This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance.
Fiscally responsible financial geniuses, monetary magicians. These are things people say about drivers who switch their car insurance to Progressive and save hundreds. Because Progressive offers discounts for paying in full, owning a home, and more. Plus, you can count on their great customer service to help you when you need it, so your dollar goes a long way.
Come to see if you could save on car insurance. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and Affiliates. Potential savings will vary. Not available in all states or situations. With Allstate.
Savings vary. Subject to terms, conditions, and availability. Allstate Fire and Casualty Insurance Company and Affiliates. Northbrook, Illinois. This is the Rich Eisen Show. I head to Watkins for USC, and she grabs her left knee. The Rich Eisen Show. How great is Danny Gurley's UConn team? That call to be made at that point in the game was a complete joke.
Tone it down, bro. From the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles, today's guests, CBS Sports college basketball reporter, Seth Davis. Host of Pablo Torre Finds Out, Pablo Torre. Two-time major champion, Zander Shafale.
Four-time Olympic champion, Michael Johnson. And now, it's Rich Eisen. All right, everybody. Welcome to this edition of the Rich Eisen Show. Rich Eisen Show are live on the Roku Sports Channel, this Rich Eisen Show terrestrial radio affiliate. We say hello to the Infinity Sports Network. Hello. Sirius XM Channel 375 and Odyssey.
We say hello to anybody who's streaming us on the Odyssey app and then Odyssey.com. For anybody that's out there listening, I decided to go with a two-tone sweater today. It's definitely not my usual look, so if I sound any different to you, that's why. You want to walk us through that process this morning? Oh, my God. I don't think that's the way we lead the process. How many sweaters were looked at before that? You know what? I don't think that's the way we begin the program.
The evaluation period of your... Good to see you over there, Chris Bruckman. How are you? Hey, Rich. What's up, man? I'm good. I'm hanging in there. How are you, DJ Mikey D. Isn't Deez Nuts? I'm doing well. Okay, good.
What are you dropping? Good to see you, TJ Jefferson. How are you? Good to see you. I'm great. I just said my name in sign language. Okay, great. TJ Jefferson is here.
Don't be a hater your whole life. We've got four guests here on the program. First up, Seth Davis talking about the men's NCAA tournament. Obviously, we'll be talking about the women's with him as well. We'll get to that in a second.
We've got Pablo Torre here. He's going to find out what the Rich Eisen Show is all about, I guess. So he's going to do a deep dive on our program.
So everybody get your desks in order because he's going to be poking around and I don't want him to find stuff that he shouldn't know about. He went to Harvard, so be prepared for it. Oh, wow. Well, I went to the Harvard of the Midwest. Oh, boy. Actually, he went to the Michigan of the East.
That's not true. That's what we're talking about. I don't think anybody will first tell you that. Oh, my God.
The Michigan of the East. Zander Shafale will be on this program. Shafale. You know, it's kind of crazy. You think he knows somebody.
He only won the PGA Championship last year and the Open Championship. And people are calling him Zander Shafale. He's just letting them. He's I guess. I mean, we talk about a deep dive. I couldn't believe we spent five minutes talking about it. Is it really Shafale? And we saw Facebook video in which that's the way he called it.
Every one of us had a video up pronouncing how to pronounce differently. He's going to be joining us in advance of tonight's inaugural season. And coming to a conclusion tonight, he's down one match to none.
Great finish last night. To the Atlanta Drive Golf Club. He's part of the New York Golf Club, and he needs to win two in a row tonight, or needs to win one in order to force another. We'll talk about that with him. And we didn't show any stills of my run from the weekend here at the Rose Bowl for Run Rich Run, the contents of which will be revealed fully on draft weekend. We have a whole bunch of photographs to show, and we didn't show them yesterday because we got so deep into everything else. So who better to show them to than Michael Johnson, who's here in studio now in number three, just to fully clown myself. No.
Okay. He helped you train one year, correct? He's in advance. Yes, he did. I don't think he wants that mentioned in advance of Grand Slam track.
He doesn't want that on the resume. The home of professional track competition. Its inaugural event will be held April 4th through the 6th in Kingston, Jamaica. So I read to him in our number three of this program. Listen, we're having some fun here, but last night was not fun watching sports. You know, we as sports fans sometimes can't get to enjoy nice things, and we here in Los Angeles have been enjoying watching Juju Watkins show up on the campus of USC and become one of the most famous basketball players in the United States of America, if not the world.
And that's not overstating it. When UCLA played USC on the Saturday night of the first weekend of March when I was at the Combine in Indianapolis, you know, I was sitting there watching a whole bunch of, I was sitting in the, if you will, sports bar set up in the lobby of the hotel in Indianapolis that had a whole host of games that were on at the same time. There was only one I was interested in, and there was only one that really was important, to be honest with you, with all due respect to a lot of the NBA games that were being played and a lot of the NCAA games that were being played and the preseason exhibition baseball I was seeing up there. USC playing UCLA was the marquee event in Los Angeles and the United States of America, not just because of how great UCLA is, but that's Juju Watkins. My daughter's got a Juju Watkins shirt, and she has more NIL deals than Cooper Flag.
That's a fact too. So when she went down last night, it started a text chain. You were the first to pretty much, you and Sarah were watching the game together. Yeah, we were watching.
USC taking on Mississippi State here in Los Angeles in a round of 32 to try and make the Sweet 16. And she's driving to the basket. She gets bumped hip to hip.
And how many times did somebody just fall down to the court and just get up? But her right leg plants, and you could just see it. You could just see her right leg buckle, and you could see the way that she went down and the way that she was screaming and the way that her teammates were standing over and then having to carry her off. And it's a torn ACL.
Shams was reporting this last night, and I'm imagining there'll be surgery immediately. And off Juju goes. And we watch, you know, USC destroys Mississippi State anyway. Kiki Iriofan getting a 36-point night, double-double the whole business. Oh, she just was one rebound shy of a double-double.
They took care of business, but here we go. We were hoping to see USC go on this run. There is another matchup with UCLA that still could happen. I mean, USC takes on K-State Saturday night at 8 Eastern time.
I'll be going down and make sure I get this right on ESPN and the family of networks of Disney, which you can see right here on Roku. And boy, it would have been if USC was on a collision course in an Elite Eight game with UConn with all due respect to UConn's opponent and our friend Stacey Dale's alma mater, and her numbers hanging in the rafters of Oklahoma. If USC was taking on UConn, seeing Paige Becker's and...
So sick. Juju Watkins on the same court. We have been robbed of this. And I know I'm discounting other teams and other programs. LSU is going to be potentially on a collision course with UCLA in an Elite Eight game. And South Carolina is always going to be there. UNC and Duke is playing each other in a Sweet 16 game, Friday at 2.30 Eastern. Texas and Tennessee, you want to talk about Blue Bloods, right? Notre Dame and TCU, I mean, these Sweet 16 matchups, we're now going to start to see the cream of the college basketball crop play one another, and there's no Juju Watkins.
What else can you say other than it's sickening and a damn shame? Because, you know, these things happen, but usually not to somebody who was of a superstar status, right in the middle of just when we wanted to see everybody at full strength to go and try and cut down a net in Tampa, Florida on April the 6th. USC still could do it. Now this could be one of those, let's do it for Juju.
Rally behind. I mean, we've seen it happen. Yep. But it takes the air out of, you know, what could have been. What an absolute bummer. It still will be, but it's just, you know, when one of the top teams is without the superstar and one of the faces of the sport, it's just a major bummer.
That's the only way to play. And she's a sophomore, and so how does this affect even next season? Chris and I were discussing that this morning, Rich. Like, this happened so late. Is she back next year after this surgery?
Yeah, I got to imagine. I mean, it's nine months. It's not a full year. It's not a year plus anymore. It's a nine-month recovery. We saw Stéphane Diggs.
Like, he's running at full speed. You know, he had the same injury late in the year of the NFL season. I fully expect her to be back, right?
For the beginning of the... Maybe not the beginning, but by what? January, right? You can hope. Well, obviously this will be a top story and discussed on Women's Sports Now right here on Roku on Thursday. She shakes up the rundown. I watched it being shaken up last night.
I'm sure you were as well, sitting there next to Sarah, and I was sitting next to Susie in our respective living rooms. And that's one half of the hosts of Women's Sports Now, Colleen Wolf and Renee Montgomery, will, I'm sure, have quite a bit to say on this subject matter. That'll be on Wednesday. I mean, as soon as the clock strikes midnight, Women's Sports Now right here on Roku.
844-204-RICH numbered a dollar here on the program. Yesterday as well, we had a pro day of note. The de facto, most everybody believes, as of right now, 29 days before we're convened, just outside of Lambeau Field. Outside of Lambeau Field.
It's not inside. We're Eric Dickerson away? We're Eric, 29 Eric Dickerson days away. Tomorrow will be 28 Marshall Faulk days away. We can keep doing this.
We'll do it every day until we get there. Until we're eight Aaron Rodgers days away? I know.
All right. Well, we're waiting on Rodgers to make a decision still. And the Steelers are the pole positioners for that. Cam Ward held his pro day on the campus of the U. And listen, pro days are guys in shorts on their home turf with their home wide receivers running routes and showing off arm strength and showing off the ball.
It should be perfect. And it was. And then there's always this wow throw where somebody's rolling against the grain and flat footed or just winging it 60 yards down the field, dropping a dime. We call that the Zach Wilson throw, which is unfortunate because of how, you know, the Jets chose him second overall. And now he's on his third team, second on the depth chart behind Tua in Miami. And that's not where you want to be, usually after your chosen second overall, just five years into your career.
But be that as it may, what you do see to try and sense what is up is who's there now. I know some teams could play rope-a-dope and whoever's there really doesn't matter. I mean, the Cleveland Browns are talking to Cam apparently later this week. And the representative of the Browns yesterday at the pro day, not Stefanski, the coach, not Andrew Berry, the general manager, but assistant general manager, Glenn Cook. Does that mean that the Browns wouldn't take Cam Ward if he drops the two?
Does that mean that they're uninterested in trading up to one for him? Doubt it, Joe Shane was there chit-chatting with Ward before the general manager of the Giants. But they don't have the first overall pick. That belongs to the Tennessee Titans. And they were represented by, are you ready for this? According to The Athletic and The New York Times, they were represented by general manager Mike Burgonzi, president of football operations Chad Brinker, assistant general manager Dave Ziegler, head coach Brian Callahan, offensive coordinator Nick Holz, quarterbacks coach Bo Hardegree, vice president and football advisor Reggie McKenzie, director of scouting AJ Highsmith-Waite. The Titans also had their in-house television and internet broadcast crew on hand to record the pro day and the post-workout chit-chats that Ward had with everybody else and interviews like the one he had on NFL network. So they like him?
Well, the Titans are interested in Cam Ward. Interesting. And you know how things work. Content is king.
Content is king. As I, you know, as a guy who voices over the Jets version of their own hard knocks. Oh, by the way, Emmy award winning. Congratulations.
Thank you. And yeah. So what are they going to do is capture Cam Ward's every movement at his pro day, just to hand that video off to the Giants because they gave him a Godfather offer for the first overall pick, or they have no intention of doing anything but stick it and pick it. And Cam Ward let everybody know that he's the first overall pick for the last several weeks. He's been wearing it on his sleeve. He's been talking it into existence.
He didn't throw it the combine like a first overall pick would do. He says it to Chador Sanders. We've seen the two of them kind of go back and forth about it. Right. And that whole Titans contingent that I told you about that was standing there watching him work out and the Titans broadcast and internet crew that were recording it. Cam let them know in real time who the first overall pick is, as he told my colleagues Cam Wolf and Brian Baldinger on live NFL Network television yesterday. There was a throw that you did on the roll on the run where you hit a dime and it looked like you turned to the Titans brass Chad Brinker, Mike Gorazani and said something to him.
Yeah. What did you say to him? I said I'm solidifying it today. You're solidifying it today.
Locking it up. They heard you. They laughed a little bit. I made sure they heard me. I made sure they heard me. I love it.
That's awesome. Now they could be making this big show to say, oh, by the way, Joe Shane, who's there for the Giants, your offer that's already on the table for the first overall pick, not enough. It's not enough. Because you see how we feel about the kid. Man, had a pick or two.
You know, it could be that. Every NFL fan I talk to doesn't think this kid's first overall pick worthy because the first overall pick is for, you know, consensus. Like, don't even think about it. Those names are people like Andrew Luck and Trevor Lawrence and Caleb Williams. And you didn't think about that Cam Ward when he transferred from Washington State by way of incarnate word to Miami. And you didn't think that when your guy, Kyle McCord in Miami and Syracuse pretty much bounced Miami from the college football playoff the same day that McCord's previous place of college work lost to Michigan. Fact.
But it doesn't matter if the Titans think that he's worthy of it. And they certainly showed that at the pro day on Monday. Communicated that with their plane tickets and their broadcast crew.
Took them out to dinner, right? I mean, Brian Callahan must have been with the broadcast crew and everybody else. The Titans must have been like rolling 20 deep at this pro day. So the Titans are indicating it's Cam Ward and they're indicating to any other teams it's Cam Ward. And if there's any other teams that wants Cam Ward you better, you better, you better come in. You better roll in heavy or heavier than you're already rolling in. And that's what comes out of Cam Ward's pro day. 8 4 4 2 0 4 rich numbers.
Let's take a break. Seth Davis is going to join us from EBS. America's most watched network home of Watson Sunday nights.
And Hoops HQ founder Seth Davis coming up. 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.
Prices vary based on how you buy. Hey, Rich Eisen here. I hear from a lot of business owners like you about the work it takes to pursue your passions. So I know how important it is to have the tools that can help keep you moving forward. And with access to world-class business and travel benefits the American Express Business Platinum Card helps you take your business to the next level. It offers a flexible spending limit that adapts with your business.
Plus, you'll have complimentary access to more than 1,400 airport lounges worldwide including the Centurion Lounge. So you can keep running your business while you're on the go. See how the Amex Business Platinum Card gives business owners like you the tools and rewards to do more of what you love. Not all purchases will be approved.
All terms apply. Learn more at americanexpress.com slash Amex Business. Some people just know they could save hundreds on car insurance by checking Allstate first.
The same way you know you've got to make sure your lucky jersey is clean on game day or your team might lose. Checking first is smart. So check Allstate first for a quote that could save you hundreds. You're in good hands with Allstate.
Savings vary subject to terms, conditions, and availability. Allstate Fire and Casualty Insurance Company and Affiliates, Northbrook, Illinois. I just looked at my email during the commercial break because, you know, Tom Brady, a natural tension between him and Belichick, huh? During the free agent process, something like that?
We'll have to later on, on tombrady.com. He popped that out there. He said it on his own website. Is that what's going on, Hoskins?
You're the one who sent the email. That's what's going on. Oh, the 199 is what it's called. And he's going to give those. And it's odd that a Buffalo Bills fan, do you have like your antenna out for Patriots tension?
Mike, is that what it is? Like he feels it. Like a sixth sense.
It's like a bat. Bills fans love talking about the tension. Well, Bills fans got to live in the past because they know Drake May's coming. Drake May's coming. D'Rocky.
I didn't know that. D'Rocky May. You know it's coming. I didn't know that Drake May's coming. And then, oh, I bet he has, what, what?
10, 12 touchdowns to Travis Hunter next year. Why do you think that, why are you so high on it? Is it a fan thing?
Is that what it is? You don't, really? You don't, you didn't watch the games and saw what was happening? I saw he couldn't throw it to anybody and the running game sucked. And the offensive line had massive holes in it. That's what I saw.
And I saw it's going to take a while to build. I guess it's still making plays behind a terrible offensive line, no receivers and running backs that did nothing but fumble. It was so disrespectful. Was it really what I said was disrespectful?
It's the truth. I saw he couldn't pay anybody out of the backfield to run a game sucked. Drake May right now would be the best Jets quarterback this century.
Let me think about this. Is Chad Pennington in this century? Yes, but Drake May is so much more talented than Chad Pennington, bro. Chad Pennington was him. Chad Pennington was who?
Him. Let's see it. Let's see it. Let's see it.
I will say this. Josh McDaniels, being the offensive coordinator, immediately changes everything. On the spot, let's get some receivers who will be able to separate from man coverage and catch the ball. And let's get some offensive line in a block, which is why maybe we've got a fascinating possibility in a mock draft coming up when we mock it like a hurricane. Back here in the Rich Eisen Show radio network, I'm sitting at the Rich Eisen Show desk furnished by Grainger with supplies and solutions for every industry. Grainger has the right product for you.
Call clickgrainger.com or just stop by. Our friend Seth Davis is back here on the Rich Eisen Show. He is the founder of Hoops HQ, and we see him all throughout CBS Sports and, of course, the Turner coverage of the men's NCAA tournament. How are you, Seth? Good to see you. I'm doing all right, Rich. I'm a little bleary eyed. Not sure what time zone I'm in, but as I have often said, I know you can relate. I haven't worked a day in my life and I'm not breaking the streak today.
I appreciate you saying that. Before we start, you know, I know you're focused on the men's tournament, but here in Los Angeles, California, where I know you, you're based. Juju Watkins going down last night and it's an ACL. And now we're wondering when she's even going to come back. Next year's women's season is even roiled by this news here. I'll just give you the floor with your two cents on her and what this means.
Seth. It's so heartbreaking. It's just so heartbreaking on so many levels. Not to go right to sort of the crash business part of it, but I mean, the women's game is at such an inflection point and people so much looking forward to this tournament, and she's the number one reason why. I mean, she's incredible. And the season that she's had and what she's done for the team and just the way that she transcends, not just women's basketball, but sports.
I mean, just a genuine breakout star. And just on a personal level, you're so heartbroken for her. You know, you think about over the summer and the fall and all the work that goes into being as great as she is that none of us ever see or will ever see. And then you get to the point where the payoff is coming and this happens. It's just heartbroken for her. But that's life and that's sports. So what can you do? I hear you.
And I mean, you basically summed it up where it's heartbreak, it's awful, it's terrible. And maybe USC can utilize, right? And for now, hey, we're more than just Juju.
She's our leader, but let's do it for her. That is a significant, powerful, potent weapon in its own right, potentially. Yeah. Yeah.
And they certainly did that last night, but you just wonder when you get to the later rounds, they're going to miss her. You know, it's just sucks. It's just oily.
Royal. You know, we kind of went through that in the men's side during the ACC tournament when Cooper flag went down against Georgia Tech. It looked awful. I mean, his foot bent the way it's not supposed to bend.
And they took him out of there on a wheelchair and you just you just didn't know. And, you know, Duke is obviously very fortunate that he's OK. But, you know, the sport and the tournament are OK because, you know, stars drive this thing. And she's she's as big she is as big of a star as there is in all of sports anywhere.
Absolutely. Seth Davis here on the Rich Eisen Show again, the co-founder and editor in chief of Hoops HQ. And we watch Seth all throughout the men's NCAA tournament when we when he's he's I can't figure out which network you're on every now and then. But obviously, CBS is is your is your home.
Let's just jump into it right now. The most impressive team through the first weekend of the men's NCAA tournament is is easily Duke, easily Duke. And in fact, you know, I felt this way about Duke for about a month now. And a lot of the numbers bear this out. Your favorite website, Ken Palm, the numbers, the numbers that Duke have been putting up in their metrics and their efficiency numbers are historic.
I think there may only be one of the team and that may have been twenty fifteen, Duke, if I'm not mistaken in the history of that site, which goes back to nineteen ninety seven. And you know, people can say, well, you know, the ACC, the ACC, a couple of things. First of all, that's baked into the numbers, the level of your competition. That's number one.
Number two, hugely underrated. How hard it is to beat even a team like Wake Forest by thirty five points. You know, I mean, it's one thing to win the game and win it convincingly. But you're constantly beating teams by twenty thirty points. And then they had a game against Illinois, which last I checked is not in the ACC Madison Square Garden late February. They beat Illinois by forty seven points. Biggest loss in the history of the Illinois program in Illinois.
Eight days later, went to your favorite town, Ann Arbor, and beat Michigan by 20 points. Michigan's in the sweet 16. So people have been if you can say they're underrating Duke, I think they've been underrating Duke.
You know, Baylor's obviously not a great team. That's why they were an eight seed. But you saw in that second round game what Duke is able to do and the differentiator really with this team, which is their defense, their you know, they've been one of the top defensive teams in the country and they're also the tallest team in the country. So you not only have seven foot two common Malabatch at the rim and Cooper Flag is a great help side defender, but you've got a point guard at the point of attack. Seon James is 6'6 and Tyrese Proctor is 6'4 and Conconipple is 6'7. So they have size length all around, which means they can survive a bad shooting game.
But when they shoot it as well as they did against Baylor, they're literally unbeatable. Yeah. A couple of things there. First of all, you're right.
Ken Palm is my favorite site because I checked with my doctor to see if Ken Palm was right for me. So that was years ago. You had the side effects. You know what? Exactly. But outside of that, our friend Jay Billis called Cooper Flag the greatest freshman Duke's ever had a couple of weeks ago.
Yeah, my eyebrows raised as well when he said that. And there is some chatter amongst fans that this is potentially the best Duke team ever. Where do you stand on that sports talk radio type of subject, Seth? Well, I guess we can't. It's actually an interesting question because I guess we can't even have the conversation for another couple of weeks, right?
But do you have to, isn't that kind of silly though? Like if you lose one game, does that make you not? Like some people could argue the 1999 Duke team with Elton Brand, Trajan Langdon, William Avery, Corey McGatty, that that was the best Duke team. They lost twice that season, but one of them happened to be in the national championship game to UConn in a one possession game.
And again, a lot of this can be analyzed in the data. I think there's probably a case to make, like when you said about the strongest freshman, the guy that popped into my head is Zion Williamson. If you look at the numbers that he put up, now they lost in the elite eight.
So how do you factor that in? But just the fact that we're talking about, given the history of this program, that it's even a conversation should tell you where, now that doesn't say they can't be beat rich, but I'll say, I always kind of start with if every team in the tournament plays their A game, if they play as well as they can play, who's the best team? I thought it was Duke for a while and it's why I picked them on the selection show to win the championship. Who's the most dangerous team in the Sweet 16 in your estimation? And that means we're not talking about them. We don't think they can win it all, but look out because there's a glass slipper because it's March Madness.
Well, if you're talking about the sort of not talking about that, I mean, I was going to say Florida. Obviously people are talking about Florida, but I don't know that we're talking enough about Houston, both in terms of what this team can do and historically, Kelvin Sampson took over the job at Houston in 2015. The last time before that day that Houston had won a game, Rich, a game in the NCAA tournament was 1984 when Akeem Olajuwon, he wasn't even Hakeem yet, he was still Hakeem.
That's how down Houston was. Now, it takes more than a coach, so they had unbelievable support and being able to build the Pertiti Center and getting their facilities up to snuff. And now they've joined the Big 12, so they've turned it into a power conference program. But he's been to an Elite Eight, he's been to a Final Four. Last year, they were in the Sweet 16 against Duke, lost their All-America point guard Jamal Shedd in the opening minute, still almost won the game, lost in the Sweet 16. So you just kind of wonder like one of these coaches and programs that's constantly knocking on the door.
How about this? How about their defense, their toughness, offensive rebounding, all important things. They are number one in the country in three-point percentage. And they brought in, I mentioned Jamal Shedd, who's now in the NBA, Rich, they brought in a point guard from Oklahoma, Milos Usain, which is not only really hard to follow someone like Jamal Shedd, but Jamal Shedd had been in that program for a number of years. And the previous point guards have been in that program a number of years.
So it was kind of a double whammy. And then Usain, by the way, got hurt in the summer. So he missed a lot of the preseason stuff, took him a minute to get going, but he's been playing as well as any point guard in the country this season. So yeah, Houston absolutely has a legit, you know, good job beating a really good Gonzaga team. They've got another team ahead in Purdue. Everybody plays somebody good in the Sweet 16, but make no mistake about it, Houston's absolutely good enough to win this thing. And then you mentioned Florida, you know, as a dangerous team, how about Arkansas? I mean, would this not be such a Coach Cal thing to show up in Arkansas, have the regular season that he had, the start that he had, and make the Final Four anyway as a 10 seed?
Don't you think? Such a Coach Cal thing, right? Lose games you're supposed to win, win games you're supposed to lose. And that's if you do it, first and foremost, he has. And you know, look, I mean, Calipari, I took plenty of shots at him this season. I thought he got an unfair wrap at Kentucky, but you know, first of all, let's start with that, by the way.
I mean, how about giving him the credit? He didn't get fired at Kentucky. He could still be there, but he had the foresight and the humility to say, you know what?
I need a change. Now he obviously wasn't going to go just anywhere. So he went into a really good situation because John Tyson, the billionaire of Tyson Foods said, we'll give you, it's all about NIL money, as you well know. It's a lot of chicken, Seth. That's a lot of chicken. A lot of chicken.
Yes. I love chicken. Who doesn't love chicken? Please.
Who doesn't love chicken? Yes. But just to have that wherewithal to make that move, that's pretty impressive. Probably didn't get enough credit for that. But look, I took plenty of shots at him like everybody else and he deserved it because they were playing terribly. And you wondered about his roster construction.
You wondered about, you know, is he playing a modern style and with the analytics and everything? And then they lose their freshman point guard Boogie Flan. They're 0-5 in the SEC. Then they go 1-6 in the SEC and he's walking into Rupp Arena to face a Kentucky team that has it rolling. And what does he do?
He wins the game. And ever since then, they've been off and running. And I guess what I'm driving at, Rich, is they wouldn't have made this turnaround if he really and truly did make it all about him. You know, like he's out there and he's again, he's an easy target.
He's like a pinata. We all take our shots at him. But inside that locker room, you have to keep the belief of your players.
And they won't give you that belief if they think you want to make it all about you. And so I give him enormous credit for holding that program and that locker room together. And by the way, their leading scorer and rebounder, Duthiro, hasn't been playing. He's got a hyperextended lead.
He needs to be able to get back in the lineup this week. They backed Boogie Flan. So the Arkansas team that's going to take the court against Texas Tech might not be the same Arkansas team we've been seeing the last few weeks.
It's a great, great story. Yeah. That's going to be in San Francisco later on this week. I guess the most Coach Cal thing wouldn't just make the Final Four. He'd make the final game against Kentucky. Now that, because that's in the ether, I mean, I know that's unlikely.
But that's in the ether still, like it is possible. So a matchup between my alma mater and Michigan State for the right to go to the Final Four, which would be kind of sick. But, you know, obviously there's a big but with Michigan taking on Auburn first up, coming up in Atlanta.
What are the, this one's for me. What do you think the odds are of that? Like what's Michigan's chances here to keep moving on against Auburn, Seth? They have a solid chance. I mean, I would pick Auburn maybe to win the game, but, you know, Auburn's had kind of an interesting season, Rich. My thing is, again, not said enough about Auburn. They only have one player on this team, Tahod Pettiford, is a freshman point guard, comes off the bench.
He's really good. He's the only top 30 recruit on this team. Everybody else was either under the radar or they transferred in.
I mean, Jenai Broome spent his first two college seasons at Moorhead State, and they got guys transferring in from a D2 school, junior college, mid-major schools. So they've had that chip, you know, and, but then they were just blasting everybody. I mean, they lose three out of four games coming into the tournament and they were still the number one overall seed in the tournament. That's how far ahead of everybody they were and they've been. And you know, people don't like, you know, folks like me talk about this SEC conference being historically great. Well, they got seven teams in the Sweet 16.
So again, your buddy Ken Pah maybe had that right too. So but my point is that they carried that mantle as this sort of aura of invincibility through the SEC, through the season. And I think it wore on them. You know, I think they lost that edge, that competitive edge of, hey, you know, we're just, we're a bunch of mid-major dogs who don't belong here. Like it's kind of hard to make that argument when you're the favorite. And you know, Jenai Broome, for as brilliant as he's been the last few weeks, has been a little kind of mortal and that can get you through a second round win over Creighton.
But now you're in the later rounds. The thing about Michigan that I really respect, Rich, is this team has developed a physicality and a toughness that they didn't have early in the season. And that's a credit to Dusty May. Now their guard play is still going to be, you know, a little bit of a concern. Their turnovers is definitely a concern. Probably the reason why they commit so many turnovers is they have the ball in the hands of Danny Wolf all the time.
Seven-foot Jewish guy, by the way, Rich, that's a win for the tribe. There weren't a lot of those at summer camp, a lot of those at trails end and equinox. But they're kind of nasty. They're kind of nasty. They've developed a physicality. You know, when they beat Maryland in the Big Ten Tournament on that buzzer beater from trade balance and they crushed them on the boards. So Auburn is now going to have to deal with Michigan's physicality. Now Michigan's going to have to take care of the ball. They were the worst turnover team in the Big Ten and you don't want to be that against Auburn because that's like an automatic points at the other end of the court.
But you know, they're in the game for a reason. They've played really, really good basketball, obviously were terrific during the Big Ten Tournament. And you know, you've got to feel like you got a chance in this one legitimately. Yeah. And Bruce Pearl does look like a guy who I would try to beat in inter camp games though, you know, and it's interesting, Danny Wolf and Bruce Pearl on Shabbat night, you know, that is big for the tribe as well, Seth. That's right. But we also got, we got Todd Golden is in the tribe and of course, John Shire.
That's right. So look at all three of them get there. We have them close before I let you go, Seth, you know how it works in in sports. If you got some guy who's controversial puts his stuff out there is a little bit irascible and you win, you don't talk about it. And Danny Hurley, you know, when he, when he shoves Cam Spencer in a national championship game, you know, that's just kind of funny and quirky. You know, when you win back to back, now we're talking about Danny Hurley's comportment again, having been bounced in the round of 32.
And but he's right. I mean, when he said they went out with honor, certainly the way that they played against Florida, that was a, you knew they'd be a tough out. That said, we're talking about Danny Hurley's comportment again. Where do you stand on the subject, Seth? Well, it's all in the soup, isn't it?
You know, I'll start with this. I think he did a really, really good job with this team. You know, this notion that they were going to win three in a row is just, I never bought into it because, I mean, they lost four starters. Now, you had to wonder because the previous year they lost five of their top eight players from the first championship team and were able to win it again.
So you sort of had that latitude, well, let's see. So I never ranked them. I think I started off in the preseason, my first AP ballot, Rich, maybe had them 10th, but I think they may have been second or third in the poll.
So I was always like, let's maybe wait and see, but still 10th is pretty high. And Danny, regrettably, really fell into that, especially in Maui when they lost those three games, like just expecting to pick up where he left off the season before. And I think once he got back into kind of coaching these guys and then they had a major injury with freshmen, Liam McNeely, Alex Karabhan, a lot of people thought he would be like a first team All-American.
He was a good player, but he wasn't that. So they had a lot to work through, but at the end of the season, they were right there. And when you saw them against Florida, it was like, that's a Danny Hurley coach team.
I mean, they took it right to that number one seed. So I love his vulnerability. I love his authenticity. You saw him getting emotional. Again, those players wouldn't play for him the way they do if he made it all about him.
But there is definitely another side to that coin. We can say it's part of what makes him great. When you walk off the court and you're saying to Baylor, I hope they don't screw you like they screwed us.
What you're saying is that Florida didn't deserve to win. That's not respecting your opponent and that's not respecting the game. And Dan has a regrettable tendency to fall into that when he gets frustrated and again, it's part of what makes him great, but it's part of stuff like that you can't defend. And so I don't like the way that he treats referees a lot of times. I think that, frankly, the NCAA and refs in general need to constantly look at the way the coaches talk to officials and act.
I think they've gotten better in that regard. He won two national championships. And so the only thing worse than not having Danny Hurley, the only thing better than not having Danny Hurley as your coach is having him as your coach because he's going to win. And so he's a larger than life character at this point with a lot of rough edges. But I'll say this about him, Rich. He's no phony. There are a lot of phonies out there and no one will ever accuse Dan Hurley of being phony. We got to give him that.
He is original. There's no question. Seth, thanks for the time. Greatly appreciate it. Hoops HQ is a great spot for everybody to just dive into everything that's happening right now. Yes, sir. Hoops HQ.
And by the way, the transfer portal opened yesterday. So for guys like me and Hoops HQ, that's ratings gold for the media, Rich. I mean, that's good stuff.
So yeah, a lot to stay on top of. I hear you. And if we're up against it, to use a radio term, otherwise we dive into that. It's so stupid to open a transfer portal in the middle of a tournament.
It's just like, what are we doing? But that said, Seth, thanks for the time. Oh, by the way, my wife has chimed in because she's watching us right now on the Roku channel. What about Lindsey Gottlieb? And I text her back like, you mean for women's sports now? She goes, no, as a member of the tribe. So that's Lindsey Gottlieb, 100%, Kutcher Sports Academy, it all goes back to the Poconos.
Where you have a fine winter time. Thank you, Seth. Beautiful. Thank you. Go blue. Okay.
I hear you. That's Seth Davis, everybody. A Duke fan saying go blue.
How about that? You know what? Is he a Duke fan?
He went to Duke. Oh, that's right. I forgot. Okay. All right.
So, uh, while we're counting Jews in college, I can say these things. I understand. Your data is like gold to hackers. They're selling your passwords, bank details, and private messages. McAfee helps stop them.
Secure VPN keeps your online activity private. AI-powered text scam detector spots phishing attempts instantly. And with award-winning antivirus, you get top-tier hacker protection. Plus, you'll get up to $2 million in identity theft coverage, all for just $39.99 for your first year.
Visit McAfee.com. Cancel any time terms apply. 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 itch 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?
Ask your doctor about Evglis and visit evglis.lily.com or call 1-800-Lily-Rx or 1-800-545-5979. Is there anybody that Coach K would bring in or be around the program? Coach K was always good at doing his own- He did it himself. You need to bring anybody in.
Rich, there's this one story. It's unbelievable. I've never seen anything like this before. So it's before one of our first games, and it was during the time when the movie Gladiator came out.
One of my all-time favorite movies, by the way. So we're all sitting in the row like this. We're all sitting down like this, and there's a huge screen in front of us, and there's a doorway to the left. And the screen comes on. All the lights go off, and it's the part where he's riding back in front of his crew, and he says, if you're dead, don't worry about it.
For you or an Elysium, something like that. One of those lines like that. And they all get up and they go to battle. The lights come on, we're all ready to go. Out of nowhere, there's an arrow that comes on fire, an arrow that comes on fire from the doorway. Hits a dartboard.
Okay, so we're all like this. Like, what the hell's going on? It's an arrow on fire. An actual flaming arrow.
An actual flaming arrow. It's through the door to the side, hits the dartboard here. We're sitting there like, wow, this is really happening. What's happening? And out of nowhere, there's a solution basketball, right?
A solution on the side. And it was like these old kind of balls, and the ball started to roll in through the doorway. So arrow on fire, ball rolling in, we're all focused on the ball. And out of nowhere, Coach K runs in the room and dives on the ball.
He's wrestling with the ball like it's a bear, okay? And he's like, F and fight with me. Fight with me. And everybody gets up and everybody's like, yeah! And everybody runs out of room. My shoelace literally snaps.
I come back in the room. All I see, Coach K on the ground. My hip. My hip. He apparently threw his hip out. And he's like, just get out there!
Get out there! And it was one of the funniest things I've ever seen in my life. And he came out there, he coached the game, and we won the game. But he does. So this was pre-game? This was pre-game. He does.
You have to ask any Duke player that you ever have come on here, have them tell you one of the funniest pre-game stories of all time. Because he does this stuff every year. He comes up with his own stuff, and he just, he gets so into it. He always says, I have goosebumps.
I get goosebumps talking about this. It takes him to a different place. So did he see Gladiator, you think?
Or did somebody? Oh, he's seen Gladiator. He's seen every, I mean, he's an army guy. So he's a West Point grad.
So if there's any movie that deals with war, he's seen it. So he says, come fight with me. He gets an arrow to flame up and throw in there. Come fight with me. You guys all go, run out there. But you come back in. Come back in, because I have to change shoes. Still on the ground.
In the same position, holding the basketball. I can't use, because last time I got reprimanded for using bad terminology on the show. So I will refrain from doing so this time. But he released, he unleashed hell on him. Oh my gosh. It was one of the best moments ever. I forgot that Jay Williams story. Thanks for replaying that, Hoskins. That was funny. Unbelievable. That's funny stuff right there. I can't believe he did that before a game. I remember when he was telling that story, that I was kind of lost on when it was happening. I thought it was like during a, like prior to a practice or something.
But he would have a flaming arrow and a basketball. Like someone would set that up before a game. It's a little intense. Jeez. And conversation, huh? That this could be the best Duke team ever, huh? Yeah. Yeah.
I've seen that. They did beat the crap out of everybody. And I mean, Mount St. Mary's and then a former championship program and Baylor, obviously a lot of those players have moved on. We'll see what happens. Fourth seeded Arizona.
And then they face the winner of Alabama BYU and, and then either Houston, Kentucky, Tennessee or Purdue. And then the championship back on the rich eyes and show radio network 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. You never have to miss a single buzzer beater, get game day deals on all your favorites only on Uber Eats. Order now, remember, get game day deals on all your favorites only on Uber Eats.
Order now. So reverberating, uh, in our household, the Juju Watkins needing to be carried off the court. And then a couple hours later, Tatum's down on the ground in Sacramento holding his ankle like rolling around and everyone's just like wondering like what's going on? It was a rough 10 minutes. So was it just 10 minutes apart? It felt like it was kind of back to back, but I don't know.
Maybe I think it was separated by a bit longer, but it felt like it was Tatum's. Okay. Is that what you're saying? Yeah.
One of the beat guys I follow, um, was saying he was laughing in the locker room, had his sneakers on, like everything seemed no walking boot, no, no crutches, no nothing like that. So you know, he didn't play in the fourth last night. I know. Cause the Celtics just just kinda took care of business. Oh, by the way, only four and a half back of the Cavs with 10 games to go. Oh, that would be a total collapse.
One seed is in sight. You do realize that means you have to go 10 and 0 and the Cavaliers go 0 and 10, right? You do have to realize that, right? Well, they've won nine out of 10.
So you know, they have to go 10 and 0 and the Cavaliers have to go 0 and 10 to make up four and a half games in 10. Yep. Okay. Not out of the realm of possibility.
Doesn't matter. You're going to have to face them anyway. You don't, what are you going to have an issue going to game seven in the Eastern conference finals going into Cleveland?
I don't think we'll see Cleveland in the playoffs. Oh, really? Who takes them out? Who takes them out? Somebody. Cause you don't, you don't think you're being taken out before Cleveland gets these conference finals.
It's clearly, that's not what you're saying. Yeah. What day is it? There's a parade in June coming boys. Hey, listen, pal, give me the name of the team that takes the Cleveland Cavaliers out for the Eastern conference. Let's see who does that for you? Uh, I mean, Orlando looks pretty good when they're, when they're full strength, Orlando showed the Lakers the back of their hand last night. True. Paolo and Franz. That's a, when they're cooking like that.
That's a nice one too. What an Anthony black just thrown in threes like crazy. I mean, Milwaukee or Indiana could beat Cleveland. So all right. Really mr. Knock them out. Mr. Don't trade Giannis.
I owned up for that years ago, pal. I don't know. What about Cleveland scares people?
I don't get it. I'm glad Tatum's going to be fine. Our two Pablo Torre and studio and also, so Tatum's not going to do the usual NBA thing about, Oh, he turned his ankle pretty bad. So he's out for the next week.
That's not going to happen. I don't know. He's consistently played 75 games a year in his career. So he doesn't mean he doesn't just miss somebody turns an ankle in the NBA. You don't see them for awhile and then there's going to be back to backs. Oh, that's out. Look at that.
That's that's just definitely not happening. He's not playing back to backs. Come on. You're an NBA jaded fan. I'm not an NBA jaded fan.
I see it. They don't have any, they don't have any back to backs. The Celtics have no back to backs. The rest of the way, 26, 29, 31, two, four, six, eight.
Oh, I'm sorry. They got one. That would be a stunner Lakers only have Lakers only have three. The reason why I know this again is because I have Luca Lebron and Jackson Hayes in our fantasy league. I'm trying to see who's going, but I know you've been long since you got who's winning that league at this point right now. Monica is on top of Brockman and I'm on top of Hoskins just one day into the final week of this semifinal week. So anything can happen, obviously, in the barrel, but you know, there's back to backs this week. Do you think LeBron's going to play back to back this week or Luca is going to play back to back this week?
I don't know. Well, he needs them. He has been playing all season long, but now he's coming back from a groin injury. They're struggling right now.
So I would imagine they could use it. Kawhi never does because he hurt his knee last year. So you've got to get off of this Kawhi Leonard thing, man, because do you watch him play basketball?
If the man's body had not betrayed him, you make it seem like Kawhi just wakes up and goes, nah, I don't want to play basketball today. I don't think that's it. No, I don't think that's what it is. I think it's just somebody who's the same people who figure out, you know, you've got to take your pitcher out after two times through the lineup, no matter how well he's pitching, no matter if he's got 60 pitches or a hundred pitches, you've got to take that person out because that guy is now gives up a two 90 average against those hitters the third time through as opposed to two 20. Those are the people who say three months ago, he's not playing back to back in March or April. That's the way things go. So I root for Jason Tatum to play these. This is not a fantasy thing. I root for Tatum basically say, sure.
I turned my ankle and it looked terrible. I'm going to play next. I'll play the game after that too.
I'll play the back to back. That just doesn't happen since you mentioned fantasy. Can you tell Cooper to stop picking up people? He's not in the playoffs, so he needs to stop adding people. Oh, is he doing that?
Yeah. I'll talk to someone off of waivers. And I'm like, bro, like, bro, you're not, you're not playing. You're not involved. Okay. I'll talk to him. Thank you. You never say die.
