4.3.23 - JR SportBrief Hour 2

Ah, hammock. Check. Arnold Palmer.

Check. Motorized solar shades? Yes, please. Get your home and patio spring ready with brand new custom window coverings from Blinds.com. Blinds.com is the easiest way to upgrade your home with custom window treatments. You can even stay in the hammock while Blinds.com handles the install. Just click Installation at checkout and relax while we do the work for you. No matter how many window treatments you order, installation is always one low cost.

Need help choosing? Talk to a Blinds.com design expert for free to help you make the best selection from classic shutters to outdoor roller shades and more. With over 25 million windows covered, you can rest easy with Blinds.com's 100% satisfaction guarantee. See why Blinds.com is the number one online retailer of custom window coverings with over 40,000 5-star reviews. Shop Blinds.com and save 45% off selected products. 45% off selected products at Blinds.com.

Rules and restrictions may apply. Getting to know yourself can be a lifelong process, especially since you're always growing and changing. Therapy is all about deepening that self-awareness because sometimes you don't know what you really want until you talk things through. BetterHelp connects you with a licensed therapist online who can take you on that journey of self-discovery from wherever you are. Visit BetterHelp.com slash positive today to get 10% off your first month.

That's BetterHELP.com slash positive. You're listening to the J.R. Sport Brief on CBS Sports Radio. You're listening to the J.R. Sport Brief on CBS Sports Radio.

It's the J.R. Sport Brief show on CBS Sports Radio. I'm coming to you live from Atlanta, Georgia. Thank you to everybody listening all over North America on the free Odyssey app on your local CBS Sports Radio affiliate.

Sirius XM Channel 158 on a smart speaker if you got one. I'm happy that you're here. I'm going to be hanging out here with you for the next three hours. I get started 10 p.m. Eastern, 7 Pacific.

I'm being joined by super producer and host Dave Shepherd. And we got a men's national championship going on right now. Ain't looking too good for San Diego State. UConn is leading forty nine to thirty five.

Forty nine to thirty six. About 12 minutes left in the game. In the first half, there was a point of the game where San Diego State could not even score a single point for more than eight minutes. We know about San Diego State in their their defense, but the offense a little hot and cold. They played a lot of games real close.

And it doesn't. Well, it's going to take a little bit of a of a miracle run to finish things up here. We open up the show talking about LSU, the ladies champions and Angel Reese, all of the just all of the backlash that she received and got after walking away with their national championship over Iowa. As we continue on with the show, we'll keep you up to date on the men's national championship. I do want to talk to you about Odell Beckham Jr.. It appears that the Baltimore Ravens have decided to offer him a contract.

And I don't know what good it is with with no quarterback or no certainty at the quarterback position. And then, you know what, as this game comes to a close, this isn't the only thing that's going to be wrapping up. Jim Nantz is pretty much calling his last final four tournament. He's going to be focusing his attention purely on the NFL with Tony Romo and then also calling the Masters.

So giving giving up a little bit of his workload to spend a little bit more time with his family. You know, I guess whatever bit counts, if you want to holler at us as simple as eight five five two one two four CBS. That's eight five five two one two four CBS. You can also find me everywhere online social media that is at JR Sport Brief at JR Sport Brief everywhere. But we talked about Angel gave you an update on this game here. But this wasn't the only big news that that made this a gigantic weekend from a sports business side. There was a report that came out yesterday that you can't be too shocked about. That's Endeavor, which is pretty much a media slash talent company. They've been gobbling up just everything from professional bull riding to even the UFC back in 2016. Just a conglomerate here to make money in all entertainment fields right now. Endeavor owns the UFC.

Fully outright took control of it. Endeavor is also buying the WWE, formerly the WWF. Basically, one of the biggest entertainment properties on planet Earth. The WWE with a valuation former valuation of about north of six billion dollars was purchased here at a little over nine billion dollars from Endeavor. And what makes this interesting is that they're not just buying the WWE from Vince McMahon, who's had his own issues.

I don't even want to say over the past year he's had seemingly a litany of issues over the past several decades. Whether it's steroids or sexual assault, he is selling his company here to Endeavor. And it is now basically being merged with the UFC and will be a publicly traded company. Endeavor, UFC, WWE, 51% of the WWE is going to be owned by them and the other 49% is going to go out onto the stock market. And so Vince McMahon, who had to disappear, he just semi-retired last year because of allegations of sexual assault against his own employees and workers. It was reported that he paid 17 million dollars in hush money to some of the workers and he just paid it back right prior to the sale.

And so in a bad guy world, where Vince McMahon walks around with a pencil-thin mustache now, his hair, which was just basically gray, is now jet black. He sat on CNBC with Ari Manuel, who pretty much runs Endeavor, and Vince McMahon told everybody, he's like, yes, I'm back. This was the perfect time to go out here and sell. And this merger between the WWE and UFC, it's perfect timing.

Take a listen to this. Many doubted we would ever see this day, that you would ever be willing to sell a controlling stake in your company. You are the WWE and the WWE is you.

So why? It's the right time. It's the right time to do the right thing. And it's the next evolution of WWE. I could probably do what Ari is right now with UFC. Take me 10 years.

You know, by the time I would grab those 10 years, he'd be 10 years ahead of you. So it's like, it makes all the sense in the world for all these synergies that we have to extract all of the value we can out of the marketplace. Oh, okay.

And I would agree with him. Brilliant business move. Brilliant business move to bring these two entities together. The WWE is a family product. They have television hours upon hours of television that gets broadcast on a weekly basis from Fox to USA. They have the opportunity to rake in more billions than they already do.

They haven't scratched the surface with the amount of money that they can go out there and generate. And now with additional cross promotion and additional negotiating power, knowing that the UFC is right there, this is actually a brilliant business move. And since we wanted to talk about controversy to open up the show, since people wanted to talk about, you know, how, how bad it is for a young woman to, you know, taunt another basketball player on a, on a court.

Hey, I've been looking for all outrage just over the past, past several months. I did see some guy named Dana White, who's going to maintain control over the UFC. Yeah, I did see that man kind of slap his wife up on, you know, New Year's Eve. That kind of came and went. I saw Dana White at the Super Bowl.

I didn't want to do anything but just walk by him. Even the publicists that I know from UFC that I would typically say hello and hi to, I didn't want nothing to do with them. Knowing that Dana White is just, just walking around. Yeah, it's his personal business, but you can do a whole lot more than just say, Oh yeah, I had too much to drink and it's my business. You got Vince McMahon here on the other side, who also has an entertaining product.

This man just paid back $17 million in hush money that he paid out of the company's account. And where's the others what I'm saying about selective outrage. Nobody cares things have to be all up in your face, it has to be in a form of I don't know a black woman for people to pitch a fit.

Where's, where's the fit. There's more controversy about what took place yesterday and a national championship game in a basketball game than anything that we've heard about Dana White after New Year's. Even with Vince McMahon, even with all of the, the articles it's in the news surrounding Vince McMahon and him stepping down and then him returning to sell the company, and now he gets a reward he gets to sell the company. He talks about how this is one of the biggest moments of his life, and that oh yeah he's not a perfect man but he's made his mistakes but he's, you know, he's paid the price for them and moved on. No outrage there.

There's no I didn't check I didn't see it I didn't see Dave Portnoy calling Dana White a classless piece of you know what I didn't see that. I didn't see anybody saying that about Vince McMahon, when he's paying back $18 million 17 and a half and and hush money. And so from a business perspective.

Absolutely genius. They're gonna make money tons of it they're going to be rolling in money, and the WWE which has done nothing but explode really since turning public and and and moving into new media deals at WWE has been able to take advantage of, of social media and digital streaming, they got their hands in every pot. We don't wait too long. We know Brock Lesnar for years has been back and forth been able to straddle the lines of, of the UFC and being a heavyweight champion being a legitimate amateur wrestler, and then being one of the most popular box office WWE stars and scripted content.

Don't be surprised if you blink your eyes. And the next thing you know you see Conor McGregor in the WWE for program. Bad Bunny, the biggest artist on earth happened to be at WrestleMania and is involved so the WWE is swimming in money and swimming in cash, but there's still a little bit of a dirty feeling when you look at all of the characters involved, whether it be Dana White whether be Vince McMahon, and everybody's entitled to to change right.

Everybody's entitled to go out and now be a better person. But the scrutiny, the public scrutiny doesn't add up. When you look at the people at the top of the totem pole.

I guess we're just so resigned to people at the top being complete you know what's that we just shrug our shoulders. So if we got a brow beat and beat anybody down you, you beat on somebody like like angel Reese. Easy target 2021 year old young lady, not a billionaire, easy to just bash her on Twitter then I guess Vince McMahon just swimming in cash or Dana White 855-212-4CBS 855-212-4CBS Paul is here from Rhode Island. This is our sport be sure what's up Paul. Thank you, Jay. Thank you, chef.

Thank you, Marco. Listen, it to professionals girls in the height of the national media. All it all she did one before the other. So, Curry said Curry message to the to the floor. Okay, so that's all it was. And everybody's making this big thing.

If you were in this situation at that time, that minute, that second, you would do the same. It's all about competition. We don't we don't we don't know that Paul you can't say that.

Here's the deal. There's not a one size fits all when it comes to celebrations that there really isn't. Okay, we have seen folks completely walk of a walk off a court. We've seen people hug. We've seen congratulations. We've seen people yelling and there is not one way in an ideal world.

Everybody would just be kumbaya, but that's not how it is. It's not okay. Am I here for for fisticuffs and all that other stuff at the end of the game?

No, no, I'm not. But yeah, it'd be nice if everybody shook hands, but I thought we've come to a world that's that's not the way it is. And if you got an issue with sportsmanship, teach your kids that, okay?

There's so much more that your kids can learn via the influence that you can have on them versus what they can get from a screen or a box. How are you going to regulate that? I think that's that's more important. So I'm not going to say, oh, what would anybody do? What would you do?

You do the same thing. Nobody knows their relationship. Nobody knows what was said in that game. Nobody knows what was said in past or prior games where Angel Reese could have been at at Maryland and and going back and forth with Kaitlyn Clark.

Nobody knows. She gave a blanket statement and said, hey, I didn't appreciate, you know, what she was doing earlier on in the tournament. She said she was waiting on her.

That's what she did. Can I ask you a question, J.R.? You certainly can. So if I'm being I just first off, I want to thank you for always covering sports in a way where you never want to be bigger than the story. You want to do the topic justice and you want to welcome in other opinions and you never want to be bigger than said story. And you never want to be about your brand.

You just want to do sports talk the right way. I was hurt and offended by a 46 year old white man and a 50 something who looks 70. Call a 20 year old young African-American woman a classless piece of you know what? And an effing idiot like I am mortified that our industry has these two people as one of the most influential people in our business. And all they did yesterday was continue to get notoriety and publicity that should be going to people that aren't about interrogating and tearing people and disparaging people and deriding people, especially a 20 year old woman who just set the record in the NCAA tournament for the most double doubles, who is lottery bound whenever she goes to the WNBA, an individual that from all records I can see, hasn't had the easiest of times in her childhood and has overcome everything and every obstacle in her life.

And she has been an incredible ambassador to the state of Louisiana and she has been one of the best basketball players in the entire country. And I didn't see one negative thing they said, Keith. And I look back at this J.R. Keith or an important or whatever.

Mr. President, whatever wants to call himself. Do they say one thing about Grayson Allen? Because what Grayson and I'm not trying to make this like a hit job against Grayson Allen, but what he did in college was 10, 20, 50 times worse than anything that Angel Reese did.

Grayson Allen could have permanently injured a student athlete who would have never gotten a chance to play in the NBA because of his dirty play. I am disgusted that they would go to the route they did to insult a 20 year old knowing she still has room for growth and she played her ass off. And was it the best decision she made at the end of the game? Of course not. No one's going to say she handled herself with the utmost class, neither did Kaitlyn Clark.

But you know what? She'll learn. She'll grow.

The bottom line is my takeaway is she had an incredible tournament. I'm not going to judge her by 10 seconds of bad judgment. And for these two individuals to try to hijack this and build their brands at the expense of completely cutting down a 20 year old. This is an embarrassment for our industry and I am sick and disgusted by it. Yeah well that's unfortunately the world that we live in and have lived in. It's selective outrage.

That's it. That's why to a certain degree I don't give them the time of day or try not to in excess. You know to say that she is a classless you know what. Man there are plenty of instances. Are you going to say that to an NFL player who does the same thing?

No. There's selective outrage for no reason. Because it's not a matter of being classless for a lot of these folks who build and make money online. It's not about class.

They have no guts. I mean Shaquille O'Neal responded. I don't agree with the way Shaq responded.

He said, he told Dave Portnoy, he said your mother. Okay all right well that's that's one way to do it. I don't necessarily think it's the right way. How about we do this.

Put Portnoy in front of Shaq and tell him to tell Shaq that to his face. You know that's that's that's the thing. People are so nasty and willing to be so nasty.

I mentioned this last week and I don't remember what context. I said there's so many amazing things that you can do that people can do utilizing social media utilizing the Internet. Amazing things. There's also so many nasty things that people can do.

We've seen this in multiple industries and it's not just exclusive to sports that that people have utilized the ability to communicate in mass to people with the hit or click or tap of a phone that the world has just completely changed and will continue to change. And when you have people who have platforms and don't have a regard for other human beings those are the worst of people. You know I don't I have been in a room and I couldn't stomach it anymore to to even be in the space of a Portnoy to give him the time of day.

Or or a Vince McMahon. You have people who who will crap. His is a problem. A lot of people are stupid. A lot of people are followers. A lot of people are ignorant.

A lot of people just have a combination of it all. A lot of people aren't willing to step into realities and can only draw conclusions out of their minds which are just trapped in a box. That's the world we live in. And unfortunately it's a much larger issue than sports.

And it's the most that that anybody can do is is try to provide balance. And there have been a lot of people who have stuck up for for Angel Reese and because there are people folks getting upset at heart whether they realize it or not subconsciously. You know there's a lot of it that goes beyond oh well she she didn't display good sportsmanship. I think that's a legitimate debate. But a lot of the other the extra that's come with it the name calling etc. You saying that about some of these other people. Come on we have people call me up last year about Deshaun Watson. We live in a wild world where just morals and treating people like people have gone out of the window. And I'm not talking about just what happens in between the lines of a game.

But we have plenty of evidence for that. It's the JR sport we show here with you on CBS Sports Radio. Things are getting a little bit closer here in the national championship game between San Diego and Yukon.

I'll give you an update on the other side of the break. We'll talk about Jim Nance. This is also basically coming to an end for him here at March Madness. It's the JR Sport Brief show CBS Sports Radio. You're listening to the JR Sport Brief on CBS Sports Radio. You're listening to the JR Sport Brief on CBS Sports Radio.

Hey, JR. Thanks for taking my call. I'm a first-time caller with a long time listening. So first and foremost, I want to say I love the show. I enjoy it.

It helps me get home at night when I'm taking in late shift at my job. Call in now at 855-212-4CBS. A little more than two minutes left here in the national championship game on the men's side between Yukon and San Diego State. This championship game is taking place at NRG Stadium down in Houston, Texas. Yukon has the ball, trying to keep this lead and maintain this win and pick up another national championship. Sanogo at the free throw line and helps extend the lead 68 to 55, trying to keep San Diego State at bay. And so we are we're minutes away from this game being being curtains unless there's some type of miraculous comeback from San Diego State.

It looks like we might go down to a free throw game and a foul game as San Diego State is trying to hold on. We also know that this is pretty much going to be it and curtains for Jim Nantz. Jim Nantz, 63 years old, probably right now the premier sports broadcaster in the country now that Bob Costas has also slowed down and still pops up from time to time. This is Jim Nantz's 37th time calling the March Madness tournament. That is 354 games. In addition to his work in March Madness, Jim Nantz has also covered six Super Bowls.

He has another Super Bowl upcoming with with Tony Romo. This is going to be his 38th Masters this week. So Jim Nantz is going to finish up in Houston, Texas, tonight with the tournament. He's going to hop on what I'm sure will be a very simple jet and he's going to make his way here to Georgia for his 38th Masters. He's been calling the Masters since 1986 when Jack Nicklaus went out there and won his sixth. Jim Nantz basically said what a lot of people say when they want to retire. Ask Tom Brady.

I need to go home and spend more time with my family. Jim Nantz has a daughter who's getting married. I will assume she's in her 20s.

I'm going to guess. But then he also has a nine and a seven year old. And so Jim Nantz at 63 wants to be at home to spend more time with his kids. And he is cutting down his schedule to now only doing the NFL and golf.

Jim Nantz said it himself. I am now only only doing 40 weeks a year, 40 weeks a year on the road. OK. All right. I mean, I guess the summertime will just be just him and the kids.

I have no idea. That's that's his own personal life. But on the way out the door. Well, typically that's actually tonight over the weekend as we went towards the Final Four. Jim Nantz sat down on the set with the crew and Charles Barkley and Clark Kellogg and Kenny Smith. And he talked about it pretty much being a wrap for him. He was talking about his last Final Four and needing to go home and be with the kids.

This is what Jim Nantz said. This gives me a chance to catch my breath. And my kids need me more at home and I need to be more at home than I need to call another NCAA tournament. It is time someone else get a chance to experience this incredible celebration from the seat that I've had.

I've always wanted the fan to feel like they had a seat at the table. It was as simple as that. Yeah. And I appreciate that saying that. Yeah, it's it's time for me to it's time for me to go.

Let somebody else to do it. I don't I don't need to be here. And the guy who will do it is also one of the best broadcasters in the world of sports. Also calls NFL games and is a pleasure to listen to. Iron Eagle is going to be taking over for Jim Nantz and March Madness in 2024. And I don't feel a step will be missed because at this point, Iron Eagle is also a familiar voice. And so I guess to a lot of people, he's also a familiar face, very recognizable.

And he's also a good damn human being as far as I know from my own interaction. So congratulations to Jim Nantz. I don't know if 40 weeks on the road a year is scaling back. But what do I know? Jim Nantz is going to be spending time with his folks. This game.

Yes, Shep. It's it's about to be curtains, man. They don't how many how many? No, there's no miraculous threes. There's no fouls.

We're just buying time here. They're just JR. I mean, you got I can't believe this team lost four or six this year. But ever since that loss first Creighton last two months, they have they have one loss. They've been a completely different team. And that loss was by two to Marquette, which a lot of people felt like would have gone a lot further than the tournament.

When usually we're accustomed to seeing better results from Shaka. And it's a party in stores. And JR, we're talking five national titles in 25 years. No one else has more than three. UConn, you can make a legitimate argument, now falls into the conversation of one of the greatest college basketball programs in the history of sports. I think I think they've been there in college basketball side. That that that streak that they went on to begin the years even longer than that. I believe it was maybe six out of eight games that they lost or they they took a whole lot of L's, but they've certainly picked it up here.

Started 14 straight, though. That was I mean, that was the team that we felt like was going to be there all season. So they dropped off and we felt like they lost. Yeah, they had a big drop off around coming out of the holidays, you know, but that's that's like most people.

You get to the holiday season and you get a little sloppy there. They turned it on, though. They did.

They turned it on big time. And we're going to have plenty of time to to get into the post of whatever this looks like. I don't know how many how many callers we're going to get from San Diego. We're going to get a decent amount, right?

You know what? I hope we do, because nobody saw San Diego State getting to an NCAA championship game. You know, Darion Tramiel, their star player, is five foot ten and that's generous. So they had an amazing season and they deserve all the love in the world. And they're not going to get back there for a long time.

It took them it took them, you know, half a century to get to this point. It's going to be a long time since they get back. But UConn is here to stay, though. UConn fans are starting to celebrate and jump up and down. They got the camera there in Storrs, Connecticut. Yeah, they're celebrating.

Yeah, the only thing bringing San Diego State back in this game is Kawhi Leonard. And we know he ain't there. So we'll see what it looks like in the end. It's the J.R. sport re-show here with you on CBS Sports Radio eight five five two one two four CBS. That's eight five five two one two four CBS.

Yep. This championship game about to be a wrap. Jim Nance about to be a wrap. I want to tell you about some of the female college players we saw yesterday with all the conversation about Andrew Reese and Kaitlyn Clark. People aren't talking about their futures. They aren't going anywhere.

And I think there may be a reason for them to try to stick around for as long as possible. I'll tell you. Explain on the other side. It's the J.R. sport re-show on CBS Sports Radio. You are listening to the J.R. sport brief on CBS Sports Radio.

You are listening to the J.R. sport brief on CBS Sports Radio. Oh, my God. J.R., I love your show. Mr.

Positive. God, I love your show. I mean, I'm glad you're defending LeBron. God, J.R., I love you. You are a man that is reasonable, knows what he's talking about. Call in now at eight five five two one two four CBS. That was a lot. Thank you.

I love you, too, though. It is the J.R. sport brief show on CBS Sports Radio. We got a national champion on the men's side. It's a wrap.

It's curtains. It's official. UConn beat San Diego State. The final score.

Seventy six to fifty nine. This is UConn's fifth national championship. You might recall they picked up three under Jim Calhoun. They picked up another under Kevin Ali. They got this last one right now tonight with head coach Dan Hurley leading the way. This is their first title since Kevin Ali helped them or led them in twenty fourteen. They have been smacking up teams, beating them by a damn good average heading into tonight.

About twenty two points. UConn has been dominating. And tonight they they outscored them and they stomped them out as well. And they got going early. There was really.

I don't want to say no chance. UConn led by 17 here at one point, and it didn't feel that there was any real threat from San Diego State. I mean, I want you to take a listen to some of these plays.

All of the games took place here, including tonight's championship on Westwood one. Jordan Hawkins, who was able to go out and finish tonight's game with 16 points. He got things going early in the first half.

Take a listen to this three. Hawkins will try a three on the right wing and he'll hit it being pushed back by the defense. Hawkins a fadeaway three and UConn with a twenty six fourteen lead. And they just kept bombs in the way. Tristan Newton finished tonight with 19 points. He was bombs away from three as well.

This took place not too long after that. Trammell three on the left wing off to the right side. No good rebound into the hands of Andre Jackson Jr. Jackson looks to push, leaving it behind for Newton. Deep three on the right wing.

Got it. Newton with a three thirty three seventeen. The Huskies largest lead coming up on four to play in the first. Yeah, that's that's just the first half in the second half.

They didn't do anything, but keep pouring it on. Jordan Hawkins drop in threes. Tristan Newton drop in threes. What about Joey Calcitarra?

He was dropping threes in the second half. Cling it. Top of the key. Bumped.

Hand off. Calcitarra three. Top of the key. Got it. Calcitarra's hit two.

They've both been at huge moments in this game. The lead back to fifteen. Fifty six forty one. Good for that young man. Calcitarra. Calcitarra.

Bombs away. Good for him. Tristan Newton. He kept pouring it on in the second half as well. The stuff for this wasn't a three.

Just taking it straight to the hole. Newton dribbling near the timeline. Under three minutes to play. Ten point UConn lead. Newton with five to shoot. Around the screen from Sanogo. Drives right side of the lane.

Right into Mensah where he lays it up and in. Really aggressive take by Newton and he's rewarded with two sixty seven fifty five. Then just a few seconds ago it was it was curtains for San Diego State. UConn finishing things up. Seventy six to fifty nine.

Here's the final score. Rebound to Hurley for UConn and how fitting. The coach's son is going to dribble out his dad's championship. Seventy six fifty nine. Every dog has his day and this day belongs to the Huskies. UConn has its fifth national championship in school history.

Seventy six fifty nine. UConn men's basketball national champions. His son, Andrew Hurley, was the one who had the ball. You know, at the end of the game you you throw everybody out there onto the court that wouldn't necessarily play.

And Andrew Hurley was the one who just ceremoniously dribbled the ball out to call things a wrap. And UConn just and they put the clamps on everybody that they faced here throughout this tournament. San Diego State is who they defeated in the championship.

Seventy six to fifty nine. But if you think about their their journey here to the Final Four this past Saturday, beating Miami the Canes seventy two to fifty nine smashed them. Gonzaga eighty two to fifty four. You thought about all the foul trouble.

Drew Timmy is he was sitting on the bench. They got smashed. Let's think about Arkansas.

Eighty eight to sixty five. We can even go go further back. St. Mary's smashed seventy to fifty five.

They opened things up against you might you might remember this name. He's now a new head coach is how much time flies. You know, Mr. Rick Pitino is now at St. John's opened up this tournament beating Iona eighty seven to sixty three. And so UConn maybe not so much known for their defense, not ranked preseason heading into this year. Their head coach, Coach Hurley, he spoke to the media as well. He spoke to CBS and he's like, oh, yeah, I had a little bit of a chip on my shoulder. And this has not been easy to get here.

Take a listen. Well, they they buried us before the season and then they buried us at the midpoint because we weren't ranked going into the year. So we had the chip on our shoulder and we knew the level that we could play at even through those dark times. And when you have a guy like Andre Jackson, who's the captain of your team and an Adama Sanogo, you know, it's easy to get back on track. Yeah.

And, you know, by now you've heard it for myself and Shep and Marco. This is UConn's fifth national championship and in a world, a basketball world where where parity isn't so much. Well, there's more parity now, and we've seen a lot of the older guard disappear because they don't want to deal with with NIL and they don't want to hear about teams potentially buying players. The playing field is leveled and UConn has been around for a a very, very long time.

And I don't think things are necessarily going to slow down. And then you talk about Sanogo, the big man leading the way, he finished the game with 17 points and 10 rebounds. And a lot of this to all of the scores that I just named you. These were defensive efforts. They were just smashing folks. They had eight steals in six blocks tonight. UConn did. They held San Diego State to 32 percent shooting from the field. And there's going to be a lot of talk about UConn.

But congratulations to San Diego State as well. There was no expectation for them to be here. We talked even earlier on in the tournament how it was going to take a whole hell of a lot for them to get this far. I didn't expect them to go this far, but they did. And they competed for a championship. It took a buzzer beater for them to get here, but they got here.

And so nothing to be ashamed of, nothing to be worried about. As I sit here in the studio now, Coach Hurley is standing up on the stage. He has got his hat backwards. I know he's ready to cut the nets.

He's awaiting his national championship. I know the next thing that they're going to do is play that god-awful song that I absolutely cannot stand. One shining moment. And then we're going to get one of the most highly edited pieces of tournament recap that you can ever remember. Hey, Shepherd's over. What do we do now? It's just done.

It's finished. You know what? I think a lot of people had Duke at the beginning of this tournament, JR. The way they were playing in the ACC and how they made Virginia. This was before Furman, obviously, and they held them to 49 points in the ACC title game. But, JR, I can't think of a team that was this dominant in all six games. Like, they won every single game by at least 13 points. I can't recall the last time that was done. And none of these guys, JR, none of them are lottery picks.

It's an incredible coaching job by Dan Hurley. Yeah. I don't know if Sonogo is going to go play somewhere.

It may be overseas in Europe or whatever the case might be. But he's a big dude and he was out there. He's been bullying folks.

And also helping to facilitate with the basketball as well. And so, UConn now with its fifth national championship, they got the same amount of titles as Duke. I mean, we talked about earlier in the show, and unfortunately it's not a positive reason.

Well, maybe it is. Bobby Knight, we know he was in the hospital over the weekend. He's now been released. Him helping Indiana win three championships. Indiana has five total. Duke has five total. North Carolina has six. Kentucky has eight. You can thank Coach Wooden for UCLA and their 11 titles.

But UConn is right there. And as you just said, shop, they can go ahead and they can thank their head coach, Dan Hurley, for leading the way. It's Jim Nantz. This is also a big moment for Jim Nantz.

He's standing up there and he's conducting what will be his last interview here at a championship. So a lot of emotions involved. I didn't see too many San Diego State fans and their emotions. CBS has done a good job here showcasing UConn. And San Diego State is going to get a lot of love.

It was only a couple of seasons ago where things were pretty much stopped due to COVID. And San Diego State looked like they were on their way. I don't think the Aztecs are necessarily going anywhere in the near future as well as a program with Coach Dutcher.

Wow. Congratulations to UConn. It's the JR Sport Reshow here with you on CBS Sports Radio. They've handed over the trophy, the lifting trophy, and we're going to take a break. When we come back, we're going to talk more about this national championship. Take a look at the game. Hear from some of the players as well as that audio rolls in. Congratulations to UConn. March Madness is done.

It's the JR Sport Reshow, CBS Sports Radio. This podcast is brought to you by the Showtime Original Series Yellow Jackets. For those of us who didn't peak in high school, those teenage years were pretty angsty. But nobody had it worse than the Whiskyock High Yellow Jackets girls soccer team of 1996. Yellow Jackets, the Emmy nominated phenomenon that has us all asking what really happened out there and what wouldn't you do to stay alive, is back for its much anticipated second season. The team survived a plane crash and a summer stranded in the woods. But winter bites and those girls are hungry.

Plus, there might be a dark force in the wilderness compelling them to do some unsavory things. T.B.D. Meanwhile, 25 years later, the surviving adult Yellow Jackets are grappling with their past while getting caught up in kidnappings, cults, murders and parenting moody teenagers. Melanie Linsky and Tawny Cypress star with Christina Ricci and Juliette Lewis. The Internet is obsessed and Rotten Tomatoes declared it 100 percent fresh. So if you haven't watched Yellow Jackets, it's time.

New episodes streaming now only on Showtime and now stream Showtime on Paramount Plus. Odysseys I'm Listening is our commitment to more mental health conversations. Dr. Christine Moutier of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention talks about the daily change of emotions and mental wellness. Yeah, mental health and emotions are extremely dynamic, meaning they change. That's the most remarkable thing to start to see crisis moments become less and less intense or less frequent. Talk saves lives. For more mental health conversations, visit I'm listening dot org.