1/29/25 - The Mo Egger Radio Show - Mo Egger

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Knowledge entered this nationwide keyword on our website, greed.

Speaker 2 (00:04):
That's greed.

Speaker 3 (00:05):
Enter it now.

Speaker 2 (00:08):
What's up? Good afternoon on Muleger. This is ESPN fifteen thirty.
Thank you so much for listening. Hopefully you're having an
awesome Wednesday afternoon. We are here till six o'clock and
we've got a billion things to discuss. Show preview video
is available on Twitter at Molegar. Thanks to our friends,
and I do mean friends, because I stopped by there
today to handle some some banking business and I picked

(00:31):
up a soft drink because they have free drinks. And
Emory Federal Credit Union your credit union with hard since
nineteen thirty nine. Go to Emery FCU dot org. Wademiley
is back. Wademiley, who I threw a no hitter for
the Reds in twenty twenty one, has signed with the
Reds on a minor league contract. According to Gordon Whittmeyer

(00:52):
of the Cincinnati Inquirer, he is obviously trying to come
back from Tommy John surgery, and so the hope is
that he can be back by mid May. I'm not
sure how earth shattering this is, but hey, if you
love that. Twenty twenty one team and a lot of
people do. Wade Miley was a part of it, so
he is back in the fold here. I am going
to defend myself when it comes to some of the

(01:12):
things we talked about with the Reds yesterday. I'm gonna
tell you what I think the greatest achievement in sports
for the last twenty five to thirty five years is
we'll talk about the mock off season, the greatest exercise
that you can engage in if you're a Bengals fan
before the off season really begins. We'll go to Mobile

(01:33):
and check in with Sam Brookhouse, who's with Sumer Sports,
the dude we've had on the show before. He is
covering the Senior Bowl. Obviously, the draft season really doesn't
get started until the Senior Bowl happens and Sam is
there and we have a lot to talk about with him.
Rick Brooring on the Musketeers Xavier has a big one
tonight against Creighton that coming up in just about forty minutes.

(01:55):
I guess we'll begin with last night, how do we
not you see? You know? Look, man, I'll be the
first to admit there was a part of me last
night that went okay. Fine nights like Saturday happen and
BYU was terrific and they went eleven for fifteen from
three and it's a tough environment and a pretty good team,
and all right, so they kind of checked out in

(02:17):
the second half, but you know what, maybe that'll maybe
that'll turn into a spirited effort tonight and they'll go
to Utah, they'll go play the Utes. They'll they'll take
on a team that is not nearly as good as BYU,
even though they did be BYU. They'll play in a
gym that is not nearly as full, and they'll come
out of the Utah swing one in one, and then

(02:37):
they come home and maybe we'll start to talk ourselves
into it and true to form for this team, it's remarkable,
right when they do something well, or right when they
get a break, like you know, they'll they'll have a
guy on the other team miss a couple of free
throws and then the Bearcats won't get the rebound, or
Cincinnati will start five for six. The Bearcats, all we're

(03:00):
terrific at the outset last night. A five for six start.
Obviously those percentages are not sustainable, but it was a
good start. And then what happens you all starts. The
game five for six, you see for a stretch, and
the first half offensively was terrific. They trailed by six
points going into halftime. Why because they played no defense

(03:21):
and they grabbed no rebounds. West Miller on Saturday Night
talked about how well you know games like this happen,
and they do. Man, Like you're you're allowed in sports
to have bad games. Great players have bad games. You
hope they don't happen that frequently. You hope they don't
happen at the absolute worst time. But yeah, sometimes, like
if if it can't go wrong, it does. Sometimes you

(03:43):
play poorly, you get bad luck and the other team
is awesome and it results in a blowout. I'll allow
for that. But what we're dealing with right now, unfortunately,
is is not a bad game. It's not an isolated game.
It's not a bad stretch. It's not a bad couple
of games. It's a team it looks like it's unraveling.
It's a team that doesn't look like it's getting any better.

Speaker 4 (04:06):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (04:07):
It's a team that still has a lot of its
schedule still in front of it against teams that appear
to be far better than the ones they're the ones
they're losing to right now. We talked after the BYU
game about effort and and some would say, well, you know,
the bear Cats quit on their coach. I think that's
a heavy accusation. I think more than anything, when you

(04:29):
see that from players, they quit on themselves and they
quit on each other. But the effort was called into
question on Saturday. That wasn't the case last night. You'll
hear Wes Miller talk about his team's effort a little
bit later on. You could say, well that they played hard.
I don't know, man, that wasn't the story last night. Like,
it wasn't that the effort was there. They played hard,

(04:53):
maybe didn't show the requisite toughness that you're looking for.
But the fact that we even had to acknowledge that
after the game that it's kind of a problem. Right,
that's kind of a problem. It's like if you have
a kid that never does his homework and then he
actually does his homework, The fact that it's a big
deal that he does his homework is kind of a problem. Right.
You're supposed to do your homework. The fact that you

(05:13):
did your homework is not supposed to be big news.
And last night, it kind of felt like, well, hey,
look at least they played hard. I'm sorry, I assume
that's going to be the case. I think that's implied.
So you get no medals, you get no credit, you
get no points, and you certainly get no wins for
playing hard. Last night though, was not a matter of effort.

(05:33):
It was a matter of the Bearcats just not playing
very smart basketball. Call it basketball like you if you
want not very smart basketball, like when you have to
foul and you're trying to mount a comeback twice fouling
one of the best free throw shooters in the conference

(05:55):
or one of your more experienced players, a guy who's
supposed to be helping to set the tone, committing a
flagrant two foul with your team down four and four
minutes to go. And by the way, dade A Thomas, yes,
deserve to have that flagrant too given to him. It's
the basics of not blocking out when the other team

(06:17):
misses a shot that if you rebound, you're down two
and you might have the last possession. Dylan Mitchell doesn't
block out Azi's ban Diego can't grab a rebound, Utah
maintains possession. It's whatever the possession at the end of
the game was you're gonna hear A little bit later
on wes Miller talk about not liking Simas Lukash's last

(06:39):
shot of the game, which wasn't a great shot, and
he said, look, Semas thought he was gonna get fouled,
because you know a lot of teams in that situation
will foul and send you to the line up by
three points. But wes Miller had a time out, acknowledged
he was going to call time out, but didn't like
last night was not about effort. Effort was there, right?

(07:00):
It was about well, the team maybe just not being
very good, falling apart defensively from what they were about
a month ago, and at the end of the day,
just not playing very smart basketball. Then you can add
to it, well, the free throw shooting. I legitimately don't
think I've ever seen a team in a close game
miss all three front ends of the one and one,

(07:23):
and so some of that is bad luck. Some of
that is the continuation of themes that we have talked
about all season long, like free throw shooting, like outside shooting.
This team has a small margin for error. This is
the term I use all the time margin for error.
This team's margin for error is really small right now,
because you know, maybe they don't have a lot of
a depth, and maybe they don't have a lot of
guys that you can count on for a certain amount

(07:44):
of point production. It's not a good shooting team. It's
not a good free throw shooting team. It's not a
good rebounding team. They've been out rebounded now in their
last seven games, minus eighteen last night. Okay, fine, you
know those things going in. You better not do the dumbs.
You better not shrink the margin for error by continuing
to do the dumb stuff. Last night was a masterclass

(08:06):
in dumb stuff in college basketball, maybe more than any
other sport. The postgame show gets a lot of attention,
and I would have played this entire thing, except it's
six minutes long, and honestly, we just don't have time today,
So we're gonna air some of it for you a
little bit later on. But I know a lot of

(08:27):
folks have focused on Wes Miller and his conversation with
Dan and Terry after the game last night, and you're
gonna hear him talk about some of the nuts and
bolts of the game itself. But the big takeaway for
me came at the beginning, and it's nothing that Wes said,
And it's not one area of the game or the
team that he talked about. It's how he sounded, Tarren.

(08:49):
If we have that, can I hear the beginning of
Wes's postgame sit down with Dan and Terry last night?
Share your thoughts on a hard fought but ultimately tough
loss to Utah tonight?

Speaker 4 (09:03):
Yeah, guys, I like, uh, what do you What is
there to say? That locker room is full of a
bunch of frustrated people because we've just lost three more
in a row.

Speaker 2 (09:19):
I got. I can't sugarcoat that.

Speaker 5 (09:23):
I can't.

Speaker 4 (09:25):
I can't make that any better for that, that locker
room right now, that hurts deeply.

Speaker 2 (09:33):
They hurt.

Speaker 4 (09:35):
I liked their fight tonight, so I thought they played
with the kind of as and toughness that. Uh, it's
made us a good team for most of this year
until we got the league plack.

Speaker 2 (09:47):
We had our chances.

Speaker 4 (09:50):
You know, a couple of silly fowls that will reach
fouls down the stretch. Uh, we got a couple I
thought pretty good looks. I didn't really like Sea Moss's
look at the end, he that was not what we
were trying to do. But he, uh, he thought they
were gonna foul and he he thought he was drawing
a foul he and getting one up. So you gotta

(10:11):
trust your players. Uh, you know, I was gonna call
time out, but he had a head of steam going anyway. Yeah,
it's it's uh again. I got no qualm with my
guys tonight in their fight and west.

Speaker 2 (10:30):
Miller and so and so. There's a few things there. Uh,
I don't know that the toughness quotion is one that
you want to point out when your team gets out
rebounded by eighteen points. You did have a time out
at the end of the game when Sea Miles took
the shot that you didn't like. But more than anything,
Wes Miller sounded defeated last night. Now much of that
is excusable. I mean, look, I want them to I

(10:51):
want we want athletes and coaches to sound crushed after
they lose tough games. And we don't want them to
come out and sound happy and cracking jokes and that
sort of thing when their team is in the middle
of a stretch where they've lost seven out of nine.
But boit you know, fans, often we take our cues
from what the coach says, or you know, like with

(11:13):
the Bengals, sometimes what what Joe Burrow says. We do
this in sports. The cue that you take from Wes
Miller last night was not one of resolve or defiance.
It was one of feeling defeated. And that is a
really bad place to be if you love a college
basketball team and they still have six weeks of games left.

(11:37):
Much more on this a little bit as the show progresses.
Five point three fifteen thirty is the phone number. I
asked this on Monday, like, how does it get better
this year? Right? And like it it? I don't think
they're going to lose the rest of their games, but
like it's what, Hey, it can get better and there's
a lot of time left, and those things are true,

(11:58):
But how does it get better when the quality of
opposition is gonna get better? And now you have to
win a lot of games in a short amount of
time in order to even have a chance to make
the NCAA tournament. Like, they may improve and it may
get better, but by the time that it does, will
it be too late? At Mogger on Twitter Thanks to

(12:21):
our friends at Delta Dental. Delta Dental is building healthy, smart,
vibrant communities for all good at Delta DENTALOAH dot com.
We're gonna turn our attention to Xavier and Nku coming
up at three forty five. Kentucky got a hard fought
win last night against Tennessee on the road, and we'll
spend some time on that. We got some Bengal stuff
to get to. We'll go to the Senior Bowl. I'll

(12:42):
I will defend myself when it comes to two people
who have called me too negative about the Rads. I'm
not actually one of the most positive Reds fans you
will ever meet. But first, you know, normally we talk
with Chad Brendle on Thursdays and we're still gonna do that.
But man needed somebody, if if for no other reason,
that I could just like chew their ear off and

(13:04):
then two and get their perspective. So Kegan Nickoson from
a Bearcat Journal will be with us next on ESPN
fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports.

Speaker 6 (13:12):
Station Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty. Traffic from the UC Health
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Expect more at UC Health, more clinical trials, more treatment
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southbound seventy five from Western Avenue to Fort Washington. Wait
a six minute delay once bound two seventy five construction

(13:42):
closing down the right lane that is near the Kentucky
Indiana state line. I'm at EAZELK with traffic.

Speaker 2 (13:48):
This report, o'calk. This is fifty called the Austin Elmore
this morning. You often here on Cincybrecent Mixson covers U
S sport right now, obviously primarily basketball for Bearcat Journal
dot com. And I said, uh, what are you guys
doing on the show today, and he goes, We're Joe
Daniman and I got not not doing Keegan today? And

(14:11):
he said, you know, no, not today, And I said, awesome,
because because I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna have Kegan
on because I need someone to talk to.

Speaker 3 (14:17):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (14:18):
So he is here. It's been a while since he
has joined our show. Chad joins us on Thursdays. I
I I borrowed their guy. I appreciate you doing this, Keegan,
because I I need someone to talk to you. How
are you?

Speaker 8 (14:32):
I'm doing excellent. Yeah, I love Tony and I love Austin,
but I gotta come on with the legend every now
and then.

Speaker 2 (14:39):
Wow, it's it's me, it's I don't know who you're
referring to. This is like a generic sort of broad question.
What's the game last night? In the vacuum? What's what's
your biggest takeaway?

Speaker 8 (14:59):
I think last night was kind of it was a
realization that this is not a slumping team. This is
just a bad team. I think through the stretch there
was a lot of poor performances where you think, you know,
they can play better than this. They're just in a
bad stretch. Last night they just could not take advantage

(15:22):
of any opportunities they were given by Utah, and there
were plenty of them. So I think last night, seventh
straight game they lost in the rebounding battle, offense still
looks pretty bad. I think that was the realization of, Okay,
this is now a season where you have to make

(15:42):
the best out of it, and you have to get
the best possible season out of it, and kind of
the pressure of trying to make an NCAA tournament is gone.

Speaker 2 (15:52):
Yeah, I would. I would agree with that. You know,
folks will say, well, they still have more than half
of their Big Twelve games remaining, and would say to that,
they still have the likes of Houston and Iowa State,
and a good West Virginia team on their schedule twice,
a Baylor team that beat them by twenty five points. Heck,
they play Utah again for Waltsworth. But like I certainly

(16:13):
do expect them at times to play better, I think
whatever their efforts are collectively are not going to add
up to it being enough to even put this team
close to the bubble, much less in the NCAA tournament.
And so we're dealing with the inevitability of almost the
unthinkable a month ago and this team being on the
outside looking income in March.

Speaker 8 (16:33):
Yeah, and I think that's the that's the craziest part.
I mean, when you think about all the Cincinnati teams
and the preseason expectations like red ZnO Central favorites, Bengal
is one of the hottest Super Bowl picks, and then
somehow the Cincinnati basketball team has topped all of it
by just how bad they've been. It's truly one of

(16:53):
the more confusing things that I've ever covered, and just
the start contrast between you know, last year's team had
a legitimate chance, if the ball goes a different way
just a couple of times, to be in the Inta
Tournament with a pretty less superior team compared to this year.

(17:13):
Like they're supposed to be better in almost every aspect
and they've been worse in almost every aspect. So it
truly is mind boggling. It's something that we're gonna have
to look into and get some more information out of
in the in the coming months and coming weeks. But yeah,
I really I have no idea what to make of it.

Speaker 2 (17:33):
What's been from your perspective the most there's there's lots
of disappointments, right, but what's at the top of the
list for you.

Speaker 8 (17:43):
It's got to be rebounding. I mean, I know it
probably sound like a broken record, and you know Wes
Miller has said in all the press conferences and a
lot of the stuff, it's it comes down to defense
and rebounding because that's stuff you can control a lot
of time. The ball is not going to go through
the bucket and that that's going to happen as a

(18:03):
basketball player, and you can acknowledge that as a coach,
but a lot of rebounding and a lot of defense
is just effort and it's it's not being seen. And
I really really think a message has to be sent
that this is it's not going to be tolerated and
that this is not the standard of Cincinnati basketball that

(18:24):
is supposed to being played. So, you know, that's something
that they were able to hang their hat on last year.
They they did not go two consecutive games last year
where they were beat on the boards, and now they've
lost seven straight games. That's unheard of. Like if you
had to ask me today if that has ever happened
in the history of Cincinnati men's basketball, I very confidently

(18:47):
say no, it hasn't. Knowing the quality of coach and
knowing the standard that has been set with this program,
that that that just can't happen. And that's the signal
for if you can't do the thing that you're supposed
to be best at, and it's probably the easiest thing
to control. That's where I don't I don't see any
positives or any momentum coming out of the rest of

(19:09):
the season.

Speaker 2 (19:11):
What has happened to Dan Skilling.

Speaker 8 (19:16):
That's a great question. I truly have no idea. You know,
there was a start of the start of the second
half yesterday he kind of took it upon himself to
initiate the offense almost and just kind of drive to
the hoop. I think it was like two or three
consecutive possessions where he just tried to do that crazy

(19:37):
layup where he's kind of twisting contort in his body.
It was multiple misses and it went the other way
for Utah down the court, and pretty sure they scored
a bucket on multiple of those possessions. The shot has
not developed like he said it was going to when
he first came back, and early in Big Twelve play
it was, but that's kind of fallen off. But again,

(20:01):
it's the rebounding. I mean, he is the best rebounder
on this team. Him and Dylan Mitchell up there like
going they're good. They're going head to head for the
best rebounder on this team because that's what he did
so good last year and ever since he came back
from the injury, that's just been something he's really struggled with.
And I asked Wes Miller about it, and he said,
you know, it's kind of a part of him developing

(20:22):
as a player and turning into a more well rounded
basketball player and taking your lumps in some areas and
trying to improve others. And I just don't know why
we're taking this kid out of his identity and just
being an extremely athletic and aggressive rebounder and getting the
ball down the court and transition. I really think that

(20:43):
has sat Cincinnati.

Speaker 9 (20:44):
Back a lot.

Speaker 2 (20:46):
In their last five games, Dan's posted a rebounding total
of one in three of them. And that's again, that's
that's not something I thought that I would have said,
you know a month ago, was there a point and like,
I'll admit to you this. They beat Xavier, they beat Dayton,
and you know, the Xavier game comes with this wave

(21:09):
of emotion because of how long it had been since
the Bearcats beat the Musketeers, and the Dayton went at
the time felt like a really impressive neutral court victory.
The Flyers have had their own issues since then, and
U SE defended really well that night, but there was
this underlying concern that a lot of us had that
you know what, offensively, they're not shooting it really well.
And it was kind of this like well, boy, wait

(21:30):
till they do start shooting it. If they continue to
defend a boy here, look out. And I can't help
but wonder if maybe we should have been talking about
some of those issues a little bit more. Has there
been a moment where you go, you know what, this
is where we should have or I started to suspect
that maybe this team was gonna fall way short of
its potential.

Speaker 8 (21:52):
Oh, that's a good question.

Speaker 9 (21:53):
I think.

Speaker 8 (21:56):
I think the Texas Tech game was the most glaring
when they gave up what was it, twelve or thirteen threes,
and that was the first time that had happened since
Indiana State last year. That was to me where this
team was the most out of its identity that it
had been in a very long time. Again, I go
back to the rebounding. You're one of the best rebounding

(22:18):
teams in the country last year, you say it's your standard,
you continue struggling. You go into that game, I think
you were a top five three point defense team in
the country, and you give up thirteen threes, and then
I think you give up twelve to BYU, and you
slide somewhere around fifty spots in the country and three

(22:38):
point defense in two games, in two games that happened.
That is one. It speaks to how good the Big
twelve can be, but it also speaks to there's a
standard that isn't being lived up to, and I guess
there's stuff being tolerated that really can't be tolerated anymore.
So I would just say the continual doing bad things

(23:00):
of what you're supposed to be really good at, that's
where I get That's where a lot of people get
the most frustrated. I think a lot of people can
deal with being bad at free throws if you're defending
and rebounding and shooting it at a decent clip and
being in games late. Because everyone expects Cincinnati basketball to
be really really bad at free throws. I don't know

(23:22):
if there will ever be a coach that'll come in
here and figure that out. But when you're doing the
gritty stuff, the blue collar Cincinnati basketball stuff really poorly,
that's where people are going to start to lose their patients.
And that's where I kind of see this team go ahead.

Speaker 2 (23:40):
No, Well, what I was gonna say about the free
throws is you're right, But there's a difference between being
middle of the pack and the entire country and free
throw shooting and being three hundred and fiftieth. Like, I've
watched a lot of UC basketball teams that I wish
were better at shooting free throws, and you know, they
ranked in the you know, somewhere in the mid one
hundred of the high one hundreds, or sometimes in the

(24:02):
two hundreds. It's one thing to be not great, it's
something else to be terrible. So that's frustrating to me
one more. And you've been awesome with your time, so
you know your roster is what it is. You're not
going to make a trade deadline acquisition, right like the NBA.
So if you're gonna find a fix for this, it's

(24:24):
got to come from within. I know before the game
last night, Wes talked about, well Rayvon Griffith may play.
That didn't happen. He's tried, you know, for a while. CJ.
Frederick was the second guy off the bench. I don't
think he came off the bench last night. He's given
Josh Reid extended playing time. I think he played seventeen
minutes last night. Is there someone you go you know
what I'd like for them to try to see what

(24:45):
this dude could do. Who's maybe not getting a lot
of playing time if really.

Speaker 8 (24:50):
Any Yeah, And to go back to your trade deadline question,
I don't know for that far away from that, with
how the landscape is moving in college athletics, that that
might be a thing of the future, which would make
my stuff really interesting.

Speaker 2 (25:04):
But are they buyers or sellers of the deadline? I
can't wait for that to be in college sports.

Speaker 8 (25:11):
Will his credits transferred more at five? I think my
thing is Josh Reed. I mean, when you look at
it last night, he played the hardest out of anyone,
and there were three to four possessions where he's making
a concerted effort to be aggressive on the defensive end,
and he's getting steals, getting turnovers and then going the

(25:33):
other way and converting for points on offense. My thing
about the rest of the season, you kind of know
it's not going how it's planned, so in the back
of your head. And I think Bill self said this
after he lost to Cincinnati in the Big Twelve Tournament.
He kind of said, look, I've been thinking about next
year for the past three weeks. I think you inevitably

(25:54):
have to get to that point and you have to
send a message about the standard that needs to be
lived up to. So I think starting Josh Reed over
one of your established starters sends a pretty good message.
Maybe starting Dayda Thomas and I know we talked about this,
but the flagrant too sucks and it's a bonehead play,
but I'm sure a lot of fans like seeing that passion.

(26:16):
I'm just being like, you know what, no, I'm shoving
you out of bounds and I'm not letting you just
get in an easy basket. So dumb, bone headed play,
but you know, good on Day day to show some
passion and some aggressiveness. Maybe start Day Day. And I'm
not saying that you switch around the starting lineups and
that's the way you win. It's obviously about who plays
the most minutes on the floor, But I just think

(26:38):
putting Josh Reed or and or Dayda Thomas and the
starting lineup can send a pretty clear message to the
rest of the players, because right now a lot of
people are playing poorly and they're being rewarded and not
being punished. Like Dan Skillings comes in after Josh Reed
fouls out and immediately fouls Gabe Madson on an inbound.
Their best reefrost shooter and then they go and get

(26:58):
points on the other end. I think that's inexcusable that
that can not happen. So I think just playing those
guys who are going to play aggressive, defensively and try
to rebound that's starting them sends a good message.

Speaker 4 (27:12):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (27:12):
I appreciate it as always. Uh, we'll do it soon. Man,
thanks so much.

Speaker 8 (27:17):
I appreciate it now. I'll see you.

Speaker 2 (27:19):
You're the best. Keithon Nickoson covers u see Sports for
Bearcad Journal dot com. A team headed in the exact
opposite direction, the Xavier Musketeers hitting the road tonight for
obviously a tough one against Creighton's simple question for Rick
Brooring Coming up in ten minutes on ESPN fifteen thirty
Cincinnati Sports.

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bound two seventy five. It's a disabled vehicle that is
on the exit ramp to southbound seventy one on the
Ohio side. Northbound seventy five accident on the exit ramp

(28:06):
to Town Street and slow traffic northbound seventy five. Nor
would lateral up toward Paddock Road. I'm a eazelek with traffic.

Speaker 10 (28:14):
This report is ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 2 (28:19):
Very quickly. Four timelines are a service a Kelsey Chevrolet
home of lifetime powertrain protection and guaranteed credit approval from
their family. The yours for Live Kelsey chef dot com.
Wade Miley has signed a minor league deal with the
Reds four about two and a half million dollars, and
he's going to make the club to get that. Here's
the thing with Wade Miley. He had Tommy John surgery

(28:40):
in April, so he's targeting a mid may return. So
familiar name, accomplished pitcher. Your gas is as good as
mine as to whether or not he hits that target.
College basketball Tonight, Xavier battles Creighton in Omaha. The Blue
Jays are fourteen and six eight pm tip off on
sevenlw Also tonight, NKU is at Detroit Mercy. That game

(29:05):
is on ESPN fifteen thirty starting at six point thirty tonight.
Rick Boring is going to talk about both teams and
both games coming up here, I jotted down the wrong thing.
NKU plays tomorrow night on the road against Detroit Mercy.
I am a moron. I wrote down tomorrow. I ignored

(29:28):
that a game is tomorrow. On ESPN fifteen thirty. FC
Cincinnati News. According to Queen City Press, which you should
subscribe to, FC Cincinnati has come to an agreement for
a transfer to an Argentinian club Luciano Acosta, who has
expressed a desire to leave. Now he's got to agree
to a contract before something could be finalized, but he

(29:50):
has requested an exit, and as Laurel Faylor puts it
Queen City Press, such a deal is in sight. Cyclelones
play Greenville Tonight. Buck drops at seven thirty Downtown Rick
bororing on the Musketeers who play tonight and the Norse
who play Tomorrow night next on ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 6 (30:08):
Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty Traffic.

Speaker 7 (30:12):
From the UC Health Traffic Center. Expect more at uc Health,
more clinical trials, more treatment options for personalized care, more
chances to get you back to being you. Visit ucehealth
dot com northbound seventy one seventy five at Buttermilk Pike.
Debris is reported off in the up two lanes on
northbound seventy five. Accident on the exit ramp that to

(30:34):
Town Street. On Gelberth Road. It's an accident at Simpson
Avenue in Sycamore. In accident at Ninth Street. I'm at
Ezelak with traffic.

Speaker 10 (30:43):
This report is sponsored by Strict.

Speaker 2 (30:47):
This is ESPN fifteen thirty Zagers on the Road tonight
against doug Cream and Omaha tip off at eight pm
on seven hundred WLW. NKU is getting set to Detroit
Mercy tomorrow night. That game again is tomorrow. Rick Boring
talks Xavier and NKU hoops with us when he's not

(31:07):
contributing columns that are mandated by me. To his Facebook page,
he is with us now Musketeer Report dot Com and
NKU Radio. Hi, Rick, what's up now? I'm just sitting
here doing a talk show. What's up with yourself?

Speaker 3 (31:24):
Are you doing it from home today?

Speaker 2 (31:26):
I am doing my show for my house today.

Speaker 3 (31:29):
Well, what's what's going on? You're like, you's sick? You
go yokay.

Speaker 2 (31:33):
I have a commitment tonight that requires me to be
I live on the West side of Cincinnati. And I've
got to be somewhere on the west side of Cincinnati
as soon as I get off the air, and the
commute from Kenwood to the West Side, which at times
traffic can get in the way, it was easier for

(31:54):
me to do the show for my house, for my basement,
and then get to where I need. I have to
get to the Lasal Sports Tag. Uh, I have to
I have to m s this. I have to host
a Q and A tonight at the Lasal Sports Tag.
And it's easier for me to get to Lasal for
my house than it is to get to Lasal from Kenwood.
So that's why I'm doing the show from home today.

Speaker 12 (32:14):
Hey, sorry I asked first of all. Second, I'm glad
you're doing Okay, that's all I was worried about.

Speaker 2 (32:20):
Oh no, all's good. If I'm doing the show from home,
typically there's a sick kid involved, and uh yeah, fortunately
as of right now. No, if I'm at my house,
if I'm doing I do not like doing the show
for my house. But if i'm if I'm doing the
show for my house, typically a sick child is upstairs
or sometimes laying on the couch right in front of
where I'm sitting right now.

Speaker 12 (32:42):
Well, I'm glad to hear everyone is healthy in the
Agger household at the moment as of.

Speaker 2 (32:46):
As of the moment, we will see is Xavier good.

Speaker 12 (32:53):
I mean, we have to start giving some credence to
that fact, right, Like the winever Marquette was one thing
at Marquette, but you follow it up with again, they
obviously blew the lead at Saint John's, but they did
have a sixteen point lead in the second half at
Saint John's, who's, in my opinion, the worst matchup in
the conference for them, and then they held on and
beat Yukon at home on Saturday. So they're definitely playing

(33:17):
better basketball than they were three weeks ago. I think
the defense is much improved since that point. But yeah,
I think part of it is the league. They match
up better within the league than maybe we thought they
would when they lost to you know, those five out
of six games through that stretch in in mid December
and early January.

Speaker 3 (33:35):
But part of it also as they're playing much better.

Speaker 2 (33:39):
I thought late in the late in the first half,
you know, Xavier played from ahead, Yukon jumped up three points,
four points, and I kind of kept waiting for the
other shoe to drop and it didn't. And I think
two months ago the other shoe does drop. Maybe a
month ago the other shoe does drop and it didn't.
Can they bottle what Jerome Hunter gave him on Saturday

(34:01):
and apply that to a game like tonight.

Speaker 3 (34:05):
That's a good question.

Speaker 12 (34:05):
I mean, when you look at what Jerome Hunter accomplished
in that game only playing thirteen minutes, that's the thing.
I think we've been used to Jerome playing more so
when you look at it and see that he has
twelve points and five boards, it's like, Okay, pretty good
stat line. But when you realize he did that twelve
and five in just thirteen minutes, and you see some
of the big plays he made in the second half
of that game, it definitely led lends some credence the

(34:28):
idea that maybe Jerome Hunter is starting to get more.

Speaker 13 (34:31):
Right physically again, and maybe there's.

Speaker 12 (34:34):
Some upside there for Xavier when you're looking at the
bench and the lack of firepower that they've dealt with
all season. If Jerome Hunter could start returning to the
form we saw right before he had the last year
or two years of catastrophic injury, history that he just had.
Man that would be a huge boost for Savior in
this late season stretch.

Speaker 2 (34:55):
So they've split with Marquette, They've split with Saint John's,
they've split with Yukon. They haven't played Crayton yet. They
obviously play them on the road tonight and then in
a couple of weeks at Centas Center. I'm not making
about split.

Speaker 3 (35:11):
Both to Saint John's.

Speaker 2 (35:13):
I'm sorry they did. Yeah, it felt like they won
that game because they had a sixteen point Ly can
they split with Creighton.

Speaker 12 (35:22):
I don't know that that's going to to tell us
a lot about what happens the rest of the way,
because as good as they is playing right now, winning
for if their last five, they still have to win
a lot of games and there's not a lot of
margin for air down the stretch if they want to
put themselves in position for an that large fit. So
they're going to remain if they continue to win, they're

(35:44):
going to remain on the cut line for basically the
rest of the season. We're going to be living and
dying pretty much with every game, and so finding a
way to split with Creyton would be absolutely huge for
this team. They almost have to do that in fact,
and if they can somehow find a way to win
the once and in Omaha, that would go a long
way because we know how important those quad one wins

(36:05):
on the road are when it comes to bit selection time.

Speaker 2 (36:09):
Yeah, but you know, we talked about like the Gauntlet
of the Big East, and I know they lost to
Georgetown on the road. They're kind of coming out of it,
and like you can't afford slip ups to teams like
Seaton Hall and De Paul, but boys beyond Creighton and
I know they have to go to Villanova and they
nearly lost that game. Here, Like the metrics aren't gonna

(36:29):
help when you beat the metrics aren't going to be
helping to beat some of those teams. But like they
do have down the stretch, the soft landing of the
bottom half of the Big East schedule.

Speaker 12 (36:39):
Yeah, I mean, I think when you look at the
fact that like they did match up well against Villanova,
obviously to Paul you feel good about you know, you match.

Speaker 3 (36:46):
Up well with Seaton Hall.

Speaker 12 (36:47):
So it's going to come down to that the teams
we haven't seen yet, how do you match up against Creyighton.

Speaker 3 (36:53):
I think that's going to be a difficult one.

Speaker 12 (36:54):
Crayton has the big shot blocker, fifty year player Ryan
Kulkburner at the rim in the back end of their defense.
The rest of their defense really gets extended on the perimeter,
tries to take away your ball movement, take away your
three point shots for you to be drivers, play one
on one and funnel them into their shot blocker. That's
the style of play that Michigan played. It's a little
bit different because Creyton doesn't have the athletes that those

(37:17):
teams do, but it's a similar concept and that's the
style of defense from a health perspective that's given Xavier
the most difficulty this year. So the Creighton matchup would
be the one I'm most worried about, especially since they're
also the most talented team out of the teams that
are left. But how they match up with Providence and
Butler are really going to dictate a lot as well.

Speaker 2 (37:37):
I'm not used to looking at the bottom half of
the Horizon League standings and seeing Northern Kentucky, and yet
that's where they are after five consecutive losses. They're obviously
not going to win the Horizon League. Darren Horn has
talked often about what matters to us are the games
we play in the Horizon League tournament. Can they get
this thing going back in the right direction in time

(38:00):
for them to have the sort of chance we're accustomed
to them having in the Horizon League tournament.

Speaker 12 (38:07):
Yeah, And I've been asked that question a few times
in terms of the timing of all of this, like,
isn't it getting late for NKU?

Speaker 3 (38:13):
And the reality is, well, no, not really.

Speaker 12 (38:16):
I mean last year when they hit their three game skit,
and that's different from a five game skit obviously, but
when they hit their rough patch, when we were all
talking about, oh no, maybe this isn't going to be
one of those years for MKU where they turn it
on late in the year, it was right about this time.
It was their last two games of January and their
first game of February that they lost consecutively, and then
they turned it on and really played well down the

(38:37):
stretch into the postseason, and they ended up in the
semi finals in Indianapolis.

Speaker 5 (38:41):
Again, they can.

Speaker 12 (38:43):
Still do that in terms of having enough time and
being counted enough to make that type of run in
the Horizon League, but at some point you have to
start showing it. And the problem for this group is
right now that the last few games they've played, you know,
especially the one against Milwaukee which they lost by two
any points at home, they're not showing those signs that
they're starting to head in that direction.

Speaker 3 (39:04):
Yet.

Speaker 2 (39:06):
We've talked about your growing Facebook page, which to me
is a beacon of light on that particular social media
platform given everything that's happening in the United States right now.
I know, if I go to my feed, there's Rick
writing about college basketball or the Bengals or something, and
it's terrific. Now, last week I gave you an assignment,

(39:26):
and it was to write about, you know, coaches, college
basketball coaching attire, which has changed dramatically since COVID, And
then I looked at some of the comments. I wasn't
prepared for there to be so many people who like
to see the guys in suits.

Speaker 7 (39:40):
Yeah.

Speaker 12 (39:40):
Well, I mean, here's the thing, though, if you clicked
on any of the profiles, it was exactly who you'd
expect to be making those comments. And they're the exact
type of guys you and I do not want to
be hanging out with. So it made a lot of
sense when.

Speaker 2 (39:51):
You saw all right, now, can I get another assignment
for you?

Speaker 3 (39:56):
I love it. That's what I'm here for.

Speaker 2 (39:59):
Some I've suggested that college basketball, and for that matter,
college football, should create the position of commissioner. So let's
create it and say, you're the commissioner of college basketball.
What changes or lack of changes do you make? I
want to read that on Facebook and and honestly, the
sooner the better, so it just it drowns out all

(40:22):
the other crap on that platform right now.

Speaker 12 (40:25):
Wait, so in other words, like you know, the I
guess Mark Emmer at the NCAA isn't enough. We want
to we want to split off the sports from the
NCAA and have a new commissioner in charge of them.

Speaker 3 (40:34):
That's what we're saying.

Speaker 2 (40:35):
No, I want you to be the commissioner, like, not
some slack no, like somebody who knows the sport, cares
deeply about the sport, is level headed, and doesn't mind
taking the pay cut like that. I want you to
be the commissioner of college basketball. So like like some
sort of like position essay on what the sport would
look like if you were allowed to implement the changes

(40:56):
on the floor and off that the commissioner with uh
an unlimited amount of power would be able to implement.

Speaker 12 (41:03):
Yeah, that's that's a pretty unwieldy post that could have
a lot of characters and words in it. I'll I'll
get to it, but it may it may take a
little longer than last one.

Speaker 3 (41:11):
Did.

Speaker 2 (41:11):
I'll just warn you who's driving to Detroit. You guys
riding the bus, you have plenty of time in the car, right.

Speaker 12 (41:18):
Yeah, Jim Kelch is in the front of our taha.
Right now, I'm in the back, as I've told you
in the past that we like to do it. So
we're just cruising along. We're somewhere outside of Talita right now.

Speaker 2 (41:28):
Yeah, well, get out the laptop. I mean, you guys
have all the next couple of days to talk with
each other and get out the laptop and bang out
a post.

Speaker 12 (41:35):
Okay, that's what I'm working on right now. I've already
got it open. Facebook is ahead of me. Did you
know you can still poke people on Facebook?

Speaker 9 (41:42):
That's still a thing.

Speaker 3 (41:43):
So I might send out some folks and then I'll
get to work.

Speaker 2 (41:46):
I was on Facebook. I told you I purged like
forty dead people a couple of weeks ago.

Speaker 13 (41:53):
Tell me that.

Speaker 2 (41:54):
Yeah, right, And so what I've started to do is
accept friend requests, but like some of them a year,
like five years old. And so I've gotten messages from
people who are like, oh, yeah, thanks, it's kind of fun.
So that's what I'm dealing with on Facebook at the moment.

Speaker 3 (42:10):
I mean, what's the response after that?

Speaker 2 (42:15):
I was at my limit. I knew some people who died.
I unfriended them, and you're next, Like, I don't make
the limit five thousand people. I have a professional Facebook page.
You're welcome to follow.

Speaker 12 (42:27):
It's like the Green Bay Packers season ticket waiting list.
Eventually one day you get that call and you're like,
you're accepted in finally.

Speaker 2 (42:34):
Yeah. So I've always kept the number like fifty shy
of five thousand. If there's like a coworker or like
a legitimate friend comes into my life, like I, you know,
I want to have room for them. But when I
sat down a few weeks ago and I got rid
of like, and I'm not making fun of these folks,
but there was no reason for them to be for
me to be friends with them anymore because they're dead,

(42:55):
Like they weren't going to be posting on their page.
And so when I purged roughly forty to fifty people
who over the course of I think I joined Facebook
in like two thousand and six. Over the last nearly
two decades, I've lost some people in my life, and
so as I sat down and got rid of them,
I decided to backfill and I started with people at
the you know, the had been in the wait, had

(43:15):
been in line the longest, and some of them were
I guess not that happy that I accepted request. So
so there we are. Well enjoy the trip to Detroit.

Speaker 12 (43:26):
I will Can I ask you one more question? Did
you leave any deads on your friends group?

Speaker 2 (43:32):
Yes, yes, I left. I left two because I was really, really,
really close to them. But I'll tell you this, and
I don't think I don't think his, I don't think his,
his wife will mine. I still remain friends with the
late Jim Scott, right radio legend and somebody that I
worked with, and his just awesome wife who lost her

(43:57):
husband back in last year. Last summer. Will still post
on Facebook, but she doesn't have an account. Social post
from Jim's account about stuff like ringing the Salvation Army bell,
which Jim was involved, and she took that over but
she she posted from Jim's page, So like, one day
I open it up and I'm like, WHOA like Jim

(44:19):
Scott's Jim Scott's Jim Scott's posting on Facebook from the Afterlife,
And then I read it and realized it was it
was his wife posting on his page about what she
was doing because she doesn't have one. And this is
overly complex, but yeah, I have. I have hung onto
two people who are no longer with us, and Jim
is one of them.

Speaker 12 (44:36):
When you think about it, we're all just trying to
live well enough that one day my will still be
friends with us on Facebook after we're gone.

Speaker 2 (44:44):
Yeah, maybe you would be one of those folks. And
I'm probably gonna die before you.

Speaker 3 (44:48):
But yeah, but you know, we don't know. I don't
want to get carried away.

Speaker 2 (44:52):
You don't know, that's true? All right, Mean I gotta go,
Thank you, all right? Thanks man, Rick Brooring Musketeer report
doc come NKU Radio and Facebook. I cannot believe how
late we are. It's two minutes after four o'clock on
ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 1 (45:08):
Hey what could you Your chance to win one thousand
dollars entered this nationwide keyword on our website cran that's
cran enter.

Speaker 7 (45:16):
It now.

Speaker 13 (45:18):
Here we go.

Speaker 2 (45:20):
It's all in college basketball hours aside for me on
remember of the Senior last part Good's this is the
ESDN fifteen thirty. I hope you're having an Austin Wednesday afternoon.

Speaker 12 (45:32):
We have a lot of ground cover.

Speaker 2 (45:34):
By the way, tomorrow. You heard our friends sincey three
sixty Austin and Tony talking about Kelsey Conway and she's
down there at the Senior Bowl. She is going to
join us tomorrow at three twenty. We do have a
guest from the Senior Bowl who is really good coming
up at five oh five this afternoon. Also, the Eric
All injury news yesterday was it's tough for Eric. It's

(45:57):
it's tough for the Bengals. I think because the season
is so long and so much stuff happened late in
the year, you kind of forget how good Eric All
was and how the Bengals kind of remoted their offense
around what Eric can do. It's interesting he is dealing
with complications from knee surgery, not the knee surgery that
he just had, but the knee surgery that he had

(46:18):
after he suffered an injury in college and so he's
not gonna play at all this year. We're gonna get
one of the experts from Ortho Cincy to kind of
tell us what's ahead for Eric and Moore. Coming up
at five thirty three, I did Paul Danner Junior's mock
offseason exercise, and I've got a few thoughts on that.
And we're going to spend some time chatting with Sean Merriman,

(46:39):
the Grave Digger, who for a couple of years was
one of the most terrifying defensive players in football. He's
going to join us talk about the Super Bowl, in
the NFL and so much more. Coming up at four
thirty we we spent time yesterday on Austin Hayes and
I was told I was told via email I use

(46:59):
the word via all the time. Essentially, you're too negative
about the Reds, and man plenty of points in my
career you could say I'm too negative because well, they
haven't done enough winning and winning breeds negativity. And then
a friend of mine last night said something to the
effect of, like, god, Mo like Austin Hayes, that's not

(47:23):
a terrible pickup. And by the way, it's not like
if you were looking for somebody who can help them
against lefties who can play the corner ral field positions,
they got them. They got them. And his drop off
in production last season, I think you are being fair
if you give him a little bit of a pass
because of what he dealt with From a health perspective,

(47:45):
I'm not pessimistic about the red I'm actually more optimistic,
I think than most. But that optimism, that optimism has
me raising my standards, and that optimism, like the optimism
for the team, for me, is based on a genuine
belief and I think one that's shared by many who

(48:06):
follow the game that the Reds have a nice nucleus.
Now it's it's largely an unproven nucleus, but they've got
a nice nucleus of young starting pitchers, young talented position players.
Obviously some guys who are coming off injuries and seasons

(48:28):
with Matt McClain that he didn't play at all and
Christian CROSSI on strain where he barely played, where you
know you wonder, can can they can they bounce back?
And can they spend this season reminding us of why
we had such high hopes for them last year? And
and they've They've got some players who I believe have value,
like Tyler Stevenson, very quietly last year, had a terrific season.

(48:51):
If we were to do the thing of like you know,
players that you would you would make bets on being
an All Star. I'll bet on Ellie because I just
I think it's a good chance he is the leading
volk at or shortstop in the National League. And I'll
bet on Hunter Green because it happened last year. I'll
also take a flyer on Tyler Stevenson, who's better defensively
than he was given credit for, has figured out a
way to stay healthy, and who's played well enough behind

(49:13):
the plate that we no longer talk about him playing
first base or dhing full time. Like there's there's there's
players worth getting excited about. It's not a complete roster,
and some of these young players have a lot to prove,
and some of them have to bounce back from stuff
that that they kind of did to themselves, like Noelve

(49:33):
Marte who missed half the season and then when he
played he was awful. But I actually do think there's
there's something there really worth building around and really worth
going for it with. Which is which is why I
guess I focus a little bit too much on what
they haven't acquired or what some of the players they

(49:55):
have acquired aren't like as Austin Hayes is a is
a nice he is a nice piece, and Gavin Lux
is a nice piece. He's a more versatile Jonathan India.
That's the Gavin Lux played for the team that won
the World Series last year, and Austin Hayes played for
two playoff teams last season, and Brady Singer pitched for

(50:17):
a playoff team last year, and he's exactly what they need.
But I talked a little bit yesterday about how each
one of these moves, you know, there's there's sort of
a shoulder shrug or a you know, emmy h eh,
And maybe that's a little bit unfair. I actually think
this team's nucleus is good enough that they they could

(50:39):
really move the meter if they had one or two
more impact players that they haven't acquired from outside, like
someone I think it was Justin Verlander's brother whose first
name escapes me, Ben Verlander, who covers baseball for a
few different outlets, put on social media about a month ago.

(51:00):
I don't understand why the Reds aren't in the Anthony
Santander sweepstakes. And the pushback was, well, he doesn't get
on base a lot, and he's not good defensively, and
those are fair criticisms, but they have other guys like that.
Now the difference is Santander hits home runs. These other
guys here do not. Like there's there's still a reluctance

(51:20):
or an inability, or you might argue a lack of
financial capability to go and get the guy that really
moves the meter, and on a team that has no nucleus,
that guy can't move the meter. On a team that
does have a nucleus, that guy can move the meter.

(51:40):
Like I get a little bit frustrated at the Red's
approach and free agency because I think they've actually built
the team enough, built it up enough that now, like
a big I hate to say big time, but like
a really good free agent who's maybe a little bit

(52:00):
more established, a better player and not coming off an injury,
can actually make a difference. Let's be honest, if the
Reds are good over the next four months when the
season begins, that means the starting pitching is as good
as a lot of us think it can be and
you know a lot of the guys who have to
perform better or stay healthier or take the next step,

(52:23):
they will have done that. We are going to be
talking about what the Reds can do with the deadline
to get better like that. That's going to happen. We're
going to unless the team stinks, and then we might
be talking about being in cell mode and trading away
Boston Hayes or moving on from some of the guys
that they have on the team right now. What we
hope is the team is good enough that they are

(52:44):
what buyers at the deadline. Well, number one, let's hope
they actually buy at the deadline instead of continuing to
remind us that our future is going to be really good,
let's not mortgage it. Number two. If you know you're
going to have to make moves at the deadline, why
not make them now impact moves. And in the aggregate,
maybe Singer and Lux and Hayes we're on a last

(53:07):
Nay basis, maybe to combine together that makes an impact.
I hope it does.

Speaker 13 (53:13):
But I.

Speaker 2 (53:16):
Still see individual players or have seen individual players out
there that I feel I could really make an impact
on their own and they just haven't acquired them for
whatever reason. Tony asked me about this. I think, I
think one of the greatest I think one of the
greatest accomplishments in sports in the last thirty five years

(53:45):
is major League Baseball owners. And this isn't about the Reds.
This is about major League Baseball owners. Major League Baseball
owners have convinced their fans that either they can't afford
to go get players, or that it doesn't make financial

(54:08):
sense to go get players, or that they don't have
the resources to go get players. I saw this today
from hal Steinbrenner, which is this is this is rich
stuff on the Dodgers continuing to spend money, where he said, quote,
it's difficult for most of us owners to be able
to do the kinds of things they're doing us owners

(54:32):
are Are there owners who can't do what the Dodgers
are doing? Sure, that's hal Steinbrenner. The Yankees are worth
seven billion dollars. Like if there's a team in the
sport that can do what the Dodgers are doing, it's
the New York Yankees. They choose not to. I think
what baseball owners and the previous Baseball Commissioner, Bud sealily

(54:52):
have managed to do, which is remarkable to me. They
have convinced their public that they can't do something thing
that they can do, like even the Reds. And they
get mad at me at times for pointing this out,
and some high profile Reds fans on social media, you know,

(55:13):
use social media to roll their eyes at me when
I point this out. The Rats have other owners. We
talk about the Castellinis. They own the controlling shares. They
have like twenty owners and most of them have owned
the team for quite a while. None of them have
lost money on their investment, none of them. And yet

(55:38):
there is a reluctance by the people who have the
controlling shares to go to the people that have the
other shares and say, look, you've made a lot of money.
How about you throw some of that back into the
club this season. You're gonna make it back and then
some And look, I'm the guy that I've I've rarely

(56:00):
criticized the Reds for what they spend. I criticize the
Reds for the results they achieve, and the results frankly
speak for themselves. They haven't won a playoff game, and
now thirteen years they haven't advanced in the postseason in
thirty I'm not making that up. Those are actual, real results,
and the current regime is on the club for the
majority of that time, basically twenty years. But as a

(56:25):
general rule, like there are a lot of baseball fans
in markets like New York and Boston and Chicago, but
also markets like Milwaukee and Pittsburgh and Cincinnati where people
just NodD along when the owner sends the message either
directly or indirectly, we can't afford to do that. They
can all afford to do more than they're doing. Maybe

(56:47):
they all can't afford to do what the Dodgers are doing.
I don't ask the Reds to do what the Dodgers
are doing. So when you go through an offseason and
the Reds have and folks talk about the TV situation
and finances and well, you know what, our budget maybe
is a little bit tighter, I just I don't have
that much patience for it. And that's not because I

(57:08):
think the Reds are cheap. It's because it's because for
three and a half decades I've listened to owners big
markets and small markets successfully convinced their public, yeah, we
can't do that, we can't do that financially overwhelmingly so
they can. And when you're a franchise that never achieves

(57:28):
the results, we all desire any excuse or any rationale
for not making the team dramatically better. Really, for me
at least, rings Hollow. I hope that makes sense, But
I am. I am optimistic about what the Reds have.
I just wish they would add to it, because I
think what the Reds have deserves to be added to.

(57:53):
Twenty minutes after four o'clock on moeg Or phone calls,
we are tight today, but I'll throw it out there anyway.
Five point three seven four nine. How heartless do you
want the Bengals to be? That is coming up and
by request an interview with Sean Merriman coming up in
ten minutes on ESPN fifteen.

Speaker 10 (58:08):
Thirty Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 7 (58:13):
Traffic from the uc Health Traffic Center. Expect more at
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(58:35):
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and on Boudinott Avenue in accident.

Speaker 11 (58:41):
South of Harrison Avenue. I met, he's not like with
traffic n.

Speaker 2 (58:45):
So we have to break so we can get to
him on time. I'll tell you what, though, if you
missed Paul Danner Junior yesterday, your fault, your problem. The
good news is when we do shows, we record them
and then we put them on the inner and then
they're there forever. Like we'll have shows up on the
internet well after I'm gone, well after I'm gone, like

(59:08):
not gone from today, like gone from the earth, like
you'll be able to listen to you know. It's kind
of like I still see infomercials with Billy Mays. Anyway,
if you missed a Danner yesterday on Al Golden and
Eric Al and the Bengals offseason and some of the
really tough decisions they have, go listen to it on
the iHeartRadio app podcast of this show, a service of
Long Neck's Sports Grail. Go to Long Necks and watch

(59:30):
watch the Xavier game tonight, or just hang out and
drink a beer whatever. Long Necks Wilder Hebron and Richwood.
Sean Merriman will be with us next on ESPN.

Speaker 6 (59:39):
Fifteen thirty Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty Traffic from.

Speaker 7 (59:46):
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traffic in.

Speaker 2 (01:00:17):
A few minutes in the lead up to the Super Bowl,
chatting with a guy who when he played, was one
of the most terrifying defensive players I've ever watched. Sean Merriman,
who is with us thanks to our friends at bed online.
Good to bet online for the most diverse list of
well over one thousand Super Bowl props, including MVP, length
of the national Anthem, close to one hundred Taylor Swift

(01:00:39):
related props. If that's your thing, broadcast odds games and
player stats and a lot more. Sean will be busy
that weekend, not just with the Super Bowl, but he's
also the founder of Lights Out Extreme Fighting and they
have an event as well. Shawn, it's good to have you.
What's going on?

Speaker 11 (01:00:55):
You got it?

Speaker 14 (01:00:56):
Man?

Speaker 9 (01:00:56):
How you doing?

Speaker 2 (01:00:58):
You know, I'm doing well. Uh here in Cincinnati, you know, obviously,
And I think you could say this about a lot
of cities around the country. Uh, there's there's slight Kansas
City Chiefs fatigue. So we're all rooting for the Philadelphia Eagles.
Do you like our chances?

Speaker 9 (01:01:16):
I'm not trying to break any hots man, because you
know what, the last couple of years I went against
the Chiefs. I want to get at patching the homes
and I was wrong twice. So I don't want to
be volved again. But I understand one and fully while
the way the city is rooting against them.

Speaker 2 (01:01:32):
Yeah, yeah, we are, you know, watching the games this weekend,
and you could obviously apply this to the to the
teams that didn't advance. I'm watching four teams that are
making use of quarterbacks with their legs, including Kansas City,
which you typically don't see that's obviously a big part
of what Philadelphia does. As a defensive player, how much
more difficult does it become to defend offenses that are

(01:01:53):
now willingly at the NFL level incorporating quarterback runs.

Speaker 9 (01:01:58):
It's tough, man. And I always make a joke now
that if I played, I would be playing for free,
you know, in this day and age, because of the
fins and stuff. I was racked up. But I think
I think at some point the NFL is gonna have
to step in, or somebody's gonna have to step in.
And I know they've been trying to protect the quarterback
for a long time, but I see now that you
have some quarterbacks and who one plan that's kind of

(01:02:18):
taking advantage of of the rules, and you know the
rest are gonna call whatever they're gonna call. You try
not to blame them so much. And as a player,
you always talk, hey, let's take the rest out of it.
We can't put the rest the game in the rest's
hands for us to win a loose so that take
the rest out of it. But somebody's calls are so
blatant it's hard to turn the cheek. It's hard to
turn your head away and not pay attention to it

(01:02:40):
because it's so blatant. And more importantly, patx Mahomes is
a great quarterback. You can't take that away from her.
But what frustrates me is now looking back at the
rest and complaining to the rest when hey, dude, you
stopped two yards in from the hit bounds and you
got to push out of balance because it's football and
you're looking for a flag. Those things I think needs
to be a littleated from the game because ultimately it'll

(01:03:02):
just take the fun and the passion of a reason
why those guys out there playing football in the first place.

Speaker 2 (01:03:07):
Well, when you were a player, were there opposing quarterbacks
or opposing offensive players who flopped?

Speaker 9 (01:03:14):
Yeah, pretty much all of them, you know, But yeah,
I laugh that, you know, guys like you know a lot.
First of all, a lot of these rules have been
implemented because of what happened with Tom Brady, and I
believe in what two boys meet when he towards me
and he missed the year, and I think the NFL
realized that, you know, the league is not better with
Tom Brady being gone. So that's where everything started at.

(01:03:37):
And we look at now the physicality and I know
Tom Brady actually has been against the quarterback treatment and
things like that, but it was a different time, man,
where guys are just I'm not gonna say tougher because
I hate when of those three guys come and say, oh,
the game is soft for now. I think there was
a lot less complaining. And you knew that you're going
to get hit. That's as part of the.

Speaker 2 (01:03:55):
Game, so you know you you hear this this complain here. Look,
Patrick Mahomes is an awesome player. You're not going to
find any disagreement with that here. I think, like you know,
here in Cincinnati, we watched Joe Burrow, who I think
you would agree is a great player, and I'm watching
him in games this year where you know, a game
winning two point try Duke grabs his face mask, no call.

(01:04:18):
There's a level of contact that he seems to take
and other quarterbacks seem to take, and it just I
think for a lot of fans it feels like there's
not quite the same level of protection for Joe and
for other players that there might be for a Patrick Mahomes.
Do you think that criticism and concern do you think
that's valid?

Speaker 14 (01:04:40):
It is?

Speaker 9 (01:04:41):
It is, and I will say this because you hate
to point out a certain guy, right, you hate to
point out you know, they get the chiefs, the call
they get Patri mackhomes A calls. But it becomes pretty
obvious and blatant lately, and it's hard to kind of
turn around and not comment on me. We've seen guys
that Troy Aigman, who's been broadcasting for a long time,
never really come down and officiating as hard. And so

(01:05:03):
you when you have a fuller quarterback who played the
game at the highest level now kind of pointing a
finger at the officiating and the rest of stands just
become a problem. Then you know it's a serious problem.
And the fact that you just said, you know, nobody's
going to deny that the greatness surpass the home. But
you don't want that attachment either, right or you want
games because of the rest. You want games because they officiated.

(01:05:25):
You want games because you're complaining, and you get the
flash you want because it takes away from the greatness
and the player he is. So that attachment is just
going to be there as long as the games he's
going away. It's gone right now.

Speaker 2 (01:05:38):
Sean Merriman is with us on behalf of our friends
at that online. So as you look at the game
itself from a wagering perspective, Look, there's thousands of lines
out there, and some have a direct relation to the
football game itself and some have nothing to do with
the football game itself. Give me one related specifically the

(01:06:00):
game that you like.

Speaker 9 (01:06:03):
You know, man, there's over one hundred days Taylor Swift alone.
You know, my favorite one has always been like the
coin toss because it's so easy and it kind of
I think sets the tone for you to night the
rest of them for the rest of the bedding. So
you hit that and then everything else, you start feeling
good about the rest of the game, and you're looking
at the points and you're looking at how many times

(01:06:23):
you gotta show Taylor Swift who she's gonna hug in
a sweet first. I mean, they got some ridiculou stuff,
which is actually amazing because it makes you tune into
the game not just for the score, of what's happening
outside and off of the field. So it's been great.
We're bet online and and just the opportunity they have
and being a part of every aspect of the game.

Speaker 4 (01:06:43):
H Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:06:43):
Bet Online is awesome if you like Taylor Swift props.
Do you like any for Kendrick Lamar?

Speaker 15 (01:06:51):
Yeah?

Speaker 9 (01:06:51):
Yeah, I think you know because there was so many
bets about him, uh not opening up but being able
to perform, not like us, and if he opened the
night up like that, I've been on a lot of
people and win a lot of money.

Speaker 2 (01:07:02):
Yeah. No, I'm with you there, Shawn. It's awesome to
have you. We'll check out bet online and lights Out
Extreme Fighting as well.

Speaker 9 (01:07:09):
Thank you so much, you got a big fight, seed
boy sebuy seventh makes you, guys download lights Oulesports. You'd
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Speaker 2 (01:07:26):
Very well done, Sean Merriman. Check that out Lightside Extreme
Fighting and also go to bet online for the most
diverse list of well over one thousand Super Bowl props,
including MVP, length of the National Anthem, close to one
hundred Taylor Swift related props, broadcast odds, Kendrick Lamar props,
game and player stats, and my favorite which hit last year? Now,

(01:07:50):
what did we tell you to do? Last year? We
told you to bet on will the game go to ot? Right?
So you know, close game Chiefs games, especially in the postseason,
have been very, very close. The line was tight last year,
just like this season, right, just like this year's Super Bowl.

(01:08:10):
So as I'm looking at it right now at bet
online point and a half. Right, So if you think
the game is going to be close, it's always like
plus twenty two hundred, like I bet on it every year.
It never hits, but it's always such great value. And
we talked about it a lot last year. Kansas City

(01:08:31):
is laying a point and a half like this game
is likely to be close. Like I think we would
agree with this. This game is more likely to be
close than not. If you think it's going to be close,
take a flyer on the game going to ot. It
paid off last year. Try to tell you, tell you again,
make the wager you will? Uh oh, what is the

(01:08:52):
breaking sports news? What do you got for me? Tarn?

Speaker 4 (01:08:54):
According to one Jeff Besan, the Rids are finalizing a
deal to acquire left handed reliever Taylor Rogers from San
Francisco Giants.

Speaker 2 (01:09:01):
Wow, all right, very good. That's from Jeff Passion of ESPN.
Lefty reliever who has bounced around a little bit. Last
year with San Francisco was effective, had an ERA of
a two four to zero in sixty four appearances. He
was an All Star in twenty twenty one. Taylor Rogers.
The Reds need bullpen help and a guy who, if

(01:09:25):
I'm not mistaken, played at UK. I'll have to look
that up, which won't be difficult because we do have
internet access. But I believe he is a Yes. He
went to played his college baseball at the University of Kentucky.
Lefty pitcher just turned thirty four years old, coming off
a quality season. Has pitched exclusively out of the bullpen.

(01:09:50):
So this is one of those dudes who you know,
I find himself in the rotation. He has actually never
made a big league start, has been durable, sixty appearances
or more each of the couple of years, actually sixty
appearances of more each of the last three years. Broke
in with the Twins, pitch for them for a very
long time, ended up with the Padres and Brewers both

(01:10:10):
in twenty twenty two, found a home with San Francisco
in twenty three and twenty four. Signs with the Reds.
That's a good acquisition. Here we go. I'm positive that
is a good acquisition. The Reds haven't made a bad acquisition.
I don't know that they've made one that really moves
the meter. But we've talked a lot. We were having
a conversation in the office yesterday. What are their biggest needs.

(01:10:31):
Corner outfield bat which they got with Austin Hayes. Now again,
I think he's gonna help them more against lefties than
righties and bullpen helps something that had gone largely unaddressed
this offseason. Taylor Rogers. That's a good pickup. So good
for Nick Krawk, congratulations and a guy who was drafted
in twenty twelve out of the University of Kentucky. So

(01:10:52):
there you go. And his nickname is mister Rogers, which
is automatic when your last name is Rogers. It is
twenty twenty away from five o'clock. My name is Meeger.
This is ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati Sports.

Speaker 6 (01:11:08):
Station, Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty Traffic.

Speaker 7 (01:11:14):
chances to get you back to being You visit ucehealth
dot com, Stay Route one thirty four is closed off
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blocking the left lane on that ezelic with traffic.

Speaker 3 (01:11:45):
This reporting is sponsored by Raptop.

Speaker 2 (01:11:47):
The d Reds acquire reliever Taylor Rodgers from San Francisco,
who had one year left in his contract for right
handed pitcher Braxton Roxby. I had no idea of Braxton
Roxby pitch for the Red and I'm kind of disappointed
that he won't be because Braxton Roxby is a cool name.
Taylor Rodgers twenty two forty era in sixty innings last

(01:12:09):
year with San Francisco, And so it's not a free
agent signing. It is a trade. He signed a deal
prior to the twenty twenty three season with the Giants
three years, thirty three mil. So just basic math, and
obviously this gets adjusted. In fact, I'm looking at it
right now. Do to make twelve million bucks this year,
so they take on a not insignificant amount of money

(01:12:33):
and added to their bullpen. Rent need a bullpen help
and Taylor Rodgers provides that. So that's that's a good trade. Again,
like all of these moves are good moves. I'm not
opposed to any of them individually or collectively. I think
you can believe that, and I think you could express

(01:12:54):
that and say that and also acknowledge that if you
went into the officeat I'm hoping for a bigger fish.
It's disappointing that they didn't get one. Speaking of big fishes,
you know, one of our bigger fishes on this radio
station has has left, has gone away. I'm not talking
about anybody local, but you know Mike Greenberg. For years

(01:13:16):
on ESPN fifteen thirty, you would hear him on Mike
and Mike, and then he came back and he was
hosting a show called Greeney. Greeney was on from ten
o'clock to twelve o'clock. But you know, Mike Greenberg has
like a lot of responsibilities at ESPN, right he was
he hosts Get Up, and he's the host of NFL Countdown,

(01:13:36):
and he's the host of their NBA program before games,
and so the radio show he would often not do,
especially during quote non peak times of year, and now
he has given up the radio show and a guy
by the name of Clinton Yates is going to be
hosting it. Clinton unfollowed me on social media. I noticed,
but his does a nice job. And so no more

(01:13:58):
Mike Greenberg. And so you know, we've run promos for
Greeney with Mike Greenberg over the years. We're not going
to be able to do that. But there's still great
quality programs worth tuning into on ESPN Radio, which obviously
we're an ESPN Radio affiliate. You got the Morning Show,
you got Evan Cohen, and you got Michelle Smallman, and

(01:14:18):
you've got our resident Super Bowl champion Chris Canty, who, man,
you're gonna want to listen to this show every morning
because Chris Canty goes out of his way to say
such nice things about the Bengals. Tarren, go ahead and
hit this audio.

Speaker 15 (01:14:32):
He's the quarterback, he's the most important player on the team,
and they spent a ton of cash around him on
the offensive side of the ball to prop him up
and make sure that he performs at a really high level.
So don't give me the empty calorie stats about how
Joe Burrow is phenomenal. If he's so great, then why
is his team not in the playoffs and a team
like the Denver Broncos with both nicks is as a

(01:14:52):
rookie quarterback.

Speaker 11 (01:14:53):
I just I don't understand it.

Speaker 15 (01:14:55):
I don't get it, but everybody wants to say how
Joe Burrow? Joe Listen, I get it. Joe Burrow is
a good quarterback. He's a great quarterback. He's just not
an elite quarterback because elite quarterbacks aren't healthy the entire
season and skip.

Speaker 11 (01:15:10):
Out on the playoffs.

Speaker 10 (01:15:11):
You don't think Joe Burrow is an elite quarterback.

Speaker 2 (01:15:13):
Nope, nope, you.

Speaker 10 (01:15:17):
Really are going to fire up your mentions with these
Bengals fans.

Speaker 15 (01:15:21):
Show me the elite quarterback that is healthy from week
one through Week eighteen and that team doesn't make the playoffs.

Speaker 11 (01:15:27):
I'll wait.

Speaker 10 (01:15:29):
You know there is another side of the ball that
could have helped him out a little more.

Speaker 2 (01:15:32):
Yeah, I know.

Speaker 15 (01:15:33):
I also know that they're top five and cash ban
on the offensive side of the ball, so quite literally,
they're spending all of their money to make sure.

Speaker 11 (01:15:40):
That the offense is good. That means the offense has
to win.

Speaker 3 (01:15:43):
So I think there's more to this conversation.

Speaker 15 (01:15:46):
There could be more in the conversation, but we keep
saying how he's elite is league?

Speaker 8 (01:15:49):
Show me?

Speaker 15 (01:15:50):
Please, anybody show me the elite quarterback that is healthy
the entire season and their team doesn't make the playoffs.

Speaker 2 (01:15:58):
Tomorrow morning from six to ten on ESPN fifteen thirty.
He's right about that. That he's he's right about. Show
me the elite quarterback whose team is not in the playoffs.
I mean, you really can't, right, But that's not Joe
Burrow's fault. Joe Burrow's an MVP finalist on a team
that went nine and eight. That's like, I think the

(01:16:20):
word elite is overused. But I'll do it this way. Man,
if you gave if you gave every general manager in
the league their choice of any quarterback in the NFL,
you can have them. I think Joe Burrow would be
the first choice. Not by all, because there are a

(01:16:42):
lot of great qbs in the league, but by an
overwhelming amount, by a large amount, maybe even the majority.
Joe Burrow this year had a stretch of three games
where he and the offense scored ninety nine points. They
didn't win any of them. That's not Joe Burrow's fault

(01:17:03):
what kept this team? You know, we talked about like
the value of Joe, and this year highlighted the value
of Joe. Can you imagine what this team's record would
be if they got merely good quarterback play or average
quarterback play, not perfect quarterback not perfect. There were games
this year the Bengals loss, where you could pinpoint certain
plays and go, Joe should have done this or could

(01:17:23):
have done this. But oh boy, Like, if your main
takeaway from the Bengals season, which for my money was
maybe the most disappointing in franchise history, if your main
takeaway from the Bengal season was it ended the way
it did because of quarterback play. You just look at
the game through a different lens than I do. Tomorrow morning,
six to ten on ESPN fifteen thirty, Taran We okay

(01:17:47):
on time to take a phone caller too? Yes, all right, Jim,
you're on ESPN fifteen thirty. Good afternoon, how are you hey?

Speaker 3 (01:17:54):
Well, you gotta help me out.

Speaker 14 (01:17:55):
That's exactly what I wanted to comment this Korean Chris
Canty's dumber in a box of rocks. You gotta heard
what he said this morning listen, he said to elite
quarterbacks Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen, and Lamar Jackson. Okay, Lamar
Jackson won mvpiece. But let me ask you a question.

(01:18:16):
Who went up to Buffalo and beat Josh Allen?

Speaker 13 (01:18:19):
Who?

Speaker 14 (01:18:20):
Lamar Jackson? Have you beat Patrick Mahomes. No, there's only
one guy that's beat Patrick Mahomes. Joe Burrow. He took
an irrelevant franchise like Cincinnati and got his butt kicked
with no offensive line and took them to the super Bowl.
This clown on ESPN. I've been listening to him. Cincinnati's

(01:18:41):
got to get on this guy. This guy don't know nothing.

Speaker 3 (01:18:45):
I don't know why you don't like Joe.

Speaker 14 (01:18:46):
But then he goes, Lamar Jackson's the best quarterback, Lamar,
here's the Ravens. They got the better defense in the Bengals,
and they can't even make it to the super Bowl.
They can't beat Patrick Mahomes. And like I said, there's
two people, Tom Brady and the great Joe Burrow.

Speaker 13 (01:19:04):
It just gets on my nerves how this guy, this cat.

Speaker 14 (01:19:08):
Talks about Joe Burrow. It's insane.

Speaker 2 (01:19:12):
Yeah, And look, I like those other quarterbacks a lot
like Lamar Jackson would get my MVP vote, and Josh Allen. Look,
I feel bad for him because I think he's played
well enough in some of these playoff games they've lost
to win. I just don't know. I don't know how
you could look at the Bengals failures this year, which
were stark and disappointing and which cost people their jobs,

(01:19:34):
and your main takeaway be it's on the quarterback, and
it's a reflection of the quarterback. The fact that they
finished with a winning record and the fact that they
at least went into the final game of the season
with a chance to make the postseason, to me, is
a It's indicative of Joe's greatness. He took a an

(01:19:55):
otherwise bad roster with an awful defense, a shaky offensive line,
and you could argue he was shaky coaching staff and
pulled them to with a game of the postseason, had
a winning record, and had they gotten in, He's why
you would have been hesitant to bet against them. I
do not know how you could look at this season's
failures and have your first takeaway be Joe is a

(01:20:16):
rung below a lot of those other quarterbacks you just mentioned.
I just I don't understand that.

Speaker 14 (01:20:21):
Let me ask you a question before I go. Do
you think sure Joe Josh Allen is better than Joe Burrow.
Let me give my take and then I'll listen to you.
Josh Allen, we went up to Buffalo and beat him.
They've been in the league seven years. Joe's been in five. Well,
Joe Burrow's been. He got hurt two seasons ago. Also,

(01:20:41):
he wasn't in. He didn't play for a couple of seasons.
You're telling me Josh Allen's better than Joe Burrow. Listen
to Michael Michael Parsons podcast. Listen to Troy Aikman. They
said Joe Burrows the best in football.

Speaker 2 (01:20:56):
Yeah, I think Joe Burrow is better. Josh Allen's a
terrific player, and I think the conversation is a little
bit different about Josh Allen this year because he dramatically
cut down on the interceptions, right. I mean, for years
there were so many instances where it just felt like
he wasn't very careful with the football, and he was
really good this year and they took away his top
wide receiver. So I really like Josh Allen, but man

(01:21:18):
for man player versus player, and you might say I'm biased,
and perhaps I am. If I had my choice to
build my franchise around Joe Burrow or Josh Allen, I'd
be happy with Josh. But my preference is Joe.

Speaker 14 (01:21:32):
I'm with you, and I just want the hold Cincinnati
to listen to unsportsmen like when he goes Chris Canty,
who's dumber in a box of rocks, goes after Joe
Burrow and they really, I mean, it's disgusting.

Speaker 13 (01:21:45):
I mean, you guys got.

Speaker 14 (01:21:46):
To listen to it from six to ten and he
surely don't know nothing about football. I know he won
with the Giants, but man, it's disgusted. That's all I
got to say.

Speaker 2 (01:21:57):
Thank you for the phone call and for the plug
of our morning show again six to ten, unsportsmanlike with
you got, I think Evan Cohen's on our show next week.
You got Evan, you got Michelle, you got Chris Canty.
We might have to get Chris Canty on. I know
we're gonna we're gonna have Evan on from New Orleans
next Wednesday. I think, look, man, I'm not telling you

(01:22:17):
that you can't look at some of those individual games
and go man, of Joe makes this throw or this play,
they win that game, and if they do, they're in
it like he's. No player is perfect. No player on
a team that disappoints is immune to at least some criticism.
But I cannot imagine looking at the Bengals season that

(01:22:38):
they had and using that to hand down an indictment
against the quarterback. I cannot relate to that. I don't
get it. And I actually that cut we played was
from yesterday's show, and I heard it. I didn't get
a chance to play it yesterday. And I respect Chris
Canty's opinion where he comes from, and you know his

(01:23:00):
his football bona fides are certainly bigger and better than mine.
But I cannot imagine looking at the Bengals failures this
season and using that to doc if you will, Joe Burrow.
It is a couple of minutes away from five o'clock.
We're gonna go to the Senior Bowl next on ESPN

(01:23:20):
fifteen to thirty. Get ready for the big game party
at Twin Peaks. You can going to reserve v chance
to win a thousand dollars. Enter this nationwide keyword on
our website. Credit that's credit Enter.

Speaker 8 (01:23:31):
It now, all right, so I do that.

Speaker 2 (01:23:35):
It's five after five ESPN fifteen thirty m O Edgar,
Thank you so much for joining us. Thrilled that you're here.
It's been busy. Reds have acquired a good letty believer,
Taylor Rodgers from the San Francisco Giants. It's it's not
often you see the Reds acquiring a guy in a
salary dump from another team. Gonna take on eleven to
twelve million dollars in salary. More on that coming up

(01:23:57):
in just a bit. Lots more on the bear cap.
I lost last night, you see, losing at Utah perhaps
in the game that was more frustrating than the blowout
on Saturday against BYU Xavier. Getting set for a big
test tonight and a big opportunity on the road against
Creighton will do that both teams coming up at five
point forty, and learn more about Eric all the Bengals

(01:24:18):
tight end and what he is going to be dealing
with as he misses all of twenty twenty five with
another knee surgery in the hopes that the Fairfield product
can get on the field in twenty twenty six. Meanwhile,
amid all of this, the draft process, which is long,
is getting underway officially this week with the Senior Bowl,

(01:24:40):
and we're gonna chat with Kelsey Conway tomorrow because she's
obviously had a chance to talk with folks like Duke Tobin.
But I wanted to set the tone with one of
the folks from Sumer Sports, Sam Brookhouse, who has been
on this show before, is Inmobile and is with us
right now. Sam, it's good to have thank you for

(01:25:00):
sitting through my long intro. What's up?

Speaker 5 (01:25:03):
All good? Appreciate you for having me. I'm reporting live
from Mobile for you.

Speaker 2 (01:25:08):
I appreciate you doing that. So you know, obviously there's
there is so much information that folks like yourself are
going to gather in the coming weeks. You know, the
combine is still a few weeks away, obviously pro days.
You know all the different metrics that teams are going
to use. But just from from from I guess the
starting line here as we begin this process, where is

(01:25:30):
this draft in your opinion at least, going to be deepest.

Speaker 5 (01:25:35):
I think the deepest portion of it will be the
edge rushing position, and that's what has proven out at
the Singer Bowl. You look at guys at the top
like Michael Williams, Guys the top like obdol Carter. Those
are people in discussion for top ten picks. But you
go down the Consensu's big board, including guys from small
schools like Mike Green from Marshall. There's also a great

(01:25:56):
Central Arkansas product that a lot of people like at
the Senior Bowl and even into you know, around the
hundredths where a guy like Josiah Stewart, a big name
from Michigan, fits and I really liked his performance at
the Super Bowl. I think at the Singer Bowl, I
think the edge position is probably where it's deepest this year.

Speaker 2 (01:26:14):
All Right, So I'll make this about what the Bengals
have because one of the more interesting dynamics. You know
that you saw the Bengals defense last year, right, it
was terrible. They had one good player, Trey Hendrickson. Trey
Hendrickson is going to be thirty one by the end
of next season. He's up for Defensive Player of the Year.
They're probably not going to extend him. And so I
think there's an argument that you know what ed draft

(01:26:35):
capital Trey Trey Hendrickson. There's obviously an argument that says,
are you nuts he's your one really good player. The
caveat is it is a really good class when it
comes to edge rushers, So how should that inform what
they do or don't do with Trey Hendrickson.

Speaker 5 (01:26:52):
I think it all comes down to how they view
this team and also how they approach the offense. He
Higgins being a free agent really changes stuff of how
they approach this team, and the extension talks with Jamar
Chase that we were talking about, you know, last summer
really will change their approach for this So I think

(01:27:13):
if they're still all in as they kind of were
this year they doubled down, they didn't deal with Trey
hendrick Sin or t Higgins at the deadline. I think
you probably stick with Trey, who had a Defensive Player
of the Year TAIPI year last year. It's immntally effective
and productive and has been for many many years, even
going back to his years in New Orleans. I think
you probably stick there. But we have also seen the

(01:27:34):
Bengals take the strategy of keep the player in the
short term draft behind them. We saw them do that
with Jesse Bates, which you know has had varying success,
and we saw them, you know, try to do that
to varying success as well at the wide receiver position
with Ti Higgins, with andre Yoshibas and Jermaine Burton in
the later rounds. I think that all is part of

(01:27:56):
the calculus. But I do think that they will be
able to get a quality edge rusher, whether that's Day
one or Day two, regardless of the approach, is this.

Speaker 2 (01:28:06):
A Is this going to be a good draft on
the offensive line, specifically on the interior.

Speaker 5 (01:28:13):
It's certainly looking like it. One of our favorite players
from the Senior Bowl, who's you know, a little not
well known from North Dakota State, great Sable. He's had
an excellent Senior Bowl. Really showed great blocking against some
very highly rated defensive linemen like Walter Nolan out of
Ole Myth. There's also some great tackles and some swing guys.
Kelvin Banks right now as a guy who's started to

(01:28:36):
go in the middle of the first round. I think
he could bump up depending on what the Patriots want
to do around Drake May for example. But he played
guard and played tackle. And at summer sports dot Com,
we have some good research done by my colleague Quinn
MacLean about how valuable swing offensive lineman can be to
teams like the Bengals who have been successful on offense
just need to plug a little hole, a couple holes,

(01:28:59):
and they're able to get guy who can play multiple
positions be very effective. So it is a pretty good
draft for offensive line this year, particularly when you're looking
at names like Kelvin Banks and you're looking at some
guys like Arianta Ursie who's had an excellent Singer Bowl
as well at the tackle position too.

Speaker 2 (01:29:18):
I'm going to ask you a question that if you chose,
you could spend the next forty nine minutes answering, because
they do have such a long to do list this offseason.
But you know, the last time we had you on,
we were talking about Jamar Chase, and because time is
a flat circle, we'll still talking about Jamar Chase. The
t Higgins thing, if you will, has changed because of
some of the things that Joe Burrow had to say

(01:29:39):
about him toward the end of the season. I asked
you about Trey Hendrickson. They're going to have money to spend. Obviously,
the draft is going to be very important to this
team as it relates to their defense. If if you're
Duke Tobin, and you are about to embark on a
very important offseason. Give me an idea of the things
that you would like to accomplish, the direction you're going

(01:30:01):
to go as it relates to some of their key decisions.

Speaker 5 (01:30:04):
Like t Higgins, I think you have to shore up
two positions. The first and the most important is the
cornerback position. Unfortunately, though, as I've been doing, you know,
prep for radio row in the Super Bowl, looking across
the market for our free agency approaches, this is not
a unique need. There's a lot of teams around the
league and get help in the cornerback position, and there's

(01:30:27):
not really a standout outside of Will Johnson and of
course Travis Hunter, who frankly could address any needs for
the Bengals this year as well, but probably won't get
to that level unless the Bengals decide to trade up,
which they don't historically do that fill that need at cornerback.
I was keeping a close eye out both of the
Shrine and Singer Bowl for anyone who could pop up,
a lot of people like Kobe Bryant out of Kansas today,

(01:30:50):
I like Quincy Riley out of Louisville. But there hasn't
been a breakaway top corner from any of these games.
And Will Johnson's the other guy who's at the top
from miss again, who we haven't seen play in any
All Star Games yet. And I think the second item
that they definitely have to shore up is t Higgins.
What they're going to do with him if they decide
to let him go, it's basically going to be Joe

(01:31:12):
Burrow and Jamar Chase against the world. Te Higgins was
able to eat up a lot of target share, and
he was able to be immensely effective in the red zone,
particularly when it came to the tested catches that Joe
Burrow trusted him to make. I don't know if andre Yoshibas,
I don't know if Jermaine Burton or any of the
tight ends could fill that, especially with leg you just

(01:31:33):
said about Eric Hall, the young tight end. They're going
to have to get another pass catcher for Burrow. I
think that's the second item which is on the list,
less so than the defense, less so than the quarnerback position, certainly,
but it's a place where decisions must be made, and
we'll see how we approach it, both in free agency
and the draft.

Speaker 2 (01:31:51):
So you mentioned an area of the team that was
not good last year. It got better at the end
of the season, mostly because they played bad quarterbacks. But
you know, they if they've invested a lot of draft
capital in the secondary, and that there's players like Cam Taylor,
britt And and Da Hill and DJ Turner and then
Josh Newton, like we're talking like day one, Day two,
guys that just last year didn't work out Jordan Battle

(01:32:13):
at the safety position. I think there's there's maybe a
school of thought that says you've got to you've got
to devote a lot of resources to the defensive line,
both inside and out, the offensive line, other areas of
the team, and so you know, maybe you're kind of
willing to run it back with some of these guys
in the secondary, especially with the new defensive coordinator. Is

(01:32:33):
there are there one or two players in that unit
that you go, you know what, maybe they haven't gotten
the results they're looking for yet, but they're worth investing
in and staying patient with. With the new DC in
twenty twenty five.

Speaker 5 (01:32:47):
It's gonna be interesting to see how they approach it.
I will note Al Golden obviously, now the decent's coordinator
there in Cincinnati. He did an excellent job of building
up those bbs and they're just in just slotting door moment.
Not to go on a tangent here where LSU formerly
known as DBU, could have had Marcus Freeman at the

(01:33:07):
defensive coordinator years ago. He goes on to Notre Dame,
ends up being the head coach, and then has better
dvs than LSU. All of a sudden, they have guys
who are going in the front half of Al Golden
was a major part of that, and I think if
that is the goal to develop those guys, especially the
young guys that they brought in to replaced guys like
Jesse Bates who was an All Pro years ago, I

(01:33:30):
think Al Goldon's probably going to be the guy to
be able to do it. It'll be interesting to see
how they approach it, given that seems to be the
style that he likes to play, really leaning on dvs
to make plays.

Speaker 2 (01:33:42):
Yeah, and you know, again, there's like I could look
at that collection of DB's and go, man really disappointed
last year. I could also look at them and go
but they've put a lot into those players. They drafted
them early for a reason. They've got other areas, you know,
let's just see if let's just see if a different
you know, DC and another year of experience could yield

(01:34:05):
better results with that group of corners. Sam, I know
your swamp man a lot going on down there. We
would do it again, I'm sure more than once this offseason.
Thank you for the time.

Speaker 5 (01:34:15):
Appreciate it.

Speaker 2 (01:34:18):
Same here, Sam Brookow Summer Sports at the Senior Bowl.
It is happening right now, practices than obviously the game
this week, and you've you've heard us talk about the
mock off season. Paul Danner Junior joins me on Tuesdays
the Athletic dot Com and we talk about this exercise
that he puts his readers through and you can go
to the piece that he wrote at the Athletic dot

(01:34:40):
Com and you can do it yourself. It's an Excel
spreadsheet or a Google doc spreadsheet and you can you
can you can do It's sort of a dumbed down version,
if you will, of what your boss might do, or
you might do it your work with with your budget
right where you have to make decisions, and these are
some of the decisions the Bengals are going to have
to make. And you can you use drop down menus

(01:35:02):
to extend certain players like t Higgins. You could remove players,
cut them, you could trade Trey Hendrickson, and you really
get a sense of of how number one, how many
things they have to accomplish this offseason, but also how
difficult some of these decisions are, and also how much
money they have to spend, and how much money they

(01:35:25):
can give themselves to spend if they choose to be
pretty heartless here and Paul and I talked about this,
not just on our show yesterday, but his podcast this morning,
the Growler Podcast, and we went in great detail. Jay
Morrison was with us two and we each had our
own spreadsheet. I'll have you listen to that if you
want to find out exactly what we did. But one

(01:35:46):
thing that I did is I cut seven players. If
you think of the history of the Bengals, I remember
when the Bengals cut George I. Loca. I think it
was George I. Locan Brandon Lafel maybe in the sameason,
but both those players were cut with years left on
their deal. I think with Georgia it was two and
with Brandon it was two as well, years left on

(01:36:08):
their deal.

Speaker 15 (01:36:09):
And it was.

Speaker 2 (01:36:09):
It's pretty shocking because typically, like you sign a three year,
four year contract with the Bengals, you're there for three
or four years. Historically speaking, they had never been the
sort of team that bailed from a contract before its expiration,
and they've since shown a willingness to do this. What
I did is with this exercise here I cut Sam Hubbard,

(01:36:32):
Sheldon Rankins, Alex Kappa, Geno Stone, Jermaine Pratt, Cordell Volson,
and Zach Moss. Now you might argue Sam Hubbard is
worth bringing back, though not at nine and a half
million dollars, and maybe Geno Stone is worth bringing back
because he did play better at the end of the year.
You do have a new defensive coordinator. But like we
talked about what the Bengals have to spend and the

(01:36:55):
financial chunk that t Higgins would be occupied if you extend,
if you signed him, and if you kept Trey Hendrickson,
the financial chunk that he would occupy. By cutting loose,
the seven players that I cut loose, I had like
ninety five million dollars to spend, and then if you
trade Trey Hendrickson you add sixteen mil to that, or

(01:37:18):
then if you don't sign t Higgins. You have a
lot of money to add to that, Like there's there's
a level of financial flexibility the Bengals can achieve if
they are willing to do what historically you don't identify
them with doing, which is just makes some cruel, cold
heartless cuts. In some cases the players who haven't meant

(01:37:38):
that much to this team, like Sheldon Rankins and Zach Moss,
and in some cases the players who have meant a
lot to this team, like Sam Hubbard and to a
degree like Jermaine Pratt. So go do the exercise the
Athletic dot com and Paul will thank you, and so
will I. Nineteen minutes after five o'clock, the Eric all
news is it sucks, and I don't have a mo

(01:38:00):
responsible way of putting in. It sucks for Eric, it
sucks for the team. A weird sort of dynamic here
where he had surgery after suffering an ACL tear in
college and then had the ACL tear in the NFL,
had surgery for that, but now needs surgery to go
fix stuff from the previous surgery from when he was

(01:38:20):
on Iowa. So we're gonna chat with doctor Adam Metzler
from worthow Cincy about what lies ahead for Eric here
in just a few minutes. The UC game last night
was I spent the first hour talking about it. Wes
Miller sounded defeated after the game last night, and I
guess you could you could understand why last night was
not about effort. It was about frankly basketball IQ. I

(01:38:46):
saw a team that last night in the game that
was kind of there for the taking, continued to shoot
itself in the foot with physical mistakes, bad shooting, but
also some metal mistakes that are frustrating as a fan,
and I'm sure very much so as a coach, And like,
this is no longer a team that's going through a

(01:39:06):
bad stretch. It's no longer a team that's just putting
up with some of those games that happened during the
course of a season. They've now lost seven out of
nine games. It's just not a very good team right now.
And it kills me to say that. Keg and Nicholson
coming up on that from Bearcat Journal in just about
twenty minutes and Rick browing on the Musketeers Xavier is good.

(01:39:29):
You might not be willing to go very yet you
will be. I think if they win tonight in Omaha
against Creighton Rick. On that topic and more coming up
in just about twenty five minutes as well, we do
have a poll up question on x thanks to our
friends that United Heartland Insurance. Whether it's your home, your car,
your business, especially your business, United Heartland Insurance can help

(01:39:50):
you when it comes to your insurance. Uhis dot com
United Heartland Insurance. The Reds offseason has been awesome, pretty good,
mildly disappointing, or a disaster. Taylor Rodgers is a good,
good acquisition. Maid Reds made Reds. Red's made a trade
with the Giants to acquire Taylor Rodgers, a good lefty reliever.

(01:40:13):
They badly needed bullpen help. Vote now at Moeger. I'm
not going awesome. I'm also not going mildly disappointing. I'm
going pretty good, pretty good. They've had a pretty good offseason.
Not great, not one that makes me feel like this
team is the favorite to win the National League Central,
but a pretty good offseason. Whether that's good enough, obviously,

(01:40:35):
time will tell. It's twenty two minutes after five o'clock
on Moeger. This is ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station.

Speaker 6 (01:40:43):
Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty traffic from.

Speaker 7 (01:40:48):
The UC Health Traffic Center. Expect more at uce Health,
chances to get you back to being. You visit ucehealth
dot On southbound seventy one it's an accident blocking the
ramp lane before reading Road. Police are there on the scene.
Traffic stop and go from Martin Luther King Junior Drive.

(01:41:11):
A fifteen minute delay in southbound seventy one seventy five
accident on the Collector ramp to Donaldson Road.

Speaker 11 (01:41:17):
I'm at ezelic with traffic.

Speaker 2 (01:41:19):
This all right. We do this on Wednesdays. It's typically
in the four o'clock hour where we talk with one
of the experts from Ortho Sincey Orthopedics and sports Medicine.
Ortho Since he has specialists, locations and services all over
the tri State, including walk in orthopedic urgent care at
five locations with extended evening and weekend hours in Edgewood

(01:41:41):
and Anderson. Learn more at Orthosincy dot com. That's ortho
ci Ncy dot com. Doctor Adam Metzler from Orthosinci is
with us because we've got to talk about Eric all. Unfortunately,
this kid has dealt with knee issues going back to
his college years and suffered the the injury, the ACL tear,

(01:42:01):
and his right knee in that game against the Raiders
in early November had surgery on it. We found out
yesterday that he's going to miss all of twenty twenty
five because he's dealing with complications from the previous knee
surgery that he had after he dealt with the injury
to his knee that he suffered in college. So let's

(01:42:23):
start with this. Is it common for something like this
for the effects of a previous ACL injury to affect
the surgery to repair the ACL a second time?

Speaker 16 (01:42:32):
Yeah, I think it's really it's a culmination of the
original injury. The reality is is that what people don't
realize is about seventy five percent of the time when
you have an ACL injury, you also have a cartilage injury,
either to the smooth cartilage of the joint or a
meniscus tears. About seventy five percent of the time that happens.
So when that happens, then we need to try to

(01:42:54):
address those on the original surgery, try to repair meniscus
or try to get the cartilage to grow and repair
that as well, and so as ideal as we like
to have things as sometimes things don't always heal, and
it's not to the issue of the surgeon per se,
just more of sometimes things just don't heal even when
you repair them. And so you know, when you have

(01:43:15):
a previous injury, a previous surgery specifically to the ACL,
and you have meniscus tears or cartilage injuries, the second
surgery and can be more challenging from the fact that
you've a had previous surgeries, a previous surgery performed, and
other things involved, such as cardillage or meniscus tears. So
that is why your evaluation of the physical exam and
your MRI is so important when you're prepping for revision

(01:43:39):
or redo surgeries and they can lead to excuse me,
more complicated or complex secondary surgeries.

Speaker 2 (01:43:46):
So this might be a stupid question, but could the
second surgery maybe undo the effects of the surgery that
he just had.

Speaker 16 (01:43:56):
Yeah, I really wouldn't look at it that way. I'm
really unfortunately without more exactly the insight of what it is.
The if he had a cardios injury, for example, it
may take longer for the cartilage to grow. It's oftentimes
the second injury can have an impact a new injury too,
so he may have had additional injury to something new
and something that was already repaired in the past. Even

(01:44:17):
if it was done perfectly, you can have a perfect
meniscus repair and have full heeling of that and then
retare what was repaired before, even in a perfect surgery.
And I tell my patients, and I've done fourteen hundred
ACL surgeries in my career here at Orthosienci. Look, I
mean I've done. I do one hundred fifty five acls
a year. And a perfect you tour what you're born with.
You tore your ACL, you tour your meniscus, and I

(01:44:39):
can do a perfect job on your ACL, on your
meniscus CA and you can retear what we do. And
so I think when you say things that way to patients,
I think they really start understanding a.

Speaker 3 (01:44:48):
Little bit more that you he tore what he was
born with.

Speaker 16 (01:44:50):
You can retear what a surgeon does, and we try
to do everything we can our ability to make that
as perfect as possible.

Speaker 3 (01:44:55):
So, and I don't really like saying undoing something that.

Speaker 16 (01:44:58):
Was done from before, but I'd say, if we've got
a problem, we got to try to solve it together
as a team.

Speaker 2 (01:45:03):
So it's a lot of surgeries in a short amount
of time for a young guy. Are there concerns about
there just being an accumulation of procedures like this?

Speaker 16 (01:45:13):
Yeah, anytime you're doing a multitude of surgeries on an athlete,
much less a professional, high level athlete, you know, it's
a it's a big toll. It's a big toll mentally.
I think we lose focus of these young kids. These
are young kids, and you know they're trying to make
in the NFL. It's it's tough mentally to recover from
a primary acal.

Speaker 3 (01:45:29):
Much less of revision.

Speaker 16 (01:45:31):
You know, return to play rates aren't as high with
revision acal surgeries as they are primary. But yeah, there's
a cumulative effect on multiple surgeries and the abilities for
these athletes to get back to their previous level of function.
And I think, you know, the goal is to be
positively your athletes do a great job surgically and many,
many of our athletes are able to get back to
their previous level function with significant rehab and recovery. And

(01:45:53):
it sounds like in this situation. You know, as injury
happened in November, they're going to take that full year
of recovery to optimize his recovery, cartilage procedure, and growth
and get that ACL to be as strong as it
possibly can without pushing the envelope too fast. And I
think sometimes we try to push that envelope a little
too quick and push biology a little too fast, and

(01:46:13):
that's where we can sometimes run into trouble. When you're
dealing with NFL athletes every game that's a paycheck game,
So we have to be cautious of biology while also
understanding the delay for athletes to make money why they're
so young and healthy.

Speaker 2 (01:46:26):
Doctor Adam Metsler from Orthosensia is with us talking about Eric. Also,
Let's say that the best possible outcome is what we
get and he's able to play for the Bengals in
twenty twenty six, which admittedly feels like forever away. But
let's assume that the procedures go well, the rehab and
recovery go well, and he's back on the field. Given
the fact that he has dealt with multiple ACL injuries

(01:46:48):
and surgeries, are there extra precautions that can be taken
to prevent him from having to go under the knife again.

Speaker 3 (01:46:56):
I think the number one thing is giving his body
time to recover.

Speaker 16 (01:46:58):
From a strength standpoint, you got to get him as
strong as possible to support that knee joint.

Speaker 3 (01:47:02):
The stronger the.

Speaker 16 (01:47:03):
Kneejoint is, the less likely there is for re injury.
Bracing is very debatable with return to play for ACL injuries.
For our for many of our patients, we use bracing
for just a short period of time to get them
more mentally ready to play. At the NFL, wearing a
brace for a high level athlete other than maybe alignment
is hard. It's hard. It does slow you down a notch,

(01:47:24):
and at that level every bit count. So you know,
they might see him wear a specialized brace to help
protect him.

Speaker 3 (01:47:30):
To answer that question, but at.

Speaker 16 (01:47:32):
That point you'd be looking at gosh, you know, eighteen
months plus from the secondary surgery. To hope is that
there's enough stability of the knee and strength around the
knee that he doesn't have to do that. But we
might see them employee that for a little bit, as
we saw Joe Burrow did with his first season back
as well.

Speaker 3 (01:47:48):
If we all remember that.

Speaker 2 (01:47:50):
I feel like ACL surgeries have become so commonplace that
we have almost obscured how complex and how difficult to
recover from they can be.

Speaker 14 (01:48:01):
Absolutely.

Speaker 16 (01:48:02):
I think there's so much media around ACL surgery. It's
rather fascinating. And someone quoted the other day there's as
much ACL research as there is heart research, which is
rather interesting to think about. And you know that's in
some ways a little concerning, but anyway, on a side note, yes,
it is extremely common. It's extremely difficult to recover from

(01:48:25):
an ACL surgery. And I'll just use the basic references.
If you break your collar bone and I fix your collarbone,
if everything goes well, you're back returning to contact sports
and ten to twelve weeks maybe earlier.

Speaker 3 (01:48:36):
And that's because.

Speaker 16 (01:48:37):
Bones heal really fast, and that's awesome, and if we
do a great job surgically, that bone's going to heal fast.
But ACL surgery you take a piece of tissue, your
patel attendant or your quads, and then you make them
an ACL well that has to integrate inside of a
knee and takes nine months plus to become biologically stable.
And there's a lot of quaterceps and handstring strength, muscle
recovery that has to accommodate that as well, versus when

(01:49:00):
you break the ball. My three months, most of our
kids you're returning back to sports. And I think that's
the challenge when you have complex ligament injuries like actal injuries,
and it's a hard pill for patients and families to swallow.
Whether it's a Division I athlete, a professional athlete, or
a local high school athlete. That's the time frame it takes.
And these are all scientifically proven timeframes, international recommendations, and

(01:49:22):
so that I think is the hardest thing to swallow
for our patients is that the time frame it takes,
and it's mentally and physically a huge challenge and hurdle
for the patients to overcome.

Speaker 2 (01:49:33):
Yeah, that definitely makes sense. Doctor Adam Metsler from Orthos
since the terrific insight. I do appreciate it, man, Thank you.

Speaker 3 (01:49:41):
You guys have a great day. Always appreciate it.

Speaker 2 (01:49:43):
Awesome stuff, great insight. Doctor Adam Metzler from Orthos Sincy.
I say this every single week because it's true. The
great thing about Ortho Sincy is they have specialists in
locations all over the Tri State, including walk in orthopedic
urgent care weekdays nine a to nine p and Saturday's
nine a to one p at both Edgewood and Anderson.
It's easy because you don't need an appointment, and it's

(01:50:04):
definitely cheaper than going to an er when you have
an urgent orthopedic injury. Good to Orthosinc dot com. That's
ortho ci Ncy dot com. Good stuff from earlier in
the show on the Bearcats and the Musketeers and the Norse.
Next on ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 6 (01:50:22):
Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty Traffic from.

Speaker 7 (01:50:27):
The UC Health Traffic Center. Expect more at uce Health,
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(01:50:48):
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Speaker 10 (01:50:58):
Cincinnati Sports Day Sports Station. This is ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 2 (01:51:05):
Do some college basketball last night? Frustrating sobering, maddening, deflating,
pick pick the word. It's up to you. Kegan Nickoson
covers U See basketball the Bearcats losing both games in
Utah Bearcat Journal dot com. I started our conversation by
asking what was his main takeaway from last night.

Speaker 8 (01:51:26):
I think last night was kind of it was a
realization of this is not a slumping team.

Speaker 3 (01:51:34):
This is just a bad team.

Speaker 8 (01:51:37):
I think through the stretch there was a lot of
poor performances where you think, you know, they can play
better than this. They're just in a bad stretch. Last night,
they just could not take advantage of any opportunities they
were given by Utah, and there were plenty of them.
So I think last night, seventh straight game they lost

(01:51:58):
in the rebounding battle, offense still looks pretty bad. I
think that was the realization of, Okay, this is this
is now a season where you have to make the
best out of it, and you have to get the
best possible season out of it, and kind of the
pressure of trying to make an intape tournament is gone.

Speaker 2 (01:52:20):
Yeah, I would I would agree with that. You know,
folks will say, well, they still have more than than
half of their big twelve games remaining, and I would
say to that they still have the likes of Houston
and Iowa State, and a good West Virginia team on
their schedule twice, a Baylor team that beat them by
twenty five points. Heck, they play Utah again for what
it's worth. But like I certainly do expect them at

(01:52:41):
times to play better, I think whatever their efforts are
collectively are not going to add up to it being
enough to even put this team close to the bubble,
much less in the NCAA tournament. And so we're dealing
with the inevitability of almost the unthinkable a month ago
and this team being on the outside looking income in March.

Speaker 8 (01:53:00):
Yeah, and I think that's the that's the craziest part.
I mean, when you think about all these Cincinnati teams
and the preseason expectations like Reds and our Central favorites,
Bengal is one of the hottest Super Bowl picks, and
then somehow the Cincinnati basketball team has topped all of
it by just how bad they've been. It's truly one
of the more confusing things that I've ever covered, and

(01:53:24):
just the start contrast between you know, last year's team
had a legitimate chance if the ball goes a different way,
just a couple of times to be in the NCAA
Tournament with a pretty less superior team compared to this year.
Like they're supposed to be better in almost every aspect
and they've been worse in almost every aspect. So it

(01:53:48):
truly is mind boggling. It's something that we're gonna have
to look into and get some more information out of
in the in the coming months and coming weeks. But yeah,
I really I have no idea what to make.

Speaker 2 (01:54:01):
What's been from your perspective the most there's there's lots
of disappointments, right, but what's at the top of the
list for you.

Speaker 8 (01:54:11):
It's got to be rebounding. I mean, I know I
probably sound like a broken record, and you know Wes
Miller has said, and all the press conferences and a
lot of the stuff. It's it comes down to defense
and rebounding because that's stuff you can control a lot
of time. The ball is not going to go through
the bucket and that that's going to happen as a

(01:54:31):
basketball player, and you can acknowledge that as a coach.
But a lot of rebounding and a lot of defense
is just effort, and it's it's not being seen, and
I really really think a message has to be sent
that this is it's not going to be tolerated and
that this is not the standard of Cincinnati basketball that

(01:54:51):
it's supposed to being played. So, you know, that's something
that they were able to hang their hat on last year.
They they did not go two consecutive games. Last year,
they were beat on the boards, and now they've lost
seven straight games. That's unheard of. Like if you had
to ask me today if that has ever happened in
the history of Cincinnatiman's basketball, I very confidently say no,

(01:55:15):
it hasn't. Knowing the quality of coach and knowing the
standard that has been set with this program, that that
just can't happen. And that's the signal for if you
can't do the thing that you're supposed to be best at,
and it's probably the easiest thing to control. That's where
I don't I don't see any positives or any momentum

(01:55:36):
coming out of.

Speaker 3 (01:55:36):
The rest of the season.

Speaker 2 (01:55:39):
What has happened to Dan Skilling?

Speaker 8 (01:55:44):
That's a great question. I truly have no idea. You know,
there was a start of the start of the second
half yesterday, he kind of took it upon himself to
initiate the offense almost and just kind of drive to
the hoop. I think it was a two or three
consecutive possessions where he just tried to do that crazy

(01:56:05):
layup where he's kind of twisting contorting his body. It
was multiple misses and it went the other way for
Utah down the court, and pretty sure they scored a
bucket on multiple of those possessions. The shot has not
developed like he said it was going to when he
first came back, and early in Big Twelve play it was,
but that's kind of fallen off. But again, it's the rebounding.

(01:56:29):
I mean, he is the best rebounder on this team.
Him and Dylan Mitcheur up there like going they're good.
They're going head to head for the best rebounder on
this team because that's me. He did so good last
year and ever since he came back from the injury,
that's just been something he's really struggled with. And I
asked Wes Miller about it, and he said, you know,
it's kind of a part of him developing as a

(01:56:50):
player and turning into a more well rounded basketball player
and taking your lumps in some areas and trying to
improve others. And I just don't know why we're taking
kid out of his identity and just being an extremely
athletic and aggressive rebounder and getting the ball down the
court and transition. I really think that has said Cincinnati

(01:57:12):
back a lot.

Speaker 2 (01:57:13):
Good stuff Keig and nickoson Bearcat journal dot com. Meanwhile,
Xavier is getting set to play Creighton tonight, the Musketeers
coming off that home win against Yukon. I asked him
a question that I don't think anybody even would have
dreamed of asking just a couple of weeks ago. I
think it's worth asking today. So I asked, it, is
Xavier good?

Speaker 12 (01:57:34):
I mean, we have to start giving some credence to
that fact, right, Like the winever Marquette was one thing
at Marquette, but you follow it up with and again,
they obviously blew the lead at Saint John's, but they
did have a sixteen point lead in the second half
at Saint John's's, in my opinion, the worst matchup in
the conference for them, and then they held on and
beat Yukon.

Speaker 3 (01:57:53):
At home on Saturday.

Speaker 12 (01:57:55):
So they're definitely playing better basketball. Than they were three
weeks ago. I think the d fense is much improved
since that point. But yeah, I think part of it
is the league. They match up better within the league
than maybe we thought they would when they lost to
you know, those five out of six games through that
stretch in in mid December and early January. But part

(01:58:16):
of it also as they're playing much better.

Speaker 2 (01:58:19):
I thought late in the late in the first half,
you know, Xavier played from ahead, Yukon jumped up three points,
four points, and I kind of kept waiting for the
other shoe to drop and it didn't. And I think
two months ago the other shoe does drop. Maybe a
month ago the other shoe does drop and it didn't.
Can they bottle what Jerome Hunter gave him on Saturday

(01:58:41):
and apply that to a game like tonight.

Speaker 13 (01:58:45):
That's a good question. I mean, when you're looking at
what trum.

Speaker 12 (01:58:47):
Hunter accomplished in that game only playing thirteen minutes, that's
the thing. I think we've been used to Jerome playing more.
So when you look at it and see that he
has twelve points and five boards, it's like, okay, pretty
good stat line. But when you realize he did that
twelve and five and just thirteen minutes and you see
some of the big plays he made in the second
half of that game. It definitely lends some credency idea

(01:59:08):
that maybe Jerome Hunter is starting to get more.

Speaker 13 (01:59:11):
Right physically again, and maybe there's some.

Speaker 12 (01:59:14):
Upside there for Xavier when you're looking at the bench
and the lack of firepower that they've dealt with all season.
If Jerome Hunter could start returning to the form we
saw right before he had the last year or two
years of catastrophic injury history that he just had, man
that would be a huge boost for Xavior in this
late season stretch.

Speaker 2 (01:59:35):
Can they split with Creighton?

Speaker 12 (01:59:39):
I don't know that that's going to tell us a
lot about what happens the rest of the way, because
as good as Xavier is playing right now, winning for
if their last five, they still have to win a
lot of games and there's not a lot of margin
for air down the stretch if they want to put
themselves in position for an that large fit. So they're
going to remain if they continue to win, they're going

(02:00:01):
to remain on the cut line for basically the rest
of the season. We're going to be living and dying
pretty much with every game, and so finding a way
to split with Creighton would be absolutely huge for this team.
They almost have to do that, in fact, and if
they can somehow find a way to win the one
tonight in Omaha.

Speaker 13 (02:00:18):
That would go a long way, because we know how.

Speaker 3 (02:00:20):
Important those quad one wins on.

Speaker 13 (02:00:22):
The road are when it comes to bid selection time.

Speaker 2 (02:00:25):
I'm not used to looking at the bottom half of
the Horizon League standings and seeing Northern Kentucky, and yet
that's where they are after five consecutive losses. They're obviously
not going to win the Horizon League. Darren Hornis talked
often about what matters to us are the games we
play in the Horizon League tournament. Can they get this
thing going back in the right direction in time for

(02:00:49):
them to have the sort of chance we're accustomed to
them having in the Horizon League tournament.

Speaker 12 (02:00:55):
Yeah, And I've been asked that question a few times
in terms of the timing of all of this getting
late for NKU, and the reality is, well, no, not really.

Speaker 3 (02:01:04):
I mean last year when they hit their.

Speaker 12 (02:01:06):
Three game skit, and that's different from a five game
skit obviously, but when they hit their rough patch, when
we were all talking about oh no, maybe this isn't
going to be one of those years for NKU where
they turn it on late in the year.

Speaker 3 (02:01:17):
It was right about this time.

Speaker 12 (02:01:18):
It was their last two games of January and their
first game of February that they lost consecutively, and then
they turned it on and really played well down the
stretch into the postseason and they ended up in the
semi finals in Indianapolis. Again, they can still do that
in terms of having enough time and being counted enough
to make that type of run in the Horizon League,
but at some point you have to.

Speaker 3 (02:01:40):
Start showing it.

Speaker 12 (02:01:41):
And the problem for this group is right now that
the last few games they've played, you know, especially the
one against Milwaukee, which they lost by twenty points at home,
they're not showing those signs that they're starting to head
in that direction.

Speaker 2 (02:01:53):
Rick Boring, Musketeer Report dot Com. On the Call Tomorrow night,
Xavier and Detroit Mercy in Detroit Live on ESP fifteen thirty.
We are done tomorrow in the show. Chad Brendle, Kelsey
Conway and millions of others. Have a great night. Thank
you for listening. Thanks to Tara Bland for producing, and
we'll talk to You tomorrow with three oh five on

(02:02:13):
ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports.

Speaker 6 (02:02:15):
Station Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty Traffic.

Speaker 7 (02:02:24):
chances to get you back to being you. Visit UCHealth
dot com. It's an accident on Clifton Avenue at Martin
Luther King Drive. Disabled vehicle Dana Avenue. That's over at
Madison Road. We'rethound seventy one. An accident off on the

(02:02:47):
left shoulder that after Martin Luther King Junior Drive. Police
are there on the scene on that ezelk with traffic.

Speaker 3 (02:02:54):
This report is sponsored by Rapid Radios.

Speaker 2 (02:02:57):
Rapid Radios are

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