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Now, on with the show. Jack you switch it! The golden goal from the... the United States. This is the Rich Eisen Show.
Duke! Duke gets it done! From the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. Earlier on the show. ESPN NFL analyst Lewis Riddick.
Coming up. ESPN college basketball analyst Jay Billis. ESPN NFL analyst Ben Solak. And now, it's Rich Eisen. Allen number two of the Rich Robertson Show on the Air here on Monday in Southern California.
We send all of our best to anybody that might be snowbound on the East Coast and the Northeast Coast with. The uh blizzard um storming into storming into town from from Delaware on up. We we send our best to everybody and hope that they dig out soonest. Although it was good news that somebody's sitting in Jersey, where I think our friend Or d uh Philadelphia or where I d I don't know. Where uh our first uh our guest is uh chiming in about um the snow being through.
So it's all good in that hood. We send our best to everybody out there. Jay Billis is going to join us shortly. Um I I am Here on this program. Um saying congratulations to Duke.
Wow. You're right? I pulled something. I mean, that's rich. That was.
I'm just glad that Michigan, after their loss. To Duke didn't have to stand there and be handed a stuffy. I mean. At least that was that. You know?
They would play the Duke theme song? I honestly don't know what they're doing at the Olympics. Every athlete gets. I'm sorry you lost, but hey, Nate McKinnon, here's his stuffy. I don't know what he does with that except stuff it somewhere that You never see again.
Technically, eBay.
Okay, so we got that. At least Michigan didn't say hey. Tough loss. Here's some stuffy. Here's a stuffy.
Here's a stuffy. Might have helped the L go down a little bit. You know what? No, it wouldn't have. No, it wouldn't have.
We don't know that. Yeah, I do know that, TJ, because I was the one sitting there taking the L after talking all week long that Michigan was going to avenge. everything against Duke instead. Uh Michigan falls to Uh 8 and 23. Versus Duke.
Including they're now due against Michigan 7-0 on neutral courts, including, as we all know, NCAA championship games. Last time Michigan beat Duke was December 6, 2009.
So it was shades of a lot, me sitting there and watching this game. By the way, on a great Saturday afternoon of college troops, isn't it amazing how one place three and two placed four on the same day? That who the hell knew? I know who. Right?
But both lower-ranked teams win. Duke number three beats Michigan, and Arizona number four beats number two, Houston, which, by the way, is in Kansas tonight. as the things begin to really heat up. Big 10 and Big 12 and ACC competitions. Um Listen.
Um I I thought I was done. With the boozers. Here's a go. All right. You know what I mean?
Okay. Um but Cameron boozer Showed up like his dad. Who is, I believe, half court. Um In DC, this kid's really good. And he affects every single offensive set in the He also Hits the boards.
He does it all. He's really, really, really good. Exceptional. You know, and The rest of the team. Out rebounded Michigan.
Made the shots when they needed to, came up with those, again, the boards when it was. on the line and Crucial. Um And You know A uh terrific performance. From Boozer. Leading the way, he had a three-pointer with a buck 55 to go that really.
Broke Michigan's back. In this game, 18 points, 10 boards for him, 7 assists. Two blocks. It's a pretty good stat line. Certainly, since he was sitting on the bench with some foul trouble in the second half of a game in which the officials.
Turned the tables a little bit on Duke because the officials whistling Michigan nonstop in the first half. Um essentially benching a Daimara And also Maurice Johnson Jr. Um Flip the tables. In a game that was inconsistently called by the officials. I will have to say that.
And it's part and parcel of what you do when you're a Michigan fan watching Duke. You're just sitting there going, How many people are we going against? Five or eight? Um I will follow my own advice that I see here all the time. Got to play better than the refs ref.
And Michigan did not. Michigan did not. They got inconsistent three-point shooting. The foul trouble in the first half kept it a close enough game for Duke to. Um Finish up strong.
And um and after the game You know, John Shire was asked. If he learned anything about his team. I'm not sure it's anything new. I think it's just as the season goes along, you have to continue to answer the test, the challenges that come up. And you have to improve.
So I think this thing that I saw, it wasn't like, oh, we're really good or we're competing. I mean, these guys have done that every day. I think it's more so I see the growth. I see the connectivity on defense. I see the plays they're making on offense.
of how to win in March and how to win going forward and that's the biggest thing that I saw. And he was coaching his head off. Uh did you guys watch the game? Or no? Yeah, I watched it.
Okay, cool. What's the first time?
So there was a big moment where Michigan made it a one-point game. with three minutes to go. Just under the four-minute timeout. And And our mission was trying to fight through all these ball screens. That they had trouble fighting through.
They had trouble fighting through it. They had trouble defending it. Duke was killing them with it. Um certainly with Mara out. And three plus minutes to go.
Michigan makes it a one-point game. Lendaborg shot a three, and the momentum is going. Michigan's way. And uh the refs call McKinney for fighting through a screen that sure looked to me like Boozer stuck his elbow out on. And um they called it on Michigan.
TV timeout. And Shire drew up this backdoor alley oop play that Michigan. defended poorly. By that I mean hardly defended it at all. And That was when a run started for Duke to wrap this thing up.
He dialed up the plays. And Michigan couldn't overcome it. And now um You know Dusty Mae was asked if he learned anything. Or if the team did come out of this in any way, shape, or form as a good loss for a team that had not lost since Wisconsin handed them their only defeat of the season back on January 10th. It's good because we're going to learn a lot from it.
And we've got to turn our focus back to the Big Ten, where we have four games remaining, and every one of them is a Big Ten championship caliber game. And so whether we won this or we lost, it's going to be what can we learn from it? Let's turn the page. Obviously, we want the best seed and we want more optionality across the board, but it's over now. And so, you know, it's.
And my client will also know. Is this something? There are a lot of lessons we can learn, absolutely. You know what May meant by optionality? I can fill you in on that.
What he meant by optionality is when you're the top seed, you can essentially request where you're playing. In the NCAA tournament. Um or at least you know have have a say right. Uh I think Michigan wanted to go from Philadelphia to Chicago. As the top seed.
Now it appears Duke will have these options. That's what I think he means by optionality. But that's down the road. You know, um you know what I learned. What I learned here is Michigan's now the underdog.
That's what I think.
Well, they are. I mean, they're in the underdog. I mean, they're just some plucky team now that's just going to have to keep on. Digging. Keep digging out.
You know? Keep digging out. They're still the favorites to win the title. I can't imagine why. I mean, Duke just showed you that they're beatable, and they're beatable when you can get their.
Front line in foul trouble. They're beatable when you can potentially make their three-point shooting difficult. You know? Best of luck to Michigan and going forward. Best of my guys after that loss.
Where they're now the underdogs going in. They've lost their optionality. They're not going to be able to be seated higher and any higher than Duke. And by the way, Mr. Troll over there from New Jersey, Mr.
Notre Dame guy, Mr. Seton Hall, that's a long ago loss. I mean, like 1989. 89. You were calling out a foul, and I'm like, 89.
Foul, I lost the championship to you for a phantom foul.
So the refs sucked in my game against you. This guy over there. Never forget that. Call him Mike. This guy over there.
Playback. This guy over there. I hate both guys, but the team I hate more losing. That's what he's like over there. I hate Duke because of my nephew.
Oh, great uncling. I mean, I just don't. Uncle of the year right over there. By the way, Uncle of the Year, Mike Del Tufo, chiming in. Your nephew went to Notre Dame.
This guy, 1989, is a long time ago, Mike. I hate Duke because of my nephew. Yeah. Wow. That's what he said.
Yeah, I mean, I'm not lying. I had no idea your nephew is Ken Jong. I had no idea. Really weird. See, my nephew loved Troy Palomalo, so therefore I love Troy Palomalo.
It's a little bit of a tough tough. It's really tough losing to Duke. It's so tough losing to Duke. It's so tough losing to the Duke Blue Devils. Oh, God, does it ever?
Yeah, Duke is the team.
Well, I mean, listen, but I'm tipping my cap and saying good luck to the frontrunners.
Well, we uh plucky Wolverines just go back. Try and win that big ten. Regular season title and the Big Ten Championship, and going with the best seed we possibly can have. And uh hope to face Duke again and Hope that our frontline won't be in immediate foul trouble for the first time all year, which would make it just the second time all year, most likely. I don't know what's going to happen between now and then.
So we'll see. Good luck. We'll see. Good luck. That's still the betting favorite.
That's odd. I don't know why we would be. We just. Duke just showed they're the best team in the country, right? Better than them.
They won. They're plucky underdogs, Chris. Come on. Huh? You're better than them.
You lost one game. What is that? I don't know. No, we've lost two now. No, I mean, just like Duke, Duke's lost two, we've lost two, but they've got the better win against us.
We couldn't pull it off. And I can only hope that when they make it again, that we're that the underdogs have the day. They probably won't. March Maddox. Not now.
What do you mean? Your underdogs won't have them. gonna lose again if we play If who played? We play you. Who's we?
Man, don't act like you haven't put up a banner of me for the last six years with Duke sitting there.
Now, I can't tell. Did we take on Penn State? Who else did we take on? Did we take on Georgetown? Penn State?
Because we were in D.C. I don't know. Well, we're still Duke, so I can't tell. You pretty much know who I'm talking about. Oh, that's right.
There's a bunch of runners, this guy. Frontrunner. Are you kidding me? Frontrunner? You take a look at all the banners behind you and at what point in the 90s you decided to become a fan and then stick with your teams.
And I did stick with all of them, so I should be appreciated for that. I could have dumped all these guys. Look at them all. Look at them all. Could have dunked it.
Except the Mets and the Clippers. You need to have that going for you. You blow the dust off of all the rest of those. Look at that. Seminoles.
You were way into them when Bobby Bowden was coaching up Dion and Derek Brooks. You saying I wasn't? No, you were.
Okay. You still are.
So then why are we having this? Because you're initially you're a frontrunner and now you say you're anything. I can't have we with you with you. I can't keep up with you. I can't keep up.
We. I've got one. I think you make it seem like you've never been calling for it. One basketball team. One baseball team.
You got your bets covered like it's a wired craps tape. And they're all great. They're looking for the point. They're all two teams, TJ. I disagree.
Don't mess with me after losing to Duke, is all I'm saying to you, okay? I'm saying is Duke, we. Take it so we. We, yeah, we. And then if we took on Georgetown, it would be we.
We took on Penn State earlier. We talked about Penn State basketball.
Okay. Come on. All right. It's Penn State. Oh, I didn't know where the water's edge is with all your publications.
I say like them, I just say don't talk about them.
Okay. Don't be mad, dude.
Sorry. Oh, I'm mad. I'm mad. Saturday was just, it was a really. really annoying, difficult life.
Life's too short to be that upset over basketball. I know, certainly. But again, when I land after I've landed on all my emotions, I'm just saying what I learned is Michigan's the underdog going into the NCAA tournament. And I wish I wish my Wolverines the best of luck with that moniker. And I just try to point out the fact that they're still the betting favorite.
I don't know how. I don't know how it keeps it going. I don't know how third time. How? Third time.
How are we the betting favorite? We're on a one-game losing streak, and Duke just beat us. Wow. That's all I heard is Duke's the better team, and Duke's the best team. Negotiating had nothing to do with it.
Who are the people telling you that? Everybody, including you, Mr. We over there. We, and then we over there. It's like I'm surrounded by the French.
I already said something about France earlier, but I just love how you put that banner up all the time so you know who I like. And then you say, I forget sometimes. You collect so many teams. We haven't even put up the Spurs yet because you have Wembanyama so much.
Soon when you know when Arch Manning gets drafted, we'll put that flag up because you got Arch Manning cards all over the place. By the way, that started in high school.
So, like, I'm keeping up with my boy Archibald. That's all that means. My goodness. How many more. penance can somebody have?
Good lord. I love sports. I've rudely. I love sports. You're Rob Lowe.
Yeah, exactly right. You're Rob Lowe. We got Rob's hat over there in front of Del Tufo now. The NFL. The NFL.
We're curators of the famous Rob Lowe NFL Shield hat. There it is. I've given you valuable every team I like, and yet you choose not to recognize it.
So that's on you. I'm sorry. It's not on me. It's just like you didn't send one text, not a single text, not a single word over the weekend. I was kind of busy.
What were you busy doing? I was doing stuff. Don't worry about it. TJ. First of all, Rich, you keep getting on me about not replying to group text.
I can count probably six straight texts from me to you without that you haven't responded to. I don't know what you're talking about. Exactly, folks. Exactly. Jerzoman, Iowa.
Let's take his phone call. Counselor, I need some help here. Approach, approach the bench. What's up? Turso.
Rich, I don't necessarily know if I can help you here because I was going to give a shout out to TJ in the No Contest Wrestling. I was really killing it, and I wanted to give him some flowers, my man. Good, you should. No contest wrestling is as great as it's ever been. Don't let Rich discourage you.
Give him my problem. It's been TJ, I can't tell you how good it's been, bro. I'm just proud of what you and O'Shea are doing, man. It's awesome. Appreciate it.
Love listening to you guys. You guys put out great content. Thank you, Terzo. On behalf of those guys. Or I could just say it myself.
Okay, sir. Thank you. I appreciate it. Hey, so, Rich, got to give a shout out to our U.S. men and women hockey teams, man.
That was absolutely awesome being able to watch all of that. The unfortunate part is, I did not get to see the golden gold.
So my girlfriend. was stressing out because I was stressing out during that third period because that was intense. That I thought we were going to lose it at any point. And when McKinnon missed that open gold net, I couldn't I couldn't believe it because I'm a huge Abs fan and he's a great, great player. And I thought that, that he was going to bury that.
And so she she leaves the house because I'm stressing her out. And then she calls me because she messed up her front part of her car, all hysterical, trying to drive back to the house at that point.
So I go out to help her. And as soon as I get done helping her and calming her down, I walk back in and I see that we're raising the flag. I understand that, but you're there where you needed to be, Terzo, let's be honest. You had your golden goal moment yourself, okay? Let's focus on important things in life.
You know, Bert, we're all good. Always. Thank you. Thanks for the call. She knows that she always goes first, and I appreciate you guys.
You guys have a great rest of your day. There is no I in Turzo. There's no I. Terzo went to Terzee. Why don't you just hit pause?
What you love? Not Terzey. Hit pause. No, no. Go handle yourself.
But things are like when a damsel's in distress and you're a gentleman like Terzo, you got to go run out and do it. Honestly, he should think about breaking up with her. Oh, my God. Look at you. Look at you.
All right, let's take a break. You guys have to be ready because Jay Billis is about to join us on this program. And in the commercial break, I might wind up in foul trouble and have to sit this one out. Jay Billis joining us next here on the Rich Isen Show. The Rich Eisen Show Podcast.
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Jay Phillips here on the program. What do you mean, pity party? What pity party am I having? You don't think circumstances for the Mays and Blue are as dire as you think? You can be the better team and still lose a game.
And just like Michigan lost to Wisconsin, I don't think anybody's saying Wisconsin is as good or better. They're not. And I I think if these like my view after watching Watching the two teams play up close against each other. I've seen them both a lot. But this is the first time I've had Michigan in person this year, but I've watched a ton of tape of them.
I would still favor Michigan in a seven game series against Duke. But it's close. And you expect it one versus three to be close. But I think one thing Michigan is going to realize when they watch the tape is. Yeah, one, they missed a lot of open shots and shots they normally make.
Uh and number two is they um They did not stress Duke's defense as much as I thought. Like, Duke wasn't made to move defensively as much as I expected because Michigan runs really good offense, but they didn't get to the second and third action. In possessions to really stress the Duke defense. They didn't have to, they never really got out of their help position most of the game in half-court settings. And still Michigan had a shot to win.
So I don't think things are as dire as you seem to think they are. No, Jay, I'm just saying they're the underdogs now. That's all I'm saying is, you know, here moving on forward. They're the underdogs, is all I was saying. I'm not sitting here saying dire, but from my own untrained eye, What I could see was Duke was clamping down on Michigan's transition game.
Usually if you miss a shot against Michigan or you make a mistake returnover, It's two points the other way in a blink of an eye. And I didn't see that a lot. Uh either.
So what what what did Duke do? to Michigan that other teams have had trouble doing. uh or c or can't do.
Well, first, it's easier to slow a game down than it is to speed one up. And so Duke does generally does a really good job of controlling tempo and taking away the other team's transition. And in one way they do that is their offense really helps their defense. Like they don't generally don't take bad shots. They're a very low turnover team, and neither Michigan nor Duke are high turnover forcing teams.
So that was certainly helpful to having it be more of a postseason type, half court oriented game. That was a big part of it. But I think what Duke did best in having a chance to beat Michigan and ultimately doing it was they rebounded really well on the defensive end. They didn't give a lot of second shot opportunities, which Michigan's really good at creating second shots. And Duke's guards, like their big guys, rebound every possession.
On the defensive end. They're closer to the basket generally. But the guards really stuck their nose in there and helped. And they got a number of key rebounds to keep Michigan from getting second chance opportunities, sometimes which can be kickout threes. And that's the best time analytically, just with your eyes, whatever.
That's the best time to shoot a three is getting an offensive rebound. Because the defense is thinking about playing offense when the shot goes up, getting the ball and playing offense. They're not as in tune with playing more defense. And oftentimes, you can kick it out and get a step in three. And Michigan wasn't able to generate much of that.
They couldn't. That is a fact. What's John Shire been able to do? to break out of the old Saw of you don't want to be the guy after the guy, you want to have a guy in between. being the guy after the guy.
How has he been able to bust out of that? and co coach this um program as well as he has post Coach K. Jay. The guy after the guy got all the right guys on the roster. When you're coaching the right guys, it doesn't matter whether you're the guy after the guy or the guy after the guy's guy or whatever.
He has recruited really, really well. And he's blended the portal by getting some. Really good role players that have experience. and blended those guys around super talented freshmen. And, you know, I mean, I'm sure Duke fans are going to expect this year after year, but to have Cooper flag and.
And Cameron Boozer back-to-back. I mean, you might not get those two guys in a career, and they've had them in back-to-back years.
So, you know, now with the transfer portal and NIL and revenue sharing. The argument about one and done seems kind of quaint. You know, nobody's complaining about that anymore. But Duke has been in the one and done pool for a long time, and I think they're going to stay in it because they tend to get two or three of the best high school players that have maturity and they're ready to perform right now. And we're in the midst of maybe the best year of freshman productivity and maturity that I've ever seen, as far as the depth of it.
We've always. Always had really good freshmen at the top of the heap. But this heap is bigger than I've ever seen. And Heck, well, while college basketball fans were clutching their pearls and complaining about Charles Betiaco coming from the G-League to play for Alabama, three freshmen had over 40 that day that he played his first game. And I'm like, why are you worried about some G-League guy scoring 10 points?
You got guys scoring 40 out here. It's fantastic. Jay Bellis here on the Rich Eisen Show. What have you been able to see, if any, from? from Arizona and Houston that you think Is worthy of keeping in our brains over the next few weeks as Selection Sunday hits.
Houston is similar to what Calvin Sampson's had in the past. He's got three great guards: Milas Huzan and Emmanuel Sharp, and Kingston Flemings, who's one of the five best freshmen in the country. I watched him sportside get 42 on Texas Tech in Lubbock during a snowstorm, and it was mesmerizing. Their big guys are they do not score like some of his prior front courts, but they're really good defensively. They can really rebound.
So Houston's legit. We just rich don't have teams like last year at the top. Like I felt this time last year that You know, Florida, Duke, Houston, and Auburn had kind of separated. Like, they were the best teams, and there wasn't much question about it. And it didn't mean that one of them wouldn't slip on a banana peel in the tournament, the Elite Eight or something, and lose.
I wasn't saying that. But I felt pretty comfortable on Selection Sunday saying the number one seeds are going to the Final Four. You never know, but I felt comfortable picking that. This year, you can flip coins on a lot of these games once you get past the first weekend. And I think there are going to be more upsets than last year.
But, you know, I found it funny how. We've made these declarative statements each year, and all of them are wrong. But a couple of years ago, Florida Atlantic and San Diego State make the Final Four after NIL starts and everybody's saying, well, the world is flat, everybody's equal, now anybody can win. Last year, the four number one seeds make the final four, and everybody said, Well, it's over. No chance anymore.
It's just going to be the power conferences dominating. This is horrible for college sports. And then this year we'll get back to another narrative. I don't know what, but it'll be different from last year. But Florida is starting to come on right now.
So they're another team to be concerned about. Arizona's banged up. They're down a starter and a rotation player, and they're just an eight-man rotation.
So they're down to six, and yet. They played Texas Tech to overtime and lost before JT Toppin got hurt, which was heartbreaking at Arizona, and then beat BYU. after that, and then they wind up beating having a great win against Iowa State. I mean, it's just stunning they could play that well down a couple of guys. And it just kind of shows you that Some of Arizona's role players, like your role is what your team is asking you to do, it's not who you are.
And guys busted out of those roles to show who they are when they were needed. It was really kind of cool to see.
Meanwhile, Houston and Kansas play one another tonight, Jay, which puts Darren Peterson back in the spotlight. Um the the The numbers here, he has sat out 11 of 27 games, and of the 16 games in which he's played, 7 of them have 25 minutes or fewer. We all know about the injuries. We know about the cramps. We know about him taking himself out of a game recently.
He did play 32 minutes in the loss to Cincinnati. Over the weekend, what's your opinion of what's going on with this kid, if anything, Jay?
Well, I mean, it's obviously a curious case because you don't see it very often. But we have had players in the past that have had to deal with a hamstring injury, and those are issues you don't want to linger throughout the course of the season.
So Kansas was careful with it. And this cramping was an issue for Peterson. And then he had that one game where he had the illness, you know, and everybody expected, well, Michael Jordan played through it, and if he doesn't play through it, that means he's not the real deal, which I find to be ludicrous. But look, it's unusual. But in the absence of perfect information, which none of us has, except for inside the Kansas locker room, people are going to speculate.
And I think some of the speculation has been, honestly, a little over the top. Like they're questioning this kid's athletic character, his want to, and all that stuff, as if he's making these decisions like, hey, I just had 18 against BYU and against A.J. DeVonsa. That's good enough for me, so I'm good. I don't think that's what happened, but I don't know.
Maybe it did, but I don't think it did. And what I found really, really interesting was: you know, the kids getting pilloried for not playing in the second half. of a game against Arizona. Or not playing at all, whatever it was. And then he only played one half in another game.
And people were questioning that, like he needs to play. And then he plays the full game against Cincinnati and Kansas gets beat. And now he doesn't need he shouldn't play at all. Like, get rid of them. And we're like, it's one game.
Like, what are you guys talking about? You got people out there saying he should shut it down, and Kansas is better off without him. I promise you, they're not better off without him. They lost one game. It's not that big of a deal.
But it it my thing My thing, Rich, is If Darren Peterson were really getting advice from people about shutting it down, Shutting it down would be the easy way to go, and the NBA would take him number one. Trying to play is what's causing these speculative issues about his character and all that other stuff. I don't find it fair. But, you know, if we had solid information that said so, then I'm good with it. But I think it's been a little bit unfair.
And the kid doesn't talk. Like, he may do a little press event or something like that, but he really doesn't talk much. And, you know, look, if you were listening to me, I'd said the more you talk, the more people will know you. And he never had this problem in high school. Nobody ever questioned his competitiveness.
But man, when that dude plays, there is not much question. There are not many like him. He is the real deal.
Well, the fact that they're better with him, I think Bill Self agrees because the post-game comments, you could see he's essentially being led down the road of: can you confirm for us that this kid doesn't want to play? You know, or whereas competitive desire issues and he's constantly You know, turning down those opportunities, Jay. Like you can just watch him in his post-game press conferences. He doesn't even twitch. in that direction.
At all. No. And even Bill got, I don't want to say taken out of context, but maybe misunderstood in the soundbite culture that we have. Like he was saying, look, If his body allows him to play. You know, he's the best player.
And but he was talking about the narrative that results from him not being able to play. And again, like people not really having the information that they should have in order to make these declarative statements and judgments. And then he said, hey, the only way to get that narrative to go away is to play. And when that sound bite of the only way getting this to go away is to play, made it seem like he was putting it on Peterson. And I don't think that's what he meant.
When he said that, because he had set that up in his prior statements. Look, Bill is not a nonsense guy. Bill South. And if he felt like he were getting jerked around, he'd do something about it.
So, I don't see that being the issue. And I've been there, I've done a number of games at Kansas this year, and I've watched the kid practice. Like, he's not pulling himself out of practice. When he can go, he goes. And I don't know.
I'm not a doctor. I don't know what these cramping issues are. But again, you have the speculation. He goes out and you go, wait a minute, how come he's not drinking more Gatorade? And how come they're not working on him and all these different things?
I don't know the answer to that. I'm not a doctor. Jay Bill is here on the Rich Eisen Show. In the couple minutes we have left. What are you looking to see over the next month before Selection Sunday?
What should we be keeping our eyes on?
Well, I mean, obviously the the top teams like like Michigan, Arizona, Duke, Houston, Florida, teams Iowa State. Iowa State's problem, if you want to call it a problem, is they don't shoot free throws very well as a team, and they have some individuals that don't shoot it well. And that could be a problem when they get into late game situations in the tournament. But everything else, they're legit. I do think there are a number, like the field is wider for teams that can make the Final Four this year.
I'm not sure how wide it is. You know, maybe seven that can win it, or that, you know, winning six games is different than winning four to get to a Final Four. You know, like you don't, when you go into the tournament, like a golf tournament, yeah, Tiger, you know, Rory McElroy has to beat everybody in the field. In a basketball tournament, you only have to beat six teams to win it. And it's hard, but it's really about your path.
And so I think we're going to see a little bit more volatility in the tournament this year than we did last year. But one last thing, Rich, there is nothing in the rule book that says these teams can't get better from this point in the season until the end. And that's why that game that Michigan and Duke played. was so important to those two teams because it gave them final exam feedback. without a county as a final exam.
And so I think both of them can take that and use it to really get better as they practice and prepare and play these last several games before we get to the NCAA tournament. That's going to be really important. And part of the final exam stuff is Michigan is how to play as the underdog from here on out, Jay, right? I don't, you know, it's funny. I don't, if they have that mentality, whatever you need to do to feel better, go ahead.
But, man, I still think they're the best team. That doesn't mean they can't get anybody can get beat out there. You know, nobody's unbeatable.
Okay. But, but, you know, like, if you said which team would you like to be heading into markets, I'd like to be them first. You would. You take it. I wouldn't wear the yellow uniforms, though.
Well, first of all, it's maze, Jay.
Okay. All right. It's maze. What's wrong with that? What's wrong with the maze uniforms?
Well, they're not going to get hit by a car wearing that, I can tell you. I don't know. Seemed like they got hit by a stripe. Jay, they got hit by a striped car. That's what it felt like to me sometimes.
You know, the car had stripes. Loser. There were a few calls. You know, almost every game you can shake your head at a few calls. There was only one that I was like, really, was the one on Adai Mara where he blocked a shot.
I think a loser got into his body. They blocked the shot up top. And you're like, whoa, whoa, whoa. Like, that was offense-initiated contact. What do you want the guy to do?
Like, back up 10 feet and then block it? That was the only one I got. I got a little like, but the other stuff was fine. It's just normal. The hard part is you let the game be that physical.
Yep. And when they do call a foul, you're like, wait a minute, you let all this other stuff go? And that's just natural. It was inconsistent. It was inconsistent.
Again, Michigan got fouled trouble in the first, and Duke got fouled trouble in the second. You know what I mean?
And it's just like, let's just call it from minute one to minute last. But Duke played the better game, and you're telling me that you'd rather be Michigan than anybody else from here on out. That's what you're telling me. I would. I think Michigan and Arizona Healthy were the two teams that I would say.
And Duke is right with them. Um, uh, and I think they proved a lot because they've won different ways throughout the course of the year. But one thing, like, I would love to have seen Duke, Michigan if the players could call their own fouls. I think that would be great. Like, it wouldn't have to be like one gigantic pickup game with 20,000 people there when they're calling their own fouls.
That'd be that'd be a blast. It was a great job on the broadcast, Jay. Um, and I enjoyed it, you know, despite not liking the result, but uh, enjoyed listening to you and Dan. You're a great listen. Thanks for the time.
You'll be let's uh let's do it down the road. Pick yourself up off off the deck and brush yourself off. There's more to come. Yeah. Thank you, Jake.
It's been rough. I know it's been a rough weekend. Pity party. You accused me of having a pity party. What the heck?
All right. Guilty. It's charged. Thank you for the time, Jay. You be well.
Thank you, always. We have Jay Billis, everybody, right here on the Rich Eisen Show. Normally you'd think someone from the Ball Brotherhood would be, you know. Not doing that. He's wearing a hat today.
I've noticed. I noticed. And he's a dude, guys. By the way, I don't honestly think about that for a split second when he's calling it a game. No.
No. I do not. I do not, honestly. I know I know Michigan fans feel a little bit differently on occasion, but I don't get that vibe one split second from this guy. Because don't forget, he once upon a time took on Carver High School before anything else.
That's true. He had to take on Coolidge. You know what I mean?
That's no easy feat. That's right. You know what I mean?
No one roots against Carver High. All right, let's take a break. 844 204, Rich. Shout out to Salami, says TJ as we go to break. The Rich Heisen Show, the podcast.
Back here in the Rich Isand Show, everybody. Hey, hey. In a world and... Which we need a hero. One man rises to the challenge in style.
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The all-new Hyundai Palisade Hybrid, visit HyundaiUSA.com or call 562-314-4603. For details. Joey in Battle Creek, Michigan. Let's take Joey's phone call. What's up, Joey?
Yeah. Hi, Rich. Good afternoon. It's a pleasure, an honor, and a privilege to be able to speak to you today for someone that I've respected for many, many years. From someone that was in this business for thirty six years.
I was about to say, Joey, you sound like you've got an ouncer voice right now, man.
Sounds like you got it. Absolutely did it all and would love to Talk about talking more, but I have a true question to ask.
Okay. It's in regard to women's professional hockey. Do you see the potential as there was Well professional women's soccer exploded through the women's performances in Women's World Cup, that professional women's hockey will somehow, some way Get some sort of mainstream media coverage because let's be honest. The Professional Women's Hockey League It's not on T V.
Well, I mean, here's the deal, Joey, is um If you were just walking by watching that women's gold medal game and so many of the other Olympic matchups, you're just walking by the TV set. Because again, you don't see faces, you don't see. um anything but the actual hockey could you sometimes and thanks for the call, Joey, I appreciate it. Could you guys sometimes tell if it was men or women playing? No.
You know what I mean?
I I understand the men's game, there's bigger bodies out there and potentially even maybe a faster skate, but The quality of play was intense. Right? Very high. Yes. I just, again, I haven't seen a professional women's hockey game in person, so I can't tell.
If that style of hockey is something that could be replicated every single night for somebody to take in, but I put nothing past the popularity of women's sports right now. you know From the sports show that we launched last year, Women's Sports Now, again, season two news coming shortly on that. For those who took it in in our previous spot. And Sunday nights, ESPN is turning to women's sports on Sunday nights. that we're excited about being part of here.
on the show. I I'm I can't put anything past anybody. I just would love to to know, is there a Caitlin Clark in the women's hockey world that can get a bunch of people paying attention? You know, like, hey. Um My daughter wants to be like that.
I mean, like, that was. a uh a phenomenon that um That clearly helped women's basketball in a way, taking the WNBA to a different. level of interest for a lot of people. Um who else can we take right here? Let's go to Derek in Missouri, one of our longtime listeners and callers.
What's up, Derek? Got about a minute left here for you.
So I was going to ask you, Rich, if anything with before free I mean, so with the combine coming up and everything, after that, who would you say would be next I mean, They're like Lost Patriots and be the team that can be the most happy during frequency and spend the most money, you think?
Well, I mean, the Raiders look straight down you know, the you know, you're a diehard Bronco fan and Raiders sitting right there in your division, that might be the team. Thanks to call, Derek. Again, we're up against it. Wouldn't you say? I mean, they got a hundred million bucks, the same thing the Titans have a hundred million.
They're doing Tennessee as well. Yeah, they got the most money to spend and be the most active here in the next right and So, um When you talk about the Patriots, though, you're you're You already got the quarterback in place, which Tennessee has. The Raiders are about to. In their estimation. Right.
Rookie contract, that position is huge. It sure is. Oh, yeah. It sure is. That's the thing.
What Denver's done is truly amazing. His Broncos. is almost making the Super Bowl. with bone. In his um Second year running at it.
But their cap is paying Russell Wilson.
So they do have Uh on their cap. big-time franchise quarterback money. And everybody thought, well, good luck. Winning in Bo Nix's first contract, and they damn near made the Super Bowl in just his second year.
So he comes back, he's healthy, then they add more pieces on offense. a little more on defense even. You know, we'll see how high they can go. We've got Sean. Peyton is slated to be a guest on our Wednesday show when we're at the Combine.
So just coming up in a couple of days, we'll talk to the head coach of the Denver Broncos right there. Ben Solak, who wrote a superb article on the ESPN app and ESPN.com about free agency and the Kanban. He's an hour number three. The Rich Eisen Show Podcast. Mm-hmm.
