The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Hour 3 - The Clippers title window

Episode Date: April 5, 2024

It's now or never for the Clippers What will women's college basketball be next year without Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark?   #DouggottliebshowSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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What up? Welcome in. This is the herd wherever you may be and however you may be making this part of your day. Thanks so much. I'm Doug Gottlieb in for Colin Cowherd. On a hoop Friday. Hoop Friday. We got women's final four, men's final four. Clips take down the nuggets. I'm broadcasting live from the site of the men's final four in Phoenix. Wolves come to town, take on the suns. Suns need to win a couple more games. Make sure they stay out of the play-in. Try and move up. A lot of basketball being played. Got some football discuss as well. Welcome in to the herd.

Look, we have the possibility. The possibility with the NBA plus. I mean, you guys know how the sports calendar works. And especially with Tiger, who, did you guys see this? The Tiger, one of his friends is saying he's reportedly giving up making whoopee as he prepares for the Masters. It's the old Mick Dundee, dames take the legs.

But we have the Final Fours this weekend. Next weekend we have the Masters. And then, well, then as we get ready for the NFL draft, which I've seen April, April 25th, we have the NBA playoffs. And this, we could finally get, at least in the West, what we've always kind of dreamed of, which is kind of true parity, six, seven game series. I mean, think about it.

As much as the Warriors don't look like a championship roster anymore, the fact is, do you want to play and have to beat Steph Curry and Draymond and Clay Thompson and like? And Andrew Wiggins for a seven game series? Like, no. The Lakers haven't looked like a championship team all year, but. beating LeBron James and Anthony Davis. I know it only took four games for the Nuggets last year, but the Nuggets don't have the bench they had last year. Jamal Murray hasn't been healthy.

I think it'll be healthy for the playoffs. But like you go through and the only thing you can pick a part about Oklahoma City is, well, they haven't been in the playoffs for that group. Okay. Timberwolves haven't won the playoffs. Okay. All this stuff is fair. But man, do we have what looks like the Wild Wild West?

The Nuggets should be the favorite. And the Nuggets, if they have Jamal Murray healthy, will be the favorites. And my best guess would be they'll come out of the West. But sports is weird that way. And all it takes is one injury. All it takes is, you know, some crazy things. I mean, look at what happened last year with Milwaukee. Think about that for a second.

You don't have Janus for the first two games of the Heat Series. And then when he returns, Jimmy Butler goes crazy. Milwaukee loses. They fire Mike Boodenholzer and the circus has come to town and as, you know, they bring in Damien Lillard. And though on paper they look dynamic, they've been anything but dynamic for much of the season. So all that stuff can happen within one series. But there is one team that I just, we talked about a little bit earlier in the show, which is I'm not a clipper hater. I grew up in Southern California, and back when the Clippers played the sports arena, you could, the same, I remember when the Pistons were defending champions, I went to a Clipper game and sat in the third row for like $45.

The same ticket at the forum where the Lakers played was probably $345. So, you know, we've seen all this. and the Clipper Curse has evolved. The Clipper Curse used to be when they drafted Randy Woods and he couldn't play. When they drafted Danny Manning and he got hurt. When they drafted, like you kind of go through, Michael Oluaconda couldn't play.

Danny Ferry. I didn't want to play for the team? Then didn't he get hurt? Danny Ferry, Danny Manning. Blake Griffin got hurt before he ever played a game for the Clippers missed his rookie year. That used to be the Clipper Curse. Then the Clipper Curse evolved into

they can't get out of the second round of the playoffs. there's still been the injuries. Chris Paul getting hurt in the playoffs. Kauai Leonard getting hurt in the playoffs. You had the bubble, which was unkind to them. So it's fascinating to me, fascinating to me, that the Clippers have evolved from

they can't even get a lottery pick right to they can't get out of the second round of the playoffs. But this roster, this team, this team, I think, is the best team in the West. I think it should be the best team in the NBA when they're right.

There's been a month in the season when they were the best team. And I'm not going to say it wasn't close, but I think most people, because they have all the different markings of it. Don't get me wrong. Hardin is past his prime, but he's still good enough.

Russell Westbrook is past his prime and will still take shots that look like they're going over the backboard, but in his role coming out the bench, he can be fantastic. They can play big, they can play small. Do they have a crazy amount of shooting? No, but they have enough.

They have a great closure in Kauai Leonard, and Paul George didn't have bad himself. And I think that Tyloos is good a coach as anybody in basketball. He's great. Unbelievable adjustments, understanding of all the different timing. When do I go to what? When do I play zone? All the different things.

And he's won a championship before. And I want a championship coming from behind against the Golden State Warriors. But there does come a point where you're like, you got to win this time. I can't do it anymore. I can't even discuss your team anymore. I'm not doing the Stephen A. Smith and go crazy on you. It's just the reality of how many times do you have to hear about the Clippers? And sure, next year it may be different because they have the Intuit Dome.

but another year of age with Kauai Leonard is the likelihood of more injuries another year of age with James Hardin do you keep this group together for another year? There's lots of stuff I don't know about next year I do know about this year and assuming Kauai is healthy this is it

right this is it you move mountains to get Kauai Leonard and Nepal George they've never been both fully healthy, nor have they had this level surrounding cast or the right coach. All of the stuff has come together.

And I don't do this often. I hate the win a championship or bust. I think that's dumb usually in sports. But aren't we to that place with the Clippers? I am. I am. Like even now in talking about the Clippers, it feels forced, right?

And the Lakers have suffered through, remember, they went through five years of being essentially the worst franchise of any of the great franchises in sports. And then they came out of it. They got LeBron. They won a championship. But that's even been surrounded by disappointing finishes, mostly because of injuries. And then last year, they just weren't that good. You know?

And last year they benefited on the other side of injuries. Memphis not healthy. Memphis probably beats them if they're healthy. But for the Clippers, I get it. Things go wrong. Guys get hurt. Years don't match up and you don't have the right mix or you miss a shot here, you miss a shot there.

But this is it for me. You know, at some point you got to show me something. You know, it's the old show me the, don't tell me you're pregnant, show me the baby. And aren't we all to that point? Aren't we all to that point? It's like I could make the case for the Dodgers, but the Dodgers, it feels like there's five more years of this level of success and dominance.

I do think they need to start winning World Series getting to and winning World Series. But I don't feel like we're getting close to the end. The Dodgers just keep replenishing and Shoah next year is going to be able to pitch. I think you'll get even more value out of them. But while we look forward to the Wild Wild West in the playoffs, and there's legitimate questions about all these teams, you know, Minnesota, their level of maturity. Or can you play Rudy O'Ber in a big playoffs? series. Remember, he didn't help you when he was in Utah. Does he help you now? And the league has gotten

bigger, and so it's more important to have rim protection and a guy who can guard the low post more so now than ever, but can you play Rudy Gobert in the playoffs? Do the Warriors have, what do they have left in the tank? You know, can they get any bit of prime Clay Thompson? All of these are legitimate questions. But to me, the team that I just, I got to see some wins, I got to see a finals appearance, or I just can't even fathom talking about the Clippers anymore, is the LA Clippers. And I'm Doug Allievin for Colin. This is to Hurt, Fox Sports Radio, IHeart Radio app. I don't think anybody would deny the fact that women's college basketball is a thing right now.

It's a thing. I mean, a week ago Monday, I was at a restaurant, and we all decided to sit the bar. and I remember going, hey, can we put on the women's game? Had you ever, I would never, I'm not a hater, I'd never uttered those words ever before in my life, especially at like a bar. I remember at a bar, you basically got one TV, not a sports bar where you got five or six or big, no, no, no, out of bar. Hey, can you put on the women's game? But what does college basketball's women's game? What does it look like next year?

Wait to hear what LeBron James had to say. That's next in the herd. Catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1 and the IHeart Radio app. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble.

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Doug Ghalyman for calling this to heard Fox Sports Radio, I-Heart Radio app. You know, here's the, and this happens, it's not just in women's sports. It happens in all of, I don't even want to call them niche sports, but let's just a secondary sports. is that kind of works for me in terms of trying to find the right wording. You know, if you say, hey, MLS soccer is awesome at its level, but it's not a premier level, and it's not even close to being one of the top, you know, the big three sports, you'll be met by soccer guy with criticism. Hockey for years.

We were, you don't, why don't you talk more hockey? despite the fact that every metrics in sports talk will tell you no one, not enough people care about hockey. So in women's college basketball has seen a gigantic surge. That's obvious. And the question is, it's sustainability. And before you go, hey, man, 12.1 million. We can also go back and say, well, do you remember when hockey, expanded to Atlanta and to Phoenix and to Dallas.

And it was all on the back of the 93 L.A. Kings. Gretzky comes to L.A., and they took the sport by storm, the storm took the sports world by storm and expanded. And like, look, I think it was also helped by the video games. Blades of Steel and NHL Hockey 94, like those are iconic video games. and people like myself who grew up in places where it never snowed and there was no hockey or didn't feel like there was any hockey. All of a sudden, now we're kind of into it.

Well, the same thing happened with NASCAR. When NASCAR expanded, it was NASCAR. How many times we've been told soccer is the sport of the future? The X games were gigantic. And now the X games still exist. People still do extreme sports. You know, you got these idiots to do parkour up on skyscrapers or whatever. And it's a niche thing.

So women's basketball is seen a surge. Is it here to stay or is it a bit of a fad? And fads aren't bad, right? Brings attention to stories and things. I mean, heck, there was a time. I mean, think of the fads. in your lifetime. Zubaz pants.

I didn't own anybody, a lot of people did. The mullet was a fad, which apparently has come back in. I don't even know. I do like the fact that comfortable baggy clothing baggy jeans are back in, right?

That was my college years. Not that I didn't evolve to the tight jeans, you know, not necessarily true skinny jeans, but a little snugger, tighter fitting jeans. But I do like a good,

I do like a good casual low rise, if you will. But I heard LeBron James say something the other day, and there's two kind of messages in one. Here's LeBron James when he was asked about the popularity of women's college basketball. I don't think there's much difference between the men and women game when it comes to college basketball.

I think the popularity comes in is the icons that they have in the women's game. You look at injuries, you look at, you know, Jujoo, you look at Kailan Clark. You look at Paige. You look at the young girl that's in Iowa, Iowa State, the freshman there. You look at Brink, I believe her last name is at Stanford. And that's just the name of few. The freshman that's at Notre Dame, because they are not allowed to go to the NBA,

I think they have to say, four years, correct? Three years? Angel just declared three years. Oh, you have to be 21. Okay. So the first thing is, he says, you know, they're icons. Like, let's pump the brakes a little with icons. Now, women's basketball has been helped greatly by the likes of Nike.

Sabrina I. N.Skew was a great player at Oregon, but I don't think most people would know who Sabrina and SQ is now, even though she plays in the WNBA is a really good player, if not for the fact that they gave her her shoe, and the shoe's super comfortable and lots of dudes like wearing the shoe. Kelsey Plum, of course, she scored over 3,000 points at University of Washington. I don't we didn't stop everything we're doing to watch Kelsey Plum play back then and again she's a really good player took her a while to adjust to the pro game but very good player playing for the what are they two-time champions like the Las Vegas team the Aces but the point is that they're not there wasn't really a thing then

it wasn't this Monday night was like a heavyweight championship fight everyone I know watched and it wasn't just Just Caitlin Clark, it was the rivalry. It was Angel Reese who, you know, and the LSU, who were the Big Bad Wolf, right? They'd won the championship.

They talked some trash. You know, they added another star. And then Caitlin Clark took them down. And it was like, if you like sports, it's impossible not to like that event. And she played great. And Angel Reese played well. But LeBron even

by himself said, basically, could name three or four players and then well there's the the freshman girl and the other freshman girl and the other like yeah exactly no one knows who any of these other people are and look they'll become names

and he loves basketball but once you get past Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark and you get to maybe Paige Beckers tonight mainstream America starts to know who she is I mean she was a young star Torre ACL and she's going to come back to college, I guess again, next year for an extra year.

The reality is, my guess is that women's college basketball is going to suffer through what so many, it's like a World Cup site, right? Where you, or I'll give you another one, Jackson State football, right? Just not sustainable. There's these forces of nature, which you think. changes how you look at something and the truth is it's only you're only looking at because that one force of nature there's only one Dion Sanders what Dion Sanders did at Jackson Stadium is incredible but you know then they ramp up the facilities and everything

and then he leaves and you know it's it becomes like Brazil's World Cup sites where half of them sit empty you ever you ever get caught in that vortex on the internet where you're looking at you know places that they had the Olympics and how dilapidated some of these places are right you build up these velodromes for for bike racing cycling, sorry and then all of a sudden it sits empty

because nobody goes and sees that as regular human beings. It feels like that's what we're going to do with women's college basketball. Like right now they're doing it right. They have home sites for the first and second round. Instead of four regional sites they have two. It makes it fills up the stands more, makes it more of a

happening. They're not playing in a dome for the Final Four. They're playing an arena. It'll be packed. It'll be a tough ticket, it'll be great. But if you try to have it mirror the men's game, you're going to miss it. Right? You're going to miss it.

You know, you didn't get at the IPO stage. You didn't get at the spike. You're going to try and buy in now. And it's too late. It doesn't mean women's college basketball will go back to where, you know, there were two teams every year and those are the only ones. No, no, there's definitely more talent. It's definitely spread out more.

NIL has actually helped in that so that Yukon doesn't have the five best players and everybody else. Or South Carolina, it's close to, but not the five best players. But take LeBron's own words. Yeah, I can name four people. And then there's the freshman girl and the other freshman girl and the other girl. And yeah, whatever her name is, she's awesome. Let's get to Ryan Music with the News.

Turn on the news. This is the Herdline News. Hello Ryan, what do you got? Hello, Doug. I would agree that it's tough to label certain players icons. You know, I would say Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese, obviously iconic for what they have done over the past couple seasons. But when you try to label two freshmen as icons,

I don't think that's really what falls under the definition of what you can consider an icon. You can call them a phenom or a star in the making. But I don't know if Juju Watkins is an icon of college basketball right now. I agree with you. I don't think he's using the word icon correctly. Sure, sure. Right? An icon, again, I just, it's a person regarded as a representative symbol of worthy of veneration.

Right? It's like jaw dropping. I don't think we're there yet. Yeah, no, we are not there yet. All right, let's turn our attention to the NFL here. A person of widely admired, especially of having great influence or significance in a particular sphere. Like, yeah, we're not there yet. You can't even know, you don't even know somebody's name.

They are not an icon. Fair enough. All right. NFL here. A lot of talk about Aaron Rogers as a teammate, specifically on this show. Colin has been known to be critical of Aaron at times. But let's take a listen to his former wide receiver, Marquez Valdez. Scantling talking about Rogers as a teammate.

Man, he's one of the greatest teammates you'll ever find. He cares more about his teammates than about the game of football. I think that's something that people don't really understand because they get this perception of him that he's, you know, this whatever, this diva or that he's all about himself, and that's the furthest thing from the truth. What side of the equation are you following on this one here, Doug? Diva, good teammate, somewhere in between?

I think he's a way better teammate that you think. I think none of this stuff that we talk about on TV and radio matter. That the only thing that truly matters in football is if the guys in the locker room believe in him, like him, trust him, want to work for him. That's legit all that works. Legit, all that matters. I also know that Marquez-Valdes Scantling, and again, I'm not saying he's lying or he's. inflating how he feels about Aaron Rogers. But he got cut by the chiefs.

He walked out the door of the Green Bay Packers. So there's only 30 teams left. Why say anything bad about Aaron Rogers? Because that would be 29, right? Yeah. If you know anything about what Aaron Rogers has done thus far during his time in New York is if you're in Aaron's good graces, there is a chance you'll end up with a contract offer from the New York Jets.

So, yeah, you should definitely. maintain that good relationship. Yeah, I mean, I think, so part of what Collins' criticisms of Aaron has been is that Aaron Rogers is a great teammate up until the point that he sort of decides he doesn't want to be anymore. I think, you know, part of what we saw during his final season with the Green Bay Packers is that he, for lack of a better term, he has, like, trust issues, right? If you're trying to build the relationship with him and you let him down, that trust is broken and he turns away from you.

The game that we point out to is the sort of Christian Watson is he drops a pass early and then never looks his direction again. And it just became all about trying to force the ball to other players and absolutely refusing to go back to the young wide receiver. And so I think that's what a lot of the criticisms are. It's not that in a blanket statement that Aaron Rogers is a bad teammate, it's just that. he can be difficult. Yeah. Yeah. But he's also not alone in that.

Like, you know, Brady and a lot of these legendary quarterbacks can be difficult and can be very demanding and have problems trusting younger players. Yes. And also, like, look, it's also fair to point out that I believe, like, I think it was like the Minnesota game, like first game of the season, right, two years ago. Right? With the Christian Watkins thing where he dropped the ball and then he wouldn't even look his way the rest of the year. that was game one of the season. And so there is the thought in mind that, yeah, you did that game one. He's not going to do it in the playoffs.

But if you keep throwing it to him in game one, he'll never learn for the playoffs. Sure. So you don't have to agree with it, but it could be part of the thought process. But my bigger point is that it truly doesn't matter what we think. It truly doesn't matter what we say. The only thing that matters in professional football at quarterback is if, those guys in that locker room. They'll either play for you or they won't play for you.

Yeah. And I think going back to last hour when we were talking about Russell Wilson and him trying to adjust and become the quarterback in Pittsburgh is I think that's what we've seen him struggle with over the years is, despite the persona and the resume. He tries to convince everybody outside that locker room. Right. He tries to win everything outside the locker room. when it's like, hey, dude, all it matters is those dudes.

Yeah. And he could never win over those guys in Seattle. Yeah. The defense just wouldn't buy in, which to me, that's who you really are. It's like, you know, they say who you are when you're drunk is who you really are. Like, you're a happy person, you're a happy drunk. For an angry person, you're an angry drunk. Right.

Who your teammates, what your teammates think about you, that's who you really are. Yeah. And then final point on the opposite side of that would be someone like Baker Mayfield, who, you know, despite whatever you want to say about how great of a franchise quarterback, dudes love him. No, dudes, they do. I also think, though, that there was a time in Cleveland where, where he, they do love him, but there's a limit there talent-wise.

Sure. Where they all see like, he ain't that, he ain't that. Whereas Aaron Rogers, there's just an unlimited amount of talent. And I think Pat Mahomes has that too, right? It's a different way of doing it. But, like, you don't think Pat Mahomes was frustrating? with those young wide receivers this past year when they led the league in drops? Of course he does.

Right. Now, he's earned the right to beat Pat Mahomes. But there's also the jaw-dropping talent that they respect to go along with whatever. Here's the thing. You, me, Tewy, Colin, we've done this for a long time. When you interview an NFL quarterback, they're like politicians. They're like these college coaches. They have this ability to make you think that they like you and you like them and they've been friends for 20 years.

years. All of them have it. All of them have it. And if they don't, like the guys that don't generally, Lamar Jackson's another guy who, like, whatever you want to think about Lamar Jackson, his guys believe in him. Yeah.

Would run over, would lay down on train tracks for him. And there's something about the quarterback position that you either have that or you do not. Yep. And we will wrap up with this. Kirk Cousins getting ready for his first season as quarterback for the Falcons. Throughout most of his NFL career

and his time in Minnesota, he wore the number eight. Well, Falcons tied in Kyle Pitts currently wearing number eight, and he was willing to give it up. And because what he told Kurt and what was revealed on the big podcast with Shaq is he was willing to change numbers anyway,

but cousins relayed that there is a problem. The NFL informed them that they would have to spend upwards of hundreds of thousands of dollars to make the switch, because they would have to buy up all of the remaining number, eight Kyle Pitts jerseys out there for sale based off of what the league currently has available. Well, I mean, the number zero is weird.

And the fact that there's unpurchased Kyle Pitts, can I buy them on discounts since nobody else is going to buy them? Well, that is sort of what other people have pointed out. Most notably, Mike Floreo of pro football talk, it is. So you can change your number if you do it one season ahead of time. So obviously this wouldn't count because it had happened already heading into the new year. There wasn't enough time. Someone like Dalvin Cook had changed their number.

You have to declare it. So it will happen the following season. So we don't exactly know if this is going to be a one-year thing for cousins or if he'll end up getting number eight, whatever. But it doesn't, it only holds true for when the players want to do it, you know, pointing out that when a player gets traded or cut or etc., the teams aren't liable in any way of trying to do these same things. So there are people out there who are trying to point out perhaps there are a different. set of rules or some hypocrisy there on behalf of the league. I would have asked Kirk Cousins, I would get four for your fourth-round draft back.

Plus it's Brett Farv's number when he was in Atlanta before they trade him away. I don't know. Just four. Zero is going to look weird. No question. I agree. And last sort of final note that we'll point out here, Purdue big man, Zach Eady, back-to-back player of the year, the first one since Ralph Samson.

So Zach Eadie, Colin says there should be a spot in the NBA form. him. We also had Dan Hurley on earlier this week, and he said, if there's no spot for Zach Edy in the NBA, there might be something wrong with the NBA. Where are you at on Edy as an NBA player? I think he'll struggle. I think he can make a team, but he just, like the college game and the NBA game are completely different. I think he'll be a great player overseas. But in terms of a great player, I struggle with it. he moves better and he's better defensively than he's ever been. But I don't think people truly understand the NBA rules, the NBA key, and how that affects people.

Right. Okay. So there's defensive three seconds. You cannot be in the key. And by the way, offensively, the three second rule is different. If you watch him, he knows how to reset the three second count time and again. He understands the rules. Very smart. I don't think he's a very good NBA player.

I could be surprised, but it's like, look, man, he just doesn't move that well. And you have to be able to move and come out and cover and forget about the offensive end where, you know, all those shots that are right at the rim, you match him with a guy his size and you push him out of the lane. And it's a much, it's a much more difficult shot. Is there a place for him? Sure. Make the NBA. Is he going to be a star? No.

Is he going to start? Maybe he starts, you know, teams like to start their big lineups and then work towards. more athletic lineups, but I don't think that he's a all-star caliber, high-level NBA player. I think it's really, really hard to find just the right. You almost have to commit to playing a different style when he's in the game. And unless you're a superstar, that's hard to do. That's right.

Music with the News. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Hurd-Lie News. All right. Coming up next. what's the worst travel day trip you've ever had? Because one team playing this weekend might top it.

We'll get to that next in The Hurt. Be sure to catch live editions of the HARD weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. Hey, it's me, Rob Parker. Check out my weekly MLB podcast inside the Parker for 22 minutes of pipe and hop baseball talk featuring the biggest names and newsmakers in the sport whether you believe in analytics or the i-test we've got all the bases covered new episodes drop every thursday so do yourself a favor and listen to inside the parker with rob parker on the iHeart radio app or wherever you get your podcast imagine an olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged it's the enhanced games

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A win is a win. I don't care what I'm saying. Yep, that's me. Clipper Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions. journey from basketball to college football or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered

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double-tapped Little Kim's boobs at the VMAs? Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people. I know what you're thinking. What the hell does George Bush got to do with a little camp? Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast. I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick a here, unpack what went down,

and try to make sense of how we survived it. Including a recent episode with Mark Lamont Hill, waxing all about crack in the 80s. To be clear, 84 is big to me, not just because of crack. I'm down to talk about crack on day, but just so y'all know. But just so y'all know. I mean, at this point, this is the second episode where we've discussed correct. So I'm starting to see that there's a through line.

We also have AIDS on the table right now. Thank you for finishing that sentence. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Really? Yeah. For me, it's one of the most important years for black people in American history. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Doug Allieman for Colin, this is The Herd.

Fox Sports Radio Iheart Radio. I heart radio app. All right, before we get you ready for a great weekend of college hoops, I might even give you a couple winners in terms of the old, in terms of the betting lines. But before we get to that, let's get to the best for last. It's almost the end of the show, but that doesn't mean we're phoning it in. Nope, we grind to the very last segment.

It's time for best for last. All right, best for last takes us to college basketball. getting ready for the final four and defending national champion Yukon. I don't know if this is the best, best, this is the best worst travel story in college athletics, right? That's what it is.

Greg Toey, if you would, could you explain to people who aren't familiar with the story what happened to the Huskies in their attempts to travel from Stores, Connecticut to Phoenix, Arizona? Okay, so they were supposed to leave Wednesday around 6 p.m. East Coast time. But the plane coming from

Kansas City had a mechanical issue getting to the East Coast. So they couldn't use that plane. So they had to wait to find another plane. They found an Allegiant plane that took off from Hartford around 1.30 a.m. They were supposed to leave on that plane, though, around 11.30 p.m. But according to the NCAA, they had weather in the area. And the plane had to be de-iced.

And there was also another mechanical issue. So they ended up taking off at 1.30 a.m. about seven and a half hours later. Seven and a half hours. And then they sat on the plane for like two hours. So I didn't, yeah, exactly. I think they sat on the plane probably as they were waiting for that small issue and then the plane to de ice.

But they were at the airport. They were supposed to leave at six. Right. They were probably at the airport at five. Five hours sitting there waiting and doing nothing. And now I haven't been to Hartford's airport. That used to obviously be the hub where I'd fly out of. And I know they added some restaurants recently.

But it is not, it's not the old. airport with a mall in there. There's not a lot to do in there. And at some point, even the excitement of the Final Four, and if you've ever traveled, now, I didn't obviously play in a Final Four, but I played in the Sweet 16 Elite 8. So when you go to the

tournament and you have a charter, and what's interesting about Stores is, Stores is like 30 minutes or so, maybe a little bit more from Hartford. The airport, Bradley, is in between Hartford and Springfield.

field, but they don't have like a private or a small, you know, like a place close to stores where you can just fly private. Like usually when I was in Stillwater, now they have commercial flights, but even before they had commercial flights, they would drop a 727 in there and somehow on that runway, that sucker would bounce and they'd slow it down enough. That's what we'd fly out. But when you get on those planes, you got the band, you got the cheerleaders, you've got administrators, you got families.

Like everybody hops on board. It's literally like the bandwagon, everybody gets to a plane. So, and, you know, you're all excited. I just five hours in the airport and two hours on a plane waiting to take off. I think we can all relate, and then you have, like, Danny

Hurley's, his chili runs pretty hot and he's... Oh, yeah. You can tell. He was... I could any, but again, would anybody be happy? No, but why wouldn't they just put the team on like a private plane and let the ban and everybody else come later. I don't know.

I also, part. Well, the other part, too, it is I don't know why you don't like just do it in the morning. But I guess they had weather, they had weather coming through, so maybe that was an issue. I just, at some point, just go ahead. Let's call. Let's just do it in the morning. Let's do the morning.

Yeah, there seemed to be a much easier way to handle this. And of course, when the NCAA is involved, nothing's ever easy. You know, like, look, it's super easy to blame the NCAA, Joe Biden, Donald Trump. Heck, at some level, it's got to be Obama's fault, right? Clearly Obama's fault. You know, you know what's funny? This is actually funny. So when you read all of these posts of players getting ready to transfer, to go in the transfer pool,

they always say it's God's plan. You know, how come no one ever goes like, hey, the plane was delayed seven hours? God's plan. God's plan. God's got a plan for Being sarcastic obviously But Just look

It's just too many people To move stuff around That's why I never This is the advice I never I don't like traveling in a group I can't do the traveling group What biggest reason I don't like traveling group is

I don't like getting to an airport Any more than 45, 50 minutes Before I'm gonna fly I would rather miss a flight Than be there two hours before I leave Too many factors involved with a lot of people. Oh, it's just, there's literally always something. Yeah.

And then you're always concerned that somebody does the Kevin from home alone, don't you? Yes. They, they, that, that we left somebody behind. But you're right in this, in this particular case, you could have easily, now, Bradley's a little bit tricky. We also do this thing to where it's, it's, it's, we have to fly, we have to fly charter. We have to, like, you mean to tell me that, like, at six o'clock when they got there at five o'clock, and they found out there's technical difficulties, whatever,

like stick the dudes on a flight. Well, there's only a couple non-stops to Phoenix. All right, fly them to Dallas. We'll get there. I just, that's the way I travel. I was just like, hey, get me out of this airport. Get me close. Get me closer.

You just pivot. Like, pivot. Get me closer. Yeah, I'm one step closer to get into my destination. Pivot, right? Yeah, pivot. Right? Yes.

Yes. And I, again, completely understand when you have a large group. But there's only like 20 people. that matter of that group. That's my point. That's my point. It's like how many loaded husky alums are there that don't have private planes there

that they could just... Well, that is hard, though. Nah, I'd say a lot of them live in Boston. They live in New York and probably several of them are flying them in their own. But yes, I would... It's much easier if you just travel with the team. But that's not the way it's done.

Everybody hops in like it's a big old bus and you fly cross-country. All right, let's get to the game. this weekend. I've never bet on a women's game, but I would tell you that it's like two and a half right now is the Iowa's the favorite over Yukon. And I know that this Yukon group hasn't been to a Final Four

and this Iowa group has. But it feels to me like you take Yukon and you get some points. And it probably gets to three, three and a half by game time. Like I think there's a world where Yukon wins this game. I just do. I think people don't necessarily, and I'm not going to sit here and act like I can quote chapter and verse on what Page Becker's does or whatever. But she was widely regarded as the best player before she got hurt.

And Caitlin Clark's amazing and she's improved and she's the best player now. But something to me tells me this is like Gino, this is where Gino gets back to be in Gino. and I like I like Yukon and the women's game tonight and then over the weekend in the national semi-final I don't think

I don't like the match up for Purdue at all I just I mean for Purdue excuse me for NC State at all I don't like the match up at all now the line is 9.5 that's a lot of points and there is a world there

where NC State because they in it earlier this year they pressed a lot more but it's hard DJ Burns is not really super effective in the press

I just, I don't, I, DJ Burns is like 6, 9, 260, whatever. Zach Edy is as, I mean, as large a human being as you're ever going to see in your life. Like, he's like Yao Ming, Shaq, and Zach Eadie are like the three biggest dudes ever. And based upon how DJ Burns plays, I think it's really hard to see a path to victory for NC State. Nine and a half is a lot of points. I still like Purdue, even in the nine a half. On the other hand, you know, Yukon's blowing out everybody, and they're an 11-a-half-point favorite against Alabama.

But there's a path to victory for Alabama, or at least a path to keeping it close with, you know, Grant Nelson hitting threes and playing downhill going against Donovan Klingin. I think Alabama keeps this thing close. Do I think they run the risk of being blown out because they're going to play fast, to keep playing fast, to keep shooting threes? Yes, yes. By the way, they don't call it gambling for nothing.

It's a gamble. But if I was going to gamble, especially if I could tease the points, but I'd like Alabama in those 11-a-half points. I think there's a world there where Alabama keeps this thing close. There's a path to victory there. I don't see one there for NC State. I don't. But can you think of a Friday night in the spring in your life?

Where you're like, you know what? I kind of want to stay home and watch the women's basketball game. It's okay. It doesn't mean you have to become a hardcore women's basketball fan. It doesn't mean the sport will be this relevant next year or even next week. But yeah, it's a thing, you know. And in your lifetime, there will be lots of things. I want to call them fads, right, spikes, all kinds of different things.

You know? And, I mean, heck, I know Fortnite's come back and my son still plays it, but you go back six years ago and, dude, your kids were complete zombies playing Fortnite. It didn't last forever. It's still around. It's still fairly relevant. People still play it, but it's not like it was. Well, so you got a woman's basketball tonight.

How's got to win his basketball night? And I do think when Colin is back on Monday, you'll have Donovan Klingin for Yukon. great nickname Kling Kong and Purdue to big guys, Yukon, Purdue playing for a national championship. And I think you'll have on Sunday, South Carolina, taking on Yukon for a national championship. Or maybe we'll get Caitlin Clark a second shot at the Gamecocks. We'll see.

A reminder to download the Doug Gottlieb Show podcast. Got that. And All Ball is my basketball podcast where we just tell stories and have people to kind of tell their life stories. Pretty good one out right now. And any time, have yourself a great weekend. Collins's back on Monday. I'm Doug Gottlie.

This is The Hurt. Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier.

This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter.

Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal, but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes

for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, this is Robert from the Stuff to Blow Your Mind podcast. Joe and I are both lifelong Star Wars fan, so we're celebrating May the 4th with a brand new week of fun, thought-provoking Star Wars-related episodes. Join us as we tackle science and culture topics from a galaxy far, far away, such as the biology of tauntons and wampas on the ice planet hot,

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