Tom Izzo: Would Mean A Lot To Win The NCAA Tournament

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Northbrook, Illinois. So do you agree with 14 SEC teams, Jay? This is the Rich Eisen Show.

Yeah, I do. You could argue about Texas or maybe say, well, Arkansas had the trees, but they played the most quality games and won the most quality games. Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. First moment of March Madness has arrived. Earlier on the show, senior writer for the MMQB, Albert Breer, Louisville quarterback, Tyler Shuck. Coming up, Michigan State head coach, Tom Izzo, former NFL general manager, Mike Maum. And now it's Rich Eisen.

Ah, yes. Our number three of the Rich Eisen Show is on the air. Mike Mayock is going to join us in 20 minutes time. We'll talk about the draft.

One of my favorites right there. 844-204-RICH is the number to dial right on the program. Oh, by the way, we just received word. You know who's on tomorrow's show?

Scheduled to appear. Robert De Niro is going to zoom in. Oh, yes. Yes.

Whoa. That's happening in support of his new film. And we'll talk about that on on Wednesday's show. But joining us right now is a star in his own right.

There's no question about that. He's one of my favorite people. He's truly one of one of the few Spartans I adore and who I would wear green for. Getting set to take the Spartans to a Big Ten record and a remarkable streak of 27 straight NCAA tournament appearances. Tom Izzo back on the program. How you doing, coach? Good to see you. Hey, Rich, I'm doing great, but I got to send you some basketballs, man. That promo, you had all those footballs in your arms. It's basketball.

This is the only time of year we get is a couple of days in March. I know. But you know me. You know me. I'm a I'm a football guy deep down at heart.

So am I. Hey, did you did you and Mooch play on the same football team in high school back in the day, Tom? You did?

Yeah. What did you what did you play? I know he was the quarterback, right? He was his running back and a linebacker. He played quarterback because that's where all the soft people play. You know what I mean?

They don't ever get hit, those guys. Well, he he he always talks about his glory's day at what he refers to as the northern Michigan, Tom. You know, that he refers to as the northern Michigan. He was pretty good there, though, Rich. I got to give him his credit. He was good.

You can confirm. And he was there in Indianapolis rooting you on, right? At the tournament, he usually comes in for a couple of games and he made it to the Big Ten tournament. And he was great, man. I got spent a lot of quality time with him. It was fun to do bad. I had a little more quality time after we got beat by Wisconsin. But I got to see Mooch.

Yeah. And before before we get to to to that, you know, obviously, you know, my my school won the Big Ten tournament championship. But Mariucci, I got to play this for you, Tom.

I think you'll enjoy this. So when your squad and mine played one another twice in the regular season, Mooch is calling me up and he wants to make a friendly wager. OK, and you know him. It's not for money.

It's for hamburgers. Oh, yeah, he's cheap. He's cheap.

OK, no, he just, you know, when he gets away from Gail, he likes to, you know, eat the eat the food that she probably keeps an eye on. OK, so, you know, you know the speed here. So but he doesn't want to make the wager with me. He wants to make it with my 14 year old son, Cooper, who I'm raising, you know, as a Wolverine, Tom.

Yes. OK, so you guys beat us in Ann Arbor and then again in the double or nothing game. So he I owed him or Cooper did my son two trips to a spot here in Los Angeles called the Apple Pan where he loves the burgers.

And he left me this voicemail message at the end of the Big Ten tournament championship game. And I want to play it for you. OK, Tom.

All right. Rich Mooch, I bet you're watching this game. Michigan up fifty six fifty three and fifty seven fifty three. Fourteen seconds left. I know you're watching it, but you know what?

This does not erase the double hickory burger. You and Cooper owe me because they win the championship by upsetting everybody. Oh, my God. I can't believe this rebound. Well, they're going to win it.

They're going to win it. Oh, my God. You still owe me double hickory burger, cream, soda and apple pie. Alamo love you, man. There you go. Hey, you should send that to his wife.

You'll be in trouble for life. He's just the best man. He and you know, I just love that guy, Tom, obviously. Me, too. You know, I know. So I just wanted to play that for you because he's just he's just watching this thing and he's he's as diehard as they come.

All right. Let me let me jump into the business at hand. What does it take to win games in the NCAA tournament, Tom, from your estimation? You know, Rich, it seriously is a lot like football, you know, and everybody talks about all the different things in football, the RPOs and the this and the that. But at the end of the day, you've got to be able to block and tackle. And maybe most important, as we learned this Super Bowl, not turn the ball over. In basketball, you've got to be able to defend and rebound because that carries and then you've got to not turn the ball over.

So really, our sports are similar in a lot of ways. And I think to be really good in this tournament and be consistent, you're not always going to be consistent shooting the ball because sometimes you're playing in domes, different places. But your defense should travel. Ours has been pretty good. Our offense has gotten better and we've taken care of the ball better than we have. We shoot free throws better. And that's why we've had a good year. We're not as maybe talented as some of the teams I've had, but we are connected.

And that also makes a difference. How do you make sure your kids, who are maybe going through it for the first time, understand that, sure, you may not know where Bryant is and you may not have even seen an America East conference game in your entire life. But this team can make our lives miserable and would be a loss that you think about the rest of your life.

How do you make them understand that if you have to? That's the ticket. I think the one advantage I've had of being here 30 years and gone to a Final Four as a seven seed, been beaten in the first week and as a one seed. But I've got that famous 15-2 against Middle Tennessee back I think in fifth or 16, somewhere in that area anyway. And they were a 15 seed.

We were a two and we got beat opening night. So I got enough ammo when you've been around as long as I have. Man, and I deal with the white elephant in the room, man. I just talk about it because I'm worried about them getting frayed or scared.

That's part of the nature of the beast. And right now, the one and done time that only us and the NFL, your favorite place, has. Football. Because pro basketball, pro hockey, pro baseball, they got those series. You can screw up a couple times, still win it. We're one and go home.

So it gets a little hairier in our sport. Yeah. And so how much tape do you grind of Bryant? Like do you turn to your staff and say on Selection Sunday, okay, you know what your deal is, go to work. And then what happens?

What happens next, Tom? Well, we've got a bunch of managers here. It's really cool, Rich. Someday you're going to fly in here and see it. And it's like Santa's helpers. You know, the selection comes and we've got like 10 tapes on these guys. We've got all the information. We've got scouting reports. It's amazing what we can do now.

And thank God to a lot of other workers. And then I do press conferences and sit back, you know, but then I start working late at night. We do watch a lot of film. That's the football mentality that Mooch put in me.

I'm a filmaholic as far as that goes. But at the end of the day, players play the game and the ball's got to go in the basket. You got to defend it.

And it all becomes real simple once the night comes. Cleveland, Ohio. So I imagine that's a that's a nice location, you know, for for somebody who wants to drive even, you know, from from Michigan. You got this thing, you know, that state down south, as some people in the state of Michigan would like to say.

So you got that that you got that working for you, right? I mean, you could get a nice little home home court potentially against Bryant, which, by the way, is from Rhode Island, in case the guys in the room need to know. You know, Brian, Brian is coached by a good friend of mine's son.

OK, you should know, but you probably don't. But his name is Phil Martelli. He was an assistant at Michigan the last couple of years. He was the head coach at St. Joe's forever. And on a lot of committees I'm on and one of my better friends in coaching.

And then we were laughing. I said, give me your son's number. I'm going to call him.

This is before his championship game. I called him and wish them luck. And Phil says to me, hey, you know, one of the mock grabs have us playing you guys. And I said, you know, this was his dad telling me and I said, no way.

Sure enough, two days later. So I called Phil back and I told him not to give him any of those old Michigan scouting reports on us, but blood's thicker than water. So he probably blew me off.

I love that you don't dare call him and say you got a scouting report on your son's team. Right. Like that's a waste of your breath. Right, Tom?

Blood is thicker than water. You know, like I said, yeah. And then and then let's just say, you know, in terms of surviving and advancing, what what is it like on on the day in between in a hotel room?

Right. If you're if you're fortunate enough to have this opportunity and what what happens then to keep things going here and keep the momentum flowing in a tournament like this, Tom? Well, I learned after my first couple of years that we kind of prepare for the weekend, you know, right.

So really right now, I got some assistance looking at New Mexico and some at Marquette. And unfortunately, we play the 10 o'clock at night game. Now, that's only seven year time because I know you go to bed early, but it's 10 o'clock at night. So we won't get back to the hotel till one, one thirty in the morning. But that's when you really get the grind. And I think that's the most fun of college. You know, as far as a coach, you see how long you can work and how ugly you can look and how bad you can feel and see if you can prepare for the next team.

So that'll be sometime Sunday if we win. Yeah. And then in terms of that, Tom, I mean, like, you know, the game has changed so much and, you know, I know we could go on and on about portals and NIL and things of that nature and how things have changed and how much that affects your job in a way that it never used to. But does this feel like, you know, you step into an old shoe right here and this is old school.

This is it like it's a vibe in advance. It's just like it was, I'm sure the first time you went and it's like any of the times in the twenty seven in a row that you've gone. It's the same tournament.

It's the same six games and it's the same challenge that there's in front of you. Right. I guess that's the beauty of it, Rich. And you said it very well.

Utilizing your Michigan degree there. That was seriously that was that's well said. I mean, everything changes and everybody wants to think everything's changed so much. As I said, still got a block and tackle in a football game, still got to defend and rebound and nothing really changes in one and done time.

If you don't do your job, you go home and on. If you do do it, you survive in advance, as you said. And I think that's the excitement part of it. The difference with football, like college football has the 12 teams now, but they're all the greatest teams in basketball. We have that Cinderella thing, you know, that slipper, man. You know, you've got to make sure that that Cinderella doesn't bite you because that's what's hard about basketball is you've got the lower seeds, the upper seeds, and it's a little bit more difficult. Certainly, if your game time means start, you finish at midnight, you don't want to be that pumpkin, right, Tom? You don't want to be that at the stroke of midnight, for sure. And so what would another championship mean for you professionally?

Personally, Tom? You know, personally and professionally would mean a lot for our school and mean a lot. You know, I think we I mean, this is what you do it for. You know, you winning games is good.

It's nice. But championships and banners are things that, you know, even when this building falls down and I'm gone and you're gone, they're going to move that banner to the next building. And so I always talk about things that are going to last a lifetime and then more.

And that's what any kind of banner does. So it would mean a lot to me. Twenty five years later, it's hard to believe that it's been that long and there hasn't been another Big Ten team.

So this is the time of year I pull for the Big Ten, but I pull for Michigan State a little more. I bet you do. I bet you do. And so do you have those speeches? You got those ready? Do you prepare? Do you think this is what I'm going to say to the kids?

Do you fashion that sort of stuff? Think about what I want to say to them. It depends on the situation we're in, but I'm always pretty honest with them.

And I think that's the best part. You know, I mean, with social media nowadays, you know, you can't make somebody out to be the Los Angeles Lakers if they're not. And you can't put down somebody because everybody's reading and writing and saying things about everybody.

So for me right now, I'm just being as honest as I can. This is a team that we play that's very big, very well coached. They've won a lot of games. They score a lot of points.

Maybe the competition isn't the same. But like I said, I've been there, done that where I've gotten beat by teams that maybe weren't ranked as high. And so we're just going to take it one game at a time as far as we're going to prepare for a couple of teams. That's what we do on Monday and Tuesday, on Wednesday and Thursday. We home in on the team we play. And then hopefully we win that game and we move on.

Yeah. Move on to Atlanta, which is where the south regional final is going to be. San Antonio being the ultimate.

It's entirely possible, Tom. Regional final in Atlanta. Entirely possible regional final in Atlanta. Two seed Michigan State, five seed Michigan.

It's sitting right there. Everyone advances to Atlanta. What do you think? It would be easy if the teams we could play this weekend, there's three teams we could play if all those teams forfeit. We just go right to Atlanta. I think that's a good idea. We'll forward that.

We'll forward that idea. Hey, it's a pleasure always talking to you, Tom. And I wish you the best of luck. And I'm going to be out there looking for you. I'm going to stay up. I'll stay up.

Seven o'clock Pacific. That's fine. I can stay up for that one. And I'll look forward to seeing you. You and Mooch talk, but maybe, hopefully I'm busy, but maybe I'll see you in Green Bay. I'd always like to go to that. I tried to go down to the one in Detroit last year and still a big football fan.

And as you know, I like the Lions, but I grew up a Packer fan. Mooch and I, 95 miles away. And it'd be great to see you again, Rich.

Thanks for having me on. Always. Yeah. Mooch tells stories about watching Packers practice through a chain link.

Franks as a kid. You were standing next to him? Yeah. He had his bike when they used to, you know, the players would ride you over on the bike. Oh yeah.

Those were the good old days. Well, I'd love to see you there and best of luck, Tom. Maybe you have a trophy with you when I see you in Wisconsin.

You got it. That is a Michigan State head basketball coach. The legendary Tom Ezzo here on the Rich Eisen Show. Always great to catch up with him before an NCAA tournament. And I love playing that Mooch sound voicemail for him.

How about Mooch giving me the play-by-play? Well, constantly reminding you that you still owe him a burger. A hickory burger.

And pie a la mode. And I think he mentioned something else, right? Wow. It's not me.

It's my son. Yeah. Cooper, save up the allowance. The great Mooch. And speaking of NFL Network favorites of mine for many, many years, Mike Mayock is going to join us next to talk about everything going on a month before the draft in Wisconsin. And then everything else going on in the National Football League. His opinions on all of that.

That's next. This is the Rich Eisen Show. This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. You chose to hit play on this podcast today.

Smart choice. Progressive loves to help people make smart choices. That's why they offer a tool called Auto Quote Explorer that allows you to compare your progressive car insurance quote with rates from other companies. So you save time on the research and can enjoy savings when you choose the best rate for you. Give it a try after this episode at progressive.com. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and Affiliates. Not available in all states or situations.

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Northbrook, Illinois. You want to hear a recruiting story? You want to hear a recruiting story? You're saying Harbaugh's crazy. So I'm recruiting for Cal. Is that fire real?

It is definitely not real. It's a television set. I'm recruiting back in Minnesota and it's like January. And it's snow and it's cold and everything like that.

This is when you were the HC of Cal. Is that what you're saying? Yeah. We're sitting around at home visit, right? Family visit. So the kids there, the mom and dad, little sisters are there. Grandparents are there and we're just kind of having hot chocolate, right?

And so it's kind of, you know, we're talking about let's go to Cal, you know, great school, the best in the world and all that stuff. And so when you sit there for several hours, sometimes the conversation's good and sometimes it drags, all right? So it started to drag and I was running out of things to say, if you can imagine that. And so it was snowing out and it was cold and it was cool.

It was just awesome being in there, you know? And there was a cat sitting over by the fireplace. Just like this fire. It was a real fire, Rich. And it was a cat and it was all curled up and looked so cozy, so awesome.

And then conversation was dragging a little bit. I went, wouldn't you just love to be that cat right now? And everybody looked at the cat and just as everybody looked, it rolled over and started licking himself all over the place.

Grandma looked at me like, what? I didn't get that kid, all right? I didn't go well after that. Kind of went downhill. Oh yeah, but that cat just kind of screwed me over a little bit. Timing is everything. Wow, it looked like it was screwing itself over.

Oh man, it looked cozy for a while. The great Steve Mariucci, all of his appearances over the 10 plus years history of this program on our YouTube channel, youtube.com slash rich eyes and show for all of that good stuff. And we just spoke to the basketball Mariucci in Michigan state back on the rich eyes and show radio network with our live Roku channel stream. I'm sitting at the rich eyes and show desk burnished by Granger with supplies and solutions for every industry.

Granger has the right product for you. Call click ranger.com or just stop by my buddy from many a moon on NFL network. He's also on Westwood one. He's got a podcast on the believe podcast network with his daughter Lee, Mike Mayock here on the rich eyes and show. Good to see you, Mike. How are you, sir?

Rich, I'm doing great and I'm kind of fired up cause I get to watch my nephew in the, uh, in the March madness tournament this week. So it's kind of cool. All right.

Um, follow up question for those who may not know. Uh, what do you mean Mike? Uh, my brother Mark who followed me to Boston college has a son that's six foot seven and um, his, what Mark's wife was a college basketball player, six foot forward at St Joe. Mark was a six foot four. So Matt, Matt Mayock is playing at American university and they won the Patriot lake last week. Okay. And they actually have a play in game tomorrow.

I guess the first four and the prize for winning that is you go to play number one. Ah, yes. So let's just say this happens, Mike, would, would your nephew be the one that would have to Mark like on a, on a, on a man, a man Cooper flag. Could we see Mayock on Cooper flag? Is that possible?

Is that possible? The cool thing about Matt is he's six seven and he's so skinny that if he turned sideways, you can't even see he's like, here's my evaluator hat. You always kill me about being an evaluator. Like, like he's long, he's athletic. He can cover better than people would think because you know, you think of a six, seven guy not having quick feet. Well, he's so long and athletic. He's got an ability to cover a long range and a big radius. So sometimes I see him on a point guard and I'm like, what are you doing? Putting them on a point guard. Other times he ends up on a center. So you never know whether or not he'll be on Cooper flag or not because he covers everybody. He plays, he's a sophomore. He plays about 25, 30 minutes a game.

He was on the all Patriot league freshman team a year ago. And then that's, it's kind of cool for the Mayock family. Well, it may, it might be that famed Mayock ankle flexion, Mike.

It could be that, you know, you know what I mean? There's no heavy legged Mayock. So there you go. I love it. So keep an eye on, on that on, on Wednesday night when American takes on Mount St. Mary's for the right to, to take on Duke, by the way, in Raleigh, there aren't anybody who's a Duke fan in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Anyway, don't worry about it. So Mike, we had Tyler Schuck on last hour. Loved talking to him, man.

Loved it. I mean, told his whole story and the injury history. And I mentioned him. I'm like, you're 25.

You got the injury history. What do you say to people? And his response was like, it makes me better.

It makes me better. He goes, I've, I've been benched. I've won. I've been carted off.

I've come back. I've been with five offensive coordinators. He goes, that sounds like a, basically I'm paraphrasing a lot of quarterbacks in the NFL have dealt like this. So I'm, I, he, he called himself the most NFL ready quarterback of the entire class, Mike.

And I love the way his postseason has gone. I love what you just said, because if I was that kid, I'd be saying the exact same thing to anybody that asked me, especially NFL teams. And I was down at the senior bowl and knew very little about him other than his background. I hadn't done any tape and he, I'm like, who's this kid from Louisville slinging around very energetic, very confident. The combine, we talked about how energetic he was outgoing. It forced me to go watch some more tape of him. I watched Notre Dame.

I watched Boston college, you know, at this point, rich, I kind of agree with everything he told you. He's already been through the mill. He's had all the injuries. He's had to deal with all the different offenses, all the different coordinators. It does sound like a young quarterback in the NFL. So rich, I would tell you right now on my quarterback list, he's number four and he wasn't there a couple of months ago.

And he's an impressive young man and a really good football player. He's sitting there in the last third of the first round. Mike, what do you think Steelers sitting there at 21, even if they do get Rogers, who we'll talk about with you in a sec. I mean, um, a team trading up, maybe having the temerity to dare reach out to Howie Roseman and say, let's make a deal. You know, like, um, what do you, what do you think with Shuck? Here's what I think about Shuck, Jackson, Dart, um, any quarterback in any year that a team is looking at potentially as a first round pick. Um, what I would tell you, you know, it's funny, Brian Billick and I had this conversation at his dinner table about 15 years ago when we both worked at NFL network and we got together just to talk draft, just the two of us.

It went on for hours. Um, and we had a big conversation about this point philosophically. If you believe a quarterback is your guy, whether the rest of the world thinks he's a third round pick or whether he's, uh, what, whether or not there's a perception that he can play at that level. If your people in your building go, that's our guy, then why does it matter where you take them?

And Brian and I went round and round on it. And here's what I would say about both ward and shock. I'm not word, excuse me, Jackson, Dart and shock is the giants at three. You gotta be in the quarterback business, Las Vegas at six. I mean, melt melt. Kuiper had a Jackson dart going number nine in his most recent mock draft in new Orleans.

And I find that intriguing and good for melt because this, this is my point. If organizational, you feel like that's your guy, go get them. Don't wait and hope you get them in the second round. And, uh, same thing for Pittsburgh at 21. If you want to get Tyler shock in the second round, don't sit there and wait for him.

Go get him. So bottom line is there's 32 starting quarterback positions and not enough starting quarterbacks. And I give, that's why I give Denver so much credit last year with bone next. They didn't care about the noise. They didn't care. They didn't have a great combine performance. They figured out by the end of the process, that was their guy and they took them and look what happened. So Mike Mayock here in the rich eyes and show, I, if you're the giants waiting on Rogers and you know, uh, near the Steelers waiting on Rogers, do you give him a ticking clock?

Do you put an expiration date on your interest? Mike? I feel a little bit like cam Hayward right now. Hey, you saw that, right? Okay. Yeah.

Yeah. I found that his comment, Cam's comment was basically, um, he was asked if he was going to recruit Rogers to Pittsburgh. He was like, Hey, you know, you either want to be a Steeler or you don't, I'm not going in any dark rooms and trying to recruit them. Um, you know, you gotta, you gotta, you gotta make a decision pal. Let's go one way or the other. And in today's world of NFL daytime, where we pray together after every game and we exchange jerseys and we hug and we kiss. I kind of like an old school guy going, you know what, just stop with your BS and you're either in or you're not, let's go.

I feel the same way. However, rich, the nuance is kind of, you really want this guy cause you think he can help you win football games. Bottom line.

Correct. However, only one of the three teams is going to get them. And if you look at the three teams, rich, you know, I didn't think Minnesota was interested a couple of weeks ago.

And it tells me that they're not a hundred percent convinced that JJ McCarthy is either ready physically coming off the injury or they're nervous about his level of play. But if they're trying to sign Aaron Rogers and they're going to have to pay Aaron Rogers starter money, cause Aaron's a smart guy. He's not going to say, Hey, you know, I'll come in there and just pay me a few million. He's going to demand starter money so he gets starter reps in training camp.

He's going to want to look in their eye and say, I'm your starter. If I'm Aaron Rogers and I look at Pittsburgh, I go, okay, that's second best. You know, I'd much rather be in Minnesota where they just won 14 games and they got all kinds of offensive firepower. Pittsburgh is second best, but not really sexy to me. And the Giants know no way in hell. You've just been through what you've been through with the Jets.

You know, why would you go there on a hope and a prayer? So, you know, from Aaron's perspective, he's, I think he's holding everybody up right now and the other teams feel like they don't have a good second choice. So they're allowing him to do it.

That's it. That's why you wouldn't put an expiration date on your interest to him or, you know, um, you, I guess the draft would be that expiration date. Now, if you're willing to wait it out for how long, I guess Rogers is waiting to hear if the Vikings are going to tell him no.

I mean, is that this, you know, you would say, I think something has to break in the next few days. Um, I think he's got to have to make a decision. Teams can't wait indefinitely and somebody is going to be left holding the back, you know, and. It kind of brings in the conversation we had last week, which I'm happy we had about the whole Kirk Cousins, dark car situations.

Because, you know, if you're the Giants, you're the Steelers, you're Minnesota, you get shut out on this guy. Do you want to go Joe Flacco? Do you want to go Jamis Winston or, or maybe, you know, what's it going to take to get a Kirk Cousins who's a significant upgrade from that group or a dark car? And I thought Atlanta did a really smart thing by absorbing the $10 million roster bonus for next year because they've controlled value and I think he's going to be in play. So, I mean, they've all three teams have already showed you, Rich, what they think about Russell Wilson, Joe Flacco and all the rest of them. Love to have Joe in the building, but not as a 17 game starter. So let's say the Giants don't get Rogers because as you just mentioned, walking through it, you think Rogers thought process might be is no way Giants are far too far from it.

I just did that with the Jets and, and so on and so forth. What, what do you think about Tennessee's willingness to move out or do you think Cam Ward is so good? He's definitely better than Will Levis and they're just going to end up sticking and picking and it's the quarterback, not Abdul Carter or Travis Hunter, a month away from the draft.

In my mind, it's probably 75-25 stick and pick and that would be Cam Ward. I think an intriguing position for them would be moving to three per year. And I think, I hate to put it this way, but you know, I mean, Joe Shane and Brian Deball right now are under a lot of pressure, both to get a quarterback and to win football games. And I think because of that, regardless of the Rogers situation, they've got to be in the quarterback game and they got to be looking at one or two.

And if I'm Tennessee, I'm going, okay, if I want to move down, three's the perfect place. You know, worst case scenario, I'm either getting a quarterback or I'm getting the first or second best position player. Plus probably a first round pick next year when there are an awful lot more quarterbacks available. So those, I think are the two logical plays for Tennessee and I think the Giants figure into it very heavily. So I was going to ask you, what do you think the freight would be for the Giants to move up or Cleveland to move up? One spot, two spots.

What do you think the cost would be, Mike? Well, I mean, you can look at the trade chart all you want, which I did this morning. It would be a next year, if I'm looking at it with the GM hat on, with Tennessee, I want a first round pick next year, plus probably two more picks this year. And I'm not, you know, probably a second round or a third round, a second day pick, let me call it that. And maybe you get another existing player or later pick. But it certainly, I think you want to focus on the fact that you want the one next year because you haven't solved your quarterback problem. And the Giants probably aren't going to be very good and they're going to be picking high. So you want their pick in the first round next year, along with your own first round pick to give you leverage. You're going to be in a much better quarterback draft class on paper right now. So for Tennessee, I think it makes a ton of sense.

What about Cleveland? Would you counsel they do that up two to one? What do you think? Two to one? Yes, sure. For a quarterback, what do you think?

If they only love one, for sure. I remember talking to Howie years ago when it was right around this time, Howie Roseman, and he and I were sitting in his office. I was working for the NFL Network.

Door closed. And we had a very private conversation about Carson Wentz versus Jared Goff and how he knew he had to move up. I forget where he was, like 12 or 14. He knew he had to move up twice. Yeah, he had hopscotch.

He hopscotched, didn't he? Correct. Yeah. And he knew he had to move twice to get to one or two. Right. But his point was, I love both those kids. Like, I'd be good either way. And that's what ended up happening. They got Carson Wentz at two.

So, you know, if you're talking about Cleveland moving from two to one, that's expensive and difficult and all those other things because, obviously, you don't want to give up the draft capital. But if you're worried about, if there's only one quarterback in this class and that's your guy, you've got to go get them. Mike Mayock here on the Rich Eisen Show. Now that we're closing in on a week of the new league year starting, what's your impression? Who do you think did well?

Who do you want to hand out the Mike Mayock flowers to, if any? I think the team that I think did what they needed to do the most was Chicago because Caleb Williams is a big-time talent. I had the same grade on him as I did Jaden Daniels.

Really? There's a lot of skill position talent on that roster, but the offensive line wasn't very good. Brian Polz is a former offensive lineman. Ben Johnson's coming from a place where they prioritized offensive line. So they went out and got three offensive linemen.

You know, they traded. And what I love is they got Drew Dolman as a 26-year-old center. They got Jonah Jackson, a 28-year-old guard who I loved coming out of college. And Joe Tooney, who might be 32, but Joe Tooney can still flat-out play, and his veteran ability and leadership will really help Caleb Williams. And, Rich, what I love most about it, of course the talent infusion is critical, but he's going to have three interior offensive linemen set the edge right in front of him. And even better than that, the communication amongst those three guys that will then leak back to the quarterback, it's going to be unbelievable. And they're not going to have any free runners running up the middle and ex-stunts from linebackers. And they're not going to have free runners because they're all going to be on the same page, and they're going to take a huge weight off that quarterback. And, by the way, it also makes their tackles better because they can play from inside out and push everybody up the field. So those three moves I thought were critical and make Chicago an instant contender in that division. What about a team that went shopping in free agency as opposed to just moving around players?

Well, I thought New England was interesting because I know Vrabel a little bit, what kind of guy he is. They had an awful lot of money to spend, and it's one thing to have the money. The other thing is how you spend it. So I thought they had two buckets.

It was really interesting. Bucket number one is plug them in. They can play day one and make your football team better. And that's Milt Williams. It's Carlton Davis, the corner. Harold Landry was an edge guy with Vrabel in Tennessee. And Morgan Moses, the tackle, even though he's 34, is a needed upgrade on their O-line.

So they paid some money for those guys. And then, in true Mike Vrabel fashion, they got the glue guys, the grinders, the ballers. Matt Collins, I don't really care what he wears on game day on his feet. Matt Collins is a baller. Special teams, wide out, whatever. He's a grinder. Robert Spillane, two-down linebacker, sets the tone. Not great in man coverage?

Don't care. Sets the tone. Marcus Epps, free safety, started a bunch of games, shows up every week, along with Karis Tonga, a defensive tackle.

Again, big guy, run game, kind of a grinder. So I love the fact that there's two different buckets. They spent a good amount of money. They got kind of really good football players in one bucket that make it better day one. And then they get those culture guys in the second bucket. Really thought they did a nice job. I like what Washington did, too, Mike.

You know what I mean? Like, you got the cap space, and you look around some other teams with some terrific players that are pricey, that you could pluck for the right draft capital deal. And Deebo Samuel and Laramie Tunsell, while your quarterback, your unicorn, is making what he's making in year two of his rookie deal, I thought it was really smart. I know they gave up five draft choices. They got one back with Tunsell. But you're getting some top-notch Pro Bowl caliber players.

You can pay them. You got the space for it. You got your OC still there because he didn't get a gig somewhere else.

You got year two for your guy. I really liked it a lot, Mike. Rich, I think you're right on target.

And it starts at the top. You know, I think the GM and the head coach are tied at the hip philosophically, and everything they do is in lockstep. And it was interesting because last year they did a bunch of one-year deals with veterans, which they've done again this year, which I think is a smart strategy. But to your point, they get Deebo, and I think Deebo's going to be pissed off and in shape and ready to go this year.

Okay? I thought the Laramie Tunsell thing, even though Tunsell I thought had a down year last year a little bit, a lot of penalties, didn't play quite as well, he's only going to be 31 this summer. I mean, he's still a gifted top five offensive tackle when he plays well. Those two moves, Rich, back up what you're talking about with that quarterback who is generational, my opinion. And the two tight ends, you know, Zach Ertz was like his security blanket. They re-signed two tight ends. So from my perspective, when you take care of the guys on offense that support the quarterback, that's one thing. But Dan Quinn also said, hey, Bobby Wagner, you're coming back. I thought they made all the right moves, both from a trade perspective, a re-signing of their own people perspective, and then some key free agency moves. Well, Mike, thanks for the time.

Always love chatting with you. Good luck to the American Eagles. By the way, so you're aware, because I know you like being accurate, it's a first four game.

They don't like calling it the play in the same way the NFL says it's not the tampering window. You know what I mean? So good luck to the American Eagles against Mount St. Mary's.

And then after that, Duke. Mitch, I appreciate it, man. As always, I love talking ball with you. Right back at you. Same thing. Mike Mayock right here on the Rich Eisen Show.

Great stuff, as always. Eczema isn't always obvious, but it's real. And so is the relief from Evglis. After an initial dosing phase of 16 weeks, about four in 10 people taking Evglis achieved its relief and clear or almost clear skin. And most of those people maintain skin that's still more clear at one year with monthly dosing. Evglis, LibriKizumab LBKZ, a 250 milligram per two milliliter injection is a prescription medicine used to treat adults and children 12 years of age and older who weigh at least 88 pounds or 40 kilograms with moderate to severe eczema, also called atopic dermatitis that is not well controlled with prescription therapies used on the skin or topicals or who cannot use topical therapies. Evglis can be used with or without topical corticosteroids. Don't use if you're allergic to Evglis. Allergic reactions can occur that can be severe. Eye problems can occur. Tell your doctor if you have new or worsening eye problems. You should not receive a live vaccine when treated with Evglis. Before starting Evglis, tell your doctor if you have a parasitic infection. Searching for real relief?

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Visit McAfee.com. Cancel any time. Terms apply. So I have here, word for word, verbatim, three of the great sports rants of all time. And we would love for you to do your best, Victor Newman.

Is that okay? The first one is Herm Edwards. Yes, Herm Edwards.

The first one up. Herm Edwards on October 30th, 2002, after a week eight loss to the Cleveland Browns. Here is a play to win the game, as told by Victor Newman. This is great about sports. This is what's the greatest thing about sports is you play to win.

Hello. You play to win the damn game, right? You don't play just to play it.

That's the great thing about sports. You play to win. And I don't care if you don't have any wins. You're going to play to win. When you start telling me it doesn't matter, get your ass out of here, then retire.

Of course it matters. Well done. That's number one. Next up, on October 16th, 2006, after the Cardinals blew a 20 point lead against the Bears on Monday Night Football. Oh, man.

Dennis Green. They are who we thought they were, as portrayed by Victor Newman. The Bears are who we thought they were, you know? That's why we took the damn field. Now, if you want to crown them, then crown their ass. But they are who we thought they were.

And we let them off the damn hook. Very good. Very well done. All right, last one for you. I can feel it.

I'm glad that we got it rolling, because here's the last one. I can feel it. On May 7th, 2002, the famed practice press conference of one Allen Iverson, as recounted by the man who plays Victor Newman, Eric Braden, hit it. A great Allen Iverson, my God, man.

Go for it. I mean, listen, man, you're talking about practice, okay? Not a game. It's not a game. Not a game, all right? You're talking about practice. Not a game. Not the game that I go out there and die for and play every game like it's my last. Not the game. You're talking about practice, man.

I mean, how silly is that? I know it's important to you. I do. I do. I do.

I honestly do. But you're talking about practice, man. What are we talking about? Practice.

You're talking about practice, man. Eric, I think that's your finest work, if you don't mind me saying. Well, thank you very much. I still love it. I don't know what about it. There's so many things I love about that clip.

I think it's our clapping for him, right? Yeah, I do. I do. I honestly do. And then that's one of your favorite drops, Jay.

You love playing the Eric Braden drops. I do. I do. Oh, man. I can feel it. I can feel it. You love that. Fantastic. Really?

All right. We've got a lot going on around here, man. Yeah, there's a lot happening. It's exciting.

Yeah, Women's Sports Now is launching Thursday around these parts, baby. Can't wait. There's a lot going on here in the Rich Eisen Show world, so we're very excited about that. And then tomorrow's show, Mikey Day from Saturday Night Live. And then the biggie, Robert De Niro will be joining this program.

I think that is an appropriate way of chiming in on that, no doubt about it. Back here on the Rich Eisen Show, just a reminder, certainly in advance of some viewing of the sports world on the March Madness floor tonight. Uber Eats is delivering game day deals all tournament long because you can't watch eight hours of basketball a day on an empty stomach. From burgers to wings, pizza to chicken sandwiches, whatever you're craving, Uber Eats has deals on all your game day favorites, so you never have to miss a single buzzer beater. Game day deals.

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Order now. I guess you can't say Cooper's eating flag. That doesn't have the same ring to it. Yeah.

It's the football version, right? Chair's eating. Can't say that.

I didn't eat right. You know, I'm going to go out and say this. Uh-oh. I've got to, you know, it's all about throwing darts at a boy, right? Like, we're going to fill out our brackets and we'll compare and contrast. But you know as much about this as I do, as TJ knows, as everybody who's listening and watching us.

The bottom line is, whatever you think you know, you don't. I didn't want to bring this up to Tom Izzo, you did get in my ear when we were talking to Tom. And I mentioned, how do you let the kids who are first timers in this tournament or even second timers in this tournament know, hey, when you're taking on Bryant, it's not Dez, you know?

It's not Kobe. You're taking on, you know, Bryant University in Rhode Island and they're coming for you. They got a slingshot. It's their Super Bowl, man. And he's just like, well, you know, I've gotten these years of experience.

We were that famed 2-15 loss to Middle Tennessee State. And then you get in my ear and go, that's the nine year anniversary of that. Today. Today.

Yeah, it happened March 18th, 2016. Didn't want to bring that up to Tom. Happier. You know, sad anniversary, is that what you're saying? But you just, you never know.

You never know. But the one thing that I always know is that when everybody thinks one team didn't deserve to get in. They're going to win.

They're going to win and they're going to go on a run. Yep. What do you say? How about this?

North Carolina. Oh, the farm tonight. Don't you think? Yeah. Well, not just tonight.

Right? But then who do they, oh, then they play Ole Miss if they win tonight. All due respect to the Rebs. And then they upset Iowa State and then suddenly they're playing Michigan State in the Sweet 16. Well, I'm just saying, like, don't you, couldn't you see North Carolina taking on Michigan State in the Sweet 16? Of course. Right now, because they, you know, because they're not supposed to be there.

I saw stuff like, again, from the attorney general of West Virginia and the governor of West Virginia. I also saw somebody in our industry called it like the biggest, you know, I guess, snub crime they've seen covering college basketball in two decades. Which means they're not only going to win tonight, they're going to go on a run. So they're going to upset Izzo. No, I don't know about making the Elite Eight, pal. But seeing Tom Izzo in Atlanta, I wouldn't put it past him. No. I mean, Hubert Davis says, if you know what I'm saying, he's done it. Just my own two cents going into tonight. Robert De Niro is on tomorrow's program. Can't wait for that.