It is the JR Sportbree show here with you on the Infinity Sports Network. I'm coming to you live from Atlanta, Georgia.
Thank you to everybody tuned in all over North America. Happy Monday to you. I hope you're well. I know who's not well. Man, ladies seminars out of Florida State. I'm sitting here in the studio. LSU just beat them.
I think it was 101 to 76. Wow. Man, that's that's some rough going if you're traveling and shout out some people down in Tallahassee. Anyway, I'll be here with you for the next two hours. It's a four hour show. I get started at 6 p.m. Eastern, 3 Pacific every single weekday.
That means Monday through Friday. I'm in Atlanta. Super producer and host Ryan Hickey. He's in New York City. We've talked about a lot. Hey, thank you to our guests last hour. Michael Attula played point guard for the Fighting Illini. He now covers all things college basketball for the field of 68. He came through and joined us in another 20 minutes.
We'll have another guest. Connor Goodson will come through and join us to talk about all things Arkansas basketball. Yeah, because Coach Cal is moving on. And speaking of moving on, this guy's moving on to Cam Ward is moving on from college. He just wrapped up his pro day down in Miami and people are raving about his arm, his athleticism. This guy broke a sweat on his way into the NFL.
Matter of fact, we'll hear from Cam Ward in a second as he got some words in with the NFL Network. If you missed a minute or second of this show, go ahead and hit rewind on the free Odyssey app. The app is free. Not a lot of things in life today. Hickey, is there anything free in life? Oh boy.
Hickey, we're on planet Earth. You got to buy water. Come on now.
70% of this rock is made of a water. Still not free. I got to buy some. I mean, if I want clean water at my house, I got to buy a filter to clean the water.
It's sad. Air is free. It might be dirty, but it's free. Right? Right? No, no, no. It is definitely for the most.
Yeah, no, definitely. There's nothing free. That's it. So air and the Odyssey app. Odyssey app is free.
You're right. Odyssey app is free. Thank you to people listening on their local infinity sports network affiliates. If you have Sirius XM, and that ain't free, unless it's a free preview, channel 375. And if you have a smart speaker, maybe someone gifted it to you, but the internet part of it isn't free.
Ask the speaker to play the infinity sports network. I'll be hanging out with you for the next two hours. Of course, we're going to be talking more college basketball. We just talked about Anthony Davis who made his return for the Dallas Mavericks game number two of his career. A newsflash as of right now, Anthony Davis is still healthy. We'll see.
Give you an update on that guy before we get out of here. And of course, at the end of the show, we'll take a look at a few things that took place this day in sports history. You know, as, as we just shared with you, Cam Ward just wrapped up his pro day with Miami. This dude already won all these, these records, not records. He won all of these awards, quarterback awards down in Miami and Beskew be here. And he's the number one expected quarterback selected to be taken in the draft. We heard that the Tennessee Titans took him out to dinner yesterday. Good for him. And so now after his pro day, you know, people are asking questions, you look good.
There was a point in time, Hickey, what happened? There was, he made a throw and he, he looked over towards the Titans brass or something like that. Exactly. Make a nice throw down the field, beautiful dime. And he was kind of like rolling out towards the sideline right near where the Titans brass GM assistants, executives, coaches were there. And the camera caught him yelling something, but it could not be discerned exactly what he was yelling. And I found out later on what he was telling Tennessee. Well, let's take a listen to what Cam Ward said about that. He's having a chat with everybody right now. He spoke to the NFL network.
There was a throw that you did on the roll on the run where you hit a dime and it looked like you turned to the Titans brass, Chad Brinker, Mike Gorazani and said something to him. What did you say to him? I said, I'm solidifying it today. I made sure they heard me. Okay. All right. Nothing wrong with some, uh, some bravado and some confidence. He's not being a jerk about this Hickey.
If that was your door, it would be news tomorrow. Right? Arrogant quarterback making a fit. I don't know. Oh, there'll be some think pieces out there as well.
It would be chaotic. Can we just, we got another month until the draft. How the hell can I be asked for the Jr?
Go ahead. I hate this time. Why the period between the, the, the, what the combine and the draft? Oh, I hate it. And just football terms, just because stuff like this is like, everything is over-analyzed and overbroken down. And so now like every little thing, good or bad is either super hyped up or made to be a negative.
And there's just so much overreaction that it drives you crazy. Yeah. Here, here's some, uh, you ready for this? I have some, uh, from, uh, USA today, here's some words about Cam Ward's pro day. You ready?
You ready Hickey? Oh boy. Let's hear it. Cam Ward delivered several nice intermediate and long passes.
Okay. His best pass came on a bootleg to the left when he threw a deep pass to Miami wide receiver, Xavier Restepo. The football dropped him to Restepo's hands right as the receiver was in stride. The throw highlighted Ward's arm strength and accuracy. It's good to know.
It's good, good information. You hate this? Has there ever been a bad pro day? Have we ever seen a quarterback just completely butcher a workout to where it's up?
Nope. He's not the guy. He's not going to be the next franchise guy.
He's not going number one. I mean, Zach Wilson dazzled everybody. Sam Darnold. I remember people were talking about him throwing in the rain. Is this like, you know, big, Oh my God, he sees out in here in the elements. Look at this guy go.
He's going to be a superstar. It's so orchestrated at this point, right? They're doing the same thing every day for what?
Three weeks, four weeks. I was listening earlier in Cam Ward's interview. He said basically everything they did today was like stuff they did in practice in the games. So he's been doing it for months.
Every throw, every read, he's been doing it for months. Yeah. He, he wants, you want something negative today.
You want, Hey, I got you a hickey. Okay. Ward had about five throws that he liked to have back.
Okay. His worst pass came on an out route. The ball came out of his hand, awkward. Another ball sailed on him on a corner route towards the end of the session. He threw three passes too high that went over the outstretched arms of the intended receivers. Aside from a handful of incompletions, Ward had an impressive session, but lasted about 45 minutes here.
Here's some, here's some ratings. You're ready? Hickey mechanics. Hey, all right. Okay. We got here. Arm strength. Hey, we got here, uh, overall a minus. There we go. Miami's pro day highlighted more strengths of the quarterback. He possesses the necessary arm talent to make all the NFL throws while his athleticism allows him to make throws off platform and from various arm angles.
He had a handful of inaccurate passes, but overall Ward's performance should solidify himself as the top quarterback in the 2025 draft. There you go. That's a good article to read.
I mean, if he stunk the article would have said so. Hey, thank you to a Tyler dragon. Shout out to Tyler. No.
Right. And you asked Kiki, I have to Google Jamarcus Russell, right? Did he have a bad pro day? Did he show up on time?
Did he show up at all? That's actually a fair question. Let's see. I don't know.
He may not have, but if he showed up, I'm sure his pro day was more than okay. All right. You were right. Even him. Let's see.
I think about it. They're just standing there in shorts and a t-shirt. There's no pass rush. There's no defender. They're throwing to one receiver. Who's running one route that they've practiced for months on end. You ready for this?
You want to know how important pro days are? Oh, all right. He didn't have one.
No, no, no. He did in 2007. This is according to according to ESPN. LSU Russell's, uh, Russell puts on impressive a show for scouts.
Jamarcus Russell was the star of Wednesday show. Oh God. He weighed in at 256 pounds, nine pounds lighter than at the scouting combine more than two weeks ago. So he lost weight for a two weeks. Okay.
What was his way at the draft? You think here we go? Let's see. I ballooned up here.
We need, we need some more. Here we go. He ran a four, eight, 40 yard dash. Wow.
Oh, that's a pretty good time. Said Todd McShea senior draft analyst for ESPN. Compare that to Troy Smith.
Okay. Uh, Jamarcus Russell through 75 passes. He only missed on about four or five. His passing session was the most, his passing session was the most impressive of all the pro days I've been to his footwork for such a big quarterback was surprising. He was nimble in its drop backs. We all knew coming in his arm strength is extraordinary. The ball explodes out of his hands. He was flicking his wrist and putting it right on the numbers, his arm length.
They loved it. He has the arm length of a left tackle is big hands. Okay. All right. So there you have it in which Jamarcus Russell right now telling everybody's he's not a bust, right? No, the opposite telling everyone he's the biggest bust. Oh yeah. Yeah. Don't just call him a bust.
Call him the bust. Here we go. Uh, three years later.
So we went from 2007 to 2010. Mike Mayock, the best pro day I ever saw as a quarterback have or have was a Jamarcus Russell. Yeah.
Zach Wilson had is a few years ago. Yeah. The guy, Oh, here we go. Here we go. Three years later, the guy doesn't care about football. He doesn't have the passion for the game. Doesn't have the work ethic. I don't want him, but by the way, it was a pretty impressive pro day. There we go.
The tape work, the tape work and the body of work in college has to take precedence said Mike Mayock. Yeah. Yeah.
Okay. We have it. So what we just saw from Cam Ward, a whole lot of a whole lot of nothing.
Nothing. Is that, that's a real, you just not make that up on the fly. No, I just read that from NBC.
I read that. So basically we can, incredible. Can we play this back?
Uh, at this point next year, if we're still here, can we just play that? Oh yeah. Yeah. Okay. When somebody, when somebody tells us about pro days, we could just reference Jamarcus Russell, uh, again, just wait for arch Manning's pro day. Oh boy. Oh my God.
Um, this guy's been making these same passes since he fell out of the womb. Okay. Greatest pro day I've ever seen lock. It's already the headline right now. Locked up.
Yeah. He's been throwing the article right now, man. When do you think the first time he threw a football, what do you think he was nine months, three months old? I was going to say three years old. You're probably right.
It's closer to under a year. The baby's got some good hand eye coordination, man. Okay. Probably popped out of the womb with a ball in his hand. Come on. We've seen babies, babies throw things early. Like even before they walk, if you sit a baby down on anything and you give them a ball, if you give them anything hickey, depending on what it is, they're going to throw it. That's true.
No, you're right about that. If you're arch Manning, you don't think they gave him a football? Like somebody has to ask him that somebody has to ask his dad that when is the first time he threw a football? I bet you it'd be, he'd be months old. I don't know. Let's see. Uh, I'm trying to do some baby math here in my head. Hickey has been a minute trying to figure out the first time my kid threw a ball.
Oh my God. He wasn't, he was less than a year old. He had a ball. He was able to throw it.
So how does that work? You see him just throwing random objects, blocks, food, whatever. And so, okay, let's see if he can just put a ball in his hand and see you get the same results. You know, you kid kids get toys and eventually you got to entertain the kids, right? Kids leaving a playpen or a box all day. You got to get toys.
And so at one point the kid has toys. I don't know. That's a good question. Nicky.
I don't know. I got so many stupid balls and stuff in my house. I don't like sick of this stuff already. I went to the Hawks game on what day I go.
I went to the Hawks game on Saturday night and they gave me a bag to take home to my kid. I'm like, what are you giving me this stuff for more? Nice.
Nah, but more balls. Like I don't, we don't need no more of this crap. Come on. I need the more.
I don't need no more of this. But there was a point. I don't know. Like you get a Fisher price set of, of it has a baseball and basketball and all of this stuff.
And at that point is, Oh, I threw the ball at him and he caught and he threw it back. I don't know. Hmm.
Just naturally natural athlete. Okay. Yeah. You watch kids, kids imitate.
That's why we have all of these are terrible humans walking around the face of the earth. Hickey come on. Are you one of those parents that like is forcing him to throw this left hand to be like a pitcher in baseball and get some big time money? No. Ironically, he is left-handed. Oh, he's, he's, he's, he's ambidextrous, but he is left-handed. He is. Okay.
So there you go. I realized that I'm watching him draw and eat, eat food and stuff. I'm like, this guy's using this left hand. Oh, get a baseball in that hand and you won't regret it.
What should I do? Set them up for Tommy John tomorrow. I mean, get out ahead of it. Yeah. Right.
Might as well cut them open one time. He'll, he'll add how many miles per hour, three more years, five more hours on his fastball. I think so. Especially as he's growing, maybe grows even stronger now that he's like young still versus like getting at a 25. All right. Well break his arm tomorrow. Break his little arm tomorrow. Get them all set. Take them over to the Braves.
Get them set. I got it. Well, not that guy. I was going to say, I'll see if John rocket still lives here, but bad idea. Oh boy.
Yeah. Not him. I think I could do better than John rock. Anyway, it's the JR sport re-show here with you on the infinity sports network. Speaking of, uh, I don't want to call it a comeback, but one guy that we've seen have a comeback, not from arm surgery, but a comeback in college basketball is coach John Calipari. This man just knocked off Rick Pitino. He's walking around in them fancy jackets. He's coaching Arkansas.
This man is he's moving. He's in the sweet 16. We're going to talk about coach Cal on the other side of the break.
He's having a revival down in Arkansas. We'll be joined by Connor Goodson to have the convo on the other side. You're locked into the JR sport re-show the infinity sports network.
Don't get hurt. You're listening to the JR sport brief sport re-show here with you coast to coast on the infinity sports network. In a few minutes, we're going to have a chat with Connor Goodson covers all things, Arkansas basketball. I had a team that just brought in coach Cal, the team that's now in the sweet 16, the guy that yeah, coach Cal, the guy that everybody thought was cooked up at Kentucky.
Oh, how's he going to do a transfer portal? Oh, you can't build super teams. Well, damn it. The guys in the sweet 16 just knocked off Rick Pitino. Pretty awesome.
Well, that game took place on, on Saturday. So I look forward to having that chat with Connor Goodson. He'll be joining us in a few minutes. So I don't want to say a little bit of a surprise, a little bit of a shock that we have Arkansas in this spot right now. But there's one thing a lot of people are shocked about right now and in college basketball, people feel that we don't have the Cinderella's that we don't have the upsets that we have too many blue bloods that we have, you know, no mid majors that the little guys are not here lighting things up, that we don't have the stories of the teams that have absolutely come out of nowhere to just shock everybody and take us on a wild ride.
I feel like we do. And these are, these are some stats. This is a hickey shared this earlier today. This is the first tournament since 2007 where no team seated 11 or below made the sweet 16. This is the fourth time.
This has happened since the year 2000. And so we got a lot of people who are pretty upset and pretty worried and pretty concerned that the tournament is what now a waste of time that we don't have the greatest and best of storylines. Jay Williams earlier today was on get up and he said the whole center of the game get up. And he said the whole Cinderella idea in college basketball in the tournament, he said, it is over.
NIL is the death of mid major Cinderella runs. And I think it still can happen, but I think it's going to be more of a rarity greening. I think now we're going to see a lot of players that are playing for the Colorado States that are playing for the McNeices that are playing for the Drakes that are going to get poached by mid-level power four, power five conferences. Right. And you're going to see teams in the middle of the pack of the big 10, the middle of the pack of the big 12, see these players and say, Hey, we'll give you four X, we'll give you five X, what you're earning at your main major conference.
And that's why I think you're seeing chalk as much as you're seeing right now, as we get to the sweet 16. I don't think so. We'll have teams that'll pop up the hell out of nowhere. And then they'll just get disbanded.
That's it. The players will go elsewhere. Everybody will go their separate ways. You want to talk about not necessarily having any of these, these surprises and these Cinderella's come on now, St. Peter's a couple of years ago, man, they were a number 15 seed. They reached the elite eight in 2022.
I mean, even if I go away from what St. Peter's did, and then that's that everybody left that school got ripped to shreds. FDU, they're another team that was able to go ahead and turn things around. We're going to get more into that in a second.
Somebody who doesn't have to worry about being a Cinderella, people expect him to do damage anywhere that he goes. It's time to have a chat right now with Connor Goodson, who covers all things Arkansas Razorback basketball. Hey, Connor, how are you doing? Doing good, JR. How about you? I'm excellent.
Thank you for taking the time to come through and join us. When you think about Coach Cal and what he's been able to do with this school and with this team, a little surprised at the results so far right out of the gate? I mean, I think so. I don't think I've ever seen a team really lose their two leading scores and then proceed to go on a run. So when I go like finish the season eight and five and make it to the tournament and go on a run in the tournament to make it to the second weekend, it's pretty unheard of. And considering where things were back in early February, when Arkansas was 0-5 in SEC play, pretty remarkable that we're sitting here talking about them being in the Sweet 16.
I gotta be honest, I don't think I've ever seen anything. I think that looking forward, you know, if Arkansas, even if they bow out this weekend, it's kind of one of those things where they've already defied expectations. And I think that Arkansas fans are going to be happy regardless.
Arkansas is going to be in action against Texas Tech on Thursday night. Well, Connor, you've covered this team. What what has changed?
Let's let's think about this in two ways. Since that 0-5 run, what's changed between then and now? And what's changed throughout the course of the entire year as Cal has tried to figure this out? Well, I think when they started SEC play, they had a bunch of guys that just weren't confident in their roles. Like you had Boogie Flay and you had Adu Thiru who were, you know, kind of leading the charge offensively. But you didn't have really John L. Davis in a role that he was comfortable with where he had the ball in his hands. He was just kind of that 3-and-D spot up guy. And he's been better. We saw it at FAU with him where he put the ball in his hands and kind of just let him go to work.
That's where he's at his best. So he wasn't really in a role that he was comfortable with. D.J. Wagner wasn't. Trevin Brazil, he really has this last half of the season, has just become almost a completely different player. Then Jonas Adu has also gotten a lot healthier earlier in the season. He was a shell of himself. So you get all of these ingredients of guys that just don't really have confidence.
They're not comfortable in the role. That's what happened. They started 0-5, 1-6 before they went into Rupp Arena.
And that game was really the coming out party. You know, you lose Boogie Flay and things look dire. And then you kind of slide D.J. Wagner over into more of a creator role. And then John L. Davis kind of takes over D.J. Wagner's role where he has the ball in his hands more. And then the bigs start getting healthy and they get in a groove. And that's really what's changed. Guys are in more comfortable roles.
They're way more confident and they're healthy aside from Thiero. Who knows? He may be back.
He may not be back. But this team, they've shown that they'll be able to put up a fight regardless. Connor Goodson covers all things Arkansas basketball for Hawksports.com. You just named a variety of names on the team.
I do. All the way down to Wagner. Who needs to take the charge?
It seems like a lot of guys are capable of doing so. But who needs to take the charge against Texas Tech if they want to walk away to the Elite Eight? Well, yeah, and to my point, naming all those guys like that has been the biggest thing is that, you know, this is something that Cal has said already this season numerous times. We don't need everybody to be good. We just need that they can't all be bad. You know, they don't all have to be great. They just can't all be bad at the same time and Arkansas expect to win.
They need everyone. It takes a team effort to get this team to do what they can do and be at their best. So really, it's not about just, you know, a couple of guys stepping up.
It's really everyone gives you something like if your shots not falling, you got to be able to give them rebounds. And we've seen that with Knox and Richmond, who before the last game against St. John's, they weren't really like in a groove offensively like they weren't the key guys. And then they go out against St. John's and lead the team in scoring. And before that, they were just trying to make plays defensively and go grab rebounds and kind of affect the game in other ways. And then they come out in St. John's and they're able to do something different where they needed to beat the leaders offensively.
So it's just guys picking up the slack where they need to and kind of all giving them something that has really allowed this team to reach its potential down the stretch. Well, Connor, you say that's Coach Calipari's, his philosophy here with this team and with this squad. We know about the stars that he used to have out in Kentucky. We know about his time at Memphis.
It's been a year, at least on the college basketball calendar. What are your personal impressions on who he is and the job that he's done so far? Yeah, you know, when he when he took the job, obviously, I knew what all kind of came with it.
And I obviously we all heard the complaints from Kentucky fans and Kentucky media about kind of what went wrong and the negatives that came with Cal. But he has really impressed me. I feel like with his, you know, X's and O's are a lot better than I expected them. And they were kind of sold to me, you know, just his situational stuff like he's really great at drawing up out of bounds plays out of time out stuff that he's been a lot better than I expected and that we've seen in years past.
And just some of the sets that he runs, I think that they're a lot more than what was advertised originally. And that's been a pleasant surprise. But just his ability to really connect with guys and get them being able to push the right buttons and get them to like not check out when you're one five or one and six, man, especially in today's day and age with with guys making six figures, seven figures, like check out, mail it in, man.
I mean, it just it is. And he that didn't happen. Like these guys really, you know, stepped up to the to the challenge and he kept them engaged all year, all year long. And, you know, he kept on them. You know, we can go on a run.
We can go on a run if you just stay engaged. And now they've done exactly that. So that has really impressed me for him to be able to keep these dudes engaged and playing their best ball when they really need to. Well, that's that's the guys in the locker room. How was the overall school and the community? Have they embraced them? Has it just been like, let's wait and see? Has it been quiet and under the radar up until now?
How is the community overall taking it? Well, the thing about Arkansas fans, you know, going back to the Nolan Richardson teams in the 90s, like they've always thrived in that underdog role, like they love to get behind an underdog and they really, you know, this fan base really just rallies around the underdog. And so because Cal was so, you know, discounted and people were riding him off, you know, the fan base is also kind of rallied around that. And, you know, the Arkansas fan base has never really had a, you know, a premier coach like that's almost the brand is on the same level as the school.
And so that was weird. But then, you know, you get into the season and he kind of, you know, takes on that underdog role that this Arkansas fan base loves to rally around. And so I think that that has really endeared him to fans. He's really, I feel like, connected with with fans and outside of basketball, outside of, you know, the around the community, you know, going to different, whether it's the outreach programs, they did an exhibition for charity earlier in the summer that, you know, different things like that that he's done that really, you know, connects him on a personal level with this fan base.
And then so you add those ingredients together, the underdog, the community outreach, things like that. And safe to say that these Arkansas fans really ride for Cal now and that he's one of theirs. Connor Goodson is here with us from hogsport.com. Do you think they're going to knock off Texas Tech on Thursday?
And put me on the spot. That's a that's a tough question. You know, I mean, Texas Tech is really good. I think that they match up really well with Arkansas to give Arkansas trouble. You know, the big question is this chance McMillan play like, if he does, that obviously changes the changes the match up completely. And if he doesn't, that obviously goes for Arkansas. But, you know, J.T. Toppin and Darian Williams, they're more than capable of giving Arkansas issues.
You know, you've got guys like the Bonamir Visage and Trevin Brazil and Jonas Aydoo who have, you know, kind of struggled against guys at times, you know, down low with, you know, smaller, scrappier kind of forward. So it's going to be a really fun. I think it's going to be another physical game, maybe not level St. John's was, but I think both of these teams kind of pride themselves at the defensive end of the floor. And I think that it's going to be one of those things that that one of those matchups that really, you know, it really quintessential like instant classic almost because, you know, it is you know, it's winner go home.
It's survive in advance. And Texas Tech, you know, they're hearing all about Arkansas being the Cinderella, you know, the underdog, you know, the only double digit seed. You know, if I'm a player in Texas Tech, that probably irritates me a little bit, be like, hey, we're in this matchup, too.
And so I think that there's a little bit of that. But, you know, the Red Raiders really get offensively, too. I think that their last time I looked, their top five can palm efficiency offensively. So, yeah, Arkansas is going to have their hands full, especially if McMillan does give it a go. Connor, regardless of how this season ends for Arkansas, people are definitely going to take a look at it, look at it as a success, knowing about how much we've had players who transfer out and move around. Same thing with coaches, knowing how much money is being put into this program for Arkansas. That's why Coach Cal is here.
How long is this runway? I think that it's, especially with the way that this season has played out, I think that if you just looked on paper before the season started and you looked at 0-5 SEC, you know, they slow down or they get a slow start out of the gates and then they start to build back and have this, you know, amazing stretch to end the season and then they go on a run. I feel like that some people would just take that at face value and be like, you know, maybe that's not living up to expectations, but actually living with it day by day and being in the moment and riding the kind of ride that this year has been. It's hard to not believe that this Arkansas fan base, the administration isn't just, you know, they've kind of got the mindset of like, you know, let's let Cal do his thing. Like, as long as it takes, you know, we're going to ride with Cal. Like I said, that underdog mentality, the fire that we've seen from Cal this season, where it really wasn't there for him at Kentucky, you know, that fire, that passion that has really driven him, maybe he kind of lost that last few years in Lexington.
It's definitely back. And I think that with that, I think Arkansas fans are just kind of, you know, like, hey, however long it takes, let's ride with our guy because, you know, he's embraced us and we're going to back him. And obviously with the reaching the second weekend this year, after how it started, I think that fans are more than willing to really kind of give him the time that he needs to really get this thing going. Yeah, well, listen, Coach Cal in front of a microphone is typically gold as I'm sure you've already seen and witnessed, Connor.
So the more that we get at him over the next couple of days and maybe weeks, the better. I appreciate the time. I know you cover all things Razorbacks, not just on a basketball, but football side. Where can people keep up with you and Hawksport? Yeah, over at hawksports.com, hawgsports.com and we cover everything, Arkansas football, basketball, baseball. And then you can follow me on Twitter at Connor Goodson, all one word, no numbers or anything just at Connor Goodson. So yeah, that's where you can keep up with all of our stuff. Transfer portal started today. So we got a lot of coverage on that front. And it's going to be a fun week in San Francisco for sure. And no doubt about that.
Yeah, all 200 members who have entered or players who entered into the portal, keeping things busy. Hey, Connor, thank you so much, man. We'll catch you on down the line. Yeah, I really appreciate it.
They are always the pleasure talking to you. No doubt about it. That kind of Goodson covers all things Razorbacks for hogsports.com. You know what? Let's hear from Coach Cal on the other side of the break and also the guy he eliminated. We got to wait a little while until we get more quotes from Rick Pitino.
I want to talk about all these guys entering into the transfer portal, get into the Cinderella stories that don't exist. So we have more to do here on the JR sport brief show. You're listening to the JR sport brief. It is the JR sport brief show here with you on the infinity sports network. Thank you so much to Connor Goodson for joining us in the last break from a hogsports.com. I need 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 888-710-4ISN.
That's 888-710-4ISN. You heard Connor. He's just like, man, everybody is going along for this ride with the Razorbacks. This is I guess it's close to a Cinderella story that anybody could possibly have at least what's left in the tournament right now. Coach Cal got the boot from Kentucky. He doesn't have it anymore.
He can't win anymore. And boom, here he is this first year with the Razorbacks in the sweet 16. I don't know if they'll be Texas Tech.
I would venture to say otherwise. But however, the season ends, as I just discussed with with Connor, people are going to be looking for Coach Cal to have even more of a bounce back next year. So Coach Cal, he spoke to the media, obviously, after beating Rick Pitino in St. John's on Saturday, they beat him a 75-66. That game became a little bit more of a game was closer than what the score is.
You think about the now knocking down free throws and what have you. It was a it was a close game. It was an ugly game. It was a tough game. You know what?
And Coach Cal, he says, you know what? Winning that basketball game on Saturday has to be one of the most rewarding victories I've ever had ever. I just saw we went two for 19 from the three and one. What in the world?
Then I saw they were two for 22. Was it an ugly game or was it a game that was exciting? Like both an ugly exciting game. You know, I don't care. It could be an ugly, ugly game. And I'm happy we're moving on.
Oh, man, you want to talk about ugly. I mean, from the loser side, it was ugly for St. John's. Rick Pitino. God bless him.
He went to go see his son the next day. At least he could take his mind temporarily off of the loss. But man, R.J. Lewis Jr. This guy was the biggest player of the year.
You won't talk about ugly. He took 17 shots. He made three.
Ouch. He got bench. We don't need you.
We don't want you have a seat. And then Rick Pitino was asked about it after the game. And he's just like, why don't I play him the last five minutes?
Why do you think I'm trying to win a basketball game? And he sucked, played 30 minutes. It's a long time. So he was tired. No, played 30 minutes.
And I went with other people. You already know the answers, Roger. You're asking leading questions. You already know it.
So don't ask me questions. You already know why he didn't play. Ouch. Well, he could have said it was his shooting, but I guess he didn't want to say that because then Rick Pitino said he won't do something. He won't knock a player, even though he like knocked his entire team last year. I guess he learned his lesson.
Listen to this. Was there one play with R.J. that made you sit in the last five minutes? You know, he was three for 17. You know, he was over three. So you're answering your own. I'm not going to knock one of my players.
Damn. He says at this moment, he should have said at this moment, I'm not going to knock one of my players because I learned my lesson last year when I said this kid isn't athletic enough. He doesn't know how to, you know, pass on the floor like like that. You don't say this like you haven't ripped your players before. Like those guys were fishing and I don't blame them. It's their job. They were looking for a quote. They didn't get one. He had a different response. He still had a noteworthy response, but he ripped his guys to shreds last year. Maybe he was going to have a flashback. Yeah, he learned a lesson. Maybe it was not the time. He was not not taking the bait. You're not kidding about that.
Yeah, I would have preferred if he did. No, who am I? I can't say that. Let me not say that. I really feel concerned about some of these young men. Like they got to get over it. You know, it's just when everybody is watching you all across the country and this big moment and. Like people have such short attention spans.
Ain't nobody going to be thinking about RJ Lewis and going three for 17 outside of him when he's laying in bed one night. Like who cares? But as an overall, when all the spotlight and all the attention is on you at that moment. It's it's tough. Picky, I've seen so many tears over the past week like this is the. This is the time of year. I see young people cry.
There's no other time like I'm not. Like what? Why else would people cry? They have more. They have more people crying on TV in this two week span than anything else. No, you're right.
You're 100% right. It's devastating because all of a sudden in the blink of an eye your season is done. You know your hopes and dreams are wiped out for a lot of these players that either going to the League or just run out of eligibility.
This is the last time they'll put on a uniform, at least the uniform of the school they're at, especially the transfer portal. It's you know even more so now the case and made that just finality hits them seconds after a loss to where it's just that you just see more tears than you otherwise would man. You know it doesn't hit the hickey. What's hitting them at that moment is that this amazing journey is over. Like being able to maybe reach this point in college athletics, maybe being on television, you know being online, being on social media, and then and then the reality that should really hit them maybe a couple days, couple weeks after hickey. Welcome to the real world. Welcome to reality. Welcome to the workforce.
Like welcome to getting a job. Maybe that should hit them a lot harder than not playing basketball or football man. I think so.
And maybe that's why they're crying. Oh my god I gotta get a real job now. Yeah like how many what what you know I'm gonna look that up in a break. What percentage of college athletes go pro? Like you think about this thousands of them. Thousands. What percentage actually make the next level? Isn't it like one percent? Is it that? Is it that or less? I mean like you said like think about it just in basketball alone there's what 368 schools I think is the exact number.
Oh my god. And just D1 alone? Yeah I didn't even think about D2 because uh.
Why would you? Like what's the last D2 basketball player that had an impact in the NBA? Like a real impact. I couldn't tell you.
Yeah I'm gonna look this up in the break. Yeah March is mad. This might be the peak of a lot of people's athletic careers. Hey where's that guy from NC State? He's in China or Europe somewhere right? DJ Burns. Yeah we'll find out where he is on the other side. And I'm gonna tell you about one guy his stock is rising. Don't move it's the JR Sport Breeze Show.
