Are Coaches Or Players More Important In March Madness? (Hour 3)

It is the JR Sport Brief show on the Infinity Sports Network. Happy Tuesday to you. I'm coming to you live from Atlanta, Georgia. Thank you to everybody tuned in all over North America. I hope you're having a tremendous Tuesday.

I hope you had a great Tuesday. I'll be hanging out with you for the next two hours. This show does get started every weekday at 6 p.m. Eastern, 3 Pacific. I'm being joined by super producer and host Ryan Hickey. He is in New York City, so you could be somewhere between Atlanta and New York. You could be out west hanging out with Dave. You could be in Baltimore with Ben. You could be in Toronto with... uh-oh. Help me out, Hickey.

Help me. Come on. Alan. Alan in Toronto. Never a doubt. Yeah, shout out.

I had to think about it. We have our friend in Nova Scotia. Got a friend in Hawaii. What's his... Mark, right? Mark in Nova Scotia. Mark in Nova Scotia is the guy who calls from Hawaii. Yeah, shout outs to everybody, okay?

We talked about a lot. Like the Major League Baseball season starting up earlier today in Japan. And they'll be back again. It's 6 a.m. Eastern. 3 a.m. if you want to watch the Dodgers and the Cubs. Hey, we talked about the start of March Madness. It's underway. We got the first four going on right now, this minute, this second. St. Francis leads Alabama State a 46 to 42. And then next hour, about 90 minutes, an hour and 40 minutes, we'll get the next match up.

The one that I guess everybody is waiting for. Especially that miserable governor of West Virginia, Patrick Morrissey. He's going to watch North Carolina play next hour against San Diego State. And we also learned earlier today, well just a couple hours ago, literally right when we got on air, that West Virginia's coaches is leading.

Leaving, excuse me. Darion DeVries is gone. He's like, we're not in the tournament, I'm out of here. He's now the new head coach of Indiana, replacing Mike Woodson. So we'll get into some more college coaching in a minute because we got some legendary coaches that are still around. We've had so many coaches that have decided to depart the college basketball scene over the past several years. But we still have some legends who are sticking around and no shock and no surprise that they're still having, you know, massive success. I'm talking about Rick Pitino and Tom Izzo.

We'll get to them in a second. We talked about Brandon Graham retiring as a member of the Philadelphia Eagles. His time in Philadelphia is up after 15 seasons.

We talked about Cam Hayward. He is sick and tired of, well, waiting around for Aaron Rodgers to make his decision. Does he want to be a stealer?

Does he not want to be a stealer? And then speaking of sick. Oh my goodness, we talked about this briefly. Tracy Morgan. Hey, I feel like we spoke not, not him getting sick into existence, but was it not Friday that we talked about how Tracy Morgan was in this accident like a decade plus ago with a Walmart truck on the New Jersey Turnpike and he made 90 million dollars off the accident. He sued and got 90 million dollars.

Yep, we talked literally just days ago. And then last night, last night he's sitting courtside at the Knicks game and he is just vomiting all over the place, center court, front row. And of course, everybody has a video camera out. It's like how many different angles do I need to see, you know, Tracy Morgan losing his, his lunch or his dinner. And he went on social media and he basically said that he just, he was suffering from food poisoning. And Carl Anthony Towns lost his mind last night on the basketball court in a good way. Like there was one stretching time, Carl Anthony Towns scored 15 consecutive points for the New York Knicks. Great, right?

Yeah, sure. They beat the Miami Heat 116 to 95. He walked away from the game with 23 points. Nobody talked about that. Everything was about Tracy Morgan, even after the game.

Nobody complained about minutes from Tom Thibodeau. I mean, they were asking Josh Hart about Tracy Morgan courtside. Listen to this. First and foremost, obviously we hope everything's good with Tracy Morgan. Um, I have his lifetime Nick fan, so prayers go out to him and his health and safety.

Uh huh. Now we know that James Dolan, the owner of the New York Knicks, he can be quite the jerk. Even Madison Square Garden isn't stupid enough to, uh, they want to stay on the good side with Tracy Morgan. They don't want no lawsuits.

Hickey, did you see that Madison Square Garden? They are ready to welcome him back whenever he's ready. They put out a statement saying that somebody asked him, I think it was TMZ got the scoop from MSG. They're like, Hey, is Tracy going to be allowed back? They're like, yeah, of course. Like, yeah, he's our guy. Oh boy. They don't want no, they don't want no smoke or problems with Tracy Morgan. He'll take you for a hundred mil.

They serve me bad shrimp. So Tracy Morgan, this is not what he said. He said he suffered food poisoning and he's fine. And he shared this as he laid in a hospital bed. I guess you got to monitor somebody and he's had his health problems over the years.

So why not Hickey? If I had food poisoning, I wouldn't be in a house. I wouldn't be, no, nobody would care about me. I'd be sipping water somewhere on my couch. Nobody would care.

Uh, I, unfortunately I would agree with that. Especially if you were sitting where Tracy Morgan was sitting. I really don't think anyone would care. People would maybe be even more upset with you than anything else. Oh, they'd be like, this guy's never coming back.

James Dolan put out a statement via one of his minions. Hey, that guy in the front row, he was drunk when he walked in. They, they, they banned me.

They banned me. But Tracy Morgan is, uh, you know, he's, they're going to welcome him back. Hopefully he's not throwing up next time, man. I think I've seen that. Now, well, I guess he's a celebrity, but people, people spill drinks.

I feel like somebody threw up a couple of years ago on the court. I feel it happens. Somebody gets taken out for a medical emergency or something a couple of days ago. I don't know. Yes. There's a delay, right?

There's another few delays like that recently. Another basketball game, huh? And the fans are right there are basically on the court.

It's the only sport where a fan getting injured or sick actually impacts the game. Yeah. Jennifer Hudson got hit in the face by a New York Nick and a ball hit in the face or something like that.

And do speak bribe. One of their backup point guards dove right into her contact sports sitting there in the first row, not made for everybody. Yeah.

You're right about that. I'm talking trash too. I don't know why these guys talk trash to the players. I'm like, why would you do, do you hear the things that they say to each other? I wouldn't want no problems with, with none of these dudes sitting courtside.

No, thank you. I mean, you've sat courtside at a few Hawks games. You just sit there quietly. You don't chirp anyone. I ain't yelling at nobody.

Okay. No minding your business. What am I going to do? I can't play out there.

What am I going to do? And then the people at the Hawks and the arena know who I am. So I don't need no problems with them. They'd be like, Hey, they'd be like, Hey, next time they would get mad. If you're trash talking the other team, like if Luca comes in Luca looking fat, misses a three fat slob.

They get mad about that. I would get a glance from the guy in charge of the Hawks PR. He's like, yo, what are you doing? He wouldn't even say, talk to me after the game. Be like, I heard what you were saying.

Like, what are you doing? I don't need that. He can't be different. If I was just out there, you know, I don't sit courtside with, with press credentials. I get a ticket. Right. And, but most times I'm there, I have my credentials with me. And so people see me, okay, I'm sitting down. I just, you just can't be talking trash to the guy.

You know, I do got a job, you know, Hickey sometimes I got a job. No, that's fair. That's fair.

And you gotta be able to keep that connection going so you can sit in nice seats. I get it. That's no problem, but I just figured the Hawks would be maybe not encouraging it, but look the other way. If you're trash talking to their team and then maybe it could help them get a win. No, the media guy would look from the other team would look at me.

What are you doing? You're like, you want an interview? Like, never. You know, we hit trash talking to players. Don't come and ask me for nothing later. Okay, fine. Well, I, well, you know, I, I did tell you how DeAndre Jordan almost destroyed me and my son, right? Yes.

In the tunnel. Yeah. Now that would have been a lawsuit, Hickey. Okay. That would have been a lawsuit.

Tracy Morgan-esque. Maybe not quite, but 90 mil has, has he made that in his whole career? Maybe. Right.

It's crazy. What deals is guy's name? DeAndre Jordan. It's the world TC gets for 30 rock.

I guess pretty good. He was in 30 rock. Wasn't he? What was the big show that he was in? I didn't know he was all I know him from getting alley-oops from Chris Paul and Duncan on he ended Brandon Knight's career. Where's Brandon Knight? Oh, we're talking to you for people. So I saw a Tracy Morgan. Oh, no, I'm talking DeAndre Jordan. Oh yeah. He's not been in TV shows.

He has not made any cameos. How much money has he made in his career? It's great. You look at all this stuff. Oh my God. Hickey.

If I was seven feet tall and could dunk. Is it over one 50? I definitely over one. Yes. Over two 50. No.

Okay. As a sensor in the NBA that almost destroyed me and my son in the tunnel. This man, I could have sued him for 90. Well, he's not taxes.

Hickey. He's made almost 180 million in his career. Remember when he was held hostage by him, Mark Cuban to sell. Oh, that's right. Right.

Wasn't high demand. Wasn't Paul Pierce still on the Clippers or something too at that time or something? I think you're right. Paul Pierce was a part of that. He's been in the league 16 years. Wow. That's hard to believe. He was drafted in 2008. I can't believe that.

That is incredible longevity. He does not get credit for. Well, what has he done the past couple of years? Wow.

Well, back up your kids for five minutes and run my kid over. Like, what is he doing? Bench mob. Yeah. He's a, he's on a one. No, this is from last year. I don't even know what it last year. He had a, he's making $2 million, $1 million this year, whatever the minimum is.

I don't know. Three mil. Not bad to be seven feet tall and dunk. What a world. Good for him. Damn.

$177 million. And have your kids start dribbling now. Yeah. My kid ain't going to be seven feet tall. Okay.

Well, if he can hope, as we've seen with Isaiah Thomas, he's made a pretty penny in his career and Isaiah Thomas ripped, but he ripped up his shoulder and nobody cared after. Well, true. Damn. 8 8 8 7 10 of four ISN. That's 8 8 8 7 10 for I S N as I sit here in this studio and watch this college basketball action.

It's a good game. I guess when you get the bad teams together, that's what you get. A St. Francis currently leads Alabama state 50 to 49, about 11 minutes and 30 seconds left to go here in this game.

We'll keep you up to date on it. And these are the, these are the first four teams. These are the teams that are just lucky to be here. We heard the, uh, the governor of West Virginia won and then complaining about, uh, you know, the mountaineers there a lot in life, not even making it to the tournament, but we got, we got some legends that are in the tournament as well. And that happens to be Rick Pitino and also Tom Izzo and Tom Izzo's case.

This is, this is pretty nuts. When you think about it, this is this 27 straight March madness appearance. Like we got guys like coach K they're gone. They're out of here.

Okay. We got Jim Behan. They're gone. They're out of here. Like they don't want to deal with NIL. They don't want to deal with contracts.

They don't want to deal with any of this. Tom Izzo is 70 years old and he cannot get enough. Now look, Spartans. They just lost to Wisconsin in the big 10 tournament, 77 to 74.

They were in the tournament. They're going to take on the Bryant Bulldogs on Friday night. Good luck to the Bryant Bulldogs. And Tom Izzo is going to do nothing but go out there and pick up another March madness victory. And in this changing landscape and changing world of college athletics and specifically, I would say just basketball too. Cause in college, I'm talking about the transfer portal on the football side, you can get a guy in and if he's good, unless he gets snatched up somewhere else, he has to stay in college for at least two years, two, three years.

He has to stay. If he's good enough to go pro on the basketball side, there is so much turnover when it comes to the individual players. It's really up to the coach to have a program that people want to show up for and, and, and play and a coach to play for. It's kind of crazy. Listen to Tom Izzo from today.

He was on the Rich Eisen show that you can listen to right here on the infinity sports network. And Tom Izzo was asked, Hey, if you actually won another title, what would it mean to you? Listen to this. It mean a lot for our school. It mean a lot, you know, I think, um, we, uh, I mean, this is what you do it for, you know, you winning games is good. It's nice, but championships and banners are things that, you know, even when this building falls down and I'm gone and you're gone, they're going to move that banner to the next building. And so I always talk about things that are gonna last a lifetime and then more, and that's what, uh, any kind of banner does.

So it would mean a lot to me. Um, 25 years later, it's hard to believe that it's been that long and there hasn't been another big 10 team. So this is the time of year I pulled for the big 10, but I pulled from Michigan state a little more man. That's man. That's that's the year 2000 is the last time the Spartans won a championship.

They've been to the final four eight different times. They may have to bring Mateen Cleaves out of a hickey. I think he's doing media too. Isn't he on TV and stuff radio? Is he, I haven't seen him recently.

No, I trust you. I think he's doing something. They may have to bring him out of cobwebs. I know he doesn't have any eligibility yet left, but that's, I mean, those are the type of players that help propel you on a run and there's going to be so many athletes that we've never heard of that we're going to learn about like over the next couple of days. Like that guy, I can't even remember his name. There's that young man who played for North Carolina state hickey.

Was it last year or two years ago? That big dude, he looked like Zach Randolph when he had the hair and he had the soft touch and like he's playing in the Philippines or Asia something right now. He didn't even stick in the NBA. DJ Burns last year, the final four run for the Wolfpack.

Yes. And he was, he was balling out and I don't know if it's a matter of conditioning or his weight or athleticism or movement, like he's not in the league. Like there was a possibility he would make it. I know he did compete on somebody summer league team.

He's playing in Asia right now. I guess tough playing in the NBA. And that's one thing that I really love is just checking in on the next generation, but it's the coaches. The coaches are really the glue at this point in time. So Tom Izzo is 70 years old and he hasn't moved. Tom Izzo has been in the same spot, coaching Michigan state since 1995. Now on the other hand, we got another guy who's only a few years older.

He's 72 years old. This is Rick Pitino. You might as well play connect the dots on every place that this guy's coached at. Forget just college, the pros in college and the Knicks in Kentucky, the Celtics, Boston university and Providence and Louisville.

He was coaching, coaching Panathinaikos in Greece. Like Rick Pitino was back in, in, in Iona and New Rochelle small school coaching them. And then he got the job at St. John's and he turned them around.

It was only last year after I lost the Seton hall. Like Rick Pitino was ripping his guys to shreds. Now, big difference between Tom Izzo and Rick Pitino. Tom Izzo will give you a hug and slap you on the back and tell you to get your life together. Rick Pitino will insult you publicly. I'm talking about his own players.

This is him last year, almost a year ago, just ripping his guys to shreds after losing to Seton hall. Listen. I don't think they move well laterally.

I don't think they're going to pick it up in the next week. Um, I think they're slow laterally. I mean, Sean Conway gives you everything he can.

He's slow laterally about five guys have slow laterally. Even the Celtics when we lost, I've enjoyed every minute being a Boston Celtic coach didn't like the fact that we lost in that following year. But this has been the most unenjoyable experience I've had since I've been coaching.

Do you have any second thoughts of taking this job? No, not at all. It's not St. John's, it's my team. I think they're very respectful.

They hear, but they don't listen. It's taken me a month to get them to throw bounce passes, actually two months to throw bounce passes. Just thinking of getting ready for Georgetown because Georgetown could definitely beat us. I'm not even thinking of the future at all. I'm just thinking of the next game and the next game and the next game. And that's it.

Just try to get as many wins as you possibly can and represent St. John's in the best fashion you can. That was last year. And ultimately he apologized.

He apologized. You can't, these are college students. You can't rip them like that. I know they're getting paid, but damn, like have some type of mercy on the guys. They're not athletic.

They don't listen. Like, man, you thought that was going to attract future players? Well, kinda did. Kedari Richmond, who happens to be from Brooklyn, New York, he ended up leaving Seton Hall and now he's back with St. John's. St. John's has a record of 30 and four. They just won the Big East tournament.

Like they're rolling. What a difference a year makes. And it's due to the coach. It's due to Rick Pitino.

I mean, just after winning the Big East, he was on Fox and he says, you know what? I'm happy to help bring St. John's back. Lou Conaseka, Chris Mullen, Walter Berry. It's their program. I'm just a keeper of the fate of St. John's.

I'm a caretaker. But this is Lou, this is Chris, Walter and all the great players that played here. They built St. John's to something special. And this team brought it back in a big way. Yeah, I mean, well, Rick Pitino is now he's a basketball coaching mercenary after the scandals at at Louisville and the shoes and people getting arrested and fired.

And after all of that, he had to leave. And he's just been coaching everywhere now. Rick Pitino might be closer back to the mountaintop. Now, I don't know where he moves us. Is this his last week? Where the hell is he coaching after this? He has to stay at St. John's, right?

I think so. I think this is his last stop. He may have a few more. I think he does have a few more years left in him, but I think we won't see him coaching on the team. Yeah, you know about no college program is bringing no NBA team is certainly bringing him on. I mean, did you hear the way he was talking about his college students? How's he going to talk to guys in the NBA? Can't talk to guys like that. And so it's real important. The college basketball game right now, you got to have a coach. The players don't stick around guys in the transfer portal.

You got to be the attractive one to get people to your program. We're going to talk more about that on the other side of the break. 888-710-4ISN.

That's 888-710-4ISN. When it comes to college basketball, who's more important? Is it the players?

Is it the coach? We'll get into that. And then also the NCAA has a message for you, especially now that the tournament is underway. They do not want you to be a loser.

Those are their words, not mine. I'll explain. You're locked into the JR Sport Brief show on the Infinity Sports Network. You're listening to the JR Sport Brief. It is the JR Sport Brief show on the Infinity Sports Network. 888-710-4ISN.

That's 888-710-4ISN. I don't want to call this a barn burner, but this is one of those games that apparently is going to go down to the wire. St. Francis is currently leading Alabama State 59 to 56. We'll keep you up to date on this game as well as North Carolina as they are in action in an hour from now, or less than an hour now, against San Diego State.

We'll keep you up to date on everything as it continues to move on. Right before we went to break, we talked about Tom Izzo and then Rick Pitino, their standings in the March Madness tournament. Just to see them here is just, it's kind of crazy. Look at Tom Izzo and go, man, he's here for 27 straight years. And then you think about Rick Pitino, who almost got the boot from coaching in college and has now found success with Iona and now back in New York City proper with the St. John's Red Storm. And when you have all these changes in college with the transfer portal and got a player going from team to team to team, like it's really down to the coaches. If I think about this, if Coach K wasn't sick of it, I think he could have still had success. I mean, look at the success that Duke is still having today. And thank God, it looks like Cooper Flag is going to be all set and ready to go. I mean, can anybody just wake up in Coach Duke?

We see what Shire is doing. But if Coach K was there, would we get different results? They'd probably be in the same spot, but they're in rarefied air just because of the name. And I still think they're carrying on that legacy of Coach K. But if you don't have a coach to attract players, you're cooked. Not everybody's going to be a Duke. Hickey, do you think this is not the NBA? You know, it's like the NBA, the players have all the power and they influence where the coaches are. I mean, we might have booting holes that might get fired in Phoenix this year.

You got three All-Stars on the team, even though Bradley Beal's playing like a bum. But it's not the same type of influence. In college, I feel like they run the show. It's not like the players do because the players aren't going to be there long.

Right. Five-star freshmen that come in, one-and-done, transfer portal in all college sports, but especially basketball because the volatility is just so high with player movement. The coaches are the institution. They have all the power. They're the face of the program. And you usually root for or root against a team, most likely based on who's coaching the team. Yeah, I just and but we've had a generation of coaches that have now gone.

Like Patino and Tom Izzo, those would be the most senior coaches. Am I missing somebody? No. Yeah.

In terms of just like age and how long they've been around. No, I think you nailed it. Those are the two old guards left. Yeah. Well, I mean, we've got Boeheim is no longer around to yell at young reporters.

Coach K, I'm surprised. Does he do talking? He has a podcast. Does he still have a podcast or show?

Yes, but I'm not sure the frequency of it. I think it's kind of like Tom Brady's Let's Go thing, I believe, or maybe they work on it together. But he's limited.

He's like, I'm not I'm not doing this crap. Yeah, this is I don't want to call them a dying breed. But I mean, these these are the guys and a lot of the coaches now that we see get hired, they're younger.

So you got to have the energy to keep up. And I don't know, maybe we'll see this next generation. And I don't know, just even think about Tom Izzo coaching this team from 1995. It's just it's crazy. You don't you don't you don't see that in sports too often anymore, especially even at the college level. These teams have very little patience, the universities or schools have very little patience for not having results. There's a lot of money at stake. There's a lot of money on the line. And speaking of money on the line, right before we went to break, I also shared with you that the NCAA has a big message.

Because this is probably the biggest time in the entire country, I guess maybe outside of the Super Bowl, or maybe more than that, where people are going to be out here wagering billions of dollars. People who have never watched a college basketball game in their life will be putting money into a pool, they'll be paying attention, they're going to try to go out there and cash out. Now, Hickey, in the last break, we had a conversation about heckling and heckling people and fans. The NCAA actually put up and put out a commercial about fans and heckling and forget heckling abuse. You know, just because some 1819 year old is misses a three pointer turns the ball over.

It does not give you the right to now harass that student athlete quotation marks on the internet. Listen to this commercial that the NCAA put up. There's losing and then there's being a loser.

Game time comes with enough pressure. Way too often people are betting on sports, losing and taking it out on the athletes. Only a loser would harass college athletes after losing a bet.

But it happens almost every day. Root for your team. Get crazy when the buzzer sounds. But don't harass anyone because you lost the bet. It's time we draw the line and put an end to the abuse.

Brought to you by the NCAA. Damn, Hickey, you heard that? Don't be a loser, OK? Don't be a loser. Advice we all could take. Don't be a loser. Don't harass the student athletes.

That's going to fall on deaf ears, unfortunately. And Hickey, I don't even think we've reached. Peak harassment yet, maybe with with Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark. I think on the women's side we've gotten that. Could you imagine Chris Webber forgetting how many timeouts they were in this era today?

No. But social media, I mean, you'd have to just delete your account and never log on again if you're Chris Webber. And one day it may not be that exact situation, but we're going to have a guy who misses a shot. We're going to have a guy who turns the ball over and have somebody who makes a mistake.

And they are going to be ripped to shreds. And now not just because of social media, but with all the access to gambling that people have that puts another fire on people's backsides. If somebody makes a mistake because your mistake is their mistake, the fact that they're betting on it, but it might have cost them some cash.

And for whatever reason, this goes back to what we were saying earlier in the show. Take a look at the governor of West Virginia getting mad at the selection committee and not being mad at the mountaineers. Like, man, if you're going to put down a bet on somebody else and it doesn't work out and you lose money, the only person that you have to blame is yourself.

And so cool. It's all good that the NCAA can put out that commercial and tell everybody, hey, don't be a loser. Don't harass our athletes.

There's a lot of idiots out here. And instead of understanding that they're stupid for making a bet and losing the money, you're just going to blame the athlete kind of backwards. NCA trying to do its part as they make billions of dollars in the background. It's the JR support we show here with you on the Infinity Sports Network, 888-710-4ISN.

That's 888-710-4ISN. Speaking of lots and lots of money, I don't think these two individuals have to worry about a gambling. They made a lot of money courtesy of the Cincinnati Bengals. Jamar, Chase and T Higgins spoke today about their new contracts.

And let's just say they are rather happy. I don't know if this is a good thing for the Cincinnati Bengals defense. We'll hear from Chase and Higgins on the other side. You're listening to the JR Sport Brief.

It is the JR sport we show here with you coast to coast on the Infinity Sports Network. Well, this first four game between St. Francis and Alabama State, it is certainly going down to the wire. We got about 11 seconds left in this game. It's tied up at 68 points all. St. Francis has the ball. And this is the great part about TV and March Madness. We got parents who are losing their minds.

They're praying. And we got somebody from Alabama State at the free throw line right now. This is when things get interesting.

Whoever advances here in this game, whoever wins this game, goes on to take on Auburn. And about 30-ish, Hickey, you think they're going to push the game back now? What? Oh, definitely, yeah.

North Carolina and San Diego State? Oh, yeah. I mean, that's, yeah. Probably got a 9.30.

This game goes to overtime. Oh, boy. He missed the free throw, damn it. Oh, short, too. Oh, boy. Oh, what do we got here? Not good. Turn over.

Yep. Ball goes back the other way. Hickey, this is what makes these games fun. Like, I don't know who the hell any of these guys are, but it's a fun game to watch. That's why I like college sports because I think the sloppiness leads to unpredictability, and that makes it more exciting than pros that are so good. Like, you know they're making free throws. You know how you give them a chance with three seconds left, an open shot, they're going to hit it. Here, like you just said, we saw a missed free throw in 11 seconds, the chance to take the lead. And then as St. Francis got the rebound, they couldn't even dribble it over half court without turning the ball over, having it loose, and now going back the other way. It's two unpredictable things that I don't think are happening with better players on the court thing makes it fun.

Honestly, sloppy is fun. Amateurs, right? Amateurs. That's it. That's it.

Now we got three seconds left on the clock. Uh-oh. They've been showing this one guy's mom for like the past 20 minutes.

She has not moved her. What the heck are they reviewing? That's what I said the uh-oh for. Could be here for a while.

What type of crap is this? Anytime that replay monitor comes out, it's a good 10 minutes. Oh my god. Well, everybody sort of got dribble the ball out of bounds. So, Hickey, this is one of those things where you gotta, you gotta try to bait somebody into a foul. A little coach in here. Yeah, three, yeah, three, three. And that's enough.

3.4 seconds. You can get across half court easily. Yeah, you gotta, you gotta go for the foul.

Do you run at someone then? If you're on Alabama stays, they get the ball. You're running at someone and kind of throwing the ball up and flopping. The one thing you do is don't turn the ball over. We don't need no miraculous garbage at the end of the game. It's like, don't turn the ball over.

Oh, he throws it all the way. Oh my god. Oh my god. Wow. There we go.

There we go. March Madness moment. This man threw, uh, he threw like a 40-yard NFL pass to the other end of the court. Come, it was like a Hail Mary. Alabama is seven cents a second. Hickey, what the hell is that? How do they, how do they allow seven cents of a second on the clock?

You know, that was very reminiscent of the Commander's Bears ending. Hail Mary, throw it up, four guys in one area, basically tip it up, and a Alabama State player in this case, in the right place, right time, gets the loose ball, puts it up and in with, there's probably like a second left. Now they said it's a second. And so Alabama State, whoever this kid is, literally threw the ball from the baseline to the other free throw line. The ball bounces to under the basket. One of his teammates is able to pick it up and quickly put it in for a layup.

Alabama State leads now 70 to 68. There's now a minute, oh excuse me, there's a second left on the clock. And these are the type of moments that are just, I don't want to call them hilarious, but they're ridiculously entertaining. I'll put it to you this way, Hickey, this is the only time of the year that I think anybody ever watches TruTV. I couldn't tell you what comes on TruTV at any other point throughout the course of the year. It's like five basketball games that I watch and outside of that I do not care. But we get, the production that we get during March Madness from the producers identifying the fans, it's second to none. I think they do a better job than the NFL and NBA. Absolutely.

No, you are right about that. In terms of getting fans, they find the parents, they find the most stressful fans that are, you know, praying, sweating, losing their minds. I'm with you. That was, they do, CBS does a great job every single year. And now we got, we got St. Francis fans who have lost their minds because Alabama State has just won this game.

70 to 68, 70 to 68. St. Francis had a chance and an opportunity. They, they, it's just a hat. Was that half court hickey, three quarter court? That was, I mean, it's like the free throw line.

So three quarter court, even maybe like 80% of the court. That's a good toss. Yeah. And he, he, he missed it. He missed it. So Alabama State, they get, they get lucky. They got, they got lucky with the, the bounce their way and were able to put up the layup. And for the majority of the day, the majority of the game, excuse me, St. Francis, I feel like they had, they had the lead the majority of the game.

It was close all the way through. But Alabama State comes back and ends this one. The final score is 70 to 68. They go ahead and advance to take on Auburn. We wait another 30 minutes or so, and then we got North Carolina taking on San Diego State. The winner there takes on Ole Miss. Right now, right now the head coach of Alabama State is being interviewed.

We take a look. Juan Crawford Jr. led the way for St. Francis with 18 points. Omar Knox led the way for Alabama State with 16. I'm trying to see what the largest lead was here in this game. It was a close one all the way through. Yeah, Omar Knox, 16 points, including that game-winning field goal. Hickey, the guy, I mean, I know he's in college.

He looks like he just right out of high school. Largest lead for St. Francis was nine points. And the largest lead for your winners, Alabama State, was four points.

And so, hey, this is the first four and this is, this is cool. This is what the NCAA did it for. Like, let's give you some extra basketball for Tuesday and Wednesday before we actually get into the full field of 64.

And so there we have it. Auburn is going to take on Alabama State. That game is on Thursday. And for St. Francis, well, they go home.

And they, they go home miserable. 888-710-4ISN. That's 888-710-4ISN. We got more basketball coming up. At least I'll be familiar with, with North Carolina. There's this matchup here in Dayton, Ohio. A matter of fact, now that the game is over, we can listen to the final call. This is courtesy of Westwood One. Four hands. Knox grabbed it on the left clock.

He laid it up and in. And Alabama State, with seven tenths of a second to go, leads 70 to 68 over St. Francis. Welcome to March. Hey, here we go. It's one, one hell of a mention. Final call courtesy of Westwood One.

The final score is 70 to 68. Hickey, have you, you filled out a bracket? I have not.

No. I'm going to try to take my time here. We're both in the same boat, man. I like to think, I'm a classic over-thinker. What does that mean? I don't want to just rush through it and do it in two seconds. I want to think about it. I'm going to get it wrong anyway, but at least I can feel better that, okay, at least tried versus I'm just first thought, boom, boom, boom, boom.

This team, that team, this team, that team. Probably by this time tomorrow, hopefully I'll have it filled out. Okay. Are you entering into an office pool or something like that? Is friendly stuff going on? Some of my friends have a group.

My girlfriend's dad started like a small group with a few of us, so I can't listen to my girlfriend. So I got to at least try here, although probably the less you try, the better you do. So you're not going to be one of these, these losers. The NCAA said it's harassing the players, right? Well, I mean, I'll say this, if it's a game that I, I have, and my girlfriend also has, and she wins and I don't, and they miss a free throw over an easy play, just foul when you shouldn't foul, lose the basketball since timeout when you don't have a timeout.

No promises, JR. Hickey worst comes to worst, she buys you dinner. That's true. That's right. That's very unlikely. You said unlikely? Very unlikely. Oh, damn.

Damn, Hickey, damn. She doesn't listen to the show, so it's okay. That's rough. Well, say the truth. Not that she's not listening, but damn still she could take the winnings and treat you to dinner. I don't know, man. Right in her pocket.

I want to see those. Plus the bragging rights you have over me, even worse. Oh man, we don't want bragging. Well, we don't want anybody to have bragging rights that you'll hear about that. Like five years from now, 10 years from now, 15, she'll never forget. Don't remind me the JR sport, reshow the infinity sports network with talk more college ball football, NFL NBA don't move.