March 18, 2024 • 41 mins
Washington State Men’s basketball coach, Kyle Smith joins the show to talk about the great season the Cougs have had, and looking ahead to March Madness as the Cougs will be taking on Drake. The Steelers bring in Russell Wilson and have traded for Justin Fields, will Fields ultimately become the starter down the line in Pittsburgh or will Russ retain his job for the entire season.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
All right, good morning everybody.It's Jim Moore with Jessemone McIntyre in for
Jason Puckett. It's a Monday morning, jay mshow let's go and I'll admit,
okay, we've got a really goodshow. So let me get to
that. Let me get to thepassionate part of the program. Here we
have Kyle Smith joining us in amatter of minutes live from Pullman, Washington.
(00:23):
Do we have Coach Smith? Now? Chris Kidd? I yet Chris
Kidd playing hurt today? Everybody?Chris Kidd playing hurt? Oh, don't
you do this? Come on,Chris, I'm playing hurt too. I'm
playing hurt too. I guess areself inflicted wounds though. Okay, I
just admitted something to Bucky Jacobson thatI'm gonna admit to everybody else. Do
you, Chris Kid? Do you, Jessemin mcamtirre to the listeners, have
(00:46):
you ever done what I've done today? I would guess whatever you're about to
say, I would put money downand say, no, uh, okay,
do you think you've ever done whatI'm about to admit that I've done
today? I think there's a betterchance that I have done it than Chris
Kidden. Okay, bet to begto different. Let's see, I would
agree. Have you ever shown upto work in the clothes that you slept
in? Okay? Never? Yes, my life, yes, yes,
(01:08):
we have a yes and no.I was doing back to back games.
I would do Cougar games and thendo Seahawks broadcast. I would sometimes drive
through the night, sleep in mycar for an hour at the station,
and then go into work and donot not what I was sideline reporting,
but when I was doing the ingame updates. Yes, directed All right,
(01:30):
Should I be embarrassed about this nowbecause you made so much effort to
get back here to do the show? It's radio. Yeah, We're not
on YouTube or anything. We don'thave any video components of this show.
So I figured out what the hellyou know? I didn't even you know,
run home through the hair or anything. But I'm happy to be here.
I'm excited to talk to Kyle Smithbecause, as we know, Wait
a minute, though, before weget to that, what how'd you get
hurt? Did you really take afootball to the face? Yes? I
(01:52):
did, so how's that possible?So what happened was it was third and
maybe thirteen or whatever, and Isaid, hey, I'm gonna run this
route. If you can squeeze inthe window, I trust you to throw
it. And the safety actually droppeddown on this one. So I did
my quick little post over the middle, and the safety dropped down, so
I couldn't see if the ball wascoming, but based on how the safety
(02:15):
was reacting, I figured, okay, it might be tipped that the ball
is coming. The safety didn't tipit. So your quarterback through a perfect
pass, your perfect pass, andI wasn't. I didn't think it was
gonna make it, and it madeit to its primary target, which is
my left eyeball, and he knockedmy glasses off. Everyone was like,
(02:36):
damn, how much crap did youtake for that? Well, I scored
the game winning touchdown, so notmuch. Oh really. So the next
play, the next play, afterI got my glasses knocked off my face
and got a nice little shiner,I said, hey, run it again.
So he ran the same route again, but they backed up into their
zone defense, so I just satin the pocket of the zone and then
he threw me open and I caughtit, game winning touchdown, got my
(02:59):
glasses knocked off, got the shineras you can see, guys, and
was victorious. So it all workedout. We didn't lose the game because
I dropped the ball. I lovethe breakdown. So seven on seven flag
football we're talking about here. Itwas actually six on six on Saturday.
It sounded like you Millon breaking itall down there, though. Yeah,
I wish you had film for it. You guys have been laughing because it
was probably very funny because everyone somebodywere able to laugh at yourself though.
(03:21):
Oh, I was kind of madthat I dropped that. I didn't even
catch it. I was more upsetbecause everyone was like, damn, can't
catch the ball. And I'm like, you know what, you guys are
right, So I told my quarterbackrun it again. Yeah, bleeding and
everything right. I didn't know Iwas bleeding until after the game. My
friend was like, hey, Chris, you're leaking. I said what.
I was like, Oh my gosh, is there a gash You're leaking?
But it was it's more of arug burn. I call it a rug.
(03:44):
It looks like a raspberry yeah,yeah, And Mike. Mike was
joking. He was like, man, you might have got hit with some
of the stitches from the football becauseit was spinning. It was a perfect
spiral. That was the best part. And it just it was on me
like that. I didn't know whathappened. I was like, damn,
so the nose of the football justshit, you're right around. You're pretty
sure. I'm pretty sure that's whatit was, because I don't know how
this scar rugburn is on my lefteyebrow. Yeah, well, I don't
(04:06):
have any noticeable scars, but Igotta tell you. I mean, it
was a rough weekend, just comingback from Las Vegas. Flew into Portland
last night because I drove from bento Portland and then left my car there
and then came up last night andI'm here today. But boy, oh
boy, what there's no fool likean old fool. That's what I was
saying as I was laying in bedSaturday. What in the world possessed me
(04:30):
to try and keep up with mykid on a night of drinking in Las
Vegas, Nevada. What could havepossibly possessed me to do that? Because
the Cooks lost that night to Colorado, I would say, being a dad,
you just want to have fun.Nothing wrong with that. I wasn't
really drowning my sorrows because I feltgood about the Cooks beating Stanford down there.
That was fun to watch that game. And we'll be talking to Kyle
Smith here momentarily about the PAC twelvetournament and facing Drake in the first round
(04:56):
Thursday, seven oh five tip fromOmaha. The Cooks is seven seed against
the ten seed Drake Bulldogs. We'regonna talk to who is it again,
Michael Admire, the play by playguy. We're gonna be talking to him.
We're gonna be talking to him attwelve thirty. You heard Michael on
with Chuck and Bucky earlier today.We're gonna double down with Michael and find
out a little bit more about theCougar opponent on Thursday. But yeah,
(05:19):
I just I don't know. Wejust went out, we were having a
good time, went out on thestrip, went to a club, had
some fifteen dollars beers. Where wheredoes Vegas get off on charging? As
much as they say, what isit that's happened to Las Vegas? I
mean, really seriously, what hashappened down there? Because they used to
have these buffets that were three ninetynine, They had free parking. They
(05:41):
encourage you to come in they knewthey were gonna get your money at the
tables, and now you just paythrough the nose for everything. Yeah,
because they can't. That's it.That's why people do ridiculous things. Is
but when they can, because theycan, well that's just how it goes.
You kind of know what you're gettinginto. So now with the way
Vegas is, and I went oncewhen it was still a little bit like
what you were talking about, itwasn't as outrageous the first time I went
(06:04):
there. It was Saint Patrick's Day, first weekend of the tournament, and
a bachelorette party, so I wasperfect storming it through my first time there,
and I still lived to tell thestory. But it wasn't as outrageous
at the time. Now it's youknow, just kind of assume you're paying
twenty dollars a pop for whatever you'regoing to drink. I still enjoy it
when you call it the tournament insteadof the train cue because I get made
(06:27):
fun of by other people. Istill really enjoy that. But no,
it was it was just it wasone of those nights in Vegas where,
yeah, everybody has those kind ofnights, and I didn't realize things were
going awry until Saturday morning when Iwoke up and it was after a night
at the Paris Hotel and we weretrying to get an uber back to where
we were staying, and all ofour phones ran out of juice. My
(06:50):
wife's phone ran out of juice,Stevie's phone ran out, his girlfriend and
my phone, and so we splitup. I was trying to get a
cab, I was trying to pickhim up. Long story short, or
actually long story long. They endedup going back to where we were staying
at Kathy's friend's house, and Iwas stuck there, thinking, God,
I don't want to strand my wifeand kid, but I didn't know what
(07:13):
to do because my phone didn't work, I couldn't contact him. Oh,
so I just stayed at the casino. I found a place where I could
charge my phone. And while Iwas charging my phone, you know what
happened, this beautiful young woman cameup to me and she was like,
Hey, how you doing tonight,And I was like, yeah, I'm
doing not so good. She was, oh, will tell me about it.
So I gave her the play byplay of the story, and I
thought, hey, Jim, youstill got it. Man. Look at
(07:34):
this. Look at you, Jim, look at you. What did you
try to charge it for the conversationafter that? Yeah, and then she
said, well what do you put? What are you planning on doing right
now? And I said, well, I'm planning on maybe gambling, and
she said, well I have anidea, you know, I have something
that might be more fun than gambling. And then yeah, I picked up
on Yeah, so it was arough day for me. I still got
(07:56):
it. You looked like you hadsome money to spend. Yeah, rough
day. We have coach Kyle Smithwith us. Now it's Jim Moore with
Jessman McIntyre, a couple of Kookstalking to the KUK head coach at Kook's
preparing to face Drake on Thursday inOmaha, Nebraska. Coach, Welcome to
the show. How are things thismorning? They're going great? Couldn't be
better to be honest. Yeah,how was it at Beasley yesterday? It
(08:20):
looked like it was a good time. It was a nice turnout. It
was a great way to kind ofcelebrate getting in there. There was I
was the only one that was worriedwe weren't in Everyone else seemed three secure,
but just the paranoid coach worried aboutit. So it was a nice
nice to see where we were sevenseed. I thought that was about right,
and just getting an opportunity to playingthis things quite an honor. Oh
(08:43):
yeah, and it's been sixteen years, so coach, what's it been like
for Kook fans? I can tellyou I was down there at the PAC
twelve tournament. I enjoyed the heckout of it. I mean, you
were just if Jalen hits that threepoint in a row on the right side,
you guys might have gone on towin that game. So, I
mean, it was a competitive game. We were all exc because we thought,
oh damn, we don't have toface Arizona. We can face Oregon
in the championship game. But youknow, all in all, it was
(09:05):
a it was a good showing bythe Koogs. And yeah, no,
I agree. I mean, Kyloradwas playing for the tournament Berth obviously,
and that shouldn't factor in, butit does probably And uh, you know,
we uh we we've turned it overa little too much into Colorad,
but play really well against Stanford,so hopefully we can iron that out before
Thursday night. And and just talkingabout enjoying these two tournaments. You know,
(09:28):
we have the conference tournament and hopefullyit helps us prepare for this one.
And but it was great. Itwas a great turnout in Vegas.
I was a little surprised. Iwas kind of excited. Cooks came out
of the woodworks for us, Sothat was awesome. Yeah, you'll notice
that more and more coach head coachKyle Smith of Washington State basketball is joining
us. And I mean, firstof all, congratulations, I'm winning the
John Wooden Coach of the Year award. You know, I haven't spoken to
(09:52):
you since that happened, and you'vebeen a pleasure to watch and to talk
to throughout this season. It's amazing. I know that it was a no
break you or that you were goingto win that Maybe not for you because
you're humble, but as much asyou probably focus on, you know,
team accolades over individual ones, couldyou take any small amount of joy or
pleasure in actually getting that award?Absolutely? I mean I can't you can't
(10:15):
fake that one. I was whateverjust to be associated with John Wooden and
when the Coach of the Year andI said I did actually say if I
don't win it everyone hates me,I said, like these coaches you but
no, I knew that and thenand it was really nice too. And
and that's hard and it's not notby nature. I don't think just to
(10:39):
and get and have to deal withthat. Though. There was a lot
of praise in that the conference termand I was like, you know,
Coach of the Year and and Icorrect them and say, no, it's
a John R. Wooden Coach ofthe Year award. And I'm kidding,
by the way, letting you knowthat I'm associated you know, I want
you to I want you to sayit correctly. I don't want you to
understand. But what to mean thebest maybe the best team coach ever to
(11:03):
be associated with that. I mean, I've said that when I part of
my reason coming to the PAC twelveis and so the press losses. There's
just been so many good coaches fromeven at Washington State, you know,
going back to Jack Friel, MarvHarshman, uh, Calvin Samson, George
Rattling, Tony Bennett, you know, so there's it's been just some great
coaches in this at this program,in this league, Ralph Miller, Mike
(11:24):
Montgomery, you know, Loude Olson, so bummer that way, but to
get that recognition was special for sure, Well good, you deserve it.
And another well deserving koop that we'vebeen talking about all season Miles Rice And
obviously he made national headlines for goingthrough everything he did to make it back
to the courts, dealing with hisillness and coming back. He won Freshman
(11:46):
of the Year and I just didyou get to deliver that news to him?
And if not, who did?Man? You can't deliver any news
this day and age man that getsthe Twitter, it's like you I hear
like everyone else like oh we wantit great. You know those days of
like calling someone to deliver the newsis you don't have a chance. I
feel bad. And you know whenthey make the you know, when they
(12:07):
make coaching decisions on letting guys go, it's been like, I don't it's
once more than one person knows what'sgoing on. You know, it's everyone's
it's it's Twitter and stuff. Sono, I didn't get a chance,
but it's awesome honor for him.Uh and one believe deserved. I mean
really going in the season that projectednumb one picking the draft was a freshman
at USC and it wasn't Ronnie James, it was I said Collier. So
(12:31):
for him to to win the awardFreshman the Week seven times and really lead
this team to where we are,and it's really his will and belief that's
a big part of it. Andwe're just blessed to have Kyle Smith the
coach of the Coogs is with usJim Moore and Jessman McIntyre. The Coogs
is a seventh seed facing Drake theten seed, in Omaha Nebraska's seven oh
(12:52):
five tip on Thursday. Since we'retalking about Miles Rice, everybody, we
all love the kid, We're allpulling for him. We all want him
to make three pointers. Kyle,I saw, I saw him at halftime.
He just effortlessly is making threes andI'm going, God, Miles,
come on, man, I knowyou can make him. What do you
think is going on there with Milesright? I think a little bit in
(13:13):
his head and it's you know,we're not afraid to confront the Google facts,
but you know what, I gotto arrest him some more. I
mean it's hard to take him outof the game, and he's he went
probably unnoticed. I was probably onhis best defensive efforts he had. He
had kJ Simpson who was runner upto play the year in the league,
I believe, and he went fourfor fifteen, So there's two sides of
(13:33):
the ball. And to be ableto deliver that kind of defensive effort and
carry our team offensively or make three, you know, that's that's a that's
a long, tall order for afreshman really, anybody, but a true
freshman. I'm not actually not atrue freshman, but a first year player
that you know in a big stagelike that. So it can happen.
(13:54):
But we need to, you know, for us to be good, all
the guys got to play well.Le's what we've been talking and you know,
pressures of privilege and and I believein him, man, And I
told him, I said the firstI said, when you, I said,
catch and shoot, just don't hesitate, just let it fly. On
the first half they kept going.I was like, maybe fuck that one
(14:15):
away, but we need him.Maybe we'll make shots. He's made him
for us. He had six inthe game I think this year, So
I expect him to deliver. Andif he done, that's okay too.
As long as he's got the rightattitude. Well, it's got to be
hard because you know, you don'treally want to take your best player out
of the game, and yet youknow you're getting some good minutes from some
backups too. I was impressed withKimani wins to and what do he gave
you down there? Yeah, No, Kimani was great, and you know,
(14:41):
and Isaiah didn't play as well downthere. You know, he'd been
coming on at the end of theseason there, and but that just again,
freshman in that environment. I expecthim to bounce back. But Kimani
has been and I told him,I think in the Washing game, I
said after that, I said,you know what, we couldn't get stopped
and he's our best perimeter defender orsecond vestment andre Or, and I say,
(15:05):
you know what, I need toget you in there. I need
to You've been too good for us, So keep your confidence up. I'm
gonna get you in there. Andhe really delivered it. Came up offensively,
is playing on the post, metsome great passes and then and then
he just rebounds and he helps uson that in so hopefully we need them
all to play well period. Well, yeah, that is the signature move
for a team, right, justeverybody play well, ye this s of
(15:30):
year, you can't. You can'tthere, you can't have a no show.
You know, there's got to beYou're gonna have to beat good teams.
You're gonna have to everyone's gonna haveto play to a certain level.
You know, you're gonna have todo that. And everyone's good this,
you know. I mean, Drake'swon i think twenty eight games, so
they're used to winning. It'll behard to beat someone that's won twenty eight
teams twenty eight games and will behard to beat too, So it should
(15:50):
be a really good competition. Cougar'sside coach Kyle Smith joining us here on
the precipice of historic tournament appearance.As Jim had mentioned off the show,
sixteen years it has been so,you know, there was there was some
disappointment the final game of the yearagainst you do and then you know,
going out in the Semis to Colorado, how do you prepare your team,
(16:11):
especially with all the noise that couldbe getting to them, because this is
historic, you could call it historic, the run that you guys have had
this year, and going back tothe dance, how do you do that?
How do you have your team tuneout the noise, and how do
you do it yourself? I don't. You just kind of have to deal
with it. If I did,I would have said no to this interview.
You kind of have to. Yougot to manage it a little bit
(16:33):
and first, and I think that'sa little bit of playing in the Miles
thing too. I said, Miles, you got you willing to say no.
Everyone knows your story and it's okayto and he wants to share it,
you know, and it's an awesomestory. But I'm saying, like
there's a threshold where you have tobe able to take care of grades,
get your rest, and you knowthat's an extra. So we talk about
(16:55):
it and it's hard. And it'slike all these kids are raised on their
phones and social media and stuff likethat. They're pretty in tune. And
I just hit it every day.I said, look, the noise and
it's not just media, it's notjust and everyone's following it, but it's
your friends and family. They allwant to be a part of it.
They want to take care of it. I'm and it's a it's a lot
and everyone's going through it and sowhoever handles the best gets it. And
(17:18):
you know Drake. Drake was inthe tournament last year, so they probably
got a little leg up on usin that regard. But you know,
experience is the best teacher. Ithink this thing. But we just got.
All we can do is talk aboutit incessantly, tune it out,
tune it out, and easier saidthan done. Coach, I'm nervous.
I'm not even playing, I'm justwatching. I'm an I'm gonna Alum,
that's fired up. No, it'sgood, you know what. And that's
(17:41):
that's all we all we talked aboutthese two weeks. Let's enjoy it.
Uh, you know. And Iand I think, uh, that was
a little crabby because I can't handleturnovers. I'd rather lose one hundred and
ninety four than fifty eight to fiftytwo. So I just like that.
But but you know what, it'sjust it's hard. It's hard. It's
like you gotta, you've gotta.These teams are everyone's competing hard, and
(18:03):
you gotta find that sweet spot ofplaying loose and playing free and also competing
as hard you can staying concentrating.So I think we'll play well. We'll
we'll bring good effort and we'll seewhat happens. Hey, my kids are
over the moon about what's happening withCougar basketball. How are your kids taking
it? Uh, you know,I'm just dad. They're pretty excited,
I guess, but they still giveme a hard time, like, come
(18:26):
on, man, that's that's doingall right this year. And but it's
neat because they're uh fifteen, thirteenand ten, all boys, and and
what a great place to raise afamily, and and and then England's been
here in such a college town anduh just just embracing and everyone uh never
had a bad word to said about. I mean, I go back to
(18:48):
last year, we're tenn at fifteen, and so I said, man,
thank you for being here. Iwas like, this is a great place.
But this year is even more.Everyone's that one's really excited and we
need it, you know, WashingtonState. It's it's been a great thing
to see all the support we're getting. Yeah, and rightly so. Coach,
it's been fun to watch what thematchup with Drake. You mentioned the
experience that they have in the tournament. They've been there three out of the
(19:08):
last four years. I'm also concernedabout their three point shooting. Imagine you
are too. But that's one ofthe strengths of your defense, isn't it.
Yeah, it is, there'll bethere. There's a couple of things
that are interesting that you know,they really keep people off offensive boards,
and that's testament that they're really wellcoached. And then they do they spread
you out and they got a youknow, coming in like a Larry Bird
(19:30):
modern day Larry Bird's twenty two agame and they really play through and he's
coach his son and he's a reallytalented just kind of makes a lot of
plays and he's good and he makesbig shots. He scores all three levels,
and so that'll be. That'll be. And I don't know what a
best matchup is yet and probably won'tfind out till we'll probably give me a
lot of different looks and it'll bedone in the course of the game they're
(19:52):
like, okay, this is maybethat's working. You know, he's good,
and so it'll be. It'll bea contrasting styles, I think little
bit and uh, it'll be tough. I want to mention some unsung heroes
over there in Pullman, your staffof assistance. I'm sure that they've had
a big role in what's going on. And I got to tell you too,
I appreciate Jade Mullins. I justI think of a kid that played
(20:14):
a lot last year not playing muchthis year. I look at his body
language. He looks like he's aterrific teammate. He's unbelievable and uh,
I got a little miss to youwhen you talk about him, because he
would be easy for him to beat distraction and and he's been nothing.
He's been awesome. And uh,he's a really close relationship with Isaac Jones
and their their faith piece is reallyimportant to them. And Jabe has been
(20:38):
a model uh player and just andit's so we talk about it's you know,
it's a character development program and it'show you handle things. And if
if he hadn't handled this well,who knows, Wou'd be as good as
it. So his leadership, it'sjust important. I was wanting not We
had seven guys return to the program, and he talks about all the new
faces. We had seven guys thatstayed with the pro and only two or
(21:02):
I guess Miles, I said twoand a half. Three guys are getting
real A lot of minutes and there'sa lot of unsung heroes that and as
I said, like the reason we'rethe program piece improved is they know the
expectations, they know what the practiceof us are. They know how hard
we go and do things, andthey're a great role model for someone like
Isaac Jones. It's you know,coming home from Idaho and it's a big
step up, but they got himgoing in the summer. This is how
(21:22):
we do think. So it's it'sbeen a group effort. And I said,
like my and the only sister ofthis spendard the whole time is Jim
Shaw. He's been you know,he's from Chimma Coom over there on the
west side. Uh and uh he'suh, he's my human cheek code.
You know, he's got the defensegoing. We call it the Shamble half
half Shaw half Scramble and uh andhe's just kind of legend of the Pacific
(21:48):
Northwest and he's been great and justcouldn't enjoy this whole experience And it wouldn't
work without that. Like you said, Jay Mullen's doing his part and the
staff being uh in tune with what'sgoing on and the lined in a great
way. Next to last question forcoach Kyle smith a Kook's taking on Drake
Thursday, seven o five in Omaha, Nebraska in the NC Double A Tournament.
(22:08):
How's Andre shoulder doing good? Theyseems to me it's fine. I
think he's he's you know, it'sstill the sore, but I think it's
mending the right way. He misseda couple of layups and you know,
it's a little I don't think ofanything to do with his shoulder. He
told me that, and uh,you know so, I think that's that's
a that's a positive. We'll needhim. I'm sure it's gonna get a
(22:30):
lot of minutes on debreeze. AndI saved the toughest question for last year,
coach. Uh, you actually bowledat one forty nine? What what's
the matter with you can't do betterthan that? I think that's good?
Is good? What kind of bullerare you? You know what? I'm
hard pressed to bawl at one fiftytwo. I am, I am,
(22:51):
I admit it. I'm just bustingyour jobs, coach. There's not a
lot of open frames at the oneforty nine. It was, it was,
it was well done. I thinkthere's two strikes at least four s
bears in there. That was prettygood. I stand by that one nine
crowd. I love that. Ilove that. What's you're high? You
know I've actually rolled. I thinkI got about of to eighteen before and
(23:14):
that was that's crazy. I hada crazy year when I was at University
of San Diego and every pregame,our whole staff would go bowling because we
won one game. So the restof the year on the road, we
have to find a bully. SoI got pretty good. But that was
about it. And that's my Polishroots. That's my Midwestern Polish roots.
You've got to know how to Yougotta be able to throw throw a bowl
the ball there? Yeah? Youlike you like Zeppo's, don't you?
(23:37):
Oh? I mean it's one stopshopping, baby. What do you want
to do? Play hand? Youwant to hand a black zack, You
want to go to the arcade,you want to bowl, you want to
get breakfast, you want a sportsbar, you need a drink. It's
their baby, It's all good.I sure hope you remember all of this
stuff. Remember that old shoe commentyou made to coaching a couple of weeks
(23:59):
from now, Hey, we loveyou man, I mean, it's it's
been so much fun. God,I just get emotional thinking about your team
and what you've done this year.And you know what, one of my
kids said, Hey, Dad,thanks for just, you know, forcing
us to watch Cougar basketball when wewere younger kids. You know, because
he's enjoying it so much. It'slike I handcuffed him to the couch.
I didn't. That's great. Youdid the right thing. Yeah, you
(24:21):
did the right thing. There's weknow who the true blue ones are there
there. I'd run into so manypeople that say I'm season ticket over and
I'm like, really, I've neverseen you. There's been plenty of times.
There's been plenty of games where Icould see everybody. But no,
it's good. It's a great placeand it's been fun. It's just it's
pretty electric around here. So wewant to keep it rolling. Yeah,
best of luck. I hope youcan take down Drake and then you know,
(24:44):
if you get Iowa State, takethem down to and we'll see you
in the sweet sixteen and uh yeah, I have fun there in Omaha.
Will We'll enjoy the ride. Thankyou, coach, Thanks coach, go
koobs coobs coach Kyle Smith. God, I'm just like excited the whole professional
radio guy went out the window onthat one that the point of the show
(25:06):
is, I am just so firedup about Cougar basketball right now, and
justifiably so. It's been fun towatch this team and see them develop and
really just I know we need toget a break, and we will.
But I mean, how this allcame together this year. How a coach
can have so many different players andyou can't really develop a program anymore.
It's not just Kyle Smith, it'severy coach in the country and how they
(25:26):
have to try and make it happenin one year. And we're going to
get to this In the Story ofthe Day, Tom Crean, a former
coach, going off on coaches notwanting to play in the NIT. The
transfer portal is open today and there'sall kinds of players. It's just a
flurry of activity. And I'm surethe same will hold true at Washington State
and other programs in the Pac twelve. But it's just crazy and the success
(25:48):
that they've had this year, andyou know, maybe they can take it
a little further. I would loveto see it. And they have all
the talent and everything that they justhave to come together like we've seen them
do in the big moments this year. I mean both Arizona games. The
first DUB game, I would saythat's the hardest I've ever seen them fight
for a win. And they justdidn't play well against UDUB in the second
round over here or over in Pullman, and they didn't play that great against
(26:11):
Colorado either. So if they justplay like they're capable of, they can
do anything in this tournament. Anything. Well, if everybody has their a
game, they're going to take outDrake, and then maybe they can take
out Iowa State, like I said, and move on to the Sweet sixteen.
All Right, we'll get you setfor what's going on the highlights of
the bracket, the games in Spokane, some Cinderellas, some dark horses,
(26:34):
and maybe a best better two that'scoming up next' Shim Moore Rejussement McIntyre in
for Puck Sports Radio ninety three pointthree KJRFM. Welcome back. It's Jim
(26:56):
Moore Rejussement McIntyre in for East andPucket Sports Radio ninety three point three kJ
r f M. I imagine everyone'sout there filling out their bracket or thinking
about filling out the bracket, andas you know, the number one seeds
Yukon, Houston, Purdue, andNorth Carolina. Gonzaga is a five seed
(27:21):
that seemed to take a lot ofpeople by surprise. Gonzaga will be playing
McNee State Thursday at four twenty fivein Salt Lake City. The other teams
in the PAC twelve. As youknow, the Koogs will be facing Drake
in Omaha Thursday at seven oh five, the seven versus the ten seed.
(27:41):
I'm a little miffed by Well,I've already told you how mift I am
a Vegas and how much it costsdown there. For everything I even thought
about. There was one night whenI thought, okay, I'm gonna gamble.
I'm gonna go for it, andI went to an ATM and tried
to get a hundred bucks and ahundred bucks sort of my thinking in Vegas
because the minimums now are twenty five. Yeah, I knowledge, I used
five dollars tables. There's ridiculous.I still like the five dollars tables.
(28:04):
I don't want to pay ten forminimum. I don't want to pay twenty
five. But I went to theATM thinking, okay, one hundred bucks.
I'll just go try and play fora little while. And I love
to play craps. But it wasan eleven dollars and ninety nine cent service
fee at the ATM to get myhundred bucks. Twelve bucks, get your
money just to cancel. I saidscrew it, yeah, and took the
(28:25):
cab and left. But no,I just I mean, some of these
games, I'm just looking at them. It's going to be it'll be wide
open. I don't think it's goingto be as wide open as last year
though, when they were upsets.I think people won their pools last year
without even having the champion because therewere so many upsets, and Yukon looks
like they're they're the favorite, defendingchampion. They're upset. What there were
(28:47):
only three Big East teams that madeit. They're eight teams each from the
SEC and the Big twelve. TheMountain West got six teams, which was
a little surprising to some. Butyou know, I mean, I'm sure,
I mean, all these guys.I was listening to the show on
Sirius XM coming back up from Portlandyesterday and they talked to one of the
guys that was on the committee thatmade the choices, and he had good
(29:10):
explanations for everything explained by Saint John'sand others weren't in So it's a difficult
job to try and figure it out. It doesn't really matter how many teams
you have in there. There's alwaysgoing to be a sixty fifth team or
sixty six team. Yes, that'supset that they don't make it. So
if you expanded the tournament, itwould be the number eighty three team or
eighty four team that would be upset. Yeah, I don't like that.
We had this conversation on Ian Showthe other week just about, you know,
(29:34):
thinking about doing what was in ninetysix ninety six teams. No,
No, it's just it's too much. And I really Jay Billis doesn't always
say everything I agree with, butI liked what he had to say about
that that never never expect the NCAAto not do something stupid, and doing
that would just water it down somuch. And what bill has said is
(29:56):
that everybody does have a chance.You win your conference tournament, you have
a chance to get in every singleyear by doing that, So why do
you think you deserve it if youdidn't and if you are playing in a
Power five, and I know we'renot going to have as many. It'll
be Power four in the future,and it'll probably be Power to conglomeration in
the future as well. That youknow, you're just you're playing against better
(30:19):
competition. And I know that Gonzagahas faced some criticism by playing in the
conference that they do and always dominatingit in the past. Number five.
That did surprise me though, too, because they usually just get a higher
ranking. But I think that they'regoing to I don't know if you filled
out your bracket yet. I've filledout one. No, I just will
(30:41):
I have them winning for quite awhile. I think I have them in
the Elite eight. Actually this yearthe Elite eight, I do. Yeah,
you know, it's crazy. SoGonzaga, I mean, you've got
games in Spokane starting on Friday.You got four of them, San Diego
State, UA B, Auburn andYale, Alabama and Charleston, and you
have Saint Mary's and and Canyon.So are people going to be rooting against
(31:03):
Saint Mary's in Spokane? I wouldthink they would be probably the biggest rival
in the WCC. Yeah, itis. It's interesting that they got played
placed geographically there too, and Ido think that will draw in it.
I don't care if you're haters ornot of a team. You're drawing in
an audience, and so if you'repolarizing, you're a good team to have
in the tournament. The team I'mrooting against and I have friends there.
(31:23):
I saw them Friday night, theRoorda's great family from Issaquah. There,
I'm rooting against it, Arizona.I'm sorry. I was at the beer
house outside of T Mobile Arena beforethe game that Arizona lost to Oregon,
and there were so many Arizona fans. They always seem so cocky and confident
for good reason, because Arizona's alwaysgot a hell of a team, and
(31:45):
it was nice to see them godown. I'm not necessarily a big Ducks
fan, but I was that night. I was enjoying the heck out of
that and the whole Cevie was justirritated by the Michale North t shirts that
everybody was wearing. And I really, in the worst way, wanted to
get a sign Stevie. We gotto get a signed Beasley South if we
were going to play Arizona in thechampionship game. Yeah, Beasley South.
(32:06):
But yeah, so we'll see Arizona. Though you see this matchup, it's
a great matchup. I mean,it's a two verses of fifteen, so
Arizona's heavily favored in the game.But Long Beach State coming into this game.
Dan Monson being the coach of LongBeach State, but he's interim.
He's lame duck as lame ducks go, because he was fired on Monday,
and now the team has rallied aroundhim. I just love this. I
(32:29):
was talking about this with Mike Hopkinsin the PAC twelve tournament. I was
wondering if that the same thing mighthold true for them. Of course it
didn't at USC eliminating them in thefirst round, But yeah, Dan Monson,
I mean, and he was beinginterviewed yesterday and it was just a
cool story that's developing there at LongBeach State. He's in his seventeenth,
seventeenth and final year, and we'llsee if they can knock off Arizona on
(32:50):
Thursday. Yeah, that was oneof the things that I thought would happen
because I thought that's exactly what washappening in the final Apple Cup of Hoops
when you played Washington State. Ithought that they were fighting for him because
they knew, even though it wasn'tofficial yet, that he was gone.
You know, the writing's on thewall and the whole staff has gone too.
There isn't going to be an interim. At the time, I thought
(33:10):
that you Dub had a better chanceof winning the entire PAC twelve tournament because
of that reason, because it's nothingto lose situation, And that's what I
thought. You know, Wazo atleast got to look ahead because they knew
they were in the dance right andyou Dub, you know, okay,
nothing to lose. And also wehad really good conversations on Ian show about
(33:32):
this. The rivalry is still alivethere. Well it was. I don't
think it's going to be what itwas in the future, but it was
still alive that night, and especiallyknowing that their coach was on his way
out. No, I know,it was crazy there. And we'll see,
you know how the Huskies, howthey fill that coaching role down the
road. I'm sure that Troy danis going to make a choice here in
the next few weeks at least.A lot going on along with March madness
(33:57):
in the NFL Russell Willlson has competitionin Pittsburgh justin Fields as Steelers have justin
Fields in Pittsburgh. Looking forward toseeing what happens there. And the Seahawks,
as you know, have added SamHowe to their quarterback room. We'll
see how that all shakes out within Seattle and in Pittsburgh. We'll talk
about that next. It's Jim morreof a Jessman McIntyre in for puck Sports
(34:17):
Radio ninety three point three KJRFM.Jim Morva, Jessman McIntyre in for Jason
Puckett Sports Radio ninety three point threekJ r FM. Tomorrow, Ian and
(34:39):
jess will be at the Snow QualityCasino one o'clock one to three. Bracketology
broadcast live from the casino there atsnow Qualmy, presented by Hunt Services,
Twin Peaks, the Evergreen Council onProblem Gambling and Snow Quality Casino. A
show to help you fill out yourbracket and discuss which games to bet on.
(35:01):
I've already bet on the Kugs.I'm just going on really, you
know what, I'm going all in. I'm they started out a one and
a half point favorite over Drake andnow Drake's favorite by one and a half.
So I got the Cougs. Let'ssee, I took him at pick
him for a hundred bucks and Igot the Kugs for another hundred bucks at
one and a half. I'm justgoing all in. I'm just all coogs.
(35:21):
I'm setting myself up for disappointment.I saw the text four nine four
or five one. It's part ofbeing a kug man. I got to
go all in and see if I'mgoing to ride the Kugs and see if
they can make it into the nextround against Iowa State. We'll see how
that goes. Okay, So inPittsburgh, I thought it was interesting.
I'm down in Vegas and I seesome sort of tweet where Justin Fields was
(35:42):
traded to the Steelers, and RussellWilson, i'm sure publicly is saying,
hey man, this is great.The quarterback room just got stronger. I'm
looking forward to having Justin Fields here. No, he's not publicly he's not
looking forward to that. That alwayscompete thing that to every position except for
quarterback in Seattle and Pete Carroll washere. That doesn't apply there in Pittsburgh
(36:05):
with Mike Tomlin. That's just notgonna fly Russell making one point one million
the minimum salary, that's all theSteelers are paying. If Justin Field beats
him out in training camp and inthe preseason, it's going to be his
job, isn't it. Am Imissing something there or not? Especially with
Mike Tomlin. That's kind of whatwe were talking about off the air is
with a hard nosed coach like MikeTomlin, he gives noss and he will
(36:29):
literally just go with who he likesbetter. And also, Justin Field is
trying to come back from a disappointingstart to his NFL career right now,
and I think he's going to competehis lights out. Plus they acquired you
know, they acquired him. Theysigned Russell and free agency for one year
on a proven deal. They acquiredJustin Fields in a different way. The
NFL is just so weird to mewhen it comes to trades like Justin Fields.
(36:51):
Whatever you think about him, hewas a first round selection by the
Bears. I think it was numbereleven overall, and all of a sudden,
it's just a sixth rod to getJustin Fields, and if he plays
fifty one percent of the time,it'll go up to a fourth rounder,
but still fourth round for that guylike fantasy football guys. Kid, Am
I wrong about that? Fantasy footballpeople love him, don't they? Not
(37:15):
so much? Just because he wasup and down. I think it's fifty
to fifty, to be honest.But it'll be interesting to see what happens
over there in Pittsburgh. I thinkRusse is gonna win the job though,
you do? Yes, Oh?I do not. You don't think Russell
Wilson still has it? Oh?I'm not saying that he has it.
I just don't think he's gonna winthe job. They're not. They had
Kenny Pickett. Who would you haveto have Kenny Pickett or Justin Fields?
(37:38):
Right? Well, I would sayright now Justin Field's but you're right.
Yeah, But okay, I thinkhe needs to be fixed though, and
I don't think Tom is looking tobring him in and be the starter.
Russ is going to start. Ihave, okay, for how much of
the year though, the whole season? Would you would you pet? I'll
put five hundred dollars that rust offthe entire season, Jim, we can
make that bet right now? Okay, you think I'm sure? You think
(38:00):
you're going to sucker right now.I just think Russe is the better quarterback
and it's not close. I'm donewith these five hundred dollars bets when it
comes to quarters. Yeah, outsideof injuries, Russell Wilson will start every
game, every game this year.Yes, you have to give it an
over under, you know, Ido like nine games, right, you'll
take the over ten games. You'lllet Jim pick the games. You say,
(38:23):
every single game if he's not hurt. I believe Russell Wilson will start
every game, kind of like theBroncos. He was healthy, he got
scratched late in the season. Idon't think that's going to happen with the
Steelers. All right, We'll seeabout that, but I think Justin Fields
is eventually going to take over there. Sam Howell, what about Sam Howell
here in Seattle? At no shot? No shot? Okay? I ran
(38:45):
a poll. Did you see thepole that I ran there? Did on
what percentage chance Sam Hall has totake over for Gino Smith this season?
One hundred percent received eleven percent ofthe votes, So that's the least likely
nineteen percent. It won't happen atall sixty six percent. There were there
some people thought that maybe that hewould, you know so, but that
(39:05):
was the twenty eight percent one andthen thirty three percent was the winner.
I just think Sam Howe at somepoint is going to take over for Gino
Smith. I saw enough from him, really, and people are going,
well, wait a minute, yousaw that Seattle game and going against the
Seattle defense. Well, sure you'regoing to say that, because everybody was
great against the Seattle defense. Butboy, Sam, hell do you remember
that day? He was terrific.He was twenty nine for forty four,
(39:28):
three hundred and twelve yards, threetouchdowns, no interceptions. They did lose
to the Hawks in that game twentynine, twenty six. But how about
the game that he had against theEagles. Do the Eagles have a bad
defense? No, they don't,Chris, I know you're on your phone
there. Three hundred and ninety sevenyards, four hundred yards against the Eagles
and one of the meetings against theEagles, four touchdowns, one interception.
(39:51):
I know his overall work was notgreat because he had twenty one interceptions,
twenty one touchdowns, he was sackedsixty five times. Well that plays into
that kid's through for nearly four thousandyards for the football team back there that
will say this, I think thathe could potentially be the Seahawks future quarterback
in the next two years, maybenext year. Actually, that's what I
(40:13):
do believe. I think John Schneiderreally likes him that much, and I
think they put the pieces around himthat sac number will drop and he'll continue
to throw amazing numbers as you justmentioned. So I think that is potentially,
Hey, Sam Howe is the Seahawksfuture quarterback. Now I could be
wrong too there. They could draftsome other kid, But I think Schneider
and the guys are like, Ilike what he can do. He has
(40:36):
a nice strong arm, he's mobilein the pocket. You give him Kem
Walker some weapons. This could bethe future draft some guards. Maybe that
would help too with that sack ratio. I would just I think kind of
the opposite of what I think.Well, yeah, with Pittsburgh, I
think the opposite here. I thinkthat they brought Sam Howell in to develop
(40:58):
under Geno, and I think thatJohn and Mike McDonald's too, are that
are looking at Okay, we've gotg you know now, and let's see
you know, there might be asituation where Sam Howell gets called into action.
You know, there could be injuries, there could just be a bad
game that you know it's having.I don't think it's going to be the
same kind of competition for the startingjob. It's Gino's job, Sam Howell
(41:20):
in the future. Yes, Ithink it's a full out competition in Pittsburgh.
Well, I would agree with you. And we'll see what Michael Sean
Dugard from the Athletic. He coversthe Seahawks for the Athletic. We'll see
what he thinks about the quarterback situationin Seattle. That's coming up next.
It's Jim Moore with Jessman McIntyre InfrapuckSports Radio ninety three point three KJRFM.
All right, good morning everybody.It's Jim Moore with Jessemone McIntyre in for
Jason Puckett. It's a Monday morning, jay mshow let's go and I'll admit,
okay, we've got a really goodshow. So let me get to
that. Let me get to thepassionate part of the program. Here we
have Kyle Smith joining us in amatter of minutes live from Pullman, Washington.
(00:23):
Do we have Coach Smith? Now? Chris Kidd? I yet Chris
Kidd playing hurt today? Everybody?Chris Kidd playing hurt? Oh, don't
you do this? Come on,Chris, I'm playing hurt too. I'm
playing hurt too. I guess areself inflicted wounds though. Okay, I
just admitted something to Bucky Jacobson thatI'm gonna admit to everybody else. Do
you, Chris Kid? Do you, Jessemin mcamtirre to the listeners, have
(00:46):
you ever done what I've done today? I would guess whatever you're about to
say, I would put money downand say, no, uh, okay,
do you think you've ever done whatI'm about to admit that I've done
today? I think there's a betterchance that I have done it than Chris
Kidden. Okay, bet to begto different. Let's see, I would
agree. Have you ever shown upto work in the clothes that you slept
in? Okay? Never? Yes, my life, yes, yes,
(01:08):
we have a yes and no.I was doing back to back games.
I would do Cougar games and thendo Seahawks broadcast. I would sometimes drive
through the night, sleep in mycar for an hour at the station,
and then go into work and donot not what I was sideline reporting,
but when I was doing the ingame updates. Yes, directed All right,
(01:30):
Should I be embarrassed about this nowbecause you made so much effort to
get back here to do the show? It's radio. Yeah, We're not
on YouTube or anything. We don'thave any video components of this show.
So I figured out what the hellyou know? I didn't even you know,
run home through the hair or anything. But I'm happy to be here.
I'm excited to talk to Kyle Smithbecause, as we know, Wait
a minute, though, before weget to that, what how'd you get
hurt? Did you really take afootball to the face? Yes? I
(01:52):
did, so how's that possible?So what happened was it was third and
maybe thirteen or whatever, and Isaid, hey, I'm gonna run this
route. If you can squeeze inthe window, I trust you to throw
it. And the safety actually droppeddown on this one. So I did
my quick little post over the middle, and the safety dropped down, so
I couldn't see if the ball wascoming, but based on how the safety
(02:15):
was reacting, I figured, okay, it might be tipped that the ball
is coming. The safety didn't tipit. So your quarterback through a perfect
pass, your perfect pass, andI wasn't. I didn't think it was
gonna make it, and it madeit to its primary target, which is
my left eyeball, and he knockedmy glasses off. Everyone was like,
(02:36):
damn, how much crap did youtake for that? Well, I scored
the game winning touchdown, so notmuch. Oh really. So the next
play, the next play, afterI got my glasses knocked off my face
and got a nice little shiner,I said, hey, run it again.
So he ran the same route again, but they backed up into their
zone defense, so I just satin the pocket of the zone and then
he threw me open and I caughtit, game winning touchdown, got my
(02:59):
glasses knocked off, got the shineras you can see, guys, and
was victorious. So it all workedout. We didn't lose the game because
I dropped the ball. I lovethe breakdown. So seven on seven flag
football we're talking about here. Itwas actually six on six on Saturday.
It sounded like you Millon breaking itall down there, though. Yeah,
I wish you had film for it. You guys have been laughing because it
was probably very funny because everyone somebodywere able to laugh at yourself though.
(03:21):
Oh, I was kind of madthat I dropped that. I didn't even
catch it. I was more upsetbecause everyone was like, damn, can't
catch the ball. And I'm like, you know what, you guys are
right, So I told my quarterbackrun it again. Yeah, bleeding and
everything right. I didn't know Iwas bleeding until after the game. My
friend was like, hey, Chris, you're leaking. I said what.
I was like, Oh my gosh, is there a gash You're leaking?
But it was it's more of arug burn. I call it a rug.
(03:44):
It looks like a raspberry yeah,yeah, And Mike. Mike was
joking. He was like, man, you might have got hit with some
of the stitches from the football becauseit was spinning. It was a perfect
spiral. That was the best part. And it just it was on me
like that. I didn't know whathappened. I was like, damn,
so the nose of the football justshit, you're right around. You're pretty
sure. I'm pretty sure that's whatit was, because I don't know how
this scar rugburn is on my lefteyebrow. Yeah, well, I don't
(04:06):
have any noticeable scars, but Igotta tell you. I mean, it
was a rough weekend, just comingback from Las Vegas. Flew into Portland
last night because I drove from bento Portland and then left my car there
and then came up last night andI'm here today. But boy, oh
boy, what there's no fool likean old fool. That's what I was
saying as I was laying in bedSaturday. What in the world possessed me
(04:30):
to try and keep up with mykid on a night of drinking in Las
Vegas, Nevada. What could havepossibly possessed me to do that? Because
the Cooks lost that night to Colorado, I would say, being a dad,
you just want to have fun.Nothing wrong with that. I wasn't
really drowning my sorrows because I feltgood about the Cooks beating Stanford down there.
That was fun to watch that game. And we'll be talking to Kyle
Smith here momentarily about the PAC twelvetournament and facing Drake in the first round
(04:56):
Thursday, seven oh five tip fromOmaha. The Cooks is seven seed against
the ten seed Drake Bulldogs. We'regonna talk to who is it again,
Michael Admire, the play by playguy. We're gonna be talking to him.
We're gonna be talking to him attwelve thirty. You heard Michael on
with Chuck and Bucky earlier today.We're gonna double down with Michael and find
out a little bit more about theCougar opponent on Thursday. But yeah,
(05:19):
I just I don't know. Wejust went out, we were having a
good time, went out on thestrip, went to a club, had
some fifteen dollars beers. Where wheredoes Vegas get off on charging? As
much as they say, what isit that's happened to Las Vegas? I
mean, really seriously, what hashappened down there? Because they used to
have these buffets that were three ninetynine, They had free parking. They
(05:41):
encourage you to come in they knewthey were gonna get your money at the
tables, and now you just paythrough the nose for everything. Yeah,
because they can't. That's it.That's why people do ridiculous things. Is
but when they can, because theycan, well that's just how it goes.
You kind of know what you're gettinginto. So now with the way
Vegas is, and I went oncewhen it was still a little bit like
what you were talking about, itwasn't as outrageous the first time I went
(06:04):
there. It was Saint Patrick's Day, first weekend of the tournament, and
a bachelorette party, so I wasperfect storming it through my first time there,
and I still lived to tell thestory. But it wasn't as outrageous
at the time. Now it's youknow, just kind of assume you're paying
twenty dollars a pop for whatever you'regoing to drink. I still enjoy it
when you call it the tournament insteadof the train cue because I get made
(06:27):
fun of by other people. Istill really enjoy that. But no,
it was it was just it wasone of those nights in Vegas where,
yeah, everybody has those kind ofnights, and I didn't realize things were
going awry until Saturday morning when Iwoke up and it was after a night
at the Paris Hotel and we weretrying to get an uber back to where
we were staying, and all ofour phones ran out of juice. My
(06:50):
wife's phone ran out of juice,Stevie's phone ran out, his girlfriend and
my phone, and so we splitup. I was trying to get a
cab, I was trying to pickhim up. Long story short, or
actually long story long. They endedup going back to where we were staying
at Kathy's friend's house, and Iwas stuck there, thinking, God,
I don't want to strand my wifeand kid, but I didn't know what
(07:13):
to do because my phone didn't work, I couldn't contact him. Oh,
so I just stayed at the casino. I found a place where I could
charge my phone. And while Iwas charging my phone, you know what
happened, this beautiful young woman cameup to me and she was like,
Hey, how you doing tonight,And I was like, yeah, I'm
doing not so good. She was, oh, will tell me about it.
So I gave her the play byplay of the story, and I
thought, hey, Jim, youstill got it. Man. Look at
(07:34):
this. Look at you, Jim, look at you. What did you
try to charge it for the conversationafter that? Yeah, and then she
said, well what do you put? What are you planning on doing right
now? And I said, well, I'm planning on maybe gambling, and
she said, well I have anidea, you know, I have something
that might be more fun than gambling. And then yeah, I picked up
on Yeah, so it was arough day for me. I still got
(07:56):
it. You looked like you hadsome money to spend. Yeah, rough
day. We have coach Kyle Smithwith us. Now it's Jim Moore with
Jessman McIntyre, a couple of Kookstalking to the KUK head coach at Kook's
preparing to face Drake on Thursday inOmaha, Nebraska. Coach, Welcome to
the show. How are things thismorning? They're going great? Couldn't be
better to be honest. Yeah,how was it at Beasley yesterday? It
(08:20):
looked like it was a good time. It was a nice turnout. It
was a great way to kind ofcelebrate getting in there. There was I
was the only one that was worriedwe weren't in Everyone else seemed three secure,
but just the paranoid coach worried aboutit. So it was a nice
nice to see where we were sevenseed. I thought that was about right,
and just getting an opportunity to playingthis things quite an honor. Oh
(08:43):
yeah, and it's been sixteen years, so coach, what's it been like
for Kook fans? I can tellyou I was down there at the PAC
twelve tournament. I enjoyed the heckout of it. I mean, you
were just if Jalen hits that threepoint in a row on the right side,
you guys might have gone on towin that game. So, I
mean, it was a competitive game. We were all exc because we thought,
oh damn, we don't have toface Arizona. We can face Oregon
in the championship game. But youknow, all in all, it was
(09:05):
a it was a good showing bythe Koogs. And yeah, no,
I agree. I mean, Kyloradwas playing for the tournament Berth obviously,
and that shouldn't factor in, butit does probably And uh, you know,
we uh we we've turned it overa little too much into Colorad,
but play really well against Stanford,so hopefully we can iron that out before
Thursday night. And and just talkingabout enjoying these two tournaments. You know,
(09:28):
we have the conference tournament and hopefullyit helps us prepare for this one.
And but it was great. Itwas a great turnout in Vegas.
I was a little surprised. Iwas kind of excited. Cooks came out
of the woodworks for us, Sothat was awesome. Yeah, you'll notice
that more and more coach head coachKyle Smith of Washington State basketball is joining
us. And I mean, firstof all, congratulations, I'm winning the
John Wooden Coach of the Year award. You know, I haven't spoken to
(09:52):
you since that happened, and you'vebeen a pleasure to watch and to talk
to throughout this season. It's amazing. I know that it was a no
break you or that you were goingto win that Maybe not for you because
you're humble, but as much asyou probably focus on, you know,
team accolades over individual ones, couldyou take any small amount of joy or
pleasure in actually getting that award?Absolutely? I mean I can't you can't
(10:15):
fake that one. I was whateverjust to be associated with John Wooden and
when the Coach of the Year andI said I did actually say if I
don't win it everyone hates me,I said, like these coaches you but
no, I knew that and thenand it was really nice too. And
and that's hard and it's not notby nature. I don't think just to
(10:39):
and get and have to deal withthat. Though. There was a lot
of praise in that the conference termand I was like, you know,
Coach of the Year and and Icorrect them and say, no, it's
a John R. Wooden Coach ofthe Year award. And I'm kidding,
by the way, letting you knowthat I'm associated you know, I want
you to I want you to sayit correctly. I don't want you to
understand. But what to mean thebest maybe the best team coach ever to
(11:03):
be associated with that. I mean, I've said that when I part of
my reason coming to the PAC twelveis and so the press losses. There's
just been so many good coaches fromeven at Washington State, you know,
going back to Jack Friel, MarvHarshman, uh, Calvin Samson, George
Rattling, Tony Bennett, you know, so there's it's been just some great
coaches in this at this program,in this league, Ralph Miller, Mike
(11:24):
Montgomery, you know, Loude Olson, so bummer that way, but to
get that recognition was special for sure, Well good, you deserve it.
And another well deserving koop that we'vebeen talking about all season Miles Rice And
obviously he made national headlines for goingthrough everything he did to make it back
to the courts, dealing with hisillness and coming back. He won Freshman
(11:46):
of the Year and I just didyou get to deliver that news to him?
And if not, who did?Man? You can't deliver any news
this day and age man that getsthe Twitter, it's like you I hear
like everyone else like oh we wantit great. You know those days of
like calling someone to deliver the newsis you don't have a chance. I
feel bad. And you know whenthey make the you know, when they
(12:07):
make coaching decisions on letting guys go, it's been like, I don't it's
once more than one person knows what'sgoing on. You know, it's everyone's
it's it's Twitter and stuff. Sono, I didn't get a chance,
but it's awesome honor for him.Uh and one believe deserved. I mean
really going in the season that projectednumb one picking the draft was a freshman
at USC and it wasn't Ronnie James, it was I said Collier. So
(12:31):
for him to to win the awardFreshman the Week seven times and really lead
this team to where we are,and it's really his will and belief that's
a big part of it. Andwe're just blessed to have Kyle Smith the
coach of the Coogs is with usJim Moore and Jessman McIntyre. The Coogs
is a seventh seed facing Drake theten seed, in Omaha Nebraska's seven oh
(12:52):
five tip on Thursday. Since we'retalking about Miles Rice, everybody, we
all love the kid, We're allpulling for him. We all want him
to make three pointers. Kyle,I saw, I saw him at halftime.
He just effortlessly is making threes andI'm going, God, Miles,
come on, man, I knowyou can make him. What do you
think is going on there with Milesright? I think a little bit in
(13:13):
his head and it's you know,we're not afraid to confront the Google facts,
but you know what, I gotto arrest him some more. I
mean it's hard to take him outof the game, and he's he went
probably unnoticed. I was probably onhis best defensive efforts he had. He
had kJ Simpson who was runner upto play the year in the league,
I believe, and he went fourfor fifteen, So there's two sides of
(13:33):
the ball. And to be ableto deliver that kind of defensive effort and
carry our team offensively or make three, you know, that's that's a that's
a long, tall order for afreshman really, anybody, but a true
freshman. I'm not actually not atrue freshman, but a first year player
that you know in a big stagelike that. So it can happen.
(13:54):
But we need to, you know, for us to be good, all
the guys got to play well.Le's what we've been talking and you know,
pressures of privilege and and I believein him, man, And I
told him, I said the firstI said, when you, I said,
catch and shoot, just don't hesitate, just let it fly. On
the first half they kept going.I was like, maybe fuck that one
(14:15):
away, but we need him.Maybe we'll make shots. He's made him
for us. He had six inthe game I think this year, So
I expect him to deliver. Andif he done, that's okay too.
As long as he's got the rightattitude. Well, it's got to be
hard because you know, you don'treally want to take your best player out
of the game, and yet youknow you're getting some good minutes from some
backups too. I was impressed withKimani wins to and what do he gave
you down there? Yeah, No, Kimani was great, and you know,
(14:41):
and Isaiah didn't play as well downthere. You know, he'd been
coming on at the end of theseason there, and but that just again,
freshman in that environment. I expecthim to bounce back. But Kimani
has been and I told him,I think in the Washing game, I
said after that, I said,you know what, we couldn't get stopped
and he's our best perimeter defender orsecond vestment andre Or, and I say,
(15:05):
you know what, I need toget you in there. I need
to You've been too good for us, So keep your confidence up. I'm
gonna get you in there. Andhe really delivered it. Came up offensively,
is playing on the post, metsome great passes and then and then
he just rebounds and he helps uson that in so hopefully we need them
all to play well period. Well, yeah, that is the signature move
for a team, right, justeverybody play well, ye this s of
(15:30):
year, you can't. You can'tthere, you can't have a no show.
You know, there's got to beYou're gonna have to beat good teams.
You're gonna have to everyone's gonna haveto play to a certain level.
You know, you're gonna have todo that. And everyone's good this,
you know. I mean, Drake'swon i think twenty eight games, so
they're used to winning. It'll behard to beat someone that's won twenty eight
teams twenty eight games and will behard to beat too, So it should
(15:50):
be a really good competition. Cougar'sside coach Kyle Smith joining us here on
the precipice of historic tournament appearance.As Jim had mentioned off the show,
sixteen years it has been so,you know, there was there was some
disappointment the final game of the yearagainst you do and then you know,
going out in the Semis to Colorado, how do you prepare your team,
(16:11):
especially with all the noise that couldbe getting to them, because this is
historic, you could call it historic, the run that you guys have had
this year, and going back tothe dance, how do you do that?
How do you have your team tuneout the noise, and how do
you do it yourself? I don't. You just kind of have to deal
with it. If I did,I would have said no to this interview.
You kind of have to. Yougot to manage it a little bit
(16:33):
and first, and I think that'sa little bit of playing in the Miles
thing too. I said, Miles, you got you willing to say no.
Everyone knows your story and it's okayto and he wants to share it,
you know, and it's an awesomestory. But I'm saying, like
there's a threshold where you have tobe able to take care of grades,
get your rest, and you knowthat's an extra. So we talk about
(16:55):
it and it's hard. And it'slike all these kids are raised on their
phones and social media and stuff likethat. They're pretty in tune. And
I just hit it every day.I said, look, the noise and
it's not just media, it's notjust and everyone's following it, but it's
your friends and family. They allwant to be a part of it.
They want to take care of it. I'm and it's a it's a lot
and everyone's going through it and sowhoever handles the best gets it. And
(17:18):
you know Drake. Drake was inthe tournament last year, so they probably
got a little leg up on usin that regard. But you know,
experience is the best teacher. Ithink this thing. But we just got.
All we can do is talk aboutit incessantly, tune it out,
tune it out, and easier saidthan done. Coach, I'm nervous.
I'm not even playing, I'm justwatching. I'm an I'm gonna Alum,
that's fired up. No, it'sgood, you know what. And that's
(17:41):
that's all we all we talked aboutthese two weeks. Let's enjoy it.
Uh, you know. And Iand I think, uh, that was
a little crabby because I can't handleturnovers. I'd rather lose one hundred and
ninety four than fifty eight to fiftytwo. So I just like that.
But but you know what, it'sjust it's hard. It's hard. It's
like you gotta, you've gotta.These teams are everyone's competing hard, and
(18:03):
you gotta find that sweet spot ofplaying loose and playing free and also competing
as hard you can staying concentrating.So I think we'll play well. We'll
we'll bring good effort and we'll seewhat happens. Hey, my kids are
over the moon about what's happening withCougar basketball. How are your kids taking
it? Uh, you know,I'm just dad. They're pretty excited,
I guess, but they still giveme a hard time, like, come
(18:26):
on, man, that's that's doingall right this year. And but it's
neat because they're uh fifteen, thirteenand ten, all boys, and and
what a great place to raise afamily, and and and then England's been
here in such a college town anduh just just embracing and everyone uh never
had a bad word to said about. I mean, I go back to
(18:48):
last year, we're tenn at fifteen, and so I said, man,
thank you for being here. Iwas like, this is a great place.
But this year is even more.Everyone's that one's really excited and we
need it, you know, WashingtonState. It's it's been a great thing
to see all the support we're getting. Yeah, and rightly so. Coach,
it's been fun to watch what thematchup with Drake. You mentioned the
experience that they have in the tournament. They've been there three out of the
(19:08):
last four years. I'm also concernedabout their three point shooting. Imagine you
are too. But that's one ofthe strengths of your defense, isn't it.
Yeah, it is, there'll bethere. There's a couple of things
that are interesting that you know,they really keep people off offensive boards,
and that's testament that they're really wellcoached. And then they do they spread
you out and they got a youknow, coming in like a Larry Bird
(19:30):
modern day Larry Bird's twenty two agame and they really play through and he's
coach his son and he's a reallytalented just kind of makes a lot of
plays and he's good and he makesbig shots. He scores all three levels,
and so that'll be. That'll be. And I don't know what a
best matchup is yet and probably won'tfind out till we'll probably give me a
lot of different looks and it'll bedone in the course of the game they're
(19:52):
like, okay, this is maybethat's working. You know, he's good,
and so it'll be. It'll bea contrasting styles, I think little
bit and uh, it'll be tough. I want to mention some unsung heroes
over there in Pullman, your staffof assistance. I'm sure that they've had
a big role in what's going on. And I got to tell you too,
I appreciate Jade Mullins. I justI think of a kid that played
(20:14):
a lot last year not playing muchthis year. I look at his body
language. He looks like he's aterrific teammate. He's unbelievable and uh,
I got a little miss to youwhen you talk about him, because he
would be easy for him to beat distraction and and he's been nothing.
He's been awesome. And uh,he's a really close relationship with Isaac Jones
and their their faith piece is reallyimportant to them. And Jabe has been
(20:38):
a model uh player and just andit's so we talk about it's you know,
it's a character development program and it'show you handle things. And if
if he hadn't handled this well,who knows, Wou'd be as good as
it. So his leadership, it'sjust important. I was wanting not We
had seven guys return to the program, and he talks about all the new
faces. We had seven guys thatstayed with the pro and only two or
(21:02):
I guess Miles, I said twoand a half. Three guys are getting
real A lot of minutes and there'sa lot of unsung heroes that and as
I said, like the reason we'rethe program piece improved is they know the
expectations, they know what the practiceof us are. They know how hard
we go and do things, andthey're a great role model for someone like
Isaac Jones. It's you know,coming home from Idaho and it's a big
step up, but they got himgoing in the summer. This is how
(21:22):
we do think. So it's it'sbeen a group effort. And I said,
like my and the only sister ofthis spendard the whole time is Jim
Shaw. He's been you know,he's from Chimma Coom over there on the
west side. Uh and uh he'suh, he's my human cheek code.
You know, he's got the defensegoing. We call it the Shamble half
half Shaw half Scramble and uh andhe's just kind of legend of the Pacific
(21:48):
Northwest and he's been great and justcouldn't enjoy this whole experience And it wouldn't
work without that. Like you said, Jay Mullen's doing his part and the
staff being uh in tune with what'sgoing on and the lined in a great
way. Next to last question forcoach Kyle smith a Kook's taking on Drake
Thursday, seven o five in Omaha, Nebraska in the NC Double A Tournament.
(22:08):
How's Andre shoulder doing good? Theyseems to me it's fine. I
think he's he's you know, it'sstill the sore, but I think it's
mending the right way. He misseda couple of layups and you know,
it's a little I don't think ofanything to do with his shoulder. He
told me that, and uh,you know so, I think that's that's
a that's a positive. We'll needhim. I'm sure it's gonna get a
(22:30):
lot of minutes on debreeze. AndI saved the toughest question for last year,
coach. Uh, you actually bowledat one forty nine? What what's
the matter with you can't do betterthan that? I think that's good?
Is good? What kind of bullerare you? You know what? I'm
hard pressed to bawl at one fiftytwo. I am, I am,
(22:51):
I admit it. I'm just bustingyour jobs, coach. There's not a
lot of open frames at the oneforty nine. It was, it was,
it was well done. I thinkthere's two strikes at least four s
bears in there. That was prettygood. I stand by that one nine
crowd. I love that. Ilove that. What's you're high? You
know I've actually rolled. I thinkI got about of to eighteen before and
(23:14):
that was that's crazy. I hada crazy year when I was at University
of San Diego and every pregame,our whole staff would go bowling because we
won one game. So the restof the year on the road, we
have to find a bully. SoI got pretty good. But that was
about it. And that's my Polishroots. That's my Midwestern Polish roots.
You've got to know how to Yougotta be able to throw throw a bowl
the ball there? Yeah? Youlike you like Zeppo's, don't you?
(23:37):
Oh? I mean it's one stopshopping, baby. What do you want
to do? Play hand? Youwant to hand a black zack, You
want to go to the arcade,you want to bowl, you want to
get breakfast, you want a sportsbar, you need a drink. It's
their baby, It's all good.I sure hope you remember all of this
stuff. Remember that old shoe commentyou made to coaching a couple of weeks
(23:59):
from now, Hey, we loveyou man, I mean, it's it's
been so much fun. God,I just get emotional thinking about your team
and what you've done this year.And you know what, one of my
kids said, Hey, Dad,thanks for just, you know, forcing
us to watch Cougar basketball when wewere younger kids. You know, because
he's enjoying it so much. It'slike I handcuffed him to the couch.
I didn't. That's great. Youdid the right thing. Yeah, you
(24:21):
did the right thing. There's weknow who the true blue ones are there
there. I'd run into so manypeople that say I'm season ticket over and
I'm like, really, I've neverseen you. There's been plenty of times.
There's been plenty of games where Icould see everybody. But no,
it's good. It's a great placeand it's been fun. It's just it's
pretty electric around here. So wewant to keep it rolling. Yeah,
best of luck. I hope youcan take down Drake and then you know,
(24:44):
if you get Iowa State, takethem down to and we'll see you
in the sweet sixteen and uh yeah, I have fun there in Omaha.
Will We'll enjoy the ride. Thankyou, coach, Thanks coach, go
koobs coobs coach Kyle Smith. God, I'm just like excited the whole professional
radio guy went out the window onthat one that the point of the show
(25:06):
is, I am just so firedup about Cougar basketball right now, and
justifiably so. It's been fun towatch this team and see them develop and
really just I know we need toget a break, and we will.
But I mean, how this allcame together this year. How a coach
can have so many different players andyou can't really develop a program anymore.
It's not just Kyle Smith, it'severy coach in the country and how they
(25:26):
have to try and make it happenin one year. And we're going to
get to this In the Story ofthe Day, Tom Crean, a former
coach, going off on coaches notwanting to play in the NIT. The
transfer portal is open today and there'sall kinds of players. It's just a
flurry of activity. And I'm surethe same will hold true at Washington State
and other programs in the Pac twelve. But it's just crazy and the success
(25:48):
that they've had this year, andyou know, maybe they can take it
a little further. I would loveto see it. And they have all
the talent and everything that they justhave to come together like we've seen them
do in the big moments this year. I mean both Arizona games. The
first DUB game, I would saythat's the hardest I've ever seen them fight
for a win. And they justdidn't play well against UDUB in the second
round over here or over in Pullman, and they didn't play that great against
(26:11):
Colorado either. So if they justplay like they're capable of, they can
do anything in this tournament. Anything. Well, if everybody has their a
game, they're going to take outDrake, and then maybe they can take
out Iowa State, like I said, and move on to the Sweet sixteen.
All Right, we'll get you setfor what's going on the highlights of
the bracket, the games in Spokane, some Cinderellas, some dark horses,
(26:34):
and maybe a best better two that'scoming up next' Shim Moore Rejussement McIntyre in
for Puck Sports Radio ninety three pointthree KJRFM. Welcome back. It's Jim
(26:56):
Moore Rejussement McIntyre in for East andPucket Sports Radio ninety three point three kJ
r f M. I imagine everyone'sout there filling out their bracket or thinking
about filling out the bracket, andas you know, the number one seeds
Yukon, Houston, Purdue, andNorth Carolina. Gonzaga is a five seed
(27:21):
that seemed to take a lot ofpeople by surprise. Gonzaga will be playing
McNee State Thursday at four twenty fivein Salt Lake City. The other teams
in the PAC twelve. As youknow, the Koogs will be facing Drake
in Omaha Thursday at seven oh five, the seven versus the ten seed.
(27:41):
I'm a little miffed by Well,I've already told you how mift I am
a Vegas and how much it costsdown there. For everything I even thought
about. There was one night whenI thought, okay, I'm gonna gamble.
I'm gonna go for it, andI went to an ATM and tried
to get a hundred bucks and ahundred bucks sort of my thinking in Vegas
because the minimums now are twenty five. Yeah, I knowledge, I used
five dollars tables. There's ridiculous.I still like the five dollars tables.
(28:04):
I don't want to pay ten forminimum. I don't want to pay twenty
five. But I went to theATM thinking, okay, one hundred bucks.
I'll just go try and play fora little while. And I love
to play craps. But it wasan eleven dollars and ninety nine cent service
fee at the ATM to get myhundred bucks. Twelve bucks, get your
money just to cancel. I saidscrew it, yeah, and took the
(28:25):
cab and left. But no,I just I mean, some of these
games, I'm just looking at them. It's going to be it'll be wide
open. I don't think it's goingto be as wide open as last year
though, when they were upsets.I think people won their pools last year
without even having the champion because therewere so many upsets, and Yukon looks
like they're they're the favorite, defendingchampion. They're upset. What there were
(28:47):
only three Big East teams that madeit. They're eight teams each from the
SEC and the Big twelve. TheMountain West got six teams, which was
a little surprising to some. Butyou know, I mean, I'm sure,
I mean, all these guys.I was listening to the show on
Sirius XM coming back up from Portlandyesterday and they talked to one of the
guys that was on the committee thatmade the choices, and he had good
(29:10):
explanations for everything explained by Saint John'sand others weren't in So it's a difficult
job to try and figure it out. It doesn't really matter how many teams
you have in there. There's alwaysgoing to be a sixty fifth team or
sixty six team. Yes, that'supset that they don't make it. So
if you expanded the tournament, itwould be the number eighty three team or
eighty four team that would be upset. Yeah, I don't like that.
We had this conversation on Ian Showthe other week just about, you know,
(29:34):
thinking about doing what was in ninetysix ninety six teams. No,
No, it's just it's too much. And I really Jay Billis doesn't always
say everything I agree with, butI liked what he had to say about
that that never never expect the NCAAto not do something stupid, and doing
that would just water it down somuch. And what bill has said is
(29:56):
that everybody does have a chance.You win your conference tournament, you have
a chance to get in every singleyear by doing that, So why do
you think you deserve it if youdidn't and if you are playing in a
Power five, and I know we'renot going to have as many. It'll
be Power four in the future,and it'll probably be Power to conglomeration in
the future as well. That youknow, you're just you're playing against better
(30:19):
competition. And I know that Gonzagahas faced some criticism by playing in the
conference that they do and always dominatingit in the past. Number five.
That did surprise me though, too, because they usually just get a higher
ranking. But I think that they'regoing to I don't know if you filled
out your bracket yet. I've filledout one. No, I just will
(30:41):
I have them winning for quite awhile. I think I have them in
the Elite eight. Actually this yearthe Elite eight, I do. Yeah,
you know, it's crazy. SoGonzaga, I mean, you've got
games in Spokane starting on Friday.You got four of them, San Diego
State, UA B, Auburn andYale, Alabama and Charleston, and you
have Saint Mary's and and Canyon.So are people going to be rooting against
(31:03):
Saint Mary's in Spokane? I wouldthink they would be probably the biggest rival
in the WCC. Yeah, itis. It's interesting that they got played
placed geographically there too, and Ido think that will draw in it.
I don't care if you're haters ornot of a team. You're drawing in
an audience, and so if you'repolarizing, you're a good team to have
in the tournament. The team I'mrooting against and I have friends there.
(31:23):
I saw them Friday night, theRoorda's great family from Issaquah. There,
I'm rooting against it, Arizona.I'm sorry. I was at the beer
house outside of T Mobile Arena beforethe game that Arizona lost to Oregon,
and there were so many Arizona fans. They always seem so cocky and confident
for good reason, because Arizona's alwaysgot a hell of a team, and
(31:45):
it was nice to see them godown. I'm not necessarily a big Ducks
fan, but I was that night. I was enjoying the heck out of
that and the whole Cevie was justirritated by the Michale North t shirts that
everybody was wearing. And I really, in the worst way, wanted to
get a sign Stevie. We gotto get a signed Beasley South if we
were going to play Arizona in thechampionship game. Yeah, Beasley South.
(32:06):
But yeah, so we'll see Arizona. Though you see this matchup, it's
a great matchup. I mean,it's a two verses of fifteen, so
Arizona's heavily favored in the game.But Long Beach State coming into this game.
Dan Monson being the coach of LongBeach State, but he's interim.
He's lame duck as lame ducks go, because he was fired on Monday,
and now the team has rallied aroundhim. I just love this. I
(32:29):
was talking about this with Mike Hopkinsin the PAC twelve tournament. I was
wondering if that the same thing mighthold true for them. Of course it
didn't at USC eliminating them in thefirst round, But yeah, Dan Monson,
I mean, and he was beinginterviewed yesterday and it was just a
cool story that's developing there at LongBeach State. He's in his seventeenth,
seventeenth and final year, and we'llsee if they can knock off Arizona on
(32:50):
Thursday. Yeah, that was oneof the things that I thought would happen
because I thought that's exactly what washappening in the final Apple Cup of Hoops
when you played Washington State. Ithought that they were fighting for him because
they knew, even though it wasn'tofficial yet, that he was gone.
You know, the writing's on thewall and the whole staff has gone too.
There isn't going to be an interim. At the time, I thought
(33:10):
that you Dub had a better chanceof winning the entire PAC twelve tournament because
of that reason, because it's nothingto lose situation, And that's what I
thought. You know, Wazo atleast got to look ahead because they knew
they were in the dance right andyou Dub, you know, okay,
nothing to lose. And also wehad really good conversations on Ian show about
(33:32):
this. The rivalry is still alivethere. Well it was. I don't
think it's going to be what itwas in the future, but it was
still alive that night, and especiallyknowing that their coach was on his way
out. No, I know,it was crazy there. And we'll see,
you know how the Huskies, howthey fill that coaching role down the
road. I'm sure that Troy danis going to make a choice here in
the next few weeks at least.A lot going on along with March madness
(33:57):
in the NFL Russell Willlson has competitionin Pittsburgh justin Fields as Steelers have justin
Fields in Pittsburgh. Looking forward toseeing what happens there. And the Seahawks,
as you know, have added SamHowe to their quarterback room. We'll
see how that all shakes out within Seattle and in Pittsburgh. We'll talk
about that next. It's Jim morreof a Jessman McIntyre in for puck Sports
(34:17):
Radio ninety three point three KJRFM.Jim Morva, Jessman McIntyre in for Jason
Puckett Sports Radio ninety three point threekJ r FM. Tomorrow, Ian and
(34:39):
jess will be at the Snow QualityCasino one o'clock one to three. Bracketology
broadcast live from the casino there atsnow Qualmy, presented by Hunt Services,
Twin Peaks, the Evergreen Council onProblem Gambling and Snow Quality Casino. A
show to help you fill out yourbracket and discuss which games to bet on.
(35:01):
I've already bet on the Kugs.I'm just going on really, you
know what, I'm going all in. I'm they started out a one and
a half point favorite over Drake andnow Drake's favorite by one and a half.
So I got the Cougs. Let'ssee, I took him at pick
him for a hundred bucks and Igot the Kugs for another hundred bucks at
one and a half. I'm justgoing all in. I'm just all coogs.
(35:21):
I'm setting myself up for disappointment.I saw the text four nine four
or five one. It's part ofbeing a kug man. I got to
go all in and see if I'mgoing to ride the Kugs and see if
they can make it into the nextround against Iowa State. We'll see how
that goes. Okay, So inPittsburgh, I thought it was interesting.
I'm down in Vegas and I seesome sort of tweet where Justin Fields was
(35:42):
traded to the Steelers, and RussellWilson, i'm sure publicly is saying,
hey man, this is great.The quarterback room just got stronger. I'm
looking forward to having Justin Fields here. No, he's not publicly he's not
looking forward to that. That alwayscompete thing that to every position except for
quarterback in Seattle and Pete Carroll washere. That doesn't apply there in Pittsburgh
(36:05):
with Mike Tomlin. That's just notgonna fly Russell making one point one million
the minimum salary, that's all theSteelers are paying. If Justin Field beats
him out in training camp and inthe preseason, it's going to be his
job, isn't it. Am Imissing something there or not? Especially with
Mike Tomlin. That's kind of whatwe were talking about off the air is
with a hard nosed coach like MikeTomlin, he gives noss and he will
(36:29):
literally just go with who he likesbetter. And also, Justin Field is
trying to come back from a disappointingstart to his NFL career right now,
and I think he's going to competehis lights out. Plus they acquired you
know, they acquired him. Theysigned Russell and free agency for one year
on a proven deal. They acquiredJustin Fields in a different way. The
NFL is just so weird to mewhen it comes to trades like Justin Fields.
(36:51):
Whatever you think about him, hewas a first round selection by the
Bears. I think it was numbereleven overall, and all of a sudden,
it's just a sixth rod to getJustin Fields, and if he plays
fifty one percent of the time,it'll go up to a fourth rounder,
but still fourth round for that guylike fantasy football guys. Kid, Am
I wrong about that? Fantasy footballpeople love him, don't they? Not
(37:15):
so much? Just because he wasup and down. I think it's fifty
to fifty, to be honest.But it'll be interesting to see what happens
over there in Pittsburgh. I thinkRusse is gonna win the job though,
you do? Yes, Oh?I do not. You don't think Russell
Wilson still has it? Oh?I'm not saying that he has it.
I just don't think he's gonna winthe job. They're not. They had
Kenny Pickett. Who would you haveto have Kenny Pickett or Justin Fields?
(37:38):
Right? Well, I would sayright now Justin Field's but you're right.
Yeah, But okay, I thinkhe needs to be fixed though, and
I don't think Tom is looking tobring him in and be the starter.
Russ is going to start. Ihave, okay, for how much of
the year though, the whole season? Would you would you pet? I'll
put five hundred dollars that rust offthe entire season, Jim, we can
make that bet right now? Okay, you think I'm sure? You think
(38:00):
you're going to sucker right now.I just think Russe is the better quarterback
and it's not close. I'm donewith these five hundred dollars bets when it
comes to quarters. Yeah, outsideof injuries, Russell Wilson will start every
game, every game this year.Yes, you have to give it an
over under, you know, Ido like nine games, right, you'll
take the over ten games. You'lllet Jim pick the games. You say,
(38:23):
every single game if he's not hurt. I believe Russell Wilson will start
every game, kind of like theBroncos. He was healthy, he got
scratched late in the season. Idon't think that's going to happen with the
Steelers. All right, We'll seeabout that, but I think Justin Fields
is eventually going to take over there. Sam Howell, what about Sam Howell
here in Seattle? At no shot? No shot? Okay? I ran
(38:45):
a poll. Did you see thepole that I ran there? Did on
what percentage chance Sam Hall has totake over for Gino Smith this season?
One hundred percent received eleven percent ofthe votes, So that's the least likely
nineteen percent. It won't happen atall sixty six percent. There were there
some people thought that maybe that hewould, you know so, but that
(39:05):
was the twenty eight percent one andthen thirty three percent was the winner.
I just think Sam Howe at somepoint is going to take over for Gino
Smith. I saw enough from him, really, and people are going,
well, wait a minute, yousaw that Seattle game and going against the
Seattle defense. Well, sure you'regoing to say that, because everybody was
great against the Seattle defense. Butboy, Sam, hell do you remember
that day? He was terrific.He was twenty nine for forty four,
(39:28):
three hundred and twelve yards, threetouchdowns, no interceptions. They did lose
to the Hawks in that game twentynine, twenty six. But how about
the game that he had against theEagles. Do the Eagles have a bad
defense? No, they don't,Chris, I know you're on your phone
there. Three hundred and ninety sevenyards, four hundred yards against the Eagles
and one of the meetings against theEagles, four touchdowns, one interception.
(39:51):
I know his overall work was notgreat because he had twenty one interceptions,
twenty one touchdowns, he was sackedsixty five times. Well that plays into
that kid's through for nearly four thousandyards for the football team back there that
will say this, I think thathe could potentially be the Seahawks future quarterback
in the next two years, maybenext year. Actually, that's what I
(40:13):
do believe. I think John Schneiderreally likes him that much, and I
think they put the pieces around himthat sac number will drop and he'll continue
to throw amazing numbers as you justmentioned. So I think that is potentially,
Hey, Sam Howe is the Seahawksfuture quarterback. Now I could be
wrong too there. They could draftsome other kid, But I think Schneider
and the guys are like, Ilike what he can do. He has
(40:36):
a nice strong arm, he's mobilein the pocket. You give him Kem
Walker some weapons. This could bethe future draft some guards. Maybe that
would help too with that sack ratio. I would just I think kind of
the opposite of what I think.Well, yeah, with Pittsburgh, I
think the opposite here. I thinkthat they brought Sam Howell in to develop
(40:58):
under Geno, and I think thatJohn and Mike McDonald's too, are that
are looking at Okay, we've gotg you know now, and let's see
you know, there might be asituation where Sam Howell gets called into action.
You know, there could be injuries, there could just be a bad
game that you know it's having.I don't think it's going to be the
same kind of competition for the startingjob. It's Gino's job, Sam Howell
(41:20):
in the future. Yes, Ithink it's a full out competition in Pittsburgh.
Well, I would agree with you. And we'll see what Michael Sean
Dugard from the Athletic. He coversthe Seahawks for the Athletic. We'll see
what he thinks about the quarterback situationin Seattle. That's coming up next.
It's Jim Moore with Jessman McIntyre InfrapuckSports Radio ninety three point three KJRFM.
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