Aaron Torres and Jason Martin react to College Hoops, Lamar Jackson, and The Mavericks!

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. Welcome bad everybody, Fox
Sports Radio, Fox Sports Saturday Er towards Jason Martin broadcasting
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(00:24):
tirerac dot com. The way tire buying should be aeratorius
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La Jason Martin and Nashville, Tennessee. Jason, how you doing
them on? Man? What's going on? Well, a lot of hoops,
As you well know, we've been watching a ton of this,
and this tournament is just as drunk as we said
it was gonna be, just as drunk as we said

(00:45):
it was gonna be back in January. It's not like
we need to pat ourselves too much on the back,
because I think most of us saw this to some
degree coming. But there's gonna be a team playing in
the National title Game that a very very small amount
of people will have chosen. Like we kind of know
that already right now. It's gonna be absolutely balkers. It

(01:06):
already has been. Yeah, So for people who missed the
early game Florida Atlantic and I anybody who missed it.
I know Martin VJA were just talking about it. But
Florida Atlantic does stun Kansas State. I mean, I don't
know if stunts the right word. They were nine seed,
Kansas State was the three seed. Kansas State was really
only about a two two and a half point favorite.
But Florida Atlantic is So let me let me, Jason,

(01:28):
I didn't do that good enough. Let me pause for
dramatic effect. Let me start over Florida Atlantic with the
way it is going to the final four. They had
not one a tournament game prior to this NCAA tournament.
They struggled with Memphis in round one, get a sixteen
seed in round two, the Tennessee game, I'll be honest,
I couldn't watch. I was at a wedding rehearsal. And

(01:49):
then today they take on the Kansas State Wildcats. They
have I think been maybe one of the two or
three stories of the tournament. Marquis Nowell, he's from New York.
They beat Kentucky, they beat Michigan State. But Florida Atlantic
is going to the final four. And so to your point, Jason,
on that side of the bracket, Florida Atlantic will play
the winner of tomorrow San Diego State and Creighton game,

(02:11):
meaning that next Monday night, two Mondays from now, in
the National Championship Game, either Kreighton or San Diego State,
we be playing for a national championship. Jason. So you're
telling me, wait, or Florida Atlantic. Oh yeah, yeah, or
Florida Atlantic. I'm sorry, one of those three schools will
be one of the participants in the National Championship Game.
Let me pause again for a ratiffact. No, I'm kidding.

(02:32):
I won't do that, but Florida Atlantic, San Diego State, Creton,
So obviously, yeah, I was gonna make the joke about
you not having them in your bracket. I don't think
anybody did. Let's get into it, man, I mean, listen,
you know this is a conversation. First of all, it
speaks to let's start there. It does speak to everything
that we have said all year long about this college
basketball season, Jason. But I'll even take it a step further.

(02:54):
I was actually talking with our buddy Chris Plank this morning,
and you know, it's one thing to say in January
and Fbruary that it's going to be a wide open
NCAA tournament. But it's another thing when you get and
it was, but it's another thing when you get to
the NCAA Tournament and UCLA, a two seed that was
the pack twelve regular season champ has lost its best
player or most important player to season ending injury. When Alabama,

(03:17):
the number one overall seed, their best player, Brandon Miller
gets hurt in the first game, isn't one hundred percent
Marcus Sassa for Houston. So even the teams that were
sort of good in the regular season, because nobody was great,
even they were kind of limping in. So I just
bring it up to say, you know, I've said this
many times on this show and across every platform that
I have. I think sometimes that the whole narrative of

(03:39):
it's so wide open it's not always true. But this
year I always thought it was, and I thought it
was exacerbated as we got to the tournament. The best teams,
most of them had some sort of injury issue or
they were struggling, they weren't playing well. And we're seeing
it now because we're gonna have either a five seed,
a six seed, or a nine seed playing for a

(04:00):
national championship on one side of the bracket, and then obviously,
as everybody knows, on the other side of the bracket,
it'll either be Texas, Miami, Yukon, Gonzaga. All four number
one seeds eliminated, three of the four two seeds eliminated
prior to the Elite eight. Just a crazy, crazy tournament overall. Jason, Yeah,
I mean seven, as you're just kind of laid out,
there's seven of the top eight seeds are out the

(04:21):
first time, all four number ones or out and not
going to be in the final four at all, not
going to be in the Elite eight at all. And
you know, I think we will discuss as we move
along here what that means in terms of interest level
and all of that. I do think the tournament has
been a lot of fun. The Thursday games are a
lot better than yesterdays, to say the least. The Friday

(04:42):
games weren't all that entertaining, but there has been no
shortage of drama. You certainly have gotten the madness in March.
You've gotten You've gotten your money's worth if you're one
of those folks that watches the tournament for that reason.
We've all gotten caught up in this. I do think
the question at some point one is gonna have to
be asked, now, are you happy with what's coming a

(05:04):
week from today that's gonna become I think the biggest
at least that's the biggest talking point I have, is
now we're gonna get that like all those people, let's
say that they want the Cinderellas. In those moments where
you're about to have that, You're about to have people
that you haven't paid attention to all year long vying
for your attention in the final four And is that
is that what you want? Or are you gonna then

(05:25):
start to think, well, you know that thing last year
where you had those four blue bloods that wasn't too
shabby either. So let's talk about it because I should mention.
By the way, zat Crow, who hosts the College Hoops
Daily podcast, will join us next hour. He was at
Medicine Square Garden. But I'll ask you, Jason, you know
you listen, I basically cover this sport for a living.
I just getting to know you the last few years.

(05:46):
I know you actually have a huge passion for this sport.
I'll ask you forget just the general audience for a second,
the casual person in Michigan or Ohio or Iowa that
just wants something to watch Saturday night. You as somebody
who love sports, cover sports for a living, and of course,
does you know you grew up right around Tobacco Road.

(06:09):
Following college basketball specifically, are you more or less excited
knowing that we are going to have a team that
again essentially nobody really knows anything about going to play
in Houston next week. I mean, it feels kind of
historic in its own way, and I admit that during
the tournament, I'm pulling for the upsets, Like I mean,
you get caught up in the moments, and you get
caught up in these stories and you want to see

(06:31):
these things happen in front of you. But I would
be lying to you if if I said that the
final four is as enticing with some of the names
that we know that we're going to have and some
of the names that we're not. You're gonna find out
whether or not the Final four itself is enough to
carry the day, or if you need something more than that.
Now you're gonna have a brand or two, but you're

(06:53):
not going to have the Duke you're not gonna have
the Kentucky. You're not gonna have the North Carolina. You're
not gonna have the UCLA. You're not gonna have the Kansas.
You're not gonna have a lot of those kind of
teams there, and that certainly may affect the casual audience.
I'm excited about because I've seen some of these teams,
and you get caught up over the last two three
weeks in what they're doing and how they're playing. You

(07:13):
know a little bit more about them, and if you
invest that level of if you're actually there to get
educated as you're watching, then that makes it a little
bit better. But I have long said that the ideal scenario,
even though we just can't root for it, because the
way that our minds and our heart's work as human beings,

(07:34):
the ideal scenario is for the underdogs Cinderella, to get
oh so close and then not be able to pull
it off against the big dog because then you get
the drama and you get the heart pounding stuff, and
then you get the matchups that you want. Ultimately, you
do want the big brands playing for the final four
in the National Championship. I think because it feels like

(07:56):
it's a bigger event, Like there's something about schools that
you're just not as familiar with, or for instance, a
nine seed is going to be your national champion potentially
or something like that. Like it just there's something about
it where it kind of makes the event feel smaller.
And I mean the final four, not the tournament, but
just the way it's crowned and the fact that it's

(08:17):
a one and done scenario really does kind of lend
itself to kind of feel flukey in its own way. No,
I think the scenario that you're laying out is something
that I remember discussing with you last year. You know,
we were on on a Saturday where Duke advanced to
a final four over Arkansas and it was Villanova Houston.
That was the famous day that I beat with JJ Reddick,

(08:38):
but neither here nor there. But why I bring it
up was because the following day last year, on this day,
on this Saturday, we were getting ready for a second
day of games that included Saint Peter's versus North Carolina
and Duke had clinched it spot. And I remember I
remember having the debate with you, and it was like
a debate for a half a second, and then I
kind of realized that I was an idiot for trying

(08:59):
to make the argument of well, you know what, do
you what is the what do we want in the
final four? Do we want like the Duke Carolina, biggest
rivalry in the world, blue blood, you know, out out
the you know what? Or do we want the little
engine that could Saint Peter's against the ultimate goliath in Duke.
And I think for about a half a second I
talked myself into either one will be awesome and I'd

(09:22):
be happy with either. And then I slowly but surely
realize like, no, no, no, I want North Carolina and
Duke in the final four, and we got an iconic
all time game. And so I'm with you, and you know,
it's an unfortunate byproduct of the tournament is that you know,
like you said, you want to root for the little guys.
But let's be honest, we all watched the first two
or three weeks for the first two or three days

(09:43):
excuse me, really the first weekend for our brackets, and then,
let's be honest, most of us our brackets are done
by it by the end of the first weekend, and
you need something to draw you back in. And so
this isn't to open the show by poo pooing Florida
Atlantic or San Diego State or whoever might end up
ending up in this final four. But I'm not gonna lie.
It will look different, it will feel different, The ratings

(10:04):
will reflect that Florida Atlantic just isn't going to draw
eyeballs like a Duke or Carolina Wood. Now, maybe if
they get to Monday Night, maybe it's a little bit
of a different story. I remember the Duke Butler game
in twenty ten being extremely high rated. But I think
for next Saturday, when you're still a step away from
that team being able to legitimately play for a championship,
I'm with you, Jason. I think they may struggle. Yeah,

(10:26):
I mean, I think, let's see if this lands. But
I feel like in the movie, you want Saint Peter
to win. You want Saint Peter's to win if you're
watching the movie, But in real life, where you're actually
watching the sporting event and you're watching the basketball and
you know you still have another couple of rounds to go,
you kind of your heart definitely still want Saint Peter's,

(10:50):
but your brain, which you can shut off in that
moment and get excited about the upset and all that
your brain is kind of knocking at you like, hey man, yeah,
this is cool and all, until you then realize what
you have to look forward to, which as much as
you want to try to get excited about it, it
just doesn't generally happen. I like I've used the example
before when Loyal of Chicago made their run. I wanted

(11:12):
to try and get excited about it, Aaron, but I
simply could not do it. Ironically, Loyal of Chicago beat
Kansas State in the Elite eight both of Final Four,
and today Florida Atlantic does the same. Fox Sports Radio
er tourist Jason Martin, broadcasting live from the Tirac dot
Com Studios, Florida Atlantic has punched a ticket to the
Final four Yukon Gonzaga in Vegas. About to start the

(11:35):
second half. We'll come back talk a little bit about
that one, about the rest of the tournament, and I
have one more thought of Florida Atlantic that I think
is worth discussing and what it means for the tournament
as a whole. That's next. Eritaris Jason Martin, Fox Sports Radio,
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(11:59):
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(13:05):
Stein on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you
get your podcast. Welcome back, everybody, Fox Sports Radio, Aaron Torres,
Jason mart We are broadcasting live from the Tirek dot
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(13:27):
all your protection in one place. Bundle and save at
Progressive dot Com. We will get to de Seger in
a minute. But Yukon has jumped out to a ten
point lead early in the second half, sixth straight out
of the break. I believe it actually was five because
it was a three on the floor called to two.
But Yukon up by ten and there is a fall

(13:48):
on the floor. It's worth noting, by the way, Drew
Timmy Gonzaga's best player, picked up his third file early
in the second half, and they have kept him on
the floor. Jase, let me ask you this man before
we get back to some of the earlier was volts
and what it all means. I'm curious as an outsider,
so I think most people that would listen that have
ever heard me on the airwaves. No, I did go

(14:09):
to Yukon. I'm a Ukon alum Ooh, we might have
a fourth foul on Drew Timmy. If that's the case.
It looked like a high elbow to the face of
Andre Jackson, Yukon's junior forward. If that is Andrew Timmy,
They're they're at the monitor now looking at this. If
this is some sort of flagrant, this is game changing.
Drew Timmy would have four falls with seventeen thirty nine

(14:30):
left really quickly. Let me ask you, Jason Yukon, I
went there just for school, and you know, I am
very biased, and I don't try to hide my bias.
I'm curious, like, like, what is the outside impression of Yukon,
because it's not really a blue blood a Carolina, Kansas
whatever with you know, decades upon decades, eighty ninety years

(14:52):
of history, but four national championships since nineteen ninety nine.
Obviously some iconic runs including Kemba Walker in Shabaz Napier
twenty eleven and twenty fourteen. Those two led their schools
to a national to Ukon to a national championship. What
do you make of Yukon. Just what do outsiders think
of this program relative to some of the others that
we discussed in the first segment. See, I always did

(15:15):
feel like they were blue blood because I guess maybe
because of my age, and I pretty much was there
for Jim Calhoun's entire run, and you know, you had
your Kalid el Amins, and you had your Ray Allens,
and you just had talented players that came through there,
and they were right there. I felt like they were
very similar to Kansas for a long time, Like after

(15:35):
eighty eight when Kansas won with Danny Manning, they would
knock on the door, but they didn't win for a while.
I mean, Roy Williams first championship came in North Carolina.
So you look at you look at a lot of that,
and I feel like they're right there as one of
those schools. Do you think of Yukon and you think
of Syracuse and you think of some of those schools.
I think I think all of that sort of plays
in the difference in how you feel about him now.

(15:58):
I think is only sort of marred by the fact
that they haven't really done anything since fourteen, Like that
they just haven't been that much of a factor. But
they've been good all year now. They had their stretches,
just like everybody else where, you could certainly find flaws.
In this tournament, they've been absolutely lights out pretty much
in every game. Just dominant, showing size, showing ability, showing

(16:21):
ability to shoot the ball from outside play, and tough defense.
They're doing everything that you need them to do. This
is a team that in a school when I see it,
I've always looked at Yukon with a certain degree of
respect in a college basketball landscape, and I will say this,
and this is sort of unique to them in many ways.
It's impossible to see Yukon basketball and not also think

(16:42):
of Gino. Sure, I think of both sides of it
because of how dominant Yukon has been for so long,
even though they lost today in women's basketball, in college basketball,
but they're definitely one of those programs that, even as
somebody that grew up on Tobacco Road in the acc
U comm was always a team like, all right, you're
gonna pack your lunch if you're gonna win this one.

(17:04):
You know, here's Travis Knight, here's the boys. They're coming in.
This is gonna be a tough ball game every single time,
and I think that most people probably feel the same
way I do, at least those that have been around
as long as I have. Really quick drew Timmy Gonzaga
Star did pick up a fourth foule with seventeen minutes
to go, Yukon up by twelve. You know, it goes
out saying it's gonna go one of two ways, And yeah, Jason,

(17:26):
it was interesting because it has been a fascinating program
to follow, you know, so much success in the nineties
and two thousands. Calhoun has his last great run in
twenty eleven with Kemba Walker, Kevin Allie, you know. And
it's funny because I think we kind of talked about
this with Duke, you know, when they won the ACC tournament.
Is Kevin Ollie comes in year two, wins a national

(17:48):
title with all Jim Calhoun's players, and you think, oh,
here goes Ukon again another you know, twenty years of
having an elite coach, and obviously doesn't that work out?
You know, In time, I think you start to realize
it was probably more of the players than it was
the coach. And they actually came into this tournament having
not won a game in the NCAA Tournament since twenty sixteen,

(18:09):
and they had made it the last two years under
Dan Hurley. Dan Hurley takes over in twenty eighteen, but
I just bring it up because it's been a weird
ride and this was kind of the year where like
you said, it did all come together early this game.
By the way, it looks like it could get out
of hand here Ukon is now up fifteen seventeen and
going to the line for a file Yukon of fifty

(18:31):
one to thirty four, sixteen minutes left in this game.
Drew Timmy. You could see him on the sidelines in
metaphorical pain, not literal pain. He was called for. I'll
even say it as a Ukon fan, A questionable fourth
file early in the second half and Yukon maybe running
away with this. But it's just been it's been a
unique program because it was so great for so long.

(18:52):
Then it had the dip, and you know, Dan Hurley
had done a really good job. But I will tell
you, you you know, within these all insular Yukon fan base,
and I know it's not you know, a national you know,
narrative or whatever, but there was a little bit of
pressure like this year. Like, okay, we've been there two
years in a row. But Yukon's kind of one of
those schools that's not really defined by getting to the tournament,

(19:13):
but but winning once you get there. So it's been
an interesting ride. Yukon again is up eighteen, now now fifteen.
I'm not doing play by play here for the record,
but you caught up fifteen early in the second half.
But it was just curious for an outside perspective, Jason.
I don't want to make it about me and my school,
but a fifteen point leaded in an a lead eight game.
Haven't been to a Final four since twenty fourteen, and

(19:35):
they are cruising here early in the second half of
this one. Yeah, they've got size, they've got ability. I
also think that this was not a good matchup for Gonzaga. Yes,
and Drew Timmy in particular, And the one thing you
couldn't afford to do is getting foul trouble. But we
already know this. He's an offensive player. He's not a
particularly strong defender at all, one of them. You tell
me if I'm right about this, but I've always kind

(19:56):
of felt this way. I think Drew Timmy's gonna be
a great European basketball player for you wants to be.
His skill set doesn't translate to the end to the
NBA because he's just not fast enough and he's not
a good enough defender and all the stuff that he's
able to do. I think he's a great low post,
all time classic college basketball player. That that's what he is, like,

(20:16):
he's the classic Heisman Trophy guy that then can't do
anything in the NFL and knows it, because I think
he would have left Gonzaga last year or the year
before if he had any prospects in the pros. I
just don't think so. So it's never gonna get better
for Drew Timmy than staying at Gonzaga as long as possible,
I think in his own brain, because this is where
he can be that big fish in that smaller pond

(20:39):
and be dominant and go down. Historically, feels like he's
been there for like fifty years, but he's been wonderful
to watch. I just don't think we're gonna hear much
from him once we're done here, is at least as
it relates to American basketball. No, I think your thousand
percent right, and I think the fact that he is
still at Gonzaga speaks to that him. And by the way,

(20:59):
this is one of the great things about Nil. And
you know, listen, I I you know, we've talked about
Nil many times on this show. I'm happy everybody's getting paid.
I don't think that it should be just you know,
recruits going to the highest bidder, and that's where we've
obviously gotten in a lot of cases. But I think
this is what Nil was supposed to be. He had
been on campus. He's an established name, he's an established brand,

(21:21):
he's you know, by doubt, he's literally an icon in
that Gonzaga community. That guy has created a ton of
value for not only himself but for Gonzaga basketball. He
deserves everything that he has earned this year, and by
all accounts, it is a substantial amount of money. Now,
you know, we don't know exactly the dollar figures, but
he is on record saying I believe that I earned

(21:44):
more money this year as a college player than I
would have as a professional, you know, in endorsements and
nil opportunities at Gonzaga than I would have as a
professional player. And so I don't think he's the only one.
Oscar Sheboy from Kentucky. You know, ironically a snogo from Yukon.
I don't you know, I actually probably can't speak a
little bit to this. I don't think the NIL money

(22:06):
is as good, but he's not getting nothing. And you know,
he's kind of that traditional low post big that's not
super athletic, that can't guard in space. And I'll say
this is it's been a win for college basketball because
even if it is just a Drew Timmy and an
Oscar Sheebway and maybe one or two other guys that
are sort of recognizable, you do have these guys, and

(22:27):
Drew Timmy is one of the faces of that. And
I'm curious to see if that continues through the years
as people get more comfortable in the NIL space and
as players realize there is real value to coming back
and playing college basketball if you're not going to be
a super high level NBA draft pick. I think Drew
Timmy is an example of that. Jason, Yeah, I do too,
and I think that I think you're right, and I

(22:47):
think I mean, the NCAA Tournament is no question better
because you have a Drew Timmy playing in it this year.
I mean that performance he head against UCLA are we
better or worse for having gotten to see that. We're
much better as a sports watch community, and college basketball
is better for having somebody of that level still in
school and not leaving. In this case, it benefits that

(23:09):
you have the nil, Plus you have a guy whose
prospects just haven't really changed, like he's He's just not
somebody that's made for the association, especially the way the
association plays now, so he's in no hurry to leave.
Because college can be the best years of your life,
and in his case, it's absolutely going to be the case,
at least as it relates to playing basketball. He may

(23:29):
go on to do some wonderful things, but it's not
going to be NBA superstar Drew Timmy. Yes, I hope
he has many wonderful years beyond Gonzaga as a human being,
But from a basketball perspective, I agree, this is probably,
you know, certainly the most high profile that he will
be as a basketball player. Fox Sports Radio Air towards
Jason Martin broadcasting live from the tirect dot com studios.

(23:50):
Coming up. I do want to get to some NFL.
There was a big story involving Lamar Jackson. We'll discuss
that next Before we do, though, let's toss it over
the news that Steve sag or what is trending? My friend, Hello, gentlemen,
and can I make a knee jerk haphazard Consterson with Drew,
Timmy and Frank Kamenski who made an hour no championship
game with Wisconsin and was a lottery pick in the

(24:12):
NBA and is gonna wind up having a ten year
career maybe ten years plus, but not exactly someone you
would think of when you talk about any good players
in the NBA. I can't think of one. Frank Kamensky
NBA highlight like nine one and I repeat, he's gonna
be a decade in this league. He's got height, he
can score some. So you know we're not disson on

(24:33):
the guy, just like I don't think you're dissing on
Drew at all. These are the realities. Well, in honor
of the late Billy Packer, can I just say this
game is over and gloat. Connecticut leads fifty four thirty
seven over a Gonzaga about fifteen minutes to go second
half of the West Region Final in Las Vegas. Yukon
led nine to two early, the game was tied with

(24:55):
about five minutes left first half. The halftime lead was
thirty nine thirty two, and it's now a seventeen five
run to start the second half for the Huskies. They're
up nineteen fifty six thirty seven over the Zags. Gonzagas
started one of ten shooting from three point range. Drew
Timmy was well. He had two fouls in the first

(25:16):
half and then two more fouls in the opening minutes
of the second half, so he has three assists, three turnovers,
four fouls in this game. Gonzaga was the top scoring
team in the country. I say again out loud, out
of three hundred fifty plus basketball teams in this country.
In Division one, Gonzaga was number one eighty seven points

(25:37):
per game. They're not scoring eighty seven tonight. They have
thirty seven and the second half is already underway. Yukon
for the record average seventy nine points per game. It
could be Yukon against the Texas Miami winner in Texas
next weekend at the Final four. Texas Longhorns faced the
Canes at five pm Eastern tomorrow in their Midway Best

(26:00):
Regional final. Sunday, another region final has San Diego State
against Creighton, by the way, and that winner will get
Florida Atlantic at the Final four. A nine seed has advanced.
FAU had never won an NCAA tournament game until this year,
but FAU, despite twenty two turnovers, eliminated three seed Kansas
State tonight in New York seventy nine seventy six to

(26:20):
win the East Region. Marquise Noel ended his k State
career with thirty points and twelve assists. The Yukon women,
as you reference, lost their Sweet sixteen game to Ohio State,
so Connecticut will not be in the women's Final four
for the first time since two thousand and seven, which
is just an absolutely silly stat Meanwhile, number one South
Carolina beat UCLA easily thirty five, and oh the record

(26:42):
keep counting. And as we head toward the women's Elite eight,
a first since nineteen eighty five, no Yukon, no Tennessee
they lost, and no Stanford either alive in that tournament.
It's March madness, they say to the NBA Denver eighty
four seventy six leaders on Milwaukee in the third quarter
despite twenty six points from Jannisan Tenacumpo, Brooklyn ended a
five game losing streak with an easy win at Miami.

(27:05):
Atlanta defeated Indiana. Today in the NHL, Buffalo got a
two nothing victory at the New York Islanders. The Buffalo
Sabers goalie Eric Comrie allowed ten goals his last game
and today a shutout, first NHL goalie since nineteen sixty
four to allow ten plus in one game and then
record a shutout his very next game. And the Boston

(27:26):
Bruins won their sixth straight two one over Tampa Bay,
clinching first in the Atlantic Division. They've retaken the court
aftertime out. Connecticut leads Gonzaga fifty eight thirty seven, fourteen
and a half minutes to go. I believe I heard
the word ova back to year Sheah out of your
own mouth. I don't appreciate that. By the way, quick
update for you guys. I did go to the rehearsal

(27:51):
and it was not go to Vegas for the UTAH. Yeah.
So for people who missed it last week, it was
a very heated segment in that I was trying to
talk everybody into I had a wedding. I was in
the wedding. My role was actually very important not to brag,
no big deal. But it was going on at the
same time as the Yukon game. I will just tell
you this. It was the most detail or it was

(28:13):
like a Nick Saban led walk through this. It was
the most detail oriented standing up in a tower like
at the practice. Yeah, yeah, with the bullhorn. No, it
was the groom. He was a groom zilla. So um,
it was very complicated. And then I will say in
I don't know if it's funny or ironic, but um,

(28:36):
the groom's dad decided that he wanted to watch basketball
instead of going to the rehearsal. He said, I've been
to a million weddings. I don't need to do that.
And when I went out to introduce him last night
at the wedding, he was very confused on where to
go and what. So listen, I would have loved to
be there on thurday. That well, that game sucked though.

(28:57):
That's the other thing Torres like I was watching. I'm like, man,
I'm lead. You went to the rehearsal because you know what,
you're alma mater. But it's not It gets boring watching
a blowout. I don't care who's playing. It's every Yukon
game this tournament like this one over sixty to thirty seven. Well,
sometimes I will tell you what, hopefully three times. I
don't know if we want it to be the charm

(29:17):
or not, but but yes, I uh, we will maybe
discuss an hour three, hour four if I'll be doing
this show next week or if I'll just be hanging Houston.
But that's that's a conversation for our three or hour four.
Even though de Sager said three times that it's over,
you gotta be there because we already had this discussion
on this show about the Braves going to the World Series. Oh,
that's right, that would be well, that was that was

(29:38):
a championship. This would be a semi final final four
for three hundred and fifty two teams in college basketball.
That's a rare thing, that's true. It's not really that
rare for Yukon though, you know five in school him.
Now we're on your side at the moment. Okay, well
this guy here, here's the other thing. I will also,
I'm gonna be in Houston all week. I just generally
fly home Saturday morning because I have to do this

(29:59):
show at night, and there's reason to stay. Oh that's
the dirty little secret. People don't know about radio in general.
Like super Bowl Week, most of the people doing the
shows from the super Bowl site don't go to the
game on Usually. I left every time on Friday Friday
morning on a flight. As soon as it shows over,
time to go. Yep. So we will discuss that. Despite
what the sager says, I don't believe it's over. Although yeah, hey,

(30:21):
real quick, Lamar Jackson, I'll tell you what, real quick.
We need a lot of time on this. Yeah, I'll
tell you what. This is what we're gonna do. I'm
gonna take a quick break. We're gonna come back. And
when we do, Lamar Jackson, what are you doing? Man?
That's next? Fox Sports Radio. Fox Sports Radio has the
best sports talk lineup in the nation. Catch all of

(30:42):
our shows at Fox Sports Radio dot com and within
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this league. The New NBA Podcast with me Chris Haynes

(31:03):
and me Mark Stein join us as we team up
to expound on everything we're covering. Hearing and Jason listen
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(31:24):
Fox sports Radio dot com and within the iHeartRadio app.
Search f SR to listen live. Welcome back, everybody, Fox
Sports Radio editorist Jason mart broadcasting live from the Tirac
dot com studios. The under twelve time out, Under eight
time out ukons over is up sixty five to forty. Jason,

(31:47):
I am, I think it's probably over, yes, but yeah
you can, you can. Yeah, it's okay. Now like under
We're now at the Simpsons name the uh stop stopies?
Are he dead? Like we're already, We're there, we have
arrived there. As you said, it was a bad matchup
for Gonzaga. But you know, and we could talk to

(32:09):
Bernie Fredo about this later when such a significant portion
of the betting. You know, it was like a two
two and a half point spread. And I understand that
Gonzaga is a very public team. Everybody knows Um Mark
few whatever, But I just I didn't see I I
you know, and I was trying not to be an
arrogant overconfident person, but I was like, I just don't

(32:29):
see the path for Gonzaga. And so you know, we'll
talk about this game an hour four at the top
and next hour, but I you know, I didn't this.
I thought this was a bad matchup for Gonzaga. Drew
Timmy has been both in followed trouble and shut down
Gonzaga having a bad shooting game. But a lot of that,
let's be honest, is on Yukon, on the defense, on

(32:50):
the size, on the athleticism. So we'll keep you update
on that. Yukon up twenty three points with eleven minutes
to go in this one, Jason, I do want to
get to one NFL story, And it felt like it
was a really quiet week in the NFL. I mean,
you know, correct me if I'm wrong, but it's just
every week, every week since the season ended, since the
Super Bowl ended, we've had big time draft talk combine

(33:13):
Aaron Rodgers, Derek Carr, Jimmy g This week did feel
pretty quiet. But there was one story that I do
want to discuss with Ejason, and that was from our
old buddy Lamar Jackson. So Lamar Jackson. I think everybody
knows by now as of right now is basically, you know,
he's he's a he's in a holding pattern with the
Baltimore Ravens, and he wants everybody knows, a ton of

(33:35):
guaranteed money, if not the most guaranteed money in NFL history,
obviously Deshaun Watson had whatever it was, two hundred and
thirty plus million. But it's hard to get a hold
of Lamar Jackson. It's hard to know exactly what he
wants because he doesn't really do very much public stuff
and as we've discussed you and I know many times
on this show, you know, doesn't have an agent to

(33:56):
represent him. So so his mom has been doing most
of his negotiating, and it's been hard to get a
gauge on exactly what he wants, exactly what he's asking for.
You know, He's put out tweets that that, you know,
counter some stuff that's being reported, so again it's hard
to know what's actually accurate and what's not. But well,
it did come out this week, and I do think
it's important is that the NFL sent out a memo

(34:17):
because a friend of his name Ken Francis, who he
calls a business partner has been contacting NFL teams on
his behalf basically saying, hey, you should get into Lamar
Jackson sweepstakes. And this is what what you know this?
You know Lamar would be interested in coming to you whatever.
But I bring it up because the NFL had to
actually send out a memo this week because Ken Francis

(34:37):
is not an NFL certified agent, and so this story
it just gets weird and strange, and it takes on
another twist as basically, the NFL had to shut down
this guy who's trying to negotiate on behalf of Lamar
because again he's not an NFL certified agent. Well more
than that, I mean, he's not an NFLPA certified agent.

(34:58):
And if he is used as part of the d
the deal gets nullified. So if Lamar were to keep
doing this the deal, it could potentially cost him big
time if it were to go that way. But I'm
just baffled by all of this. Um. You know, I
was reading I was reading a long expose it at

(35:19):
the Athletic earlier today about the Lamar situation and where
it's gone, and Lamar seemed to have it seemed to
be just everything about him was right and then it
wasn't right. Now it's kind of the opposite, right, Like
it's just so eat, you know, doubted on draft night. Yep,

(35:39):
I agree. It's so strange. And even like how he
played and how he reacted. If he played poorly, his
reaction was always it was almost like he was too open,
but he was there and what he was saying. It's
just like, man, it's impossible not to like this guy,
not to root for this guy and all of this.
So I'm want to read this directly from the athletics
as Jackson also hasn't done him self and he favors

(36:00):
with some lapses in judgment. His WTF response on social
media when the trade of his close friend wide receiver
Marquis Brown was announced agitated team decision makers, who kept
Jackson in the loop about the plan with Brown, and
Jackson certainly knew Brown wanted out. There was a vulgar
response to a fan after the Jacksonville lost in November,
and then him going to Twitter to address the nature
of his knee injury late in the season, or revelation

(36:23):
that seemingly contradicted the team's diagnosis, not to mention. Of course,
Aaron one in three in the playoffs. He's missed key
games over the last two seasons, and the whole thing
seems to be hinged. And we are We've mentioned this before,
but the Browns broke all of this. Cleveland broke all

(36:43):
of this because they broke the code. They broke the rules.
And so Lamar, I can understand why Lamar feels the
way Lamar does, but Lamar has to understands up. And
I've been trying to figure out the right way to
like analogize this all day, and this is what I
came up with. So I want to go buy a car.
There's a specific car, maybe it's a Tesla, maybe it's something.
It's something that I really want, but you already have it,

(37:06):
Tempole to go somewhere else, like, hey man, we actually
don't have one here. You know what, though, I'll pay
you five times what it's worth if you'll give it
to me right now, all right, We'll give it to you.
And then from then on it's like at that point
in time, everybody else wants to then go sell the
car for what I paid for it. You have to
look at this and say, just because the Browns were

(37:27):
dumb enough to give that contract to just Shaun Watson.
Doesn't mean everybody else suddenly lost their minds and are
dumb too. The Browns were suckers in many respects. They
were able to do whatever it was, like Deshaun Watson
was able to like pull out a wine like he
was Harry Potter and manufacture this and make it happen.

(37:48):
No other teams tacitly agreed that what the Browns did
was right, and their response to Lamar is not as
much about Lamar the player as it is the DeShawn
Watson on track not being a thing that they are
willing to look at and say, that's the new thing,
the new quarterback makes more than no like no that
that arrangement had to stop at some point, and that

(38:11):
ludicrous contract broke everything. So I used an analogy the
other day. I was pretty proud of it, but I'll
also admit it's a little vulgar. So if you're if
you're in the car with kids, you know, I mean,
I'm not telling you to change the channel, but maybe
turn it down for a second. You remember, like ten
or fifteen years ago, there was an NBA player named
Andre Kirolinko, and there was a story that came out

(38:34):
that once a year his wife understood that he's a
guy on the road, and you know, guys on the
road pass right, Yes, she very publicly gave him a
hall pass. And the analogy I used was imagined me
just going to my wife and being like, well, you know,
it doesn't have to be are Cairo Linko, But it's like, well,
you know Andre Carolinko's wife, you know, I mean, and

(38:55):
I'm not saying I would, but I'm just saying, you know,
I'm I'm I'm a I'm a one, one woman kind
of guy. But imagine me, you know whatever, a friend
has an open relationship, in open marriage, Andre ciro Linko
has this public thing. You know what my wife would
say if I said, hey, you know I just like
once a year, can I just you know, kind of
kind of go out and try, she'd tell me it's
not even by the way, it's not once a year.

(39:15):
It would be twice a year because you're asking for more.
Should the analogy with Lamar Jackson, You're then saying, well,
ciro Linko's a scumbag, right, so cairo Linko is getting
it one time from his wife. How about you give
me three times one is ridiculous, much less three. The Yeah,
the point is just because it's the exact analogy that
you just made, Just because there's this weird one off occurrence,

(39:40):
it doesn't mean that everyone is entitled to that same
weird one off occurrence. And so like, you know, if
I propose that to my wife, she'd be like, yeah,
you could go do whatever you want with whoever you want.
You're just not living here, pack a bag, get the
heck out of my face. And so like that's basically
what the Ravens are saying, Like like listen, Lamar we
and this is and I think this goes to just

(40:02):
our whole conversation on this from the beginning is Jason,
is it all comes back to one thing. Hire a
freaking real agent. Like it's so like and I, you know,
I even tweeted this the other day. It's like, you're
giving up three percent to five percent on probably somewhere
in the neighborhood of two hundred million guaranteed. He you know,

(40:22):
we we broke this down a few weeks ago. Kyler
Murray got one hundred and eighty nine million guaranteed My
guest is Lamar Jackson probably doesn't get a penny less
than that, but he is not going to get what
to Shaun Watson got. And it's just like, it's just
hire an agent, get this over with. Do you want
to be a Raven or not. It's just it's just
frustrating me at this point. And forgive me for the
terrible analogy, but I'm just I'm so over this whole

(40:45):
conversation that could be so easily resolved if he just
does the smart thing. Yeah, And the other thing is
and I did not think about this, but I've read
it over the last few days and it makes a
lot of sense. He's screwing over the Ravens, and if
he wants to come back to the Ravens, he's screwing
over his future with the Ravens in terms of success
because they haven't been able to go out and do

(41:06):
much in free agency, because they're having to make sure
they hold back every cent to try and match whatever
offer is put out there, and because of the way
this whole thing is playing out, they're just sitting there
and watching guys get snatched up left and right that
maybe they would have wanted to add that could have,
I don't know, helped Lamar Jackson win more football games.
And because this thing is as toxic as it seems

(41:29):
like it's gotten, they're sitting there with their hands tied
behind their backs, having to hold on to every dime. Yeah,
it's just a very frustrating thing. And like you said,
it's now trickling into the roster building, the organization building everything.
You just want it done, and Lamar just keeps digging
in deeper and I just don't get it. Fox Sports

(41:49):
Radio eriturist Jason Martin. It is now a twenty nine
point lead for the Yukon Huskies in Vegas against Gonzaga.
Will recap that talk more College Tup's next five sports
radio Welcome at Everybody hour two. Fox Sports Radio editorist

(42:09):
Jason Martin, broadcasting live from the tirerect dot Com studios.
Tirect dot com will help you get there and a
matched election, fast free shipping, free road hazard protection and
over ten thousand recommended installers tirect dot com. The way
tire buying should be as desagre destoldia. I think we
can officially wave the white flag. Yukon up eighty to

(42:32):
forty seven with three twenty seven left in the second half,
Yukon up by thirty three points. Is that right, Jason,
I think that's right. Thirty three points. Yukon's go on
the final four, Jason, Um. I got a couple of thoughts,
and we'll get back to Yukon in a second. Is
this in your opinion? This game? This result? We could

(42:56):
We'll talk about it as though it's a final, because
it basically is. Is this result? By the way, Zakrol,
host of the College Hoops Today podcast, will be joining
us twenty minutes or so. He was at the game
at Madison Square Garden earlier today, so he'll be joining
us momentarily. But before we get to him, though, let
me let me start. First of all, let's just start
with you. Con screw it. I don't care. I have

(43:17):
my strong opinions. I'm just curious. I mean, this is
just dominating, and I mean, you know, and the one
thing I will say about them, and you brought this
up earlier and again I followed a team a little
bit closer than most, but this was a team that
went out to um went out to Portland early in
the year, won the PK eighty five event. They beat

(43:37):
Alabama by fifteen or so points. They beat Iowa State,
which was a really good team, by fifteen or so
points and was probably the best team in the country
at for a stretch in the season. They were never
actually ranked number one, but then kind of came on
hard times during league play early on. The schedule was
a little bit tougher than I think people realized at

(43:58):
the time. They their first Big East road game was
at Xavier. Xavier ended up being better than people realized.
They played at Marquette early Marquette was the big Big
East regular season champ. But I bring it up, Jason, um,
what do you like what They're going to the final four?
And you know they're going to play the winner of
Texas in Miami tomorrow. Obviously, if Texas were to win
the game, you would, I don't think, I'm positive, would

(44:21):
have a huge Texas advantage. But based on on the
way Yukon's playing, are they in your mind the prohibitive
favorite going forward? Because they have dominated through four games
so far. I mean, it's hard not to agree with that. Um.
I mean, I picked Texas to win the tournament before
it began, and so they're still obviously right now, that

(44:42):
looks looks pretty see what happens tomorrow. But no one
has played better in this tournament than Yukon. I mean,
I don't think that's I don't even know that that's opinion,
and I know it is an opinion, but it feels
like a fact because no one has even given them
a game. This was a a bad matchup for Gonzaga.
I felt like that going in. I thought Connecticut would

(45:05):
win the game and we'd feel like they were dominant.
I didn't think they were gonna win it by thirty three,
Like that's that's gonna be your last memory of Drew
Timmy at Gonzaga is just having nothing, Like there's just
there's just nothing there. Yukon seems to have the right
mix and they they look like the team they look
They kind of remind me of what Baylor looked like

(45:27):
a few years ago, when just all of a sudden,
you started looking at that team different than everybody else, Like,
wait a second, who are these guys? Like Baylor was
the number one seed. This Yukon team just it doesn't
matter who they're against, It doesn't matter what that team brings.
That team's going home and that team's getting embarrassed, Like
there has not been a single Yukon game in this

(45:48):
tournament that I've watched start to finish. Already turned this
one off because it's over, Like I don't need to
see the slaughter after it's already after the murder, like
we've already gotten this. This thing is absolutely done. That
memberman is all that's left and the autopsy. That's it.
And that's what it's been throughout this tournament. I've watched
Yukon's like first half and first five minutes or first

(46:08):
seven minutes of second halfs and then known I can
go do something else because this thing's a rap. They
have looked like the national champion. Does that mean they're
gonna win it? Absolutely not, because this tournament is nuts
and it only takes one off night and all of
a sudden you go home. I'm gonna stick with Texas.
I still think Texas is excellent, and I like that

(46:28):
I have picked him because they're still there. But Yukon,
right now, if you were to recede everybody, Yukon looks
head and shoulders above everybody in terms of just the
production and what we've actually seen on the floor. Yeah,
and you know, it's interesting. The only analogy that I
can really make for this team, and again, I love
college hoops. I'm a little bit of a historian. I

(46:50):
guess you would say the only analogy is actually there
was a Yukon team in two thousand and four. That
was the year they had a Mecca Oka four and
Ben Gordon. They were they were the preseason number one,
but they were so they were so much better than
everybody else. They kind of limped to the finish line
and then they just got into the tournament and they
just obliterated everybody, and it was like, well, actually, I

(47:10):
take that back. They got to the final on the
way to the Final four, they obliterated everybody. They finished
with the national championship, actually beating of all teams Georgia
Tech in the title game in O four, which feels
like that couldn't even be possible. But why I bring
it up is to just say that, you know, I
am getting some of those vibes. Where By the way,
Drew Timmy is checking out right now, one fifty three left,

(47:32):
gonzagged down by twenty eight points in I guess in
theory he does have a COVID year extra year that
he could use. But he's given Mark Few a hug
and he said publicly, this is it, this is my
last go around. He's he's hugging all of his teammates
and the managers. It does not appear as though he's
coming back next year. So Yukon up twenty eight points

(47:55):
with one fifty left. The starters have been pulled. Let's
switch gears, Jason, I do want to talk about the
Gonzaga perspective. Is this at all in your opinion and
indictment on Gonzaga. Gonzaga, of course, still looking for its
first national title under Mark Few. They've been to two
Elite they've been to two final fours, eight straight years

(48:16):
that they've been to at least the Sweet sixteen. But
this is now I believe the third time they'll fall
short in the Elite eight. Is this loss an indictment
at all on Gonzaga for you? No, not really, because
this Gonzaga team, this is not one of the best
Gonzaga teams. It's maybe the weakest defensive Gonzaga team. It's

(48:36):
not as deep a Gonzaga team. It's one that scores
a lot of points, but it's also one that doesn't
shoot the three particularly well and doesn't shoot free throws well.
They were barely over fifty percent five or six minutes
ago in real time in terms of how they were
shooting from the stripe, like they weren't even making the
ones when guys weren't guarding them. So, I mean, what
mark f you has built there, I think that's what matters.

(49:00):
I think eventually you're well, are they ever gonna win
the big one? Who knows? Maybe they're not, Like they're
not preordained to do it. What he's already accomplished. You
can't take away from what that program has accomplished. You
cannot take away from them. This was not a vintage
Canzaca team. I actually did have them in my final
four in my bracket, but that was because the matchups
I thought they were gonna see. I didn't think they

(49:20):
were actually gonna see Yukon. I thought Yukon might get
knocked off before this point. But no, I don't think
it's an indictment of them. I just think the only
thing I will say is this, it is sort of
an indictment of the schedule that they play year in
and year out, that they have to I understand because
of the conference they're in and all of this, but

(49:43):
it never seems to have them quite prepared for one
of the big dogs into that. I don't buy that
at all, because I mean, listen, you can't make eight
straight Sweet sixteens, because listen, just because what I will
say this is the argument that I think is fair,
is that, yes, because they literally have like twenty wins

(50:04):
caked into their schedule. You know, because they have twenty
wins kiked into their schedule, they you know, they are
probably a little bit overseated every year because they don't
go through the grind. I get that. What I would
say is a couple of things. Is one, there was
the twenty twenty one season where they entered the National

(50:24):
Championship Game undefeated. That was two years ago, the bubble year.
There was literally one team better than them. I mean
you could go back and look outside of the UCLA
game in the final four, I mean, they destroyed everyone
and good teams too. I mean, you know, I forget
all the details now, but I think Virginia won that
the ACC that year. They beat them by fifteen or twenty.
Iowa was a top ten team all year. They beat

(50:46):
them by fifteen or twenty. So I don't buy the
narrative that that league has them unprepared, but I do
think I don't buy it personally. But what I would
also say is that it doesn't really matter what I think,
because that is going to be the narrative until they win.
And then even when they win, I do get the
sense that people will still say, well, you know, they
only got there because of this, and they only got

(51:06):
there because of this. And as a matter of fact,
I was thinking about it today, I said, even if
they beat Yukon and they go to a final four
win the national championship, what's the argument gonna be, Well,
the bracket opened up and there were no great teams
and they got lucky. So I just I can't buy
at this point when you go to eight straight sweet
sixteens this year, you beat a good TCU team, you
beat UCLA and the Sweet sixteen, I can't. I don't

(51:27):
buy that it's the schedule or whatever. It's just that
the deeper that you get into the tournament, you're gonna
play good teams and only one team is ultimately gonna win.
A James. I mean, I think that's I think that's fair.
I also just think that because the schedule they're playing.
It's also fair to say they're not used to being
punched in the mouth repeatedly the way that you get
punched in the mouth in the tournament. It's not that
they're unprepared, it's more that they're just there's some teams

(51:49):
that have to go to war constantly all the time,
all season long, like the Big Twelve grime this year
with the ACC and the Big The Big Twelve champion
lost in the second round, though, I mean, if that's
the I know, I know, but again it's a one
and done tournament, so it's hard like you can take
away any result and you can try to make different
conclusions based on that. I just kind of I was

(52:12):
surprised because it felt like to me, you Cela was
about to walk all over them on Thursday night watching
that game that come back and pressed me. I didn't
know they were gonna pull that one off, not against
that team the way that you Cela plays defense. You see,
La went all kinds of cold. Now they did almost
find a way to steal that thing, but then the
big shot by Strather moved Gonzaga on. I think that

(52:37):
that you make a good argument for why you would
exclude that narrative that's all we're about to hear, though.
I would imagine if you're if you hear anything at
all about Gonzaga, and maybe you're really not, because again,
this isn't a number one seed, undefeated, agains Zaga team.
It's a three seed that I don't think most people
thought was a national championship level Gonzaga team. Like maybe

(53:01):
the few that have not done it in the past
have been so maybe that's part of this. Also, I
just I think the narrative is more likely going to
be about how unlikely the final four matchups are than
anything else, just what the tournament is and what that
says about college basketball. Yeah, I'll be curious if that,

(53:21):
you know, I'll actually just genuinely be curious if if
it is a narrative coming out of this game, And
you know, I think the thing was Listen, this wasn't
a quintessential Gonzaga team. It was a three seed. I actually,
to be honest, I actually think they overachieved. I'll be honest. Also,
I'm very curious what this program looks like without Drew
Timmy next year, because I don't think they're going to

(53:44):
have that upper level talent that keeps them in a
position to be a team that's entitled contention. And so
I just bring it up because I think they probably
overachieved a little bit this year. And I'm curious if
the conversation coming out of today will be more about
Yukon's dominant they have to be the favorite, or Gonzaga choked.

(54:05):
I just don't think this is a moment where you
could say they choked. Now I will say, man, and
I'll say this too. I feel bad for Mark Few
because one, you know, the foul call on Timmy that
basically put him out of the game, that really was
what sealed to win. But Gonzaga shot two for twenty
from three today, Jason, And yeah, we can give some
credit to the Yukon defense. Obviously as a Husky, I

(54:27):
don't want to discredit what they did. But at the
same time, Mark Few, I mean two for twenty, Like literally,
we don't have this number available readily to us, but
I would imagine it's not only probably the worst shooting
day of the year, but but probably in several years
it happened at the worst possible time. Anything to add
Jason on this Gonzaga game. As Yukon is headed to

(54:49):
the Final four. They will be playing next Saturday against
the winner of Texas and Miami tomorrow. Not really other
than I mean, whoever it is that comes out of
Texas Miami is going to have a battle on their hands.
Because this Yukon team is feeling it. I think the
only thing could derail them is just not playing for
a week and maybe losing the momentum if you had

(55:09):
to play them again on Monday and on Tuesday Wednesday
coming up this week. I don't think anybody can beat
that team the way they look right now. But again,
because it's a one and done tournament, all it takes
is one night where your shots aren't falling and you
can look like the best team in the world for
two weeks and then go home. We've already seen that
year after year in this tournament, so it's still completely

(55:30):
wide open, but Yukon deserves a ton of props for
how they look so far. This is Fox Sports Radio
air tourist Jason Martin coming up, tell you what We'll
bring up my buddy, Zach Croll. He is the host
of the College Hoops Today podcast College Hoops Daily podcast.
Excuse me, he's gonna be here to discuss Yukon, but
also he was at MSG. He'll give us some insight

(55:51):
into this Florida Atlantic team that we better get to
know them because Florida Atlantic, along with Yukon have punched
tickets in the final four. Jason, how about this year
ago we were on and it was Duke and Villanova
to the final four? A little bit of a different feel?
Is it fair to say a little bit of a
different feel with Florida Atlantic and Villanova or Florida Atlantic
and Yukon as opposed to Villanova and Duke? Is that

(56:13):
fair to say it is? And I think the most
amazing thing about it is we're not all that shocked
by it. Like I think that had this happened in
a different year, we'd have felt differently about it. But
this is kind of the tournament that we thought it
was gonna be, and the same things are gonna happen tomorrow.
We do not anything you think's gonna happen tomorrow. Just
watch the games because it's likely you're gonna be wrong.

(56:34):
Fox Sports Radio erituris Jason Barra coming back again. Zach
Croll College Hoop's Daily Podcast. They'll be here to react
to what happened in MSG, but also talk about this
dominant Yukon victory. That's next. Fox Sports Radio Welcome back, everybody.
Fox Sports Radio er tourist Jason Martin broadcasting live from

(56:57):
the Tirac dot Com studios For those of you who
are just getting in your car or been living under
a rock. Yukon just obliterated Gonzaga final score eighty two
to fifty four to advance to a final four of
the six final four in school history. Earlier in the day,
Florid Atlantic took care of business against Kansas State at

(57:21):
Madison Square Garden. Somebody who was at Medison Square Garden
covering that game is joining us now. Zach Kroll. He
is the host of the College Hoops Daily podcast, also
works for Odyssey Sports. Zach, But, man, what's going on, buddy?
How you doing? Aaron, Jason, thank you so much for
having me tonight. What's going on? How are you guys?
I'm good. So listen. We want your not only opinion,

(57:41):
but perspective on this Florida Atlantic team. He've been around
them for the last four days as they've been in
New York, But we got to start with this. I mean,
I don't know how much you got to watch. I
know you were you probably might might still be at
MSG or you were on the train. Did you get
to watch any of this Yukon game? And are you
surprised because they've dominated a regular are all postseason long.

(58:02):
But I mean a twenty eight point went over Gonzaga
is unbelievable. Were you able to watch any of this zac?
I did catch a little bit of the ending of
the second half. Yukon was up by four, and Andre Jackson,
just like he has all season, just made a great
play on a fifty fifty ball. He was exactly where
he wasn't supposed to be, and that's the specialty of
Andre Jackson making all the great hustle plays. He tipped

(58:23):
the ball out of Jordan Hawkins for a three. Yukon
goes into the locker room up seven, and after I
saw that, I had a feeling that this one might
be over. Now. I did not see the third and
fourth foul calls on Drew Timmy early in the second half.
I know that might have had a big effect on
the big Yukon run to in the second half. Throughout
the end of the game. But I feel like those
two foul calls had a pretty big turning point on

(58:46):
the game. Even though I didn't see, I know there
was a lot of reaction there. Zach, what do you
think the reaction is going to be towards the Gonzaga program.
We talked about that a little bit earlier in our show.
Is there going to be critique over another Gonzaga team
that failed to either reach a Final Four or win
a national championship or is it going to be muted

(59:06):
by the fact that this was not one of the
better deeper Gonzaga teams. I think it's really interesting because
the fact that they got to be lead eight and
I know no Gonzaga fan wants to hear this right
now after they fall short of another Final Four again.
But I think considering what they had around Drew Timmy
and you watch them against Yukon tonite the game, it
never really fell close, and I understand why Gonzaga fans

(59:30):
are going to be disappointed, and who knows if this
is the end of the road for Drew Timmy. He's
had a great college career. But I do think the
way the game went, yeah, It's gonna be pretty easy
for people to criticize Gonzaga the fact that they never
really were in the game. But I think big picture,
Mark Few, He's a great coach that has been knocking
at the door of a national championship so many times,

(59:51):
and eventually, if you keep knocking in your Zachod, you
should be able to break out of it. I'm not
shocked at Gonzaga lost this game. It is a pretty
surprising though, the fact that Yukon just dominated them really
from start to finish. Zach Crow joining us here on
eritorist Jason Martin Fox Sports Radio. Zach is the host
of the College Hoops Daily podcast works for Odyssey Sports
as well. Zach, So, you know, before we get to

(01:00:14):
the game today, one last question, at least for me
on this game. You know, Yukon's been totally dominant, and
we know Florida Atlantic is going and then it's going
to be either Texas or Miami, and then of course
Creton or San Diego State. Considering that there's a scenario
where we could have Texas playing in Houston in the
final four, and of course a potential scenario where Ukon

(01:00:36):
is playing a creating team that has beaten them already
this year. Do you believe that Yukon is the definitive
favorite going into Houston next weekend? Regardless of who wins
next week? It's hard to say they're not, especially after
the way they've performed in their first couple of tournament games.
And it was really impressive what they did to Arkansas
on what they did to Saint Mary's. But I think
tonight sent a real message out to the rest of

(01:00:58):
the country, considering that they just dominated a gun Vaga
team that I felt pretty good about going into this tournament.
I know they just played a wild game against UCLA
on a pretty short turnaround, and they've had a little
bit of trouble with that short turnaround before, and I
think Yukon right now would be the favorite. But I'm
curious to see what Texas does tomorrow against Miami. They

(01:01:19):
look really good in their game last night against Xavier.
Really from the start. They were up tended too early
and never really looked back from there. I think they
have the natural talent and the dudes to match up
with Yukon, But at the end of the day, right now,
it's hard to say the Yukon team isn't the favorite.
They've just looked dominant in their first three tournament games. Zaka.
Team that's certainly not anybody's favorite coming in was Florida Atlantic,

(01:01:39):
despite the fact they only had three losses entering the
NCAA Tournament. I'm saying, they're watching that game today and
they're down seven in the second half, and it doesn't
seem like they can hold onto the basketball. They're just
turning it over left and right. They've got twenty turnovers.
Looks like all the momentums with Kansas State, and then
you look up and Florida Atlantic's going on a run.
They take in the lead, and they have all the momentum,

(01:02:02):
and it's been that way in every game in this tournament.
How remarkable is what you've seen from them in terms
of the resilience against big time fos and bigger brands.
When they get down, it seems like they just get
better and better as the game goes along. Jason, It's
crazy because all this Florida Atlantic team does is win
close games. Going into the game tonight, they were ten

(01:02:23):
and one in games decided by five points or less,
now eleven in one, and they just have a lot
of confidence. And the craziest part is last year in
those same kind of games, they were oh and eight
in games decided by five games or lesson The thing
that makes the team just really remarkable and so fun
to watch is they are a team that returned basically
everyone from last year. They returned to each of their

(01:02:45):
top five scores, added a couple of key players off
the bench from the transfer portal, and all of a
sudden they're here in the Final four. But all they
do is win close games. That's coaching. In my opinion,
Dusty May is a rising star in the coaching industry.
I honestly couldnt be more impressed with him, couldn't be
more impressed with this flarid Atlantic team and the fact that,
like you said, Kansas State, they start the second half

(01:03:06):
on a nineteen to eight run to go up seven.
The other night against Tennessee they were down by seven
early in the second half, and they just find a
way to win close games. It's honestly remarkable. They're so
connected and I am just so impressed with this FAU group.
Jay mart lives in Tennessee. You did not need to
throw salt in the wound on that one. Zac but
I'm not a tennise grad though that's true, that's true,

(01:03:26):
live in the state. Yes, yes, well we'll get back
to Florida Atlantic real quick. So, like I said, you've
been around him for the last four or five days.
Zach Rol hosted the College Hoops Daily podcast, joining us like,
what is just your impression? I mean, I know you
just laid out you've been impressed by Dusty May the
head coach. You know, a group that returned a lot
from last year. But but just tell listen, I love
college basketball and I barely know anything about him. So

(01:03:48):
I can only imagine the casual fan that tune in
today for the first time, or tune in on Thursday
for the first time, or we'll be tuning in next
Saturday for the first time. Tell us just what they've
been like having been around them for the last or
five days. It's crazy because this team went thirty five
and three throughout the course of the regular season, and
you include the tournament as well. And I feel like

(01:04:08):
when a team, no matter what level they're playing at
either the Power five, power six or at the mid
major level, like when a team is that good, they
at least come into the tournament with a little bit
of hype, and that actually wasn't the case with this
few team, And the fact is they were. They came
into the season picked fifth in Conference USA, but they
had a really nice returning group of core players. And

(01:04:30):
the thing about their team in the way they're built,
that really impresses me, and I think more teams are
going to start building like this in the current era
of college basketball we're living in. Is they just have
two big men that dominate the glass and everyone else
around them are just quick, athletic guards that could shoot
the basketball and it's won them a lot of games.
And I feel like the way that roster is built,

(01:04:51):
full of returning players but also former players at the
power five, power six level that transferred down, it's just
been a perfect form and just how confident they are.
It's really impressive to me and Conference USA it's a
really good conference. FA Using the final four, they also
had two other teams in North Texas and UAB that
are going to be playing in the Final four of

(01:05:12):
the n I T I feel like if either of
those two teams got into the Big Dance, maybe they
could have done some damage as well. But I am
just so impressed with the confidence this group has. No
matter what deficits they're facing. It feels like they're just
gonna find the way to win. And it's wild. At
their first tournament game against Memphis, they were down with
about two seconds left and still found a way to win.
Just a great group and very impressive. So when you

(01:05:34):
look at when you look at this, I think you
can look at this two ways. As a whole, like
next week's Final Four, I don't know what it's going
to do in the TV ratings, I don't know what
it is in terms of an entertainment product in the
short term. Is it possible for it to be good
for basketball because it creates hope across the country that
because you're gonna have a craton A San Diego State,

(01:05:54):
a Florida Atlantic, somebody that you weren't anticipating as opposed
to the blue blood matchups you got last year. It
can be great for the sport going forward or for
fan bases and still be terrible in terms of what
the product might be next week in terms of ratings, money,
all those things. Yeah, it's interesting, especially looking back at

(01:06:15):
last year when we had Duke and Kansas in North
Carolina and Villanova, and now we do have a pretty
big brand in Yukon. But with Fau and whoever wins
the two games tomorrow, it's not necessarily the teams and
the brands were all used to. But I will say
I think teams like Florida Atlantic, teams like San Diego State,
they're good for college basketball in the sense that not
only that it gives you hope for your team one

(01:06:37):
day to get there, but also just the way those
teams are built. They're older, experienced teams that have been
through the battles, that have been through wars. It's crazy
with San Diego State in twenty twenty when the season
was postponed early due to COVID breaking out, that team
was undefeated. They were twenty six to OZ and they
looked ready to go to a Final four. And kind
of what going back to what we said about don Zaga,

(01:06:59):
I do believe if your program is this good and
you just consistently get to the tournament and you just
keep knocking on that door, eventually you're going to break through.
I think San Diego State, I think Creton are great
examples of that. And when it comes to the ratings
and who's gonna watch these games. I feel like this
tournament has been so good, the ratings have been at
an all time high that at this point with how

(01:07:20):
this tournament is gone, I don't want to say it
doesn't matter who's playing, but I feel like they're gonna
be interest in these games either way. And I know
I'm gonna be super excited for the two games tomorrow
as well. Last one, Zach, we got about one minute left,
Zach ral, host of the College Hoops Daily podcast, Zach,
give us two quick winners for tomorrow. The two games tomorrow,
I'm gonna go with Texas and San Diego State. I

(01:07:40):
know that Creton has been playing great basketball, and a
lot of people are thinking that the Big East, especially
after Yukon's performance tonight, they're gonna get two bids. But
I love this San Diego State team. I think they
have the defense and the intensity to match up and
at least limit that very potent Creton offense. And when
it comes to Texas, I think this is another team
kind of like Yukon that's been on a Deafney type

(01:08:01):
run throughout the tournament. Rodney Terry's interim head coach, he's
done a great job with that group, so I'll go
with San Diego State and Texas tomorrow. That is Zach Kroll,
host of the College Hoops Daily podcast. Make sure to
also follow him on Twitter at Zach Crawl. Z Ac
Kroll underscore, Zach Man, we appreciate the time. Hope you
enjoyed your time at MSG today. We will talk to

(01:08:23):
you soon. Man, We appreciate you. Thanks, have a good one.
That was Zach Kroll, host of the College Hoops Daily podcast. Jason,
I do have one thing I want to react to
off of what Zach said. We will get to that next.
Before we do, though, let's toss it over the newsdesk.
Steve de Sager, Hello, gentlemen. You know you were talking
about San Diego State there, and they have a regional
final tomorrow. I think I can say with some authority,

(01:08:47):
having lived in the West Coast my whole life, if
the Aztecs win this game tomorrow, it's one of the
top ten moments in the history of the city of
San Diego sports, so any sport let me ask you this.
To Sager, obviously, living on the West Coast, you know
maybe I'm a little closer to it, but it feels
like they they have like they have a very underrated
fan base. That city loves them. Do you think that's

(01:09:08):
a reflection of the Chargers leaving there's a sports vacuum,
if you will, because you know, even watching the game
last night in Louisville, and again I couldn't watch closely.
I was at the wedding, but it seemed like they
brought a lot of fans across the country to Louisville.
They packed them out in West Tournament. You're the sports
his storian, especially here in Southern cal the sager. Do
you believe that the Chargers void has kind of allowed

(01:09:29):
this San Diego state thing to grow even bigger, Not
that it was small before. They had huge fan bases
when they played Sweet sixteen games in Anaheim, for example,
in the past decade, including with Kawhi Leonard. But I
can recall when the two NFL teams left Los Angeles
for a couple of decades. During that span, UCLA football
got good and UCLA football was drawing what the Rams

(01:09:51):
and Chargers do now at their new stadium, Ucla really
took off in one twenty games in a row. And yes,
there was a void to fill with San Diego State,
I will say that it's I mean, the Padres had been,
let's be honest, mostly bad for most of their history.
So when you get to March, it's not that nobody's
paying attention to the Padres, it's just often they were

(01:10:13):
coming off a bad year. Now right now, the Padres
had to shut off season ticket sales. They're so popular.
It's ridiculous how good they are after the run last
year and how popular they are down there and San
Diego State. I mean, when I was a little kid,
I remember when future Padre Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn
was guard for San Diego State basketball. He was so good.

(01:10:36):
I did not know he played the sport of baseball.
I knew him as an Aztecs basketball guard and got
drafted by the Clippers, by the way, when I think
they were the San Diego Clippers at the time. And here,
San Diego State had never won a Sweet sixteen game
before this weekend. The Mountain West since it was formed,
had never had a team win a Sweet sixteen game

(01:10:56):
before this weekend. So we talk about routes, and you know, Minnesota,
it's been a while for their pro teams. Buffalo certainly
Cleveland until Lebron. San Diego Pro Sports has not won
a title since the nineteen sixty three Chargers, and that
was the AFL title. There was no Super Bowl yet.
It hadn't been invented. That's how long it hadn't been invented.

(01:11:19):
That's like saying, you know, the hamburger hadn't been invented, Like, yeah,
it was invented at some point, but it seems like
inconceivable that there was a time that it wasn't there yet,
So I looked it up. I think San Diego State
won a men's volleyball NCAA title fifty years ago. If
the Aztecs win tomorrow, this is i repeat, probably on
the top ten list any sport all time in a

(01:11:42):
city of a million plus people. By the way, this
would be huge, huge for them, also good for Yukon.
I think the good news is I don't believe there's
a lux Or hotel in Houston for next weeks. All
should be well. Listen as a Vegas guy, my school
and and by the way, I think you know this
to Sagra. I'm sure you know to J Martin, like
the NCAA pre books hotels, So it's really an NCAA thing.

(01:12:05):
And I'm not a shame the NCA and everything guy,
but NCA be better. But if anyone in the Yukon
administration had just reached out to me, as somebody who
goes to Vegas like three times a year, I would
have said, you gotta get out of that situation. They
got out quickly, Yeah, state elsewhere and continued to dominate.
Yukon over Gonzaga eighty two fifty four tonight in the
West Region Final in Vegas. Onto the Final Four in Houston,

(01:12:28):
Texas next weekend. By the way Texas versus Miami five
pm Eastern tomorrow, we'll find out who the Huskies opponent
will be next weekend. Nine seed Florida Atlantic is going
to be in the Final four. It won the East
Region Final in New York City seventy nine seventy six
over three seed Kansas State. FAU becomes the first nine
seed to advance to the Final Four since Wichitas State,

(01:12:50):
which was a decade ago. Drew Timmy likely ends his
college career. The All American picked up his fourth foul
early in the second half, finish with twelve points ten rebounds.
You know they debated the merits of the fourth foul
call on the postgame show on Cable tonight. Honestly, that's
a waste of breath. They scored fifty four points. People.
This wasn't went the side of the game. We mentioned

(01:13:13):
earlier in the show. Gonzaga was the number one scoring
college basketball team in the country out of three hundred
fifty two teams, about eighty eight points per game. They
could have scored twenty more points in the second half
tonight and still lost the game. The fourth foul had
nothing to do with win or loss. It just means

(01:13:34):
they didn't lose by thirty or something. Drew Timmy, though, congrats,
did get into the top ten all time in scoring
in his career in NCAA tournament games, hit the three
hundred point mark, number one all time. Christian Latner has
just over four hundred points in NCAA tournament games. NBA
in progress at Phoenix Suns still ahead of Philadelphia eighty

(01:13:54):
three seventy seven late in the third quarter, Denver Witt
Milwaukee one twenty nine, one oh six Yeattle Seahawks side
linebacker Bobby Wagner back to you, Thank you very much,
Steve de Sager, Fox Sports Radio, Fox Sports Saturday. Aaron
Torres Jason Martin broadcasting here live from the tirect dot
com studios. Tell you what we'll come back. I want
to react to something that Zach said about that Florida

(01:14:15):
Atlantic team. Florida Atlantic, as de Sager just told you,
as everybody had in their bracket, Florida Atlantic and Yukon
to the final four. We'll discuss that next. This is
Fox Sports Radio. Welcome back everybody, Fox Sports Radio. Aeron

(01:14:35):
Torres Jason Martin broadcasting live from the tirect dot com studios.
Two Final four tickets are punched. Yukon in dominant fashion,
takes care of Gonzaga and also Florida Atlantic, the nine
seed in the East, shocks everybody on the way to
the school's first Final four. They had never won a

(01:14:57):
tournament game before this year. They are headed to Houston
next week. Jason, let me ask you so, I will say,
you know, we've talked all episode about all show about
you know, is the small school really good, really bad? Whatever?
The one thing I will say about Florida Atlantic, And
you know, I think two things can be true, right,
I think that when it comes to selecting teams in

(01:15:19):
the NCAA Tournament. I understand that the tough for the conference,
the tough for the schedule that has to be taken
into account, but I also think Florida Atlantic is the
perfect example. While I know you and I agree that,
like it probably isn't good for the ratings to have
more of the you know, smaller schools, schools people don't know.

(01:15:40):
Put in the d SEC, the Big ten, the Big
twelve schools because one people know them, two because obviously
they've had a tougher path during the regular season. Like,
I do think there is something to be said about
the smaller schools having the opportunity. And it just feels like,
you know, it came down to the bubble this year.
And you know, I won't bore people with two much,
but you know, you had Wisconsin and Michigan and whoever

(01:16:03):
at seventeen and fourteen, seventeen and thirteen, eighteen and thirteen, whatever.
I just think there's I just think what makes this
tournament so great? We do remember the runs. Now, is
it good for the ratings, I don't know, but we
all remember Saint Peter's last year, We all remember whatever
whoever you know, George Mason VCU Wichita State. The sager

(01:16:25):
just said nine C the last nine seed to make
the final four before Florid Atlantic. I think this is
an indictment that, like, we got to get more of
these teams in man and as Zex said, you know,
the Florid Atlantic, their conference was good. North Texas has
twenty nine wins as they are in the ni T
Final four. UAB has twenty eight wins in the ni
T Final four. Those are two teams in Florida Atlantic's conference.

(01:16:49):
I think that this is proof get these smaller schools in.
And I'm not saying like the SEC should be a
one bid league or the ACC should be a one
bid league or anything, but I just think these you
give these schools a shot more often than that they deliver.
I just wish we saw more of these type of
teams in the tournament to begin with. I agree with you.
I think that. I mean, I always lean on the

(01:17:10):
same argument and say it from a television perspective, but
I also think it's worthy of asking the question. I
would be curious to know what everybody thinks about this.
Would you give up the glitzy final four for the
moments that you get prior to it. What do you
care more about when it comes to the NCAA Tournament
five years down the road? Do you care about who

(01:17:32):
actually won the title? Do you even remember who won
the title five years ago in college basketball? Or are
you more likely to remember Ali farugmanesh or Bryce Drew
or you know, something like that, a team that didn't
end up winning, especially if it was one of the
smaller schools that made the run, the George Mason run,
which also included Yukon years and years ago, certainly Florida

(01:17:54):
Atlantic this year, the loyalas Chicago that I mentioned earlier, Like,
is that more the tournament that you want? Is it
what happens Week one? You root for chaos in the
moment because I care about the present, even if it
affects the future negatively. It's worth it to me because
the tournament is so much more compelling because of the

(01:18:15):
fa us, not because the final four is necessarily going
to be nearly as studded or nearly as intriguing to
you on its face, nearly It's not one versus two,
It's not that kind of game. But is it worth it?
Is the tradeoff worth it to you? If you get
all of these like historic feeling moments and big time

(01:18:36):
teams falling short and all these stories of these people
that you've never seen before. It's the first two weeks enough,
you don't care as much about the final four in
the national title and it doesn't matter to you. Is
it better for college basketball? Is it better as a
tournament viewing experience to have all of the crazy results
even if you don't get the finish that is your

(01:18:58):
you know, ultimate one versus two kind of matchup, Goliath
versus Goliath. Is it better? And I think the reason
I ask the question is because I can make an
argument both ways. I can make an argument that I
want your championship to be determined by teams that I
feel like are worthy of it. But at the same time,
if we had just gotten chalked throughout this year and

(01:19:18):
whatever years you get chalk, it does feel like a
more boring day, doesn't it? Like it just that Thursday,
that Friday, especially the first round, even around to thirty two,
if everything just goes as planned, like yeah, you're gonna
have some heavyweight fights in the sweet sixteen, and we
had it this year, like the Thursday matchups were awesome,
But at the same time, it's just kind of like, yeah,

(01:19:39):
but man, this ternament is made by Oral Roberts and
those kind of schools and the Saint Peter's runs and
all this, and certainly fairly Dickinson this year. I think
it's fair to at least debate the merits of both
sides of the equation. But I agree a million percent
that more teams that have seasons like FAU had need

(01:19:59):
to punch their ticket over bigger name, bigger brand teams
that did nothing particularly impressive, that aren't that important. Yeah,
And it's an interesting conversation as well because it comes
on the heels of Greg Sanky like really pushing like
like he's not publicly really pushing for it, but privately
it's very clear that he's trying to move strings to

(01:20:21):
get more teams in. And like I do, sort of
get it right, like, more teams is more viewers. This
is a postseason sport. This is the only time we
care about it. I hate to admit it, but it's
the truth. And the more teams in creates again, more content,
more viewers, and more money for his league. What I
would say to that is, and I don't think it's
going to happen, But I would hope that if we

(01:20:42):
are going to expand the tournament, and to be clear,
I don't think that we should. I think sixty eight
is actually perfect as it is, and I would argue
sixty four might even be more perfect if such a
thing exists. But if we are going to inevitably expand
the tournament, like those are the kind of teams that
we should be getting in. I don't need to see
a Michigan team that fifteen times during the regular season,
or Wisconsin team or whoever. I'm not just trying to

(01:21:04):
pick on the Big ten. It should be the teams
that win their regular season conference but can't quite you know,
have one bad night in the conference tournament. And so
I don't know if that's gonna happen, Jason. At one,
I do think expansion at some point is inevitable, and unfortunately,
I do think it is going to be in those
power conferences. But at the same time, I do hope
that if that happens, we get some more small schools in.

(01:21:27):
So that's that Florida Atlantic is going to the Final four, Jason,
is it still sounds weird to say so? Florida Atlantic
is going to the final four. Yukon is going to
the Final four after a dominant win over Gonzaga. Two
more tickets will be punched tomorrow. Coming up, we stay
on college hoops. It's starting to lap the NBA and ratings.

(01:21:47):
What does that mean for college hoops and the NBA.
We'll discuss that next four. Welcome an everybody, our three
Fox Sports Radio, Aeron Torres, Jason Martin. We are broadcasting
live from the tirerac dot com studios. Tirerac dot com
will help you get there and on match selection, fast

(01:22:09):
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(01:22:30):
your protection, one safe, all your protection in one place.
Bundle and save at Progressive dot Com. Two college hoops
games our final Florida Atlantic in Yukon. In a sentence
nobody had before the tournament started, are headed to the
Final four tomorrow. Two more tickets will be plunched at
San Diego State plays Creighton and As Texas plays Miami

(01:22:53):
in the Midwest Regional. Will preview those games there a
little bit later. But Jason, I do want to talk
to you about something else because, um, some interesting numbers
came out this week in terms of this NCAA tournament
as far as the ratings are concerned. Now, I will say,
you know, the ratings were a little bit down this

(01:23:16):
past you know, the Sweet sixteen games, and you know
a few reasons. Duke's not in Kentucky's not in North
Carolina's not in whatever. Um, but it comes off of
the fact that we just came off of the highest
rated ever opening round of the NCAA Tournament Thursday's opening
day of the NCAA Tournament. This is per sportsmediawatch dot

(01:23:39):
com average day combined eight point four viewers per window
on the four networks that were broadcasting it. And also
some of the games including uh, you know, Michigan State
Michigan State Marquette, which was the CBS like the basically
like a four Eastern game that had upwards of like

(01:23:59):
ten million ers, Arkansas Kansas, a game that finished right
before we came on air Saturday, that was a CBS
game had nine and a half million viewers. Jason, all
of this comes on the heels of an NBA season
in which the NBA just had the lowest rated All
Star ratings in the history of the history of the
event as far as I remember, and I mean, I

(01:24:22):
got a lot of thoughts. It seems like the NBA
All Star ratings are down. Regular season ratings are down.
Postseason ratings, you know, year to year they fluctuate, but
but obviously are nowhere near what they were even seven
eight years ago when Cleveland was playing Golden State. All
of this as the college basketball ratings, at least for
the opening weekend, we're through the roof. What are you

(01:24:44):
make of that news stage? The tournament is just a
different animal in general. Like the NBA ratings discussion, we
can have sort of on its own, and we have
had it on this program before. The NBA has some issues,
It has some perception issues. It has It just feels
like Adam Silver has cowtowed so many times to the

(01:25:05):
players in a way that has been detrimental to the
product on television. You have guys taking time off, guys
missing games, guys being traded all over the place, it
seems like you can't ever figure out who is playing where.
If you're a casual fan, I can imagine you tune
out for six months to come back you're like, Oh,
he's there, and he's there, and he's there. I don't
know what any of this means. The NCAA Tournament is

(01:25:28):
a product that you know, because of the brackets, because
of the casual nature, where you can just you don't
watch college basketball at all, but you watch it for
three weeks a year and you feel like you've seen
what you need to see. And some of the games
that you mentioned in some of those windows were some
of the bigger brands, but the tournament itself becomes at

(01:25:48):
least in that first weekend in particular, it's just something
it just feels like America stops and pays attention to.
There are very few things I think that feel like
you gotta watch them live, You have to watch them
as they're happening. We live in a culture now where
and I'm thinking about this. My daughter turns too in
about three weeks and she's will thank you. She's gonna

(01:26:10):
grow up not knowing what commercial breaks are. And this
was what I experienced, you know, my entire life. When
she sees a fifteen second ad before her show on
PPS Kids starts, she starts crying because she thinks that
I've put on the wrong thing, because she doesn't understand it.
But the NC Double a tournament. We watch it live.
We a lot of us. A lot of folks are

(01:26:32):
on social media somewhere or commenting on it live. They're
watching in a room with a bunch of other people,
their wives, you know, all of their significant others, their children,
their grandparents. Everybody is watching this tournament because it becomes
something larger than the sport itself. But in terms of
and we talked about this, watching the Arkansas player crying

(01:26:55):
after they won over Kansas and watching just the the
emotion on a lot of these players after some of
these games. They're putting it all on the line. You've
got Noel, who's pretty much, you know, the biggest star
of this tournament itself. Maybe not going in, but he's
been kind of the storyline. Even though Kansas State loss.

(01:27:15):
Noel's out there playing on an ankle that most the
NBA players, if they had that injury happened to them
in that Sweet Sixteen, that happened to him in the
sweet sixteen game. They'd be out for like three weeks
and he's in there playing. And I think that there's
a passion and a groundedness and a relatability factor between

(01:27:35):
you the viewer, you, the American sports watcher, and the
guys that you were watching that doesn't exist in the
NBA because it just feels like there's a gigantic distance
between those dudes and you, the college dudes and you.
That feels a whole lot more intimate, a lot closer,
and the passion is just different. Passion is different. You know,

(01:27:56):
I will say a few things. Is one, you know,
I do think less. And the tournament is just such
a fun especially those first few days. Just such a
fun standalone entity and it has a lot of things
working in its favor. You know, sports betting is now
more prominent than ever before. It's the great social thing
that you can get together with friends and family, and

(01:28:18):
you don't, you know, like like nobody nobody throws like
a Bucks you know, a Bucks Hawks opening round game party.
You know, like that doesn't happen. But you know, you
might get your friends together and go to a bar,
or you might get your friends together and have people
over the night of whatever, and that just doesn't happen
with professional sports outside of probably the NFL in the playoffs.

(01:28:39):
And so you have that element of it, you have
the sports gambling element of it, which I think has
drawn in a new wave of people that are now
invested quite literally in a way that um, you know
that they weren't, you know, even three four, five years
ago before sports betting became as big as it is
now and will only continue to get bigger. But I
just bring it up. But because I also think all

(01:29:00):
of that is true, I also think it goes back
to everything that we've talked about, is that the NBA,
I believe, has completely ostracized their fans, you know, even
and we'll get into this, you know, Frankly maybe next segment.
Even you know, Kyrie Irving calling out his fans last night,
and it's like, you know, I understand that at this point,

(01:29:20):
the guy that's spending eight dollars to go to a
MAV's Bulls game on a Tuesday, that's not the guy
that's paying Kyrie's contract. It's it's the TV networks that
are paying billions of dollars. I get all that, but
at the same time when you actively won frankly just
crap on your fans constantly, you know, Lebron James, I
think it was during the bubble said you know, we

(01:29:42):
don't care if you don't agree with our decisions. And listen,
I'm not saying that every fan has to be aligned
politically and everything with Lebron James, but I've never heard
of a business having its most high profile person saying
we don't care about our consumer. So you have that
element of it. You have all of the things that
we talked about, the trade demand and the load management,
which I think I still think the load management thing

(01:30:04):
is so big because you know, even me, I like,
you know, I crap on the NBA a lot, but
I would watch a Friday night game if I knew
who was playing a Thursday night TNT game, But half
these games guys aren't playing, And so I just bring
it up because I don't think it's a coincidence. And
I do think listen, there's old sayings in um, you know,

(01:30:24):
in business, the consumers always right, and there's obviously you know,
the saying like you know, like follow your audience, and
I think there is something too nobody's saying the quality
of play is better in the in the NCAA tournament.
As a matter of fact, sometimes it's really bad refereeing.
College basketball has its faults with that too, but it
puts on a compelling product, the player's care. You know.

(01:30:48):
It's just, it's just and I think, you know, I
really do think I understand there's difference between regulars, the
grind of a regular season NBA versus the urgency of
the NCAA tournament. But I am telling on you, man,
I think the NBA could really take some things from
college basketball in terms of the overall product. So the
one thing when you talked about, you know, getting together

(01:31:10):
for parties, there's three sports where you're gonna get that
pretty regularly, the NFL, college football, and college basketball. And
it's because they're all single elimination, so there's a reason
to do that. You're not going to do that in
a best four out of seven, best three out of
five scenario. But I think it's this also, and this
goes back to the relatability factor. While you were talking,
this kind of hit me and I've never really thought

(01:31:30):
about it this way. Doesn't it just seem like the
NBA players don't care about you, and I mean you
out there listening right now. Doesn't it kind of feel
like those dudes are just like gigantic, self important narcissists
that just feel totally disconnected from you. They don't care
about their audience, they don't care about their fans. They're

(01:31:52):
dismissive of them. The Kyrie comments about the fans that
feel here's the word this is and this is not
me saying this is true, because I guarantee you it's not.
There are a lot of great dudes in the association,
don't get me wrong, but perception is often reality. Wouldn't
it be easy to see why Joe's sports fan would

(01:32:16):
see NBA Superstar X as selfish? And if you see
someone as selfish and a narcissist, why are you going
to watch that for very long? And why are you
gonna root for them or support them? There's no passion,
there's no Why would you have passion for guys that
you don't think give a crap about you, even if

(01:32:37):
it's fake, and they don't give a crap about you.
In the other sports, they do a whole lot better
job hiding it because of the effort that they seem
to put in on a day to day basis. If
that makes sense. No, it makes perfect sense. It makes
perfect sense. And you know, and this is something that
I've said for a long time about the NBA. Is
that listen. I think the talent is insane. I think
the players are as gifted as they've ever been, and

(01:33:00):
at its highest level, it's an incredible product. So every
time Ero Torres, you just hate the NBA. That's why. No,
I don't hate the NBA. But what I've said is
I just don't think the guy in Middle America or
woman in Middle America, the woman that's working you know,
you know, a double shift at the diner, or the
guy that's working in the steel mill or whatever. And

(01:33:21):
I know these are super cliche job titles or whatever,
so forgive me, but that are working these these really
blue collar jobs. They can't relate to somebody making thirty
million dollars, first of all. But they certainly can't relate
to somebody that's making thirty million dollars that just shows
up one day and decides I don't want to work,
even though I'm perfectly fine to go. And I do
give credit to you know, this year more than ever.

(01:33:43):
I have heard prominent NBA media members, and not just
Charles Barkley, because I think Charles Barkley has always been
outspoken about this, but others as well, basically saying like
like I've heard so many former NBA players say this year,
like guess what guys like, I forget who said it.
I would like to give him credit. It may have
been Tim Legler, but he's like, guess what you get

(01:34:03):
to February and March. Everybody's banged up, like like nobody
feels one hundred percent, and so yes, like, are we
saying that you need to play all eighty two games
every single year or you're you know, you're the worst
person ever? No, of course not. But like this idea
that you know you have some sordis and he's like,
the average person cannot relate to that, And so I
just bring it up to say, like, I think the

(01:34:25):
NBA has has a crisis on its hands. I think
load management even more so than the trade demands. All
that the trade demands don't help. I think it's just
turning off a generation of fans Jason that are just like,
you know what, I'm gonna spend my hard earn money elsewhere,
because at last point is, you know, the NFL has
a lot of millionaires, a lot of people that the
average person probably can't relate to from a tax bracket perspective.

(01:34:46):
But I don't think there's anybody's sitting there saying that
that they don't think that Patrick Mahomes has in everyman
quality to him, that you know, whoever I'm just trying
to think off the top of my head, Lamar Jackson
before all this contract stuff has in every man quality
to him. I don't think anybody's questioning whether Joe Burrow
is leaving it all on the field or Nick Chubb

(01:35:06):
is leaving it whoever it is fill in the blank.
And I do think there is that with the NBA,
and it's just it's completely different, you know what I mean. Yeah,
And again I think it's perception. I mean, I think
that a lot of what you just said is how
it's perceived. But it's not like we can really relate
to the guys in the NFL making millions of millions
of dollars either, But they do it. They just do
a better job of not making it so obvious, Like

(01:35:30):
there's just a feeling watching the NBA at least, I
feel like that you could easily get to this point.
I've always loved the NBA, and I'm always gonna love
the NBA, but sometimes they do make it hard with
what they say and how they act and some of
the decisions that they make. Like Kyrie is an extreme example,
because I don't know how you can like Kyrie Irving,

(01:35:51):
Like I don't know how you're supposed to root for
the guy, like I'm not room for him to fail.
But how are you a Kyrie Irving fan? Because who
is he a fan of I'm not even sure he's
a fan of himself. But when you get acquired and
you show up and you're losing game, I'll tell you what, Jason,
I'll tell you what. Let well, let's letten. Yeah, we

(01:36:11):
need more time on that. You're right, Yes, there's a
new twist in the Kyrie versus everybody that has come
up in the last twenty four hours. It's a perfect
segue that you were just leading us to to discuss that.
So when we come back, Kyrie Irving is mad Surprise, surprise,
Fox Sports Radio, Welcome back, everybody. Fox Sports Radio aeratoris

(01:36:37):
Jason Martin. I think that was a steel drum band
that brought us back from the break. I'm just kidding, Chris,
I'm just giving you a hard time. We are broadcasting
live from the tirect dot com studios, all right, So
for the break, Jason, we're talking a little bit about
the fact college basketball coming off of its highest rated
opening weekend in the history of the tournament. The NBA

(01:36:58):
ratings are across are down across the board. Of course,
shout out to NBA Twitter, including Troy Miller, who says
the average guy can really relate to that clown Aaron
Rodgers and Lamar Jackson. NBA is killing it, and their
revenue ratings and in game attendance the best since twenty eighteen. Well,
if there's an attendance thing that I have not seen,

(01:37:20):
I apologize to you, Troy. I can definitively say the
ratings are not where the NBA wants them to be. Revenue, Okay,
we can discuss that it's a live TV sporting event.
Virtually every TV contract is going up for every sports league.
Just look at literally the SEC, the Big Ten, the NFL,

(01:37:41):
Thursday Night NFL on a non So I will say, Jason,
there isn't a more delusional group than NBA. Twitter shout
out to them because they're the only one they don't
care about ratings. Ratings don't reflect whether people are actually
consuming their product or not. Jason, Oh, you know, by
the way, NCAA tournament ratings are, College football ratings are up,

(01:38:02):
and the NFL ratings are through the roof. The WBC
just set a World Baseball Classic, just set record ratings,
but the NBA ratings are tanking. All Star Games set
a record low. But nothing to see here, Jason, No
problem at all, my friend. Yeah, I mean, revenue is
not Revenue is going up in all these leagues because,

(01:38:23):
as you mentioned, the television contracts, what's being negotiated renegotiated.
We're seeing salary caps go up in the NFL and
all these things. I feel like the water cooler NBA
talk is still there because there's so much just tabloid
soap operas stuff that's happening in the league. I think
the thing that isn't really important to virtually anybody outside

(01:38:46):
of the hardest core NBA fans right now is just
what's happening on the floor, like the wins and losses,
which is kind of the thing that usually matters in sports,
but in the NBA it's all the other stuff. It's
a good thing they have the other stuff, but same time,
I wish we could get back to actually caring about
these games the way we have in the past. Again,
I'm a big NBA fan, so I watch a ton

(01:39:07):
of NBA basketball, But you can't say that that these players,
these superstars right now feel real connected to their audience
or to those that are sort of maybe going to
give them a shot again or whatever like that. I
don't know what the future is for the league. It's
probably fine. I mean, I think that kids are still

(01:39:28):
watching the NBA a decent amount, and they know some
of these guys, and they're looking at Twitter highlights and
all of this kind of stuff. But it is a
league that seems very just hostile to things that seem
like they'd be no brainers that would make them a
more palatable product, a product that would be more inviting

(01:39:50):
to everybody. And they seem to always zig when they
should zag in that way where other sports leagues don't.
It's very weird. It's it's kind of a it's an
out of touch feel for that league compared to pretty
much every other one, even if they're doing better, for instance,
than the NHL in terms of their ratings. The sports

(01:40:11):
can't be because it's basketball and hockey. You can't look
at that as an apples to apples comparison. The NBA
could do so many things to help themselves that would
not harm them in any way. They would not harm
their product in any way, and it just seems like
they refused to do it, or keep shooting themselves in
the foot really quickly. Do you have any examples of
what you're talking about, I mean, obviously I'm assuming you're

(01:40:32):
talking about load management and all that kind of stuff. Yeah,
just all of that and the way that they speak
publicly about like the contract decisions or the thing we're
about to talk about with Kyrie Irving. The low management
is the biggest thing, just not being available and this
sense that's not really hard to get to that the

(01:40:54):
regular season doesn't seem to matter to them for much
of it either. And that's a sport that because there's
so many games, you can kind of look that way
and then flip the switch and then show up for
the NBA playoffs, and then you know, your playoffs end
up taking about two two and a half months. It
feels like the off season and when the season starts
and what they're competing with, They've got a lot of

(01:41:15):
things that they have to deal with. It just seems
like the decision making process and the field between player
and athlete or athlete and audience member is there's more
of a distance there than there isn't any other pro sport.
All right, really quick, let's get to what doesn't have
to be really quick, but we can just in general.
Let's start with Kyrie Irving. The Dallas Mavericks have now

(01:41:36):
lost six of their last eight games. They are in
eleventh in the Western Conference. And I'll tell you what
after the sager, I want to talk about the MAVs
as a team, but right now I want to start
with Kyrie Irving. And the reason why is because Kyrie
just can't help himself. So last night they lose again,
and you know, he had some not nice things to say.
He was asked about, you know, fans booing and all

(01:41:59):
of that stuff. And I'm trying to find the exact
quote here. Let's see if I can find it bad
producing by me here, but basically he said, there's only
three there's only four hundred and fifty people on the
planet that could. Here's what he said. It you want
to read it or you okay, says I've been in
New York City, so I know what that's like. You
obviously want to play well, but it's only five people

(01:42:21):
on the court. They can play for the Dallas Mavericks.
If the fans want to change places, then hey be,
my guest got years of work ahead to be great
enough to be on this level. Yeah. Um, so, okay,
I think a couple of things. So Kyrie, I'm just
gonna confess something right now. He is a more gifted
basketball player than me. I'm not going to deny that.

(01:42:42):
I think I could practice one hundred years and never
be as good as Kyrie Irving. He is also, I
think you can argue I legitimately believe this. I think
you can argue he is the least likable athlete that
has never committed a like a serious crime. Like whenever
you say least likable people, well, what about that guy
that did this and ended up doing ten years of jail.

(01:43:02):
It's like, yeah, that guy's a terrible human being. But
in terms of a guy that is just a jerk,
like He's just a jerk. He's just not a nice person.
He's not a good person. I can't ever remember anybody
quite like Kyrie Irving, who demanded a trade out of
Cleveland said if he didn't get traded, he was gonna
go go in for knee surgery. Burn a Bridge in Boston,

(01:43:24):
burn a Bridge in Brooklyn. Was supposed to be best
friends with Kevin Durant. They're in position to have the
four seed, and decides, because he doesn't have his contract,
he wants to be traded, even if the team is
doing well. I can't ever remember a guy like this, Jason.
It is just it's so frustrating, it's so disappointing. This
guy is such a gifted basketball player. I think he's

(01:43:45):
probably the least likable athlete that we've ever covered in
this professionally since I've gotten in. Yeah, he just it
just seems like he can't get out of his own way.
He always talks about how he doesn't care what people
say about him, but he constantly reacts to what people
say about him, and that you know, usually if you
don't care, you just disappear, or you don't say anything,
you just keep going about your business. After the quote

(01:44:06):
that I just read. The last line was our focus
isn't necessarily on the booze. It should be on our
performance and just being there for each other. That's not
included in most of this stuff. And that look, that's
a good way to finish. It's what you said before
that that's the biggest problem and the fact that you
went two weeks ago you went after the media and
the fans again on Twitch after a game. I think

(01:44:29):
the bigger point here though, and then we get to
Steve and then we can talk more about the team
as a whole is we could have first guessed this
and bevery we did first guess it. When this trade
was made. I said, this is going to be a
spectacular disaster, because how in the world are Kyrie Irving
and Luca Donchech a good mix? And well, they're eleventh

(01:44:51):
in the West. They are eleventh in the West, and
we are going to discuss the tire fire, that is
the Dallas Maveris next before we though not a tire fire,
although he did scare me when he promised a victory
for Yukon, but they ended up winning. They only won
by twenty eight points, apparently the largest margin of victory

(01:45:13):
of any Elite eight games since nineteen ninety two. Oh, yeah,
the game was over. That was Cincinnati ripping Memphis. I
looked up the box score. That was when coach Anferny
Hardaway was point guard Anferny Hardaway for Memphis that game.
He filed out with three assists and three turnovers. He
was the Drew Timmy of ninety three. Well, Drew Timmy.

(01:45:34):
Oh he did fought, did he? No? He didn't fill? No, No,
he wound up with four fouls exactly. Cincinnati's guard that day,
by the way, was Nick van Exel. Twenty two points. Yeah,
Yukon gets a win eighty two fifty four over Gonzaga
to win the Rest West Regional Final in Las Vegas.
You guys were talking about ratings, and yes, the NCAA
tournament ratings have been very good so far. We'll put

(01:45:56):
it in a little context in about fifteen minutes when
you talk NBA ratings. The last that I heard is
going into last month's All Star Break, they were saying
all the national TV games for the NBA this year
were up one percent over last season. They were averaging
one point six million viewers. Context, this week on cable,
the show Thousand Pound Sisters got one point five million viewers,

(01:46:21):
so I hear this is a compelling season though to
sacres So, and that was on the same night as
FS one getting great ratings for the World Baseball Classic finals,
so you had a little, you know, debate of which
channel to watch here on Tuesday. Just for the record,
it's it's one point six million viewers for NBA regular season.
This year was the last numbers that were out nationally.
Thousand Pounds Sisters. Yeah, anyway, Yukon headed to the Final four,

(01:46:47):
dominating the Zags tonight. So Yukon to its sixth Final four,
all of them in the last twenty five years. Very
impressive UCLA by comparison, four final fours since they last
won a title in the mid nineties and going to
this sixth well five times they've gone through the West
Region to get there, such as winning in Vegas this weekend.

(01:47:08):
Jordan Hawkins named Most Outstanding Player for the West Regional.
In the East Region, Florida Atlantica nine seed was the
winner seventy nine seventy six over three seed Kansas State,
but a guy from the losing side was named most
outstanding player in the East. A guy who had thirty
points today, Marquise Noel. He had twelve assists as well
for Kansas State, five turnovers, five steals. In his last

(01:47:30):
game on free throws, Noel was nine of ten, but
the rest of his team three of eight from the
stripe and they lost a close game. So k State's out,
Gonzaga's out two more regional finals tomorrow. Yukon women's team
lost its Sweet sixteen game today to Ohio State. AP
had a great item that Gino rm has been around
for decades, of course, running the Yukon women's program since

(01:47:52):
the mid eighties, since he arrived, how many times as
the Yukon men's team actually gone farther in March madness
than the women The answer is only three times, about
every decade. And now it's happened again here in twenty
twenty three, because Yukon men are going to be playing
in Houston, Texas in a national semifinal next weekend. And
here we had an elite eight that is not just

(01:48:14):
not blue blood teams mostly it's hardly blue blood coaches.
It's a record six of the eight coaches had never
won a Sweet sixteen game before until here this weekend,
going into the Elite Eight, the stat was no coach
and it was gonna be a first It will be
a first time national championship winning coach. None of the
eight in the Elite Eight have won a championship, and

(01:48:34):
here you've got a coach tomorrow in the Texas game
against Miami. Rodney Terry is most famously the coach to
take over during the season and has led his team
this far. Allah Steve Fisher, who did wind up still
going and getting a title with Michigan right after he
took over in nineteen eighty nine. With Glenn Rice, I

(01:48:55):
think at some point the interim tag might come off
of his tire. I'll just guess on that one. In
the NBA's late game in La Pelicans, still ripping the
Clippers one twenty two to ninety nine under five minutes
to go, it looks like New Orleans will win a
fourth straight game, and like the Lakers last night, move
up to the five hundred level. It'll be thirty seven

(01:49:15):
and thirty seven for New Orleans after this season. Now.
The Clips came into the night fourth in the West
half game up on Phoenix and Golden State, Phoenix has
won beat Philadelphia one twenty five to one o five,
Sacramento one again, victories for Brooklyn and Atlanta, Denver, rit
Milwaukee one twenty nine to one oh six, and the
Seahawks signed linebacker Bobby Wagnery played for the Rams last season.

(01:49:36):
Thank to you, Thank you very much, Steve Sager. Seger
will be back in just a few minutes with those
college hoops ratings, thousand pounds sister ratings, and much much more.
Thank you to Segre. We'll talk to you a minute. Okay.
I'm very curious, by the way, to see what the
Final four ratings are because next Saturday they're going directly
against Night one of Rustlemania. So usually that doesn't happen

(01:49:59):
because Mania used to be a Sunday show, and they
would do it a lot of times on Final four weekend.
You'd have the Final four Saturday Mania on Sunday, in
the National Title on Monday, going against the post WrestleMania Raw,
which is the highest rated television show of the year
in pro wrestling pretty much every year for I don't
even know an eternity. But now that they have made

(01:50:19):
WrestleMania a two night event, Saturday and Sunday. Now it's
in Cuaa, going directly against the biggest pro wrestling show
of the year, and I do think it will affect
a live numbers. So I I, you know, I don't
know wrestling, but I'm smart enough to know again what
people are interested in. Even if it's not my thing.
I respect anything that's a brand that's been built. And

(01:50:41):
I'll tell you a funny story. So I mentioned earlier,
I go to the Final Four every year and generally
the last three or four years since I've been lucky
enough to be in this shift, I've just kind of
flown out Saturday morning. But I will tell you I
believe WrestleMania is it's SOFI stated. Yeah, I've I've talked
to two or three people, you know, people the college
basketball community that are literally like and some of them

(01:51:03):
are LA based, but that are like, oh yeah, we're
flying out early. We're gonna go down you know, Thursday, Friday,
and then come back Saturday morning for WrestleMania. So I
know LA is ready to embrace WrestleMania. Um, and I
have no doubt that it's it's going to be a
huge event that you know. Frankly, again, I love college basketball,
but I'm smart enough to know, Um, you know that

(01:51:25):
that that will have an impact on probably how many
people are watching these games, and it will not help
that as much as I love this sport, as much
as you love this sport, having a flor Atlantic probably
won't help. Having either create in or San Diego State
probably won't help. So that's that really quick, Jason MAVs, Wait,
can I read something to you? Please? Yeah? I went.
I went to find what Kyrie said on Twitch a

(01:51:46):
couple of weeks ago, because I've missed this. I've got
I've got what he said. Now he said some things
about gambling ruined the purity of sports as well. That's
that's different. Um, but he said this. You see me
for three hours and you think you know who I am?
You see a few posts? O, Kai is woke? Kai
got it? Okay is Oh my goodness. He just doesn't
fit into the mold of all the people. He's different,

(01:52:06):
he's crazy, he's arrogant, he's this, he's that. All from
seeing me for three hours, you get all that. What's
Kay gonna do this summer? Does Kay like Dallas? What
happened in Brooklyn? What happened in Boston, what happened in Cleveland?
Why did you leave Lebron? Why'd you leave Jason Tatum?
Why'd you leave Katie? Why'd you leave all these people
for three hours? Get to ask all these legitimate questions,
as if twenty one hours every day wasn't happening after that. Me,

(01:52:29):
you think that I'm the cancer in the locker room,
as if basketball is an individual sport that one person
is supposed to take blame for. It's fifteen guys on
the team, and I'm the one cancer in the room.
That's what it's portrayed as. That's what you guys get,
that's what they have fun doing. That's why these older,
bitter gentlemen and women keep my name in their mouths
every day. I Mean, here's the thing. The twenty one

(01:52:52):
hours that are happening after that, Kyrie, we don't see
you man like, like you be the nicest person in
the world for those twenty one hours, but the three
in which you're actually in front of people, a lot
of times you come across the opposite. That's how people
are going to assume you are, even if it's unfair

(01:53:13):
to you. Maybe take ownership of what you're saying when
people are paying attention to you or trying to watch
you on a basketball court or tuning into your Twitch
stream and see how things are going to be taken
and realize that the twenty one hours where you're behind
closed doors don't mean squat in terms of how you're
going to be perceived to people that only get to

(01:53:35):
see you for the three hours that you're in public.
So what I would say to that, and I think,
actually you and I are actually pretty good people to
speak on this is I don't really care what people
think about me. But imagine me being like, well, you
listen to my radio show and you don't like me, Well,
guess what. The twenty hours that I'm not on air
on Saturdays, you don't know what I'm up to. You

(01:53:56):
don't know what I'm doing. It's like, yeah, because literally
four hours a Saturday, I have this mic to say
what I want about the world of sports, and some
of you're gonna agree with and some hopefully you disagree with.
Otherwise I'm probably doing a boring show. But imagine me
being like, well, I mean, well, you should see me
the other twenty hours. It's like, yeah, but you only
see me, or in this case, hear me for four

(01:54:16):
hours a day on Saturday, so it's like that. I
actually think it's a perfect analogy. It'd be like me complaining, Oh,
all these fans they think they know me, but they don't.
They should see what I'm doing at two o'clock in
the afternoon before the show goes on. It's just annoying
and it doesn't even make sense, Jason, you know what
I mean. No, And it's just again, it just adds
the unlikability. And he makes the comment where he's just like,

(01:54:38):
I'm the only cancer and all this is like, I
don't know if you're the only cancer, but you're definitely
a cancer, Like I mean, I don't I think that's factual.
At this point, I hate to say that I'm not
necessarily saying you're a bad dude in your real life.
We're paid to talk about what we see from you
as a professional athlete for the most part, and on

(01:55:00):
the floor, we get why people keep taking chances on
you because you're special, as special gets. And then for
some reason, this kind of stuff is also happening. And
just so you know, Kyrie, it's not just you, it's
Aaron Rodgers it's any number of other athletes as well.
Like the thing it is that makes you relevant for

(01:55:23):
those three hours, like the rest of your life. We
don't know anything about the rest of your life. You're
right about that, But that's just the way life is.
What you are in public, that's kind of gonna be
the public perception, and that's what media members are gonna
write about, and that's what fans, that's gonna be their

(01:55:43):
impression of you. And that's just common sense, man, Like that.
I don't know what else to say other than that, Like,
that's just basic whatever I say on this radio. You
don't know me, right, You don't know Torres, you don't
know our crew, you don't know any of these folks.
You just hear what we have to say. And I'm
sure you think you understand our personalities based on that.
And we understand that because we're giving a microphone and

(01:56:06):
we're able to talk. Even if you know, we turn
the volume up on ourselves for the entertainment factor or
whatever it is that we're doing. We're aware that that
perception is going to be the one that carries today.
This is Fox Sports Radio eritors Jason Martin. One segment
left In this hour, we bring back to Sagar. He's
gotten a lot of good stuff on today's college hoops

(01:56:26):
and much more. This is Fox Sports Radio. Welcome back everybody.
Fox Sports Radio er tours Jason Martin broadcasting live from
the tire rack dot Com studios. We are brought to
you by Progressive Insurance. Progressive makes bundling easy and affordable.
Get a multi policy disc count by combining your motorcycle, RV, boat,

(01:56:48):
ATV and more all your protection to one place. Bundle
and save at Progressive dot Com, as we do every
Saturday night into Sunday morning. At about twelve forty Eastern time,
twelve forty five, tossing over the news desk to stay
were with an extended update to say, we went a
little bit long last segment, so I apologize, but I
know you've got a lot of good stuff for us. Yeah.
Never been an elite eight without a one seed. That's

(01:57:08):
we have this weekend. In college men's hoops. There have
been a few, precious few final fours without a one seed,
but here we're not even to that point, and all
the ones are out and most of the twos as well.
But a nine seed Florida Atlantic is still alive. It
was already the first team from Conference USA to get
to a regional final since Memphis was in the league
fifteen years ago. An FAU, a team that we can't

(01:57:31):
say this enough, had never won a single game in
the NCAA tournament until this year, is going to the
Final four in Houston next weekend. They did make the
tournament in two thousand and two, but Florida Atlantic lost
in the first round. Then meanwhile, we've got Yukon into
another final four. If they can get two wins in Houston,
a national champion and they become one of the rare

(01:57:53):
basketball schools to have three different head coaches with national
titles at their school. Kansas has a very long history
and hoops, of course, and three different head coaches have
won national titles there, North Carolina three and Kentucky with
five different head coaches with titles, including in more recent years,
Rick Patino, Tubby Smith, and John Calipari. As far as

(01:58:15):
the Yukon program, that's the blue blood out of the
eights in the regional finals this year. I mean half
of those eight had never even have never been to
a final four. I guess you can check FAU off
that list. But as we get to the ratings, and
you mentioned this first to the national audience. If it's
a Florida Atlantic versus whoever next weekend, these are completely
anonymous teams to the general sports fan. More importantly, for ratings,

(01:58:38):
there's no Duke in the tournament here at this point,
and Duke last year with coach k Remember, I'll give
you an example. We had a thrilling Gonzaga Ucla game
this week right, and that was the highest rated game
of the night. It was still down twenty five percent
from the rating that Duke got at this point a
year ago. Duke draws college basketball ratings like Alabama and

(01:59:00):
Ohio State draw college football ratings. Nonetheless, context against all
the other TV shows, Thursday night, College Hoops was easily
number one, and that Ucla Gonzaga game tipped off close
to ten pm Eastern Time, it still got over six
million viewers. No other TV show got more than about
four and a half except College Hoops. Even one of

(01:59:22):
the TBS games got close to six million viewers on it.
And really quick to say, or six million is about
equivalent to like a conference finals game, right, like like
an opening round, like like I don't think an opening
round game will get six million in general. I don't think,
but I don't know if you know off the top
of your conference finals, which sport and NBAM so oh yeah,
because if you look at the well last year, the

(01:59:43):
Final Four was not on CBS last year, remember it
was cable only, but you still had a North Carolina
duke matchup at a semi and Coach K's last game,
and then North Carolina advanced to play Blue Blood Kansas
in the title. So you had seventeen million for those
two matches on cable last year. The NBA Finals did

(02:00:04):
not get that last summer, and you had Golden State
against the Celtics. That's about as good as you could
draw it up, and that got fourteen million for the
clinching game last summer compared to seventeen million for those
two Final four games that I mentioned. Now, both into
the Elite eight this weekend. The men's and women's programs
at the University of Miami. Congratulations Miami men a five

(02:00:27):
seed playing tomorrow and the Miami women a nine seed
still alive. So actually, according to sad Zinc, Miami's the
first school ever to have its men's and women's teams
reached the Elite eight same year, with neither being a
top four seed. Wow. Miami's facing three seed LSU tomorrow
night in a regional final. The late game tomorrow is
two seed Iowa against Louisville. There are two women's regional

(02:00:50):
finals on Monday night, number one and undefeated South Carolina
against Maryland, and then the late game on Monday is
one seed Virginia Tech against Ohio State, which eliminated the
Yukon women today in a Sweet sixteen round game. Connecticut
will not be in the women's Final four for the
first time since two thousand and seven. So no Connecticut,
Tennessee lost their out. No Stanford so in the Elite

(02:01:12):
eight without those three first time since nineteen eighty five. Wow,
that is a heck of a stad. Thank you to Sager.
Fox Sports Radio Eronturis Jason Martin. Coming up, we'll reset
college hoops and revisit the big NFL story this week,
Lamar Jackson, what are you doing, my man? That's next?
Fox Sports d You welcome in everybody. Fox Sports Radio

(02:01:39):
Aerontoris Jason Martin. We are broadcasting live from the tirect
dot Com studios tirect dot com. We'll help you get
there and unmatched selection, fast, free shipping, free road hazard
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the way tire buying should be. We're also brought to
you by Progressive Insurance. Progressive makes bundling easy and affordable.

(02:01:59):
Get a old tie policy discount by combining your motorcycle, RV, boat,
ATV and more all your protection one place. Bundle and
save at Progressive dot com. Bernie Frado of The Bernie
Frato Show will be joining us in twenty minutes to
preview his show. So a lot of good stuff here
in our final hour, Jason, we've talked a lot of
college hoops. Let's just very quickly kind of go over

(02:02:19):
the two games that were up took place on Saturday.
The first one, you know, I don't know if you
could call it a stunner at Madison Square Garden, but
I did see in Bernie. Bernie, I know you're listening,
so have this stat ready for me, Bernie, I think
it was. I think I saw something like ninety five
percent of pets were on Kansas State or something crazy

(02:02:40):
like that, and so I only bring it up to
say they were you know, a slight favorite in Vegas,
but a prohibitive favorite in the public size. Instead, Florida
Atlantic is headed to its first Final four. As the
Sager told you last hour, they had not won an
NCAA tournament game coming into this year, barely survived Memphis
in Round one before getting on a little bit of

(02:03:01):
a role. They are now going to the final four. Jason,
and you know, ratings aside, it is an incredible story
mid major school thirty four wins. Now, I saw this
stat that regardless of who wins the championship from here,
Florida Atlantic will finish with the most regular season wins.
So fun story, cool story, and you know, I'm very

(02:03:23):
happy for them in their program too. You know, I
do think it's a little bit of a testament too.
In this transfer portal era, there's not as much of
a gap between the Power Conferences and the mid majors,
and I hope in the future that Florida Atlantic reminds
the Committee more teams like them should be in. But overall,
just an incredible day for that school in that program,
no doubt, especially when you look in the second half,

(02:03:44):
the momentum seem to be really it felt like the
game was getting away from him because they just couldn't
protect the basketball. And they are a team I actually
heard I don't know if it's Brian Anderson or Jackson,
the guys that were doing the game for Team Yes
say this, but they said there's always gonna be turnovers

(02:04:05):
with FAU because the pace that they play, and Dusty Maye,
the head coach, sort of bakes that into the cake
and knows it's gonna be extra turnovers. I was kinda baffle,
but I was kind of blown away by that. It's
just like, really, they're just accepting of the turnovers. But
they were sitting there at one point with I don't know,
twelve thirteen minutes left in the game, with twenty turnovers,
and it just felt like every time up and down
the floor they were throwing the basketball away, they were

(02:04:27):
doing something with it that was that was harm in them,
and a lot of it felt self inflicted. It was
just you guys, gotta get hold of this. Because Noel
would then make a three or Massud would come down
and make a play, and you just kind of felt
like the game was spiraling away from them. And then
they came back in won and they were the better
team down the stretch in the last seven eight minutes.
Guess what, They were the better team against Tennessee big

(02:04:49):
time in the second half. They were the better team
in the second half all the way through this tournament.
They were the better team in the second half all
year long. And our guests earlier in the program him said,
point blank, look at their record in close games, and
they were a winless team in close games a year ago.
Entering the Sweet sixteen, they were eleven and one in

(02:05:10):
games decided by five or less points. This is a
team that knows how to how to come back. They're
never out of games. They had solid guard play, They
knew what they were doing, and they are fearless. They
believed that they were gonna win. And that's exactly what
they went out and did. I remember after the Sweet
sixteen game against Tennessee, they were they were talking to

(02:05:31):
the coach. He was getting emotional, Dusty may So, he
was He had very short answers. But they talked to
one of the players. The name escapes me at this point.
He's the star of the player. Can you think of
his name? John Davis? Yeah, John Old Davis. They they
were talking to John L. Davis and just asking him
that Dusty May was talking about. He watched him for

(02:05:52):
five minutes at like a shoot around. He said, I
want that kid. He wants him in Fau and Hawley
the Force asked him, Hey, so what does that mean?
Like what does that mean to you? John All to
hear your coach say that about you? And he said,
it just means I'm a great player. It's just like
I love the honesty. Like you could say, oh man,

(02:06:12):
that means so much to me. I'm so humble by
It's like it just means I'm a great player. And
everybody knew it. Like these dudes do not believe that
they don't deserve to be here. The seven footer from Russia. Yeah,
he just sits there in stone faces everybody. And he
was asked about it after the Sweet sixteen game and
he said, point blank, well, I knew we were gonna win,
so why would I act surprised? That is that is incredible,

(02:06:36):
incredible poise and incredible confidence in a team that you
don't feel like you were in a Florida Atlantic uniform.
That's the kind of confidence that you would have, but
it's that kind of attitude that's why you're playing in
the final four. Yeah, And I think there's something too
when you win. And I think I said thirty four
games earlier. Today was actually their thirty fifth win. They
actually came into today. They didn't need to win to

(02:06:58):
be the team that finishes with the most regularly are
the most wins in the twenty twenty three College Basketball Tournament,
but they will be. I just think when you win
that many games, it doesn't matter the level, it doesn't
matter the opponents. You just have an inherent belief in yourself.
And then obviously when you do it on this stage.
You know, three really good programs, you know, in Memphis,
Tennessee and now Kansas State. Obviously that's no disrespect to

(02:07:21):
Fairly Dickinson. So four really good programs whatever, like you
just have that inherent confidence. So I'm not surprised. I
don't think you get to this point if you don't
believe that you are capable of winning a game like this.
And I thought they were the better team. You know,
Kansas State, by the way, I'll tell you this, Jason.
You know, we don't ever talk about Kansas State for

(02:07:42):
especially in basketball, for any reason. I found this today
and I thought it was kind of amazing. So so,
like we don't think of Kansas State as this like
incredible college basketball power. How about this, Jason. They've been
to three Elite Eights since two ten, so the last
thirteen years losses to Butler, Loyal of Chicago, and Florida Atlantic.

(02:08:04):
I mean, you know, we don't have to spend too
much time on the k State sorrow tour here, but
like we don't talk about that program as having like
crushing NCAA tournament losses, three losses in the Elite eight
to Butler when they were in the Horizon, Loyal of Chicago,
and at Florida Atlantic. Today, so k State goes home.

(02:08:24):
I'll say this quick. Really as well, Marquis Nooel has
been probably the breakout star of the NCAA tournament. And
you know, unfortunately today I didn't think he had his
best game. He finished the game with five turnovers. Overall,
he did, of course, I say he did have his
best game. He had thirty points to twelve assists. I
should probably watch my mouth there. But disappointing end for

(02:08:45):
what was a fun story, a fun team that of
course beat Kentucky and Michigan State on its way to
the Elite eight. Yeah, I definitely think he was a
breakout star of the tournament. And he was exactly what
generally is a breakout star of this tournament, and that's
a flashy guard, one thing that you've seen again, and
I think that might be why a lot of the
money was coming in on Kansas State is you believe

(02:09:05):
they had the two best players on the floor going
into the game, but you also it just seems like
guards stand out in this tournament and it's been that
way for a very biliar long time. Even though you've
had the Ameca Oak furs of the Tyler Hansbroughs or
whoever it's been throughout the years. You've had big bigs,
but a lot of times guards are the kind of
the memories of these tournaments. And he did have that feel.

(02:09:29):
And it's in New York and there's the Harlem story,
and he's got his brother there wearing a shirt with
him on it and all this kind of stuff. That's
why when the momentum started to go against Fau, it's
just like this can get away from them in a
hurry because Noel has he's definitely got some of that,
like some of that stuff that you would want in
a game like that, and FA, you just would not

(02:09:50):
let them get away far enough to get comfortable. And FAU,
if you let them hang around watching them throughout this tournament,
if you let them hang around, you're doing it at
your own peril because they're a team that absolutely believes.
I think they can beat anybody they face, and there's
no reason to feel otherwise if you're FAU at this point.

(02:10:12):
But I wonder this, what's gonna be the lasting impression
of Marquis Noel five years from now, Like who's gonna
remember this run or remember the assists? Because they didn't
reach the final four. I still think we're gonna remember
this because he was so special. I do too. I
actually do think that as well. Is that you know,
some of the best runs, and this one we talked

(02:10:34):
about earlier, is you know why a Florida Like why
we need more Florida Atlantics in this tournament not seventeen
and fifteen Big ten teams because you know, I'll just
give you an example. Last year Michigan went to the
sweet sixteen as like a nine or a ten seed.
Nobody's sitting here like in ten years gonna be like, oh,
remember that incredible Michigan run to the Sweet sixteen. It's like,

(02:10:54):
now they're Michigan, They're supposed to be there. I'll bring
it up to say, you know, we remember stories, and
often the stories it's not about the best, you know,
the team that ends up winning it. It's it's it's
just about a moment in time that gets remembered. You know. Obviously,
Princeton winning this this year, going to the Sweet sixteen,
it conjured up memories of I think it was ninety six.

(02:11:16):
It would have been when they beat UCLA in round one,
Like they didn't win a championship, but people remember him. Um,
you know, I can't think of anybody else player wise
off the top of my head, but I think we're
gonna remember Marquise Noel. I think we're gonna remember what
he did to Kentucky and then of course on Thursday night,
I mean, you know, doing it in Madison Square Garden,

(02:11:36):
his hometown. It was the first time as a New
Yorker that he had ever played at msg NCA. That's
the other thing too. Anytime anybody has thirteen assists, fourteen assists,
fifteen assistant an NCAA tournament game. They're gonna say, well,
you know, he's chasing the record of Marquis Noel back
in if you remember, back in twenty twenty three against
Michigan State. So um so, I think he is going

(02:11:57):
to go down as a college hoops icon, even if
UH and N see tournament icon, even if they didn't win.
Really quick Yukon dominates Gonzaga. Um I saw the word trounces.
The only reason I mentioned this is because trounces was
used in both the ESPN and Athletic headline surrounding this game.

(02:12:18):
And it's just like, there's a lot of different ways
Brian Finley, Brian Finley, he he's a master of the descriptor. Yes,
he takes bride in that, and he very much does vomiting.
Probably would go ahead, just one more time, one more time,
body bag vomiting. Hey, all right, that's enough for one night.

(02:12:42):
But that was very simple, very not sympathy, not symptomatic.
That was very symbolic of what Brian Finley does when
he's on air with his words. But continue on, Jason, Yeah,
but trounced like and I see it. But I might
have said the exact same thing. In my headline. That's
what it was. I mean, it was a beatdown, like
that's just I remember Gonzaga, Baylor and Gazaka had left

(02:13:03):
everything on the floor against UCLA to win that game,
and the big Jared Sucks shot one of the best
college basketball games I've seen in many, many years. Just
just such a fantastic sporting event. And they had nothing
for Baylor, absolutely nothing for Baylor. This Gonzaga team didn't
even look like it belonged on the same floor with
that connectic team, especially in the second half when it
really started to get ugly and Timmy got the fourth

(02:13:24):
foul and had to go down. That was shocking. Not
that I had Yukon winning the game going into the day,
not in my bracket, but I didn't have them playing
in my bracket. This was not a good matchup for them,
But I didn't think it was gonna be a thirty
point swing, and that's what it turned out to be.
It was just Yukon was far superior to Gonzaga in

(02:13:47):
this game. There was no doubt about it. This was
just like, oh no, that team is just better than
the other one, like period, point blank, end of story.
No doubt about it, and yeah, Yukon dominates, Yukon trounces
Gonzaga very you know, I'll be honest, it is, you know,
a bittersweet moment, a little bit disappointing. And to Drew

(02:14:09):
Timmy's career, you know, Drew Timmy, I think technically has
that fifth year COVID you know year, but he's already
said publicly that this is it for him at Gonzaga,
and he's another one. He is a college basketball icon.
You can argue about, you know, how he'll be as
an NBA player or he didn't win a championship or whatever.
He was incredible throughout his career, carried Gonzaga the other

(02:14:32):
night against UCLA, has carried them in so many other
big moments. He'll finish his career with what, you know,
three Sweet sixteens, two Elite Eight's, a Final four. Obviously,
the twenty twenty season was canceled there so it's sad
to see him go. Though it's sad to see him go,
and again, in theory, he does have another year for
people who've forgotten, all college athletes get an extra year

(02:14:54):
because of COVID. But Yukon dominates, and now Yukon will
await the win of tomorrow's Texas versus Miami game. The
Florida Atlantic Owls will play the winner of Crayton in
San Diego State. Fox Sports Radio erit towards Jason Martin
broadcasting live from the tirerac dot com studios. Coming up,

(02:15:14):
our buddy Bernie Fratto joins us. Bernie Live in Vegas.
Is going to have a lot of reaction to everything
that has gone on in the world of college basketball
and beyond the last couple of days. This is Fox
Sports Radio. Welcome back everybody, Fox Sports Radio aeront towards

(02:15:38):
Jason Martin, broadcasting lie from the tirect dot com studios.
And when you hear this song every Saturday at one
twenty Eastern, it means one thing. We are headed out
to Vegas to talk to our may man, Bernie Fratto. Bernie,
you can hear him at the top of the hour
the Bernie Frattos Show. Bernie, just one question for you,

(02:15:59):
is the city okay? After the destruction that my Huskies
put in that I was trying to set it up
better than that, but they, I mean, they I mean
they came in and left, you know. Yeah, thank you
Chris drowned me out. That was terrible party. What's going on? Man?
How are you ignore? Ignore my stupidity? But I would
just say this about Yukon. If they bring their best

(02:16:22):
and you bring your best, Yukon's best might be better
than anybody else's best in the tournament. Right now, we
shall see. I don't know if they have the best
defensive team in the nation. I think that still would
be Houston UCLA or San Diego State. They'n not have
the best offensive team which puts two together in the
second half. Cumulatively, of their four games, they've outscored their

(02:16:43):
opponents one seventy four one oh seven. That's a margin
of sixty seven points. That is pretty scary. Now. The
last six teams to win their first four tournament games
and go on in you know, in terms of how
they went on to fair in the finals two and four,
but one of those teams was Yukon. They'd do the
same thing back in two thousand and four with Ben Gordon,

(02:17:05):
So I could see a u CON Texas final will
be an epic. That's kind of I think where we're headed. Bernie,
how surprised are you by just the tournament and how
it has gone thus far. We talked earlier and have
talked for months seemingly that this was going to be
a wide open tournament. It certainly has proven to be.
So I am very surprised because no one had Florida

(02:17:27):
Atlantic in the final four. If you did, I think
you're fibbing. It's incredible to hear at all, because they
came within two seconds of losing their opening round game
to Memphis, but then they dominate Tennessee. And this Tennessee
team is good. I remember they just hammered Duke and
they'd beat in Alabama, Kansas, and Texas this year. So
that right there is a surprise because Florida Atlantic at

(02:17:48):
the beginning of the tournament, you could have gotten a
three hundred and one right at the same time. Believe
it or not, In six of the last eight tournaments,
there's been at least two teams seeded six or worse
than have read cele at eight. This year we've had two.
We had Crayton, who's his six seed in Florida Atlantics
and nine seed. So while you know, we saw all

(02:18:10):
the blue bloods get hammered right right out of the gate,
Arizona for due, Kansas Duke. They were all heavily bet
last week, and it's continued on this weekend with Houston
and Alabama and UCLA. The bottom line is you're seeing
more and more of these mid majors really make a
name for themselves. Burn real quick, you know. I want
to get some on court results and some trends in everything,
but just in general, how was the city this weekend?

(02:18:31):
I mean, obviously, this was the first time that the
NCAA has ever allowed Las Vegas to host any sort
of NCAA tournament events. The Final Four we found out
a few months ago, will be coming to Vegas in
a few years. I actually heard something interesting that that
I don't think the city probably wants opening round games
because the sports books are so packed, you know, for

(02:18:53):
opening round. But obviously it feels like this is now
a major events city, a major host city for the
NCAA tournament, just like every other sporting event that's rolled
through the last couple of years. It looks like we're
gonna get a Final Four eventually too. It's in the cards.
We just don't know when. I don't think we'll turn
down business would take Opening around games, where we remember
we've already got like seven conference tournaments here the week before.

(02:19:16):
It was nothing short of fabulous, incredible setting out there
at the Tea Mobile. But they're used to doing these
types of things. But she asked about the city. What's
this lady's name, Taylor Swift? Yea, Oh my god. I drove.
I drove past Allegiance Stadium esterday around three thirty. It
looked like the breadlines in Russia and World War Two.

(02:19:38):
They're relined around the block for three miles. I go,
what are they giving away free here? Oh? No, that's
the Taylor Swift concert and I you know, tickets online
in the Dell. I mean, forget it, it's it's not
just sports. Let me jump in on that. So Bernie,
you know this. I don't know if you know, Jason,
but so my mom has a place in Vegas that
she goes out too during the winters, and she liked

(02:19:58):
me as a Yukono lum. Couldn't get out there on Thursday.
Couldn't get that out there today because obviously, you know,
had my show my mom in the last three days,
you talk about living your best life Yukon, Arkansas. On Thursday.
Now she left before the UCLA. You know, whatever against Gonzaga.
Then she somehow scored Taylor Swift tickets on Friday. Wow,

(02:20:19):
and she was back at the Yukon game tonight. I mean,
you talk about living your best life. We're over here
slumming it, trying to keep our head above water, working
our butts off here on a Saturday night. Missus t
She's having the time of her life. So I was
aware that got me beat. I went down, closed down, John,
but use last night. You're on fire tonight, Bertie? Oh my,

(02:20:39):
were you the opening act for Taylor Swift. We gotta
get your mic man. This is great. Don't don't forget
to try to send my bullones spaghetti yep, Bernie, what's
the Bertie? What's the narrative now? Do you or what
do you think the fair narrative is for Gonzaga after
what happened, not not just to last night, but just
the program as a hole. What do you think is

(02:21:01):
fair to say about in Zaga right now? They're a powerhouse,
but they're certainly not not a dynasty or anything. They
played for two national titles in the last six years.
They've had twenty fourth straight NCAA tournament appearances. They put
their share of guys in the NBA. Ken Palm had
them ranked number eighteenth to overall this year. After that
loss to Loyal earlier in the year, they went on.

(02:21:22):
They went crazy with seventeen out of eighteen and including
avenging that loss to Saint Mary's, who was a very
good team and got an unfortunate drawback East. Look, they're
a team, they're a cool they're a school, they're a program.
They get some mens respect. They've done everything. But when
a championship, look and perdue. They got a court named
after Jane Katie every went to a Final four, So

(02:21:43):
a college basketball is a little bit different animal. When
you have that kind of repeated success for two decades plus,
you're going to get respect. Plus they've taken on all
comers and they've beaten up blue bloods and slayed enough
giants to be legit. It just was one of their
better teams. And truthfully, and I like Drew Timmy a lot.
I get a kickoff and as a person who's a
hell of a basketball player, he's got better footwork than

(02:22:06):
I don't know, Fred Astaire, How's that for an old,
old reference. The bottom line is this, how about Michael Jackson?
How about here's the deal. Though, I don't know if
he can play defense, and that concerned me a little bit,
you know. And but but look, that's my long win
away of saying, anybody who doesn't respect Gonzaga, you've you've
got a different agenda, really quick burn. Obviously, people will
be betting the two games once we get the matchups tomorrow. Yep,

(02:22:31):
what are some trends that people need to watch out for. Well,
first of all, the San Diego State Creton game, it's
right down the middle. The ticket splits, the betting splits
are literally fifty fifty. And of course you remember, guys,
this is a rematch you the round one game last
year when San Diego State lost to Creating seventy two
sixty nine overtime. San Diego State actually led it to half.

(02:22:51):
The San Diego State team is a lot better than Creton.
Are a lot better this year than they were last year.
And I'm not I didn't create He's about the same
as they were this year last year. They're just playing role. Well.
Now Crayton is laying two in this spot when six
Seeds have gotten to the Elite eight. The six Seeds
only two and seven against the spreads, So my money's

(02:23:14):
probably gonna be on San Diego State. As far as Miami.
In Texas, that's just going to be a fist fight
into phone booth. Miami is catching four. I have a
lean to Texas, but I hate to go against Jim Laranega.
I will not be a you know, involved in that game.
Right now, about fifty four percent of the tickets are
on Texas, and the question will be, h, you know,

(02:23:36):
how do you pronounced his name? Dylan Desu. We're not
sure if he's playing tomorrow. He's got that foot injury
and he had a you know against Penn State, so
we're not going to know until right before the game time,
and that that could be that could be a factor.
Burn real quick. You know, it's it's not super relevant,
but I'm just curious. What was the split on the
Kansas State four Atlantic game. I saw it was something

(02:23:57):
absurd in terms of Kansas State getting most of the money. Well,
the consensus was about seventy one on Kansas State. Now,
there might have been some book but yeah, well you
gotta remember there's ninety seven sports books here in Las Vegas,
and there's also offshore books. And then there's DraftKings and
all the other you know, Van Duel and I'll add
so sometimes people can give you these stats. You don't
really know where the hell they got him, but I

(02:24:18):
can tell you the consensus was three out of four bets.
We're definitely on Kansas State. He is Bernie Fratto. You
can hear him at the top of the hour the
Bernie Fratto Show. Make sure to follow him on Twitter
as well at Bernie Fratto. Bernie Man. We always appreciate
the insights, so much good stuff on all things college hoops.
And we'll be listening at the top of the hour,
my friend. Enjoy your Sunday, guys, appreciate it. He is

(02:24:40):
Bernie Fratto. Make sure to listen to Bernie at the
top of the hour following us The Bernie Fratto Show
coming up. Start to put a bow on the show, Jason,
I do want to talk a little World baseball also
where we would get to that. I definitely was hoping.
I knew that was on the docket for us, but
then you know, Live Sports takes over. But yeah, let's
shout about that. Let's chat about that before we do

(02:25:02):
though No's desk. Final time of this evening Steve to sig.
MLB season starts Thursday. By the way, the last spring
training games are this Tuesday. Yankees have another picture likely
to open the season on the injured list, Louis Severino
with a lat strain. Padre pitcher Joe Musgrove will likely
start the year on the isle with a toe injury,
but opening day starter for the Rangers x met Jacob

(02:25:24):
deGrom Is Okay toss three and two thirds scoreless against
the Padres today six strikeouts. Among the other exhibitions, the
Braves Max Freed went four and oh. In spring training,
he beat the Twins nine four. Today Yankees beat the
Phillies and Aaron Nola eight three, and it was the
Royals and Zach Granky beating the Dodgers and Dustin May
six to three. A couple of notes before we get

(02:25:46):
to all the hoops. Sunday's NASCAR race will be on
Fox TV three thirty pm Eastern time. Aj Alman Dinger
took today's Exfinity race there in Austin, Texas this weekend,
and match Play Golf also in Austin this weekend. Number
one ranked Scott Scheffler won his quarterfinal, beating Jason Day,
number three, Rory McElroy beat Zanders Shoffley. The Sammy's are
tomorrow morning in Austin. Then the final and guess what

(02:26:08):
from Austin, Texas, The Longhorns are playing tomorrow in a
regional final against Miami five pm Eastern Time, to see
if they go to Houston, Texas for the final four.
De Seger, I don't know if you know something of
your head. Have we ever had a team play in
its home state? I know in Michigan State, Michigan, that's right. Yeah,
I mean, guess who they played in the final four
and did not win in that huge crowd as I recall,

(02:26:30):
and here in the football stadium was that we've talked
about this The Ugly Butler Final was at the Houston
Football Stadium. Was seventy thousand people when they shot nineteen
percent from the floor. Yeah, I was there. It was
great night. I soon remembered very fondly the same place
next week. Yeah, the rest of us will never get
those two hours back. Also tomorrow a regional final with
San Diego State against Creighton. The Aztecs just upset number

(02:26:53):
one Alabama last night. And then there's this year's Yukon team,
which is onto the final four after a completely dominant
second half. In fact, this game was tied at twenty
five late first half. Final score against Gonzaga was eighty
two to fifty four Zags from three point range two
for twenty Now Gonzaga the top scoring team in the
country this year. In about the last twenty six minutes,

(02:27:16):
scored twenty nine points. Tonight, Connecticut has won its four
straight games in the tournament by double digits each. You
look at a list, I saw one from ap at
biggest scoring margin by a team through the first four
rounds in the tournament since they went to this format
in the mid nineteen eighties. Yukon's outscored its opponent by
ninety points total so far. North Carolina won a title

(02:27:37):
eventually two thousand and nine with this kind of blowouts,
game after game, outscoring the opponent by ninety total at
this point in the tournament. Nineteen ninety six, Kentucky, by
the way, like Yukon, had won each game by at
least fifteen to this point in the tournament. But Kentucky
had outscored its opponents by one thirteen through four rounds.

(02:27:59):
And how much was you eight championship, ninety points total
through four rounds at this point all American Drew Timmy
picked up a fourth foul early second half, finished with
twelve points, ten rebounds. Connecticut Men's six final four all
in the last twenty five years. And then there's nine
seed Florida Atlantic, which just recently won its first ever
NCAA tournament game and now is into the Final four

(02:28:21):
as East Region champions, beating Kansas State in New York
City seventy nine seventy six. The Owls were down six
with about nine minutes to go, took the lead three
minutes later, so despite the twenty two turnovers, did advance.
Case State at the end never got a shot off
Markisnowel did have thirty points, twelve assists FAU one Conference
USA regular season and tournament and beat Tennessee on Thursday,

(02:28:43):
four straight NCAA wins, each by single digits. Yukon women
lost its Sweet sixteen game against Ohio State Division two
men's champ By the way, Nova Southeastern Florida finished thirty six,
and oh number one women's team Division one is South Carolina.
If they win the next game, they'll be thirty, but
that Division two team averaged one hundred three points a

(02:29:04):
game this year. One It's final today one eleven, one
oh one and a more somber note that Eric Montros
in the news, his family tweeting that the former North
Carolina Center has begun cancer treatments. Eric Montras is fifty
one years old. Tar Heels radio analysts now won the
title with them under Dean Smith in nineteen ninety three.
In the NBA Denver rip Milwaukee, New Orleans all over

(02:29:25):
the Clippers. In fact, New Orleans has won four straight
games to get up to thirty seven and thirty seven,
which just over two weeks left in the NBA regular season.
Phoenix and Sacramento with victories. Portland is considering shutting down
Damian Lillard for the team's last nine games due to
his caffe injury. According to the Athletic Lebron James has
been out since late February with his foot injury. He's been,
for what it's worth, upgraded too doubtful for tomorrow's game

(02:29:48):
against Chicago. La Guardiangela Russell questionable with the sore hip.
Did play last night. We'll see if they get in
the play in tournament, which starts April eleventh, Seahawks signed
linebacker Bobby Why And finally, the NFL's annual meeting is
next week. Seventeen rules proposals will be heard. Last I
saw no one proposed ending the rugby push on short yardage.

(02:30:10):
That's right. So unless they do something about it by
executive action somehow next week, it's not currently on the dock.
Back to you. Thank you very much, Steve Disager. Have
a great evening. We'll talk to you next Saturday. Well,
I don't know if I will, because you know, I
got I might have a situation on my hands. But
Fox Sports Radio air towards Jason Martin broadcasting live from
the tirect dot Com studios. All right, Jason, sounds like

(02:30:33):
you were fired up to talk about the World Baseball Classic.
Japan wins an awesome game and what was an awesome tournament.
They had a walk off in the semi against Mexico,
which was one of the most compelling baseball games I've
watched in a long time, and it worked out nicely
the way the schedule kind of broke where it was,
you know, in those in those evenings kind of when

(02:30:54):
there wasn't men's NCAA tournament on so obviously the women's
tournament was going on, but no men's game, so you know,
there was a little bit of a sports vacuum. But
I watched the semi against Mexico, I watched the final
against the US. I had a blast. What were your thoughts,
Jason Same. I mean, it's hard to say anything other
than it was great entertainment. You could see how much

(02:31:16):
it meant to everybody competing in it. It didn't feel
like it was just some kind of meaningless cash grab
or anything like that. It was the exact opposite. I
really saw nothing negative said about it. I mean, you
had the few injuries, certainly, and the Diaz injury in
particular really stinks for the Mets and just for the
game for the season, but that kind of thing is

(02:31:37):
going to happen. This was a huge plus for baseball.
It was great. I will say this, and I don't
know if you would say the same, Aaron, But I mean,
I'm a Braves fan, and it's a long, long season.
I don't end up getting to watch a whole lot
of it. But I actually am more interested in watching
baseball this year, like more teams than I have been

(02:31:58):
in a while, Like I'm actually excited for Opening Day.
I'm excited to actually watch a lot more this year,
having on in the background more often than maybe I
have in the last few years. And the WBC is
just a good way to kind of it just kind
of jazz me up, right. So it's like a lightning
bolt that made me sort of excited for what baseball

(02:32:19):
could be and maybe getting into it and following it
a little bit closer top to bottom than I have
in the last few years. And so I'm excited about
that one. The one thing that everybody's talking about is
can you move it to the middle of the season.
Can you move the All Star Game? Can you do
all these things? I would be curious to know whether
or not teams would embrace that or be worried about

(02:32:40):
those injuries coming then that could then derail playoff hopes
and things like that. Despite the fact that it would,
it would still be very good for the game to
put it right there. It might set you up for
a really big back half of your season. Yeah, I
haven't thought about that, and I don't know, and I
you know, we probably don't have time to dig too
far into it at this moment. You know. The financial

(02:33:02):
you know, it isn't run by Major League Baseball. Do
teams get a cut of any revenue or no? And
what does that all mean. I'll just say this, I
think it was a great showcase for baseball. And I'd
say this above all else, and he shouldn't need any
further validation, but I thought it was an incredible showcase
for Shoheo time. Yeah, you know, was you know, strikes

(02:33:25):
out his teammate on three pitches swinging Mike Trout, you know,
arguably one of the greatest, most gifted, gifted hitters of
all time. And you know, I just I still think
and I remember, you know, for whatever reason, I was
kind of ahead of it, but I remember talking to
Arnie about this the year that he won the MVP.
Is that I don't know, if it's just baseball is

(02:33:47):
just so off of the national radar at this point
as a national talking point. I don't know if it's
because he's Japanese and you know, really doesn't feel comfortable
speaking the English language, which there's obviously nothing wrong with
that at all. But I mean, when you know, we
talk about once in a lifetime, you know, we we
too often talk about you know, this guy's got once
in a lifetime this or once in a lifetime that

(02:34:08):
we have never Baseball has been being played in some
form or fashion for one hundred and fifty years now
and we have never seen anything close to this. And
with all due respect to Babe Ruth, he never did
what Shohyotani is doing right now. Um. You know, and
and and Joe Davis had some great stats about you
know how his speed. You know, he's one of the
fastest players in the game. His launch, uh, his exit

(02:34:31):
velocity is amongst the best in the sport. His pitching
is amongst it. It's just it's so unbelievable, uh, and
really quick, Jase, Because I know we gotta get to break.
But I hope this is a continued showcase to to
show we have a once in a lifetime, once in
a history of the sport type athlete playing baseball. And
I know the Angels aren't great right now, but I

(02:34:52):
hope he continues to get the credit that he deserves.
That's only and that's the only caveat right Like everything
you just said I can echo without having to repeat it.
It's phenomenal. Um, It's it kind of is a bummer
that you have Angel versus Angel in that moment, and
these are two all time greats. Trout's stats and what
most baseball pires say about what he's done and what

(02:35:12):
he would be, especially if he was in a bigger
market where they were winning more games all that and Otani.
You got both those dudes playing in the same ballpark
on a regular basis, and that's probably the most people
that have ever watched both of them at the same time.
And that's unfortunate because the Angels just have been such
an afterthrought since you know, Mike Social days and before that.

(02:35:36):
It's just they're not one of those franchises. And Otani
is as scintillating and must watch as anyone in all
of sports. That's he's Patrick Mahomes like, he's somebody you
can't look away from. He's doing historic stuff, and I
do wish we were in a position where they were
more relevant as a team so that there was more

(02:35:57):
of a reason to tune in nightly to watch him.
His Fox Sports Radio aeratorist Jason Martin, one segment left,
we make our picks for tomorrow's games. That's next Fox
Sports Radio. The coaches will meet to shake hands. Next
stop Houston for Connecticut for a sixth time in school history,

(02:36:19):
the first since twenty fourteen. The Connecticut Huskies are going
to the Final four Connecticut with a dominant wins eighty
two fifty four over a Gonzaga and now on the
Lode Star State where Connecticut will play it for another
national championship. That was Westwood one's call of Yukon's Elite

(02:36:42):
eight victory over Gonzaga, and that was also our Progressive
play the Day, brought to you by Progressive. Progressive makes
bundling easy and affordable. Get a multi policy discount by
combining your motorcycle, RV, boat, a TV and more all
your protection one place, Bundle and save at Progressive dot
com Er towards Jason Martin broadcasting live from the Tirek

(02:37:04):
dot Com studios. Tell you what, Chris, when you get
a second, give us a little music. I think we
should make some picks for tomorrow's games. Let's start with
the early one, of course, that would be the South
Regional in Louisville, Kentucky, Creton Blue Jay, sixth seed in
the Big easton This is the Fox on Big Big
East on Fox music So perfect, Chris perfect nailed it.

(02:37:27):
Creton is actually a slight favorite over the San Diego
State Aztecs, as Bernie Frido just told us. Remember these
two met in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament
last year. Creighton rally to win before eventually losing in
the next round to the eventual national champion Kansas Jayhawks.
Creton a two point favorite. Jason, who do you have

(02:37:47):
in this game? I'll take San Diego State because of
the defense. I've just seen them smother teams that I
think are better offensive teams than Creton is now. If
Creton gets hot deep, anybody can beat anybody, and certainly
creating as a team, it could shoot the lights out.
And if they are doing that and they're bigs on
the inside or controlling things, I'd feel better about it.

(02:38:11):
But I just think San Diego States defense right now
is the kind of thing that Creton is not going
to particularly be prepared for. If you could do that
to Alabama, I think you can do that to Craigon. Yeah,
I'm gonna roll San Diego State two. I just think
they're better than everybody thinks they are. And the other thing, Yeah,
the other thing too, They've done a really good job
of building a program three four year college players transfer

(02:38:34):
portal guys. But also they have taken very much advantage
of this extra COVID year. Remember again, I know I've
said it a few times, but every player that played
during that twenty twenty one Bubble season was given an
extra year if they wanted it. And I think the
statu is four players on San Diego State are I
think five players actually are fifty year seniors or sixty

(02:38:57):
year seniors, So I mean you're talking about twenty three
twenty four year old grown men. I like San Diego
State as well. Let's roll to the second game of
the day where Texas, coming off of a dominant win
over Xavier in that Midwest Regional final in Kansas City,
Texas a four point favorite over Miami. Miami, of course,

(02:39:18):
stunned number one seed Houston on Friday night. Got any
any thought on that one? Jason, Texas was my national
champion in my bracket before the tournament, so I'll roll
with them, although I'm scared because Miami's offense, when they
really start going, they can shoot you completely out of
a gym. And Lara Negan knows what he's doing as well,

(02:39:40):
so I'll stick with Texas because they're my champion, but
Miami is not gonna make that an easy one. I agree,
m My, I'm taking Texas. But Miami is really good
and as you said, they can get hot. They can
get hot, and you know they have you know, Isaiah
Wong's probably an NBA player in Nigel Pack we all

(02:40:00):
know was famously one of the best players in the
Transfer portal last year. So, like you know, that's a
team that they have the offense to do it. It's
just whether you can get stops. I thought Houston would
do a better job. If you could score in Houston,
you could score on anybody. But ultimately I do think
that I will take Texas there. So if we did
get since we're in consensus Texas yukon San Diego State

(02:40:21):
versus Florida Atlantic really quick. I'm not gonna make you
pick a game that's not even officially yet. But you
talk about a home court advantage for the Texas Longhorns.
I know it's a football state. I can't even imagine
what NRG Stadium in Houston would be like next week
if Texas makes that Final four. Jason, Yeah, I'm ass crazy.

(02:40:41):
I mean, look, sometimes it can work out for you
that way. So many teams think they're gonna end up
with the super Bowl in their city and make the
playoffs and don't get there Texas with a golden opportunity,
and that would be a wild atmosphere. It absolutely would
be listening. I think it's time for us to go.
I want to thank the crew. Chris Perfett on the
award producer Pat in his debut with the Tours and

(02:41:03):
Martin Show, pet Do you have any final last words?
I see itching to get on the mic. It's honored
to be here, guys. Let's rock and roll and uh,
we're gonna make good stuff together and honored to be here.
No producer has ever said that. Thank you to Steve
to Sager, Thank you to Jason Martin. Download the podcast
This is Fox Sports. D you

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