JR SportBrief Hour 2

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That's BetterHelpHELP.com slash grow. This is Richard Deitch, the host of the Sports Media Podcast with Richard Deitch. Multiple times a week, our podcast will get you interviews with the most notable names in sports media. From broadcasters to dealmakers to people doing great work behind the scenes. Here's Huey Brown. Anytime that you win an award, it's not just because of the announcer and the analyst.

It's always because of the production team. That's the Sports Media Podcast with Richard Deitch. Listen on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts.

It is the J.R. sport brief show here on CBS Sports Radio. I am thrilled. I am happy to be coming to you live from Atlanta, Georgia. Thank you, producer and host Ryan Hickey. He's holding it down for us on the boards in New York City. Shout out to everybody listening.

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We've already had a big first hour. Thank you so much to Mike Defabo, who covers the Steelers for the athletic. Mike Defabo joined us last hour to talk about the addition of Justin Fields to the Pittsburgh Steelers. Russell Wilson, who we have learned is going to be the starting quarterback for the Steelers and how this affects not only the Steelers, but all the other teams or maybe just the entire division with the AFC North.

Also. It was Selection Sunday last night. We learned who is going to populate the field for the men's tournament and the women's tournament as well here for March Madness. But before we get to the big stage and the main action later on this week, we know that we have to get through the first four teams. The NCAA has extended itself for the better part of a decade now to 68 teams. We have to go through the first four before we kind of chop things down into the 64, which we know will chop things down ultimately to the final four. UConn, Houston, Purdue and North Carolina take up the number one seed on the men's side. And then on the women's side, we have USC, Iowa, Texas and then also South Carolina.

And so we're going to actually talk more about the rankings and the teams and where they landed and and who didn't land. So, for instance, there's no St. John's. There's no Providence. They didn't they didn't make the tournament. They did not get in. There's no Oklahoma. There's no Pittsburgh.

There's some teams who did not make the cut. And in about, let's just say 15 to 20 minutes from now, we're going to have a conversation with Ken Pomeroy. Why does the name sound so familiar? Well, this is the man who created Ken Palm dot com. This is a Web site which basically tracks in ranks all of the teams with statistics. Kim also provides a blog as to what the best team is, who's improving, who's climbing, who's moving up.

And this is ridiculously reputable. So Ken Pomeroy is going to come through and join us in the next break. Eight five five two one two four CBS.

That's eight five five two one two four CBS. I do want to continue talking college basketball. I do want to continue talking football.

I want to get into RG three. He had some comments about Caleb Williams and what he should do as an NFL draft prospect. We have some news when it comes down to Dak Prescott and his deal. We got a bunch of new athletes, including LeBron James, who is now launching a podcast with J.J. Redick.

There's so much to do. But let's hit the phone lines now. Eight five five two one two four CBS. You want to call me? It's eight five five two one two four CBS. Gregory, he's calling from Michigan. You're on CBS Sports Radio, the J.R. sport ratio. Go ahead, Greg. J.R., Mr. Positive. Thanks for taking my call. Oh, my God. LeBron James podcast.

I'm there. I got to ask you, my friend, when we talk about Russell Wilson, let's assume that he plays for a good three, four or five years. He proves himself like Ali. Will Justin Fields, his formative years growing and developing, will he lose any of his abilities if he stays behind Russell, if Russell itself?

No, I don't think so. If you want to talk about physical abilities of Justin Fields, it's being able to run fast. We know he's an athlete. And I think given his age, only 25, I don't think he's going to lose the juice by sitting out for a year or maybe two years. I think if anything, he's going to become a more well-rounded quarterback by figuring out, hey, I need to learn how to throw the ball a little bit better.

I need to be a better decision maker. And I think when you combine that with his existing athleticism, he might be a better quarterback. And then third and finally, I think sitting out and sitting down, I think it puts a fire underneath your backside. I think it makes you want to get up and go out there and be better.

So it might be a motivating fact. I don't think Justin Fields is going to lose anything by sitting out and watching Russell Wilson. And as I said and had this conversation with Mike Defabo from the Athletic last hour, I actually think that Justin Fields is going to see some action. I think he's going to play every now and then, not as a full-time starter unless Wilson goes down or he sucks.

But I do think that we're going to see him out there with some trickery, maybe some design run plays, RPOs, et cetera. JR, fantastic thoughts. Thanks for taking my call. Everybody, go for your dreams. Thank you, Greg, for calling from Michigan.

855-212-4CBS, that's 855-212-4CBS. Yeah, Justin Fields, what does he have to lose? Sometimes you've got to take a step backward before you can go forward.

Sometimes you have to get punched and hit with a reality check before you can really move forward. If Justin Fields thinks that, hey, you know what doesn't stink and I need to start, that's the wrong attitude to have. It's also been reported that Justin Fields has said no or said no to quite a few teams, making it clear, hey, I don't I don't want to go here.

My agent don't want to go here. And look, why would any team want to bring in a guy who doesn't want to be there? It's really that simple. Not that Justin Fields has all of the leverage in the world.

It's just a little bit of common sense. And I've heard multiple times, multiple times, Mike Tomlin pretty much say, hey, we don't want players who do not want to be here. Why do you want to hold hostages? That's what he said. Not me. That's what Mike Tomlin said.

I don't want to hold nobody hostage. 855-212-4CBS, let's go to Wisconsin and talk to Dan. Dan, you're on the JR Sport Brief Show here on CBS Sports Radio. What's up?

Hey, JR. Remember, we talked Thursday about Justin Fields being a good fit for him in Pittsburgh. Now, the way I see it, I think they're just ranting Russell Wilson for a year.

They're not going to give him the 40 million that his contract is deserved. You know, and I really think Tomlin is going to groom that field, give him every chance to get a starting job. I think that'll be a really good fit for him.

I really do. He can sit back and see what Russell does, you know. I'm sure Russell will step on his own toes and he'll find his butt on the bench somewhere along the line. Did he like pick up your food at the lawn by accident when he was in college? Like, why don't you like Russell Wilson? What did he do to you? Well, you know why I don't like him? Because he couldn't beat Kirk Cousins when Russell Wilson was in Wisconsin. I knew it was something taking us back to it.

No, I got that. Other than that, you know, I just think from the way I see it, I'm not a guru like you are, but I just keep thinking and thinking. You know, Mike Tomlin is an excellent coach. I think he is. I just think it's an ideal fit for him.

They've got two quarterbacks who are paying a million dollars a year for each one of them. Well, hold on, Dan. Outside of and maybe if you're married, I know everybody has their own relationships, right? Yeah. One of the best things that a human being, a person can have is options, right?

Isn't that good? Don't you want options in life? Sure. Yeah. Are you married, Dan? Are you married? No, no, I was, but I'm not no more.

Oh, I'm not mad at you. Well, let me tell you, wasn't there a point in your life where you would have liked to have options? I don't know. What, maybe one wife or two? No, maybe three, right? No, no, no. I never wanted more than one.

Oh, never. You know what? Maybe a wife isn't a good example. But typically people want options. They want something to choose from.

You want to go to the buffet and you want to say, hey, oh, my God, I can I can have chicken and I can have steak and I can just go ahead and pick what I want. The Steelers have options. And like you said, they're not paying a whole hell of a lot. I don't think Mike Tomlin has an option outside of what's staring him in the face right now is that Russell Wilson is the more accomplished and safer quarterback. And they're going to play him and they're going to see what Justin Fields can grow to do. Now, look, if it's the end of the season and Russell Wilson stinks, then all I got to do is wash their hands of them.

It didn't cost them anything. And if they feel that Justin Fields has potential, they can go ahead and keep him on. And they're going to have to make that decision actually sooner than later when it comes down to his contract, actually by May. And so I don't think Mike Tomlin has a preference one way or the other. He just wants to win games. And at least he has two quarterbacks right now that he can say, hey, I want to I want to go this way and roll.

Hey, Dan, leave Russell Wilson alone. He was last in Wisconsin a long time ago. OK. All right. I have a good one there. Thank you. You too, Dan. Thank you for calling from Wisconsin.

Let's go from Wisconsin. And let's go to Texas because John is calling shout outs to everybody in Texas. Hey, John, you're on CBS Sports Radio. What's going on? Hey, John, you're live on the radio.

John is picking his nose. It's terrible. John, save that for your house. Don't do that for the radio. We don't want to hear that. Hey, Jared is calling from Alaska. Your CBS Sports Radio.

What's up, Jared? Yeah, I'm not digging my nose, but I wanted to say I think it's pretty good that Justin Fields is going to have this chance to learn from a Super Bowl winner. Right. From a veteran kind of, you know, in Russell Wilson.

And I mean, not like he's Patrick Mahomes, but this is a chance for Justin Fields to really learn and show out. I don't know. Couple of years, three, maybe. Well, we don't know.

It might be sooner than that. This is the thing. Yeah. Who knows? And this is true.

You never know. This is the interesting part. And thank you so much, Jared. What part of Alaska are you calling from? Oh, this is Anchorage. And, you know, when you were I know we're part of USA, but when you were saying the North America. Well, Canadians and welcome to the, you know, Americans. What about Alaska?

I know we're USA, but we're kind of not really, if you know what I mean. What? Wait, wait. Are you are you trying to break some news here?

Are you trying to push for a succession? No, no, no. Just saying we're we're way out here, you know, kind of like Canada, way up there.

North North America, basically. All right. Yeah.

No, I've I've been out there before, so I'm familiar. You're far. But thank you for calling. Thank you. Thank you, Jared. Thanks for your stuff, man. Good stuff. No problem, Jared.

Thank you for calling from Alaska. Hey, Hickey, for a minute there, I thought he was trying to push for them to to not be a part of America. I'm like, whoa, wait a minute. You getting ready to lead a revolution here?

That would've been a while. We're going to do like go independent and join Russia. I don't think crazy. Don't say that, Hickey.

Well, I mean, some former politicians claim they could see Russia from the house, so that's right. That close. Oh, Hickey, slow down. Relax. You got another one? Hit us with another one. Give us something else. That's all I got. Wouldn't it make more sense if they just said, hey, let's let's join Canada instead?

No. I mean, Canada doesn't seem like they're in the acquisition phase, though. I think they're just kind of there. They got a lot of space. And they're just there. Canada is just there. OK. You're trying to you're trying to start some beef. No, no, no beef at all.

But I'm with you for a second. I'm like, wow, I guess we're gonna have some political news here and Alaska is succeeding. Yeah. He was like, I'm like, hey, where are you from? He's like, hey, I'm from Anchorage, Alaska. And I'm like, great. He's like, yeah, we're part of America. I'm like, yeah, I know that you're going to tell us something like what do you what?

He's like, yeah, we're part of America. But I'm like, but what? So, yeah, but we're far away. So what are you going to do? Just like leave the you're going to lead the revolution or leave?

I don't know. There's a lot of America. America handles a lot of business in Alaska.

A lot of military, a lot of research, a lot of land, a lot of being close to other parts of the world. Yeah. Alaska is very much America. Thank you for letting us know. Now we don't have to worry about, you know, you leaving us even though you're a part of us. I don't know how you would leave us anyway.

It's the J.R. sport re-show here with you on CBS Sports Radio. I'm not leaving and I am not going anywhere. I do want you to know this, though. This is very, very important. I want you to think O'Reilly Auto Parts for all of your car care needs.

Get guaranteed low prices and excellent customer service from the professional parts people at O'Reilly Auto Parts. We're going to take a break when we come back on the other side. We're going to back get back into some college basketball because we are going to be joined by Ken Pomeroy. Why is the name familiar? I told you he is the founder, the creator of Ken Palm dot com. He's going to let us know all about the rankings, the ratings, who deserve to get in and why they didn't get in and et cetera, et cetera. And more more college basketball on the other side with Ken Pomeroy.

It's the J.R. sport re-show on CBS Sports Radio. Listen up. I won't sugarcoat it. This is the longest cold flu analogy season we've ever seen. But we're not alone. We've got Instacart. Sure, you may be a coughing snot faucet who just wants mommy, but you're not giving up. Not when cold medicine, fragrant herbal teas and honey shaped like bears can be delivered through Instacart in as fast as 30 minutes. Now let's go win the sick playoffs. Daddy, I just want my soup.

Oh, sorry. Sport app says it'll be here in a few minutes. Instacart for the win. What's the first thing you do if you'd had more time in the day? Take a nap, read a book, talk with a friend. When you know what's important to you, it's easier to fit it into your schedule. Therapy can help you figure that out. BetterHelp offers affordable online therapy that comes to you. Start the process in minutes and switch therapists anytime. Learn to make time for what makes you happy with BetterHelp. Visit BetterHelp.com slash grow today to get 10 percent off your first month.

That's BetterHelpHELP.com slash grow. This is Richard Deitch, the host of the sports media podcast with Richard Deitch multiple times a week. Our podcast will get you interviews with the most notable names in sports media from broadcasters to dealmakers to people doing great work behind the scenes. Here's Huey Brown. Any time that you win an award, it's not just because of the announcer and the analyst.

It's always because of the production team. That's the sports media podcast with Richard Deitch. Listen on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. You are listening to the J.R. Sport Brief on CBS Sports Radio.

The J.R. Sport Brief show here on CBS Sports Radio. I'm coming to you live from Atlanta, Georgia. Listen, folks, as we continue on with the show broadcasting all over North America, we got teams all over North America that are going to be competing in March Madness and some that are not. And so to talk more about March Madness and to really dive deep into some of the teams that made it in, some of the teams did not, and to take a look at one of the most used analytics and stats and platforms that help drive conversation about who got in, who did not get in and strength to schedule efficiency and what have you. It's time to talk to Ken Pomeroy of KenPom.com.

And Ken also formally wrote and written for everybody New York Times, ESPN and what have you. Ken, thank you for taking the time to hop on. Thanks, J.R., thanks for having me on. No doubt about it.

It's always great to chat with you this time of year. For anyone who's not familiar with KenPom and is going to be looking at it a whole hell of a lot more over the next several weeks, fill us in. What is it? Why did you get started with it years ago? What does it do? Well, at its core, it's basically a power rating for all the teams in college basketball, and it uses offensive and defensive efficiency, so looking at the points a team scores and allows per 100 possessions.

It's all adjusted for strength of schedule and when the games were played and quality of opponent. And how I got into it, I mean, it was, you know, probably about 20 years ago now, analytics were kind of taken off in baseball. There wasn't a lot of work going on in my favorite sport, which is basketball.

And so I just kind of jumped in and started a website and things really kind of took off from there. Ken Pomeroy is joining us here from KenPom.com. We know about some of the teams that did not get in to this year's tournament. You have Rick Pitino who's yelling about the NCAA's rating system when it comes down to net. How do you view what you do versus what they might do internally when it comes to numbers and stats and strength, efficiency and what have you? Yeah, my work's a little different than what the selection committee is trying to do. You know, the selection committee is really trying to evaluate the quality of the team's wins and losses and compare that to all the other teams that are in contention for a bid.

I'm more concerned about predicting the future. So, you know, once a team gets in, what are they going to do? And that's not always aligned with like what a team's record is. You can look at past history and basically, you know, scoring margin is actually a pretty important predictor in terms of how well a team is going to do going forward, especially if it's scoring a margin against quality opponents.

So there are going to be differences. And that's why you see a team like Auburn who's fourth in my ratings, but a four seed and probably deserved a four seed. They didn't have a lot of high quality wins. But overall, when you look at how they played possession by possession during this season, they were one of the best teams in the country.

They just didn't quite get it down against the best teams on their schedule. Well, Ken, you talk about having a team like Auburn as fourth on your current ratings and we know who the number one seeds are. You can look at UConn, Purdue, North Carolina, and then also Houston. What are some other discrepancies or teams that you think are on the rise that don't necessarily fit in with what they look like on a bracket? Well, I think at the top of that list, you have New Mexico, who pretty surprisingly to a lot of people ended up with an 11 seed.

They're 23rd in my ratings. You know, they played in the Mountain West. A lot of good teams at the top of that league. There was a time early in the conference season where they were leading that league. Had a little trouble in the middle of the season and ended up getting a sixth seed in the conference tournament. Of course, won the conference tournament. But yeah, oddly, you know, 23rd in my ratings. 11th on the seed list and actually favored in the first round against the sixth seed Clemson.

Ken Pomeroy is here with us from KenPom.com, the JR Sport Reshow on CBS Sports Radio. We know that the Big East, well, they got three teams that did not get in and they're not happy about it. Whether it's Seton Hall, St. John's, and then also Providence. What are your thoughts on their omissions?

Well, yeah, they're a curious case. You look at the conference ratings on my site and I had the Big East as the second best league in the country. They had two very poor teams in the league in terms of DePaul and Georgetown, but the other eight were extremely competitive. At very different times during the season were in projected brackets. They were all very good teams. Obviously, led by those top three teams.

They get a one seed, a two seed, and a three seed in terms of UConn, Marquette, and Creighton. Those teams were very good and then you had the bubble teams. I was surprised that none of those teams got in. It seems like St. John's had done enough to get there.

They were 25th in my ratings. They had some quality wins. I think the bottom line is you just get to those bubble teams.

The way the process works right now, they're so hard to distinguish. You compare resumes side by side between St. John's and Indiana State and Oklahoma and teams like that. It's just really hard to come up with definitive views on which team has a better resume. Ultimately, those teams left things up to a committee of 10 to decide their fate.

In this case, it ended up not going their way. Ken Pomeroy is here with us. You talk about teams on the bubble. What are your thoughts on the potential expansion of the tournament? We know we sit at 64 plus four.

We might be moving into the 70s. What are your thoughts on potential expansion? I'd be in favor of some small expansion. You look at when the tournament originally went to 64 teams. I believe there were almost 21 percent of teams were in the tournament.

Obviously, that number has gone down over time. We have a lot more teams in Division I than we had 38 years ago when this started. Just by the nature of the expansion of Division I, I think some expansion of the tournament is warranted. Certainly, you'd have teams that people wouldn't necessarily love to see get in like a Pitt or an Oklahoma. You'd also have a team like Indiana State that would be in this situation.

To me, that trade is worth it. I wouldn't expand the tournament beyond 80 teams at this point. People are talking about 96, something like that. That would be kind of a mess. If we get to 96 teams, can I just start my own team and run them out there? What are we doing? You could start your own team. You could go 13 and 18 and you'd probably get a bit.

It might be worth a shot. Ken Pomeroy is here with us from KenPom.com. When you think about the teams that are in, we know Connecticut is trying to go back-to-back. Who are some of the sleeper teams that have been on some big runs lately that might give some squads a run for their money? UConn in particular is the best team in the country, but they really got put in a pretty difficult bracket. The most difficult bracket when it comes right down to it.

They'll have to get through. Probably Auburn, the team we just mentioned, is a 4 seed, but a very, very strong 4 seed. A team like Iowa State who is a 2 seed, but obviously coming off a championship in the Big 12 tournament, really proving themselves, has the top-ranked defense in the country according to my rating.

They're obviously very formidable. Maybe a team a lot of people aren't familiar with. Not a great offense, but an extremely good defense. Even Illinois in that bracket as a 3 seed is another team that is really well-rounded, experienced, great scorer.

Terrence Shannon on the roster. They're a team that can give UConn some trouble as well. I don't know if any of those teams are necessarily sleepers. This is a year where we really have a top-heavy tournament field. UConn, Houston, and Purdue.

I am kind of curious to see what happens in that east bracket because UConn is definitely going to have some challenges trying to get back to the Final Four. Ken, when you talk about just the volatility of college basketball now year after year, there's no continuity, the players are shifting all over the place. How have your ratings and rankings changed year over year knowing that the rosters get kind of blown up in a lot of cases? Have you seen anything different year to year in how the ratings go forward?

Yeah, certainly from year to year I think there's volatility. We've seen that to some extent. Last year with North Carolina starting preseason number one, failing to make the tournament, this year you had a UCLA team. They turned over their roster quite a bit, but you just kind of figured that based on what McCrone has done there, they'd be a solid team. They really struggled in the Pac-12, struggled just to have a.500 record.

Arkansas is another example. Eric Musselman, pretty notable for being able to turn over his roster and get things done, but this year it didn't work out at all for him. They were pretty bad in SEC play. I think that's a testament to player turnover, freedom to transfer.

In addition, the COVID year has made everybody older. There's really more talent in the system than there's ever been. Guys looking for playing time are more able to find it, and there's just more talent out there. That allows there to be a lot more parity, but it also makes the coach's job more difficult because if they can't identify the transfer that will fit into their system, the results could be disastrous.

We've seen a lot of coaches kind of start to bail with these new rules and new changes. Well, Ken, thank you for taking the time to hop on. Where can people keep up with you, find your ratings, and keep things moving being a no? Absolutely. I mean, you can go to kenpom.com and check out the ratings and do a little bit of commentary on my sub stack as well.

So you can head over there for some longer form writing about what's going on in college basketball. Hey, Ken, thank you so much for taking the time to hop on. Appreciate you.

All right. Thanks, JR. No doubt about it. That Ken Pomeroy of kenpom.com. Probably the leading and most utilized rating system for college basketball all throughout the course of the year.

You're going to see it get utilized now that we're really in the depths of the tournament as to who's in. On his ratings, as I'm looking at them right now, he has Connecticut ranked number one, Houston two, Purdue three. And as he mentioned, Auburn at number four, followed by Iowa State, Arizona, Tennessee, Duke, North Carolina and Illinois. Mr. JR sport re show here with you on CBS Sports Radio. He talked about the volatility of the college game and the player movement and what have you. I'm going to talk about the transfer portal on the other side of the break, because for the life of me, I cannot understand how in the same week that you're launching March Madness, you're really getting the tournament underway for the teams that are not involved. They got free reign and free will for their place to leave and go wherever the hell they want while we got other teams that are actively playing. And then also, I think Tom Crean was what was mentioned. Former Marquette coach, former Bulldog coach right down here in Georgia, Athens, right on down the road for me.

He wasn't happy about something else taking place. And that seems that did not get into the NCAA tournament, deciding that I do not need to be a part of the N I T. NIT might as well not exist anymore. It's the JR sport re show here on CBS Sports Radio.

We still exist. We're going to come back and talk about it on the other side of the break. You are listening to the JR sport brief on CBS Sports Radio. Oh, thank you for the kind words. Thank you.

Thank you. It is the JR sport re show here on CBS Sports Radio. I think we kind of sort of did have a genius on the airwaves here with us in our last break. Ken Pomeroy joined us. Ken Palm Dotcom, the ultimate rating system in college basketball used by everybody.

You're going to get a lot of looks, a lot of views, a lot of eyeballs. Knowing the fact that we're heading in to March Madness or that we already in March Madness. OK, we've had the conference tournaments, we've had selection Sunday. Now we just got to get down to the games, the first four games, which actually start tomorrow.

So knock yourselves out. You can start watching basketball for the tournament tomorrow. 8 5 5 2 1 2 for CBS.

That's 8 5 5 2 1 2 for CBS. Now, not everybody makes it into the field of 64 after the first four. Not everybody gets into the tournament. OK, we already got into somebody like Rick Pitino, who's just boiling mad.

Rick Pitino, always angry and upset at everything. And Rick Pitino's team is one of the squads that basically said no to the NIT. Now, typically the NIT in years past, it's like who wants to go to the NIT?

The answer is nobody. But for a lot of schools, it can be in an elevating factor for next year. It can be a team building type tournament.

Let's just say a launching pad for you to probably maybe possibly get into the tournament next year. And so someone who is not a fan of teams skipping out on the NIT. Well, used to be a coach in college. Coached at Marquette.

Coached here with the Bulldogs and Athens. It's Tom Crean. Tom Crean was on ESPN and he just went on a whole diatribe about teams declining, entering into the NIT tournament for reasons, whether it be health. They just think it's better to prepare for next season. And you want to know why Tom Crean wasn't happy?

Listen to this. There's no question about it. I would want to coach. I would want to develop my team.

You've got bigger staff than you've ever had. There's plenty of time for the portal. There's plenty of time to talk to recruits.

There's plenty of time to negotiate NIL deals. There's not plenty of time to play. There's not plenty of time to get your players on the floor and get them a chance to get better. There's not plenty of time for guys to continue to play that may never get to play again. And that to me is absolutely ridiculous. It's each coach's choice.

I get it. But if you take away a chance to play the games, to put your team on the floor, let them opt out. All right, the bowl season has it all the time. Let it happen.

Who cares? Give your players and coaches a chance to keep coaching and playing and don't shortchange. If a guy doesn't want to play, go sit down.

If a coach doesn't want to coach, go recruit. There's got to be enough people to put five, six, seven people on the floor and go play. It makes absolutely zero sense to me. I don't know. It just, I mean, we talked about this a little bit.

This is also the opening of the transfer portal. So how we even necessarily, I don't want to say guaranteeing that we have teams that are going to participate. But let's think about this. St. John's, Ole Miss, Pittsburgh, Oklahoma, and Memphis, they all said, no, thank you. They all said decline. They all said we will not participate in the NIT. And meanwhile, while these teams are not going to the NIT, the final is going to be in Indiana.

The portal is opening up. We got, we got players who are saying, hey, it's time for me to bail. How about this? Pajar Stoyakovic's son played for Stanford. This man is gone. He's entered into the transfer portal where he can just knock down threes for somebody else next year. This is almost exactly, almost exactly like what we get at the end of a college football season. We got teams that are, are done. They're finished. They're playing. Are they going to participate in a bowl game? Are they going to participate in games that actually matter? And if not, they just say, I don't need to participate in the Duke's Mayonnaise Bowl. I don't need to be in no stinking Cheez-Its Bowl.

I need to think about my individual future. Where am I playing next year? Am I going to the NFL or am I risking injury by playing in a tournament that means absolutely nothing? Here's the new dynamic in college athletics.

It's all about the individual. It's not about the team. When you are on the team, you try to make it about the team. But when you are not in the midst of it, when there's nothing left to play for, be it for yourself or for the squad, just shut it down. Just shut it down.

The NIT is basically a losers tournament at this point in time. And so if I'm a player who wants to stick around on St. John's or Pittsburgh, then I don't want to risk injury. And if I want to leave, I'm done.

I'm finished. And if you want to you want another scenario outside of sports. It's like being in school, right? Like, let's say you are maybe not the best analogy. Let's just say you're a straight A student. You get straight A's all year long. You get to the final exam. It's like, hey, it's time to take the final exam. And you ace the final exam. And now the professor, the teacher is just saying, oh, yeah, by the way, you know, for all of the students, if you want to get a better grade, then go ahead and, you know, do some extra work here handing another paper. If the class is done for you, if you've taken a final exam, why do you care? You're finished.

You don't need no damn extra credit. Why are you still going? And so for any of the athletes in college or any of the coaches, why the hell are you still going? What is there to play for? There's nothing to play for because everybody's looking out for themselves.

I can understand the the argument from Tom Cream. It's very pure, very wholesome, makes you go, oh, man, yeah, yeah, yeah, you should play. You have an opportunity to play. Go play. You've got seven guys, eight guys to go play a game.

Go outside and play. It's very honorable. It's very sweet.

It's very cute. But it's not reality. That's not the world that we live in anymore because everybody is looking out for themselves. And it's no damn different in college basketball. Seasons over. We ain't going to win no championship. Not on the NCAA. Not the big dance. OK, not playing. Simple as that. Eight five five two one two four CBS.

That's eight five five two one two four CBS. This is like getting selected last for prom. It's like going through prom and nobody wants you. And an ugly kid comes over and says, hey, you know, you want to go to prom and then you've got a choice.

You say no and just stay home. Or do you go, oh, man, my only way to go to prom is to go with the ugly kid. The NIT is the ugly kid.

Nobody wants it. Hickey, what are your thoughts on what Tom Crean said? I think that like I appreciate the fact that he like I don't think he's wrong in the sense that you can do both. But I mean, I will be like I'm with you in the sense of like who actually cares. The NIT means nothing as someone who I mean. Being a Penn State fan, they won the NIT a few years ago, missed the tournament the next year.

So I think it's almost two in a way, like I think the NIT part of the marketing is like, oh, I kind of, you know, finish strong and then use that next year. It does not carry over, especially now more than ever, with rosters always changing and people moving, transferring, graduating, going to the NBA. They're really it's very hard to have one year transfer over to the next. And so when you everyone plays for the you know, the national championship, if you're not going to play for that, I understand the sentiment of not wanting to play at all then.

I get it. And you being a Penn State alum, the answer may not necessarily align. But forget forget that year, right?

Forget that year. Are you sitting around watching the NIT? Are you like intent? Did you fill out a 32 team NIT bracket? Have you?

No, no, no, sir, I've not. It's like who cares? When it's done, it's done. Nobody wants to play. Who wants to be second place? The answer is. Nobody. Nobody.

Nobody wants to be second place. And but it is something else that's ridiculous. And maybe this would change things. The transfer portal is going to be open until May, May 1st.

It opened up today. Why in the hell does the NCAA have a transfer portal open before the tournament gets started? Like I'm trying to think of equivalents. Why would a why would a sports league any sports league say, hey, we're getting into our championship tournament right now? And while we have the championship tournament open, let's just go ahead and start free agency. So, yeah, if you're a good team, yeah, you just play your games. And if you're a bad team, we can just let all the players just pretty much leave and do what they want. Like, what are we doing here? Like, what world does that make sense? Like, if I got to think about the NBA and, yeah, they basically let everybody and their mother into the playoffs now.

Now we got the play in tournament. But every other team that's basically going to be sitting in the lottery. Should we just say, hey, you know, you guys can start free agency now and play like what are we doing?

That to me makes no sense. March Madness is going to be done at the beginning of April. We can't wait three weeks before we open things up.

Does the transfer portal need to be open from now until May 1st? Like, what the hell is the rush? I mean, people are going to be filing for what, waivers that are going to make a difference in two weeks?

Hickey, what say you about that? I don't get that either. That makes even less sense to me than NIT.

Million percent. And also, too, think about the calendar. These kids that want to transfer, you have to finish out the school year, right? It's another, what, two months until May? You're not like transferring tomorrow and then now going from, I don't know, DePaul to Michigan State and playing in the tournament.

So it's like whether the transfer portal opens today or, like you said, the day after the national title game, you're not getting to campus until the summer anyway. Why? The fact that they refuse to open it up or save it for three weeks is stupid. And listen, Hickey, I don't know.

These are the decisions that are made. Maybe I'm stupid. Maybe you're stupid. How the hell they come up with something like this and allow it? I have no idea. Somebody is stupid.

Maybe collectively they're stupid. This just makes no sense. Like free agency in the midst of the tournament. And then also at the same time, not that it's garnering tons and tons and lots of attention, but as a general sense and a general fact, wouldn't you want all the attention to be on the actual tournament this week and less about free agency? It's like if the Super Bowl said, oh yeah, by the way, it's the Super Bowl, but I don't know what could distract.

Yeah, we're going to hold the draft in the same week. It makes no sense. It's just stupid. NCAA is dumb as hell.

It's like the government. It's the J.R. sport re-show here on CBS Sports Radio. 8 5 5 2 1 2 for CBS.

That's 8 5 5 2 1 2 for CBS. Hey, speaking of a guy out of college in a draft, Caleb Williams got advice from RG3? I'm going to tell you what RG3 said.

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That's betterhelp.com slash grow. Hey, everyone, this is Brett Boone. Would you know it? I've got a podcast going strong in our fourth year. Tune in as I sit down with my friends. Some of the biggest names in sports, media, entertainment for a lot of fun and in-depth conversations. As you know, baseball has been my life.

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