#sportsreportsasordered - WHERE ART THOU, CINDERELLA?

[00:00:07] Yes, you are now listening to the sound. We back. Sports Reports is Ordered. You're building. We back. I'm focused. He only 16. You know what I'm saying? Born and only. Born in Texas, raised in VA, representing everything new, Jerruz, and he tried to tell you there was no reason to leave FDU.

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[00:00:59] Tonight, we're gonna talk about the madness. We're gonna go around the association and then we're gonna sit here and pontificate on what the hell are the New York Johns doing? Still trying to figure it out. But hey, like, review, subscribe, share, rate, do all the free things. Do all the good things. And while you're doing the good things, you might as well have you a liquid death in hand. Mr. Illogical.

[00:01:29] I'm drinking out of your sluice of excuses mug. Only the Cleveland Cavaliers can go on a 15-game win streak and then follow it up with a four-game losing streak. It's, remember when Houston won like 23 games back in a row? I mean, back in the day with T-Mac and I believe Yao. Mm-hmm.

[00:01:57] And I don't believe they made out of the first round. I don't think T-Mac made out of the first round. I think they lost to the Mavs that year. Yeah. So I've kind of feel like Cleveland is a bit like that. Uh-huh. I think they play, I think they play good, smart basketball. I think they have talent on their team. But we talk about this all the time.

[00:02:21] When the first round of the NBA playoffs used to be a best of five, you can kind of overwhelm a team for a couple of games and now you're up 2-0 and you just got to win one of the next three. The thing with a team like Cleveland, I think they have deficiencies in their matchups that can be exploited by a smart coach. So not Tibbs?

[00:02:50] Tibbs is going, like, I don't know. I don't know if Tibbs just doesn't hear what we say and what we have seen for the last, we'll call it what, Derrick Rose MVP was 2011? 2011? 2011, uh-huh. 2011, so, you know, we got 15 years of this, of you over-coaching and over-playing your players. Like, yo, the owner's paying for like 15 spots. Use 11 of them.

[00:03:17] One guy can just be doing cardio for four-minute clips at a time. Give him 12 minutes, just like, yo, dog, you don't shoot. All you do is play defense and try to grab rebounds. You don't play any big rolls. All you do is you run up and down the floor, and whoever's closest to the rim, you defend that person because no team plays through the big man anyway.

[00:03:39] So I'm going to give Josh Hart 12 minutes off this game. You got to get three minutes per quarter so he can get breathers. That's it. But like I said, I feel with Cleveland, I think they're a well-coached team. I just feel like there's going to be mismatches that you can exploit. I mean, I know this is a major scale and it was something they talked about a lot.

[00:04:01] But the way Boston targeted Luka, I think Phoenix is a few years back, very similar to the way where teams were. Milwaukee had the Milwaukee was the favorite in the series. And they just kind of realized like, hey, I think we have the bodies that are athletic enough and strong enough to wall off Giannis. You don't really know that until you see it in action. Right. You don't know right now.

[00:04:30] Like if you are a team like Detroit. You think you have a good team, but if you get in a series with Cleveland, however, match up, you know, like all the standards and everything have to move around. But if you got Cleveland versus Detroit. Yeah. Cleveland is going to have more regular season wins. But what if Detroit figures out in game one? Hey, man, they can't handle the Thompson Cunningham pick and roll. When they go to their second unit or something like that, like we can eat off of this.

[00:04:59] I'm glad you said that. And they and once they in the as a team of good coaches that have realized like, oh, you can't guard this play. My problem with Cleveland is that Donovan Mitchell, you know, and of course, when we talk about height, you know, we exaggerate a little bit. We add a little flavor just to make it sound good. But they got Donovan Mitchell listed at six three. They got Darius Garland. I heard him say.

[00:05:26] I heard a pundit say something along the lines that he was, you know, you got a six for a guard down to a Mitch. I was like, I didn't know. I thought he was always listening to six to you know, six, four. And I don't think Jamal Murray six for for that matter either. But, you know, but but when I look at it, what's the difference between these two guys and Dame Lillard and CJ? I'll tell you the difference. The difference is they're roughly the same size. But Dame and CJ could shoot. They could shoot the lights out.

[00:05:55] Now, Donovan Mitchell can get streaky. He can get on that A.R. Smith type moment for 70 like yeah, like it for Cleveland. Yeah. So we know he can score. I'm still waiting for Darius Garland to show up in a playoff game. You know, that's first and foremost. But speaking of which, let me sidebar for a quick second. Because right before we came on, I saw that Dame Lillard is out indefinitely with a blood clot now. That just happened tonight?

[00:06:22] Yeah, that just happened like literally probably when we first started our show. How are you guys just finding blood clots? They've been flying. I just heard that adversity affects you when you fly because they fly so much you would think that. But his is in the calf. Oh, his is in his calf. Not like so when B has what Brandon Ingram had. You know, little bit different than what Bosch had. But Dames is in the is in his right calf.

[00:06:50] But but but back to the calves, though, like, you know, I just don't believe in them, you know, because whatever resident say. Thank you, sir. You know, pursuit of forever. Every other Wednesday, 630 Eastern, you know, on a real relationship content. Yes, sir. No selfie cameras in the drive through and Popeyes. Yeah. And tell your girl you love a man. Just tell her every so often, you know what I'm saying? But but yeah, so so so Dane Lillard's out indefinitely. You know, no time table for his return.

[00:07:20] I'm thinking that they're probably going to shut him down. But going back to Cleveland, you know, I do like the DeAndre Hunter pickup in the in the trade at the trade deadline. You know, that's a bit as an upgrade over Aiko Coro, who should never, ever shoot a basketball, even though Evan Mobley may win defensive player of the year. If this the logical feels like he's going to have that go bear impact, you'll get that go bear. You know, because once again, Rudy, your bears been defensively three, four times.

[00:07:47] And every single year that he wins that award, the matchup and a coach. And it's not I don't think it's an indictment on Rudy Go bear. I think he does his job well. But if I have to play you. Potentially most of these series, most of these if you look at the standings, yeah, Cleveland and Boston seem to have a big, you know, lead on the east.

[00:08:12] But from three to six, it's 41 or 44, 42, 40, 41 wins. Boston or New York, Indiana, Milwaukee, Detroit. All of them look like the same kind of team. It's not like, hey, New York has 44 wins and Detroit's barely getting a 41. They look like quality basketball teams. So you're going to get potentially six to seven games.

[00:08:41] To be honest with you. But just every I think every series is going to go six. Second round, the second round series, I think the first the first rounds might be quick. But I think this the middle pack that that three, six game, the four or five series, those are six or seven games. And then the subsequent rounds, I think now with game. I got to think that Detroit has a chance to get into that five slot matchup with Indiana.

[00:09:09] But I think they're still going to need they're still going to need time. Like even if they they jump Milwaukee, they're still going to end up in a six game, seven game series with Indiana. Right. I'm saying so I think a good coach can exploit like, hey, like I said, just something as simple as like this guy doesn't rotate well to the corner. Or this second unit, we can exploit this guy to the point where if your coach is like, yo. All right, I want it.

[00:09:36] Like if you're Milwaukee, I want to play Kuzma this many minutes, but. They know you have a team like Indiana. They're attacking him in this and he's getting quick fouls cat with New York getting a quick foul. Now you got to adjust your whole game plan that can cost you a game. My guy get two fouls. You get like a guy like Cleveland Cleveland. There is garlic is two fouls in the regular game against the Wizards in April. It is what it is. You win and lose that game.

[00:10:05] You press on that one. Say you get. Just hypothetically, the heat make a little make a little buzz in the tournament. Now you got to play the heat. The heat are generally a sound team. They just right now they lack a playmaker. But now you get that one eight match up in the game is tougher than it needs to be. Now you win that game one oh seven one on one at home. It doesn't look good.

[00:10:35] Now people start to tighten up. You're not flowing that that that seventh guy off the bench. Normally in a game against Orlando and March, he's letting that three fly. But now he's like, I'm swinging back. Second guess now I'm swinging it back. I'm swinging it back. Now that's at home. Now he's on the road. So like a couple of games like that and you could be out of it.

[00:10:57] Well, you know, another thing I wanted to bring up, you know, while we're here is, you know, luckily, you know, saying Jason Tatum only had an ankle sprain because I was thinking Kawhi Leonard when I saw that play last night. I was I was thinking worst case scenario, he's going to miss the playoffs or something along those lines. But it sounds like it's just an ankle sprain.

[00:11:19] So sit them out the rest of the season, you know, get them ready for game one of whoever you're going to play in the first round, whether that's Atlanta, Chicago, Orlando, or somebody else that you should sweep. Correct. You know, they'll still go five. They'll still go five. Yeah, they'll still go five no matter who it is. Speaking of Jason Tatum, here's one for you, Mr. Logical. Let's hear it.

[00:11:42] There are two teenagers in NBA history to have had a hundred threes, 50 steals and 30 blocks in the season. Two of them. Those two are Ant and Jason Tatum. Do you know who the third one is going to be soon? Cooper flag. No, it's actually a rookie plan right now.

[00:12:05] Zachary Resha Shea, who everyone forgot about the number one overall draft pick in this NBA draft. You know, he's got a couple of 30 point games. That's his fault that people forgot about him. No, no, no. It's the league's fault. They should have put them in L.A. and we would talk about them all the time. No, if you should, you should put up L.A. quality points. He should put up like he should put up TV quality entertainment and then we won't forget about you.

[00:12:33] But we didn't forget about Zion and he missed 900 games the last three years. We're about to see, you know, saying the Hawks going to be in the play in. So, you know, we'll see how that goes. He'll get some playoff, you know, experience in some ways, I guess. And we'll go from there. But you know what else? Speaking of the East, one of these play in teams, one of these here play in teams put up 146 against the Lakers. Yo, I love these.

[00:13:01] I love defensive stats in the NBA. I love when people talk about, oh, they're like the number one defense. It's like, I wish it was accounted for. Missed shots versus contested shots, because sometimes a guy would just miss a good look. But they don't rank your defense off of that. Like if you didn't know, we'll rank defense. It's not like, oh, it's based off of points per game.

[00:13:30] It's based off points per game and stuff like that. And sometimes it's based off how you're playing offensively. So if you're in the back, you know, back and forth back, like I said, we talk about confidence all the time with these role players. You know, the stars. You can. You can.

[00:13:47] When Mitchell Garland, Kyrie, a B, Giannis, Dame LeBron Brunson, Jimmy Butler, when he was the man stuff, certain guys can walk to the gym, walk to the scores table and say, hey, man, put me down for 25, five and five. I'm hitting that. Just don't even worry about counting on my points. I'm getting you 25, five and five or I'm getting you 23, six and six.

[00:14:15] I'm getting you something like that every single time. A lot of these role players don't get that. So when the Lakers role players, when they're not hitting because they have Luke and LeBron, it's like they can't just keep firing. They got to now work through those two guys. And sometimes it just it gets slow. And the other team is like, yo, we hot. We young. We're fast. We're running. Coach Carter style. And we just go to just keep running.

[00:14:42] And while you guys are frustrated because your offense is very intricate, very detailed, very space oriented, you know, pick here, back screen here, position here, look here. Check this triangle. You know, this floppy on this side. 50 on this side. All these scenes that JJ Redick and the brainchild and LeBron come up with some of these other guys. I listen to me against rebound and run. Just get the rebound and run. Just get the rebound and run because these other guys aren't scoring offensively. They lose engagement defensively.

[00:15:12] Now we can get an easy run out. Now it's timeouts and shuffling the lineup. That's what happens when you are a team that just kind of relies on everything going right on one end and not having a fail safe in the back end because there's no size on the Lakers at all. We got you next year is, you know, yeah.

[00:15:37] So, so, you know, I think that, you know, when you look at it, you know, it's, it's kind of hard to quantify, you know, unless you're literally just sitting there watching every single game, you know, because you got people like Wimby, you know, you have people like Dirk Lively that challenge shots, but then you have guys like SGA, J-Dub who are good perimeter defenders. So I guess it depends in a lot of ways. It depends on what you value more.

[00:16:04] So in today's NBA, while you, you know, love your shot blockers, it might help to have a Marcus Smart on your team with the amount of three pointers that people are shooting nowadays. So when you look at OKC, they're just a collection of defenders. A lot of people focus on Shea because he's the leading scorer in the league, but, you know, he's also probably a top, I would just say top 15, just to be on the safe side. Top 15 type defender, too.

[00:16:31] When you look at certain stats, you know, but speaking of the West, Mr. Lodge for the West is wild, man. Houston's back at the two seed, nine and one in their last 10. Jokic has been out, you know, the Nuggets this year, four and seven without them. You know, they're falling down. The Lakers, as I mentioned, the Bulls, you know, Mozelis put up 31 on them in that 31 point victory. That behind the back baseline move he put on Luka. And I don't think he would have gotten anybody with that. I don't think it was a Luka thing.

[00:17:00] I think it just was like it just was a perfect lead time. And once again, young legs, young body, aggressively attacking the rim. There's no presence. And I think that's that's. And I hate the way people talk about the NBA because like last year there were stats, you know, and of course, that's don't always tell the whole story. But there were stats that showed that Luka was a top two or three post defender in the league last year. So Luka made a defensive play the other night.

[00:17:27] And they're talking about we're seeing Luka play defense in a way that he hasn't played defense in his career. It's like, bro, he was just top two or three in post defense last year. Yeah, but that's. But he wasn't in L.A. The guy guarding him is a guy that doesn't get the ball a lot. So he guards that guy and that guy gets the ball in the post. He doesn't have a green light. Are you talking about Kobe guarding Bruce Bowman? Very similar. Very similar.

[00:17:57] Like like trying to guard Shane Battier in a post like Shane Battier in a corner three. Yeah, but like if you they're not running back cuts and screens for Battier by the rim. So that's why that's how these numbers get inflated. I just look at. Excuse me. The presence of defensive bodies. I think OKC having young athletes on the on the perimeter. And then at a minimum Harden signing just a big body.

[00:18:25] And then Chad Holmgren is seven foot two and he's willing to contest. The problem is if he gets bumped, he's so light. It could it could cost him some time. Like I think his hip injury came from him trying to defend somebody shot at the rim. They bumped bad angle and he fell straight down on his hip. So that I think that's the problem that kind of comes along with his defense.

[00:18:50] But like if he can defend without the contact and he just uses length and his size and his presence, then you're good to go. I think that's something that Gobert does great in a regular season. But what happens is team start to do do things like pull him away from the basket like that switch we saw in the Luca last year made no sense. I'm putting ant on Luke and I'm riding the dial with my best guy on their best guy.

[00:19:20] Yeah. So so looking at this, you know, obviously OKC is number one. So, you know, we got two through 10 here in the West. So walking through this real quick, we don't got to get like all the way into the weeds and all this. But yeah, looking at two through six, is this the order that they finish in?

[00:19:45] We're looking at 72 games, 71, 71, 73, 72. I mean, the Clippers look like they're playing well. I believe the Grizzlies and the Lakers. Depends on how long Jokic is out. I think you should be back during this current five game homestand that Denver has going on.

[00:20:13] OK, so they have the games at home being four and six in our last 10 is probably not good. I say there's still I think there's still movement. And I think there's going to be like concessions made. For instance, if you're the Nuggets, you're sitting at three. Are you comfortable taking the Warriors on or do you want to get to two and maybe the.

[00:20:42] The Kings sneak up or do you want to avoid the Timberwolves because and, you know, they sent you home last year or do you want them? You know, so you don't got cat this year. So, I mean, maybe not as reading is that guy. He has to prove it in playoffs. Maybe Julius Ramel can. I don't look. I don't know his injury history and if he's good through the playoffs.

[00:21:03] But I think it's going to be a lot of jockeying, you know, does does insert players named calf need to be rested for two or three games? Does this guy's hamstring need to be rested for the final two games? Do we need to get two more games and then maybe get back for our last five games before we bring a guy back? So, I think a lot of those questions are going to play out.

[00:21:29] If you are, if you're one, two, three or four, I mean, like, I mean, it's so even that I think you just, I think you look at rest and not even worry about who your opponent is. If I'm a Western Conference team right now, I'm looking at like, you know what? What do lethal? So, so, so, so, so I think going on, I think that the Rockets stay put.

[00:22:00] I think we see some jostling between the Lakers and Nuggets. I think that the Grizzlies are going to drop, you know, I think the Grizzlies are going to be in danger of falling to the play in, you know, jobs been in and out the lineup. They just don't look good. And their calling card isn't even working out for them, which is their defense. It's Golden State, I think, rises as long as Steph comes back sometime soon. You know, he's got to. But that's what I mean. Like, do you just make the decision to say, you know what?

[00:22:30] You can't. They're too close to the play in. Yeah, too close. Yeah, I don't think you want to play in the play in. So, I think that the Warriors have to try to get, I think the Warriors end up at five and they supplant or surmount Memphis. So, you got the Grizzlies potentially dropping to seven in the next, they have, they're at 71, 11 games left? I think it's potential there because, I mean, because looking at this, you know what I mean, it's a stretch just because they're three up on the Clippers and T-Wolves.

[00:23:00] But the Clippers and T-Wolves have been playing very well lately, especially the Clippers. You know, they got the defense clicking. Julius Randle somehow is remembering how to play basketball when we thought that he lost or I thought he lost all that. Yeah. So, Minnesota looks pretty good. I think Sacramento and Phoenix are pretty much stuck where they are. And Phoenix is still trying to keep Dallas off because Anthony Davis is back now. You know, he came back last night.

[00:23:27] I agree, Lethal, that the Wolves are the sleeper here because they're the team out of this list that we're talking about that has the player that could go off a 35. You know what I mean? Because when I look at the Clippers, Kawhi can score. I think the success they had last year compared to like the mediocrity that they're kind of basking in this year, I don't know if that switch can be turned on. Because I think they were riding a great high in their playoff run last year.

[00:23:57] They don't look anything like that type of team. Because people were picking, not people, but Pundits were picking Minnesota before the playoffs started as a potential to make the Western Conference Finals. Yeah. But that was based off how the team was looking last year and through March into now going into April, you know, in the next, you know, like in a week or so. I don't think that team is playing the same way.

[00:24:26] I think it's one of those situations where, like the same way I feel about Cleveland. I think they're getting wins because they're playing Phoenix on a Wednesday and then they're playing the Kings on Friday. But I don't know if the success they had last year doesn't like kind of creep into the head if they get down 0-1 or 0-2 in the first round,

[00:24:53] which is inevitable because they're probably going to be playing a one or two seed. Best case scenario. I don't think they're getting the six. So they're playing a one or two seed after maybe one or two playing games. I just feel like it's too much. I think it's a lot of people who were there last year enjoyed that success. And now they're going to have to try to turn it on. Like I got a first round exit for them just because I don't think they manage their team properly.

[00:25:23] I can see that. And, you know, but I think that the Clippers is the type of team that can force a series to go an extra few games. You know, I think the Suns are just, even though Kevin Durant has scored 38-42 in his last two games, and those games were against Milwaukee and Cleveland. So it wasn't against the Wizards. It wasn't against the Hornets. So, you know, I think that Phoenix is just dead man walking.

[00:25:51] It looks good for a few games, but eventually, you know, it's only a long time. But you felt Phoenix was dead man walking for a long time. Yeah. But I think that with these last two games that Durant has had, there's been a lot of talk of are the Suns figuring things out. They started playing Ryan Dunn again, which I've been asking them to do since January. It's March 25th. Yeah, it's March 25th. The Celtics are not getting bounced lethal. You know, the Celtics are going to the finals. Cut it out. Cut it out.

[00:26:19] The Celtics are going to the NBA finals. They are. The ability wins. Like, I think we have, like, we're going to talk about center of others. So the stability in this kind of league wins because the talent margins for your top players isn't that far. Like, yeah, you have the SGA who's having the most efficient season ever. But a lot of your top players, your upper echelon, like great players, they're all playing equally as great.

[00:26:49] It boils down to the stability of your team, the makeup of your team, and who can I put on the floor? And I know what I'm going to get out of them. I might not get the results. Like, I think Boston knows I could put Pritchett out there with the second unit, and it's going to run effectively even if I have Jay LeBron out there with them or Horford out there with them or Hozier out there with them or Brazingis. You know that.

[00:27:17] I think teams like the Lakers know, like, oh, we can play through Luka LeBron, but it has to be perfect. Obviously, Denver knows Jokic can make everything happen for them. Minnesota needs Ant to do everything. But I just don't understand, like, how they get stability out of that position.

[00:27:45] They got 10 games left before the season ends. Whoever they get at 7, he can literally sit from now until the end of that first-round series if he needed to. And I think Boston would be just fine. Yeah, I think they would be just fine. You know what I'm saying? And then we would just be talking about the whole Jalen Brown conundrum all over again. But on a closing note, I just want to say, fuck the Philadelphia 76ers. You know it's the fantasy basketball playoffs going on right now.

[00:28:13] You're 23-49. Why the hell does Quentin Grimes need rest? Because they don't want to pay him. You know what I'm saying? Because they don't want to have to pay him. They don't want to give him enough games to where the fans fall in love with him. It doesn't matter. He's already averaging, like, 25. You know what I'm saying? It don't matter. He can sit out the rest. And then you got Justin Edwards, my undrafted Kentucky Wildcat. You don't want extra wins. You want more ping-pong balls in that thing.

[00:28:42] And I know what the Paul George trade, it might be some stipulations. Jeff Teague, I watched the pod this week, and he talked about when he went to Atlanta, and they told him, hey, man, you're going to play 19 minutes. He's like, what do you mean? He's like, what if I'm going off of 30? He's like, yo, if you get 30 in 19 minutes, you're good to go. But, like, teams start to plan for the future in-game, like, in-season. And Philly is like, listen, we don't need unnecessary wins.

[00:29:11] We don't need to be out here like the Las Vegas Raiders, just winning ourselves out of a good draft position. Like, nah, you had a nice little run, but you're good to go. So it's Juju, easily, you know, said USC is cooked. Even though they won the game by 37 last night, so I don't want to hear nobody, and I mean absolutely nobody, tell me that the women's tournament is better this year. But anyway, that's a whole other story for a whole other day.

[00:29:37] You know, so hey, Cinderella time, right? So, you know, March Madness. You know, we had McNeese State win a game. Okay. You know, we had New Mexico win a game. Okay. You know, Colorado State won a game. And, you know, said we got Arkansas still alive as a 10-seed coach by that snake named Calipari. Yeah, but it's a Calipari coach team. But it's a Calipari coach team.

[00:30:02] So the reason that this conversation came to be because while I was on my vacation, I had to break my anti-ESPN pledge because it was the only sports that I could find on TV. So I stumbled upon a show that wasn't half bad called Unsportsmanlike. You know, Evan Cohen, Michelle Smallman, and Chris Canty.

[00:30:25] And they got on the topic the day before the tournament of can there be Cinderella's in professional sports? And I thought it was an interesting topic because Chris Canty, as you know, played on that Giants team in 2011. That all Wes Welker had to do was catch a damn pass no matter how badly thrown it was. And the Giants. Yeah, Giselle was standing up for her man then. That was before the karate man. Yeah, it was before the karate. You know what I'm saying? Before the karate man, yeah.

[00:30:52] You 36 in the karate class, you tabo ho. And you know, and that's how I was looking at this. Chris Canty was making the point of, look, we had Eli Manning who had already won a Super Bowl and he was a top pick in the draft. You know, and we had this defensive line that we had. You know, Tuck and Uminora, people like that. We were not a Cinderella. And I got into an argument with my hot box brethren last night

[00:31:19] because they were trying to sell me on if the Cincinnati Bengals of this season would have made the playoffs, they would have been a Cinderella. And my retort to that was, nah, because Cinderella, you don't get the shit in the bed and then just get hot. Like a Cinderella is good the whole time, but it's somebody that comes out of the blue that you don't expect. So here's an example of Cinderella, or here's a few examples.

[00:31:47] George Mason, you know, VCU, Wichita State, San Diego State. The entire Final Four a couple years ago. Yeah, like, you know what I mean? Those are Cinderella's that you may have heard the name before, but you didn't know anybody on the teams. So that was the argument that Chris Canty was making was, like, what you going to call the Arizona Cardinals of 08, was it? You going to call them a Cinderella?

[00:32:12] They had Anquan Bolden, Larry Fitzgerald, you know, what's his name? Kurt Warner. All the famous Kurt Warner. I think Bruce Arian was on the staff. So can you, Mr. Logical, are there any sports teams professionally that you can think of that you would consider a Cinderella with that criteria? Without doing, like, extensive research, because I wanted to, like, think this through

[00:32:38] and just have, like, an authentic conversation just of what I can remember in sports. I think about the Mark Sanchez Jets, because I think no one really bought into Mark Sanchez as being, like, the quarterback that can lead a team. The defense was good, but it wasn't, like, 2000s Baltimore Ravens defense. You know, it wasn't, like, the purple people eaters. They were a good defense coached by Rex Ryan. You know, it was, like, it was a good defense,

[00:33:07] and, like, him making the AFC Championship twice, won my podcast. That was one thing. I thought about the Pistons that beat the stacked Lakers team. The Carmelone, Gary Payton, Kobe Shaq, they beat them in five games. But that Detroit team, they were so – they deliberately played tough all year long. So it was, like, the –

[00:33:37] if you pick them over the Lakers, you pick them because you thought they were going to be tough. Even the Patriots that beat the St. Louis Rams with Tom Brady and to Bucky Jones and Bill Belichick and those guys, maybe that could be a Cinderella. But then we started to see, like, as the years went on, that Bill Belichick just was really, really good at calling defense. You know, so I think in order to be a Cinderella, you had to be poorly managed.

[00:34:07] What's going on? Poorly managed for years. Case in point, I don't want to just call out your squad, but, like, the Wizards. If the Wizards were to turn it around next – say they get Cooper Flagg. And they turn it around. Or even, like, the Hornets or something like that. One of these teams that just been – I think the Hornets, they missed the playoffs for, like, nine straight years. Like, they were out of it, like, last week. They were like, yeah, they need to be not making the playoffs for nine straight years.

[00:34:38] If they turn it around, in order to be a Cinderella in professional league, that means you had to be poorly managed for so many years that even at a professional level, people are surprised you're being successful. So I think that's what Canty was like. We're not a Cinderella because we're a professional organization. We had top picks. You know, Elon Manning was the number one overall pick. They probably had top picks all over the line. And a lot of those people in the organization were probably with the organization when they won a Super Bowl a few years earlier.

[00:35:06] So by his estimation on this, we want to poorly run the organization and then all of a sudden turned it on. So I think that's why it's kind of hard to call a professional team at Cinderella because everything's even. Because Cinderella, like, is a movie I probably watched 50 times with my daughter. And Anastasia and Gisela were just literally dominating Cinderella. They were just making her do all kinds of other shit. It just wasn't fair. They were on a fair playing field.

[00:35:36] Whereas in the professional leagues, you're on a fair playing field until you butcher it. I like what the Giants management team is doing currently. So what you think about this Browns team with Baker Mayfield? Baker is, they were at Cinderella? Leto's asking the question, you know, like, and then lost that game to Kansas City. I think it was Chad Henney that. Chad Henney came in through the past. Yeah.

[00:36:06] But it would fit because they were a poorly run organization. So it's not like, I don't think you're at Cinderella. I think you just, you finally got it figured out. Because the playing field is evil. Right. So the Cinderella, that was another thing. It's like, you are at some, you have a disadvantage through either the structure of the, the game you play, the league you're in. Like you have to have some kind of disadvantage. Yeah.

[00:36:36] George Mason has a disadvantage against Ohio State in the recruiting because George Mason doesn't get the same pot of money to travel to recruit as a team like Ohio State or Michigan or one of these other big teams. So you are at a disadvantage. The NFL, you are at the same level. It's just, how are you managing on the level you're on? See, and I think, so to answer, to that point that you just brought up, Lethal, about the wild card teams, you know, look at some of these teams.

[00:37:06] Like this year, the Packers were the seventh seed. So, you know, you had Jordan Love who just walked into Dallas last year and put a 48. Cowboys all over Jerry World. With the youngest team in the playoffs. Yeah. So, so like, you know, like when you can, maybe you could make a slight argument, a slight argument for the Denver Broncos this year with Bo Nix, you know, as a rookie quarterback, you know, maybe you could make a slight argument there, but I still don't really think so

[00:37:34] because when you're in a professional league and I know what you're going to say, but I'm just going to go there anyway. Like, you know, when you look at an NFL team or NBA team or a major league baseball team, hockey, these teams start the season with championship aspirations. Like, yes, we know the Wizards aren't going to win the title. We know that the Hornets aren't going to win the title, but for the most part, like most of the league, 30%, 40% of the league feel like they're going to win the championship. They get the same cut of money.

[00:38:04] They get to negotiate the same team. Salary caps. Salary caps. Yeah. They get to hire the same type of people. They get to, they get to, you know, pontificate with their local government to get their stadiums in there. So if they have the same access to success, it's just a matter of like, how do you travel that route? If I was going to pick a sport, maybe you see Cinderella a little more in baseball, you know, because I went back to 03 with the Marlins, you know, when they won it.

[00:38:34] After the fact, we know how good their pitchers are. But in the moment, it was like the Florida Marlins. This was before they became the Miami Marlins. And then they blew it up. You know what I mean? I think that, I don't think we would have been a Cinderella if we made the Super Bowl. We would have just been a team that had a great rookie that made an impact. I don't think that counts as Cinderella because like I said, Cinderella, or as Raf said, Cinderella, you have to have some kind of disadvantage or reason that you can't win the title.

[00:39:03] So look at that. George Mason, they were in the Colonial Athletics, same with VCU at the time that they made their tournament runs. And they parlayed that to get to the A-10 now. You know, you have Wichita State that was in the Missouri Valley Conference, which how many people can name other teams in the Missouri Valley Conference besides Wichita State at that time who's now in the American? You know, so at the time, you had Cle Anthony Early, you had Fred Van Vliet,

[00:39:32] Ron Baker. None of us knew their names. We didn't know who they were when they made that run. So we can look at it now and say, they had Fred Van Vliet on their team. That's not a Cinderella, but in the moment, they absolutely were. And if you take it to college football this year, for example, you know, you had a team like SMU who last year was in the American. They were the, you know, in the G5. They came to a Power 5 league this year,

[00:40:01] made it to the Conference Championship game. So if they would have beat Penn State in that playoff game, you probably could call SMU. And they're not getting any ACC money for the first nine years, any of the TV money. So if SMU continues to do what they did this year, you could put them in Cinderella status. And while rookie quarterbacks might not ever have Super Bowl expectations, you're acting as if this is tennis where they're playing one-on-one.

[00:40:31] They got defensive players. They got Terry McLaurin. You know what I mean? Like, that's not a Cinderella. Like, you know what I mean? Notre Dame. And the Cinderella, like, if you think about the movie Cinderella, she literally popped up out of nowhere when everybody else was already at the ball. Like, everyone's already there. These are the people that you expect to win out. And all of a sudden, this surprise team popped up.

[00:41:01] In the professional leagues, because the playoffs are tracked as long as they are, you recognize when a team is good so many weeks before the tournament starts. The reason that the Cinderella works in the NCAA tournament is because you don't know about South Dakota State Jackrabbits until it's the, they're a 14 seed and they're playing against Michigan State. Maybe, because they put on ESPN. People didn't know about Gonzaga

[00:41:30] in the late 1900s. I did. Yeah, and don't forget, John Stockton went to Gonzaga and they still weren't. Gary Payton went, I mean, even though Oregon State was in the Pac-12, Gary Payton went to Oregon State and you know what I mean? How many tournaments have they made since Gary Payton left? So, so, so like, that's why when you look at this, it's a, it's a little broader than surprise team because, you know, like, let's say hypothetically, hypothetically, let's just say

[00:41:59] trying to think of a team that like right now that, okay, the New York Giants, we'll talk about them later, but just for the purposes of this conversation, you know, the Giants make a playoff run. You could consider them a super, I mean, a Cinderella until you're like, well, Malik Nabors was a top 10 pick. They're getting another top 10 or top three pick this year if they don't trade out of it. They went and got Russell Wilson who's near the end of his career, but he's a Super Bowl champion.

[00:42:29] So, you know what I mean? It's like, I can't call that a Cinderella. Like, I just can't. Like I said, the reason you, I read, like I said, I'll go back to the Cinderella. The playing field is even. The performance has to match success. If you just are an unsuccessful team and then you turn it around, I can't call you Cinderella. If you are, if you get You say that because you're from Virginia. Okay, that's why I always say Hallmark's Cinderella. You say that

[00:42:58] because you're from Virginia because George Mason was about five years earlier than that. Yeah, but I wouldn't, like I said, I wouldn't consider these teams, professional teams to the religious because well, baseball maybe because the salary cap is vastly different. Right. And that's, that's probably the only thing. I was going to say the dominant back because he had Curt Schilling and Randy Johnson. Randy Johnson. They had like Hall of Famers, you know, so it was like they still get good players,

[00:43:28] you know, like the Kansas City Royals had their run but they had fallen off so maybe you can go like Cinderella there because they are going up against they're going up against Giants, giant bank accounts that give other teams a true advantage. The Mets bank account versus the Brewers bank account is substantial in that you factor in the diamond backs. You can't even say that because the Royals had the runner-up MVP last year. No,

[00:43:58] I'm talking about the year that they when they made their runs like they had the back-to-back years but like I said they are up against something that definitively does give you an advantage which is how much money you can spend. I think colleges having access to money and facilities and Nike deals because like yeah Wright State may have a Nike deal but they're not getting the same amount of Nikes as Oregon. You know what I mean? They're not getting everybody on the staff

[00:44:27] getting all 12 pairs of shoes that come out like say all the shoes that come out in a month. Not a Cinderella. Y'all were just bad. Bad. And it got good. That's not a Cinderella. Cinderella is good the whole time from start to finish. Yeah. Like Wichita State went undefeated and then got matched up with Kentucky in the second round and lost. Like you know what I mean? Like it just happens that way. But you know like some of these

[00:44:57] teams like BCU and these When you're a professional team you can't come out of nowhere. Yeah like maybe so I did think about and then we'll wrap this up. I did think about the Miami Heat from a couple of years ago. You know just for the fact that they were in the play-in and they made it all the way to the finals. But no. That's more of an underdog. Yeah that's an underdog versus a Cinderella. Right. Yeah like if if UAB joined the NBA

[00:45:26] playoff run and then they won a couple of rounds in the NBA playoffs that would be a Cinderella. But a professional team getting guys back playing healthy playing smart and winning games is just they're finally figuring it out. But I wouldn't consider them a Cinderella. Right. I consider it a great underdog story but I think those are two different vernaculars that we're speaking through. Yeah and the Giants were they are the only team to win the Super Bowl with less than nine wins since the Packers did it back in 1967.

[00:45:55] You know so every other team has won 10 games. So like if anything they were just a mediocre team that got hot. You know that's what that was you know said. But anyway I swear to y'all with all this Cinderella talk it has to be March but you wouldn't know it by watching the NCAA tournament because if you look at it there's a whole lot of chalk going on you know outside of Arkansas I guess you know John Calipari you know so Mr. Logical

[00:46:26] before I went on vacation I tried to pick a final four before I looked at the bracket correct you know that final four one of those teams is eliminated already so I had Auburn Michigan St. John's and Duke that was my final four coming into this so as you can see on the screen here we got Auburn and Michigan playing on Friday so I guess that can't be the final four yeah

[00:46:55] I think that cancels out yeah that cancels out so you know what I mean you know so I got we'll get to that lethal I promise I'm gonna answer that later you know but now my new final four this is my new final four hot off the press so Auburn Duke Arkansas and Tennessee so as I look at this

[00:47:26] you know I brought this up a couple of weeks ago San Antonio is the only time back in 2008 that all four one seeds made the final floor the final four you know here we are again with four very strong number one seeds Auburn Duke Houston you know and Florida you know they all have a chance to win the national title all three all four of them alive but I do think Florida gets got this week

[00:47:55] I think I think Florida loses to Maryland as we scroll you know I think Florida loses to Maryland I think that there's a chance that Maryland needed that final shot to beat yeah Colorado State it happens you know before we even go any further Mr. Logical did you hear this Maryland team their nickname no what we got

[00:48:24] they are known as the Crab Five so the problem that they may run into against Florida besides the fact that Florida has Will Clayton Jr you know what I mean besides the fact that Florida has Elijah Martin from that FAU Final Four team a couple of years ago is that Maryland doesn't have any depth you know what I mean the starting five is probably one of the best starting fives in all of college basketball they just

[00:48:54] don't have anything to complement it so if there's any foul trouble Terp's going home it's a drop off yeah it's a drop off but I'm going with that I'm going with that you know this Michigan State Ole Miss game that Lethal is talking about you know this is one of these games because we got a couple of teams left in this tournament that have never made the Final Four Tennessee who has the most tournament appearances without a Final Four Alabama BYU

[00:49:24] BYU never made a Final Four never made a Final Four and Ole Miss pick and roll off this white guys run and make it happen and I'll do you one even yes he did travel and I'll do you one even better Ole Miss has never made the Elite Eight so watch out Sparty because who is Ole Miss's head coach the woman the woman biter Chris Beard himself you know who took Xavier to their first Elite Eight who took Texas Tech to their

[00:49:54] first Final Four national title game so just beware he does this but I think Michigan State wins I think they got too much talent you know Jason Richardson you know is a baller you know I like I just like the backcourt Michigan State I like Izzo in a tournament when he has playmakers I think he just I think players love to play for him and when you have a coach like that and you have guys who can just make plays on the ball because Big Ten basketball isn't really known

[00:50:24] to have playmakers it's a lot of the coach sets the tone we run this offense we're going to run these plays these back cuts this guy is going to be open on the

[00:50:56] there yeah he's going to have five days to work on this game plan you got BYU and Bama I'm with you I'm rolling with the tide Mark Sears putting the final touches on a senior season and all American season I think that BYU is going to give them a little bit more trouble than we think though you know Igor you know Doreen is going off

[00:51:44] is going to be potential lottery pick I just like how they manipulate the floor to get open shots for every player on the floor hit that pick and roll hard at the top roll to the rim whoever is running that knows that it's guard or it's the big and the post it's the pull up from here or I'm kicking out to the wing and we set it back

[00:52:14] up or it's a shot I just felt like they were just in that game against Wisconsin Wisconsin had the guy he was hot yeah you just give it to him and let him they have a

[00:52:43] great balance of different types of players we were talking about the Olympic team that won bronze it was all scores there was no shooters like you know people said hey there's no white guys on the team I think BYU football BYU basketball like you know what we they have a great combination there

[00:53:13] they have guys and you know they're older too a lot of BYU players are probably older than the Jazz on average you know after they do their two year mission a lot of these guys start playing at BYU are like 21 and a half 22 years old right so you have that maturity difference a lot of guys are married so I just think in crunch time I think the BYU players will stick to their guns and not lose sight of like okay it's just a basketball game

[00:53:43] we're gonna make these plays we're gonna hit this pick and roll we're gonna hit this and BYU has only lost one game over the last month that game was to number one seed Houston you know to answer your question lethal you know what I'm gonna go Tennessee Duke Auburn Ole Miss I think those are your top five defenses left in this tournament

[00:54:13] you know and as far as like offenses go we got some of that left over too you know what in this tournament you got Alabama at number one Duke at 12 Arizona at 17 and BYU at 25 so you know like there's gonna be some fireworks this weekend lots of overs you know you got Auburn and Michigan

[00:54:44] you know I think Auburn sneaks out of there with the win I think Michigan is going to give them all they want I think you might see some overtime in this game you know Michigan guard play has been beating the front court with Joe Wolf and Vlad Golden who guess what was on that FAU final four team along with head coach Dusty may of that FAU final four team so they are not afraid of the moment you know Auburn has been a little leaky if you will you know they three and three in their last six

[00:55:33] Duke Arizona and Duke oh sign me up for this game and twice on Sunday so you know of course you know me you know there's the transfer portal you know like all this stuff happening so there's a guy by the name of Caleb Love who used to play for the North Carolina Tar Heels he was on the team that beat Coach K and

[00:56:03] Cameron in his last home game they beat Duke in the first ever final four matchup between Duke and North Carolina here he is again waiting for some Duke yes this is Duke's tournament to lose but Caleb Love for some reason turns into Kobe Bryant when he sees that other shade Duke got too much going on Tyrese Proctor 9 for 10 from 3 the other day Duke is a machine at this point you know

[00:56:33] check it out I'm on Google under cbs.com CBS sports where you think the win probability is percentage wise Arizona Duke he wants one versus four guess if I had to guess it might be lower than expected so it's 100% scale so yeah yeah yeah but I think it's lower in my mind it would be

[00:57:03] something like 79% Duke that's what I would say in my mind hold on you said 79% Duke yeah I'm just gonna tell you 81% okay I thought it was gonna be lower because for whatever reason the fact you said 79 just like just lets people yo this is why you tune in this show this man I just do this on the spot this man has a computer when it comes to college sports stuff any show

[00:57:32] you watch that says anything about college sports send it to Mike have it vetted and then you can believe it or not don't just believe it when you hear it on TV listen to Mike 79% 81% lower because Arizona is one of those teams every year that everybody falls in love with you know they're top three seed usually they're four seed this year but they're usually a trendy final four pick you know most years so I thought it was going to be a little lower like

[00:58:01] I like to cross you know pollinate with the sports Roy Williams the safety for the Dallas Cowboys back in the day they wanted to introduce the T.O. rule when he pulled and broke his ankle he was doing an interview and they asked him how'd you know you were ready for the next level and he said I felt like I was a man amongst boys on the field it's like I can just feel that like I'm not on their level and I think people are looking

[00:58:31] at Cooper flag and like a lot of the ancillary dynamic pieces that Duke has is like listen we get that excuse me you know your star player guys like we're talking about Kentucky last year they had a couple of guys that were projected to be top six top seven picks but Cooper flag is projected to be like the team that teams are risking their coaches are risking their jobs for by tanking to get him and he's

[00:59:00] playing like that so I think that's probably buys into that that win probability that's the best part is because Duke even though I hate their guts you know they're sharing the ball they're playing through each other with each other it's the opposite of what you saw with coach Cal teams at Kentucky you know when we talk about one and dones like they're buying in you know and Tyrese Proctor like I said he's got the most two game three pointers since John Shire the head coach of Duke did it in you know what I mean so like

[00:59:30] yeah give me Duke I do think that Arizona is going to give them a battle you know what I mean like this Baylor game no I think I think I think Arizona is sound enough talented enough good of a coach enough that I think they can keep it in single digits so I can see it something along the lines of 81 where is this game being played is it closer to Carolina is it closer to let's see here

[01:00:02] I want to say I'm not buying Victor Wimby Yama but it's in Newark so that's close to if we have two years of film on the Spurs with Wimby and their win totals are exactly the same I

[01:00:34] the just the size of a person he is I think they should be in the runs we got two years of it and I get it it could be coaching but in the same sense is like think about it like let's go with the last like Kyrie Kyrie had a couple of like a bad run but Cleveland was making like poor decisions management wise Anthony Bennett you know so like

[01:01:04] it was just like it wasn't working out for them Wimby is a foot and a half taller than Kyrie he should be able to impact winning a little bit more I look at the season was 82

[01:01:33] games well they were starting a rookie they started a decrepit they started a dude or their best scorer besides Wimby was 20 games or so their best score rebounder shot blocker assist maker playmaker as a man once said context is key that's what I'm saying he should be that guy I think Cooper flag I don't know what team because

[01:02:03] the teams that he could potentially go to are so poorly constructed Charlotte is bad I think Washington is bad Utah but he fits right in Utah right I think he fits in Utah because I think Utah will roll out the red carpet because Utah's head coach is a former Celtic assistant it writes itself yeah so if you if you if you think about

[01:02:33] Charlotte if you think about Charlotte LaMelo is still the man there if you think about Washington Jordan Poole is still the man there quote unquote Utah I think whoever who feels like they are that guy would have I don't think LaMelo is taking the back seat to Cooper Flaag I don't know if I don't know if Cooper Flaag is athletic enough but not that this person is like

[01:03:03] crazy athletic but you know I've seen people rate him as low as Keith Van Horn but I see a little tiny bit of Kawhi sometimes when I look at Cooper Flag just a little bit Van Horn that's a good one with the Sox just a little bit I don't know because like the new NBA is different I

[01:03:51] you gotta stop this shit you just being lazy comparing a white boy to a white boy but you know but hey Houston and Purdue you know it's gonna be that makes sense they

[01:04:21] they take bad shots for how good of shooters they are Braden Smith has been balling you know so I gotta give credit where it's due the fact that they're in the sweet 16 the year post Zach Edie you know I really like Zach Edie I wish he would I wish he would get more like yeah but yeah I'm thinking Houston but I do think that it

[01:05:08] since day one I think he's going to be a surprise NBA player he missed half of the season this year with an injury he's back now and here you

[01:05:38] because when you see them initially you say they went 8 and 10 in the SEC how good can they be but then all it takes is for one game for

[01:06:08] this guy will not shoot the ball he really is six foot instead of six one yeah so it's like once you recognize that is like and I think Calipari I don't even know if he coaches on the sideline I think he gives guys like ego boost and then they just go out and just like listen maybe we'll go out here and take over space mountain you with me I think Calipari is more of a life coach than a basketball coach like he has

[01:06:38] this ability to blend people together manage the egos you know what I mean so so from that standpoint yes X's and O's he ain't the one yeah go out there Kentucky I wouldn't consider them a Cinderella Kentucky going for the three I don't even know the sweep the three time

[01:07:07] sweep over Tennessee I mentioned Tennessee has never made the final four before what's standing in their way is Kentucky and Houston or Purdue so look back in November this is full disclosure back in November I went out and put me some money down on the Vols to win the national title I went and put some money on them saying 19 grand coming my way if they can do it but look this is the thing I don't trust Rick I

[01:07:39] don't trust Rick Barnes we've been talking about Rick Barnes every year me and coach Will got into a huge argument about whether if this dude is a great coach and not all I'm gonna say is the last time Rick Barnes made the final four he had TJ Ford in his starting lineup big ass shorts and

[01:08:17] my guy car my guy Kobe Bree they coming for some Tennessee but I'm just scared to pick Kentucky because Kentucky already beat them twice you know what I mean and they were close matchups so you know it's one of those things where I think seeing them the third time just gives Tennessee an edge I mean I like that you're not a full-on-on-on-homer like you didn't pick Kentucky you didn't pick Maryland

[01:08:47] you did pick Maryland but you didn't really say it with your chest I respect it I think the conversation surrounding the lack of Cinderella's every term is not supposed to look the same every year like I think before the parlays every single week this was

[01:09:17] and when it boils down to it simply doesn't it's just not enough basketball players available for D1 programs to create these Grand Canyons going on to the lead eight every single year or high point or even teams like Troy just making these long substantial runs it's just not enough players out there for a lot of my player is my group of players the whatever

[01:09:47] even if you we have the resources here at this university and like you talked about a lot of transfers and the transfer portal opened I guess yesterday the NCAA has to figure out that like just logistically with college football

[01:10:16] and college basketball because even if you are talking about oh these players need to be enrolled in school by this date it's post holiday especially for college football it's post holiday most schools don't go back until about we'll say the second week of January so call it the 6th 5th 6th 7th 8th somewhere in that window so you get New Year's on a Wednesday kids don't go back to school until the following

[01:10:46] Tuesday so it's like it's not as if you gotta get these guys transferred in before this date and the professor knows whatever amount of work you get gave this player you can get it to later but that's me thinking out loud you know I've been seeing people like Jay Williams who I love by the way I've been seeing people like him asking this question and I think they're just overreacting but the question is is NIL killing Cinderella and I don't think that it is you know what mean we still got

[01:11:16] upsets in the first round of the tournament you know what I mean like you just didn't have teams executing the lack of critical I want to be dismissive but the lack of critical thinking when it comes to that question is ridiculous for these coaches like yo there's always been a monetary disadvantage for other schools the top schools always had more money yeah they can't come on and say flat out hey I'm BYU I'm giving this

[01:11:46] top ranked guy four million dollars to come here so I think really the teams that generally didn't do well with recruiting but was good with money because BYU you know is based on the Mormon religion it's a big that's a big catalyst of the school Mormonism is like the second richest religion in the world behind capitalism so they're going to be able to buy a five million dollar player every single year

[01:12:16] but Oregon has the other world's greatest religion which is Nike they're going to be able to get guys every single year if they need to just like every other school to have Jordan schools Jordan is like you know what I think Carolina needs three or four million to kick back hey man release these Jordans and all the profits from that center to North Carolina so they can buy this player that's difference the NIL but before then these other

[01:12:46] schools are already getting this money I think it's a lose argument to be like oh NIL is doing it like nah I think NIL hurts your schools like Evansville and Loyola Marymount maybe a school like Lamar you know saying a school like I don't think from the standpoint of if you're a team that

[01:13:17] is below average in your conference so if you're a team like Evansville who finished last in the Missouri Valley and you still have good players on that team that another mid-major might steal so now you're possibly pulling from Division 2 or you're pulling from NINA or NIA you probably finished last eight years ago without the NIL money right your program money like Kobe

[01:13:47] Breer from Kentucky he came from Dayton you know what I mean like you stole my player and I went I got a 30 game season and I went 11 and 19 in 2018 and now the NIL deal's popping off and I went 10 and 20 we were bad eight years ago you got a guy like Will Clayton who buried UConn the other day for Florida he came from Iona

[01:14:17] you know what I mean and he's up here with the Gators averaging eight so it's not just as if Florida or whoever is going to Maryland or Arkansas will probably pull in three or four or five stars they pulled Kentucky yeah he took the players from Kentucky and then now I'm a player I get you get two five star guys and you get them to come to Kentucky VCU still from Kentucky to Arkansas yeah

[01:14:46] and then Calipari doesn't play them in this game and they lose the next game they play in terms they lose I'm still a five star talent maybe Purdue needs me maybe is maybe so it's like I'm going from Arkansas to Michigan State so it's not as if players that are moving are only moving from small school to big school like you said those guys were from Kentucky

[01:15:16] to Arkansas Kentucky is a basketball powerhouse you know Arkansas dwarfs them as far as success but Calipari went to Arkansas those players went from Kentucky to Arkansas I don't think I don't think you were thinking about I know Arkansas has their run you know they had their run if you think about NBA players if we put

[01:15:46] those little posts in our group chats like Duke North Carolina Kentucky we put all their five players who would win in a seven game whatever I don't know if there's five guys from Arkansas that we would put up that would challenge the Duke or that's what it's not a matter of like I think you were saying that Arkansas

[01:16:22] was dwarfing I think coaches who don't like NIL and pundits who don't like NIL can just say that but like I said you asked two follow-up questions like yo did you think Ohio State and Florida when they played in the national championship in 2008 you think Akron and Bowling Green had the same opportunity to

[01:16:55] he got to sink half his money in Akron to turn them around he'll get it back but you know but hey I promised Lethal we would answer his question so Mr. Logical before we start talking about the New York Giants I'm going to ask you Lethal's question I love lethal questions because they come from the heart the lethal bag what is a Super Bowl matchup that we will never see again never never

[01:17:25] that's already occurred or just we've seen that we won't see again this is goofy I'm gonna say but I'm gonna come off it and say Jets Colts because they're both in AFC no that don't count I know I know I Super matchup we'll never see again that has occurred I

[01:17:58] got one I'm trying because I think NFL you got a shot and I don't think I got where's Colts that's a good one I was gonna go with Green Bay New England why not well one you know saying by the time New England get good

[01:18:31] Giants Giants because the Giants are such I mean all the Giants gotta do is fire Joe Shane and they're right back in the Giants because they are they are New York the same shit you said that don't count yeah I think the Giants because they are New York I think they'll I think they'll be able to attract free agents if they draft the problem is they didn't create any

[01:19:01] optimism this current offseason getting rid of that coaching staff creates a buzz I think they get rid of that coaching staff and then maybe maybe the the number three pick feels like it's going to be a smart pick for that team because you hired Ray from up under New England you got rid of Dave ball you

[01:19:30] brought in some analytics 37 year old GM and now it's like I think Ray was going to see what he did with Tannehill Cardinals Steelers that's a good one because I think the Steelers simply can't get the quarterback right and you have to have the quarterback right I think that's realistic because if you keep Shanahan if you keep

[01:20:00] Shanahan and you suffer through a bad year this year potentially you could because Shanahan's offense makes guys look great which could turn young guys into real stud players because I think their defense is pretty simple because even Steve Wilks

[01:20:29] the year that they went to the Chiefs his points per game were very close to the years that they went to the Super Bowl so I think they keep the defense simple enough to where you can plug and play a great young player in there and he could turn in a Fred Warner or turn into Greenlaw or turn into Navari Bowman or something like that they always gonna have a run game I think I

[01:21:16] the Dolphins because I think they are poorly managed franchise I think they're gonna fire McDaniel midseason if it doesn't go well and they're gonna be behind the eight though I got Raiders Eagles you know because the Raiders aren't a serious franchise either yeah because they got Pete Carroll now but when he leaves then what you know saying and then the Eagles gonna have to start paying

[01:21:46] a bunch of people start losing some players and they get set back for a little bit and then Panthers Broncos not you got the Super Bowl I'd like how long would it take Carolina to get to a Super as constructed right now how long would it take Carolina to get to a Super Bowl where are they where they picking this year I want to

[01:22:23] young size if he was Jordan Love size I think I could do it but like a lot of times man Jordan Love just holds on and gets hit a lot I think the Panthers believe in their coach so you said Panthers Broncos yeah I mean long as Philly if Philly's playing the way they're playing it's gonna be hard to win at AFC but that doesn't seem crazy to me because I don't think the dysfunction

[01:22:54] the owner does give me pause that's the only thing because the division is easy to win I Washington

[01:23:24] Dallas has to get better within the next two to three years I'm gonna work on the assumption that Dallas won't get better they haven't given me enough I think they're more turmoil than they are even if I don't count Dallas right you they will you got

[01:23:54] Detroit potentially in their way as far as they might not win a Super Bowl but the Panthers can't beat them next extension within the next year or so I don't know if no I like it you know saying uh jerry golf

[01:24:24] is a free agent he signed an extension through 2028 four years 212 extensions normally started happening with two years left yeah yeah so the end of 26 so the end yeah and then have the conversation

[01:24:54] I think they're going to have the conversation before 26 27 starts right I would think so you know then you got then you got Kevin O'Connell just he's taking his bag and going

[01:25:24] he's of there he's out of there and then if Seattle can play defense the way that Mike McDonald can coach defense they're going to be a tough out you know what I the

[01:25:53] lack of success getting to champion games is tough oh I got one Rams Titans we'll see what the Titans do with the number one overall pick I don't care what the Titans do with the number one draft we'll see we'll gauge their seriousness level if they go out there and say you know what we get an offensive tackle we running back Will Levis they go out here and get Abdul Carter

[01:26:23] the Steelers are easy pick because they won't be poor enough to get a top rated quarterback in a good quarterback year unless they get rid of Mike Tomlin they got to fire Mike Tomlin have a 4 and 13 year and get Arch Manning or some shit Steelers win their

[01:26:53] next playoff game will Mike Tomlin be the coach that led them to it who did they sign they got DK no quarterback they're waiting on Aaron okay nah that's what I mean oh they signed Skyler they need a guy right now that can look DK Metcalf and George Pickens

[01:27:23] and I he like listen don't come back to the huddle with no bullshit I'm gonna get you the ball that guy doesn't exist right now in free agency I don't know if you get that with a rookie because I think off the top of my head without looking up Pittsburgh somewhere around 18 to 22 draft 21 yeah so they're 21 maybe you get Jackson dark to slip to you at 21

[01:27:52] but I don't know if they pull that trigger oh look at that a rod on the same page that's crazy because I never even thought of that as you got you got to hope that like one of these guys but Kenny Pickett slipped to them in that year with Malik Willis Desmond Ritter and Kenny Pickett everything he was in the building all the time

[01:28:22] yeah you shouldn't let him in you should let him stay at the casino right next to the stadium let him gamble his time quarterback yeah he's on his third team already but here you go like hey they went out and got famous Jameis and I was like okay they got their backup to help their rookie along the way and then as I was changing a car battery today

[01:28:51] got a notification it was like Russell Wilson to the Giants one year ten and a half million dollars so I saw something said 21.9 oh I saw 10 and a half let me look it up real quick unless I'm tripping cause I thought I said so I saw 21.9 unless I'm wrong it's worth up to 21 million so

[01:29:21] that's what the incentives and all that sounds like so that means that three excuse me I'm gonna cough here for a second and pause my microphone those may allergies when you get old or March allergies excuse me so that means that three are you are you Travis Hunter that's what I'm thinking so he got ten and a half guaranteed

[01:29:51] with incentives he could get up to 21 what is like who signs these deals you like okay so you know Travis Hunter you know maybe you get Will Campbell to help the offensive lineup you got uh Abdul Carter if you want to create your monster defensive line because you got Thibodeau and

[01:30:20] last match draft I looked at has Abdul Carter going to Cleveland Cam Ward one Abdul Carter two but I think that one has Shador going three to the Giants before the rush news so does that lead Shador to the Raiders Raiders unless unless there's been internal conversations and rumblings and text emails saying that he's only going to work for Tom Brady

[01:30:52] but if I'm the Raiders that's a no brainer the Giants really going to start a black quarterback to start the season nah they gonna go out and get Mason Rudolph or something from Pittsburgh nah they'll figure it out I mean listen I think the black quarterback conundrum for the Giants is it's odd it's definitely odd um the Saints said they're happy with Spencer Rattler

[01:31:24] um if Sanders go to NL we gonna pray for him that's what he's Dion Dion's gonna pull his Archie Manning and make sure that he doesn't go to New Orleans uh I'm gonna say the Jameis Russell Wilson signing in the

[01:31:54] same week when you kept the when you kept the coaching staff from last year when you kept the GM that said publicly or like at least while knowing he was being recorded that Saquon essentially you know paraphrasing wasn't a viable piece to an offense when you have Daniel Jones as a quarterback when his own son was in his office saying go get Jaden Daniels

[01:32:22] is just and then the owner team president or however the Mara's divided their responsibilities in their organization saying I'm gonna lose sleep you know it's kind of funny it's like for all that to happen and then you say you know what we're gonna run it back next year and then you run it back with Russell Wilson who's a good I think he's a good person I think I think he's a good personality I think I

[01:32:52] I think he won't come in and ruin anything but it's been two teams now that's showing you like yo he does not resonate with the players he does not inspire the players yelling at him remember that when he threw the pick or whatever and he's coming back to the sidelines the offensive lineman wrote over to him right yeah you know so he's on his fourth team I think there was the game the final game

[01:33:22] of the year when he held on to the ball and that that final game where he could have thrown the ball and saved like 40 seconds and they end up losing he went up to uh cam hayward it was like let's win these next four like on the field like he's like mic'd up let's win these next four like you had

[01:33:52] the ball in your hand we could have it up by not doing your job like throw the ball out of bounds we still got second down you ran it across the line of scrimmage and got tackled way under but here's you know what there's a parallel should be your your your your over under nine starts under there's a there's a but there's a parallel that we're missing here we've been talking half of the offseason

[01:34:22] and playoffs about how awful the Giants are how about to be awful the Steelers should be correct not realizing that they're ran by the same family nothing no they're like interconnected connected I think like somebody there's sisters right the girl with the dragon tattoo yeah they're married so it's like one girl one girl's name is her name is Rooney

[01:34:51] Mara yeah and then the girl that was in the fantastic four her last name is Mara I think there's like a like a marriage link to it yeah same family of bullshit is all I see but hey I just thought about the same nonsense yeah yeah I just thought about this I wasn't I didn't even have this on the topic but since we talking about football close out the show with this so I read a report while I was on vacation that

[01:35:21] the Detroit Lions are leading a revolution to change the playoff seating you know because these teams that don't win the division like Minnesota that win 14 games have to go on the road in the first round what say you yes the Giants are lethal yes they are they're exactly how bad we think they are they're exactly what I thought they were we we think they're

[01:35:51] three and 14 teams and that's exactly what they are oh no I don't like it I like the format the way that it is I like the format of win your division get a home playoff game I think I it's the way that I'm not sure how long it's been that way I really paid attention to it but I don't think because

[01:36:21] that was a year the year that Seattle won their division the same year at seven to nine was a year that Marshawn Lynch had that earthquake registering right against the Saints so the format is easy I know going into the

[01:36:51] Giants GM as a Colts head coach if I win my division I get a home playoff game that's it that is all you need to get the ball rolling if you win 13 games you don't win your division because somebody else is really good you got to play him twice beat him you get you get to determine who

[01:37:20] leads your division so if you gotta go 15 and 2 because the Detroit Lions they're gonna go 14 and 3 you gotta go 15 and 2 but just because some other team doesn't it's not that's not your concern your concern is what happens in the NFC North NFC East when you're Buffalo Miami New England and

[01:37:50] the Jets you're concerned with the AFC East can I win that division that's it so I wanna borrow a phrase that you used earlier let's hear it critical thinking I got you so yes like in college football right you look at these schedules and you say hey the SEC and the Big Ten play tougher schedules they should get more playoff teams it makes sense

[01:38:20] regardless of who won the conferences or whatever like you're like this team played a tougher schedule so when I look at the NFL for example this year Minnesota went 14 and three salute to them their only losses were to the Lions and the Rams those are literally the only two teams that beat the Vikings this season so are the Vikings a team worthy of having a home playoff game sure but this is the

[01:38:51] schedule you know who their crossovers were there this year the AFC South and NFC West so you got fat off a hamburger helper you know what I said you weren't out here eating escargot aka snails you weren't out here eating that great delicacy you were

[01:39:21] a playoff game at home over a team that won their division now when I look at it in my head it does look weird but when I look at the AFC for for example for this

[01:39:53] season you win your division you can't have nuances in the middle of stability not only that but you can't keep reacting to everything that doesn't go your way next year there might not be a team that wins that many games you know what I

[01:40:23] the rest of the seeds would have been the exact same you know in the NFC it gets a little funky right because you would have had you know you had Washington you had Green Bay who won more games than Tampa so Tampa would have been the seventh seed this year you

[01:40:53] line up across from somebody hit them in the mouth hit them harder than they hit you so it don't matter if you want to get to the play just like okay we were talking about college basketball I picked out my final four oh I'm in Duke's bracket guess what if you want to win the national title you might

[01:41:23] the math of it but because that's not what's in practice that's not the standard that's not the expectation because there's an anomaly doesn't mean I have to alter the rules I don't even like the altered rules for the playoffs that they had since Buffalo didn't get the ball back against Kansas City a few years

[01:41:53] they only changed the rule because they felt like they missed out on something Minnesota didn't have a great run in the playoffs they lost in the first round right Detroit lost their home playoff game to Washington so it's not like simply because we redraw these lines for you to appease your

[01:42:23] succeed at anyway so yeah you know what it is go play and exceed that you know what I mean and think about it like this so I brought up Minnesota you know playing the AFC South and I forgot the AFC West you know Tampa played the AFC West in the NFC East

[01:42:53] yeah and then you play your other games are a first play schedule a second play schedule a third play schedule or fourth play schedule so there's so many nuances to play nothing

[01:43:23] to do with it tell me more block him I'm joking it's nothing to do with it the playoff rules should not be the same as the regular season because you can't have guys playing two three extra quarters in October when it's not a do or die situation in the playoffs another team has to go on to the following week

[01:43:53] I think the regular season should go back to the old school sudden death first score wins and I'm good with the playoff rules as they are but I want their sudden death back for the regular season you can't even do that lethal because then what will happen we already have a thing that's the thing we are trying to

[01:44:22] institute more things into a standard we already have set we already have the standards set we don't need to make it easier or more appeasing to teams that maybe didn't fit into that bubble because that's not the common thing that Minnesota would have won that home playoff game and then lost the Philly the next week yes I am okay with

[01:44:52] games in the regular season yes you have the opportunity to win you get 70 minutes you get 70 minutes to beat another team across from you by at least one point if you can't score if you go into overtime tide and you start with a 10 minute clock you cannot score you do not deserve to win I'll put it like that you want to go fourth and one you can't get

[01:45:36] never hurt soccer you know it's just a matter of like you like it it's not going to all everybody did get a chance to possess the ball in the whole 60 minutes before overtime yep everyone had the get a stop get a stop don't talk to me about how football is the toughest sport it's a man sport it's all this stuff and we trying to find ways to not hurt your feelings get a stop get the ball back

[01:46:07] you answering my questions for me lethal you don't deserve to win yards you gotta get yards if you let them hold the ball for 10 minutes and you cannot force a stop it now you got the ball back yeah remember the

[01:46:37] whole reason that the overtime rule changed in the playoffs was because Josh Allen didn't get a chance to the ball back after

[01:47:07] the ball that is over that's it but they had the touchdown thing and I get it we all can't just be rigid and I get that we have to have some flexibility I don't think that's one of the pieces that needs to be flexed because it didn't hinder

[01:47:31] the process of the game and like i said i don't think the like i said with with the winning your division i think as far as the nfl the nfl is looking at like this is like listen i need atlanta versus tampa bay both teams sitting at nine and seven week 18

[01:47:55] yeah week 18 because of the bye week i need both of them playing for the number three seed because i need that for my entertainment for my television because i they know they're gonna win that game and get a home playoff game that's why all week 18 matchups are division opponents but if it's something like oh if i'm getting a home playoff game no matter what i'm gonna rest sam darnold

[01:48:20] and i'll take the 14 and three and i have to worry about it but because i want to win this division to get a home playoff game i gotta play it out you know so it's just like as far as the nfl like you're still selling the product and you're selling competitiveness who cares about aggressiveness i'm trying to win it's you got guys still out there you got guys when they could be three and 13

[01:48:46] all trying out for another team so that ran this hill he was out there he didn't give a fuck yeah so he was like listen i gotta take his hand off and i gotta get 80 90 yards this week or if i get over 800 yards i get a bonus like there's always gonna be guys playing aggressive it's the nfl those guys that aren't that don't want to play will stand on the sideline because you can't have acid in a football game and it's still up for the defense to stop you that's their job it's to stop

[01:49:15] you from getting that getting in the field goal range like if you stop them from getting to the 40 40 is a 57 yard you know what you sound like lethal you sound like a dude that drew lock had his career high against your team that's what you sound like you just gotta win yeah and and and i mean that's the name of the game whatever the rules are win just like baseball right if we're watching

[01:49:40] baseball are you like oh he bunted oh what a punk like you know like no i gotta get that guy from second to third and that's what we're gonna do you know what i'm saying like i get that guy from third to home because we only hit we have no outs we're down one i gotta tie this game up this is what i gotta do yeah so you know i think that you know um it is what it is it's not gonna you know

[01:50:07] change or whatever but you know what i mean like it just is what it is but i know um green bay it only comes up when it's an anomaly like there's not that many instances of it to the point where it's like it has adversely affected the game the only thing the only thing that i recall personally is when

[01:50:31] atlanta won 11 games and they had to go to arizona for their playoff game because arizona won the nmc west but they still could have beat arizona it's indoors on turf maybe while you have larry fisher double covered somebody looks for the ball and maybe he doesn't have the most spectacular catch i've ever seen a maiden his entire career but that's the way it is new orleans had a great run that year

[01:50:59] they had more wins in atlanta and atlanta had to go to arizona to play their game it happens it doesn't happen every year where all these division winners win barely enough and then everybody they play has a better record right if that was the case then i would understand like some kind of you know editing or rethinking the rule and then and then real quick you know so we'll wrap up with this since we're

[01:51:27] talking about rules and stuff let's look at what's going on in the nfl today so these are the the new rules that are being proposed for the upcoming nfl season and who they are being brought to the table by all right i got the top the detroit one i'm all for it yeah so detroit wants to eliminate automatic first downs for defensive holding and illegal contact i don't think they'll go for it because

[01:51:58] it's gonna be tough because if you might get beat you can just push a guy on third and 10 and now it's just third and five could do that but i i don't like the holding and illegal contact if the ball doesn't even go in that direction i don't like it like if you got it if you got a guy running around on the

[01:52:22] back side of the play and maybe he gets bumped to grab and the the play was a quick out to the right side you got a guy on the left getting grabbed um i don't like that but then of course green bay is trying to get rid of the tush push you know um philadelphia you know is trying to do what we were

[01:52:43] just talking about and make overtime and regular season overtime the same you know so basically yeah 15 they want they want 15 minutes in the regular season it doesn't say what it wants in the playoffs as far as time but basically both teams are allowed to touch the ball regardless of what

[01:53:06] happens on the first possession so the touchdown is it 15 in the playoffs i want to say it's still 10 but i gotta think about i gotta look at um so then uh so of course we just talked about the detroit thing where they want the wild card teams to be seated higher if they have a better record and then the last thing looks like detroit again detroit's got a lot on their mind

[01:53:35] you know said they want to exclude the 90 player limit because they had a bunch of injured players commanders yeah so you know uh but yeah it's all those rules because it's all bitch ass rules one of them now just because it's like all these things that didn't go our way if you want to change the rule no all right so if i'm the commissioner or the players committee or the owners group

[01:54:00] i'm vetoing all those rules just because they're bitch ass rules the tush push stop it because kansas city stop uh buffalo's tush push only team that runs it well successfully is philly i personally don't like the tush push i think you should just give it no i don't like it either but i mean if it works it works yeah i mean if you want to eliminate hey you can't push a player from high because the bush push with matt liner i think that was illegal in college it was illegal but they

[01:54:30] didn't call it they didn't call it so if you want to get rid of the which would have been one of the biggest upsets ever the push part of it because you could just put jalen hurts the shotgun and put the tight end and the running back right behind the guard between the guard and the center anyway i don't know he can just run forward anyway i don't know what's the difference between the tush push and

[01:54:55] kind of quarterback sneak when a guy no when a guy has like a three yard gain and his lineman comes up and pushes him another seven yards like i don't know what the difference is the difference is the whistle might blow to stop that play the tush push the whistle doesn't blow and philly converts and philly won the super bowl and philly has an obnoxious coach who probably goes to these meetings and acts like an obnoxious asshole towards other coaches you know what we're gonna fix that shit buddy well kansas city

[01:55:24] tried some different things in the super bowl to to stop it they just couldn't you know what i mean um i know i don't i don't necessarily like the launch rule with the field goals where you can't um leverage because because that would be one of the retorts of if like like i said i don't like the tush push but i don't care per se about getting rid of it so so it's like why can we do that but

[01:55:47] we can't do that yeah and they try to say it's a safety thing but if it's like if my guy like if you i think you should be able to leverage yourself off your own player not the opposing player right right right you should be able to but they'll probably get creative and do to just run and do like the cheerleader toss would like to do to step in his hand he threw him in the air so i understand like that

[01:56:12] why you can't do that i don't like the uh i think you should be able to leverage yourself and jump if you leverage yourself on both of your players and you clear the offensive players you're good to go yeah long as you're not using like this is the cheerleader boost but if you can use both of your players if you can time it properly and you can jump over it yeah yeah you know but yeah i'm down with

[01:56:40] that lethal i ain't got no beef with that you know saying like if they're because i mean just in a simplistic way of looking at it if team x can do something team y should be able to do something to resist it yeah defensive lineman you know it's not gonna be effective yeah because i mean you got to get low first of all you know what i mean but then you know what i mean but what happens when they

[01:57:07] start throwing out of tush push you're then you're just jammed up it's it's not a play i don't even think uh the eagles players like it i don't think jalen really likes it i know jason kelsey used to say he didn't like it that much well as i say at the end of the bottom of the pile you don't say even though i still won the fantasy title you won yeah i still won you know shout out to cowboy mike you

[01:57:35] know for that tough game in the finals you don't say but on that note you don't say y'all we will be back on friday you know we got more marsh matters to talk about more around association to do you know so and make sure you're checking out the pursuit of forever every other wednesday 6 30 eastern you know say it on facebook everywhere you get your podcast check out the one mike podcast on mondays

[01:58:00] and thursdays at noon eastern high noon challenge you to a duel get your black on black gems and all that the hot box on sunday monday thursday and fridays at seven o'clock you know sad but he is the world renowned ass kicking name taking rejecting your feelings and fact fights

[01:58:28] mr logical you know saying even though he need to take his ass on up to newark to watch that duke arizona game for those of us that can't you know i am yeah i'm a statistician like reviews subscribe rate do all the free things to do all the good things and you know what sip on a liquid death love to all y'all out there thanks for joining us thanks for the engagement thanks for

[01:58:56] the fun times thanks for all the controversy and the arguing i love that shit yeah give me back good luck mojo entertainment lethal got that mojo he got this baby you know what i'm saying so solutions over excuses everybody you know what i'm saying peace