The "Spring Battles" Edition

Are we headed to a new era of spring football? Will teams eventually have home-and-home series during the spring? 

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
It's time for Clipson Sports Talk with Lawton Swan. Finally,

(00:44):
Clemson Sports Talk has come back two drive time. Hello everybody,
Loden Swan back in the saddle once again. It is
the show that shakes the south Land. Clemson Sports Talk
for you each and every afternoon as you make your
way around the great state of South Carolina and beyond,
listening to us on incredible radio stations like Fox Sports

(01:06):
Radio fourteen hundred the Midlands, heard around the world on
the iHeartRadio app, and brought to you in part by
our good friends over at Mets Plumbing seven three to
two drip, drip, drip. You know the jingles, seven three
to two drip. That's Mets Plumbing, Mets Plumbing dot Com.
I wish I could hit that note, Mets Plumbing dot Com.

(01:29):
Whoo tough. Not good for you, boy, not good at all.

Speaker 2 (01:34):
Aight?

Speaker 1 (01:34):
Oh three four five zero zero eighty six. That's our
text line, that's our phone line, twenty four hours a day,
seven days a week. All right. NBA play in Tournament
action underway last night will update you'all that during the
day show, we'll talk about the Kyne Lacy situation. On
today's show, the tragedy there talking about Clempson softball today,

(01:55):
how about them? How about the Clempson softball team? What
a bounce back for them from what three and six
to start the season and your boy writing them off
to Marry and Collins last night going yard in the
ninth inning to knock off a top fifteen, top thirteen
South Carolina team to give Clemson a win at home. Doug,

(02:16):
I almost said, Doug Kingsmore Stadium, I apologize mcwarter Stadium.
Clempson gets a two to one win. We'll talk about
that one coming up in just a little bit as well,
Plus more of the situation with nico Io Maliava or
as I say, I am a lev leaving the program?

(02:40):
Will they leave another program? Will they get that opportunity?
So we'll talk about all of that and much more
here on the program. Plus we might hear from John
Ripman as well, Clemson softball coach. After the tigers thrilling
victory last night. Thank goodness, I got to see it.
I you know, I told you I'd been out of town.
I was cleaning up, had some clothes, I was hanging

(03:01):
up from the trip, et cetera, et cetera. And my
sister called me and she said, are you watching the
Clemson softball game. I said, no, I'm hanging up some clothes.
She's like, oh, well, they're an extra innings against South
Carolina and they just went to commercial right in the
middle of an at bat. She's like, what, what in

(03:22):
the world's going.

Speaker 2 (03:22):
On with that?

Speaker 1 (03:23):
I was like, well, probably, because look, you know, I'm
in radio. I kind of understand how some of this
stuff works. We have hard time breaks here on this
program at four twenty and five twenty every day hard
time break. And I know at the end of the
show it's going to be or at the end of
each hour four fifty five fifty or five fifty five fifty,

(03:44):
that's when we go off, like I know that and
so and by the way, if you're keeping score home,
every break here on this program hard timed. But and
what that means is is that regardless of how long
I speak, the break is going to happen at four twenty. Now,

(04:07):
every once in a while, depending on traffic alerts or whatever.
You probably know this, sometimes the traffic comes in and
steps on me a little bit because maybe I'm pushed
back just a hair, not much. I can do with that.
If I were in studio, which I am not because
I love the ability to be flexible at my time
and my schedule, that wouldn't be an issue. But those

(04:30):
hard time breaks are programmed in. So what I'm assuming
happened is because the game went to extra innings last night.
Let's say that ESPN plugs two hours for a softball
game seven to nine, whatever that time slot was, and
after nine o'clock, their hard time clocks said, okay, at

(04:53):
nine oh six, we gotta go to break. And so
let's say that game's an extra innings at nine oh six.
If somebody doesn't make a swing back in studio to say, well,
this game's in extra endings, it will just immediately flip
over to a commercial. Now they can instantly come back,
and they did. But that's sort of what happened last night.

(05:16):
If you were watching the game and went, where'd the
game go? That's my hunch. I've never worked in TV,
but I've been around enough commercial breaks to know that
that's probably what happened. But congratulations to the Lady Tigers
with the two to one win. More on that coming
up in just a little bit. For the first time, though,

(05:37):
I would say all year since the ACC kickoff, this
is the first week where I really felt like there's
not a lot to get into. Certainly Clemson basketball and
basketball portal action has taken place over the past few days,

(05:59):
but with in baseball having no midweek games, it does
feel a little on the empty side of things right now,
not to mention the fact that it's spring break for
me in school, so like my schedule's pretty wide open

(06:21):
right now, but not a lot to dig into on
the Clemson side of things, as Clipson football is wound down.
Certainly South Carolina football in high gear with their spring
game looming and teams around the country moving through spring.
I said this yesterday, though.

Speaker 3 (06:43):
And.

Speaker 1 (06:45):
The more the more of the crowds that I see
or lack thereof at spring games, I do wonder if
I am correct in my assessment that this is the
last year that we have spring games that are interdependent
of other programs. And I think the more compelling question

(07:08):
becomes what I said yesterday, is that you would have
home and homes during spring, but that would mean that
you would not have a home spring game every other year.
And as much as you may not like these systems,
that are currently in place, whether it's a scrimmage, whether

(07:33):
it's uh, you know, like clemsones done in the past
where you haven't draft and have two teams orange versus White,
whether it's give the defense points and you know, just
all the different scenarios that you can create, which it
kind of reminds me of like when we were kids
and you played basketball. You know, somebody had been a knockout.

(07:55):
That's a great game. That game wasn't one that you
could play though with two people. You know, just what
a game that could be done like that. So we
had a game we called it one Bounce, and one
Bounce was an incredibly fun game because what had to
happen was the ball. You had to allow the ball

(08:17):
to bounce one time before you shot it. So it
always kind of set up a little different catch and
shoot option. Now, every once in a while, you got
lucky and the guy you were playing with missed one
and the one bounce came right off the rim and
you could, you know, grab it and slam it back
home on like an eight foot goal or whatever we

(08:37):
were playing on back in the day. It's kind of
like you invented these games. That's what I feel like
some of these spring games are like, oh, we're gonna
give the defense twenty eight points. We're gonna play all
offense the whole game. We're gonna see if the offense
could score twenty eight in the game. We're gonna give
the defense points for stops and turnovers or excuse me, takeaways,
et cetera. Like Clemson did. I told you I didn't

(09:00):
think the defense was going to get enough. I didn't
think it was possible. Offense is gonna score if you
were the start of the defense with a little cushion, maybe,
but if you had to sacrifice a spring game every
other year in lieus of a home and home spring

(09:25):
series with a team, meaning, okay, pick your school, Penn State, Clemson,
spring of twenty twenty six, you're gonna host Penn State
in a spring game. Then in twenty twenty seven, you're

(09:45):
gonna go to Penn State for a spring game. But
there's not gonna be one back home at Clemson. Now, granted,
you could still open up a spring scrimmage to the fans,
a spring practice to the fans. You can say, hey,
we're gonna have a spring practice today. You guys are

(10:06):
welcome to come out. But would you sacrifice that spring
game environment, the bigger environment that we kind of have,
for the opportunity to actually have every other year a
legitimate spring game against an opponent. Personally, I know I would.

(10:31):
I'd be happy to sacrifice it. I don't really go
to a lot of the spring games anyway. I never
have probably in my life, and I cover the sport.
I've probably been to five or six, partially because you
don't get a whole lot from it. Quite frankly, occasionally,
if there's this freshman that has like this, you know this,

(10:58):
what's the word I'm looking for, like expectations surrounding like
Deshaun Watson's spring game and that he was injured, had
the collar bone issue I think that year and didn't
even play. But you know, it's it's kind of one
of those things where I think there's positives in there's
negatives if you do make this move, because I don't
think what I don't think is feasible is to have

(11:21):
a actual spring game at home every year, unless you
do it against smaller schools, unless you pay the Citadel
Wafford Furman. If you want to do that, if you
want to go that route, where you support in state programs.

(11:45):
So maybe North Carolina would play app State in NC
State would scrimmage UNC Wilmington. I mean, I don't know
how you would decide who scrimmage is who or whatever,
but I mean that would be the only way I
could see you getting a whole one every time. But
then you're not playing another big school, and is the goal?

(12:06):
Is the goal to play other big schools? And maybe
what this opens up the opportunity to do is what
you see in the NFL where maybe you still have
your spring game, and maybe that is against another school,
a smaller school. But then maybe you have spring scrimmages
where Georgia comes up to Clemson behind closed doors and

(12:29):
you have a little scrimmage, a little situational scrimmage. Maybe
you get into some of that kind of like you
see in the NFL where you might have the Commanders
facing off with the Pittsburgh Steelers or whatever for a
scrimmage preseason, not a game, not like a preseason game.

(12:53):
And now that those words have been uttered into existence,
could that be the next step? Forget the spring game
aspect of it. What if every team got one preseason
game against a smaller opponent, the scored didn't count how

(13:20):
you played, you know, you play everybody. Would that be
something that's more in you know, would that be something
that would be more intriguing for fans? A game where
it's Clemson versus the Citadel and on August, say, two

(13:43):
weeks before the season, August to fifteenth, something like that,
couple maybe sixteenth this year. Let me look and see
what day would that be? August the sixteenth, so two
weeks before or the Tigers and LSU face off, you

(14:04):
play a scrimmage against a smaller school. I don't know,
are there enough smaller schools to go around for the
sixty four the the you know, the the big power
for schools, however, mean there are now playing power for football.
I think it's above sixty four. It's probably around seventy

(14:25):
somewhere in there, like I would think there would be.
I mean, it might require that Georgia Tech or Georgia
you know, borrow and play Furman or Wolford, you know
what I mean. Like, it might require some states and
I'm just picked George. I mean, certainly Georgia State could

(14:47):
be a program. Georgia Southern could be a program in
the state of Georgia. That might pacify those schools and
make it work. But say in the state of Florida,
maybe Florida and Firman face off. Maybe Florida State and
Florida Atlantic. You know, but maybe you know, anybody that's
not in the power for might be considered as a

(15:11):
possible opponent. Game wouldn't matter, Your result wouldn't matter. As
a matter of fact, I would argue that you shouldn't
be allowed to take anything away from the games from
a national standpoint, because what I would say that should
be encouraged for the coaches is to play your depth. Certainly,
play your starters in the first quarter, but they didn't

(15:33):
really get into your depth and just kind of see
what you've got. Don't make a whole you know, make
a whole case about oh man, well, did you see
how poor Clemson played against Newberry? Did you see how
bad that game win against Presbyterian because they Clemson fumbled
three times in the fourth quarter, and you go, well, yeah,

(15:54):
they were playing. Did you see the running backs that
were playing. They were getting deep into their depth chart, right,
Like you wouldn't want to read too much into it.
But maybe the preseason game because that's something we also hear,
you know, as much as Daboswingy and coaches talk about
the spring, I think it is a valid argument that
there is no preseason game that you go under the

(16:19):
lights against LSU and you get kudos for it. You
go to Georgia, you take on the Bulldogs in Atlanta
and you get kudos for it. And even if you
had a preseason game doesn't mean that when you play
Georgia you were gonna beat them this past year, when
you play LSU, you're gonna beat them in August. But

(16:42):
I do think coaches would like to have that feeling
right of a crowd in the stands watching the scrimmage,
preseason game atmosphere. The game doesn't count its preseason win,
loser draw, its preseason You're not zero to one at

(17:02):
the end. Play the ugliest preseason game possible. Doesn't impact
anything outside of the narratives that people right at the
end of the year, you make a nice run and
they go, man, hard to believe how far you guys
came from that preseason scrimmage against Furman. You go, it

(17:24):
was a preseason scrimmage. Did you not see all the
players we played? We were trying to play everybody, So
maybe I you know, I do think I am correct
in that based off of the situation with Colorado and
Syracuse and Fran Brown and Dion Sanders and the conversations
around spring the lack of support that a lot of

(17:47):
fan bases are giving spring games because of their setup.
You start factoring all of that in. I think ultimately
it does and will become a situation where we're going
to have competitive spring games at some level. It may

(18:09):
be P four versus P four. I would think it's
likely P four versus Group of four or others, because
I think everybody's gonna want a home game. I think
the idea of scrimmages against another school are probably gonna
be something that will be opened up, where it is

(18:30):
maybe Clemson versus Georgia or Florida and it's a scrimmage
type situation. I doubt fans would be at those. But
you know, I think we see the shift. We see
the shift, and I think it's just a matter of time,
and possibly next season might be the first time we

(18:51):
don't have legitimate spring games. But would you I mean,
if it went to something like I mentioned earlier, would
you be one of the sackers the spring game every
year to have more competitive power four kind of spring games.
Would that be something you'd be willing to give up?
I just don't think the school is going to be
willing to give that up, which is why I think

(19:13):
it would always be a spring game between a power
for school and a smaller program. That to me, just
makes more sense for all parties involved, quite frankly, because
there can still be some sort of financial benefit for
the opponent of the smaller school, because I think universities

(19:36):
can begin slapping a fee on the spring games, you know,
ten bucks to get in or whatever, but that would
you know, fifteen to twenty That would generate some money
pretty quickly. All right, quick break. I mentioned the Clemson
softball team and the big victory over the game Cocks.
We'll talk about that when we return right here on

(19:57):
the show that Shakes the Southland. Stay with us the
show The Jason Southway and Clemson Sports Talk on a Wednesday,
coming some slack if I call it Tuesday, given that
we were off theer on Monday. So if I make
that mistake today, one thousand apologies. Last night, though, the
game Cocks softball team made a big mistake in the
ninth inning, as Marrying Collins, the freshman who has started

(20:19):
all games for the Clemson Tiger softball team, hit her
second home run of the game, and it was in
walk off fashion in the bottom of the ninth inning
to secure a two to one victory for the Tigers
in a matchup of two teams ranked inside the top
twenty the game. Cocks came in the game ranked number
twelve and number thirteen and thirty two and ten coming

(20:41):
into the game on Tuesday night AM at Warders Stadium.
The win also moved the Clemson athletic program into the
lead of the Palmetto Series against South Carolina. I believe
that's at like six to five, somewhere in that range.
With their two home runs, Collins brought her total to
nine on the season, leading the current Clymson freshman class,

(21:05):
and tied for second behind Mackenzie Clark as a freshman,
who had nine as well. She tallied her thirty second
and thirty third RBIs of the year to move up
to third on Clympson's freshman RBI list, tracing only Macy
Cidtron with thirty six this season and Valerie cagele, who

(21:26):
had forty five in twenty twenty one. In the circle
of was Brook mccubbn. She earned her tenth win of
the year behind five innings of work, facing nineteen batters
and struck out one while holding the Game Cocks to
just two hits, neither of which were for extra basis.
Mccubbin's loan strikeout came to the top of the eighth

(21:47):
to keep Clympson alive. Senior Reese Bessinger pitched four innings
with two strikeouts to open last night's matchup. Game Cocks
put runners in scoring position both the first and second innings,
but did not capitalize on a run scored until the
top of the third inning. In the third, it was

(22:08):
a solo home run that gave the Game Cocks there
won no advantage, but then in the bottom of the
six Collins came to the plate and drove the fifth
pitch she would see two hundred and twenty six feet
out to right field. And then it was in the
ninth inning, Collins again, with a one to two count,
hitting the ball two hundred and sixteen feet to left

(22:29):
field to walk it off two to one from the Tigers.
Clemson will conclude the twenty twenty five home stretch with
a three game series coming up against Boston College slated
to get started tomorrow at seven o'clock on the ACC Network.
Clemson will conclude the season at home on Saturday, April

(22:49):
the nineteenth. The Tigers will recognize their nine seniors following
a game that begins at noon. So for Clemson softball,
the end of the race regular season road is upon
us as they get ready for postseason play. Here's head
coach John Ritman, who, again, I may have written this

(23:12):
team off a little early this year after a tough start,
but maybe that was about playing valuable competition. Here's John
Ritman talking about Clyps's two to one victory over the
game Cocks last night. An exciting, not anting ballgame.

Speaker 3 (23:26):
What a great win tonight for the Tigers. Hard fought battle,
two really good teams going at it. Obviously they got
the better of us in the first meeting, and you
know tonight just a pitcher's duel.

Speaker 2 (23:40):
Hats off to both pitching staffs.

Speaker 3 (23:42):
I thought, you know, their pitcher, Gress is a senior,
and I thought she pitched her butt off, and you know,
rees gave us a good start. Some strong inning. She
made one mistake to Roady, and if you do that,
Rody makes you pay.

Speaker 2 (23:54):
And she did tonight.

Speaker 3 (23:56):
But then McCubbin came in and just an outstanding effort
from Brook.

Speaker 2 (23:59):
I think she only.

Speaker 3 (24:00):
Gave up two hits under some tough circumstances. Her grandmother
passed away, uh yesterday morning, and uh, you know, we've
been doing a lot of praying with.

Speaker 2 (24:09):
Her and kind of helping her and.

Speaker 3 (24:12):
And you know, it's tough when you're a senior in
college and you lose your grandma, and you know, we
just really talked to her about compartmentalizing.

Speaker 2 (24:22):
And I thought she was outstanding.

Speaker 3 (24:23):
You know, before the game, she had a lot of
emotions and but when she went in, she just did
an outstanding job. I know her grandma was looking over
her today. And just a huge win for Brooke and
so proud for her. And you know, I thought our
top of our lineup was really good tonight. We just
couldn't get that timely hit until Collins did, and boy,

(24:44):
that was a big one to tie the game, and
then to walk it off with another home run, just
a stud freshman.

Speaker 2 (24:49):
Just you know, I love our team.

Speaker 3 (24:52):
I mean, we started the year three and six and
and have just really had that growth mindset and and
just a lot leadership from our upper classmen to get
to where we are right now.

Speaker 2 (25:03):
We know we still got a lot, a lot of
work to do, but this was a huge win for
our program.

Speaker 3 (25:07):
And you know, they're number three RPI and we're right
around seventeen, So that's a big win. And certainly got
to get over it pretty quick because we got Boston
College in here for senior weekend and big games ahead
of us. So but really proud of our effort tonight.
I thought defensively, we played really well. They made some

(25:28):
great plays defensively, shortstop took it away and then it
left fielder robbed a three run homers. So we beat
a really good team tonight, and really proud of our team.

Speaker 1 (25:39):
John Ritman was also asked about the impact that a
win like this could have on the Tigers potentially being
able to host once they do get the postseason. I mean,
obviously there's still the a SEC tournament in front of them.
But here's coach Ritman's response.

Speaker 3 (25:52):
Yeah, you know, certainly, when you start the season three
and six, you're not you're not really focused on postseason
and hosting and all of those things. But we definitely
played ourselves into that talk. And but we're we're a
veteran enough team to know that that every game is
important this time of year, and you know, we just
got to take it businesslike approach. You know, we got

(26:15):
Boston College this weekend and a big emotional weekend for
our seniors. We've got Tennessee on the road next weekend
and they're they're a really good team, and then we
finish off at Georgia, Texas. We still got a lot
of work to do, but we certainly put ourselves in
a position to be at least in the talk for hosting.

Speaker 1 (26:32):
And you heard John Ritman there say, look when they
started three and six, and that was my thing, and
I think I think I probably and probably fairly fell
victim of the recency bias of success. And then to
have them start the way they did, not to mention
having lost Valerie Cagele, who was the best player at

(26:56):
the plate and the best player in the circle that
this Clemson Tiger softball team had, so that further, you know,
kind of made me wonder about what this year was
going to look like. Again, still a lot of work
left to be done. They're not as good as they
have been, but to go from where they were to

(27:17):
where they are and with that win last night over
a top thirteen South Carolina team, that was huge. All right,
quick break. When we come back, we'll turn our attention
to the Nico EO Maliava situation. Stay with US. Clemson
Sports thought the show the shakesa Southlands, So yesterday big

(27:39):
topic on the show was the situation with former Tennessee
quarterback Nico Io Maliava, whose name is spelled I Am
a Leva, leaving their program or being asked to leave,

(28:00):
basically being shown the door because after having a guaranteed
NIL deal of somewhere in the neighborhood of two million dollars,
he wanted more, and even rumors of speculations surrounding Nico
and other players as Tennessee entered the postseason last year,
potentially trying to hold the university hostage or the NIL

(28:21):
collective's hostage to bring in more money for themselves. And
we wonder why the fans are losing interest. Fortunately for Clemson,
you haven't really seen that. And for the guys that
have left Clemson, whether that's because they wanted to go
get more NIL money, or felt like playing time wasn't enough,
et cetera. I think one of the things that you've

(28:44):
pretty quickly learned is that when you do bring in
the right guys, as Dabosweeney has done, and then you
protect your program, put your program over the individual, I
think you minimize situations like this, which is partially I

(29:09):
think the reason why Clemson is still in such a
good spot even though they aren't. This group that over
emphasizes innil Now for the Nico situation, if indeed it
was his father, as it has been noted, who is

(29:35):
the one who's been the driving force behind this, I
feel really bad for the kid, because you're supposed to
be able to trust your parents, and his situation is
not overly unique. There are plenty of other players whose

(29:58):
parents kind of bandwagon and and you know, ride their
hips to the pot of gold at the end of
the tunnel that their child has created by being very
good at a sport. And a lot of times those fathers, unfortunately,
and there's probably some moms in this too, right like

(30:20):
let's don't, let's don't don't just put it all on
the dads. But there are certainly people out there who
take that influence and having negative impact on their their children.

(30:40):
And I hate it for the kid because you're you're
really in a tough spot. These individuals, for most of
your life before money was what it was at the
collegiate level, probably just hope that you could get to
college and get an education, and if you were good enough,

(31:07):
probably hope that they could, you know, maybe make you know,
maybe make a little money playing in the NFL if
you're fortunate, right, Like, yes, the goal of kids et
cetera around the country when they're asking, hey, what do
you want to do when you grow up, especially when
the're an athlete, I want to I want to play
in the NBA. I want to play in the NFL,
because really that was where you could make money. You

(31:31):
couldn't make money collegiately, but now you can. And so
what that's done, in my opinion, is it is run
the numbers of individuals who are in position to have
their hands out to say, hey, son, let's make more.
Let's make more. I mean that number has increased exponentially

(31:58):
because prior to nil, you really only had the individuals
who thought they were gonna make it to the pros
or were in the pros, I should say that would
have been or had a parent in this situation. Now,
there were probably rogue parents along the way, right, Like

(32:20):
take kid X, Y or Z at a school. Maybe
you even look at a situation with to throw it
back to a guy that actually got in trouble for it.
What if you go all the way back to Southern
cal and running back Reggie Bush. You know his parents,
not saying it was all about the parents or that

(32:41):
they undermined him in any way by you know, getting
a house, et cetera. But you know that was a
situation where it wasn't just about the child benefiting from
the child's talent. And you know, oftentimes I will say
it's there are a lot of times where a pro

(33:04):
football player who's making millions of dollars, there'll be a
documentary only may I'll go back to his home and
his mom or dad or whoever is still living in
the same house that they were in when when he
was a kid run down A lot of times. I mean,
you know, they didn't go out and buy their parent

(33:25):
of mansion. And I've often wondered about that, like, wow,
you know how difficult must it be for that player
to live in the house and have the things that
they have while the parent has so little, and you
certainly want to take care of them if you can.
But maybe some parents say no, I don't. I don't

(33:45):
want you or need you to take care of me.
You know you earned this. But then there's the other
side of it, the parent who thinks I just want more,
We want more. You're worth more. And unfortunately for Nico,
it's putting him in a really bad spot because if

(34:08):
indeed the majority of this situation has been created by
his father, what has he given up and what is
that worth?

Speaker 4 (34:20):
Like?

Speaker 1 (34:20):
What is the cost value of not having a home?
Imagine if this kid had said, Dad, don't say another word,
I'm finishing my career at Tennessee two and a half
million dollars. Two million dollars is enough. I'm finishing my
career here, I'm loyal to Tennessee. What's the value in

(34:45):
that over the long haul? I would venture to guess
it's more than another two million in a year. Anyway,
How has the Niko landing spot gone, so to speak? Like,
how has that developed so far? Where's he going to
end up? We'll talk about some of the options he

(35:06):
had past tense Right after this final segment of our
number one here on the show that Shakes of south Land,
we've been talking about Nico Io Maliava and the situation
up at Tennessee where demands for more money and a
holdout led to Nico entering the portal and Tennessee basically
saying thanks but no thanks. Now, there have been some conversations.

(35:30):
Some people have said, well, what if Tennessee shifts gears
and figures out a way to bring him back in.
I think you really compromise your program if that's the
direction you go with this. But multiple schools, multiple schools
were interested in Nico, but according to on three yesterday,

(35:56):
those schools were interested to see if Io Maliava, if
his nil demands would drop. And there are multiple programs,
according to Pete Naikos, who was a big part of
this story breaking, multiple programs who are willing to become

(36:18):
contenders if his deal gets closer to one million dollars,
which is less than he was going to be making
at Tennessee. Yesterday, North Carolina or maybe it was two
days ago, North Carolina apparently dropped out of the hunt

(36:43):
for the transfer quarterback. Tulane yesterday announced they were no
longer going to be interested in landing Nico. And then
there was this moment in an interview with Harrison Bailey,

(37:03):
who is a backup quarterback at Florida. He was a
former quarterback at Tennessee, and he was asked about the
Nico Io Malava situation. And here's what Harrison Bailey had
to say. Listen to him catch himself here, Yeah, that was.

Speaker 5 (37:24):
I didn't even know until some of the Gator fans
were running up to me telling me, Yeah, I mean,
it doesn't supper. I don't really know, it's a it's
a tricky I said. I don't know the full situation,
so I can't really comment too much on it. But
I've met Nico before and I know how coach Haipel
and the group is and they're all great people. I've

(37:47):
not negative to say about him. But maybe the situation
just wasn't right at the time, and you know they
parted ways.

Speaker 1 (37:52):
So did you catch it this moment? Right? This is
the moment where you go, man, maybe maybe it's not
just Nico's dad that's the problem.

Speaker 5 (38:05):
Yeah, I mean it doesn't surprise.

Speaker 1 (38:08):
I don't really know Harrison Bailey was about to say,
it doesn't surprise me. Now. Is that because he knows Nico?
Or is that because he knows Nico's dad and his
influence around Nico? But multiple schools, according to On three,
are waiting to see if Nico's price demands drop. ESPN

(38:36):
reported late last week that before the winter portal closed,
Io Maliava's representatives wanted to see his deal up to
four million, and again before the spring window opened. On
three previously reported that Io Maliava's current deal at Tennessee
was somewhere between two point two and two point five million.

(38:57):
If Io Maliava does not seek cure deal in the
three to four million dollar range and is open to
a deal closer to a million, multiple schools are expected
to show interest. Multiple programs are ready to become contenders
if his deal drops. Sources told on three earlier this
week that UCLA had emerged as a school in the mix.

(39:21):
He's originally Nico is originally from Long Beach, California, North Carolina.
As I mentioned out, Tulane, as I mentioned out, Southern
cal and Notre Dame were both tied to Io Maliava
over the weekend. But they have not yet confirmed if

(39:42):
either of those two programs were actually interested in adding him.
Last season at Tennessee Io, Maliava threw for twenty six
hundred and sixteen yards and nineteen touchdowns with five interceptions,
while rushing for three hundred and fifty eight yards in
three touchdowns. Now, think about this for a second. Compare

(40:09):
those numbers to what were put up in Tigertown by
K Clubnick, and think about what K Clubnick could command
on the open market. And I don't know exactly what
K Clubnick is making in his NIL deal at Clemson,

(40:37):
but based off of those numbers, by comparison to Nico,
I mean, it would seem to me that an NIL
package worth eight million dollars is probably something that would
be a legitimate talking point for K Clubnick. But I
don't think Club Nicks deals anywhere near that. One of

(41:03):
the things that a lot of these guys do, and
they're smart and Club Nicks, one of them is you
don't have to go get eight million from the school
to make money. Club Nicks had deals with Beats by
Dre He's got a deal with a group that does clothing.
I mean, there's a lot that you can do right
that allows you to make money and a good amount

(41:29):
of money without sacrificing the sacrificing the fans net worth?
Does that make sense? Like you could still get two
three million whatever it is from the school and still
make plenty more. And if you're realistic about what the

(41:50):
fans make and how much they give as a percentage
of their income, it's hard to sit around and have
the Nico Elmi Leaba mindset and Dad's mindset that I
deserve more. I deserve more. Again, the situation is one

(42:11):
we will continue to follow. But if that door gets
shut on Nico, it might really be a landscape shifting
moment for n I l in College Football Hour two
right around the band, keep it locked. It's time for
Clipson Sports Talk with Luwton Swan. It is our number two.

(43:10):
That's drivetime right here on the show The Shakespare south
Land Clemson Sports Alon Swan hanging out with you on
a Wednesday afternoon. Of course, the show The Shakespare south
Land brought you in part by our good friends over
at Mets Plumbing. Seven three to two, Drip, Drip Drip.
You know the jingle seven three to two Drip that's

(43:31):
Mets Plumbing Mets plumber dot Com appreciate them being a
part of the program. Again, I mentioned this week, I
think because there's no Clemson baseball midweek feels a little
a little off, feels a little empty now being able
to talk about a midweek game tonight Clemson this weekend though,

(43:54):
a big series against the Louisville Cardinals and then a
huge midweek game against the Georgia Bulldogs. Because depending on
where you look for your college baseball rankings and infact,
if I had a complain about college baseball, that would
be it, right, Like, why in the world don't we

(44:17):
have you know, in college football, the accepted AP and
coaches polls are accepted. I mean, that's just what it is.
You trust them. In college baseball, the polls are all
over the place. You never know what you're gonna get.

(44:37):
D one baseball currently has Texas one, Arkansas two, Clemson three,
Tennessee for Georgia five, So next week's midweek game will
be huge between Clemson and Georgia. Baseball America currently has
Texas one, Tennessee to Georgia three, Arkansas four, North Carolina five,

(45:02):
Clemson six, and then Clemson when they put out their
press release each week, they've been utilizing the Perfect Game rankings,
and Perfect Game has Clemson ranked third and Georgia ranked sixth. So,
no matter how you slice it, this coming midweek matchup

(45:26):
against the Bulldogs is a huge one as the Tigers
and Georgia face off at Doug Kingsmore Stadium. Speaking of
Clemson baseball, they also put out a new series or
beginning a new series called New Era, No Finish Line.

(45:49):
I guess it's No Finish Line might be the official name.
The opening scene, episode one is available over on Clemson
Tigers dot com. It looks like so a little inside
Scooper and inside look at this clips of Tiger baseball
team and what a year has been for them so far.
They'll face Louisville on Thursday. That game tomorrow gets started.

(46:17):
I think that one's still scheduled for the same start time.
Let me double check this, because I believe they did
adjust one of the games because of weather. I think
it's Friday's game. Friday's game against Louisville scheduled to start
at five pm, two hours earlier than the original seven PM.

(46:37):
The series opener tomorrow at seven o'clock is still scheduled
for the same start time as Saturday's game scheduled for
one o'clock. So again, even without a midweek game at
this point, I guess at least you do have Tiger
baseball tomorrow at Doug Kingsmore Stadium a little earlier start

(47:02):
time though on Saturday, excuse me, on Friday, that mid
the mid series game because of weather. So seven o'clock Tomorrow,
five o'clock Friday, one o'clock Saturday. For your Clemson Tiger
baseball team, they are thirty three and six and eleven
and four in the ACC. And I was visiting my
dad this past weekend, and after the Clemson series wrapped

(47:28):
with Stanford, he said, well, you know, what are the
standings in the league, because obviously the weird thing about
that game or that series. I don't know if you
notice this, but every game the winning team had eleven runs.
On Friday, Clemson won in seven innings eleven to one.

(47:48):
On Saturday, Clemson one eleven to ten, and on Sunday
Stanford won eleven to six. That was that was a
strange little number, you know, kind of a score of
gami if you will. But my dad wanted to know
what the conference standings were after the weekend series against

(48:14):
Stanford for Clemson and the Tigers trail Georgia Tech. The
yell Jackets are currently fourteen and four in the league,
so they played eighteen league games. Florida State and Clemson
are both eleven and four, so they've played only fifteen.
So each of those teams trailing in terms of number
of games played in conference, and that's the only reason

(48:35):
that the Tigers aren't ahead of George Tech at this point.
Of course, Clemson and Florida State do meet up in
a few weeks May second, third and fourth in a
series that'll be played down in Tallahassee. That'll be a
huge one. North Carolina is fourth in the league at
eleven and seven. You've got Louisville and NC State at

(48:59):
nine and six in the league. Then you've got a
logjam of teams at five hundred, with Wake Forest, Duke,
Virginia Tech, and Virginia all being nine and nine. Miami
is six and nine, Boston College seven and eleven, Stanford
six and twelve, Pit five and ten, col six and
twelve at Notre Dame at the bottom of the league

(49:20):
at four and fourteen. But if you look at Louisville
and their overall record, they are one of just five
teams in the Atlantic Coast Conference with nine or less losses.
They do not have double figure losses this season. Louisville
is twenty seven and nine as they enter this series

(49:41):
against Clemson tomorrow, but twenty two and three at home,
three and five on the road. And I talk a
lot about the schedule and road versus home games. Mathematically speaking,

(50:01):
I don't really understand how it works or how it's fair.
But like Clemson has played twenty six home games, they
are twenty two to four. Clempson has played seven road games.
They're six and one in the road games and six
neutral games. Neutral site, they're five and one there. And

(50:25):
I get it weather is different in Pittsburgh, but here
we are on April the sixteenth. Pitt has played ten games,
ten at home. Clemson has played twenty six. I don't
know how at this point you could expect pitt to

(50:50):
be in the mix in a conference when they've only
played ten home games total. Now, I'm pretty sure that
the back end of their schedule has to be loaded
with home games, But the momentum of your season, doesn't

(51:13):
it already feel created in a sense, And there's only
a month or so left before you get into postseason play.
And so for a team like pitt and really, you know,
Notre Dame's only played fourteen home games. Boston College has

(51:36):
only played fifteen ten home games, and they've played a
grand total of thirty four games. I don't know about you,
but I just I find that bizarre. And they're playing

(51:59):
at DO this weekend. We're just not going to increase
their quote home games, right, I'm not sure how any
school that plays that few home games at this point
in the season can be expected to have some grand

(52:23):
level of long term success. They host Clemson in the
final series, that'll be three more games. They'll host Virginia Tech,
and they host North Carolina next week. So they've got
what nine games at home remaining, it looks like in
the conference. So that would give them a grand total

(52:47):
if you add nine to where they currently are fourteen
home games no excuse me, nineteen home games total. I
mean climpses at twenty six with more to come. That's

(53:13):
one of the things I've kind of wondered, like, how
do you create such a favorable schedule, and CLIPS is
not the only team, right, I mean, Louisville's played twenty
five games at home, Duke's played twenty six at home.
But the teams that like you start to get down

(53:33):
to the bottom feeders of the conference. Fourteen games at home,
ten games at home the most I see at the
BOP twenty one games at home for Miami At this point,
this is of the bottom. You know, the teams that
are under five hundred roughly. I guess Duke is twenty
at six and there five hundred. But still, how do

(53:54):
you get to this point where you're twenty two and
four in just seven road games. I mean, there's no
doubt it's a fortunate schedule for Clemson, but I feel
like it's a frequent schedule for Clemson, all right, Shifting
gears by the way, Yesterday I talked about the Origin
Sports Channel over the year channel here in the Midlands,

(54:18):
channel ten point four. On your dial, they had nineteen
ninety two North Carolina Duke in the Dean Dome, Montross,
Cherokee Parks. I mean, this channel, I don't know what

(54:39):
they play on ESPN Classic, but let me tell you
this is genius. This Origin Sports Channel playing these old
college basketball games from the Atlantic Coast Conference and the
Raycom Network. Jefferson Pilot, I think it's brilliant. In fact,

(55:00):
if they could figure out the way to up we
he caught it like h upscale these so they look
a little bit better. Remember I talked about the quality yesterday.
I'm all for it. I'm all for it. Speaking of
college basketball though, and the Duke Blue Devils, kan Kanuffle

(55:20):
is making his move the NA to the NBA. He
announced that he will be entering the NBA Draft. That
news came out just a little bit ago. The freshman
Kannupple announced on social media that he will forego his
remaining years of college eligibility. He is the number eight

(55:44):
prospect in ESPN's NBA Draft projections. It was the second
leading score behind fellow freshman Cooper Flagg. Conouple averadged fourteen
point four points per game, four point zero rebounds, and
two point seven assist, shooting forty point six percent from three.

(56:06):
As for Cooper Flag, we still have not heard his
decision on what he will do. Cooper Flag one of
the most hyped freshmen in college basketball. I wonder if
we kind of do that to the players now because
of how quickly these careers moved through the one and

(56:31):
done scenario. Like if you look back, if you think
about like Carmelo Anthony and his freshman season at Syracuse,
leading the Orange to a national title and being the
most outstanding player in the NCAA tournament, Like I think

(56:52):
back on Carmelo in that moment and the recognition that
I don't think people when he came in to college
really saw him becoming what he did in his first year,
unlike Cooper Flagg, where I think people expected big things,

(57:13):
kind of like Zion Williamson, people expected big things. I
think people expected Carmelo Anthony to be really good, but
dominant NCAA tournament, national championship good. I don't know that
we expect out of our freshmen quite frankly, and there
have been others some that fizzled out. Greg Odin at

(57:37):
Ohio State a little injury prone, not really healthy. I mean,
I thought Greg Oden would be I thought Odin would
be a generational player in the NBA. It just never
worked out. Kevin Durant was certainly a big name as

(57:57):
a freshman, Derek Rose at Memphis and John john Wall
at Kentucky were other big name freshmen. But where would
Cooper Flag rank amongst the great freshmen of all time?
ESPN ranked him fourth, and had he won a national

(58:21):
championship with Duke, maybe he surpasses Carmelo Anthony, who they
had third. They had Kevin Durant second at Texas and
then Anthony Davis. They had Davis as the top freshman
at Kentucky twenty twenty one and twenty excuse me, twenty eleven.
Twenty twelve, he won the Wooden Award the most outstanding

(58:46):
player in the NCAA tournament, led Kentucky to a national title,
defensive Player of the Year, led the nation in blocks.
But where would you put Cooper Flag on that at
averaged eighteen point nine points per game, seven and a

(59:06):
half rebounds, four point to assist just the four freshmen
to win the Wooden Award and statistically one of the
greatest freshman seasons in college basketball history. I mean, I
would put him above Zion. Zion was great twenty two

(59:28):
point six points per game, eight point nine rebounds, But
wasn't blown away by Zion's ability to dominate a game,
really wasn't. I mean, he had his moments where he
took over, certainly against Clemson at home in the little

(59:49):
three sixty. But would you want the ball in Zion's
hands to have to hit a big three late to
win a game. Not me. I mean he's up there,
don't get me wrong, But not better than Cooper Flag
in terms of hey, trusting that kid to make a
big play and we'll see what Cooper Flag ends up doing.

(01:00:14):
Final thing. Sticking on the basketball front for Clemson, as
the Tigers continue to try to finalize their roster next
season with obviously all of the losses that they had
this weekend, they picked up a couple of players Utah

(01:00:34):
junior forward Jake Wallen and twelve pounder committed to Clemson.
He becomes the fifth transfer portal edition this all season
for the Tigers, joining Nevada's former forward slash center Nick Davidson,
Utah Valleys forward slash center Carter Welling, uab senior guard Johnson,

(01:01:02):
and Georgia senior post player R. J. Godfrey, the former Tiger.
So at this point, I think the roster at Clemson,
I think there are twelve players currently on Clemson's roster,
so one piece at a time, it would seem right

(01:01:23):
now for Brad brown All trying to put this Clemson
group together. A Buddha Johnson appeared in thirty four games
a UAB speaking of the guard that Clemson added make
it twenty five starts. He averaged eleven point two points
per game and eleven point seven assists per game. I

(01:01:44):
think the big question that you have to have when
you have this type of the roster turnover for whatever
reason doesn't really matter.

Speaker 4 (01:01:55):
The reason.

Speaker 1 (01:01:58):
I think you do have to add ask how do
you create the continuity that it takes to be successful.
You certainly have to land the right players, and Brad
brown Hill has done that in the past. But we've
never seen this significant of a changeover for Clempson basketball
in an offseason. So we'll see how it all plays out.
All right, quick break, We'll come back with more here.

(01:02:21):
On a Wednesday afternoon of the show that Shakes the
South Lane, keep it Lot Rocket then rolling along with
you on a Wednesday afternoon, they had to think about
it could have been a Tuesday of only on the
air two days. So did you see this news over
the weekend? Speaking of your college football Saturdays, you know

(01:02:42):
most of us follow because it was the first college
game Day ESPN College Game Day, but Fox's Big Noon
Kickoff has done a pretty good job. I think of
building high quality games right out of the gates on

(01:03:04):
every Saturday. For the most part, the coverage on Fox
is outstanding. You get teams like Ohio State and Michigan,
you get Gus Johnson on the call, you get Penn State,
those environments and a lot of times because ESPN and
ABC want to leverage the day with that afternoon window,

(01:03:28):
that that noon kick the biggest one can be on Fox,
and they've they've really tried to take advantage of that.
But ESPN's Rheese Davis was courted by Big Noon to
join that program. Fox apparently made an all out aggressive

(01:03:50):
push to land Reyese Davis from ESPN, offering him a
chance to replace Rob Stone as the host of Big
Noon Kickoff. The reason that you don't leave ESPN is

(01:04:12):
how many of you could picture Rob Stone right now?
I'm venturing to guess none or very few of you
because you haven't watched Fox's Big Noon Kickoff. As a
matter of fact, I think the other example, if you're

(01:04:34):
Rhys Davis, to give you an idea of why you
don't leave. Think about the guy that they used to
call the Bear on ESPN Game Day, Chris Felicia something

(01:04:55):
like that. Remember he left ESPN and back in twenty
twenty two to be a part of Fox's Noon kick
And that's been several years, and I don't even know

(01:05:16):
if he is on Big Noon Kickoff. Like, I have
no clue. I know he doesn't sit at the set.
I've seen it enough to know he's not sitting at
the set. But I think that gives you an idea
of why if you're Reyese Davis, you don't leave college

(01:05:39):
game Day. And maybe Reese Davis doesn't know that. Fans
don't have a clue if the Bear is even a
part of a Big New Kickoff. But I have no
idea if he actually is. And Big New Kickoff has
made some games. I think they have better graps. I

(01:06:01):
love their graphics, I love their styling, but the gap
between these two programs is still immense. Now. One of
the things that has improved Game Day, and I can't
believe these words are about to come out of my

(01:06:22):
mouth that they are is a guy that many people
didn't like it at first. And I can't help but
think that Pat McAfee when he first got there was
almost too much for everyone. And as the decline of

(01:06:43):
opportunity with Lee Corso has diminished because of his age
and health, McAfee has filled a humor gap. Now. He
was crude, a little more crude at first, and I
think he realized that that was not the way to go.

(01:07:04):
But his humor and his charity giving away money not
always his money either, like when he's like, hey, you
know what, we'll tack on another two hundred and fifty thousand,
It'll come out of Herbstreet's pocket giving away another man's

(01:07:26):
two hundred and fifty grand and watching the interaction between
those two guys as it's happening for that field goal,
the kickoff thing that they do, the field goals that
they do. I mean that that's must see TV almost
every Saturday now, and that's probably that's probably better than

(01:07:53):
at this point the picks at the end of the
at the end of the show. I prefer that segment
with Herbstreet, Pat McAfee, Random Fan and the field goal
Challenge more than I do the headset selections with with

(01:08:18):
Lee Corso and the only reason Corso's hanging in there
and battling is because, or at least in battling for
my attention, is because I know any headset that Corso
does or headset pick that he does could be the last.
It could be the very last time we see him.

(01:08:39):
So I try to take that all in now. I
am still a big proponent that my idea from over
a decade ago that the next person on that dais
if you will needs to be Steve Spurrier with a
visor pick. I will hang firm with that concept. And

(01:09:01):
I think McAfee has done enough at this point that
he's not going anywhere because I guarantee you when they
run the numbers on that segment versus the others, I
bet that field goal kicking segment isn't just popular for me.
But back to the lecture at hand, Rhys Davis has

(01:09:22):
decided to remain at ESPN Game Day on the new
seven year deal for tens of millions of dollars. According
to the Athletic, but he was courted heavily by Fox.
But I don't blame him. You guys don't know if
the Bear is on Fox's big noon kickoff. I'll tell
you what. If you do know for sure, you know
one hundred percent. You say, Swannee, I watch Fox's Big
noon kickoff. The Bear's there or the Bears not text

(01:09:45):
me eighth three four five zero zero zero eighty six.
All right, quick break, We'll come back with more here
on a Thursday afternoon. Is the show that shakes the
south Land rolls right along on Fox Sports Radio fourteen
hundred and on the iHeart app. Lawton swan with you
on a Wednesday to show the shakestare south Land Over
the weekend. Some tragic news out of LSU, as former

(01:10:11):
LSU wide receiver Kyrin Lacy passed away, taking his own
life at the age of twenty four. Now you might wonder, like,
why did something like this happen to a kid who
was projected to be an NFL draft picked this season. Well,

(01:10:33):
what you may remember is that back in December, Kyrien
Lacey was involved in a traffic accident that killed a
seventy eight year old man on December seventeenth. He fled
the scene without rendering aid or calling authorities and did
not turn himself in until I think January. For the incident,

(01:11:01):
Lacey was illegally passing other vehicles and the driver of
a northbound pickup truck abruptly braked and swerved into the
right to avoid a head on collision with the approaching
Dodge vehicle that Lacy was driving, a twenty twenty three
Dodge Charger. Traveling behind the pickup was a two thousand
and seven Kia Cadenza, whose driver swerved left to avoid

(01:11:26):
Lacey's charger, and as the Cadenza took evasive action, it
crossed the center line and collided head on with a
southbound twenty seventeen Kia Sorrenta. Police alleged that Lacey then
drove around the crash scene and fled without stopping to
render aid, call emergency services, or report his involvement in

(01:11:49):
the crash. Now, Lacy I believe had some upcoming an
upcoming court date, and some new information came out a
couple of days ago on the situation, According to the

(01:12:09):
Harris County Sheriff's Office, around eleven to fifteen pm Saturday
this past Saturday, Harris County deputies responded to a weapons
disturbance call where the reportee set her family member later
identified as Lacey, was involved in a verbal argument with her.
She said Lacey had shot a firearm into the ground.

(01:12:31):
When deputies got to the scene, they learned that Lacey
had left in a vehicle. About twenty minutes later, another
unit spotted Lacey and tried to stop him. Lacey kept going,
according to officials, leading deputies on a chase that lasted
several miles. The vehicle crashed on Adelaine Westfield Road near

(01:12:52):
Hardy Toll Road, and when trying to take Lacey into custody,
deputies found he had suffered appeared to be a self
inflicted gunshot wound. He was pronounced dead at the scene,
and so Kyrienn Lacy's father, Kenny Lacy, took to social
media to encourage parents to focus on their children's mental health.

(01:13:18):
He said, young parents, start talking to your kids at
a very young age to make sure they are confident
and comfortable confiding in You don't be cool with I'm
all right or I'm good when you know down something
isn't right. Mental health is real, and for the most part,
it's invisible. Don't ignore the signs, even if they may
seem small. Our lives have changed forever and will never

(01:13:40):
be okay. But God needed my baby more than he
was needed here. This has to be the biggest pill
our family has ever had to swallow. But I know
the love and compassion in our family will get us through.
This will never get easier, but we'll learn to live
with it. Check on your kids mental That was Kyrien
Lacy's father, Kenny Lacy. And of course, again the tragic

(01:14:05):
part of all of this is that none of it,
from the accident that killed the seventy eight year old
man to Kyrine Lacy's final moments, you know, none of
this had to happen. None of it. It was all preventable.

(01:14:31):
And I think the situations that we see at Georgia
where you have numerous athletes being arrested for you know,
situations where they're driving recklessly through the details where a
former player and staff or were killed at Georgia and

(01:14:52):
a car accident racing to the criticisms that that university
has faced because of situations that it could very easily
happen where someone could get killed. And Kyriene Lacy, I
have no idea what the ultimate decision of the courts
would have been had he gone to trial for this.

(01:15:14):
But Kyrien Lacy's situation in a large part, and again
you can't determine whether or not this self inflicted gunshot
woman would have been something that would ever wouldn't have
happened otherwise at this point, but his life and his
timeline was certainly altered by the events of that moment

(01:15:34):
in December and the pressures and concerns and fear that
certainly come along with the consequences of your own actions.
And the thing about those actions, much like the ones
at Georgia and other programs around the country where things

(01:15:54):
like this happen, is these things do not have to happen.
These young men who are incredibly talented athletes, incredibly gifted
in a craft of playing sports, need to focus and
the majority of them, I would assume do right. I mean,

(01:16:16):
it's not I think. I don't think the majority of
players lack this sort of focus that comes along with
responsibility at a very young age. It's probably something that
sort of filters down to just being in your early twenties.
But I hate to see, you know, something like this

(01:16:38):
in the way it did for the family that lost
potentially a father or a grandfather at seventy eight, and
then for Kyraen Lacy's family to have to go through
what they're going through now because of the circumstance that
you know that he found himself in. There's no winners.
There's no winners, it's it's try. I think the only

(01:17:01):
way you can hope that anything you know positive. The
positives I think that you can hope come from this
are that other athletes learn and that there is a
level of responsibility and accountability that these young men who
do have a lot of access to money we talked
about in nil earlier, will do their best to avoid

(01:17:24):
at all costs situations that put them in a very
very bad spot. Keep a lot final segment around the
bend on a Wednesday afternoon. Stay with us, what have
you done for me lately?

Speaker 4 (01:17:41):
It's a fair question. Just don't lose sight of the
bigger picture. Don't forget history. Lucky for us at Clemson,
the answer to the questions what have you done for
me lately? And what have you done? Always are the same.

(01:18:04):
We win.

Speaker 1 (01:18:51):
Final segment on a Wednesday. Hard not to say Tuesday
all day today. I'm gonna be honest with you. NBA
player off action under way. That's right, They've got the
little play in tournament. I like it. I like this
better than the first four, I can assure you of that.

(01:19:13):
Last night, however, in the play in one game in
the East, one game in the West, and we talked
about how convoluted or complicated and jammed up the West
was in the East. Last night, the seventh seed in
the seven eight matchup, the Orlando Magic smote the Atlanta

(01:19:35):
Hawks won twenty to ninety five. Trey Young for the
Hawks had a moment in that game where he got
double technical fouls, dribbled the ball through an opponent's legs,
made a little floater, threw the ball aggressively at the
ref that was Tech one. They're rolling the ball, kicked
it away, then did a little, you know, kind of
a fake pass at the referee, kind of like you

(01:19:57):
might do with a six year old kid or something,
and got a double technical. There's second tech and was ejected.
So the Hawks will face the winner of tonight's matchup
between Chicago and Miami. With the victory, the Magic, who

(01:20:20):
were the seventh seeds, secure a spot in the playoffs
against the Boston Celtics. So the winner of the Bulls
heat will face the Hawks, who is the loser the
loser of the seven to eight matchup and the winner
of that will be the eighth seed and we'll face
off with the Cleveland Cavaliers. So if you are the Calves,

(01:20:43):
you can actually earn an easier draw. And the only
way that that would not happen would be if the
seventh seed ever lost the opener and then won the
nine to ten, then the one seed would technically be
playing the seven, while the eighth seed would be playing

(01:21:05):
the two. I don't know that that's happened in a
couple of years that we've had this playing tournament yet,
but for the most part, I like it.

Speaker 4 (01:21:12):
Man.

Speaker 1 (01:21:12):
You get these teams battling to try to get in
that Miami Chicago game tonight at seven thirty. Then last
night over in the West, it was the seventh seeded Warriors,
who were forty eight and thirty four taking on the
Memphis Grizzlies who were forty eight and thirty four, and
the Warriors off of a couple of big shots late

(01:21:34):
by you guessed that Steph Curry went at won twenty
one one sixteen. Jimmy Butler with the Golden State Warriors
had thirty eight in the game. So the Warriors book
their ticket into the playoffs. They'll face the second seed
in Rockets, second seed was fifty two and thirty seventh

(01:21:55):
seed forty eight and thirty four. Just a couple of
difference between the second seed in the West and everybody else.
I mean, the Thunder were sixteen games better than their
competition out West. This year. Pretty much everybody else muddied

(01:22:17):
up in that forty eight to fifty range, including our
Los Angeles Lakers, who are the third seed fifty to
thirty two. They'll take on the Timberwolves tonight. Out West,
it'll be the ninth seeded Kings hosting the tenth seeded
Mavericks at ten o'clock on ESPN. The winner of that

(01:22:38):
game will advance to face the eight seeded Memphis Grizzlies
for the right to face the Thunder in the first
round of the NBA Playoffs. I like this little NBA
playing tournament. I like the setup. I like the fact
that you've got ten teams that now make the playoffs.
I like that it's a one and done situation. I
like that you can kind of mix up some of

(01:22:58):
the you know, you could get the tenth seed a
chance to get in and at at best or the
best case scenario for the one seed is that the
tenth seed would win two games, right, the tenth seeds
really gotta earn it. They gotta beat nine, and they
gotta either be eight or seven. And then the seven
eight team. You know, they were in either way, right,

(01:23:22):
Seven and eight were in either way. They were gonna
be in the playoffs. And the loser of that game
gets a second chance. You get too, if you're the
seven or eight seed, you get two chances not to
lose your spot. You win the first one, you're in,
you win the second one you're in. You can lose

(01:23:44):
the first one, still win that second one and be in.
I love this, I really do. I think it's so
much better than the first four. And I think the
tournament could learn from this a little bit and not
have the you know where one team wins and moves

(01:24:07):
in and another team loses and plays on. But make
these battles for like eight nine games the first four.
If you're gonna have this ridiculous first four in the
NCAA tournament, make it a battle for those middle seeds.
And you could just do it in one region. You

(01:24:28):
could have a battle for the eight in one region,
a battle for the nine in that region and then
go to another one in the Battle for the eight.
In a battle for the nine, there's your team's playing in.
It really puts some emphasis on this playoff. All right.
We'll be back tomorrow on the Thursday, timber Ray hopefully.
Until then, as always, you'll take care now and go Tigers.