March 31, 2025 • 35 mins
Colin explains why he loves the men's college basketball Final Four being all 1-seeds and anyone suggesting otherwise is not telling the truth. He tells you why he was right about the Cowboys and wrong about Duke. Plus, 3-time Pro Bowler Matt Hasselbeck joins the show to discuss Shedeur Sanders as a pro prospect after a productive season at Colorado.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
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Speaker 2 (00:19):
This is the Best of the Herd with Colin Cowver
on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
Here we go to Monday, ready to roll live in
Los Angeles. It's the Herd. Wherever you may be and
however you may be watching or listening. Thanks for making
us part of your day. One hour from now, where
Colin was right, where Colin was wrong, Calvin Sampson, coach
(00:49):
of Houston in the Final four, we'll be joining us.
So it's actually a great, great weekend of sports. Baseball
was amazing, a little controversy in the Bronx, great college
basketball they had to fight in the NBA, and a
little bit of NFL news. But Jay Mac, we've got
our Final four and it's all number one seeds. Great teams. Yeah,
(01:13):
the four best teams. I don't think there's any question
about that. So it's Florida Duke Houston and Auburn, and
yet somebody out there, a lot of people out there
are saying, this is one of the most boring marches ever.
A boy, oh boy, this is what guys do. I
don't think women do this as much, although I can't
speak from experience. There's something about guys. They want you
(01:35):
to know that they heard the garage band first, or
they they really like mid major basketball and they're gonna
brag about it in the internet. They're called nerds. You
don't want to watch Duke in Houston. You don't want
to watch Cooper Flag and the most talented team in
a long time in college basketball offensively against the best
defensive team maybe ever in Houston. You don't want to
watch that. Kelvin Samson. They played, They hammered Tennessee, a
(01:57):
good Tennessee team, humiliated Tennessee. They got past Purdue, they
got past Gonzaga, two of the top six programs in
the country. Mark fu said the one team he didn't
want to face Houston, and now they faced Duke. You
don't want to watch that. You don't want to watch
Florida and Auburn. Y'all lectured me that Florida was gonna
win the tournament. Now you don't like them. You were
(02:18):
smarter than everybody else. Guys that in the garage band
you told me. You watch it, you knew it. Auburn
Florida are the two best teams did easily the best
college basketball conference. I mean, outside of Duke, nobody in
the ACC won a game. So you don't want to
watch these teams. And by the way, Duke has won
sixteen to seventeen and Florida's won sixteen to eighteen, like
(02:38):
they're the hottest teams. We had a college football playoff
Cinderella fan SMU Boise State, Indiana. How'd that work out?
You thought that was good sports? I didn't. In fact,
in the college football playoff era, the lowest rated national
championship game had one of those Cinderellas Georgia sixty five
TCU seven. You like that too, Now, those of us
(03:02):
with a social life did not. We stopped watching mid
second quarter. So these are red hot teams. They're the
best teams. They've been challenged outside of Duke. And it's
like these people in the movie industry who want to
convince you Shape of Water was the best movie. A
woman falling in love with a fish. They're really these weirdos. Yeah,
I'm gonna go with Christopher Nolan, Martin Scorsese, Spielberg, Mission Impossible, Oppenheimer. Yeah,
(03:28):
I'm gonna go with those, you know, which made seven
times the money of a woman falling in love with
a fish. But you know it's I'm very artsy. I
see things you don't. I watch mid major basketball. Congratulations,
I went out with my wife. It was a good
time a couple of times during the tournament. Fun time, cocktails,
good dinner friends. I'm not watching Missouri Valley Conference basketball,
(03:49):
and I'm not going to pretend I care for SMU football. Rocks.
They can't compete with the big dogs. So this whole
thing about you keep telling me the ratings are up,
so obviously I'm among the group of people who like Duke,
who liked the SEC, which has really started paying attention
to basketball. I said this in January. I'm like, folks,
(04:12):
I don't know what you're watching, but SEC basketball is
noticeably better than Big ten in ACC basketball, Like, it's
not close. They got more shooters, they got more athletes.
The coaches are all well known. So Bruce Pearl on
four number one seeds. Sorry Drexel, Sorry Lipscomb, Sorry community colleges. Sorry,
(04:33):
we got four number ones. And here's Bruce Pearl.
Speaker 3 (04:36):
I told our guys right now, we haven't beaten the
team yet that I thought was better than us, and
that's why we're the overall number one seed. And now
we're going to the final four were there are four
to one seats, and I think the four teams that
are advanced, I think there are four best teams in
the country that doesn't obviously always happen.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
Okay, So we have ourselves a really interesting situation in baseball,
and everybody's freaking out, and I think they're really freaking
out because it's the Yankees. If this was the Rays,
you know, or the Diamondbacks, it wouldn't be nearly the story.
So the Yankees used an MIT analyst, Aaron Lernhard. He's
(05:18):
a former Yankee analyst. There are a lot of fans
of the Yankees in New York and around the globe, frankly,
and they had a couple guys on the roster. Volpe
was struggling to hit, and so they did something totally legal,
and it has been a massive home run. So they
moved shifted some of the weight in the bat from
the barrel closer to the label. So in baseball there's
(05:40):
a length restriction in a diameter restriction, and the Yankees
didn't break either. Role. Baseball telligent bat's got to be
this long and this big and diameter. It doesn't tell
you where you have to put the meat of the bat.
You could put it all in the handle and it
would look weird, but you can do that. So the
Yankees because of this are on a frenzy. Everybody's hitting
(06:02):
home runs. They're first in runs, home runs, RBI's ops,
they're number one and everything. And you know what this is.
It's peak Bill Belichick. He knows the rule book better
than you did. He knows it better than the Ravens did,
or the Colts did. The Colts, by the way, we're
piping in sound, which is illegal in the NFL. But
Belichick knew the rule book better. So all the Yankees did,
(06:24):
and MIT analysts, smart people go there, shifted weight from
the barrel. They didn't make the diameter illegal. They didn't
change the length of it. They just and I mean
slightly shifted it. Now, for the record, not every batter
needs it a couple teams tried it last year. Aaron
Judge is like, yeah, I'm doing fine without it. Maybe
(06:46):
you've noticed oh Oshoeo Tani, Mookie Bets, Freddie Freeman. Not
everybody's using it, but we've seen this in golf and tennis.
We've seen innovations. And my take on sports is always
been pushed the envelope. Let the governance, the governing body,
the FCC, the SEC, or Major League Baseball, let them
reel you back in like the tush push. I got
(07:09):
no problem with the creation of it. I don't think
it's terribly healthy. I don't think you should be pushing
quarterbacks into the line. Let everybody vote on it. But
give the Eagles credit for creating it. They created it
because they have a quarterback that can you know, I
mean six hundred and sixty pound leg presses, and they
had the best center in the last twenty years in
the NFL. So they're like, yeah, let's do it. Let's
just just automatically get two yards. It works. So and
(07:31):
I'll tell you the answer on this Yankee stuff is
never to complain and be rigid and be a traditionalist.
It's like one and done. In college basketball, John Calipari
is like, yeah, it's legal, I'm going for it. Mike
Skrzyzewski got stubborn, and then Shayzhevski admitted, yeah, I'm getting
beat by all these guys I'm passing on. Rigid didn't win.
(07:52):
It's like three pointers in the NBA Lakers were rigid.
Warriors weren't. How that work out? It's like the portal
the transfer in college football, Ohio State's like all in
Georgia all in. Clemson's like, nah, nah, it's a little sketchy.
How's that working for Clemson? They don't look anything close
(08:12):
to Ohio State and they did four years ago. So
Ridgid's not the answer. I think in life and in sports,
sometimes you gotta take a swing, literally in baseball. And again,
if you go to ob Jay's magical catch in New York,
it's those gloves. Man. He didn't deal it with three fingers.
He did it with those receiver gloves, which were legal
and developed over time. So again, there's a famous Nike saying.
(08:36):
When Phil Knightke created a Nike he had this manifesto
and one of the things he said it was like
number three or four is always on offense. Apologize later.
I don't care if it's golfers. This is not kicking
a golf ball. It's taking a baseball bat. They didn't
cheat on diameter, they did not cheat on length, They
did none of that. They simply shifted weight for a
(08:59):
couple of batters who were hitting the ball off to handle.
No problem. The Dodgers with deferred payments, go ahead complain
about it or adapt. The Warriors, they're luxury tax payments,
go ahead and complain about it. The NBA eventually changed it.
The Eagles with a toush push, the Yankees with what
they call now the torpedo bat. I have no problem
(09:21):
with it. Again, this is not the Houston Astros, you know,
banging on a can. That's not what this is. People
get upset with the Dodgers. Dodgers are smarter than you.
The Yankees here, they were smarter than everybody else. Here's
Aaron Boone, you.
Speaker 4 (09:36):
Know, trying to be the best we can be. I
mean's it's one of the things that you know, Goten
pointed out. But you know, I say to you guys
all the time, we're trying to win on the margins.
We have a big organization that are invested in a
lot of different things where we're trying to be better
in every possible way. The reality is it's all within
(09:59):
major leagues.
Speaker 1 (10:01):
Yeah, I mean think about this. At one point, the
Tampa Bay Rays put a second basement in right field.
Then everybody eventually over time copied it. Now the governance
Major Big Baseball said it's not good. It's keeping people
off the bases. We want more base runners and stolen bases.
So Rob Manfred said, Okay, we're going to take the
defensive shift away. But it was like Joe Joe Madden
(10:25):
was down in Tampa and eventually won a World Series
in Chicago. He's like, yeah, we're just gonna put a
second basement in right field and we're going to move
a shortstop over to behind the bag, And everybody was like, Okay,
what's the difference here. It's innovation. We've seen it in golf,
we've seen it in tennis, we've seen it in baseball NBA,
and he's up to the league to figure out. Like
(10:46):
the tush push, that's up to the league to figure out.
But every NFL team and baseball team and basketball team
and college basketball program, as long as you are doing
something that is legal. I looked it up this morning.
Didn't cheat on length, didn't cheat on diameter. Pat Murphy's
the manager of the Brewers, and he came out and
he just said, hey, more offense. Good for the game.
I want my guys to be seeking any edge they can.
(11:08):
Doesn't bother me at all. So I thought it was
actually I thought it was like Beer League softball in
the Bronx. I thought it was actually funny. I'm like,
you know what, man, it say what you want. It's
it's work, and it will be duplicated, like Clemson football
is the great example. Like Clemson football, and I like
that bo swingny, but he's like, I don't want to
do this whole transfer portal. Well, watch Ohio State play.
(11:32):
It doesn't mean you're sacrificing all the integrity or a program.
It means, you know what, we could use that really
good corner from Alabama and that left tackle from you know, Missouri.
Go get them.
Speaker 5 (11:42):
I'm curious what the turnaround time will be for all
these teams to copycat what the Yankees are doing. I
don't think it's going to be instantaneous, right, I don't
think I think that three months we're gonna see bowling
pin bats throughout the league.
Speaker 1 (11:53):
And also no, because it's not for every batter. They
did this because of a batter or who in the
Yankees lineup that we're hitting too many things apparently off
the handle, bullpay who had kind of struggled, and they're
like okay, Like Aaron Judge is like, I don't need it.
I don't want it into my again. Baseball is one
of those sports, like golf, you have a lot of downtime.
(12:14):
The last thing you want to do is screw with
Otawni or Aaron Judge or Freddie Freeman. They don't want
to they don't want to screw with anything. It's like
golfers changing their clubs like Tiger Woods did that, which
was very courageous. But generally there's some superstition in baseball
and golf and a lot of downtime. So I don't
think if you're Aaron Judge you should you should worry
about right.
Speaker 5 (12:33):
I love that the architect of this it went to
Mi I t was a physics professor for like what
seven years.
Speaker 1 (12:39):
It's just like the Billy Bean story.
Speaker 5 (12:41):
He hires de Podesta, who was like an econ major
in the Ivy League, and it's like, this guy's going
to change baseball. Remember when he went into the room
with the old school dudes and get this guy out
of here. What's he talking about? Kind of genius level stuff,
the jonah Hill, Yes, Jonahill's character.
Speaker 1 (12:56):
Yeah, so I this stuff. This is why sports is great.
Is by the way, the NFL had a concussion issue
and kind of turned a blind eye to it and
then kind of woke up one day and said, you
know what, it doesn't make sense to have our best
players having shorter careers. Let's make the game safer. I
remember when the I worked at the other place and
there was a kind of a noteworthy show that had
(13:16):
a football player that was one of these stop wearing dresses.
And my takeaway is, I want my football players to
play longer. I want Steph and Lebron. They still get
the best ratings in the NBA. I protect these amazing athletes,
you know. So to me, it's like, if you can
make sports faster, more like baseball with the pitch clock. Now,
(13:39):
baseball has an advantage. They have a minor league system
where they can know it's test stuff. You know, other
sports can't do this. The NBA didn't have that relationship
with college basketball, but baseball test stuff all the time
in the miners, and it's like, yeah, it works, let's
bring it upstairs.
Speaker 5 (13:51):
It's like, I'm sure you've heard chat GPT. Oh, it's
going to take everybody's job. AI know the people who
understand chat GPT, they're gonna end up taking your job
because they're working smarter and know how to work around
the margins.
Speaker 3 (14:03):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (14:03):
No, I think it's really a funny, funny start ye.
Speaker 2 (14:06):
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Speaker 1 (14:15):
Well, Duke heads into the final four is the betting favorite,
and their most remarkable player is a kid that should
still be in high school. He's just he's really I
don't think people quite. I think some people are, but
he's eighteen year old Cooper Flag. So against Arizona he
was a one man wrecking crew, thirty point seven assists,
ball in his hand, unstoppable force and Arizona's a really
(14:35):
good team. And then against Alabama he was all over
the boards, like nine rebounds, playing defense, playing off ball.
You know, two variations, same kid just turn eighteen years old,
and it's really remarkable. Our domestic basketball culture does not
produce Cooper Flag. We produce really talented guys that are
(14:56):
immature and are not really well rounded and are not
really great at anything, just really really athletic and long
and twitchy. And that's great too, But international basketball is
taking over our league. Wemby Jokich Luca. Why they come
in more mature, more focused, and more skilled. They've played
against older players. It's not about the brand and the individual.
It's about teamwork. And it sounds like a cliche, but
(15:19):
Cooper Flag, our domestic product, does not give us this.
He is a better version of Jason Tatum at this age.
He's a better defender than Jason Tatum was. I think
he's probably a better shooter at this point. Maybe not,
but he's like an international player. That's what he reminds
me of. He's an international player with a duke brand
and a little nastiness to him. He can shoot, he
(15:41):
can pass, he's well rounded, he thinks the game. You
just don't get that with eighteen year olds from America
playing basketball that are this good, this skilled, this aggressive
and kind of an international feel so he like Jason Tatum,
he does everything well and some things very well. I'm
not sure what he does great, but that will develop again.
He should be in high school right now. And you
(16:01):
know a classic domestic product is Jonathan kaminga the Warriors
who came over here to go to our college system
and learn how to play basketball. Four years in with
the Warriors, I'm not sure they trust him and I'm
not sure what he does well. He's just were the
athletic and so when you watch Cooper flag Man, it's
just different. I would love to see him land in Miami, Utah,
(16:22):
San Antonio, good GMS, good infrastructure, excellent coaches. He won't
be wasted. This kid deserves to. Let me say this
about quarterbacks. All the time, he were worried about Kayla
Williams going to the Bears. They can't get quarterbacks, right.
He goes to Danny Ainge in Utah or pat Riley
and Eric Spolstra or Popovich, he's gonna be fine, and
(16:44):
he'll be good anywhere, but he'll be great. I'll be
honest with you. Wemby and Cooper flag that's pretty good.
That's pretty good. Sauce Mark Few watched Cooper flag when
Cooper was seventeen years old and to participate paid it
against Team USA before the Olympics.
Speaker 6 (17:03):
He scrimmaged against US and he was ready to go
uh from the jump and went right at us. He
really understands defense and he impacts the game in a
big way on the defensive end. So yeah, he's gonna
he's gonna have a huge impact from on day one.
But it's gonna be one of those impacts like he
does everything well.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (17:23):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
And again, generally, when the when the media falls for
somebody like Tiger Woods or Bryce Harper, you know, uh
in bope in in soccer, generally we don't go this
crazy over everybody. Uh. It's just a very very unique player.
And I'm here in comparisons to certain people, his comp
is pretty obvious to me. He's Jason Tatum of the Celtics,
(17:47):
where there's just no real hole in his game. Doesn't
mean he's gonna be you know, out of the shoot
that good, But there I don't see. I don't see
the weakness. I mean again, NBA, you've got to really
be able to handle the ball. He gets everything else,
So he's got I mean I'm telling you, I'm trying
to think of the last college guy at eighteen that
played like this. I can't just not the way the
(18:10):
game works. He will walk into the NBA if he
gets a good coach. You get him in Utah, you
get him in Miami. This kid's averaging eighteen twenty points
as a rookie. He's gonna be sensational player, and that's
why Duke's favored.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
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Speaker 1 (19:25):
Welcome in live. It's the Hurt wherever you may be,
however you may be listening. Calvin Samson, great coach of
the Houston Cougars, is going to be joining us in
one hour from now. That team is That team is
a handful, and they've had a road Gonzaga perdu, they
have had a road. Tennessee got spanked. That game was
not competitive, and Tennessee, by the way, didn't do a
(19:47):
lot once they fell down. They didn't have like a
second gear. Not a lot of college basketball team shoot well.
So if you get now Aleck, Michigan State can be
a little bit of trouble. I think it's been a
fun tournament. I cannot wait for Duke in Houston, cannot
wait not.
Speaker 5 (20:00):
Late for you to give us a bracket update.
Speaker 1 (20:03):
Now that's what I'm very excited about.
Speaker 5 (20:05):
To anything over there, No, no, nothing, because I got
a little chalky with it, as the kids like to say,
And uh, you know what do we We got four
number one seeds, but they're the best teams by so far.
Speaker 1 (20:15):
It's not even close. Feels like it. Here we go
Colin right, Colin wrong on a Monday.
Speaker 2 (20:19):
Where Colin was right.
Speaker 1 (20:21):
Two SEC teams in the final four, four in the
final eight. It's not close. Outside of Duke, nobody in
the ACC really did much the ACC. I mean the SEC,
the athletes, the lane. I picked Auburn as my number
one Florida maybe the best team. It's just a deeper,
better conference. We've been saying this since early January on
(20:43):
this show. Are you watching SEC basketball? Because it looks
like the ACC about six years ago. And here's Bruce Pearl,
Auburn coach, on the conference. Everybody in the SEC has invested.
It just means more. And I said this at the
beginning of the season.
Speaker 3 (20:58):
The team's at the bottom of our league are investing
very similarly to the teams in the middle in the
top of the league. There's just not that much difference.
Speaker 1 (21:08):
There isn't. Where Colin was roughed, I started thinking too much.
I did not have Duke in the final four because
three freshmen play over twenty minutes and I thought they
were too young. Well, they're all so great. They're favored
by four and a half over a great Houston team.
Their average winning margin this is much like Yukon last year.
(21:29):
They're winning by twenty three points a game. So they've
got athleticism, coaching, length, depth, and the best player easily
in Cooper Flat. Where Colin was right, Well, I said
the Dodgers. And this is without Freeman, Freddy Freeman and
Miokie bets be one hundred percent and without Otani pitching.
Yet I think this is the best roster I've ever seen.
And according to Baseball Stats, the Dodgers are the first
(21:51):
team in baseball history to go five to zero with
thirty plus runs scored, twenty plus walks drawn, ten plus
home runs, fifty five strikeouts, and zero errors committed. They
do not have a hole. It is a virtual all
star team. And again, depth of talent, pitching, bullpen. It's
(22:13):
like nothing I've ever seen where Colin was raw. You know,
I thought the Yankees would pull back a little without
Garrett Cole, who knew they would revolutionize the torpedo bat.
They have fifteen home runs in three games. It's Babe
Ruth on HGH Babe Ruth multiplied and for the record,
(22:35):
Aaron Judges are using them, but they have legally the
dimensions of the bat haven't changed. The length hasn't changed,
the weight hasn't changed. They've just redistributed the bulk of
the bat toward the label for a couple of batters,
and it is working. Wonders where Colin was right. I've
said this cowboy team is top heavy and in trouble,
(22:58):
and Stephen Jones admitted this weekend, but yeah, free agency
got a little more expensive than we could afford. And
again in February, I was quoted saying, this is the
big brand in the country that is reeling and reeling fast,
and they went cheap on a head coach. They've slowly
been dying for a couple of years. I know the
(23:19):
twelve win thing, but if they pay Micah, that'll be
Micah Deck and Ceedee Lamb have produced one playoff win,
and that was over that sub five hundred Tampa team.
Speaker 2 (23:29):
Where Colin was real.
Speaker 1 (23:31):
A minute I started supporting John Calipari, he blew a
sixteen point lead and lost in the tournament the minute
I put my arms around him. It is hard to
blow a big lead late in college basketball simply because
there are not a lot of potent offenses in the sport.
And Arkansas got outscored twenty seven to eleven down the stretch.
(23:52):
They probably should have called a time out to slow
it down. They didn't, and the rest is history.
Speaker 2 (23:56):
Where Colin was right.
Speaker 1 (23:57):
I said, Aaron Rodgers has all the leverage with a Steelers.
He should take his dear sweet time, and he is.
Aaron Rodgers and DK Metcalf had a throwing session at UCLA,
and Aaron's telling you, maybe I'll take it, maybe I won't.
I'm leaning toward he's gonna take it now. But this
is what I said, if you don't have urgency with
(24:18):
a quarterback position, this is what happened to Washington with
Sam Hall, and it's what's happened with Mike Tomlin and
the Steelers. They just don't take quarterback and offense seriously enough.
Where Colin was raw, I hated this story. That receiver
who I loved at Arizona t mac with quoted as
saying this weekend, I'm not a big fan of watching film.
(24:39):
I'm not. I don't watch football. That's not what you
want to say. That that's that's got Johnny Manziel vibes
all over it, bro the great Ones, the Larry Fitzgerald's,
the Jerry Rice. It's you got a care it's prep.
It's not just hanging out with your receiver group. If
you want to separate in any position. This is a
sport where cognitive funk and commitment is really big. I
(25:02):
love this kid out of college, but this is a
I mean, this is a If I need a receiver,
I may wait till the next round kind of comment.
Speaker 2 (25:10):
Where Colin was right.
Speaker 1 (25:11):
I've said wide receivers the convertible sports car of football.
It's fun, it's flashy, doesn't produce a lot of playoff wins.
Tyreek Hill this weekend, once out of Miami, hinted at
multiple trades in multiple posts on x Kansas City has
been to three Super Bowl since he's left Miami has
produced zero playoff wins since he arrived. I like him.
(25:32):
I think he's a good player. I love to have
him on my team. But there is something about this
position that just creates personality plus and it this is
why I've said watch out with DK met caffin Pittsburgh.
I don't know what it is with the position, but
this is something that is way too common and a
(25:54):
bit of a nuisance for Miami. Makes you answer questions
you don't have to deal with Colin right, Colin wrong
with that Mats Hassle back eighteen years in the NFL.
First of all, the Aaron DK Metcalf workout at UCLA.
I don't know. That feels like something that I don't
want to be like media guy making it out to
be a big deal, but it kind of feels like
(26:14):
something right.
Speaker 9 (26:16):
Yeah, Well, listen, that's the spot UCLA. I mean, even
back when I was playing guys who'd meet up in
LA either the Home Depot Center or over at UCLA.
They're very friendly with celebrities coming there and working out.
I mean, I think I've seen Justin Bieber working out
there on the track over there, running the stairs.
Speaker 1 (26:32):
So that's not a big deal.
Speaker 9 (26:34):
What it does tell me, though, is that Aaron Rodgers
isn't really thinking about retiring, Like, you don't go out
at his age and throw footballs with DK Metcalf in
March if you're probably going to retire. So, I don't
know that we have a lot of answers, but I
think that answer is pretty clear. This is a guy
that's training and getting ready to play this year.
Speaker 1 (26:54):
Yeah, and Aaron has said multiple times he loves the game.
It brings him a lot of joy. And if you've
been good at this sport, as you well know, guys
want to play it. It pays well, it's fun, and
Pittsburgh's got some dudes. Okay, So I've heard a lot
about this Shadoor Sanders, and I keep saying, here's all
I know about Shadoor Sanders. Okay, I'm not a scout,
bad old line running for his life. No run game.
(27:17):
Seventy four percent completion percentage, that is something that's like
not just a sixty eight seventy fours a lot. I
don't think he's a Lamar. I don't think he's Mahomes.
I don't know. I know he didn't win a lot
of games. That's not the end of it Matt did
Matt Ryan win a lot of games in college.
Speaker 9 (27:37):
Hey, I take offense to that because he went to
Boston College. But my dad went to Colorado, So I'll
defend Shador. Listen, the seventy four percent completion or whatever,
it was a really high completion percentage. That doesn't mean
all that much to me because he's not a guy
that threw a lot of balls away. And as a
play caller, when you don't trust your offensive line, you're
getting the ball out of your hands quick also with
some screen games, so that's not really what I'm looking at.
Speaker 1 (28:00):
I think he's got all the tools.
Speaker 9 (28:02):
I'm sure some scouts are saying, hey, he's only six
one and a half, he's like two hundred and twelve pounds, Like,
that's not giving me. Justin Herbert, you know Tom Brady,
the Manning six foot five type guy vibes. So you're
a little bit of an outlier to get drafted in
the top five of the draft with his measurables. But
he does have other intangibles that he brings to the table.
(28:23):
I do love his competitiveness. I think that there's a
there's a DNA or a sense in some teams though,
where they don't really love some of the other stuff
we've seen, some of the taunting, not shaking hands, all
the penalties, pushing a referee like some of that kind
of stuff. I think might give some people pause. But no,
(28:43):
I think he's going to have a successful career. At
the same time, I think he could drop a little
bit on day one.
Speaker 1 (28:49):
So you know Pete Carroll, well, I would argue Pete
is old school football. He likes a run game. When
he had Marshawn Lynch and Reggie Bush and a pass ruw,
she's done well. I think Ashton Genty and I know
everybody hates drafting running backs. If you go the last
six seven years, if you draft a running back top twelve,
(29:09):
they're all good. There's no misses late first round where
everything misses. That's different. I could see Pete Carroll, you
know him, you know Chip Kelly. I could see him saying, guys,
that's gonna make us. We got to have ball control
to beat Mahomes and Herbert. We're not doing it with
Gino throwing forty times Raiders and Genty it works for me,
(29:30):
what say you?
Speaker 9 (29:31):
Yeah, it works for me too, And no doubt that
Pete Carroll and Chip Kelly they want to run the ball,
and so it's very easy to get your mind around
like a Marshawn Lynch type running game there in Las Vegas.
At the same time, at the same time, like we
got to figure out what the league feels about the
Saquon effect. Like you said, a lot of people are saying,
(29:54):
do we really need to draft a running back that high?
Speaker 1 (29:56):
And the answer was no.
Speaker 9 (29:57):
But then the Saquon effect happened. Now people are looking
at guys like Gent and they're saying, hey, that could
be our Saquon.
Speaker 1 (30:04):
So that's a factor.
Speaker 9 (30:05):
However, much in the way that I said, not every
team loves the vibe of a Shugar Sanders. If he
were to fall down to the Raiders around six, would
they go ahead and take him? Because I think Pete
Carroll loves that vibe, living on the edge of competitiveness,
having a flare about you. I think he loves that,
and having him behind a Geno Smith early in his career.
(30:28):
I mean, I could see them taking the long view
of it that way. That would not shock me either.
Speaker 1 (30:34):
You know, well, I've talked about this before, is you
can win when you're top heavy. The Rams did with Ramsey, Darnald,
Stafford Whitworth, where they had like four or five guys
making a ton of money. Then they have to rebuild
and it's really bad. Now. The Rams drafted so well
back to back drafts and they have Stafford that they've
(30:56):
kind of like not had much of a rebuild. So
you can go to heavy. I think the Niners did,
and then last year was like, Okay, we're really old,
expensive and brittle. I honestly think the play for Dallas,
because you're already invested on the right side of the
to me offense ceedee lambdack. I think draft weekend gets emotional.
(31:19):
I would move my Ca Parsons in a week draft.
I don't want to pay three players five hundred and
seventy million. I just I can't do that. Look at
Philly's roster, Detroit roster, the Rams roster, the Ravens roster.
Cowboys need seven players. They don't need a really great
pass rusher. Am I nuts?
Speaker 9 (31:37):
I mean they got to do something. I mean, I
don't know what the solution is there. They've spent too
much money on one side of the ball to have
the results that they've had so far I don't know
if I'm building a team though.
Speaker 1 (31:50):
I need my.
Speaker 9 (31:51):
Guy on the offensive side of the ball, and I
need my guy on the defensive side of the ball.
Mike Congrin would talk about this all the time. Back
when they were in San fran with Bill Wah they
had Joe Montana and they had Ronnie Lott. Like in
Green Bay they had Brett Farvin, they had Reggie Wait.
Speaker 1 (32:06):
To me, Michaeh.
Speaker 9 (32:07):
Parsons is as good as it gets at the position.
I can't see a scenario where I'm getting rid of him.
I really can't. However, you make some good points. They
have a lot of issues and their division has gotten
a lot better than they are, you know, in terms
of what Philly is and what Washington's about to come
about to become. So Dallas they kind of need a miracle.
Speaker 1 (32:28):
I want to wrap with this. I had a GM
once tell me, he said, I don't want thirteen draft picks.
He goes, because if eight of them hit, we're going
to be super young. And most players outside of a
corner or a running back take like a year to
figure it out. Tight ends take a year to figure
out blocking. A lot of receivers are raw, and he said,
(32:49):
I'd rather have like a player and seven picks than
twelve picks. And I look at New England, all new
free agents, they're going to have all new draft picks.
Forty percent of this roster could be new. And Drake
May's a kid in your NFL experience? Can you be
too new? Can you have too many young niners? Have
(33:13):
twelve draft picks? What a nine hit? How do you
fall on that?
Speaker 9 (33:19):
Listen, look at the contract of the head coach when
you want the answer to that question. If a guy's
in the first year of his deal, he can do that.
He can say, hey, I'm taking a long view of
this thing.
Speaker 1 (33:30):
Not a problem.
Speaker 9 (33:31):
And then the flip side, look at a guy like
John Harbaugh and Baltimore just did a deal. It's win now.
I don't even know if they need a draft pick
like that. They've got a great team as is. So yeah, Vrabel,
are they trying to win? Yes, they're trying to build
something special. They're trying to build a house. But this
is a foundational year for them. That's you know, they
(33:52):
got to get everything around Drake may Wright so that
he can be they what they hope he can be.
Speaker 1 (33:59):
And we all know what that is.
Speaker 9 (34:00):
In Foxborough, they're trying to hoist Lombardes and nothing short
of that.
Speaker 1 (34:03):
By the way, can you convince J Mack? So I
keep telling J Mack what a fun time I have
in Chicago. I was there this weekend. Why don't you
tell him if you had a nice weekend in Chicago.
Speaker 9 (34:14):
Hey, lou slip sink ships Colin, I had too good
of a time.
Speaker 7 (34:19):
Uh, in Chicago.
Speaker 9 (34:20):
That's a that's a great city. In fact, I think
they're still celebrating Saint Patrick's Day.
Speaker 1 (34:24):
I don't know how that's true.
Speaker 9 (34:26):
They were celebrating that like two weeks before, and now
here we are like almost April and they're still celebrating.
Speaker 1 (34:33):
Matt Hassel be great seating you Mattie always see guys. Yeah,
he had a family get together in Chicago, and they
could have vict a lot of places and they went
to Chicago. It was a good time. I had a
good I was in the Burbs and had a good time.
It's quite a city. Ryan was there this week was there?
No snow right? No, it's like forty eight degrees fifty
three ball me forty eight. Yeah, yes, I think it's
(34:55):
sixty today. Is it today or tomorrow at sixty? That's awesome.
I love to hear that.
Speaker 5 (35:00):
I've got to go to a cold weather locale very soon.
I'm not throwing where where where I can't talk about
her on here?
Speaker 1 (35:05):
Why confidential information? My friend? Well, you're going to Philly.
That's confidential or something. Why would I go to Philly
Thanks for listening to the Best of the Herd podcast.
Be sure to catch us live every weekday on Fox
Sports Radio in noon to three Eastern nine am to
noon Pacific. Find your local station for The Herd at
Fox Sports Radio dot com, or stream us live every
day on the iHeartRadio app by searching Fox Sports Radio
or FSR.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
This is the Best of the Herd with Colin Cowver
on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
Here we go to Monday, ready to roll live in
Los Angeles. It's the Herd. Wherever you may be and
however you may be watching or listening. Thanks for making
us part of your day. One hour from now, where
Colin was right, where Colin was wrong, Calvin Sampson, coach
(00:49):
of Houston in the Final four, we'll be joining us.
So it's actually a great, great weekend of sports. Baseball
was amazing, a little controversy in the Bronx, great college
basketball they had to fight in the NBA, and a
little bit of NFL news. But Jay Mac, we've got
our Final four and it's all number one seeds. Great teams. Yeah,
(01:13):
the four best teams. I don't think there's any question
about that. So it's Florida Duke Houston and Auburn, and
yet somebody out there, a lot of people out there
are saying, this is one of the most boring marches ever.
A boy, oh boy, this is what guys do. I
don't think women do this as much, although I can't
speak from experience. There's something about guys. They want you
(01:35):
to know that they heard the garage band first, or
they they really like mid major basketball and they're gonna
brag about it in the internet. They're called nerds. You
don't want to watch Duke in Houston. You don't want
to watch Cooper Flag and the most talented team in
a long time in college basketball offensively against the best
defensive team maybe ever in Houston. You don't want to
watch that. Kelvin Samson. They played, They hammered Tennessee, a
(01:57):
good Tennessee team, humiliated Tennessee. They got past Purdue, they
got past Gonzaga, two of the top six programs in
the country. Mark fu said the one team he didn't
want to face Houston, and now they faced Duke. You
don't want to watch that. You don't want to watch
Florida and Auburn. Y'all lectured me that Florida was gonna
win the tournament. Now you don't like them. You were
(02:18):
smarter than everybody else. Guys that in the garage band
you told me. You watch it, you knew it. Auburn
Florida are the two best teams did easily the best
college basketball conference. I mean, outside of Duke, nobody in
the ACC won a game. So you don't want to
watch these teams. And by the way, Duke has won
sixteen to seventeen and Florida's won sixteen to eighteen, like
(02:38):
they're the hottest teams. We had a college football playoff
Cinderella fan SMU Boise State, Indiana. How'd that work out?
You thought that was good sports? I didn't. In fact,
in the college football playoff era, the lowest rated national
championship game had one of those Cinderellas Georgia sixty five
TCU seven. You like that too, Now, those of us
(03:02):
with a social life did not. We stopped watching mid
second quarter. So these are red hot teams. They're the
best teams. They've been challenged outside of Duke. And it's
like these people in the movie industry who want to
convince you Shape of Water was the best movie. A
woman falling in love with a fish. They're really these weirdos. Yeah,
I'm gonna go with Christopher Nolan, Martin Scorsese, Spielberg, Mission Impossible, Oppenheimer. Yeah,
(03:28):
I'm gonna go with those, you know, which made seven
times the money of a woman falling in love with
a fish. But you know it's I'm very artsy. I
see things you don't. I watch mid major basketball. Congratulations,
I went out with my wife. It was a good
time a couple of times during the tournament. Fun time, cocktails,
good dinner friends. I'm not watching Missouri Valley Conference basketball,
(03:49):
and I'm not going to pretend I care for SMU football. Rocks.
They can't compete with the big dogs. So this whole
thing about you keep telling me the ratings are up,
so obviously I'm among the group of people who like Duke,
who liked the SEC, which has really started paying attention
to basketball. I said this in January. I'm like, folks,
(04:12):
I don't know what you're watching, but SEC basketball is
noticeably better than Big ten in ACC basketball, Like, it's
not close. They got more shooters, they got more athletes.
The coaches are all well known. So Bruce Pearl on
four number one seeds. Sorry Drexel, Sorry Lipscomb, Sorry community colleges. Sorry,
(04:33):
we got four number ones. And here's Bruce Pearl.
Speaker 3 (04:36):
I told our guys right now, we haven't beaten the
team yet that I thought was better than us, and
that's why we're the overall number one seed. And now
we're going to the final four were there are four
to one seats, and I think the four teams that
are advanced, I think there are four best teams in
the country that doesn't obviously always happen.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
Okay, So we have ourselves a really interesting situation in baseball,
and everybody's freaking out, and I think they're really freaking
out because it's the Yankees. If this was the Rays,
you know, or the Diamondbacks, it wouldn't be nearly the story.
So the Yankees used an MIT analyst, Aaron Lernhard. He's
(05:18):
a former Yankee analyst. There are a lot of fans
of the Yankees in New York and around the globe, frankly,
and they had a couple guys on the roster. Volpe
was struggling to hit, and so they did something totally legal,
and it has been a massive home run. So they
moved shifted some of the weight in the bat from
the barrel closer to the label. So in baseball there's
(05:40):
a length restriction in a diameter restriction, and the Yankees
didn't break either. Role. Baseball telligent bat's got to be
this long and this big and diameter. It doesn't tell
you where you have to put the meat of the bat.
You could put it all in the handle and it
would look weird, but you can do that. So the
Yankees because of this are on a frenzy. Everybody's hitting
(06:02):
home runs. They're first in runs, home runs, RBI's ops,
they're number one and everything. And you know what this is.
It's peak Bill Belichick. He knows the rule book better
than you did. He knows it better than the Ravens did,
or the Colts did. The Colts, by the way, we're
piping in sound, which is illegal in the NFL. But
Belichick knew the rule book better. So all the Yankees did,
(06:24):
and MIT analysts, smart people go there, shifted weight from
the barrel. They didn't make the diameter illegal. They didn't
change the length of it. They just and I mean
slightly shifted it. Now, for the record, not every batter
needs it a couple teams tried it last year. Aaron
Judge is like, yeah, I'm doing fine without it. Maybe
(06:46):
you've noticed oh Oshoeo Tani, Mookie Bets, Freddie Freeman. Not
everybody's using it, but we've seen this in golf and tennis.
We've seen innovations. And my take on sports is always
been pushed the envelope. Let the governance, the governing body,
the FCC, the SEC, or Major League Baseball, let them
reel you back in like the tush push. I got
(07:09):
no problem with the creation of it. I don't think
it's terribly healthy. I don't think you should be pushing
quarterbacks into the line. Let everybody vote on it. But
give the Eagles credit for creating it. They created it
because they have a quarterback that can you know, I
mean six hundred and sixty pound leg presses, and they
had the best center in the last twenty years in
the NFL. So they're like, yeah, let's do it. Let's
just just automatically get two yards. It works. So and
(07:31):
I'll tell you the answer on this Yankee stuff is
never to complain and be rigid and be a traditionalist.
It's like one and done. In college basketball, John Calipari
is like, yeah, it's legal, I'm going for it. Mike
Skrzyzewski got stubborn, and then Shayzhevski admitted, yeah, I'm getting
beat by all these guys I'm passing on. Rigid didn't win.
(07:52):
It's like three pointers in the NBA Lakers were rigid.
Warriors weren't. How that work out? It's like the portal
the transfer in college football, Ohio State's like all in
Georgia all in. Clemson's like, nah, nah, it's a little sketchy.
How's that working for Clemson? They don't look anything close
(08:12):
to Ohio State and they did four years ago. So
Ridgid's not the answer. I think in life and in sports,
sometimes you gotta take a swing, literally in baseball. And again,
if you go to ob Jay's magical catch in New York,
it's those gloves. Man. He didn't deal it with three fingers.
He did it with those receiver gloves, which were legal
and developed over time. So again, there's a famous Nike saying.
(08:36):
When Phil Knightke created a Nike he had this manifesto
and one of the things he said it was like
number three or four is always on offense. Apologize later.
I don't care if it's golfers. This is not kicking
a golf ball. It's taking a baseball bat. They didn't
cheat on diameter, they did not cheat on length, They
did none of that. They simply shifted weight for a
(08:59):
couple of batters who were hitting the ball off to handle.
No problem. The Dodgers with deferred payments, go ahead complain
about it or adapt. The Warriors, they're luxury tax payments,
go ahead and complain about it. The NBA eventually changed it.
The Eagles with a toush push, the Yankees with what
they call now the torpedo bat. I have no problem
(09:21):
with it. Again, this is not the Houston Astros, you know,
banging on a can. That's not what this is. People
get upset with the Dodgers. Dodgers are smarter than you.
The Yankees here, they were smarter than everybody else. Here's
Aaron Boone, you.
Speaker 4 (09:36):
Know, trying to be the best we can be. I
mean's it's one of the things that you know, Goten
pointed out. But you know, I say to you guys
all the time, we're trying to win on the margins.
We have a big organization that are invested in a
lot of different things where we're trying to be better
in every possible way. The reality is it's all within
(09:59):
major leagues.
Speaker 1 (10:01):
Yeah, I mean think about this. At one point, the
Tampa Bay Rays put a second basement in right field.
Then everybody eventually over time copied it. Now the governance
Major Big Baseball said it's not good. It's keeping people
off the bases. We want more base runners and stolen bases.
So Rob Manfred said, Okay, we're going to take the
defensive shift away. But it was like Joe Joe Madden
(10:25):
was down in Tampa and eventually won a World Series
in Chicago. He's like, yeah, we're just gonna put a
second basement in right field and we're going to move
a shortstop over to behind the bag, And everybody was like, Okay,
what's the difference here. It's innovation. We've seen it in golf,
we've seen it in tennis, we've seen it in baseball NBA,
and he's up to the league to figure out. Like
(10:46):
the tush push, that's up to the league to figure out.
But every NFL team and baseball team and basketball team
and college basketball program, as long as you are doing
something that is legal. I looked it up this morning.
Didn't cheat on length, didn't cheat on diameter. Pat Murphy's
the manager of the Brewers, and he came out and
he just said, hey, more offense. Good for the game.
I want my guys to be seeking any edge they can.
(11:08):
Doesn't bother me at all. So I thought it was
actually I thought it was like Beer League softball in
the Bronx. I thought it was actually funny. I'm like,
you know what, man, it say what you want. It's
it's work, and it will be duplicated, like Clemson football
is the great example. Like Clemson football, and I like
that bo swingny, but he's like, I don't want to
do this whole transfer portal. Well, watch Ohio State play.
(11:32):
It doesn't mean you're sacrificing all the integrity or a program.
It means, you know what, we could use that really
good corner from Alabama and that left tackle from you know, Missouri.
Go get them.
Speaker 5 (11:42):
I'm curious what the turnaround time will be for all
these teams to copycat what the Yankees are doing. I
don't think it's going to be instantaneous, right, I don't
think I think that three months we're gonna see bowling
pin bats throughout the league.
Speaker 1 (11:53):
And also no, because it's not for every batter. They
did this because of a batter or who in the
Yankees lineup that we're hitting too many things apparently off
the handle, bullpay who had kind of struggled, and they're
like okay, Like Aaron Judge is like, I don't need it.
I don't want it into my again. Baseball is one
of those sports, like golf, you have a lot of downtime.
(12:14):
The last thing you want to do is screw with
Otawni or Aaron Judge or Freddie Freeman. They don't want
to they don't want to screw with anything. It's like
golfers changing their clubs like Tiger Woods did that, which
was very courageous. But generally there's some superstition in baseball
and golf and a lot of downtime. So I don't
think if you're Aaron Judge you should you should worry
about right.
Speaker 5 (12:33):
I love that the architect of this it went to
Mi I t was a physics professor for like what
seven years.
Speaker 1 (12:39):
It's just like the Billy Bean story.
Speaker 5 (12:41):
He hires de Podesta, who was like an econ major
in the Ivy League, and it's like, this guy's going
to change baseball. Remember when he went into the room
with the old school dudes and get this guy out
of here. What's he talking about? Kind of genius level stuff,
the jonah Hill, Yes, Jonahill's character.
Speaker 1 (12:56):
Yeah, so I this stuff. This is why sports is great.
Is by the way, the NFL had a concussion issue
and kind of turned a blind eye to it and
then kind of woke up one day and said, you
know what, it doesn't make sense to have our best
players having shorter careers. Let's make the game safer. I
remember when the I worked at the other place and
there was a kind of a noteworthy show that had
(13:16):
a football player that was one of these stop wearing dresses.
And my takeaway is, I want my football players to
play longer. I want Steph and Lebron. They still get
the best ratings in the NBA. I protect these amazing athletes,
you know. So to me, it's like, if you can
make sports faster, more like baseball with the pitch clock. Now,
(13:39):
baseball has an advantage. They have a minor league system
where they can know it's test stuff. You know, other
sports can't do this. The NBA didn't have that relationship
with college basketball, but baseball test stuff all the time
in the miners, and it's like, yeah, it works, let's
bring it upstairs.
Speaker 5 (13:51):
It's like, I'm sure you've heard chat GPT. Oh, it's
going to take everybody's job. AI know the people who
understand chat GPT, they're gonna end up taking your job
because they're working smarter and know how to work around
the margins.
Speaker 3 (14:03):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (14:03):
No, I think it's really a funny, funny start ye.
Speaker 2 (14:06):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and noon Easter nine am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
FS one and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (14:15):
Well, Duke heads into the final four is the betting favorite,
and their most remarkable player is a kid that should
still be in high school. He's just he's really I
don't think people quite. I think some people are, but
he's eighteen year old Cooper Flag. So against Arizona he
was a one man wrecking crew, thirty point seven assists,
ball in his hand, unstoppable force and Arizona's a really
(14:35):
good team. And then against Alabama he was all over
the boards, like nine rebounds, playing defense, playing off ball.
You know, two variations, same kid just turn eighteen years old,
and it's really remarkable. Our domestic basketball culture does not
produce Cooper Flag. We produce really talented guys that are
(14:56):
immature and are not really well rounded and are not
really great at anything, just really really athletic and long
and twitchy. And that's great too, But international basketball is
taking over our league. Wemby Jokich Luca. Why they come
in more mature, more focused, and more skilled. They've played
against older players. It's not about the brand and the individual.
It's about teamwork. And it sounds like a cliche, but
(15:19):
Cooper Flag, our domestic product, does not give us this.
He is a better version of Jason Tatum at this age.
He's a better defender than Jason Tatum was. I think
he's probably a better shooter at this point. Maybe not,
but he's like an international player. That's what he reminds
me of. He's an international player with a duke brand
and a little nastiness to him. He can shoot, he
(15:41):
can pass, he's well rounded, he thinks the game. You
just don't get that with eighteen year olds from America
playing basketball that are this good, this skilled, this aggressive
and kind of an international feel so he like Jason Tatum,
he does everything well and some things very well. I'm
not sure what he does great, but that will develop again.
He should be in high school right now. And you
(16:01):
know a classic domestic product is Jonathan kaminga the Warriors
who came over here to go to our college system
and learn how to play basketball. Four years in with
the Warriors, I'm not sure they trust him and I'm
not sure what he does well. He's just were the
athletic and so when you watch Cooper flag Man, it's
just different. I would love to see him land in Miami, Utah,
(16:22):
San Antonio, good GMS, good infrastructure, excellent coaches. He won't
be wasted. This kid deserves to. Let me say this
about quarterbacks. All the time, he were worried about Kayla
Williams going to the Bears. They can't get quarterbacks, right.
He goes to Danny Ainge in Utah or pat Riley
and Eric Spolstra or Popovich, he's gonna be fine, and
(16:44):
he'll be good anywhere, but he'll be great. I'll be
honest with you. Wemby and Cooper flag that's pretty good.
That's pretty good. Sauce Mark Few watched Cooper flag when
Cooper was seventeen years old and to participate paid it
against Team USA before the Olympics.
Speaker 6 (17:03):
He scrimmaged against US and he was ready to go
uh from the jump and went right at us. He
really understands defense and he impacts the game in a
big way on the defensive end. So yeah, he's gonna
he's gonna have a huge impact from on day one.
But it's gonna be one of those impacts like he
does everything well.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (17:23):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
And again, generally, when the when the media falls for
somebody like Tiger Woods or Bryce Harper, you know, uh
in bope in in soccer, generally we don't go this
crazy over everybody. Uh. It's just a very very unique player.
And I'm here in comparisons to certain people, his comp
is pretty obvious to me. He's Jason Tatum of the Celtics,
(17:47):
where there's just no real hole in his game. Doesn't
mean he's gonna be you know, out of the shoot
that good, But there I don't see. I don't see
the weakness. I mean again, NBA, you've got to really
be able to handle the ball. He gets everything else,
So he's got I mean I'm telling you, I'm trying
to think of the last college guy at eighteen that
played like this. I can't just not the way the
(18:10):
game works. He will walk into the NBA if he
gets a good coach. You get him in Utah, you
get him in Miami. This kid's averaging eighteen twenty points
as a rookie. He's gonna be sensational player, and that's
why Duke's favored.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
in neon Eastern nn AM Pacific.
Speaker 7 (18:28):
Hey, Steve Covino and I'm Rich David and together we're
Covino and Rich on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 8 (18:33):
You could catch us weekdays from five to seven pm
Eastern two to four Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and
of course the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 7 (18:40):
Why should you listen to Cavino and Rich.
Speaker 8 (18:42):
We talk about everything life, sports, relationships, what's going on
in the world.
Speaker 7 (18:46):
We have a lot of fun talking about the stories
behind the stories in the world of sports and pop culture,
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time to discuss.
Speaker 8 (18:55):
And the fact that we've been friends for the last
twenty years and still work together. I mean that says
something right.
Speaker 1 (19:00):
Check us out.
Speaker 7 (19:00):
We like to get you involved, to take your phone calls,
chop it up.
Speaker 8 (19:04):
As they say, I'd say, the most interactive show on
Fox Sports Radio, maybe the most interactive show on planetar.
Speaker 7 (19:09):
Be sure to check out Cavino and Rich Live on
Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app from five to
seven pm Eastern two to four Pacific. And if you
miss any of the live show, just search Covin on
Rich wherever you get your podcasts, and of course on
social media that's Covino and Rich.
Speaker 1 (19:25):
Welcome in live. It's the Hurt wherever you may be,
however you may be listening. Calvin Samson, great coach of
the Houston Cougars, is going to be joining us in
one hour from now. That team is That team is
a handful, and they've had a road Gonzaga perdu, they
have had a road. Tennessee got spanked. That game was
not competitive, and Tennessee, by the way, didn't do a
(19:47):
lot once they fell down. They didn't have like a
second gear. Not a lot of college basketball team shoot well.
So if you get now Aleck, Michigan State can be
a little bit of trouble. I think it's been a
fun tournament. I cannot wait for Duke in Houston, cannot
wait not.
Speaker 5 (20:00):
Late for you to give us a bracket update.
Speaker 1 (20:03):
Now that's what I'm very excited about.
Speaker 5 (20:05):
To anything over there, No, no, nothing, because I got
a little chalky with it, as the kids like to say,
And uh, you know what do we We got four
number one seeds, but they're the best teams by so far.
Speaker 1 (20:15):
It's not even close. Feels like it. Here we go
Colin right, Colin wrong on a Monday.
Speaker 2 (20:19):
Where Colin was right.
Speaker 1 (20:21):
Two SEC teams in the final four, four in the
final eight. It's not close. Outside of Duke, nobody in
the ACC really did much the ACC. I mean the SEC,
the athletes, the lane. I picked Auburn as my number
one Florida maybe the best team. It's just a deeper,
better conference. We've been saying this since early January on
(20:43):
this show. Are you watching SEC basketball? Because it looks
like the ACC about six years ago. And here's Bruce Pearl,
Auburn coach, on the conference. Everybody in the SEC has invested.
It just means more. And I said this at the
beginning of the season.
Speaker 3 (20:58):
The team's at the bottom of our league are investing
very similarly to the teams in the middle in the
top of the league. There's just not that much difference.
Speaker 1 (21:08):
There isn't. Where Colin was roughed, I started thinking too much.
I did not have Duke in the final four because
three freshmen play over twenty minutes and I thought they
were too young. Well, they're all so great. They're favored
by four and a half over a great Houston team.
Their average winning margin this is much like Yukon last year.
(21:29):
They're winning by twenty three points a game. So they've
got athleticism, coaching, length, depth, and the best player easily
in Cooper Flat. Where Colin was right, Well, I said
the Dodgers. And this is without Freeman, Freddy Freeman and
Miokie bets be one hundred percent and without Otani pitching.
Yet I think this is the best roster I've ever seen.
And according to Baseball Stats, the Dodgers are the first
(21:51):
team in baseball history to go five to zero with
thirty plus runs scored, twenty plus walks drawn, ten plus
home runs, fifty five strikeouts, and zero errors committed. They
do not have a hole. It is a virtual all
star team. And again, depth of talent, pitching, bullpen. It's
(22:13):
like nothing I've ever seen where Colin was raw. You know,
I thought the Yankees would pull back a little without
Garrett Cole, who knew they would revolutionize the torpedo bat.
They have fifteen home runs in three games. It's Babe
Ruth on HGH Babe Ruth multiplied and for the record,
(22:35):
Aaron Judges are using them, but they have legally the
dimensions of the bat haven't changed. The length hasn't changed,
the weight hasn't changed. They've just redistributed the bulk of
the bat toward the label for a couple of batters,
and it is working. Wonders where Colin was right. I've
said this cowboy team is top heavy and in trouble,
(22:58):
and Stephen Jones admitted this weekend, but yeah, free agency
got a little more expensive than we could afford. And
again in February, I was quoted saying, this is the
big brand in the country that is reeling and reeling fast,
and they went cheap on a head coach. They've slowly
been dying for a couple of years. I know the
(23:19):
twelve win thing, but if they pay Micah, that'll be
Micah Deck and Ceedee Lamb have produced one playoff win,
and that was over that sub five hundred Tampa team.
Speaker 2 (23:29):
Where Colin was real.
Speaker 1 (23:31):
A minute I started supporting John Calipari, he blew a
sixteen point lead and lost in the tournament the minute
I put my arms around him. It is hard to
blow a big lead late in college basketball simply because
there are not a lot of potent offenses in the sport.
And Arkansas got outscored twenty seven to eleven down the stretch.
(23:52):
They probably should have called a time out to slow
it down. They didn't, and the rest is history.
Speaker 2 (23:56):
Where Colin was right.
Speaker 1 (23:57):
I said, Aaron Rodgers has all the leverage with a Steelers.
He should take his dear sweet time, and he is.
Aaron Rodgers and DK Metcalf had a throwing session at UCLA,
and Aaron's telling you, maybe I'll take it, maybe I won't.
I'm leaning toward he's gonna take it now. But this
is what I said, if you don't have urgency with
(24:18):
a quarterback position, this is what happened to Washington with
Sam Hall, and it's what's happened with Mike Tomlin and
the Steelers. They just don't take quarterback and offense seriously enough.
Where Colin was raw, I hated this story. That receiver
who I loved at Arizona t mac with quoted as
saying this weekend, I'm not a big fan of watching film.
(24:39):
I'm not. I don't watch football. That's not what you
want to say. That that's that's got Johnny Manziel vibes
all over it, bro the great Ones, the Larry Fitzgerald's,
the Jerry Rice. It's you got a care it's prep.
It's not just hanging out with your receiver group. If
you want to separate in any position. This is a
sport where cognitive funk and commitment is really big. I
(25:02):
love this kid out of college, but this is a
I mean, this is a If I need a receiver,
I may wait till the next round kind of comment.
Speaker 2 (25:10):
Where Colin was right.
Speaker 1 (25:11):
I've said wide receivers the convertible sports car of football.
It's fun, it's flashy, doesn't produce a lot of playoff wins.
Tyreek Hill this weekend, once out of Miami, hinted at
multiple trades in multiple posts on x Kansas City has
been to three Super Bowl since he's left Miami has
produced zero playoff wins since he arrived. I like him.
(25:32):
I think he's a good player. I love to have
him on my team. But there is something about this
position that just creates personality plus and it this is
why I've said watch out with DK met caffin Pittsburgh.
I don't know what it is with the position, but
this is something that is way too common and a
(25:54):
bit of a nuisance for Miami. Makes you answer questions
you don't have to deal with Colin right, Colin wrong
with that Mats Hassle back eighteen years in the NFL.
First of all, the Aaron DK Metcalf workout at UCLA.
I don't know. That feels like something that I don't
want to be like media guy making it out to
be a big deal, but it kind of feels like
(26:14):
something right.
Speaker 9 (26:16):
Yeah, Well, listen, that's the spot UCLA. I mean, even
back when I was playing guys who'd meet up in
LA either the Home Depot Center or over at UCLA.
They're very friendly with celebrities coming there and working out.
I mean, I think I've seen Justin Bieber working out
there on the track over there, running the stairs.
Speaker 1 (26:32):
So that's not a big deal.
Speaker 9 (26:34):
What it does tell me, though, is that Aaron Rodgers
isn't really thinking about retiring, Like, you don't go out
at his age and throw footballs with DK Metcalf in
March if you're probably going to retire. So, I don't
know that we have a lot of answers, but I
think that answer is pretty clear. This is a guy
that's training and getting ready to play this year.
Speaker 1 (26:54):
Yeah, and Aaron has said multiple times he loves the game.
It brings him a lot of joy. And if you've
been good at this sport, as you well know, guys
want to play it. It pays well, it's fun, and
Pittsburgh's got some dudes. Okay, So I've heard a lot
about this Shadoor Sanders, and I keep saying, here's all
I know about Shadoor Sanders. Okay, I'm not a scout,
bad old line running for his life. No run game.
(27:17):
Seventy four percent completion percentage, that is something that's like
not just a sixty eight seventy fours a lot. I
don't think he's a Lamar. I don't think he's Mahomes.
I don't know. I know he didn't win a lot
of games. That's not the end of it Matt did
Matt Ryan win a lot of games in college.
Speaker 9 (27:37):
Hey, I take offense to that because he went to
Boston College. But my dad went to Colorado, So I'll
defend Shador. Listen, the seventy four percent completion or whatever,
it was a really high completion percentage. That doesn't mean
all that much to me because he's not a guy
that threw a lot of balls away. And as a
play caller, when you don't trust your offensive line, you're
getting the ball out of your hands quick also with
some screen games, so that's not really what I'm looking at.
Speaker 1 (28:00):
I think he's got all the tools.
Speaker 9 (28:02):
I'm sure some scouts are saying, hey, he's only six
one and a half, he's like two hundred and twelve pounds, Like,
that's not giving me. Justin Herbert, you know Tom Brady,
the Manning six foot five type guy vibes. So you're
a little bit of an outlier to get drafted in
the top five of the draft with his measurables. But
he does have other intangibles that he brings to the table.
(28:23):
I do love his competitiveness. I think that there's a
there's a DNA or a sense in some teams though,
where they don't really love some of the other stuff
we've seen, some of the taunting, not shaking hands, all
the penalties, pushing a referee like some of that kind
of stuff. I think might give some people pause. But no,
(28:43):
I think he's going to have a successful career. At
the same time, I think he could drop a little
bit on day one.
Speaker 1 (28:49):
So you know Pete Carroll, well, I would argue Pete
is old school football. He likes a run game. When
he had Marshawn Lynch and Reggie Bush and a pass ruw,
she's done well. I think Ashton Genty and I know
everybody hates drafting running backs. If you go the last
six seven years, if you draft a running back top twelve,
(29:09):
they're all good. There's no misses late first round where
everything misses. That's different. I could see Pete Carroll, you
know him, you know Chip Kelly. I could see him saying, guys,
that's gonna make us. We got to have ball control
to beat Mahomes and Herbert. We're not doing it with
Gino throwing forty times Raiders and Genty it works for me,
(29:30):
what say you?
Speaker 9 (29:31):
Yeah, it works for me too, And no doubt that
Pete Carroll and Chip Kelly they want to run the ball,
and so it's very easy to get your mind around
like a Marshawn Lynch type running game there in Las Vegas.
At the same time, at the same time, like we
got to figure out what the league feels about the
Saquon effect. Like you said, a lot of people are saying,
(29:54):
do we really need to draft a running back that high?
Speaker 1 (29:56):
And the answer was no.
Speaker 9 (29:57):
But then the Saquon effect happened. Now people are looking
at guys like Gent and they're saying, hey, that could
be our Saquon.
Speaker 1 (30:04):
So that's a factor.
Speaker 9 (30:05):
However, much in the way that I said, not every
team loves the vibe of a Shugar Sanders. If he
were to fall down to the Raiders around six, would
they go ahead and take him? Because I think Pete
Carroll loves that vibe, living on the edge of competitiveness,
having a flare about you. I think he loves that,
and having him behind a Geno Smith early in his career.
(30:28):
I mean, I could see them taking the long view
of it that way. That would not shock me either.
Speaker 1 (30:34):
You know, well, I've talked about this before, is you
can win when you're top heavy. The Rams did with Ramsey, Darnald,
Stafford Whitworth, where they had like four or five guys
making a ton of money. Then they have to rebuild
and it's really bad. Now. The Rams drafted so well
back to back drafts and they have Stafford that they've
(30:56):
kind of like not had much of a rebuild. So
you can go to heavy. I think the Niners did,
and then last year was like, Okay, we're really old,
expensive and brittle. I honestly think the play for Dallas,
because you're already invested on the right side of the
to me offense ceedee lambdack. I think draft weekend gets emotional.
(31:19):
I would move my Ca Parsons in a week draft.
I don't want to pay three players five hundred and
seventy million. I just I can't do that. Look at
Philly's roster, Detroit roster, the Rams roster, the Ravens roster.
Cowboys need seven players. They don't need a really great
pass rusher. Am I nuts?
Speaker 9 (31:37):
I mean they got to do something. I mean, I
don't know what the solution is there. They've spent too
much money on one side of the ball to have
the results that they've had so far I don't know
if I'm building a team though.
Speaker 1 (31:50):
I need my.
Speaker 9 (31:51):
Guy on the offensive side of the ball, and I
need my guy on the defensive side of the ball.
Mike Congrin would talk about this all the time. Back
when they were in San fran with Bill Wah they
had Joe Montana and they had Ronnie Lott. Like in
Green Bay they had Brett Farvin, they had Reggie Wait.
Speaker 1 (32:06):
To me, Michaeh.
Speaker 9 (32:07):
Parsons is as good as it gets at the position.
I can't see a scenario where I'm getting rid of him.
I really can't. However, you make some good points. They
have a lot of issues and their division has gotten
a lot better than they are, you know, in terms
of what Philly is and what Washington's about to come
about to become. So Dallas they kind of need a miracle.
Speaker 1 (32:28):
I want to wrap with this. I had a GM
once tell me, he said, I don't want thirteen draft picks.
He goes, because if eight of them hit, we're going
to be super young. And most players outside of a
corner or a running back take like a year to
figure it out. Tight ends take a year to figure
out blocking. A lot of receivers are raw, and he said,
(32:49):
I'd rather have like a player and seven picks than
twelve picks. And I look at New England, all new
free agents, they're going to have all new draft picks.
Forty percent of this roster could be new. And Drake
May's a kid in your NFL experience? Can you be
too new? Can you have too many young niners? Have
(33:13):
twelve draft picks? What a nine hit? How do you
fall on that?
Speaker 9 (33:19):
Listen, look at the contract of the head coach when
you want the answer to that question. If a guy's
in the first year of his deal, he can do that.
He can say, hey, I'm taking a long view of
this thing.
Speaker 1 (33:30):
Not a problem.
Speaker 9 (33:31):
And then the flip side, look at a guy like
John Harbaugh and Baltimore just did a deal. It's win now.
I don't even know if they need a draft pick
like that. They've got a great team as is. So yeah, Vrabel,
are they trying to win? Yes, they're trying to build
something special. They're trying to build a house. But this
is a foundational year for them. That's you know, they
(33:52):
got to get everything around Drake may Wright so that
he can be they what they hope he can be.
Speaker 1 (33:59):
And we all know what that is.
Speaker 9 (34:00):
In Foxborough, they're trying to hoist Lombardes and nothing short
of that.
Speaker 1 (34:03):
By the way, can you convince J Mack? So I
keep telling J Mack what a fun time I have
in Chicago. I was there this weekend. Why don't you
tell him if you had a nice weekend in Chicago.
Speaker 9 (34:14):
Hey, lou slip sink ships Colin, I had too good
of a time.
Speaker 7 (34:19):
Uh, in Chicago.
Speaker 9 (34:20):
That's a that's a great city. In fact, I think
they're still celebrating Saint Patrick's Day.
Speaker 1 (34:24):
I don't know how that's true.
Speaker 9 (34:26):
They were celebrating that like two weeks before, and now
here we are like almost April and they're still celebrating.
Speaker 1 (34:33):
Matt Hassel be great seating you Mattie always see guys. Yeah,
he had a family get together in Chicago, and they
could have vict a lot of places and they went
to Chicago. It was a good time. I had a
good I was in the Burbs and had a good time.
It's quite a city. Ryan was there this week was there?
No snow right? No, it's like forty eight degrees fifty
three ball me forty eight. Yeah, yes, I think it's
(34:55):
sixty today. Is it today or tomorrow at sixty? That's awesome.
I love to hear that.
Speaker 5 (35:00):
I've got to go to a cold weather locale very soon.
I'm not throwing where where where I can't talk about
her on here?
Speaker 1 (35:05):
Why confidential information? My friend? Well, you're going to Philly.
That's confidential or something. Why would I go to Philly
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Colin Cowherd
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