4-3-23 After Hours with Amy Lawrence PODCAST: Hour 3

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45% off selected products at Blinds.com. Rules and restrictions may apply. Only one, a solo game left in college basketball. The season is nearly done. I know, it's early March, it's Easter week, it's time. It's also Masters Week. Are you ready?

Are you ready for what's to come? In addition to all of the excitement, the energy, the electricity in both Dallas and Houston over the Final Four with a bunch of first-timers, right? No one-seeds, by the way. In the women's Final Four, both one-seeds that were remaining, including South Carolina, were out in the national semifinals. So the women's battle doesn't feature one-seeds, nor does the men. Men's.

Men's battle. The high-seed is the four. And I told you this time last week that it was the first time... Shoot, now I gotta remember. I didn't write that part down.

I wrote down a lot of stuff. I didn't write down that from last week. It was the first time in a long time that... Actually, I take it back. I remember now. Boom!

The thought just like re-emerged from the depths of my brain. It was the first time ever since they started seeding. That's what it was. That a four was the highest seed remaining. And that's UConn. They're playing like a one-seed, though. Have they not been as dominant as an overall number one seed? The UConn Huskies likely seeded too low.

Not that you could take them lightly. Regardless of their seed, you take the Huskies lightly and that's on you. If you don't remember that they started out 13-0. I mean, this was one of the hottest teams on the planet going back to November and December. So, first time since seeding began, which was the 70s, that a team no higher than a four was in the Final Four. And then, of course, we had three schools that were making their first ever trips.

Miami, San Diego State, Florida, Atlantic. So we'll get to the men's Final Four and what is to come on the championship side on Monday in about 15 minutes or so. Before this hour is done, I promise.

I want to make sure we have enough time. With the women's championship taking over yesterday afternoon, I myself really enjoyed the... It was a 2.30 central time tip off. So 2.30 Dallas time.

I loved it. It was on national TV. It was the Sunday afternoon, which is classically a time when a lot of fans watch sports. There really wasn't a whole lot of competition outside of baseball. And baseball not on the national scale because Sunday night baseball is at night. Duh. I can't believe I just said that. Let's just strike that from the record. Sunday night baseball, which is your national game, generally comes at night.

And there may be others on a network here or there. But it was the only basketball game, only college basketball game in town. And LSU, Iowa put on quite a show. Now we have Monday night. Game doesn't even start until 8.20 Houston time. 9.20 Eastern time. So 9.20 Yukon time. You might as well just prepare.

This is actually a later start. It's an hour later than, say, Monday night football, which people in the Eastern time zone complain about all the time. So just have some extra coffee. Maybe take a nap during the daytime. You got to sleep fast. Sleep fast.

That's what I'll be doing. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. Thanks so much for hanging out with us. If you didn't see it, I don't know why you wouldn't.

But, you know, if you don't spend your entire life on Twitter, yes, I'm completely being facetious. If you didn't see it in honor of April, which is my favorite month of the year, I posted a montage of photos. My flowers. They make me so happy. The daffodils are striking. And then I've got daffodils surrounded by hyacinth, like they're foot soldiers or something.

So this is what's happening. And I don't know how they replicate, how they migrate. I just know that the plants that are bulbs, which is generally what you get early on in the spring, from the crocuses to the daffodils to the hyacinth to now the tulips, they move and they replicate. I have twice as many hyacinth and daffodils than I did a year ago.

And this is with some of the crazy weather we've had. So I'm I'm in love. All I do is take pictures of my flowers. So if you have not seen the montage that I put up on Twitter, they're beautiful.

And the grape hyacinth, they actually look like bunches of grapes and they're gorgeous purple. Jay's not a flower guy or a plant guy or anything to do with the outside. Just kidding. Slowly becoming more true. OK, I was just kidding.

He walks his dog like down the end of the driveway and then he's done. That's not on me. That's on him. OK.

He doesn't he doesn't move well. Anyway, I'll retweet them again just because they make me happy. And maybe Jay will help me put up the montage on Facebook when we have an opportunity. Because, yeah, they're they're beautiful and they give my soul joy.

Like I can't even I can't even explain really. So happy April. April is all about flowers in my neighborhood. And I know in different parts of the country, flowers bloom at different times.

So, for instance, I've got friends in New Hampshire who had snow over the weekend. My high school friend who is helping me get ready for my class that I'll be teaching at Syracuse a week from today, actually. She is really familiar with the technology. It's called Blackboard for those of you who are in academia.

It's essentially it's an online portal where students can access course intel and information and where you can post your grades and yada, yada, yada. So she's been walking me through it with a series of tutorials. And she she was showing me the snow that they'd had over the weekend. You know, I'd be jealous in March. I'm no longer jealous of snow in April.

I'm good now. And they just now have their crocuses coming up. Crocuses and like daffodils are shooting up, but they're not open yet. So different parts of the country are, you know, are blooming their flowers at different times. But at least in my neighborhood, New Jersey, right now it's the hyacinth and it's the daffodils. And I've got this set of daffodils, a clump of daffodils that are white with orange centers.

They weren't quite open yesterday and we had some pretty heavy winds, so they were bent over the ones that were open. And so I'll send, I'll take a picture at some point. But all I do is take photos of my flowers and send them to my family and my friends because they make people happy. So you can check them out again on Twitter, ALawRadio. And then also on our Facebook page, After Hours with Amy Lawrence, I will have Jay help me post some photos there as well. We've talked extensively about LSU winning the Women's Basketball National Championship. If you missed that, our entire first hour of the show was devoted to it.

I suppose that's a spoiler alert. It's also a warning for those of you who don't want to hear about college basketball. But as I say, it was the only game in town really for Hoops fans on Sunday afternoon. LSU, its first national title with Kim Mulkey in her second season, 34 wins this year. The most points ever scored in a national championship game on the women's side. And no repeat champion because Dawn Staley's South Carolina Gamecocks went out against Iowa and Kaitlin Clark on Friday. I guess it was Friday night. So again, we'll get to men's college basketball as a preview of what's to come Monday. And we're still talking a little baseball as well. I think as we as we start into April, I get kind of critical of myself feeling like I don't get to everything or feeling like the show can be more of a smorgasbord as opposed to a nice flow, a yoga flow, a rhythm and flow.

Nah, it's very sporadic. I kind of hop around and I got to talk about this. I got to talk about this.

And then sometimes I get on a tangent and I end up sharing some opinions, more passionate opinions with you. So, yeah, I love this time of the year and I know that there is something for everything. There's something for everything. See, this is what happens when I get ahead of myself.

Something for everyone. And here's the thing. See, that's what I meant to say. There's always a method to my madness.

Sometimes there's a method to my madness. Tiger Woods spotting. Tiger Woods spotted.

There's a Tiger Woods sighting. I just did it again. Can we just like strike the whole last five minutes from the show? Deep cleansing breaths before I go off the deep end. I was doing so well, too.

I'd only made up maybe two words in the first two hours of the show. Box breathing. And now, yeah, I don't take advice from Aaron Rogers. OK, so speaking of Aaron Rogers, we still don't have that, right? We're now in the month of the NFL draft and people are growing impatient. But OK, just as a side note, this is not what I was going to talk about.

Have you noticed how it's become en vogue now if you're a Jets fan to feign? Oh, no, I'm going to feint. I can't. Oh, what am I going to do without Aaron Rogers? Oh, please spare me the melodrama. It'll happen. He's not going back to Green Bay. It's going to be fine.

It's totally fine. But it's become this popular thing to post videos or photos or your hot takes. And I mean, all of a sudden, really famous Jets fans are coming out of the woodwork like, I can't take the stress anymore. Oh, my gosh. Here's one rule that I'm going to be teaching my students. Listeners can see right through fake. Listeners can see through fake outrage. I'm not telling you that they're right all the time because listeners are not right all the time. But listeners deserve authenticity.

They deserve the real you as a host. And so this is why I say I don't ever pretend to be something I'm not. I don't have time for that. I'm too old. I don't have that kind of energy. And I just I am who I am. This is this is what I get.

You've got many other options and that's fine. Thank you, Aaron. Just love it when Aaron validates me. I mean.

The fake outrage or the fake like, I'm going to die if they don't do this trade soon. Oh, my goodness. It's one reason. One very, very prominent reason why I do not listen to local sports radio. It's so mellow, dramatic. It's so over the top. Now, I get it because I used to be in local sports radio and I'm not saying every host. There are some hosts that I really respect that do the work that don't just show up and get all emotional and hope they get calls.

And that's their show prep. OK, so I'm not ripping all local hosts, but I'm telling you local sports radio. The reason I could never go back to it now, because you spend 95 percent of your time on three teams. If you have three teams in your market, it's too much.

I can't do it. I remember when I was working in Providence, I was covering Boston sports. And this is as active as Boston sports are. I mean, think about it right now. You've got the Red Sox like as the third option and they're just starting and people get so excited about Fenway Park and the Red Sox. But they're they're not even on the they're not close to the top rung of the ladder. I would say the Patriots not really doing much this offseason so far has been a far greater story, actually, than the Red Sox.

But that's just me looking afar. The Bruins sitting on its 60 wins now. Right. So just the fourth team in NHL history ever to win 60 games in the season.

They're a buzzsaw. Already have the president's trophy with the Stanley Cup playoffs to come. The Celtics, who were in the NBA finals a year ago and just torched the Bucks by 41 points as we get into the final week of the NBA regular season. So I used to work in Providence and I would cover a bunch of Boston sports. I would take the train from Providence up to Boston. I would go to Red Sox. I actually had a season credential for the Red Sox. So I'd go to the Red Sox. I'd go to Bruins.

I'd go to Celtics. I get it. You're immersed in it. But after a while talking about the same four teams and a lot of times it's the same four topics over and over and over again. So I get that there's this. Oh, no.

What if Aaron doesn't come to the Jets? Stop talking about me. Well, if you would just get your ass to New York, then we could stop talking about you.

Anyway, I just I can't I can't sometimes listen to the local stuff where I feel like it's so contrived. Be authentic. Be real. No one's fainting over the fact that Aaron Rodgers hasn't been traded to the Jets yet.

Right, Jay? I mean, I know you're not a Jets fan, but come on. Do you have Jets friends?

I do. Are they freaking out over this? Like unrealistically, yeah. Like it's going to happen. Just like Aaron Rodgers told us once.

Relax. I just I guess I just don't get it. I don't get it. But if you're a Jets fan, maybe there's something different to it. Just things that it's become the thing now. I feel like part of it, maybe they're just getting nervous because the history of this franchise has just gone so poorly over and over and over that they're actually I don't know if it's a serious nervous or just like, oh, like, you know, playing into the Jets fan. I mean, come on.

They're not the Mets. OK. Yeah, you're right. But the thing is, though, Rodgers can't go back to Green Bay.

They don't want him. Right. It's going to happen. There's just we've talked about some of the reasons why it's not. So it hasn't happened yet.

Just the yeah, the whole like, I'm not going to make it like we don't we don't feel bad. Another day. Oh, my gosh.

Just click now. Back to Tiger Woods. Speaking of click as in click bait, he is about to tee off in his 25th Masters.

Wow. Do you remember where you were when he beat the field by 20 strokes when he was a skinny youngster going back like, gosh, it's been 20 plus years now. Only one PGA Tour event so far on his 2023 resume and actually going back even to last year. But he is preparing to tee off in the Masters. He did a practice round on Sunday. He was on the range. And this is the tournament that's going to really challenge him.

Remember, he made the cut last year, which was this incredible story, this incredible comeback. But by Saturday, well, even before Saturday, he was limping around the course because Augusta is extremely challenging. It's hilly. There are long walks in between greens and tee boxes and it's up and down, back and forth all around. And then think about the holes themselves. The greens, they're very they're they're very what's the word I'm looking for? They they're they're they undulate a ton, but they're also multiple levels. They're they're very much made to confound even the best golfers.

And there's a word I'm thinking of that, of course, the second we get to the break, I'll like yell it out and it'll be too late. They're very much about the rise and the fall of these greens. Right. Which is not what I was going to say. But they're they're made to force pinpoint accuracy.

You could come up two feet short of the hole and your ball can roll all the way back down. Right. So there's a lot of challenge to them. They're very challenging, to be sure. But they're not level.

They're they're they're not level and they're fast. And that's the way Augusta National likes it. And so for Tiger, this is a challenge, just thinking about walking this course four days in a row.

And I do hope that we get it four days in a row with Tiger to have him on the weekend is great. So far, he's not been able to put together four solid rounds. Right. He's not been able to put together four rounds in a row that would be championship caliber. He'll have one.

Maybe we'll have two. He'll make cuts. And then the ankle and the foot get to him. Right.

And so he's not able to he's not able to finish it out, finish strong because of his physical limitations. But he is there and there's always a buzz when he is there. All right.

What do I do? Oh, I know what I was going to do. We're just actually just talking about the Celtics. And they smashed.

It's like smashing pumpkins, smashing bucks. On Thursday night, we we were just taken aback at the fact that the Bucks were playing all of their guys. And yet they lost by 41 points to Boston.

So what does that say about the top of the east where right now the Bucks have the one seed and how could Milwaukee rebound? So we'll get to that coming up. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports. A presentation of Cadence 13 on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts radio.

You are listening to the After Hours podcast. Giannis now with it. He's on the left baseline, fading and firing and sinking a nifty look at J. Bucks again by 19.

105, make it 21 on that. 16 to 2 run now for Milwaukee. Giannis top of the server. He'll hand it off to Carter. Carter, left elbow, backpedaling. Bounce pass back to Giannis with three to shoot.

Got to get to work. Goes to work and sends it down with a one hand slam. Oh, it went right past James Harden. Inbound goes to Harrell. Harrell will launch up three and he misses it.

And that'll be the final play of this one. The Bucks peel themselves up off the mat here at Fiserv Forum. Bouncing back from the tough loss on Thursday to Boston and trouncing the sixers here in this fourth quarter as they win it going away.

This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence. Dave Cain on Bucks radio. When last we checked in with Milwaukee, they had multiple days to lick those wounds. Those wounds that were left on their arms and legs and hands and feet by the Boston Celtics. Really the wounds that were left on their pride. Their egos were damaged after trailing the Celtics in one game.

This is not a compilation. This is one game at home in Milwaukee. Yes, I'm pounding the desk by 50 points and losing by 41. I didn't even know that was possible between two teams with this caliber of talent.

But you may remember it was last Thursday night, so it was national TV. Even better, Bucks fans. Jason Tatum has 40.

Jaylen Brown has 30. The Bucks played everybody. Everybody. And got embarrassed. We met our end. Humiliated on their own court. And so in come the Sixers. I would hate to be the next team. It wouldn't have mattered who it was. You were going to get the badass Bucks regardless.

It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. Yeah, from Brooke to Giannis to Mike Budenholzer, they all knew the number one goal was to, if at all possible, erase the nasty taste. I mean, wash your mouth out with soap, nasty taste after the Bucks lost to the Boston Celtics like that. Yeah, that was absolutely the mindset. And, you know, right from the jump, it was a great team effort. You could tell we just picked up the intensity, picked up the focus, and everyone showed up today. We definitely played harder, played more together. Obviously, I believe we believe that we're a good team. But at the end of the day, we got to, you know, show it out there on the court.

And good teams always try to bounce back after loses, you know, lasts like that. Giannis with 33 points, 14 rebounds. And I know the debate has been, it's been picking up around the NBA MVP. For obvious reasons, Nikola Jokic has missed three games now because of a tight calf muscle. According to Mike Malone, this is not load management. This is not preserving him for the playoffs.

No, this is an actual thing. He really does have an injury and for now can't play. And so while he and the Nuggets are kind of backpedaling a bit, and I know every guy goes through moments where they're injured. This year, Joel Embiid is extremely durable. Giannis has missed a little bit of time, but we know he's Giannis.

The debate is more wide open. I don't know who's going to win the NBA MVP. I know it's a regular season award, so playoffs do not matter.

But the longer the season goes, we've got a week to go. Dial it back a month ago and Jokic is absolutely the three-time MVP without question. Now, there's a few cracks in that dam.

There's water pouring through. And more and more people are starting to look at Joel Embiid. Remember we spoke to Ike Reese a couple of weeks ago and he made an incredible case for Joel. A lot of it having to do with his durability, having to do with him being unguardable on the offensive end of the court. But the fact that he's played almost every game, not every game, but he's played almost every game. He's been durable. He's been in the mix, in the fray. He's in the fire.

But is there also a third candidate? Could we throw the name of Giannis back in the ring? According to his coach, that's a no brainer. We certainly feel like Giannis is, you know, the MVP. You know, I think what our team has been able to do and we still got some more work, you know, to have the best record in the league, but best player, best record. What he does in both ends of the court, you know, the rebounding, the blocked shots, the defense, the guarding on the perimeter. He does everything. Play makes, attacks, gets to the free throw line, you know, just so we feel like he's in the conversation or he should be the guy. We'll see. Who is the NBA MVP right now?

That's a good question. If I had to cast a vote, which I don't have a vote, but if I did, I don't love how Jokic is finishing. I really don't. This is, I would say this is a very critical time, an incredibly critical time for the Nuggets, because they need to get their feet back on solid ground, their magic number to win. The number one seed in the West is just one after they hang on for victory against the Golden State Warriors. But at the same time, they're not playing great basketball.

And so where would the Nuggets be without Jokic? Sometimes that's my question I ask about MVP. It shouldn't be about stats. Stats are just one way to define a player's impact, but it's not the only way.

The thing is, there's no hard and fast rule. What makes a player most valuable? Where would the Nuggets be without Jokic? They do have Jamal Murray this year. But where would they be without Jokic? Well, they wouldn't be the number one seed in the West. Where would the Sixers be without Joel Embiid? I actually think they'd be in worse shape. It would just be James Harden.

No, it wouldn't. Tobias Harris. I'm a big fan of Tobias. I know they've got other guys, but could you imagine that team without Joel? Would that make James Harden their number one option?

No. No team with James Harden as the number one option is ever going to win a thing. It's never going to happen.

That ship has sailed. So right now, Joel is averaging 33 points per game. Giannis is averaging 31. I'm just giving you a couple of numbers.

I'm not telling you that this is how you would look at it. But Joel Embiid does right now have the nose in front of Luca for the NBA scoring title. But there's only, I mean, the top six guys, there's only like three points that separate them all. Jason Tatum's in sixth and he's got 30 points per game.

So that's just one metric, just one measure. Another thing about Joel, though, well, Joel and Giannis, they both shoot better than 50 percent from the floor, which is huge. And they both do take threes. But they also get a lot of dunks. They get a lot of layups. They're active.

They're right in the middle of everything. When it comes to rebounds, Giannis, nearly 12 boards per game. Joel, 10 boards per game.

There's another metric. Giannis averages almost six assists per game, about one and a half better than Joel. Now, Joel has more blocked shots. He has more steals per game.

I guess if you're into plus minus, blah, blah. But Joel's played 63 games. Giannis has played 61. Joel averages three minutes more than Giannis.

If you're really digging deep into it. I don't even see where the Jokic numbers are. I guess I'm kind of, I don't know, Jay, what do you think about MVP? I don't love how Jokic is finishing. Not really the injury part, but the team just has not played well. And this is going to feed into the narrative that the Nuggets are not, they're soft. They're not a championship contender.

Yeah, I agree. If you asked me a month ago, I think Nicole Jokic was the guy far and away. But since this last couple of weeks, month, Jokic hasn't played.

The Nuggets aren't playing well. I honestly think that Giannis could win the MVP every single year. He's just so dominant and that good.

It's kind of like Otani in baseball for me with the MVP. Is he the best player? I think he is. But is that what MVP is, though?

I don't know. That's where the debate comes in. Do I think Giannis is the best player in basketball?

I do. And is he the most dominant to me? I think he is. So I think he could win MVP any single year because I don't really think there's anyone... If that's how you define it, though. I don't define it that way. I define it as most valuable, but that's a tough concept.

It has to be what does most valuable mean to you, right? Where would the teams be without him is a question that I often ask. So this is, I found Jokic's numbers. He, of course, is close to averaging a triple-double. He's actually 0.1 below the assist mark, so needing 10 assists per game to average a triple-double.

He's 0.1 below that, 9.9. He does have a much better shooting percentage, though, and this is a guy who does... Threes are not his number one shot, but he shoots 63% from the floor. So he averages right now 25 points... Where's his rebounds? 25 points, 11.9 rebounds, and nearly 10 assists. So he's almost averaging a triple-double for a team that has the best record in the West, but... A few games back of the pace set by both the Bucks and the Celtics. And I would say one game better than the Sixers, so...

Things to consider. What about the defensive side of the ball? I mean, Joel Embiid's a better defender.

Giannis is a better defender than Jokic. Huh. All of a sudden, so I had NBA Network up here in my studio, because I'm kind of watching just some of the storylines we've been following. All of a sudden, it's a Spanish news channel. This is what happens when we have to...

I mean, seriously. First of all, no one over there speaks Espanol. I speak Espanol better than they do.

And they're putting it on a Spanish news channel while they're doing a radio show. It's... Yeah. Okay. We're gonna change it back. Can we change it back? We can change it back. Can we march over there and be like, hey, yo, who's doing a show right now? We are, actually. Can you just wait until you go on the air? Yeah, I mean, NBA TV is a little more important than the Spanish news show. They're not on the air yet. Okay.

Sometimes we don't play nicely with others, but there are reasons. Coming up, we're gonna get to the men's final for a stunner for the San Diego State Aztecs in the national semifinals on Saturday night, worthy of the stage. And then they've got an incredible opponent in UConn coming up on Monday evening.

Happy April to you. What? You are listening to the After Hours Podcast. Five seconds until halftime. Here's Newton drives baseline.

Skip it out to Karabhan. Three is good at the horn, and UConn up by 13, 37, 24. Alex Karabhan with the cherry on top of a stellar Husky first half. Hawkins got his own rebound, works inside to eight feet, backs to the right corner.

Karabhan drives into the paint. Jumper rolls around at home, and he's fouled. UConn making all the hustle plays, and another one that's an and-one opportunity.

This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence. The voice of Kevin Kugler on the Westwood One NCAA radio network. UConn with yet another double-digit win. This one against the Miami Hurricanes in what was their first trip to the Final Four. So congratulations to Jim Lauren Yaga and the Canes, Isaiah Wong, Nigel Pack, who actually got derailed by a shoe. Do you remember going back, oh gosh, to maybe four years ago and Zion Williamson's whole shoe mishap in his first Duke, North Carolina game? He had a shoe blowout. It did. And this kind of reminded me of that.

Now, I don't know why. I don't know if it's up to the players individually. I know that when I traveled and played women's college basketball, that we almost always had extra shoes because this could happen. So I'm a little surprised that there weren't extra shoes for Nigel Pack, but there weren't. And so he ends up being unable to play the rest of the way.

This was, I say, more than likely, there's no way to know for sure. This was a game that probably even Nigel couldn't save. UConn is locked in in some kind of incredible offensive rhythm now. And even when you can get to them a couple of possessions in a row, they just have so many ways that they can beat you. And so the Huskies make quick work of the Hurricanes on Saturday night, shooting nearly 50 percent from the floor, but actually did not shoot well from beyond the arc.

If I remember, they only hit nine, maybe nine of 26, nine something like that from beyond the arc. They do out rebound Miami, though. And so in this particular matchup, the game was more about what they could do in the paint.

The game was more about taking the higher percentage shots. And it's really impressive, their versatility. And we're seeing them flex their muscles in a bunch of different ways in this tournament. Obviously, the group has shown their quality so many times in terms of the level that we could play at.

And I just think we experienced everything in that month of January. It is. It's a battle tested team.

Obviously, I was comfortable with the things we were calling and the guys were able to manage the situation. Dan Hurley, so calm, not so on the sidelines, but very calm. He and Kim Mulkey share that as UConn is chasing what would be its sixth national championship in men's college basketball. Of course, they're always been. Well, they've been the gold standard since the 80s, 80s, 90s.

No, we'll say 90s, 90s in women's college basketball with Chino Ariema. But they didn't even make the Final Four this year. So the stage belongs to the Husky men and they have not yet really been pushed. I mean, they've had some challenging games, some tough opponents. But in terms of being pushed where the game is hanging in the balance at the end, not Dan Hurley's squad, not this year.

And what about that dominance, step by step, so methodical? When we're playing harder than the other team, which is our calling card, going like plus nine on the glass, playing elite defense, and then having a lot of answers on offense, there's nowhere where we're weak as a team and we're deep. So we're able to kind of body blow our opponent and continue to just put together quality possessions at both ends and the backboard. It has a cumulative effect and it's been able to break opponents. And we are a unique team in terms of our style of play, which hurts you in conference play because people are a lot more familiar.

They see you twice. Games are much more physical. So when people see us for the first time with the two centers and all the shooting, there's no real players like Andre Jackson in the country. He's so hard to prepare for. So we're a unique team. Oh, did someone say Andre Jackson, the junior guard being asked the question of how do you slow down the Aztecs? I would say guard the ball one on one and then also being able to guard the ball screens and the way that they're going to be ducking in our bigs, making sure that we can cut off those drives and not let them get points at the rim. Also, keeping them off the offensive glass and defensive rebound the ball. So this is the challenge for the Huskies now against a veteran experienced older San Diego State team.

Well documented. A lot of guys sticking around via the COVID year and all of the various rules that have affected the landscape in college basketball. These guys stayed together. And for Brian Dutcher, that means being able to rely on their leadership and their poise out there on the court. But also they are a load. They're big.

They're physical. This is their first national championship game. And boy, are they ready.

If their national semifinal was any indication, you don't want to turn away until the game is over. Greenlee looking right. Greenlee fires it in. Caught by Martin near half court. Eight on the shot clock. Martin will hand it off to Davis. Davis with five to shoot against a rope.

Driving down the right side of the lane. Runner won't go. Rebounded by Mensah. Six seconds to go. Five seconds. Butler to the right wing with three seconds. Butler in the corner with one second. Hoists the jumper. It's good!

It's good! Lamont Butler sends San Diego State to its first national championship game. 72-71. The Butler did it for the Aztecs in Houston. Does decide not to call a timeout at the end. It was about seven seconds left when we got the ball. And he told me just to go downhill and try to get something at the rim.

But they did a good job cutting me off. Once I looked up, it was two seconds left, so I know how to make a shot. And I got to a shot that I'm comfortable with. One drill pull up and I'm just glad I went in. A little shot. Like I said, I didn't really know the I mean how big it was. You know, we're going to national championship.

That's not things that many people do. So, like I said, I was just happy it went in. It felt good once it left my hand. So, I'm just happy with this position. I wanted to sideline out of bounds and take a look at a three, but we had enough time if we didn't have the three. So, just get it to Jaden and let him get downhill. Because he had just gone downhill to play before. He's a tough guard in isolation basketball. So, I would have taken the three.

They did a good job. We just went to Jaden and he got downhill. Lamont Butler doesn't even really know how big it was, he said.

But yeah, we're going to a national championship. I'm not sure if you heard him talk about his sister on Sunday. I'm going to try to do this without crying because I'm very close to my brother. And I can't even imagine how devastating what he has been through, what his family has been through. So, yeah, you have the element of basketball. And the fact that Jay reminds me in my ear, he nearly stepped out of bounds.

I mean, we're talking about a millimeter, maybe, from him stepping out of bounds on the end line before he came around the corner and got that pass and was able to put up the jumper from the elbow. But if you don't know his story, his sister was shot and killed in January of 22. So, it's been just over a year since he lost his sister. And he said on Sunday that as the Aztecs were rallying against the Owls of Florida Atlantic that he could feel his sister's presence. And maybe at some point we'll be able to find this audio, but it's obviously one of those types of stories or one of those types of reflections that as a reporter, as a broadcaster, when you hear an athlete open up about this type of an experience, this type of grief and pain, it stops everything. We all want that great quote, that fun soundbite, but this is real life.

And it's something you wouldn't wish on your worst enemy. And so Lamont on Sunday said, I think about her every day, ever since she passed, she was one of my biggest supporters. I know she's up there happy right now watching me play the game that I love. And I think she was with me with that shot.

She probably guided the ball in a little bit. I miss her. And I'm just happy I'm able to do this for her, as a sister who loves my brother like this and can't even imagine. He even talked about when he first heard about his sister's death.

For a second, try to put yourself in that position. You're a college kid and someone has to break the news to you that your sister, your beloved sibling, has been shot and killed while you're in college. He said he used a lot of the emotion, a lot of the grief, and poured it into basketball. I just truly decided that basketball was going to make me happy again. It was a crazy moment in my life to even hear that my sister had passed. But my teammates and my coaches, they gave me time to just decide what I wanted to do.

They said if I didn't want to come back and play, they were fine with that as well. They made me comfortable. They're like my second family. Now add to that, okay, so this is taking place in Houston this Final Four. This buzzer-beating shot of a lifetime, one shining moment for Lamont Butler, comes in front of 20 friends and family members who made the trip to Houston. Including his dad. His dad admits that it was an expensive venture, but they felt like it was really important to be there. And so Lamont, Jr., actually got to hang out with his dad and a bunch of family members on Saturday night after hitting that shot. One more quote from Lamont, this is who I do it for, so I just love being with them and it was just a great moment. I mean, that's life, right? Basketball doesn't matter as much when you've been through that, but what a cool opportunity for him. It's after hours, CBS Sports Radio.