March 7, 2025 • 42 mins
On today’s episode, Jason discusses the Los Angeles Lakers’ thrilling overtime win over New York and tells us why it’s not all bad for the Knicks even after losing star point guard Jalen Brunson to an ankle injury. Later, Field of 68 founder and college basketball analyst Jeff Goodman swings by to discuss all the biggest college hoops headlines heading into conference tournament season and the start of March Madness.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
This is Straight Fire with Jason McIntyre.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
What is up, straight Fire Fan? It's me Jason McIntyre,
Straight Fire for Friday, March the seventh. Oh, we have
a phenomenal podcast to take you to the weekend. You know,
it's March Madness.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
Loo.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
I love college basketball. The tournament is selection Sundays, like
what two weeks away. It's phenomenal. You gotta love it.
So to preview March Madness, you've got Jeff Goodman. Previously,
he's been at Fox ESPN. I think he was a Yeah,
he's been everywhere covering college troops for like twenty five
thirty years. He joins he's with the Field of sixty eight,
(00:46):
his own venture, which is pretty cool working for himself.
But before we get to that, I just quickly have
to talk about Lakers one thirteen Nicks one oh nine
in overtime, absolutely thriller at Crypto. The Lakers were in
rough shape. You know, you could tell Austin Reeve's first
game back. He can't throw it in the ocean. I think
(01:07):
he was like one for twelve in regulation before a
big time shot in overtime. He was on a minute's
restriction or something, but he just didn't look good, right, uh,
Ruey's still out, Durri and Phinney Smith couldn't make a three.
At halftime, the Lakers were four of twenty two from deep,
four to twenty two. You're not winning any games. No,
actually there wasn't half time. That was like a late
(01:29):
third quarter four twenty two from three, and then they
finish ten of forty two, meaning they went ten for
the last twenty fifty percent from deep. That's you know,
gave Vincent Luka nanchic. But overall, the big story here
is the Knicks played really really well. They kind of
blew the lead there late with Luca hitting a bomb
and Lebron a couple and gave Vincent threw in one
(01:50):
or two. And then you go to overtime and adding
insult to injury, Jalen Brunson goes down. Brunson was unguardable.
He switched on to Luca at at least half a
dozen times in the game. Sorry, in the fourth quarter
in overtime and we just attack, and you know, Austin
Reeves tried, he couldn't stop it, and they would get
Jackson Hayes. Lebron decided to take Jalen Brunson for two possessions.
(02:13):
He ended up fouling him like Brunson is just unguardable.
He had thirty nine points in forty one minutes, but
then turned his ankle badly and shot the free throws.
He made them, of course, because he's so good at
the line, and then he exited the game and it
looked like a bad ankle twist. We know what the
Knicks narrative is going to be today. Those guys, Oh,
they can't win games against good teams. They never will,
(02:36):
They're not a contender. Blah blah blah. Folks, these losses
aren't the worst thing in the world. They're not because
currently the Knicks are third. Okay, they can't catch the
Celtics for second, so they're then best case scenario, if
they tread water the rest of the way, they'll face
the Celtics in the second round. They're not beating the
(02:57):
Celtics and certainly not in the second round. Okay, now,
maybe we can make an argument for conference finals. You know,
Knicks superstar players start cooking the Celtics, Oe Colt whatever.
But after the Celtics at three, you've got the Bucks
at four. Okay, you're only two and a half up
on the Bucks. If Brunson's out for two weeks here,
(03:19):
it's not the worst thing in the world. If the
Knicks fall to four, they would then face the Pacers
in the first round. You know, Pacers are all right,
I mean, Pistons at six or not not that bad.
And Miami's got you know, heat culture even though they're
not have good players really, so then the Knicks would
face the Pacers, and then in the second round the
Calves as opposed to Boston. I think, you know, if
(03:42):
I'm the Knicks, I'm not scared of the Cleveland Cavaliers.
I'm not. I don't care what the scores were during
the season. That's the regular season. We know in the
playoffs you get a different whistle. I mean, go ahead
and tell me you know who on the Calves is
your lockdown defender for Jalen bruns Are you putting DeAndre
Hunter on him? I don't. I mean Hunter gets lit
up by Wings. He's a good defender, but he's not elite.
(04:03):
If I'm the Knicks, That's my thought heading into the playoffs, like, hey, listen,
we need to rest Jalen Brunson. He can chill. Let
these other guys cook, and if we lose a couple
of games, so what, who cares? Right, as long as
you can avoid the Celtics. Now ask for the Lakers.
You know a lot of people think I'm getting to
be a major Laker homer, and maybe that's the case.
(04:24):
But Lebron had thirty one and twelve and eight and
Luca had thirty two, twelve and seven. Okay, Like this
team's phenomenal, and you watch them and that fourth quarter
was back and forth, just haymakers from Luca Lebron, and
it's like, this team is so easy to root for.
The NBA was super fun. And oh, by the way,
(04:46):
before we get to Jeff Goodman Lakers first quarter, cash
is yet again, I'm fairly certain that's fourteen of the
last sixteen games. Can you bet at Saturday night in
Boston that streak could end there, but you'll probably be
getting at least two or three right Anyways, without further ado,
let's go to Jeff Goodman from the Field of sixty eight.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
You know a guy Jason likes to think he knows
everything when it comes to sports.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
I know what sports fans want.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
But for everything he doesn't. He knows a guy who does.
Speaker 4 (05:19):
Let's just say I know a guy who knows the
guy who knows another guy.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
All right, let's welcome back to straight fire. One of
the most prominent voices in college basketball been covering the
sport for I don't know, fifteen, twenty thirty years. I
mean he's been at all the big shops. Now he's
got his own, no boss to answer to. Field of
sixty eight. Jeff Goodman, how are you? Man?
Speaker 4 (05:41):
Man, it's good to see you. It's been way too long.
It is good to see you. It's been listen, it's
been a blast to say. I knew you win. I
knew you win.
Speaker 3 (05:51):
Nobody knew you, right, Can I say that?
Speaker 2 (05:53):
Well, I've known you for a long time because I'm
a college basketball nerd, and I would always just pepper
him with questions. He's probably like, who's this annoying guy?
Speaker 3 (06:00):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (06:01):
I love you asking me stuff, And I mean, you're
at the top of the food chain there. You know
everything about the sports. So I figured, you know, I
love March Madness. Conference Championship Week starts, well, the JV
Week is this week, and then the Big Ones next week,
and then the tournament obviously, but you know, we do
a lot of gambling on the pod, and you guys
talk a lot of gambling. So I mean, for the
first time in I guess three years, it's kind of
(06:22):
going to be wide open. The last two years were
the Yukon Invitational, right, and then this year. I mean,
I guess you could say Duke and Auburn are favorites,
but it's not like Yukon last year or the last
two years, right.
Speaker 3 (06:34):
That's right.
Speaker 4 (06:34):
No, I mean, Auburn's been surprisingly dominant all year because
nobody saw this coming.
Speaker 3 (06:41):
Bruce Pearl included, you know, he didn't know they'd be
this good.
Speaker 4 (06:45):
But you know it's a combination, right, of the pieces
fitting together and the chemistry is unbelieved. I was down
there a week or so ago and I did a
TV interview that will air on CBS Final four weekend.
I did it with twenty two year old Player of
the Year candidate, fifth year senior, to Hot Pettiford freshman,
(07:08):
five star freshman, and Miles Kelly and the three of
them are sitting there and I'm not kidding. It was
my favorite interview I've done in ten years because all
they did was shit on each other. I mean, Pettiford
killed and killed them. The eighteen year old freshman is
killing the twenty two year old fifth year senior, and
Broom loves it, loves it.
Speaker 3 (07:28):
So like you can just tell.
Speaker 4 (07:31):
And that's hard these days because they've been playing together
for what eight months, all three of them, so like
it's everything together. And Bruce Pearl listened. You could say
what you want about Bruce Pearl. He is a master motivator.
He is so good with people and kids and everybody
that I just think Auburn they've got the whole package.
(07:52):
And listen what they've done again. You know, the quad
one wins is out of control this year. Duke's great
because Cooper's better than I thought he'd be. And I'd
seen him forty times in AU ball and he's even
better Jason, because he's all about winning. I mean when
you saw him in AU ball, he took a team
(08:13):
from Maine and like took him deep in every au tournament.
Speaker 3 (08:17):
Like main, I mean, there's a team for me. Maine
has no players.
Speaker 4 (08:21):
Ever, they don't know players, So like right there, you
knew he's loyal number one and he always just played
hard all the time, and his IQ is off the
charts and he guards and he doesn't want it.
Speaker 3 (08:34):
He wants to just be one of the guys, which
again that's part of the deal.
Speaker 4 (08:38):
He hasn't done one one on one interview all year
in the season, only post stuff post game. He's fine,
but like we've asked for it and other people have
and now he just wants to be one. Kind of
reminds me a little bit of Kawhi in that regard,
because Kawai just wanted to do his thing. And I
know Kawhi gets a bad rap now from at least
(08:59):
a guy who I think is out of control with
how he kills him.
Speaker 3 (09:03):
Well, he just doesn't know him.
Speaker 4 (09:05):
I think stephen A's problem is he does it no
Kawhi because Kawhi doesn't give a shit about the media.
Speaker 3 (09:10):
You know, And that's the beauty of Kawhi, right.
Speaker 4 (09:13):
Kawhi played harder than everybody when he was on the
court when he was healthy. Cooper five plays so goddamn
hard every possession. So those two are are probably a
notch above everybody because of what they've done over the
course of the season. But it's it's also hard to
evaluate Duke in ACC play because the league thanks.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
Brutal year for the ACC. Let's go back to Auburn
for six. So obviously you tinker around on some of
these sites, and I'm looking at the Auburn starting five
and essentially for the guys are transfers. You got Baker Mazarro,
who's twenty five years old. The modern team is super
interesting now because, like you said, Pettiford, who's one of
my favorite players in college. Like, I know he's only
(09:55):
a freshman, but he I think he gave like twenty
or more to Houston, Duke, Kentucky, all the good teams.
They play like. He's really nice. But the way these
teams are built is just a hodgepodge of veterans, right,
that's the way to succeed.
Speaker 4 (10:08):
Now, Yeah, I think Villanova started that a little bit, right,
you know, when Jay Wright was winning titles. Everybody kind
of went to that model, and it went even further
when you had the extra COVID year.
Speaker 3 (10:19):
Everybody's saying like, Okay, this is our advantage. Right.
Speaker 4 (10:22):
In the last couple of years, the freshman classes have
been atrocious overall. This year is obviously much better, but
you look at it and you still say, okay, Cooper
Flag number one, East Bailey and Dylan Harper two and three,
they're not making the tournament. Trey Johnson's in there vj Edgecumbe,
they're both barely making the tournament if they do. So, Like,
Cooper Flag is the outlier here, and there's a reason
(10:44):
he's the outlier, just because again it's funny because going
into the year, everybody asked me. Everybody's like, can he
be a guy you build your NBA team around?
Speaker 3 (10:56):
And I was like, no, I don't think so. I mean,
he's clearly a number two guy.
Speaker 4 (11:00):
And now now I don't know if you can win
a championship with him as your number one.
Speaker 3 (11:05):
But I'm not saying no anymore. I'm not saying no.
Speaker 4 (11:08):
I think you can build your franchise around Cooper Flag
absolutely if you have the right pieces around Well.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
Yeah, that's a real tough discussion because frankly, if when
Jokic was drafted, could you build a franchise around him?
Hell no, Yannas Singdal Steph Curry, no way, I mean
other than Lebron like.
Speaker 3 (11:27):
But we didn't know a lot.
Speaker 4 (11:28):
We didn't know a lot about the Joker or Yannis
at that point and Steph. The questions were there, right, like,
look at him, can he guard anybody? Can he play
the point? Look at his body? Like there were a
lot with this kid. You're like, he's got the body,
he's got the IQ. He's proven it at the highest
level as a he.
Speaker 3 (11:47):
Started as a seventeen year old freshman.
Speaker 4 (11:49):
Seventeen wasn't reclassified like a lot of these kids. So
there's a lot more that we know about Cooper that
you want to pick apart, Like how much have you
heard anybody pick anything apart more? You know, it's usually
the more you see these kids, the more we want
to tear him down. I know that's like the NBA
deal right now, and I don't want to get into that,
but ugly, but.
Speaker 3 (12:10):
You can't pick Cooper apart. What are you gonna what
are you gonna say negatively?
Speaker 2 (12:14):
He's hitting thirty eight percent on threes, right, that's eighty
two percent from the line. The guys, he's amazing here here.
The one question I asked was, so, Jeff, when Zion
hit Duke, it was like, oh my gosh, Zion's totally dominant.
I feel like we should have had that for Cooper
flag but we don't. Is this about swag and like
ridiculous dunking and breaking out of shoes because Cooper's flag
(12:36):
has been kind of sort of as good as Zion.
Speaker 4 (12:38):
No, I don't think ESPN did a good job in
the preseason because they're the ones who drive this. Let's
face it, they are the ones who drive it, and
I don't think they did it's good a job because
I remember being in those meetings, those those preseason meetings
at ESPN, even when Ben Simmons was was coming in.
Speaker 3 (12:55):
Lsu oh, lsu.
Speaker 4 (12:57):
Yeah, yeah, this is what we're gonna do. We're gonna
hammer this home. We are gonna honestly make people, uh
you know, hate this kid because they're gonna hear about
him so much. And Cooper, first of all, he's not unlikable,
like you're a normal white duke player.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
He's not laightoner yeah yeah, yeah, not.
Speaker 4 (13:16):
Like Latoner had the facial expressions.
Speaker 3 (13:20):
Yeah he was a dick, JJ reddick was a dick.
Speaker 2 (13:23):
He was, He would admit that to him.
Speaker 3 (13:24):
Yeah, Cooper is not that Cooper is.
Speaker 4 (13:28):
He kind of keeps the same expression in his face,
doesn't talk shit really, so he's harder to dislike it'll
be interesting to see in the NCAA tournament if they
go deep and the world catches on to who the
hell Cooper flag is?
Speaker 3 (13:41):
If they does he become unlikable?
Speaker 2 (13:43):
If you don't think they were the Final four borderline lock?
Speaker 3 (13:45):
No, I do, I do. I do think. I actually
think Duke is more of a lock than Auburn.
Speaker 2 (13:50):
Yeah, I would agree. I think that's a good analysis.
Let me ask you about this Florida team. Uh so
I keep betting against him, keep losing. I know Todd
Golden went through some sort of scandal earlier this year,
or maybe it was his assistance, but there was.
Speaker 4 (14:05):
A tittle nine No, it is a Title nine thing
that he was completely cleared of.
Speaker 3 (14:09):
That. I know a lot more than I can say.
Speaker 2 (14:11):
Wait, so oh wait? Was he the one sliding in
dms of girls allegedly alleged alleged and he was cleared
of all that.
Speaker 3 (14:17):
I was clear to most of it. He was clear
to the Title nine investigation. I don't know if he's
interested in.
Speaker 2 (14:21):
Some m I mean, these women were posted like college
kids were posting stuff, and I thought like, oh, they're
going to go sideways, And I mean, they've been amazing
They're on a run right now this season. The last
twenty five games, they've covered twenty that's like unheard of.
They're totally dominant. The only thing that has me off
on them, and again this is my small thing, is
the free throw shooting. And I cannot stand betting on
(14:44):
teams that can't choot free throws in March because you know,
the whistles, the fowls. But what do you think of
this Florida team?
Speaker 3 (14:51):
And their guards are awesome?
Speaker 4 (14:52):
Yeah, Like I remember when they got Elijah Martin from
FAU he was so bad, not bad last year, but
two years ago. Obviously they went to the on a
four him and Nellie Davis and he was great. And
then last year he just didn't look like himself, and
I think part of it was it was just a
Nelly Davis dominated team and Elijah to know where he fit.
Speaker 3 (15:12):
He's been awesome with Florida.
Speaker 4 (15:14):
Alex Connon uh Ford has been phenomenal. They they're again
their guards, they're three or four guards. They've actually got four.
This kid, Denzel Aberdeen comes off the bench and he
played when Eliza was hurt. But a Walter Clayton junior
from Iona chose to go to Florida instead of following
Rick Patino. Imagine if he was at Saint John's.
Speaker 3 (15:35):
Because he's the first team All American in my opinion,
Walter Clayton, Oh yeah, he's that good. Wow, that good
this year.
Speaker 4 (15:42):
Yeah, so him, Elijah Martin, will Richard. Will Richard came
from Belmont, So those three kids, think about that Iona Fau,
which is a mid major. I know, we don't want
to say that because they went to the Final four,
but they if you go down to Fau's Jim, you'll
you'll you'll say, like, this is a true mid major.
I was just down there last week and Belmont and
(16:05):
again you look at they don't have I think they
have won like five one, four or five star kid
on their whole roster. So they've done a great job
evaluating and again getting old and their pieces fit together
so well.
Speaker 2 (16:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (16:19):
The only question I have, the bigger one.
Speaker 4 (16:21):
Than the free throw shooting, is like, yeah, Ty Golden
in a big moment, like he's unproven going up against.
Speaker 3 (16:28):
You know, the Bruce Pearls of the world.
Speaker 4 (16:31):
The Natos is the one that he's done it in
SEC play, but it's a different ballgame in the NCAA Tournament.
Speaker 1 (16:37):
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Speaker 2 (16:48):
You mentioned Nate Oates Alabama. I tweeted this and all
these Alabama fans got pissed. Any did they peak too early?
They've lost too straight now in the SEC. That's not
the worst thing in the world. You know, you're losing
to Auburn Tennessee, Florida, but they're you know, they lost
four of six here. They have to face Auburn again Saturday,
so you know, you don't want to go into the
NCAA tournament or even a conference tournament kind of sliding
(17:10):
like this. What do you think's wrong with Natos's team?
Speaker 4 (17:14):
They're not as good as shooting team as we thought.
They lost the kid Latrell right so back in November.
He was one of the better shooters. Their pieces don't
fit quite as well because they brought in the big
transfer from Rutgers Cliff and Moory, and he really doesn't
fit the way they play. You know, they need a big,
they needed a big and a rim protector, but they
needed like a skilled, you know guy on the offensive end.
(17:37):
Because of the way Alabama plays, they got to have
somebody that can that can make some shots, and Cliff
just doesn't give him anything on offense, so it's like
hard to play him.
Speaker 3 (17:49):
And Mark Sears to me, is the guy that he
just he took him the final four last year.
Speaker 4 (17:55):
A very underwhelming team talent wise, I think a year ago,
they're more talented this year. They also Darien Reid, who's
going to be a first round pick, who's been out
for the last like month, month and a half, who's
their most versatile player.
Speaker 2 (18:08):
But is he going to be back?
Speaker 3 (18:10):
Yeah, I think so.
Speaker 4 (18:11):
I got to find out what the update is with him,
but I think it's serious. It's been a roller coaster
ride and he hasn't become the leader that Natoes was hoping.
He's benched him a couple of times this year. He
can be dominant. I mean, he can be so good
when he wants to be, you know, getting in the lane, scoring,
making life easier for his teammates.
Speaker 3 (18:32):
And then sometimes he can look like selfish, Yes, very selfish.
Speaker 2 (18:36):
Well yeah, let me ask you about Grant Nelson. He
kind of blew up in the NCAA tournament last year.
I thought he would try to go to the league.
He has some characteristics length, can step out and shoot it.
Tho he's not shooting a well this year. Where are
you on this kid, Nelson?
Speaker 4 (18:50):
Yeah, not a great shooter. Not a great shooter. That's
what's holding him back. That's why he didn't go last year.
You know again and thin and if you're not a
great shooter. He's good athlete, really really good athlete. Came
from mid major in the Summit League. He's from Dakota.
But I think again, their piece is just like they
should be better, even you watched them last week, right
(19:12):
and they give the ball at the end of the
game to the freshman le Baron Fylon and he has
a five second call on one play, then he doesn't
get the ball to years on another play, then he
drives in. I feel like they doesn't really know who
they are yet and we're so late in the game.
Speaker 3 (19:29):
That's not a good thing.
Speaker 2 (19:31):
So we haven't talked a lot about the a SEC
other than your little dig that they're down. I mean
they've got what like seventeen teams then only like three
year good in North Carolina's probably not going to get in.
What do you think about Clemson?
Speaker 3 (19:45):
Underrated? Really? Really?
Speaker 2 (19:47):
They were a hot team for me last year. I
liked them going to the tournament, and I like the
kid brownwell, the coaches he's good.
Speaker 4 (19:53):
Rod Brunell's really good, a great job, and he kind
of lived his life in the hot seat for the
longest time.
Speaker 3 (19:59):
He could be there's a chance with what's going on
in Indiana. So I don't know. If you want me
to go on a tangent here to the.
Speaker 2 (20:07):
Oh, go for it. I don't know what's going on
in Indiana because I don't pay attention to crap teams.
Speaker 4 (20:11):
Yeah, Indiana, obviously, Mike Woodson crazy. I pay attention to
this one even more because my daughter is a junior
in Indiana.
Speaker 3 (20:18):
So I'm taking fifty grand in a year to her education.
So I care fifty fifty Indiana.
Speaker 2 (20:25):
Yeah, hotly count.
Speaker 3 (20:26):
Yeah, wait, how old are your kids now?
Speaker 2 (20:28):
No, they're middle school, so we're not quite there yet.
But uh, I guess I got start putting some money aside.
Holy count.
Speaker 3 (20:33):
Definitely, dude, definitely don't spend it all gambling, all right?
Speaker 4 (20:36):
No, no, definitely, So they Woodson he's out, you know,
a month and a half ago. Whatever, they've rebounded, they've
actually played well lately. They're probably right on the bubble,
which would be a crazy thing if they basically got him,
you know, to say he's stepping down.
Speaker 3 (20:52):
He didn't really want to step down.
Speaker 2 (20:53):
Oh you think they shoved him out? Oh yeah, oh
d I didn't follow it closely.
Speaker 3 (20:58):
Yeah, he didn't want to go.
Speaker 4 (21:00):
So anyway, So it's open now and Indiana fans think
they're going to get you know, first it was Brad Stevens. Oh,
come on, crazy, Brad. This year's you how much Brad's changed.
So Brad years ago was the biggest and I've known
since he was an assistant at Butler. But when he
becomes a head coach of Butler, Brad is the ultimate
(21:20):
rules guy.
Speaker 3 (21:21):
He'll never break a rule, ever break a rule.
Speaker 4 (21:23):
Like I get out of my car in Vegas and
an au event, he gets out of his car at
the same time. It's in the morning in a gym
watching recruits and they had gotten a commitment from a
kid that morning, and I'm just making small talk at
that point, I'm like, hey, Brad, who.
Speaker 3 (21:37):
Did you get? You know, who's the skid you got?
He's like, Jeff, I can't comment on him.
Speaker 4 (21:40):
I'm like, Brad, it's just you and me here in
the frigging parking lot, Like, dude, I just I'm making
small talk here. Well, Brad, who never comments really on anything.
The Indiana stuff, you know, it started to percolate a
little bit and all these fans think they're getting Brad.
So I texted him and called him, and he put
out a statement saying like no, no, I'm happy here
like I'm not.
Speaker 2 (22:01):
And you leaving a dynasty of the NBA for Indiana.
Speaker 4 (22:04):
And nobody is going back right now to college to
coach in this climate of where it's a complete mess,
with nil with a portal, all that, when you could
get a job in the NBA whenever he wanted. If
Brad Stevens says tomorrow, I want to be the head
coach in the NBA, he'll get five teams every opening
this year. We'll call him every opening. So anyway, Indiana. Sorry,
(22:28):
So you know Brad Stevens. No, you know Dusty May No,
he went to Indiana. He was a manager. He decides
he's staying at Michigan because it fits some better. So
this thing could fall I've said they should go after
Iowa State head coach tj Otzilberger. I don't think he'd
take it at the end of the day, you know,
(22:48):
I don't think Scott Drew will take it at Baylor.
He turned down Kentucky a year ago. So I think
you could get down to where you're talking Brad Burnell
from Clemson legitimately being in the mix, or a Ben McCullum,
a first year head coach who was in the D
two ranks who just won the Missouri Valley at Drake
in his first season. Those guys could be in the
mix of Indiana because guys aren't moving, Jason. They're not
(23:12):
moving because they've got big contracts. If they like their ads,
they're not uprooting their family. As long as they got nil,
they're not gonna move.
Speaker 2 (23:20):
Yeah, he's been there at Clemson for fifteen years now. Again,
I don't know what his family situation, as kids like
that's tough to bail after fifteen years. You got to
really want to be in Bloomington.
Speaker 4 (23:32):
No, and his ad has been very loyal to him
at Clemson. Yeah, a couple of years ago his ad
legitimately young ad named Graham neph said to him before
the year, he said, listen, there's a make or break year.
If you make the tournament, well you know you're staying
if you don't. If you don't make the NCAA tournament,
this is it. He didn't make it. They end up
going to the NIIT and Graham kept them because he said, like,
(23:55):
we're still drawing well attendance wise. He's a great dude,
and part of it is too keep your nose clean
and climbs in basketball, make sure because you got to
protect football.
Speaker 2 (24:06):
Yeah, that's that's obviously tough thing. Interestingly, you mentioned the
guy at Drake, so he just got there, brings all
of his dudes and they're one of the best stories
of college basketball, right.
Speaker 3 (24:16):
Oh.
Speaker 4 (24:16):
I saw them three times in Charleston in November. They've
got a point guard. You got to watch his kid
who as a huge basketball fan of the right way.
This kid's name is Bennett Starts. He is a stud.
Speaker 3 (24:30):
He is like a big point guard who's not going
to blow you away with with athleticism or anything like that. Again,
he had one I think he had won scholarship and
it was to Northwest Missouri State coming is that d
two or three two two.
Speaker 4 (24:46):
So they go there and he brings his entire starting
five other than their leading scorer who exhausted his eligibility
last year. He brings the other four guys with him
to Drake, and everybody's like, well, how good can they be?
Speaker 3 (25:02):
I mean, you know four the two players.
Speaker 4 (25:05):
Yeah, Like it's going to be a big time rebuilding
year at Drake after Darrin de Rivies, you know, was
dominant the last couple of years with his son Tucker.
And they go out there and I'm telling you, when
I saw him in charge, they beat Vandy and Charleston
and I'm like, this team is for real, Like they
play such a fun brand of basketball.
Speaker 3 (25:24):
And this kid starts. I hope he decides to stay.
But if he goes in the portal.
Speaker 2 (25:30):
Wait, why would he go on the portal? Oh? You
think he could play at like North Carolina or something.
Speaker 4 (25:34):
I mean, he could play anywhere, like legitimately, Jason, like
he you know, these guys were getting these big big
men were getting two million dollars this past offseason, Great
Osibor at Washington, Coleman Hawkins at Kansas State. Like, if
I'm paying somebody two million next year, I'm paying Bennetts start.
Speaker 2 (25:50):
Coleman Hawkins got got two million?
Speaker 3 (25:51):
Now?
Speaker 4 (25:51):
Is that rumor or fact a combination? Yeah, it's right
there in that two million dollars.
Speaker 2 (26:00):
Okay, let me ask about Drake because I'm like kind
of interested in betting on them because of this story.
But they've played a lot of overtime games against and
they haven't really you know, they're not clobbering some of
these bad teams, and they haven't stepped up in class. Really.
It looks like their best win was against Kansas State,
which is kind of rivalry, and the Vandy winn was good,
but it was November. Can they make a run to
(26:21):
like this sweet sixteen or are they potentially getting knocked off?
Speaker 3 (26:25):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (26:25):
I mean I love them, so I want to say yes.
I want to say yes in the worst way. But
I'm also kind of realistic here that they haven't played
great in the valley. They've been, you know, very good,
but they've had their stumbling box.
Speaker 3 (26:39):
They're not overpowering, that's the problem.
Speaker 4 (26:42):
They're not big, they're not super athletic.
Speaker 3 (26:46):
But man, I'll be rooting for them. I wouldn't say,
I'd say if they.
Speaker 4 (26:49):
Can get a win they get one win in the
NCAA tournament, that would be a hell of a year.
Speaker 2 (26:54):
So you mentioned Saint John's earlier that one of the
best stories in the sport. Obviously, Rick Patino, a genius,
comes at number two. Defensively, this is probably the best
team since didn't they have a guiding Thornton? Was it
Bootsy Thornton?
Speaker 3 (27:10):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (27:10):
Yeah, they just haven't been good in years. I mean
the last time they were this good, you're talking about
like Chris Mullen playing for something. That's the last time
they were like, yes, this good. I mean this relevant
right their top ten. I went a week and a
half ago at the Garden. It was the weekend of
(27:32):
Duke played Illinois and beat the crap out of him,
and then the next day Patino beat Yukon and Dan Hurley.
And listen, right now, Patino's running the Big East. I mean,
he's absolutely in year two. At seventy two years old
or whatever he is. He does not look or act
like a guy in seventy. You know, some coaches look
(27:54):
and act older, and especially when I deal with these guys,
you can sense it. Rick Patino does not seem like
he's aged a bit. In the last ten years, especially
with how on top of things he is.
Speaker 3 (28:07):
I mean, he's and.
Speaker 4 (28:08):
He's got these guys believing like we win games with
our defense.
Speaker 3 (28:12):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (28:12):
And I talked to Russ Smith who played for him
at Louisville.
Speaker 2 (28:17):
And broke his leg.
Speaker 3 (28:18):
What's up?
Speaker 2 (28:19):
Is Russ Smith the one who broke his leg in
the NCAA tournament.
Speaker 3 (28:21):
No, that's Kevin Waere. Kevin brus Smith was the super
fun yeah.
Speaker 2 (28:26):
Bucket like thirty five against Michigan or something in the tournament.
Speaker 4 (28:30):
He just went off and Russ Russ made a good point,
he said, He goes, I know they're not a great
shooting team. He goes, we weren't a great shooting team
when we won it all and went to the final four.
But as the year went on, we figured it out
because we played so hard defensively, because you had no
choice that your legs weren't there right, you're and you
had to figure out how to play that level of
(28:51):
defense and still have your legs and still be able
to make threes and make shots. And he said, I
think at the end of the year, here you're starting
to see saying John shoot it much better, which they
did the first half.
Speaker 3 (29:02):
Of the Yukon game, they were like eight of sixteen.
Speaker 2 (29:04):
Yes, yeah, but Jeff perkenpom they're three hundred and thirty
seventh and three point shooting. That's out of like three
to sixty.
Speaker 3 (29:11):
I think it's amazing.
Speaker 2 (29:13):
And in free throw shooting they're three hundred. That stuff
concerns me. Plus you never know, March madness. You got
a tight whistle. All of a sudden, you got dudes
in foul trouble.
Speaker 4 (29:21):
Sweet sixteen again, Sweet sixteen. I'm fine with that's a
huge Yeah.
Speaker 3 (29:25):
I don't think they go further than that, all right?
Speaker 2 (29:27):
Is there a sleeper outside of say the top twenty five?
I mean, I guess you could put Yukon into that territory.
Could they be a sleeper? They just don't have it.
Speaker 3 (29:36):
No, they could.
Speaker 4 (29:37):
I don't think they can win the whole thing again.
I don't think they can. They can do the three
peat again, but I certainly think yeah, Alex Caravan looks
more like Alex Caravan than he has in the in the.
Speaker 3 (29:50):
Last few games. His confidence is.
Speaker 4 (29:52):
Back at this point. You know McNeely. Liam mcneely's awesome
as a as a freshman. I just their depth isn't there?
Their depth isn't there.
Speaker 1 (30:03):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at Foxsports Radio
dot com and within the iHeartRadio app. Search FSR to
listen live.
Speaker 2 (30:15):
I got to ask about a certain player, so Aiden Mahaney.
I saw him here on the West Coast. He started
starring at Saint Mary's. I'm like, oh, well, what a
get by ucunn and he barely plays. I don't get it.
Does Hurly hate him? Is it the lack of defense
because nobody on that team plays defense? Or I don't
need to think their top one hundred defensive.
Speaker 3 (30:32):
Them horrible fit.
Speaker 4 (30:34):
You know, like like you need the right type of
personality and player.
Speaker 3 (30:37):
For Dan Hurley.
Speaker 2 (30:38):
You know that I Hurley's gonna ride you and he
can't handle it.
Speaker 4 (30:42):
Yeah, that's just not what he is, right. And the
other part is he can't get by dudes. Not only
can he not guard really at a high level, but
he can't get by dudes in the biggiest He should
have seen the WCC. Think about it, it's the perfect
league for somebody that's not a great athlete.
Speaker 2 (30:58):
So where do you think you'll leave and go?
Speaker 3 (30:59):
So more I would think, I mean, why would you
stay there?
Speaker 2 (31:03):
Yeah, well that's a bummer. I mean I love that
guy's game in the now in the WCC. You're right,
a total another story. So anyway, sorry to interrupt. You
could be a sleeper anyone else.
Speaker 4 (31:15):
I'm trying to think who else could be a sleeper?
I like, say Mary's. I mean, I think they're the
end of the top twenty five right now. I just
think Randy Bennett's one of the elite coaches in the game.
Speaker 3 (31:24):
I mean, he's so good.
Speaker 4 (31:25):
If you've kind of like you get a chance, I
know you're not close close, but if you ever get
a chance, go to a Randy Bennett practice.
Speaker 3 (31:31):
Man, it's like a complete clinic.
Speaker 2 (31:34):
And they got Marcelonis's son on that team.
Speaker 4 (31:36):
He's dominant, really goodsAs Yeah, Goose, this is really good.
They got a veteran big and Mitchell Sachson. You know,
I think again, to me, there'll be some surprises. I
think to get to like the Sweet sixteen, there'll be
some upsets. But I think this year I just don't
see a lot of like party crashers, like like FAU
(31:57):
was a few years ago.
Speaker 3 (31:58):
To the Final four, I'd be surprised if that's the case.
Speaker 2 (32:02):
A year plugged in on the coaching stuff, is Hubert
gave Davis getting run? And if so, who's replacing him?
Speaker 3 (32:07):
Yeah, he'll get one more year.
Speaker 4 (32:09):
You know, he just brought in Jim Tanner, the former
NBA agents Is General manager, Buzz Peterson will come back
in a role.
Speaker 3 (32:15):
They'll they'll they'll change out their staff. They'll have staff changes.
Speaker 4 (32:19):
That'll be basically what the ad Bubba Cunningham will say
to Hubert, a, you know you want to stick around
for another year, You've got to make some changes here.
Speaker 3 (32:28):
You know.
Speaker 4 (32:28):
The crazy part is, think about this, as of seven
days ago, in three of the four years Hubert Davis
has been the head coach, and I'm not counting March.
I think it was March first, the first year he
beat coach k Remember they were on the bubble, and
then they beat coach k On coach Coach k Knight
his final and that's when they went on that crazy
(32:51):
run to the title game. Right, but they're on the
bubble right before that. Then year two they don't, they
don't make the tournament. Year three, last year they're really good.
They win the league and they finished, they go to
the Sweet sixteen, and a year four again they're back
in the bubble.
Speaker 3 (33:06):
So three of the four years entering March first, they're
on the bubble. That is not good enough at North Carolina.
Speaker 4 (33:12):
He'll get one more year and if he obviously, if
he doesn't get to the tournament.
Speaker 2 (33:16):
Next year, is there an NC state out there we
need to be on the lookout for.
Speaker 4 (33:21):
There's never gonna be another NC stage, never gonna be
another NC state. That's the craziest part of what happened.
It came out of absolutely well, I don't want to
say that because years ago, if you remember, if you
remember this one SEC tournament in Atlanta at the Georgia
Dome years ago, there was a tornado that hit and
they had to move it to Georgia Tech, and it
(33:42):
was only it was actually really cool in a way,
not cool about the tornado, but only friends, family and
some media were allowed in to watch that thing and
Georgia Dennis Felton was a head coach back then. He
was going to be fired and they went on this run.
They won five games in four days. They played two
(34:02):
games in a day to win the SEC tournament and
save his job, so crazier things have happened, but you
can't even predict anything like what happened.
Speaker 3 (34:12):
With NC State.
Speaker 2 (34:13):
Yeah, I'll close out by Villanova.
Speaker 3 (34:17):
Could Villanova?
Speaker 4 (34:18):
Villanova has the talent Jason They've got, they got maybe
one of the top ten players in the country and
Eric Dixon. We just don't trust right now Villanova as
a whole.
Speaker 2 (34:28):
Yeah, I mean we know the alsome, tried and true things.
In March. You need great guard play. Are you buying
Perkins and Brickus and Poplar?
Speaker 3 (34:39):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (34:39):
Poplars he was good for real for stretch there. But no,
I don't think there's any consistency to that Villanova team
that they can run off you know, uh, you know,
three or four games in conference play.
Speaker 2 (34:51):
Yeah, it's tough to make one of those deep runs
like out of nowhere. Like Kansas State had the little
guard who was amazing. I can't eve I'm facing his name.
He lit up the garden and he was amazing. Yeah, yeah,
I know, he and like, you just need like one
of those kind of performances to carry you.
Speaker 3 (35:08):
But Kemba, look at Kemba, Kemba Walker, here you go.
Speaker 4 (35:11):
When he carried him not only the NCAA title, but
the Big East title. I mean that was eleven straight wins,
riding you know, Kemba Walker's back.
Speaker 3 (35:20):
It was crazy.
Speaker 2 (35:21):
So the last question is this finally the year for
Kelvin Sampson. They got close a few years ago. They've
been upset in each of the last two years. I
think in the sweet sixteen, although there was an injury
last year against Duke. I remember that because I had Houston,
I like Crier. I liked his team. Do they have
enough shooting Jeff outside of Crier?
Speaker 4 (35:40):
It's funny their percentages say they do. They just don't
take a lot of threes. But Criers have a lead
three point shooter. And the big difference is the kid
Milos Uzan has been terrific.
Speaker 3 (35:51):
He transferred in this year.
Speaker 4 (35:52):
When I saw him in November, he was not good
and Kelvin said, He's like, we are not a good team.
And they've been awesome since, I mean dominating the Big Twelve.
Think about that, like they've got one loss in the
Big twelve.
Speaker 3 (36:06):
Where Kansas is basically you know right, you know, they're
ten and eight, They're two games over five hundred. It's
amazing what Kelvin's been able to do. I just I'm
with you.
Speaker 4 (36:16):
I don't know if they have enough offensive pop to
win the whole thing. But again, I think, you know,
I don't think there's as big of a gap between
Auburn and Duke and the rest of the country as
people were saying there was up until you know, obviously
Auburn loses one game and everybody's like, oh.
Speaker 3 (36:34):
They're not that good, right, They're not that good. They're
not that good. They've like beating everybody this year.
Speaker 4 (36:39):
The only loss they really had before that, you know,
at Duke, you know, which is no shame in that one.
Speaker 2 (36:44):
And obviously Florida and Auburn it looks like they've played
maybe the toughest schedule in the country according to that rating,
and Duke is not top fifty.
Speaker 3 (36:53):
Nope.
Speaker 2 (36:55):
Interesting all right, Jeff Goodman Field of sixty eight, congrats, man,
you're your own boss. That's as good as it gets.
You know, I'll let you tell the people about your move,
shall we say? But life is sounds like life is
good for you, man.
Speaker 3 (37:08):
Yeah, A lot, a lot less stress, a lot less stress.
You know, listen, I love my time.
Speaker 4 (37:13):
You know, I had a great run, you know, Fox CBS, ESPN.
I mean, whoever thought somebody would put my ass on TV?
Speaker 3 (37:21):
Right?
Speaker 1 (37:21):
Like?
Speaker 3 (37:21):
Think about that?
Speaker 2 (37:22):
Well, you know, I didn't get to ask about him
because I know you guys go way back. I know him.
I was trying to get him on the pod. But
Doug Gottlieb obviously coaching now doing a radio show. It's
been a tough go in year one. Obviously. Listen, you
got to give guys some time to bake in this environment.
Have you have you talked to Doug? Are you guys?
Doil friendly?
Speaker 3 (37:40):
Are you?
Speaker 2 (37:40):
I don't know?
Speaker 3 (37:41):
Just I love Doug.
Speaker 4 (37:42):
I love Doug personally. I get a lot great with him.
We hosted a show for the last couple of years
on Stadium. It's funny. He hit me up the other day.
We were texting about something. He's like, He's like, you know,
have you haven't you watched us? Or something like that,
haven't you watched us? We're playing much harder. I'm like, Doug,
you've like three games. No, I'm not watching you. I
(38:02):
have to watch teams that are nationally relevant, you dumbass.
But I love Doug to death. I'm pulling for him.
He's a brilliant basketball mind, Jason. He really is a
brilliant and I think, you know, he just needs to
get enough talent. He got that job late.
Speaker 3 (38:20):
I've never had that last job filled.
Speaker 4 (38:22):
Yeah, and I've never had a situation like this. He
got the job, and I'm not kidding. Twenty five coaches
write it within the first twenty four hours called me
for his number because they all wanted to play it.
Speaker 3 (38:35):
They all wanted to play it. Yeah, oh yeah, everybody
wanted to play it. Well, they knew, they knew. Number one,
he got the job late. There's nothing left in the portal.
Number two.
Speaker 4 (38:45):
He's going to try to balance coaching and a full
time you know, radio job, which.
Speaker 3 (38:50):
You would know better than most on that one.
Speaker 4 (38:53):
Like, I get it, and I actually think the hardest
part of doing it is you're not able to watch enough.
Like you're gonna take away from both jobs, because yeah,
you're gonna take away a little bit from you. But
you know, he said in his story, in a story
that was done recently in CBS, you know, he's divorced.
(39:13):
His two girls are older, they're in college. He's got
one son who's probably about thirteen or so. But again,
Doug Man, if there's anybody that can juggle a million things.
Speaker 3 (39:24):
I've seen it firsthand. It's Doug Gottlieb.
Speaker 2 (39:27):
Yeah, no, No, he's got an uphill climb, for sure.
It's funny you talk about the juggling. So, you know,
I coached my kids in sports, and maybe like six
months ago, local high school reached out to me and
was like, hey, we might have a job, a coaching job,
if you're interested. And I'm like, listen, this is not
varsity obviously, but I was like, my kids don't even
go to high school. That would be too weird. But
I do love hoops and I do coach my kids
(39:49):
and we you know, I have good players and we
win a lot. But like, I can't imagine going through
what he's going through.
Speaker 3 (39:56):
Jeff.
Speaker 2 (39:57):
I mean, you know what it's like starting your own business,
and that's just starting a basketball team. You've got this
huge audience and you get in your ass kicked and
then Lebron's taking shots Adam Schefter's you know, like.
Speaker 3 (40:06):
Chefter was wrong.
Speaker 2 (40:07):
Some of that was brought on, he brought on.
Speaker 4 (40:08):
She was wrong, Like Doug was right on that one.
Like Sacramento State is not going to five hundred million
whatever it was Yeah, was it like five hundred or
fifty million dollars? Fifty million dollars in nil? Come on, Like,
what if.
Speaker 2 (40:20):
He brought you on as an advisor, would your number
one thing say, say off social media, delete it from
her phone? Focused on basketball?
Speaker 3 (40:27):
No, I would just make him send me his his tweets.
Speaker 2 (40:30):
Before before anything goes out.
Speaker 3 (40:32):
Correct. And I'm not great either, I've gotten better.
Speaker 4 (40:35):
Here here's the key for me, Jason. I don't go
back at people very often anymore.
Speaker 2 (40:39):
You used to, Yeah, I remember, Oh, I used to
kill people.
Speaker 3 (40:42):
Kill people.
Speaker 4 (40:44):
The difference is and you'll find this out. So my
daughter covers women's college basketball full time now. So she's
on Twitter, and she's a junior at Indiana, but she
full time. She's got a full time job. In addition,
she's on Twitter. So it forces me to be better
because she gets a lot of the crap. They'll DM her,
they'll do out you know, like it just I gotta
(41:06):
be careful. I gotta be careful because I don't want
her to see the dumb stuff I do.
Speaker 2 (41:10):
Also, that's a good point. You know. My kid came
to me and it was like Dad, Well, one of
my buddies came up and was like, why is your
dad beefing with Kevin Durant And I was like, they
were like, yeah, it's on YouTube and I was like,
oh jeez. So and again my kid just doesn't impact
my kids. They find it funny. But you're right, as
someone who's like trying to be an actual journalist, that
(41:30):
that could be tough, almost an impediment.
Speaker 3 (41:33):
It's hard enough for a twenty twenty one year old,
you know girl.
Speaker 4 (41:37):
To do this, get in this, you know, like, this
is not you better be thick skinned better.
Speaker 2 (41:42):
If you told your kid to come into journalism.
Speaker 4 (41:44):
No, I didn't tell her. I told her not to. Yeah,
that's oh, not to, but you didn't listen to me.
Speaker 2 (41:49):
I don't even want my kids taking any like journalism class,
like stay away from this field.
Speaker 4 (41:53):
Well it's just it's gone in a bad direction. And
the one thing I've done with Tali and my daughter
is teach her. Try to teacher the right way to
do it right, like the way that we the way
that I learned to do it right.
Speaker 3 (42:07):
Two sources, and make sure that there are no rules.
Speaker 4 (42:09):
Now you know, anybody it's any accountability, there's no accountability none.
Speaker 3 (42:14):
That's the problem. It's for me. It's like you can't
be wrong. You can't. Now again, I'll give my opinion.
You know that.
Speaker 4 (42:20):
I've always given my opinion and been unafraid of that.
But it's always an opinion based on generally based on information,
and yeah, if I'm wrong, I'm wrong.
Speaker 2 (42:30):
This is Jeff Goodman Field of sixty eight. Enjoy the tournament,
Buddy good, catch it
Speaker 3 (42:35):
Up always Man
This is Straight Fire with Jason McIntyre.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
What is up, straight Fire Fan? It's me Jason McIntyre,
Straight Fire for Friday, March the seventh. Oh, we have
a phenomenal podcast to take you to the weekend. You know,
it's March Madness.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
Loo.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
I love college basketball. The tournament is selection Sundays, like
what two weeks away. It's phenomenal. You gotta love it.
So to preview March Madness, you've got Jeff Goodman. Previously,
he's been at Fox ESPN. I think he was a Yeah,
he's been everywhere covering college troops for like twenty five
thirty years. He joins he's with the Field of sixty eight,
(00:46):
his own venture, which is pretty cool working for himself.
But before we get to that, I just quickly have
to talk about Lakers one thirteen Nicks one oh nine
in overtime, absolutely thriller at Crypto. The Lakers were in
rough shape. You know, you could tell Austin Reeve's first
game back. He can't throw it in the ocean. I think
(01:07):
he was like one for twelve in regulation before a
big time shot in overtime. He was on a minute's
restriction or something, but he just didn't look good, right, uh,
Ruey's still out, Durri and Phinney Smith couldn't make a three.
At halftime, the Lakers were four of twenty two from deep,
four to twenty two. You're not winning any games. No,
actually there wasn't half time. That was like a late
(01:29):
third quarter four twenty two from three, and then they
finish ten of forty two, meaning they went ten for
the last twenty fifty percent from deep. That's you know,
gave Vincent Luka nanchic. But overall, the big story here
is the Knicks played really really well. They kind of
blew the lead there late with Luca hitting a bomb
and Lebron a couple and gave Vincent threw in one
(01:50):
or two. And then you go to overtime and adding
insult to injury, Jalen Brunson goes down. Brunson was unguardable.
He switched on to Luca at at least half a
dozen times in the game. Sorry, in the fourth quarter
in overtime and we just attack, and you know, Austin
Reeves tried, he couldn't stop it, and they would get
Jackson Hayes. Lebron decided to take Jalen Brunson for two possessions.
(02:13):
He ended up fouling him like Brunson is just unguardable.
He had thirty nine points in forty one minutes, but
then turned his ankle badly and shot the free throws.
He made them, of course, because he's so good at
the line, and then he exited the game and it
looked like a bad ankle twist. We know what the
Knicks narrative is going to be today. Those guys, Oh,
they can't win games against good teams. They never will,
(02:36):
They're not a contender. Blah blah blah. Folks, these losses
aren't the worst thing in the world. They're not because
currently the Knicks are third. Okay, they can't catch the
Celtics for second, so they're then best case scenario, if
they tread water the rest of the way, they'll face
the Celtics in the second round. They're not beating the
(02:57):
Celtics and certainly not in the second round. Okay, now,
maybe we can make an argument for conference finals. You know,
Knicks superstar players start cooking the Celtics, Oe Colt whatever.
But after the Celtics at three, you've got the Bucks
at four. Okay, you're only two and a half up
on the Bucks. If Brunson's out for two weeks here,
(03:19):
it's not the worst thing in the world. If the
Knicks fall to four, they would then face the Pacers
in the first round. You know, Pacers are all right,
I mean, Pistons at six or not not that bad.
And Miami's got you know, heat culture even though they're
not have good players really, so then the Knicks would
face the Pacers, and then in the second round the
Calves as opposed to Boston. I think, you know, if
(03:42):
I'm the Knicks, I'm not scared of the Cleveland Cavaliers.
I'm not. I don't care what the scores were during
the season. That's the regular season. We know in the
playoffs you get a different whistle. I mean, go ahead
and tell me you know who on the Calves is
your lockdown defender for Jalen bruns Are you putting DeAndre
Hunter on him? I don't. I mean Hunter gets lit
up by Wings. He's a good defender, but he's not elite.
(04:03):
If I'm the Knicks, That's my thought heading into the playoffs, like, hey, listen,
we need to rest Jalen Brunson. He can chill. Let
these other guys cook, and if we lose a couple
of games, so what, who cares? Right, as long as
you can avoid the Celtics. Now ask for the Lakers.
You know a lot of people think I'm getting to
be a major Laker homer, and maybe that's the case.
(04:24):
But Lebron had thirty one and twelve and eight and
Luca had thirty two, twelve and seven. Okay, Like this
team's phenomenal, and you watch them and that fourth quarter
was back and forth, just haymakers from Luca Lebron, and
it's like, this team is so easy to root for.
The NBA was super fun. And oh, by the way,
(04:46):
before we get to Jeff Goodman Lakers first quarter, cash
is yet again, I'm fairly certain that's fourteen of the
last sixteen games. Can you bet at Saturday night in
Boston that streak could end there, but you'll probably be
getting at least two or three right Anyways, without further ado,
let's go to Jeff Goodman from the Field of sixty eight.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
You know a guy Jason likes to think he knows
everything when it comes to sports.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
I know what sports fans want.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
But for everything he doesn't. He knows a guy who does.
Speaker 4 (05:19):
Let's just say I know a guy who knows the
guy who knows another guy.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
All right, let's welcome back to straight fire. One of
the most prominent voices in college basketball been covering the
sport for I don't know, fifteen, twenty thirty years. I
mean he's been at all the big shops. Now he's
got his own, no boss to answer to. Field of
sixty eight. Jeff Goodman, how are you? Man?
Speaker 4 (05:41):
Man, it's good to see you. It's been way too long.
It is good to see you. It's been listen, it's
been a blast to say. I knew you win. I
knew you win.
Speaker 3 (05:51):
Nobody knew you, right, Can I say that?
Speaker 2 (05:53):
Well, I've known you for a long time because I'm
a college basketball nerd, and I would always just pepper
him with questions. He's probably like, who's this annoying guy?
Speaker 3 (06:00):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (06:01):
I love you asking me stuff, And I mean, you're
at the top of the food chain there. You know
everything about the sports. So I figured, you know, I
love March Madness. Conference Championship Week starts, well, the JV
Week is this week, and then the Big Ones next week,
and then the tournament obviously, but you know, we do
a lot of gambling on the pod, and you guys
talk a lot of gambling. So I mean, for the
first time in I guess three years, it's kind of
(06:22):
going to be wide open. The last two years were
the Yukon Invitational, right, and then this year. I mean,
I guess you could say Duke and Auburn are favorites,
but it's not like Yukon last year or the last
two years, right.
Speaker 3 (06:34):
That's right.
Speaker 4 (06:34):
No, I mean, Auburn's been surprisingly dominant all year because
nobody saw this coming.
Speaker 3 (06:41):
Bruce Pearl included, you know, he didn't know they'd be
this good.
Speaker 4 (06:45):
But you know it's a combination, right, of the pieces
fitting together and the chemistry is unbelieved. I was down
there a week or so ago and I did a
TV interview that will air on CBS Final four weekend.
I did it with twenty two year old Player of
the Year candidate, fifth year senior, to Hot Pettiford freshman,
(07:08):
five star freshman, and Miles Kelly and the three of
them are sitting there and I'm not kidding. It was
my favorite interview I've done in ten years because all
they did was shit on each other. I mean, Pettiford
killed and killed them. The eighteen year old freshman is
killing the twenty two year old fifth year senior, and
Broom loves it, loves it.
Speaker 3 (07:28):
So like you can just tell.
Speaker 4 (07:31):
And that's hard these days because they've been playing together
for what eight months, all three of them, so like
it's everything together. And Bruce Pearl listened. You could say
what you want about Bruce Pearl. He is a master motivator.
He is so good with people and kids and everybody
that I just think Auburn they've got the whole package.
(07:52):
And listen what they've done again. You know, the quad
one wins is out of control this year. Duke's great
because Cooper's better than I thought he'd be. And I'd
seen him forty times in AU ball and he's even
better Jason, because he's all about winning. I mean when
you saw him in AU ball, he took a team
(08:13):
from Maine and like took him deep in every au tournament.
Speaker 3 (08:17):
Like main, I mean, there's a team for me. Maine
has no players.
Speaker 4 (08:21):
Ever, they don't know players, So like right there, you
knew he's loyal number one and he always just played
hard all the time, and his IQ is off the
charts and he guards and he doesn't want it.
Speaker 3 (08:34):
He wants to just be one of the guys, which
again that's part of the deal.
Speaker 4 (08:38):
He hasn't done one one on one interview all year
in the season, only post stuff post game. He's fine,
but like we've asked for it and other people have
and now he just wants to be one. Kind of
reminds me a little bit of Kawhi in that regard,
because Kawai just wanted to do his thing. And I
know Kawhi gets a bad rap now from at least
(08:59):
a guy who I think is out of control with
how he kills him.
Speaker 3 (09:03):
Well, he just doesn't know him.
Speaker 4 (09:05):
I think stephen A's problem is he does it no
Kawhi because Kawhi doesn't give a shit about the media.
Speaker 3 (09:10):
You know, And that's the beauty of Kawhi, right.
Speaker 4 (09:13):
Kawhi played harder than everybody when he was on the
court when he was healthy. Cooper five plays so goddamn
hard every possession. So those two are are probably a
notch above everybody because of what they've done over the
course of the season. But it's it's also hard to
evaluate Duke in ACC play because the league thanks.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
Brutal year for the ACC. Let's go back to Auburn
for six. So obviously you tinker around on some of
these sites, and I'm looking at the Auburn starting five
and essentially for the guys are transfers. You got Baker Mazarro,
who's twenty five years old. The modern team is super
interesting now because, like you said, Pettiford, who's one of
my favorite players in college. Like, I know he's only
(09:55):
a freshman, but he I think he gave like twenty
or more to Houston, Duke, Kentucky, all the good teams.
They play like. He's really nice. But the way these
teams are built is just a hodgepodge of veterans, right,
that's the way to succeed.
Speaker 4 (10:08):
Now, Yeah, I think Villanova started that a little bit, right,
you know, when Jay Wright was winning titles. Everybody kind
of went to that model, and it went even further
when you had the extra COVID year.
Speaker 3 (10:19):
Everybody's saying like, Okay, this is our advantage. Right.
Speaker 4 (10:22):
In the last couple of years, the freshman classes have
been atrocious overall. This year is obviously much better, but
you look at it and you still say, okay, Cooper
Flag number one, East Bailey and Dylan Harper two and three,
they're not making the tournament. Trey Johnson's in there vj Edgecumbe,
they're both barely making the tournament if they do. So, Like,
Cooper Flag is the outlier here, and there's a reason
(10:44):
he's the outlier, just because again it's funny because going
into the year, everybody asked me. Everybody's like, can he
be a guy you build your NBA team around?
Speaker 3 (10:56):
And I was like, no, I don't think so. I mean,
he's clearly a number two guy.
Speaker 4 (11:00):
And now now I don't know if you can win
a championship with him as your number one.
Speaker 3 (11:05):
But I'm not saying no anymore. I'm not saying no.
Speaker 4 (11:08):
I think you can build your franchise around Cooper Flag
absolutely if you have the right pieces around Well.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
Yeah, that's a real tough discussion because frankly, if when
Jokic was drafted, could you build a franchise around him?
Hell no, Yannas Singdal Steph Curry, no way, I mean
other than Lebron like.
Speaker 3 (11:27):
But we didn't know a lot.
Speaker 4 (11:28):
We didn't know a lot about the Joker or Yannis
at that point and Steph. The questions were there, right, like,
look at him, can he guard anybody? Can he play
the point? Look at his body? Like there were a
lot with this kid. You're like, he's got the body,
he's got the IQ. He's proven it at the highest
level as a he.
Speaker 3 (11:47):
Started as a seventeen year old freshman.
Speaker 4 (11:49):
Seventeen wasn't reclassified like a lot of these kids. So
there's a lot more that we know about Cooper that
you want to pick apart, Like how much have you
heard anybody pick anything apart more? You know, it's usually
the more you see these kids, the more we want
to tear him down. I know that's like the NBA
deal right now, and I don't want to get into that,
but ugly, but.
Speaker 3 (12:10):
You can't pick Cooper apart. What are you gonna what
are you gonna say negatively?
Speaker 2 (12:14):
He's hitting thirty eight percent on threes, right, that's eighty
two percent from the line. The guys, he's amazing here here.
The one question I asked was, so, Jeff, when Zion
hit Duke, it was like, oh my gosh, Zion's totally dominant.
I feel like we should have had that for Cooper
flag but we don't. Is this about swag and like
ridiculous dunking and breaking out of shoes because Cooper's flag
(12:36):
has been kind of sort of as good as Zion.
Speaker 4 (12:38):
No, I don't think ESPN did a good job in
the preseason because they're the ones who drive this. Let's
face it, they are the ones who drive it, and
I don't think they did it's good a job because
I remember being in those meetings, those those preseason meetings
at ESPN, even when Ben Simmons was was coming in.
Speaker 3 (12:55):
Lsu oh, lsu.
Speaker 4 (12:57):
Yeah, yeah, this is what we're gonna do. We're gonna
hammer this home. We are gonna honestly make people, uh
you know, hate this kid because they're gonna hear about
him so much. And Cooper, first of all, he's not unlikable,
like you're a normal white duke player.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
He's not laightoner yeah yeah, yeah, not.
Speaker 4 (13:16):
Like Latoner had the facial expressions.
Speaker 3 (13:20):
Yeah he was a dick, JJ reddick was a dick.
Speaker 2 (13:23):
He was, He would admit that to him.
Speaker 3 (13:24):
Yeah, Cooper is not that Cooper is.
Speaker 4 (13:28):
He kind of keeps the same expression in his face,
doesn't talk shit really, so he's harder to dislike it'll
be interesting to see in the NCAA tournament if they
go deep and the world catches on to who the
hell Cooper flag is?
Speaker 3 (13:41):
If they does he become unlikable?
Speaker 2 (13:43):
If you don't think they were the Final four borderline lock?
Speaker 3 (13:45):
No, I do, I do. I do think. I actually
think Duke is more of a lock than Auburn.
Speaker 2 (13:50):
Yeah, I would agree. I think that's a good analysis.
Let me ask you about this Florida team. Uh so
I keep betting against him, keep losing. I know Todd
Golden went through some sort of scandal earlier this year,
or maybe it was his assistance, but there was.
Speaker 4 (14:05):
A tittle nine No, it is a Title nine thing
that he was completely cleared of.
Speaker 3 (14:09):
That. I know a lot more than I can say.
Speaker 2 (14:11):
Wait, so oh wait? Was he the one sliding in
dms of girls allegedly alleged alleged and he was cleared
of all that.
Speaker 3 (14:17):
I was clear to most of it. He was clear
to the Title nine investigation. I don't know if he's
interested in.
Speaker 2 (14:21):
Some m I mean, these women were posted like college
kids were posting stuff, and I thought like, oh, they're
going to go sideways, And I mean, they've been amazing
They're on a run right now this season. The last
twenty five games, they've covered twenty that's like unheard of.
They're totally dominant. The only thing that has me off
on them, and again this is my small thing, is
the free throw shooting. And I cannot stand betting on
(14:44):
teams that can't choot free throws in March because you know,
the whistles, the fowls. But what do you think of
this Florida team?
Speaker 3 (14:51):
And their guards are awesome?
Speaker 4 (14:52):
Yeah, Like I remember when they got Elijah Martin from
FAU he was so bad, not bad last year, but
two years ago. Obviously they went to the on a
four him and Nellie Davis and he was great. And
then last year he just didn't look like himself, and
I think part of it was it was just a
Nelly Davis dominated team and Elijah to know where he fit.
Speaker 3 (15:12):
He's been awesome with Florida.
Speaker 4 (15:14):
Alex Connon uh Ford has been phenomenal. They they're again
their guards, they're three or four guards. They've actually got four.
This kid, Denzel Aberdeen comes off the bench and he
played when Eliza was hurt. But a Walter Clayton junior
from Iona chose to go to Florida instead of following
Rick Patino. Imagine if he was at Saint John's.
Speaker 3 (15:35):
Because he's the first team All American in my opinion,
Walter Clayton, Oh yeah, he's that good. Wow, that good
this year.
Speaker 4 (15:42):
Yeah, so him, Elijah Martin, will Richard. Will Richard came
from Belmont, So those three kids, think about that Iona Fau,
which is a mid major. I know, we don't want
to say that because they went to the Final four,
but they if you go down to Fau's Jim, you'll
you'll you'll say, like, this is a true mid major.
I was just down there last week and Belmont and
(16:05):
again you look at they don't have I think they
have won like five one, four or five star kid
on their whole roster. So they've done a great job
evaluating and again getting old and their pieces fit together
so well.
Speaker 2 (16:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (16:19):
The only question I have, the bigger one.
Speaker 4 (16:21):
Than the free throw shooting, is like, yeah, Ty Golden
in a big moment, like he's unproven going up against.
Speaker 3 (16:28):
You know, the Bruce Pearls of the world.
Speaker 4 (16:31):
The Natos is the one that he's done it in
SEC play, but it's a different ballgame in the NCAA Tournament.
Speaker 1 (16:37):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at Foxsports Radio
dot com and within the iHeartRadio app search FSR to
listen live.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
You mentioned Nate Oates Alabama. I tweeted this and all
these Alabama fans got pissed. Any did they peak too early?
They've lost too straight now in the SEC. That's not
the worst thing in the world. You know, you're losing
to Auburn Tennessee, Florida, but they're you know, they lost
four of six here. They have to face Auburn again Saturday,
so you know, you don't want to go into the
NCAA tournament or even a conference tournament kind of sliding
(17:10):
like this. What do you think's wrong with Natos's team?
Speaker 4 (17:14):
They're not as good as shooting team as we thought.
They lost the kid Latrell right so back in November.
He was one of the better shooters. Their pieces don't
fit quite as well because they brought in the big
transfer from Rutgers Cliff and Moory, and he really doesn't
fit the way they play. You know, they need a big,
they needed a big and a rim protector, but they
needed like a skilled, you know guy on the offensive end.
(17:37):
Because of the way Alabama plays, they got to have
somebody that can that can make some shots, and Cliff
just doesn't give him anything on offense, so it's like
hard to play him.
Speaker 3 (17:49):
And Mark Sears to me, is the guy that he
just he took him the final four last year.
Speaker 4 (17:55):
A very underwhelming team talent wise, I think a year ago,
they're more talented this year. They also Darien Reid, who's
going to be a first round pick, who's been out
for the last like month, month and a half, who's
their most versatile player.
Speaker 2 (18:08):
But is he going to be back?
Speaker 3 (18:10):
Yeah, I think so.
Speaker 4 (18:11):
I got to find out what the update is with him,
but I think it's serious. It's been a roller coaster
ride and he hasn't become the leader that Natoes was hoping.
He's benched him a couple of times this year. He
can be dominant. I mean, he can be so good
when he wants to be, you know, getting in the lane, scoring,
making life easier for his teammates.
Speaker 3 (18:32):
And then sometimes he can look like selfish, Yes, very selfish.
Speaker 2 (18:36):
Well yeah, let me ask you about Grant Nelson. He
kind of blew up in the NCAA tournament last year.
I thought he would try to go to the league.
He has some characteristics length, can step out and shoot it.
Tho he's not shooting a well this year. Where are
you on this kid, Nelson?
Speaker 4 (18:50):
Yeah, not a great shooter. Not a great shooter. That's
what's holding him back. That's why he didn't go last year.
You know again and thin and if you're not a
great shooter. He's good athlete, really really good athlete. Came
from mid major in the Summit League. He's from Dakota.
But I think again, their piece is just like they
should be better, even you watched them last week, right
(19:12):
and they give the ball at the end of the
game to the freshman le Baron Fylon and he has
a five second call on one play, then he doesn't
get the ball to years on another play, then he
drives in. I feel like they doesn't really know who
they are yet and we're so late in the game.
Speaker 3 (19:29):
That's not a good thing.
Speaker 2 (19:31):
So we haven't talked a lot about the a SEC
other than your little dig that they're down. I mean
they've got what like seventeen teams then only like three
year good in North Carolina's probably not going to get in.
What do you think about Clemson?
Speaker 3 (19:45):
Underrated? Really? Really?
Speaker 2 (19:47):
They were a hot team for me last year. I
liked them going to the tournament, and I like the
kid brownwell, the coaches he's good.
Speaker 4 (19:53):
Rod Brunell's really good, a great job, and he kind
of lived his life in the hot seat for the
longest time.
Speaker 3 (19:59):
He could be there's a chance with what's going on
in Indiana. So I don't know. If you want me
to go on a tangent here to the.
Speaker 2 (20:07):
Oh, go for it. I don't know what's going on
in Indiana because I don't pay attention to crap teams.
Speaker 4 (20:11):
Yeah, Indiana, obviously, Mike Woodson crazy. I pay attention to
this one even more because my daughter is a junior
in Indiana.
Speaker 3 (20:18):
So I'm taking fifty grand in a year to her education.
So I care fifty fifty Indiana.
Speaker 2 (20:25):
Yeah, hotly count.
Speaker 3 (20:26):
Yeah, wait, how old are your kids now?
Speaker 2 (20:28):
No, they're middle school, so we're not quite there yet.
But uh, I guess I got start putting some money aside.
Holy count.
Speaker 3 (20:33):
Definitely, dude, definitely don't spend it all gambling, all right?
Speaker 4 (20:36):
No, no, definitely, So they Woodson he's out, you know,
a month and a half ago. Whatever, they've rebounded, they've
actually played well lately. They're probably right on the bubble,
which would be a crazy thing if they basically got him,
you know, to say he's stepping down.
Speaker 3 (20:52):
He didn't really want to step down.
Speaker 2 (20:53):
Oh you think they shoved him out? Oh yeah, oh
d I didn't follow it closely.
Speaker 3 (20:58):
Yeah, he didn't want to go.
Speaker 4 (21:00):
So anyway, So it's open now and Indiana fans think
they're going to get you know, first it was Brad Stevens. Oh,
come on, crazy, Brad. This year's you how much Brad's changed.
So Brad years ago was the biggest and I've known
since he was an assistant at Butler. But when he
becomes a head coach of Butler, Brad is the ultimate
(21:20):
rules guy.
Speaker 3 (21:21):
He'll never break a rule, ever break a rule.
Speaker 4 (21:23):
Like I get out of my car in Vegas and
an au event, he gets out of his car at
the same time. It's in the morning in a gym
watching recruits and they had gotten a commitment from a
kid that morning, and I'm just making small talk at
that point, I'm like, hey, Brad, who.
Speaker 3 (21:37):
Did you get? You know, who's the skid you got?
He's like, Jeff, I can't comment on him.
Speaker 4 (21:40):
I'm like, Brad, it's just you and me here in
the frigging parking lot, Like, dude, I just I'm making
small talk here. Well, Brad, who never comments really on anything.
The Indiana stuff, you know, it started to percolate a
little bit and all these fans think they're getting Brad.
So I texted him and called him, and he put
out a statement saying like no, no, I'm happy here
like I'm not.
Speaker 2 (22:01):
And you leaving a dynasty of the NBA for Indiana.
Speaker 4 (22:04):
And nobody is going back right now to college to
coach in this climate of where it's a complete mess,
with nil with a portal, all that, when you could
get a job in the NBA whenever he wanted. If
Brad Stevens says tomorrow, I want to be the head
coach in the NBA, he'll get five teams every opening
this year. We'll call him every opening. So anyway, Indiana. Sorry,
(22:28):
So you know Brad Stevens. No, you know Dusty May No,
he went to Indiana. He was a manager. He decides
he's staying at Michigan because it fits some better. So
this thing could fall I've said they should go after
Iowa State head coach tj Otzilberger. I don't think he'd
take it at the end of the day, you know,
(22:48):
I don't think Scott Drew will take it at Baylor.
He turned down Kentucky a year ago. So I think
you could get down to where you're talking Brad Burnell
from Clemson legitimately being in the mix, or a Ben McCullum,
a first year head coach who was in the D
two ranks who just won the Missouri Valley at Drake
in his first season. Those guys could be in the
mix of Indiana because guys aren't moving, Jason. They're not
(23:12):
moving because they've got big contracts. If they like their ads,
they're not uprooting their family. As long as they got nil,
they're not gonna move.
Speaker 2 (23:20):
Yeah, he's been there at Clemson for fifteen years now. Again,
I don't know what his family situation, as kids like
that's tough to bail after fifteen years. You got to
really want to be in Bloomington.
Speaker 4 (23:32):
No, and his ad has been very loyal to him
at Clemson. Yeah, a couple of years ago his ad
legitimately young ad named Graham neph said to him before
the year, he said, listen, there's a make or break year.
If you make the tournament, well you know you're staying
if you don't. If you don't make the NCAA tournament,
this is it. He didn't make it. They end up
going to the NIIT and Graham kept them because he said, like,
(23:55):
we're still drawing well attendance wise. He's a great dude,
and part of it is too keep your nose clean
and climbs in basketball, make sure because you got to
protect football.
Speaker 2 (24:06):
Yeah, that's that's obviously tough thing. Interestingly, you mentioned the
guy at Drake, so he just got there, brings all
of his dudes and they're one of the best stories
of college basketball, right.
Speaker 3 (24:16):
Oh.
Speaker 4 (24:16):
I saw them three times in Charleston in November. They've
got a point guard. You got to watch his kid
who as a huge basketball fan of the right way.
This kid's name is Bennett Starts. He is a stud.
Speaker 3 (24:30):
He is like a big point guard who's not going
to blow you away with with athleticism or anything like that. Again,
he had one I think he had won scholarship and
it was to Northwest Missouri State coming is that d
two or three two two.
Speaker 4 (24:46):
So they go there and he brings his entire starting
five other than their leading scorer who exhausted his eligibility
last year. He brings the other four guys with him
to Drake, and everybody's like, well, how good can they be?
Speaker 3 (25:02):
I mean, you know four the two players.
Speaker 4 (25:05):
Yeah, Like it's going to be a big time rebuilding
year at Drake after Darrin de Rivies, you know, was
dominant the last couple of years with his son Tucker.
And they go out there and I'm telling you, when
I saw him in charge, they beat Vandy and Charleston
and I'm like, this team is for real, Like they
play such a fun brand of basketball.
Speaker 3 (25:24):
And this kid starts. I hope he decides to stay.
But if he goes in the portal.
Speaker 2 (25:30):
Wait, why would he go on the portal? Oh? You
think he could play at like North Carolina or something.
Speaker 4 (25:34):
I mean, he could play anywhere, like legitimately, Jason, like
he you know, these guys were getting these big big
men were getting two million dollars this past offseason, Great
Osibor at Washington, Coleman Hawkins at Kansas State. Like, if
I'm paying somebody two million next year, I'm paying Bennetts start.
Speaker 2 (25:50):
Coleman Hawkins got got two million?
Speaker 3 (25:51):
Now?
Speaker 4 (25:51):
Is that rumor or fact a combination? Yeah, it's right
there in that two million dollars.
Speaker 2 (26:00):
Okay, let me ask about Drake because I'm like kind
of interested in betting on them because of this story.
But they've played a lot of overtime games against and
they haven't really you know, they're not clobbering some of
these bad teams, and they haven't stepped up in class. Really.
It looks like their best win was against Kansas State,
which is kind of rivalry, and the Vandy winn was good,
but it was November. Can they make a run to
(26:21):
like this sweet sixteen or are they potentially getting knocked off?
Speaker 3 (26:25):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (26:25):
I mean I love them, so I want to say yes.
I want to say yes in the worst way. But
I'm also kind of realistic here that they haven't played
great in the valley. They've been, you know, very good,
but they've had their stumbling box.
Speaker 3 (26:39):
They're not overpowering, that's the problem.
Speaker 4 (26:42):
They're not big, they're not super athletic.
Speaker 3 (26:46):
But man, I'll be rooting for them. I wouldn't say,
I'd say if they.
Speaker 4 (26:49):
Can get a win they get one win in the
NCAA tournament, that would be a hell of a year.
Speaker 2 (26:54):
So you mentioned Saint John's earlier that one of the
best stories in the sport. Obviously, Rick Patino, a genius,
comes at number two. Defensively, this is probably the best
team since didn't they have a guiding Thornton? Was it
Bootsy Thornton?
Speaker 3 (27:10):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (27:10):
Yeah, they just haven't been good in years. I mean
the last time they were this good, you're talking about
like Chris Mullen playing for something. That's the last time
they were like, yes, this good. I mean this relevant
right their top ten. I went a week and a
half ago at the Garden. It was the weekend of
(27:32):
Duke played Illinois and beat the crap out of him,
and then the next day Patino beat Yukon and Dan Hurley.
And listen, right now, Patino's running the Big East. I mean,
he's absolutely in year two. At seventy two years old
or whatever he is. He does not look or act
like a guy in seventy. You know, some coaches look
(27:54):
and act older, and especially when I deal with these guys,
you can sense it. Rick Patino does not seem like
he's aged a bit. In the last ten years, especially
with how on top of things he is.
Speaker 3 (28:07):
I mean, he's and.
Speaker 4 (28:08):
He's got these guys believing like we win games with
our defense.
Speaker 3 (28:12):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (28:12):
And I talked to Russ Smith who played for him
at Louisville.
Speaker 2 (28:17):
And broke his leg.
Speaker 3 (28:18):
What's up?
Speaker 2 (28:19):
Is Russ Smith the one who broke his leg in
the NCAA tournament.
Speaker 3 (28:21):
No, that's Kevin Waere. Kevin brus Smith was the super
fun yeah.
Speaker 2 (28:26):
Bucket like thirty five against Michigan or something in the tournament.
Speaker 4 (28:30):
He just went off and Russ Russ made a good point,
he said, He goes, I know they're not a great
shooting team. He goes, we weren't a great shooting team
when we won it all and went to the final four.
But as the year went on, we figured it out
because we played so hard defensively, because you had no
choice that your legs weren't there right, you're and you
had to figure out how to play that level of
(28:51):
defense and still have your legs and still be able
to make threes and make shots. And he said, I
think at the end of the year, here you're starting
to see saying John shoot it much better, which they
did the first half.
Speaker 3 (29:02):
Of the Yukon game, they were like eight of sixteen.
Speaker 2 (29:04):
Yes, yeah, but Jeff perkenpom they're three hundred and thirty
seventh and three point shooting. That's out of like three
to sixty.
Speaker 3 (29:11):
I think it's amazing.
Speaker 2 (29:13):
And in free throw shooting they're three hundred. That stuff
concerns me. Plus you never know, March madness. You got
a tight whistle. All of a sudden, you got dudes
in foul trouble.
Speaker 4 (29:21):
Sweet sixteen again, Sweet sixteen. I'm fine with that's a
huge Yeah.
Speaker 3 (29:25):
I don't think they go further than that, all right?
Speaker 2 (29:27):
Is there a sleeper outside of say the top twenty five?
I mean, I guess you could put Yukon into that territory.
Could they be a sleeper? They just don't have it.
Speaker 3 (29:36):
No, they could.
Speaker 4 (29:37):
I don't think they can win the whole thing again.
I don't think they can. They can do the three
peat again, but I certainly think yeah, Alex Caravan looks
more like Alex Caravan than he has in the in the.
Speaker 3 (29:50):
Last few games. His confidence is.
Speaker 4 (29:52):
Back at this point. You know McNeely. Liam mcneely's awesome
as a as a freshman. I just their depth isn't there?
Their depth isn't there.
Speaker 1 (30:03):
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Speaker 2 (30:15):
I got to ask about a certain player, so Aiden Mahaney.
I saw him here on the West Coast. He started
starring at Saint Mary's. I'm like, oh, well, what a
get by ucunn and he barely plays. I don't get it.
Does Hurly hate him? Is it the lack of defense
because nobody on that team plays defense? Or I don't
need to think their top one hundred defensive.
Speaker 3 (30:32):
Them horrible fit.
Speaker 4 (30:34):
You know, like like you need the right type of
personality and player.
Speaker 3 (30:37):
For Dan Hurley.
Speaker 2 (30:38):
You know that I Hurley's gonna ride you and he
can't handle it.
Speaker 4 (30:42):
Yeah, that's just not what he is, right. And the
other part is he can't get by dudes. Not only
can he not guard really at a high level, but
he can't get by dudes in the biggiest He should
have seen the WCC. Think about it, it's the perfect
league for somebody that's not a great athlete.
Speaker 2 (30:58):
So where do you think you'll leave and go?
Speaker 3 (30:59):
So more I would think, I mean, why would you
stay there?
Speaker 2 (31:03):
Yeah, well that's a bummer. I mean I love that
guy's game in the now in the WCC. You're right,
a total another story. So anyway, sorry to interrupt. You
could be a sleeper anyone else.
Speaker 4 (31:15):
I'm trying to think who else could be a sleeper?
I like, say Mary's. I mean, I think they're the
end of the top twenty five right now. I just
think Randy Bennett's one of the elite coaches in the game.
Speaker 3 (31:24):
I mean, he's so good.
Speaker 4 (31:25):
If you've kind of like you get a chance, I
know you're not close close, but if you ever get
a chance, go to a Randy Bennett practice.
Speaker 3 (31:31):
Man, it's like a complete clinic.
Speaker 2 (31:34):
And they got Marcelonis's son on that team.
Speaker 4 (31:36):
He's dominant, really goodsAs Yeah, Goose, this is really good.
They got a veteran big and Mitchell Sachson. You know,
I think again, to me, there'll be some surprises. I
think to get to like the Sweet sixteen, there'll be
some upsets. But I think this year I just don't
see a lot of like party crashers, like like FAU
(31:57):
was a few years ago.
Speaker 3 (31:58):
To the Final four, I'd be surprised if that's the case.
Speaker 2 (32:02):
A year plugged in on the coaching stuff, is Hubert
gave Davis getting run? And if so, who's replacing him?
Speaker 3 (32:07):
Yeah, he'll get one more year.
Speaker 4 (32:09):
You know, he just brought in Jim Tanner, the former
NBA agents Is General manager, Buzz Peterson will come back
in a role.
Speaker 3 (32:15):
They'll they'll they'll change out their staff. They'll have staff changes.
Speaker 4 (32:19):
That'll be basically what the ad Bubba Cunningham will say
to Hubert, a, you know you want to stick around
for another year, You've got to make some changes here.
Speaker 3 (32:28):
You know.
Speaker 4 (32:28):
The crazy part is, think about this, as of seven
days ago, in three of the four years Hubert Davis
has been the head coach, and I'm not counting March.
I think it was March first, the first year he
beat coach k Remember they were on the bubble, and
then they beat coach k On coach Coach k Knight
his final and that's when they went on that crazy
(32:51):
run to the title game. Right, but they're on the
bubble right before that. Then year two they don't, they
don't make the tournament. Year three, last year they're really good.
They win the league and they finished, they go to
the Sweet sixteen, and a year four again they're back
in the bubble.
Speaker 3 (33:06):
So three of the four years entering March first, they're
on the bubble. That is not good enough at North Carolina.
Speaker 4 (33:12):
He'll get one more year and if he obviously, if
he doesn't get to the tournament.
Speaker 2 (33:16):
Next year, is there an NC state out there we
need to be on the lookout for.
Speaker 4 (33:21):
There's never gonna be another NC stage, never gonna be
another NC state. That's the craziest part of what happened.
It came out of absolutely well, I don't want to
say that because years ago, if you remember, if you
remember this one SEC tournament in Atlanta at the Georgia
Dome years ago, there was a tornado that hit and
they had to move it to Georgia Tech, and it
(33:42):
was only it was actually really cool in a way,
not cool about the tornado, but only friends, family and
some media were allowed in to watch that thing and
Georgia Dennis Felton was a head coach back then. He
was going to be fired and they went on this run.
They won five games in four days. They played two
(34:02):
games in a day to win the SEC tournament and
save his job, so crazier things have happened, but you
can't even predict anything like what happened.
Speaker 3 (34:12):
With NC State.
Speaker 2 (34:13):
Yeah, I'll close out by Villanova.
Speaker 3 (34:17):
Could Villanova?
Speaker 4 (34:18):
Villanova has the talent Jason They've got, they got maybe
one of the top ten players in the country and
Eric Dixon. We just don't trust right now Villanova as
a whole.
Speaker 2 (34:28):
Yeah, I mean we know the alsome, tried and true things.
In March. You need great guard play. Are you buying
Perkins and Brickus and Poplar?
Speaker 3 (34:39):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (34:39):
Poplars he was good for real for stretch there. But no,
I don't think there's any consistency to that Villanova team
that they can run off you know, uh, you know,
three or four games in conference play.
Speaker 2 (34:51):
Yeah, it's tough to make one of those deep runs
like out of nowhere. Like Kansas State had the little
guard who was amazing. I can't eve I'm facing his name.
He lit up the garden and he was amazing. Yeah, yeah,
I know, he and like, you just need like one
of those kind of performances to carry you.
Speaker 3 (35:08):
But Kemba, look at Kemba, Kemba Walker, here you go.
Speaker 4 (35:11):
When he carried him not only the NCAA title, but
the Big East title. I mean that was eleven straight wins,
riding you know, Kemba Walker's back.
Speaker 3 (35:20):
It was crazy.
Speaker 2 (35:21):
So the last question is this finally the year for
Kelvin Sampson. They got close a few years ago. They've
been upset in each of the last two years. I
think in the sweet sixteen, although there was an injury
last year against Duke. I remember that because I had Houston,
I like Crier. I liked his team. Do they have
enough shooting Jeff outside of Crier?
Speaker 4 (35:40):
It's funny their percentages say they do. They just don't
take a lot of threes. But Criers have a lead
three point shooter. And the big difference is the kid
Milos Uzan has been terrific.
Speaker 3 (35:51):
He transferred in this year.
Speaker 4 (35:52):
When I saw him in November, he was not good
and Kelvin said, He's like, we are not a good team.
And they've been awesome since, I mean dominating the Big Twelve.
Think about that, like they've got one loss in the
Big twelve.
Speaker 3 (36:06):
Where Kansas is basically you know right, you know, they're
ten and eight, They're two games over five hundred. It's
amazing what Kelvin's been able to do. I just I'm
with you.
Speaker 4 (36:16):
I don't know if they have enough offensive pop to
win the whole thing. But again, I think, you know,
I don't think there's as big of a gap between
Auburn and Duke and the rest of the country as
people were saying there was up until you know, obviously
Auburn loses one game and everybody's like, oh.
Speaker 3 (36:34):
They're not that good, right, They're not that good. They're
not that good. They've like beating everybody this year.
Speaker 4 (36:39):
The only loss they really had before that, you know,
at Duke, you know, which is no shame in that one.
Speaker 2 (36:44):
And obviously Florida and Auburn it looks like they've played
maybe the toughest schedule in the country according to that rating,
and Duke is not top fifty.
Speaker 3 (36:53):
Nope.
Speaker 2 (36:55):
Interesting all right, Jeff Goodman Field of sixty eight, congrats, man,
you're your own boss. That's as good as it gets.
You know, I'll let you tell the people about your move,
shall we say? But life is sounds like life is
good for you, man.
Speaker 3 (37:08):
Yeah, A lot, a lot less stress, a lot less stress.
You know, listen, I love my time.
Speaker 4 (37:13):
You know, I had a great run, you know, Fox CBS, ESPN.
I mean, whoever thought somebody would put my ass on TV?
Speaker 3 (37:21):
Right?
Speaker 1 (37:21):
Like?
Speaker 3 (37:21):
Think about that?
Speaker 2 (37:22):
Well, you know, I didn't get to ask about him
because I know you guys go way back. I know him.
I was trying to get him on the pod. But
Doug Gottlieb obviously coaching now doing a radio show. It's
been a tough go in year one. Obviously. Listen, you
got to give guys some time to bake in this environment.
Have you have you talked to Doug? Are you guys?
Doil friendly?
Speaker 3 (37:40):
Are you?
Speaker 2 (37:40):
I don't know?
Speaker 3 (37:41):
Just I love Doug.
Speaker 4 (37:42):
I love Doug personally. I get a lot great with him.
We hosted a show for the last couple of years
on Stadium. It's funny. He hit me up the other day.
We were texting about something. He's like, He's like, you know,
have you haven't you watched us? Or something like that,
haven't you watched us? We're playing much harder. I'm like, Doug,
you've like three games. No, I'm not watching you. I
(38:02):
have to watch teams that are nationally relevant, you dumbass.
But I love Doug to death. I'm pulling for him.
He's a brilliant basketball mind, Jason. He really is a
brilliant and I think, you know, he just needs to
get enough talent. He got that job late.
Speaker 3 (38:20):
I've never had that last job filled.
Speaker 4 (38:22):
Yeah, and I've never had a situation like this. He
got the job, and I'm not kidding. Twenty five coaches
write it within the first twenty four hours called me
for his number because they all wanted to play it.
Speaker 3 (38:35):
They all wanted to play it. Yeah, oh yeah, everybody
wanted to play it. Well, they knew, they knew. Number one,
he got the job late. There's nothing left in the portal.
Number two.
Speaker 4 (38:45):
He's going to try to balance coaching and a full
time you know, radio job, which.
Speaker 3 (38:50):
You would know better than most on that one.
Speaker 4 (38:53):
Like, I get it, and I actually think the hardest
part of doing it is you're not able to watch enough.
Like you're gonna take away from both jobs, because yeah,
you're gonna take away a little bit from you. But
you know, he said in his story, in a story
that was done recently in CBS, you know, he's divorced.
(39:13):
His two girls are older, they're in college. He's got
one son who's probably about thirteen or so. But again,
Doug Man, if there's anybody that can juggle a million things.
Speaker 3 (39:24):
I've seen it firsthand. It's Doug Gottlieb.
Speaker 2 (39:27):
Yeah, no, No, he's got an uphill climb, for sure.
It's funny you talk about the juggling. So, you know,
I coached my kids in sports, and maybe like six
months ago, local high school reached out to me and
was like, hey, we might have a job, a coaching job,
if you're interested. And I'm like, listen, this is not
varsity obviously, but I was like, my kids don't even
go to high school. That would be too weird. But
I do love hoops and I do coach my kids
(39:49):
and we you know, I have good players and we
win a lot. But like, I can't imagine going through
what he's going through.
Speaker 3 (39:56):
Jeff.
Speaker 2 (39:57):
I mean, you know what it's like starting your own business,
and that's just starting a basketball team. You've got this
huge audience and you get in your ass kicked and
then Lebron's taking shots Adam Schefter's you know, like.
Speaker 3 (40:06):
Chefter was wrong.
Speaker 2 (40:07):
Some of that was brought on, he brought on.
Speaker 4 (40:08):
She was wrong, Like Doug was right on that one.
Like Sacramento State is not going to five hundred million
whatever it was Yeah, was it like five hundred or
fifty million dollars? Fifty million dollars in nil? Come on, Like,
what if.
Speaker 2 (40:20):
He brought you on as an advisor, would your number
one thing say, say off social media, delete it from
her phone? Focused on basketball?
Speaker 3 (40:27):
No, I would just make him send me his his tweets.
Speaker 2 (40:30):
Before before anything goes out.
Speaker 3 (40:32):
Correct. And I'm not great either, I've gotten better.
Speaker 4 (40:35):
Here here's the key for me, Jason. I don't go
back at people very often anymore.
Speaker 2 (40:39):
You used to, Yeah, I remember, Oh, I used to
kill people.
Speaker 3 (40:42):
Kill people.
Speaker 4 (40:44):
The difference is and you'll find this out. So my
daughter covers women's college basketball full time now. So she's
on Twitter, and she's a junior at Indiana, but she
full time. She's got a full time job. In addition,
she's on Twitter. So it forces me to be better
because she gets a lot of the crap. They'll DM her,
they'll do out you know, like it just I gotta
(41:06):
be careful. I gotta be careful because I don't want
her to see the dumb stuff I do.
Speaker 2 (41:10):
Also, that's a good point. You know. My kid came
to me and it was like Dad, Well, one of
my buddies came up and was like, why is your
dad beefing with Kevin Durant And I was like, they
were like, yeah, it's on YouTube and I was like,
oh jeez. So and again my kid just doesn't impact
my kids. They find it funny. But you're right, as
someone who's like trying to be an actual journalist, that
(41:30):
that could be tough, almost an impediment.
Speaker 3 (41:33):
It's hard enough for a twenty twenty one year old,
you know girl.
Speaker 4 (41:37):
To do this, get in this, you know, like, this
is not you better be thick skinned better.
Speaker 2 (41:42):
If you told your kid to come into journalism.
Speaker 4 (41:44):
No, I didn't tell her. I told her not to. Yeah,
that's oh, not to, but you didn't listen to me.
Speaker 2 (41:49):
I don't even want my kids taking any like journalism class,
like stay away from this field.
Speaker 4 (41:53):
Well it's just it's gone in a bad direction. And
the one thing I've done with Tali and my daughter
is teach her. Try to teacher the right way to
do it right, like the way that we the way
that I learned to do it right.
Speaker 3 (42:07):
Two sources, and make sure that there are no rules.
Speaker 4 (42:09):
Now you know, anybody it's any accountability, there's no accountability none.
Speaker 3 (42:14):
That's the problem. It's for me. It's like you can't
be wrong. You can't. Now again, I'll give my opinion.
You know that.
Speaker 4 (42:20):
I've always given my opinion and been unafraid of that.
But it's always an opinion based on generally based on information,
and yeah, if I'm wrong, I'm wrong.
Speaker 2 (42:30):
This is Jeff Goodman Field of sixty eight. Enjoy the tournament,
Buddy good, catch it
Speaker 3 (42:35):
Up always Man
Fox Sports Radio News
Host
Jonas Knox
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