Fox Sports Radio's Countdown Presented by BetMGM

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
You're listening to sports radio.

Speaker 2 (00:04):
Welcome in Happy Saturday. Two years. We get you all
prepared for the Elite eight and beyond. And I'll tell
you what. This is a high brow program here, all right.
We spare no expense as a uh, just glance at

(00:24):
the plush Ornberger studios. Wow. This is for the radio audience,
which is really our entire audience outside of Soger posting
our clips online after all right, well, during the show
and after the show. But it's a radio audience. Could
you paint the picture of what you're working with here today? Rich?

Speaker 3 (00:48):
So I I'm in Palm Springs. The kids are on
school break, you know, spring break. So we take a
trip and I you know, look, I mean hotels, things happen.
Conference rooms get booked and sometimes double booked. And so
your your buddy here went from having a conference room

(01:09):
set up to.

Speaker 1 (01:10):
Oh, geez, yeah, you know our mistake.

Speaker 3 (01:13):
No worries though. You'll be set up in a marketing
manager's office right on.

Speaker 1 (01:18):
That's cool.

Speaker 3 (01:18):
An office is fine. You know, a nice office seat,
very good. That office was locked this morning. The keys
were not left for anybody. And I but listen like
a good resourceful boy, scout. I was never a boy scout,
but always be prepared. I have a whole mobile setup.
So what I do is I plug in a hotspot

(01:42):
into an AC converter from the front seat of my car,
and I'm able to set up my broadcast equipment with
the sen Heiser headset and I got.

Speaker 1 (01:53):
The mobile Internet going.

Speaker 3 (01:55):
And so from the front seat of the Forerunner, I
bring to you Countdown with Brian No, Jared Smith, and
your buddy Rich Hornberger to analyze all the hoops that
we saw over the past two days. Let's go, boys,
Let's go.

Speaker 2 (02:13):
Bill Belichick would be so proud of you right now.

Speaker 3 (02:15):
Man, hey, listen, there are no days off, but there
are no excuses.

Speaker 1 (02:19):
I'll tell you a quick story about that.

Speaker 3 (02:22):
So and some people have heard this story before, but
I remember that my rookie year Bill Belichick as a
Patriots player. As a rookie. This is back in two
thousand and nine. You're not allowed to be late. I
mean you're not allowed to be even a minute late.
There is no excuses. There could be a blizzard, you
know what he says, us sleep here, I'm not kidding.

(02:44):
Sleep at the stadium will help you out. Everybody's getting
paid enough money to book a hotel nearby, and there
was a hotel walking distance because Robert Kraft built Patriot
Place to include a hotel, and there was always reservations
open for players. Anyways, one morning, I had nothing to
do with weather. I oversleep my alarm. Twenty two year
old Rich is running scared. I hop in my car

(03:06):
and on my way to the stadium, I end up.
I end up intentionally rear ending a guy on a
side road because I did not want to be late
without having an excuse. And I show up late to
work with a giant dent in the front of my car.
I mean, I hit a guy, and by the way,

(03:27):
I tapped his bumper. I was probably going twelve miles
per hour, but it was enough to put a big
old boulder dent in my front bumper.

Speaker 1 (03:33):
This way, I had an excuse. I had an excuse.
I took pictures at the scene of the accident. I
walk in.

Speaker 3 (03:38):
I'm late, I'm fifteen minutes minutes late. Whatever it is
at that point, because I had to deal with the
accident I caused. And I go, yeah, geez, you know
fender bender, You know how it goes, And Bill's assistant.
He goes all right, He's like, well, why don't you
head over the offensive line room. Well, I still got
screamed at and fined three thousand dollars. Was on the

(04:00):
lighter end of fines that you could receive for the incident.
I was never laid again. I was never again. So
there are no excuses. I will always be here for
you guys, and uh, let's do the show.

Speaker 2 (04:14):
Props to you. That's reminds me. Reminds me of Jonas Gray.
Remember the Patriots running back. He rushed for two hundred
and four touchdowns against the Colts. Oh shout out Notre
Dame product and he was late. He was late one
time in Doghouse City. From that point on, man like
you just can't do it. But he props rich, resourceful,

(04:36):
some guyver stuff. This morning. I am disappointed. There's no
like Fox Sports Radio band.

Speaker 3 (04:43):
By the way, that the car too. That's in the
car too, but there's not enough room to put.

Speaker 4 (04:48):
It up to drink your coffee from a Ben MGM
mug for the whole morning.

Speaker 1 (04:52):
Hold up to the camera product placement.

Speaker 2 (04:55):
VA's car style.

Speaker 1 (04:56):
That's car style. I mean, I'll just put patches on
my whole.

Speaker 2 (05:03):
Well, hey, how about we start with the game last
night Houston surviving against Purdue and this I thought about this.
I want a new saying here in basketball, especially sports
in general. But they always talk about KYP. What is KYP?
Know your personnel? I want to start a new little uh.

(05:24):
This wouldn't be an acronym. It would be just a
new initials, right, new initials here would be KTS. You
know what KTS is. No, No, the situation. No, right,
that's a big Belichick. They were just talking about him
all about situational awareness, and so I think I thought
it worked on both ends. You had Houston with a

(05:46):
three point lead late and the defender in the corner
helped with a Braiden Smith drive, and all of a sudden,
Braiden Smith kicks it out for an open three in
the corner. That defenders late getting out there. Tie ballgame, KTS, No,
the situation. You can't allow it three in that situation

(06:07):
Houston did. Then you fast forward, there's a little less
than three seconds to go. You have Houston inbounding the ball,
Perdue leaves the inbounder, he gets the ball back, layup. Ballgame.
You can't allow that to happen, Like if you get
beaten by a deep two or a long three, Okay,

(06:27):
you can't allow the inbounder to score the winning bucket Kts, boys, no,
the situation.

Speaker 1 (06:35):
Yeah, I mean it was survival.

Speaker 3 (06:37):
Houston did a pretty good job from three point nine
of twenty three, I believe.

Speaker 1 (06:42):
And when you look.

Speaker 3 (06:43):
At the reason why the slog was won, it was rebounding. Yeah,
I mean, this was a high effort performance. Thirty eight
to twenty nine. Houston outperforms Perdue and games like this
where it's gonna be a slog, Yeah, have to find
a way, right, you absolutely have to find a way,
and they did, you know, speaking of rebounding, Juan Roberts

(07:07):
did a fantastic job in double digits rebounding.

Speaker 1 (07:10):
I believe you finished with twelve rebounds.

Speaker 3 (07:12):
So effort, effort matters, defense matters, rebounding matters. When you're
in the sweet sixteen, when you're in the Elite eight,
when you're in the final four, it's not always going
to be pretty, you know, because now you're going against
not only the best teams left in the bracket, but
also the teams with staying power, with survival skills, with

(07:33):
instincts with whatever it is that drove them to this point.
You're gonna have to win ugly sometimes, and that's kind
of Houston's game. It's kind of their way. This is
a gritty team. They've been better offensively. Their perimeter shooting
has been better this season than it has in seasons
pass But this was an effort game.

Speaker 1 (07:53):
I agree with you.

Speaker 3 (07:54):
Sloppiness definitely prevailed for the most part in this game.
Survival was probably the word that comes to mind when
I watch it, but effort is the word that sticks
out the most, and that's the only reason why Houston won.

Speaker 4 (08:06):
Yeah, it was their lowest points per possession since the
game at Zona back in mid February when they just
really struggled. Zona really shut him down. But it was
it was a slog for Houston offensively, and you give
Purdue credit. I mean, they hung in the game, even
though they didn't really shoot it well, and they didn't
really you know, win any key battle like lost the

(08:28):
rebounding margin, tied with turnovers, lost a three point line.
You know, the fact that they didn't lose this game
by twenty frankly was kind of impressive and I think
it speaks to more about Houston's ability to separate in
these spots. This is the second consecutive game, and really,
you know, the first game they played in the tournament
against Siue is probably one of the worst teams in

(08:49):
the tournament. You just kind of throw that game out,
you know, just completely dominated that game. But the game
against Gonzaga and the game against Purdue, we're a little
bit eh. You don't really like how hughest they kind
of limped to the finish, right. They had double digit
leads in both games at the under eight timeout, and
both games came down to the final essentially the final shot,

(09:10):
Like Gonzaga had a chance to tie late, Purdue had
a chance to you know, keep it tied late, and obviously.

Speaker 1 (09:16):
Neither worked out.

Speaker 2 (09:17):
Houston moves on.

Speaker 4 (09:18):
As as Rich alluded to, there is a survival instinct
in this tournament that Houston does have. But now they're
getting to uncharted waters where they haven't really made a
whole lot of final fours in this run. They make
the Elite eight all the time, They're always in the
Elite eight under Calvin Samson, it seems like always in
the Sweet sixteen, but they've only made one final four

(09:39):
in this run, and in that final four they came
up completely lame in, you know, shooting in against Nova.
So I think there is a little bit of all Right,
we've gotten this far without our best stuff. You're gonna
have to show me your best stuff against Tennessee because
I'll be honest, man.

Speaker 2 (09:55):
The Vaults look really good right now. Yeah, that's the
thing with Houston. Props to their defense. They get absolutely
after it on the defensive end, and their offense has
been much better this season, like statistically compared to the
last couple of seasons under Kelvin Samson. But it's one
of those things where it's like, Okay, cool, they're better,
but still don't trust them. Sty'll do We'll just trust

(10:17):
them at all. They shot under thirty eight percent from
the field, not from three from the field. They shot
under thirty eight percent against Purdue. They scored sixty two
points on Purdue. So that's the thing, like Jared just said,
if they get past Tennessee, they face the winner of
Duke Bama.

Speaker 1 (10:37):
Good luck.

Speaker 2 (10:38):
You're not winning a game with your offense looking the
way it did yesterday against Purdues. Got gotta be a
lot better. But I thought this was funny too, like
all the games yesterday went under. Yeah, right, So on
Thursday it was just high flying Bama beats BYU won
thirteen to eighty eight, a college game, one thirteen. Alabama

(11:01):
hit twenty five threes that looked like a couple tournament record.
It was crazy, like Duke beat Arizona one hundred to
ninety three, high score for getting like a college game,
all overs, all overs on Thursday, and then on Friday,
nothing but unders. Huh regression to the mean baby.

Speaker 3 (11:19):
Yeah that is that's exactly right. We're playing like this.
It had the the what was it? There was an
imbalance in the force and so all of a sudden
there had to.

Speaker 1 (11:30):
Be a come down. I'll tell you what.

Speaker 3 (11:32):
The closest game, and you just mentioned, Jared that the
next opponent for Houston is Tennessee, and look out because
Tennessee looked pretty good. But that was the closest game
to getting to the over was Tennessee Kentucky more of
an offensive game than the other three that we watched yesterday.
But yeah, the unders. The unders all hit on Friday,

(11:54):
the overs all hit on Thursday. I wonder when the
last time that happened. Where you had four games you
know played. Yeah, I I I don't think I can
remember where it's been that perfectly divided.

Speaker 4 (12:07):
Yeah, it doesn't happen very often. I will say this,
I'm not surprised the games that Lucas Oil Stadium went
on her.

Speaker 2 (12:13):
I Okay, can we stop with the with.

Speaker 4 (12:16):
The basketball at the football arenas or if we're gonna
do it, let's make sure that it doesn't look like
they're playing you know, you know, like the camera angles
are just off and you're looking at it and you're
just like, it.

Speaker 2 (12:28):
Looks weird too high.

Speaker 1 (12:30):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (12:30):
Yeah, Like it's like it's just like like the site
lines are just not it's it's it's a football stadium.

Speaker 2 (12:36):
What a shock, it's not designed for basketball.

Speaker 4 (12:38):
I put the two pictures side by side, right like
they played State Farm Arena last night in Atlanta, where
where the Hawks play, which is obviously designed for basketball,
and then you put that picture side by side with
like the high camera shot that you see ninety percent
of the time when you're watching the game with the
Lucas Oil Stadium, and it's like the Lucas Oil Stadium
sitelines are like you're a little bit tighter to the

(12:59):
to this to the court, you can't really see the
near side bench, you know, like the scoring table on
the near side, you can't see it. Whereas the State
Farm Arine, it's like perfectly framed. You could see the
entire half court. You can see almost the entire you know,
outline of of you know, the sidelines and the baselines too.

Speaker 2 (13:16):
I mean, maybe I'm just the old man yelling at
the clouds, but like, if.

Speaker 4 (13:19):
We're gonna do the base and they're coming to Vegas
in a couple of years, they're gonna have the Final
four a Legion Stadium, I can't freaking wait. But I'm
not buying a ticket and gonna sit up in the
nosebleeds and have to watch this weird like Lucas Oil
Stadium vibe of like.

Speaker 2 (13:33):
I've gotta I don't know, maybe I'm just again the
old man here, but well it's weird too because they
had the curtain up. There were only thirty thousand, so
it wasn't every play the game at Hinkle. It wasn't
a sweet sixteen game for crying out out. I don't
get it. Where if it's thirty thousand, just play where
the Pacers are playing, you.

Speaker 4 (13:53):
Know, it's a college basketball Hinkle or Hinklefield has one
of the most iconic college basketball venues on the planet.

Speaker 2 (14:00):
It's right down the street. I want to play the
game there.

Speaker 1 (14:02):
The players feel about it.

Speaker 3 (14:04):
I wonder if, like you know, for example, like you said,
play where the Pacers play, you know, play where the
where they may some of them may play one day
in their chosen sport. I wonder if it's cooler for
them to play in a football stadium versus a basketball arena.

Speaker 1 (14:20):
No, yeah, I don't know either.

Speaker 4 (14:23):
I means are weird, Like I would imagine they'd rather
play in a basketball arena that I would assume.

Speaker 2 (14:28):
I would assume so too. I'll give you a very
quick story. So twenty fifteen, when Duke won it All,
I interviewed Tyus Jones heading into the final four and
we were talking about that. It was in Indianapolis also,
so there you go. It comes full circle. But I
was like, what's it like in a football stadium. He's like, dude,
everything short. He's like, oh, yeah, it's weird. You got

(14:51):
to compensate for it, you know.

Speaker 1 (14:53):
So like your.

Speaker 2 (14:54):
Question, Rich, I would assume that they really like the atmosphere.
How could you not. It's like, you know what you're
used to times four or five. You know of the
amount of people in the crowd. That's pretty cool. But
as far as a shooter, you gotta do a lot
of adjusting a lot. I can just picture Houston like, yeah,
it was the football stadium because we've been lights out

(15:16):
this season, freaking soil.

Speaker 4 (15:18):
Tennessee didn't have a whole lot of problems. Tennessee's offense
looked to be hummon. I mean, I know the game
stayed under, but the first half went over. They were
they were cruising that first half.

Speaker 2 (15:26):
They looked pretty good. All Right, we're off and running.
Speaking of cruising, you've got Rich Hornberger fencedate all American
in a cruiser today. Yeah, you got a Saren Smith
Jared Smith FSR betting analyst. I'm probably in no US
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run in coming up Here are upsets dead or our

(16:10):
overreactions alive? Huh? It is Fox Sports Radio's Countdown, presented
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Speaker 5 (16:16):
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Speaker 2 (16:28):
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The listener with the best bracket at Fox Sports Radio
dot Com will win a twenty five hundred dollars gift
card to Tractor Supply. By the way, little good news,

(17:14):
bad news. I'm like, I've got six of the Elite
eight teams. That's that's pretty good. And in one of
the brackets I did, I checked, and I'm like, in
ten point six millionth place, ten point six million.

Speaker 1 (17:30):
They're almost there.

Speaker 2 (17:31):
You got a couple more wins there being no you'll
be in the top ten million, don't worry. So we're
gonna have to We're gonna have to run the table
from here on. Gotta get all the final fours, the
championship matchup, the champion, gotta get everything to like climb
into maybe five millionth place. That's wow, that's staggering that
you can be down that low. Okay, so let me

(17:53):
throw something at you guys, lack of upsets in the
tournament this year, right, it is chalky. We've got all
the one seeds in the Elite eight. The only two
seed that didn't make the Elite eight is Saint John's.
Everything else is ones and twos. You have Texas Tech
crashed the party as a three seed. That's as low

(18:14):
as it gets. So the question is are upset's dead?
And I say no, I think this is a total overreaction.
I'll throw a stat your way. So this year's tournament,
we don't have one team that seeded four or low lower. Right,
we don't have a four seed or lower in the
Elite eight. It's the third time it's happened since nineteen

(18:35):
seventy nine. It also happened in two thousand and seven,
and nine was nil of around in seven, was nil
a thing in nine, Like it's happened before.

Speaker 1 (18:48):
I know.

Speaker 2 (18:48):
It seems like this is the way it's always gonna be,
and the little guy's not gonna upset the big guy. No, No,
that's not true. Just because it happened this year doesn't
mean it's gonna happen every year. Go going forward, Yeah,
upsets are gonna be tougher to come by. We're gonna
have fewer upsets that I agree with. But to act
like upsets are just dead and gone, and you've got

(19:11):
a double digit seed in the sweet sixteen, what's wrong
with you? Like, No, No, it's an overreaction. It's not
going to be chalk to this degree year after year
after year after year. It's just not I.

Speaker 1 (19:24):
Hope you're right, man, I hope you're right.

Speaker 3 (19:27):
The reason, though, why people are more up in arms
about this than they were back in the seventies or
in two thousand and seven or two thousand and nine
is because with NIL money flowing into these powerhouse programs,
with these strong donor collectives, mid majors and small schools.

Speaker 1 (19:47):
Can't keep up. I mean, they just they can't.

Speaker 3 (19:50):
I'm telling you from somebody who has a direct line
to a mid major basketball program, it's not even close.

Speaker 1 (19:57):
And it's it's it's tough.

Speaker 3 (20:00):
It's tough not to root for the kids getting paid
because look, my family was bootstrapping it when I went
to Penn State. My family would not have been able
to afford my education that I ended up receiving. You know,
I graduated from Penn State. I'm super proud of that,
that college degree I have. There would have been no

(20:20):
chance I could have gone to that school if it
weren't for football and my scholarship. Also, as a result
on scholarship, they help you out with some funding, but
there wasn't a lot before nil. So when you know
we ran out of food on the food card, or
you know, we ran out of toilet paper at the

(20:42):
apartment Rich was having.

Speaker 1 (20:45):
I Owe You is.

Speaker 3 (20:45):
Written for him over at I was a scrappy nitny
lyon I was. I was out there, you know, trying
to a baller on a budget, you know what I'm saying.
So these guys who come out of pretty desperate upbringings
much worse, you know, in a lot of cases, much
worse than mine.

Speaker 1 (21:02):
You know, I wasn't in poverty. We were just broke,
you know.

Speaker 3 (21:05):
But some of these guys, I mean, if you go
back home to where they grew up, sharing rooms with
you know, other family members, you go to school, and
you have this golden opportunity to make money, it's incredible.
But but and this is the part of the problem.
When there is a good side to it, but the
downside is it can affect parody and it can topple

(21:29):
what we love about March.

Speaker 4 (21:31):
Yeah, I'm torn on this issue a lot because I
think it's naive of us to think of how much
college sports has changed in the last three years that
the tournament is not going to change as well. Like
that's just a naive thought of the sports public to
not think that everything can be so different in college sports.

(21:53):
But the tournament is going to stay the same. Everything's
going to be the same. Obviously, the tournament's gonna change.

Speaker 2 (21:58):
I think this is a.

Speaker 4 (21:59):
Shot of ross the bow of what the tournament might become,
which is kind of the nil Invitational. I mean, let's
be honest, eight out of the you know, the elite
eight teams or eight out of the top nine and
Ken Palm like it's almost like you just look at
ken Pom site and you look at the top eight
teams and it's like they're all still there. So we

(22:20):
can live in a world where the upsets never happened. No,
obviously that's you know, too far to one side. But
I think it's naive of us not to think that
this is not going to be a thing going forward.
It's going to be much more difficult for a mid
major team to compete at the highest level.

Speaker 2 (22:37):
Like even the.

Speaker 4 (22:39):
Teams that we expect to be in this you know
range of contenders might have to do a little bit
more to compete because it's just easier for an SEC
school to raise a million bucks, you know, snap their
fingers and get get you know, get a kid money.

Speaker 2 (22:54):
It's just easier.

Speaker 4 (22:56):
I don't know what the right answer is. I know
college basketball purists hate this, like the absolutely hate it.
But I think this is kind of the direction of
the sport. I'm not willing to say that it's gonna
be over from mid majors forever.

Speaker 2 (23:07):
There's gonna be a run at some point by someone.

Speaker 4 (23:10):
I just think it's gonna be a lot harder, and
I think that's okay because that's just the evolution of
college sports.

Speaker 2 (23:15):
It's changed a lot over the last few years. Right, Like, listen,
I'm not naive to this. I get it. Where take
a look at some of the guys. Danny Wolf last
night from Michigan. He was at Yale, you know, like
that guy was years ago staying at Yale. But now
there's Nil and he's playing in a power conference. Chas

(23:36):
Lanier of Tennessee, the sharpshooter. He started off at North Florida,
you know what I mean, And now he's doing things
on a big stage, Elite eight, taking on a one
seed in the next round against Houston. Like a lot
of those kids were not going to bigger programs. But
Nil is here and I know that's gonna happen. So
it makes life more difficult for the little guys totally
understand that, and yeah, the upsets are going to be

(23:59):
less than what we're accustomed to, but we're overreacting as
if they're just dead and gone. Like at the end
of the day when the tournament rolls around, the college
basketball is a game played by teenagers and twenty one
year olds and there's a three point line and only
a forty minute game. Like this idea, upsets are taed

(24:19):
and gone, like forget it's chalk City every single year.
No it's not, No, it is. And I'm saying that
as a guy that doesn't normally root for just underdog's galore.
My friends in South Bend always made fun of me.
They'd get together, the war room was going on, they
like back in the day. They'd have like a little
black and white in the quarter. They've done this for
twenty seven years. They'd make fun of me year after

(24:41):
year because I'd be rooting for the higher seeds. I
want to see the better matchups going forward. So this
isn't me just talking to you with my heart, like
I what upsets, I'm just talking to you rationally. Where
the amount of games Colorado State should have taken down Maryland,
it took a last second shot for Maryland to survive.

(25:04):
That would have been a twelve seed in the Sweet sixteen. Yeah,
and this has already happened when we've had this amount
of like high seeded teams reached the Elite eight. It
happened in seven and also in nine. Were we freaking
out then that upsets were just dead and gone? It
happened two out of three years right where you didn't

(25:25):
have a four seed or lower make the Elite eight.
I bet someone then was like, where are the upsets
where the little guy? It's over and done with? And
that wasn't true. I don't think it's true in this
era either.

Speaker 3 (25:36):
Yeah, but again, you know, going back to the original
point I was making, those exceptions didn't prove that a
new rule had changed things at that time. There weren't
There wasn't this sweeping change across college basketball. So it
didn't feel like those results were a bell weather of
things to come. It just felt like, oh, yeah, well,

(25:56):
if you roll the die, you know one million times,
evently it's gonna come up with this unforeseen, unpredictable outcome.
Like we know how college basketball, like you said, played
by teenagers in twenty year olds to twenty year olds old,
and it's forty minutes and it's a three point line,
and a lot can happen.

Speaker 1 (26:14):
However, a lot less.

Speaker 3 (26:18):
Impredictability and a lot less parody will occur if not
only the top programs in the nation can go and
have those couch conversations, you know, in inner cities and
suburbs and rural pastures and win recruits on from the
high school circuit, but also poach these mid majors.

Speaker 1 (26:41):
That's the biggest problem is.

Speaker 3 (26:43):
You have a kid like, for example, Lamont Butler, who
was a star at San Diego State. It's a losing
effort in the sweet sixteen against Tennessee, but he's the
highest scorer.

Speaker 1 (26:54):
You know what I mean.

Speaker 3 (26:55):
I poached Gone, you know. And this happens to all
the mid majors, you know. I mean, these programs they
can't compete with the deep pockets out of the SEC
in the Big ten.

Speaker 1 (27:06):
So what ends up happening is they invest in a.

Speaker 3 (27:10):
Player, they recruit them out of high school or they
get them from a JUCO program, and they come to
their program and they start dumping their resources into this
player and they're building them up and they're giving them
more game experience, and they're keeping them interested, and hey,
they're even helping them out with what nil they can.
And then all of a sudden, Tennessee, you know, fresh

(27:30):
off of an Elite eight appointment or maybe a deeper
tournament run, we'll see they say, Hey, you want to
be avall, we'll give you one point two million dollars.

Speaker 1 (27:42):
What is that player supposed to do? Say? Nah, my
heart's with Butler.

Speaker 3 (27:47):
Nah, I'm sorry, I'm a Loyola chicagoan to the end.

Speaker 1 (27:52):
No, you know what he's gonna say, Uh, what do
we sit? Send me the lyrics to the fight song
shout of Money?

Speaker 3 (28:00):
Yeah, yes, What the hell are they talking about when
they say Rocky Top?

Speaker 1 (28:05):
I'm all in? Was it burn orange or is that
what they call it in Texas? I don't care. I'm
wearing orange all day every day.

Speaker 3 (28:12):
It's impossible for these kids, who some of them come
from these desperate upbringing, by the way, some of them don't.

Speaker 1 (28:19):
Some of them go to private school.

Speaker 3 (28:21):
Some of them have parents who are in finance and
have college degrees and maybe work in the university system.

Speaker 1 (28:28):
And you know what, their.

Speaker 3 (28:28):
Parents are telling them to take the money and run kid,
because if you have one point two million dollars in
your bank account, you can set yourself up for the
rest of your life. You put some of that in
an annuity, you buy yourself a property, you become a.

Speaker 1 (28:44):
Landlord at age twenty.

Speaker 3 (28:47):
I mean, this is only in my opinion, Brian, and
I understand the argument you're making because life is random
and college basketball is random. To this is the start
of the end of March madness. I'm not gonna see
fourteen seeds take down three seeds anymore.

Speaker 2 (29:03):
Totally wrong, completely wrong.

Speaker 4 (29:06):
I think it'll happen. I think it'll it just won't
happen as much because like the the the reference that
that Rich just made about the outline, Like that's like
a Monty Carlo experiment where you do one thousand. This
is how, you know, a lot of sports betters create models.
You do an experiment, you do a thousand simulations, and
one of the simulations is like all to one end

(29:27):
of the curve and then the other ones on the
other end of the curve. But ninety nine percent of
the simulations fall within a certain.

Speaker 2 (29:34):
You know, parameter.

Speaker 4 (29:35):
Like even the year that Brian's was referring to the
two thousand and seven year where all the one seeds
made the final four. That was the year that Steph
Curry and Davidson made the run to the Elite eight.

Speaker 1 (29:45):
Oh yeah, you know.

Speaker 4 (29:46):
So like even that year where it was one seed,
one seed, one seed, one seed in the final four,
that was the Mario Chalmers year, right Chalmers, Thomas or
hit the shots at the game and over. That was
an awesome tournament that was ever won the bracket pool buys.

Speaker 1 (30:03):
It was.

Speaker 4 (30:03):
It was the seven eight season. Okay, the seven eight season.
That was the year that all four to one seeds
made the final four.

Speaker 6 (30:10):
There.

Speaker 4 (30:11):
I know it's happened a couple of times since, but
that like, even in that stretch of time where we
had a lot of chalk, there was still the Steph
Curry run. Like the Steph Curry run at Davidson is
like that is the definition of March madness right there.
I don't know if we're going to see that anytime

(30:31):
soon where a team like that, I don't even know
if you put Fau's run or San Diego States run
in that mix. Like San Diego State's run, they were
good for years before they made that run of the
final Championship. Yeah, FAU, you go see what they've done now, Right.

Speaker 2 (30:49):
John L.

Speaker 4 (30:49):
Davis almost single handedly took Arkansas to the Elite Eight
the other night. He was the kid on you know
that on the FA team Vlad Golden last night had
a great game, right, Dusty May. So, like the remnants
of these teams that made these runs are now playing
at on high major teams, coaching at high major levels.
Those weren't mid major players. Those were high major players

(31:12):
that were just kind of overlooked. So like, the stars
are gonna have to align. I don't think like I'm
not willing to go to the end of the road
and say March Madness is dead. No, and we're never
gonna see another team that does what Davidson did.

Speaker 2 (31:29):
I think it'll happen.

Speaker 4 (31:30):
I just don't think it's gonna happen very often, which
means whenever it does happen, we need to cherish it
and enjoy it and love it and literally soak up
every moment of it because we might only get one
of them every decade, Like we might only get one
more Davidson in the next twenty years.

Speaker 2 (31:47):
I mean it's possible. You guys are crazy. Hold be
sure to check out Fox Sports Radio's YouTube channel. Just
search Fox Sports Radio on YouTube and you'll see a
whole bunch of video highlights from our show. And be
sure to subscribe so you always have instant access to
our Fox Sports Radio videos on YouTube. Quick reminder here, Okay,

(32:08):
because I know it's just chalk City and oh my gosh,
the little guy, he'll be lucky to keep it within
twenty points if any came from now until like twenty
one seventy three, you know, the year of Our Lord
and the But okay, listen, Alabama looked great, right, twenty
five threes made. They're going to the Elite eight. Alabama

(32:31):
struggled with Robert Morris. Okay, in a two point fifteen matchup.
They struggled so much that it was tied late and
they had to bring in Grant Nelson, who is like
a game time decision. He was questionable because of a
knee injury. He banged up his knee the previous game.
They had to bring the Grant. Get in here, man,
this game's in doubt. That's Alabama, a two seed that

(32:56):
struggled like that. So this idea that we're not gonna
have a Davidson to the Elite eight, or we're not
gonna have a fourteen be to three. It's a huge overreaction.
It's just caught in the moment right now. And I
get it. I get that upsets are gonna be harder
to come by, but that doesn't mean we're not gonna
see any team come by them, you know what I mean,

(33:16):
Like they're just gone. Like I think it's more than
run what I'm referring to, Brian.

Speaker 4 (33:21):
I think you're gonna see a random fourteen over a three,
but that fourteen will probably get hammered in the next
day against right a two year seven seed.

Speaker 1 (33:28):
I think.

Speaker 3 (33:28):
I think the point I'm trying to make is also
one and done has been replaced, replaced by pay to stay.
So the one and done where it used to be like, Hey,
you know, uh name the Kyrie Kyrie Irving. Come to
Duke barely play and we'll send you all. Hey, ad

(33:51):
come to Kentucky barely play, or and you're off you
know whoever?

Speaker 1 (33:56):
You know what I mean?

Speaker 3 (33:58):
Who's the kid who plays for the Pulligans, the star
who came out of Duke he barely Zion Zion, Zion Williamson. Hey,
come to Duke. You don't have to take a single
class buddy.

Speaker 1 (34:10):
Send you off to the NBA. You start getting paid now.

Speaker 3 (34:13):
It's hey, we're going to pay you a good amount
of money to play at this university. Oh what's that?
You got your grading back from the NBA. It looks
like you're gonna be a second rounder.

Speaker 1 (34:24):
Tough shake.

Speaker 3 (34:25):
But you know what, you're making millions here at Duke.
You're making millions here at Bama. You're making millions here
at Michigan State. You're making millions here in the Big
ten in the SEC.

Speaker 1 (34:37):
Life is good. Brother.

Speaker 3 (34:38):
Don't look the gift horse in the mouth, you know
what I mean? A bird in the hand is worth
two in the bush. You're gonna have these coaches. Hey,
you know what would you say? You said a million
and a half isn't enough? Okay, well you know what,
let me go back to our boosters.

Speaker 1 (34:53):
I'll talk.

Speaker 3 (34:54):
Yeah, we got a car dealership. Who's interested. Here's the deal.
It's a I'm telling you you, March madness is dead.
It's we were never going to have. The excitement is dead. No,
we're never gonna have the excitement that we were used to.

Speaker 1 (35:11):
The NBA.

Speaker 3 (35:12):
We grew up with is gone, and a lot of
people clutch their pearls over that. Guess what. The college
basketball we grew up with is gone. And that's okay.
I'm okay with it. Pay the players, but just embrace
the reality. It's definitely different.

Speaker 4 (35:25):
I I'm never like, I feel like I'm at the
point in my in my life now where I have
over embellished things and I'm a little more aware of
when I say like.

Speaker 2 (35:37):
Oh, this is never gonna happen again.

Speaker 4 (35:39):
When when you we usually when I say that, I
always regret it. I always regret say that because it's
like certainty is the enemy of growth. Like you have
to have a little uncertainty in life, like when you're
when you're not certain about something, that's usually when you
learn the most.

Speaker 2 (35:55):
So you know, only a.

Speaker 4 (35:56):
Sith deals in absolutes to be a complete word about it,
be a complete narrativebout it. But I do think it's
gonna be harder for a team like a McNee State
to not only win one game, but then win multiple games.
I think it's the deep runs that are different. Like
I don't think we're gonna see a McNee State make

(36:17):
a Final four anytime soon. Like I think that is
over with, But I do think a fourteen over a
three is gonna happen. A fifteen over a two is
gonna happen at some point. Yeah, because again the Monty
Carlos simulation, you do a thousand roles, you're gonna get
outlier results.

Speaker 2 (36:32):
All right, We've got Rich Orenberger, Penn State All American,
Jared Smith FSR betting analyst, I'm Brian No. For each
round of March matchups at bet MGM, you have the
opportunity to make predictions about what will happen, including outcomes
like game winners and over unders. You'll earn points based
on a scoring system, and you could win a share
of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars in bonus bets

(36:53):
based on your points earned and er March matchups two
hundred and fifty thousand dollars Pick them free, the play
game that's at bet MGM. Quarter of a million bucks
in free bets. Get your picks in, earn points from
correct answers for a shot to win a share of
bonus bets. All right, coming up next to par lay platter. Oh,
it's extensive, and we don't have extensive time. We're gonna

(37:16):
have to hurry. It's coming your way. Next, it's Fox
Sports Radios Countdown presented by bet MGM. It is Fox
Sports Radios Countdown presented by Bet MGM. Get ready for
tip off with March matchups Odds boost token at BEDMGM.
Use your token to score a bigger payout if your
March matchups bet wins. All right, let's do this, check

(37:40):
this out.

Speaker 5 (37:40):
Ar lay letter.

Speaker 1 (37:43):
All right?

Speaker 2 (37:44):
Shared the theme? Man, you need a theme. Jared's your man.
What's the theme for the platter today?

Speaker 4 (37:52):
Jared, We're a party planner, not a not a parlay platter,
a party planner.

Speaker 2 (37:57):
We're gonna all pick our final four.

Speaker 4 (37:58):
I figured, you know, we got to a lad a
games today to tomorrow. So let's pick the final four
and let's see what it's like at that MGM with
the smush them all together on the money line for
the parlay.

Speaker 2 (38:08):
I'll keep it really simple.

Speaker 4 (38:09):
It's very chalky minus one game, so I won't get
to the games that are chalky. It's obvious why we
think Auburn beats Michigan State. It's obvious why Florida it's
gonna beat Texas Deck is obvious. Why Duke, it's gonna
beat Bama. But the game that seems to be tricking
people is this Tennessee Houston game. I'm on the balls here,
and it's because I can't trust Houston.

Speaker 2 (38:27):
In late games.

Speaker 4 (38:28):
You know, led by double digits against Gonzaga and Purdue
at the under eight, and both games are very tight.
The ball has been playing great lately. Only losses since February,
first at Kentucky in the Sweet sixteen, at Ole Miss
in the Sweet sixteen, and then against Florida in the
SEC title. So Auburn Florida, Duke, Tennessee, that is my final.

Speaker 2 (38:45):
Four plus five thirty three? Is your price for that?
Parlay over at bet.

Speaker 1 (38:50):
MGM, I agree, disagree?

Speaker 2 (38:52):
Where are we at?

Speaker 3 (38:53):
I disagree only by one team because it's all gonna
be one seas complete chalk in the final four Auburn.
I'm reading from a leather bound book right now. Auburn Duke,
Florida Houston all one seeds nil is deleted. Parody in
the sport March, madness becomes Mark Sadness.

Speaker 1 (39:12):
I rest my case.

Speaker 2 (39:13):
You're on listen you know the song stand by Your Man. Yeah,
there's a similar thought I have stand by your bracket, okay,
and so mine is a chalky minus nun it's all chalk,
just like rig said. Right, I got done talking about
how upsets are dead. Come on, bottle set guy, we're

(39:35):
up at all what I thought it was gonna be
a choky tournament. Doesn't like that for the next twenty
five years.

Speaker 1 (39:42):
But that's fair.

Speaker 2 (39:43):
I had all ones getting there. I'm not gonna change now.
I think there's a great chance we have all Yeah, they.

Speaker 1 (39:48):
Are all favored. Makes sense to me.

Speaker 4 (39:50):
I think tennis that that's the tightest line of the
weekend is the Tennessee Easting and that's the one that
could be the toss up.

Speaker 2 (39:56):
Yeah, how about it's it's still possible in all sec
fund that would make me. People would be so mad crazy. Alright,
come it up next, the matchup of the entire tournament. Oh,
welcome in, Happy Saturday to you. Hope your day is
off to a fantastic start. I'll tell you what again.

(40:17):
Props to our guy rich Ornberger, who is in like
a Mazda Miata or something like that, you know, like
he explained it to start the show. Where where are
you Palm Springs, Little family vac going on there.

Speaker 3 (40:32):
Yeah, we got the Palm Springs spring break. The kids
are off schools, so we drove out here and I
was supposed to be set up in the hotel. Instead,
I'm in the hotel parking lot broadcasting live from the
front seat of the fore Runner. So we are we're

(40:53):
making do The audio quality.

Speaker 2 (40:56):
Is shock He's sound great, really great. It's fantastic. We're
having I mean the shows from the car.

Speaker 3 (41:03):
Maybe this may be the permanent studio and I might
suggest to all of the the executives at Fox Sports
that maybe we should make these shows mobile.

Speaker 1 (41:13):
All the studios were literally.

Speaker 3 (41:16):
Driving around, you know, getting ourselves from Jack in the
Box or in and out Burger while we're doing the show.

Speaker 2 (41:22):
Yeah, I give you credit, though, man, the resourcefulness you
have guivered away Like there are seriously all kidding aside.
There are a lot of hosts that would just be
like not in the cards today, And you can you
name one that you hadna got absolutely named names, but
I'll tell you Ornberger's On the other side, I'll give

(41:43):
you a guy that is Ornberger s esque. That'd be
our guy, Chris Broussard. So I was doing Weekend shows
with Chris Brussard a while ago, and I'll never forget
he was in New Orleans for NBA All Star Weekend
and we did a show on Saturdayday night, Saturday Night's
the Big Night, three point shooting Contest, the slam Dunk,

(42:04):
all that good stuff, and Chris found his way to
a studio and did the whole show. And I'm like, damn, Like,
you're a name, you got a million followers, you can
easily be like, hey, I'm in New Orleans for All
Star Weekend. You know I'm gonna be off this Saturday.
And he found a studio. I respected the hell out
of Chris for doing that, and I respect the hell

(42:25):
out of you Rich for making it work here with
your Mazda Miata set up over there. Again, you could
have just said it's not the cards, but is that
You're like, all right, I got a phone, I've got
an Ethernet cord, I think, and you got the stream
going too.

Speaker 1 (42:41):
Oh yeah.

Speaker 2 (42:42):
That props to you Rich, very well done.

Speaker 1 (42:44):
We're making it work. We're making it work and listen,
and that's what it takes. In March.

Speaker 3 (42:48):
I mean, if you want to scrap your way through
this tournament, you're gonna have some tough nights, some tough mornings.

Speaker 1 (42:53):
You gotta make it go.

Speaker 2 (42:55):
Yeah, you had the nil money, they'd get you like
a limo.

Speaker 1 (43:01):
Backseat of a stretch escalade right now.

Speaker 2 (43:03):
Like one of those right, oh yeah, hot tub in
the back. Okay, how about the matchup of the tournament
thus far? At least, it's two seeded Bama against the
one seed Duke and we get it off here tonight
in New Jersey. It's the night cap tonight Alabama against BYU.

(43:24):
Twenty five three pointers made an NCAA tournament record, And so.

Speaker 7 (43:30):
The question is can they stay hot? Not to that degree,
but just stay hot? Can they make twelve ish fourteen ish?
Can they stay pretty hot?

Speaker 2 (43:41):
Although they're gonna regress to the meme like how hot
can they stay from three? Because they're gonna have to
stay hot to a degree to have a chance against Bama.
And the other big question I have for Bama's defense,
which we know is goot awful. What are they gonna
do against Kankain Nipple? All right? Like he is one
of those bigger wining Bama has smaller guards. How do

(44:04):
you slow ca Nipple down? And that's just one of
the challenges for Bama's defense. But I think that might
be the most challenging aspect for Bama's defense is if
Duke is scoring in the nineties, right, is Bama doing
that against Duke's defense? I don't think so. So you're
gonna have to do one of two things. You're either
gonna have to be lights out from three or your

(44:26):
defense is gonna have to play lights out. And I
just don't see that happening.

Speaker 3 (44:30):
Yeah, yeah, Look, you know the Tide advance from the
Sweet sixteen with that one thirteen eighty eight win over BYU,
and Bama was on fire from three point twenty five
of fifty two fifty two to three point attempts. I mean,
now wild when I think about that number, just the

(44:53):
audacity to shoot it from perimeter that often. It reminds
you of the you know, the Golden State Warriors when
the Splash Brothers were really going off. It reminds you
it doesn't feel like college basketball, right, you know, it
feels as a very maybe the Houston Rockets in the
mid twenty tens, you know, when Harden was really firing

(45:17):
them from three, they had analytics on their side. There's
few teams that would fire them up at the rate
that Bama has done, and when they're on they are
roasting folks. But here's the problem. Cooper Flag, He's a
big problem. And you run into that guy. It just
seems like anytime, anytime there's a star on the opposite

(45:41):
side of the court, he finds a way to match him.
Like Arizona's Caleb Love he has those thirty five points,
Duke finds a way because Flag he can throw him
down too, So he's an equalizer and Duke has a
deep roster, you know. And they're not just good from
three points, but they are. They're not just good from

(46:02):
you know, mid range they are. They're not just good
under the basketball hoop, but they are. They're they're very complete,
they're very balanced. So if they can find a way
to knock Bama off kilter, to stress them out at
three point line, this.

Speaker 1 (46:17):
Could be a lopsided victory for Duke.

Speaker 3 (46:20):
However, if Bama's shooters are hot, you know, if you
have a Mark seiars night where he's just unconscious from three,
this could be a close game.

Speaker 4 (46:29):
Let me ask you guys a question. Let's do a
transitive property question. Here to see if we can't get
to the right answer. Do we think this year's Bama's
team is better than last year or worse that made
it to the final four and lost to Yukon. Is
this year's team better or worse than that team last year?

Speaker 1 (46:46):
Oh, that's a great question.

Speaker 2 (46:47):
Well, last year they're a four seed, you know, yeah,
last year where they were a four So this year's
team is better a lot, by a lot or just barely, like,
slightly better, marginally better? Are they, like, significantly better than
last year team that went to the final five? I'd
say marginally, margin is better, Relatively similar, I don't think
there's much.

Speaker 3 (47:06):
Yeah, offensively, I would say they're a little more consistent,
they're a better team.

Speaker 1 (47:11):
But I agree with Brian Marginalie.

Speaker 4 (47:12):
I think they're better at the rim defending with Yumori.
I think they're a little bit better there. But I
think overall they're relatively.

Speaker 2 (47:18):
The same team.

Speaker 4 (47:19):
Is Yukon's team from last year that won the national
title back to back better or worse than Duke?

Speaker 2 (47:26):
This year Yukon was really good, but Duke they're so deep.
I think those are comparable squad. I'll tell you what,
if we could have a rematch of last year's or
a rematch if we could have a matchup of last
year's Yukon versus against Duke.

Speaker 3 (47:44):
Yeah, yes, that would be That would be the closest
matchup left in the tournament if you do it right now.

Speaker 4 (47:49):
Yeah, So we've gotten to the point where we think
BAM is relatively the same, maybe slightly better, and Yukon
and duk are you know last year's Yukon team and
this year's Duke team are very comparable? Well, Yukon won
by fourteen, and that was on a night that Bama
shot forty eight percent from three in the final fours,
and we're.

Speaker 2 (48:08):
Still lost by fourteen. Couldn't cover the spread.

Speaker 4 (48:11):
So my question again, so now we've done this transitive property,
what's the difference this year? Like is yu Kan last
year's Yukon team that beat this year that beat last
year's Bamathee by fourteen?

Speaker 2 (48:26):
Like, how do we see a.

Speaker 4 (48:27):
Different result this time around? Like is it gonna have
to be sixty percent from three? Like what's the number
that BAMA has to shoot to not lose by fourteen
again just like they did last year to the Juggernaut team?
Like that that's where I struggle with getting to the
window on Bama. And that's really an oversimplification of it,

(48:48):
but that's kind of where I'm at right now with
this game. Like I just don't understand how Bama can
overcome the team that they couldn't overcome last year. We
think this year's Duke team might be as good, might
be better. Who knows, they might they might end up
being bad if they run through this tournament with this
SEC gauntlet and they're the last team standing.

Speaker 2 (49:08):
The ACC, the crappy ACC Duke.

Speaker 4 (49:11):
I know Duke's not crappy, but the ACC in general,
I think is down this year. Like that's where I
struggle with this game, Like, I feel like we're destined
for the same result we saw in the Final four
last year. Even if Alabama shoots fifty percent from three.

Speaker 2 (49:24):
Yeah, now that's a good way to look at it. Interesting,
I would say this, like, kind of building off of
your point, what can Bama do beyond three point shooting
that could decrease their need to shoot whatever it is
sixty percent from three, right, Like, what can they do
beyond that? They got to defend and the other thing

(49:45):
is they got to hit the glass because that's the deal.
Duke has a big advantage on the boards, and we're
talking about Duke their offensive rebounding and preventing Alabama from
getting offensive rebounds, because think about a hot shooting team
like Bama. You get an offensive rebound and then just
kick it out to the three point line and get

(50:05):
a clean look. You could score a lot of points
that way. And if Bama is limited getting offensive rebounds,
you're not getting those second chance points. You're not getting
those clean looks from three. So that's one of the things.
They got to hit the glass. You gotta defend, you
gotta hit the glass, and you got bad matchups in
both departments against Duke. I don't want to make it

(50:26):
sound like Duke's unbeatable, but when you have a trash
defense and you're getting out rebounded, most likely the odds
are really stacked against you. And that's the thing, man.
I'll go back to Rich's point two, where if you
think about Bama being twenty five from fifty two fifty
two to three pointers attempted. I always say this, the

(50:47):
only thing that drives me crazy is if you're missing
three pointers left and right. If that's not working, you
gotta try something else instead of just shrugging your shoulders like,
I guess we're just cold tonight. You mentioned the Rockets,
Rich Remember when they're playing the Warriors and they missed
something like twenty eight threes in a row or something.
Oh yeah, they they're almost bombing away.

Speaker 3 (51:07):
Yeah, they almost didn't show up for the fourth quarter.
I think that was a Western Conference final, wasn't it.
They almost didn't show up for the fourth quarter in
that in that playoff game because they were like.

Speaker 1 (51:18):
Ah, screw it.

Speaker 3 (51:19):
I mean, they started shooting the basketball from as soon
as they stepped over the mid court line.

Speaker 1 (51:26):
It was. It was insane, but it was insane.

Speaker 2 (51:29):
And that's a thing where it's like, if your ice cold,
do something else. But if you're like Bama last game
and you're hot, let it fly.

Speaker 5 (51:40):
The only that.

Speaker 2 (51:40):
Drives me crazy if your ice cold and still stick
with it. It's like a pitcher throwing a curveball and
they're just tattooing him. It's like, go to something else.
It's not working.

Speaker 3 (51:51):
Yeah, yeah, look, you know, you know, just kind of
putting a ball in it. I don't wanna, I don't
wanna overstate this could be a close game. I don't
want to overstate Duke here, but they've scored at least
eighty nine points in each of their last three games.
The only game where they gave up more than that
was or excuse me, they gave up ninety three points

(52:14):
to Arizona in the Sweet sixteen, but that was the
first time since February eighth that they gave up more
than seventy one points in a game.

Speaker 1 (52:23):
That's fifteen games ago. So think about that.

Speaker 3 (52:26):
Not only are they scoring at least eighty nine points
currently like last three games, but since February eighth, fifteen
games ago, was the last time prior to the Sweet
sixteam that they gave up more than seventy one. So
the problem with facing Duke is as good as they

(52:47):
are offensively, they're also excellent defensively. I mean that Arizona
score was aberand you know, you look at it, it's
an outlier. What they've been is dominant on both sides
of the court. You cannot say the same thing for Alabama.
Alabama is an offensive juggernaut. Alabama is a fast flow team.

(53:07):
They want to win off transition, they want to win
in the turnover margin. They want to move fast. But
if You're a good defending team, especially from perimeter. Bama's
going to struggle against against you and and Duke can.
They can defend the three point line, they can defend
the paint. They're a complete team. And I just don't

(53:29):
see this going Bama's way.

Speaker 4 (53:32):
I mean, let's put this in perspective for a minute.
Caleb Love scored thirty five points. Like the duo Love
and Bradley who are you know, sensational Backcoart due A
combined for fifty. Arizona still could barely cover the spread,
barely needed a crazy second half.

Speaker 2 (53:52):
Duke lost. Like when when I analyze a.

Speaker 4 (53:54):
College basketball box score, the two things I look at
turnovers and threes, Like like it's just it's just the
things that stick out to me the most when I like,
usually if you win both of those, you're gonna win
the basketball game. Yeah, Arizona won both. They won both categories.
They were plus four turnover margin, and they made one
more three than Duke. Duke made eleven, Arizona made twelve.

(54:18):
They still barely covered the spread. Like, I don't know what, like,
what kind of performance does Alabama have to put forth
tonight to win this game? It's gonna have to be herculean,
like twenty five may threes, ten turnovers or less. I

(54:38):
think that's what the numbers have to be, like twenty
Like twenty May threes is like a minimum tonight, It's crazy.

Speaker 2 (54:46):
That's the difference too, is you know, we're just waxing
poetic about Duke, and they deserve it because even if
Bama hits twenty five threes, Duke's got a shot. Yeah,
you know what I mean, Like, that's how bad Bama's
defense is. If I'll put it this way, if Duke
hits twenty five threes, they're winning by twenty five thirty points,

(55:08):
you know what I'm saying, Like compared to Bama. That's
your difference is the defenses are just night and day
between the two teams.

Speaker 3 (55:15):
Yeah, Bama can only win on one side of the court.
Duke can win on both sides of the court, which
means that if Duke has a tough night offensively, well,
they can make it up defensively. That means if Duke
has a tough night defensively, it means they can make
it up offensively. If Bama has a tough night on offense,
they're toast.

Speaker 1 (55:36):
There's no coming out.

Speaker 4 (55:38):
Yeah, if they can't shoot it like they did, like,
they're gonna have to make fifty percent. I think that's
why I'm glad they were really aggressive shooting it and
taking a lot of threes, because they're gonna need that
practice for tonight.

Speaker 2 (55:52):
Absolutely they will. All right, We've got Rich Heronberger Penn
State All American blow torch a pork shoulder. You'll do
a show in a car. You know he's resourcing over
there next to have you do a show from a boat.

Speaker 1 (56:05):
What do you think about that?

Speaker 2 (56:06):
Rich?

Speaker 1 (56:09):
They called me show boat ormber.

Speaker 2 (56:12):
Got Jared Smith FSR betting analyst. I'm Brian No. Use
code Countdown at bet MGM and receive up to fifteen
hundred dollars back in bonus bets if you don't win
your first bet. When you're registered with bet MGM, you'll
get instant access to a variety of parlay selection features,
live betting options, signature bets, and the best daily promotions
in the business. Again, use Code Countdown and you'll get

(56:34):
up to fifteen hundred dollars back in bonus bets if
you don't win your first bet. All right, coming up next,
our main man Seamus McGee, team lead of Sports Trading
at BETMGM, gets you all set for.

Speaker 1 (56:45):
The Elite eight.

Speaker 2 (56:46):
Some tasty matchups to dissect. We'll do it next. It's
Fox Sports Radios Countdown presented by BETMGM. It is Fox
Sports Radios Countdown presented by BETMGM. Tractor Supply knows that
a winning attitude and a winning season take practice, teamwork,
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(57:09):
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(57:30):
The listener with the best bracket at Fox Sports Radio
dot Com will win a twenty five hundred dollars gift
card to Tractors Supply. All right, let's do this. Oh
all right, we'll get to Seamus McGee on here in
a second. Seamus big busy here figuring out his uh

(57:53):
his UFL play of the day. You know what I mean?

Speaker 4 (57:55):
Yeah, we do have UFL. Start betting the draft pretty soon.
That's the next event for me on the calendar.

Speaker 1 (58:02):
App We guys, do we have UFL. I thought they
were still in some sort of labor dispute.

Speaker 2 (58:06):
Oh no, we think.

Speaker 1 (58:07):
That's Oh that's a great question.

Speaker 3 (58:09):
Like I I know Fox has been preparing some like
alternate programming just in case.

Speaker 1 (58:13):
Good question.

Speaker 2 (58:14):
I hope we haven't.

Speaker 4 (58:15):
Yeah, I really like some football right now.

Speaker 2 (58:18):
So on yesterday, right, UFL going on? You guys doing it?
You guys just watching the tournament or what I was
watching the chalk?

Speaker 1 (58:27):
Yeah, I was good.

Speaker 2 (58:28):
I'm blinded by the chalk.

Speaker 3 (58:30):
I wouldn't I wouldn't know if the UFL was happening,
if the team was staying at the hotel.

Speaker 1 (58:36):
I'm currently.

Speaker 2 (58:39):
You got kicked the.

Speaker 1 (58:43):
What's the old Andy Furman line?

Speaker 5 (58:44):
If they were playing in my backyard, had closed the drapes.

Speaker 2 (58:47):
Yeah, alright, are shamous is what s dive into this?

Speaker 1 (58:54):
Follow the money?

Speaker 6 (58:55):
Good money?

Speaker 2 (58:57):
Okay, seamous McGee plad you're with us here, Good morning
to you. Okay, So let's start with the game. Game
of the tournament. So far Bama Duke got the Duke's
minus seven and a half. The total is one seventy
four and a half. After what happened on Thursday, I
feel like the betting community is like one seventy four.
They'll they'll be like more than halfway there, like midway

(59:19):
through the first half. What do we What do you
think about the side in the total for this Bama
Duke game here, Seamus, I think thanks.

Speaker 6 (59:27):
For having me back. Yeah, it's this is gonna be
a huge handle here. We're definitely gonna be rooting for
Alabama here at the BETAMGM side. Duke is a massive
liability for the national outright, So the swift we can
get them out, the better. And I think Alabama, I mean,
did they shoot themselves out of this game? Like two

(59:47):
nights ago they hit twenty five threes. We'll see if
they can keep it up. But a third team I
could it's probably a team coached by Nato. It's it's
a different team. But I don't think Duke is really
faced all year in terms of style, So really interesting
to see how they cope with it can be really
up and down, and yeah, we're gonna need the unders here.
I think everyone saw that game the Alabamahad and they

(01:00:08):
don't even excuse to take the overs here.

Speaker 4 (01:00:11):
Yeah, there's definitely I got the splits this morning. John
Ewing sent them out. I'm seeing ninety percent of the
handle on the over, just an insane amount. I mean,
I don't know how you couldn't pay me to bet
the under in this game. But I'm actually curious big picture, Seamus, Right,
like obviously march madness, Like we associate upsets underdogs, and
we haven't seen that at all in this tournament. So

(01:00:33):
usually when the favorites win, it's bad for the sports books,
especially in the NFL. But in this case, my guess
is the chalky tournament, you guys have actually probably.

Speaker 2 (01:00:43):
Done pretty well.

Speaker 6 (01:00:45):
Paul, I would not say that at all, Jared, Wow, interesting,
every money line parlay is cashing. It's just when it's
it's too chalky, it's you know, you need a healthy
mix of like some good upsets and and like you know,
the square dog to go down, like you know they

(01:01:07):
were a fifteen or a sixteen seed or even a
popular fourteen seed, like gets an upset usually bad for
the book, but you know, sometimes we'll take it because
there's a big future liability, like Okmen being in Kentucky
last year we've lost in a game, but Kentucky was
like our second biggest loser when that happened. So that
was one where like we were, you know, we were
fine with that. But this Sweet sixteen, it's just been

(01:01:28):
it's been a really tough past couple days for the books.
Every money line party is hitting, every game is going over.
So yeah, we're hoping we can get one of these
dogs out right today.

Speaker 3 (01:01:39):
Which one seed, Seamus, do you think has the best
chance of being toppled by the lower seed they're facing.

Speaker 6 (01:01:48):
Hmm, Yeah, It's it's really tough because I think they're
all so good. I have to I have to say, Duke, honestly,
just because yeah, they're funneling teams, but this Alabandon team
is pretty red hot. It's more so the opponent. I
like Alabama more than I like Michigan State, more than
I like Tennessee more than I like Texas Tech. From
that point of view, I think all these four seas

(01:02:10):
are so good this year. Four on seas are so
good this year. So it's it's almost duped by default
just because I just like Bama more than the other teams.

Speaker 2 (01:02:19):
Okay, so this is great. We've got Seamus McGee, team
lead of sports Trading at bet MGM, and so I
think what we should do with your help, We should
build a favorite money line slash over parlay here, Seamous,
with everything that you've explained, like, they're all cashing. So
who's it is? Take Florida money line, right, Let's let's

(01:02:41):
take the Bama duke over. What else are we putting
in this money line? Slash over parlay, Seamus.

Speaker 6 (01:02:47):
I tried myself to mush this last night. I parlayed
Auburn and the Houston moneyline thinking I'm on it. There's
no way it's gonna win now, surely and lo and
behold that. Yeah, we just lead bottom line, we need
one of Texas techer Alabama to come out on top tonight.
Florida also not a great resolve of the futures book.

(01:03:09):
So we get either one of those dogs to win today,
we will have a little sigh of release tonight.

Speaker 4 (01:03:15):
All right, So let's get to the game that really
seems to be the tightest of the spreads this weekend.
Actually not seems to be. It is, and I am
seeing some action on Tennessee. I took four it open
with the balls. I just don't trust this Houston team
in these tight games, and we've seen them almost blow
the game to Gonzaga despite the fact that they really

(01:03:37):
dominated that game start to finish. Hat I think at
twelve point lead was seven minutes to go and it
was tight late. Same thing against Purdue, double digit lead
with I think seven minutes left, needed a late bucket
to win. There's just something about these Kelvin Samson teams.
And don't get me wrong, Rick Barnes has his warts
as well, but it feels like those warts have been
removed by a dermatologists lately, because I think this Tennessee

(01:03:58):
team is kind of operating on a different level.

Speaker 6 (01:04:01):
That is gonna say, Cower point, you trust Rick Barnes, Mordan,
Kelvin Sampson.

Speaker 4 (01:04:05):
Yeah, I know it sounds crazy, but that's kind of
where I'm at right now.

Speaker 6 (01:04:10):
Give me Calvin Sampson all day. This is gonna be
a weird game for the book, I think, because you're right,
there's some Tennessee money coming in, you know, very popular
in Tennessee. They love the balls down there. On benam
GM so I could see this being a game where
we finckally need a favor to win. So with that
being the case, Tennessee probably wins out.

Speaker 3 (01:04:32):
So Seamus, you may have tipped your hand a little
bit on this the start of this question, at least,
because Duke has the best chances odds on favorites to
win the national championship. But you said amongst the low seeds,
you like Bama the best, which means Duke would be
factored out if that outcome does come true. So when
you look at the odds list national Championship winner odds,

(01:04:55):
who do you think is the value pick here?

Speaker 6 (01:05:00):
I probably have to say Alabama is the value. Okay,
I'm just I'm just a na Oates believer. So yeah,
they can shoot the lights out. The one thing you
wonder about is when if it gets to the final
four and the shooting in the stadium again and they
hit all these threes. That's always a narrative every year,

(01:05:21):
and most of the time it does ring true. You know,
some things have trouble shooting in these football stadiums. So
we'll see, But I I'd go with Bama of the
of the value plays for the outright.

Speaker 2 (01:05:33):
All right, Seamus, Uh, you got value plays, you got
the Shamus Special. Now it's just giving out picks like
candy over here. What do you have for the special?

Speaker 6 (01:05:44):
It's a tough one today, but we're going to go
to the ice and we're going to go with a
little bu puff line against Cornell in the regional championship
for the Frozen four Tournament.

Speaker 4 (01:05:58):
Okay, we gotta put we gotta pick it from our
boy Bill Krackenberger yesterday on on some hockey that came
through on UMass.

Speaker 2 (01:06:05):
So maybe wow, a little college hockey vibes. Yeah, be you. Okay,
Boston's been a.

Speaker 6 (01:06:10):
Great couple of days of hockey. I highly recommend if
you're not watching, it's on ESPNU. It's fantastic.

Speaker 2 (01:06:15):
Yes, it has been really good.

Speaker 6 (01:06:17):
I have it.

Speaker 2 (01:06:17):
I've had it on one of the alternate screens in
my apartment. It's been good, very good. All right, Seamus.
Always appreciate your time, man, enjoy the day. We'll catch
you soon.

Speaker 6 (01:06:26):
Thanks you guys for them.

Speaker 1 (01:06:28):
You too. There.

Speaker 2 (01:06:29):
He is Seamous McGee, team lead of Sports Trading at BETMGMB.
It is Yeah Fox Sports Radios Countdown presented by BETMGM
for every round of March matchups on betmgm, you have
the opportunity to make predictions about what will happen, including
outcomes like winners and over unders. You'll earn points based

(01:06:49):
on a scoring system, and you could share. You could
win a share of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars
in bonus bets based on your points earned. Enter March
matchups two hundred and fifty thousand dollar pick them. It's
free to play at bet mgm. Earn points from correct
answers for a shot to win a share of bonus fects. Okay,
so we'll get right back to the madness here in

(01:07:13):
a couple of minutes, but a couple of non madness stories, right.
Seamus led us into this with college There goes College Soka.
You know, great line from the town, but college hockey.
He was talking about, how about the NBA Taylor Jenkins out,
get out the Memphis Grizzly, say fired with nine games
left in the regular season, they're tied for the foe

(01:07:34):
seed in the West and he's out of a job. Yeah,
and we don't know why. We don't know why. That's
it's just random timing. I know the record has been
awful against playoff teams, but again tied with the Lakers.
They have the same record as the Lakers, and he's
gone with the playoffs right around the corner. I don't

(01:07:55):
get this at all.

Speaker 1 (01:07:56):
I'm so in favor of this. You know.

Speaker 3 (01:07:59):
Look, in general, I think that teams don't give coaches
enough time. Like that is a sweeping generalization across all sports, football, basketball, otherwise. Like,
I just think that there's such a short on ramp
for a coach to put his culture in place. And
don't get me wrong, sometimes it goes really wrong and

(01:08:20):
you need to rip the band aid off quick. But
when there's this long kiss goodbye, like the Mike McCarthy
thing or the Jason Garrett thing with the Cowboys, or
we've seen this before in basketball, where you know that
a coach is starting to fade or the effectiveness is
starting to fade. We've seen this with some great names

(01:08:41):
for certain coaches who their message was just going stale.
I'm less in favor of having a coach stay at
the party too late just to keep up appearances, like
tear the band aid off if it's not working.

Speaker 1 (01:08:55):
With Jenkins, tear the band aid off and guess.

Speaker 3 (01:08:57):
What this gives him an opportunity to chase down his
next job sooner too, so the franchise gets started on
their next head coach, their coach who they fired gets
started on his job hunt. I think it's better for
all parties involved. If the decisions already made, why are
we going to delay it to the offseason.

Speaker 1 (01:09:18):
Let's just do it now.

Speaker 4 (01:09:20):
Yeah, I don't know any I have no context on
this situation.

Speaker 2 (01:09:23):
I've not kept up with much of the NBA.

Speaker 4 (01:09:25):
This year, the Grizzlies, really, but goodness gracious, he was
the fourth favorite to win Coach of the Year like
he's now. Obviously, Kenny Atkinson's like a big favorite to
win that award and Pickerstaff's the next guy.

Speaker 2 (01:09:38):
So he wasn't going to win the award. But it
just it's like, and he's been removed from that market
now he can can't bet on the day. That would
be wild if they kept his name on the list.
That actually be hilarious if they did. But I just
I don't know where we're at in sports.

Speaker 4 (01:09:58):
If this is a thing, like I I'll tell you this.
If that's the bar, I'm glad I'm in on this
side of the aisle. Because I'd probably been fired from
every job that I've ever had. If if that's the
bar for keeping your job in the NBA, I mean,
it's it's really difficult to really fathom. But I guess
Rich's point makes sense. Like if this was already gonna

(01:10:20):
be the move, and from what I've read, this was
going to be the move regardless, Like if they made
it to the NBA Finals, he probably like maybe that
would have been the only thing that could have saved him,
you know, but he was probably gonna get fired anyways
after the season, and they just kind of wanted to,
you know, as Rich said, ripped.

Speaker 2 (01:10:36):
The band aid off. But man, tough, tough year. How
are you better? That's the question. Okay, John Morant has
missed thirty games this season, How are you better with
an interim coach? Nine games left in the regular season
before the playoffs get here? If this goes beyond basketball, okay,
maybe there's something crazy that went. Hey why, I have

(01:10:58):
no idea, But if this is just strictly basketball, you're
tied for fourth in the West. The West is stacked,
but sane.

Speaker 3 (01:11:09):
Look no further than the fact that on occasion during
the Golden State Warriors heyday.

Speaker 1 (01:11:16):
You know where it was, you know.

Speaker 3 (01:11:19):
The Splash brothers in Draymond and they added Durant that
Steve Kerr would sit down on the bench, he'd put
his clipboard on his seat and he'd go ahead and
he'd sit on it, and he'd take that whistle off
his neck and he would put it around Draymond's neck.

Speaker 1 (01:11:34):
Or he would let Clay coach a game.

Speaker 3 (01:11:37):
Like the NBA, the hay is in the barn come
gaden day like you I mean, don't get me wrong,
there can be certain adjustments that certain coaches can make,
you know, maybe a quick draw up on an inbound
play because maybe they're facing a defense they weren't expecting,
or a half court defensive set they weren't expecting to see.

(01:11:58):
And maybe there can be ti any little tweaks to
the game plan in game.

Speaker 1 (01:12:02):
But overall, the hey is in the barn.

Speaker 3 (01:12:04):
In the rankings of coaching importance, the NBA is close
to dead last. It's close to dead last. These players
run this league. Coaching isn't nearly as important. It's an
overinflated position in the sport. So when you tell me
a coach got fired, a couple of days out from
the playoffs beginning. So what These playoffs are decided by series.

(01:12:28):
The teams with better players typically win these series. It's
the NBA. If there was college basketball, I'll be like,
what are you doing?

Speaker 1 (01:12:35):
What are you doing? What you're telling me?

Speaker 3 (01:12:37):
It's it's February fifteenth and you just fired a coach
and you're a tournament team?

Speaker 1 (01:12:41):
Are you out of your mind?

Speaker 3 (01:12:42):
Something must have really gone wrong at that university if
you're willing to do that. But outside of I mean
outside of the college, once you get to the pro ranks,
coaching doesn't matter nearly as much.

Speaker 4 (01:12:55):
Yeah, I tend to agree with the NBA, but still like,
let the guy finish the year.

Speaker 2 (01:13:02):
I don't.

Speaker 4 (01:13:03):
I don't really, I don't see like like to Bryan's point, like,
and I always do this anytime I'm making a bet,
Like what's the upside? What's the downside? Like, what's the
upside of this decision? I guess they make a run
and they prove that Taylor Jenkins was worthless all along.
I mean, I guess, I guess that's the only upside

(01:13:23):
to this. Where the downside is you lose the team
and all of a sudden you go from maybe winning
around in the playoffs and making more money, right, because
I think the further they go in the playoffs, they
make significantly more money, like ticket sales, TV all that stuff.
Like why wouldn't you want to just keep it together? Yeah,

(01:13:44):
and try to make it like I'm not saying they're
gonna win the US, but they can win around make
it to the Semis.

Speaker 1 (01:13:50):
Why not? Right? Right?

Speaker 2 (01:13:52):
And this is what a losing organization does. It's just
the bottom line, is it felt like, unless yeah, unless
this goes beyond basketball. Remember emy Udoka was out of
the Celtics job because he's hooking up with an assistant.

Speaker 1 (01:14:05):
That's fair all the fasts, Okay, that's fair.

Speaker 2 (01:14:07):
If there's something beyond basketball, okay. But if it's just
strictly basketball, this is the move of a losing organization. Agree,
there's no winning organization that's gonna be. The Lakers are
just gonna be like, you know what, let's fire our guy.
There's nine games left in the regular season. We're fourth
in the West. But screw it, let's get uh the
interim guy in here?

Speaker 4 (01:14:26):
For what?

Speaker 2 (01:14:26):
How are you improving? Like, I just don't get it.
If Jod played the whole season. He missed thirty games,
you're missing your star for three.

Speaker 4 (01:14:34):
Maybe there's your answer, right, Okham's raizor Brian. The simplest
answer is usually the correct one. Maybe there's something else
that we're not privy to.

Speaker 2 (01:14:42):
There should there better be Yeah, like there better be
something else beyond basketball, or I have no idea what
the Grizzlies are doing. We got Rich Orenberger, Penn State
All American. We've got Jared Smith FSR betting analyst. I'm Brian.
Now hey, get ready for tip off with March matchups
Odds boost token at BETMGM. Use your token to score

(01:15:04):
a bigger payout if your March matchups bet wins coming
up next, Prop it up. That's right, the prop betting market.
Lot of ways we can go. We'll compare notes. Coming up.
It's Fox Sports Radios Countdown presented by BETMGM. It is
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(01:15:26):
Fox Sports Radio on YouTube. You'll see a whole bunch
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subscribe so you always have instant access to our Fox
Sports Radio videos on YouTube. All right, let's do this.

Speaker 5 (01:15:41):
Prop it up player plays.

Speaker 2 (01:15:44):
Yes, the prop betting market shared. We start with you
so many ways you can go. Which way are you going?

Speaker 4 (01:15:51):
So I bet this almost at every game of the tournament,
even at the end of the regular season, and it's
been pretty profitable for me.

Speaker 2 (01:15:58):
So I'll do it again today. We'll go back to the.

Speaker 4 (01:15:59):
Well with Walter Clayton Junior over eighteen and a half points.
I got this last night at minus one thirty. It's
up to minus one forty five right now at that mgym.
I would still play it. There's some nineteen and a
half out there. I think that's fine too. He's coming
off a low volume game always score thirteen points in
their last matchup against Maryland. It snapped a string of
a four straight games where Clayton at twenty two or

(01:16:19):
more tech. You know, defense has been shaky this year.
At times they're just allowing General Davis to go off
for thirty points. He got to the line eleven times.
Clayton's a great free throw shooter. This high high total
game in the one fifties, like I know, obviously bam
a Duke's gonna be high scoring too, but I think
Walter Clayton's the guy with the outside shot getting the line.

Speaker 2 (01:16:37):
He's gonna get to twenty points tonight against Peck.

Speaker 3 (01:16:41):
Okay, all right, you're gonna have to come back to
me because I'm.

Speaker 1 (01:16:44):
Torn right now. I'm over right now, I gotta go last.

Speaker 2 (01:16:48):
We have a game time decision.

Speaker 1 (01:16:51):
Yeah or Burger?

Speaker 2 (01:16:52):
Yeah? Are you thinking about retracting your your Taylor Jenkins
take or the playoff seating based on windsday?

Speaker 1 (01:17:02):
Is that? Are we?

Speaker 2 (01:17:03):
Is that what's on the mind? Potential retraction here?

Speaker 1 (01:17:07):
I was thinking about going and what are the options?
Will help you decide?

Speaker 3 (01:17:11):
Well, I was thinking about going Major League Baseball, and
I loving.

Speaker 1 (01:17:15):
Any of what I'm seeing.

Speaker 3 (01:17:17):
So I'm going back to the NBA.

Speaker 2 (01:17:20):
Yeah, you stick to the hoops.

Speaker 4 (01:17:21):
We got plenty of time for baseball later this summer.

Speaker 2 (01:17:25):
I'll you know what, We'll give a little give and
go here rich Okay, so he passed me the ball,
I'll dribble a little bit and pass it right back
to you. So I'll give you my pick. Someone get
I'm going uh with Jackie Moon. Yes, I don't like it.

Speaker 1 (01:17:43):
I don't like it. Give it back.

Speaker 2 (01:17:44):
I don't like it. I don't like it.

Speaker 1 (01:17:45):
Get back.

Speaker 2 (01:17:46):
Yeah, I'm going Conka nipple to wing against some undersized
Alabama guards. I've got nipple. It ticked up a point,
but I still like the over even money over sixteen
and a half points against Alabama. Their defense sucks, they're undersized.
I seek nipple getting over sixteen and a half. Give

(01:18:06):
me double k Khanka nipple here today for the dookies,
for the Dukies.

Speaker 3 (01:18:12):
All right, I'm I'm going gosh, I hate my picks today,
but give me.

Speaker 2 (01:18:18):
You're going undefeated.

Speaker 3 (01:18:20):
Give me ke getting Murray over twelve and a half points,
Sacramento forward going against Orlando Magic. He's been over twelve
and a half the last four games.

Speaker 1 (01:18:34):
Keget Murray. That's it, Okay, We're done. All right. It's
like an alligator teeth sometimes.

Speaker 4 (01:18:41):
It really is the thing about props that is always
intriguing is there's always an angle, Like I don't think
I've ever looked at a game where.

Speaker 2 (01:18:49):
I couldn't come up with some kind of angle.

Speaker 4 (01:18:52):
Like if you're not vetting some kind of like over
prop in the Bama Duke game tonight, Yeah, Like I'm
gonna get to the window about with something like how
about this eight plus points scored in the first two minutes,
asking how plus one seventy like like this is like that,
like this is the kind of stuff that I love

(01:19:13):
that at MGM Gibbs, it's like these are terrible bets.

Speaker 1 (01:19:15):
The splits are very wide, and.

Speaker 4 (01:19:16):
It's like, you know, you no eight on this, You're
just guessing. But like, if you want fun sweats for
these games, there's plenty.

Speaker 2 (01:19:23):
Of options for you know what, let me throw one
out one other one. I hate this because it sounds
so square, but I just see it getting there. Mark
Sears over two and a half. Yeah, he's gonna take
like ten tonight. At least he made ten last game. Now,
the previous six games he didn't get to three threes,
but he's got his confidence. They might be trailing by

(01:19:44):
he's not gonna make three of them. He's making three
of them, is he not?

Speaker 1 (01:19:49):
I think so? All right?

Speaker 2 (01:19:50):
Coming up next the previews march on Oh, welcome in
Happy Saturday to you Elite eight Action moving four Ford Man,
I'll tell you the nightcap is as tasty as it gets.
Bama against Duke. But how about the team of the
tournament with Alligator Blood I'm sure you guys love the

(01:20:11):
movie Rounders. Love that in that scene. What gambler dislikes Rounders?
That's what I would like to not a real gambler.
That's right, that's a fake gamblers. Famblers call them famblers.
That you're a fake gambler. I like that.

Speaker 4 (01:20:29):
I've never heard that before. Yeah, just making stuff up
on the fly here on this side.

Speaker 2 (01:20:34):
But as Teddy Teddy KGB said in Rounders, I can't
get rid of the kid the alligator blood. That's Texas Tech.
Texas Tech has alligator blood and they had it in
the last round against Arkansas. So Arkansas, Arkansas's head coach
Jean Caliperi thirty five and oh. In the NCAA tournament,

(01:20:55):
when leading at halftime, the O has been changed to
one because they lost a game they had a sixteen
point lead in had the halftime lead. Arkansas loses to
Texas Tech. Furious rally. What was it like? Sixteen to
three run at the end there of regulation for Texas Tech.
They get the game to go overtime. They win in

(01:21:16):
ot and against Florida. Listen, Florida is a better team,
there's no denying that. But you talk about a team
that they're like the zombie team of the tournament right
where you're like, all right, they're dead, and then you
look and you're like, he's still moving. My gosh, is
this guy that's Texas Tech?

Speaker 1 (01:21:33):
Right?

Speaker 2 (01:21:33):
Like, Florida is going to have to stop on them
to truly get rid of them, because they just keep
coming at you and coming at you, and just when
you think there there's no way they can come back,
they still do. So Florida they got to be ready
for a full forty minute game because the Red Raiders
they're just built like that. Man, they just keep coming
back after you.

Speaker 3 (01:21:52):
Tenacity, you know, that's what it's called when you're in
a fight that you know you could potentially lose, but
you don't give up because if you're in the fight,
that means they hope you can win the fight.

Speaker 1 (01:22:04):
And that's Texas Tech.

Speaker 3 (01:22:06):
Florida obviously much better balanced offense, much stronger defense. But
if we're going to go back to the conversation we're
having about nil and how it's having an effect on
you know, basketball overall, Jared Smith, you're a smart man,
and you follow betting simulations and you have people who

(01:22:31):
test the market and you yourself, have your own systems,
the Monte Carlo simulation, the thousand rolls of the die.
Sometimes you come up with unexpected outcomes. Is it possible
that Texas Tech can topple Florida even though they're strong
favorites here?

Speaker 1 (01:22:49):
Yeah, it's possible. Is it likely? No?

Speaker 3 (01:22:52):
I mean, I'm leaning Gators pretty hard here, and I'm
leaning Gators to cover this spread. But there's so much
fight left in that dog. And and that's that's what
makes this fun. Is that's what makes sports fun. There's
always hope, And so I'm not counting Texas Tech out
even though I'd bet against him if I had to.

Speaker 2 (01:23:14):
Yeah, I actually picked him in my bracket to go
to the final four.

Speaker 1 (01:23:17):
Wow.

Speaker 4 (01:23:17):
Yeah, well that was more of a like my bracket
theory is more of if everyone's picking one team and
you're in a big bracket pool, you're not going to
win the bracket pool.

Speaker 2 (01:23:24):
If you also picked that team.

Speaker 4 (01:23:26):
Yeah, that's just you know the nature of you know,
a lottery type thing. But if you're in a smaller
bracket pool, I think picking Florida would have made more sense.
Like this isn't the Texas Tech team of yester year.
Right with Chris Beard that made that fantastic run almost
one at all. I think it was twenty seventeen. I
forget the exact year. It was very it was relatively

(01:23:46):
recently that was a grinding, defensive minded team.

Speaker 1 (01:23:51):
This is not that.

Speaker 4 (01:23:53):
This is actually a team that if you look at
the remaining teams in the field, they're one of the
worst defensive teams in the field, still remaining like thirty
ninth in Ken Palm's adjusted defense. The only team lower
is Bama, who again doesn't really play much defense compared
to the rest of the teams in the field, like
the Texas Tech themselves are kind of an outlier.

Speaker 2 (01:24:15):
In this field.

Speaker 4 (01:24:16):
Usually it's teams that rely on their defenses can still
obviously make shots and score. But like I'll give you
the adjusted defensive numbers for the teams left in the field.
Duke is fifth, Florida's ninth, Houston's first, number one overall defense,
Auburn eighth, Tennessee third, Bama twenty eighth, Michigan State fourth,
and then there's Texas Tech at thirty ninth. And in fact,

(01:24:37):
if you take the sample to a shorter size over
the last month since February twenty ninth. Texas Tech is
ninety seventh in Torvik's defensive ratings. I mean, just not
a great defensive team. So the matchup screams Florida can score.
They scored against Maryland, who's a very good defensive team.

(01:24:58):
They're top five in Torvik's defensive ratings in that span.

Speaker 2 (01:25:02):
That same span that Texas deck is ninety seventh in and.

Speaker 4 (01:25:05):
Florida had no problems dropping eighty plus on Maryland the
other night, So like, where are the stop's gonna come from?
And then really the X factor here is Chance McMillan,
one of the leading scores on Texas Tech, one of
the best three point shooters in the country. He's like
over forty percent from three this year. Thought he was
going to play, planned on playing the other night, tweak
something in warm ups, in shoot around, didn't play Like

(01:25:30):
if he can't go, Like, how is Tech gonna mat
because they haven't shot it well in this tournament. They're
shooting twenty five percent from three in this tournament, Like,
that's not gonna fly tonight.

Speaker 2 (01:25:38):
So I think they're gonna need McMillan to play.

Speaker 4 (01:25:41):
They're gonna need him to play well, and they're gonna
have to get offense from a lot of different areas
because this Florida team is just cooking right now.

Speaker 2 (01:25:48):
Yeah, that's the thing.

Speaker 1 (01:25:49):
Man.

Speaker 2 (01:25:49):
If Chance McMillan is a quote unquote game time decision,
it's like that might mean he's unavailable, you know what
I mean. Like, and that's the thing. Elijah Hawkins, I
like him. He's a good guard. He's just small, that's
the thing. Right, Like Alabama, they've got some good guards
going in a different direction. They've got some good guards,
but they're undersized against the guy like Kankin Nipple and

(01:26:13):
all the problems that Duke throws at you. So you
can like players. I like Elijah Hawkins with Texas Tech,
but he's just undersized and going up against these Florida guards.
Like there's a reason why Walter Clayton Junior was a
highly highly a high recruit in terms of a football player.

(01:26:33):
He plays basketball like he's a highly recruited football player.

Speaker 1 (01:26:38):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:26:38):
He plays with a toughness, right, Yeah, he plays with
an edge, and that's really tough if you're an undersized
guard trying to match up like that. So, I mean, listen,
Texas Tech is I would say gritty but against the
blend of everything Florida throws at you, man, you're gonna

(01:26:58):
have to have Florida miss a good amount of shots
and Texas Tech's gonna have to do their job to
try to help that happen. But if Florida is shooting
with any decent percentage in a game like this, a
matchup like this, I just don't see Texas Tech coming
out on the winning end and here like could they
keep it close, could they keep it tight, could they cover?

Speaker 1 (01:27:18):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (01:27:19):
I think all of those things. But to win outright,
that's a tough one.

Speaker 1 (01:27:23):
Man.

Speaker 2 (01:27:23):
Again, because if Florida is shooting a good percentage, I
just don't like Texas Texas Tech's chances at all. If
you can have Florida influence them to shoot it a poorly,
shoot it poorly for the game, yeah, you're live. But
if they're shooting a healthy percentage, I think it's a rap.

Speaker 3 (01:27:40):
Also, if you look at the route that it took
these two teams to get here, and this is no
shade on Texas Tech because that come from behind victory
against Arkansas was unbelievable. Erasing a sixteen point deficit with
ten minutes or less than ten minutes left in the
game to go on and win. That is it's I mean,
it's miraculous, and maybe maybe calling it a miracle is

(01:28:05):
underrating how impressive they played down the stretch of that game.
So I don't want to take anything away from that.
But with a sweet sixteen win over Maryland, with a
round of thirty two victory over Connecticut, Yukon and I
know it's not Yukon from the past two seasons, but
it's still Yukon. That's a great team. That's a well

(01:28:27):
coached team. I just feel like the Gators are more tested.
The Gators are obviously the more talented team. The Gators
are the better, better all around team. Now, Texas Tech
plays strong defense. The resiliency factor, it is a factor,

(01:28:47):
but like a lot of these one seats, you know
they're overwhelming and if they're if again the same way
it described Duke against Bama, if you have a situation
where where Florida is struggling on one side of the court,
they can compensate. Texas Tech can have a bad night defensively,

(01:29:10):
otherwise they're absolutely that it'll be a barn burner in
favor of the Gators.

Speaker 4 (01:29:17):
Yeah, here are the numbers from three for Texas Tech
in the tournament eight for thirty two, two for fourteen,
and then the crazy game against UNC Wilmington thirteen for
forty six. Now that game was scheme. UNC Wilmington had
no bigs to contend with Topping or Darren Williams, so
they just packed the paint and Texas Tch was just

(01:29:37):
bombs away from the outside and they didn't make but
they couldn't make it, Like they couldn't make even they
were getting wide open looks against UNC Wilmington in the
first round, still couldn't ait the broad side of a
barn thirteen for forty six. On the other side, here's
Florida in the tournament from three ten for thirty two. Okay,
nine for nineteen, eleven for twenty eight, like much more efficient,

(01:29:58):
significantly more efficient thirty four seventy nine for Florida almost
forty percent and Texas Tech's twenty three for ninety two
got twenty five percent from three Like so like I
think this is like I don't want to say this as.

Speaker 2 (01:30:13):
A derogatory term for Texas Tech, but of.

Speaker 4 (01:30:17):
The teams remaining in the field, they are the mid major,
like they are the Cinderella because of the other teams
remaining and how well tech like Texas Deck has not
played their best ball over the last two weeks. They
have not like barely got by Wilmington again, they should
have blown out Wilmington. They covered against Drake. I think
Drake was low over match physically in that game. Top

(01:30:38):
and Williams were just unbelievable. And let's be honest, they
were fortunate to get past Arkansas the other night, very
fortunate that game went overtime. Could have even even after
Texas Deck tied the game, even still Arkansas took the
lead in overtime and Texas Deck had to come back.

Speaker 2 (01:30:53):
Late and win it again.

Speaker 4 (01:30:54):
So it like when you're kind of living on the
edge like that and then you face the real big boys.
We kind of know how this script usually goes, right, mm.

Speaker 2 (01:31:04):
Hmm, yeah, Well that's the thing, man, is uh, if
you're looking for glimmers of hope, Uh, you look at
Condon got banged up right rolling Cincle the last game.

Speaker 4 (01:31:15):
That could be something to have a little chance on
the inside, maybe to bang a little.

Speaker 2 (01:31:18):
Bit, yeah Topping and Williams and maybe that's a little
crack right there. But that's the other thing. Though Florida
has a couple other big guys that are pretty good
that pound the glass, you know, so we'll see Condon
is a little bit of a crack potentially depending on
how laterally he can move.

Speaker 4 (01:31:37):
And it's still at the Handloton, who's like the seven
footer that barely plays like it's crazy so deep.

Speaker 2 (01:31:44):
I know they are deep, that's the thing. They're so big,
Like their front court is is really good and their
guards are just better in this matchup. But if you're
looking for a potential avenue, that's what I would think.
It's a heavy dose of Topping and Williams and maybe
con and being a little bit gimpy, and you just
you hunt him, you know, and if he's not up

(01:32:05):
for the challenge, you just keep hunting him. You put
him in picking rolls, test his agility, his side to
side mobility. Right, if it's not there, maybe you got
something working.

Speaker 4 (01:32:15):
But or McMillan comes back and hits a bunch of threes,
like I think that's really the X factor tonight.

Speaker 3 (01:32:21):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's Look, it's an outside shot, but you,
I don't know from the standpoint of a fan like
you know, taking the betting aspect out of this altogether,
the sincere hope is not that the Gators struggle or
injuries have any factor in this game.

Speaker 1 (01:32:39):
It's that Texas Tech rises to the challenge. You know.

Speaker 3 (01:32:43):
I mean, if if we have a game that looks
like their effort against Arkansas, it'll be a runaway. They're
not coming back against Florida, Nope.

Speaker 1 (01:32:51):
You know.

Speaker 3 (01:32:52):
So what I'm I mean again, if you're a fan
of great college basketball matchups and you say a prayer
to the sports sports guds before this one tip offs,
you want you want Texas Tech to arrive with the
best game that they've ever played this season so far,
because that's that, in my mind, is the only way

(01:33:15):
this is even a close game. They're gonna have to
be much more proficient from the three point line, and
they haven't showed capability to do that really this tournament
so far. And defensively, they're gonna have to find a
way to stop the problems with Florida. And like you said, Jared,
this Florida team is so deep that even if your starters,
you're starting five, are struggling, somebody can go come off

(01:33:36):
the bench and drop fifteen sixteen points, So it's a problem.

Speaker 1 (01:33:41):
Texas Tech has to bring their a game.

Speaker 4 (01:33:44):
Yeah, we haven't even mentioned like Rashard and Martin, like
I know their other guards, like Elijah Martin was in
the Final four two years ago with Florida, like a
ton of experience. Rashars, a senior's been there before, played
Belmont and came to Florida the last few years with
Golden's done a really good job. Like there are no
holes on this Florida team. They are I actually think, honestly,

(01:34:06):
top to bottom. I actually think they're less of a
liability than Duke. Like if I was going to grade
the teams, I know Duke's look better, but I think
Florida's roster is better, Like I think they have fewer holes,
like Duke is a little inexperience, haven't played in a
lot of close games, like played in ACC, Like I
know they've blown everyone away.

Speaker 2 (01:34:25):
So it's like, I'm not gonna knock them for playing
in the ACC and maybe playing a softer schedule.

Speaker 4 (01:34:30):
But I think Florida's roster's better. I honestly do. But
we'll see if it we'll see if it matters.

Speaker 2 (01:34:37):
Oh it is, and that's The biggest worry for me
from Tech is, Look, they played against Drake. We all
know they slow it down to a screeching halt. They
played against Arkansas, who's got athletes, they can guard you.
But the statue threw out there against UNC Wilmington when
they're not hitting threes, Like, think about Florida's defense compared

(01:34:57):
to UNC will Yeah, they have.

Speaker 4 (01:34:59):
Length to go ardo on the perimeter without having to
commit to many bodies where Wilmington couldn't.

Speaker 2 (01:35:04):
You're missing open looks against Wilmington, and now you're gonna
make a bunch of contested threes, right Like, Yeah, could happen.
It's probably not the best that it will.

Speaker 1 (01:35:17):
By the way, feels like.

Speaker 2 (01:35:17):
An over game too. It feels like we've got some
pace to this one.

Speaker 4 (01:35:20):
I think Texas Tech knows they're gonna have to score
eighty eighty plus to win. They're not gonna win this
game in the seventies. It ain't gonna happen.

Speaker 2 (01:35:26):
Yeah, by the way, Rich, you mentioned it, it'll be
a runaway you know, right if Tech doesn't bring their
a game. What do you think about the bon Jovi
song Runaway?

Speaker 1 (01:35:37):
Oh? One of my favorites.

Speaker 2 (01:35:39):
He's a little runaway. I could see you doing karaoke
to that one. I'll just karaoke.

Speaker 3 (01:35:45):
Bon Jovi is on the list, let's see Garth Brooks.

Speaker 1 (01:35:48):
Is on the list. But yeah, like it. And I mean,
and that's really like it's regional.

Speaker 3 (01:35:55):
If you're doing if you're doing it down south karaoke,
I'm going country if I'm on the East coast anywhere?

Speaker 1 (01:36:01):
Really Oh yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:36:02):
Yeah, okay, yeah, your audience.

Speaker 1 (01:36:05):
You gotta know your audience on the West coast riches
in the south.

Speaker 2 (01:36:08):
He has a southern act. He just magically appears with
a Southern accent. Hey, how you doing?

Speaker 1 (01:36:12):
Yeah? Like this little did it from called Well Foods
truck right now?

Speaker 2 (01:36:22):
They're big fellow.

Speaker 1 (01:36:23):
Well, I could I could open the tailgate? Yeah yeah,
where do you do? Where do you do?

Speaker 2 (01:36:31):
Like you know, bodies from drowning Pool? You know what
I mean? Like that's Brian's That's what area of the
country are you? Are you singing those songs there?

Speaker 1 (01:36:39):
Real? Well? I mean I don't.

Speaker 3 (01:36:40):
I mean, that feels like it would have to be
in a warehouse district in like Boise, Idaho.

Speaker 4 (01:36:46):
I was gonna, yeah, I was gonna say, like Brooklyn,
like some like abandoned warehouse in Brooklyn.

Speaker 3 (01:36:50):
That's right, Yeah, after a rave party, subterranean Chicago.

Speaker 8 (01:36:56):
Okay, fair enough, man, All right, we've got at Toornberger,
the very versatile Ornberger over here, Ben State All American
Karaoke Champion.

Speaker 2 (01:37:07):
We've got Jared Smith FSR betting analyst. I'm Brian No.
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(01:37:29):
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If you think defense wins championships, this game is your picasso,
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(01:37:49):
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(01:38:10):
Sports Radio Bracket Challenge at Fox Sports Radio dot com.
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a twenty five hundred dollars gift card to Tractor Supply.
All right, it's good like Tractor Supply the mud. This

(01:38:32):
game will be in the mud, right Tennessee v. Houston.
You talk about a rockfight here. This is the rockfight
of rockfights. Both tremendous defenses. At times, both offenses are functional.
You know, Houston's put up decent numbers throughout the regular season,
but then you saw them suck against Purdue last night.

(01:38:55):
So tomorrow I wouldn't expect to shoot out the total.
One twenty three and a half is what we're looking
at here. It's a buck twenty three and a half.

Speaker 1 (01:39:06):
Wow.

Speaker 2 (01:39:07):
Yeah. One thing to keep in mind watch Houston. They
did it last night against Braden Smith, who's a good
Purdue guard. They'll double him, they'll blitz him, they'll force
someone else to initiate offense. So Zakai Ziegler, who's a
really good point guard, had ten assists the last game
for Tennessee. Don't be surprised if they give him, you know,

(01:39:28):
the blitz slash double treatment and they force somebody else
to initiate offense. I would absolutely expect that from Houston.

Speaker 3 (01:39:36):
Yeah, this, this Sunday's game between the Balls and the
Koogs is going to be a slow plotting game.

Speaker 1 (01:39:45):
Here's some statistics that back that up.

Speaker 3 (01:39:47):
Houston is ranked three hundred and sixtieth in the nation
in adjusted tempo. However, they're extremely efficient offensively, so when
they have the ball, it takes them a.

Speaker 1 (01:39:59):
While to score, but they will score.

Speaker 3 (01:40:01):
Tennessee on that adjusted tempo metric three hundred and forty
ninth in the country. So again two teams who like
to dribble and pass and wait to shoot. But again
in the top twenty when we're talking about adjusted offensive efficiency.
So both of these teams nearing the top ten or
in the top twenty in terms of how efficient they

(01:40:23):
are at scoring the basketball, but both of these teams
take their time. Both of these teams have good defenses.
This is gonna be one of those games where it
really does truly feel like college basketball, because half court
offense in the NBA, it's, hey, we're gonna try to
find one open look and then somebody's gonna play euro

(01:40:43):
ball and take it to the rack or shoot it
guarded beyond three, and then rebound transition or set half
court offense, and it's gonna be the same thing.

Speaker 1 (01:40:53):
One pass, try.

Speaker 3 (01:40:54):
To find an open look, and then if somebody plays
hero ball goes to the rack. That's not what this
game is gonna look like. This is going to look
like rebound, dribble, dribble, set the offense, dribble dribble. Let's
kick the ball around the horn, Let's set up a
pick and roll, Let's set something up in the paint.
Let's try to find the open corner three, you know,

(01:41:15):
whatever it may be, or the baseline run. This is
going to be a nauseatingly slow paced game, but this
sharpens that skill and sometimes against faster pace offenses, you
can you can slow them down and disturb them. So
whoever prevails from this matchup can give whoever's next in

(01:41:39):
the Final.

Speaker 1 (01:41:40):
Four some trouble.

Speaker 4 (01:41:42):
Yeah, these teams do seem to be mirror images of
each other. I think there's one difference though. I do
think if we did get into a situation where Tennessee
was making their shots and was playing a little bit more,
let's call it loose, free flowing on offense, I don't

(01:42:03):
think Houston can match that. No, And if you go
back and you look at the games that Houston has
played this year, they haven't won a game that had
had more than seventy possessions since December eighteenth, and that
was Toledo, Whereas Tennessee just did that a few weeks
ago against Bama. Like, they just won a seventy five

(01:42:24):
possession game against Bama on March first. Remember we had
Tennessee money line and they hit that crazy shot at.

Speaker 2 (01:42:28):
The end and winning.

Speaker 4 (01:42:30):
Like, we know Tennessee can win a slugfest, They've been
winning them all year. We know Houston can win a
slug fest. That's all they can do. Like, if Tennessee
can figure out a way to solve this Houston defense
just a little bit and maybe speed up Houston's defense
a little bit, like when.

Speaker 2 (01:42:51):
You're facing a defense like Houston, if.

Speaker 4 (01:42:53):
I was Rick Barnes, I would want to get early
offense before the defense can set higher game. Maybe you
can touch seventy like that is Houston's kryptonite, Like they
don't want to play that style. So if I'm Tennessee,
it kind of reminds me of the handicap I had
on A and M a few weeks ago, where I
know they're this slow, plotting, methodical team, but when they

(01:43:16):
get to these pressure games and the defenses settle in,
you want to get your offense early. So I wouldn't
be shocked if Tennessee tried to speed things up a
little bit. I honestly think that's the that's the recipe,
and the early money says Tennessee like I got in
at four, right and open, and we're down to three
and a half, kind of pushing towards three now at

(01:43:36):
some of the sharper shops here in town. So the
early money likes the balls. I think Tennessee wins this
game out right, I can't. I know, I'm trusting Rick
Barnes over Kelvin Samson, and you know, do that at
your own peril. But Tennessee's lost barely anything over the
last couple months, like they have.

Speaker 2 (01:43:51):
Been rock solid. I think the Balls win this game.
Maybe you might be right, and I agree with you.
I think the I think a bad approach offensively for
Tennessee is like, hey, let's let Houston get settled in defensively.
Yeah you know what I mean. Like remember the Warriors

(01:44:11):
right with that defense where they would switch everything and
Draymond Green would say, Hey, the best part of our
defense is our offense. When we make shots and we
can go on the other end and get our feet set,
we're really tough to score against. And he was right,
And that's Houston. If Houston scores and they can get

(01:44:32):
back and get set on defense, good luck. And if
they don't score, and you don't push tempo and you
don't try to find an easy bucket in transition, and
all of a sudden, it just becomes this half court,
slow like prodding game. You're just playing right into their hand.
So yeah, I totally agree with you, Jared. I think
Tennessee trying to push it at times, especially when they

(01:44:54):
get a defensive rebound, Ye get down the other end
and try to get something eas because if you don't,
they're switching everything and they make life miserable for you.
So I would not play into their hand. I would
try to move as much as possible.

Speaker 1 (01:45:10):
I would agree with that.

Speaker 3 (01:45:12):
I will only say that be who you are and
play to your identity because look in the sport that
I hail from, that is.

Speaker 1 (01:45:23):
The key to success.

Speaker 3 (01:45:24):
You know, when a football team tries to change their
stripes and they're not a game plan team, like you know,
say they're a run heavy team. Like I remember the
AFC Championship game, not from this past season, but from
two seasons ago where the Baltimore Ravens came out against
the Kansas City Chiefs and just started throwing the football
and the Chiefs were actually running the ball more. And

(01:45:46):
we're all looking at each other, like, what is Tom
Mounkin doing as an offensive coordinator? You don't change the
zebra stripes when you get to the playoffs, like especially
when you get to the championship game and you won
playoff games by running the football?

Speaker 1 (01:46:00):
Why are you doing this now? So at your own peril.

Speaker 3 (01:46:04):
Sometimes you you push the tempo if you're you're Tennessee,
because if that's not what you're comfortable doing, then maybe
that's not the right game plan going into it.

Speaker 1 (01:46:15):
An adjustment.

Speaker 3 (01:46:16):
I'm with you, Brian, Like, you know, maybe at halftime
if things aren't going your way. Kelvin Sampson is pitching
a perfect game from the sideline. His Houston Cougars have
a six or seven point lead on you. Yeah, maybe
come out and try that transition. Oh, and push the
tempo a little bit. But if it's a close game,
you know, you may want to, you know, stick with

(01:46:36):
the date that got you to the dance in the
first place.

Speaker 2 (01:46:39):
Yeah. I get that.

Speaker 4 (01:46:41):
I understand that, and I think you don't want to
play sloppy against this Houston team.

Speaker 2 (01:46:45):
But no, die enemy right in the Art of War. Yeah,
I love that book.

Speaker 4 (01:46:50):
Yeah, yeah, Houston, what does Houston want to play? They
want to play this ugly, sloppy, fIF sixty possession game.
So they're three tournament games so far. I mean they've
been like sixty three possessions against Siue, sixty five against Gonzaga,

(01:47:11):
fifty seven possession game against Purdue. That's the kind of
game they want to play. Well, if you know that,
maybe you shouldn't do that. Like, if you know Houston
wants to get you into a sixty possession grinder. Maybe
you should get out and run a little bit. Maybe
you should play like you did against Bama, where now
you'd have to come back and win that game late.
But you want to get into the seventies today because

(01:47:34):
I don't think Houston can get the seventy. I honestly don't.
I do not think they can get the seventy against
this defense. So if Tennessee can get to seventy, well
there's your answer.

Speaker 2 (01:47:45):
That's how you win this game. Yeah, yeah, that's uh,
it's like the death lineup, you know, like the Warriors.

Speaker 1 (01:47:52):
Oh ho, you know. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:47:54):
And that's the thing with Zekai Ziegeler. He can push
it like he is a great Orchestra raider in transition.
And so I don't think they're going like I get
your point, Rich, and it's a good point. I don't
think they're going completely against their identity because they have
this gear. You know, they've got fourth gear at least.
I don't know that Tennessee has fifth gear. They at
least have fourth gear. You don't want to be stuck

(01:48:17):
in second gear against Houston, you know what I mean, Like,
if you're capable of getting out there and fourth gear.
Do it because I think that's your best move.

Speaker 3 (01:48:25):
And to your point, like when he does push it,
when Sakai Ziegler pushes it, he gets to the foul,
he gets to the free throw line. Often he's making
his foul shots. Like he is the type of player
who can all of a sudden become the thorn in
your side and push the pace on you and force
you into sloppy footwork and force you into you know,

(01:48:48):
hand checking you and hard guarding you and getting him
some free buckets and so yeah, I get your point.

Speaker 1 (01:48:56):
It's not a complete.

Speaker 3 (01:48:57):
Departure of who the vaults are and who they all
season long or all tournament long. But but you gotta
be careful because sometimes if you try to change too much.

Speaker 1 (01:49:07):
You lose track of who you are and what got
you there.

Speaker 2 (01:49:11):
Hey, you can got the streamers too, Like you do.

Speaker 4 (01:49:13):
Have a couple guys who can get up and down.
I'll be interested to see if they utilize that at all.

Speaker 2 (01:49:17):
Yeah, they could. I'll tell you if you if you're
like I'm on the under, how can you take the over?
It doesn't take a whole lot to get over, like
sixty four to sixty gets you home. This team's got
to be in the fifties for your under you know
that most likely to hit. Hey, you can stream this
show and all of our Fox Sports Radio shows live
twenty four to seven in the new and improved iHeartRadio app.

(01:49:39):
Just search Fox Sports Radio in the app to stream
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So be sure to preset Fox Sports Radio in the
iHeartRadio app and it will always pop up at the
top of your screen. Okay, we got another one. Another
one is Jay Khalin once said, but Michigan State against Auburn.

(01:50:04):
That's right, Thank you, Chris Purfett. Love that that's the
last game to decide the final four Sparty against Auburn. Look, man,
this is one of the simple ways to look at it. Jared,
you did this with I thought the Bama Duke thing
that you did was really really good. Where if you

(01:50:24):
look at you know, this year's version of Bama versus
last year's this year's version of Duke versus last year's
Yukon that was a really interesting way to look at it,
if you look at Michigan State and Auburn. The very
simplistic way to look at this. We all know Auburn's
defense is legit. So you just had Michigan State score

(01:50:44):
seventy three on Old Miss, who can play defense. Chris
Beard preaches defense, but Auburn's defense is better. So there's
going seventy three against Old Miss. How many points are
they scoring against Auburn. I don't know that the kracking
seventy against Auburn seriously in this matchup. So if they're
not cracking seventy, it's a freaking rap I like Sparti's defense.

(01:51:07):
But you got to at least crack seventy to beat Auburn,
to beat them because an Auburn is scoring seventy plus
against Michigan State.

Speaker 1 (01:51:14):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:51:15):
Yeah, Auburn showed some guts in the win over Michigan.

Speaker 4 (01:51:19):
Uh.

Speaker 3 (01:51:19):
They led by one a half, trail by nine early
in the second half, and then they went on that
heroic run, a thirty nine to seventeen run to take
control of the game. In advance to the LEIT eight
matchup that they'll face Michigan State.

Speaker 1 (01:51:33):
Here, I look, I I do.

Speaker 3 (01:51:37):
I do think that when you have an undeniable player
like Jani Broom on your roster, a guy who scores
for you but also does he takes out the trash.
I wrote down his final stat line for that game.
I think it was something like twenty two point sixteen rebounds.
Let me just make sure if that's yeah, that's exactly

(01:51:57):
what it was. I mean, that's Yeoman's work. He's not
I had to take out the leather bound book for
that one. That's Yeoman's work. He's not just he's not
just a scorer. He's a good defender. He obviously cleans
up the glass. For the Tigers, it feels like, you know, Duke,

(01:52:19):
they have Flag, Auburn they have Broom. They're both playing
to their highest potential right now in this tournament. The
Tigers feel undeniable.

Speaker 2 (01:52:30):
I agree, Auburn got their swag back.

Speaker 4 (01:52:33):
I think in this tournament right like, they had a
really tough tournament or tough SEC tournament and then a
tough end to the season. But you forget this is
like this historically good team in the middle parts of
the year, and I think they've kind of gotten their
second win and oh, by the way, Sparta is up
against one of the weirdest, quirkiest, but I guess truest

(01:52:56):
trends in college basketball history.

Speaker 2 (01:52:59):
Here's one for you.

Speaker 4 (01:53:00):
As a team that was unranked in the preseason that's
a one or two seed in the NCAA tournament.

Speaker 2 (01:53:06):
Has never made the final four. It's never good. One happened,
and we feel like it's never freaking happened. I've never
freaking happened. And we have lots of examples. We have
lots of examples.

Speaker 4 (01:53:21):
The most recent example of a one seed that was
unranked in the preseason was the Purdue team two years
ago that lost to Fairly Dickenson in the first rounds Oh,
by the way, guess who else was unranked in the
preseason and was a two seed this year?

Speaker 2 (01:53:41):
Saint John's.

Speaker 4 (01:53:43):
So I love this Michigan State story. I know there's
a lot of comparisons to the team that won the
title in two thousand. My buddy sent me the sheet.
Today they all have players that averaged ten plus minutes
a game, left handed senior as the leading scorer Big
ten losses. They won the Big Ten. Their freshman is
named Jay Richardson. They're in the left quadrant of the bracket.

(01:54:06):
Like there's all these like weird alignments from Michigan State
to that two thousand team that won it all, but
they're going up against history. I think this trend matters
because it kind of shows you what you really are.
The preseason rankings, I know nobody cares about them, and
they're very loosey goosey because no one really knows right,

(01:54:28):
but that kind of tells you something.

Speaker 2 (01:54:32):
I'm going Auburn here. Interesting stuff, very nice, all right.
That's Jared Smith FSR. Betting analyst Rich Rnberger with US
Penn State, All American. I'm Brian No. For each round
of March matchups on BETMGM, you have the opportunity to
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over unders, all that good stuff. You'll earn points based

(01:54:54):
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of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars in bonus bets
based on your points earned enter March matchups. Two hundred
and fifty thousand dollars. Pick them. It's free to play.
It's a game at BETMGM. Earn points from correct answers
for a shot to win a share of bonus bets.
All right right around the corner, rapid fire. We each

(01:55:16):
have a bushel of picks for you. We'll share them
with you. Next, it is Fox Sports Radios Countdown presented
by BETMGM. It is Fox Sports Radios Countdown presented by BETMGM.
Get ready for tip off with the March matchups odds
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(01:55:39):
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(01:56:02):
podcast talking about Mookie Betts hitting walk off three run
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Hour up on game LaVar Arrington, TJ. Hushman's odd of

(01:56:23):
Plexico Burris. They have got you covered nine minutes from now.
Keep it locked right here on Fox Sports Radio. All right,
we got some picks to make. Let's do it.

Speaker 1 (01:56:35):
Rapid fire.

Speaker 2 (01:56:37):
All right, Jared, we start with you. What do you like?

Speaker 1 (01:56:40):
All right?

Speaker 4 (01:56:41):
First game of the day, Texas Tech Florida. We're going
over one fifty seven and a half. I kind of
gave you the reasons.

Speaker 2 (01:56:46):
Why I like this Florida offense. They are just.

Speaker 4 (01:56:48):
Cooking from deep, almost forty from three in the tourney.

Speaker 2 (01:56:52):
If chance McMillan does play, this total will.

Speaker 4 (01:56:55):
Increase, and I think that increases Texas Tech chances of scoring.
But even without them, they've been pretty sold. And listen,
Tech defense is not what we remember with the Chris
Piard team. So I think Florida's gonna score a lot
in this game. They'll get into the eighties. Sunday games,
I'm taking three and a half with Tennessee. I think
this number closes threes.

Speaker 1 (01:57:11):
You get a little bit.

Speaker 4 (01:57:12):
Of value there, But I'll be honest, this balls team
has been lights out so over the last month and
a half. Their only losses at Kentucky, at Ole Miss,
and against Florida. Those are all teams that were in
the Sweet sixteen are still playing in the tournament. And
I just do not trust Houston to get it done
down the stretch. And I'll lay five and a half
with Auburn in the nightcap on Sunday. I think Auburn's

(01:57:34):
got their swag back. And preseason unranked teams that are
seated first or second.

Speaker 2 (01:57:38):
Have never made the Final four. I think that streak.

Speaker 1 (01:57:41):
Continues, all right.

Speaker 3 (01:57:43):
I'm laying points with favorites, and I'm reading from the
leatherbound book. Once Florida minus seven and a half, Duke
minus seven and a half, Auburn minus.

Speaker 1 (01:57:52):
Five and a half. I'll give you a sentence on
each game.

Speaker 3 (01:57:55):
Florida is too talented and too deep for Tech to
keep up with. Duke's balance and ability will overcome Bama's
one trick, three point pony performance so far this tournament
and Auburn's Jani Broom. He takes out the mop this time,
cleans up the paint. Tigers win and cover good night.

Speaker 2 (01:58:14):
You're like a poet, Rdberger.

Speaker 1 (01:58:15):
I love it. Thank you Shakespeare Renaissance.

Speaker 2 (01:58:18):
That literally is a leather bound I love.

Speaker 1 (01:58:21):
Yeah, Hey guys, I'll show you the thing out. This
is great.

Speaker 2 (01:58:25):
Alright, I'm gonna go with give me a double k
over here, Kank Nipple. I think he scores over sixteen
and a half points against Alabama. Their defense sucks, their
guards are undersized. He's a bigger wing. I think he's uh,
he's gonna be a problem for Alabama. Give me over
sixteen and a half for Kank Nipple. Hopefully doesn't con

(01:58:46):
me out of a winning rapid fire. Mick over here,
I'm gonna go with. Give me Florida. Give me over
eighty two and a half points. Give me their team total.

Speaker 1 (01:58:57):
How cool.

Speaker 2 (01:58:58):
I think that they're gonna be a handful for Texas
Tech to deal with. They just have a lot of advantages.
Their guards are better. You know, their front line is big.
I think they're scoring points and on the opposite end
a different game. Give me Michigan State. I trust Auburn's defense.
I'm gonna take a team total. Give me Michigan State
under seventy one and a half points. I like, like

(01:59:19):
Jared said, I think Auburn's got their swag. Back, so
points gonna be tough to come by for Sparti, I
believe before we go to look at the leather bound
book obviously that oh, radio audiences, as majestic as you
think it is in your problem is better

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