It is the JR Sportbrief Show here with you on the Infinity Sports Network. I'm coming to you live from Atlanta, Georgia.
Thank you to everybody tuned in and locked in all over North America. I hope you're great. I hope you're well.
I hope you are absolutely amazing. I'm going to be hanging out with you real simple here for the next four hours. This is when the show gets started every weekday, 6 p.m. Eastern, 3 Pacific. Thank you so much to our super producer and host, Ryan Hickey.
Ryan Hickey's in New York City. And regardless of where you might be, thank you for being here. We got a lot to talk about, obviously, in about an hour from now. We're going to get ready for the Sweet Sixteen. We have to wait four days for more college basketball, but here it finally is. We kicked things off with BYU in Alabama.
They tip off in about an hour from now. We got three more matchups as well. Also, by the way, speaking of kicking things off, the Major League Baseball season is finally here.
And I'm not talking about them games that they had out in Japan. Got baseball games all over the country, San Diego, New York. We got baseball everywhere.
How about this? The talks of Major League Baseball later on in the show, we're going to be joined by Seattle Mariners legend, multiple time All-Star Brett Boone is going to join us. I mean, his brother is currently managing the Yankees right now, this minute, this second. But we'll have a chat with Brett Boone later on this show. And then also, how about this to get us all started with the college basketball? We got John Crispin joining us.
Covers all things college basketball on behalf of Westwood One. You got some unfortunate things that took place today. Oh, my goodness. I can't believe.
Well, I can't believe this. Stephen A. Smith hit back at LeBron James and did it in a stupid way. It's like, stop digging a hole.
We'll get into that. Speaking of digging a hole, apparently Danny Hurley realized he'd been digging himself quite the hole since winning two national championships. Dan Hurley kind of sort of said, I'm sorry.
I think he said, I'm sorry, just a little bit. Speaking of college coaches saying sorry or maybe saying nothing. Man, we got a big match up tonight between Maryland and Florida.
That'll be fun. I told you about BYU, Alabama. We also get Arizona and Duke.
We got Arkansas and Texas Tech. But Kevin Willard, the head coach of the Maryland Terpens, they're calling the team the crab five because of their starting five. This guy might be on out the door. I don't know if he's taking lessons from Danny Hurley on how to communicate with the media, but yeah, we'll get into Kevin Willard and the interesting situation he finds himself in as he's getting ready to coach in the Sweet 16. But he might already have one foot on out of the door. We'll get into some more quarterback talk. No, Aaron Rodgers didn't choose or make a selection as to where he wants to go. But it appears that the Cleveland Browns have a little bit more clarity as to what they want to do at the quarterback position.
And it does not involve Dak Prescott. If you want to be a part of the show, you can. The phone number here is 888-710-4ISN.
That's 888-710-4ISN. You can find me on the internet. I exist everywhere at JR Sport Brief.
Super producer and host Ryan Hickey. How are you on this Thursday of the Sweet 16 and opening day? How you feeling? Great. Like you just outlined, what a hell of a slate we got here today.
The next few days. Great to have baseball back. We better if the Mets are actually, you know, getting some runs on the board. But other than that, it's been a great Thursday so far. It's been a great Thursday. You know what? To a certain degree, I got a bone to pick. Not with you. Of course not with you. It's opening day, right?
Right. I'm trying to watch all the games. The Yankees were one of the first games on ESPN.
I forgot another game opened up pretty much at the same time. I think it was the O's and the Blue Jays. The O's are currently beating up the Jays 9-2. Yankees are beating up on the Brewers 4-1.
It's the middle of the eighth. Hickey, I opened up my MLB app at the beginning of the New York Mets game. I wanted to see Juan Soto in a New York Mets uniform. You just mentioned the New York Mets. They're out in San Diego. Or excuse me, they're out in Houston. The Astros are currently beating them 3-0. The Braves are in San Diego. That's my local team. The Braves are beating the Padres 4-3.
But Hickey, the point is, I wanted to see Juan Soto. And I open up the MLB app. And I get an error code. And then I try again. And then I close it. And then I restart. And I try again. And then I close it. And then I restart.
And it's the same damn thing over and over again. And so I do what most normal people do. I go to social media. And I search the MLB app. And I see that every human being utilizing the app or trying to utilize the app is having the same issue. And so on opening day, for a product that I pay money for, I could not use. The app was down. I quit after about, I don't know, 30 minutes of trying. And then, you know, literally, I tried right before I went on air and it worked. Hickey, I was feeling good. And so I got screwed by Major League Baseball again.
Is that not the most, or maybe I should say the least surprising thing ever? That on the really opening day, right, for a lot of, if you're a casual baseball fan, this is really the day you're going to watch for the most part. You want to be locked in, tuned in. Okay, let's watch my team. Isn't it just perfectly baseball? That's the biggest day of the year. Can't figure it out.
It is. Can't allow people to watch the game that they're desperate to grow. Yeah, I want to see, I wanted to see Soto. I'm like, ah, the Yankees on, this game sucks, it's boring, whatever. Let me switch over and at least turn on the Mets as well. I was going to watch both games at the same damn time.
Couldn't do it. And you're right. You know, I put this message out.
I tweeted it or X'd it, whatever the hell you call it. I said, this is the most Major League Baseball thing ever that I want to watch a game on opening day. And it doesn't work that I don't know. Maybe that there would be increased demand on opening day for people to watch the game. I don't know what the issue was. I don't know if it's a server issue, too many people trying to watch too much baseball.
And I have no idea. There was a point in time where Major League Baseball was ahead of the curve when it came down to technology and making sure the games get out there. At one point in time, a lot of people don't know this.
Hickey, tell me if you knew this. Major League Baseball owned and created a technology under BAM. And it was basically a streaming technology that they eventually they were contracted out to work with all these other streaming companies like Netflix and Hulu and the WWE and NBC like they created. They helped. They helped out their streaming technology. Did you know that? I did actually used to work, not, I guess, for BAM, but adjacent to BAM. Yeah, they were ahead of it.
Big time. Major League Baseball, if we go back to the late 90s and early 2000s at the kind of the explosion of the Internet and home computers, Major League Baseball, man, you could you could stream out of town games. It was a first like you could be in your house and I don't know, Milwaukee. And then you could go on the Internet and oh, my God, what a novel concept.
You could listen to the radio broadcast from Los Angeles. I know not a big deal. Now you can get the whole world at your fingertips. But it was a big deal.
And Major League Baseball was ahead of that. And then they were ahead of streaming. And now I don't know, maybe they got too much money. They don't give a crap about me that the app doesn't work. I quit. I gave up.
And so at least it works now. I saw a lot of folks complaining about, oh, we're going to get our money back. Do I get a free day?
Do I? No, nobody's getting no money back. Okay. Major League Baseball has everybody's credit card information. They got your debit bank account. There's there's nothing. That's going to change. Not a damn thing.
And it sucks. I forgot who it was. Was it an NFL game last year? No, it wasn't the NFL. There was it was a Thursday Night Football. One of these streaming companies was it Thanksgiving, Nicky? I can't remember. It was the Tyson Paul fight on Netflix ahead of the Netflix Christmas doubleheader.
There you go. And everybody complained about Tyson. What's the guy's name? Paul Tyson and Paul, Jake, Jake, Jake, Paul, Tyson, Jake, Paul fight. It's freezing.
App stunk crashed all over the place. And everybody's like, oh, well, they got the NFL on Christmas. If they can't handle this fight, how are they going to stream the NFL successfully? Well, they did. That's Netflix. Who's just getting into live content. You would think Major League Baseball would have it together. I don't know.
After 25 years of digital growth, I digress. I'm pretty sad and and pretty miserable. But here we have it at this moment. Juan Soto making his debut for the New York Mets is one for two with a walk. What a shock.
The Mets have zero runs up on the board. And speaking of Juan Soto, this is absolutely a semi nuts because ahead of his big old debut, Hickey, what is he making? Is it really 760 or is that my imagination? Seven sixty five. Oh, I missed five million dollars. How dare you undersell this man and his finances?
Seven hundred and sixty five million dollars over the next 15 years. Ahead of today's match up against the Astros, Juan Soto sat down with Jeff Passan from ESPN. And I want you to listen very carefully to what he had to say about how good of a hitter he is. Listen, who is the best hitter of all time? Myself.
Until you prove me, I'm wrong. You put the bars that hide and you put your goals in a big spot. It brings the best out of you. It's easy to put it up there, but it's not going to be easy to be up there.
But definitely I'm going to try my best to be out there. OK. And so Hickey, was he wavering a little bit? Was he kind of saying I'm the best ever, but I need to do what? What did he say exactly?
For me, not a big deal, but I don't think he said it, but I don't know if he stood on it after. Was he joking? I think it's kind of one of those. I think I'm the best. I'm going to basically prove it to you like I think it's kind of both.
I think I'm the best, but also I have, you know, I guess more body work to do to be able to actually have the numbers to back that up. So maybe a little bit of one foot in each camp. Yeah, he's straddling the fence there.
Sort of, yeah. He could have he could have stopped and said I'm the best hero of all time until I'm proven otherwise. He could have stopped there, but then he decided to give an explanation that gave himself a little wiggle room. And when you look at Juan Soto for a man who is only 26 years old. He already won a World Series. Damn it, he helped. He helped those Washington Nationals win that World Series.
The guy gets on base. He has a Hall of Fame career. He's fortunate enough now he got a seven hundred sixty five million dollar contract at one point in time. And smart for him, I guess he turned down a four hundred forty million dollar contract.
What do you do? Net himself another three hundred million a couple of years later. Juan Soto is a big deal. You could say that he is the greatest young hitter of all time.
You could argue that. But we can't call you the greatest hitter of all time. We had the hit king. God rest Pete Rose. So you can't say you're the greatest hitter of all time. God rest this guy. So when you got the Tony Guinn's of the world. You're a great baseball player.
Yeah. And you do a great job getting walks. But when it comes to making contact, I, I wouldn't even put you in the space of an ichiro. Juan Soto is great. Great all around player. I don't know about the defense at times, but he's a great player.
A great eye. Greatest to of all time. Spare me. Let's see how you age in 15 years from now. Picky, what is he going to do BDH for the New York Mets at 41 years old? Still probably hitting 300 be my guess.
Maybe a few few less walks. I don't even want to think about 15 years from now. He's going to be 41. He's 26. He's going to be 41 when this contract is done.
Can you imagine that? It's a long time. I mean, at that point, I hope we're talking about 15 years from now at five rings in the finger. Five?
Damn. I know the Stevie, uncle Stevie is throwing around a lot of money with the New York Mets. I don't know if you can buy five championships in 15 years. As Juan Soto said, you got to set the bar high.
Let's go. What would you be happy with as a New York Mets fan? What would you be? I mean, realistically, I'll be happy with one. One in 15 years.
You mean one? I'll be eternally happy. OK. All right.
OK. Then I can at least die peacefully. Well, we'll see what this at least for this year, we'll see what the New York Mets, what their starting rotation does, because it's nice when you have a Soto and Pete Alonso and then you have what's what's the shortstop? Francisco Lindor. Yeah. You have how many jerseys you have in him? One?
One single jersey at a time kind of guy. OK. Yeah. Lindor was in the MVP conversation last year.
This is nice. You got Mark Vientos. I think he had twenty six, twenty seven home runs last season.
Yeah. So the Mets, they got offense. What they do with the pitching is is TBD in the New York Mets. All these championships.
I got to tell you. I don't know where the Dodgers are going. And when I say that, I mean, I don't expect them to go anywhere. The Dodgers already started their season in Japan, 2 and 0. And Dave Roberts is already back in America. He's like, man, we got the Tigers. We got the Tigers at home. We got school.
We got Snell. Dave Roberts says, I'm ready for the season to start. I'm excited. I'm excited. You know, we got through spring training.
We got through Tokyo relatively healthy and feeling good. And so we got the Tigers coming on opening day, home opener. And so we got the ring ceremony on Friday. So I know guys are excited about that. So there's nothing like a home opener, especially at Dodger Stadium. Oh, my goodness. Of course, he's ready. He's got more money than God. Quadruple the payroll of a team like, I don't know, the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Yes, quadruple. Coming off of a championship. All stars up and down the rotation, all stars in the starting lineup. The bullpen is packed with back.
If I was if I was Dave Roberts, I'd be happy to. Who the hell is going to stop the Dodgers? I think the answer is injuries. That's it. I don't know anybody else stopping the Dodgers from winning another World Series.
And for them going back to back, I do not expect that one. You know what? We'll have a bigger chat, more baseball chat with Brett Boone later on in the show. Mariners legend, multiple time All-Star. So we'll talk some baseball with Brett Boone. You're locked into the J.R. Sportbree show here with you on the Infinity Sports Network. When we come back, we're going to have a chat with basketball, with someone who covers ball. His name is John Crispin.
You might know him via Westwood. One covers all things college basketball. John Crispin on the other time to talk the excuse me, to talk the Sweet 16. It's the J.R. Sportbree show, the Infinity Sports Network. You're listening to the J.R. Sportbree. It is the J.R. Sportbree show here with you coast to coast on the Infinity Sports Network. Not only is today the start of the Major League Baseball season, at least domestically, we got the Sweet 16 underway in about an hour from now. And we had to wait another four days to get into some basketball. We got some great matchups today.
Got some great matchups tomorrow. To break it all down is someone who covers all things college basketball. He is an analyst. You can catch him right here via Westwood One.
He's all over the place. Joining us right now is John Crispin. John, how are you?
I'm good. I'm just retaining a little relevance because college basketball still matters. For a lot of folks out there, it just started a couple of weeks ago. So good time for college troops and we're digging it.
Absolutely. I guess if in that type of way, we only got a few more weeks before we get down to San Antonio. Well, let's talk about let's talk about what we're going to see in about an hour from now. We're going to see the launch of the Sweet 16. We got BYU in Alabama. We got Arizona in Duke.
Even closer. This is a one I'm really looking forward to. We got Maryland and Florida.
So many storylines there. Duke plays tonight and then we got Arkansas and Texas Tech. What game are you looking forward to the most tonight? I would say between Maryland and Florida, I do think that's going to be just a fun, intriguing matchup. You know, kind of kind of hodgepodge of guards, but the young bigs for Maryland could be interested against that Florida. I think the whole team is a frontline. They're just they're so long.
I don't think people realize how long Florida is. And that just kind of adds to the disruption that they can bring upon the game in terms of getting hands in passing lanes. Just making it difficult forces you to kind of adjust to them throughout the course of the game. I've got to say that the game that I think anybody who likes, you know, puppies, lollipops, ice cream and scoring is going to be paying attention to BYU Alabama. Like it's just going to be fun. And frankly, I think that's what college basketball needs, right? It's been there's been so much negativity about pay for play, the portal, mercenaries, free agency, whatever you want to call it. And it just hasn't been positive for college hoops, right? Coaches taking jobs, coaches getting fired.
No one really knows what their team's going to look like next year. I just think the overall narrative around the game has been negative. And the reality is there's been some good basketball being played. And BYU has been a great story, right?
Mark Pope goes to Kentucky. And I love what he's doing at Kentucky. But BYU picks right up where they've been. They've got one of the best recruits in, you know, basically the highest paid recruiting history college basketball coming in next year, at least the amount of money that we know about because now business is above the table.
So there's a ton of excitement there. They play a free-flowing, free-wielding type of basketball. And that is just like their opponent in Alabama. So when you're setting up matchups, you couldn't ask for a better matchup. And frankly, I think Wisconsin, the way they're playing with, with Tanjeet being the player that he is, it could have been a good game, but nothing like what you'll see with BYU and Alabama. Both teams are going to look to score a hundred plus points. And I struggle to think either team's going to try to take the air out of the ball.
There's just no way. So I think that one's going to be up and down. The other one's going to be Duke, Arizona, because it's, you know, we want to, we want to see how good this Duke team really is. It's a shame, you know, Malik Brown is such a terrific defender. And while it doesn't kill them, right, losing him, it definitely doesn't allow them to truly see their potential. And I think what's sad is when you have such great players, like a Cooper flag, a continental, right? These are guys that are just, we now know are not going to be there next year.
And the college basketball I grew up with, I knew I was going to see Cooper flag, conka dimple, and then my watching all these other guys, they were going to play with the Boozer twins next year. And they might play together again, the year after that, like, we almost have this idea that we need to see them achieve at a ridiculously high level in a short period of time. And I think it's a fair expectation given how good they actually are. But I think it also allows Arizona to play freely. I don't think Arizona is going to come in with any expectations other than let's just go ball.
And I think that makes them really dangerous. And yes, Duke is good, both ends of the ball, they're really good. But Arizona is a unique matchup to and it wouldn't shock me to see Arizona beat Duke.
John Crispin is here with us covers all things college basketball as an analyst for Westwood one, you talk about Arizona knocking off potentially knocking off do they got a player who has a little experience in doing so in another uniform. And Mr. Caleb love, he has to he may not be a game winner. But he has to fill up the the scoreboard if they're going to have any chance now. Yeah, I think he does. And he does. But he just needs to be here's the thing, like, you could score a lot of port points and dominate a game.
Or you could just be the most aggressive guy on the floor and watch the entire game flow through you. And I think he's got the ability to do that. The one thing he's never really done is develop a total playmakers game.
Right? We think of guys like Caleb love is like, well, he's a great score he is. But as you go in college, you have to you have to learn how to move the game, not just move the ball, not just score, you got to move the game with your abilities. He's shown it at times. But sometimes his aggressiveness kind of puts him in a bad spot where he'll keep firing when he doesn't have it or he doesn't get to the basket as much as he could when he gets to the basket, and relies on an opponent's need to run them off the three point line to take step back jumpers away. When he starts getting to the rim, he can get to the free throw line. That's when you start to dictate the game a little bit. So I think it's yes about he's got to have a big night.
But we could define that in a variety of ways. I just think he has to be highly impactful. And he needs to he needs to play well enough to have gravity on the floor to the point where there's a little bit of an imbalance, where they really balanced to defense, where you can start to shade an extra guy his way, it may open up the floor for everybody else. So a great game for Caleb love, maybe him being the biggest decoy on the floor, and that would have a big effect.
And I certainly think it would help Arizona. And john, let me let me ask you this will go to another team starting with the letter A, we got Arkansas, led by coach coach cow new jacket, new color scheme, new everything. And taking on Texas Tech, what do you think about John's chances of moving on to the next level the elite eight?
Well, I think if it was November, December, we just said, Yeah, I could totally see that. But this is a team that struggled to find itself. And I think the biggest issue is, arguably the best player he's got has not been the best player on the floor, john L. Davis, you know, a guy who was so good at FAU, I mean, off the charts good was impossible from a scout standpoint, there was not one thing you could focus on to slow Davis down. Yet here at Arkansas, he just hasn't found out how to be that guy.
He hasn't found out how to really impact the game the way he did at FAU. But I think as a team, they've started to really figure it out. And I think that's like DJ Wagner is playing some of the best basketball he's played in his career.
It's almost like he just kind of kicked off the training wheels physically looks better. And those are guys that have kind of, you know, elevated this team. But I still believe a guy like john L. Davis needs to be the best player on the floor. He's got the most experience at this level. He's played in final fours.
He also has played for a coach and dusty May before he got here to Arkansas, who played an incredibly fluid style of basketball. And that's what the tournament really does. Yeah, it's physical, it's tough. But these aren't, these aren't familiar opponents. Like these are teams that don't really know who you are until you step up against them.
And then it's up to whoever's got to adjust has to adjust. And then however that team adjust, you have to have a counter. So I think guys like Davis have that that fluidity in their game to be more impactful in this type of situation. Yeah, Texas Tech is like they shocked me a lot too. There are times when I watch them and I'm like, that's a really competitive team. And then there are other times where I go, they're gonna struggle to score. And then there's other times I'm like, yeah, that's a really good team. The problem is that inconsistency, right? And I think we've seen that at times with Texas Tech, but they will turn this thing into a grind.
They do show a willingness to score. I think this is probably of all the matchups in the Sweet Six team, the least talked about the least sexy on paper. And I don't really know why. And I think part of it is Cal lost his luster.
And it's not anything he did or didn't do. Leave it in Kentucky? What happened? He may have left a little in Kentucky, but I also think that the whole scope of the narrative of college basketball, it's become, it's like a, it's a, what do you call it? Like all the stuff you watch on TV, a reality show. It's a reality show. College basketball has become a reality show when in before the coaches were the reality shows. His postgame presser was the reality show. The thing, the antics, the type of players he's able to get, the coaches had all the focus.
I think there's so much focus on players right now that cows, I don't know if he's not forgotten, obviously, but he's, he's not in the same light as it used to be. And I think that is because there's so much more focused on the players and how much they're getting and who's going to be in the portal. It may be good for us in the end, because as a college basketball guy, you know, that final four happens and we're pretty much done. It's football season at that point, but with all this transfer portal and free agency, cause that's what it is. It's full on pay for play.
You got, you got 1920 year olds asking for $2 million to transfer. Like this is a different world. So this off season is going to be wild, but I think it does it. I think it takes a lot of focus away from good coaches and it's putting it on the drama surrounding the game.
Westwood one college basketball analyst, John Crispin is here with us. You talk about the drama early. You mentioned NIL and transfer portal and the attention that all of this has received instead of the action on the court with all the changes that have taken place and are likely to continue taking place. Do you think this is, this is temporary? Is there going to be a lassoing of the portal and the movement and what have you, is this kind of temporary? You think, are we in a wild, wild West for a long time? Yeah, no, it's, it's temporary because it won't last another five years, right? Coaches are now going to only last two years.
There's zero stability. And when I say like, and sometimes in a way it's romanticized in the past when you say my college basketball was better. Well, it's because I knew what team I was watching next year. And I got excited about it over the off season. We have people that now follow me, maybe follow the portal as fans, but for the most part, they just show up in October and go, who's our team. It's not the same.
And you know what? You don't see those guys on campus the way you used to. And you don't know from year to year who you're getting behind. And I think we've taken for granted that it is not the globe that made college basketball big. It's local communities, right? It's local people getting excited about what, what they're going to go support and who they're going to go support and who they're going to see in town and who they're going to see on campus. And whether those players are going to be in the community coming to birthday parties, all those little things that even the likes of Magic Johnson did, Larry Bird did, Michael Jordan did some of the best in the game.
They did that stuff. And that's what grew the game to the point where it has the value that it has. Now, I'm also nuanced enough to say, look, the game has so much value. It's no longer amateur sports. Doesn't mean we need to change the definition. We need to accept that it's no longer amateur sports. Amateur sports are when you pay to play.
Like now there's so much money going around where you're making billions of dollars. There has to be some sort of deal in place where the players can can be a part of that. But at the same time, just giving this NIL, which Oh, by the way, if I hear one more coach say, Oh, what, uh, what's our what's our NIL going to be like?
I'm like, that's the dumbest thing in the world. That's not NIL. NIL is someone profiting off their name, image and likeness, not you offering a kid $2 million. That's pay for play.
That's, that's a budget for hired mercenaries. So let's just be real with what it is. The way it's going right now, where we thought it was going to be a one-time transfer rule. Well, that might be the case if you have somebody to enforce rules, but frankly, the NCAA was neutered by Congress and they have no power over anything.
So, so we know full well, that was never going to be enforceable. So now it's the wild West where you've got guys at six different schools, five different schools, you guys in school for six years playing for four different programs. I mean, they're mercenaries and I don't fault the kids for that, but I fault just, I fought poor leadership for not seeing ahead because ultimately in business, that's what you got to do. You got to play scenarios out and you say, how can we get ahead of this? What are things that we can do to not sacrifice?
What's great, but also acknowledge where it's gone, right? Players should be able to be compensated. And no question NIL should be a part of that. They should literally be able to go out and make money off the name, image and likeness, but the coaches and the school should have nothing to do with that unless you want contracts. And what I would say is look at the European model, look at the old CBA model in the European model, there's a buyout because you're investing in someone you're making them better.
They don't have to pay to, you should not even pay the money back. You should have to pay the school to now take that player because that school invested more than you know, into that kid, that coach invested more than you know, into that kid. And so the players should get money, but at the same time, we're really taking a lot of value from people. And we're also hurting incoming freshmen. Why would I recruit an incoming freshmen if he's going to play a year and then go get paid elsewhere, or I'm not going to be able to afford them for a second year.
So you got incoming freshmen that aren't getting recruited. So it's, it's really hurting the game. We have to fix it, or it's, it's going to fade away because there are a lot of other options out there for entertainment. And when, when sports becomes valuable, it's because it's entertainment, no longer sport. And that's fine. We accept that it's become entertainment, but we have to figure out a good way to stabilize it.
John, final question for you. Given everything that we've just discussed, and also your, your thought that Arizona could certainly knock off Duke. Do you favor Duke to win it all? Or is there another team?
I do favor Duke to win it all still. Uh, I think they're like, I've seen them in person quite a few times and as skilled as they are as, as polished as that program is as a whole. And that, that starts with coach gay, right? That John Shire really is, has built on some, some good stunts and a lot of things different, but what he's maintained is that whole culture of, of elitism.
And I don't say that in a bad way. I say that and if they are perfect in every way, the way you're, you're greeted by the people that take your tickets, the, the, the ushers in the stands, like everyone is, is in some way respectful to the brand that is Duke basketball. There's all that you feel that, and then you see great talent, but what jumps out off the, off the charts is, is just the length all over the floor.
It is so disruptive. So passing lanes that you think are open, get closed rebounds that you thought you had or picked up by somebody else. Like Duke has the ability to influence the game in every possible way. And Cooper flag is by far the best player in college basketball.
Like you can say most valuable to his team, whatever I make that argument's fine. This is one of the most skilled guys. And I will tell you that, that the best things Cooper flag does are the things you don't even see. It's all the little things. And I think, I think that'll, that'll show more and more as we get closer to the final four. Hey, well, we're going to get there sooner than later.
We got to get through this 16 first. Hey John, thank you so much for the time. Where can people follow you? All of your work with Westwood One and elsewhere? Yeah, look, I'm on ESPN and TV wise throughout the course of the year. I am on Twitter.
I think I'm John Crispin ESPN. I just don't really do it. I just, I've gotten to the point where I, I read everything. I'm like the, the guy who just shows up on Twitter to read, but I never really respond. That's mostly because most of it's negative.
You know, when you call games for a living, the losing team fan base is not going to like you. We've accepted that. It's your fault, right? It's your fault.
Of course, it's your fault. It's totally, I bought that and I'm biased, of course. Yeah. Yeah.
What else is new? Hey John, I appreciate the time and the insight. And I love the idea that you shared as well about how we can corral this, uh, this whole bouncing around.
Let's just call it that in college basketball. Thank you, John. Hey, my pleasure. Enjoy the games.
Most definitely. Well, you're locked into the JR sport re-show here with you coast to coast on the infinity sports network. Thank you again to Westwood one basketball analyst, John Crispin for coming through to join us.
And he talked about the portal and coaches being the center point. We're going to take a break. When we come back, Maryland should be focusing in on the sweet 16. They should be thinking about the Gators tonight, but a lot of the conversation has been about their head coach, Kevin Willard and where he might go in the future. Cause it doesn't sound like he's going to stick around at Maryland.
I'll explain on the other side. You're listening to the JR sport brief. It is the JR sport brief show here with you coast to coast on the infinity sports network.
Thank you so much. College basketball analyst on Westwood one. Thank you to John Crispin for coming through to join us. He said, by the way, the game that's expected to get going in about 20 minutes between BYU and Alabama, he says, that's, that's a good game. He said that one should be a shootout and stay tuned. If you missed the conversation, we just had go ahead and hit rewind on the free Odyssey app. Uh, unfortunately also brought to our attention something that we were already familiar with. And that is just how, how poor, how terrible college basketball is right now when it comes down to the, the system, the transfer portal and NIL and free agency and pay for play.
And the coach is moving. He said that it has to come to a head that needs to be a resolution. And so people who are fans of the game can actually focus in on the game and not the drama of it.
Now, listen, I love some good drama to a certain degree. No, I love the players getting paid. I think they deserve.
So we had Lisa Leslie on the line with us yesterday and Lisa, Leslie, a hall of fame or a legend. She pretty much said the same thing. I think most people are fine at this point. It wasn't always the case. I think most people are fine with the college athletes getting paid, but the year to year following the check is just, it's bad. It's bad. It's hard to keep up with. I mean, the players might as well be hired mercenaries, show up, shoot ball, leave, get paid. It doesn't make for a good structure of a business. And we know, yes, it's television contracts, what have you, and CBS and Turner.
We, we see all of that. The business is booming, but longterm, you got to give me something and somebody to root for. And thank you again to John Crispin for joining us in the last break. He talked about BYU in Alabama, said, that'll be a good one.
I'm looking forward to this one in less than an hour. We'll also have Maryland versus Florida. The Gators would be in action.
We got Maryland. The people are calling the crab five. I told Hickey, I hate that name.
Hickey, you're okay with crab five, right? I love it actually. I hate it. It's creative.
It's different. It's corny. It's terrible crab five.
And what happens if they lose today? Nobody cares anymore. Well, the crab five dies.
Yeah. I mean, you, you see, because I hear fad five and I think about the influence and cultural influence they had at the time I hear crab five and I go for what, what did they win? Wiki, what did they win?
Nothing. That was my point. They made, I mean, they made it to a title game.
Two final fours. Oh, come on. With this nickname, with this group. No, I'm talking about this group.
They've done nothing. Oh, the crab five you're talking about. Yes. That's not the, the school and whole, but they make a final four run. Crab five will be cemented in Maryland lore forever, right? Let's, let's, let's, let's get it there first. You're a post-nickname guy.
Like you accomplished something then the nickname. I just, what the hell are the Dodgers doing? What are they doing? Is that ice cube around? Is that ice cube in that big blue car?
Yep. Drive, literally driving on the field. No, he's on a warning track. Let's did he hit the field yet? Well, fine.
He's on the warning track, but Hey, the warning track is technically the field between the foul lines. Oh my God. And so currently the Los Angeles Dodgers just had introductions for their world series winning team.
Right? Everybody came out. Clayton Kershaw came out. Everybody is getting high fives and the fans are screaming and losing their minds. And here I am talking about NIL and I look over ice cube brings out the world series trophy. I don't know what the hell he's driving a blue Impala.
I don't know what that is. And ice cube brings out the world series trophy. Now, Hickey, he has to hand it to somebody. He can't parade it around himself, which he's still doing. I mean, he's got to hand it off to show here, right?
Give the trophy to somebody that played. Oh, he's putting it on the little table next to Dave Roberts. Okay. Now get the hell out the way. Ice cube.
He's going to stand there for the photo. Yeah. Okay. Yeah.
Dave Roberts. Let me shake your hand. Get out the way.
You don't play. Okay. Get out the way. Photo op. Okay.
Photo photo. He's asking the fans to make some noise. Come on ice cube. Okay.
This is enough pandering, isn't it? Right. Do we need ice cube? They didn't have nobody else to like drive the trophy out. Who would you have picked in Los Angeles? Top of minds.
No, I know everybody that I would think of is unfortunately no longer here with us. And Tommy Lasorda have been great, you know, but they didn't need anybody to drive it out. Okay.
Sure. They had drove it out. Can he drive? He did.
Remember he tried to park that car went viral. Yeah. He did pretty well. Yeah. Did he?
Huh? Oh boy. Uh, didn't ice cube perform at the world series last year. Oh yeah. Was it him and fat Joe together? Yeah. And in fact, no, not together.
Oh, I separate ice cube. Did it in LA and fat Joe performed in the Bronx and it was terrible. I'm glad we, I'm glad we were on air.
Uh, I had to hear about it after I thank God I didn't see it live. And now the Dodgers led by, uh, the gigantic magic job. Is that Billie Jean King in front of him? Has to be right. Like Billie Jean. Is she a part of the Dodgers ownership group?
Go and I magic Johnson there too. You know, we can't miss him, but yeah, they raising, is it stuck? Okay. Now they got, they got it. I'm like, it's taken him a while to raise that banner there. What a world.
Why don't the Hickey? What? I believe the Dodgers should do everything twice. They should raise a banner for this year as well. For 20 for this year's world series.
Just race to two parades, two banners. Yeah. Save everybody time because there's nothing in the world that Dodgers from winning a world series. Another one this year outside of injury, the Dodgers have just raised their banner. Good for them. Good for ice cube to get some FaceTime. Yay. Yay.
It's the JR sport re show on the infinity sports network. When we come back, we're going to talk more college basketball. I'm not forgetting about you, Kevin Woolard. And then speaking of LA, Steven, a Smith cannot tell you how many times he's been a fan of the Dodgers. Even a LA, Steven, a Smith cannot stand a basketball player from LA.
And he made some big mistakes. Don't move.
