JR SportBrief Hour 1

Instacart knows nothing gets between you and the game. That's why they make ordering from your couch easy.

Stock up today and get all your groceries for the week delivered in as fast as 30 minutes without missing a minute of the game. Download the app to get free delivery on your first three orders while supplies last. Minimum $10 per order.

Additional terms apply. Celebrate and save at Ashley's Anniversary Sale with hot buys your choice of colors starting at just $3.99. Ashley sleep mattresses starting at $2.50 plus receive a free adjustable base with select mattress purchases and shop top mattress brands like Stearns and Foster, Tempur-Pedic, Purple and Beautyrest Black with 60 months special financing only at Ashley. Subject to credit approval, no minimum purchase required.

Minimum monthly payment, down payment, tax and delivery may be required. See store for details. March means chips, dips and swish. Instacart makes getting game time snacks easy with delivery in as fast as 30 minutes. The hard part, choosing between your favorite snacks. That's why you can stock up on all your favorites with $5 off when you spend $30 or more on specially marked Frito-Lay chips, dips and more through Instacart.

So you don't have to choose between Doritos and Cheetos or Tostitos and Ruffles. You can just get them all. Offer valid for a limited time.

Exclusions and additional terms apply. It is the JR Sportbreeze show here on CBS Sports Radio. I am coming to you live from Atlanta, Georgia. Super producer and host Ryan Hicks is down for us in New York City on the boards. And thank you to you.

Yes, you specifically in your car, at home, at work, whatever the hell you doing, wherever you happen to be. Thank you for tuning into the show. Thank you for listening to CBS Sports Radio. Got to say thank you, right? If nobody told you thank you today, damn it.

I did. This is when the show gets started every single weekday at 6 p.m. Eastern, 3 Pacific. We're in the midst of March Madness, or at least we're legitimately approaching the field of 64. And so we got a lot to get into.

You know this already. 20 minutes from now, we're going to have a conversation with BYU head coach Mark Pope. Mark Pope is coming through to have a chat about BYU, his second appearance in the tournament since taking over as their head coach. They take on Duquesne tomorrow, so I appreciate the time as he could be preparing. But how much preparation are you going to do?

It comes a point in time where you just got to trust the work that you've done and just go to work. So shout outs to Mark Pope, BYU head coach. He's going to come through and join us in about 20 minutes.

So don't you move. Also, next hour, we've had him on this show. He's familiar with going on an exciting run. Dusty May from Florida Atlantic is going to come through and join us. And yet he's still coaching. He didn't leave yet, despite all the success. We're going to talk about the experience that he's had, the experience that he hopes to duplicate and have, and then also build upon. Dusty May coming through next hour.

Mark Pope from BYU joining us in about 20 minutes. It's also, as you know, it's Wednesday. What does that mean? That means I will deliver to you a top six list. And today, with all the talk about March Madness and upsets and people waiting for upsets and give it until around this time tomorrow, maybe even earlier, people's brackets will be destroyed. They like to say brackets get busted. I'm going to give you a top six list of some of the biggest upsets that we have ever seen and or witnessed in the world of sports. I'm not just sticking to college basketball. I am running and spanning the gamut.

If it was an athletic activity, if two people got in the ring, got on the field, got on a court, got on a rink. I don't know. Maybe. Maybe.

Hickey, did we include American Gladiators at all? No, right? No, they unfortunately first ones out. Legitimate sports, right? Yes.

Yes. If it's a legitimate sporting activity, we're going to talk about it. Top six list coming in two hours. Some of the biggest upsets that the sports world has ever seen.

You don't want to miss it. We do have some NFL news has been popping around. Looks like we got a little bit of a revelation as it relates to Russell Wilson. Is he definitely going to be the starter for the Steelers? I'm not so sure. We'll talk about it.

Adam Schefter has some thoughts. Caleb Williams is showing out at USC showing off that cannon. People are excited that he can throw a football 70 yards. I guess that's why he's going to be the number one overall pick. Marvin Harrison Jr. is like, I ain't doing none of this crap.

No working out for me. Watch my tape. Watch my film. Let's go ahead and keep it moving. LeBron James has some interesting compliments for both.

High praise, high compliments for Steph Curry and Allen Iverson. And then we had a baseball game that was played this morning between the Dodgers and the Padres in Seoul, South Korea. I was able to wake up. I think when I woke up, they were about in the fifth inning, maybe the fourth. The Dodgers were winning and then they were losing and then they came back to win. Hickey, did you see any of the game live?

I hate to admit this. I actually meant to say the eighth and ninth inning. I woke up and then about an hour and a half later said, oh, that's right, the game's on. And I missed it. You forgot the game was on. I forgot the game was on until about 1030 a.m. Eastern, which by that point, I think the game was well, well, well over.

Yeah, well, just just my luck. I turned the game on and Shohei Ohtani was just coming. He wasn't at the plate, but he was kind of the next guy up and I turned it on and I think he think he lined a single to left. Maybe I'm making things up, but he did something. But I was saying to myself, he owes everybody in Korea. He owes everybody a home run tomorrow.

He better do it. Didn't come through an opening day. Shame. Already not worth the seven hundred million dollars. Wow. I mean, I guess two million dollars this year. My apologies.

Not worth the two. He did have two hits today. He had an error running the bases. He had a brain fart.

It was like a pop fly. And he ran past second, forgot to go back to the base. And so I think he was tagged out. So, yeah, I guess it's not a bad start for Shohei Ohtani. Just hit a home. If he doesn't hit a home run. I'm not in South Korea.

I'm in Atlanta, Georgia. I will be disappointed if he doesn't hit a home run. Hickey, do you even care? It would be cool to like what I lose sleep over. I'd be upset.

No, I'd be bothered. I feel I feel disappointed for the fans and everybody wants to see him hit a bomb and just just hit one. And I see the place only holds fifteen thousand people. And so I guess like the Tampa Bay Rays, they might as well just move him out to Seoul and they'd have a sellout. Do they even get that many people in Tampa or eight thousand? Am I giving them too much credit?

I mean, yeah, I was going to say it's probably closer to single digits. Oh, my God. Are they going to put the Rays? I've been hearing about this. They're moving them on the other side of the bay, right? They got fans. They just don't want to travel out to that piece of garbage stadium, right? I've never been there, but that's what I've heard.

Getting down to St. Petersburg is a pain in the you know what. And that's well, at least part of the excuse as to why they don't get a lot of fans there. Yeah, I've been down that way, but I've never been inside that dump. That place looks like.

I don't want to say a cathedral because a cathedral is not a dump. That place looks like antiquated garbage. It looks like what MetLife Stadium is bound to look like in another 20 years. It just looks like a trap. The players don't want to play on it. It's concrete on. It's what they got astro turf on concrete. It's just they have rules for when the ball gets hit up in the sky because there are levels and rings of catwalks.

Like, how do you play a game of baseball and the ball goes in the air and where it lands in the ceiling will actually determine whether it is a home run, a single or a double stupid ground rules for a stupid stadium. I wouldn't be mad if they decided to move the race to South Korea, but that's just my own personal business. Anyway, it is the J.R. sport re show on CBS Sports Radio. You can always listen on the free Odyssey app, your local CBS Sports Radio affiliate, CBS Sports Radio dot com.

If you got a smart speaker, ask it to play CBS Sports Radio and boom. There we are. Before we talk to Mark Pope in the next break, I got to get this out the way. Last night, while we were here on air, we had the benefit of actually witnessing what turned out to be a good game.

All right. We had the benefit of watching Wagner smack around Howard for the majority of the game. And Howard University decided to bounce back like a bad episode of Star Wars. The Empire strikes back. But then there's still a bunch of losers because the Empire always. Well, I think the Empire's are bad guys. Anyway, the bad guys always lose.

Not that Howard is bad guys. Anyway, they tried to come back and they still lost. They had three shots at the end of the game. Three threes.

They missed every single three. And Wagner walked away with a 71 to 68 victory. They take on North Carolina tomorrow. Congratulations. Your season is probably going to come to an end.

Shout outs to everybody at Staten Island and much love to their head coach, Coach Copeland, who joined us at the end of yesterday's show. I didn't say what I thought would happen in the game. I wished him nothing but the best of luck, which, of course, I wish anybody the best of luck. Now, moving on.

By the time I got the hell up or down to the studio. And watched and tuned in to Colorado State in Virginia. It was an embarrassment. It was ugly.

It made everybody go. Why the hell did Virginia get a chance? Why did Virginia get an opportunity?

And if I'm Rick Pitino sitting at home, you know, I'm I'm throwing my six thousand dollar shoe at the television set saying, how the hell are they here? We're not. I mean, at halftime of the second game in Colorado State, they go on to play Texas next. Congratulations to them. Colorado State won 67 to 42. Virginia, which has basically been pathetic on offense all season long. They came through. They came through and only had 14 points.

Let me say that again. A college basketball team, one that's supposed to be one of the best 68 in the entire country, only had 14 points at the half. That's an embarrassment. That makes everybody in the Big East go, what are we doing?

What do we need to do to get into the tournament? Well, I mean, after the game, their coach had to speak, right? And he can't go up on the stage and go, yeah, my guy sucked offensively all year.

He can't he can't say any of that. He did say or he did provide a reason as to why they struggled down the stretch, forgetting that they basically struggled all damn game. I think teams started really zoning off, gapping up on some guys and just making it so hard for Reese and Isaac.

They kind of face guard it, zoned off. And then they they I want to say they they got a little bit of a blueprint on how to bother us. And we tried to come up with some different things. And, you know, and I thought we played good ball against NC State and even B.C. and Georgia Tech at the end.

But a lot of it was predicate. We needed to make some shots and then even, you know, the free throws. But we had to hit some shots just to give us a chance. But they were hard because of how it was jammed in the lane, zoned off of guys and really face guard or making it difficult on the others.

And I think that kind of started happening as people saw. Well, here's a way to maybe make it real challenging on us. You got to see that's a good coach. Hickey, a good coach, comes through with the mop, the bucket. Cleans up the mess, tries to protect his players. It's not going to throw them under the bus unless it's Rick Pitino.

Like Tony Bennett, that's a good coach right there. It would have been refreshing and fun to get a Rick Pitino, get a Jim Calhoun-esque answer. You want me to say we sucked? All right, we sucked.

Just go off. It would have been fun. Yeah, he could have answered. He could have been done with this press conference in about 20 seconds if he just did what you said. Because everybody watched the game. You can't put lipstick on a pig and say, hey, this is a.

Well, anyway, you just can't put lipstick on a pig and try to convince anybody otherwise. Tony Bennett continued on because he is a good coach and it would have been nice if he just destroyed his team or at least been honest. But he wasn't. He talked about the team not being focused, being rattled, being bothered.

Listen to this. We looked a little bit rattled, to say the least. And I think that showed as our defense unraveled. And again, I had a lot. Someone had to do with our offensive struggles, but they have a nice balanced attack.

They do. And, you know, I can tell there'll be a hard out. Get him out. And they're going to be one of many teams to go out. And speaking of being out, were they even are they really even in a tournament?

Can we consider the first four, which is just manufactured for television and to make money? Could we consider that big? Can we consider that part of the tournament? Hickey, by the time I left the studio, remember yesterday, I told you there's this big screen out the window by me right now.

Yes. Well, yesterday you had five people watching how we're take on Wagner by the time I left and walked out of the studio. Maybe it's because they don't want people congregating in a public place on a Tuesday night at 10 p.m. Eastern time. They didn't even have Colorado State in Virginia on. It was off. They didn't even have it on the screen. They didn't care. Screen was done.

That's a good job. Save that. You got to save the public there. You can't have people outside late and I watching that garbage offensively from Virginia. Well, I know just in the general sense of the area here on Peachtree Street around the studio is typically jumping on Thursday and Friday and Saturday night. I expect the screens to be on until they are trying to kick people out before they get a little bit rowdy.

You don't downstairs at the local bars and what have you. But let's see if we can do a little bit better than the five people who attended here in Atlanta last night. You know, not that this would be of major interest to the listeners, but I know it's a good barometer as to how many people are interested. The weather is a little bit better. Well, it's much better today.

It's in the mid 70s. And so maybe there's going to be some folks who tune in to see, dare I say, Grambling in Montana State. Louisiana ain't that far from here in Georgia. That's going to be the first matchup today. They're actually going to get things kicking in about 25, 30 minutes. And then later tonight, this game is probably not going to be televised on the big screen. Colorado and Boise State.

Yeah, by the time I leave, they will probably not have that game on. Anyway, it's the J.R. sport re-show here with you on CBS Sports Radio. We're just getting started. We're just getting warmed up.

I told you about a top six list coming halfway through the show. We're going to talk about some of the biggest upsets that the sports world has ever seen. Hey, we got Dusty May from Florida Atlantic coming through next hour.

But in five minutes, don't move, don't go anywhere. We got Mark Pope, the head coach of BYU. They're getting ready to take on Duquesne, who's going to try to act like they've been here before. We're going to talk to Mark Pope about his experiences, what his team is doing, what we should look out for, and then what they plan to do tomorrow. Mark Pope from BYU coming up on the other side of the break.

It's the J.R. sport re-show on CBS Sports Radio. Call from Mom. Answer it.

Call silenced. Instacart knows nothing gets between you and the game. That's why they make ordering from your couch easy. Stock up today and get all your groceries for the week delivered in as fast as 30 minutes, without missing a minute of the game. You have 47 new voicemails. Download the app to get free delivery on your first three orders while supplies last.

Minimum $10 per order. Additional terms apply. Old man winter here. If I had it my way, it would stay winter all year long. Short days, wind chill, black ice, and a good polar vortex.

Heaven! Wait, is it getting warm in here? Your cold snap is over, old man winter. Spring has arrived.

Spring. Spring is here, which means it's the perfect time to get away in the Hyundai you've always wanted. Visit the Hyundai Getaway Sales Event, where you can get great deals on all of our award-winning Hyundai models, like the tech-filled Tucson and Kona, as well as the spacious Palisade. Enjoy wherever you go with the peace of mind that comes with America's best warranty and three years or 36,000 miles of complimentary maintenance.

But hurry in. These deals won't last. Add more joy to your journey at the Hyundai Getaway Sales Event. Now get 0% APR or up to 1,500 bonus cash on the Hyundai Tucson, now during the Hyundai Getaway Sales Event. Offers end soon.

Call 562-314-4603 for details. Celebrate and save at Ashley's Anniversary Sale. With hot buys, your choice of colors starting at just $399. Ashley Sleep Mattresses starting at $250. Plus, receive a free adjustable base with select mattress purchases and shop-top mattress brands like Stearns & Foster, Tempur-Pedic Purple, and Beautyrest Black with 60-month special financing, only at Ashley. Subject to credit approval, no minimum purchase required.

Minimum monthly payment, down payment, tax and delivery may be required. See store for details. You are listening to the JR Sport Brief on CBS Sports Radio. 855-212-4CBS.

That's 855-212-4CBS. We open up the show talking about some of these disappointments here when it comes down to March Madness. And March Madness hasn't even officially, hasn't really started. We're still sitting in the first four. Colorado State put a whooping on University of Virginia, those Cavaliers yesterday, 67-42.

And we already got a bunch of people pitching the fit. How does Virginia get in, but there's no Providence. How does Virginia get in, but then there's no St. Johns. And today, in about 20 minutes, we're going to have another set of games. Well, we got Grambling taking on Montana State, and we have Colorado taking on Boise State. We're waiting on a call in from head coach of BYU, Mark Pope. Whenever we get him on the lines, we'll be sure to let you know.

And you will know because he will be a part, and you will certainly hear the conversation. In the interim, I do want to bring up someone who had some thoughts about what has already taken place in the tournament. The omission of some big time biggie schools.

And then the whooping that we saw last night as Colorado State put that on Virginia. Tom Izzo of the Spartans spoke up. And he is and has been one of the elder statesmen in the game.

We know a lot of his contemporaries have started to retire and disappear and say, I don't want to deal with this anymore. But of course, Tom Izzo had some thoughts on the current construction of the tournament. The fact that we get in teams that may not necessarily, you know, fit the bill as one of the top 64 or 68 in the entire country. And we know that 32 teams get automatic bids. If you go out there and win your conference tournament, you go in. It doesn't matter whether you happen to be a part of the Bozo to clown conference or you happen to be a member of the Big 12.

It does not matter. You win your conference. You go in. And so Tom Izzo earlier today was asked about his thoughts, asked about potentially eliminating some of the smaller conferences, getting rid of the automatic bids for some of the mid majors. And this is what Tom Izzo had to say in response.

Listen. Well, I'm a Division two guy, you know, so I'm always looking for the little guys. I'm not very big myself, so I always have an appreciation. And maybe that would be a reason to expand. I just think what's happening now, everybody likes the upsets in the first weekend, but I'm not sure moving on, that's what's best for the game. And I think it's got to be looked at seriously.

I mean, something's got to be fixed because some things are broken and I'm not going to get into all my beliefs on all of that right now. But there's a great, great game here. Sounds like get off my lawn. Sounds like I want to tell you, but I'm not going to tell you because get off my lawn.

And Hickey, what? I know he's about 70 years old. He's been coaching for almost 30 years now, especially up at Michigan State. Who the hell was he yelling at?

He must have been wearing those players out. He needed like a lozenge or whatever. What do you what do you call it now?

A recolor? Yeah, that's a brand. Hopefully they sponsor you for that free shout out. Well, listen, I needed a lot of that when I had no voice.

That's true. So you know what it's like to be in Tom Izzo's shoes in one way? No, he sounded terrible. He sounded terrible.

He opened up his mouth and I wanted to get him some tea with some lemon and some honey. He just sounded bad. He's got a coach against Mississippi State tomorrow. By the time we get there, he's going to have to do it utilizing sign language.

We heard the two options from Tom Izzo. On one hand, he's going, I'm a little guy. I don't want to eliminate the little guy.

But then on the other hand, he's just like, yeah, well, sometimes we have to eliminate the little guy. Otherwise, we have to expand the whole damn tournament. Listen, don't eliminate the surefire bet. Why is everybody so soft about this?

Why is everybody trying to create buffer and buffers and rooms and what have you? Just win the tournament like that's the last thing. OK. All right. I'm sorry. I'm sick of hearing about, you know, St. John's and everybody else saying, oh, we didn't get in. Just go out there and win. I heard this from Al Davis a very, very long time ago.

Everybody's making up excuses. I'm going to ask someone who's going to be coaching tomorrow about this. It's Mark Pope, the head coach of BYU. Coach, thank you for joining.

No, absolutely. Hey, coach, what are your thoughts? We've had to spend four days in the media, locally, nationally, everywhere. People have their thoughts and concerns about who didn't get into the tournament. Obviously, you're in.

You got Duquesne tomorrow. What are your thoughts on on who gets in and how it gets determined? What do you say? Well, I think it's the messiness is probably part of the beauty of of the NCAA tournament. And there's no way to do it where it's not messy. And unfortunately, sometimes that's devastating and heartbreaking. There's no doubt. But it's also humanity.

Right. And I think humanity itself played out on this court and that's why we're so we love this so much. And and so in a sense, maybe I'm glad that it's not perfect because because it gives us something to talk about 24 seven. And it sure makes our lives interesting. My only you know, where I was brokenhearted was that the coach is not in this because I know him. He would come in this deal and once I'm game, man, I just know him.

So aside from that, you know, it just is what it is. It's part of it's inherently baked in the cake is what makes marksman is great head coach of BYU. Mark Pope is here with us. You talk about Coach Patino. What color suit do you think he would have had on if he was out there with saying, oh, we're talking all red.

What are we talking about? He would have worn it. You know, the thing about coach, he could wear it. Here's the thing.

I spent an inordinate amount of time thinking about could I ever pull that off one time? But he would have something spectacular for sure. And no doubt about it. Well, coach, we know that you guys won some big games throughout the course of the season, knocking off the Texas's, the Kansas's, the Iowa State's, this is of the world. And now you got Duquesne tomorrow.

You got them pretty early tomorrow out in Omaha, Nebraska. What have you been selling your team up until this point to get them ready? What are they doing? They playing PlayStation now?

What are they up to? Yeah, so it's pretty full slate in terms of trying to prep with some breaks. The guys are just finishing up study hall right now.

So they're still trying to take their academic concerns also. But we're facing a great team, not only a great team, but a team that's red hot, the fifth longest winning streak in the country right now with a bunch of weapons. And so we know that we're in for a massive battle tomorrow, which every single game in the NCAA tournament is. And we can't wait to get to it.

No doubt about it. When people sit down and watch your squad at BYU, you guys got some giants in the middle. You're putting up threes and knocking them down. What is your thought process? We know you had your years in the NBA and it was a while ago, but have you taken any of those elements to advance the game at what you do at BYU? Listen, I think we're kind of a culmination of all of our experiences, right? Our philosophy just kind of develops over time. And as we see needs in real time, too, it changes. But, you know, a huge focus for us offensively the last two years that we tried to prepare to move into the Big 12 was we just knew that it was vitally important that we force teams to guard a bigger area. So we talk about 27 by 50, 27 by 50.

So the court is 50 feet wide. And we're trying to get people to guard us all the way from touching the baseline all the way to 27 feet out. And that's kind of the philosophy that we're approaching. Certainly there's some pro vibe into what we're doing, but there's also some college staples.

And in some ways it's just super simple. We just wanted to find our own little niche that we can identify with. And I'm really proud of our guys because they've taken it on and kind of owned it. And it's been part of the reason for our success so far this year.

Head coach of BYU Mark Pope is joining us, the J.R. sport re-show on CBS Sports Radio. You talk about this being your first year in the Big 12. How has the adjustment been? I said this to media today, but, you know, coming in, we had a two-year ramp up knowing that we were moving to the Big 12. So it was two years of utter terror every single day. We talked about how terrifying it was to move in that league, and after having been through it for 18 straight games, I can confirm that it is absolutely terrifying.

And it's not going to change. And as athletes and coaches, you couldn't ask for anything more. You feel like you get tested and challenged. Every single night you're playing against one of – the Big 12 doesn't corner the market on every good team in college basketball. It's just a bunch of those great teams all smushed together in one league.

So every single night it just turns into an epic battle. And, man, it sure was every bit of a challenge that we could handle this year and sure was fun to watch our guys grow through that pressure. Coach Pope, you talk about being in the Big 12 and a couple-of-year ramp up to get to where you are right now.

This is the second time y'all are going to be back here in the tournament. It feels like you guys got robbed when we had to go back to that COVID year. Certainly the world and people missed a lot of things, a terrible situation. But do you feel that kind of stunted where you guys were going?

No. You know, we had a really veteran team. So I think the most painful part of that first COVID year, just in the tiny sights of our basketball life, was we had all these seniors on that team who had never been to the tournament, who had, you know, been through some really hard times. And they fought and scratched and clawed and put together an epic season.

And then, you know, literally two days before the selection Sunday it got shut down. And my guys were just, I mean, you talk about a devastated group because they didn't lose it. They had finally earned it and then it got taken away. But, you know, listen, we're given all these opportunities to learn and grow. And some of the times we learn through adversity. And, you know, I think about those guys right now and what they're doing on court is the guys that continue their careers and the guys that are doing it in the business world and everywhere else.

And, man, they sure grew from all those experiences. That's what you want from sports. Head Coach Mark Pope is here with us from BYU.

His squad is going to take on Duquesne tomorrow in the NCAA tournament. Man, this has been quite a journey for you. I mean, you're thinking about coaching a head coach as full time.

It's going on now. What about a decade, give or take? And then even thinking outside of that, you have experience as a champion with Kentucky. What have you shared with your team? It seems like even in your career you're just getting warmed up.

Yes, you know what, not a lot. It's interesting, you know, we're trying to keep things as sane as we can. We, you know, from the first game of the season we've been preparing for this moment. And we haven't been preparing by holding anything back. We've been preparing by trying to simulate what we're walking into tomorrow every single day, every single game prep, you know, every single time we step on the floor. So, you know, in that sense, you know, it's not a ton of rah-rah speeches from us.

It's not a lot of that. It's just about like, guys, this is what we have done every single day and we're trying to do it one more day. And if we can do it one more day well on Thursday, then we'll get one more day Friday and Saturday, right?

So, you know, for us it's, you know, these guys don't need to hear much about my experiences. They're walking their own path right now and they're pretty focused and dialed in and they know the challenge ahead of them. And we're going to go see if we can be up to the challenge. Yeah, as we start to wrap things up here, Coach Pope, I got two more questions for you. I tried to give an accurate description as to how you guys play. You move the ball around, you knock down the three.

From your perspective, you are the orchestrator of what goes on. For people who are tuning into BYU for the first time against Duquesne tomorrow, what can they look forward to? Well, you know, in terms of space, we're going to, you know, our goal is to get up over 33s a game.

That's our yeoman's task. It's hard to do, especially against a great team like Duquesne. They're the number one three-point defensive team in the eighth half.

So, just getting up to attempts is very, very important to us. We're a team that lives on the offensive glass. We're going to try and play with tremendous pace.

Not just full court pace, getting across half court, but cutting extremely hard with a bunch of variations on that. And then defensively, we are trying desperately to step up to the challenge with everyday increasing physicality and cohesiveness together on the defensive end. And, you know, that's another way that Duquesne is really going to test us. They have, you know, almost everybody that tests on the court can shoot it, so they demand a lot of space also. And they have two dynamic guards that on any given night can just win the game by themselves. And so, defensively, you know, we've got our work cut out for us also.

Yeah, well, Coach, the final question or request. We've seen this squad, this school on the basketball side turn things around since you've arrived. How has the support been and the interest in ratcheting things back up?

Because we know BYU, we can go back 15 plus years. Man, they were a constant in the tournament. How are things right now?

What's the support like? It's unbelievable. Our fan base, you know, we pulled up to the hotel last night. And, you know, there's a huge contingent of BYU fans out in front of the hotel. And the trick is, it's not like we travel great.

They're just everywhere. So, you know, there's a bunch of homegrown BYU fans here in Omaha and throughout Nebraska. We're really blessed, man, with a fan base where it even means just a little bit more than winning. And it's an unbelievable opportunity for all of us, you know, for us as coaches and players to represent this institution. And this great fan base, they care.

And so, you know, they make our job easier and way more rewarding. There's no way that we can get Jimmer Fredette back on it. That's over, right?

That's done? Jimmer's on his way to win a gold medal at the Olympics this summer. Like, how hype is that? I'm so excited for him. He's been working on this for the last couple years. And it's going to be really fun to watch him and his team and Team USA go to work in the Olympics.

That's going to be really special. It's pretty wild, you think about the expansion of basketball. But we, and especially you, having played overseas, we know it's certainly a global game. And speaking of the international aspect, yeah, I lied.

I'm giving you one more question and then letting you go back. How has the game grown? You have coached here. You've played in the NBA here.

You've played overseas. You see how the game has just grown all over the place. Talk about the game of basketball as it exists on earth. Yeah, you know, it's just been awesome.

It's been awesome to watch. You know, right now on our team, our starting center is, you know, one of the most beloved players at the college of basketball. For all the fans at the college of basketball that haven't watched us play yet, get ready because he is, you know, we lovingly refer to him by a bunch the next day. He was one of the Egyptian magicians, a young man from Alexandria, Egypt, who is just, he's the college versus a Jokic in a magical way. And then, you know, our other starting center, he started throughout the season for the last two years is from Bamako, Mali.

Well, from Kaki, Mali, actually. And, you know, one of our other bigs is from Tanzania. And, you know, our team, as well as every team in the country, has a real international flavor, and it's making the game better. And it's given our student athletes a much better experience. It's given our locker room a better vibe that we have representations of people from all different backgrounds, all different races and religions and socioeconomic statuses. And they get to come together in a locker room and learn from each other and become brothers.

It's actually, it's a beautiful thing, man, to watch this game go worldwide. Absolutely. Well, Coach, thank you so much. I'm going to let you get your rest and hopefully not think too much about the game tomorrow as you guys get ready to take on Duquesne. All the best and good luck.

Catch you on down the line, okay? Appreciate you. Thanks for coming, brother. No doubt about it. A big shout-out to head coach of BYU, Mark Pope. His squad is getting ready to take on Duquesne tomorrow out in Omaha, Nebraska. And BYU, they're ranked sixth. They've knocked off Iowa State, Texas, and Kansas. And as I said, they're going to move that ball around.

They're going to go out there and knock down some threes. Thank you for the excellent conversation with Mark Pope. And I really loved his comments at the end about how the game is growing, it's international, and how about embracing that makes everybody better. I love it. Mark Sportbrie Show here with you on CBS Sports Radio, 855-212-4CBS.

That's 855-212-4CBS. We are going to take a break. When we come back on the other side of the break, I'm going to tell you about something for someone who might not be loved.

I will explain on the other side of the break. Call from Mom, answer it, call, silence. Instacart knows nothing gets between you and the game. That's why they make ordering from your couch easy. Stock up today and get all your groceries for the week, deliver it in as fast as 30 minutes without missing a minute of the game.

You have 47 new voicemails. Download the app to get free delivery on your first three orders, all supplies last, minimum $10 per order, additional term supply. Shall I take your order or do you need a minute?

Yes, I'll be ready. Just buying a car on Carvana. What? It's super convenient. I already got prequalified in two minutes.

All I had to do was answer a few questions. What? That's handy. Yeah, now I'm customizing my down in monthly payments. What? That's an exquisite deal. And just like that, Carvana's delivering my car in a couple days. What? Oh, yeah. Sorry, I'll have the burrito. Visit Carvana.com to finance your next car. Financing subject to credit approval.

Delivery fees may apply. 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 any time. Learn to make time for what makes you happy with BetterHelp. Visit BetterHelp.com slash grow today to get 10% off your first month.

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

The J.R. Sport Brief Show here with you on CBS Sports Radio. Thank you all so much to head coach of BYU, Mark Pope, for joining us. His squad BYU is going to take on Duquesne tomorrow.

Duquesne, by the way, hasn't been in the tournament in almost 50 years. Mark Pope and squad, they're going to have some fun out there as they get things going in Omaha, Nebraska. 855-212-4CBS.

That's 855-212-4CBS. I told you that Dusty May is going to be joining us next hour. Well, Dusty May is trying to get ready for the tournament. So Dusty May is going to join us in the last hour of the show. Dusty May from FAU, Florida Atlantic University, is going to join us at about 9.20 Eastern, 6.20 Pacific.

So we'll do the top six. And then I just heard this from Rich Ackerman. Hickey, I stand up. I'm not sitting in a chair.

If I was sitting in a chair, I would have spun around, maybe fell out. Shohei Ohtani got robbed by his own interpreter, allegedly? Allegedly, of course, if you ask the interpreter's lawyer, I'm sure. Well, the interpreter, I saw the story. The interpreter says that he has no comment, but he did get fired. Unbelievable.

You can't make this stuff up. Maybe it's like, oh, he got $700 million coming. Oh, he's a big international superstar. Oh, what's $4, $4.5 million going to do? This man declined, or excuse me. Yeah, he did decline.

This man declined, taking $70 million a year. He said, only give me two. I don't need all this money. Just give me two. I got money coming over from the Pacific. I got money coming here from the West Coast.

Just give me $2 million. We're going to talk about this Shohei Ohtani issue on the other side of the break. We were just talking about Shohei. Like 30 minutes ago, I talked about how he owed everybody in South Korea a home run. Everybody wants to see him hit a bomb. And then literally five minutes when I finish talking about it, a bomb drops that his interpreter has been fired.

We'll get there. Speaking of getting fired, let's get this out the way. Didn't Russell Wilson just get a job? Didn't Russell Wilson just become the quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers? Didn't Russell Wilson just have a press conference that would inspire, I don't know, inspire a mummy to get up and walk, to inspire a toddler to pick up a car? This is the inspiration of Russell Wilson making the impossible possible because it's Russell Wilson. And then we know he got signed to the Steelers, a one year contract.

Denver has to pay $39 million. And then they pick up Justin Fields after Kenny Pickett decides to take his ball and leave. But today we learned that there's no guarantees that Russell Wilson is going to even be the starter at the beginning of the year. It would take a major, major change, of course, or take a major showing from Justin Fields.

And this is something that was discussed earlier today by Adam Schefter. Listen to what Adam Schefter had to say about Russell Wilson in training camp. They can appoint Russell Wilson the starter.

They can save Fields as the backup. But the fact of the matter is they had the luxury of letting this play out during camp and doing whatever is best for that football team. There is no commitment, obligation, loyalty to any one of these guys.

They didn't pay very much for either one of them. I even had an executive say if Justin Fields played him, Russell Wilson, during training camp, they could see Russell Wilson moving on from him before the season. Like there's a whole range of possibilities. We know that Russell Wilson goes in as the starter. But again, they're going to let the competition play out and we'll see where it goes. Come on, man. Now, isn't that not how football works?

Is that not is that not how anything works? If Justin Fields shows up and if Justin Fields shows out. I think it goes without saying that is why are you going to keep Russell Wilson around as a backup just to be a distraction? Just so people will run to him after games and ask him for inspirational quotes or it's a distraction. There are certain players in the NFL who are just I hate to say it, but they're not worth the distraction. If you're not contributing on the field to play, why have you around?

Come on. Cam Newton said this a couple of seasons ago. They're like, we got Mac Jones. We don't need you, Cam Newton. And yes, he would have been an excellent backup quarterback.

He'd have been an excellent maybe not so much for for Mac Jones, but it doesn't hurt to have him around even as a player. Hey, we need a battering ram. Hey, Cam, go out there. It wouldn't hurt.

But when you have a former MVP, a guy who took a team to a Super Bowl, maybe still got a little bit of juice, a little bit of juice left. Can't have him standing over the rookie kid's shoulders. You want to let the kid know that, hey, you got the reins, man. Lead us. Go ahead. And so is this a big non story to a certain degree?

Yes. Come on. If Russell Wilson stinks. Or Justin Fields wins the job, which I don't know why or how he'd win the job. You want to see what Russell can do first. Russell would have to stink. But that's just about anybody in the league. If you stink, you get replaced.

Ask Mitch Stravinsky, ask Kenny Pickett, ask Justin Fields, ask Zach Wilson, ask Mac Jones. We can go on and on and on. If you suck, you get the boot.

They move on. Now, that would be hilarious if Russell Wilson can't win the job in training camp. That would also have me in stitches. 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.

Shohei Ohtani has allegedly been robbed by his own interpreter to pay off gambling debt. Wow. We're going to talk about this on the other side of the break.

It's the J.R. sport re-show CBS Sports Radio. See store for details. Call from Mom.

Answer it. Call silence. Instacart knows nothing gets between you and the game. That's why they make ordering from your couch easy. Stock up today and get all your groceries for the week. Deliver it in as fast as 30 minutes without missing a minute of the game. You have 47 new voicemails. Download the app to get free delivery on your first three orders while supplies last.

Minimum $10 per order. Additional terms apply. Old Man Winter here. If I had it my way, it would stay winter all year long. Short days, wind chill, black ice and a good polar vortex.

Heaven. Wait, is it getting warm in here? Your cold snap is over, Old Man Winter. Spring has arrived.

Spring. Spring is here, which means it's the perfect time to get away in the Hyundai you've always wanted. Visit the Hyundai Getaway Sales Event, where you can get great deals on all of our award-winning Hyundai models, like the tech-filled Tucson and Kona, as well as the spacious Palisade. Enjoy wherever you go with the peace of mind that comes with America's best warranty and three years or 36,000 miles of complimentary maintenance.

But hurry in. These deals won't last. Add more joy to your journey at the Hyundai Getaway Sales Event. Now get 0% APR or up to 1,500 bonus cash on the Hyundai Tucson. Now during the Hyundai Getaway Sales Event. Offers end soon. Call 562-314-4603 for details.