From Thirty for Thirty Podcasts. Brian Patter, senior defensive lineman from Miami. Gun down. The key to this case, it's Brian. An hour before he died, he was on the phone arguing with Tabaki.
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Now, on with the show. I'm a drew champion. This is the Rich Eisen Show. Let the March Madness begin. A 12-seat is moving on.
Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. I love college basketball. Today's guests, ESPN senior NBA writer Brian Winthorst. Fanatics founder and CEO, Michael Rubin. Host of Pro Football Talk, Mike Florio.
And now, it's Rich Eisen.
Well, hey everybody out there watching us in our usual spots of Disney Plus and the ESPN app and listening to us in our usual spot on ESPN Radio and SiriusXM Channel 80. The reason why I'm set everything up like that is because we are on ESPN cable for the next couple of hours today. Thrilled to be right here with you as March Madness is about to tip off with an insane number of games today. Let's go. And by the end of today, we are going to have three quarters of the South region complete, half of the East and West regions complete, and a quarter of the Midwest regions complete.
That's the way we're rolling with our brackets today. Over 29 million have been. Submitted, maybe closing in on 30 million submitted in time on ESPN. The same thing with our group, the Rich Eisen Show Group. No spaces, rich eyes, and show.
Join our group while you still can. Anybody who wins the group. Gets themselves a rich eyes and show swag bag. How about that? Yeah, how about that?
I know. We're over 1,200, so still get in, still time. You got 13 minutes. Yeah, all three of my kids have put in brackets. I've put in brackets.
Del Tufo, have you put in a bracket? Not yet. All right.
Well, I got one done, so I could.
Well, in a second, all you got to do is just turn on Brian Winhorse Mike and then just take care of your business. By the way, hello, Chris Brockman. Good to see you. Good to see you. Mike Del Tufo, happy birthday to you.
Look at that big ass balloon behind you there. All right.
Happy birthday to you. Spinning balloon. You got a spinning balloon for turning. It's your 39th annual 21st birthday. Congratulations on that.
100%, Rich. I don't feel the day over. For those doing the math, it's a big 6-0. Folks, I appreciate you being here. How'd the boy, Mike?
What's up, TJ Jefferson? You got an actual candle to light. Good to see you. I got a candle. You know, I stopped at Ralph's this morning to buy it, and I'm in the candle section, which is weird anyway.
This guy comes up behind me. He's like, yo. You're on the Rich Eisen show, right? I was like, well, yeah. Spotted in the candle section of a local supermarket.
It could have been awkward in other sections. Yeah. Phone lines are all lit. We appreciate that. 844-204-Rich is the number to dial.
We'll take your phone calls. Don't normally do this sort of thing to start the program, but this is when this man is available. And my goodness gracious, are there NBA stories abound right now? And our favorite Brian Winhorst is back here on the program, ESPN Senior NBA Rider. Good to see you, Brian.
How are you? I want to apologize to you and your show on this very important day for because I was. I threw a curveball, and it was because I forgot about my son's parent-teacher conference, and it was. Disrupt Rich Eisen's show and all of his viewers and listeners, or disrupt my wife. No, no.
And the decision was clearly made. I'm forcing you to disrupt your whole rundown.
So Brian, we don't need your You're uh well I guess put it this way uh To be put on a 10-day contract. You know what I mean? I want to be clear. We don't want that. That's my fault, Rich.
I am the offender everywhere here, but I had to make a choice. Let's start with the first order of business in the NBA world. Cade Cunningham. Is out for how long and with what? What's happening here, Brian?
Yeah, this is brutal. Like, so if you actually see the play where he gets hurt, and I wouldn't be surprised if you haven't seen it because it doesn't look that bad. He was in Washington a couple nights ago and he dives for a loose ball and he kind of gets kneed in the side by Trey Johnson there by the Wizards. It didn't look that bad.
Now he came out of the game and he's got a collapsed lung.
Now, a couple of things about a collapsed lung. First off, You can't fly for a while.
So I would guess he's going to be driving back to Detroit because they're still in Washington. I remember like 15 years ago, this happened out here in LA where Gerald Wallace, who was playing for the Charlotte Bobcats, got elbowed in the ribs by Andrew Bynum, collapsed his lung. He had to drive back to Charlotte in a bus. It took days because you can't fly.
So that's one thing that can't happen. But when the Pistons made the injury announcement a short time ago, they didn't say anything about a rib injury.
Now, that's important because you can get your lung collapsed because you break a rib, and then you're recovering from the collapsed lung and you're recovering from the rib injury. They didn't say a rib injury here.
So if he avoided a serious rib injury, You know, I'm sure he's not feeling good today. But he theoretically should be able to return in time for the playoffs. It'll take some time to know for sure.
So this is a blow. It stinks that I'm going to tell you now that I think he's going to be out of awards contention. Because I would, you know, they're saying he'll be re-evaluated in two weeks. Re-evaluated does not mean to play in two weeks. He's only, he's played 60 games.
He needs to play five more. I'm not sure he's going to get five more.
So I would say that the Pistons, you know, they've got a four-game lead for the number one seed. They're okay there. They're 5-2 when he doesn't play this year. There's tankers on their schedule because he's in the Eastern Conference. I think they'll be able to hang on to the number one seed, would be my projection.
And I think, slash, hope. That he'll be okay. I think where they really would need him would be for the second round. But I think there's hope within the Pistons. That he'll be able to be back by the start of the playoffs, which is in about a month.
So, not great news, but hopefully, not devastating for them. Yeah, I mean, I guess if you're going to have this injury happen. And you are going to be the heart and soul of a team that has felt. Um destined. then a month out would be I guess um the gray area of pushing it.
You'd say, right, Brian? Is that the way we could look at it for the patient? Yeah, you know, look, I'm not a doctor. I don't have all the details. I would just say historically, this type of injury without a broken rib.
I think he's going to be okay.
Now, I don't know. What his conditioning will be and all that stuff like that. But this is a blow to the Pistons, but hopefully, it will not completely derail their playoff hopes. Because if he can't play, let's just be honest, they're not the same team. I mean, anybody who loses an MVP, you know, serious MVP can they won't be the same team, but they're particularly vulnerable because they rely so much on his creation and their offense.
That's where they're a little bit short of shooting and they're really short on offensive creation.
So, um, Hopefully, he's gonna be okay. And here's the thing, Rich: you can do playoff analysis. for the rest of the afternoon. It's not going to matter if you're not healthy. And, you know, unfortunately, as we've seen this season go, these playoffs probably will come down at one point or another to who's healthy.
And here we have the Pistons dealing with an injury right now. Brian Winhorst here on the Rich Eisen show: the Giannis Atenekumpo relationship with Milwaukee. currently is what? Brian. Not connected.
And, you know, this entire season has been really a complete just sort of disappointment for them. You know, they made really one of the more aggressive transactions I can remember in the modern era last summer when they waived Dame Lillard's $100 million, you know, on their, you know, keeping it on, you know, paying it off over the next five years on their books, basically, and then immediately went out and signed Miles Turner for $100 million.
So it was like a $200 million transaction there, $100 million in dead money, $100 million in new money. And while Miles Turner is a quality player, Dave Miller is a difference-making player. Miles Turner is not. And that transaction has not worked out. And then you've basically had Giannis being sidelined for more than half the season with injuries.
And you have this in and out situation with their whether Giannis wants to be there or not. You have a bunch of people talking in circles. Nobody will give you a straight answer. They absolutely had trade talks for him. Whether they ever actually seriously were thinking about trading him, that's a different story.
But the teams that they were talking to thought they were. And look, If you want to come out to the, you know, I would say 2,000 things, there are two things from the 10,000-foot view here. Number one, when he got that calf injury around the trade deadline, they elected to keep trying to win. I felt at that time, as annoying as it is for me to say this, that the correct decision was to tank and tell Giannis you're not going to play the rest of the season. Instead, they went 9-1 while Giannis was out.
Now, that seems admirable. Like, oh man, great job. And you can say that that's what a team should do, but that was the wrong organizational decision. And I'm not passing judgment on the idea that you should lose. I'm just telling you that the strategy said that they should have lost.
Instead, they won. And when they came back, now they're in no man's land. They are in distant 11th place. They are not going to make the play-in. And They are probably their only really hope of going forward was to get a good draft pick this year so that they could either trade that pick or draft a player that you could say will refresh their roster because they're really not in position to improve their roster in another meaningful way, unless a miracle happens.
Now, the miracle could happen at the lottery. They could go into the lottery with the 12th, 10th, or 12th odds or whatever, and they could leap up. That could happen, but we're talking about a single-digit percentage chance. The second thing from the 10,000-foot view, Rich, that I think is material here is Giannis has been injured. all season.
He has been injured routinely now over the last three years. He has had five different injuries this year that have caused him to miss time. And so. Really the bucks Way to keep Giannis is to sign him to a five-year, $270 million contract extension this fall. And I asked the question, and I don't know the answer here.
I am not reporting anything. I am just saying. Are the Bucs prepared to give him $275 million at this point? Maybe the answer is still absolutely. And he signs it and he doesn't get traded.
But Not only have you not traded them and you sort of have a lost season here. How do you feel about his health now that he's in his thirties going forward? And then he's had all these injuries. Again, maybe the answer is we feel great about it, we're ready to sign them. But To me, I'm not sure that that is an absolute no-brainer.
So these are, and then now I haven't even gotten to why you're asking this. The reason you're asking this is because the Bucs want to shut him down for the season, and Giannis wants to play. And I would just say to you. This just sort of follows their disconnected thinking. The Bucs should have shut him down for the season when they decide not to trade him in February because he'd already had four injuries on the season, and the best thing for the organization was to lose.
Second thing is You know, now you've got another injury.
So either you should have handled your business for the lottery or you should have protected your player. They brought him back and he's hurt again.
So Just in general, and absolutely. complete disillusioning, disappointing season in Milwaukee where Giannis and the Bucks have never seemed like they're acting in concert.
Well, I guess just to sound this out with you, Brian, maybe the Bucks need to, even without a high sign from Giannis, Kick a tire on who else in the association would be interested in giving him that five-year. massive contract, although I'm imagining based on just the Basic knowledge of the rules here, they would be the only one to enrich him in the manner in which you're taught. No, no, no, he can be traded and signed elsewhere.
Okay, so then you could figure that who would be willing to do that? I'm sure there are teams who would be willing to do it. I'm just questioning now whether or not that's something the Bucs are. Are absolutely, positively ready to do. They may be.
I just, the guys unfortunately had a lot of injuries the last couple of years.
Well, I'm just saying that that would be the first part of the due diligence of their process. And kind of crossing streams between sports here. The NFL just saw what happened with Max Crosby. where he got sat by a team that wanted a better draft choice, pissed him off, wound up trading him.
Now we all know what happened after that.
Now that would be wild if that happened with Giannis in the NBA. But all that said is, Um if they sit him and then If they find a partner and then they sit him and it pisses him off enough for him to say, fine, I want out of here, then they get their way and they get him out and they start from scratch. Or they give them this contract and just say you're bucked for life. I mean, somebody's got to make that decision. I imagine the next month or two, right?
It's not what it is. As an aside, can I just say, as a Browns fan, I was so annoyed by the fact that they won a couple of those games late. Yeah. No, I hear you. It clearly wasn't saving the head coach's job, and now they're like out of it to get any of these quarterbacks, like, or at least the top quarterbacks.
The meteor came too late, Brian. In northeast Ohio. I know, boom. Mind-boggling to me. Should I comment that the same guy owns the Bucks and the Browns?
I'm not actually going to comment on that. I'm going to move on from that. Because there's multiple owners of the bucks, it's not a simple decision. But I'm not seeing a clear. strategy line.
On what needs to be done again. I wish that. NBA teams were not incentivized to lose. Unfortunately, they are incentivized to lose, which is why so many of them are losing. And the thing about it is.
The Mavericks had the 10th or 11th best odds last year and ended up with Cooper flag.
So that lottery falls right, and the whole world changes for the Bucs. And by the way, it doesn't have to be the number one pick. It bucks go into the top four. You know, things could get interesting.
Now, the the problem is that their pick. Their pick potentially go to Atlanta. Which is another No situation.
However, they were incentivized to protect Giannis' health. And to improve their lottery odds in February. And not only did they do neither, now they're even stuck farther into no man's land. They're going to make the decision that's apparently going to piss Giannis off anyway. Or they're seriously considering pissing Yannis off anyway.
Fine, they should have made that decision. Six weeks ago, and then they could have pissed Giannis off, but then been in a better organizational position.
So, this is what I'm saying. I'm not, if I was a Bucs fan, I would be pretty annoyed that my team has not Handled its business a lot better. I can't control that Giannis keeps getting hurt. You know, he has been a beast for many years. He provided many healthy seasons for the team.
Maybe he'll play the next three years and not be injured, and whoever signs him will adore that contract for every day. I'm just saying that he has had a run of injuries here, and he has not been supported, in my view, by Cogen strategy. And now we are left wondering how the Cog and Strategy is going to go going forward, considering how things have gone. All right.
One last topic for you, Brian Windhorse, before I send you off to that Zoom where you and your wife find out just how studious and well-mannered your child is. The Lakers have won seven in a row. They've won 10 of 11. Luke is out of his skull right now. They kind of stole the rocket's soul over the last three days.
I mean, Durant after Monday's loss was talking about maybe should be more of a role player to sum up his post-game commentary. This seems for real, Brian. Your thoughts on that situation. Yeah, I mean We can certainly talk about them in the seating. You know, it was like a double win last night because they got not only the game and the standings, but they also the tiebreaker.
So they really pushed Houston down. Houston got a break that Denver had an absolutely reprehensible loss to Memphis, who's really right now tanking more efficiently and harder than anybody I've seen in the league. Memphis has done some incredible tank moves. Indiana is right there. But a real setback on the tanking machine for the Memphis last night.
But that's another topic. Regardless of where they are in the seeding, regardless of what their winning streak is, what I care about the Lakers is that they seem. to have found a pathway for how to play with this roster.
Okay. And this was, you know, in the middle of the season, Rich, they had a 39-game stretch where they went 19 and 20. they were middling for half of the year.
Okay, and a significant factor in this is that their team is mostly healthy now. I mean, every team is going to look better when it's healthy.
So that's a factor here. But J.J. Reddick. Has rolled up his sleeves and found a way to get LeBron to buy into a role, which is: I'm going to take fewer shots. I'm going to play fewer minutes.
I'm going to have the ball fewer, and I'm going to spend a little bit more energy working hard on defense. And they're trying to keep him away from being a perimeter defender. He does sometimes still do that, but they're trying to play him more as an interior defender when he can. He's basically been playing backup center minutes at times. And they say, LeBron, you want your baskets, get easy baskets by getting out and running.
And he's doing that. And as LeBron has taken this step back and his usage has gone down, It's freed up Luca to step forward and do that usage. And as a result, we've seen Luca have the seven best games he's had as a Laker. And I very much am being brought back to the Miami years with LeBron. It's appropriate that they're in Miami tonight.
I have a big story on ESPN.com today about the 27-game winning streak that the Heat had in 2013, because it's just a little retrospective with LeBron going back. And I would just say that in that Miami situation, that team found out how to play in its second year together. I know that they had success in the first year and they made the finals, but they really didn't figure out how to play together until the second year. And a big factor of that was, number one, Chris Bosch understanding that he was going to have to play sort of a, you know. Do the dirty work role.
Number two, it was Dwayne Wade saying, I'm going to reduce. What I do for this team.
So, LeBron, you know, there was this idea that they were going to share, and Dwayne said, no, no, no, no. LeBron, you go. And it was by year two that they ramped up. And in year two and three, they were at full power and they were a sight to behold. This is essentially year two with the Lakers has really just started with Luca because they traded for him last February.
And then at the beginning of the season, LeBron had Sciatica. He wasn't even on the court.
So, this, I sort of am comping that heat team had three guys in their prime. It's not, and they also complemented each other better. It's not obviously apples to apples. But I'm saying is it took. That institutional knowledge and the time for Eric Spolster to figure it out and everybody to identify their roles, that's where the Lakers are.
And so not only do I think the Lakers potentially have something here going forward, in this season that they can maybe replicate. If this keeps going, I'm seeing a pathway where LeBron could remain with this team. He's going to have to adjust his salary. But If they can continue and keep this going and find this balance where Reeves has a lane, Luca has the lion's share, and LeBron has a role. This is This is something I wasn't sure they were going to be able to do.
And it's J.J. Reddick, who deserves credit. It's LeBron, it's Luca, it's Reeves, it's Marcus Smart. They're doing something right now that isn't just important for how this season comes out, but for the next few years. That can't be denied, man.
I mean, LeBron was 13 to 14 from the field last night, and then Luca, a masterclass with three and a half to go, makes a three, splits two double teams with ridiculous dribble moves to set up Hachimura and James for easy alley oops, and then a dagger three where he's barking at the fans, saying all sorts of nasty words that you can look at. He's better the fans than the refs. I know that. He hasn't gotten weeks. He's one away.
Isn't he one technical away from having to be seen? Yes, and I and I mean, like, I don't think that's the entire reason why the Lakers are winning. But if you want to look at the pie chart of things, I think Luca backing off the refs is part of the equation. Pie chart. I like it.
You're getting ready for that parent-teacher conference using pie chart. I hope for Dane's sake that this is going to be a good report. Last thing for you before I send you off to that: March Madness tipping off right now. Is it still an open question who could be first overall? Do we need to see somebody shine?
Can somebody improve their standing with a nice six-game run here in the future? Yeah, so. Typically, when you talk about Um Draft the draft process, the NCAA tournament doesn't Usually weigh in that much. In fact, most there will be some scouts out at games, but most of the scouts for teams all get together. They all have like, they go to Vegas or they go to Miami or they go to Arizona or they go to LA and they all get in a room and they sort of, their scouts all sort of watch games together.
In this particular situation, because Darren Peterson has a little bit of uncertainty about. that injury and his whole thing. I think Peterson in Potentially could help his stock more than normally, you know, the top two or three pick. Like, no matter what Cooper Flag did last year, whether or not Duke made the final game or got knocked out in the Sweet 16, he was going to be the number one pick. And most years I think that's the case.
Peterson, especially, has a lot to gain. Also, Akuna from Arkansas. This is a guy who's, I think, at the beginning of the year would have been viewed as mid-to-lay first-round pick. His incredible play, especially in the back half of the regular season. I think it has brought him into top 10 range.
I think if he continues to play in Arkansas and continues to thrive, I think he is a guy who could elevate his status also. Yeah, Lende Borg has got six games left, hopefully. As a Michigan Wolverine, we'll see what he can do and all that stuff. Brian, I sent you. Oh, that's right.
You went to Michigan. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Just got out of drop back. You knew. Hey, Brian.
Hey, listen, you know, the Browns are putting a rule out there, apparently, that the NFL team should be allowed to. Um sell off their draft choices five years. In the future, it's only three years. NFL teams are only allowed to trade first-round draft choices three years in the future. The Browns are like: let's do this like the NBA.
You know, five years. Let's just keep going. This is a team that is building a stadium. At the airport. Yeah.
You're the band, Brian. Have a great weekend, guys. You too. I believe in the wind horse progeny here. I believe this is going to be great.
It's going to be great. I'm the one who's more in trouble at this job. No, you're a present dad, man. You got this. You got this, Zoom.
Get going in case the Zoom link doesn't work.
Okay? All right.
Take care. Have a good day. That's Brian Weirnhorst. Everybody Brian Weir Norst and the Hoop Collective podcast, as well as all the. ESPN family of networks.
Suited for the Zoom.
Well, I mean, he did first take. I get it. And then now he's going to be showing up for the parent-teacher Zoom right now, and it's going to be good. Yeah, he uh he hit me up about half hour before the show. Hey, um What can we do here?
I helped him. We moved things around. All right, let's take a break here. When we come back, what we were going to do to start the program until. Yeah.
The Windhorse family Zoom needed to be accommodated. Up our final four picks. We got that going on. Yours as well at 844-204-RHNUMEDADON. We're on ESPN, people.
That's coming up The Rich Eisen Show Podcast. O'Reilly Auto Parts can help take the guesswork out of your check engine ABS or maintenance light with O'Reilly Veriscan. The service is free and provides a report with solutions verified by ASE certified master technicians. O'Reilly Veriscan can identify the most likely problem with just one scan. If you need help, O'Reilly Auto Parts can recommend a shop for you.
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The NCAA tournament has already tipped off, right, Chris? Oh, Rich, we're at the second timeout. Oh, the second television timeout. The first half, just under 11 minutes to go. TCU leads the Ohio State 14-13.
Okay, it's tight. That's game one in Greenville, South Carolina. And then we've got more games, and we're going to keep track. Of them all. We'll keep you updated on them all.
Thank you for watching us and listening to us as well. We appreciate it. And there is our bracket challenge. If you want to connect your bracket on ESPN, Dot com and the app to our show group. It's very simple.
Just join a group. It's Rich Eisen Show with no spaces. No spaces. If you win our group, You? Um get a Rich Eisen show.
swag bag. It's a uh a backpack. Knapsack as Mike and I probably used to call it with TJ back when we used to have metal lunch boxes and some other goodies are going to be in there, and it'll be fun. A women's bracket challenge starts Friday.
So getting while the getting's good there, same offer. You win that? Same offer. And my kids have put in brackets in this one. There is one child of mine.
Oh. A sweet child of mine, as they might say. Who did not choose Michigan to win at all? Oh. chose Duke and apologized to me as that child clicked on the Duke button.
Sorry, would you care? Would you care to guess which one it is? Which child of mine? Taylor, Cooper. Cooper.
No, Coop's definitely taking Michigan. I read it. He wants to go there. Yeah, but that doesn't mean. That doesn't mean.
I mean, you might. You choose Taylor. I choose Taylor. I'm going to go Taylor.
Okay, and you chose Cooper. No Zanders in the bunch, huh? It's Taylor. Yeah. Sorry, Dad.
Sorry, Dad.
As she clicked on it. This very morning. And I said, listen, it's all good. It's all good. She chose Duke all the way, Mike, if you have that drop when we had Ken Jong here years ago and we had him do NCAA updates as Mr.
Duke. She chose all the way. That's right.
Okay, so Our final fours. Let's reveal them, and then we'll take some phone calls here on the program. Chris, you want to go first? Sure, why not? First, your final four and who wins it all.
I know absolutely nothing. I'm taking Duke. By the way, great way to lead with it. I mean, I think I've watched four games all year.
Okay. Duke Houston, Arizona, Virginia. And I'm taking Duke over Arizona simply because while I was driving to work this morning, there was a car in front of me that had a Duke mom sticker and then an Arizona sticker on the other side. I felt that was a sign.
Okay. Luke against Arizona in the championship. All right then. You have Virginia knocking off my Wolverines prior. I guess that would be an Elite Eight game.
Why not? There's got to be some upsets, right? And do you have Houston beating Florida, or do you have Houston beating? Oh, great. How do you knock Florida out?
Great question. Love where your head's at. I have Houston beating Illinois. Nope, Nebraska.
Okay. So Nebraska is the one that bounces Florida. They've been plucky all year. Fred Horiberg's team, Nebraska, plucky. It's like calling a left-hander.
Crafty. Jimmy. It goes without saying. Yeah, Jimmy.
Okay, a Fred Horberg team is definitely going to be plucky. TJ Jefferson, who do you have in your final four and winning it all? What do you got for me over there?
So, what I got is the Blue Devils taking on the Cougars of Houston and the Wolverines against the Longhorns. The Longhorns. You got an 11th seed. What are we doing there? Making a run.
Wow. Why not? From the first four to the final four. It's Arch Manning. Has that ever happened?
Probably not.
Okay. So Mike Hoskins just said, yeah, it's happened. Like it's definitely happened. Wow. UCLA a few years ago.
Look at that. I mean, look. Smitch is probably yelling from his house right now. It's a tournament here. And you never know what comes out.
Okay. So. And then I got Duke and Michigan coming out and meeting in the championship game. And then, much like what, 93? Nope.
I got the Blue Devils. That's fun. Rain is Super. Oh, my goodness. I just, I don't know.
Their injuries, I think, is really going to keep Duke from acting.
Okay. Both teams have a Duke and Michigan injury. Yeah, true. All right.
All right.
I don't think he gave it in. Oh, you do have one, Mike.
Okay, what do you got over there, Mr. C. I don't know, everybody? Oh, you probably've watched more than I've watched more than I. There's no question you got.
No, he's listening. He wasn't playing. No, no, no. He has no choice but to work the faders and know what. By the way, I did like four or five Michigans trends.
Hey, man, you got to know when in the same way that you seamlessly worked in Freebird 19 times to go into break after a strikeout in the World Baseball Classic. I went viral. You're the king of working in Round Ball Rock, growing a break. I was in the trending.
Okay. So, Samus, I got it. And everybody, when you play Round Ball Rock, they're like, why is Fox? We're done. It's done.
It's over. I got one more event. Oh, you got one more event? And then John Tesh is locked it in for NBC, huh? Yeah.
Okay. All right.
Oh, it's not, my bad. It's not John Tesh. It's John Tesh's brother who did it, right? Yes. Yeah.
Basketball. We just got sued. No, go to it. All right.
By the way. Don't get.
Sorry. What do you got? Yukon, Florida, coming out of the Arizona, Michigan. And I, I, by the way, everybody, I, Michigan, I, it's hard for me not to pick you guys, Rich. I got it.
But Arizona. I had to do it because they are the best team right now in my eyes.
Okay. All right.
Your eyes see Arizona over UConn. Oh, I got to pick my guy, Danny. I traveled with him back in the day. I don't know what that means. Danny Hurley on UConn.
I got to take him in. You traveled with him. Yeah, he traveled. The basketball team. He played on the team that I was traveling with when I was at St.
Hall doing radio. Oh, okay. With Liza Minali? No, that was right pre-pro.
Okay, that was a different time.
Okay, very good. It was two years before. Very good. Here's my final four-pick. It's mostly chalk people.
Yeah. And I have my team winning it all. You know, I'm always going to do this. Actually, I've never, I don't recall the last time I had Michigan winning a bracket. You didn't do it last year?
No, no, no. Oh, you went all four and one? Yeah, I mean, you went all one and one. I didn't went chalk. I went chalk.
You guys are learning from me. It's not going to happen two years in a row, right? Guess what? I'm taking a shot at it. I have Florida beating Illinois, Duke beating UConn, Arizona beating Purdue, and Michigan beating Iowa State.
I have damn near chalk the whole way through. Everybody thinks it's going to be a bunch of upsets. I don't. I'm going the other way. If it's a bunch of upsets, my pool is shot.
My brackets are shot. But I'm going to go Michigan over Duke. And if Michigan plays Duke in the final, and Xander and Cooper and Dad have Michigan beating Duke, and Taylor has Duke beating Michigan, and she just wants to win her pool. Susie is going to need to be the umpire. That'll be fun.
She's going to be the Mills Lane. She's going to be separate. There's going to be a lot. It's going to be wild in our. in our T V room.
That's great. But that's what I'm that's what I'm going with right there. Love it. Michigan winning it all over Duke, which would just be incredible. And I'll we got C Web on tomorrow's program to just hash it all out.
And by the way, I reached out today to see because we're You know, as you know, back on our Disney, we're on ESPN right now for crying out loud. I submitted my bracket, say, hey, you want to pop it up there with everybody else's? I'll put my stuff out there. And It's out there. It's up there.
It's out there. It's in there. Up there on the ESPN app for everybody to check out. With Dickie V's and Stephen A's and SVP, Greeney, Billis. I'm going toe to toe.
All right, we're calling Matt. I'm the only one with the Mays Am up there, man. All right, join our group, Rich Eisen Show, all one word.
Now, if you're wondering what the most popular picks are to win it all, Mikey, you're up there. Arizona, 30% of our entrants in our group picked Arizona, 23% Michigan. 18% Duke, then it really falls off. Those are the top three. More people picked Michigan over Duke.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Buy a good amount. 6% Houston, 6% Florida, 2.5% Connecticut, 2.5% St.
John's. Milk. We're down to milk now. Kind of milk for everybody else.
Okay. All right, let's see. We're off and running here. Off and running. Let's go.
All right, let's take a break. We come back. We'll take your phone calls on this subject and so much more. If you're on hold, stay on hold. And did you see how Miami of Ohio was able to pull it out, if you will, hey now against SMU?
We're back in the Speedo Quickie. The Rich Eisen Show, the podcast. Terrizo and Iowa here on the Rich Eisen Show. Calling. Thank you, sir.
Appreciate it. There you go. This is Turizzo and Iowa, everybody. I give honest answers. I give honest answers.
It's a fair counterpoint. You know what I mean? Sunday of Labor Day weekend is a big ass. Yeah, that's the beginning of like. Yeah.
You know what I need to do right now? I need to take a phone call from my heartland. I just took one from the heartland. But my heartland. Your heartland.
As a matter of fact, there is a part of Staten Island called Heartland Village. Really? Yes, there is. Oh, and Sal in Staten Island knows what I'm talking about. What's up, Salvatore?
Hey, Rich, how are you? How are you doing? Westerly guy here. You're Westerly? I'm from Willowbrook.
How are you doing? That's where I am. I grew up in Wally. Hey. I'm Harold Street.
That's where I grew up. Harold Street. Right down the block. Your father was a teacher, I think. That's right.
Did he teach you at Port Richmond High School?
Sound? I went to Port Richmond, yes, I did. Graduated eighty-one. In eighty-one. My dad my dad probably did teach you.
He might have still been in Chiefs at Bay High School then, but in Brooklyn. But anyway, how you doing, Sam? Anyway, I did call that back then. I did use that sports phone to get right as you guys just talked about. That was great.
But anyway, my question is. We're big me and my daughter are following Michigan, and we're big big Cadillac fans. We just want to know what you think about the struggles they had down the stretch here. And Well, the issue is LJ Kaysen went out with a knee injury, Sal. And what he was able to do in a way that very few others on the team do with regularity is get to the rim.
And push and push, and also provide Michigan with a bit of an opportunity. uh when Cadeau is out to maintain some Half court stability on offense. And now that he's gone... They've had trouble when Cadeau hits the bench. And if Cadeau does not get to the rim, you're seeing a lot of stagnant offensive sets where they settle for jumpers or they can't get to the rim.
And that's been Michigan's bread and butter for much of the year. Um is getting the other team over the limit. Before they do, and shooting free throws, and that's the way one possession games become double-digit leads, and that's been a problem. And that is a massive concern of mine going into The tournament, but in Dusty May, I trust he is clearly one of the best. In the business, and he knows exactly what I'm talking about, I'm sure.
He also knows about 15 other Achilles heels that maybe keeps him up. But, you know, otherwise, they have a very talented team that has played very well together. And in the early parts of the season, Sal. While other teams were still learning how to play together, Michigan jailed much quicker, and that's why I think they were blowing the crap out of everybody. That hasn't happened too much.
Um of late. But they have also played Big Ten teams that know them well over and over and over again. There's not a single Big Ten team in their region. The first Big Ten team that they could see. Would be, you know, in the West, it's possible they could play Wisconsin or Purdue.
Just to name two in the Final Four, if they could somehow beat Arizona. I don't know. what uh what the answer is here, Sal, but The invincibility factor seems to have dipped a little bit. At least I'm concerned about that. Yeah, I agree.
I agree. I appreciate the take of my call and. You know, thanks again. You got it, buddy. That's Sal in Staten Island from my hometown.
Everyone's here, Sal. There he goes. Yeah. Thank you, Mike, for that. Yeah.
I love Saturn. I know. It's like you're practically part of it and I'm part of yours. I teach at a couple of clubs here.
Okay. Okay. Um Miami, Ohio, uh was this year's what, James Madison? Right. Just to use a football analogy.
Right. Am I wrong? You know what I mean? Like, everyone's like, you know what? What are you doing here?
Yeah, cute story. Cute story. You were undefeated until you lost in your tournament. And now you popped a a bubble for somebody else from a bigger conference that we feel is better than you. And Miami Valhalla's like, okay.
All right, we'll take your first four invitation. And we'll beat SMU about the head, neck, chest, and face throughout the first half. Take a nine-point lead into half. Play well enough in the second half. and win by ten.
and come up with our first tournament victory in 27 years. And uh yeah. That's fun to watch. Yeah. Miami, Ohio.
Also had a secret weapon, which I've never seen before. I've been following college basketball since I was, as Warren Sapp once said, knee-high to a jackrabbit. Um Their swim team showed up in speedos to distract SMU at the free throw line, and it worked a couple times. You know? Oh, God.
You know what I mean? As you can see, SMU wasn't in this photograph the only one. Wearing white. There they are. Wow.
And there's Speedos. Getting it done. I my favorite part is that you see the guy and the the two guys, or a handful of them, they're wearing their swim caps and goggles. You know what I mean? Like so they're in full uniform.
A couple of them just said, All right, here's my Speedo and my six-pack. You know what I mean? I think that works for that. By the way, no half-step. I could do it.
If you got it, flaunt it. I was just going to say: if I could do that, I'd be doing it. But what an idea. I'd do this show like that. What an idea.
To get your team through to the first round.
Now, do they travel? I think at this point, you know, the sports department has to open up the budge a little bit and get them on the road. Where are they going? They're going to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. There you go.
Are they going to be like, in a way, Um Remember DeMar DeRosen's daughter screeching? And everyone's like, we got to get her on the road for the next game. But then he didn't. No, because she had school. She had school.
Right. He has his priorities, right? Bad parenting. These kids have school, but this is college. Get on the road.
Go to Philadelphia with your speedos and your goggles and your swim caps. And stand there behind Tennessee's basket. It'd be spring break, right? Look at that dude on the left, painted all red. He didn't get the assignment.
I don't think that's going to come out. You don't think so? I don't think that's pink. Cool! I think that's super cool.
What is it? He's the devil. The blood of their enemies. Look at him. Very Game of Thrones right there.
But all of them are. Red Wedding. They're trying to go Red Wedding every week. There you go. Valimar Golis.
Valimar Golis. Miami of Ohio, man. Bruce Pearl, your thoughts? A lot of people are like, they don't belong. They're going to get their ass beat.
They're going to get whipped. And they show up like: here's our three-point game. Here's our defense. There's our speedos. Try and beat us.
Did you guys pick them to win? Yeah. No. No, to be able to do it. I chose Tennessee to advance.
I think I'm going to change it right now. Can you do that? No, you're locked. You're locked. You can change it up until the game starts.
Until the game hasn't started. Oh, really? Until the game starts? You can switch it up? No.
Can you? Why not? Why can't you? Why couldn't you? I don't know.
I thought your brackets get locked. You're locked. Wait a minute. I think well, on ESPN, they are locked. There you go.
Oh, I'm the administrator. I can go. Oh, my God. Look at the water. No, no, no, no, no, no.
What do you mean? On behalf of the thousand other people in the pool, you're locked in. I'm announcing it that I want to take a moment of Ohio. What was it, there? What was it, their defense, their shooting, or the speed-offs that's caused you to do this?
I like seeing Ron Harper in the stands. Got it? I say the speed of the mm. Is that the only package?
Well, as I was saying it, I realized it was probably not the right thing to say. Video package. Woo! Small package. The Rich Eisen Show Podcast.
Mm-hmm.
