The Herd with Colin Cowherd - THE HERD - Hour 3 - Thoughts on who should be the MVP

Episode Date: March 31, 2026

Host of Hoops Tonight Jason Timpf joins The Herd to talk about who should be the NBA MVP despite Victor Wembanyama having a great season, what to expect in the playoffs, Duke's loss to UConn and moreSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Radio or FSR. You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. We've got some fascinating stories, and my guy, host of hoops tonight, Jason Timp at the volume, is joining us live. Okay, so we were talking about this earlier, that I would vote Wembe MVP, and I think if Luca was a marginal defensive player to solid, I think he'd have a much better say.

But he is such a liability there, despite his brilliance, I think Wemby, and you've pointed this out, Wemby's not only historic defensively, and I want you to talk about this, but he does stuff offensively that doesn't, he doesn't get a ton of credit for. And I want you to,

so I don't know where you'd have Wembe and the MVP stuff, but talk about what he does beyond just the blocks and the intimidation. So I think that it's a two-man race right now. I think there's four guys that are relatively close. I think Luca and Yokic have both had great seasons. I just think there's a clear line of demarcation there between them and the top two guys. To me, I'd still have Shea at number one for now. I just think he's got a great case to potentially be considered the best player in the world,

the best player on the best team in the world, and there's clear value stuff with Shea. The offense is 10 and a half points better per 100 possessions when he's on versus off. He said 52 clutch shots, Colin. He hit three more last night against the pistons, three for three. You get a close game with OKC. it's just like, good luck. Shea's going to hit every single shot he takes down the stretch.

Let's see if you can win. So I think he's got the MVP for right now. But if the Spurs can pass OKC in the standings, which is an absolute possibility, OKC's got some tough games on the schedule. They play the Lakers twice. And you know the Lakers are playing really well. Luca would love to make his late MVP push.

I've actually joked. I don't think Luca can win MVP, but I think he can win it for Wemby by knocking Shea down a peg. Yeah. They've got a game with the Sun. tons on the schedule. So the OKC is not in control of that one seed left. And that, yeah, and that kind of brings us to this Spurs case. It's fascinating because there's a lot of people that are pointing to his minutes totals. He hasn't played a ton. But Colin, in the minutes that

he's been on the floor, he has quite possibly been the most impactful per minute player we've ever seen. The Spurs are plus 645 when he's on the floor this season and minus 27 when he's on. off. That's incredible. He's like a hundredth in the league in total minutes played. They're negative with him off and yet they're threatening for the number one overall seed because of how dominant he's been when he's on the floor. Now, everybody knows how good he is defensively. That's been talked to death. But I think people are a little paralyzed by his counting stats on the offensive end of the floor. He averages 24 and a half points per game on offense, three assists per game. That pales in comparison to the scoring volume you're seeing from Shea and

Luca and the assist numbers you see from Yolkits, right? But the thing that I always point back to is the Spurs as a team, despite being surrounded by a bunch of young flawed guards, not a single other player that anybody would consider to be a top 25 player in the NBA other than Wembe, they are an elite offense when he's on the floor. And the specific way you see this manifest is they generate a ton of great threes and they knock them down at a great percentage. In fact, the spurs generate the most.

corner threes ever in the history of the NBA. The reason why is when Wemby rolls to the rim, he's so fast and he is such a big, easy target to hit with those lob passes that teams have no choice but to throw the kitchen sink out of him, at him when he's rolling to the basket. Specifically, they're constantly pulling off the corners to do what they call tagging, which is to basically throw bodies in front of Wembe so that he can't roll to the basket. And then they just kick it to the corner and they get, wide open three after wide open three after wide open three.

It actually reminds me a lot of Steph in the sense that people think Steph is declining. And don't get me wrong, he's not putting up the individual scoring numbers that are used to. But the Warriors offense is still scoring at an extremely high rate when he's on the floor. Because when Steph runs around in circles, he draws so much attention off ball that guys get layups and dunks. So for the spurs, it's a little different because it's more at the three point line. But Wemby's overall offensive impact is far greater than. just his points per game numbers or how many assists per game he averages. So people know you initially as the Laker guy.

And I've said before is that I think offensively in the half court, they're gifted. They're beautiful. They're aesthetically pleasing, the passing, the shot creation. They don't have a lot of catch and shoot guys, which they need, but they have the guys that need the ball in their hand and they're great finishers. I don't think that plays as well in the playoffs, but Houston doesn't have a pure point. I made this argument. Many of Lucas' biggest games

are against teams that don't have a dominant score that he would have to stop. Houston. Amand Thompson's not a great offensive player. The Pistons. Detroit without Cade Cunningham. Houston.

But SGA and Stefan Castle, Jamal Murray, the four teams in the West that are of Laker quality all have a guy that Luca would have to defend. And my guess is,

coaches would hunt Luca. So I think the Lakers are deceptive. I think they are so hard to defend in the regular season. But I think actually they've got some defensive liabilities that are easy to hunt in the postseason. Am I being too cynical and too negative L.A.? No, I think the things that you're explaining are why they're not on the same level as San Antonio or O KC. I think that's fair. I've always talked about this on my show. Like your big picture, defensive metrics don't matter at all when you get to the postseason. It suddenly becomes, can you guard that team? Not can you guard a 104 defensive rating over a 20 game span because there's a lot of noise in there. Bad teams, guys miss threes. There's a lot of different things

that can go wrong there. What happened in the postseason last year when they ran into Minnesota was like they couldn't guard aunt, they couldn't guard Julius, they couldn't guard gnaz. So they had to throw multiple bodies at them and they conceded threes to a Minnesota team that's very good at shooting threes, and they made them. Or they started trapping ant at the end of the series. Then what happened? Rudy Gobert had like the best game of his life because he was just dunking every single miss underneath the basket.

So like there's no doubt that the Lakers are going to have to concede something in the postseason. They don't have the personnel to just contain everything. So my guess is they'll concede a lot of threes to roll players and they're going to have to live with the results there. That said, like I don't think we can possibly overstate how good they've been post all-star break. When LeBron, Austin, and Luca are on the floor, post-all-star, 3753 minutes, which is a very large sample. They're outscoring teams by 17 points per 100 possessions. Do you remember earlier when I said Wemby was having the greatest per minute impact that we've seen in forever?

It's plus 17 per 100 possessions. So the Lakers big three has been as dominant as the numbers as I've been talking about with Wemby. That's how good they've been. So, like, where that lands for me is they're clearly a puncher's chance threat. they are capable of beating anybody because if those three guys are all clicking on offense and your role players happen to miss threes, you're just going to lose to this Lakers team.

So they're a threat against anybody, but the sustainability of their success on a game in, game out basis in the postseason, I think puts them a clear level below San Antonio and O.K.C. To me, they're like tied with Denver as like the third best team in the Western Conference. So I want to go to college basketball is that John Shires obviously

a very good recruiter, smart guy, his schemes are respected. But I do think when you're at Duke, the one downside to Duke is that you're able to land three to four, five star guys in a class, right? And what happens is

you're really young. And I thought against Yukon, whereas Hurley had older players, and sometimes when you have older players, you just Phil Jackson, you know, let guys play through the chaos. Just let them go, which is easy.

if you've got a Steph or an older Chris Paul or a Connecticut team or Michigan's got older players. But when you got five star 18 year olds and it's chaotic, it's like call time out. I thought Shire should have called a time out. I thought this was a bit of underwhelming coaching. How did you see it? So, you know, it's so funny. That whole final sequence was so chaotic that I think you could play the results in any direction in the sense that like if, Aidan Boozer gets that pass off, Duke wins, right?

At one point, it looked like Dan Hurley was trying to call a timeout when his team got the steal. At one point in the sideline, if you look, he points over to the ref and it looks like he was trying to call time out. Like, that could have blown the game winner. There's a bunch of different ways that that possession could have gone in any direction. So like, it's one of those things where, yeah, I'd probably call a timeout if I saw a player panicking, but they had an advantage. There were two players open up the floor. I just, it could have gone either way. I feel like we're playing the results a little bit.

The one thing that I'll say about the young talent piece, because I've been thinking a lot about this with respect to NIL. Arizona's got three freshmen that are great, that are carrying the team through this tournament. And, you know, Mission's guys got some older players, but they also have some younger players. There's a certain amount of like you can have a lot of talent, but you still have to build a basketball team.

And one of the reasons why I think Arizona is so good, we think about their three bigs, and they're, you know, Braden Burries, this guy who's going to be a lottery pick. But it's also, they've got great guards, great bigs,

and wings that can shoot and defend. Like, ultimately, they're a full, complete basketball team. I remember when I watched Duke in that first round game, the first thing I saw right away against the 16 seat is I'm like,

okay, Camboozer's really good, but he's not super, super dominant. His brother might be their best guard. He looked like one of the best players in the game. And Sarr can defend a little bit. And then from there, it didn't seem like they were,

very talented. And ultimately, Duke looked like a clear level below Michigan and Arizona to me from the start of this tournament. And so you can have the NIL money, like Arkansas, great example. They had so much talent, the most expensive NIL roster in the country, right? But you watch them play and it's like, oh, they're really thin and they can't guard and they can't handle big, burly front lines. So like, it doesn't matter what you build in terms of talent. You still ultimately to win basketball games have to build a complete basketball team. Finally, AJ DeBonsa now, it feels like the kind of because of Darren Peterson's injuries and, you know, the concerns about durability and stuff. So the BYU star looks like the number one player. For somebody that loves the NBA and

doesn't watch a ton of college basketball, and maybe it's only seen in bits and pieces, you watch both, but you also, you follow the draft very closely. It's a stacked draft. Who is his comp? Who would he remind an NBA fan of the BYU star? So the big difference is everybody sees DeBanza and they think big, wiry score. And that's going to put you in the frame of mind of like most recently guys like Brandon Miller or like Kevin Durant. You think like slender, lots of pull up jump shots. And don't get me wrong, like DeVonza has that in his game. Like there's a version of him that's going to be a guy who could shoot 40% from three and take all sorts of off the dribble jump shots and score from the midrange and do all of that. The big difference between DeBonza and those guys and

why I'm so excited about him is he is one of the most ferocious attackers of the basketball. that I've ever seen for a player of his height. This is a guy that is always playing downhill, always playing off of two feet. His counter moves are always towards the basket. He was getting to the rim in congested college spacing seven times a game this year and very efficient when he got there. This is not like you watch the Kevin Durant,

Brandon Miller archetype, they weren't getting to the rim like this. That's the big difference. And so when you talk about those slender scoring forwards, they tend to be susceptible to variance. Like, are they making their shots tonight? Are they getting pushed around tonight, right? DeBonce is going to have such a higher floor

because he's such a relentless attacker of the basket. So, like, to me, he's a clear number one overall pick. Peterson, obviously, there's the upside. If his off-the-dribble creation and his athleticism were a little underplay this year because of his injuries, we'll see there. You could argue he has a higher ceiling potentially as like this evolutionary Ray Allen and Anthony Edwards hybrid

kind of crazy guard. But there's just too many question marks there for me to pass on a guy like AJ Devonsa. Jason Tim, who's tonight at the volume. As always, buddy, good talking to you. See you next time, Colin. You bet. You know, by the way, Jay Mack, I didn't get Jaden Ivy was, it kind of broke yesterday. I had my take.

I haven't asked yours. This would usually, you know, a lot of times you do herd line news, but it was kind of the lead story today. Listen, it's a dicey topic. I did it on my podcast. Yeah. What was your cake? Well, I largely agree with you.

Like, listen, we live in a society right now where you just can't say whatever the hell you want. You just can't. You're putting yourself at risk, your family, and of getting canceled by one side or the other. You could believe whatever you want, but announcing it to the world, do you really need to do that? And all the stuff that was going on with him, he's done a lot of videos over the last three days, Colin. Yeah, I don't know if you watch them. Yeah. He obviously went through some stuff in his childhood that he, like, was unloading.

It was almost like a therapy session. I just hope if I'm going down one of those rabbit holes and popping off on social media, you'll call me up and be like, hey, dude, just put down the phone. Get off the device. You don't need this. One of my takes was, where's his best friend? Best friend, agent, manager, mom, dad, sibling, like anyone. Like, seriously.

No, I got a hold of somebody from Purdue, and I got a hold of somebody in the NBA who I trust. And I just said, I looked at some videos online and I'm like, he's had some injuries, been a little underwhelming. And what I heard from two different sources, who would know, who I trust was, you know, at Purdue, he was a guy that sometime he was really into the gym and he was really intense, but he didn't always connect with a lot of people. And, I mean, Detroit drafted him as a top five pick. He's such a good player.

And bailed that for a couple years. And Detroit is just starved for scores and guard play. And that was the first sign where it's like, oh, wait a minute. Detroit, I mean, Detroit wanted it to work. Desperately, they wanted to find somebody to play with Cade Cunningham. They needed another athletic score. Desperate for that. And they moved off.

Okay, you don't move off in a couple of years lottery picks. Who are athletic? like who are really talented. The herd's going to Fox Sports app. Next on FS1, the World Cup qualifier. Italy versus Bosnia Hertzcovina. We're getting close, Jay Mack. Hey, how about Italy winning, getting into the World Cup?

It's been a minute. They got to get a little bit better. They haven't been great. We still probably should follow up on the USA Belgium game from over the weekend. Or is that a sore subject around here? No, it's not a sore subject. Listen, I want Team USA to do well. But sometimes soccer fan can be a little annoying.

They play Portugal tonight for the record. Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd 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 hot 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 for favor and listen to Inside the Parker with Rob Parker on the IHartRadio app or wherever you get your podcast. Hey, it's us, the Jonas Brothers, and guess what? We have some big news.

What's the news, huge news? We created our own podcast called, Hey Jonas, we invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it. First people to do podcasts. Pretty, yeah, pretty wide range of podcasts. We're starting a trend. But this one's extra special. So how do we actually come up with a name, Hey Jonas, guys?

I honestly don't remember. I think it was on a call about what we should call it. Well, we were thinking I'm originally calling it one of the early names of our band before Jonas Brothers. This is how you guys remember it going down? Yes. I have a very different memory of this. We were talking about a thing, a bit for the podcast. We could call in and say, hey Jonas.

And then I wrote down on my little notepad, Hey Jonas, and offered it up as a potential title for the podcast. But thanks for remembering that, guys. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. Another podcast from some SNL late-night comedy guy, not quite.

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Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Jacob Kingston grew up in an isolated polygamous sect. We were God's chosen kingdom on earth. He felt destined for greatness. So when a swaggering Armenian business

man catapults Jacob into an extraordinary world. He doesn't look back. Ferraris and Lamborghinis, private jets, meeting the president of Turkey. I'm Michelle McPhee, and this is one of the most shocking criminal conspiracies I've ever come across. When Jacob met Levant this plant to a billion dollar fraud. But with two kings from entirely different worlds, just how long can their empire survive? The largest tax investigation in American history.

You need to tell me what you know. Is somebody coming after me? Jacob told Levan, you're ruining my life. Listen to Kingdom of Fraud on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in.

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app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slicelife 12 and the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. The French Open is one of the toughest tests in tennis, and I know firsthand because I competed there myself. I'm Renee Stubbs, and on the Renee Stubbs tennis podcast, I'm breaking down everything happening at Roland Garris, every match, every upset, and what it really takes to win on clay. Genshin win. I mean, she went down at three to Rabakina, but I'm delighted. She's an outsider to win the French for me. And she likes Clay.

Listen, Lena Rubakina is arguably the best player in the world right now. And I actually can win on any surface. Because if she's serving, well, good luck. Consider this your court side seat to the French Open. Listen to the Renee Stubbs Tennis podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHeart Women's Sports. Because whenever we lose, it's always the coach's fault.

We never just go, we don't have enough good players. And one of the interesting kind of dynamics of this team is Pulisic, who is our number one score, most skill of any attacker we have. He is just a player that when he's got his foot on the ball, great things happen. He can take over games. He's just, he is our lethal goal score at any moment if he gets, the ball. And we don't have a lot. I mean, Weston McKinney's obviously a very good player. We may not be as good in gold as previous United States men's national teams. But we, you know, historically, this is one of the only times in my life, maybe the only

time, I think we have enough offensive-minded, offensively skilled players that we can go toe to toe with almost any country. But, you know, if we lose and we don't play well, well, it's always the coach. And it's not always the coach. This is the first team that Team USA that I remember where I think we can play an aggressive style against maybe all but two or three teams in the world. And that's not been the case. We had to be more like Italy, which is you win one, nothing. You know, you can attack in spurts, but by and large, you play the Argentina's, England's, Germany's, Netherlands. You have to play kind of a defensive style to not get burned. Keep it close, late, and then maybe get a set piece and win. But it is the Pulisic dynamic,

is fascinating because, you know, he is now a star in his own right playing overseas, and there's questions about chemistry and that dynamic. So I think it's a fascinating American team, a skilled and fascinating team. And they're trying to kind of find themselves, and it feels like, is it too late? Yeah, we'll win the group stage for sure, lock that up. And then we'll see after that how the matchup shake out. I like our chances. Obviously, the Belgium result was not a good one.

Portugal tonight, no Ronaldo, it looks like he's nursing. an injury. We're in a Portugal still stacked, of course. So, yeah, I just like to see a good showing, and like you said, more offense, because ultimately against the heavyweights, the Netherlands, you know, those, we're going to need to score goals. We can't play, like, remember that

England game in the last World Cup? Just heavy defense, that's not going to get to where you need to get. Yeah. Jay Mack with the news. No, no, no, turn on the news. This is the herd line news. Lakers rolled last night, Colin, did not have Luca.

They smoked the Washington Wizards. Nobody scored 83 for the Lakers, but LeBron had a triple double. And JJ Reddick afterward decided to talk about Luca who didn't play anyway because the MVP is all anybody cares about right now. If we continue to finish the season the way we're playing right now, that he continues to play that way. To me, he is the MVP. But sometimes there's recency bias.

and sometimes there's the bias of a certain stretch of the season. You know, I think when we started 15 and 4, you could have made an argument that he was the MVP that, well, he's been the MVP for two of the three segments of the season. But again, I've said this all year, you know, our losses are like, oh, they're just so loud. Yeah, that's true. By the way, do you want to guess who has the most 30-point games in the NBA this season?

Luca. You want to guess who has the most 40-point games in the NBA this season? And guess who has the most 40-point games in the NBA's this season? Luca. Who's leading the league in score? Okay, I can just do this all day. He's so good. Remember when he was getting chided as, I don't remember who was doing it.

I don't know if you recall who was doing it. Overweight Luca. He's not dunking. He looks slow. Well, like, I mean, the guy is just ridiculous. Yeah, he shoots a lot. He can score a lot when he shoots a lot. He shoots a lot.

Hey, big one tonight against the calves. Okay? Because the nuggets are getting hot. They've won six straight. They're right on the Lakers heels. Yes, the Nuggets are getting hot. So Lakers have calves and then OKC this week. So big week for the Lakers.

I have a feeling you're going to have some big feelings if they lose. And if they win, well, yeah, it was nice. The Cavs. I wait for the result before I build my show with the Lakers. Obviously, obviously. All right, let's go to the NFL. And Minnesota Vikings, this J.J. McCarthy thing is just, it's not looking great. It's looking like one of my bigger whiffs of the NFL last year.

They go out and get. Kyler Marie and oh by the way Carson Wentz. Well Colin, Kevin O'Connell gave like this expansive quote about what's going on in the quarterback room. I'll let you decipher what the heck COC's talking about right here. We've played three guys in one year. We played four in another. We just feel like having the ability to get quality quarterback play throughout the

circumstances that we do not control throughout the season gives our team. team, you know, pretty historical data that says we get quarterback played to a certain line, we win a lot of football games. So we want to ensure that we're able to do that, but also, you know, make it a very, very competitive room. And that's regardless of who's taking reps with what group. Not great. We feel comfortable and confident about the depth of our quarterback room.

Yeah, depth. We don't have a guy. We've got options. You know, that's essentially what you're hearing there is, is we don't have a guy. That's exactly right. You know, there's not many quarterback controversies. I mean, maybe Mendoza versus Cousins, assuming Cousins goes to the Raiders. This one's going to be scrutinized.

Who's getting the most first team reps? It ain't going to be Carson Wentz. We know that. Although he knows the system because he was there last year. McCarthy was there. And then you've got the outsider, Kyler Murray, who comes in with a bit of a chip on his shoulder. Right, number one pick, dumped by Arizona, got all the money, zero playoff wins. I don't know.

This is going to be a really tough test for Minnesota. Who's your early lean as QB1 for the Vikings? Kyler Murray. And I think Kyler is going to play really well. And I think at some point they may consider moving off J.J. McCarthy, who could get a different environment. I think if JJ scraps and starts, I think it's just too much to overcome. come in the building. You lose confidence of teammates. So if

J.J. McCarthy wins it, good for him. But if he doesn't, boy, it's a hard guy to keep around, isn't it? Isn't it kind of a hard guy? Now, Darnold leaves and wins a Super Bowl. Kiler comes in. Nobody believed in Darnold. Oh, he's way better. Oh, nobody believes in Kyler. Oh,

he's way better. It'd be hard to keep J.J. McCarthy in the building. And I think it would be unfair to him. So I think we'll know if in camp, Kailer gets the job, I would not be shocked if somebody went out and said, hey, you got Carson Wentz and Kyler, let's move him, get a six-round pick for him. I just think it's really hard.

Sam Darnold comes in and is amazing. And then you compare JJ to Sam and you're like, wow, it's not close. If Kyler comes in and looks good and I think he will, I think it's unfair to JJ. I think he's got to give him a fresh start. I really do. So Sam Darnold was the quarterback on a 14 and 3 Vikings team. they were really good. I mean, can Kyler help get them there?

Well, 11-12. I don't know. Jay McCarthy is younger than Ty Simpson. He's still a kid. Yes. When Sam Darnold went to New York, he was 20 years old. Nobody ever talked about that. Sam wasn't ready for it.

So a lot of J.J. McCarthy is he's really, really young. And pro sports is hard. Quarterback is hard. So my take is if it doesn't work in camp, let's give the kid a fresh start. Sam Darnold, Baker Mayfield, we have seen this before. Fresh starts, just, just, hey, send them down to Arizona.

Do something. Say, but take him on the Jets, you know? When Gino's Vlops. I will say this. I was never a huge fan, but he can move. I mean, he is a modern quarterback. His confidence ebbs and flows, but he's got a pretty good arm, and he moves pretty well.

Jim Harbaal loves him. Harbaugh, yeah. That's tough. That's tough. actually really interesting. Would the Chargers By-low? Well, would the Chargers take him as a two? That's a really, really

interesting one. He's no threat to Herbert, but in a long season, Jim knows him, Jim likes him. In a pinch. That's a really interesting discussion. That's what we do here on the show. Final story, Colin, let's, hey, let's bring it back to the New York football

Jets. How about him? Big free agent signing, Gino Smith. Yeah, that was a joke. He had a decent run in Seattle, struggled at the end. The Raiders was a disaster. Now, Aaron Glenn joins forces with Gino Smith, and here's Aaron Glenn's outlook for the Jets in 26. You always want to bring in competition,

and that's going to happen organically. You know what I'm saying? But I just feel like he's the guy that's going to lead us to the promise land. He's the guy that's going to touch the ball more than anybody else on offense. And listen, I know he had to struggle. And I think a lot of quarterbacks, You know, they have their struggles. If you look at over the last five years,

the guy that's thrown the most interception, I mean, the top guys are up there. I like Aaron Glenn's shirt. Did you see it? It was unbuttoned. I try to go with an extra unbuttoned, and sometimes they're like, hey, J. Mack, can you button it up?

I mean, look at this. Doesn't this look kind of good? Like I'm going to a 70s nightclub with Cowherd back in the day? Yeah. Well, it's 2026. You may want to upgrade your style. Yeah, by the way, lead us to the Promise Land.

Do you know what that means? That's code for the number one pick. Archmanning, come on down. Let's have a serious conversation. Aaron Lens is not going to, he's not going to be the coach. In 27. Right, he's not going to be. I think that's realistic.

Is there a coach out there we should all, I think Marcus Freeman. Yeah, baby. Oh, I like where your mind is at. I would take Marcus Freeman in a heartbeat. Well, a lot of teams would. So, I mean, it's... I don't know if he'd go to the Jets. We got, it's something that owner is really just meddling and annoying.

Nobody likes him. I'm trying to think of another, like other than Freeman. Well, after. Ryan Day. Ryan Day, wasn't he on the show today? Yeah, well, after Lincoln Riley wins a Natty this year, maybe Lincoln Riley. Lincoln Riley's winning a Natty? What do you got there in your cup, buddy?

Is that coffee or alcohol? Natty? Are you serious? Wow. A little gin and cocoa. Never heard anybody. J-Mack with the news. Well, that's the news.

And thanks for stopping by. The Hurd-Lie News. Want more herd? The herd streams 24 hours a day, seven days a week within the IHeart radio app. Search Herd to listen live or on demand whenever you'd like. Hey, it's us, the Jonas Brothers, and guess what? We have some big news. What's the news, name? Huge news. We created our own podcast called, Hey Jonas. We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it. We're the first people to do podcasts.

Pretty, yeah, pretty wide range of podcasts. We're starting a trend. But this one's extra special. So how do we actually come up with a name Hey Jonas, guys? I honestly don't remember. I think it was on a call about what we should call it. Well, we were thinking I'm originally calling it one of the early names of our band before Jonas Brothers. This is how you guys remember it going down? Yes. I have a very different memory of this.

We were talking about a thing, a bit for the podcast, where people could call in and say, hey, Jonas. And then I wrote down on my little notepad, Hey Jonas, Jonas, and offered it up as a potential. title for the podcast. But thanks for remembering that, guys. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it.

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 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. Jacob Kingston grew up in an isolated polygamous sect. We were God's chosen kingdom on earth. He felt destined for greatness. So when a swaggering Armenian businessman catapults Jacob into an extraordinary world, he doesn't look back. Ferraris and Lamborghinis, private jets,

meeting the president of Turkey. I'm Michelle McPhee, and this is one of the most shocking criminal conspiracies I've ever come across. When Jacob met Levant, this went to a billion dollar fraud. But with two kings from entirely different worlds, just how long can their empire survive? The largest tax investigation in American history.

You need to tell me what you know. Is somebody? coming after me. Jacob told Levan, you're ruining my life. Listen to Kingdom of Fraud on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind.

Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athlete themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context and ask the questions everybody wants answered.

Sports Slice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to Sports Slice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slica Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. The French Open is one of the toughest tests in tennis. And I know firsthand because I competed there myself. I'm Renee Stubbs. And on the Renee Stubbs Tennis podcast, I'm breaking down everything happening at Roland Garris. Every match, every upset, and what it really takes to win on clay.

Jen Chinchin win. I mean, she went down in three to Rabakina, but I'm delighted. Yeah, she's an outsider to win the first. French, me. And she likes Clay. Listen, Lernerabakina is arguably the best player in the world right now. And I actually can win on any surface. Because if she's serving, well, good luck. Consider this your court side seat to the French Open.

Listen to the Renee Stubbs tennis podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHeart Women's Sports. Well, it's good to have you in. NBA playoffs were a couple of weeks away. We got Illinois, taking on Yukon. And we got

Arizona, Michigan, which feels like that's a real heavyweight bout. Brad Underwood, the Illinois coach, he talked about, he's got a European roster, he's got a high school guy

that turned out to be a phenom. It's not just about having this NIL money and just go buying points. Here's Brad Underwood. We've developed relationships with the agents, with the coaches.

I did a clinic in Belgrade this summer that was as good a basketball clinic as I've ever been a part of, but they fit us. We got Thomas Lovovivitsich first, and then to be honest, it was leaning on him to find out about the character,

to find out about who they are as a person. Do they fit in our locker room? And I'm a really big character guy. I want character, not characters. And it's interesting on a day we talked about Jaden Ivy of the Bulls. What's the first thing the coach talks about? Culture and character. And if you just don't mesh well with others, you know, listen, I understand Christians in this country feel marginalized.

I totally get that. And a lot of times, you know, the messages you may hear at church, whatever those are, that doctrine, you say, you talk about that, the media can eat politicians alive. and be very snarky and mean-spirited about it. But it really does come down to, I mean, ask yourself this. Like, it doesn't take, I remember talking years and years and years ago to a baseball player. It was Jimmy Rollins. He was a baseball player for the Phillies. And we were talking about, like, you know, his, I think he was on a World Series team.

And he said, listen, man, it just takes one annoying guy in a locker room. Like, you're traveling with him. He goes, baseball. You got spring train. You got the regular season. You could have the postseason. It's 25 road trips. You know, it just, it just, I remember, remember, for this is not analogous, but remember Yaseel Pueig for the Dodgers came in.

And he was a remarkable player. And I remember, you know, a lot of people, Clayton Kershaw had been mentioned, is that Kershaw was sort of the culture setter. And Pueig was immature and, and just did not fit really the culture. of the Dodgers. And he was a remarkably talented guy. But I remember that was one of those, wow, just make it work. Well, when you're playing baseball, you're with guys for seven and a half months. I was just talking to David Ross, who was part of that World Series for the Cubs 10 years ago.

He's won a couple of them. One Red Sox, one of Cubs. And he said one of the great things about that Chicago Cubs team is like on the days off. days off. You're with your teammates for seven months. On the days off, the guys would get together and go out in a boat in Lake Michigan. Not hang out, you know, all right, give me a day off from these guys. No, day off, guys are like, bro, get a couple boats.

Let's go out right outside the city, Lake Michigan. Like a part of that team was just this tight fabric, this community. And so, you know, people just want to throw money. I remember, and I always feel this about especially football NIL. Like if a guy is really great for Georgia, they're going to keep him. Right. Like, like when Caleb Williams went Oklahoma to USC, that's a coach. And you're following a coach.

I get that. But take quarterback out of it. Where quarterbacks go a lot of times, Lane Kiffin text me once and said, offensive players will follow a coach. Lane's like, I can get quarterbacks or receivers, because I can draw on the whiteboard, what they will do and how I can enhance and elevate their football career. He goes, so offensive players, you know, your quarterbacks, your wide receivers, tight ends, how will I be used?

They will follow a coach. But a lot of great defensive players, they're going to the big brands. They want to play at Texas. They want to play at Georgia. They want to play at Ohio State and Michigan. It's not about the coach. it's about show me the NIL money and does this school have a history of putting defensive linemen in the NFL so football is kind of interesting with the NIL you know basketball you have

only so many players it's a tight locker room and you know you you have to watch a guy and you got to hope is he ball-centric is he a good teammate does he elevate others i've said this about darren peterson for kansas he's a remarkable player kind of plays in the silo kind of plays for himself I mean, they were nine and two when he didn't play. They had a lower winning percentage when he didn't play. Or they had a higher winning percentage when he didn't play. They had a lower winning percentage when he played. So it wasn't elevating others.

It doesn't mean he's not great. But, you know, there's one basketball. And if you're ball-centric, you know, that's why watching Michigan at the United Center was so much fun. It's not that they have this dominant big or Lindenberg, who's going to be a, you know, a lottery pick. That's not it. The passing and the teamwork was, it was like,

I felt like you were watching NBA passing, which has always been several notches above college passing. But you watch, I'll tell you, that Michigan-Arizona game, that is one for the ages. That is, you're going to have nine NBA guys. Think about that, how college basketball is growing with NIA. You're going to have at least eight, nine NBA guys in that game. That is, that was just not what was happening pre NIL.

You weren't getting that 10 years ago. All right. We are done. We'll see you tomorrow. Hey guys, it's us. The Jonas Brothers. I'm Joe. I'm Kevin. And I'm Nick. And guess what?

We created our own podcast called. Hey, Jonas. We invented a podcast. Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to a podcast. We get to ask other people to do podcasts. We get to ask other people questions. We're sick and tired of being asked questions.

Well, sick and tired is a strong way to put it, but, you know, tired and sick. Tired and sick. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. Another podcast from some SNL late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smigel 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 I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Winning on Clay is an art.

The rallies are relentless. And at the French Open, only the toughest survive. I'd know. I competed there for decades. Join me, Renee Stubbs, on the Renee Stubbs tennis podcast for no nonsense breakdowns of the biggest matches, the toughest players, and the toughest players. And the moment's set to find Roland Garris. Genschen win.

She's an outsider to win the French fame. And she likes Clay. Listen, Lennar Rabakina is arguably the best player in the world right now. And I actually can win on any surface. Listen to the Renee Stubbs tennis podcast on the IHart Radio app. Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHeart Women's Sports. 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 I-Hard Radio app, Apple Podcasts,

or wherever you get your podcasts. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. happen. That's where SportsSlice comes in. I'm Timbo, and every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the biggest moments in sports and giving you the real story behind the headline. And we're going straight to the source, the athletes themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions in the moment, and the stuff nobody gets to hear. Listen to Sports

Slice on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slices Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.