It is! The JR Sport Brief 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 are having a tremendous Friday. That's what today is. Today's Friday. It's the beginning of the weekend.
I'll be here with you to get things started. This is when the show gets started. Every weekday, 6 p.m. Eastern, 3 Pacific. I'm in Atlanta.
Our super producer and host, Ryan Hickey, he's in New York City. I don't know where you are. I don't know what you're doing. Maybe you're getting ready to do something you got no business doing on a Friday. But that's none of my business.
Thank you for hanging out. How about this? Everybody's getting money on a Friday. It's like that Johnny Kemp song, Just Got Paid. Deion Sanders, Just Got Paid. New contract extension with the Colorado Buffalos. As a matter of fact, Brian Howell broke the news.
He's going to join us later on in the show to talk about it. Speaking of Just Got Paid, John Harbaugh, Just Got Paid. Baltimore Ravens just a few minutes ago announced that they are handing him a three-year contract extension. For everybody not happy with the Ravens system, he ain't going anywhere. Speaking of going anywhere, we saw this last night. Florida went out there and beat Maryland. Their head coach, Kevin Willard, the guy complained about money and NIL and cash. Well, we don't know if he's going anywhere, but he just might.
How about this? In about 20 minutes, we're going to chat with someone who used to play college ball. Now you can catch him on Fox, you can catch him on ESPN. Matt Muehlbach, he's going to come through and join us in about 20 minutes to talk all things March Madness. Yeah, we had some games yesterday at Texas Tech bouncing back, Duke wiping out Arizona, and today we got more games. Ole Miss, the Spartans, we got Kentucky and Tennessee, we got Michigan and Auburn, we got Purdue and Houston. I hate watching Houston. Yeah, we got so much more basketball. There's baseball tonight. If you got Apple TV, maybe you can watch the Mets and the Astros.
Maybe you can do that. There's just a lot to discuss. We even getting ready. And how about speaking of coaches? The Memphis Grizzlies fired Taylor Jenkins. Yeah, he's not one of the most popular head coaches in the league. It's not Steve Kerr, Eric Spoelstra.
You might not be able to pick Taylor Jenkins out of a lineup. But the fact is, he's been one of the more successful head coaches in the NBA over the past, you know, five-ish, six years. He has a winning record right now. They on their way to the playoffs and they just gave him the boot. Like, damn, it's a hard knock life. Imagine being one of the top salespeople in your company and they just walk you into the office and go, yeah, you had a bad three months.
Bye. He didn't even have a bad three months. He had a bad two weeks. They fired him. I'm sure there's a lot of politics going on there out in Memphis. Told you about Arkansas losing last night, right? No John Calipari for the rest of the tournament. Unfortunately for John, he can't take another team deep into the final four. He's going to have to wait until next year, find some new guys to work with. Kirk Cousins, Atlanta Falcon. This man is on a whole restaurant tour in Cleveland. How appropriate, right?
Not even Kirk Cousins can be shady. What a world. So we got a lot to get into. If you want to be a part of the show, you can do that. It's 888-710-4ISN. That's 888-710-4ISN. You can find me online. I am at JR Sport Brief. That's at JR Sport Brief everywhere on social media. A super producer and host.
Ryan Hickey. How are you this Friday? You doing good? I'm doing good, JR. Yeah, not surprisingly fired on a Friday, nonetheless too, that would stink. Well, you could have gotten an extension and not be fired. True. True. That's right. There has been more positives than negatives today.
You're right about that. So my Friday's going well. Well, so far. That's great, man. Great, man.
I'm happy for you. And Taylor Jenkins is still getting paid. So like, who cares, right? That's true. You could view it as he's getting paid to not work, which is the ultimate dream for a Friday, right? And he'll probably be in the city.
Well, first of all, Hickey, think about it this way. The Memphis Grizzlies are dumb. They're going to be paying him for now until God knows when, until he finds another head coaching job. And even if he doesn't find another head coaching job, he's going to have between now and October, or maybe September-ish to do nothing.
He can hang out with his family and maybe he doesn't want to do that, but he could do nothing and still get some bread. Good for him. And then he could be an assistant and then he could, I don't know, coach some other loser ass team into being good. So good for Taylor Jenkins. I'm happy for him. And when was he going to win coaching John Moran, who never plays anyway, just probably a whole lot of, a lot of nothing. Anyway, we'll get back to Taylor Jenkins.
Let's talk about someone and congratulations also to John Harbaugh. We don't know the deals of that details because let's be real. When it comes to the NFL, nobody ever says how much the coaches are making. Like Mike Tomlin is making what, approximately 15? Hickey, what do you think, like 15 mil, probably? Probably.
Yeah, I think it feels about right. Cause wasn't Bill Belichick, he was making like 20 a year. I think he was the highest paid head coach right in the NFL.
So you would, you would think that correct. You would think that Mike Tomlin and falls in that line. So John Harbaugh gets a three-year contract extension.
You would think, and imagine that he's probably in that same $15 million a year range. And unfortunately for Ravens fans, I think some of them have been kind of fed up with John Harbaugh wanting to change the system. Like every year they win like 12 and 13 games.
Like what the hell do you want else from the guy? He has a multiple time MVP at the quarterback position. Like he runs and wakes up as long as Lamar Jackson is healthy, they're going to be good. Like what they've needed to do is go out there and fill out the roster. Like there's nothing else at least offensively.
Okay. And we saw they brought in DeAndre Hopkins. There's nothing else for the Ravens to do as a team, but to go to the AFC championship game and then go to the Super Bowl.
Easier said than done. Like there's nothing else to do. And so congratulations to John Harbaugh on his new deal, a three-year contract extension. He was entering into the final year, his contract and the Baltimore Ravens are not the Dallas Cowboys.
They're not going to make you sweat in the final year before they just go by like the Dallas Cowboys just did with Mike McCarthy. Congratulations, John Harbaugh. And as I told you, he's not the only guy who got a new deal. John Harbaugh's deal was announced minutes ago by the Ravens. Earlier this afternoon, Deion Sanders was blessed with Mo money. Listen to this it's CBS Sports HQ. We have breaking news into CBS Sports HQ where Colorado has signed football coach Deion Sanders, who has agreed to a contract extension that will make him one of the highest paid coaches in the country. Our own Matt Zenitz reports that coach prime's new deal will pay him better than $10 million a season through the 2029 season, making him the highest paid coach in the big 12 conference. Sanders led the buffs to a nine and four record this season in Boulder.
Yeah, that's one reason to stick around, right? Now me personally, Boulder, Colorado is beautiful. Oh my God, it's beautiful. Pick, you ever been up there?
Never, unfortunately. Oh my goodness. This beauty is just, it's exactly what you think is up there.
Nothing. They got one main street, kind of sort of, you get some restaurants and bars. I'm thinking about where the college is, Hickey, right? You got one main street that kind of goes up a hill.
They got a couple of boulders that sit on the street because it's Boulder, Colorado. Of course. You know, you have the beautiful mountains in the background, absolutely gorgeous. And you got a whole bunch of places where you could get lost or dump a dead body.
Okay. It's very nice. It's beautiful. This is like, here's a lake off the side of a park. You know, here's a stream. Here's some rocks, you know, here's some more mountains.
And it's just that type of place is gorgeous. Yeah. I mean, you had me up until the really the last part there just. Oh, maybe I've watched. Yeah, I've watched. I've watched too many horror movies. My apologies. I guess so. But otherwise it sounds absolutely beautiful.
Every picture you see looks like a postcard. I'm going to say I'm going to send you a postcard photo and you tell me it looks like it's like, hey, J.R. is on a postcard. A matter of fact, I might tweet it out.
Yeah, I'll tweet it out that we can talk about it. Anyway, I'm not mad at the guy. That guy being Deion Sanders. There were so many conversations about, oh, is Deion going to go to the Dallas Cowboys? And the answer is no, he's not going to the Dallas Cowboys. Okay. Is Deion going to go to the Dallas Cowboys?
Okay. Is Deion going to go to the NFL? Well, where the hell else is he going to go out there and coach?
I think the answer is absolutely nowhere. And so money talks. Deion Sanders took the money. Good for him. Five years, fifty four million dollars through twenty twenty nine.
And let's be real. This is just future money on paper. If he wants to continue on, Nick Saban got a contract. He had like eight years left on his deal, seven years left on his contract.
He's making so much money. And eventually Nick Saban was like, man, I ain't doing this anymore. Bye.
He just left. Must be nice to leave that much money on the table. And so Deion, let's be real. If he should choose to leave, let's say Chador is on a team and then whatever team that is decides to fire the head coach.
You don't think Deion would entertain it here? He has some buyout options for the next several years. If Deion Sanders changes his mind this year, 12 million dollar buyout. OK, he changes his mind next year, 10 million dollar buyout.
Then it drops to six mil and four mil and three mil. And ultimately, let's be real. When it comes down to these contracts, everything is negotiable.
Just everybody's trying to protect each other. Deion gets paid if he sticks around and coaches. Good for him. And Colorado is protected if he decides to leave. And by the way, he can retire. He just can't go coach another program. And if he does decide to leave, well, damn it, Deion, you got to pay up.
And so everybody gets what they want. And so at least we can put to bed in the immediate future where Deion goes. He's going to coach the Buffaloes this year. It'll be fun to see who's throwing the rock around at the quarterback position. It'll be cool to see how Deion decides to advance now that Travis Hunter will be in the NFL. His son will be in the NFL.
Those were the two top players. We're going to find out how much juice primetime has outside of his own family and Travis Hunter, who might as well be the guy's family. Deion Sanders.
This man made some moves. OK, nine and four last year. Got to a bowl game. Alamo Bowl. Who cares that they lost? Nobody cares. 27 and six helped get him here to Colorado when he was coaching at Jackson State.
Shout outs to Mississippi, all the HBCUs all over the country. Good for Deion. I wouldn't close the door on him eventually leaving, but at least he has some security and he has some money that's going to keep him around.
It's quite the opposite from the man I told you a few minutes ago as well, not John Harbaugh. He got paid. Taylor Jenkins of the Grizzlies. Got fired. Last night, his team lost to the best team record wise in the NBA. The Grizzlies lost to the Oklahoma City Thunder 125 to 104. There was no John Moran. John Moran's been out with a shoulder issue for I don't even know how many games.
It feels like the past week and change. And when he does play, he's only dropping 20 something points, 22.7 assists. His shooting percentage is crap. He's below 30% from the three point line. It's just bad. And the Memphis Grizzlies still have a positive record.
They are 44 and 29. The playoffs are about a month away, less than a month away. And now is the time you want to fire your head coach?
It sounds stupid to me. And the general manager, Zach Kleinman, and the general manager Zach Kleinman, he joined the team alongside Taylor Jenkins. You would think that they'd be connected at the hip, but he got fired today. They fired him this morning on a winning team weeks away from the postseason. Now I did see Desmond Bain and Aldama, you know, Bain pushed him on the bench. Is that enough to get a guy fired?
I don't, I don't think so. This is real bad. Last night after a loss, Taylor Jenkins was just like, man, my team is fighting hard. And then they fired him this morning. Overall, very encouraging, especially the tail end of a long road trip. The fight that our guys showed, you know, we got to take away. It's not the, you know, the margin of the loss here. It's just the fight that we had, you know, that's the biggest encouraging thing. And then they fired him this morning.
It stinks. Hey, Tim Legler's great. He used to play in the NBA. He used to shoot that rock. Good for him. Now he's on TV.
He was on All-City NBA and Tim Legler, he maybe kind of sort of had an explanation why they fired him. Listen to this. I'm literally in a state of shock. I'm practically speechless over this.
Number one, I think Taylor Jenkins is one of the brightest guys in the league. To me, if you fire a guy, the, under these conditions, this late in the season, that's in a top four in the West, okay? It has to be an interpersonal conflict with somebody on that roster. Yeah, that's it.
We got beef. Is it? Is it with Ja Morant?
Ja Morant don't even play. And thank God we haven't had any guns and stuff at the strip club. That's good. Leave your guns at home. Go to the strip club. Take ones and you're done. Go to the strip club.
Take ones instead. Some teams are just dumb. Hickey, I don't know what it is about Tennessee.
I have no idea. Tennessee Titans do dumb things. The Memphis Grizzlies and other part of the state do dumb things. Maybe there's something going on in Tennessee.
Is that possible? Maybe it's in the water. Smoke from the mountains. I was going to say barbecue sauce. I don't know.
That also could be it as well. Intoxicatingly good. Intoxicatingly good. I like it. A new slogan for a barbecue sauce.
You should do that. Here goes Ryan Hickey, brand and expert. What a world. Well, at least he's getting paid. He's getting paid. John Harbaugh's getting paid. Three-year contract extension from the Ravens. And Deion Sanders is getting paid.
Five-year fifty-four, not fifty-four, fifty-four million dollar contract extension from the Colorado Buffaloes. It's Friday. Today is payday. Everybody's getting paid. Or in the case of Taylor Jenkins, also getting fired. Anyway, we'll be back. We're not getting fired. I'll be here for the next, I don't know, three hours at minimum. Don't ask me about Monday. Hey, look, if you want to holler at me, you can.
It's easy. 888-710-4ISN. That's 888-710-4ISN. We got a lot to get into. Speaking of the Buffaloes, Brian Howell, who broke the news of Deion's contract extension. He's going to join us later on in the show. And then when we come back, Tennessee's going to be playing basketball.
At least that's good, right? We're going to have a chat to talk more Sweet 16 as we wrap it all up. Matt Muehlbach is going to join us. Covers all things college ball for Fox and ESPN. We'll have that chat on the other side as we are winding down the Sweet 16.
We are just getting started. It's the JR Sport Brief Show, Coast to Coast, the Infinity Sports Network. 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. 888-710-4ISN.
That's 888-710-4ISN. It's a Friday. It's the end of March. The weather's changing.
Hopefully it's changing where you live. And we're in the process of, I don't know, maybe he's getting a couple extra jump shots up. Matt Muehlbach, he's going to join us to talk some college basketball. This man used to ball out at Arizona under Luda Olson.
Now he's an analyst on Fox and ESPN. I certainly want to get his thoughts, not just on Arizona losing last night. They didn't have enough firepower out there with Duke.
But of course, I want to have a chat with him about everything going on in the tournament in addition to the games that we have tonight. Ole Miss, Michigan State, Kentucky, Tennessee, Michigan, Auburn, and then we got Purdue and Houston wrapping us all up late at night. Hopefully I can stay up through the entire game or maybe Houston just blows them out.
All they do is play defense and shoot three. So we'll see what happens out there. We will most certainly let you know and you will know when Matt Muehlbach is here with us on the line.
The line. We open up the show by filling you in on a couple of guys who've had a they've had a good Friday. Everybody had a good Friday except for one maybe guy. He had a bad Friday. Deion Sanders got a new contract from Colorado. John Harbaugh got a new contract three years from the Baltimore Ravens and Taylor Jenkins, the lesser known name of the three head coach of the Memphis Grizzlies. He got fired today. Despite his team having a positive record at one point being second in the West, despite the fact that the playoffs only a couple days away, somebody hated his guts.
And so he got the boot and he still gets paid. So I consider him to also have a good Friday as somebody who had a bad Thursday. Maybe it bled into today. What a shock this name is, huh? LeBron James.
Oh my goodness. I'm flipping back and forth between the college ball last night. I'm tuning into the Los Angeles Lakers and Chicago playing the Bulls Lakers on the second night of a back to back. It's a shock that LeBron James was even out there playing basketball. The 40 year old guy just one up in Indianapolis with that tip in. LeBron James had a brain fart last night. I don't know if LeBron James was thinking about Stephen A. Smith. I don't know if he was thinking about his his massage after the game.
I don't know if he wanted a glass of wine, but it's not just him. The Los Angeles Lakers, they choked a game away last night against the Bulls. Come on now. The Bulls suck. When was the last time you watched the Chicago Bulls game? Come on now. They got a record of 33 and 40.
They are nothing to look for. Nothing. And so the Chicago Bulls came back at the end of the game. LeBron James had a stupid turnover. He literally inbound at the basketball and handed it right over to be steeled.
I don't know what he was thinking about. And Kobe White knocked down a three. Then Austin Reeves answered back to give the Lakers the lead. And then we saw Josh Giddey like hit a half court three to win the game.
This all took place in like three seconds, four seconds, five seconds. This was a ridiculous ending and a big part of it was LeBron James just turning the ball over and not thinking. He inbounded the ball and just like, here, here you go. Hickey, was he trying to go home on purpose? Did he care last night?
That was egregious. I mean, just as soon as he got the ball, just rolled it in there in the corner. Didn't even try to look for an open teammate. Look, he gave up or assumed. Yeah, this team sucks.
They all make a play. He didn't look like, he didn't look anything. He had the ball and just kinda like somebody was walking off of the court at the end of a game.
He's just like, I'll just inbound the ball. I don't know. He was not thinking. What was he thinking about? Dinner? Lunch? Maybe trying to fire back at Stephen A. thinking about what his retorts going to be. I don't know.
Possibly. This, the end of that game was nuts. And then when Josh Getty went to go hit the three pointer from half court, LeBron James was kinda in his face too. They let him get a straight line of sight to hit a half court three. Now that may be crazy for me to do.
It might be crazy for the guy. They pick out the stance to do to knock down a half court shot for a million dollars. But when you're an NBA player, it's your job to shoot the ball. These guys are taking trick shots and all types of nonsense.
So a NBA player knocking in a half court shot is not all that crazy. Listen to this highlight. This is Stacey King and Adam Mameen.
Stacey King was like, Hey, I'm getting ready to have a heart attack. Listen to this highlight. Those are a lot of timeouts. Two seconds left. Yeah. Yeah. He just crocodile Dundee.
Okay. If you didn't know Josh Getty is, he's Australian. There you have all the Australian references. Crocodile Dundee.
Damn. I'm trying to think. Hickey, I can't think of any famous Australians.
Am I missing something? Is, is Nicole Kidman? She's Australian, right?
I have no idea. Steve Irwin was Australian. It was.
It was. Oh, it Kari Irving. He was both of them were born in Australia, right? Okay. Was Kari born in Australia? Yes.
Oh, that's why he's on the national team. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Interesting.
He's born out there. Let's see. Is Nicole Kim in Australia? I think she is.
That's a hell of a pull if that's true. What Nicole Kidman? Yeah. Good on you. I'm trying to think.
She was in a film called Australia. Oh, are you kidding me? That's where you're basing that on? No, no, no. Oh, wait. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Okay. And I've never, I've never heard of this film either. Where's Nicole Kidman from? Wasn't that the lady that crossed her legs in that movie? That was her, right? What?
There was a movie, Hickey, in the nineties. Okay. Like the most. Okay. Good for you. The most famous, it was called basic instinct. I think it was. Okay. And I think like the main scene was that she was being interrogated or something, and then she crossed her legs.
That was like the main scene of the whole movie. Aha. She was born in the United States of America, but she is Australian. Okay. From her parents. Oh, see, come on. I know. All right.
That's great on you. Yeah. Look at me. Now it's basic instinct. It was either her or some other lady. Sharon Stone. Uh, who was the voice of, uh, who, who was that? Sharon Stone. It was Sharon Stone. That's the one who crossed the legs.
Correct. Why, why, why do you know this act? It was a popular movie. Well, I remember, but I don't remember like you remember.
I have a lot of minutia that, that needs to be cleaned out of my head. Well, I don't think that was a small, that was a big deal. Like that is, is, was that not one of the more iconic film movie sequences of all time? Right. Certainly the decade. The decade. Yeah. The nineties. I don't, I still don't get the big deal.
She crossed the legs. Big deal. Right. Am I missing something?
Act. It was a little more there. Let's, uh, trying to keep it clean. Ah, okay. Yeah. I don't. Yeah. I don't remember all of that. I don't know. Anyway, Hickey, why, why am I talking about this? How, what's this got to do with LeBron Hickey?
Josh Getty hit the three to win it and he's Australian and Stacy King, I think was referencing every Australia reference. He was just letting it go. Okay. Crocodile Dundee.
I heard keep it clean. And I was like, didn't Josh get, he get in trouble. Well, he was investigated for, uh, let's just say if you go on the, uh, the replies to the tweet, any tweet of the highlight. Yeah. A lot of people were wondering how he celebrated.
Oh, let's just say no. Well, he was cleared, right? They said that he spoke to a younger woman and that's what happened. Cleared. It's cleared of wrongdoing.
The best way to phrase it is he's playing basketball. He was not punished. He was not punished.
That's the best way. There it is. He was not punished. I don't know. No details past that. Speaking of punishment.
Uh, I don't know. Maybe LeBron James punished himself last night after that stupid turnover. And I get it that they, they blew a big lead and then it was punctuated kind of sort of by LeBron James. Just this casually just dropping a ball in bounds.
Like he doesn't have a care in the world. And somebody had to ask LeBron about this, which is not fun, but LeBron James had an answer. LeBron, what the hell were you doing?
What were you thinking about, man? That's not how you play basketball. Horrible turnover by myself.
Bad miscommunication. Um, um, played before that. And, um, I mean, AR still hit a big bucket, try to save us. And then, uh, I mean, Tippi had a small, makes a game winner from half court. Yeah, man, he doesn't make, that's LeBron James. He doesn't do nothing like that. Like, come on. You ever seen Michael Jordan?
I don't know. I mean, for everybody has bad plays. You don't play sports 15, 10, 20 years and not have bad, everybody has bad play. Just dropping a ball. Just, just handing it over to the team on a silver platter.
That's something I expect from, I don't know, JR Smith, not LeBron James, Los Angeles Lakers. Their next game is tomorrow night in Memphis. Yeah. The team that just fired. It's head coach.
What a world, what a world. It's the JR sport reshow here with you, coast to coast on the infinity sports network. 8 8 8 7 10 for ISN.
That's 8 8 8 7 10 for ISN. We got a lot of coaches to get into coaches got contract extensions, coaches got fired. And then we have other coaches who might just be, they might be leaving soon.
And somebody like Kevin Woolard coming out of Baltimore, but we'll get into that. What's going on with Maryland. We got so much more to do. We'll talk some college basketball. You're listening to the JR sport brief. It is the JR sport reshow here with you coast to coast on the infinity sports network, the sweet 16.
It rolls on. We got some teams that got rolled over last night. We got some games that are getting ready to tip off shortly. And right now it's time to have a chat with someone who played college ball, played at Arizona under the great loot. Olsen, this man.
Now you can catch them on Fox ESPN, all over the place as a college basketball analyst. That's my main man, Matt Muehlbach. How are you, Matt? Great, JR. How are you doing, man? Happy Friday.
Listen, man. I try to make every day feel like a Friday. How are you doing? You good?
I'm good. I love, uh, I love this. I love the sweet 16. You know, the sweet 16 is, you know, you got the Thursday, Friday games, four games in a row that are usually awesome. It's been a weird tournament, though.
I got to say that. This is, it's certainly been an odd non, mostly non upset year. We almost saw Texas Tech lose last night to Arkansas, which would have been obviously the biggest one yet.
Oh my God. But yeah, but, or actually, actually Arkansas beat St. John's is probably bigger, but yeah, it's just been, it's been an interesting year. Um, you know, I, and all these, all these theories about now within IL, there's, you know, sort of taken all the good players from the mid majors is that kind of a thing. And will that happen in the future? I don't know.
It's certainly something to keep an eye on. And this year it's been, it's been chalk everywhere. Well, man, let me, let me ask you about the team that, that you played for. And I guess who they, they lost to last night. We saw Duke beat Arizona and as much firepower, especially with Caleb Love, that they kept throwing at Duke. Duke just had them at arm's length because of all the talent that they have.
What do you think about what they'll be able to do going forward? A lot of people's favorite, mine included, the win at all. You know, I saw Duke play Arizona, you know, back in November, um, in McHale Center, I went to that game, uh, November 22nd, they handled Arizona by 14. And I was interested to see last night cause Arizona has gotten a lot better. They've been, they've been, you know, measurably better. Um, I think Arizona with the right matchups could have been a final 14, but Duke, when I started doing my brackets to me, they were the best team in the nation. They've been the best team in the nation since day one.
When I saw them in McHale, they, they just are so good at everything. And I thought the thing that last night that really, that really was the issue for me was going 11 and 19 from three, you know, they just, they just didn't miss any shots. And, you know, Arizona, I felt could have beat them. Caleb love had an amazing last couple of months of the season capped off by last night. But, you know, Arizona could have beat them, but Duke had to have their, you know, their B game at least or B minus or even C plus they played their a game.
And it's just, it's so hard to beat them. And I'll tell you, they didn't even have, you know, I'll get his name wrong. The freshmen Malawach, I believe, you know, he only played 24 minutes cause he was in foul trouble. He's an incredible rim protector. So Arizona got some points when he was out. And but even with him in foul trouble, they had Knipple Knipple and foul trouble. They had foul trouble last night. Their other sub fouled out with five fouls.
It just didn't matter. They were just too good at every facet of the game. Their defense, their offense is the best in the country. You know, their defense is, you know, top whatever three or four right now.
And I just, I just think they're, they're, they're better than everyone. Matt Muehlbach is here with us. Covers all things college basketball for Fox and ESPN. When you think about what we'll see going forward, we got another slate of four games tonight. We know up next for Duke is Alabama. They popped all those threes last night.
Mark Sears lost his mind 30 points on threes. Who do you think has, who do you think has the best chance of, of unseating Duke? Who do you think they'll face off against? You know, I do wonder, can a team like Auburn that has the offensive firepower and the athleticism, can a team like Houston that has the defensive firepower? I think Houston would have a chance.
I really do. You know, of course, like I said, if Duke, it's like Tiger Woods. If Duke plays their A game with Tiger back in the day, no one beats Tiger. No one's beat Duke if they have their A game.
But you know, it's six games and typically you're not going to play your A game for six straight games. You know, Duke played their A game against Baylor a week ago. They played their A game last night against Arizona and I thought it was even probably A minus. I think they had, they could do better because of the foul trouble, but if they play their A game, no one beats them. I do think Auburn because of that firepower, like I said on both, and I'm pretty sure if I'm not mistaken, I think Duke already played Auburn this year. In fact, they played them at home, beat them by six. So I think I like the fact to a team like Auburn that would play them a second time, have a chance to look at tape and say, Hey, how can we fix things?
I think Bruce Pearl would do a great job of that. And like I said, I think Houston would do, I love Kelvin Sampson. I just, I played against him back in the day when he was at Washington state. He's an awesome guy. He's an awesome coach. I could see Houston with that number one ranked defense in the country, slowing them down a bit.
Well, you know, it's, it's not a shock, Matt. You, you take a look at the teams that got here, even though last night John Calipari lost he's in his first year, Patino gone, he got knocked off by him. You know, he got deep in his first or second year, I should say with St. John's, there's still something to say about having a name brand coach. We got Tom Mizzo who we'll see tonight just in a matter of minutes against Ole Miss with all of these changes that are taking place and conversations around NIL and the transfer portal. What does it mean to have kind of a stalwart as a coach who's not going to be moved? Well, and I just mentioned, you know, I think it's incredible. I think the continuity has such an impact and has such a, as even with players moving, you look at a guy like, like Kelvin Sampson and he's created culture that a lot of his guys have stayed, you know, he's been lucky and fortunate because of their culture and his relationships. Tommy Lloyd was talking about my old team, Arizona. He's done a really good job keeping players. And I think the continuity piece, if you can create continuity in this world of, of no continuity and transient nature of the movement, you've got a huge upper hand, you know, I think that culture kind of wins the day. And I really think too, like nowadays, you know, teams that have high IQs that know how to play and you just think of teams that you try to throw together.
It's, it's just not that easy. If you can have guys that really understand how to play. I mentioned that Houston team, what Houston, you know, in the past few years, Houston's been a dog on defense, man. They're, they're savage on defense, but they haven't been able to shoot it. And they're number one in the nation right now, three point percentage, which blew me away. They, they really, they've got some guys that can shoot it. They've recruited some guys. They've worked on that. That's been a key for them. So now you've got the number one defense in the country. You got, you know, a team that shoots it well from three. That's what it's going to take to beat a team like Duke or, or Auburn in the, in this thing.
But yeah, I don't know where it's going, Jr. I mean, I wonder, I think for me, it may take something where we have, where we have almost a union, right. And we have, we make the players, you know, we put them under contract and have employment agreements because I know people have complained about it, but you know, we have coaches that, that can of course complain. It's hard on them. I get why they complain about it, but coaches can leave. If they can leave, why can't players leave? You know, like players should have the same rights. And so I really support player rights, but I also understand that we don't want to hurt the brand more than it's hurt because I, I see fans now that, that struggle with following teams because they don't get used to the, you know, a guy like, you know, that, that you can watch for three straight years, four straight years and really become attached to them.
Well, final question for you on that note. I mean, last night, everybody knew seemingly that the Kevin Woollett kind of has one foot on out the door and he's getting booed by the home fans before he even gets to the arena. I mean, should there be some type of restriction on coaches or buyouts enough? Like how does that alter things? Or if you correct things from the player's side, the coaches will fall in line a little bit.
I don't know. I actually think to your point, that last point, I think if you, if you have some, some, some guardrails and they are employees, I think you could have a situation where coaches then feel a little bit more stable. You're always going to have coaches that move and leave and get up and go.
It's just the nature of the business, right? We've, we've developed that. It's it's, we've seen it in the pro sports, what you're seeing in college sports. It's always going to be there.
I don't think we're, I don't think we're getting away from that. And no doubt about that. Well, man, I know based on what you said, you're going to be locked in real hardcore in Purdue and Houston tonight, right? Is that the game of the night for you?
I think the game of the night is the first one. I think Mississippi is going to give Michigan state a run in that first game. I think I really believe that, you know, a lot of people have Michigan state. I think I have Michigan state going to the final four. If I have to look at my bracket, I'm trying to think on that, which side they are, but I think they're going to, I think Mississippi is going to give them some that, that, that, that coach is incredible for Mississippi. I think they're going to be very well prepared, obviously. So is Tom Izzo, but I think that's going to be, I'm really looking forward to that game.
Yeah. We'll see what Chris Beard does. We're only about about 20 minutes away from a tip on that. And man, if there were two of me, I'd be right down at the game because it's literally just a couple of blocks from me, Matt.
So here in Atlanta, I will watch on one of the screens in front of me while people cheer like a crazy people down the block. So got to get it when you can. Hey, Matt, you're a busy guy. I appreciate the time.
Where can people follow and keep up with you and all of your work? Yeah. You mentioned it. Thanks for having me on. I'm on Fox FS1 ESPN. You know, I'll be there next year.
My games are done for the, for the season and I'm hoping to be back. I do the, last summer I did the basketball tournament, the TBT. Nice. And that was on Fox FS1 FS2. And I'll tell you what, I even did the game where we covered your team from Atlanta, right outside of Atlanta. And they had, you know, that's the, that's the tournament where the winner and the team, the team that wins, get some money, man, a million bucks.
They play for the dough. And we had your, we had your Atlanta squad right outside of Atlanta. Those guys were fun, man. They were athletic.
They had a good squad and it was fun representing the Atlanta area. And well, let me ask you this. What's your jump shot look like? Is that three still water, man? What's your three looking like?
The three looks good. The legs don't look good right now. The legs are legs are a little legs, a little wobbly, man. Legs are wobbly.
I got worried about that Achilles once you get a little older, but the jumpers there, I look, you line me up, I get a ball with no one on me. I'm okay. All right. There you have it. Well, Matt, thank you so much. Enjoy the basketball.
We'll catch you on down the line. Okay. Thanks. I appreciate it, man. No doubt about that. That is Matt Muehlbach covers all things college basketball for Fox and ESPN.
And they used to ball out, used to knock down those threes for the Arizona Wildcats and the late great coach Lute Olson. Thank you again to Matt for coming through and joining us. You're locked into the JR sport re-show here with you coast to coast on the infinity sports network. 8 8 8 7 10 4 ISN. That's 8 8 8 7 10 4 ISN.
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Get your free quote at check ethos.com not available in all States. When we come back, Hey, I'm going to get ready to watch some, some college basketball here in the studio, little bit jealous that I'm not on site to tune in, but we'll, we'll talk some more college ball. And then I want to talk to you about the guy who I just said, he said he wanted to kind of walk away. Maybe he's walking away. Maybe he's staying.
That's Kevin Willard out of Maryland. Is he staying? Is he leaving? He don't know. And then we know who ain't going anywhere.
Deion Sanders isn't leaving Colorado. We'll have another chat about 30 minutes or so. Brian Howell broke the news about Deion's extension. We'll have a chat with him. There's a lot to do. You're locked in happy Friday. It's the JR sport brief show the infinity sports network.
