Well, the great Paul Allen's with us. I hope you
guys are learning something out there. These opportunities to hear
him speak don't come along very often. When they do,
I hope that you take something from the conversation the
way I do. Just got a text from my wife,
by the way, Paul that said, I love Paul Allen.

Speaker 2 (10:59):
He's great on the air. So you have a champion.

Speaker 6 (11:01):
Oh that's the two oh six number.

Speaker 2 (11:04):
That was a time, could be could be?

Speaker 5 (11:06):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, if if the number starts with the
three of, that's her. But Paul uh tell us about
what kind of leader he is, because look, anytime a
guy takes off, there's always gonna be some dirt that
comes out from underneath the rug. And we're seeing some
of that with DK Metcalff and Gino. Smith's that maybe
they didn't get along and the relationship wasn't what we
thought it was going to be exactly. He's gone, what

(11:27):
about Sam Donald as a leader? What about a community guy?
What about a locker room presence? What about with the
young guys as a mentor?

Speaker 1 (11:35):
Tell us about the guy Vikings won a game near
the end of the season might have been the penultimate.
And your your fan base vast and ever expanding as
it is, and you and Dick Vane and producer Jackson,
you can all do the same thing. Just go to
the YouTube machine and like search. You know, Sam Darnold
picked up or they, I mean it was blew up

(11:58):
on social media. We win a game and they elevate
Sam in the locker room before O'Connell does his talk,
his speech, and he's sitting there waiting patiently.

Speaker 6 (12:08):
They were so in love with Sam.

Speaker 1 (12:11):
They like picked him up, like just think Buddy Ryan
back after the Bears won that Super Bowl and walk
him around the locker room.

Speaker 6 (12:18):
It kind of had a feel of for he's a
Dolly good fell Over.

Speaker 1 (12:22):
He's a Dolly good fell Low. And there's your answer
right there. So okay, you know, I think if you've
got players and coaches and executives and all that to
open veins about that darnold game at Ford Field, I
don't know if they'd say it as directly as I did.
And I have a lot of Bokays to throw at Sam,
and I threw him at you. But if that game

(12:42):
right there, man, it's that he then I'm telling you
where they were just loving on him and elevated him
and walked around loving on him. That was like two
weeks before that. So the whole thing doesn't flip as
like he's a leader. He's not a leader. He's good,
He's not good. That's not the case. That Lions game
was maybe the biggest game in the history of the

(13:05):
National Football League regular season.

Speaker 3 (13:07):
Some people called it that.

Speaker 1 (13:09):
And when the protection's right and the calls good and
they run their routes the right way, and you're inside
the twenty and inside the ten, and you missed two
of them, all right, I can deal with that. If
you miss five, that's tough.

Speaker 5 (13:22):
Well, we know that Gino at times would take off
and run. I wish he would have run more, to
be honest with you, when he was here, and there's
a play against us when you guys came here, the
game winner to Jefferson, the whole shot to Jefferson where
he steps up in the pocket and delivers that laser
beam to Jefferson down the sideline in the corner. And
he showed some mobility. Maybe not on the run, but

(13:43):
he showed some mobility. How much of that does he
have left in his game in your mind?

Speaker 3 (13:47):
Oh?

Speaker 1 (13:48):
Man, Sam made terrific throws. You know, I don't know
if it was Sam or if it was O'Connell. Sam
didn't make as many fifty to fifty throws as cousins.
You know, he just didn't like Kirk. You know, Kirk
can take a ton of chances early in his run here,
but the more comfortably got, specifically when O'Connell got here.
Just think of that Buffalo game in twenty twenty two

(14:08):
and that right sideline pass to Jefferson. Okay, I mean
it's cousins would recognize there's Jefferson.

Speaker 3 (14:15):
I think that single. I'm going at it.

Speaker 1 (14:17):
Sam played differently, played more conservatively. But the play calls
here are good.

Speaker 8 (14:22):
Man.

Speaker 1 (14:23):
You don't run up the offense and become coach of
the Year and win fourteen if you don't know offense.
They saw it in Seattle when we came out there,
and that's with a running game that that hasn't been
great over the last three years. So Sam carried this
thing to a certain extent. But that's great. Let's go
to Emerald Downs. Let's bet five hundred dollars on a
horse who leads to the final sixteen and then all

(14:45):
of a sudden does the moon walk and we lose
our cash.

Speaker 7 (14:49):
PA, you talked about Daniel Jones JJ McCarthy kind of
being what you feel like the answer is, so you
would dispel all of these Aaron Rodgers of Minnesota rumors?

Speaker 1 (14:58):
Yeah there, I mean how who I mean what I mean? Like,
how's that come up? I mean, honestly, seriously, I had
the opportunity last night, for whatever the reason God chose,
I got to call my first.

Speaker 3 (15:11):
NBA game of my life. Oh right, nice night.

Speaker 1 (15:14):
Yeah, it was Timberwolves hosting San Antonio Spurs Radio Guide
to do TV, so they asked me to do it.
They brought in the cartoon character, and so I'm all
focused on that yesterday and Devin Visell this and Anthony
Edward's that, and people started asking me about that of
the game, and I'm like, who in the who says that?
I mean, how's that gonna happen? I mean, that'd be

(15:36):
really cool. You bring somebody in, you know, somebody who's
really interested.

Speaker 3 (15:40):
In raising JJ McCarthy.

Speaker 1 (15:41):
That just absolutely seems like Aaron Rodgers' personality, right, And
then all of a sudden, you're getting ready for mandatory
mini camp and they're looking around the quarterback room and
they're like.

Speaker 6 (15:50):
Where's Aaron. Oh he went to Egypt. Oh that's cool.

Speaker 2 (15:54):
Yeah, I forget it.

Speaker 5 (15:55):
Well, I'm glad he's not coming here because I said,
if the Hawks signed him, my tattoo Fane's face on
my ass. So I'm glad I don't have Dick's face
on the butt.

Speaker 6 (16:02):
To be honest with you, you can do better than that.

Speaker 7 (16:04):
Yeah, absolutely, I can do. Your face on my ass
is probably where it belongs to.

Speaker 1 (16:07):
Be honestly, well, with the way you treat me on
your radio show, that's how it could be.

Speaker 5 (16:11):
You know what, You're a freaking god out here, man,
all right, you get treated like a kid.

Speaker 3 (16:15):
I'm gonna first and foremost I'm a god nowhere. Uh.

Speaker 6 (16:18):
Secondly, if I were to like use.

Speaker 1 (16:20):
A metaphor or some type of analogy with my butt
compared to you, that would then you would be like
my dingle berry.

Speaker 5 (16:27):
Yeah, yeah, it's actually your face on my ass, not
your butt.

Speaker 6 (16:31):
There we go.

Speaker 2 (16:32):
Florio is a human dingle.

Speaker 1 (16:33):
You're still so sour about the York strand Yanni's bord
move that you're taking it out on me.

Speaker 2 (16:40):
Right, can't get over it?

Speaker 5 (16:41):
Man? And then and now Turbo Tannem is gone. My
heart's breaking in a million pieces. Paul, you're the man.

Speaker 1 (16:46):
What great not to turn this into nine in the
noon on KFA And I'll ask you questions, But what
do you think of Michael McDonald?

Speaker 7 (16:53):
Of Mike McDonald, I love him as a defensive coach.
See if he can fix the offense.

Speaker 5 (16:57):
I mean it seems like, Paul, it it seems like
and we went through this with Carol. Defensive head coaches
get no criticism when the offense sucks, and offensive minded
head coaches get no criticism when the defense sucks. I
thought they were the head coach, which meant both sides
of the ball.

Speaker 6 (17:16):
Yeah, you know.

Speaker 1 (17:16):
I mean I sat down with Leslie for about thirty
minutes of the combine. I mean, he O'Connell and a
handful of others are just like my favorites all time
in two plus decades, and you know, really a narcissistic
and image conscious type of world and game. And Leslie
has a lot of great things to say about that
coach man. And you know, before the before our game

(17:38):
out there last year, I watched in press conferences and
he just gets it. He just impresses me with the
way he handles humanity. So I think you're onto a
good one. I hope Sam succeeds at an extremely high
level because I like stories like Sam Darnold, with the
exception of when the Vikings come back there to beat
your chickens, and if it's needed here for whatever the reason,

(18:00):
don't be surprised if Daniel Jones is the next Sam Darnold.

Speaker 5 (18:05):
Pat Paul, Pat Peter, whatever the hell your name is.
There's one thing you're forget. There's one thing I've been
called that too. There's one thing you're forgetting about the
Vikings in Seattle.

Speaker 1 (18:14):
By the way, Vikings may never win a game in Seattle, Washington.

Speaker 2 (18:19):
Don't forget that.

Speaker 1 (18:20):
Yeah, you know what frustrates me most about that call?
May I share with you before we leave?

Speaker 2 (18:26):
Yeah, we're getting later here, but go ahead, make it quick.

Speaker 1 (18:29):
I split my infinitive. It's play it again. You want
to hear it again. The Vikings may never win a
game in Seattle, Washington. It's never may win. It's not funny.
I split my infinitive. I wrote you a day to
day for five years. I know the Associated Press style book.

(18:50):
Is there a guy up there named Bob Lucindatta or something.

Speaker 2 (18:53):
Yeah, Bob Condata covers the Hawks for the Times, right.

Speaker 8 (18:55):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (18:56):
If he's listening right now, he's smiling because he knows
what's flit.

Speaker 3 (19:00):
Infinitives are yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 (19:01):
Well he did.

Speaker 6 (19:02):
You know what?

Speaker 5 (19:02):
If he's hearing this show, then he's in trouble. All right, man,
you're the best. We'll talk soon.

Speaker 1 (19:06):
Man.

Speaker 2 (19:06):
Appreciate it, pal, Yeah, I love you, guys, man, all right,
I love you? Okay, you bet?

Speaker 1 (19:10):
Paul Allen, the Vikings may never win a game in Seattle, Washington.
With us on the show, We'll come back in recap
what's been a crazy day so far next on ninety
three three KJRFM.

Speaker 9 (19:21):
Love from the R and R Foundation Specialists Broadcast Studio.
Now back to Softie and Dick on your Home for
the Huskies and the Creek in Sports Radio ninety three
point three KJR FL.

Speaker 5 (19:34):
So I think the question has to be asked. We're
back here at the edbra Queen Casino Sportsbook. Safie Dick
Jackson with you until seven o'clock tonight. We got Mike
de Corsi joining us at six pm. Little Fun with
Audio coming up in five forty five Heavy Heavy NFL
Seahawks DK Gino Sam Darnold Edition on Fun with Audio.

(19:55):
Are the Seahawks a better team today before they make
any more move was in free agency? Before they draft
one player in the draft. Are they a better team
overall today than they were on Thursday night when all
of us went to bed, before the Seahawks traded Gino
Smith on Friday and Jackson started getting all sweaty during

(20:16):
a break freaking out.

Speaker 2 (20:19):
Are we a better.

Speaker 5 (20:19):
Football team today than we were on Thursday night when
all of us went to bed.

Speaker 4 (20:23):
Are you including the draft cofference?

Speaker 2 (20:24):
I'm not.

Speaker 7 (20:25):
I'm just including everything everything. You can include everyone.

Speaker 4 (20:28):
Yeah, oh yeah.

Speaker 5 (20:29):
They haven't drafted a player, they haven't signed a free
agent yet technically, but you're including that.

Speaker 7 (20:34):
You're including the second and THI everything everything. They have
better football team because those draft picks could be all bums.
The money they spend in free agency could be all bums. Right,
we have no idea what those guys are gonna do.
We're gonna hope they play well. But the reason why
I bring it up is this because Vegas thinks they're
a better team. Vegas has the Seahawks championship odds here

(20:54):
at the Emerald Queen going from five thousand plus five
thousand to plus four thousand. Their odds of winning the
NFC have gone from plus three thousand to plus twenty
two hundred. So Vegas doesn't know who they're drafting. Vegas
doesn't know who they're gonna sign a free agency. Vegas
has no idea who's gonna replace DK Metcalf, and they
think just by having Sam Donald on the roster as
your quarterback over Gino Smith that they're a better team.

(21:16):
They're closer to a title today than they were four
days ago. I think they clearly are, particularly with the
fact that you just added a second and a third
round draft pick, which you can use as chips to
move up if you need to in the second round
or move up in the first round.

Speaker 4 (21:31):
I mean, you're you're going to be.

Speaker 7 (21:33):
I am much more convinced right now that the Seahawks
are going to the playoffs than I was seventy two hours.

Speaker 10 (21:41):
Actually feel that way, No, No, I don't feel that way,
because the reality is we haven't fixed the offensive line,
and I think that Sam Donald is Honestly, I viewed
Sam Donald and Gino Smith as about the same quality.
Like if if we're talking about Sam Donald being the
top of I don't know, Tier four of the NFL quarterbacks,
g know, being at the very bottom of tier three,

(22:02):
I don't know. Either way, I view him is about
the same player. So then you lose DK Metcalf, You
get a second and third run draft pick. Hopefully one
of them goes to a wide receiver and or something
early in the draft goes to a wide receiver, so
you fill the slot there. You use a healthy Kenneth
Walker more. But we just don't know about the offensive line, guys.
And I have said it before and I'll say it again.

(22:25):
This team will go as the offensive line goes. If
we fix the O line and Sam Darnold has time,
then I think will be a good enough offense to
get to the playoffs. But if we don't make if
we draft another Christian Haynes, who he thinks good and
then is a total zero, then no, it's not gonna
be better, and we're not gonna go to the playoffs,
and we're gonna be the same spot we are nine

(22:46):
to eight, ten and seven, and I'm gonna be just
as angry in eight months as I was three months ago.

Speaker 2 (22:51):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (22:51):
Look, I mean, here's the thing. They've upgraded at quarterback.
We think that maybe an upgrade at quarterback can make
up or some deficiencies on the offensive line. Number two
and then number three. I do think that Jackson is
correct though, in that when they hired a new coordinator,
it didn't matter who the coordinator was unless you fix

(23:12):
the offensive line.

Speaker 2 (23:13):
You go out and you got a quarterback.

Speaker 5 (23:14):
It's not gonna matter who the quarterback is unless you're
gonna fix the offensive line. So unless you're having access
to Joe Burrow or Josh Allen or somebody of that
ilk who's a superstar and elite quarterback, all these other
guys are gonna need some help, right. I mean, Sam
Donald obviously, to get to the point he was out
a year ago, needed some help.

Speaker 7 (23:34):
Even if you have Joe Burrow, that doesn't guarantee here
in the playoff.

Speaker 5 (23:37):
Because we saw nothing like that version of Sam Donald
until he got to Minneapolis. And it's possible that he
did find something. It's possible that at the age of
twenty seven he matured and said ding the light one on,
he figured it out. But I look, I'm not panicking
about anything. I think the Hawks are a better football
team with Sam Darnold than Gino Smith. But I also
think in the in the grand scheme of things, what

(24:00):
are we talking about doing going from ten and seven
and losing the tie breaker to ten and seven and
maybe winning the tiebreaker and making the playoffs?

Speaker 7 (24:08):
Is that really what we're doing here? Or are we
really trying to win another title?

Speaker 5 (24:13):
Well, you ask, and you make the super Bowl and
go deep into the playoffs, I'm asking you, are they better?

Speaker 7 (24:17):
You're saying, yes, that's all I'm saying. They're playing the
super Bowl team. You just asked me if I was
if they're right. So you're saying, Jackson, that you don't
even believe that they're better.

Speaker 10 (24:24):
I think that they're honestly about the same right now.
But the best part about that is if they're the
same right now, then they have the whole draft to
get better.

Speaker 4 (24:34):
They just can't screw up.

Speaker 2 (24:35):
So John, I mean you said earlier.

Speaker 10 (24:37):
Softie, this is John Schneider's time. If he screws this up,
it and if we if if Sam Donald is eh
and we go eight to nine and the draft picks
don't hit, then sorry, John Schneider, Like we're gonna have
to start having real conversations about your well, some people
at graving.

Speaker 5 (24:55):
Those yah, And I think if they struggle and get
off to a bad start, those voices will get louder, yeah.

Speaker 2 (25:00):
Beginning of next year.

Speaker 5 (25:00):
And I mean, just think about what Jody Allen has
allowed John Schneider to do.

Speaker 2 (25:05):
And some of this was with Pete Carroll.

Speaker 5 (25:07):
I get that, but she's allowed John Schneider to get
rid of the greatest quarterback in Seahawk history. She's allowed
John Schneider to fire the head coach is the greatest
head coach in Seahawk history. She's allowed John Schneider to
hire a thirty five year old, first team, first time
head coach, hire an offensive coordinator, and fire the guy
after one year. And now she's allowed John Schneider to

(25:28):
get rid of another starting quarterback in Gino Smith, and
maybe one of the top three or four wide receivers
in the.

Speaker 2 (25:33):
NFL in Dk Metcalf.

Speaker 5 (25:35):
She has allowed John Schneider a lot of leeway to
do whatever he wants to do, and at some point
that runs out.

Speaker 7 (25:42):
John Schneider does not have the luxury that Jerry Depoto has,
where Jerry Depoto has the well, what's the luxury that Jerry?

Speaker 4 (25:50):
I can't fix the offense.

Speaker 7 (25:51):
I don't have enough money to fix the John Schneider
has Clark Blonche to build the roster. However, he wants
to build the roster and spend his resources the same
amount of resources that every other team has. However, he
wants to spend those resources, So it's all on John Schneier.

Speaker 5 (26:08):
I feel like I feel like the last remnants of
the Pete Carroll era went away when Gino Smith and
Dk Metcalf got traded, right, like, this is now John
Schneider's team.

Speaker 2 (26:19):
Yeah, because Gino was a Peat guy. Dk was a
Pete guy.

Speaker 5 (26:23):
People have said that the biggest reason why they drafted
Dk Metcalf was because Pete Carroll.

Speaker 7 (26:27):
Loved how many starters took us close off. For God's
sakes of the combine.

Speaker 4 (26:30):
How many guys.

Speaker 7 (26:31):
Will start for the twenty twenty five Seahawks, Right that
started for the twenty twenty three.

Speaker 5 (26:36):
Twenty three col Kenny Walker still here, Abe Lucas and
Charles Cross were still there. Defensive backs. Reek Wolan was here,
he was a guy. Witherspoon was there.

Speaker 2 (26:48):
But the list is getting smaller.

Speaker 6 (26:49):
Yeah for sure.

Speaker 5 (26:50):
So this this really does now with the with the
departure of those specific two names, this feels like John
Schneider's baby. Now, this ain't Pete Carroll show anymore. This
is John Schneider's baby, and he's molding it in his
freaking image. We're gonna break a little fun with audio
coming next on ninety three three kJ A RFM.

Speaker 9 (27:11):
It's now time for someday in Dick's Fun with Audio,
Jimmy G.

Speaker 2 (27:16):
Pawn Star Jimmy, mister Garoppolo.

Speaker 9 (27:18):
Now let's have some fun with audio.

Speaker 5 (27:21):
All right, boys and girls, we are back of the
amro Queen Casino sportsbook. Mike de Corsi sporting new who's
gonna join us? We've been talking football all day long.
We're talking a little college basketball with Mike Duke.

Speaker 2 (27:32):
Is your new number one?

Speaker 5 (27:33):
Auburn lost a couple of games, but are they still
the number one overall seed? We're gonna find out with
Mike de Corsi coming up next segment. Courtesy of our
friends at the Northwest Handling Systems. All right, a little
fun with audio slash. Hey did you hear that? Hey, Dick,
did you happen to hear that?

Speaker 4 (27:48):
What's that?

Speaker 2 (27:49):
Dick? Let's start. Let's go in reverse order if we can.

Speaker 5 (27:52):
Jackson uh Nick Wright was on FS one today and
gave his thoughts on the Seahawks swapping out Geno Smith
for Donald at quarterback.

Speaker 11 (28:01):
I don't think he's a good of a quarterback as
Gino Smith, so I know he had a better year
last year than Gino Smith. I don't seattle. This is
a little puzzling to me. I think they pretty clearly
just got worse at quarterback. And I know they got
a second round pick in the moving off Geno Smith's
and that is valuable, But it feels to me like

(28:23):
this is a mistake teams make a little too often,
which is falling in love with a guy who had
a great game against you. The last great Sam Donald moment,
maybe the greatest Sam Donald moment of his career, was
the game against Seattle. So I don't understand Seattle's rationale here.

(28:45):
I understand why Vegas wanted Gino because Pete Carroll's there.
I don't under when I saw that Seattle was moving
on from Lockett, moving on from Metcalf, moving on from Gino,
I said, okay, they're doing a kind of a quick
turnaround rebuild, maybe looking quarterback in the draft, or maybe
looking bridge guy. This isn't really a bridge contract. So

(29:08):
this is a little puzzling to me.

Speaker 5 (29:10):
K W Well, first of all, the second round pick
they got was in the DK deal.

Speaker 2 (29:15):
The third round pick was in the Geno deal.

Speaker 5 (29:18):
I mean, look, I don't agree with him that they
pretty clearly got worse at quarterback. I think that's a
little aggressive, actually very aggressive by Nick Wright.

Speaker 2 (29:27):
But there are a lot of people out there.

Speaker 5 (29:29):
Who have the take that GINO excuse me that Sam
Darnold has to prove that last year wasn't a fluke
end the story. A lot of people believe that, whether
right or wrong, there's a lot of folks Dick that
have that opinion about it.

Speaker 4 (29:40):
I think Nick Right is fantastic here.

Speaker 2 (29:43):
It comes. He as good as.

Speaker 7 (29:44):
There is on TV, I think right now. But he
was all alone in that take on the show today.
Kevin Wilds disagreed with him, Chris Broussard disagreed with him.
I believe when they got brought Greg Jennings on to
talk about it, he disagreed with him, and the Seahawk
fans disagree with him. I put a poll out today.
I just said, very very simply, who's who's a better quarterback?

Speaker 6 (30:04):
Gen R?

Speaker 4 (30:04):
Donald? Sixty three percent, said Sam Donald.

Speaker 7 (30:07):
And so what does that mean that it was the
right deal? Absolutely was the right deal.

Speaker 5 (30:12):
But that does but not because of the pole, No, No,
not because of the people on Fox.

Speaker 2 (30:16):
No.

Speaker 5 (30:16):
I'm just saying that there's a lot of folks out
there that do agree with Nick Wright that I think
there's a small concern from some folks that Sam Darnald
has an ability to turn into a pumpkin, and we're
gonna find out. We're gonna find out pretty fast, and
I think the Seahawks. If you're gonna make this work,
John Schneider has to do his job. If this is
gonna work, He's got to give him the support that

(30:38):
he needs. Because we know one thing, Dick about Sam Darnold.
He's had one great year and it happened to take
place in Minnesota with Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison, Noah Hockinson,
and Aaron Jones playing indoors. He's got to give him
a support to make this work, even.

Speaker 7 (30:54):
If he turns into a pupkin. Let's not forget prior
to the JV game that ended the season against the
ram I'm right, Gino had seventeen touchdowns in fifteen in
or sing yes yes, Sam Donald at his worst would
be that.

Speaker 5 (31:07):
Well, there's a lot of people out there you also
as well, who will say things like and you were
one of him. You were criticizing the play call thing
a lot last year. People criticize the play calling, They
criticized the offensive line, they criticized this, they criticized that,
you know, Smith in a better system would do this.
You know, Smith in a better system would do that.
So I think there's just a lot of unknowns for
me about this whole thing. I have no problem saying

(31:29):
I don't know when it comes to some of this stuff.
And I do think that Sam Donald is a better quarterback.
I do feel pretty comfortable saying this, Sam Donald is
a better quarterback now than he was two years ago.
How much better is he? Is he that much better
the guy that we saw in Minnesota? Maybe not that
much better? But is he a hair under there? Is

(31:49):
the true Sam Donald? Meaning a guy that can make
anybody around him better no matter what system he plays in.
Is the true Sam Donald eighty percent of what we
saw a year ago?

Speaker 2 (31:59):
Probably he probably seventy five eighty percent.

Speaker 5 (32:01):
But I think Jackson's correct that this is still gonna
be on John Schneider to fix the god darn line.
Give this guy some protection and give him some people
to throw to, and that's gonna happen. I mean, I
cannot wait to sit here in a month from now
and do this show and look at what this team
looks like in a month versus what they look like today.

Speaker 2 (32:21):
All Right, all right, Hey Dick, did you happen to
hear that?

Speaker 3 (32:25):
What's that? Dick?

Speaker 5 (32:26):
Greg Rosenthal NFL Network says, there's one thing the Seahawks
did not consider when they made the swap of Gino
Smith for Sam Darnold at quarterback.

Speaker 12 (32:36):
Okay, first of all, you know, for Gino fans, we're
you know about Dome.

Speaker 2 (32:39):
Gino.

Speaker 12 (32:40):
Gino's great in the Dome, He'll be fine in Vegas.
I think you look at the Donald move on paper,
and you look at the contract, it's very similar to
the one that Baker Mayfield got a couple of years ago,
and so it does make sense. In some ways. He's
much younger seven years, he's cheaper. You look at Clint
Kubiak's offense, that's the type of system that Darnald thrived
in a year ago. It all makes sense. But one

(33:03):
thing they haven't thought about. Okay, Gino Smith is better
at football, the sport of football. So when he throws
the ball, it goes exactly where he wants it to go.

Speaker 2 (33:14):
Before the play starts.

Speaker 12 (33:16):
Gino Smith gets a picture in his head, and after
the play starts, he has an even clearer picture in
his head.

Speaker 2 (33:21):
And he's very smart at.

Speaker 12 (33:22):
Understanding what is happening out there on the football field.
I question whether Sam Donald does that as well, but
I do understand with the change in the system, that
was the one part of the equation that for Seattle
in a vacuum, it does make sense. But we don't
live in a vacuum.

Speaker 1 (33:39):
Gino Smith is better.

Speaker 5 (33:40):
Well, there's that's the second guy that agrees they made
a mistake. I don't think they did, but that's another
person that says they made a mistake. It's gonna be fascinating, Dick,
to watch this develop and watch Sam Donald here in
Seattle and Gino in Vegas and kind of compare the two.
I know it's gonna be different systems and all that stuff,
but these two guys, whether fair or unfair, are gonna

(34:00):
be compared to each other all season long by the
fan base, all season long.

Speaker 7 (34:03):
No question, isn't what he was you said, Greg Rosenhal, Yes,
isn't what he was just talking about something that Hughess
criticized Gino about more than just about.

Speaker 2 (34:13):
Anything, not making the right call.

Speaker 7 (34:14):
I'm going to trust a guy that breaks down the tape,
okay for hours, all right, good after good game.

Speaker 2 (34:21):
Good.

Speaker 4 (34:21):
Then a reporter from Indiana.

Speaker 5 (34:23):
Because Humanlan is concerned the Jackson Smith and Jig but
may not have a great year because DK's gone.

Speaker 7 (34:27):
Sure, I don't always have to agree with them, but
I'm gonna, I'm gonna, I'm going to I'm gonna trust
him when it comes to film breakdown more than Greg Rosenthal.

Speaker 5 (34:36):
Well, I think it's gonna be great just to watch
this drama development and just see how these guys perform,
because Gino is gonna be motivated, Darnold's gonna be motivated.
It's gonna be fun. Hopefully we'll be the beneficiary. We're
gonna break Mike de Corsi's Sporting News Big ten Network
Selection Sundays six days away. Will yak about it next
On ninety three three kJ IRFM, It's.

Speaker 9 (34:56):
Time for the latest on the madness of March. Here's
Hall of Fame college basketball writer for The Sporting News
and Fox Sports lead brecketelligist Mike Decorsi. Brought to you
by Northwest Handling Systems. From forklifts to pelletracks, conveyors to
loading duck equipment, we sell, rent and service all your
warehouse he needs request a quote today at NWHS dot

(35:18):
com or give us a call at four two five
two five five zero five hundred now with Mike Decursi,
here's Safti and Dick.

Speaker 5 (35:26):
All right, boys and girls, back here on a busy
Monday from the Emerald Queen Casino Sportsbook. Where, by the way,
if you want to win our King of the Court contest,
come on down here and grab a table, Grab dinner,
grab breakfast, grab a suite for you in three buds,
stay overnight watch all the basketball games. Get to the
website ninety three to three KJR dot com, the Softing
Dick Page.

Speaker 2 (35:46):
Enter to win that right now.

Speaker 5 (35:47):
Big thanks to our friends at Northwest Handling Systems for
sponsoring the shindig every single Monday. On the radio show,
we get to talk some college basketballs. We are just
six days away from selection Sun and Mike de Corsi
back with us from the Big Ten Network in the
Sporting News.

Speaker 2 (36:04):
How are you pal, Hi, guys?

Speaker 6 (36:07):
What's going on?

Speaker 2 (36:08):
Not much?

Speaker 5 (36:09):
I was sitting at a bar on Saturday night watching
that Duke North Carolina game I looked up in North
Carolina made it close for what seemed like about fifteen
seconds so until Duke Duke blow him out of the
water late in the second half there, and now we
have Duke is the number one for the first time
since twenty twenty one. Can you just talk about the
job that John Shire has done taking over for Mike

(36:31):
Krzyzewski and the unbelievable albatross of pressure that was on him,
and how impressive it is getting them the number one
now for the first time in four years.

Speaker 8 (36:41):
Well, it is a lot of pressure, and because I
think there's an expectation now that Duke's going to do
it a certain way, because they have the ability to
do a certain way, and that is get the absolute
best of the best recruits. The John Caliperi machine is impaired, say,
it's not going to flow at the level that it

(37:03):
did when it was at Kentucky while he's at Arkansas.
He's still going to get some great players. But Duke
had already edged ahead in that race to get.

Speaker 6 (37:12):
The very best.

Speaker 8 (37:14):
They did it in twenty fifteen, twenty nineteen, multiple times
along the way in between, and obviously when they got
Polo Bankaro would be another example.

Speaker 6 (37:25):
But I think that this year getting.

Speaker 8 (37:29):
Cooper Flagg was they absolutely had to have him and
making sure that he was positioned to be the best
possible player that he could be, and then figuring out
around him what worked and what didn't. And eventually when
they put Sea on James at point guard, I think
that was the last step.

Speaker 6 (37:46):
To this being a truly outstanding team.

Speaker 8 (37:49):
They didn't know exactly how they were going to play
point guard. They tried Caleb Foster there, it just wasn't working.
I think Caleb is a really good college shooting guard
and a really good college point guard, and they ultimately
figured that out, and then they put Sea on there.
And after they did that, they became outstanding. So the
ability to be flexible and to not wait till you

(38:12):
were way behind it to make that significant change in
how you did things. But he made it, as I remember,
I don't remember whether seonce started the Auburn game that
I was at, but it was right around that time
or very shortly in early December that he decided he
recognized that he had to make that change, that they
were going to be exceptional.

Speaker 7 (38:34):
Well, Mike, you mentioned Cooper flag I got my Wooden
Award ballot in the email today at nine o'clock in
the morning. It is now open and Cooper Flagg is
right there with Jani Broom for favorites of Player of
the Year. Have you selected your Player of the Year
as of yet or is it still open to interpretation
with two weeks left in the ballot.

Speaker 8 (38:54):
Well, I don't vote for the Wooden Award. I'm not
the biggest fan of how they do things, but I
do vote for the Naate Smith and we have some
time left on that, and the Sporting News will present
our Player of the Year this week. So I'm a
bit averse to announcing what I what I intend, what
we intend to do as a as a as a company,
Will will He'll be out. That will be out on Wednesday,

(39:16):
along with our National Coach of the Year award. But
I can say that this is maybe the most fascinating
Player of the Year race that I've that I've covered
and that I've voted in. Wow, because it is.

Speaker 6 (39:29):
I remember when Adam Morrison got.

Speaker 8 (39:32):
USBW A gave vote gave both he and JJ Reddick
a share of their trophy.

Speaker 6 (39:38):
It was so it was a very close.

Speaker 8 (39:40):
Competition and I thought that that for me, JJ was
pretty much a clear winner that year. This year, I
think you can go either way. It depends on what
you want to reward. In the case of Cooper, I mean,
he's the best talent we have. In many ways, he's
the best player. But there's also the that he did

(40:00):
it in a league that wasn't really extraordinary.

Speaker 6 (40:04):
I mean, that's that's being too current. I mean they
were awful. I mean it was awful by by ACC standards.

Speaker 8 (40:09):
It's it's abysmal, and so he wasn't getting challenged that much.

Speaker 6 (40:14):
Now he does things on the floor even.

Speaker 8 (40:16):
Without the significant challenges you get from great opponents that
I remember, he's not like playing third graders or whatever.

Speaker 6 (40:23):
They're just not they're.

Speaker 8 (40:25):
Just not great ACC teams, but they're good players out there,
and he does crazy good things. And then you've got
jan I Broom, though, who's got to be good every
night or Auburn could lose.

Speaker 6 (40:36):
He's got to Cooper doesn't have to.

Speaker 8 (40:39):
Be good every night, and then the other and the
other teams in the ACC can't beat them, but Jani
has to be really good every night.

Speaker 6 (40:47):
And that's a monstrous challenge.

Speaker 8 (40:48):
In this ace SEC they had twelve thirteen, fourteen NCAA
tournament worthy teams out of sixteen, and they had to
be good every night, and he not only leads them
in rebounding and scoring and blocks. He's also they're leading
a sister, which is for a power forward on a
championship contender.

Speaker 6 (41:09):
It's unheard of.

Speaker 5 (41:11):
Well, Mike Decursi is with us from the Sporting News
courtesy of Northwest Handling Systems. Here on a Monday night.
We're just six days away from the NCAA selection show.
And look, I don't want to spend the entire show
talking about Duke basketball. They don't, right the publicity tell
you trust me. But Dick mentioned Cooper Flagg. I mean,
I'm seeing some kind of opinions getting tossed around that

(41:31):
maybe he should go back to Duke make a bunch
of money in nil. I mean sound something like that
would have sounded crazy, Mike, right.

Speaker 2 (41:38):
Just two or three years ago.

Speaker 5 (41:39):
Is it totally out of the realm of reality that
Cooper Flagg could return to Duke.

Speaker 8 (41:45):
Well, I think it would depend somewhat on how this
in terms of whether it's crazy. I don't think it's
going to happen, Ryan, But the level of the degree
of craziness that would be involved in him going back
would depend on if they thought they could win it
next gear and if he came back, they would be
oh my gosh.

Speaker 6 (42:03):
I mean with the Boozer twins coming in and him back,
it would be ridiculous.

Speaker 8 (42:08):
But I think that they're going to do very well
in this tournament if they made the final four. Would
if you were delaying the NBA career for a year
to take a shot at that when you know it
only takes one loss to take you out of it.

Speaker 6 (42:20):
There's no guarantees.

Speaker 8 (42:21):
You could tweak your ankle and maybe it wouldn't affect
your future career, but affect the pursuit of that championship.
So I think it's crazy because you can't go any
higher than the number one pick, and if you are
Cooper Flag at this stage, Look, he's already played against
NBA guys, the best NBA guys as a member of
the select team for USA Basketball that scrimmaged against frequently

(42:46):
the Olympic team in the Vegas training camp, and he
did really well by all accounts, and there were some
of it was televised and you could see he did
really well.

Speaker 6 (42:56):
He's an amazing talent.

Speaker 8 (42:58):
I called him the day he signed or committed to Duke,
the best American basketball prospect since.

Speaker 6 (43:06):
At least Anthony Davis.

Speaker 3 (43:07):
Wow.

Speaker 8 (43:08):
And I think that we're getting to the point now
where the at least.

Speaker 6 (43:14):
Is is probably what comes into play.

Speaker 8 (43:16):
And then we have to start thinking about do we
go back to the Durant Odin class or do we
just go ahead and go.

Speaker 6 (43:23):
All the way back to Lebron.

Speaker 2 (43:26):
Interesting, Mike.

Speaker 7 (43:27):
The good news for the Big Ten is that there's
six teams in the top twenty five net.

Speaker 4 (43:31):
The bad news for the Big.

Speaker 7 (43:32):
Ten is there's four secs higher than the highest Big
Ten teams. So does the Big Ten have any legitimate
Final four contenders?

Speaker 3 (43:41):
In your mind?

Speaker 6 (43:42):
Oh?

Speaker 8 (43:43):
Yeah, I think that any one of Maryland, Purdue Illinois
if they got the right draw.

Speaker 6 (43:51):
I mean, remember, we saw NC State make it a
year ago.

Speaker 8 (43:54):
We saw Florid Atlantic make it out of an eight
nine game two years ago.

Speaker 6 (43:57):
So I think anybody that's good is.

Speaker 8 (44:00):
Now a legitimate Final four contender, but a serious final
four contender, I think you'd be looking at Maryland in
Michigan State, and Maryland's obstacle would be the likelihood that
they will be a four seed or a five seed,
which means they're going to have to go through somebody's
number one in the round of sixteen, and that's not easy.

Speaker 6 (44:22):
And in Duke's case, excuse me, in.

Speaker 8 (44:24):
Michigan State's case, that's a team that is really different
than anything we've seen before, and we don't know what
that looks like under single game pressure one and done
one in your eliminated kind of deal. It's a team
that plays ten players, not equally, but all are significant contributors.
It's a team that who's they don't just play ten players.

(44:46):
A lot of teams have played a lot of guys,
and they have these systems set up, so okay, at
the eighteen minute mark, you two go in, and at
the fifteen minute mark, you two go in, and then
we continue that and we have these combinations that are
made up. And this is not the way Tom is coaching.
He coaches this like he's playing jazz. They have a
plan when they go in and if it works, it works,

(45:10):
and they'll keep doing it. And if it doesn't work,
then okay, they'll try something different. They've got different guys,
they can put out different combinations and they're going to
try to find something until it works. And the thing
I admire most about what Tom has done and what
gives them The most promise for March is that he
came into the year with Jace Richardson as a very
fine top twenty five ish recruits, and he didn't start

(45:33):
because they had veteran guys, and they were good veteran guys.
But over the course of the year it was pretty
obvious that not only was Jace the most talented player
of the program, he's the best player they have, and
so he has to be out there and he has
to be in the lineup. And they had the bench
a veteran guy who was doing a good job to
do this, and they did, and the veteran guy accepted

(45:54):
it so well that yesterday he went out led them
and scoring. Hollom and Trey Holloman went out and led
them and scoring in the Michigan so and I don't
know if you thought it or not, but he defended
the logo toward the end of the game. So he's
all in, even though he got effectively benched.

Speaker 5 (46:10):
Well, Mike de Corsi again with us every Monday, normally
at four, but all the craziness in the NFL, Mike
was willing to be flexible and we appreciate that. My friend,
speaking of Duke they might be number one, but as
Auburn still despite the two losses a week ago, are
they still your number one overall seed?

Speaker 2 (46:27):
If Selection Sunday were tonight.

Speaker 8 (46:30):
They are, But the fact that they dropped the couple
games toward the end, I don't know that one would
describe them as the team to beat anymore because I
always we talked a week ago, I believe about the
various elements of Auburn that say, yeah, they might be
the best team, but do they look like a traditional champion?
And now they've dropped a couple of games, and you think, well, yeah,

(46:53):
they can lose in the NCAA tournaments, they can lose
to that team at home.

Speaker 6 (46:56):
Alabama's terrific.

Speaker 8 (46:57):
But to not be able to to run offense at
times against Alabama and they wasn't that bad, but it
wasn't great, and ultimately they wound up in overtime and
then they couldn't.

Speaker 6 (47:11):
Guard a really not. I mean, it was a.

Speaker 8 (47:14):
Good action and Sears did a great job of driving
it left, but I mean they shouldn't have been.

Speaker 6 (47:20):
As out of place as they were on the handoff.

Speaker 8 (47:23):
And then Jani Broom has a chance to comp and
challenge the shot, and it's a lot different shot Mark
Sears shooting a floater into open space than it is
trying to shoot it over Jani Broom, and Jani Broom
goes out faints at that he's gonna challenge the shot.
They turns around to go get.

Speaker 6 (47:38):
A rebound with no time left, like what are you
think it? And so that's so.

Speaker 8 (47:43):
That worries me about them and their and their future
in the single elimination type deal. And then I look
at Duke and I know they haven't played anybody, I'm
the one who said it five minutes ago, but or
least anybody.

Speaker 6 (47:56):
In a while. But man, they got guys.

Speaker 8 (47:59):
Holy I mean, Cooper flag is tremendous. But so you know,
here we are talking about Duke again.

Speaker 6 (48:05):
But there's so much.

Speaker 8 (48:05):
Talent on that team. They got four NBA guys minimum.
And so I think that Auburn is still the number
one overall seed, but I think that Duke is going
to be the team that the odds makers say this
is the team defeat.

Speaker 5 (48:20):
Yeah Auburn, by the way, still sixteen and four versus
quad one team.

Speaker 2 (48:24):
Yeah, incredible.

Speaker 7 (48:28):
You know, Mike, how many teams potentially could still get
number one seeds in the NCAA Tournament.

Speaker 4 (48:34):
What's your list look like.

Speaker 8 (48:36):
I think the most that you would consider is seven,
and that's being very generous to Michigan State.

Speaker 6 (48:42):
They it would right now to pass both Alabama and Tennessee.

Speaker 8 (48:48):
They'd have to obviously, Michigan State has to get to Sunday,
so that would be mean winning two more games, probably
both Quad one, which would bring their Quad one record
up to Right now, they have more than anybody else
except Auburn. They're up to a dozen Quad one wins
because they won I think seven in a row, so
they are up to a dozen Quad one wins, and
their resume metrics are now I think their number is

(49:11):
like six point seven, which is a pretty it's like
a middle of the pack two seeds. But Alabama's like
at a three and they're still a two seed, and
Tennessee's I think at like five point one or something
like that. So both of those teams would be ahead
in that metric, and then when you go to the
predictive metrics like ken Palm, they're well behind both of

(49:34):
those teams. So it would take quite a miracle of sorts,
a statistical miracle for them to wind up with a
one seed. I think for them it's just about where
they get placed as a two seed, who would be
their partner?

Speaker 6 (49:48):
And I think what they would.

Speaker 8 (49:50):
Want is to avoid the trick there is that they
would want to avoid Auburn as a two seed, but
it's almost impossible that to happen because they are the
most prominent to other than the SEC teams yep. And
so the two SEC teams can't be paired with the

(50:10):
two that are on the one line. So that leaves
the south where Auburn will be and the west where Florida.

Speaker 3 (50:16):
Figures to be right.

Speaker 8 (50:17):
And so unless Florida can win its way past Houston
on the one line and get to Indy instead of
getting shipped to San Francisco, I think Michigan State's almost
stated to end up playing Auburn, presuming they both get
that far.

Speaker 5 (50:31):
Well, Mike de COURSI is with us, and we'll talk
more Monday about the bracket when it's announced on Sunday.
But I do got to leave you, Mike, with just
a thought on what happened here in Seattle. I know
when we first talked a few weeks ago, we brought
up Danny Sprinkle's struggles and things didn't get any better
since that conversation that we had. I mean, they beat
Maryland on January tewod in Seattle. We're all thinking, all right,

(50:53):
maybe they're starting to click here. The schedule is going
to open up a little bit in the next few
weeks after this crazy gauntlet. But they end up going
four and sixteen, dead last in the Big Ten. They
went three and fourteen in their final seventeen games. Overall,
they haven't won a game. Excuse me, They've won three
games in two months and they finished in the last place.
So I'm looking at Lorenzo Romar, guys who finished in

(51:14):
ninth place his first year on the job at U
dub in the Pac ten and then made the tournament
the next year, almost beat you a B in the
first round, and they went to the sweet sixteen the
second year and lost to Rick Patino in Louisville and Albuquerque.
So should Husky fans think that there's possibly something that
could similarly happen with Danny Sprinkle after this year one disaster.

Speaker 8 (51:38):
Well, I think that when you look at it, they
certainly need to compliment the group of players that they have.
Guys like Tyler Harris, who made a lot of progress over.

Speaker 6 (51:49):
The course of the year.

Speaker 8 (51:50):
Zum Diallo, they have to get better compliments to that.
They made a pretty substantial investment by all accounts into
Great Usibor and it really didn't work at the level
it needed to for them to be more competitive. They
need that next investment they make, and I don't know
that they had a ton of options last spring. Danny

(52:10):
was new to Washington, he knew what Great had done
last year at Utah State, and so he.

Speaker 6 (52:16):
Rode with it, and it didn't work at this level.

Speaker 8 (52:20):
I think that they need to deploy their resources better.
But if you look at the guys I mentioned, I
think they showed themselves to be very capable big ten players, and.

Speaker 6 (52:32):
So how do you build around that.

Speaker 8 (52:34):
Well, you have to go out and find yourself two
or three guys who can compliment them, who can be
good where where you're not right now, and just.

Speaker 6 (52:47):
Improve the overall talent level.

Speaker 8 (52:50):
And then then all of a sudden, you do that
and the places you know, Alaska Airlines arena.

Speaker 6 (52:57):
Heck ed, whatever you want to call it, becomes can.

Speaker 8 (52:59):
Become a real fortress. I thought one thing that I
will say is. I'm not sure about the very end.

Speaker 6 (53:03):
I didn't see yesterday's.

Speaker 8 (53:04):
Game, but a lot of the games that we did
on VTN, the enthusiasm in the arena was pretty good, right,
ye for a team that was pretty clearly faded toward
last place, I thought the enthusiasm in the arena was
pretty good.

Speaker 6 (53:18):
So if you could just get.

Speaker 8 (53:19):
That talent level up a couple of notches, and then
you add in that that great home court advantage, and I.

Speaker 6 (53:27):
Think that they could they could be competitive, but that
you know that first if is a tough one. You
have to get that done. And Danny and his staff
know what it's about.

Speaker 8 (53:36):
And look everything you Dub has to offer, great education,
unbelievable location, uh, the terrific home.

Speaker 6 (53:44):
Court venue, all of that, and so you would.

Speaker 8 (53:48):
Hope that in that you know, the next group of
future Huskies, Uh, they'd be able to do better than
they were able to do first time around.

Speaker 2 (53:56):
No doubt.

Speaker 5 (53:57):
My great stuff enjoyed Championship Week, and this time next
Monday we will be beholding the bracket together on the air.

Speaker 2 (54:04):
Great stuff and we're talking a week man.

Speaker 6 (54:06):
Thanks Mike, Thanks guys,