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Speaker 1: This is Straight Fire with Jason McIntyre. What is up

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Speaker 1: straight Fire, fam, It's me Jason McIntyre, Straight Fire for Friday,

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Speaker 1: April first. Obviously, no April Fool jokes on this pod, however,

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Speaker 1: and this is not an April Fool joke. A quick

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Speaker 1: programming note. Next week is spring break for the kids. Again,

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Speaker 1: this is not April Fool's, um, so I'm gonna not

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Speaker 1: be doing as many podcasts next week UM as we

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Speaker 1: usually do, which is five days a week. But don't

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Speaker 1: worry about that. We'll be here Monday. We will be

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Speaker 1: here Tuesday after the Natty obviously, but UM, I don't

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Speaker 1: know if I will be providing you any Masters gambling tips.

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Speaker 1: You may have to uh wait for Rob g on

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Speaker 1: those later in the week. But I want to give

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Speaker 1: you guys a thanks for the awesome shout outs on

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Speaker 1: the Friend Fella podcast. We have another good college basketball

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Speaker 1: guest today, Aaron Torres, big Kentucky guy, to take down

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Speaker 1: the Kentucky fans of PEG and talk about the Final Four. Obviously,

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Speaker 1: but before we get to that, holy smokes. Thursday was

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Speaker 1: a good night in the NBA, and it was one

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Speaker 1: of those where there's two good storylines and like you know,

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Speaker 1: these are gonna loom over the playoffs. Um, I'm kind

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Speaker 1: of hot on the Sixers choking and Doc Rivers taking

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Speaker 1: a shot at James Harden losing to the Pistons. The

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Speaker 1: Pistons who are going to get a top three pick

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Speaker 1: in the draft. But of course the national TV game

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Speaker 1: was Bucks nets Kyrie playing at home, Kevin Durant looking

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Speaker 1: damn good, Chris Middleton getting tossed. But Janice Tenakupo, we're

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Speaker 1: just gonna call him, be honest, we don't he he

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Speaker 1: doesn't need the last name. At this point, he took over.

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Speaker 1: He had a step back three to fource overtime. He

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Speaker 1: finished with fourteen and six guys. I had to go back.

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Speaker 1: It was early February and I said on this pod,

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Speaker 1: Janice is the m v P. Everybody said, no, you're crazy,

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Speaker 1: Joel embiad yo. Kids, you look what they're doing. I've waved,

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Speaker 1: I wavered a little bit, just a little I had

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Speaker 1: Yo kich I refused to ever put mbat number one.

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Speaker 1: And by the by the way, if you follow the

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Speaker 1: NBA MVP odds and angle b M bad guys, Janice

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Speaker 1: is making a late charge and with a national TV

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Speaker 1: game where he goes fifteen of nineteen from the line,

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Speaker 1: it's obvious that people are gonna come out of this

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Speaker 1: with super incendiary takes so hot that they're gonna melt

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Speaker 1: your phone. I don't think this is that hot of

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Speaker 1: a take. Janice, with two m v ps and a title,

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Speaker 1: is on his way, at the age of twenty seven,

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Speaker 1: to a top ten NBA career. That's that's just happening.

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Speaker 1: Short of a massive injury or something crappy, Janice is

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Speaker 1: on his way to absolute greatness. And I'm surprised that

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Speaker 1: I was not on board with him two years ago

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Speaker 1: because you guys, remember before Janice, when the m v

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Speaker 1: P was like, oh, this guy can't get it done

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Speaker 1: in the playoffs the Miami, he built a wall against

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Speaker 1: him in the in the in the bubble and took

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Speaker 1: him down. And the year before that he couldn't get

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Speaker 1: it done, and then the Toronto Raptors took him down

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Speaker 1: with Kawhi Leonard and your honest, he can't get it done.

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Speaker 1: He's not a clutch player. And it's funny because two

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Speaker 1: m vps later and a title and all of a sudden, oh,

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Speaker 1: would you look at that You've got guys throughout the

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Speaker 1: league taking jabs at Janice. Now, Rob G put me

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Speaker 1: onto this. I was like, Jannice his bulletproof forty four points.

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Speaker 1: He's almost caught Lebron for the scoring lead. I think

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Speaker 1: Lebron's up thirty point one points. Poor game. Lebron did

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Speaker 1: not play Thursday. He's playing tonight and and beat is

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Speaker 1: at thirty point zero and they, honest I think it's

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Speaker 1: a thirty point zero you honestly having an incredible season.

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Speaker 1: I don't think they're going to give him another m

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Speaker 1: v P, but it is weird. I love to talk

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Speaker 1: about this theme in the media. Rob build up, tear down. Now.

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Speaker 1: You can't tear down Yannae. So he's at the top

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Speaker 1: of his game. But what you can do, and what

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Speaker 1: I feel like the media has done is stopped rooting

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Speaker 1: for him. It's like they want someone else to win.

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Speaker 1: They're pushing the Phoenix Uns are the best team in

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Speaker 1: the league. The Phoenix Suns are so good. Yeah, they

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Speaker 1: got a lot of wins. I get it. West is

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Speaker 1: not what it was, not what it was in the past.

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Speaker 1: The East is better and Janice is showing out and

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Speaker 1: let's be real, the number from stat muse some social

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Speaker 1: media account. Rob stunned me. Kevin Durant has lost his

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Speaker 1: last five games against the Honest. I don't want to

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Speaker 1: say Honest owns him. I can't go say that that's

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Speaker 1: a little that's overboard. But k D had twenty six

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Speaker 1: and eleven, missed a game time three or game winning

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Speaker 1: three in and out. Kyrie Irving kind of a quiet

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Speaker 1: ish twenty five points, kind of vanished there at the

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Speaker 1: end of regulation over three. Not his best performance. And folks,

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Speaker 1: if Ben Simmons ain't returning, I'm starting to move off

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Speaker 1: of the Nets winning the East, and I think I'm

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Speaker 1: gonna have to put my chips probably behind Janice and

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Speaker 1: the Bucks. Rob. I don't think that's a hot take

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Speaker 1: at all. I mean, given the way that Janice has performed,

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Speaker 1: especially these last two games. I know that the one

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Speaker 1: against Philadelphia Elier in the week was on national TV,

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Speaker 1: even though it should have because whatever ESPN was thinking, thing,

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Speaker 1: let's get the lebron a d less Lakers against Luca.

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Speaker 1: That was just poor management on somebody's part. They should

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Speaker 1: definitely should have been Bucks uh sixers. But yeah, I

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Speaker 1: I we talked before we started recording this podcast this morning.

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Speaker 1: You know, JJ Reddick is very popular nowadays. His podcast

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Speaker 1: is a big hit. He had Joe l Embiid on

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Speaker 1: this week and during their conversation, he says, you know,

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Speaker 1: I think you're one of the three best players in

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Speaker 1: the NBA, along with k D. And he says, and

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Speaker 1: MB says, well, who's the third guy, And he says, Oh,

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Speaker 1: it's Yo Kich. He's like, oh, not, Janice says no,

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Speaker 1: I think I think Janice is in the next tier below.

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Speaker 1: And when I saw it, you know, I wasn't even surprised, actually,

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Speaker 1: because for whatever reason, you maybe maybe to your point

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Speaker 1: that there he's just being poked holes in now they're

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Speaker 1: not rooting for him like they used to. But for

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Speaker 1: whatever reason, this is a running theme around the NBA.

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Speaker 1: It's current players, you know, James Harden saying if I

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Speaker 1: was just seven foot tall and could run and dunk,

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Speaker 1: you know I'd be winning getting these stats too. Um.

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Speaker 1: Kevin Durant whether or not he actually said it, but

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Speaker 1: it was reported that he was upset that they would

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Speaker 1: compare the two of them, k D and Janice because

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Speaker 1: you know, his skill set is so much higher than

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Speaker 1: Jannest you know, it's a different level according to him

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Speaker 1: UM two. A couple of couple of weeks ago, we

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Speaker 1: had h Tracy McGrady saying he wouldn't be as dominant

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Speaker 1: if he played in the mid two thousand's. You know,

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Speaker 1: a week before that, Charles Oakley said if he played

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Speaker 1: in the nineties, Yannest would be a bench player. Like

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Speaker 1: I don't understand what happened to to to the adulation

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Speaker 1: that we were he was getting for so long. You know,

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Speaker 1: his story was so unique and so satisfied that he

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Speaker 1: was this raw project that they just took a chance on.

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Speaker 1: And then next year he's playing point guard and he's

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Speaker 1: kind of lanky and uncoordinated, but you know, things might happen.

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Speaker 1: And then he becomes the two time mv BE and

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Speaker 1: one of the faces of the n b A, and

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Speaker 1: it's like, well, he's not really that good and and

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Speaker 1: I don't know if it goes back to what you

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Speaker 1: and I had talked about a few weeks ago with

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Speaker 1: the Lebron saying people don't view me as the a

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Speaker 1: great score and maybe it's because his bag isn't that

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Speaker 1: deep and that kind of thing. I don't know if

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Speaker 1: that's it with you, honest, because yes, he's a seven

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Speaker 1: foot freak and he can dunk and run, and he's

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Speaker 1: very coordinated, and he has great balance and his bag

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Speaker 1: isn't that deep. But I just don't understand the disrespect

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Speaker 1: towards him because he's easily, in my opinion, a top

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Speaker 1: three player in the NBA, if not the best way

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Speaker 1: in the NBA. Yeah. And the other thing is, I

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Speaker 1: know people are gonna sit there and say, listen, if

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Speaker 1: Katie shot goes down, you guys are ripping you, honest, now,

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Speaker 1: absolutely not, because you guys saw Middleton got ejected. I

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Speaker 1: thought it was a bad ejection. And Middleton and Drew

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Speaker 1: Holiday combined Rob ten of thirty, So you're two, your

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Speaker 1: number two and your three go ten of thirty. One

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Speaker 1: of them gets ejected and Janice carries them to victory

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Speaker 1: like that's an awesome warman's And as you said on

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Speaker 1: the heels of the Sixers win earlier this week, Rob,

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Speaker 1: I hate to make it all about me, but you

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Speaker 1: know this is kind of my podcast. But when you

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Speaker 1: when I look back at when I said started a blog, right,

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Speaker 1: everybody was like rooting for me, you know, I cowherd

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Speaker 1: way back knocked the website off by sending all his listeners.

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Speaker 1: Everybody was like picking up from Oh yeah, Jason, come

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Speaker 1: on this. Well they didn't know my name at the time,

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Speaker 1: but they were like with the big lead, come on, yeah,

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Speaker 1: we gotta pump them up. And then I come out

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Speaker 1: with my name on it and they're like, yeah, Jason,

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Speaker 1: way to go. And then I sell the site. It's

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Speaker 1: written about in the New York Times and a couple

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Speaker 1: of years, five years later, I get to Fox and

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Speaker 1: it's always like, screw that guy. He's a sellout. You know,

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Speaker 1: I'm not rooting for that guy anymore. Well, I've said

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Speaker 1: this before. Scott van Pelt. You know, I know him

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Speaker 1: a little bit. We're not boys or anything. I don't

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Speaker 1: text him, but he had, you know, we he I

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Speaker 1: had him on my uh podcast for the blog way

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Speaker 1: back Is over a decade ago, and I had interviewed

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Speaker 1: him and we talked and he was like, listen, man,

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Speaker 1: they root for you when you're the garage band and

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Speaker 1: then you start playing the Rose Bowl and they're like, ah,

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Speaker 1: I knew that guy would he was small I love

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Speaker 1: that band when they were small time, and then they

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Speaker 1: kind of blew up and they lost who they are.

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Speaker 1: That's the thing, though, I don't. I I personally myself

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Speaker 1: don't think I changed it all. You know, maybe I

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Speaker 1: dressed a little better, had a little more bucks in

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Speaker 1: my pocket, but I didn't fundamentally change who I am.

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Speaker 1: The takes are still hot, That's what I do. But

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Speaker 1: I like love sports, and I have strong opinions and

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Speaker 1: I back it up. And guess what, Rob, I don't

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Speaker 1: think he honest has changed who he is. He came

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Speaker 1: out with the with the Joke book. I forget the

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Speaker 1: dad joke that he told, but it was just like

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Speaker 1: that's kind of cool. Is still like kind of you know,

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Speaker 1: he's still like a regular dude. He's not like, Yo,

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Speaker 1: what up and just deflecting answers. He's keep it a

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Speaker 1: real right, yeah, And he's always been that guy. To

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Speaker 1: your point, he's always been you know, it might be

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Speaker 1: because he's not from the United States, where he's he's

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Speaker 1: comfortable being goofy, he's comfortable actually being honest. If you

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Speaker 1: ever hear him talk and they asked him question and

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Speaker 1: he doesn't give you the same PC answers that a

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Speaker 1: lot of the other guys have been coached to do.

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Speaker 1: You know, coming up through the A you started getting

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Speaker 1: college basketball where there's so many handlers around them. Since

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Speaker 1: they're ten years old, they know the correct way to

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Speaker 1: answer questions in the media, and Janice will tell you

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Speaker 1: exactly what he's thinking. He might not convey it in

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Speaker 1: the most um appropriate way depending on how you want

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Speaker 1: him to say it, but he he says what he thinks.

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Speaker 1: Like there's a you know, I still think Lebron's the

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Speaker 1: best player, and it's like, well, you're not supposed to

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Speaker 1: say that. Yeah, you're supposed to you're the best player.

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Speaker 1: He's like, well, that's just what I think, you know,

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Speaker 1: And so I I just don't understand where this is

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Speaker 1: coming from. Um, you know, I think that in my opinion,

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Speaker 1: I know you might disagree. I think he's the m

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Speaker 1: v P. I think these last two games, I'm kind

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Speaker 1: of cementedive for him, not just that they want those games,

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Speaker 1: but that he made the block against MBI against Philly,

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Speaker 1: the step back three, and then he also guarded Kevin

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Speaker 1: Durant in that fourth quarter when they were down by

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Speaker 1: nine with only like two and a half minutes left,

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Speaker 1: and that's what even got them no overtime. So it's

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Speaker 1: not just the numbers. It's not just the victories that

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Speaker 1: they're stacking up. They might be the one sea when

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Speaker 1: it's all said and done. It's that he has these

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Speaker 1: moments that you can't quantify. You can't exactly say, you know,

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Speaker 1: his points per game, it might be this, his pr

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Speaker 1: might be this. You can just look at these individual matches,

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Speaker 1: individual games and when it's crunched time and when the

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Speaker 1: nuts are down, who are going to make a play.

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Speaker 1: And consistently the last several seasons, Janice has been that

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Speaker 1: guy that's getting his teena's plays. And I think they

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Speaker 1: might make back to the finals again. I don't want

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Speaker 1: to go after Reddick for his comment, but it's weird.

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Speaker 1: I wouldn't have embeied in my top three. I would

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Speaker 1: definitely have Luca done and there one and oh, by

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Speaker 1: the way, this is not gonna be about Luca. MAVs

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Speaker 1: are tied for third in the West. He's playing with

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Speaker 1: no all stars. Okay, tied for third. Now, I know

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Speaker 1: Denver's kind of close to him and Yokich same deal.

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Speaker 1: He's dealing with the Jamal Murray injury. I get it.

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Speaker 1: I just think Luca makes everyone better. And oh, by

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Speaker 1: the way, the MAVs have forty eight wins Milwaukee Bucks. Interesting. Um,

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Speaker 1: all right, now we need to quickly pivot. By the way,

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Speaker 1: I'm not going to talk about the Knicks getting eliminated

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Speaker 1: from the playoffs. The next season is over. I think

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Speaker 1: we move on from Thibodeaux. That's all I got to

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Speaker 1: say about my Knicks. Let's get to what I think

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Speaker 1: is a super juicy story, because Rob, do you remember

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Speaker 1: the honeymoon period with the Sixers? They had, like, what

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Speaker 1: were they wins over the Knicks? I think they beat

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Speaker 1: the Timberwolves and then they beat maybe the Knicks again.

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Speaker 1: Remember that after the first three and everybody was all geeked.

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Speaker 1: It was like, oh, this team is ridiculous, just the

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Speaker 1: best duo. This is the new KOBEA Shack. And I

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Speaker 1: just took a giant dump all over it and Sixers

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Speaker 1: fans hated me. Rob. The Sixers lost to the Detroit

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Speaker 1: Pistons on Thursday. The Pistons, by the way, who have

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Speaker 1: twenty one victories is the third fewest in the league,

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Speaker 1: and they cannot guard the wing. Kade Cunningham and Sedique

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Speaker 1: Bay carved them up, and a guy by the name

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Speaker 1: of James Harden, who hasn't had the greatest week. He

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Speaker 1: was invisible in the fourth quarter against the Bucks and

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Speaker 1: against the Detroit Pistons, you know that suffocating Pistons defense

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Speaker 1: James Harden uh for their third loss in the row.

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Speaker 1: Remember they lost to the Sons. James Harden had a

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Speaker 1: whopp or she shot from the field, a whopping four

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Speaker 1: of fifteen, two of nine from deep, a mere eighteen points.

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Speaker 1: And after the game, Doc Rivers, his coach, who famously

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Speaker 1: took a shot at Ben Simmons after that Hawks loss,

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Speaker 1: and Ben Simmons vowed I'm done with these clowns. Doc

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Speaker 1: Rivers was like, I I'm not going to really blame

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Speaker 1: the bench for not coming through. I mean, yeah, shake Milton,

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Speaker 1: George Niang, Danny Green. Yeah, he's not blaming those guys

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Speaker 1: for fork man cork mos. Remember last week he had

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Speaker 1: like a twent thirty point game. I was like, guys,

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Speaker 1: this fool's gold cork mos five minutes over one And

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Speaker 1: Doc Rivers said, I'm not gonna blame him them. It

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Speaker 1: was really more on James and Rob. I know we

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Speaker 1: bashed Doc Simmons. Doc Rivers a lot on this podcast,

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Speaker 1: and he does have a ring. But this guy is

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Speaker 1: one of the most overrated coaches, I would argue in

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Speaker 1: NBA history. Forget about blowing leads, what about just managing

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Speaker 1: your players. It's one thing for this podcast to go

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Speaker 1: after James Harden and not have faith in him. It's

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Speaker 1: another for your coach to throw you under the bus

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Speaker 1: after the third straight loss and a loss to the

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Speaker 1: lowly Pistons. I'm stunned by this. I would not be

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Speaker 1: surprised if Doc later today comes out and apologizes or

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Speaker 1: says something to the effect of it was a heated loss.

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Speaker 1: I regret what I said. James Harden is one of

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Speaker 1: the best guys in the league. Blah blah blah. He's

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Speaker 1: got to do something because this is the kind of

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Speaker 1: thing to confesster. We know James Harden has shut it

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Speaker 1: down emotionally mentally in the playoffs multiple times, and people

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Speaker 1: is good. You're giving him too much credit, Doc Rivers, Okay,

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Speaker 1: I know you just called him those overrated coach in

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Speaker 1: NBA history, which I agree with them. I'm gonna say

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Speaker 1: that you stole my take because I believe I put

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Speaker 1: that out during the time when you were on vacation

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Speaker 1: last year, and then now I'm just gonna say, you

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Speaker 1: stole might take but you're giving him too much credit

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Speaker 1: and that Remember when he said that about Ben Simmons,

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Speaker 1: did he backtrack it at all? He when he was

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Speaker 1: asked about it later, he was like, well, they took

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Speaker 1: it out of context. They they passed my word in

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Speaker 1: such a way. He's not gonna apologize for anything. He's

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Speaker 1: gonna blame the media or blame social media or whatever.

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Speaker 1: Because Doc Rivers has been living off of one championship

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Speaker 1: with the first super team we had seen in you know,

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Speaker 1: two decades, and they only got one title out of it. Like,

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Speaker 1: you know, I'm I'm a huge Kobe guy. I'm I'm

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Speaker 1: probably a bigger uh. I think Kobe is better than

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Speaker 1: a lot of people might think historically. But if you

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Speaker 1: just say, hey, Kobe and Pal versus KG, Paul Pierce

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Speaker 1: and Ray Allen and k and Kobe beat them, Like,

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Speaker 1: what does that say about you, Doc Rivers as a

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Speaker 1: coach that you have easily the more talented team, the

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Speaker 1: more season team, better players at least at the top accumulatively,

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Speaker 1: and you lost. You have one title. Before that big

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Speaker 1: Celtics Big Three came together, they had I think it

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Speaker 1: was like a nineteen game losing streak in Orlando. He um,

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Speaker 1: I think he might have had a it might have

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Speaker 1: been something like seven in Boston the year before they

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Speaker 1: got the Big Three. Like his it's well documented his issues. Um,

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Speaker 1: but I don't want to let James Harden off the

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Speaker 1: hook man. You know, I know that Doc is the

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Speaker 1: headline because he put his foot in his mouth. But

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Speaker 1: James Harden never since that honeymoon period that you referenced,

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Speaker 1: has almost as many games six game shooting under thirty

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Speaker 1: from the field as he does more than that, which

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Speaker 1: is seven and three of those games he shot under

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Speaker 1: forty three. So whatever juice that he had when he

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Speaker 1: made that first transition from Brooklyn to to Philly is gone.

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Speaker 1: Like he he doesn't have that same energy, that extra

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Speaker 1: bouncing his step that he You know, when you get

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Speaker 1: that new, fresh car, you're very excited. You want to

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Speaker 1: make a good impressions on somebody that's gone. You're getting

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Speaker 1: the real James Harden. Now there's a reason why Chris

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Speaker 1: Mannix said earlier this week in a podcast that there's

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Speaker 1: people in Sixers front office that are where you're giving

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Speaker 1: him that max extension because you've already seen this decline

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Speaker 1: with him, and it's only going to get worse. He

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Speaker 1: he hasn't shown any kind of ability to adjust his

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Speaker 1: game to play a different style than what he's been

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Speaker 1: playing for the last seven, eight nine years. I so heavy.

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Speaker 1: He needs the ball in his hands. If he doesn't

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Speaker 1: have the ball in his hands, he's not doing anything.

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Speaker 1: And now that he's getting older, his body is getting

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Speaker 1: a little bit hefty, for lack of a better word,

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Speaker 1: he's he can't blow by anyone like he used to. Well, well, wait, Rob,

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Speaker 1: the other thing is in Houston, he was surrounded by shooters. Right,

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Speaker 1: you stick P. J. Tucker in the corner, you can

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Speaker 1: guarantee he's gonna make two or three or four. Three's

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Speaker 1: right yet, Eric Gordon, you had shooters. I just look

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Speaker 1: at Batiste thible as such a negative on this team.

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Speaker 1: But they need it for defense because you know Tobias

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Speaker 1: Harris can guard me. Harden can't guard anybody. You need

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Speaker 1: Thible for defense. But teams just aren't respecting him. You

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Speaker 1: crowd the paint and the Harden can't get in there.

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Speaker 1: Plus embad is in there. We set this from the outset. Remember,

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Speaker 1: like he works with a rim running pick and roll

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Speaker 1: guy that ain't embiid like Darryl Morey. Awfully quiet this morning?

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Speaker 1: Is he not? Like Darryl Morey was doing a lot

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Speaker 1: of victory lapse in the weeks after they got hardened.

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Speaker 1: Very quiet. I think you probably gotta end up moving

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Speaker 1: Danny greenback to the starting lineup. Is there? Can you?

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Speaker 1: Can you start fible and and have Harris coming off

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Speaker 1: the bench. I don't know. They've got a little bit

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Speaker 1: of time to figure it out. Rob I see as

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Speaker 1: of now they would play the Bulls in the first round,

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Speaker 1: and the Bulls I don't know if the Bulls are

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Speaker 1: the team to take him down. Um, I don't know.

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Speaker 1: The Raptors have passed the Calves and is there could

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Speaker 1: that Raptors team if they get five, could they push sixers?

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Speaker 1: I haven't watched Toronto closely enough. Sorry Raptors fans. Um,

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Speaker 1: I'm not sure, Robert. They are They sixers definitely getting

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Speaker 1: out of the first round. Oh. I mean, I wouldn't

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Speaker 1: bet against them just because they'll have the best player

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Speaker 1: or whatever series thing with Joel embiad. But to your point,

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Speaker 1: I don't know if Chicago can because their injuries. Leo

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Speaker 1: Alonso balls banged up. You know, Crusoe hasn't looked good

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Speaker 1: since he's gotten back from his injury. But the Toronto

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Speaker 1: Raptors absolutely could beat Philadelphia in this series because their

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Speaker 1: whole team is guys who are like six six to

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Speaker 1: six eleven, super range e, super athletic, and if you could,

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Speaker 1: because the way their bill is so James Harden ice

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Speaker 1: so heavy, Joel Embiad I so heavy. If you can

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Speaker 1: cut the head of the snake off with James Harden,

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Speaker 1: just limit him with and they definitely have the guys

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Speaker 1: who can do it. Joel Embiad is good, but he's

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Speaker 1: not going to be good enough to beat you by himself. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: before we get to Aren Torres, robbed listener of the Pot,

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Speaker 1: Danny Sanders tweeted this at me last night. It's crazy

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Speaker 1: Doc coached Prime t MAC that was in Orlando, the

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Speaker 1: Celtics Big Three and Rondo Prime, Chris Paul and Brick, Griff, Blake, Griffin, Lobs, City, Paul,

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Speaker 1: George and Kauai, Joel Embiat and Ben Simmons and Joel

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Speaker 1: and Bed and James Harden and he has one ring.

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Speaker 1: That's mean, He's got a lot of top thirty players

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Speaker 1: in the history of the NBA, and look, I this

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Speaker 1: is gonna be really disappointing. Don't aggregate this, but this

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Speaker 1: is just something that I've heard little scuttle. But I

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Speaker 1: don't know if you've heard this as well. But um,

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Speaker 1: I think it's safe to say Frank Vogel is getting

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Speaker 1: fired at the end of the season with Lakers, no

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Speaker 1: matter what they do. I've heard from back channels that

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Speaker 1: Doc Rivers is a name that they would consider. When

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Speaker 1: I heard that from a couple of a couple of people,

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Speaker 1: and then they're totally different sources. I don't know. Maybe

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Speaker 1: one of them might be reliable. I'm not sure. But

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Speaker 1: when I heard that, I was my heart just sank

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Speaker 1: it to my chest and I was like, I cannot

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Speaker 1: root for a Doc Rivers lead team at all. No. Uh,

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Speaker 1: the only name I I heard out there was Quinn

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Speaker 1: Snyder from her kind of flailing um. And if they

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Speaker 1: get bounced in the first round, you know they probably

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Speaker 1: need to do something. It's either break up Gobert and

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Speaker 1: Mitchell or dumped the coach and try, you know, to

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Speaker 1: to repopulated on the fly. Remember, Jason Kidd was kind

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Speaker 1: of sputtering with Joannest and they were like, do they

421
00:21:05,520 --> 00:21:07,320
Speaker 1: break it up? Oh no, let's just dump Jason Kidd,

422
00:21:07,359 --> 00:21:09,840
Speaker 1: you get Bodenholzer. Things are sputtering, and then you break

423
00:21:09,880 --> 00:21:12,920
Speaker 1: through when they add Drew Holiday. But we've seen that before, like, hey,

424
00:21:12,960 --> 00:21:15,800
Speaker 1: maybe it's just a coaching change, right, Sometimes a coach

425
00:21:15,840 --> 00:21:19,400
Speaker 1: comes in, obviously famously Steve Kerf for Mark Jackson. Um,

426
00:21:19,440 --> 00:21:21,920
Speaker 1: what any others that I'm missing? Well, that's the biggest one.

427
00:21:22,040 --> 00:21:24,719
Speaker 1: That's that's the one that really stands out. I mean,

428
00:21:24,760 --> 00:21:26,639
Speaker 1: I would love if Quinn Snyder came to l A

429
00:21:26,720 --> 00:21:30,040
Speaker 1: just anything, anything but DC River. Give me Kurt Rambis

430
00:21:30,080 --> 00:21:33,960
Speaker 1: before I get Dark Rivers, Linda Rams getting her husband

431
00:21:33,960 --> 00:21:35,919
Speaker 1: in there. Um So yeah, by the way, Trey Young,

432
00:21:36,000 --> 00:21:37,840
Speaker 1: let's see, it seems like he's okay based on his

433
00:21:37,880 --> 00:21:41,840
Speaker 1: Instagram post late last night. Um, he went down, looked

434
00:21:41,840 --> 00:21:46,200
Speaker 1: like a leg injury. Hawks still got the dub. And yeah,

435
00:21:46,280 --> 00:21:48,040
Speaker 1: I will say I will say this about the Eastern

436
00:21:48,119 --> 00:21:53,240
Speaker 1: Conference playoffs, Rob I would definitely watch LaMelo ball Trey

437
00:21:53,320 --> 00:21:55,720
Speaker 1: Young in a playing game that's gonna be like a

438
00:21:55,800 --> 00:21:59,600
Speaker 1: one one kind of game, and that for me, I

439
00:21:59,600 --> 00:22:03,520
Speaker 1: would love that game. Defense optional defense, optional. Now we

440
00:22:03,600 --> 00:22:09,440
Speaker 1: are still headed toward possibly Nets Bucks in the first round. Uh,

441
00:22:10,240 --> 00:22:13,560
Speaker 1: that's a tough one for the bucks Man, especially Ben

442
00:22:13,560 --> 00:22:15,760
Speaker 1: Simmons is back. We haven't seen the Nets with Simmons yet,

443
00:22:15,960 --> 00:22:19,399
Speaker 1: I mean, assuming he comes back. I mean, normally I

444
00:22:19,440 --> 00:22:21,199
Speaker 1: would agree with you, but after we saw last night

445
00:22:21,200 --> 00:22:25,480
Speaker 1: from Janice feel average forty and seventeen in that series,

446
00:22:25,520 --> 00:22:28,800
Speaker 1: it's okay things Yeah, yeah, alright, without further ado, let's

447
00:22:28,880 --> 00:22:32,880
Speaker 1: get to our guest today, Aaron Torres from Fox Sports Radio.

448
00:22:33,840 --> 00:22:36,760
Speaker 1: Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in

449
00:22:36,800 --> 00:22:39,800
Speaker 1: the nation. Catch all of our shows at Fox sports

450
00:22:39,880 --> 00:22:42,960
Speaker 1: Radio dot com and within the I Heart Radio app

451
00:22:43,040 --> 00:22:49,639
Speaker 1: search f s R to listen live. Jason likes to

452
00:22:49,680 --> 00:22:52,760
Speaker 1: think he knows everything when it comes to sports. I

453
00:22:52,840 --> 00:22:55,880
Speaker 1: know what sports dance wants, but for everything he doesn't,

454
00:22:56,119 --> 00:22:59,159
Speaker 1: he knows a guy who does. Let's just say I

455
00:22:59,240 --> 00:23:03,560
Speaker 1: know a guy who knows the guy who knows another guy.

456
00:23:03,840 --> 00:23:05,840
Speaker 1: All right, let's welcome into straight fire. A guy who

457
00:23:05,920 --> 00:23:09,120
Speaker 1: is currently at the Final four, probably in a room

458
00:23:09,160 --> 00:23:11,679
Speaker 1: he should not be in, and there's like, I don't know,

459
00:23:11,200 --> 00:23:14,439
Speaker 1: if chance he gets kicked out of the room during

460
00:23:14,480 --> 00:23:17,160
Speaker 1: this interview erin Torrez erin. How are you man? First

461
00:23:17,160 --> 00:23:20,040
Speaker 1: of all, there's no probably involved in that statement. But

462
00:23:20,520 --> 00:23:23,359
Speaker 1: you know, listen the sacrifices that I make for straight fire.

463
00:23:23,840 --> 00:23:25,399
Speaker 1: Um you know, I I you know, I told you

464
00:23:25,440 --> 00:23:27,280
Speaker 1: i'd be boots on the ground for this show. I

465
00:23:27,400 --> 00:23:29,800
Speaker 1: told you I would, you know, get to the places

466
00:23:29,840 --> 00:23:31,919
Speaker 1: that nobody go to, the places that nobody else is

467
00:23:31,920 --> 00:23:34,760
Speaker 1: willing to go. I'm going above and beyond. And uh,

468
00:23:34,840 --> 00:23:37,560
Speaker 1: I know it's just an audio podcast, but yeah, I'm

469
00:23:37,560 --> 00:23:40,760
Speaker 1: here in the Superdome. We're about twenty minutes. Coach K

470
00:23:41,240 --> 00:23:43,400
Speaker 1: is gonna have his first presser of the week. So

471
00:23:43,800 --> 00:23:46,119
Speaker 1: excited to be here. And more importantly, man, I'm excited

472
00:23:46,119 --> 00:23:48,240
Speaker 1: to see more. I haven't seen coach Kane. Well, I

473
00:23:48,240 --> 00:23:50,720
Speaker 1: haven't seen Jason McIntyre in a while. Man, Coach K

474
00:23:50,960 --> 00:23:53,359
Speaker 1: Jason McIntyre, we're on the same level, I guess in

475
00:23:53,480 --> 00:23:57,359
Speaker 1: some capacity. Legends. Yes, two legends, one in his own mind,

476
00:23:57,560 --> 00:23:59,680
Speaker 1: um so, but let's drop his coach k by the way,

477
00:24:00,040 --> 00:24:02,679
Speaker 1: two in their own mind. But is there a is

478
00:24:02,680 --> 00:24:06,840
Speaker 1: there a coronation happening already at the at the Final

479
00:24:06,880 --> 00:24:09,439
Speaker 1: four in the Superdome? No, you know, it's it's the

480
00:24:09,440 --> 00:24:14,600
Speaker 1: biggest story. Um, for sure, but you know Carolina, obviously

481
00:24:14,640 --> 00:24:16,479
Speaker 1: it goes out say not intimidated. They just beat him

482
00:24:16,480 --> 00:24:18,960
Speaker 1: about three four weeks ago. Uh. And I think Carolina

483
00:24:19,000 --> 00:24:21,120
Speaker 1: feels like, I don't care what our seed was. We've

484
00:24:21,119 --> 00:24:23,520
Speaker 1: been about one of the best teams in college basketball

485
00:24:23,520 --> 00:24:26,520
Speaker 1: in the last five six weeks as we record here. Uh,

486
00:24:26,840 --> 00:24:29,200
Speaker 1: they just finish up their availability. They look loose, they

487
00:24:29,200 --> 00:24:32,440
Speaker 1: look comfortable, they look like they believe that they belong here.

488
00:24:32,600 --> 00:24:34,320
Speaker 1: And oh, by the way, that they're North Carolina, there's

489
00:24:34,320 --> 00:24:36,720
Speaker 1: no reason that they shouldn't feel that way. Um. And

490
00:24:36,760 --> 00:24:39,280
Speaker 1: I think Duke's players are are taking the same approach

491
00:24:39,320 --> 00:24:42,800
Speaker 1: as well. Is it was funny somebody asked about, um,

492
00:24:42,920 --> 00:24:45,960
Speaker 1: you know, did you foresee this coming? Could you have

493
00:24:46,000 --> 00:24:48,600
Speaker 1: looked at the bracket and seen this, Uh, the possibility

494
00:24:48,600 --> 00:24:50,880
Speaker 1: of do Carolina matgic the final four, and the guys

495
00:24:50,880 --> 00:24:52,920
Speaker 1: were like, honestly, you know, we're worried about our little

496
00:24:52,920 --> 00:24:55,679
Speaker 1: subregion there and and and and wherever they were Greenville,

497
00:24:55,680 --> 00:24:57,000
Speaker 1: I guess to open the tournament and we were just

498
00:24:57,040 --> 00:24:59,359
Speaker 1: looking at that West bracket. It was never if we

499
00:24:59,440 --> 00:25:03,120
Speaker 1: get here, will play them. So it sounds like super cliche,

500
00:25:03,280 --> 00:25:05,560
Speaker 1: but but whether it's cliche or it's just been drilled

501
00:25:05,600 --> 00:25:09,240
Speaker 1: into these players. Um, you know, I don't think North

502
00:25:09,280 --> 00:25:12,119
Speaker 1: Carolina was was worried about Duke until the final buzzer

503
00:25:12,160 --> 00:25:13,720
Speaker 1: that st Peter's game. And I don't think Duke was

504
00:25:13,760 --> 00:25:16,560
Speaker 1: worried about anybody other than Arkansas until that game went

505
00:25:16,560 --> 00:25:20,639
Speaker 1: final on Saturday. Yeah, Aaron, Let's remember Duke trailed Michigan

506
00:25:20,680 --> 00:25:23,120
Speaker 1: State by five with about five minutes left, and then

507
00:25:23,119 --> 00:25:26,640
Speaker 1: trailed Texas Tech I think by three with three minutes left.

508
00:25:26,640 --> 00:25:29,040
Speaker 1: So this idea that like, oh, Duke's been a juggernat. Yeah,

509
00:25:29,080 --> 00:25:31,240
Speaker 1: I get that they have the best players, but Aaron

510
00:25:31,359 --> 00:25:34,720
Speaker 1: like they needed some charms stuff to get here. Yeah,

511
00:25:34,760 --> 00:25:36,440
Speaker 1: you know, I want to call it charm stuff. Though,

512
00:25:36,440 --> 00:25:39,000
Speaker 1: what I would say is it's great players stepping up

513
00:25:39,040 --> 00:25:41,160
Speaker 1: in big moments. And I think, honestly, Jays, I think

514
00:25:41,160 --> 00:25:44,800
Speaker 1: that's what a lot of people's frustration with this Duke

515
00:25:44,840 --> 00:25:47,520
Speaker 1: team is is. I think everybody thought if they got

516
00:25:47,560 --> 00:25:49,399
Speaker 1: to this point and be oh, they got a fluky

517
00:25:49,480 --> 00:25:51,960
Speaker 1: called down the stretch and they got this and so

518
00:25:52,000 --> 00:25:54,199
Speaker 1: and so wants them here and blah blah blah, we

519
00:25:54,320 --> 00:25:57,000
Speaker 1: we won't watch those games. They just made plays down

520
00:25:57,000 --> 00:25:58,720
Speaker 1: the stretch, and the one thing that stands out to me,

521
00:25:59,200 --> 00:26:02,640
Speaker 1: they seemed to be getting more confident as this tournament

522
00:26:02,680 --> 00:26:04,959
Speaker 1: goes on. They just said it in their media availability

523
00:26:04,960 --> 00:26:07,080
Speaker 1: ten minutes ago that they are getting more confident. So

524
00:26:07,280 --> 00:26:09,920
Speaker 1: you know, listen again, cliche. It's easy to say when

525
00:26:09,920 --> 00:26:11,360
Speaker 1: you just won four games in a row and you're

526
00:26:11,359 --> 00:26:13,520
Speaker 1: playing in the final four. But you know, to me,

527
00:26:13,640 --> 00:26:15,960
Speaker 1: when I look at it, that's what stands out to

528
00:26:16,040 --> 00:26:19,439
Speaker 1: me is I'm a believer, and I know sometimes you know,

529
00:26:19,520 --> 00:26:21,239
Speaker 1: we go through these sports cliches and some of them

530
00:26:21,280 --> 00:26:23,320
Speaker 1: are true, some of them aren't. I really do believe

531
00:26:23,359 --> 00:26:25,720
Speaker 1: that it's hard to win tournament games when you've never

532
00:26:25,800 --> 00:26:28,439
Speaker 1: been in tournament games, when there's never been that finality.

533
00:26:28,840 --> 00:26:31,800
Speaker 1: But you know, by the way happened to Kentucky, happen

534
00:26:31,800 --> 00:26:33,680
Speaker 1: in Arizona, happened to a lot of schools that that

535
00:26:33,680 --> 00:26:36,360
Speaker 1: that didn't have that experience. But for two, like I said,

536
00:26:36,359 --> 00:26:38,560
Speaker 1: it seems like the opposite. Yeah, maybe against Michigan State

537
00:26:38,600 --> 00:26:40,240
Speaker 1: they were a little tight there with three four minutes

538
00:26:40,240 --> 00:26:42,399
Speaker 1: to go, but it seems like every game they're getting

539
00:26:42,400 --> 00:26:44,960
Speaker 1: a little bit more confident in this tournament. Jason yeah,

540
00:26:45,080 --> 00:26:48,119
Speaker 1: I need to ask about the previous matchups, right, So

541
00:26:48,200 --> 00:26:50,840
Speaker 1: Duke smokes them in the first meeting, Griffin has the

542
00:26:50,840 --> 00:26:53,879
Speaker 1: best game he's had of his Duke career. And in

543
00:26:53,920 --> 00:26:56,320
Speaker 1: the second game, you know, Duke kind of wilted late.

544
00:26:56,320 --> 00:26:58,960
Speaker 1: But the guy to focus on seems to be Leaky Black,

545
00:26:59,080 --> 00:27:01,800
Speaker 1: the great defender, a CC defender of the Year. But

546
00:27:01,880 --> 00:27:04,880
Speaker 1: I can't get a straight answer here, Aaron. Who did

547
00:27:04,920 --> 00:27:07,639
Speaker 1: he defend in the second matchup? I saw one report

548
00:27:07,680 --> 00:27:10,240
Speaker 1: that he went on Bun Caro and Ben Carroll struggled,

549
00:27:10,480 --> 00:27:12,639
Speaker 1: but then I saw another one that he was on Griffin.

550
00:27:12,640 --> 00:27:15,199
Speaker 1: Griffin didn't score in the second half. Griffin had like

551
00:27:15,280 --> 00:27:18,080
Speaker 1: five points. What is the story in that second meeting

552
00:27:18,119 --> 00:27:21,280
Speaker 1: with Leaky Black? Since I don't vividly remember, I'll just

553
00:27:21,320 --> 00:27:23,160
Speaker 1: assume he defended both of them and play the game

554
00:27:23,200 --> 00:27:25,399
Speaker 1: in his life and that that was how No, you

555
00:27:25,440 --> 00:27:28,040
Speaker 1: know it's but I will say just in general with Karen,

556
00:27:28,080 --> 00:27:30,119
Speaker 1: and that was one thing I actually just asked Hubert

557
00:27:30,160 --> 00:27:32,920
Speaker 1: Davis about, like you go back and like two things

558
00:27:33,000 --> 00:27:35,600
Speaker 1: can be true, like what I just said, Carolina believes

559
00:27:35,640 --> 00:27:38,960
Speaker 1: they belong here, but there were people, including myself that

560
00:27:39,000 --> 00:27:41,840
Speaker 1: we're very critical of this program early on in the season,

561
00:27:42,080 --> 00:27:43,600
Speaker 1: because you just look at the box scorps. You don't

562
00:27:43,600 --> 00:27:45,760
Speaker 1: have to be a college basketball die hard. They gave

563
00:27:45,840 --> 00:27:49,639
Speaker 1: up points or something like that's Kentucky in December ninety

564
00:27:49,680 --> 00:27:53,000
Speaker 1: plus points, the wake Forest uh ninety plus points to Purdue.

565
00:27:53,520 --> 00:27:55,840
Speaker 1: And one thing that Hubert Davis did say earlier today

566
00:27:55,960 --> 00:27:59,359
Speaker 1: was the biggest thing he had to coach early was

567
00:27:59,480 --> 00:28:02,200
Speaker 1: effort and toughness, and he hasn't had to do that

568
00:28:02,600 --> 00:28:05,199
Speaker 1: the last three, four or five weeks. So you know,

569
00:28:05,440 --> 00:28:07,359
Speaker 1: whether it was leaky black on Paulo, whether it was

570
00:28:07,400 --> 00:28:09,600
Speaker 1: leaky black on agent Griffin, whether it was leaky black

571
00:28:09,600 --> 00:28:12,760
Speaker 1: on both, whether other guys were helping. It feels as

572
00:28:12,760 --> 00:28:15,960
Speaker 1: though like this is just a group that has quietly

573
00:28:16,000 --> 00:28:19,119
Speaker 1: gotten more confident. We just talked about do seemingly getting

574
00:28:19,119 --> 00:28:21,240
Speaker 1: more confident as the tournament has gone on. This team

575
00:28:21,240 --> 00:28:23,880
Speaker 1: has no doubt, not really only just in this tournament,

576
00:28:23,880 --> 00:28:27,359
Speaker 1: but over the last five six weeks. I also am curious,

577
00:28:27,400 --> 00:28:29,159
Speaker 1: like just how good is U n C. I know

578
00:28:29,240 --> 00:28:31,200
Speaker 1: some of the numbers say, you know, last seven games,

579
00:28:31,200 --> 00:28:33,680
Speaker 1: are the best team in the country, but Aaron, this

580
00:28:33,760 --> 00:28:35,960
Speaker 1: is a team that I really thought should have lost

581
00:28:36,000 --> 00:28:38,240
Speaker 1: to u c l A trail most of the second half,

582
00:28:38,480 --> 00:28:40,840
Speaker 1: down by five and a half time. If Caleb Love

583
00:28:40,960 --> 00:28:44,080
Speaker 1: doesn't have like an out of body experience with Logo

584
00:28:44,200 --> 00:28:47,000
Speaker 1: Three's twenty seven in the second half, they don't win

585
00:28:47,080 --> 00:28:50,400
Speaker 1: that game. Like this idea that UNC is utterly dominant.

586
00:28:50,480 --> 00:28:53,400
Speaker 1: I mean they beat St. Peter's a fifteen, you know

587
00:28:53,440 --> 00:28:56,920
Speaker 1: in the final game. How how good is this team? Well,

588
00:28:56,960 --> 00:28:58,880
Speaker 1: I mean the talent, it is certainly there. And that

589
00:28:58,960 --> 00:29:02,280
Speaker 1: was again to go by why somebody like myself was critical.

590
00:29:02,360 --> 00:29:04,440
Speaker 1: I mean, I think the number was I'm not positive.

591
00:29:04,440 --> 00:29:06,200
Speaker 1: I think it was five of their top seven scorers

592
00:29:06,280 --> 00:29:10,640
Speaker 1: from last year. We're back in two and so when

593
00:29:10,720 --> 00:29:13,880
Speaker 1: Hubert Davis getting blown out, When Davis, when North Carolina

594
00:29:13,920 --> 00:29:15,760
Speaker 1: is getting blown out, that was why I was critical

595
00:29:15,880 --> 00:29:18,479
Speaker 1: Hubert Davious because listen, this might be the most talented

596
00:29:18,520 --> 00:29:20,840
Speaker 1: team that you have for a while. Hayleb Glove was

597
00:29:20,840 --> 00:29:23,520
Speaker 1: a McDonald's All American. Armando Baycot, I believe was a

598
00:29:23,640 --> 00:29:26,800
Speaker 1: McDonald's All Americans, certainly a top twenty player. He's a junior.

599
00:29:27,120 --> 00:29:31,040
Speaker 1: Your guy, Leakey Black's a fourth year guy. Um, you know,

600
00:29:31,280 --> 00:29:33,280
Speaker 1: I'm just going through the roster Brady Mannic was a

601
00:29:33,320 --> 00:29:36,840
Speaker 1: double figure score for multiple years in Oklahoma. Dawson Garcia,

602
00:29:36,880 --> 00:29:38,600
Speaker 1: who's I don't even think he's with the team right now,

603
00:29:38,640 --> 00:29:40,400
Speaker 1: but early in the season was playing with them, and

604
00:29:40,400 --> 00:29:43,520
Speaker 1: he had some personal stuff. McDonald's all Americans, So that

605
00:29:43,600 --> 00:29:46,120
Speaker 1: was where the criticism stemmed from. But I also don't

606
00:29:46,120 --> 00:29:48,160
Speaker 1: think anything that you said was wrong. Obviously we all

607
00:29:48,160 --> 00:29:52,440
Speaker 1: watched the Baylor game easily. I mean easily isn't the

608
00:29:52,480 --> 00:29:54,840
Speaker 1: right even word to describe what happened against Baylor, how

609
00:29:54,880 --> 00:29:57,560
Speaker 1: badly they almost give that game away. And then the

610
00:29:57,640 --> 00:29:59,280
Speaker 1: u c l A game, I'll be honest that it

611
00:29:59,360 --> 00:30:01,920
Speaker 1: was one that I forget who else was playing at

612
00:30:01,920 --> 00:30:03,760
Speaker 1: that time, Miami, Iowa State. I think it was was

613
00:30:03,800 --> 00:30:06,040
Speaker 1: the late game. You know, I'm kind of winding down

614
00:30:06,040 --> 00:30:08,840
Speaker 1: the week and kind of reacting to St. Peter's and

615
00:30:08,880 --> 00:30:11,040
Speaker 1: this and that, and like you said, you kind of

616
00:30:11,080 --> 00:30:13,040
Speaker 1: just have it on in the background and you think, okay,

617
00:30:13,120 --> 00:30:14,480
Speaker 1: like U c l A has got this, and then

618
00:30:14,480 --> 00:30:16,360
Speaker 1: all of a sudden, the games over in North Carolina

619
00:30:16,400 --> 00:30:19,160
Speaker 1: had one. So they're stupid that, you know, they can

620
00:30:19,200 --> 00:30:21,200
Speaker 1: be confident. But but I don't think what you're saying

621
00:30:21,200 --> 00:30:23,840
Speaker 1: about this path is wrong at all, Jason, and I'll

622
00:30:23,840 --> 00:30:26,480
Speaker 1: be curious to see because like that said, Baylor, uh

623
00:30:26,600 --> 00:30:28,480
Speaker 1: U c l A, and then the St. Peter's game.

624
00:30:28,520 --> 00:30:30,040
Speaker 1: I mean, the one thing I'll say about that they

625
00:30:30,080 --> 00:30:31,800
Speaker 1: were the one thing that didn't take St. Peter's lightly

626
00:30:32,000 --> 00:30:33,600
Speaker 1: and blew them out of the gym. So so it

627
00:30:33,680 --> 00:30:35,800
Speaker 1: is gonna be a different deal Saturday night. So I'm

628
00:30:35,840 --> 00:30:38,479
Speaker 1: assuming you're willing to pick a side and a score.

629
00:30:39,040 --> 00:30:41,480
Speaker 1: I just it feels to me like Duke is willing

630
00:30:41,480 --> 00:30:44,160
Speaker 1: to trade twos for threes in a in a football stadium.

631
00:30:44,720 --> 00:30:46,600
Speaker 1: I'm gonna ask you about the site lines in a minute,

632
00:30:46,600 --> 00:30:48,280
Speaker 1: so you'll have to answer that question having been on

633
00:30:48,360 --> 00:30:53,720
Speaker 1: the court. But they don't. They don't allow access on Thursday.

634
00:30:53,760 --> 00:30:57,480
Speaker 1: It's not until Friday of the of the open practices.

635
00:30:57,560 --> 00:30:59,520
Speaker 1: So I mean that's like trying to get a state

636
00:30:59,600 --> 00:31:02,360
Speaker 1: secret is seeing the court right now. So well, I mean,

637
00:31:02,760 --> 00:31:05,360
Speaker 1: you know that's kind of a big deal. Yeah, football stadium.

638
00:31:05,440 --> 00:31:08,600
Speaker 1: I mean, those guys go from like the tiny arenas

639
00:31:08,640 --> 00:31:11,959
Speaker 1: for college upgrade to some pro arenas in the tournament,

640
00:31:11,960 --> 00:31:13,800
Speaker 1: and now they're playing in a football stadium. But I

641
00:31:14,280 --> 00:31:17,080
Speaker 1: like Duke in a close one I'm not picking a

642
00:31:17,400 --> 00:31:19,360
Speaker 1: like with the point spread. I'm just going Duke on

643
00:31:19,360 --> 00:31:21,840
Speaker 1: the money line. What do you who do you like? Yeah,

644
00:31:21,920 --> 00:31:23,959
Speaker 1: it's you know, both my picks, and we're gonna get

645
00:31:23,960 --> 00:31:26,320
Speaker 1: to their game in a minute. It's pretty cliche. I mean, Duke,

646
00:31:26,960 --> 00:31:29,959
Speaker 1: they're getting more confident with every game. Um, they did have.

647
00:31:30,000 --> 00:31:32,040
Speaker 1: I don't think he's at that Arkansas team took care

648
00:31:32,080 --> 00:31:35,880
Speaker 1: of Gonzaga pretty easily. Um. And then on top of that, um,

649
00:31:35,920 --> 00:31:39,920
Speaker 1: you know, best players, best coach getting more confident. Um,

650
00:31:39,960 --> 00:31:41,240
Speaker 1: you know a thing that a lot of people have

651
00:31:41,240 --> 00:31:43,880
Speaker 1: talked about and justifiably so. Uh, you know, coach k

652
00:31:44,080 --> 00:31:46,520
Speaker 1: shook up his starting lineup late in the season. Jeremy

653
00:31:46,560 --> 00:31:49,280
Speaker 1: Roach moves into the starting lineup. He's not the explosive,

654
00:31:49,360 --> 00:31:52,640
Speaker 1: dynamic player that Trevor Keels is, but he's a more

655
00:31:53,400 --> 00:31:55,040
Speaker 1: I don't know what the right word is but but

656
00:31:55,400 --> 00:31:58,680
Speaker 1: cerebral player. But but he you know, he is a

657
00:31:58,760 --> 00:32:01,240
Speaker 1: pseudo veteran point guard that you need with all these young,

658
00:32:01,280 --> 00:32:04,600
Speaker 1: really talented players. So it's really cliche. I'm with you.

659
00:32:04,800 --> 00:32:07,720
Speaker 1: I know, Carolina just won three or four weeks ago

660
00:32:07,720 --> 00:32:10,600
Speaker 1: at Cameron Indoor. I'll say this, these are two completely

661
00:32:10,600 --> 00:32:13,840
Speaker 1: different teams. Even Caroline, I think is exponentially more confident

662
00:32:13,880 --> 00:32:15,720
Speaker 1: that they were that night. Maybe that night was what

663
00:32:15,800 --> 00:32:18,440
Speaker 1: gave them confidence. But you know, I can't sit here

664
00:32:18,440 --> 00:32:20,000
Speaker 1: and pick against dude, not with the way that they've

665
00:32:20,000 --> 00:32:21,520
Speaker 1: posed out these last four or five PM in the

666
00:32:21,640 --> 00:32:24,280
Speaker 1: last three games, I guess you'd yeah, alright, So to

667
00:32:24,400 --> 00:32:27,840
Speaker 1: Villanova Kansas. You know, obviously Justin Moore's injuries big, But

668
00:32:28,280 --> 00:32:31,800
Speaker 1: you know, Jay Wright has kind of dominated Bill self

669
00:32:32,280 --> 00:32:35,480
Speaker 1: one four the last five, has covered seven of the

670
00:32:35,560 --> 00:32:38,360
Speaker 1: last eight. I think we both agreed. Jay Wright's one

671
00:32:38,360 --> 00:32:40,120
Speaker 1: of the best coaches in the country. I think he's

672
00:32:40,120 --> 00:32:43,080
Speaker 1: a better coach than Bill self. Is there any edge

673
00:32:43,080 --> 00:32:46,680
Speaker 1: for Villanova here? Well, I mean, I don't know that

674
00:32:46,720 --> 00:32:48,880
Speaker 1: you can say the edge with coaching, because I do

675
00:32:48,960 --> 00:32:50,959
Speaker 1: think Bill self is one of the two or three best.

676
00:32:51,000 --> 00:32:53,760
Speaker 1: I just think Jay Wright might be the best. Okay,

677
00:32:53,800 --> 00:32:57,120
Speaker 1: But the problem is, and and again it's it's super

678
00:32:57,640 --> 00:33:00,360
Speaker 1: surface level analysis, but this has been an issue with

679
00:33:00,440 --> 00:33:03,600
Speaker 1: Villanova forever. The depth, I should say to death. And

680
00:33:03,720 --> 00:33:06,600
Speaker 1: I remember they played Pouli Pavilion like the second week

681
00:33:06,640 --> 00:33:08,840
Speaker 1: of the year, and we're sitting in the press box

682
00:33:08,920 --> 00:33:12,000
Speaker 1: talking about they only got six or seven guys, and

683
00:33:12,040 --> 00:33:15,680
Speaker 1: then they develop a freshman named Jordan Launchino. Then he

684
00:33:15,760 --> 00:33:18,680
Speaker 1: goes down in the middle of the tournament, not coming back,

685
00:33:18,680 --> 00:33:20,959
Speaker 1: and then Justin Moore gets hurt, and so you know,

686
00:33:21,160 --> 00:33:23,840
Speaker 1: Kansas is another another one. It's cliche. I think they're

687
00:33:23,840 --> 00:33:25,720
Speaker 1: playing their best basketball. I think it took Bill self

688
00:33:25,720 --> 00:33:27,760
Speaker 1: a while to figure out how all these pieces fit together.

689
00:33:27,760 --> 00:33:30,200
Speaker 1: Remy Martin, the transfer from Arizona State. Now all of

690
00:33:30,200 --> 00:33:33,880
Speaker 1: a sudden, you look up. They're playing great basketball. Obviously,

691
00:33:33,920 --> 00:33:38,760
Speaker 1: that game against Miami, that second half was just absolutely unbelievable.

692
00:33:39,320 --> 00:33:41,560
Speaker 1: Um and it's just hard for me to envision with

693
00:33:41,600 --> 00:33:43,320
Speaker 1: the way Kansas playing. Not that Jay Right is in

694
00:33:43,360 --> 00:33:45,600
Speaker 1: a good coach, but I mean that's you're putting a

695
00:33:45,600 --> 00:33:49,120
Speaker 1: lot on the shoulders are basically five maybe six guys

696
00:33:49,480 --> 00:33:51,960
Speaker 1: and probably one or two guys that that hasn't really

697
00:33:52,000 --> 00:33:55,160
Speaker 1: been asked to do much throughout this tournament run. That's

698
00:33:55,160 --> 00:33:57,560
Speaker 1: what we concerned me. It's super surface level, I know,

699
00:33:57,640 --> 00:34:00,080
Speaker 1: but sometimes the most obvious stuff to me is the

700
00:34:00,120 --> 00:34:02,600
Speaker 1: most important stuff. You lose your second reading score heading

701
00:34:02,600 --> 00:34:05,120
Speaker 1: into the final four. I mean, you you can't replace that, obviously,

702
00:34:05,120 --> 00:34:08,480
Speaker 1: you can't fix that. In two three days practice. Fox

703
00:34:08,520 --> 00:34:11,600
Speaker 1: Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in the nation.

704
00:34:11,920 --> 00:34:14,879
Speaker 1: Catch all of our shows at Fox sports Radio dot

705
00:34:14,880 --> 00:34:17,920
Speaker 1: com and within the I Heart Radio app search f

706
00:34:18,239 --> 00:34:20,880
Speaker 1: s R to listen live. Two of the players for

707
00:34:20,960 --> 00:34:23,600
Speaker 1: Villanova were on the team that won the title. In

708
00:34:25,360 --> 00:34:29,040
Speaker 1: Um Gillespie and Samuel's just does that matter at all

709
00:34:29,080 --> 00:34:33,759
Speaker 1: to you or not? Really? Um? No, not really um

710
00:34:33,800 --> 00:34:37,239
Speaker 1: at this point, like everybody's got tournament experience, everybody's got

711
00:34:37,280 --> 00:34:39,040
Speaker 1: Final four. Because the one thing I will say, Jason,

712
00:34:39,080 --> 00:34:42,120
Speaker 1: and it always you never know until somebody steps on

713
00:34:42,120 --> 00:34:45,920
Speaker 1: the court. But we always say in Alic's basketball, I've

714
00:34:45,920 --> 00:34:48,520
Speaker 1: probably made this feel on this podcast with you before, Jason,

715
00:34:48,600 --> 00:34:51,640
Speaker 1: but we always talked about the road to the final four.

716
00:34:51,719 --> 00:34:53,760
Speaker 1: We don't talk about the road to the national championship.

717
00:34:53,760 --> 00:34:55,960
Speaker 1: We talked about the road to the final four. And

718
00:34:55,960 --> 00:34:59,160
Speaker 1: so I'm always curious who is happy to be at

719
00:34:59,200 --> 00:35:02,000
Speaker 1: the final four or and who understands that they have

720
00:35:02,040 --> 00:35:04,600
Speaker 1: two more games to win, And so I bring that up.

721
00:35:04,640 --> 00:35:09,279
Speaker 1: I'll give you actually a very applicable example, but that

722
00:35:09,360 --> 00:35:11,759
Speaker 1: was your buddy Held played for Oklahoma and they played

723
00:35:11,840 --> 00:35:14,480
Speaker 1: Villanova in the Final four. And I remember being in

724
00:35:14,520 --> 00:35:18,799
Speaker 1: the locker room. UH Oklahoma came through uh Anaheim. They

725
00:35:18,800 --> 00:35:21,160
Speaker 1: beat Oregon Oregon and beat of course beat Duke. The

726
00:35:21,160 --> 00:35:23,839
Speaker 1: game before that was the famous Dylan Brooks handshake line

727
00:35:23,880 --> 00:35:27,000
Speaker 1: game with coach k So. Oregon wins that game, they

728
00:35:27,000 --> 00:35:29,920
Speaker 1: play Oklahoma, Oklahoma beats them in the West Regional Final,

729
00:35:30,200 --> 00:35:32,880
Speaker 1: and I remember being in the locker room and all

730
00:35:32,920 --> 00:35:34,759
Speaker 1: I heard was we're going to the final four. Our

731
00:35:34,880 --> 00:35:37,399
Speaker 1: dream all year has been to go to the Final four.

732
00:35:38,160 --> 00:35:40,439
Speaker 1: And I'm saying, they're saying they're happy to be there.

733
00:35:40,640 --> 00:35:43,840
Speaker 1: And Villanova destroyed them when they got to wherever it was,

734
00:35:43,880 --> 00:35:46,759
Speaker 1: I think it was Houston. And so who is that?

735
00:35:46,920 --> 00:35:49,360
Speaker 1: Is there? One team? Is there two teams obviously that

736
00:35:49,440 --> 00:35:52,759
Speaker 1: are happy to be here. My hunch would be North Carolina.

737
00:35:53,000 --> 00:35:55,800
Speaker 1: They said all the right things, you know, uh, Hubert

738
00:35:55,840 --> 00:35:57,919
Speaker 1: Davis after the first game, after the Elite eight game,

739
00:35:57,960 --> 00:36:00,520
Speaker 1: we all saw the on the court. I wanted this

740
00:36:00,560 --> 00:36:04,040
Speaker 1: for them. I wanted them to experience this um that

741
00:36:04,080 --> 00:36:07,960
Speaker 1: sounds like a program that's happy knowing without understanding there's

742
00:36:08,000 --> 00:36:10,680
Speaker 1: two more games now again, trust me, availability today they

743
00:36:10,680 --> 00:36:13,239
Speaker 1: said all the right things. They seem to understand the

744
00:36:13,239 --> 00:36:15,320
Speaker 1: gravity of not only obviously this game, but of course

745
00:36:15,640 --> 00:36:18,520
Speaker 1: playing your arch rival in this game. But I'll be

746
00:36:18,560 --> 00:36:20,440
Speaker 1: curious to see is there one team is there too?

747
00:36:20,520 --> 00:36:23,879
Speaker 1: Is there none that that that the road to the

748
00:36:23,920 --> 00:36:26,680
Speaker 1: final four? You're only sixty of the way to ain

749
00:36:26,760 --> 00:36:29,600
Speaker 1: national championship once you get here. Yeah, yeah, alright, So

750
00:36:29,680 --> 00:36:33,920
Speaker 1: hypothetical matchup, assuming it happens Kansas Duke. It seems like

751
00:36:34,000 --> 00:36:36,160
Speaker 1: Duke is gonna be the favorite in that one. Although

752
00:36:36,600 --> 00:36:40,080
Speaker 1: you know, well, if assuming Duke is a small favorite,

753
00:36:40,080 --> 00:36:42,440
Speaker 1: you like them against Kansas, I would assume. So here's

754
00:36:42,440 --> 00:36:44,640
Speaker 1: the deal. I'm in a little bit of a predicament, Jason.

755
00:36:44,640 --> 00:36:47,720
Speaker 1: Maybe you can help me out. So in football college

756
00:36:47,719 --> 00:36:51,080
Speaker 1: football season, I picked George to win the national championship,

757
00:36:51,719 --> 00:36:54,640
Speaker 1: and then the second in the preseason, and then the

758
00:36:54,680 --> 00:36:57,160
Speaker 1: second they got destroyed by Alabama. I'm like, they're not

759
00:36:57,200 --> 00:36:59,760
Speaker 1: being Alabama if they faced me again. So I failed

760
00:36:59,760 --> 00:37:02,120
Speaker 1: on origin. I couldn't have sold my Georgian stock fast enough.

761
00:37:02,920 --> 00:37:04,640
Speaker 1: So I picked Kansas in the preseason and win the

762
00:37:04,680 --> 00:37:07,520
Speaker 1: college basketball national This is on social media. This is

763
00:37:07,560 --> 00:37:12,000
Speaker 1: not me remisious history. I mean, I feel like I

764
00:37:12,440 --> 00:37:14,400
Speaker 1: can't be the guy that bailed on two teams that

765
00:37:14,480 --> 00:37:17,760
Speaker 1: winned Austional championship in one calendar year. But with that said,

766
00:37:18,239 --> 00:37:20,240
Speaker 1: I find it hard to believe that if Duke gets

767
00:37:20,280 --> 00:37:22,279
Speaker 1: all the way there, and I know it's pressured, it's

768
00:37:22,280 --> 00:37:26,040
Speaker 1: that again, just say it out best players, all of

769
00:37:26,080 --> 00:37:30,120
Speaker 1: bank goes five guys that can score. It's hard for

770
00:37:30,160 --> 00:37:32,400
Speaker 1: me to think that if Duke, especially if they get

771
00:37:32,440 --> 00:37:33,839
Speaker 1: to Monday out. Even just looking at with the four,

772
00:37:33,880 --> 00:37:35,759
Speaker 1: I still think that they should be the favorite. But

773
00:37:35,880 --> 00:37:38,839
Speaker 1: you get to Monday night, you're gonna lose a coach case,

774
00:37:38,920 --> 00:37:41,600
Speaker 1: last game. Come on, now, come on, now, you know

775
00:37:41,800 --> 00:37:44,000
Speaker 1: the tough one. Let me ask you about that. The

776
00:37:44,280 --> 00:37:47,920
Speaker 1: road to the final four. You know, Kansas played in

777
00:37:47,920 --> 00:37:50,160
Speaker 1: the toughest division. I think we would agree, the toughest

778
00:37:50,160 --> 00:37:53,759
Speaker 1: conference in America. The Big Twelve in hindsight, looks incredible TCU.

779
00:37:53,960 --> 00:37:56,359
Speaker 1: The defenses they've faced, our brutal. You know, I think

780
00:37:56,400 --> 00:37:58,440
Speaker 1: they I think they'll They're not gonna be surprised by

781
00:37:58,480 --> 00:38:01,759
Speaker 1: anything Villanova does. But I just wonder about you know,

782
00:38:02,120 --> 00:38:05,640
Speaker 1: Villanova playing in the Big East. Uh, Kansas already beat

783
00:38:05,640 --> 00:38:08,440
Speaker 1: two Big East teams, Creating and Providence in the tournament. Um,

784
00:38:08,600 --> 00:38:10,480
Speaker 1: is that a big edge for Kansas heading into the

785
00:38:10,520 --> 00:38:13,560
Speaker 1: Final four. No, I don't think so, because I mean, look,

786
00:38:13,800 --> 00:38:16,920
Speaker 1: Creating game crates down two starters. Creating could have won

787
00:38:16,920 --> 00:38:19,680
Speaker 1: that game. The Providence game. It might have been because

788
00:38:19,680 --> 00:38:22,319
Speaker 1: I had a little financial investment on Providence. But you

789
00:38:22,360 --> 00:38:25,080
Speaker 1: know it felt like, well, no, they covered no big deal.

790
00:38:25,120 --> 00:38:28,480
Speaker 1: Hey they did cover my Saturday Sunday picks. We won't

791
00:38:28,480 --> 00:38:31,400
Speaker 1: talk about, but I just bring it up because, um,

792
00:38:31,440 --> 00:38:34,160
Speaker 1: like that game was another one where really Remy Martin

793
00:38:34,239 --> 00:38:36,000
Speaker 1: came off the bench, he had like thirteen points in

794
00:38:36,040 --> 00:38:39,280
Speaker 1: the first half. We were I mean we were Remy Martin.

795
00:38:39,640 --> 00:38:41,760
Speaker 1: Remmy Martin twisted ankle away from one of the worst

796
00:38:42,120 --> 00:38:44,759
Speaker 1: offensive halves in the history of college basketball if he

797
00:38:44,800 --> 00:38:46,920
Speaker 1: doesn't light up. So you know, I don't think they

798
00:38:46,960 --> 00:38:49,359
Speaker 1: really blew out either one of those teams. I just

799
00:38:49,400 --> 00:38:52,200
Speaker 1: think with Nova, I just think it comes down to

800
00:38:52,280 --> 00:38:54,680
Speaker 1: bodies and do you have the bodies to bang. We know,

801
00:38:55,520 --> 00:38:59,319
Speaker 1: you know Kansas isn't like super physical, but again, that

802
00:38:59,360 --> 00:39:02,480
Speaker 1: defense is jit as you just said, Dave McCormick down low.

803
00:39:02,840 --> 00:39:05,120
Speaker 1: Um you know they got the light foot kid all

804
00:39:05,160 --> 00:39:08,279
Speaker 1: that stuff. So, um So anyway, you know, I I

805
00:39:08,320 --> 00:39:13,080
Speaker 1: sit here and say that, Um, I do believe that probably. Uh,

806
00:39:13,840 --> 00:39:15,560
Speaker 1: I just think it's more the bodies than it is

807
00:39:15,600 --> 00:39:17,439
Speaker 1: they beat this team or they beat that team, things

808
00:39:17,480 --> 00:39:19,880
Speaker 1: like that. All Right, a couple of big picture issues

809
00:39:19,920 --> 00:39:22,919
Speaker 1: real quick to wrap up. Um, The Kentucky Wildcats fans

810
00:39:22,960 --> 00:39:25,959
Speaker 1: seem very ornerary these days. I know, you know Big

811
00:39:26,000 --> 00:39:28,880
Speaker 1: Blue Nation very well. Is this a kind of a

812
00:39:28,880 --> 00:39:31,440
Speaker 1: pivotal year ahead for Calipari? Does he need to do something?

813
00:39:31,480 --> 00:39:33,640
Speaker 1: They were a train wreck last year and then the

814
00:39:33,680 --> 00:39:36,440
Speaker 1: first round lost to St. Peter's. I mean, it's kind

815
00:39:36,440 --> 00:39:39,560
Speaker 1: of dull because St. Peter's did beat Perdue, But nevertheless,

816
00:39:39,680 --> 00:39:42,960
Speaker 1: is Calipari under more pressure than anyone next season? It's

817
00:39:43,040 --> 00:39:47,200
Speaker 1: kind of adult kind of Uh, it's you know, it's crazy, man, Um,

818
00:39:47,239 --> 00:39:49,640
Speaker 1: what I you know, I've said this pretty consistently since

819
00:39:49,680 --> 00:39:52,719
Speaker 1: the St. Peter's game. I don't think I think Calipari

820
00:39:52,840 --> 00:39:55,600
Speaker 1: lost a vast majority of the fan base that believed

821
00:39:55,600 --> 00:39:58,960
Speaker 1: in him. Um, And I don't believe he can do

822
00:39:59,000 --> 00:40:02,239
Speaker 1: anything to earned the trust of the fan base back

823
00:40:02,600 --> 00:40:05,799
Speaker 1: until the tournament. I truly believe that because just thinking

824
00:40:05,800 --> 00:40:09,319
Speaker 1: about it, they've signed every five star recruit. Last year,

825
00:40:09,320 --> 00:40:11,799
Speaker 1: they went out and crushed the transfer portal the first

826
00:40:11,880 --> 00:40:14,759
Speaker 1: year of the transfer. So there's no transfer they're gonna

827
00:40:14,800 --> 00:40:17,120
Speaker 1: sign that. I mean, the fan base will get happy,

828
00:40:17,160 --> 00:40:19,719
Speaker 1: but there's no transfer that they're gonna sign that's gonna

829
00:40:19,760 --> 00:40:22,000
Speaker 1: better than Oscar Shehebway. This year National Player of the Year.

830
00:40:22,520 --> 00:40:25,719
Speaker 1: Um Calipari has had regular season success and it's now

831
00:40:25,800 --> 00:40:27,520
Speaker 1: you know, and this is something that I really hammered

832
00:40:27,560 --> 00:40:29,200
Speaker 1: home on my show, and you know, when I've had

833
00:40:29,200 --> 00:40:31,360
Speaker 1: the opportunity to work on any of our Fox Sports

834
00:40:31,440 --> 00:40:34,439
Speaker 1: radio shows, is it's not just this year. And people

835
00:40:34,440 --> 00:40:36,680
Speaker 1: want to say, oh, you know, Kentucky fans over reacting.

836
00:40:37,160 --> 00:40:40,640
Speaker 1: It's not just this year, as you said, worst season

837
00:40:40,680 --> 00:40:43,120
Speaker 1: in the history of the program. Twenty nineteen. They lose,

838
00:40:43,200 --> 00:40:44,800
Speaker 1: They do make the Elite Eight, but they lose to

839
00:40:44,800 --> 00:40:49,640
Speaker 1: an augurent team that they beat twice. Excuse me, Um,

840
00:40:49,719 --> 00:40:53,360
Speaker 1: they they lose to Kansas State, a nine seed, in

841
00:40:53,400 --> 00:40:58,319
Speaker 1: the sweet sixteen. So we're now talking about we're talking

842
00:40:58,320 --> 00:41:00,800
Speaker 1: about I had to look up that Elite eight lost Aaron.

843
00:41:00,880 --> 00:41:03,640
Speaker 1: I forgot how much money I lost Kentucky in that game.

844
00:41:03,960 --> 00:41:07,200
Speaker 1: Holy cow, that's right. I vividly remember and it had

845
00:41:07,239 --> 00:41:10,400
Speaker 1: some shades of St. Peter's I remember doing an interview,

846
00:41:10,600 --> 00:41:13,320
Speaker 1: you know, in Kentucky that morning, and I said, Kansas

847
00:41:13,320 --> 00:41:14,800
Speaker 1: State has to play their best game in the season

848
00:41:14,800 --> 00:41:16,480
Speaker 1: to win. In Kentucky has to play their worst game

849
00:41:16,480 --> 00:41:17,960
Speaker 1: in the season to lose. And they did. And so

850
00:41:18,000 --> 00:41:20,120
Speaker 1: now we're talking about I mean, Jason, we're talking about

851
00:41:20,160 --> 00:41:23,160
Speaker 1: the last time that a Kentucky fan can come out

852
00:41:23,160 --> 00:41:25,560
Speaker 1: of the n c A Tournament saying we gave our

853
00:41:25,600 --> 00:41:27,880
Speaker 1: best shot and it just wasn't good enough because the

854
00:41:27,880 --> 00:41:32,080
Speaker 1: other team was better. When Dearon Fox and Bamat of

855
00:41:32,160 --> 00:41:34,560
Speaker 1: Bio were on that team, that I mean, you know,

856
00:41:34,600 --> 00:41:36,560
Speaker 1: those guys are still twenty twenty four. You and I

857
00:41:36,560 --> 00:41:38,319
Speaker 1: would love to be that age. But but in in

858
00:41:38,480 --> 00:41:41,040
Speaker 1: college basketball terms, that's a long time ago. And so

859
00:41:41,520 --> 00:41:44,240
Speaker 1: was hold up? Was that the Malik Monk team? Yeah,

860
00:41:44,320 --> 00:41:48,560
Speaker 1: and they lost in the Elite eight? Luke, Yes, that's right,

861
00:41:48,640 --> 00:41:51,040
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh. And I look back at that Auburn

862
00:41:51,120 --> 00:41:53,879
Speaker 1: damn it, I've forgotten now Harper and Brown went off

863
00:41:54,040 --> 00:41:56,160
Speaker 1: or either of those guys even in the NBA right now,

864
00:41:56,800 --> 00:41:59,400
Speaker 1: I don't believe. So I know Tumo'kiki went down the

865
00:41:59,440 --> 00:42:01,239
Speaker 1: game before. You're more of an NBA guy than me.

866
00:42:01,280 --> 00:42:03,799
Speaker 1: I don't know if he's playing. Pinky went down, and

867
00:42:03,840 --> 00:42:06,279
Speaker 1: I thought Auburn had no chance, and then two guys

868
00:42:06,320 --> 00:42:09,440
Speaker 1: who aren't even in the freaking NBA light them up.

869
00:42:09,480 --> 00:42:12,480
Speaker 1: I mean, that was a Tyler hero team, damn it.

870
00:42:12,840 --> 00:42:15,480
Speaker 1: You know you know who else didn't think that that

871
00:42:15,560 --> 00:42:17,880
Speaker 1: all were had a chance in that game? Four million

872
00:42:17,920 --> 00:42:19,880
Speaker 1: people that live in Kentucky or however many it is.

873
00:42:19,920 --> 00:42:22,880
Speaker 1: I remember talking to a buddy of mine who covers

874
00:42:22,960 --> 00:42:25,640
Speaker 1: Kentucky and he's more of a football beep writer than basketball.

875
00:42:25,719 --> 00:42:28,480
Speaker 1: But I was like, I feel like there's a little

876
00:42:28,560 --> 00:42:31,560
Speaker 1: like everybody's just kind of auto advanced Kentucky the fun Fort,

877
00:42:31,520 --> 00:42:34,160
Speaker 1: and I got it. I was like, strange stuff happens. Man.

878
00:42:34,239 --> 00:42:36,319
Speaker 1: So to go back to the Kentucky stuff. You know,

879
00:42:36,520 --> 00:42:39,160
Speaker 1: they've signed every five star there is, They've they've signed

880
00:42:39,160 --> 00:42:42,359
Speaker 1: every transfer. Last offseason, Calipery really shook up his coaching staff.

881
00:42:42,440 --> 00:42:45,520
Speaker 1: So what do you do as a head coach other

882
00:42:45,680 --> 00:42:49,160
Speaker 1: than two other You know, there's nothing, there's no other

883
00:42:49,360 --> 00:42:52,920
Speaker 1: move to make, and so you know, I don't know,

884
00:42:53,520 --> 00:42:55,840
Speaker 1: and listen, he's not getting fired. He shouldn't be fired.

885
00:42:56,080 --> 00:42:59,120
Speaker 1: But the analogy, you know, well, yeah, I will say

886
00:42:59,120 --> 00:43:01,600
Speaker 1: that not this not this offseason, but if he doesn't like,

887
00:43:01,600 --> 00:43:03,440
Speaker 1: go to the Final four next year or something, right,

888
00:43:03,560 --> 00:43:07,040
Speaker 1: I mean, well, the analogy that I used, and I

889
00:43:07,080 --> 00:43:08,720
Speaker 1: believe that I used it with our buddy Collin Coward

890
00:43:08,719 --> 00:43:11,000
Speaker 1: the other day. I think they're the Dallas cowfulists. They

891
00:43:11,160 --> 00:43:14,479
Speaker 1: win enough in the regular season where it's really hard

892
00:43:14,520 --> 00:43:17,160
Speaker 1: to just blow it up, but they don't win the

893
00:43:17,160 --> 00:43:19,200
Speaker 1: games that matter. And I told columnists and I truly

894
00:43:19,239 --> 00:43:22,239
Speaker 1: believe it is. You know, I don't believe that Kentucky fans,

895
00:43:22,280 --> 00:43:24,600
Speaker 1: like Kentucky fans Alabama Football House, they feel, but they

896
00:43:24,640 --> 00:43:27,920
Speaker 1: get this bad reputation of its championship or bust every year.

897
00:43:27,960 --> 00:43:30,080
Speaker 1: I don't believe that at least a Kentucky that his

898
00:43:30,160 --> 00:43:32,759
Speaker 1: championship and busts. I think everybody, I would say the

899
00:43:32,840 --> 00:43:35,919
Speaker 1: vast majority of the fan base knows it's really hard

900
00:43:35,960 --> 00:43:39,560
Speaker 1: to win six single elimination games. The caveat though, is

901
00:43:40,160 --> 00:43:42,360
Speaker 1: you can lose in the Final four to North Carolina

902
00:43:42,480 --> 00:43:44,480
Speaker 1: or to do or in the Elite eight if it

903
00:43:44,560 --> 00:43:47,759
Speaker 1: had been produced. You can't lose in the first round

904
00:43:47,840 --> 00:43:50,560
Speaker 1: to St. Peter's when your coach is making it a

905
00:43:50,600 --> 00:43:53,960
Speaker 1: half million dollars a year. So I just I just there.

906
00:43:54,560 --> 00:43:57,560
Speaker 1: You know, there's a way to lose where you go

907
00:43:57,680 --> 00:44:00,279
Speaker 1: home like we gave it everything we had. We just

908
00:44:00,360 --> 00:44:03,239
Speaker 1: I think Arkansas as an example, Dukes is better than them.

909
00:44:03,239 --> 00:44:05,600
Speaker 1: Do you guess five NBA players there's no game plan.

910
00:44:05,880 --> 00:44:08,520
Speaker 1: You know, Texas Tech, Michigan State, those teams can go

911
00:44:08,560 --> 00:44:10,960
Speaker 1: home saying like we did everything we could do, was

912
00:44:11,000 --> 00:44:14,120
Speaker 1: just better. Um St. Peters can probably feel that way. Well,

913
00:44:14,120 --> 00:44:15,799
Speaker 1: I mean maybe not even say Peters. I don't think

914
00:44:15,800 --> 00:44:18,239
Speaker 1: they play their best game. Kentucky fans can't sit there

915
00:44:18,239 --> 00:44:20,319
Speaker 1: and say, well, we gave it are all against this

916
00:44:20,400 --> 00:44:22,680
Speaker 1: fifteen seed. Let me let me tell you we tried

917
00:44:22,760 --> 00:44:25,280
Speaker 1: really hard. Golliage, you know, you lost to a fifteen

918
00:44:25,320 --> 00:44:27,480
Speaker 1: seedier coach and pay eight point five million dollars a year.

919
00:44:27,680 --> 00:44:31,000
Speaker 1: I don't think. You know, sometimes college sports fans get

920
00:44:31,040 --> 00:44:34,640
Speaker 1: a bad rap. I don't think that it's unfair for

921
00:44:34,840 --> 00:44:37,280
Speaker 1: Kentucky fans to expect more out of an eight million

922
00:44:37,280 --> 00:44:38,840
Speaker 1: dollar a year head coach and what they've gotten the

923
00:44:38,880 --> 00:44:41,239
Speaker 1: last five six Yeah, okay, I'll say that. I'll agree

924
00:44:41,280 --> 00:44:43,520
Speaker 1: with that, but Kentucky fans are irrational, you know that.

925
00:44:43,800 --> 00:44:46,000
Speaker 1: I will just say, to drill down again, on this

926
00:44:46,239 --> 00:44:49,280
Speaker 1: Auburn loss. Damn you, Aaron for bringing this up. Kentucky

927
00:44:49,360 --> 00:44:52,680
Speaker 1: had four pros on that team, Keldon Johnson, who's starting,

928
00:44:52,719 --> 00:44:55,480
Speaker 1: Tyler Heroes, sixth Man of the Year, PJ. Washington, and

929
00:44:55,600 --> 00:44:59,799
Speaker 1: Emmanuel Quickly, four pros against none and they lost that game.

930
00:45:00,080 --> 00:45:03,640
Speaker 1: Now this year, go ahead, Well, I don't even know

931
00:45:03,719 --> 00:45:07,040
Speaker 1: this year it does Kentucky have any definite proses oscar

932
00:45:07,360 --> 00:45:09,759
Speaker 1: A coming back or be going in the leak? So

933
00:45:09,880 --> 00:45:13,160
Speaker 1: Tu Washington the fresh Mill get drafted. Um, I believe

934
00:45:13,280 --> 00:45:16,400
Speaker 1: Jacob topping there. You know, Obi Toppin's brother. It's like

935
00:45:16,400 --> 00:45:20,040
Speaker 1: a cliche, but he'll I think he can be a

936
00:45:20,120 --> 00:45:21,680
Speaker 1: three and D guy in the NBA. I mean his

937
00:45:21,719 --> 00:45:24,680
Speaker 1: athleticism is off the charts obviously, but no, the the

938
00:45:24,760 --> 00:45:26,480
Speaker 1: NBA talent isn't there. What I was gonna say to

939
00:45:26,560 --> 00:45:29,480
Speaker 1: really quick Jason, this is super nerdy Kentucky talk, but

940
00:45:29,480 --> 00:45:33,320
Speaker 1: I'll just throw it out there anyway, tournament is canceled.

941
00:45:33,719 --> 00:45:37,680
Speaker 1: They have Tyrese, Maxie and Emmanuel Quickly, who is SEC

942
00:45:37,800 --> 00:45:39,719
Speaker 1: player of the Year that year. Okay, And I bring

943
00:45:39,800 --> 00:45:43,960
Speaker 1: that up because I think Kentucky fans had convinced themselves

944
00:45:44,400 --> 00:45:46,360
Speaker 1: if there was a tournament. We were gonna win it,

945
00:45:46,400 --> 00:45:49,239
Speaker 1: and nobody can tell us any different. And by the way,

946
00:45:49,280 --> 00:45:51,200
Speaker 1: I don't know that they were on They were playing great,

947
00:45:51,320 --> 00:45:52,680
Speaker 1: winning down the starts, all like this stuff. But the

948
00:45:52,760 --> 00:45:55,560
Speaker 1: reason that I bring it up, you lose to St. Peter's.

949
00:45:55,640 --> 00:45:57,920
Speaker 1: It's tough to say because because this team is the same. Now,

950
00:45:58,000 --> 00:46:01,759
Speaker 1: now those two are bona fine NB players, but you

951
00:46:01,800 --> 00:46:04,120
Speaker 1: know that was gonna be a two three seed, hottest

952
00:46:04,120 --> 00:46:07,600
Speaker 1: team in the country coming in and this kind of

953
00:46:07,640 --> 00:46:09,640
Speaker 1: had the same vibes. Now, not as many NBA players

954
00:46:09,680 --> 00:46:12,760
Speaker 1: all that, but at the same time, they played pretty

955
00:46:12,840 --> 00:46:16,400
Speaker 1: well down the stretch. They do lose in the SEC tournament. Um,

956
00:46:16,440 --> 00:46:18,120
Speaker 1: but you know, I think even that is thrown for

957
00:46:18,120 --> 00:46:20,279
Speaker 1: a wrinkle. Where's like twenty we were gonna win the title.

958
00:46:20,320 --> 00:46:22,160
Speaker 1: It's like, oh, you just lost. St. Peter's is a

959
00:46:22,200 --> 00:46:23,880
Speaker 1: two seeds, So you know, we gotta see who you

960
00:46:23,880 --> 00:46:26,400
Speaker 1: would have played that here. So all right, Aaron, I

961
00:46:26,400 --> 00:46:29,040
Speaker 1: know you gotta go enjoy the final four, live it

962
00:46:29,120 --> 00:46:31,600
Speaker 1: up down there and stay out of trouble. Aaron, thanks

963
00:46:31,640 --> 00:46:34,000
Speaker 1: for the time. Oh I'm gonna try. I'm gonna try,

964
00:46:34,040 --> 00:46:35,480
Speaker 1: But all right, guys, thank you for having me. I

965
00:46:35,560 --> 00:46:36,200
Speaker 1: appreciate it,