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Now, on with the show. There are so many games that come down to the final shot. This is the Rich Eisen Show. Michigan wins the Midwest region. Today's guests: ESPN College Basketball Analyst Jay Billis.
ESPN College Basketball Analyst Andrea Carter. Illinois head coach Brad Underwood. Director Antoine Fouqua. And now, it's Rich Eisen. Hey everybody, welcome to this edition of the Rich Eisen Show live in Los Angeles, California on ESPN Radio, SiriusXM Channel 80.
For those listening, for those viewing Disney Plus and the ESPN app, 844-204, Rich is the number to dial. To have a chat with us about whatever you want to chat with. A lot of NFL news popping with the NFL owners all gathering in Arizona to meet today and vote on things or not. March Madness, men's final four is set. The women will have their final four set by the end of the day.
Major League Baseball having its first full weekend in. The books 844-204-Rich, number to dial, however, you want to chat with us, please do. Good to see you over there, Christopher Brockman. How are you? Hey, Rich.
Happy Monday, my friend. Same to you. Jason Feller, how are you? Hey, sir. What's up, Richard?
Good to see you. The Los Angeles Dodgers have already won the NL West. Congratulations. I mean, not far off. Good to see you, TJ Jefferson.
What's going on, man? That was disappointing. Ah, well, let's talk about it. Hi, everybody else.
Sorry, TJ. March Madness. This is why we watch March Madness games. shockers, big finishes, major comebacks. Bracket busters.
Or not. Oh my goodness gracious. The Duke Blue Devils after struggling against Sienna and TCU and then. Saint John's giving them a game, the number one overall seed in this tournament. Had a massive lead on UConn.
19 points in the first half, fifteen at half time. And usually, that's all she wrote when you're taking on a number one seed, let alone the number one overall seed in this tournament. 134-0. That's what the number one seeds in the history of the men's NCAA tournament. Are or were With a 15 point, lead, or larger at halftime.
And then UConn makes a run because they. have nothing but lion-hearted champion type players on the floor, on the bench, and certainly One of the best coaches we've seen in men's college basketball in some time in Dan Hurley on the bench. And what we saw was something we'll be talking about. Forever. Quite frankly, Because it is rare to see a comeback like the one that UConn mounted.
It is rare to see, as I mentioned, a comeback like the one that Yukon mounted against a first overall seed in this tournament. but what we saw were two three point shots by Yukon. made by guys in Alex Caraban and Braylon Mullins. who did not make a single three. In the game up until the point That they made two three-pointers to give UConn the requisite number of points to beat.
Duke but in order to beat Duke what had to happen is something that I think Played out in slow motion. for Duke fans, if I may, speak on behalf. of you, TJ Jefferson. And Adam Arcall Screener, and everybody else in Duke Blue Devil Nation. Slow motion.
And every single time I watch it back. I can't believe it happened. Because all Duke. needed to do was inbounds the ball and hold on to it. And when you watch it over and over again.
You can see How It all unfolded. That This kid dames czar. He's the one who inbounds the basketball. Saar inbounds the basketball. to Cameron Boozer.
Who gets it back to Saar? He's under the basket. By himself. All he needs to do is hold on to it. All Boozer needed to do was hold on to it.
All Duke needed to do was just inbound the basketball. And maybe pass it once, and that's it, because you can't get a 10-second violation when there's just 10 seconds left on the clock. Great.
So we use all 10 seconds. You get the basketball. The thing is, Yukon, there's no time left. We win. We're in the final four.
We're cutting down the nets. in Washington DC. And Saar passed the ball. To Caden. Boozer.
who tried to get it over the outstretched hands. of not one but two Yukon Huskies, and turned the ball over. And that's when Caraban, who was 0 for 5 in the game from three point range until he made a twenty six footer to make it a one point game. Passed it to Braylon Mullins, who is 0 for 4 from three-point range. to nail a thirty five footer splash.
that will live In NCAA tournament history forever. Unbelievable. Mr. Basketball in Indiana splashdown. And the only thing I could think of.
Here. At that point in time, is you start looking back at it, right? John Shire had a timeout. Yeah. Yeah.
John Shire had a timeout. After UConn made one of two free throws, the back end of the. Free throws. He had a timeout. And I'm wondering if he's sitting around.
And we'll ask Jay Billis this when he joins us in about 14 minutes' time. In a quiet moment, thinking, if I had fired off a timeout just to let everyone know. We're going to come up with the best inbounds play we've got. Set the ducks in a row. And then you hold on to the basketball.
You don't need to pass it. Do get fouled. Do nothing. Let UConn begin to be the ones to panic as the clock starts winding down. Get fouled.
Make two free throws. Let's cut down a net. or make one of two free throws. And they're going to have to go the length of the floor. To win This basketball game.
And um Unbelievably. Duke Past it. And now UConn passes them. With a pair of scissors and a ladder to cut down the nets. And this is what John Shire had to say afterwards.
We just have to secure it, right? I mean, we got it. They had a foul. I was ready for a timeout. And we just got to hold on.
And, you know, it's easy to look at that play. You know, I look at every play that happened, especially in the second half. This is not about one play. It's about every play to put us in that position. And that's what you don't want to do.
Where one play something can happen. And so for me, Look, it's it's gonna be um Um tough. Uh but it's not going to be on one play. I understand that and you know I I I hear him. But this is one play.
that is going to really stick. And you know what this reminds me of? This reminds me of. The Patriots Super Bowl win over the Seattle Seahawks. How so?
Where Belichick let the clock wind down. instead of firing off a time out. And Seattle. was left to its own devices to do the obvious. and didn't.
And through it When they should have run it And Yukon? Instead of fouling. First of all, instead of fouling. They let the clock run, and left Duke To pass it when they should have held it. Yeah.
And also, I thought When Dan Hurley's standing on the sideline there. I thought he was going to tell. His free throw shooter who made the back end of two free throws. Missing on purpose. We don't have time left.
There's 10 seconds left. Miss it on purpose. Let's try and get the rebound and let's get a two here. To try it. or three to win it.
And instead He made the free throw. Where he needed a three to win it, the three to tie it. I thought that's what he's going to do. Instead, he made the free throw. And instead of fouling.
You can't just Backed off, got the turnover they needed, and then Hurley. with them f getting possession out of nowhere decides to let the clock run again. He doesn't fire off a timeout and a timeout play. Yeah, exactly. He pushed every possible right button in the last ten seconds.
And after the game, he said this about not calling timeout and letting his Mr. Basketball from Indiana nail one from the logo. Oh, it's scary, man. It's like, yo, what the? You know, because Duke is so good defensively.
That it just felt like you're almost, you know, you're watching Alex and seeing, you know, kind of like. As Braylon's catching the ball, does he look like he's in some type of a rhythm? You know, does he look like he's going to kind of rip drive it? I mean, you're torn right there, and you're almost like, and you're just, it's instincts. It's, it's, it's gut instinct.
But I think with their size, their length, their ability to switch everything. you know, it just it felt like the window where uh You just gotta let March Madness take over, March magic. March, madness and magic taken over. Like that. He Let's his guy shoot the free throw.
They make it. He doesn't foul. And let's duke. throw it around like they need to score. and then picks it off.
Decides not to call a timeout because why would I let Duke set the defense? I'll just let my guy shoot it from the logo. It's a 30-footer, nobody.
Okay. Wow. Yeah, that was crazy. Wow. What a win for Yukon Man, they're the ones cutting down the nets in Washington, D.C.
And moving on to our third final four. in four years. to take on Illinois, whose coach Brad Underwood is going to join us in hour two. And This is why Hurley Caraban making a shot. This kid Mullins making a shot.
But Hurley being the coach, I don't want to hear. That my alma mater, which boat raced Tennessee, Andrea Carter joining us in an hour or two. And Arizona Which eventually got its sea legs in its toughest match up. in the tournament to date before Dispatching Purdue with dispatch. I don't want to hear that that's the de facto national championship game.
Like Rams Seahawks was the de facto Super Bowl this year. Why? I don't want to hear that. But they were the but a as a Michigan fan or what? I mean, no, no, no, no, no.
How can you argue? How can you sit here and say UConn can't beat Michigan and Arizona when they just beat the number one overall seat down nineteen with guys who made shots and coaches who pushes Who pushed buttons, man? Come on. UConn has no shot. It's like they'll go into the national championship game if they beat Illinois.
against Michigan or Arizona with a slingshot. Come on now. Third time in four years. Come on. These damn straight.
Michigan and Arizona have looked much better than Duke has looked this entire tournament. I understand that. I get it. I I just don't want to hear it, man. They can do it.
Yeah, they can do it. You want to wait like an hour for overreaction Monday? I get it. Yeah. I get it.
So There's all of that. And then Okay. Just while we're on the subject of my alma mater. Taking on Arizona on that second game and Final Four Saturday. Oh my gosh, after Yukon and Illinois play one another.
And whoever wins definitely has a shot to win it all. And it's more than just, you know. Uh oh. A dollar in a dream, as they used to say back when chip in a chair. You're chipping a chair.
You know, all you need is a a lottery ticket, more than that. But I'll just say this. I'll go here, if you don't mind. On behalf of a lot of people. Oh, boy.
What? Oh, yeah. From the north. Midwest, you mean? No, no, around the country.
Tobacco Road, everywhere. Interesting. But for me personally. For me personally. Um And I have nothing but respect for John Shire and the boozers we had.
Carlos on, and you know, honestly. This is quite the windup. This is the windup. But for Michigan to make the final four On the same day. Duke gets latenered.
in front of the whole country. Stuck. The way they were stuck. them reeling. for the second straight year.
By getting bounced from the tournament. I want to freeze time. And it causes me to get a little bit nervous that it can't get any better. It just can't get much better. than that.
The only thing better is if we were the ones to Lekner them in the national championship game. If we're so fortunate to. Get there because Arizona is a wagon. But not just anyway, too, that Michigan gets to the Final Four by dismantling Tennessee. Which according to one particular individual, could not be punked.
Only two get punked. to get a twenty Eighth win of the year by double digits, which is one more. then Michigan State had entire wins for the year. Yeah. Michigan won by double digits 28 times.
Michigan State had 27 wins. Mm. Oh. This has just been again, I get nervous how well it's going. Ugh.
Just want to rip that knob off. On that front. And I'm through with that. I had to get that off my chest. I bet you did.
Duke all the way. Yeah, right? I didn't play that one. That's okay, man. Because I'm sure Ken Jong and the rest of every dookie I know, that's a tough one.
All they had to do was just the Most Situationally smart thing for a team that is. Situationally brilliant. at a school that's just filled with smart people. And they didn't do it. And Yukon moves on.
Okay. These things happen. Cash, baby. The three guys were all fresh. And I know I jumped off the couch.
That was one of the most remarkable shows. Did you think it was in? In the air? Absolutely. I kind of did.
Oh, I don't know. I was just. I was just hoping it would be. The second it left. Bless it.
And then look at him. He's RG3. It's the most greatest celebration of the game. Are you not entertained? What are you going to say to me now?
It's like the opposite of the Nick Young GIF. And then the shots just seek it out. The shots of Hurley's mom and dad cursing. The Bill Raftery. Bill Rafter in Grand Hill.
Oh, and our next guest, Jay Billis, had the greatest. post about Raftery looking stunned like his Like his car just got stolen. He said that that's the look he has when he hears the words last call. At a hotel bar.
Well done, Jay Bellis. That's why we have him on, and he's next. Right here. on this edition of The Rich Isaac Show. Rich Eisen here.
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They feature beam blade technology to improve windshield contact for maximum visibility. The professional parts people will even install your new wiper blades for free. Choose Rainex Latitude Wiper Blades at your local O'Reilly Auto Parts store or online at O'ReillyAuto.com. The Rich Eisen Show Podcast. Radio joining us now is our favorite Jay Billis back here on the program.
Good to see you, Jay. How are you, sir? Doing great. It was heartwarming to see you back doing that highlight, not only with hair, but with that chest protector tie. Yeah, look at that, man.
I don't know where anything is. The suit, the tie, and the hair, they're all gone. They're all gone, never to be seen again. I don't believe. But I don't know.
Maybe were you the analyst that night? Where were you on that national team? No, no, no. 27 years ago. I was there working for USPN, so I was at the game covering it for Sports Center and all that stuff.
We did pieces back then.
So, you had to stick around and do post-game interviews and put an entire piece together. Right. We don't do that stuff anymore. But, yeah, I was right there courtside. Man, oh man.
Man. All right. I saw your comments first blush that you made on your Instagram account, which is a must-follow, Jay. But I'll give you the floor. What do you think now a day later about that finish between UConn and Duke?
Jay. I'm just left with what an extraordinary competitive event that was. And, you know, I think one of the things that it wasn't just. Raylon Mullins shot at the end of the turnover. That made it great.
It was just the compelling nature of watching UConn. Duke trying to hang on in Yukon, just never giving up. Just an incredible basketball game. I was an assistant coach at Duke when Leitner hit the shot against Kentucky in 92. And honestly, when Mullen's shot went in, it was the same kind of feeling of, I can't believe that just happened.
Like, I don't know, Rich, what the win probability was for Yukon, but it was really low. And I do believe there's something to the idea of championship DNA. I certainly think Duke has it, but UConn really has it. And every day in practice under Danny Hurley, they're under stress. And so the games, I guarantee you this: the players think the games are easier to practice.
And they're put in those situations, they have experienced players. Like, I thought every bit as important as that shot that Mullins hit. was the pass that Alex Caravan made. That, and I'm not sure that a younger player could have or would have done that, maybe, but for him to have the presence of mind. To pitch that ball back to Mullins, who was the one that corralled.
The uh the deflected pass from Caden Boozer and then and then hit Caraban with it. I think most players would have, in a short clock, would have taken that shot. Caraban would have taken the shot. But he had the presence of mind to pitch it back to Mullins to give him a better opportunity to make what. Clearly, even though Mullins is an amazing shooter, made a lot of those kind of shots in high school.
Oh. You know, that gave them the best opportunity, and Caravan understood that. That was an extraordinary play, yeah. Especially since he had just made his first three and might have had a little bit of a heat check. But the thing that really uh taken aback.
By or the decisions by the coaches here, Jay. And let's start with. John Shire, do you think if You know, he he should have fired off a timeout. After the free throw, to just remind his players, you don't need to get the ball over half court. Just.
Let's get our best inbounds play together. Get the ball inbounds and Just let the clock run down and let them follow us. I mean, you could have done that, but they did almost everything right, except for one thing.
So, you'd rather keep a timeout to, if a player gets in trouble, they can call it. Right. Like Duke, every day in practice, and this goes all the way back to Coach K, I did these drills every day. It's called four coach passing drill, and it's a drill that simulates. Having to make those catches and process things against full court pressure.
And so, what the drill does is you have to come back to the ball, you catch it. And then you're on two feet, you turn, face the defense, and then make your decision. And so, Coach K, John Shire, every day during that drill, they say, catch and face. Catch, face the defense, and then make a play. You don't catch and dribble.
Or catch and turn while you're catching it, because that can lead you into the problem. And so Caden Boozer, who's a freshman, and Duke is not, you know, with these players, they're not in this situation all the time.
So he caught the ball and turned and dribbled, and then left the floor to make a pass in the air. And if he had caught and faced, then you can make a decision as to what to do. Maybe you back dribble, maybe you hold the ball so you can get fouled. Uh or maybe you pass fake up and pass around and the game's over.
So there wasn't time once Boozer caught the ball to call a timeout because he didn't catch and face and do that. But that's part of the thing of having young players. And one of the things when people are talking about, you know, Duke's last four losses going back to Houston in the final four last year. They've had double-digit leads. You know, so it was Houston last year, then Texas Tech, and North Carolina this year, and then this game against Yukon.
The problem that you have is that most, if not, most of the players, if not all of them, that were on the floor at the end of the game in this one, had no memory of the Houston game. You know, most of the guys are in the NBA now.
So, you know, UConn's players like Caraban and all that, those guys have a memory bank. Of situations that they've had over the course of their college careers. The Duke players that play the most minutes are freshmen. And so they don't have that memory bank. And they had three freshmen on the floor in that last play.
And then Isaiah Evans and Patrick Gungaba down the floor. That we're the only ones with experience in those situations. And so that's the hard part. you're saying what does duke do going forward well maybe you start thinking about maybe even more game situations in practice to prepare for those kind of things. But one of the things you don't want to be lost is: look, it was an extraordinary game.
And my thing was like in this tournament. Like seeing the losing players in every locker room throughout the course of the tournament. Every locker room, the players were crying after the game. Like these guys care. And in an era where people are saying, oh, because NIL, it's all transactional and all everybody cares about is money.
There are no relationships anymore. Name on the front versus name on the back. None of that's true. Like these players, they're great relationships, they're tight groups, they want to win, and they're devastated when they're like, who was thinking about money at the end of that game? Nobody, no reasonable person was.
Yeah, especially when there's twin brothers who may not play again on the same team together. Jay Bill is here on the Rich Eisen Show. And then the decisions made by Dan Hurley. At the end, Jay. Telling Demery, go ahead and Shoot your free throw.
Don't purposely miss it so he can maybe get a three and tie the game. and then not fouling. And letting everything play out calmly, and then not calling a timeout after you get the ball back, letting that play through. The only analogy uh I could make About that, Bill Belichick's decisions at the end of Super Bowl 49 were. With the clock ticking down, everybody's saying, why would he just not fire off a timeout?
He just let Seattle make decisions. That came back to bite them. And I'll give you the floor on Dan Hurley. I guess that's another aspect of championship quality. been there, done that, and He helped UConn get through, or at least put his players in a position to help.
him get through. Yeah, and but but they were they were looking to foul now because I you could see uh after the free throws or during the free throw process with Silas Demery Jr., Danny Hurley was saying, Hey, you want to foul SAR or Gumba. I think he said Sarr or Patrick, which is Gunga's first name. That was their plan to foul one of those two guys. They wanted to foul.
But when Cameron Boozer caught the initial pass off the inbound and he got double teamed, so he pitched it back to Dame Sarr.
Now, you could argue Saar could have held the ball longer as defenders were coming toward him. But I think he made the right play to get it to Boozer, Caden Boozer. Who did a good job of making himself available to be able to catch that pass? It was just going back to the catch and face thing. Like that was the one error was made in execution.
But UConn executed. flawlessly and gave themselves a chance to win. And Duke did not do the same thing, and that's what. Aided UConn in getting a chance to win. You know, in this situation, like what I think the questions we tend to ask ourselves in the media is.
Did UConn lose the game, or excuse me, did UConn win the game or did Duke collapse? And when you have a 15-point lead at halftime, there's a little bit of both of those things. Like UConn had to do a lot of things right to win. And Duke had to do some things wrong to lose. And those eight turnovers that Duke had in the second half to Yukon's one, that was the difference.
I mean, I think there was a Caden Boozer pass that Terrace Reed intercepted and took the other way for an easy basket. Then with a minute to a minute to go, Duke got a four point lead. And Cameron Boozer made a drive down the right side and just lost the ball. And UConn takes it the other way, and then Caraban gets a three. Like those things all contributed.
So, John Shire was right in saying it wasn't just that one play. But when it gets down to one play, it is that one play because that was the only play left. And whether Duke made the comeback or UConn made the comeback, there was that one play. And it's about execution. And Duke didn't execute the way they wanted to, and UConn did.
And that's why UConn's in the final four. J. Bill is here on the Rich Rising Show. Let's page turn. Let's talk about the other narrative right now, Jay.
which I've already heard and I tried to dispatch. Which is Michigan and Arizona is the de facto national championship game. Jay. Yeah. What do you think?
Yeah. Well, it's that. There are two narratives.
So it's that of the de facto national championship game between the two behemoths on one side of the bracket in Arizona and Michigan. And then there's the fact that right now, whether on television or radio, The officials for the final four are listening to your show, and they're going to have in their heads, how can I screw Michigan? Because I can't rich eyes and thank you, Jay.
Well done, Jay. That's going to be part of this. And so hopefully they'll be able to. No, Duke's not in it, Jay. Duke's not in it.
Right, exactly. Which, which, you know, frankly, you know, with my Duke diploma, I think the nation mourns. But, you know, from your perspective, I mean, you might want to start talking about the Illinois Yukon game to take a little pressure off your Wolverines. But how many times, but to your first point, how many times have we seen this? Like, I think back to 1983 when I was a freshman in college.
And the final four was Houston-Louisville playing on one side of the bracket, and then Georgia NC State playing on the other. There you go. And none of us could wait for the Doctors of Dunk of Louisville to play against Elijah and Drexler, you know, Mishaw and Young. And it was a dunk fest that Houston won. And we thought, whoever wins that game, national champion, and then NC State wins.
That's not the only time that's happened.
So, I wouldn't mind being either Yukon or Illinois going, hey, we win this game, and everybody's thinking about the other, and they're going to have a heavyweight fight. in the other game, and everybody thinks they're going to win. I wouldn't mind being those two teams. No, and I know you chose Arizona to win your bracket, to win the tournament, and you took Arizona to be playing Iowa State in this game, and Tennessee dispatched Iowa State Before Michigan could compete against them, and Michigan. Punch.
Tennessee, to use the phrase that's everywhere right now. How do you see Arizona versus Michigan? Playing out, Jay. two teams that match up really well together size wise and with physicality, I think they play a little bit differently. Arizona is an inside oriented team.
They're going to pound the ball inside in high low situations. getting downhill. They want to get they want to put pressure on the rim all the time. And so they have great positional size in the interior. But the free throw line is going to determine the game.
Like, there's obviously there are other aspects. One team out rebounds the other, whatever. Turnovers, there are a lot of factors. But the biggest factor is going to be: can Michigan play the physical game that they're going to have to play to beat Arizona and keep Arizona off the foul line? Because Arizona makes more free throws on the season and in their tournament games.
They make more free throws than their opponents attempt. And the free throw line is the most efficient place to score in a basketball game. And if you see Arizona getting out getting to the line 25 times, 30 times, that's going to be advantage Arizona. Michigan has a different gear than most teams. Like they can go on these twenty to two runs or something.
I'm not sure that's necessarily possible against Arizona. But they're the one team that can do that in this tournament. And I think you and I talked after the Michigan Duke game in Washington, D.C. The thing that surprised me about that game was Michigan didn't get to their second and third actions in possessions against Duke. I thought if those two played again, they wouldn't let that happen.
And they can't let that happen against Arizona. Like, Michigan runs great offense, they've got so many weapons. Yaxel Lendeborg, chief among them, he'll be like the queen on a chessboard for Dusty May. But if they get to those second and third actions, kind of like UConn does. Um, they're going to be extraordinarily difficult to beat.
Um, that's that's going to be a great game, and it's worthy of any championship game we'll ever see. And one of the great things is we get it in the semifinals, and then you get a great championship game after that. Yeah, and that'll be after UConn in Illinois. I've got Brad Underwood on in our number two. What do you think he's thinking right now, other than, oh my God, I can't believe I got to talk to Rich?
Sure. What does he think?
Well, I mean, I think they'll be, you know, I don't think that they're going to be a happy to be their team. You know, one of the things I really respect about Brad, when people were asking him about, hey, you know, you're playing in Houston again, and it could be against Houston, and what a difficult task. He's like, who cares? That's not even an issue. He embraces the tough things that you have to do in a no-excuse fashion.
And he's an old junior college coach, man. He was driving his team around in a van and mopping the floor and doing all the stuff that now driving you know, flying around on charters, which Ben McCollum of Iowa calls bougie. You know, Vision One is so bougie. But I think he does I think Ben does enjoy some of the bougie things you get to do. But Brad's the real deal.
Like, he's a tough dude, and his team is playing, it's probably the best offensive team in the Final Four. Like they run beautiful offense. They've got really skilled players. Both he and Tommy Lloyd of Arizona have done a great job of recruiting internationally. But their defense has taken a leap over the last month or so, I'd say.
Like they've become really tough defensively, which I believe early on in the season they were not. And early on in the year, I thought that I thought that Andrei Stoyakovich was their best player.
Now he's coming off the bench, and in the tournament, he's averaging like 17 a game, shooting over 60%. He's a big-time driver of the basketball, getting downhill. Uh, but Keaton Waggler has been the revelation of the season. Like, I had never heard of him in high school. He grew up in Shawnee Mission, Kansas.
And actually, Brad's son Tyler, who's on his staff, was the one that found him. If I know the story right, I think Tyler was scouting another player and saw him. And thought, man, this guy is really good. And so the MVP of the Illinois staff is not Brad Underwood, it's Tyler. Because Keaton Waggler is, I think he's Tyrese Halliburton.
I think that's good. How good he is. Wow. That's very high praise, to say the least. Um, all right, man.
I mean, w what a weekend. That was unbelievable. I still can't believe that happened at the end of that game. And then, you know, the rest of the story is. It's just a group of two Big Ten, Big East.
And, you know, and and Big Twelve. That's what we got in the Final Four. And you think it's Arizona versus Yukon at the end of the day? No, I wouldn't say that. Like, I favored Iowa State because, but they didn't have Joshua Jefferson.
So, without him, they're not going to beat, they're not going to beat Michigan. Right. And turned out they couldn't beat Tennessee. You can't take a National Player of the Year candidate off any of these teams and expect them to reach the Final Four. But you know, when you're making these picks, they're kind of flyers in a way.
One thing I knew, I shouldn't say I know, one thing I really believed. Was we weren't going to have all four number one seats make it. It has not been that type of year. Did I see Iowa beaten Florida? No.
But I didn't think we were going to have all four make it again. That's an extraordinary happening in any year, NIL or not.
So, I think we got what a lot of us expected: it was going to be a little bit more tumultuous than last year. And that's what we got. And we got more buzzer beaters than. I mean, what is it, six or seven now, which that doesn't happen very often.
So it's been an amazing tournament. We didn't have the St. Peter's making the Elite Eight type thing, but that doesn't happen every year either.
So it's just another data point in what has been an extraordinary NCAA tournament. And I can't believe we're not going to have an equally extraordinary Final Four. I can't wait for it. And we'll chat next week, Jay, in our traditional spot. You're always so kind to.
Make time. Hopefully, your flight works, and we chat again next Tuesday when it's all over. Looking forward to it. I'm going to leave for the airport right after the other sounds on 13th today. Ladies and gentlemen, Jay Billis has clear, basically, is what he's saying.
Good to see you, man. Thanks again. Thank you, guys. You got it. A great Jay Bill.
The great J. Phillips running Rich Eisen Show. Out of boy. Yeah, man. What a good time this weekend was.
Let's take a break. All sorts of NFL news popping. I told you about that Browns rule change. DOA according to one particular individual. We'll talk also about A.J.
Brown still being a Philadelphia Eagle and why. That's coming up here on The Rich Eisen Show. Get into the Hyundai Getaway Sales Event and get away with a deal so right it almost feels wrong. Because right now you can get great deals on our most popular models, including our adventure-ready SUVs like the Hyundai Santa Fe or Santa Fe Hybrid and the Tucson or Tucson Hybrid. Plus, there's our bold and stylish Elantra loaded with the latest tech or go all-electric with the Ionic 5 or Ionic 9.
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It's called the League Annual Meeting. We call it the owners' meeting. They call it the annual meeting because it's more than just owners, it's team presidents, it's coaches. The coaches are going to get together for the annual coaches' photograph. We always break that down.
It's always a lot of fun. That's coming up. Everybody's chilling out while not in meetings. There's competition committee meetings. I've been in these rooms.
NFL Network, this was the first event that we covered. And put on television en masse. We did a little bit at the Combine in 2004 after we launched in November of 2003. But the first thing we did, we just sent to access to the owners meeting at the Breakers Hotel, and we realized there's newsmakers everywhere here. And it was awesome.
And we did it all the time and then So we didn't anymore. Yada, yada, yada. ESPN's going to take over on Wednesday. Um But Everybody's there having conversations. And I believe today is when the NFC coaches have their breakfasts.
And the media sits at their tables. It's kind of really old school. There's no podiums, there's tables. And the AFC coaches, I think, go tomorrow.
So you're going to see a lot of NFC coaches talking today. Nick Siriani, last we saw him, was at the Kanban. He's like, dude, I've got nothing to tell you about A.J. Brown. He's an eagle.
Um, And so what's happened between the Combine and the Owners meeting? Not much. Each DG round means the public. April 20th and throughout the 14 days. Yeah, everything, nothing's changed there.
AJ's an eagle. Nothing's changed from the last time I spoke to you guys. And yeah, that's where we are.
So, Howie Roseman is like a buffalo. Where are you, Howie Roseman, in all of this, since he's the one who would have to pull the trigger? If there's something to pull, quote, I understand that there's interest in the A.J. Brown story. I unfortunately don't have a home under a rock, but my answer to any question on A.J.
Brown is: A.J. Brown is a member of the Eagles. From my perspective, anything you ask me about A.J. Brown, I'm going to go right back to that answer, but I understand the interest. I put on T V and I see there's interest.
But my answer is AJ Brown is a member of the Philadelphia Eagles.
So he's still in the Eagles. Everybody who comes on this program says if it's going to be a trade, it's coming after June 1st for whatever cap purposes makes it after June 1st. And then there's going to be no reason to trade him on June 1st. If there's going to be any reason at all, Albert Breer came on this program last week. Our friend from Sports Illustrated and said, to his knowledge, there's something going on between The quarterback and A.J.
Brown. that keeps this thing constantly being talked about. Amongst members. of front offices around the league. keeping this thing alive somehow, some way, hoping that this goes down And it appears That the Rams were the ones to also reach out to him?
Which caused Sean McVay today to say that he's spoken to Devontae Adams about these rumors? And that he's glad that Devontae is still. A RAM? If they trade for AJ Brown. They're not going to have Puka Brown and Adams.
Yeah, but Devontae's on the hook for a good Good amount. Right. And so. Mm-hmm. That could also mean Puka doesn't get a long-term deal because of all the stuff going on off the field there.
But Adams is still there. And Puka's still there. being Los Angeles is the there. And A.J. Brown is still there in Philadelphia.
And it looks like it won't happen before the draft. Who the hell knows? Your patriots might make an offer supposedly To use the Godfather phrase, since we just heard a Godfather 2 drop. Uh An offer that Howie can't refuse. Because Drake May needs somebody like A.J.
Brown. Or everyone's going to go into the draft and see which receivers fall. And we're like, we love the kid. We don't need A.J. Brown.
We don't pay him all that money. Right. I think everyone has now gone back to their corners on this front. They're going to go into the draft. They're going to see who they come out of the draft with at wide receiver.
And then after all of that, They'll make a decision. And we'll see if there's somebody other than the Rams or the Patriots who would enter this fray. But there's some reason this keeps on. being brought up outside of us being the ones to bring it up. There's everybody's talking about it for a reason.
There's got to be something going on. That causes this thing to stay alive. But This will be the last time until I guess they're pre-draft and then post-draft. press conferences to talk about it. And then there'll be all the Syriani questions about it at OTAs and whatever.
And then June 1st will be the first one. And we'll see if A.J. Brown is still a member of the Philadelphia Eagles at the end of the day. The end of the day. Uh The Rich Eisen Show Podcast.
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