March 31, 2025 • 16 mins
With the NCAA March Madness tournament almost coming to a conclusion and tracking brackets as to who's made it the furthest, we've now reached the Final Four teams in the 2025 tournament. Overviewing the tournament up to this point regarding upsets and predictions, the final four teams left in the madness tournament are Florida, Auburn, Duke, and Houston's very own Cougars setting the stage for the championship round. With the four teams now set to roll, lots of banter regarding who may come out champion has arrived, regarding all four teams happening to be the number one seed leading out of their own conferences. With a few predictions on who may take it all this year, professional college and pro sports broadcaster Kevin Harlan joins and shares what he's seen throughout this tournaments entirety and with who he believes may be crowned champions at the end of the tournament next week.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
The Shawn Sounds Very show continues.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
NBA on TNT. He's Kevin Harland, he joins us. Now, yeah,
you think that we'd give the guy a break. Okay,
you know he's in San Francisco calling college basketball, calls
the NBA, and here we are bugging him in the morning.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
But we're so grateful. Kevin Harland joins us.
Speaker 3 (00:19):
Kevin, great to have you with us, my man, from
college to NBA. Let me before we start on any
specific team like Florida, how do you do it schedule
wise at this stage and keep your energy up from
game to game, broadcast to broadcast.
Speaker 4 (00:33):
My man, Sometimes I'm not sure that I'm able to
do it is as well as I once did in
terms of the energy. But when you get in the
arena and in back of that table and we're in
a press box in a football stadium, things just seem
to kind of take over it and you forget about
(00:53):
being tired or anything like that, and you just kind
of you just kind of get caught up in the
game and get lost the broadcast. So fortunately, I'm in
a business that I enjoy and I like tonight Lakers
in the Rockets. That's it has been a long couple
of weeks of the tournament, but I can't wait to
(01:14):
get back to the NBA tonight and this week really
one tomorrow and Denver and then back in LA on Thursday,
so I get a chance to see some of the
best teams, especially in the Western Conference in the Rockets
are in that in that conversation for sure, and anxious
to see where they are here in the home stretch
of the regular season. Is we get ready for the playoffs?
Speaker 3 (01:34):
Well, I got news for you, mo man. That energy
shows all the time, So you don't have to worry
about that. That hasn't waned one single bit, I promise you,
and we freaking love it. Kevin, if you had a
have you called your dream game yet? In any sport?
Is there something you haven't done yet in this business
of calling all these sports? Is there something you haven't
(01:54):
done yet that you'd like to do?
Speaker 4 (01:56):
Yeah, you know what, I think. I think I'm just
waiting to have of that that broadcast where I can
take off the headset and say, boy, that really felt good.
And I think there's everything that you put into you know,
leading to that thought. But at the end of the day,
it's it's hard to you know, check every box and
(02:17):
say that everything about that broadcast is just the way
you wanted it. The game may be good and that
won't disappoint, but a lot of times maybe you think
of a different phrase or a different way of kind
of forming or framing something and that will always stick
with you and then you use it for the next
game and try to improve. And that's kind of what
I try to do. It. There's been no perfect broadcast,
(02:39):
at least for me, and I guess I'm always kind
of striving to to get better every every broadcast. Even
though I've been in the business for a long time,
I think we're always evolving. The challenge is to be
as perfect as possible. And if there's a game to do,
you know I've done. I've done the the sixteen Super
(03:02):
Bowls and five Final Fours, and I don't know that
really there is. I think just maintaining where I am
right now is enough of a challenge in trying to
do that well. But I enjoy every challenge that comes
my way, and certainly every game that comes my way,
and very thankful for my position.
Speaker 3 (03:22):
Hey, Kevin, I think perception and broadcasters, you know, you
go to game to game. The game kind of tells
the story and paints a picture in a live broadcast,
which I get, But you had mentioned that you never
walk out of a perfect broadcast, and with all the
people listening and want to hear. This is Kevin Harlan
obviously TNT and CBS Sports and one of the best
we have in this business for a long time. Do
you are you still critically yourself when you walk off
(03:43):
a broadcast? Do you still go do you like when
you go back to the hotel? Did do you steal
over it? Good or bad? Does it fester with you?
Speaker 4 (03:51):
Absolutely? I mean absolutely. I mean there are some nights
that are worse and some nights that don't have as much. Boy,
I got to see that last two minutes, or I
want to watch that last half. I watch basically every
game I do. I keep notes of what I'm doing
right and what I'm doing wrong. And I just think,
(04:13):
like in any walk in life, you know, if you're
if you're always kind of analyzing how you're doing it,
the reaction that you have after doing it, and areas
that you feel you can improve. You know, it's it's
not it's not too different really from a coach during
a game, who says, now, we've got a lot of
stuff to clean up. We've got a lot of things
you've got to improve on. We need even though they've won.
(04:36):
Sometimes you you spot the issues and and continually kind
of zero went on that. I think a little paranoia
in this business is good. I think it helps drive you.
And not that I am paranoid, but I think I
have a little bit of it to the point that
it that it's helpful to navigate a pretty competitive business
(04:58):
where there's a lot lot of people going for these jobs.
None of us take them for granted, but no. I
critique and self analyze all the time, and sometimes I
know them to kind of back off and say, you
know what it's let's let it breathe for a day
(05:19):
or two or three, and then go back and watch,
and invariably it's never as good as you think, and
never as bad as you think. It's somewhere in between.
But I guess I'm more in the thing of listing
the areas that I'd like to tweak, polish off on
the margins, and and try to make it better the
next time. And that's that's what kind of keeps you going.
(05:40):
I think if you ever exhale, I think you find
yourself in trouble. And I if I do begin to
exhale and don't get that energy by sitting, you know,
at that headset on and ready to go, then I'll
know it's probably time to step aside.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
I got news for it.
Speaker 3 (05:54):
As an OCD guy here, it's so nice to hear
that one of the best in the business still feels
that way. So I'm not the only one. And then
I look at we said here and listen, does he
make mistakes? Does he grind like the rest of us
mere mortals? Kevin Harlan joins us here for a couple
more minutes. Kevin, you're in that San Francisco region watching Florida. Boy,
they played good basketball down to stretch here and then
I have a hell of a challenge against Auburn. But
(06:15):
sticking to Florida, what should people that maybe didn't cover
it as intensely as you did through this march madness?
What should we be looking forward to or what are
we going to see when they get here to San Antonio.
Speaker 4 (06:27):
Well, they've got they got some real talent at the guard.
They've got a lot of size up front. They go
four deep upfront, and that's tough for any team to match.
They seem to play very well in the system. They
know who needs the ball eight. They don't blink that
they're coming out of the best conference in the country.
So that's given them the kind of callous they need,
(06:50):
I think to face any kind of challenge. As you say,
they're gonna see some conference, some conference members when they
get to San Antonio, and that's gonna make it that's
going to make it interesting. But Texas Tech gave them
all they could handle. The other night, the Red Raiders
played a really good game. They just couldn't close. And
(07:11):
that may be another thing I'd add about Florida is
they've got a closer. This Walter Clayton is the First
Team All America. He's a terrific player, and they've got
a closer. So if you've got depth and you've got size,
you play well within the system. Guard play in this tournament,
guard playing college basketball overall is just imperative. And if
(07:34):
you've got a closer, you know, Florida checks all those boxes.
They're going to be very difficult to beat.
Speaker 3 (07:39):
And Stee, I mean, Kevin, you're talking about we're talking
about teams and listen to the broadcast and watching Florida play,
and you mentioned and I've said it on this one
Kevin many times, did guard play well, you love the
bigs and got keep them out of foul trouble. Guard
plays so important in perimeter play, and it really is
a guard league right now. To win this whole thing,
bad guard play equal probably not hoisting the trophy.
Speaker 4 (08:03):
Yeah, guard play and outside shooting able to spread and
even if you're not a big team, you still need
to spread the floor. And it's just you know, we've
seen at the NBA with Steph Curry and other great
three point shooters, and the college game is doing the
same thing, and they've been doing it. It's just harder
(08:25):
to find good shooters at the college level. And a
lot of these big programs are going to the mid
major market and getting kids from the Missouri Valley, the
A ten, you name, the mid major conference. They're rating
those conferences because a lot of times the kid may
not be big, you may not be a great athlete,
(08:47):
but there's a lot of shooting at that level. And
if you play a couple of years the college game
and have you know, the kind of system in place
that will translate to you know, an SEC, a big twelve,
a big ten, and so they're rating these these mid
(09:08):
majors best. We don't see a lot of mid majors
really shoving their way into the sweet sixteen, and certainly
not the elite eight in the final four, because they've
they've they've been drained of their talent and they're making
the most of it at the next level. And shooting
seems to be a commodity that that mid major can
support the major conferences with Clayton Friends has played at
(09:31):
Iona in the minute Planic and that was a great find.
He's been there two years. He's built himself up. He's
playing with major college players, but his three point shooting
and ball handling, things that were prized at the mid
major are even more valued at the major level.
Speaker 3 (09:51):
One minute or two left with Kevin Harlan before you
get him back to one of his twenty seven jobs
that he's got to do. Joins us here as we
roll along the great Kevin Harlan. You know the voice
need no introduction. Kevin, is it good to have four
one seeds? I think you know where I'm going. We
know it's great basketball obviously in this tournament. But is
having four one seeds good for college basketball's viewing pleasure?
Speaker 4 (10:13):
I think even better than the four number ones, And
you're right, it certainly plays a role. I really think
that the major component for driving ratings and driving the
intense interest are individual players that can start. And we
saw it last year in college basketball with Angel Reason,
(10:36):
Caitlin Clark, and with Paige at Yukon and Juju Out
at USC and all these fabulous individual players. The college game.
We're in such transition now, but we're seeing older rosters
and names that stick around the college game for three
(10:57):
to five years, so we're beginning to pick up on that.
And every once in a while we're getting these decorated
freshmen that come in and just seem to really be captivating.
And we've got that in FLAG. So there are elements
here which would tell you that this will be a
very highly ranked final four, But the individual player really
(11:21):
drives the ratings, and I expect that will be the
case in San Antonio this weekend.
Speaker 3 (11:27):
As I let you go here, Kevin just ye, maybe
he'sn't a fan, Maybe the broadcast part of you and
a fan part of you. As a sports fan are
separate and you can compartmentalize them. Maybe they're together. I'm
just curious what you think about the transfer portal being
opened during the tournament.
Speaker 4 (11:42):
Well, it's tough on these coaches. For the majority of
these programs, they can they can i think, navigate it
well because they're finished playing. But for the programs that
are still in, you know, it makes it incredibly difficult
to try to do that. We had all the coaches
that we were seeing at San Francisco and even up
(12:03):
in Milwaukee in the first and second round. We had
Kentucky there, and we had North Carolina there, and we
had Illinois there. Coaches are spending their mornings before practice
with two hours on the zoom, you know, going over
the portal and trying to figure out who's available. Now
you're doing the on you know, the actual interviews with
the kids beginning this past Monday, so or a weekend
(12:25):
to it, and it's very difficult to at this level
manage the kids you've got and try to look ahead
when everything is so right in front of you. A
chance to go to the elite, aate, a chance to
go to the final four, chance at a national championship,
and tom Izzo said it pretty well the other day
(12:46):
for Michigan States is I'm going to worry about the
kids that I've got right now. I'm going to put people,
you know, working on the portal. But my concern right now,
my only concern is coaching Michigan State. And of course
we know they've lost. So I think I think that
that it puts the very few teams that are at
the very top at somewhat of a disadvantage. But when
(13:06):
you see these coaches, know that during the morning hours,
they're on the portal talking to these kids, and they're
not trying to sell the program. They're not trying to
sell their scheme, they're not trying to send, you know,
sell their culture. The coaching staff who they're playing with,
they're just trying to sell with money. They're trying to say,
you know, like we had one of the coaches here
and I'll be quick with this. One coach the other
(13:28):
day said, we're talking to a kid on the on
the on the zoom you know about and the portal,
and and he's going to be for us if he
decides to come to our program about it, you know,
he'll play. He'll be the fifth sixth or seventh best
player in his opening Selva. You know, after they've tried
to sell them and all the things about the program,
(13:49):
the city, the campus, the schooling, the culture, everything else,
it finally got down to, all right, so what's your
prize is? At a million and a half And they
turned off the camera and they muted the microphone and said,
did I hear that right? Did this player, who may
start a couple games but we'll be a nice bench player,
is asking for one point five million dollars to play?
(14:11):
And they said, hey, listen, good luck. They could everything
back on good luck, wish you well. If it doesn't
work out, let's let's talk again. But a lot of
times these are very short conversations and they're all about
money and only about money. So the days of trying
to sell how you coach and the program and the
system and everything else, I think those take a back
seat to what's it going to be Now. We all
(14:31):
want to see him get paid, and we're all for that,
but there's going to have to be a more level
playing field because we're seeing have and have nots, and
we're seeing some programs that are able, like Ohio State football.
We get a lot of money and buy buy basically
a national championship because they get all the best players.
And maybe there's some of that true with the teams
who've got come into San Antonio this weekend. It's a
(14:54):
system that it's the wild West. It's uncontrolled. Everybody acknowledges it,
and they're going to have to find some common ground.
But this portal is tough for these teams that have
made it this far. The Elite eight, Sweet sixteen and
these other programs are getting a chance now to catch
up and getting their first and make their take their
(15:14):
first swings at some of these kids. And maybe they're
going to steal a couple, but the major programs are
always going to attract the major interest and I think
they feel like they can still navigate it and succeed
and play in a Final four.
Speaker 1 (15:28):
Yeah, paying them's one.
Speaker 3 (15:29):
Thank Kevin, You're right, And then how we pay them's
got to change, There's no question about it. And the
focus on the current team phenomenal stuff. And with four
great teams, and I know these offensive teams are coming
here in University of Houston's waiting to play some great
defense against them. It's going to be a great final
four and Kevin, good luck on your twenty seven more
calls before we see you again, my man, and we
sure appreciate you spending time with us, and I know
(15:51):
how busy you are, so thank you for adding to
our show today.
Speaker 1 (15:53):
We appreciate it.
Speaker 4 (15:54):
Bob, my privilege to be on with you. Thank you
so much and have a great week you too.
Speaker 1 (15:58):
That's the great Kevin Harley.
Speaker 3 (15:59):
We'll come back and discuss that voice is uh probably
needs no introduction, but he calls.
Speaker 1 (16:04):
Think about all the broadcasts he called
The Shawn Sounds Very show continues.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
NBA on TNT. He's Kevin Harland, he joins us. Now, yeah,
you think that we'd give the guy a break. Okay,
you know he's in San Francisco calling college basketball, calls
the NBA, and here we are bugging him in the morning.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
But we're so grateful. Kevin Harland joins us.
Speaker 3 (00:19):
Kevin, great to have you with us, my man, from
college to NBA. Let me before we start on any
specific team like Florida, how do you do it schedule
wise at this stage and keep your energy up from
game to game, broadcast to broadcast.
Speaker 4 (00:33):
My man, Sometimes I'm not sure that I'm able to
do it is as well as I once did in
terms of the energy. But when you get in the
arena and in back of that table and we're in
a press box in a football stadium, things just seem
to kind of take over it and you forget about
(00:53):
being tired or anything like that, and you just kind
of you just kind of get caught up in the
game and get lost the broadcast. So fortunately, I'm in
a business that I enjoy and I like tonight Lakers
in the Rockets. That's it has been a long couple
of weeks of the tournament, but I can't wait to
(01:14):
get back to the NBA tonight and this week really
one tomorrow and Denver and then back in LA on Thursday,
so I get a chance to see some of the
best teams, especially in the Western Conference in the Rockets
are in that in that conversation for sure, and anxious
to see where they are here in the home stretch
of the regular season. Is we get ready for the playoffs?
Speaker 3 (01:34):
Well, I got news for you, mo man. That energy
shows all the time, So you don't have to worry
about that. That hasn't waned one single bit, I promise you,
and we freaking love it. Kevin, if you had a
have you called your dream game yet? In any sport?
Is there something you haven't done yet in this business
of calling all these sports? Is there something you haven't
(01:54):
done yet that you'd like to do?
Speaker 4 (01:56):
Yeah, you know what, I think. I think I'm just
waiting to have of that that broadcast where I can
take off the headset and say, boy, that really felt good.
And I think there's everything that you put into you know,
leading to that thought. But at the end of the day,
it's it's hard to you know, check every box and
(02:17):
say that everything about that broadcast is just the way
you wanted it. The game may be good and that
won't disappoint, but a lot of times maybe you think
of a different phrase or a different way of kind
of forming or framing something and that will always stick
with you and then you use it for the next
game and try to improve. And that's kind of what
I try to do. It. There's been no perfect broadcast,
(02:39):
at least for me, and I guess I'm always kind
of striving to to get better every every broadcast. Even
though I've been in the business for a long time,
I think we're always evolving. The challenge is to be
as perfect as possible. And if there's a game to do,
you know I've done. I've done the the sixteen Super
(03:02):
Bowls and five Final Fours, and I don't know that
really there is. I think just maintaining where I am
right now is enough of a challenge in trying to
do that well. But I enjoy every challenge that comes
my way, and certainly every game that comes my way,
and very thankful for my position.
Speaker 3 (03:22):
Hey, Kevin, I think perception and broadcasters, you know, you
go to game to game. The game kind of tells
the story and paints a picture in a live broadcast,
which I get, But you had mentioned that you never
walk out of a perfect broadcast, and with all the
people listening and want to hear. This is Kevin Harlan
obviously TNT and CBS Sports and one of the best
we have in this business for a long time. Do
you are you still critically yourself when you walk off
(03:43):
a broadcast? Do you still go do you like when
you go back to the hotel? Did do you steal
over it? Good or bad? Does it fester with you?
Speaker 4 (03:51):
Absolutely? I mean absolutely. I mean there are some nights
that are worse and some nights that don't have as much. Boy,
I got to see that last two minutes, or I
want to watch that last half. I watch basically every
game I do. I keep notes of what I'm doing
right and what I'm doing wrong. And I just think,
(04:13):
like in any walk in life, you know, if you're
if you're always kind of analyzing how you're doing it,
the reaction that you have after doing it, and areas
that you feel you can improve. You know, it's it's
not it's not too different really from a coach during
a game, who says, now, we've got a lot of
stuff to clean up. We've got a lot of things
you've got to improve on. We need even though they've won.
(04:36):
Sometimes you you spot the issues and and continually kind
of zero went on that. I think a little paranoia
in this business is good. I think it helps drive you.
And not that I am paranoid, but I think I
have a little bit of it to the point that
it that it's helpful to navigate a pretty competitive business
(04:58):
where there's a lot lot of people going for these jobs.
None of us take them for granted, but no. I
critique and self analyze all the time, and sometimes I
know them to kind of back off and say, you
know what it's let's let it breathe for a day
(05:19):
or two or three, and then go back and watch,
and invariably it's never as good as you think, and
never as bad as you think. It's somewhere in between.
But I guess I'm more in the thing of listing
the areas that I'd like to tweak, polish off on
the margins, and and try to make it better the
next time. And that's that's what kind of keeps you going.
(05:40):
I think if you ever exhale, I think you find
yourself in trouble. And I if I do begin to
exhale and don't get that energy by sitting, you know,
at that headset on and ready to go, then I'll
know it's probably time to step aside.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
I got news for it.
Speaker 3 (05:54):
As an OCD guy here, it's so nice to hear
that one of the best in the business still feels
that way. So I'm not the only one. And then
I look at we said here and listen, does he
make mistakes? Does he grind like the rest of us
mere mortals? Kevin Harlan joins us here for a couple
more minutes. Kevin, you're in that San Francisco region watching Florida. Boy,
they played good basketball down to stretch here and then
I have a hell of a challenge against Auburn. But
(06:15):
sticking to Florida, what should people that maybe didn't cover
it as intensely as you did through this march madness?
What should we be looking forward to or what are
we going to see when they get here to San Antonio.
Speaker 4 (06:27):
Well, they've got they got some real talent at the guard.
They've got a lot of size up front. They go
four deep upfront, and that's tough for any team to match.
They seem to play very well in the system. They
know who needs the ball eight. They don't blink that
they're coming out of the best conference in the country.
So that's given them the kind of callous they need,
(06:50):
I think to face any kind of challenge. As you say,
they're gonna see some conference, some conference members when they
get to San Antonio, and that's gonna make it that's
going to make it interesting. But Texas Tech gave them
all they could handle. The other night, the Red Raiders
played a really good game. They just couldn't close. And
(07:11):
that may be another thing I'd add about Florida is
they've got a closer. This Walter Clayton is the First
Team All America. He's a terrific player, and they've got
a closer. So if you've got depth and you've got size,
you play well within the system. Guard play in this tournament,
guard playing college basketball overall is just imperative. And if
(07:34):
you've got a closer, you know, Florida checks all those boxes.
They're going to be very difficult to beat.
Speaker 3 (07:39):
And Stee, I mean, Kevin, you're talking about we're talking
about teams and listen to the broadcast and watching Florida play,
and you mentioned and I've said it on this one
Kevin many times, did guard play well, you love the
bigs and got keep them out of foul trouble. Guard
plays so important in perimeter play, and it really is
a guard league right now. To win this whole thing,
bad guard play equal probably not hoisting the trophy.
Speaker 4 (08:03):
Yeah, guard play and outside shooting able to spread and
even if you're not a big team, you still need
to spread the floor. And it's just you know, we've
seen at the NBA with Steph Curry and other great
three point shooters, and the college game is doing the
same thing, and they've been doing it. It's just harder
(08:25):
to find good shooters at the college level. And a
lot of these big programs are going to the mid
major market and getting kids from the Missouri Valley, the
A ten, you name, the mid major conference. They're rating
those conferences because a lot of times the kid may
not be big, you may not be a great athlete,
(08:47):
but there's a lot of shooting at that level. And
if you play a couple of years the college game
and have you know, the kind of system in place
that will translate to you know, an SEC, a big twelve,
a big ten, and so they're rating these these mid
(09:08):
majors best. We don't see a lot of mid majors
really shoving their way into the sweet sixteen, and certainly
not the elite eight in the final four, because they've
they've they've been drained of their talent and they're making
the most of it at the next level. And shooting
seems to be a commodity that that mid major can
support the major conferences with Clayton Friends has played at
(09:31):
Iona in the minute Planic and that was a great find.
He's been there two years. He's built himself up. He's
playing with major college players, but his three point shooting
and ball handling, things that were prized at the mid
major are even more valued at the major level.
Speaker 3 (09:51):
One minute or two left with Kevin Harlan before you
get him back to one of his twenty seven jobs
that he's got to do. Joins us here as we
roll along the great Kevin Harlan. You know the voice
need no introduction. Kevin, is it good to have four
one seeds? I think you know where I'm going. We
know it's great basketball obviously in this tournament. But is
having four one seeds good for college basketball's viewing pleasure?
Speaker 4 (10:13):
I think even better than the four number ones, And
you're right, it certainly plays a role. I really think
that the major component for driving ratings and driving the
intense interest are individual players that can start. And we
saw it last year in college basketball with Angel Reason,
(10:36):
Caitlin Clark, and with Paige at Yukon and Juju Out
at USC and all these fabulous individual players. The college game.
We're in such transition now, but we're seeing older rosters
and names that stick around the college game for three
(10:57):
to five years, so we're beginning to pick up on that.
And every once in a while we're getting these decorated
freshmen that come in and just seem to really be captivating.
And we've got that in FLAG. So there are elements
here which would tell you that this will be a
very highly ranked final four, But the individual player really
(11:21):
drives the ratings, and I expect that will be the
case in San Antonio this weekend.
Speaker 3 (11:27):
As I let you go here, Kevin just ye, maybe
he'sn't a fan, Maybe the broadcast part of you and
a fan part of you. As a sports fan are
separate and you can compartmentalize them. Maybe they're together. I'm
just curious what you think about the transfer portal being
opened during the tournament.
Speaker 4 (11:42):
Well, it's tough on these coaches. For the majority of
these programs, they can they can i think, navigate it
well because they're finished playing. But for the programs that
are still in, you know, it makes it incredibly difficult
to try to do that. We had all the coaches
that we were seeing at San Francisco and even up
(12:03):
in Milwaukee in the first and second round. We had
Kentucky there, and we had North Carolina there, and we
had Illinois there. Coaches are spending their mornings before practice
with two hours on the zoom, you know, going over
the portal and trying to figure out who's available. Now
you're doing the on you know, the actual interviews with
the kids beginning this past Monday, so or a weekend
(12:25):
to it, and it's very difficult to at this level
manage the kids you've got and try to look ahead
when everything is so right in front of you. A
chance to go to the elite, aate, a chance to
go to the final four, chance at a national championship,
and tom Izzo said it pretty well the other day
(12:46):
for Michigan States is I'm going to worry about the
kids that I've got right now. I'm going to put people,
you know, working on the portal. But my concern right now,
my only concern is coaching Michigan State. And of course
we know they've lost. So I think I think that
that it puts the very few teams that are at
the very top at somewhat of a disadvantage. But when
(13:06):
you see these coaches, know that during the morning hours,
they're on the portal talking to these kids, and they're
not trying to sell the program. They're not trying to
sell their scheme, they're not trying to send, you know,
sell their culture. The coaching staff who they're playing with,
they're just trying to sell with money. They're trying to say,
you know, like we had one of the coaches here
and I'll be quick with this. One coach the other
(13:28):
day said, we're talking to a kid on the on
the on the zoom you know about and the portal,
and and he's going to be for us if he
decides to come to our program about it, you know,
he'll play. He'll be the fifth sixth or seventh best
player in his opening Selva. You know, after they've tried
to sell them and all the things about the program,
(13:49):
the city, the campus, the schooling, the culture, everything else,
it finally got down to, all right, so what's your
prize is? At a million and a half And they
turned off the camera and they muted the microphone and said,
did I hear that right? Did this player, who may
start a couple games but we'll be a nice bench player,
is asking for one point five million dollars to play?
(14:11):
And they said, hey, listen, good luck. They could everything
back on good luck, wish you well. If it doesn't
work out, let's let's talk again. But a lot of
times these are very short conversations and they're all about
money and only about money. So the days of trying
to sell how you coach and the program and the
system and everything else, I think those take a back
seat to what's it going to be Now. We all
(14:31):
want to see him get paid, and we're all for that,
but there's going to have to be a more level
playing field because we're seeing have and have nots, and
we're seeing some programs that are able, like Ohio State football.
We get a lot of money and buy buy basically
a national championship because they get all the best players.
And maybe there's some of that true with the teams
who've got come into San Antonio this weekend. It's a
(14:54):
system that it's the wild West. It's uncontrolled. Everybody acknowledges it,
and they're going to have to find some common ground.
But this portal is tough for these teams that have
made it this far. The Elite eight, Sweet sixteen and
these other programs are getting a chance now to catch
up and getting their first and make their take their
(15:14):
first swings at some of these kids. And maybe they're
going to steal a couple, but the major programs are
always going to attract the major interest and I think
they feel like they can still navigate it and succeed
and play in a Final four.
Speaker 1 (15:28):
Yeah, paying them's one.
Speaker 3 (15:29):
Thank Kevin, You're right, And then how we pay them's
got to change, There's no question about it. And the
focus on the current team phenomenal stuff. And with four
great teams, and I know these offensive teams are coming
here in University of Houston's waiting to play some great
defense against them. It's going to be a great final
four and Kevin, good luck on your twenty seven more
calls before we see you again, my man, and we
sure appreciate you spending time with us, and I know
(15:51):
how busy you are, so thank you for adding to
our show today.
Speaker 1 (15:53):
We appreciate it.
Speaker 4 (15:54):
Bob, my privilege to be on with you. Thank you
so much and have a great week you too.
Speaker 1 (15:58):
That's the great Kevin Harley.
Speaker 3 (15:59):
We'll come back and discuss that voice is uh probably
needs no introduction, but he calls.
Speaker 1 (16:04):
Think about all the broadcasts he called
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