WEBVTT - What's Wright - LeBron James returns, Lakers struggles, JuJu Watkins injury + Dan Hurley erupts 0:00:00.720 --> 0:00:03.800 Welcome in What's Drive with the great Episode three thirteen. 0:00:04.400 --> 0:00:09.080 Programming note demonse for I think the first time in 0:00:09.160 --> 0:00:12.879 the history of the pod out sick today. I talked 0:00:12.880 --> 0:00:15.400 to him this morning. He was gonna fight through and 0:00:15.480 --> 0:00:18.680 come in. I said, take your day. So wish the 0:00:18.680 --> 0:00:21.000 best to Demons, but a hell of an iron man 0:00:21.079 --> 0:00:23.959 streak for him of not missing any time, and so 0:00:24.400 --> 0:00:27.320 he's out today, So it will be just me, which 0:00:27.400 --> 0:00:30.040 you know should definitely, as always promised, lead to a 0:00:30.120 --> 0:00:33.040 quicker show because he's the one that always does the 0:00:33.080 --> 0:00:38.600 over talking and explaining and non sequiturs and different various 0:00:39.000 --> 0:00:42.319 rants you where you interrupt yourself. I've told him he's 0:00:42.320 --> 0:00:44.839 got to stop talking so much, so we'll get right 0:00:44.880 --> 0:00:47.400 to it. Here is what missed the cut in today's show, 0:00:47.840 --> 0:00:49.680 and the first thing that missed the cut didn't miss 0:00:49.720 --> 0:00:54.720 the cut is all at all? Uh. Bronnie James thirty nine, seven, 0:00:55.240 --> 0:00:59.320 four and four for the South Bay Lakers last night 0:00:59.400 --> 0:01:03.160 against Sam Cruz. He was a plus nineteen in his 0:01:03.280 --> 0:01:07.279 thirty eight minutes. It was far and away his best 0:01:07.400 --> 0:01:11.320 game at the professional level. And this is where I 0:01:11.480 --> 0:01:17.080 will as I have remind everyone that twenty months ago 0:01:18.000 --> 0:01:22.080 July twenty fifth or twenty fourth of twenty twenty three, 0:01:22.200 --> 0:01:26.920 this kid suffered cardiac arrest. It totally derailed his collegiate season, 0:01:27.360 --> 0:01:30.560 and that is evidenced by the fact that he has 0:01:30.680 --> 0:01:36.720 now had ten professional games, one at the NBA level 0:01:36.840 --> 0:01:40.960 and nine at the G League level that are better 0:01:41.319 --> 0:01:46.280 than anything he ever did in college. And so when 0:01:46.400 --> 0:01:49.680 people pointed out, like, oh my god, look at his 0:01:49.760 --> 0:01:53.360 college statline and that's a player that you're drafting, it, 0:01:54.360 --> 0:01:59.920 there had to be some math done on. Yes, his 0:02:00.120 --> 0:02:05.120 collegiate numbers were that of a player that typically would 0:02:05.120 --> 0:02:07.680 not be drafted, even late in the second round. But 0:02:07.760 --> 0:02:11.280 if you throw the season away and say those numbers 0:02:11.320 --> 0:02:13.680 were due to the fact that he never got his 0:02:13.800 --> 0:02:17.240 legs or his wind underneath them because of the months 0:02:17.280 --> 0:02:20.480 he had to stay away from the court because they 0:02:20.520 --> 0:02:23.520 thought he might not be able to play basketball ever 0:02:23.639 --> 0:02:27.440 again due to a congenital heart defect, then maybe, just 0:02:27.600 --> 0:02:32.760 maybe you saw some traits that could be a successful player. 0:02:33.360 --> 0:02:36.519 And Kevin O'Connor, who knows a hell of a lot 0:02:36.560 --> 0:02:40.040 more about the draft and about college basketball than I do, 0:02:40.480 --> 0:02:43.640 tweeted to me this morning that if they did a 0:02:43.760 --> 0:02:48.440 redraft today he thought Bronni would be a first round pick, 0:02:48.919 --> 0:02:52.880 and that if Bronnie can keep up this shooting, then 0:02:52.960 --> 0:02:57.240 he's a legitimate NBA player. And again, I am not 0:02:57.400 --> 0:03:01.200 trying to make too much of the G League, which 0:03:01.240 --> 0:03:06.280 is something we never talked about previously. However, because Brownie 0:03:06.360 --> 0:03:09.200 is a star and because he has been the subject 0:03:09.280 --> 0:03:13.160 of scrutiny, we have to be fair in that the 0:03:13.280 --> 0:03:17.919 expectation was that in the G League, with grown men, 0:03:18.320 --> 0:03:21.239 with a lot of guys who were former first round 0:03:21.280 --> 0:03:23.920 picks trying to make a career for themselves, with a 0:03:23.919 --> 0:03:28.120 lot of guys who had a lot more experience than him, 0:03:28.160 --> 0:03:32.079 with a lot of guys who were much more highly 0:03:32.160 --> 0:03:36.040 drafted than him, that he was going to it certainly 0:03:36.080 --> 0:03:38.800 in his first year in the G League. Really have 0:03:38.920 --> 0:03:41.160 his work cutout for him now, and more than his 0:03:41.200 --> 0:03:45.840 work cutout for him, potentially really struggle. And instead he 0:03:45.960 --> 0:03:50.240 now after not playing well in Summer League and not 0:03:50.400 --> 0:03:55.000 playing well in the G League's kind of preseason I 0:03:55.000 --> 0:03:57.840 don't tip off tournament or whatever they call it, in 0:03:57.880 --> 0:04:02.360 the G League regular season, he is now averaging twenty 0:04:02.440 --> 0:04:07.400 two five and five on forty six thirty eight eighty 0:04:07.520 --> 0:04:11.440 splits that is a great value for your fifty fifth 0:04:11.480 --> 0:04:14.400 overall pick and shout out and credit to Brownie. And 0:04:14.440 --> 0:04:16.800 so we're not gonna spend more time on that. But 0:04:16.920 --> 0:04:18.960 that was in what missed the Cup, But he didn't 0:04:18.960 --> 0:04:21.320 actually miss the cut. We did a nice few minutes 0:04:21.360 --> 0:04:26.920 on it. Also, SVP my guy after Maryland finally gets 0:04:26.960 --> 0:04:30.320 on the right side of a buzzer beater, tweets you 0:04:30.320 --> 0:04:33.919 know he's a Dieyard Terrapin fan, and he tweets out 0:04:34.120 --> 0:04:37.880 never a doubt, as a wise man, says shut out, 0:04:37.960 --> 0:04:45.320 Scott Van Pelt, Ernie Johnson, Kevin Wilds the only three 0:04:45.400 --> 0:04:49.400 people in sports media with one hundred percent approval ratings. 0:04:49.920 --> 0:04:54.400 And very nice of Scott to include. You know, obviously 0:04:54.480 --> 0:04:58.240 my trademark tattooed came up with first person ever use 0:04:58.320 --> 0:05:01.880 it phrase never a doubt. Very nice of him to 0:05:02.000 --> 0:05:05.760 use that in celebrating an all time Marilynd moment. More 0:05:05.800 --> 0:05:08.760 on the tournament in a second, and I guess that 0:05:08.960 --> 0:05:11.040 is one way to put it. I did invite myself 0:05:11.040 --> 0:05:15.440 on the Kelsey's pod. The Kelsey's tweeted, should we have 0:05:15.600 --> 0:05:19.719 an NFL salary cap expert on the show? And I 0:05:19.880 --> 0:05:22.880 just responded, I got you. I mean, you know that 0:05:23.000 --> 0:05:25.520 way it could be said, because obviously I'm a salary 0:05:25.520 --> 0:05:29.160 cap expert, but also we could talk other things and 0:05:29.240 --> 0:05:32.839 it would be interesting because you know, Eagles fans tend 0:05:32.880 --> 0:05:34.800 not to like me that much, but Jason, I would 0:05:34.839 --> 0:05:37.640 imagine does I don't know, but if we could get 0:05:37.640 --> 0:05:42.440 a What's Right with Nick Wright New Heights crossover, that 0:05:42.480 --> 0:05:46.800 would have to be good for the burgeoning What's Right brand, which, 0:05:46.880 --> 0:05:51.600 by the way, YouTube's like rate, subscribe review on all 0:05:51.640 --> 0:05:55.640 platforms YouTube just crossed one hundred and ninety thousand, so 0:05:55.680 --> 0:05:59.920 we appreciate you guys for that. We're the slow climb 0:06:00.000 --> 0:06:03.760 towards two hundred thousand continues. But also we'd really like 0:06:03.800 --> 0:06:07.200 you guys to subscribe on either iTunes or Spotify wherever 0:06:07.279 --> 0:06:11.760 you guys get your podcasts. All right, so we have 0:06:11.839 --> 0:06:16.640 to lead this morning with just a huge bummer, which 0:06:16.720 --> 0:06:21.360 is a young woman who I truly and I said 0:06:21.360 --> 0:06:25.440 this last year. I think, well, and I'm not going 0:06:25.520 --> 0:06:28.279 to use past tense, but I had said this in 0:06:28.320 --> 0:06:31.360 the past, and I still believe it has a chance 0:06:32.279 --> 0:06:38.120 to be the greatest women's basketball player ever. I truly 0:06:38.160 --> 0:06:43.520 believe that. I believe that I when everyone was talking about, 0:06:43.880 --> 0:06:46.080 and I obviously was a huge part of the talk 0:06:46.120 --> 0:06:51.640 as well about the phenomenon that is Caitlin Clark. I 0:06:51.640 --> 0:06:53.479 think you guys heard me say a couple times on 0:06:53.560 --> 0:06:58.560 the show that I thought Juju Watkins at USC might 0:06:58.680 --> 0:07:01.720 end up being even better better than Caitlin and even 0:07:01.760 --> 0:07:07.400 better than everybody her size, her athleticism, her basketball IQ. 0:07:08.360 --> 0:07:12.880 It is elite of the elite, and a player that 0:07:12.920 --> 0:07:15.960 can do everything, a player that recently put up a 0:07:16.000 --> 0:07:20.080 stat line that had not been put up in men's 0:07:20.240 --> 0:07:25.000 or women's professional or college basketball this century. When I 0:07:25.000 --> 0:07:29.960 think she had thirty eight points, eleven rebounds, five assists, 0:07:30.040 --> 0:07:34.960 eight blocks, and again a forty minute college game, she 0:07:35.080 --> 0:07:44.280 tore acl last night, and it's just devastating for a 0:07:44.400 --> 0:07:50.720 bunch of reasons. It puts it. I would imagine on 0:07:50.840 --> 0:07:56.120 the board that she doesn't play college basketball again. Now 0:07:56.720 --> 0:08:00.040 I would think she does. I would think that the 0:07:59.840 --> 0:08:03.720 playing is for her to miss all of next season 0:08:04.280 --> 0:08:07.760 and then come back for what would be her senior year. 0:08:07.880 --> 0:08:11.400 I guess red shirt junior year and continue to play. 0:08:11.560 --> 0:08:16.320 And with nil and the WNBA salary structure, I would 0:08:16.360 --> 0:08:21.480 have to imagine Juju can potentially make far more money 0:08:21.520 --> 0:08:24.440 at USC than she would at the beginning of her 0:08:24.640 --> 0:08:29.400 WNBA career, unless something drastically changes with the rookie salary 0:08:29.480 --> 0:08:34.920 scale there. But this is just an ultimate bummer because 0:08:36.240 --> 0:08:41.880 getting we got in the final four last year Page 0:08:42.040 --> 0:08:48.720 versus Caitlin, and we were basically assured that we were 0:08:48.760 --> 0:08:52.480 going to get Page versus Juju in the Elite eight, 0:08:53.720 --> 0:08:56.160 and it was I talked about how I didn't love 0:08:56.800 --> 0:09:00.480 that they put USC in Yukon in the same region 0:09:00.480 --> 0:09:02.439 because that felt like it should be a final four 0:09:02.480 --> 0:09:06.040 inter national championship potential matchup, and it ends up that 0:09:06.160 --> 0:09:09.440 it's going to be, and USC should still get they 0:09:09.480 --> 0:09:13.000 should be able to win next round without Juju, but 0:09:13.160 --> 0:09:17.360 not past that. They absolutely can't beat Yukon without Juju. 0:09:17.640 --> 0:09:20.480 And you just feel sick for this young lady who 0:09:20.600 --> 0:09:27.439 is has the real potential to be a true superstar, 0:09:28.240 --> 0:09:32.320 a true crossovers not just great player. She's obviously going 0:09:32.360 --> 0:09:34.880 to be well, she already is a great player, and 0:09:34.920 --> 0:09:39.560 she and a torn acl you know, is not career 0:09:39.640 --> 0:09:45.840 altering the way it once was. But she needs a 0:09:46.040 --> 0:09:51.640 great NCAA tournament run just to catapult her celebrity the 0:09:51.679 --> 0:09:55.199 way Caitlin had and the way honestly Angel Reese, who 0:09:55.280 --> 0:09:58.560 no disrespect to Angel Reese, but Angel Reese is not 0:09:59.600 --> 0:10:04.480 nearly the caliber of player of Caitlin, or of Juju, 0:10:04.640 --> 0:10:07.760 or of Page for that matter, and they have all 0:10:07.880 --> 0:10:12.960 had these great tournament runs. Juju, this was going to 0:10:13.080 --> 0:10:15.920 be that this year, and if not this year, next year, 0:10:17.120 --> 0:10:21.920 and now out for I would imagine all of next season, 0:10:22.600 --> 0:10:27.760 which is just such an absolute bummer. And here is 0:10:27.840 --> 0:10:32.720 the thing about acls the way I have seen them 0:10:33.120 --> 0:10:38.320 over the last decade. Acls are different in that they 0:10:38.440 --> 0:10:42.839 used to truly be career altering and these days they 0:10:42.880 --> 0:10:48.520 are not. Meaning people typically come back one hundred percent 0:10:49.000 --> 0:10:53.120 to their pre ACL tear ability, strength, speed, quickness, all 0:10:53.120 --> 0:10:57.840 of that, but they are not quick injuries. It usually 0:10:57.920 --> 0:11:03.600 is a minimum of the calendar year that you are out, 0:11:04.240 --> 0:11:08.440 and usually a little more than that until you look 0:11:08.760 --> 0:11:12.120 like your old self. So a huge bummer. Not really, 0:11:12.120 --> 0:11:16.840 this is put this in the huge story not a 0:11:16.880 --> 0:11:21.560 great topic category, and I mean that's kind of what 0:11:21.640 --> 0:11:25.400 it is. There's not much to say. It's massive news, 0:11:25.960 --> 0:11:29.079 but it just sucks. There's no real take to have. 0:11:29.640 --> 0:11:34.280 And so Juju Watkins out and I have to you know, 0:11:34.440 --> 0:11:40.439 Yukon's now, I'm gonna look it up on DraftKings. I 0:11:41.080 --> 0:11:42.800 just can't. Maybe you guys can put in the dock 0:11:42.880 --> 0:11:45.320 for me. I mean, I know they're the favorite, but 0:11:45.600 --> 0:11:49.840 I just wonder what they are now? Is Yukon women 0:11:50.240 --> 0:11:55.559 to win that region? To win the region, I have 0:11:55.640 --> 0:12:00.360 to imagine they are minus huge money. I'm not able 0:12:00.360 --> 0:12:02.320 to pull it up right now. If you guys can 0:12:02.520 --> 0:12:04.520 throw it in the dock whenever you can find it, 0:12:04.800 --> 0:12:07.240 just put what they are to win the championship and 0:12:07.280 --> 0:12:11.000 what they are to win the region, because I do 0:12:11.200 --> 0:12:17.280 not see who possibly could stop them. Certainly now listen 0:12:17.800 --> 0:12:23.800 UCLA South Carolina. Those are legitimate championship level teams. But 0:12:25.240 --> 0:12:29.160 I Yukon's in the final four and they're now plus 0:12:29.240 --> 0:12:34.040 one sixty to win the whole thing. We can't find 0:12:34.120 --> 0:12:36.560 them to win the region. But it's not gonna be 0:12:37.280 --> 0:12:39.600 I mean they it's not gonna be much of a question. 0:12:40.200 --> 0:12:43.520 I saw. I got the I had the privilege of 0:12:43.600 --> 0:12:48.360 watching the Yukon women in person from court side seats 0:12:48.400 --> 0:12:50.800 thanks to Fox. The game was on Fox beginning of 0:12:50.800 --> 0:12:53.960 the year, and I left that game saying I don't 0:12:53.960 --> 0:12:58.000 know how anyone's beating them. Now, Ucla and South Carolina 0:12:58.080 --> 0:13:01.160 is obviously a juggernaut, and USC had shown, oh no, 0:13:01.240 --> 0:13:04.400 they're of that caliber, and Yukon lost a few times. 0:13:04.640 --> 0:13:09.160 But I feel like you can put probably in pen A, 0:13:09.320 --> 0:13:14.040 Yukon Ucla final four on your left side of the bracket, 0:13:14.679 --> 0:13:18.120 and you know, thoughts with Juju, it absolutely sucks, just 0:13:18.200 --> 0:13:23.600 absolutely sucks that she's done for the year and potentially 0:13:23.640 --> 0:13:26.719 done for next year. One note, and I'm sure this 0:13:26.760 --> 0:13:31.599 will happen because Page is such an awesome athlete and 0:13:31.679 --> 0:13:36.840 awesome person. From all accounts, Page dealt with an ACL 0:13:37.160 --> 0:13:40.240 and missed a year, and so I would imagine if 0:13:40.280 --> 0:13:43.600 she has not already, Paige is going to reach out 0:13:43.640 --> 0:13:46.720 to Juju and try to help her through it. But 0:13:47.520 --> 0:13:51.760 really really sucks for basketball fans, for USC fans, for Juju, 0:13:51.800 --> 0:13:54.560 all right to the men's side of the tournament. So 0:13:54.640 --> 0:13:56.319 there's a lot of different things I want to hit 0:13:56.320 --> 0:14:01.240 here before we get to the Lakers losing streak, the 0:14:01.360 --> 0:14:05.080 Rogers stuff. We'll get all of that later. But our 0:14:05.240 --> 0:14:10.720 college basketball coverage on this show burns hot, bright and fast. 0:14:11.120 --> 0:14:14.319 Like the rest of the country. We have somewhat of 0:14:14.360 --> 0:14:19.320 a tepid interest in it. I shouldn't say everyone's like this, 0:14:19.440 --> 0:14:22.080 but at least for me, a tepid interest in it 0:14:22.520 --> 0:14:26.680 throughout its regular season and then are living and dying 0:14:27.080 --> 0:14:30.680 with the tournament and the storylines come March. So I 0:14:30.720 --> 0:14:35.000 am not going to act like I am Mark Titus 0:14:35.120 --> 0:14:40.480 or Big Cat or John Fanta or John Rothstein. The 0:14:40.560 --> 0:14:43.520 people who are, you know, who know all of these 0:14:43.520 --> 0:14:46.600 teams in and out. I do not. However, I do 0:14:46.760 --> 0:14:51.440 watch the tournament non stop for you know, twelve consecutive hours, 0:14:51.480 --> 0:14:55.880 four consecutive days, and you feel like that, plus a 0:14:56.000 --> 0:14:58.640 passive interest throughout the year, you have a good feel 0:14:58.680 --> 0:15:02.000 on things. And the people who had been watching all 0:15:02.080 --> 0:15:07.320 year who said Duke's way better than everybody, they appear 0:15:07.720 --> 0:15:10.480 to obviously be correct. Now you might be like, Nick, 0:15:10.520 --> 0:15:12.560 didn't you pick Tennessee to win it all? I did 0:15:13.080 --> 0:15:16.480 because upsets happened, and that's a fun one and I 0:15:16.480 --> 0:15:22.200 think Tennessee is really really good. But right now there 0:15:22.240 --> 0:15:29.080 are seven guys left in the tournament. Seven left in 0:15:29.160 --> 0:15:34.600 the entire tournament that are consensus first round picks, meaning 0:15:35.240 --> 0:15:41.760 guys that are high enough picks that they are included 0:15:41.960 --> 0:15:47.520 in every mock draft, you find out there these seven 0:15:47.600 --> 0:15:52.680 guys are in all of them, Duke's got three. The 0:15:52.760 --> 0:15:56.200 rest of the tournament has four. Now, again, there's three 0:15:56.280 --> 0:15:58.680 or four other guys in the tournament that might end 0:15:58.720 --> 0:16:02.000 up being first round picks, maybe even four or five others. 0:16:02.360 --> 0:16:08.200 But there's seven players right now in the NCAA tournament 0:16:08.480 --> 0:16:12.320 that are what you would consider minus huge money to 0:16:12.320 --> 0:16:17.000 be first round picks, and Duke has three. There are 0:16:17.960 --> 0:16:23.840 five guys that are currently projected lottery picks left in 0:16:23.880 --> 0:16:28.320 the tournament, and Duke has three. Now, that doesn't guarantee 0:16:28.320 --> 0:16:32.240 you anything, but it does give you an idea of 0:16:32.280 --> 0:16:36.480 what a talent edge this team currently has and why 0:16:37.640 --> 0:16:43.040 it would be absolutely, at least to me, shocking if 0:16:43.080 --> 0:16:46.200 they do not make the final four. Now, in the 0:16:46.200 --> 0:16:50.160 final four coming out of the region, beneath them on 0:16:50.200 --> 0:16:54.840 your bracket will either be Houston, Kentucky, or Tennessee, and 0:16:54.920 --> 0:16:59.640 any of those three teams could beat them. And you 0:16:59.640 --> 0:17:03.640 guys know, I'm picking Tennessee. I like the odds on it, 0:17:04.080 --> 0:17:08.600 and I think they have a I really part of that, 0:17:08.680 --> 0:17:11.159 if I'm being totally honest, probably has to be that 0:17:11.240 --> 0:17:15.199 a disproportionate amount of the college basketball regular season and 0:17:15.320 --> 0:17:19.000 conference tournaments. Games that I watched involved Tennessee because we 0:17:19.040 --> 0:17:22.800 have a close friend that's a big Tennise Tennessee volunteer fan, 0:17:22.880 --> 0:17:25.720 so we watch some games with her, and so I 0:17:25.760 --> 0:17:30.080 thought this team had high upside. But I so, you know, 0:17:30.800 --> 0:17:34.639 bake that in to my analysis of this. But Duke 0:17:35.680 --> 0:17:39.719 is obviously the most talented team in the country and 0:17:39.800 --> 0:17:44.600 Cooper flag is as advertised. Now, I do find the 0:17:44.680 --> 0:17:51.480 Cooper flag hype is the wrong word, but because hype 0:17:51.520 --> 0:17:58.960 almost sounds like unwarranted. But I I am curious, like 0:17:59.000 --> 0:18:04.040 a take the temperature of what are fair Cooper flag 0:18:04.280 --> 0:18:10.240 expectations when it comes to how he stacks up amongst 0:18:10.359 --> 0:18:17.760 number one picks. So if we just go the last decade, right, 0:18:19.400 --> 0:18:22.200 I think that So the number one picks the last 0:18:22.240 --> 0:18:29.760 decade are Karl, Anthony Towns, Ben Simmons, Markel Foltz, DeAndre Ayton, Zion, 0:18:30.280 --> 0:18:37.240 Anthony Edwards, Cade, Paolo Wimby, reesa Chet. If you were 0:18:37.320 --> 0:18:45.000 to rank them based on NBA, you can't really rank 0:18:45.040 --> 0:18:49.000 based on NBA career because there's you know, Carl's played 0:18:49.000 --> 0:18:51.600 a decade, Wimby's played a year. But I think you 0:18:51.600 --> 0:18:54.240 would probably slot them. Like if you did a draft 0:18:54.440 --> 0:18:59.840 of number one picks, Wimby would go one again the 0:19:00.040 --> 0:19:08.320 last decade, Aunt would go to Towns three, Kaid four, 0:19:10.160 --> 0:19:18.240 and then Zion Polo five six. When I watched Cooper Flag, 0:19:20.640 --> 0:19:29.560 I put him right ahead of Powlow and right behind Zion. 0:19:30.200 --> 0:19:35.600 When Zion when it comes to like potential coming out 0:19:35.600 --> 0:19:40.200 of school. Now again, if you were re redrafting based 0:19:40.240 --> 0:19:44.200 on hype or expectation, it would have been Wimby one, 0:19:44.800 --> 0:19:49.000 Zion two, Karl Anthony Towns three, But we've now seen 0:19:49.160 --> 0:19:51.680 Zion didn't quite live up to it. When I hear 0:19:51.800 --> 0:19:56.040 some of the draft experts talk, they they go further 0:19:56.200 --> 0:19:59.840 back and they say, basically number one picks the last 0:19:59.840 --> 0:20:05.600 two twenty years, basically number one picks post Lebron, that 0:20:05.640 --> 0:20:09.800 they have Cooper. They that it's Wimby one, Anthony Davis two, 0:20:10.240 --> 0:20:14.639 and they would have Cooper Flag three. I had a 0:20:14.840 --> 0:20:17.879 ky ahead of everyone I just mentioned, plus Kyrie and 0:20:18.000 --> 0:20:22.720 Dwight and Blake d Rose, all those guys that strikes 0:20:22.800 --> 0:20:32.320 me as ambitious. Now again, as I've said now for 0:20:32.400 --> 0:20:36.040 the sixth time on this show, I am not a 0:20:36.119 --> 0:20:42.399 college basketball expert. The way some are, but I it 0:20:42.600 --> 0:20:53.359 felt to me like the absolute Anthony Davis was such 0:20:53.400 --> 0:21:04.360 a overwhelming, obvious numbernumber one pick, franchise changer, the likes 0:21:04.400 --> 0:21:09.120 of which, again Lebron's in his own category, we hadn't 0:21:09.200 --> 0:21:14.000 seen in you know, the four or five years prior 0:21:14.080 --> 0:21:18.520 to him or after him. Wimby took that up to 0:21:18.640 --> 0:21:23.560 another level because of just the absolute kind of freak 0:21:23.760 --> 0:21:30.640 nature of what his upside potential could be or would be. 0:21:32.320 --> 0:21:41.679 And so set those two guys aside. I don't I 0:21:41.840 --> 0:21:47.720 don't think Flag is a better prospect than Zion was now. Zion, 0:21:47.880 --> 0:21:50.280 it turned out, had his own things. He had to 0:21:50.280 --> 0:21:53.240 deal with, injury issues, some weight issues, so maybe some 0:21:53.280 --> 0:21:56.760 personal kind of off the court stuff that has derailed 0:21:56.800 --> 0:22:03.000 him a bit. I was wrong about how good Ant 0:22:03.160 --> 0:22:05.720 and Caid would be. I thought Ant was a good 0:22:05.800 --> 0:22:08.960 but not gonna be a superstar. And Ant is a superstar, 0:22:09.480 --> 0:22:15.680 and so I am very interested to see how Flag 0:22:15.840 --> 0:22:19.440 looks over these next He's gonna play at least two 0:22:19.480 --> 0:22:22.200 more games, and the odds are he's gonna play four 0:22:22.240 --> 0:22:28.200 more games. How he looks, and if he has a 0:22:28.400 --> 0:22:33.800 dominant tournament moment the way Zion did the way Anthony 0:22:33.880 --> 0:22:36.680 Davis did, the way a lot of these guys who 0:22:36.680 --> 0:22:39.600 were number now Anthony Edwards obviously didn't. The guy didn't 0:22:39.640 --> 0:22:42.120 make the tournament, but a lot of the number one 0:22:42.200 --> 0:22:49.360 picks who went to college Paolo had won, a lot 0:22:49.359 --> 0:22:51.879 of those number one picks who went to college had 0:22:51.960 --> 0:22:57.960 those kind of signature tournament moments. Cooper hasn't needed one yet. 0:22:58.000 --> 0:23:01.720 Andy's coming off the injury, but I I'm very excited 0:23:01.760 --> 0:23:06.800 to see him in the final four against Houston, Tennessee 0:23:06.880 --> 0:23:10.880 or Kentucky and what that looks like. Now. The other 0:23:11.000 --> 0:23:16.199 story of this tournament so far has been that, you know, 0:23:17.119 --> 0:23:22.280 no Cinderella, Nils, you know, nil is the death of 0:23:22.400 --> 0:23:28.400 college basketball. Let's all please pump the brakes just a bit, 0:23:29.880 --> 0:23:35.960 just a tiny bit, if we could. Okay, on first 0:23:36.040 --> 0:23:39.879 of all, one year is not a trend. This is 0:23:40.040 --> 0:23:43.000 one year where we've had no mid majors in the 0:23:43.000 --> 0:23:46.960 sweet sixteen. Second of all, would we are we saying 0:23:47.000 --> 0:23:51.000 we would feel drastically different if the queen kid from 0:23:51.040 --> 0:23:56.600 Maryland hadn't made his buzzer beater and all of a 0:23:56.640 --> 0:24:05.360 sudden there were there was a there was a Cinderella 0:24:05.960 --> 0:24:08.840 or a mid major in the Sweet sixteen that would 0:24:08.920 --> 0:24:12.280 make us feel like, oh okay, everything's fine. No, probably 0:24:12.320 --> 0:24:19.119 not right, And so I don't really subscribe to the 0:24:19.200 --> 0:24:23.080 idea that because it happened this year, this is what 0:24:23.200 --> 0:24:25.640 every tournament's going to look like from here on out, 0:24:25.920 --> 0:24:29.840 especially because it literally almost didn't happen this year in 0:24:29.920 --> 0:24:33.840 that Maryland needed the first buzzer beater of the tournament 0:24:34.359 --> 0:24:38.719 to keep a mid major out of the Sweet sixteen. Now, 0:24:39.000 --> 0:24:42.359 I'm not a fool, and I do understand that the 0:24:42.480 --> 0:24:47.240 transfer portal and guys who are really good at smaller 0:24:47.359 --> 0:24:51.679 schools than transferring two bigger schools, and one of the 0:24:51.720 --> 0:24:56.480 things mid majors had going for them was guys sticking 0:24:56.520 --> 0:25:02.920 around together for three or even four seasons and growing together. 0:25:03.440 --> 0:25:06.640 That gave them a chance against the more talented teams. 0:25:06.920 --> 0:25:09.720 You are going to see less of that. But what 0:25:11.080 --> 0:25:14.960 I think that could lead to, and maybe I'll be 0:25:15.040 --> 0:25:22.080 proven wrong, is more of the true deep cinderellas, guys 0:25:22.119 --> 0:25:27.240 that are from single bid conferences. You're fourteen or fifteen 0:25:27.359 --> 0:25:30.720 seeds who are not going to get poached because of 0:25:30.800 --> 0:25:36.879 nil stuff coming in and having real Cinderella runs. But 0:25:37.200 --> 0:25:44.120 even if we have less Cinderella stories in the NCAA Tournament. 0:25:44.520 --> 0:25:49.720 The upside is having a bracket as it stands now 0:25:50.520 --> 0:25:55.600 where the games are as follows two versus six, four 0:25:55.720 --> 0:26:00.800 versus one, four versus one, three versus ten, but the 0:26:00.880 --> 0:26:06.560 ten is Arkansas coached by John Calipari. Two versus six, 0:26:06.640 --> 0:26:09.760 two versus three, one versus five, and one verses four. 0:26:10.880 --> 0:26:16.480 What that creates, what it should create is an unbelievable 0:26:16.560 --> 0:26:21.560 weekend of college basketball. On Friday, the spreads are three 0:26:21.560 --> 0:26:23.280 and a half, four and a half, seven and a half, 0:26:23.320 --> 0:26:26.760 eight and a half. On Thursday, the spreads are five 0:26:26.800 --> 0:26:28.520 and a half, five and a half, six and a half, 0:26:28.600 --> 0:26:33.200 nine and a half. And we should have eight games 0:26:33.320 --> 0:26:38.600 where six are super competitive. And I'm good with that 0:26:40.920 --> 0:26:47.800 because people don't you like the story of the Cinderella. 0:26:49.080 --> 0:26:54.800 But the actual games, especially once we get Sweet sixteen 0:26:54.960 --> 0:26:58.920 and certainly to the Elite eight, are usually not always. 0:26:58.960 --> 0:27:04.160 Sometimes Butler makes back to back national finals, the games 0:27:04.280 --> 0:27:08.639 are usually not as good as one would have hoped 0:27:08.680 --> 0:27:12.080 for because that team is just so outmatched. I don't 0:27:12.080 --> 0:27:17.000 look at any team this weekend as insanely outmatched. I mean, 0:27:17.000 --> 0:27:20.800 the biggest underdog is an excellent Arizona team, and that's 0:27:20.840 --> 0:27:25.120 because they're playing Duke on Sunday. I'm sorry. On Friday, 0:27:25.760 --> 0:27:29.840 the biggest underdog is a Michigan team that absolutely can 0:27:30.000 --> 0:27:37.159 beat Auburn. And so I I think it was a 0:27:37.280 --> 0:27:44.560 little too fatalistic saying that college basketball is just in terrible, 0:27:44.680 --> 0:27:51.200 terrible shape because we're not having Cinderellas when A it's 0:27:51.280 --> 0:27:57.720 one year and b it is probably going to lead 0:27:58.359 --> 0:28:02.679 to a more compelling Elite eight in Sweet sixteen than 0:28:02.720 --> 0:28:09.320 we've had in recent history. And my last NCAA tournament 0:28:09.720 --> 0:28:14.560 take before we get to the lakers losing streak in 0:28:14.600 --> 0:28:21.879 the Western Commends playoff race some other things is you 0:28:22.000 --> 0:28:28.040 can't ever get everything in life. And this is about 0:28:28.160 --> 0:28:34.960 Dan Hurley and the Connecticut Huskies. So Dan Hurley is 0:28:35.040 --> 0:28:39.560 a great coach. I don't think there is a single 0:28:39.640 --> 0:28:44.800 person in the sports world that thinks anything other than that. 0:28:46.480 --> 0:28:54.400 Danny Hurley also is intentionally I think provocative and kind 0:28:54.440 --> 0:28:58.040 of wants to play the villain role a bit or 0:28:58.080 --> 0:29:00.920 he thinks it either helps him or or helps his team, 0:29:00.960 --> 0:29:10.640 whatever it is, that's fine. What I don't love and 0:29:10.680 --> 0:29:14.120 I gave credit to Mark Titus for this yesterday on 0:29:14.200 --> 0:29:16.400 the TV show, and I will do it again because 0:29:16.480 --> 0:29:22.120 I think he put it absolutely perfectly, which is he 0:29:22.240 --> 0:29:28.120 compared Dan Hurley to the wrestler that takes the stage 0:29:28.360 --> 0:29:33.840 at a show in Wichita and then makes fun of Wichita. 0:29:34.320 --> 0:29:37.120 It's like, oh, you're a bunch of rednecks, or and 0:29:37.360 --> 0:29:39.880 makes fun of the local teams and does all this 0:29:40.000 --> 0:29:47.160 stuff in order to catch heat and get booze, except 0:29:47.240 --> 0:29:53.880 that wrestler then does not act wounded or like he 0:29:53.960 --> 0:29:59.560 is being unfairly maligned when he catches heat or gets boot. 0:30:01.160 --> 0:30:05.880 It's what he's going for. And so having Danny Hurley 0:30:08.560 --> 0:30:12.320 walk off the court their first time they lose an 0:30:12.480 --> 0:30:17.680 NCAA tournament game in more than two years and blame 0:30:17.800 --> 0:30:25.240 the refs and then say to the local media after 0:30:25.280 --> 0:30:28.800 his press conference, thanks to you guys for being fair. 0:30:29.640 --> 0:30:36.600 The national media skip Bayless wannabes were not is to 0:30:36.720 --> 0:30:42.400 me trying to have it both ways to a degree. 0:30:42.640 --> 0:30:47.760