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Speaker 1: Twenty four after five o'clock. This is the ESPN fifteen

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Speaker 1: thirty Earnston Associate's Final Four Show, presented by Duimatt dot

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Speaker 1: Com live from the Airport Gain and Body broadcast area

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Speaker 1: here in Indianapolis. Our show today is also sponsored by

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Speaker 1: LinkedIn Ads. Reach your buyers with LinkedIn Ads. Spend two

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Speaker 1: fifty dollars credit for your next campaign. Go to LinkedIn

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Speaker 1: dot com slash college basketball terms apply. You'll hear them

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Speaker 1: this weekend calling the Final Four for Westwood One, which

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Speaker 1: those broadcasts are heard on Fox Sports thirteen sixty. Former

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Speaker 1: produced star Robbie Hummel you also see on the Big

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Speaker 1: Ten Network CBS. His rise to one of the top

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Speaker 1: college basketball analyst spots has been pretty meteoric. I want

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Speaker 1: to start though, before we talk about this weekend. You

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Speaker 1: had your first ever Skyline Chile Crosstown shootout this past December.

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Speaker 1: You called UC and Xavier with Brian Anderson for TNT.

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Speaker 1: You've been a part of a lot of great rivalry games,

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Speaker 1: You've called great rivalry games, But what was your first

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Speaker 1: shootout experience?

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Speaker 2: Like, Well, I've always had an appreciation from Afar of

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Speaker 2: this game because just in terms of when I was

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Speaker 2: in college watching the Yancy Gates to Holloway and I

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Speaker 2: did my pre draft stuff with twos, so I got

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Speaker 2: to know him pretty well. And you know, just from

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Speaker 2: following both programs and being a Midwest kid and you know,

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Speaker 2: appreciating good basketball and seeing a rivalry where the schools

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Speaker 2: really don't like each other. It's one of the great

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Speaker 2: rivalries in college basketball, and it's definitely one that does

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Speaker 2: not get talked nearly enough about.

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Speaker 3: You know, Xavier and Cincinnati.

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Speaker 2: Have great histories, There's been great players, and you know,

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Speaker 2: just walking into that building, you could feel how electric

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Speaker 2: it was. And you know, I know that for Cincinnati

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Speaker 2: it wasn't the season they were hoping for and for

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Speaker 2: Xavier there's a lot of hope with Richard Patino.

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Speaker 3: But I loved it. I had a great time.

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Speaker 2: It was great to be with Brian Anderson, who's one

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Speaker 2: of the better play by play guys in the game.

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Speaker 3: And it just felt like a big game. It really did.

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Speaker 2: And I think that's that's a pretty cool thing to

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Speaker 2: say about a rivalry when honestly, the teams are down

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Speaker 2: compared to what they've been at their best.

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Speaker 3: So I hope I could do it again. I really

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Speaker 3: do hope.

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Speaker 4: So So your career is interesting to me because remembering

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Speaker 4: you as a player, you pivoted pretty quickly from playing

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Speaker 4: to broadcasting.

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Speaker 3: Walk me through that.

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Speaker 1: Well.

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Speaker 2: I hated playing overseas, so I went as a rookie.

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Speaker 2: I got drafted by the Timberwolves in the second round,

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Speaker 2: fifty eighth, and I go to Spain. Play you have

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Speaker 2: a really good season, come back play two years for

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Speaker 2: the Timberwolves.

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Speaker 3: Go to Milan.

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Speaker 2: I played for Armani's basketball team that he owned and

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Speaker 2: ended up hurting my shoulder, came back, had surgery, got

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Speaker 2: healthy once with the Nuggets, was the last cut in

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Speaker 2: training camp, went to Moscow, and Moscow like broke me.

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Speaker 3: Now.

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Speaker 2: When I was in Milan, I had hurt my shoulder

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Speaker 2: and had to come home in January, had shoulder surgery,

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Speaker 2: tore my labrum, and Big ten Network reached out. I

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Speaker 2: was like, would you want to do some studio? So

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Speaker 2: this is like twenty sixteen, and I did ten studio

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Speaker 2: and it ended up being something I'm like, you know,

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Speaker 2: I'd done the NBA sportscaster for you, and now I've

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Speaker 2: got this under my belt, and you know what I'm

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Speaker 2: gonna kind of when I was in Moscow, I couldn't

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Speaker 2: not go back overseas, and I wasn't gonna be in

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Speaker 2: the NBA anymore. So I made the decision to you know,

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Speaker 2: I auditioned to ESPN and got on there, and Miles

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Speaker 2: Simon had just taken a job, so they had their

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Speaker 2: an opening for their like second Big twelve crew and

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Speaker 2: a little bit of Big ten, and then I was

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Speaker 2: at BTN and doing those games and it just kind

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Speaker 2: of worked out from there.

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Speaker 3: But it was I fell into it for sure, I

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Speaker 3: really did.

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Speaker 4: I love talking with players about their overseas experiences. I've

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Speaker 4: never talked to anybody who's played in Moscow. Yeah, walk

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Speaker 4: me through that experience.

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Speaker 2: Well, I landed and I cried. So it was snowing

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Speaker 2: so hard. I mean, it's so cold in Moscow. But

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Speaker 2: you know, some of the corruption is crazy. You know,

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Speaker 2: our owner admitted to bribing the refs in a playoff series.

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Speaker 2: I'm sure they were doing the same thing. So it's

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Speaker 2: just it's an experience and it's a different one. But

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Speaker 2: you know, I have good stories.

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Speaker 4: But I would not want to go back understand, understand,

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Speaker 4: let's talk about these games this weekend. You know you

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Speaker 4: have a big ten focus. Illinois, to me, the most

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Speaker 4: impressive thing I've seen anybody do in this tournament. You

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Speaker 4: may disagree, is I watched Illinois out Houston. Houston guarded

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Speaker 4: the heck guy, and to me, that answered a lot

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Speaker 4: of questions about brand Unwoods team.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I think their defense has made such strides in

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Speaker 2: the last month and a half. Now it will be

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Speaker 2: a different beast against Connecticut with the movement, the cutting,

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Speaker 2: the screening, the slipping, like just the discipline it takes

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Speaker 2: to switch off the ball against those guys and not.

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Speaker 3: Just get slipped into oblivion.

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Speaker 2: But the way they guarded Houston, the way they guarded Iowa,

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Speaker 2: and those aren't two offensive juggernauts, but they handled Houston's

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Speaker 2: toughness and they really withstood a barrage of threes in

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Speaker 2: that first half from Iowa and just were the toughest

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Speaker 2: team in Houston.

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Speaker 3: So I'm curious to see if their defense can.

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Speaker 2: Travel again and with standard and offense that can be

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Speaker 2: so potent with a coach like Danny Hurley. And I'm

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Speaker 2: also curious if you can remount with these guys. I mean,

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Speaker 2: Illinois just goes and goes and goes to the offensive glass.

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Speaker 2: It's their wings, you know. It's it's hard to keep

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Speaker 2: those guys off the glass. So I'm really intrigued by

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Speaker 2: the Caravan Mierkavic matchup. Americavich more interior, Caraban. We're on

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Speaker 2: the perimeter, a great cutter, you know, running off screens.

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Speaker 2: I'm intrigued to see if Mirkavich can handle over and

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Speaker 2: on the flip side, if Caraban can guard Mirikovich on

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Speaker 2: the interior.

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Speaker 3: Sure.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, you think Michigan, you think Arizona just two wagons,

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Speaker 4: you know, Arizona. Watching Cincinnati the way I did this season,

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Speaker 4: I don't know how you begin to prepare for everything

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Speaker 4: they do. And then Michigan with Landenborg, the size, the depth,

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Speaker 4: the different things they can do offensively. I think it's

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Speaker 4: one of the most interesting just battles matchups we've had

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Speaker 4: in a Final four National semifinal in quite a while.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, and it's just it's two elite teams and two

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Speaker 2: of the best teams that we've had all season long.

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Speaker 2: The front courts are stacked. I mean you're looking at

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Speaker 2: Krevas Pete Awaka and Karchenkov going up against the Daimar

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Speaker 2: Mores Johnson, the actual Levon Boar like that is as

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Speaker 2: good as it's going to be in the entirety of

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Speaker 2: the sport. You know, you look at the back and

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Speaker 2: if you're talking about just the one in the two,

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Speaker 2: I do think Arizona has the advant Jade Bradley, the

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Speaker 2: Big Twelve Player of the Year, Bradon Burry's is gonna

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Speaker 2: be a lottery pick. And for Michigan, they've got really

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Speaker 2: good players. Cano's hit a great year and Marrion Burnet's

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Speaker 2: hit a great year. But you probably look at the

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Speaker 2: overall talent you say that'd be advantaced to Arizona. So

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Speaker 2: I'm curious to see if Michigan's guards can raise their level.

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Speaker 2: And that calculus can be a bit different if you

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Speaker 2: throw Lendeborg in there and say he's in the back court.

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Speaker 2: But you know, you're just talking about two teams that

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Speaker 2: are so immune from poor three point shooting because they

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Speaker 2: live on the offensive glass, they live in the paint,

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Speaker 2: they get to the foul line. They've got big time defenses.

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Speaker 2: Michigan the best defense in the country. The variance of

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Speaker 2: shooting is really not. They're Arizona doesn't have to take them,

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Speaker 2: and Michigan can make them. They they'll take a ton,

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Speaker 2: but they they can get going from three. It'll be

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Speaker 2: an awesome game. Who can be the more physical team

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Speaker 2: and kind of set the tone in the Paint on

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Speaker 2: the Glass.

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Speaker 1: Robbie Hummell, the former produced Star color analysts for the

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Speaker 1: Final Four on Westwood One. You'll hear those broad cast

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Speaker 1: tomorrow and Monday on Fox Sports thirteen sixty. It is

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Speaker 1: a twenty nine away from six o'clock. We're broadcasting from

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Speaker 1: Radio Row in Indianapolis. We've got good news from Texas

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Speaker 1: and a college basketball coach with an interesting story whose

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Speaker 1: career came to an end at the hands of the Bearcats.

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Speaker 5: That is next.

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Speaker 1: It's the ESPN fifteen thirty Ernst An Associate's Final Four show,

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Speaker 1: presented by Duy Matt dot Com. Relyve from the airport,

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Speaker 1: Paint and Body broadcast area here in Indianapolis on ESPN

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Speaker 1: fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports.

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Speaker 6: Watch out for that ongoing accident that has the left

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Speaker 6: Police on the same beware of delays. And you have

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