Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show - Cubs' Seiya Suzuki won't be ready for Opening Day due to knee injury (Hour 1)

Episode Date: March 23, 2026

Marshall Harris and Mark Grote opened their show by reacting to the news that Cubs slugger Seiya Suzuki won't be ready for Opening Day on Thursday due to a knee ailment. After that, they discussed what the Cubs' lineup will look like on Opening Day. Later, they discussed the entertaining second round of the NCAA Tournament.

This hour is brought to you by Menards. Save big money at Menards. The views and opinions of Laila Rahimi, Marshall Harris, and Mark Grody should not be taken too seriously. Especially when they give advice. Do not take Marshall's analogies, literally. Especially when it comes to Russell Dorsey. The sports thoughts of Rahimi, Harrison, Grody may change at any time.

It's just sports. Okay, thanks. Bye. Rahimi Harrison Grody, 10 to 2 on 1043, the score. Now that Jackson, Born is back with the bears, how many bears does he get on my bear's scale? When he left the bears, I think I had him up to just because of his growing popularity. I think I had him at 7.5 bears.

But hold on a second, Layla. I know you say it's got to go up. Controversial decision here by the bears scale people. That's me and me. Well, technically we came to you for a recommendation. And I recommended myself. I'm highly recommended. He lost the bear.

Jack Sanborn lost a big... Now, he's going to have plenty of opportunity. He is at 6.5 bears. I said it was going to be controversial. I may have a little solution to our mistakes problem. This is a project I've been working on for quite some time. And today, it might be the day to use it. What do you got?

It is a system that holds people accountable for everyone else's work. Sounds controversial. Have I not been worthy of your trust? I know he was non-tendered by the bears. It wasn't his fault. I know. He has to pay wins. But in some ways it might, like, could he have done more on the field?

To not be non-tendered? What could Jack Sanborn have done to not have to go to Dallas before he made his way back to the Bears? He's going to get in. He let it go. No, I can't. This is a ride. You did everything you could. No, I could have done more.

This is the most meatball take to take it out on Jack Sanborn for wanting a job. He left us. Well, no, I got us talking. He got us nothing. He insulted us and he abandoned us. I will not stand for this. I will give away some of my bears in solidarity to Jack Sandborn because there's no way on this effing earth. I should have two more bears than Jack Sanborn.

I will not stand for this. So I do mind. This will not stand, you know? This aggression will not stand, man. Marshall Harris, Mark Grody. Midday's 10 a.m. to 2 on Chicago Sports Radio 104.3, The Score. Hello again, everybody, and welcome in to Rahimi Harris and Grotie. On the score, Marshall Harris is back. You and I are back together, my friend.

I haven't seen you in forever. It's been a long time. But I'm happy to see you, especially because baseball's coming this week, Big Phelah. It is. The Cubs and the White Sox both have their opening days on Thursday. Thursday, the Cubs host Washington on Thursday, 120. Hopefully you guys were giving me some disturbing information about potentially bad weather on Thursday. They've got Friday locked in if they need it. First opening day in Chicago? Is this potentially bad weather? Is that what you told me, Grady? You're right. In my head, I should be thinking, yes, there's been millions of these. I wasn't exactly saying it's inconceivable that there would be bad weather. Honestly, I just don't.

I'm out of five-day forecast. I don't know if you figured this out about me, Marshall, I live my life day to day. I'm giving you two options here, Grody. Yes, sir. You can have a Thursday 60-degree day in which there are scattered showers throughout the day for opening day, or you can have completely clear on Friday, but the highs, let's say, 32 degrees. Give me the 60s sporadic. I'll take a rain delay or two.

I know that that doesn't make our friends in the broadcast booth particularly happy, but they'll be ready for it. Or the starting pitcher on opening. Matthew Boyd probably would not be happy about that either. You're right. Get up, get down, get up, to get back down. Exactly. So that might make things complicated. But yeah, Cubs, Washington, 120 right here on 670, the score. Matthew Boyd against a righty for Washington, Cade Cavilley, the 27-year-old former first rounder.

So it's important to point out that it is a right-hander on the mound, considering what the Cubs have going on right now, which we'll get to here in just a second. But yeah, the White Sox also open up at Milwaukee. Important for the White Sox. Important for the Cubs. Because you've got the Shane Smith pitching situation. As we mentioned against your guy, Marshall Harris, Jacob Mizorowski. How is he my guy? I don't know.

Is it because I never said that the Cubs had clinched the division last year? Does that make Jacob Moralski my guy? Ah, yeah, we're doing that. I'm the one who makes bad predictions about the Chicago Cubs and statements about the Cubs. Not you. I will, ladies and gentlemen, here in the year of our Lord, 2026, I'll try to do better with the Cubs this year. That's all I can do, Marshall. Every year we try to do better.

Every day we strive to do better, Mark. And I believe in you. You'll do better. I just don't know how much better you'll do. That means a lot to me. There is news, breaking news for the Cubs, I guess, if you consider breaking news over a 24-hour cycle like I think everybody seems to do. If you hadn't heard, Sayas Suzuki has the Cubs right-fielder. ruled out for opening day with the PCL sprain,

which means that they don't have to make the decision until Wednesday, whether or not to put him on the disabled list, the 15-day, excuse me, the injured list until Wednesday, but it sure feels like all indications are, I would say 99% chance that he's going on the 15-day injured list because of this PCL strain. Well, it would be the 10-day IL, which they can backdate, so they don't have to worry about missing that much time.

He could be back early next week. I'll say this. For Say a Suzuki, it's very simple to me, Mark. It's the start of the season. Make sure that man is healthy before he gets out on the field. And understanding he's not even to the point where he's starting and stopping as far as running yet, it doesn't sound like he's close to being able to play baseball. There's no reason at all to rush him.

What this does do is it supercharges something that we've seen coming, and that is Matt Shaw as a utility player, but really Matt Shaw as a right fielder at Wrigley Field, straight up, off the top. And I know people are going to say, well, Michael Comforto, he's a lefty, he could be, no, no, no, no, drop that man into right field and Wrigley and let him go. Let him go.

That's what the Cubs need to do right now. Shaw has been hitting consistently throughout the spring. He has been fielding to various levels at different positions. Right field, he had two errors in one game. I mean, that's going to happen. They know that's going to happen, but you have to give him a baptism by fire treatment and say, we need his bat in the lineup. And more importantly, we need him to have some sense of confidence.

So that's why you go ahead and just put him in right field. The candidates are for right field, and I tend to agree with you, and I'll tell you why in a second. But the candidates are, as you mentioned, Matt Shaw, first and foremost, the most prominent. And I have a feeling that Matt Shaw, whether in right field or in field or left field or wherever they want to use him, DH occasionally. I got a feeling Matt Shaw is going to play in about 140 games this year. Like, I don't know if a good thing or a bad thing. I think he's going to play a lot more than maybe we expect him to right now.

But here's why I agree with you for the most part on Matt Shaw is because of the documented improvement this man had in the second half of the season. after all the early season struggles he had, especially, mostly at the play. We know that his third base play for the most part was excellent. Let me throw you this out. I got this watching the Cubs game yesterday. By the way, a Cubs 12-0-0 win over the crew. That doesn't go out of style, does it?

Who was on the hill for the Cubs in that game? That'd be Cade Horton. Oh, yeah, I think, yeah, Kate Horton, that's the dude you need to be paying attention to. Horton, here's a who. He heard six innings, six shutout innings yesterday. for all you spring training fans. Four hits, three strikeouts, no walks. 60, how many pitches did the man have?

68 pitches. Hey, Mark, will that dog hunt? That dog will hunt. And Bregman, Hap, head home runs, your guy, Moe Baller, Moises by Astero, just tit and doubles, you know, like he does. Best pure hitter in the lineup. Write it down now so that you don't, you're not one of these Johnny Come Lately's on it. he's the best bat in the lineup.

Best pure hitter in the lineup. Yet they're talking about him being a platoon situation. So are you a pure hitter? Are you the best pure hitter if you don't hit lefties? I mean, and I get that's a tough trick for him. Wait, wait, hold on. Are you the best hitter if they don't allow you to hit lefties? Hey, Michael Bush, what's up?

Oh, you're going to hit lefties this season, aren't you? He is hitting lefties. I listened to, I guess it was. There was so many great baseball shows on hit and run came back this weekend. You got the premiere show. You got the, you know, Matt Spiegel's hitting and run. Two hours of it. Inside the Clubhouse. I believe it was on Inside the Clubhouse. Yeah, Michael Bush was on

inside the clubhouse with Bruce and David Haw. Welcome back, David Hawth. He was on and talking about how excited he is to hit lefties. But anyway, before the All-Star break last year, Matt Shaw, played in 63 games, had a batting average of 198, two home runs, he slugged 280. His poll percentage was 32.9%. And again, shout out to the Marquis Sports Network for coming up with this graphic. Post-all-Star break, 63 games. How convenient is that? Hit 258, that's up from 198. He goes from two homers to 11 home runs. Slugging goes from 280 to 522. Pull percentage goes from 32.9% to 55.4%. Those are not. subtle improvements from Matt Shaw.

There was a period of time where he was just on fire to the point where I jokingly said he's the real PCA. And that's when PCA was going downhill. And Marshall's giving me that the look that you give me, I'd say 60% of the time in our life, whether on the air or off the air, that get out of here. Could you say a ridiculous thing sometime? Listen, one of those guys was a gold glove finalist. one of those guys want a gold glove.

Do you know which one is which? Yeah, I do know which one is which. Yeah, one of them did play in the world baseball classic. One of them, yes, was a legitimate gold glover in Pete Crow Armstrong. No, I think Pete Crow Armstrong's ceiling higher than the ceiling of Matt Shaw. Just at the time when we couldn't figure out PCA and how horribly wrong things were going. And Matt Shaw was sizzling, that's when I said that. I'm very emotional.

I do like your pre-post all-star break splits, especially since they're both 63 games a piece. It makes it feel a little more fair than usually when you talk about after the break. It's a shorter sample size. But I will say this. He had a really good August last year in which he hit 240, ended up slugging 547, which was by far his. But he didn't slug over 500 any other month. New PCA. And then he kind of fell off in September, October, where he ends up batting 222, slugs 375,

The OPS falls to 688, and that was more in line. Now, still, the 68, way better than what we saw in the first half of the season. But I think overall, for him specifically, he's now going to be in a more comfortable situation because he knows his bad as being dependent on in a way that it wasn't last year. And he's got more major league experience. Point blank, he got sent down. He came back up. I mean, he was breaking with the club in Japan, and then he had to go back.

to the bottom. Well, Iowa's not the bottom, but he had to go back down a level to get things figured out. I'm glad he got it figured out. I think now, though, they're calling on him and Moises Biasteros. The guys who were minimal contributors last year are going to have to be major contributors now. I thought the Cubs handled Matt Shaw well last year. It's always tricky, especially with a first round pick like Matt Shaw, who's a man who seems to be, I don't know him, but very sure of himself, very confident, very set in his ways, and they had to break him down a little bit. So it makes sense that

maybe this year is the year where we see a little bit more from him. This Thursday, Marshall, joined the score and circus sports, Illinois, at Sluggers in Wrigleyville for our ultimate home opener broadcast. Our show will broadcast live from 10 to 1245

before the home opener on the north side. Then Zach Zabin will have pregame up until the first pitch. So come out and join us on Thursday at Slugger, starting at 10 a.m. It's all brought to you by Circa Sports, Illinois, sports betting the way it should be. Is that an invite for me? Because you're like, this Thursday, Marshall. And I was like, am I invited? Can I come? It is absolutely for you. And Layla will be there too. Okay. I'll be there. So we'll have a good time as what you're saying.

As well, and in the cold and the nasty. Ray, are you going to be there too? I'll be there. But more importantly, Ron Coomer will be there with us. Oh, the Coom Dog is going to be in the house. By the way, speaking of Coom, do we have Coom or where we're going to do that in the next segment. The Ron Coomer audio. Okay, so while we're talking about Matt Shaw, this is a perfect time to do this, I think. Matt Shaw, as we said, who has had all

sorts of different manifestations, adjustments, if you will, at the plate. It all started with the ridiculous leg kick. They had to figure that out, keeping the head still, all of that kind of stuff. It feels like there's been three four adjustments. It would seem that there was another one this

year. Bruce Levine, one of the things he said, and we'll talk to him later on. One of the things he said Saturday was that the most underreported story of the spring, I guess as it pertains to the Cubs, has been Matt Shaw's hitting. Let's hear what Ron Coomer has to say about what Matt Shaw is doing these days. Well, they're trying Bruce to eliminate movement in a simplistic way of describing it. You know, as we all saw last year, the high leg kick your foot coming up off the front foot coming way up off the ground, then hovering and then going down, that's a a very difficult way to hit as you're talking about by a steros and being on time and because of that

he wasn't on time a lot and so he had big areas in the strike zone that pitchers could throw to and get him out fairly easily because of that issue the second issue he had last year was once he tried to get that foot down earlier now the foot was going down and the head was moving forward and when your head moves forward towards the pitcher, that's just like, you know, open season for the pitcher to get you out when your head's moving. You just can't have a lot of head movement going towards the pitcher or forward. And so he had that combination and he really had to fix that.

So Johnny has shut down the leg kick. He hovers it a little bit, but it doesn't come up off the ground and it gets down quick. And I know they're working hard. to eliminate that movement of his head going forward, that's an aggressive feel like you're doing something good, but you're not because that movement just makes it tough to recognize pitches. It hinders the mechanics in your swing. So that's what they're really trying to do.

And he is getting that done. I do believe that there's some positives there and some movement forward for him to use that same term, I'm in a positive way where he's getting better. That's for sure. What I do hate about this, and that's all great analysis from Ron Kumer, sounds spot on to me. Why wouldn't I trust what Ron Kumer asks is, I hate that Matt Shaw's had so many things to think about. And that does make sense. Don't move your head up there.

The idea that there's a bigger strike, that guys, pitchers are using the strike zone to get the guy out in multiple places is frightening. But I don't like that he's got to think so much. It feels like, Mitch Shaw. This seems like the simple one, right, though. Just stay still, keep your head still. It's kind of a fundamental thing going back to low-league baseball. You know, you see little kids out here moving every which way, and then they're not ready for the pitch.

And now, at the major league level, you got to donate, is this to denote, excuse me, off-speed, fastball, splitter, change. It's a lot of work up there. So you want to keep the simple thing simple. It's a great point. Coming up here on Rahimi Harris and Grotie, another thing from yesterday's game, a 12-0-0 went over Milwaukee.

Did we see the Cubs opening day lineup? It looked pretty real. Like I said, yesterday was kind of a real game. Kate Horton going to six innings. We'll talk about the Cubs lineup. We'll tell you what we think about it. Shoutouts to our producers today,

Ray Diaz and the Butte, Tyler Buterbaugh. Log on to twitch.tv slash the score Chicago, our score video producers. Today, Connor O'Donnell. all Jacob Stutz and Max Curtis. We keep the Cubs talk hot next on Rahimi Harrison Grotie on the score. You're listening to Rahimi Harrison Grotie on Sports Radio 1043, the score. Patrick Deals, Breggman swings, hits a high-fly ball, deep left center field,

racing back, ground at the wall, it's gone. Alex Bregman, with his second home run of the spring. And the Cubs now up four to nothing over the Brewers. here in the third. Patrick kicks and fires. Hap swings and drives one in the air. Deep left. This may go. It's gone. Back to back home runs for the Cubs.

First Alex Gretman. Now Ian Hap. It's 5.0 here in the third. Zach Zayman on the call right here on the score. Yesterday, Cubs walloped the Milwaukee Brewers. Nice to see that so close to the real stuff. Cubs 12, Brewer's Nothing. Kate Horton's 6 shutout

innings. You heard the back-to-back home runs in the sixth inning for Alex Bregman and Ian Hap, and you will be able to hear Cubs baseball this afternoon on the score. That guy you just heard, Zach Zatman, and Ted Lilly, Lily,

Ted Lilly, will have the call of Cubs versus Yankees coming up at 155 p.m. with first pitch at 205 on 104-3. The score. Cub Spring training coverage on the score is sponsored by Sloan, the leader in smart water and commercial restroom solutions, as we officially welcome you back into the Rahimi Harris and Grotie Show here on the score.

And yesterday, part of why I took that game seriously is because you could tell. Craig Counsel took the game seriously, letting Kate Horton go almost 70 pitches, the six innings. This isn't your usual three or four inning time getting these guys stretched out for real. putting Kate Horton in position for his start in the first series of the season. The lineup yesterday for the Cubs could mirror very similarly to what the Cubs do at least in the first couple weeks of the season as we assume that Sea Suzuki will eventually be put on the IL on Wednesday for a short stay is the way it's looking like right now because of the PCL strain.

But this Mars Hall was the lineup for the Cubs yesterday. Michael Bush, leading off and playing first base. Alex Bregman, your third baseman, batting second. Ian Hap gets to hit third and played left field. PCA, Pete Crowe Armstrong, the cleanup hitter, and of course your center fielder. There's Nico Horner, batting fifth and playing second. Carson Kelly, the catcher batting six. Moe Baller, Moises by Asteroes, the DH for the Cubs, batting seventh.

Dansby Swanson hitting eighth and playing shortstop. and Matt Shaw, the number nine hitter, getting the first start in right field. And of course, the other candidates being in that spot would be Dylan Carlson, Michael Conforto, and Kevin Alcantra, I suppose. Chas McCormick, if you hadn't heard, if you even had ever heard that name,

he was sent down. Marshall, what do you think about that lineup to start? Would you be pleased with that? Would you make any adjustments? Because I might make some adjustments in this. It's fine on paper. You go down the list and you can see the thinking of Craig Counsel as far as how you put that together. I don't know that I would have Ian Hap that high in the lineup.

Yep, there we are. And I understand his value as a switch hitter in that lineup might be what lends him to be in that third hole. But I kind of want Nico Horner to be in the top fourth of the lineup. And I think what I look at when I see it is why not have. and I know this is going to sound crazy, but Nico Horner batting behind Pete Crow Armstrong who hits third.

Oh, okay, put PCA third. And slide Haap down. Yeah, I tend to agree with you. Yeah, that's the first thing that stood out to me. Nico's too far down, right? No, it's not even Nico. Probably, yeah, but what popped off the page to me was Ian Hap batting third,

batting third, just considering the up and down nature of his season and, like, are we ready to do this? get it. It's one day. It's one lineup. Craig counsel has done a pretty good job at moving around the lineups when he's had to. I mean, think about Dansby Swanson. When, wasn't Danesby Swanson? I would have to go back and look at last year, but didn't Swanson start way higher up and then eventually get demoted and then made his way back up and then back down? And it seemed to work to some degree. Yes, but really the thing was Matt Shaw was batting way too high off the gate. If you remember in Japan, opening day, Matt Shaw was in the top above some of these veterans as a rookie.

And that was not good. I love where Matt Shaw is. Put him in the nine hole, low pressure, another stolen base threat at the bottom of the lineup. Also, the Moises Biosteros, at first peak, I was like, ah, is that too low? But you know what? I kind of get it. He's behind Carson Kelly. So now you got to throw Kelly pitches because Biosteros will punish you otherwise with his,

bat and then Swanson behind him, I'm okay with the bottom of the lineup. I think that could be a very productive bottom third of the lineup, which is, that's where PCA was to start last season. And you remember how much extra kick they got out of the bottom of their lineup and turning the lineup over at the start of the season. I like this on paper. I just might, my biggest thing is Nico Horner's too far down in the world. Why are we waiting this far down to have one of your best hitters hit? Yeah. Yeah. You're going to see him too, with batting. lead off probably sometimes against lefties for sure. So I feel like he's going to bounce around the lineup.

I also think your guy, Moises Besteros, that's where you start him. You know what I mean? Like it wasn't even a slam dunk unless it actually was a slam dunk that he was going to make the roster out of spring training all along. Grotie, did you hear the way Craig Counsel was talking about him? Tell him the coaches, don't mess with Mo Baller basically. He's perfect. But in Mo Baller's head, if he's. you read that and watched that, he didn't know he was going to make the team.

And maybe that's a healthy way to comport oneself if you're a young player, that you've got to have that little bit of mystery, that you can't just have stuff handed to you. But then Craig handed it to him. Last time we were looking at Mo Baller and talking about whether he's going to make something, it was like, is he even going to be on the playoff roster? So in his mind, that's fresh in his memory. He knows that it's hit or miss for him as far as making the roster because he's lived in a reality where he was not part of the team.

in the most crucial juncture of the season. Now, out of the gate, I think he is earned by way of his, I don't know, over 1,000 OPS and batting 359 through the spring. He's earned the spot that he has, and now it's just a matter of how often will they go to that well? Because if you're thinking Matt Shaw for 140 games, how many games is Moises-Biosteros going to be in the start? Wow, that's a great question, too.

Do you think, I think even a better question is, not that my questions are better than your questions. Do you think Moises Biosteros will be hitting third by the time the season is over? Like you have so, I love him too. I don't think I could possibly in my life match the love that you have for Moises Biosteros right now because you think he's the best hitter in the line. Well, look, I'll say this. I don't see him hitting third in the lineup. What I do see is him hitting in the top five of the lineup. If he's going to be a 300 hitter who's hitting 30 plus doubles, hits 15 plus home runs, he'd get to 20 home runs. If he's given the opportunity, here are the guys I see him hitting behind.

And that's why I don't have him in the top three in the order. Nico Horner, Michael Bush, Alex Bregman. To me, those are the guys he's not going to jump in front of. He's just not. Yeah, no, that makes sense because I think, like, if I'm looking, I still think Alex Bregman is your best hitter. And I can't wait to see what Michael Bush does this season with the full. I mean, I had 31 at bat, excuse me, 31 home runs last year and was, what,

seventh or eighth in at-bats last year on the Cubs roster. And you could argue that, as you did often last year, that Craig did the wrong thing by not having him in there, I always go back to they developed him the right way, eased him into lefties, and now he's a made man because he gets to go up against lefties. So I supported Craig counsel on that. I don't think you did if I recall correctly. No, you're recalling exactly correctly because my argument was when they were struggling offensively and those days when a lefty was on the hill and he just wasn't in the lineup,

Those are dark days, Mark. Do you remember the offense? It fell off. Yeah, it did fall off. But my God, they were world beaters in the first half. Like, nobody could touch it. So we were talking about run differential like it was 2016 last year for a while. If it's, and this is why it looks so ridiculous now and why I was banging the drum I was banging.

Mark, if it's Justin Turner. Yes. Or it's Michael Bush. Come on. Come on. Don't worry. Justin Turner's not walking through that door. again.

Some great text messages coming up, or coming through here. From the 312644, 67, 67, if you want to text us or call us today. From the 9-20 PCA clean-up, and maybe that's a question mark based on the lack of slug in the second half of the season. But I like the idea that the Cubs seem to be saying, maybe, if this is their lineup, we're more towards what he did in the first half of the season than the second half of the season. 815. Is Kevin Alcantra no longer a prospect? He's a plus defender and would be better and right defensively.

I'm not arguing that he would be better defensively, but I will say this. Matt Shaw, to me, has a better bat. Point blank. They're going to need runs. It's cold outside, or it's going to be cold for a while anyway. So I like Matt Shaw. I think Alcantra will get mixed in there. Say as Suzuki's on the injured list, he's going to get mixed in as a defensive replacement, perhaps.

But for the majority of the game, I want Matt Shaw getting familiar with right field and rigging. Yeah, and he's got, Kevin Alcantra's got tools. It feels to me like there's some things that the Cubs coaching staff has said out loud that they haven't been particularly pleased with with Kevin Alcantra, one of those being base running. So I think he's still learning to play the game. He's obviously got options left as well and could see some time in the minor leagues. who knows what happens when say it gets back. And also back to the first text you were talking about with PCA cleanup.

That's one where I would be very comfortable with Nico Horner batting cleanup, PCA being behind him. And then that to me makes more sense. Yeah. The consistency of the bat there. Because when you have Michael Bush, Alex Bregman, Ian Hap in front of you, likely someone's going to be on base. And if you're talking about two outs, bottom of the first, man on base, I just like Nico Horner in that spot more. Do you follow me on that? I do understand what you're saying right there.

Oh, and then this one, I guess this one's aimed at me since I was so excited about the Cubs 12 to nothing went over the Brewers yesterday. From the 7-3-4, they played the, quote, baby brewers. Lots of guys with no names on their jerseys and very high NBRs, but it was still nice to see a win. Isn't that always the Milwaukee Brewers? They're always a bunch of no-name guys. I don't care that they didn't have names on the back of their jerseys.

and Jacob Miszerowski wasn't out there flinging the baseball at the Cubs because this is the way it always goes with Milwaukee. Yes, they've got some guys on their team that are absolute stars and stalwarts, but there's always the no-name guys that kill the Cubs. On the Brewers, anyway. Eventually, those guys are going to have names like, I don't know, Vaughn on the back of their jersey, and you have to deal with this. So just take what you can get and let the White Sox do the dirty work for you in the meantime.

Yeah, yeah, get white socks and Brewers. man on Thursday. Le Miz is on the mound in that White Sox Brewers game if the game actually gets played. Coming up here on Rahimi Harris and Grody, we have made it pretty clear

that Marshall and I, and I think Leila too, we're all kind of, like I feel like most of the world, casual college basketball fans, but we learn something in the pre-show meeting backstage today, that we were both glued to the NCAA tournament.

We will talk NCAA. We will talk about the WIs and some of the exciting stuff that happened over the weekend, including your fighting Aligni. Next on Rahimi Harrison Grotie on the score. Rahimi Harrison Grody. We are family here. We are family. Middays 10 to 2 on 1043, the score.

Another second half domination from Illinois. And they get themselves right back to the Sweet 16. Illinois for the second time in three years is moving past the round of 32, this time with a 7655 win over VCU. Highlights courtesy of Westwood won. Rahimi Harrison Grotie on the score. No funny stuff from the Illini. They took care of business.

Illinois, again 76, VCU 55. The Illini move on to take on the number two seed Houston on Thursday in the Sweet 16. Unfortunately, Marshall Harris in Houston, that's going to be something to watch. All they had to do, Mark, going back a couple weeks ago, I don't know, win a big 10 tournament game, a big 10 tournament game, and then you're the two seed, you're, I don't know, in St. Louis, then you're coming back to Chicago,

and then you've got a clearer and a much easier path to the final four in Indianapolis, where all your fans can have all the tickets now. That is going to be a hostile environment for what should be, by most people's calculations, the best Sweet 16 game.

I think you're right. I think most people agree with that, a three seat against a two seat, and that's the whole thing. A lot of people have charted this out. I think when we had Tim Doyle on the first day of the tournament, he talked about how he believes his prediction was that Illinois would win a couple of games, but then they would run into Houston.

Look, Houston might be better, but not much better. I mean, this is a two-seed against a three-seed and what looks to be a loaded Illinois team. As a matter of fact, the head coach of the fighting Aligni. Brad Underwood, who has been a regular on the score with Mully and Haw, was on with those guys this morning and discussed how physical... Excuse me, let's start, we've got a couple of cuts here, my bad. The first one I want to play here, guys, is he discussed how deep his roster is with talent. I think that's one of the, been one of our keys all season.

And, you know, Andre comes in and has 16 and half. You know, went on a personal 9-0 run, and, you know, I thought Tyler did a good job and putting him in positions to score, you know, right there at the end of the half, and we get a nice lead, and Steinie their run, and then we opened the second half on a nice run. So, you know, it's, you know, Thomas Love was great with the double-double. You know, Merck is his ability. Keaton got going in the second half the other night. So, you know, I do think we have some weapons. Kylin's been rock solid. Jake Davis, Ben, can really, really shoot it.

So I think we've got some weapons there. And, you know, we're just trying to find the right ones at the right time. Yeah, Andre of the Stoyakovich's had 21 points in the game, which was good, like, it was wild because as one who has not watched very closely, the Illini this year, just jumping on the bandwag. And I kind of fell in love during the Penn game with David Murkovic, who had that on 27 and 15 or whatever, just a crazy double double

against Penn where they went over 100 points. And then it's like he just really wasn't there, but there's Andres Stoyoyakovich to save the day. And always right there, the most even keel guy out there is always Keaton Wogler. So Wogler is just unbelievable. And once he gets a little bit stronger, tightens up his defense,

he could be a problem at the next level, right? And he's going to be at the next level very shortly. And to see Stoyakovich off the bench, 21 points and 26 minutes, to lead four different players in double figures, it did feel like anybody and everybody could get some for the Illini. And I'm so interested in how this plays going forward against a Houston team that's just right, like hard hats, lunch pails, freaking black Tim's, black Air Force ones. That's what Houston brings every night when they come to play. And it, they're due for a clunker because every tournament. They have an offensive clunker. And we're talking about the best offensive efficiency team left in the tournament in the Illini.

So it's a clash of styles, again, very much a death trap for most teams. But if they win this game, and this is the crazy part, nine seasons now, Brad Underwood's been with Illinois, they've only gotten to the Sweet 16 twice. But two of those trips have come in the last three years. And the other time, the only reason they didn't win it all is because they ran into the juggernaut that was Yukon. that beat everybody by double figures. Right. They got to the Elite A two years ago.

Yeah. So this feels like you win this game, Mark, you can win it all. Yeah, and people forget, too, and we'll bring this up with Jeremy Werner. When we have him at 1245, there was an eight-year tournament drought for the Alina. You know, I mean, you had, Bill Self was great. Then on to Bruce Weber, and then Weber faded out. Then on to John Gross, who was kind of a joke. And so Brad Underwood has kind of restored order.

One more cut, because just what you were talking about with that Houston game. This is Brad Underwood, again, with Mulnerwood. William Haw this morning on how physical the I-I-will-have-to-play against Houston. We've got to have a certain level of physicality and everything we do, and it's not just it gets magnified because it's front-court guys and size and everybody thinks big guys, but it's also on the perimeter. And you look at, you know, Houston's Guard Sharp is a big, strong physical guard, and I mean, he's going to, he'll hit you, and we want to do the same thing.

But there's got to be, there's going to be a lot of bodies hit. you know, there's going to be a lot of bodies flying to the glass. There's going to be some of that. And if you don't bring physicality, they'll just walk all over you. And, you know, it's a mindset as much as anything, and we have to be strong in our conviction and know what we do every day and how hard we practice and know that we're going to face a team that does the same thing. And like I said, you can't blink or flinch,

Otherwise, you're going to get beat. Let the bodies hit the floor. That's Brad Underwood this morning on Mully and Hall. We'll talk more Alignanai later on, but I want to get to this really quickly. We both had a blast. You sound like you had more. You were out and about Mars Hall. How was your viewing weekend?

So one thing that the tournament allowed me to do is do something I don't really do, which is socialize. Get out of your place. I left my place. I went both Friday immediately after the morning show, after Mollion Hall. Gabe Ramirez and I went down the street. Got wasted. No, no, no. I saw you guys stumbling out of there.

No, no. We were in Sweetwater just hanging out, though, and watching some games. And then Friday, after that, on Saturday, I was working at ABC 7, but on my dinner break, I just went to Old Town and watched games with some friends out. And came back and watched the second half of the Illini. And then yesterday, I was out back out again, just watching the game. And here's what I loved. We had enough upsets and, like, things that happened that you're like, okay, this is what

Cinderella is supposed to look like. but when you look at the Sweet 16, like what makes it up, it's a nice mix of, yes, I know it's Big Ten heavy. Six Big Ten teams, ladies and gentlemen. Four SEC teams. But when you look at the quality of teams in this tournament, Alabama, Arkansas, Yukon, Houston, St. John's back doing their thing. Oh, that does feel good.

Michigan State Purdue. Like, it's heavyweights. It's Blue Bloods. Duke's still there. Michigan, like, it feels like this is what Sweet 16 matchups are supposed to. to like prototypically. Yeah, Iowa man, beaten the number one seed last night, Florida 73, 772, last second shot for St. John's with Rick Petino. We're rocking the suit still. Is he the only coach in the NBA or college that still rocks the suit? I mean, he has to wear the suit. The man is

vintage. The man is vintage. I can't knock him for that. That is the truth. Yeah, Bill's self over there. So yeah, we're going to get, we're going to do more of this because we collected some great sound. There was so much fabulous. Some was funny. Some was serious. All sorts of good sounds. So we'll do a best-of segment of the NCAA tournament a little bit later on. We'll also talk to Jeremy Werner, go in depth on the Illini at 1245. Coming up next on Rahimi Harris and Grotie, we ask you the question. How much do you trust the Bears to draft when it comes to defense? They were not far away from the draft. April 23rd in Pittsburgh. We all know they need defense, defense, defense, defense, defensive line.

We will discuss that next coming up on Rahimi-Harrison Grotie on the score.