Green Light with Chris Long - Mark Titus! NCAA Tourney, Purdue's Redemption & UConn's Chances for a Repeat. Beau Allen on the Best OL Prospects in the 2024 NFL Draft

Episode Date: March 19, 2024

Mark Titus joins Chris and Macon to talk the NCAA Tournament - everyone's favorite time of the year! Can Purdue claim redemption? Will UConn repeat? Who are the bracket busters? Mark answers those questions and more! And then we have Beau Allen on to talk the offensive lineman of the 2024 NFL Draft. The biggest risers, the chalky picks - which players possess the traits to excel at the next level. (00:00) - Intro (2:15) - Gradey Dick and Anthony Black's Jersey Swap (12:20) - Aaron Donald Retires (25:20) - Chris' Dune 2 Review (27:40) - Mark Titus previews the NCAA Tourney, Purdue's Redemption and UConn's Chances of a Repeat? (1:14:25) - Beau Allen Breaks Down the Offensive Lineman of the 2024 NFL Draft (1:37:20) - Best College Football Coaches to Have a Beer With Want your Green Light Merch so you can look exactly like Chris and the fellas? Hit the website below and get kitted! https://stores.kotisdesign.com/yotehouse/products Have some interesting takes, some codebreaks or just want to talk to the Green Light Crew? We want to hear from you. Call into the Green Light Hotline and give us your hottest takes, your biggest gripes and general thoughts. Day and night, this hotline is open. Green Light Hotline: ‪[phone]‬ Send any Talent Search submissions to: [e-mail] Include any video of your talents, takes and bits as well as a little bit about yourself. Love hearing from the Green Light fans. Also, check out our paddling partners at Appomattox River Company to get your canoes, kayaks and paddleboards so you're set to hit the river this summer. https://paddleva.com/ Green Light Spotify Music: https://open.spotify.com/user/951jyryv2nu6l4iqz9p81him9?si=17c560d10ff04a9b Spotify Layup Line: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1olmCMKGMEyWwOKaT1Aah3?si=675d445ddb824c42 Green Light Tube YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgxWFAA-wuB7osdiAJyLOcw Green Light with Chris Long: Subscribe and enjoy weekly content including podcasts, documentaries, live chats, celebrity interviews and more including hot news items, trending discussions from the NFL, MLB, NHL, NBA, NCAA are just a small part of what we will be sharing with you. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

And I think Purdue is in a better position, but I don't think they're going to win a national championship. Because I don't really think they really address, like, the actual issue, which is less about the freshman guards turning it over and less about, like, guys not hitting threes. I think it's more that like you're playing 1974 basketball in 2024. Welcome to the Greenlight podcast. It's March Madness, and we are stoked as a goat around here. Mark Titus joins Chris and Macon today to. run through the entire 24 NCAA March Madness bracket. We go region by region talking the best matchups, the teams that have the easiest and hardest

paths, which teams are going to be the bracket busters, your chalk teams, your Cinderella's, and of course all the hate that UVA undeservedly receives. A great 45 minutes from Mark is bookended by a little open from Chris talking about Aaron Donald's retirement, what he meant as a teammate and a friend to Chris in those St. Louis days. And then on the other side, it's Bo Allen. to talk the offensive line draftees of the 2024 NFL draft. He goes through tackles, interior alignment,

some of the best guys that he's seen on tape this year, some guys who are going to be fast risers after their pro days. And we end our college football segment with coaches we would love to have a beer with. College football coaches we'd want to share a cold one with. So enjoy today's show. Make sure to catch us live streaming the UVA basketball game tonight. 9-10 Eastern will be on YouTube and join our bracket challenge. We're going to have a Yahoo bragged challenge.

Keep an eye out for it. We'll share it on social media. You can join. You'll have a shot at winning some prizes. We want to give back to you, you lovely listeners. Enjoy today's show. We'll catch you next time. Dayton, God damn Ohio.

Oh, there we go. I like that under, man. I'm upset about the rims. No, the under's in Dayton. People are going to hear that on the tightest bit coming up. But the rims, they're talking, talking rims. People are talking rim. Rim talk.

Talking rims. Lay up, okay. That's like the direct version of my joke. You know what the direct version of one of my jokes is? Like the aggressive version of Long Cox, me and Fletcher Cox were doing this Long Cox thing for a while. For people that don't know at home, Fletcher Cox, who just retired and me played on the same team,

my last name's long his last name's cox so the first day you know y'all figured it out we figured it out and we took a lot of pictures together and it's like a little bit of a meme in philly but this guy i don't even know who it's anthony black for the magic and grady dick for the raptors did you see that's like the aggressive that's that's pick the door down and be like hey this is the joke motherfucker the best part is the video where black is like like running around trying to find a photographer brings them over they're laughing like should we do it should we do it yeah wow i mean it seemed like it seemed like grady dick was like he had to be convinced a little bit but it didn't take a lot of convincing like they have it filmed and the

whole time so basically for people at home because this is an audio podcast first um these two NBA players were trading jerseys and one of the last names dick and one of the last names black you figure it out they were standing in that order and then they decided you could see it on the video that they switched side. So caught red-handed. And the magic, someone on the magic tweeted the picture out saying like, oh, yeah, it's a great, you know,

look at our draft class, blah, blah, blah, two guys from the same draft class. And not a couple minutes later, there was a post, a post on one of the job sites saying Orlando Magic social media intern position of it. Because the other guy was promoted because that's a genius. Is this a finable offense? Do they get fined for this?

No, I don't think they get fine. That would be racist to find them. But I would like to take this opportunity to remind you that Grady Dick wore the number four at Kansas. That would be Dick four. Damn, this guy's, yeah, like he's appearing to be like an accessory, but he might be the mastermind after all. When they play the Bulls, he can do it with Kobe White. that's not going to be

the run on that joke's not going to be as long All right So Allegedly Allegedly It doesn't matter White guys pipe game week Yeah that's good

No I mean Look at Grady Dick's face So anyways yeah Somebody said are you passing the baton now Like dude it's not even a That's an aggressive version. So yeah, anyways, Grady Dick, Anthony Black, congratulations.

Here's the baton. You've kind of taken it. Yeah. Where are you taking a baton? I don't know where they're taking it. I don't know where they're taking that baton. I don't know where that baton's been. Hey, shout out to all the nerds who tried to tell us that the 23-win Virginia Cavaliers will be left out of the NC2A tournament.

They weren't. They are in. Dayton, Ohio. Hello. You have approximately 32 hours or so to respond. You fucking nerds. After that, though, you can't say anything because we might lose that game.

That's the way this works. That is the way this works. Okay. You don't get the benefit of the doubt. You've got like, you've got 30 hours to do it. Yeah. From this point, not from when you hear the podcast. Oh, I don't want to watch Virginia play anymore.

Well, nobody else wants to play Virginia either. because it's a pain in the ass. Even if you win. Even if you win. But you usually don't. Anyways, we're going to watch that game in some capacity live. Tonight, your tonight, our tomorrow night, Colorado State, Virginia. Total is 1.18.5.

Mark Titus is on this show. Mark Titus is on the show. We're going to talk about college basketball. Making your favorite most memorable Final Four. 2019? No, outside of the Virginia one. Like from childhood. one that like is burnt in your brain.

What's the first biggest one? What do you guys remember? Chris Weber time out. You remember that? Absolutely. I'm going Rameel Robinson, 1989. Free throws? Free throws.

The free throws. Yeah. Yeah. You're 50, dude. A young 44. Yeah, you're young 44. Bill Robinson hit the free throws. He said 1980s.

Hey, and that brings me to Don the Long Beach guy who got fire. right? Dan Monson, yeah. Dan Monson. He reminds me they got some Steve Fisher parallels there. Yeah. You know, so right now I think Long Beach in three years we'll have the FAB five. Yeah, just without Dan Monson. Yeah, Dan Monson's going to be somewhere else. Maybe he'll have a big job. Watch him get a big job. Watch him win three games, and then he gets a big job. Ty's Addeny and UCLA. They come to mine.

Are we thinking of the same one? Corliss Williamson and Arkansas. I saw, Big Country Reeves. Forty Minutes. That one. Why that one? Why? Yeah. I don't know.

It's the same for me. Yeah. Well, the right age. And the colors, man. Beville Conway wise? Yes. That was a good one. Everybody, you didn't have like four red teams.

Yep. Virginia was involved. Virginia lost in the elite eight. Yep. That was a good one. Yeah. Loved those, that Syracuse team, John Wallace. Do you remember that at all?

Yeah. Was that in the era where the Baggy Short Syracuse? era. They were eight suit, right? Yeah, we played Kentucky in the final, I think. Did they, they, was that Antoine Walker? Yeah, maybe so. Yeah.

Oh, yeah. That's a dope logo, the 1995 NCAA final four in Seattle. That I want that on a hat, dude. You got that right. That's a logo. Let's look at the logos. I think it was 1990, Bobby Hurley running off the court because he had the shits against UNLV when they lost by 30.

Bobby Hurley had a shit incident He had major case of diarrhea Him and Paul Pierce Inextricably wing Oh dude we've definitely done this before Because there are some fire Final Four logos Okay let me see Remember we got one

I don't think we've done this before Yeah we have Bro I spent hours research Look at 1980 Yes 1980 is amazing 1980 is gorgeous

Put it on a t-shirt Okay we start to get shitty Yeah they get it's Like the Super Bowl logo Everything got shitty around the turn of the century What happened to marketing in America to wear like logos and apparel got shitty around 2000?

What happened? 2008, we've got the cowboy hat. Yeah, that's a dope one. Hard to fuck that one. In St. Louis in 2005, you got the arch? Yep. Can't leave that one out. You know what changed?

The difference? It went from hand done to digital. Oh, to machine. For real. To machine made. That's when the Macs came out with those colorful computers. And it was Photoshop 1 and 2.

That's when I was in graphic design. school. I mean, there's a horse in 1985. That one's awesome. Yeah. Anyways, we've, we've, those are hand done. Look at the fucking, I presumably New Orleans final four. Oh my God. Look at that in 1987. It says NC, but look at this one. NCAA on top of a riverboat. Wow. That's got a fucking brass instrument on top of it shooting out little jazz notes. Sensational. That's awesome. Now we've got like a bracket. It was 85. It was in Wyoming.

Really? Look at this. Oh, it's just the shape of Arizona. Okay, that's not bad. 85 was Lexington, Kentucky. Interesting. All right, so we're supposed to talk about the NFL a little bit, like, before this turns into something where I have no idea what's going on. Because I'm not like the biggest college basketball fan, but I love March Madness.

You know, I just love the chaos. Yeah, it goes back to that conversation. There's people that like, you know, there's your college football people, there's your NFL people, and vice versa in college basketball as well and the NBA. And I think a lot of times if you say you like college sports better, you're admitting it's not really about the quality. It's about the chaos. And so this is, and if anything impresses me more than quality in sports, it is chaos. is my favorite thing is not even the final four, not the elite eight. My favorite time of the year in sports is the first weekend.

For sure. And especially now, more teams are upset in teams. We've had a 15, I think, a couple years in a row. Was it Princeton and Arizona last year? Like, we're going to see some crazy shit. And I asked you this earlier. I don't know if you think this, but more or less chaos coming off of a conference tournament weekend where there's like five bid stealers.

Yeah, maybe less just because the teams, in theory, aren't as good. They're slotted as 11s instead of tens, the automatic qualifiers. Right. But I think the portal lends itself to more parity generally. Yeah, because some player could go to a bad team, and you don't even know because he's in like the Horizon League. Well, and super dope players are going to where they can get on the court more often. Yeah, more evenly distributed.

Anyways, looking forward to talking Titus. He's always been cool about coming on the show. This is like his Super Bowl, and he found time for us, so we appreciate that. The NFL, what do you guys want to talk about? The biggest NFL news of the weekend, your friend Aaron Donald retired? AD, yeah, he's, he is retired and still very good at football. I think he'll never play again? Yes.

I think from a standpoint of like, if you projected how long he could probably still play, sitting around at home. I think it's eight to ten years. I think like probably over the next eight to ten years, of course of any Sunday, if you wanted to just like teleport 37 year old Aaron Donald onto the field, he could still get buckets.

He's just that, he was that good. He's that durable. He's that dependable. He's that hardworking. Like he's everything you want in a star. And it's like, I texted him the other day and was like, listen, nothing you did happen on accident, dude. He already knows that, but I just think that's rare.

Like there's no, oh, you got a good break. He earned every fucking thing that he got. And he is what happens when Hall of Fame work ethic and Hall of Fame talent meet. Not every Hall of Fameer, those two things are on the same level. he is the first ballot hall of famer and he worked like a fucking walk on dude i always told the story i don't know what year was for me he was a rookie i was like seventh eighth year um and training camp i'd hang around late and watch film and tried to walk into our little meeting room in our city and there's only one computer there he was two thousand and whatever the fuck it was 14 14 it's a long time

ago um we didn't have the best facilities so there weren't multiple bays to watch film So I walk I walk in and this rookie is there, you know, eight o'clock at night. There's nobody left in the parking lot. This is the guy taking a shuttle back to the facility. He's got to call like a yellow cab, you know, if you miss the shuttle. That's where he, you know, he's a rookie. He's working this way. And he very quickly became an alpha.

Like that's the thing about an alpha like him. He's the biggest alpha I ever play with. And unless you're around somebody like that, it's hard to describe. But in a room full of 53 alphas to be the alpha on the level that he was, which is like, I don't take shit off anybody. Everybody respects me. They fear me. They respect me.

They're glad I'm on their team. Like that's the kind of guy that Aaron Donald could walk into work every day and say with confidence. And he played at a high level his whole career. He was a 10-time pro bowler. It was like automatic. He never got in just off his name. Like he was always dominant. Three-time defensive player of the year.

It's LT level stats. It's LT level accolades. And I feel like we got bored with him. Like as a, you know, as football fans over the last couple years of his career, I think like we, we not enough people were like, I'm going to watch a Rams game. today. Who knows when Aaron Donald hang it up. It's so abrupt. I think a lot of people thought he played 15, 16 years, but if you watch the Rams play this year with regularity, you should be glad you did because you're not going to see anybody like that. Again, I'm just telling you,

he's different. And he had probably like the most iconic, one of the most iconic Super Bowl moments with McVeigh saying Aaron Donald's going to make a play, and then he makes a play. Yeah, for him to make that play, dude, you know, because I know where he came from. We were all in the same room, and, you know, it was a bleak situation in St. Louis, you know, for him to win a Super Bowl and be the guy to make that play. He's so emotional. Like, he's, he really wears his emotions on his sleeve because he's so hungry, dude. Like, I've never been around somebody that hungry. Yeah, it's funny. I didn't even plan to say that, but, you know, there was an article I read earlier today and the last thing he said in McVeigh evidently when he knew he was done after the

Detroit game was I'm full you know and he he was the type of guy that you never worried about if they'd have paid him two billion dollars he would have come to work like he was in a fucking coal mine dude the guy was like otherworldly committed to his craft and and the toughest biggest alpha I've ever dude I saw him rip a guy's face mask off in a fight like just like off the helmet. Like that was the, didn't he lift a running back up and just like pick him up and put him in time now? Yes, it was,

Devante Freeman. In Atlanta. You know, in the Chappelle show when, uh, red balls, when the guy gets like superhuman crackhead string and he goes, that's the noise I'd hear watching film of Aranda.

I'd be like, how did he do like what? How did he do that? He just moved a bus. He just picked the bus up. Like Chappelle, when he picked the bus up. He would pick grown men up off their feet in tense situations, and they would look like children.

Like, I would see him grab somebody. He used to say, like, I'll warn you one time. Like, he used to be, there was a miced up I saw today from way back when we were playing in Detroit, and they ripped his jersey. They were holding him so much. And the rest weren't calling Holden. One play, a guy shoved him after the play just a little bit. And he's like, I'm just going to give you one chance.

He's like, I'm just warning you. He goes, I'm, but the crazy thing about anybody that played Aaron Donald in 2014 was they had no idea yet. And so, like, you could have really pushed him after the play or been like, I'm going to punk this rookie. And you found out really fucking quick that this guy was a killer, dude. And he just, he just is, when that switch flips. And such a great person, though. Like, thank God they gave Aaron Donald a heart like that. because he could do so much damage to the planet.

I mean, it could be so scary for everybody, but he's such a good person. He's such a good person, not pity the fool that doesn't know what he's capable of because if you cross him and he's in the right out on that football field, like, it's going to be a bad day. It's going to be a bad day. Career number of touchdowns for AD?

I don't even know. Zero. Yeah, I beat him. there. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry about it. Sorry. But he's the best, he's in my opinion, the best to ever do it at his position. And I mean an interior defensive lineman. You want to argue about position to position, LT. I don't know what you guys think. But like it's kind of hard to stack up guys from different eras, different positions. Some D tackles in the Hall of Fame, Joe Green. Yep, John Randall.

Cortez Kennedy. Cortez. Merlin Olson. Yep You got to invite Merlin Olson or Aaron Donald I'll go Aaron Donald Dan Hampton There aren't many That's the thing

When you look at it The guy that I used to watch his stats Alongside of was John Randall And Aaron Donald Like the reason that he was so good Was explosive Like the most explosive guy Right

But also He had the length of an edge player and the height, the leverage of the guy with the best leverage. So you got all those combined factors. Mechanically, he was, it was almost unfair.

And we were talking about this. He was also a great finisher, so he would beat people fast. Like we were talking to Bo during the podcast about how, you know, they'd try to trap and he'd spin back. Like, that's almost unheard of. And then he'd make the play

because his grip strength and his reactions were so quick. You know these F-1 drivers that you see, like you saw the one with Tyreek and they're doing tennis ball drill? Which I didn't even realize. These guys, I mean, wicked.

No shit. Their reflexes are incredible. Aaron had those kinds of reflexes. Like, if you probably watched him play ping pong, he'd be over in, like, South Korea. Well, he was training with the knives. He had the knife thing. They weren't real knives.

Well, just so you know. Sure, looked real. Yeah, they looked real. And I wouldn't put it past him, but his I mean look at the guy he's built like the Hulk right like he's built like a real life there he is with fucking playing ping pong he probably dusted whoever he was playing ping pong but here's the thing about him he's so strong and such a good finisher bow point this out during the time when we were adjusting to not like driving through quarterbacks landing on

him flags left and right he would just run by him and just like put one hand on the guy and just fling him down you know like grip strength stands out as not as maybe the best all time which is something totally underrated you know like grip strength we don't talk about there's no way to measure that they don't measure it at the combine but like when somebody like that puts their hands on you because Aaron did get mad at me once when he was a rookie when he was a rookie we were going back and forth like fucking with each other and you know like I I took it too far and I like fucked his locker up and put it but and he was having a bad day and he was like don't do that and he like grabbed me with his hands and like we like we're like we're

We were boys, so nothing was going to happen. But, like, the way he picked me up to wrestle with me, I've never felt more helpless. Like, my feet were off the ground. I felt like, and I had just come off of surgery. So I'm looking at William Hayes, like, because Will and him used to wrestle. Will used to, William, William Hayes and Robert Quinn are two of the strongest people I've ever played with. Like, Robert was a high school wrestler, like, you know, all American. And Will, like, he had the cauliflower ears and everything.

And Will is just, William's very strong. And Will used to go around and like wrestle everybody. He used to challenge people to wrestling matches and they'd be like, come on Will, I'm going to meetings. Like, you know, and he'd have like 350 pound guys like Will, not today. Like, you know, like Will's sit there in a stance ready. And he tried to wrestle Aaron the first time. And like I've never seen William get flipped on his back like that. And Will from then on was like he'd just talk shit.

And then he'd run away. He'd talk shit. He'd go to the cafeteria and hide. But Aaron picked me up that day, and I've never felt like that as a grown man. He's just so strong. Anyways, I could tell Aaron Donald's stories all day. There was a time where we were in a three-man front in practice, and it was like an open practice.

So it was like a bigger practice in training camp where they evaluate you on how you're playing. And I had a tight hamstring or something. And so I jog off to get like something on my hamstring, like a sleeve. And usually when you're off for a couple of plays, and I'm an established guy at that point, I'm like, all right, let the young guy get some reps. Well, we were out of ends. So they were like, 99.

Aaron runs out there, and he's playing my position now. And I'm, like, getting the sleeve on, and I'm looking out on the field, and they snap the ball, and he just drops this tackle. Like, immediately, runs right by him. Like, I'm supposed to be a defensive end. I can't get this guy's edge all day. And it's not the hamstring.

And Aaron just dips under him, and the guy's like on his back, falls on the ground, and Aaron's like, you know, second pat, he's just standing there by the quarterback to blow in the whistle. I'm like trying to pull the fucking east leave up. The next play, bro, hits him with an inside move. Man, I said, fuck Denise leave. I threw that shit on the ground.

I was like, AD, I'm good. Come on, come on, get off the field. Because it was embarrassing. It was like this guy can do your job better than you, and it's not his job. Could he have been like a great defensive end, Hall of Fame defensive end of a coach early on

and just moved him out there? I believe that. Absolutely. Yeah? He'd be like like Elvis Dumerville on creatine. It'd be crazy. Anyways, I fucking love the guy.

Just love him. And you know what the thing about him? Somebody asked what he's going to do after football? I have no idea. It ain't going to be TV. You know what I'd like to see him do? Action movies. I was going to say you said

he could take over the world just every Marvel villain is Aaron. Do you know how much cooler it is when you're watching a movie and the actor you know could actually kick guys asses? Like Keanu Reeves is awesome and everything. Seems great. But John Wick, sometimes I'm like, all right. Aaron Donald, he'd really be the next great action star if he wanted to be. And you believe every scene.

What was I going to say? Oh, Dune, too. Speaking of movies, last thing I'll say. And then we got Mark Titus. I thought it was fucking awesome. Yeah. I lied to you a little bit saying it wasn't that good. Okay, good.

Because I was trying to keep your expectation. The movie's really hyped. It's like very hyped. I actually think you'd like it. Well, I've always said, do it, to you as you want others to, doing to,

doing, do unto others as you would want to do. Clever. As you would want to do. I fucking love the Benny Jesuits, man. Those motherfuckers are great. What about that blue potion they were drinking? That was fun.

Oh, they're drinking the worm juice? Mm-hmm. Yeah, once you drink the Windex, it's over. You change. His mom changed. Like, no spoilers, but I thought the movie was very good. Just, you know, like, this is a movie people have been calling one of the best they've ever seen. And so I was, I was ready for a letdown, and it was very good.

And it's a big screen movie. Like, one, you got to see him. We saw it on IMAX. Yeah. So anyways, here's Mark Titus. We got Bo coming on at the end, talk a little college football. Hey y'all green light has official merch Like this hat right here like the one on my head is dad hat love this hat

I'm not even a dad hat guy but this thing fits great this this hat right here fits great We've got hoodies we've got By the way this hoodie's like super comfy I mean it's like soft plush It's not the type of hoodie that's gonna get stiff with one wash and the shirts too because like I'm a big comfort guy okay you got like this white shirt here you got the shirt with the logo the abbey road looking logo with dr fax smoking uh presumably a blunt kyle carrying cowboy reed making driveling a basketball which i've never seen him actually do and me carrying a football uh and then you've got the the black shirt here too with the logo so uh stickers hit the link in the description in the video

uh below the video actually uh and make sure to tag us on social media showing off your green light merch. It's quality, quality threads here, okay? Wouldn't do it any other way. Two very unlikely things happened over the last 24 hours. Number one, Virginia got in the tournament. Number two, we got on Mark Titus's schedule. This is a busy time of year for my man.

I mean, he's just cycling through from one thing to the next, and we're very thankful to have him on the show. Mark, how are you? I'm doing great. I love coming on the show. I'm very happy for you guys, although I will say I'm in a weird spot because as you both know,

I've been a huge proponent of Tony Bennett basketball through the years, and this year's put me in a tough spot where I don't know if I can continue to be a proponent. And I am happy that Virginia's in the tournament. I'm not so happy that I'm going to have to watch another game of Virginia basketball on Tuesday night, but that's okay. I understand that argument, but I don't know that Virginia basketball, short of three or four NBA players, has ever passed the eye test.

I think the committee said, we care about your resume. We care about things like Strength of the Record. We don't care so much about predictive metrics. And I, for one, am grateful. No Q3, no Q4 losses, 23 wins, Clemson, Florida, A&M, NC State. You're the big Ken Palm guy, though. They're 69th in Ken Palm. That's what I was going to point out is UBA people that love Ken Palm.

And Kempop hates you this year. We used to be terribly efficient, and now we're not. And that's fine. That's fine. Now, on the other side of things, nobody has ever finished solo third in the ACC in the regular season and not gotten in. So we're going to break that precedent, Mark, Titus? It's a good point. Yeah.

That would be a tough precedent to break. No, I will cheer for Virginia. I cheer for the idea of Virginia basketball, and I lasted as long as I could this year. But the offense is just brutal. It's just brutal. And I do think Virginia was fun to watch once upon a time. I think you guys should get more NBA players. I think you mentioned it making.

That would be good. You should try having NBA players. We could make more free throws, too. What's our free throw percentage this year? It's about 67. Do you think that I could hit 7 out of 10 free throw? I think you could have won the semi-final game against NC State. So who has the biggest gripe?

The last four out, you're looking at like Oklahoma, Pittsburgh, Indiana State. People are freaking out about. Like who has the biggest gripe out of that little group? I feel like it's one of the big E schools. St. John's feels like they're the best team. But Seaton Hall, if I remember right, I think Seaton Hall swept St. John's. And Seaton Hall has like better wins. So Seton Hall might have like a better resume.

But St. Johns was playing great down the stretch and feels like a better team to me. I don't know. The bubble was actually like really weak this year. That's kind of how it always works is Virginia is the one that's the lucky one that gets in. but I don't really know who you can poke holes in any bubble team which is why they're bubble teams to begin with but I just I just assumed that that one of the big East teams is going to get it. Indiana State I wanted if I could pick who I wanted to be in that spot it would have been Indiana State but I didn't I didn't get the feeling that they were ever seriously in the running just because their

their schedule was so bad and they had some tough losses but yeah I would have I would have gone with one it just feels weird like teams make the tournament conferences don't that's what they say but But to have the Big East have three bids, it just feels crazy to me. Because the Big East was maybe, there were stretches where I felt like it was the best conference in the country. And it's obviously very top heavy. And, you know, the Seton Hall beat Yukon by 1,000. And I felt like that would matter in the end. But I guess it didn't.

So that's the way it goes. It's the year of the football schools, man. We got the Big 12 in the SEC with eight apiece, ACC down there with five. Let me zoom out for a second. Your dog, I guess, picks a bracket. Yeah, yeah. Okay, how'd that go? He picked, let me see if I can find it.

He picked Carolina to win it all. He beats me every single year. Literally every year he does better than me, which is why I do this. I have my dog do it, so no one yells at me. Because if you follow my picks, you're a moron, and you should follow his instead. He had UAB, Carolina, Nebraska, and Kansas as his final four,

and then Carolina over Kansas. Does he know about the injuries in Lawrence? Yeah, he's taking that into account. I think he's anticipating. All right. So my, my, the real question is, who has a better shot of seeing the 2026 NCAA tournament? Sister Jean or your dog?

Well, the dog's going to die at some point, Mark. He's 13 years old. You need to have a contingency plan in place. God damn. him. Most wonderful time of the year, and you bring me on to face my own mortality with my dog. Not your own mortality? You're going to live a while. What happens when dogs go is then then you pause, you mourn the loss of the dog, and then you reflect on your own mortality in that moment. That is true. That is true. What kind of dog is it? He's a golden retriever, yeah.

Oh, he might live to be 16, 17 years old. Yeah, he's going to live forever. We think we found the one dog that's going to live forever. One of those guys, you're like, he's still in the tournament? We got to keep him around long enough to see the Buckeyes back in the tournament. Yeah, yeah, yeah. What do you think a new coach? I'm fired up about it, man. I'm really excited. I think he's awesome.

He's a great recruiter. He's not necessarily a national splashed guy, but I think people that know Jake and know Ohio State basketball are fired up about, and those are only people that matter. Okay, so we're going by region here, but before we go by region, maybe give me one through four who has the best chance of the one seats to get to the final four and maybe

frame it a different way who's going home first? Yeah. So it's weird because the way they seeded it based at like, Yukon's the one overall, Houston's two, Purdue's three and Carolina is four. I think that is the heart. That's how I would order the difficulty of each region. I think Yukon got the toughest region. Houston got the second toughest. Purdue got the third and Carolina got the fourth. So if you're asking me based on draw, I think Carolina has the best draw because I think the West is by far the weakest region.

Now, part of why I think it's weak is because Carolina is by far to me the weakest one. So it depends on how you're looking at it because I think Carolina in a vacuum is the most susceptible one seed. Yukon, Houston, and Purdue were pretty obviously a cut above the entire season. And of those three, Yukon is the only one that won their conference tournament. So, you know, you could talk yourself into like Purdue just lost to Wisconsin. Houston got boat race by Iowa State. But throughout the totality of the season, they've all been dominant for stretches. Houston's defense is just suffocating.

Zach Edie is inevitable. He's a chore to watch. And Big Ten fans are very happy to have him out of the conference at this point. But his production is inevitable. And Purdue, despite, I mean, I don't need to tell you guys, like despite the past run that they've had, I don't think that's indicative of what we're about to see from them. and then Yukon is just like a fucking wagon, dude, top to bottom. Like even when they don't play well, they play well.

Like against Marquette, they were not playing well at all in the Biggie's championship, and they still were in total control of that game. So I think those three are very obviously better than Carolina, but with the way the bracket shook out, like Carolina, it's almost like I don't like Alabama as a four-seat. They don't play any defense at all. Baylor kind of doesn't either. Arizona is a team that,

that will shoot themselves in the foot at some point. By the time they play Arizona in the elite eight, the Caleb Love angle of all that. I don't actually think Arizona is going to make it that far anyway to face North Carolina. So I think North Carolina is in a good spot, but they are the worst team. So I don't know if that answers your question,

but that makes it, that's what stood out to me. They said that they ceded them one, two, three, four, but then the difficulty of each region reflects the exact opposite to me. Yeah, it's like inverted, Which region you want to start with, Mike? Oh, let's go how we always start. Top left, where it's America, you know? That's the East region, led by Yukon.

Is Illinois the biggest threat to the Huskies? Is Terrence Shannon? I guess it's a one-two punch. Terrence Shannon and Coleman Hawkins. Coleman Hawkins can defend anybody. Right. I would probably say Illinois is. I think Iowa State's defense is obviously great.

I think Iowa State has good culture and a good program. But Illinois has the horses. They have not just Terrence Shannon, but Marcus DeMask and Coleman Hawkins and Ty Rogers and Dane Danger and like on down the roster, they have dudes that they have the top-in firepower, but then they also have guys like a Dane Danger who against Ohio State just comes out of nowhere and is just like fucking shack against us. They have a lot of those dudes who are buried on the bench that you think, you can count out, but you can't because they're very good, too.

So, yeah, I would say it's Illinois just based on top tier talent. And also, I'm enamored, like, a lot of people with the idea of having guards on your roster that you can just throw the ball to and say, go get us one. And they have multiple of that. So, you know, Iowa State is their offense is coming around. Obviously, they just won the Big 12 tournament. They're playing well right now. But Illinois is, to me, the biggest threat to Yukon, if they can make it that far.

because I think BYU is underseated as a six. And if BYU and Illinois play in the second round, I would not even kind of be surprised if BYU beat them. So that's the wrinkle of it all too, is how that all shakes out. If Illinois can even get to the lead eight to play Yukon, but yeah, if we're just like listing the biggest threats to Yukon based on who's in that region, I do think it's Illinois.

Illinois rebounds 36% of its misses, Chris. Mark, do you subscribe to the whole let's punt on the conference tournament thing. Eight of the last 11 national champions have not won their conference title. Connecticut is going to have potentially face. Auburn, SEC tournament champ, Illinois Big Ten tournament champ, Iowa State Big 12 tournament champ. Multiple final four teams from last year.

There you go. That's right. FAUs in there, San Diego State. Yeah. It's a motherfucker. What do you think? Do you want to go in on a row of four teams? roll or do you want to go in with some rest and a chip on your shoulder?

Yeah, I think it depends on each team. Yukon, I don't think it matters as much. I think they're so dialed in that like them winning the Big East is, I'm not, I'm not deterred by that at all. I don't know. I think we overvalue it. I think not only do we overvalue in terms of like which teams are hot and which teams aren't, but we overvalue how much it matters for who gets into the tournament

and where the seating is and all that. That was crazy to me. It was like every time you heard from the committee the last couple days, they were just like, yeah, we kind of have our bracket set already. And you're like, there's two more days of games. What are we doing? They're like, yeah, those don't really better. Right.

Yeah, it made us feel good. We were going into Selection Sunday. People were trying to kind of start a debate as to whether Iowa State should jump North Carolina for the last one seed. And then the bracket comes out, and Iowa State is the last two seed. They got to, they were number eight. They weren't even close to number four, despite. smoking Houston. So, yeah, I think it's, we do overvalue it. And like you said, like teams that

win the conference tournament don't seem to bring that momentum into the tournament. But I don't know, there are a lot of, there are a lot of national champion. You can, you can kind of squint and look at every national champion and find like a common thread through all of them. And I, I subscribe to the theory that if you're going to play a basketball game, you should try to win it. That's, I think that's a good thing. So fair. FAU man like the run they had the whole thing they bring a bunch of guys back you know they've got black gold and they've got John L Davis they have dudes and they hadn't played consistently this year from what it sounds like I didn't watch them this year but a team like that with a bunch

of experience is that a team that can turn it on and you know like do is there any path forward to them beating or making the Yukon game a game yeah I think so just like you said based on last year, the thing that I worry about is they did sleepwalk through the season. I mean, they have some stinky, stinky losses. They should not even, honestly, I don't even know if FAU should be in the tournament. And if they hadn't gone to the final four last year, I'm not sure they would be. But yeah, they're a flip-to-switch team, and I think that's their whole mindset is like, we were in this position last year.

They were in the eight-nine game last year in the first round. And they, everything kind of broke for them. One, the call at the end of the game that kind of fucked Memphis and gave FAU the win. And then also in the second round, they get to play fairly Dickinson because Purdue lost. It is crazy to think about the what-ifs and the trickle-down of all that. That, like, if FAU was one bounce of the basketball or one call away from, they probably wouldn't be in this tournament. I don't believe in them.

I don't. I don't trust teams that, like, can't show me throughout the season that they're capable of playing good basketball. They took Arizona to double overtime, won that game. Outside of that, like, they beat tech. Texas A&M, they beat, I don't know, they beat Virginia Tech, who's not even in that, they beat College of Charleston. Like, they don't have, they have a lot of really bad losses. Illinois had their way with them.

They lost the Florida Gulf Coast, who stinks. I just, I don't like the idea in college basketball, just like, yeah, once March gets here, we'll start playing hard. I don't think it works that way. So I, but at the same time, if I'm a Yukon fan, I'm disgusted by the 8-9 matchup we get, because like you said FAU has the pedigree. They have dudes that have been there before. Northwestern has Boo Booie who has no sidekicks right now.

They're all playing like shit now. And they got injuries, right? Yeah, yeah, they're dealing with some injuries. But like to have a guy like Boo Boo Booie who could, you know, just score 45 points out of nowhere. That would terrify me. He's making, he's making things up. Boo Boo Boo, Booy, Daneja. Yeah.

He does this. He knows that people don't follow college groups that closely. Right, right, right. You're just saying cool name. All right, well, how about this guy? And I'm not sure how to say, is it DeVries or DeVries? Tucker DeVries, yeah. DeVries.

He can ball, man. Six, seven, can shoot. Looks like he can create his own shot, like good passer. I mean, I didn't watch a lot of Drake. I just popped up his highlights, and this guy can really play. Is he good enough to propel them to the Sweet 16? Yeah, I like Drake a lot. Drake, I like Washington State, too.

That's a tough 7-10 pick, but I like Drake because last year, Drake had, if you remember, they had Miami. I don't want to say on the ropes, that's probably overstating it, but they were playing really well against Miami. They're up at half. They're up in the second half. Tucker DeVries went one for 13 in that game, played like dog shit, had three points. And I feel like they're a team that has been playing well all year.

Indiana State was kind of the darling of college people that were following college basketball closely because of Robbie Avila and kind of the style of play that Indiana State had. and, you know, Drake beats them in the Missouri Valley and they get the bid over Indiana State. I think Drake is just as fun, and I think Drake has the unfinished business or whatever you want to call it from last year where they were in a similar spot.

A lot of these dudes are back, and they were, Miami went on to the Final Four, and they had Miami right there, and that's kind of how the tournament works. It's a tournament of what-ifs, and you look back, and you're like, that could have been us, whatever. But they took a Final 14 to the wire, and their best player played the worst game of his life,

and I just have to believe that that's not going to happen again. So I really like DeVries. I really like Drake. And I pick Drake in my elite eight, which I don't even know if I really believe they're that good, but I got a little drunk with. Me too, buddy. I got Drake in my elite eight along with Auburn and my on crack with the Auburn pick. They're good.

No, Auburn's good, man. Auburn is, is, they got, their defense is insane. Jani Broome is so, so good, dude. He's awesome. And yeah, they got the history. The last time Auburn won the SEC tournament, they made the final four. So it was 2019. I don't know if you guys are familiar with that tournament.

Yeah, I'm familiar with that year. Yeah, watch that one. Let's go to the West. Carolina in D.C., R.J. Davis and Armando Becott scored all of their points. It feels like if you take one of those guys away, Carolina could be wobbly at virtually every juncture round 32 in onward. I talk to us about Alabama. All I do is see that every single final score is 105 to 92, either win or loss.

Yeah, I mean, they, it's, they are the most polarizing offense to defense team. They don't guard anybody at all. And they are unstoppable. And they shoot through, they just get up and down. They shoot three. Their whole thing is pay, space, shoot every single guy that sees the floor as a green light, basically the exact opposite of Virginia basketball. the exact, you could build a program.

The red light. Yeah, yeah, the green light. There you go. So, yeah, Bama is, if you catch them on the right night, when they're scoring 111 points, 110 points, you think it's the best team in the country. But then you catch them, and Kentucky puts 117 on them in Ruff Arena, and you're like, this team sucks, and they're going nowhere.

So it's honestly, it's anyone's guess as to how good Bama is. Last year, they played better defense. And last year, they were the number one overall seat last year. They lost the San Diego State in the Sweet 16. They had Brandon Miller, who's obviously a great player, an NBA player. They don't really have that this year. Mark Sears is their point guard. He runs everything.

He's very good. He'll be on some sort of All-American team, like third team or some shit. They have good players, but they don't have, like, top-end NBA talent. They don't play the defense that they played through the years. I don't really trust them. that much and yet I say all that and if they're hitting threes they're unstoppable.

So that it's kind of like, NATO's just built like a video game system at Alabama and I think it works at the NBA level to some extent, but like college kids are way more prone to just have nights where they go three for 26 from the three point line and you're just like, I guess our season's over now. I guess all that just to throw up a bunch of bricks.

All right. I got a really serious question. Okay. Now I like Eric. Arizona. Caleb Love, you don't know what you're going to get, but Umar Balo, he's a big, Pel Larson can shoot Kishad Johnson, transfer from San Diego State, has some Final Four experience. But the word is Caleb transferred out of Carolina because of a co-ed who became R.J. Davis's girl. Now, would you rather be the cat who left, and then you face your old team in a regional final or would you rather be the guy who got the girl who didn't have to go anywhere facing hero ball I think you'd rather be just by virtue of like I've been there where you

leave the Patriots and play the Patriots in the Super Bowl I feel like all the pressures on the people that left like you idiots right yeah but as for like you're in where they Tucson where's that school uh-huh Tucson you're single presumably the other guy he's got a boo thing he's in Chapel Hill he can't really play the field. I kind of like being the guy in Arizona and Tucson. Neither has to go to class. Until the tournament. Yeah. And then the pressure's on the kid in Tucson. Then that game would be in L.A. And that would be an awesome game. But like, you know, you said at the West region is probably the weakest one. So, you know, if we're mining for upsets here, there are a couple that I'm looking at.

Like I know Nevada can score. Dayton had the early exit from the A-10 tournament. So I like an upset there. I like the New Mexico. I love New Mexico. I don't know why I love New Mexico. Part of because my driver when I was at the Super Bowl, he drives for the Mountain West, and he was like, listen, look out for New Mexico. And I've been looking out. They're in 11. They're going to play Clemson,

who's kind of limping in. I like that one. And then Grand Canyon, can they speed this team up? St. Mary's going to want to play slow. Can Grand Canyon speed them up and can they press them and make this thing interesting? They did beat San Diego State at home this year.

Yeah, I think Grand Canyon, St. Mary's, is a stylistic clash for sure. I think a lot of people love that 12-over. five. The 12 over fives are really interesting this year, which we can get to some of them on the right side of the bracket, I think are popular too. Go dooks. The Bama-Charleston

game is going to be the most entertaining game of the first round, though. Yeah, that pace is going to be crazy. The pace is crazy. They're going to shoot a thousand threes. I don't necessarily think Charleston will win, but yeah, I don't necessarily, yeah, it's not going to be like a close game, I don't think, but it's going to be in terms of

if you're someone that loves up and down basketball, it does not get any better than Bama Charleston. That's going to be fun. Yeah, I like New Mexico, too. I think New Mexico over Clemson makes a lot of sense to me. Grand Canyon is an upset pick I like as well. That is the bracket, I think, if we're getting some wonky stuff happening and we're getting like double-digit seeds in the lead eight,

we're getting, you know, like a seven or whatever, a seven or higher in the final four. I think it's coming out of the West, just because the margins of how much better the one is than the two and the two than the three, et cetera, et cetera. I don't think they're that big at all. I don't think Alabama and North Carolina. I don't think the gap between those two is that big at all.

And yeah, it just feels like a lot of teams are about as good as each other. So I think chaos is going to be the theme of the West for sure. This Dan Munson thing? Yeah. You know, like at Long Beach State? Like have you ever seen something like this? happen and take me inside that that locker room, you know, having played, I know you haven't dealt with something like this, but like, what do you think those guys are going through?

And what do you think Dan Munson's going through? I think they're rallying around him. I mean, all those guys wanted to play for him, that's why they're there. And if he's getting fired, I imagine as a player, you're like, we disagree with this decision or maybe some of them do agree with it. I don't know. But I have to imagine the fact that they won their conference tournament and they're in this position that they're like, there's a sense of rallying.

behind their guy. But what a wild story. I've never heard of anything like that either. Like Long Beach State's probably not going to win a national championship, but technically right now, they still could. They're still in the field. Yeah.

How many wins? How many wins does Munson need to get unfired? Yeah, exactly. Exactly. It's crazy. Two, three. Never mind a national championship. He's four wins away from a final four.

He wins his next four games. They're going to fire coach. That's a fire coach that's going to the bottom. They can be there. If they beat Arizona, it's like, you know, the 15-2's been happening, man. It's like, you know, these things happen. So what do you do? Do you know the Long Beach State nickname?

I don't. Beach. No way. The Long Beach State Beach. So fucking bad. How good is that? That's bad. That's bad.

Incredible. All right, to the south. Headline by Houston. But give us two winners right off the bat. Who do you like between Nebraska ball and A&M and then Wisconsin and J.MU? The Treve Albert's Bowl. Yeah. That's going to be a fun game.

All the 8-9 games, Utah State TCU, I think is the only one I'm not super jazzed on. The other three are incredible, incredible games. I'm so excited for all those 8-9 games. Nebraska A&M, I think A&M, Nebraska probably has a better team top to bottom, but A&M has Wade Taylor, and he is going to be the best player on the floor. And I just, he's a bucket, dude, and he's kind of unstoppable. So I went with, when in doubt, I always go with the team that has the, the best player, especially if that best player is a guard who can just take over games.

But yeah, A&M is a little bit of a disappointment this year. I expected them coming into the year. I think it felt like they were going to be like a four seed in this tournament. They did not play great throughout the season, which is why they're in nine. But the talent is there. And I think A&M is a more talented team. It breaks my heart because this is like the best Nebraska team in like 30 years. And Nebraska is the only power conference team that's never won an NCAA tournament game.

And they're, they're so fun. They're so good. And I think none of that's going to matter. And they're just going to lose again. And they're going to go back to the trolling board. They're the Virginia Tech of NCAA basketball. I like that. Yeah.

Texas A&M, they hit the boards offensively. Like if they get past Nebraska, you know, what's that style of play look like? And does anybody really pose a threat to Houston? Is it Kentucky? Is it, you know, is it, is it, you know, is it, is it Marquette. I think Kentucky could, like Kentucky Marquette. Kentucky's the one.

Like Kentucky has, Kentucky can play up and down. They have so much talent. They, like, if Kentucky plays Houston, Kentucky will probably have three, four of the best players on the court. And that's nothing against, like Houston has Jamal Shedd, who's going to be a first team all-American.

But I'm talking like impure talent. You know, they're bringing two top five picks, maybe off the bench Kentucky is. So I think that's the way the way to beat Houston is to impose your own style on them. What Houston is so good at is every single game on their terms.

And it reminds me of Virginia and Tony's heyday. When you're playing North Carolina, you pull North Carolina to your level and you play at the type of game you want to play. Such a backhanded synopsis. What? Is that not fair?

It's a very true, but backhanded synopsis, because it is true. But this leads me my next question. Why does nobody fucking hate Houston? Virginia gets this visceral reaction. Everybody I watch on TV, oh, Virginia. Because there are a lot of white players on Virginia. Yeah, but these are all white guys on TV.

A bunch of Jay Billis's and they're fucking mad at Virginia. Okay, why do people not hate Houston? You're talking to the wrong guy. I love Virginia when you guys are good. Well, speak on your... Houston's offense is efficient. Houston, that's why we don't hate Houston. Yeah, because we're not as efficient.

Okay. I was fine with it. Okay, that's fair. I think, so the way to beat Houston is to kind of disrupt that, and I think Kentucky has that ability where they can just, like, get up and down and just, like, splash threes in their face and get Houston reeling a little bit where they're like, what the fuck is this, you know, and they're not playing the game on their terms.

Duke is soft. If Houston plays Duke, and this is going to come back to bite me, I'm sure. But, like, I feel like Houston, I feel like Kyle Filipkowski is going to be limping to the bench by the first media timeout. And he's, and that leg of his, is that that seems to hurt more and more as more adversity strikes. I feel like he's going to, like the first media time out,

he's going to be like, damn, I can't put any weight on this thing. You don't think Duke's, how many times you watch a tournament, you're like, this team's not tough and they make a deep run? Like, is toughness one of the most important things over the course? I think so, yeah. I think so. I mean, Duke is supremely talented, but, I mean, you guys have probably watched a lot of Duke this year.

Do you ever get the feeling that they are the exact opposite of what I just said about Houston. Like Duke, Duke has no culture. They have no idea what their even style of play they're trying to play is. Yeah, they're super talented, but I don't, there's nothing about Duke that's like we should fear these guys other than they have NBA players, but like even the NBA players, I don't know. They're a mess culturally, I would say, at Duke right now. And Houston is the exact opposite. The James Madison Wisconsin game is the one, though. I mean, everybody's obviously on that one and you guys being Virginia guys. I don't know.

I might zag. Yeah, when the public's on a 12 like this. Yeah, JMU hasn't played anybody this year from what I understand. So no offense, Reed, one of our producers is Duke. I'm more interested in the NC State game, five games, five days. Like, how does that work out? Yeah. Yeah, Texas Tech is a team that, like, I think.

Are they still like us? No, they're not. Texas Tech, they like defense? No, that's what I was going to say. The North Texas cat. Yeah, they like offense. They like guards. They like guards.

So we could do that. Yeah. We could do that with the same. We could decide that we're on offense. Yeah. We like offense at some point. So yeah, NC State, you're probably going to hit a wall. Yeah.

And as you guys know, I mean, they were lucky to, not only lucky to beat you guys, they were lucky to be in the position to even play you guys. And then they were, I mean, yeah, at some. point midnight's going to strike and and i worry i worry about nc state going back to rale and forgetting to practice for the game forgetting to scout texas because they're just like high-fiving everybody and getting their dick sucked all week and that could be distracting yeah that can be a distracting they're just marr marquette's got tyler colic uh colic uh colic i'm hearing a lot about colic colic colic colic not like colic baby yeah uh but this guy's got an oblique if i

correctly, you being a former elite athlete, who he does, you get two obliques. When you have two obliques and one's not working so well, is that a problem on the basketball court? I would imagine so, yeah. I don't think I was athletic enough to ever strain my oblique. Strain an oblique. I'm jealous of the guys who can even do that. Yeah. Yeah. I never really had like serious injuries because I wasn't like my ACL is fine because I couldn't, you have to like be able to jump. Jump and cut. That's why I never pulled my hamstring because I was. I was, I was, I never pulled my hamstring because I wasn't fast enough. That was something that was reserved for the elite athletes. But Marquette, interesting team. You know, like, this is a bracket for me where you're like, yeah, if Houston's

tougher than some of these teams, you said it. Like, they got a big edge. And I understand you put Houston in your final four. Did you, did you have them win it at all? I have Houston win at all, yeah. Oh, wow. Feel great about it. I just kind of didn't want to pick Yukon, so I just lazily pick the next best team. Doing the same thing. I'm doing the same thing. I'm doing the same thing. I'm doing the same thing. Where are we headed next, mate? Midwest. Purdue's the one. And precedence has been set by Virginia, lose to a 16 and then win a national title. But I think there's going to, Purdue always has pressure in March. I think there's going to be immense pressure to be Virginia 2.0. They're going to do the same thing they've done the last three years. I mean, I don't know. And I know he's got this

thing about Zach Eady and the officiating. What gives there? Like, I just, I love that those freshman guards are sophomores. Sounds really dumb. Yeah. Just love that they had that experience. Yep. Now they're going to be able to play more freely, one would think. Yeah, I agree. Purdue is better than they were last year.

My issue with Purdue is that they are kind of the same team, just a slightly better version. And I don't know how much we should trust that because, like, throughout the season, they were, they shoot three is way better. They're one of the best three-point shooting teams in the country. Last year they weren't. So that helps. The guards, like you said, like last year, Braden, Smith, the point guard for Purdue was like a game manager. This year

he's like a dude. He's a dude that can get Bucke. Easy Cam Newton. Yeah. He's he's very, very good and he's more aggressive and all that. But at the end of the day, like they still, if you watch the Big Ten tournament, I mean, they just can't resist spamming,

dump the ball into Edy, dump the ball into Edy. They're post-feeding Edy from the top of the key. Like everybody's catching the ball and looking for Zach Eadie. And never mind, like, whether it's fun to watch or anything else. Like, I just don't think that's a winning strategy of basketball in 2024. I don't think you're going to go up against teams that are going to just rain threes on you. They're going to, I don't think playing inside out is the answer.

And Zach Eadie's very good. He's very productive. He's, it sucks watching him play. But like, I do think he's valuable. And I think that Purdue is going to get over some sort of hump, which is to say, like, I don't, I think if you're picking the 16 seed to beat Purdue because you're like, it happened last year. It's going to happen again.

First of all, these 16 Cs are. terrible. I know 16 Cs are always terrible, but like this year, the bottom, the bottom rung of teams in this tournament are not as good as they usually are. That sucks. And I think Purdue is in a better position but I don't think they're going to win

a national championship because I don't really think they really address like the actual issue, which is less about the freshman guards turning it over and less about like guys not hitting threes. I think it's more that like, you're playing 1974 basketball in 2024. And I just, I think at some point

people don't fear Zach Eady anymore either. That's the other thing. You're seeing teams that are just going at him defensively. I think the book is out on him there. He can't guard ball screens. He can't move his feet in defense. He's good at being big and standing under the basket, but you get him pulled out from the basket.

You can get any shot you want on Purdue. So, yeah, I'm curious. I'm curious, too. There's a ton of pressure on Purdue. But if you look at that whole region, I mean, there's a ton of pressure on Tennessee. They've never been to a final four. Rick Barnes is a guy who has a reputation.

of choking in March. And he's finally got a guy in Dalton Connect who can get him buckets. And it feels like this Tennessee team is a little different. So if they fuck it up again, what does that say about Rick Barnes? Creighton has never been to a final four.

They go to an lead eight last year and bring back most of their team. And it feels like they're in a position to do something special here. So that's a, to me, the theme of the Midwest is you have a bunch of teams that historically choke. choke it's the choking region yeah yeah i mean including like kansas with all their injuries i'm not

saying they have a history of choking but like that's a that's a 413 that's the 413 that everybody's on yeah yeah kansas is i mean even if their guys are healthy they're not very deep at all so even if you get dickinson and mcculler back like are they 100% can they give you 40 minutes do you want them to give you 40 minutes their their bench is bad their benches and we saw that against Cincinnati. I mean, part of me thought in the Big 12th tournament when they played Cincinnati that some of these dudes deeper on the bench were going to show out a little bit because they're going to have more of, again, a green light than they have when they're playing with

their All-Americans, but they, as it turns out, aren't very good. So Kansas is very intriguing because they have two of probably the best seven or eight players in the country on their team, and yet I don't trust them at all. I don't trust Kansas at all. McNeese to me was always McNeese State. It was always McNeese State. So this just feels awkward. But are you...

I don't know when that happened. Yeah, when did that change happen? I don't know. So are you a believer? Will Wade, if they beat Gonzaga, it'll be the biggest one-year turnaround in college basketball history in terms of wins from 11 to 31. Will Wade has won tournament games at VCU and LSU. They said they wanted to win 23 games this year because they lost friendly last year.

Now they've 1 30. Cheated a lot, got caught a lot. Now he's at McNeese and playing a Gonzagot team that's not as strong as it's been in recent years. Is this too trendy or are you a believer in the Cowboys? I am not a believer in the Cowboys. Okay. And there's three reasons. One, they don't make free throws.

They are bad free throw shooting team too. And I think you get in a situation, if you're like the underdog late in the game, I want you to be able to make your fritos. That seems very important that you have to ice the game with the free throw line when the other team is missing. Actually, there's four reasons. Two, Gonzaga, every time you see them in a bracket, it feels tempting to make them lose early. And this Gonzaga team is one of the worst Mark few has ever had, and they're still a five-seat. And they're still not a bad team, really, at all.

Gonzaga's been to eight straight sweet 16s. Gonzaga has not lost a first round game since 2008 against Steph Curry. they are a program that wins in the NCAA tournament, and yet everyone knows them as the program that hasn't won an entire NCAA tournament. So I think there's this belief that, like, Gonzaga is always susceptible to an upset. And maybe they will lose this time, but, like, that's just the reality is, like, Gonzaga wins at least one game at every tournament they're in. And then on top of that, McNee's does have 30 wins.

They've won 30 games. They're 30 and 3. Four of those are against – one of those was against Mississippi University for women. three other four gets non-divisional teams too. How does that work? I have no idea. They beat Bible studies by 41. They beat Bible studies?

Yeah. Bible studies? They played a team called Bibles? Yeah. One of the best wins they have all year, probably the second best. I mean, I'm looking at Kim POM right now. Number one is their first game of the year. They beat VCU.

Other than that, their second best win of the year is probably Mission. Michigan. And Michigan was like 8 and 23 this year and terrible. So, um, I don't know. There's a lot. There's a lot of people who think Leah Thomas ruined women's sports. I think McNeese women's sports. Hey, what the fuck? I can't get over this. Somebody has to explain to me, were there men on the court? I don't know. It's a wild shit. They played Mississippi University for women and won 92 to 23. So I mean, that's a lot. It's like a hate crowd. I don't know. I don't know.

As I try to find this school, Gonzaga did beat Kentucky in February. You know who's never lost at Oregon, Coach Altman. In the first round. In the first round. You know, we're talking about teams that don't get upset in the first round. I think Oregon is a sure thing. Oregon with Dante back, I mean, like a little bit underseated maybe. You know, like they start the year without the big fella.

And like they seem like one of these teams. I don't watch a lot of back 12. but people talking about them being a little bit underseated. I like the idea of Oregon making a run. Yeah, and on top of that, I think South Carolina, I don't know how to say it without it just being a complete insult, but like they earn the seed. They are supposed to be here.

They're not supposed to be here, yeah. I mean, they're punching above their weight class right now. So I think they had a hell of a year. It's worth celebrating, you know, but South Carolina is not, even as they were racking up wins in the SEC, it was more of like a, how are they doing this? rather than we should start taking South Carolina seriously as a team that can go deep into the tournament.

So, yeah, I have Oregon. I have Oregon beating South Carolina and Creighton. I have Altman winning his revenge game against his old school, too, against Creighton. So I definitely believe in Oregon for sure. Can we beat Colorado State? How do you see that matchup going down tomorrow night? Isaiah Stevens point guard for Colorado State's a bucket. That's going to be the matchup is just Colorado State's an offensive-minded team.

they'll obviously like to push pace more than Virginia, but you guys are no strangers to teams that want to do that. So, yeah, I mean, obviously you guys can beat Colorado State, but I don't know. I'm curious, it's a clash of styles, as it often is with Virginia. Can you score enough? That's really it. I think Colorado State's defense is their weak link.

Your offense is the weak link. I would prefer just Colorado State keep the ball at all times, and you guys get like two points for every stop. Yeah. And they get two points for every buck. Yeah. What about, what about, that's good. What's the line when we play Tennessee if we play Tennessee?

What's the line? Like, uh, uh, hmm. I think Tennessee's like probably six and a half maybe. Yeah, I'm seeing some sixes here. Tennessee? Yeah, Tennessee. Tennessee, Virginia. Tennessee, Virginia.

Oh, I would double it. If we can beat Texas. I would double that line. Okay, all right. But I love Tennessee. I love Tennessee. Yeah. Okay.

Tennessee is definitely better in Virginia. I just, if you guys played Tennessee, you would revert Tennessee back to old school 10th, like what they've been in the last few years, and that would be a very disgusting game. Do, yeah, I just, that would definitely be a game that's played in the 50s. Do we have a shot at an all-S-C-final four? Is there any chance of that?

Because as I filled this thing out, I could see Tennessee going, I could see Kentucky going, although, you know, I know Kentucky's Feaster Famine. I love Auburn. You know, I don't know who could come out of the West, maybe like if Bama got hot or something or Mississippi State. But I'm just saying, like, the SEC could be rolling deep, deep into this tournament. Yeah, I think that's very plausible.

All four of those are very much realistic. I hate that the SEC decided to start caring about basketball, like 10 years ago. Yeah, they're good at that too. Snap of a finger. They're like, what if we gave a shit about this? And then now all these programs are good that aren't supposed to be good. Hey, you won't hear this question anywhere else. Who's in your final four?

Okay. Yeah, Titus, you start because you're actually, you know what you're talking about. I had, I was, as I often am, kind of chalky. I had a lot of upsets throughout the bracket, but then when I go final four, I just push out and go back to ones and twos. So I had Yukon. I had Arizona breaking through, which I don't really know how much I believe it was one of those deals you're like filling out the bracket and you're just kind of going and then

you look up and I had a bunch of teams left that I didn't like. I had Arizona, New Mexico, Bama and Mississippi State and my sweet 16. So I was like, all right, well, one of these has to go to the final four. I guess it's Arizona. I have Houston out of the south. I think they were for long stretches this season, the best team in the country. And if they don't lose, they could have lost Iowa State in the championship by just a reasonable amount. I think there's a world where they're the number one overall seed. And I have Tennessee coming out of the Midwest, which I don't, I feel like that's, I don't, I trust Yukon and Houston, obviously they're one seat, so I trust them more.

But Tennessee, I don't know, I've been in love with Don Connect all season. I don't know how much you guys have watched him, but he is the, the most entertaining guy in college basketball this year. Zach Edy's going to win all the player of the year awards, but Don Connect is absolutely electric. And I just, I put them in the final four just because I want to see it happen, really. Look at us. I've got two minutes of prep, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arizona, and Auburn. So me and Titus got a couple of crossovers.

Here you got. Illinois, Arizona, Tennessee, and the Duke University Blue Devils. Now, I like what you said because I don't want it to happen. I just see Roach, Proctor, Mitchell, McLean, and Philopalsky. You may have changed my opinion with they're not having identity and I don't want it to happen obviously I'm it's more of a uh an emotional um um hedge to put them through but I don't know I uh I didn't like what I just saw from Houston I have Tennessee beating Illinois for the national championship two things number one do you ever

know as a player is there ever a gym that has a reputation for bad rims because I keep hearing dating bad rims oh yeah I mean there are yeah for sure there are gyms that have bad rims just So maybe we should do the under. The under in Dayton, anywhere. For Virginia? For any, yeah. I thought you'd be like, whoa. Well, the number is 118.5, okay?

So, and then the second thing is Eadie, if he wins a national player of the year, that's two in a row for the first time since. Ralph? Ralph. Ralph Samson. Bookending this podcast with Virginia Sports. Nice. I know, read it and weep, everybody.

We're back. Mark Titus, one of the. the most Virginia-friendly media members we could have on the show. So we appreciate you coming on. I know you've got a lot going on, dude, and happy hunting on the bracket. Thanks, guys. It's always a pleasure to come on.

Great to see you. Your set looks great. And best of luck in the NIT, man. Oh, thanks, guys. Best of luck. Oh, yeah. Yeah, how about like a minute and a half on the NIT before we let you go? Yeah, like who I like in the 20s?

Yeah, who do you like in the NIT? I'm going to take the Buckeyes, boys. Okay. Yeah, this is, yeah, this is. Is that just like hell when your team makes the NIT? Yeah, it's the worst. Is it like, why the fuck do you have to do this? I, this is the one year where I actually, I wouldn't say I'm excited, but I, we have

a coach who, I don't know how much you guys are paying attention. We fired our coach like a month ago. Yeah. And our interim takes over and he's just red fucking hot. We were knocking on the door of a bubble bid. We got fucked by the refs against Illinois in the Big Ten tournament. But it felt like we were very close. to like improbably making a run at a NCAA

attorney bid. We have a lot of dudes that are younger-ish. I don't know what young even is in college basketball anymore. And I think they're all going to come back because we hired the guy that recruited them. And so this is like the one scenario where I think that like using the NIT to continue to build that momentum and give those guys reps and everything is a good thing. Otherwise, yeah, it's the worst. So I'm actually like weirdly, I'm weirdly excited about the NIT, but, no everyone's very condescending about like good luck in the nit man

no well no i don't want to say this with condescension congrats on being invited making the invitational not everybody gets invited so thank you for joining the show and best luck to the buck eyes uh mark titus everybody and continued good health do your future dead dog okay get the fuck out of here oh everybody that wasn't too far i i massage that is that out of line see you mark we love you All right, welcome into the show, Bo Allen. We're going to talk about some college football players soon to be pro football players. Bo Bo!

Don't forget. Don't let college basketball eat up the NFL draft. Yeah, we got to remember what's really important here, Chris. And that is young men that are going to get paid millions and millions of dollars. Yes, some of the most handsomely compensated individuals in the NFL, they protect the most handsomely consummate. What the fuck am I saying? comp and say consummated. I'd like to consummate this breakdown, starting with your favorite player from the 2024 tackle class. Okay, Chris, here's the thing. There's a lot of good tackles in this class.

A lot of draft pundits out there, which I don't necessarily consider myself part of that group. I'm more of a washed up player, more of a content creator, really, making you know what I'm talking about. Don't sell yourself short, Beau. So, but the general consensus is that some, combo of Alt, Fashanu, and Fuauga are going to be the top three tackles taken. However, in my film study, I was a lot more boned up, as we like to say in the industry, about J.C. Latham from Alabama. This dude is just a fucking old-school mauler. He's right tackle.

He's, like, pretty dominant in the run game, man. And that's just fun to watch. Sometimes when you're watching O-Line, like, you can only watch pass sets from Joe Alt for so long before you want to really just move on to something else. And his tape is... Oh, I moved on. Yeah, his tape is a lot more exciting to watch. I think he's got a lot of upside.

He's also going to be 21 years old as a rookie and making... We talked a lot about how young players are so moldable. They're so young and naive and easily influenced. And, you know, as coaches, we like that. So I like J.C. Latham a lot. Joe Alt is like a left tackle prototype. He's, you know, kind of a very safe. pick and you know everyone's kind of mocking him to the charters and stuff like that he's got all the

intangibles he's got you know uh really good athleticism athleticism for someone who's six eight i don't love his like run game technique i can see him getting i don't know just like some of these really leaner yeah he's a leaner he's in his stance and his back i hate his stance really bothers me um that'll get correct you're not the only person that brought up his stance really and talking to some people in the league like and i just when i look at a six foot nine guy like yeah that's great length but at a certain point your length becomes an issue if you're not a if you're not like a you know he's a bend at the waist guy a little bit yeah i don't know what the anchor is going to look like i think he's going to be fine but like when you're getting comp to

mike mclinchie no disrespect to my dog mike mclinchie who's a good football player in the nfl um you know joe alts being talked about like the next big thing yeah i don't know that his foot speed is good enough to have that kind of length like his feet kind of drag in pass pro yeah I mean, he tested well at the combine, which, you know, we all know what that means. But I get worried about guys that are 6 foot 9. And this was kind of my note on him is like, what's his core strength like? Because that, in my opinion, is like one of the most fundamental components of interior, offensive, defensive line player. We talk a lot about, you know, dorsal flexion.

And I think that's a huge one, especially for, you know, tackles and edge defenders. But for me, core strength, like being able to sit on those bull rushes, you know, from a guy like fucking Miles Garrett or, you know, any of these other elite rushers across the league, guys that transition from speed to power with such sudden explosiveness. That's kind of where I worry a little bit about someone like Alts is like, what's his playing strength like in his core? But I do think, like, he is a very safe, you know, pick for a team that needs a starting. Yeah, not saying he's not going to be a good player.

I think, you know, the kid deserves a lot of praise. And at this point, like, I mean, we go through the draft every year at different positions. And, you know, like, it's so easy to get caught up in a little. This is what people in the pros are saying. Like, you compare him and Fashano. I happen to like Fashano better. I had a guy tell me that he reminded him of DeBrickshaw Ferguson. Just a little bit less straight line speed.

But very tough, very athletic. Obviously, see that all on tape. But you'll hear pundits talk about it. And they'll say, well, when I talk to people in the league, everybody likes Joe Alt better. Something like that. I just watched a video where somebody on a CBS set

was saying that. But if you go back year after year and you look at the draft, how many times in the last 10 years was the consensus best tackle, really the best tackle? You know, 22, we had a Kwan who was taken first. 21, they got it right with Sewell,

but that was a really good class. They had Sewell, Slater, Vera Tucker, Leatherwood, not as good, right? In 2020, Andrew Thomas, it turned out to be really good. good, but for a year or two there, they were calling him a bus. And then Worf's is the fourth

tackle taken. He's probably the best one. 2019, Dillard goes first ahead of Titus Howard. McGlenshy goes first in 18 ahead of Colton Miller, 2017, kind of an even split with Bowls and Ramcheck. Go all the way back to like 2016. Ronnie Stanley picked first. Like, could you say Tunsell was better? I don't know. You're happy with both those guys. But looking at the best tackles in the league right now where they are like lane johnson in 2013 they picked eric fisher and jokal ahead of him so you just don't know you don't know and so i i mean joe alt's like the consensus but any number of these guys could be better it's just i happen to like this tyler guyton guy a lot i like tyler guy too at oklahoma i'm not saying he's going to be in that class of like

fashon who athletically or the guy from organ state who's pretty good although he's got short arms Hey. But the guy I wanted to bring up for you was Tyler Guyton. Do you not know more at this position than others? Because it feels like we can go through most positions and say, that guy was picked ahead of that guy. I don't know if you do know more at this position because there's so much strength projection, right?

And there's like, you know, the top of the rush is a game within a game. Like there's a couple of these guys I don't necessarily like at the top of the rush. Like, Bo can tell you this. Like you can get away with things in college that are habits. so you absolutely can't get away with them because you're so physically dominant at a tackle position, you can hide a little bit. So I don't know that it's a sure thing. Well, yeah, and I do think, like, there are a lot of positions that you can transition from college to the NFL, and it's very similar. I mean, don't keep me wrong. It's definitely, like, it's, what I'm trying to

say is that I think a lot of left tackles especially, it's really hard to draft the guy in the first round and plug and play them. And I think a lot of the guys that play really well are, you know, developed over a course of time. And like under a coach like, you know, Jeff Stoughton, and I'd be interested to see what your brother, Kyle, has to say about that, Chris, because it is such an adjustment facing, you know, edge rushers in college that you can physically dominate and then playing some of these freaks every, like every team is going to have an elite edge rusher. And it's just like you're in the mix every single week. And you can't hide them at right either. You said left tackle, but you can't hide of it right now a lot of the best players are playing left-end.

Yeah, and Tyler Guy, and I like him a lot. I think one of the things that I look for most out of the combine from O. Lyman is vert, vert and broad jump. Because I think that to me, like, when you have a tall body that can really jump like that, that's a big indicator of overall athletic talent. And he had almost a 35-inch vertical. Yeah, he's explosive. Which I was very impressed with.

And then, you know, he ran really well and he tested really well. Like, I don't want to sound reductive. when I say this, but a lot of these, like, offensive tackles when I'm watching the tape, they look like very similar players in college, which is what makes it so interesting to see how they're going to develop in the NFL. Like Tyler Guyton, to me, is pretty similar to Joe Alt in a lot of ways. Like, very similar. Oh, I disagree.

I'm saying from a testing standpoint. Because Vern was higher, as you pointed out. That was one that all jumped 28. But I think they both kind of play a little bit tall. is what I was getting at with that one. No question, but Tyler Guyton is only 6-7. There's a big difference between 6-7 to 6-9. You think I'm kind of being funny, which I am.

No, I get what you mean for real. There is a difference. Like, being 6-9, like you are a skyscraper out there. Being 6-7, there's guys out there that play at 6-7. I think the Guyton guy moves really well for his size in the run game. And the thing I like about it is he's not mechanical athletically. He's very physical. He ducks his head a little bit because he's aggressive.

He's a former de-linman. I worry about him at the top of the rush and needs to use his hands more but these are things you can do like they say Joe Alt and he's a technician but how much better can you get right

and some of these guys that seem to have the willingness like I watched Tyler Guyton do one-on-ones at the senior bowl and he's jacked up every rep like he's a competitor he wants to get better the Fugga kid from Oregon State shorter arms but man that guy uses his hands already yeah let's talk about Fuaga for a second

is Daniel Jeremiah as him as the top rated offensive tackle from his you know top 50 or whatever and i was just buzzing through that quick before we came on just to kind of see what the other pundits are saying um but he reminds me a little bit of worse actually he's a little bit beefier six three's like three 30 um but he plays really well he kind of like does that outside punch first with his right arm you know what i mean and i'm interested to see if that uh works out well for him at the next level because you got to set back deeper for that you know what i mean chris and like if you miss with that outside arm yeah like he's like not a he's not like a two-hand high puncher he's

like an outside capture, you know what I mean? And if a guy's hitting a cross chop on that and knocks it down, like you can kind of get your head in there and lean and then those guys can bend the corner. So I'm interested to see if that carries through. But he's actually, I think he's a really smooth run blocker. I think he's a much better run blocker than some of these other left tackles that we saw. And, you know, people have kind of been talking about how Alt is going to be as a run blocker. You mentioned that. You know, he's a little bit of a leaner in the run game. And when that happens, you can get shed on your face very quickly by some of these violent delinmen. I think Fuauga is better, and he's got, like, more power in the run game.

And plays with pretty good balance, too. Like, I like him a lot better as a run blocker for, like, one-on-one blocks. Now, a lot of these tackles will be, like, combo blocking on the backside of zone, you know. Not going to be asked to do a whole lot of, like, it depends on what scheme they're in, obviously. But I like Fugga a lot. I mean, I don't know why. I'm not quite as high on Alt. I think Fulaga is good.

I'm going to take more of a deeper look at Guyton, but the bottom line is, dude, this is a pretty fucking deep tackle class, and there's a lot of teams with a lot of, you know, offensive tackle needs. So I think three or four of these guys are going to go in the first round. Who's the, I don't like using the word bust, but who's the guy that, you know, you're very wary of?

I'm kind of like Based on what you're going to be picked. Marius Mims. You think so just because he's so freaking This guy. He's so big, bro. Oh, he's so big. I told him to the Combine.

And I said this to Mike Mayock. You know when you can smack somebody on the back in the NFL and you're like, this is just a, you slap your friend on the back. Like to be like, what's up, buddy? That's what I felt with Kyle when we were to Austin, dude. You want to feel the,

you want to feel what it feels like. And Kyle, you slap him on the back. you're like NFL player. Like I'm looking, I was watching MIM standing there around these reporters in like a dry fit. And I can feel what it would feel like to smack this guy on the back. And he feels like in my mind, like one of those guys that plays 12 years. But you've watched his tape. I haven't watched this much.

No, I mean, I'm a little bit enamored with him. And I, you know, Makin called me out a couple weeks ago when we were talking about some of the freaks at the combine. Because I bought into the whole 433 short shuttle thing. but he actually tested really well at the combine, and he is such a specimen. Like a guy like that, though, you kind of fall in love with them, you know, in the combine and things like that.

And then maybe they don't quite play up to expectations. And that's the only thing. Like I keep going back to Mackay Beckton, you know, who's a high pick for the Jets. I'm pretty sure he's a free agent now. I've got to check. A lot of it with him was the durability. Yeah, I mean, some guys are too fucking big, dude.

Dude, like, when you're 6, 8, 340 and as explosive as that, like, can your own body handle that? You know? I mean, I'm scrolling through Google images looking at Amherst Mims, and I see him on crutches, but I'm not saying that he's had durability issues, but that was more. I just, we look at this guy. Dude, he has 36 and one eighth inch arms. That is, that is a game changer, you know, as opposed to some of these other taxes. He ran really well, too. His vert wasn't as good, but like, like, he's, like, his.

Lance Zerline report is picturesque frame and exciting NFL trades. Yeah. And that's kind of what I'm talking about. But he has very, very limited experience. He's super inexperienced, Chris. And watching him on tape, that kind of shows up at times. I think that's a little bit of the fear there. He's like he's a freak athlete.

He's very young, a little bit inexperienced. And, you know, you fall in love with him, draft him, you know, in round one, and then expect him to be a day one starter. And I think that's asking a lot of a young experience guy. No. He's young, but he's not a ball of clay. The other young guys he likes to fire him in the kiln for a little bit longer, you know. Listen up.

There's been some talk of Fuaga, maybe being a guard. Do you like guys more who have that tackle guard versatility, or is it this guy might not be good enough to play tackle while we could put him at guard? Because there are 11 tackles right now rated higher than the top rated guard, according to PFF. It's nice to have a guy that can do two things. Like when I look at the guy from Washington, Fuagu, Foshanu and Fetano, all top prospects this year.

But, you know, like the guy from Washington, for instance, I really like him. I'm not sure if he can play tackle in the NFL long term, but I know he can play guard. Like, I know he can play guard watching him. And so I'm not trying to be, you know, disparaging towards guards. Like my brother played guard for most of the,

of his career, but like, no offense to guards, they're not tackles for a reason for the most part. And so, like, when I look at some of these guys, I'm like, if you can have a day one starter at guard who can move people in the run game and you're sure about the kid, rather than wasting two years trying to fit a square peg in a round hole, I kind of like saying, all right, well, we might have a nine out of ten at guard compared to a developmental situation at tackle. So I don't know if that answers your question, but I kind of like, I lean like, take the sure thing. If you're not positive, I don't need to justify picking a kid in the first round by forcing him out there at tackle. And Kyle was taking the first round.

Would you, you would spend a first rounder on a surefire guard? Yeah, very good guard. How high would you go? Depends on how good if like Quentin Nelson's there. I'm taking Quentin Nelson in the top five. Okay. You know, top five to 10. You know, if it's Kyle Long, I like where he got picked.

You know, in middle of the first, that's a good place to take a really good guard. Dude, guards are getting paid these days. this most recent free agent cycle like on dickerson just got paid and dickerson got the bag exactly i mean i personally just the way that i my play style and the kind of the my body type um to answer your question making i always loved playing taller you know tackles that were converted to guards that were maybe a little taller a little lighter because i could get into their chest and they just weren't as comfortable you could always tell when guys were converted from playing tackle to guard because they just you know, weren't as comfortable with how there's no space on the inside, you know,

and you could get into them quickly. But I think it's very valuable to have a guy like, you know, I think you said, Fuga. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, guys that can swing, man. I'm talking about Fetano from Washington more so, so don't get that confused with you at home. I'm not making Fugga a guard, but the guy of Washington maybe. Well, here's a guy, Chris.

Here's a guy who played actually left tackle for. a good amount of his career. I think it was like three years maybe and then played center as well. And he's pretty high drag. I think he's a day one guy too, and that's Graham Barton from Duke. And he's 6'5, 313,

and he's projected as a center. But I think he's, you know, we're mostly focusing on the tackles right now, but he's a guy that has a lot of versatility on the offensive line. It will probably be a center. But it's really nice because if you have, a guy like this that you draft and you can kind of spell like sit him get him some experience

and have him be your sixth o lineman you know for his first year in the league get experience at a couple different positions it's a very valuable thing to do and you see a lot of really good offensive line coaches focus on that in the NFL kind of mixing guys around putting him in different places uh like look at micho wenu for the patriots he was a right guard now he's playing right tackle it's very valuable to to have guys with you know uh multi-positional experience all across the o line because you never really know what you need as the season develops. It's the biggest attrition position. So, you know, like, you know, guys are always going to be banged up.

This kid from Duke, I like to cut of his jib, as you would say. Yeah, very steady player. Really consistent player. And that's, I think, the hardest thing to do as an offensive lineman. Now, granted, I was never an offensive lineman, but I played against a fuck ton of them. And I've watched a lot of them on tape is to be really consistent. If you're a guy who's punching the fuck out of people and have, having highlight tape blocks, you know, every other rep, you're also going to get beat clean a lot of

the time. And so to be a really consistent O-Lyman is tough. And that's what I see out of Graham Barton. I think that's a valuable trait to have for a young player. He's patient. Patient. Yeah. Yeah, I like this kid. I mean, how about this Jackson-Powers Johnson kid from Oregon? I like him. So he's a center. He's a big center. He's 6-3-330. You know, He actually reminds me a lot of Travis Frederick, who went to Wisconsin with me, and then I played him a bunch. He was the center for the Cowboys. I think they're built similarly, but he, you know, there was a quote that I saw online.

He's tough, smart, and strong. Just don't overthink it. When you get those elements, you usually have a starter. I think he's good. I saw him projected to the Rams. I think he'd fit in well in like a zone scheme like that. I like him as a player. He's not super athletic.

but he played, like he tested well, but on tape at times he's not super athletic, like especially in space. But I think he plays hard as hell, and he's kind of a fucking mauler, and I like that out of stairs. Yeah, he's more of a maller. Yeah, you don't see that as much.

From a lot of centers, you know, are positional blockers. So I think it's fun when you get a guy like that who's a little bit of a phone booth guy. And if you Google the guy, he's always got this shit-eating grin on his face, which tells me that he's a shit-disturber. he just likes the prototypical interior

O lineman He's got to push you late He's got to push your late smile Mm-hmm And then lastly The kid from K State I think you'd take a look at Cooper Bibi

Not related to Don Bibi Is he Well we don't know that for sure We'll have to get the people on that one Well that would be funny as shit Because Don Bibi is one of the fastest White guys to ever live Like this guy's an interior O'Lybyby

No it's not Don Bibi's son is Chad Bibi So I haven't seen as much of Bibi's tape I like him I'm not sure if he's going to be a guard or a center Kind of remains to be seen I think he's a guard But yeah he's he's

Kind of a similar frame Similar mold as Jackson Powers Johnson So You know a little more of a bulldozer Again not super athletic And Chris he's got short arms man I know you don't like short arm O'Lyman But he you know

I haven't seen as much of him on tape, but I think he's a pretty solid player. But I do, Chris, well, I got the mic here. I want to give a shout out to my guy Tanner Bordellini from Wisconsin. Oh, yeah, he tore it up. Yeah. He murdered. Yeah, I want to do a butter breakdown on him. I'm going to try to get him on to watch some of his tape.

But he had a 99 athleticism score at the Combine, ran a sub five, second 40, 169, 10-yard split. Usually guys that are running 169, they're playing D-Line, baby. Jumped 32 and a half inches, 9-4 broad, 7163 cone and a 4-2-8 short shuttle. Really, really good showing from him. He had some good senior bowl. He's up in Madison. I know, right?

He's drinking all of it because nobody else is fast from that school. Fucking race me, bro. He had a really good showing at the Senior Bowl, too, and then, you know, tested really well at the combine. So when you're trending up before the draft, it's always a great thing. I think he'll be probably a day two guy. But I think, you know, Wisconsin's got a history of some pretty good offensive and defensive linemen in the NFL. And hopefully he carries a torch and continues that, you know, want to give him some love.

Did you put your gloves in your shadow box that has your jersey on it in the background? That's an interesting touch. I got my skull cap in there too. The funniest is the, I put the arm band with our defensive. are like third down rushes on there, which is funny for two reasons. Yeah, first reason is, bro, I'm not on the fucking field on third down, okay? So that doesn't matter. Be white.

Yeah, that thing is fucking totally fine. And then the other thing is it's got like five rushes on there. It's like E. To the back. T.E. Sauce, which is a T.E. and a E.T. Double, yeah.

And then a tango. It's like the five most basic rushes. I don't remember what a tango was. A tango was just like a time game. Yeah, because we won't worry. about it you guys are doing that but i am happy because if you look up top i have the foresight to steal the nameplate from the locker yeah thought that was a nice little touch there that's a good touch all right well so we've talked a little bit about interior alignment the tackles they're obviously

headlining the discussion uh our mailbag college football mailbag today is which college football coach would you like to get a beer with uh the better question is like who would i want to smoke a joint with uh who who would i want to get stoned i was I actually just thought about this right now. Hugh Freeze. Yeah. I just want to see him squirm. You know he's never touched a jazz cabbage.

Probably not. But go ahead with the beer thing. I mean, Greg Shiano, one-one. I mean, not even a contest. No, Biff Pogi, dude. Biff Pogie is obviously on the list. I've actually gotten a beer with Biff Pogi. I told people on this podcast before it.

I went to a Biff Pogi wedding at Biff Pogie's house. One of my college roommates, Tom Sannie, married his beautiful, awesome daughter, Melly. And I mean that. She is great. Like, she's going to keep Tom straight. But, you know, I got to hang out with Biff. And we even worked together to put out a brush fire that occurred after the fireworks. So that was a big moment for me, me and Biff, well, more so Biff putting the fire out.

But I was like, hey, Biff, there's a fire. Yeah. He was like, I'd like to hire that guy. You're a spotter. So I think Biff is tremendous, the cutoff t-shirt, the personality, the stories. The guy's a great storyteller. He's coached high school football at a legendary level. He's coached with Jim Harbaugh.

He's building a program down in Charlotte. That's a realistic thing. We might drink a beer with Biff Poguey. I think I would become best friends with Mac Brown. He's number two on my list, yeah. Fuck, I had Mac Brown also making. with Mac Brown. 72 years old.

It'd just be a good time. Yeah. You know what you're getting from Mac. Yeah. Fucking gentlemen. All right. So you're going to go with the old, I think he's the oldest head coach in college football at North Carolina.

I'm going to go with a younger guy that I want to get a beer with. A lot of this is because I've gotten beers with him before. G.J. Kinney was with me in Philadelphia. We had some pretty good times. And now he's one of the youngest head coaches at Texas State. He's 35 years old. kind of miss that guy's really good friends with lane and uh you know kind of miss boy he looks like the guy in the youtube videos i know you don't know who i'm talking about

this terrible description but the comedian that there's a video where he he walks into a coffee shop and he's doing a job interview and the job interview just goes totally south and he's walking out and he can't open the door so he tears robinson he looks just like tim robinson from i think you should leave oh yeah i think you should leave which is a hilarious deal. He looks just like this fucking guy. He looks like this guy, G.J. Kenny, looks like when Tim Robinson

just did something he wasn't supposed to do. I'm going to coach your football team. It's incredible, Bo. This is a cool guy. Cool guy to play with. Really cool guy. Yeah. There are some young coach.

How about Marcus Freeman? He has six kids. He needs a unit of alcohol or seven. No kidding. I would love to bring him a six-pack and be like, hey, buddy, let's talk about this. All right. I got another one.

This is a guy I'd like to have like 10 to 15 beers with just to get him to kind of spill some secrets. Lane Kiffin, you know? Like first of all, you know he drinks, right? But he's a little bit of a drama mama. There's always controversy I feel like surrounding Lane Kiffing. He's kind of a polarizing coach. I want to know what the deal is with him and the Raiders with Mark Davis and Jamarcus

Russell. But then like think about the stories he's got from, you know, his dad, Monty Kiffin, Pete Carroll, Steve Sarkesian. Also, this, I don't know if you probably know this making, but he went to Bloomington Jefferson High School, graduated in Minnesota, graduated in 1994. You know, he's there in USC with Matt Liner, Reggie Bush. Probably got some stories about that. I was just in Austin, and they had some bars like this, but I think he's an indoor, outdoor

bar guy. Uh-huh. You know? Yep. He's got to be open air in the bar. Yeah, I like that. I need to. Yeah.

I just see him, you know, after a day. He's a day drinker. Yes. You know what I'm saying? Like, I see him like Tom Brady by 6 p.m. I got another day drinker for you. Brett Bilema. Day drinker.

Day drinker. Seems like an all the time drinker, maybe. I don't mean that he's an alcoholic. I'm just saying he can put him down. I've had beers with. Have you had beers with Bielma? Martini's in Iowa City. How was that?

Great. Great. He's still got the Tiger Hawk tattoo, right? He does. On the calf. Yeah. He's a. I've had some beers with Coach Bielma as well.

Oh, yeah. No, no, no, he's a whiskey guy. It was at martini's in the bar. We didn't even throw Mike Gundy out there. That's why I had on my list. We got a lot of differences, me and Mike Gundy, obviously. But I would like to have a beer with Mike Gundy. Pass. I feel like if you have a beer of Mike Gundy, it's got to be on one of those rafts, you know, at an above-ground pool.

Yep. Oh, yeah, I'd love to have a beer with Mike Gundy to an above-ground pool. We'll bring the pool, Mike. You have to end the meeting with the handshake like he did with this player who did who they disagree, but then they posted the handshake on social. Yeah, you got to end the night out with the handshake. We're just looking twisted outside, outside some Stillwater bar. Y'all can have Mike Gundy.

You'll take Sam Pittman. Silence. I want to throw Mike Norvelle in there. I wouldn't. Why? What's wrong with him? I think this is why we're not hanging out these days. What's wrong with him? I don't know.

Yeah, but who are you hanging out with? That's a good question. My dog? I think it's more of an indictment on you than me. I know Sam Pittman. I like Sam Pittman. Yeah, Sam Pittman. I think he's in Arkansas.

Correct. Yeah, I like that guy. Okay. Like him a lot. I agree. But what's wrong with Norvel? Did he do something wrong? No, he just seems too buttoned up, not fun, not interesting.

No offense. Yeah. He might opt out of the drinking day. So this is a coach that just kind of went from college down to high school. but we're still going to allow it. Kevin Kelly, he never punts. He's at Presbyterian College. He's now at Sheridan.

Sheridan High School. Doesn't punt. Never punts. And on-site kicks everything, too. Bealma said he's one of the greatest head coaches of all time. Okay. The greatest college head coaches of all time. You got to track him down.

Maybe smoke some jazz cabbage with him, Chris. I'd like to smoke some jazz cabbage with Matt Rule. I like Matt Rule. I'm cheating on this. one and I know it's CEMAT rules stoned it's going off the off track here I need I need a mike leach I actually used to drunk dial Mike leach all the time I've said this on the pod but me dola had his number because obviously he played for him at texas tech and we'd be at bonneru and we would call mike leach and he would say on the phone as long as we wanted to stay on the phone in fact by the end

of the call me and gola were fucked up and we'd be looking at each other like is he going to get off the phone like leach was on the phone for an hour with us we were outside like a florence a machine show. We didn't even go in. And I love Florence the Machine. Because I was talking to Mike Leach. God rest his soul. Hey. Legend. Your immediate reaction is going to be like, nah, bad time,

awful. Dabo Sweeney. Hey man. Where were you on January 6th? Yeah. I know. I think No. He doesn't strike me as a beer drinker though. That's a kitty cocktail. He might have a kitty cocktail. Listen, he went up in my book

after that rant where he cussed out that guy from Spartanburg. Agreed. You know, because I was like, okay, a little realness. You know, even if it is, it is arrogance after all. How has this name not been said? Colorado head coach Dion Sanders. Yeah, I was going to say, Dion doesn't strike.

Does Dion drink doesn't strike me as somebody who drink? I bet you he doesn't, but I, you know, I don't think that's the setting you want Dion in. Dion needs an audio. Bro, he's in Boulder. We could get him with the cabbage. I guarantee you that there's cabbage going on. I think he's straight lace with all that stuff. I don't know.

I'd like to find out. I'm not saying I know something. A guy that's that good at crafting his image, you know, he's going to keep it on the straight and arrow. Yeah, you're right. You're right. Good point, Bo. All right, cool.

I'd like to throw one more coach Bofa. Bofa, coach Bofa? Who? Who's coach Bofa? All right, Boe, thank you. What do you mean? I just want to thank Bofa is time. Bofa D's.

Take care. Always a pleasure. Take care, Bo. We appreciate your time. Hey, one last thing. We're going to talk about it. We already talked about Aaron Donald. Your take was best player of all time on defense.

He's so fucking good, man. I'll never forget, uh, 2018. I left Philly. We had a good time in Philly, you know, Chris. Signed with the Bucks. We are shit. Bad team. our D-line, like we were super injured on defense, couldn't get it done defensively.

Our D-Corporated, Mike Smith was fired after like four games. We're just reaching in the D-Line room, trying to find a way to get some more production out of our room. Our fucking coach, our D-Line coach, pulls up, Aaron Donald's tape, turns and looks to me and goes, how come you can't do this? Why aren't you out here doing this? I'm like, bro, what the fuck you're talking about? Somebody's about to get fired. Yeah, I'm a 330-pound white noseguard.

You're trying to get me to hit these cross chops that Aaron Donald's getting 10 sacks a year. He's also 5-9, dude. What the fuck are you talking about, bro? I'm like, I'm just like, yes, coach. Just like pretend like I'm writing down some notes and shit. But he is unbelievable. Like, I tried to find this one clip, Chris.

He, uh, there's a team that tried to wham trap him, you know, which makes sense, right? Because he's really far up the field. There's a three tech does a really good job penetrating a lot of his own schemes. Got a great get off, whatever. He fucking. gets two feet in the ground, spins back on the guard that's pulling for him, and makes a TFL like three yards in the backfield. And it was like one of the most, it was one of the most ridiculous raps I've ever seen in my life.

Spinning off a trap and then finishing. And finishing it. Like he, he gets up to field like two yards, realizes that they're trying to trap him, spins the guard and makes the TFL. And I'm just sitting there watching it like over and over again. Like, how the fuck did this guy do this? It's insane. Or like the way he gets those sacks.

You know how like the, you know, the refs in the NFL made an emphasis on, you know, not landing on the quarterback. You can't hit him too high in the head or it's a penalty. You can't hit him too low because of the Brady rule. And there was like a period of time where I feel like Aaron Donald got like 50 sacks where he didn't even touch the ground. Oh, he just, he just would run by the quarterback and just like nonchalously toss grown men onto the ground. Ragdoll them. So such a great way. There are some athletes who, who things are in slow motion for them.

Yeah, and he was one of those guys. Like, I just feel like watching him play up close on tape. Yeah. You know, like the decisions that we make frantically, he makes completely clear-headedly. And he's more talented than everybody. And he's harder working than everybody. I remember, you know, watching some of these Marvel movies, maybe on some of that jazz cabbage you keep talking about, Chris.

And just being like, if there is a fucking somebody with superpowers, that's playing a sport it's aaron donald playing football i agree this motherfucker is like teleporting through offensive lineman yeah insane incredible he's incredible we'll leave you with that bow uh he's so good that beau has didn't hate on him how can you hate on a player that caliber man he's fucking unreal