#sportsreportsasordered - BLUE CHALK

[00:00:07] Yes, you are now listening to the sounds of Sports Reports As Ordered. And we got Jersey in the house. You're the one and only. The world-renowned, born in Texas, raised in VA. He is Mr. Lottie. And do me a favor out there. Don't bring feelings to a fat fight. Don't do it.

[00:00:36] But respect New Jersey because they got sold. Rutgers University has the largest jazz library in the world. What up, Boney James? And then of course you got me, your unorthodox statistician coming to you live from the Alamo. I do believe in Joe Hendry. I go left so much that you thought I was southpaw. I am 2-5. Tonight, we're gonna talk about Demetrius Ja Morant.

[00:01:05] We got some thoughts on that. We're gonna try to solve tanking in the NBA. True. And of course tomorrow, there is chalk everywhere. All the number one seeds. Final four. Let's get it. Like, review, subscribe, share, rate, do all the free things. Do all the good things. Because while you're doing the good things grab you a liquid death. Yes, sir. And Mr. Logical. I'm listening. Speaking of which.

[00:01:35] Speaking of New Jersey. My son got a letter in the mail from Seton Hall today. You know what I'm saying? Hollaback. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. Up in the East Orange. You know what I'm saying? But yo, so I've been watching basketball this week. And I've been trying to keep up with all the scoring. But all I see is Ja Morant going pew-poo. Like, and look man, look. I like to have fun. I like to fuck around.

[00:02:05] All that good stuff, right? But I hate. I don't absolutely despise when people say, well, he did it. Or LeBron did it. And Austin Reeves did it. And Buddy Hill, I don't care. Just because they did something and got away with it don't mean you should repeat that behavior. If you come out here and beat on some girl and you didn't go to jail for it, that don't mean I get to beat on a girl and be like, he didn't go to jail.

[00:02:34] Why am I going to jail? Because I'm responsible for myself. Ja is responsible for himself. Factual. And none of those people got the record that he got, so to speak. Not that he's a real criminal and all that. Yeah, it's not a real criminal. And that's- I mean, he did beat up the kid and all that. That kid probably deserved it. Who knows? No one knows. I mean, you get in a fistfight at a basketball game. Yeah, it's probably not a good idea to fight a minor. My problem is this.

[00:03:04] I have a good friend of mine. Shout out to Jerry Montgomery, South Carolina's own. He said, listen, man. My sister went to high school with John Morant. Yeah. He's like, his dad used to cut hair in the neighborhood. People knew who he was. He had a nice, good country life. And it's all fun. My problem is that- I've talked about this a couple times. Like me and Rachel watching this show and the character just kept lying. Like you needed help. You needed this information, but they just kept-

[00:03:34] The character kept lying. And like when people just keep lying, it bothers me. And I get it. If you get caught right-handed in some situation and you try to lie your way out of it, I understand. Listen, you want your freedom. You do whatever you gotta do to get your freedom. I don't like when people lie to perpetuate like a personality or stereotype or trick that they don't possess and expect people to go along with it. And because it's fraudulent, you start doing extra over-the-top stuff.

[00:04:03] Like the video, like all the stuff you got in trouble with the gun, you know, you're allowed to own a gun in the United States. Second Amendment. That's your prerogative. My problem was the Instagram video where his boy cut over to him and he was flexing with the gun and then came out later that it's a lighter. Okay.

[00:04:27] If it's a lighter, why are you fronting like a surreal gun for your boy's Instagram Live who had like a few hundred followers? So it was like, why are you- And this was after you was already in trouble. Remember there was an incident with the Pacers where allegedly his crew made guns. But okay, with that, that I'm not, I don't want to justify that, but it's like, okay, that's their knucklehead behavior. They are, they were trying to act tough.

[00:04:57] But you were trying to act tough with a fake gun. This only perpetuates the cycle. Like you were not that guy. Clarence. Because soon as you got hemmed up for it, he was like, yo, what's a lighter? And then he had that little BS video where he lit the candle with the gun. Like that's not making it better. The problem is you don't, I don't know who he listens to in his camp, but his camp is not talking to him.

[00:05:25] Like, like, listen, there's more of you in this league. You haven't had, you don't have the cache to be, to be irreplaceable. Anthony Edwards is already on. Anthony Edwards has already been in movies on Netflix. Man, I was about to bring him up too. Jason Tatum is already on championship. Jalen Brown is on. Jalen Brown has the same basketball time, effort, cache, contract.

[00:05:53] He teaches classes at MIT and Harvard in the summer. So you can do basketball and then do something that's, that's not quote unquote street. And still have credibility on the basketball court, because that's the only place you really need people who see you, who don't know you to give you any credibility. Like, but we're like, all I need to know if you're a good basketball player or not. Like, I don't need, I don't need you to give me this story. Like you have all this other street shit going on.

[00:06:23] Cause like at the end of the day, if you're not playing basketball, I'm not going to follow you doing street stuff. So like, you seem to be a good basketball player. You don't have to like perpetuate this other stereotype and this, this, this, this non element to your existence just, just for kicks. So keep doing that. The shooting thing is like, you know, you have a literally part of the plan, a target on your back. And you're doing this is like, you're not, you're not buttoned up against the system.

[00:06:52] You're not fighting against an, you know, an equal inequality in the NBA is like they're telling you not to do gun signals after you, after you make a shot. Just don't do it. Well, you know, it's, it's, it's funny that you brought up Anthony Edwards. Cause I was going to bring that up too. Like the NBA has had an awful year as far as narratives and talk about the game coverage, you know?

[00:07:18] So we were all talking about the all-star game and how bad it was, you know, before that we were talking about how they only talk about two or three topics or two or three people throughout the whole league. So then from there, you know, you got Anthony Edwards out here doing whatever he's doing with these baby mamas and cool. That happened off the court, but it's still a stain on the league. You know what I mean? It's still a product that you're trying to sell to the public. And these are the side stories.

[00:07:47] I think so, but what, what, what not, not maybe not on its own, not on its own, but when you put it all together, you know, in the, because the NBA is already getting negative coverage as it is. And a lot of the coverage has nothing to do with basketball, you know, whether it's LeBron versus Stephen A Smith, whether it's KD going at people on Twitter, it's always something other than the basketball. So like, if I was Adam Silver, you know, who's pretty toothless, it seems pretty spineless. It seems he's a player.

[00:08:16] He's a player's commissioner. He's a punk, but he's also a, an owners. The owners have left. Everybody has leverage on him, right? The owners have leverage on them. The players do. So it's basically, he'll go to one room and they'll say, you're going to do all this. And then he comes back and he demands, he goes to the middle. Those are the podium demands that the players have to do whatever.

[00:08:45] Cause the owner says so. And then he'll go to another room with the, with the players and the players like, listen, we not doing this. And then he'll go back to the middle and say, Hey, talk with the players. The players are only going to wear their own shoes whenever they want. And they're only going to, they, they want 72 bottles of Gatorade on the sideline. So we're going to make that happen. And the owner's like, yeah, what the hell? He's like, then he go. So like, he just plays like, like pickleball with his emotions and they play, they play him to that fact. But some of that stuff he can't control.

[00:09:17] No. And I think the narrative that the NBA is like, I don't think is that, that much bad press in NBA. I think he's just not widespread. Well, no, I think they need to do more like to, to, to, to highlight other players. What we were talking about, what we were talking about the coverage of the league, mostly done by older players, mostly done by inside the NBA, you know? So, so you're, so the product is being shit on.

[00:09:46] And then you turn around and you got these types of stories. And I'm not saying that Adam Silver needs to suspend John Moran or anything, you know, crazy like that, you know? So there's two things you could do. You either ban that celebration or you call John as the commissioner and just have a conversation to say, look, you've already been in trouble. You've been suspended. You got to be smart enough to not do these things.

[00:10:10] Like what you're doing is probably harmless in the grand scheme, but you got these targets on your back from things that have happened that you brought up before. So from that standpoint, I need you to take care of yourself. You know, saying there's only so much I can protect you and I need his daddy or somebody, you know, sitting next to a Bella danger. You know, everybody. Yeah. You know, sitting next to a Bella danger. I ain't even going to hate on that.

[00:10:36] But I'm just saying like, you know, your dad, like dad, go talk to his dad. His dad's on the tank. I mean, his dad was out here trying to find Uncle Shay, right? His dad. I don't think this actually, I don't think that's smoke you want. Basketball players always think they can fight. It's like, listen dog, you run and jump. None of that's going to help you in a fight unless you can jump kick. So you weigh one 95 stay out of these street fights with Shannon Sharp, even with them bad knees and hips. He can still get a grapple on you.

[00:11:07] It's I think team rent is like living the ultimate basketball dad reality. He's living vicariously through his son's success. And I'm with it. You know, if my son is able to continue his success through all the sports that he plays like today, they had a great lacrosse game because across town rival is always great because the parents always end up cussing each other out. Every time we played in school, no matter what the sport is, we just have a rivalry at any age.

[00:11:37] You'll hear mom cuts another mom out when we play against Seneca. It just happens every time they won a tough game. But I wouldn't argue with another parent talk about how good my son is compared to his son. I wouldn't be on the sideline drinking and acting up knowing that my son is going through a public image crisis. You know, maybe I'm in the booth with the owner.

[00:11:59] Maybe I'm showing like, hey, we have a different connection with this team in this city than just me getting a limelight sitting courtside with porn stars and other celebrities sitting next to usher, whatever the case. And I think sometimes we just we just need to shine too much. And it's like, you know, that shine comes with. That highlights some stuff.

[00:12:23] And then when you start getting picked that now, you feel like you've been targeted is like, no, you are acting like a target. Like I tell you something real quick. I sent this video to Rachel this week because we we walk around New York City and they played a video to some convicts of like people just walking like an hour long footage of just people walking back and forth from the same spot. And they were like, which people would you go after? And they picked people who deliberately did certain that weren't deliberate in their actions. Like this person is not paying attention. I'd go after them.

[00:12:52] This person is on their phone head down. I go after them. But the person who's standing up upright, understanding the situation, understanding brevity of situation, paying attention, that person doesn't get targeted. That person is Jalen Brown. That person is Jason Tatum. That person is Shay. That person is Austin Reeves. All these guys have access to the same things that are corrupting these guys and making them act a certain way. And it's not happening for every team.

[00:13:21] Kawhi Leonard's not in any scandals. Hell, even Paul George. Never in anything. James Harden is always in the line like he's always our rappers never has any of these problems. It's like he understands that, listen, the main thing is basketball. That gives me access to these other things. And team Moran has to tell John, like John, you have access to everything you need. You have a Nike deal already. Your shoes should be dropping. You have the same type of shoe that people like.

[00:13:47] You have more positive things going on via basketball, even with all the stuff you have going on. The reason that he has that shoe deal is because of the whole drama with Kyrie. So you were kind of gifted that you were gifted a shoe deal. That was probably just like the design. I don't think it was a very Kyrie like design, but it was close. It just didn't have like a strap or anything on it. But means to say you have that deal.

[00:14:12] So it was like you have the contract extension as that you currently you have the rookie extension that was bigger than Zion Williamson who went number one. So you're so they already showed you then we're going to pay you more than the guy that got drafted ahead of you. You know, so it's so many things. I think the so the coach doesn't give you that many touches. If you shot 51 percent from the field versus 43, you average 28 to 29 points.

[00:14:40] You know, what's crazy about what you just said. John Morant has not played in 10 straight games in three years. Twenty twenty two was the last time that John Morant played in 10 consecutive games. So I don't want to hear anything about his touches or lack thereof. Be on the court. Let me know that I can trust you and I will put the ball in your hands. If you're not going to be on the court.

[00:15:09] How can I trust you? I got to see who else can handle the ball when you handle the ball and I got Scottie Pippen Jr. back here who can play. So, you know, so that's the thing. Right. It's all about accountability. It's about being a man. It's not necessarily about we're going to judge you. We're going to trash you or any of those type of things like you're doing these things that nobody's going out of their way to find. There's no there's no reports of your locker room behavior.

[00:15:37] This is stuff that you're putting on camera and right to the during timeouts and during moments. Raymon Green, give me a break running over to the ref like that to try snitching. You know, saying yeah, like what snitch. It was like I like Steph's face was hilarious during the whole thing, but then but buddy Hill was doing it right back at him. So you know what I mean? It was just so. So I don't know what's going on, but you know, I don't like that stuff anyway, because in the NFL, you know, they were doing that, you know, Drake London when he scored that touchdown against Philly to win the game.

[00:16:06] You know, and Kyron Lacey. That was the thing that Kyron Lacey did. It all so like and that's the other thing about it. Right. Like why are you doing the same celebrations as everybody else anyway? Do something when you're not violent. And you're not like you don't have to be doing like this like that. That makes sense. If he walks around with the chokehold, that makes sense. We saw him choke Rudy Gobert.

[00:16:32] You know, like he did this like if he's doing this because he always kicking people. Yeah, like you know, like he did that. Get your own celebration. It doesn't have to involve a gun, you know, because regardless if you regardless of what you want, there are kids looking up to you. You know, there are kids by asking their parents for your jersey. You know, so the only thing you're affecting is you and potentially your bottom line. You know, that is what it boils down to.

[00:17:02] So Mr. Logical. Yeah. Memphis let go of their coach last week. Some people said, oh, they throwing the season away. You got teams out here like Utah getting fined $100,000 for not playing Laurie marketing. You know, you got talk all over the TV. Is Washington going to get the number one pick? Is Charlotte going to get the number one pick? How can we stop thinking? Can't.

[00:17:28] I think you have an idea that says you can and that's why I said you can't. Because. I got a couple ideas. Because you already have provisions in place to find teams for sitting guys who shouldn't sit. You have. Injury report violations that cost teams money. Sitting the guy when he in the when he isn't when he isn't injured.

[00:17:57] All that stuff is going to cost you money. But ultimately, the wins and losses are going to dictate your position. No matter what you do. Losing is always going to help you. In the end when it comes to. Where you pick in the following year's draft. Because. You want Perry in the league, which is the ultimate.

[00:18:23] Having parity in your league is what every commissioner wants. You want a superstar team. You want a superstar player and a big market and that team be successful. That's one check mark. Right. You want a good rival for that said team and they have a marketable superstar. You want your young players to pop immediately. This is any sport.

[00:18:48] Because you want young fans to identify with the young player and buy the young players jersey. And now they follow that player through their career. You want all these things to pop. And you want parity. You don't want the same teams every year. Like. The Nuggets have Jokic and they're going to be in the mix every year. Every single year. But if we still, if we still were in this era where. That run where you had. Cavs versus Warriors. If that went on for seven years.

[00:19:17] The league would not be happy. Mm-hmm. So you're going to have to find a way to get these teams out at the bottom. Those players. So it's never easy and it's not a guarantee. It. If you look at football. We talked about the lovey Smith situation in Houston. When he decided to go for two in the wind and they fired him. And then ended up getting the number two pick instead of number one. Football is very clear. Like, okay, you got the worst record.

[00:19:47] You're going to get the best. You're going to get the best opportunity to draft first. In basketball, there's still a good percentage. And you're going to talk about like what the players teams. The bottom team. So 30, 29 and 28 have the same odds of landing number one pick. So I just feel like if you keep the odds where they are. It's good to go because they're the team is still going to try it. Right. You know, and that's why I think you can't stop thinking because.

[00:20:16] If I draft the guy in the second round and I send them to Europe for like. Six months and I bring them over. You can't tell me that I can't bring a guy over and let him start in the game in April. I think you can. You just got to be drastic drastic times drastic measures. So like you brought up the NFL and like you said, like, but the thing with the NFL is. If I pick 19. And I have a team need. I can still get a guy that can make pro bowls and all that kind of stuff.

[00:20:44] You know, whereas in the NBA, you got your LeBron and Wade's and people like that at the top of the draft. So in the NBA, you don't want to be the treadmill team like the Atlanta Hawks are in used to be where you make. You might get an eight seed or you might make a seven seed. You might make the play in, you know, but then you cost yourself because you're going to get a pick in the middle of the draft instead of at the top. So I thought about this.

[00:21:09] So, you know, back in the day, you know, the worst record got the most lottery balls, you know, and it was all divvied up by a record. Now they changed it to where the first three teams or like you said, the first three teams get the same odds. So what if you just take away the odds? You know, what if every team just gets a ball that you just literally take a ball out? So you got 30 teams. Well, no, no, no, no, no.

[00:21:38] Just a lot of the 14 teams. Yeah. You just put them all in there and you just grab them. Whoever comes out. You go that way. I like that idea. Let me do some quick math. I probably missed a few teams, but I'm gonna go East because they probably have the most. So I will put the Wizards Hornets. So that's the jazz. No, I'm just going to East right now. I'm just going to East. Okay. I'm trying to get I'm trying to get the 14 total teams. So Wizards Hornets Sixers net Raptors.

[00:22:07] Those five teams in the East are less than 30 wins. And then if we go West, you have Spurs at 32. Pelicans that seven jazz eight. Give me the sons and who else on the East Portland still you forgot Bulls heat. So yeah.

[00:22:29] So but the so you got nine through 15 in the East and then basically 11 through 15. And the West, those are the play pretty much your worst records. I think the Kings are still trying to win, but they made some trades, right? You can put them all in there one ball. So you got Cooper flag potentially going to Miami because Miami gets the number one pick.

[00:22:56] So what happens when Charlotte just and I know it's not the fault of the NBA, right? Right. The NBA still needs that person to be successful. It was like the NBA has 30 children. You have to love all your children as best you can. Some of them are going to perform better and you're going to highlight them more like everybody drawing can't go on a refrigerator, but like OKC's drawings going on a refrigerator. Yoko's performance is going on a refrigerator.

[00:23:25] Giannis Antetokounmpo 20 assists is going on a refrigerator like that. But so but the level balls trying he's doing his thing. He got the little stick figure. Maybe we get that the bottom of the fridge for a couple of days. You got to cater to your whole league because you don't want to end up like baseball where you got the Colorado Rockies owner on TV pleading talking about. Like some of these teams like Washington, like Charlotte, like Utah. Y'all are already bad enough that you don't have to tank.

[00:23:53] You know, saying you're just taking because you want the number one pick, but you're bad enough that if you played your hardest for all 82 games, you still might win 21 games. Oh, so tanking is just a slap in the league space. So in your age, so your resolution says, listen, that's one of my top four top four. It's the bottom 14.

[00:24:15] So that puts go, you know, so bottom 14 teams, you get one ball and they just and it just goes order whatever order it comes out. You get one thing number 12. So you get one tank and 14 balls in it. Yep. And it's just like a just a draft. It's all about luck. So you get 14 balls in there and the Raptors boom and they go go from 14 to one. Yep.

[00:24:44] Like credit, like, like, like credit card roulette. That's how we play credit card roulette. You put all the cards in a hat and then the last hat, last card in a hat has to pay for the meal. So instead of being like, oh, we were the worst ones. I got my card off. No. So like the last one. Because realistically, if you theoretically speaking, theoretically speaking, if you didn't make the playoffs, you need help anyway. You know, if you didn't make the playoffs, you need to be better.

[00:25:08] So Washington and Utah playing the way that they play, you don't deserve to get the number one pick. So if you get it fine, you got it. It was fair. You know what I mean? But if you don't get it, then you don't need to tank. You just play basketball and let the chips fall where they may. You know, that's the way I look at it. You know, so that's number one. Number two. Okay. Number two. If you finish in the top five, two years in a row. So this is after the fact.

[00:25:36] If you finish top five, two years in a row. Right. When they got Bennett and Kyrie. The third year. The third year. If you're in the lottery. You're automatically 15. You're automatically 14 or yeah. Whatever the last number is. Yeah. Oh, you automatically the last number in the lottery. I'm just throwing you at. I'm throwing you in the last spot because. I like that one. And you've benefited off of being sorry for the last two years. And we got free agency.

[00:26:05] So if you want it to be good. Yes, you're waiting for Cooper flag. Yes, you're waiting for Ace Bailey and Dylan Harper. But if you want it to be better. You got some better free agents too, because we got that going on. Now I know that's not necessarily an option for some teams like Utah. You know what I mean? Utah is not going to get Kawhi Leonard as a free agent. For some reason. A lot of NBA players. They flat out say out loud. I'm not going to Utah. Right. So, so, so that. So, so I'm sensitive to that. You know, you know, we love Utah. I'm sensitive to that.

[00:26:34] But at the same time, I can't allow you to purposely. It's not a party time. I can't allow you to throw your season away with no consequences. And that's the real problem is that there's no consequences. So yes, this happens after the fact that I gave you two shots to get in this lottery. If you still can't be good that third year. So you're saying if you, if you as an organization drafted twice. No. Okay.

[00:27:03] You earned. Right. If you had a bottom top record two years in a row. Two years in a row. Then the next year. So that doesn't even matter where you end up in the, with the picks or you are you, you're using one plan and not the other. So you're just saying, Hey, you're for instance, the wizards. This is probably their, this is going to be their second consecutive year drafting top five. It does. And the beehive state, the beehive state.

[00:27:30] So this is your second consecutive year drafting in the top five. Next year. You can next year. You can't draft in the top five. Right. So I'm putting you at the end of the lottery. You're just last. You're at the end. Because I gave you, you got two top five picks and you got free agency. If you can't turn around to finish stakes. You can't be, you can't be a playing team after two consecutive years. Yeah. So this would have stopped what Philly did.

[00:28:00] This would have stopped the whole trust, the process thing. The trust, the process was disrespectful because it was basically, it was like the record, their record would be zero and zero. And they were like, yo, we're not going to be good this year. How do you know? Right. Jump shots go in when, when you have talented players in the NBA, run plays for them to get open looks and see what happens. I told you right before we came on here. Get to 112 points and see if you can. Just get to 110 points.

[00:28:27] Can we make it the 110 and can keep a team under 109 47 times a year? Like that's all you really got to do. That's a good season. 47 and 35 is a quality season for rebuilding team. I think the problem is teams give up because there's no championship aspirations. Yo, only one out of 30 are is going to win. Only two are going to play in that final round.

[00:28:56] So if you even break it down even more than that only one for your conference. Mm hmm. So you are one of 15 to even play for the chance to be the one of the 30. So why not have a good year? You got people paying $330 a ticket, 18,000 seats, put a good season out there. I think these coaches would keep their jobs if teams will kind of understand that they're the expectation management, but it's like you're not going to win that many games.

[00:29:25] So taking in January, you know, like, you know what, we're going to shut it down. Yeah. Now, Philly this year might be a little different just because they actually did have injuries. You know, they lost their best player. So like it's a little different, but that works. That works, but it's like because they have the injuries, but you also don't have a team like Wizards and Charlotte just kind of just even worse behind them. Right.

[00:29:55] Well, see, that's what I'm saying. So like Philly lost Embiid. Paul George was hurt throughout the year. You know, Maxie was hurt throughout the year, but now you're just at a point where we're out of playoff contention. I'm not playing them. Okay. Whatever fans are still paying for that, for that, you know, plan for a half. I don't know. But then, but then, but then you have a team like Charlotte, right? Brandon Miller got hurt very early in the season. You know, Mark Williams, you had, you know, he was hurt. Then you had the drama with him going to the Lakers. Oh no, he's not a Laker.

[00:30:24] So there are circumstances, but you just got to draw. Hardline, just like we talked about the 65 game rule where like, if you want MVP or any of these awards, you have to play 65 games. That's harsh to some degree because dudes get hurt. So theoretically you should have a fail safe in there of if you suffer a legitimate injury and that causes you, I can waive that to some degree.

[00:30:50] But if you're just not playing because like I've seen things like I don't like the 65 game rule. I like it. I think the voters should be able, I think the voters should just be able to look at it and be like, yo, you only played 55 games. Let me rephrase. I don't necessarily like it per se, but the players put them in that position. Like, just like we were talking about John Morant, right? Like you're acting this way, doing these things. You're going to bring attention to yourself.

[00:31:17] So when these guys are sitting out and I know sometimes the team probably had a lot to do with that, you know, the owner or whoever came down and is like, yo, LeBron sitting out tonight. He's 40 years old, whatever the case may be. So like you ain't going to punish the owner. You know what I mean? Like you can't. I think the NBA players with that 65 game rule being put in place. I'm not sure when their CBA was was actually agreed upon. I would say it was 2019 or 2020.

[00:31:47] So this rule got put into place, I'm gonna say before the 2023 2024 season. Probably like. So I'm like it was 2023. It was April 2023. Yeah. Okay. So that was a 2023 2024 season. But you had a guy like Therese Tyrese Halliburton who had a clause in his contract that said you can get this level of a max contract if you get X, Y and Z points is like, well, take that out of my contract.

[00:32:17] Because when I signed his contract, the 65 game provision wasn't a league. I see that's where the lawyers come in and that's where it got to get messy. But but the players always agree to this shit. The players are like, hey, let me smoke some weed. But no, I don't care. Like 65 games. Sure. That's on the players. Yeah, because like I said, they guys are ruining their extension.

[00:32:44] Like John Morant, whatever his suspension or something happened where he missed out on a super max because he wasn't first. He didn't make an all protein. Right. Or all NBA teams. Yeah, he missed the first 25 games last year. So he was done, you know, before he even stepped on the court and then he got hurt after nine. But even before then, he had a stipulation in his contract where he had to make an all protein. He just did that to himself. Don't put that.

[00:33:08] So like if you're going to put stipulations on how many games I have to play to get these awards, then that needs to be pontificated in my contract. I'm not going to use that word right now. I shouldn't have to put that in your contract either. You know, there's an NBA conduct policy so they can they can slap. They can apply that to him. So here's one. I like I like I like both the ideas. I got I got two more. I like the 14 balls. I'm if we if we're but you got four of them. Yeah, I got four of them.

[00:33:37] So we're blind ranking them that one. I'm gonna put it for. Okay, that's what I like the least. Okay, other one because I think you're going to have another gym. I like this other one with the the two year success retention plan. Like if you're successful, you won't need it. But if you suck then you go back. I like that at two. So let's hear the two.

[00:34:00] What if I rotate picks like what if I there's 30 NBA teams over the course of 30 years? Every team gets the number one pick. Oh, that could be funky. The problem comes is the money. No, but but but all I'm trying to do is stop tanking like all that other stuff. We're trying to stop conversations about you say hey, you guys can figure everything out. Yeah, I just want you to get on the court and play basketball.

[00:34:29] Give the fans what they deserve. They're paying all kinds of money to come see you. You need to be on the court. You need to be trying because like remember we argued about the play in because I don't like it. I like the plan because you because the fandom aspect of it right and I get why you like it because it makes those dog days of March matter just a little bit more. Yeah, I understand that part of it. But the problem for me is like the reason I don't like the play in is because March should matter because of what happened in December.

[00:34:58] So if you decided to sit people in December, I'm giving you a fail safe a mulligan to make up your fuck ups. You know what I mean? So so that's why I don't like the thing with the plan is that you have the you have the NCAA tournament element to it of like the elimination aspect of it. So if you did play the long game and you set James Harden and you set these guys in December, you want to finish. Now, yes. Now you ended up seventh and you play that was it.

[00:35:28] You played a seven, eight game. Yes, seven, eight. And you lose because some dudes just hot like Malik Monk just like last year when Zion had 44, but then he got hurt. Like he puts the Lakers out if he doesn't pull a hamstring. So but like it like this year, but Link Monk goes nuts and he drops because I think right now you got the Kings at 10. So you got the nine, 10 with Mavericks and the Kings say Malik just goes on a two or three game stretch and he knocks all these teams out.

[00:35:57] Well, that's your fault for putting yourself in that position. Yeah. So the rotation one, I'll put that third. So in a perfect world, we would have relegation and that would stop tanking. But we don't have that. So, you know, because because you would. I think that can influence tampering because we're going to talk about it. Like, for instance, say we did the rotation and whatever the whatever the the the they pulled the rabbits out of the put the names out of the hat. Boom. You.

[00:36:26] You. So now you got Cooper flag. This year it's Brooklyn's turn to be number one. No, no. This year's a say Phoenix. Phoenix is going to be number one this year, but next year's the mix. And it's like they'll want to go to Phoenix. For whatever, like what did you get like seven? What was the first round pick? They don't get that much money.

[00:36:55] We talked about it. It was. Yeah, it was. It was like it was for. It was more than that. It was like 16 million a year or something like that. But you're playing 82 games. It was 14. It was like, hold on. Let's see. It was four years. Oh, no, that's NFL. My bad. Yeah. Yeah, because it was it was. Let's see. So Zach researche was the number one pick this year. Yes, he's making 10 and a half this year.

[00:37:25] And then the total contract value is 57 million over four years. Yeah. And that that is the second year you get your extension. So say your Cooper flag and it's like, all right, I can go to Phoenix this year or I can get Duke boosters to pay me six million to come back next year and go to the Knicks. It's not my now mobile. Now I'm on billboards in Madison Square Garden. Not my problem. But do you get tampering where you get boosters?

[00:37:55] Or New York Knick guys? Hypothetically Spike Lee. Knick guy. But you know what? But I got to call Cooper and say, listen, man, stay at Duke. I'm a donate two million dollars to Duke so you can stay there. I got I got. I have tampering rules for. But the tampering only impacts the. No, you got to make it like if you when you if you incorporate a new system, you have to incorporate new rules. Fail safe. Yeah.

[00:38:24] So I'm going to put a rule in there. And if you get caught doing this, you forfeit your first round pick. I like it. All right. And then the last one. The last one is the one that I like the least. You know, so. So, like I said, so before I said, if you finish top five, two years in a row, that third year, you get the last pick of the lottery.

[00:38:48] So in this scenario, if you finish top or I keep saying top, but I guess realistically, technically, it's more like bottom. But if you finish in the top three in the draft. The two years in a row. Then the highest you can get is number four because you're out of the top three. Now I can't give you another top three pick. So I'm just capping.

[00:39:11] So it's very similar to the one I had said at two where it's like you get two years being good and you kind of relegated to 14. Right. Right. If you get a top three, two years in a row, you can't get. You can't do it the third year. Because remember, there was that draft. Was it this year? It was either this year or last year. I want to say it was last year when the Pistons got a star Thompson. It was they had. He was five. They had the odds like two years in a row. They were like they should have been number one or number two by the odds.

[00:39:40] But they got number five back to back. You know what I mean? So like that's where it gets goofy because I don't like to do the rig stuff. You know, we talk about that. But like, OK, so the Knicks get Patrick Ewing. You know, Cleveland just happens to get LeBron James when LeBron James leaves. They just happen to get the pick for Kyrie when Anthony Davis leaves first. First, they got Anthony Bennett. Then they fucked it up and gave him another one. Yeah, they got Kyrie. And then when Anthony Davis left, you somehow got Zion. Like, you know what I mean?

[00:40:10] There's always this coincidence that even I can admit is kind of shady if you really think I think how often it happens. Free Internet, pre cell phone, pre everybody spying on everything. I can see the 80s. I see. Because we talk about like, well, now they don't know about it. Or just like the games being rigged in general. Back in the day when they were trying to develop these leagues and generate money.

[00:40:39] You got to keep in mind, back in the 60s, 70s and 80s, sports was competing with regular TV shows for the appeal of the country. Right. Like the NBA finals were on tape the late. Right. The NBA finals were on tape the night. So, you know, the NFL football was huge. Football was getting, was getting this, you know, it's kind of getting this teeth sunk in because college football and NFL football is really good. Right.

[00:41:02] So it wasn't, it wasn't, they needed to do things like get big names in New York City because Zion, Patrick, you were playing it on the New Orleans jazz. I don't think they were, I think they were Utah jazz right then, but if he was playing on New Orleans jazz and he's this big guy who just came from Georgetown, he might've got lost in the media cycle. But putting him in New York where everything runs through New York, you need to do that.

[00:41:30] I don't think you need to do that now because, and that's why like when you talk about, I was like, I don't think you really need to fix tanking. And because I haven't, I haven't seen it work out to the, I haven't seen it be a successful model to make your team successful. So that's why tanking to me is a problem.

[00:41:52] If you can't sell out your games or if you can't put on a good basketball product, because it hasn't seen where we are. The basketball product, I think the basketball product is everyone's shooting threes and guys are just not playing. Well, not even about the referees are kind of getting involved in the personality. They sat Laurie marking in for like a month. That's why they got fined. You know what I mean? Like you got teams out here.

[00:42:19] Like I told you the other day, the Philadelphia 76ers were 23 and 49 and they still sat Quentin Grimes for rest. Rest what? Yeah, that, that doesn't make a lot of sense. You know what I'm saying? Like, so these teams are just doing. Well, that's why they hired all these guys from MIT to work in the building to do analytics. Like that guy said on the last comment that I don't want anything about analytics. It's sometimes it's just simple, common sense.

[00:42:46] And I think with these, with these NBA teams is that you want to be successful. I think the league wants you to be successful. It's the people that are working within these individual pockets that aren't successful. I don't think it's the least fault. I think the least has done everything as far as like allowing for social commentary and social justice.

[00:43:11] I think they allow for a lot of young coaches to get an opportunity. I think they've ushered in like, you know what? If you know basketball, we'll give you an opportunity. I think they put a lot of women in the booth announcing games. I think having women on the sideline as referees. I think they, I think the NBA has done everything they can't, they could realistically to make the game great. They globalize the game. They go to China every year.

[00:43:41] They make a big deal about the shoes and highlighting the shoes and giving these guys opportunity to highlight their shoes. It's all over the NBA blogs. So they, they allowed these guys to personalize. They allowed the dress code. I don't have the dress code exists anymore because they'd be whatever. Yeah. They definitely relaxed it or something. Yeah.

[00:44:03] So like they, they, they've, I think the NBA has done everything they can do to really offer up a quality product. It's just, I think the receivers, the fans only want a certain product and then certain players and certain teams and certain markets drive the needle. Cause you and I always have this, this small market, large market conversation. I'm like, yo, Indiana, Indianapolis is not a big market.

[00:44:32] We all know Reggie Miller, Rick Smith's the Davis twins, Jalen Rose, Detroit's not a big market. We all know Chauncey Billups hall of famer, Rasheed Wallace. They won championships, San Antonio, Tim Duncan might be the least most captivating personality in the history of sports. Right. People still argue, advocate for him as the best power forward of all time. It's all about performance.

[00:44:59] I think teams now and, and ownership and GMs, they don't understand or listen, your performance has to match your aspirations. You got to meet that. Well, speaking of big markets and you know, I brought up the word rigged a couple of minutes ago, you know, how fitting is it that. Mr. Ovechkin, you know, who tied Wayne Gretzky tonight has his next game against the New York Islanders.

[00:45:30] You couldn't have planned that if you tried, I guess, but no, but, but, but I, but I think, but I think that's the thing is that the teams just have to know that there are things in place. You know, it doesn't necessarily have to be any of the ideas that I presented, but something just needs to be in place to deter them, even if it's just finding them, I guess, but you know, but you got to be able to prove certain things. And that's where it gets a little crazy. Correct.

[00:45:54] So, you know, tomorrow night we got some championships going on, you know, first of all, congratulations to the University of T.O. You know, Chattanooga, the Mocs won the NIT the other night against UC Irvine, you know, so congratulations. But real quick before we get to the NCAA tournament, Mr. Lodge, about a year ago, I brought up the college basketball crown and apparently this college basketball crown is in session.

[00:46:24] They're in the semifinals tomorrow. We got Nebraska against Boise state and we got UCF against Villanova out in Vegas, the dumbest tournament in the history of the world because it's not like the, the, the teams that didn't make any single tournament on earth. It's the teams that didn't make the NIT or the NCAA tournament, but have TV deals with Fox. So it's a Fox thing.

[00:46:52] And these, so biggies, big 12, so on and so forth, a tournament of 16 teams, the 16 next teams, if you will. And then they play a tournament. I ain't going to that. Yeah. I mean, it's in Vegas. I know you love Vegas. Yeah. Wait, hold on. So it's the Vegas. It's in Vegas. Yeah. We go into that. I mean, like, I get it, but we, we, we, you are in that position.

[00:47:20] You have to do stuff like that. Like, you know what? We need eyeballs. Cause you can, I think you can sell anything in Vegas. There's a huge argument. I ain't going lie. I did a parlay. I think almost, I think all championships that are neutral field. I think Vegas should be considered in the discussion. If you have five options, I think Vegas should be able to advocate.

[00:47:49] So I think the national championship game for football. You think I, you think I trust Vegas after they not only took the Raiders, but they took the A's too. It's listen. They don't care nothing about that. They don't care what the Jersey says on the front. All they care is that the emblem, the MLB, the NFL, the WBA, the NHL. They're all here. We already have the facilities. We got the space. We have the hotels.

[00:48:19] I'm not even, you can, if the Vegas commission came up with something like we talked about this, just tournament agenda. If they came up with like a commissioner, so you know what? We need someone to advocate for us to get all of the, be, be included in all conversations for neutral field championships and all the sports. I can sit there and argue for them. Cause I wouldn't even have to say much. Yeah. I'd be like, Oh, we have an airport. That's right here where the tournaments are.

[00:48:47] We have all the hotels that can house everyone. We have all the traffic already designed. We already have the layout of the city that lays out perfectly. We're in the middle of nowhere. So you can, you can literally be, you can stay on the outskirts of Vegas all the way around the city, a complete six 360 and drive straight to the middle where the tournaments are from any direction.

[00:49:13] I'd have, I'd have every neutral site bowl game championship advocated for Vegas. I can make that happen. And I'm not even like a Nevada resident, but I can make the argument. I can make it easier than I can make that argument easier for Vegas and I could have East Rutherford and I've been to that stadium multiple times. This is a dope stadium would not logistically have any championship game there.

[00:49:39] Other than if the jets or the giants are in NFC or AC championship, that's the only thing I'd advocate for anything out of time, anything neutral, not a great place for it. All right. Well, let's take it from the top, you know, down here in the Alamo, you know, it's that down the road from me. We got two very big games tomorrow known as the final four. You know, we're going to start off talking about you listening residente, the Duke blue devils in the Houston Cougars.

[00:50:08] What do you think? Mr. Logical. Courtney ESPN. The one of the best bets is on Houston. The gambling aspect of it because they're playing in our home state. We we've talked about the transitioning from playing in a basketball arena to planet. So the Alamo dome is a huge arena.

[00:50:38] I don't know what the backdrop is going to look like. It's going to be an elevated floor. They always got the like line of the line of sight because the fans kind of give you the backdrop, you know, like your depth perception or whatever the case may be. So it might take a while to get shots. I think Duke is a good defensive team, and I think they do well getting to the rim.

[00:51:00] So personally, I don't think Houston's a good bet because I think Duke Duke's players play like they were all. I think Duke players all think they're just as good as Cooper flag, but they don't try to show up Cooper flag. Because Cooper is going to get him the ball. I think Cooper flag is going to be a guy he'll go like I'm gonna say he'll be like 26 seven rebounds and seven assists, you know in the game.

[00:51:26] And I and I think he'll he'll defer not necessarily defer, but you like know what you other four can get a cracker too. I'm gonna be in his pick and roll action because I'm gonna draw four eyes at a minimum maybe even six depends on where I pop out to on the floor. If you don't have a six five a six six wing defender. Six seven maybe that can guard me. I'm a I'm a take him from the wing. Couple of dribbles. I'm at the free throw line. I'm gonna put him on my hip.

[00:51:54] I'm a turn and I'm a sure the 13 13 foot floater at 610. Bigger body. Big control, you know, big control by I think I think that's going to work out for him. I do like Houston. I love their program. They're always they always seem to be in this these these conversations every year one two three or four seed for a lot of you know, a lot of years recently, but I just I just like Duke. I think what they do. I like their depth. I like their bigs.

[00:52:23] I just I just I like what do that. It's like I think yeah, I think do shoot. So Duke's favorite by four and a half. Um, so this is the thing. So Duke has trees and Alabama learned that the hard way. It was just hard to get a shot. Like, you know, they had just came off that record. And that 20 foot three point line does college basketball this service. They might wonder if they really want more. I mean more.

[00:52:54] It's not enough space if you play in a two three zone. Like if you're playing a two three zone and you're trying to set your play up just outside a three point line. You're only about 22 feet from the hoop. Any two three zone the big has to flash to the free throw line to kind of create space. But when it's that close. It's like, yeah, it can cram. So the guy at the top of the two three.

[00:53:22] And the guy from the bottom from the like the you know from the sideline. They can collapse on that big if he gets it, you know, on the left side of the free throw line extended or even the right side. They can do the same thing. So it just makes it tough. So if you don't have a guy that can catch your shoot off the big or you if you don't have a big that can pass confidently, then you get a lot of balls, you get a lot of waste possessions, you get a lot of bad passes, or you just get like passes that don't really set up anything.

[00:53:49] And I think that's what Duke was allowed was able to do against Alabama is like, yeah, you can get the ball here, but kick it out. But that pass didn't set up the next thing. It just basically made you reset again. And now you got a bad shot with 12 seconds left in the shot clock. Yeah. So the good news for Houston. Excuse me. The good news for Houston is that they played Duke in the sweet 16 last year. 54 to 51 was the final score. There were some bad calls in that game, but we ain't gonna get into that.

[00:54:18] There's always bad calls in Duke games. That's just how it works. But anyway, the bad news is the bad news is Cooper flag and conca nipple wasn't on that team. So, you know, so yes, you played against Duke. So maybe you remember their philosophies or you have certain things that you've learned about them, but the team is better. So that's number one. And they're tall, you know, Houston's tallest player.

[00:54:42] They have a six 11 guy that, you know, doesn't, you know, he's not out there a lot. You can't defend Duke's best six 10 player who's Cooper flag. But, but this is where I like, this is what I like about. Yeah. Bad calls. I said it every time we talk about it all the time. Mike. Anything that smells like a conspiracy. All of a sudden Mike just pop up like message Mondays and Thursdays, you know, saying noon Eastern.

[00:55:10] But look, this, the thing, like we talk about this, you know, every time, like there's a one of you remember back in the finals. I know you remember because you always talk about it. Katie LeBron, the charge or no charge. That's what Duke does about 18 times a game. You know, still still blows my mind that they change their call. So, so here's some motivation for Duke. Here's a quick motivator for Duke. If you win the national title. You tied North Carolina in national titles.

[00:55:40] You know, they're ahead of you right now. You'll be tied with them for third all time. But you know, what's ironic about this Duke team. They seem so unbeatable. And you know what it reminds me of? Like I said, ironically, it reminds me of 1991. When this Duke team that lost by 30 the year before the UNLV somehow beat UNLV in the final four.

[00:56:10] That's what it reminds me of. Duke just seems so inevitable, so unbeatable. It never really works that way. It never really works that way. I thought you were going to go Kentucky when they lost to Wisconsin. Hey, I ain't going there. We ain't doing that. I was just shocked. But I mean, we ain't doing that. We ain't doing that. I wasn't shocked because there was no two 24 second violations that weren't that got caught. Never mind. Anyway, so. So, so Duke this year is one and two.

[00:56:40] Against teams with top 20 defenses. Houston, number one defense in the country. Duke is also a top 20 defense. Houston, eight and two against top 20 defenses this season. So Houston's not afraid of the moment. When you look at the coaching matchup, you know, you got. Kelvin Sampson out there. The old cagey veteran coach. Know that I'm pulling for, you know, he had the whole man. He must go through shirts.

[00:57:10] I don't think he dry cleans his shirts. He can't. He has to have a deal where they just like Joseph A bank just keeps sending. Just send a new shirt like dog. I can't wear this again. Resident. See, I told you can't please Duke fans. He wanted me to talk about him. Now he don't like what I'm saying. Listen, Mike. And this is what you say. When you say you're the unorthodox statistician is like you really, you really in your bag when it comes to these stats.

[00:57:36] Cause like I like Duke because the same reason I like BYU against Alabama. I like the way that Alabama played in the paint. And if Bama didn't shoot 719 three pointers, I think BYU because I thought that they, the way they do, the way they play their game consistently and have consistent success playing their game. I thought that was going to carry over. That's how I feel about Duke.

[00:58:06] But when you telling me Duke's one and two against top 20 defenses and then the Houston is like eight and two. Oh, Houston has 10 games against top 20 defenses. Duke has three. So, you know, you got that going on, you know, both of these teams over the past four months are 61 and two. So this ain't a, oh, hey, Duke is bad. Duke's the best team in the country. Duke should win this national title. They should, you know, like that's the way it is.

[00:58:33] I, in my bracket, I picked all burn over Duke in the title game. That was pre-tournament. Now that the tournament's going on, Duke is the best team. I have no problem admitting that. I'm just saying that they're going to lose tomorrow. Oh, you're picking them to lose. I'm picking them to lose tomorrow. You happy resume day? You know what I'm saying? But, but you know, but this is the thing about it. You know, LJ Cryer, you know, I think that you got leadership. I think that you got upperclassmen going up against the freshmen.

[00:59:02] And I'm not saying, you know, Cooper flag has shown that he meets the moment. So I'm not even trying to do the whole, hey, he's not experienced. He's going to go three for 18. Not even. Yeah, but these guys have seen 60 more games and him in these certain situations. So they might know, oh, this pin down screen is going to happen. So I can jump this lane and catch this. Yeah. If nothing else, if nothing else is going to be a rock fight. Like if either team gets to 70, I'll be very shocked.

[00:59:32] We check the over under, but keep going. It's 159 and a half, if I remember correctly. But, but, but I, but if any team gets to 70, throw a party because I don't see it. You know, also in a non-basketball kind of thing, the way that that game ended against Purdue, that inbound play. Like, I just feel like that's the stuff of destiny. You know what I mean?

[00:59:57] Well, I think it was, it feels like, and you showed, you sent me the replay because I was having trouble trying to get it on like the apps that I was watching the games on. Yeah. It felt like, uh, Samson, the coach told whoever ran to the baseline that it was going to work.

[01:00:18] It felt like, it felt like he knew he was the key to that play working because when he came off, cause it was, it was two screens. He came off one screen on the right side of free throw line extended. He ran around the other side and the guy that was, I don't know if he was guarding the inbound or guard, guarding the hoop. He flashed out to him when that, you know, when that guy ran to the baseline and he wasn't even looking for the ball.

[01:00:48] It was like, he knew that I'm going to run hard to this side where the cheerleaders were. And this guy under the basket is going to follow me. So for him, cause he didn't, like I said, he didn't react for the ball. He didn't even look for the ball. He just ran to that spot. That dude slid. And when the pass came in, he was like jumping, like he was doing like jumping on his tippy toes. When the past went back to the inbounder and score, it felt like it was drawn up to draw that guy from the paint.

[01:01:18] Which was a, which is a genius move. You see, you see all this shit Mike talking right now. Here's a secret. Everybody. Mike didn't even pick Duke to win the title. But yeah, I'm taking Houston in the, in the upset. I'm, you know, I'm taking Houston. I'll call it, I'll call it something along the lines of 63 to 61. So then of course, you know, we got Auburn.

[01:01:46] I'm going to take 71, 63. All right. We got Auburn, my national title pick going up against the Gators. But guess what? I picked Auburn to win the title. I'm not so confident. You know, Jani Broom, you know, what's his status. I know he's going to play. I know he came back last week, but in that play, I thought he literally broke his wrist, hyperextended his knee and sprained his ankle all at the same time. There's probably so much going on.

[01:02:15] Nothing really set in, you know, and when he, and then he walked off the court, you know, he walked off the court. And then when he walked off the court, he went over to the sideline, walked past Bruce Pearl, walked up to the teammates and mouthed the words I'm done. Then he went to the locker room and in true LeBron James fashion, he comes out and hits the first shot. Of course, you know, you're so injured. You come back and you hit the first shot. But, um, we can't go Paul Pierce going to take a poop and coming back on the wheelchair.

[01:02:44] No, we ain't going to do that to the truth. You know what I'm saying? But, uh, I think, I think to hard white, I think to hard Pettiford is the key in this game. You know what I'm saying? I think that to hard Pettiford is the key in this game because he's been the X factor throughout the tournament for Auburn hitting big shots, you know, cause Jani, Jani brooms going to get collapsed on, you know, you also got the matchup inside the matchup that I like Bruce Pearl and Todd golden.

[01:03:13] They go way back when Bruce Pearl got the job at all. Golden hired him. Yeah. Golden was the basketball. Um, he was the director of basketball operations before he ended up out at San Francisco. And then of course that led him to go to Florida. So there's some emotion here. So I think both coaches are going to bring out their best. They did play earlier this year and it was one of the craziest games I watched this season. You know, Auburn jumped out to a 14 point lead. They were down 12 at halftime.

[01:03:46] Will Clayton, Will Clayton Jr. He played for Rick Pitino out at Iona, you know, and this guy's just big time, you know, like I'm not the biggest fan of him per se, but he, he's not afraid of the moment when the moment comes. He's the one that you want with the ball against Texas tech. The other day, you know, 13 points in the last five 24 to come win that game. So Florida is ready for this moment. They have the psychological advantage because they went into Auburn and beat them this year.

[01:04:15] You know, um, this final four is awesome. Mike, this final four is awesome because you got Cooper flag and Janai broom who are splitting most of the player of the year awards. And then we'll Clayton is probably third. He's probably the third after those two. So this is probably the first final four that I can remember in a long time that had this level of national. Prominence, you know, with the players involved. Um, so bake Baker Mazzara.

[01:04:45] He needs to hit shots for Auburn to be competitive in this game. Um, I think that. Hawk Hawk. Oh man. He came up against Texas tech came out of nowhere, hit a couple of big threes. So the question in this game is going to come down to how healthy is Janai broom. That's the question, you know, but look, I don't want to flip flop. I picked Auburn to win a national title. So I got to stick with it.

[01:05:12] You know, I think Auburn's defense against Michigan state showed what they're made of. Yes. These are the two best teams in the best conference in the country. So to steal, you know, the youngins words, it's going to be a banger. So give me Auburn. You know, I think they're just going to shut down the three point line. Um, will Clayton, right? I brought him up 26%.

[01:05:42] 26% of the points that Florida has scored in this tournament. Belong to him. So that seems like a very simple defensive plan for Bruce Burrow, who I like. I like, I like, I like coach versus protege people. You know? Yeah. Uh, so I'm also going Auburn. So Auburn Jimbo Fisher, I guess, you know? Yeah. Go ask God how he gets his business done or something. What do you say about Nick Saban? Oh yeah.

[01:06:08] So I'm taking Auburn and then I'm taking Auburn over Houston for the national title. Well, you know, I'm riding with the blue devils. I really want Auburn. I think sometimes when you have, I think we, we, we talk about this term being all chalk, but sometimes when you have the best players. Transferred in. You know, freshman phenoms, you know, seniors that are vintage, great coaching.

[01:06:37] You have all four, no one season, the final four. I think sometimes just having the best player on the best team. It's just, it's just common sense. Like you can fight uphill against it. I talked to a guy yesterday. I think he had Iowa. He didn't have any number one teams in his, in his final four. And I'm like, you don't have one. He's like, I just figured like the upset was going to happen. Upsets aren't really like logical after like the first or second round.

[01:07:05] You know, once you get to the sweet 16 is like, okay, who has, who's playing with the best momentum rises to the top. Who has the best players? Who has the better coaching? That's what Kyle apart is able to do what he does in the early rounds of the tournament. No matter what he's ranked at, because more than likely he probably is more experienced than the coach that's wearing the suit 25 feet away from him. You know what I mean? So like you need a goal key.

[01:07:32] You know, you, you need, yeah, you need something that he can't plan for. Like goal key was shooting crazy threes, but if he can just, if he can galvanize his guys enough to have them believe that they can beat you. Then I think that gets and get ahead as a coach who doesn't have the same level of experience as him. So I want send. After the, after, after the first and second round, like once, if you have all four and you see a sweet 16 and you keep picking them, it's not, it's not a surprise. You know what I mean? So like, yeah.

[01:08:01] So we'll, we'll see how it plays out this weekend. I want to talk about it. Yeah. I want Duke Auburn just because you've got the two best players in the country going up against each other. The players of the year, if you will, you know, like I said, they're splitting them. Like so far from my count, Cooper flags, one, two of them. Janai's one, one, and there's three more to go, but there might've been some more in between.

[01:08:21] I just haven't checked, but you know, so, so I want that matchup, not just because I picked it, even though that is why I picked it, but I just think that would be the best matchup, you know, and it's a rematch and it is what it is. So guys enjoy the final four, you know, check out some basketball. Okay. See, not getting the 70. We will be back on Tuesday. He is the world renowned. Mr. Record. Go for it. You know, then don't bring feelings to a fact fight.

[01:08:51] Don't do it. And I am two five. We love you. Like, review, subscribe, share, rate, do all the free things. Do all the good things and make sure you do it with a liquid death. Peace.