The Kevin Sheehan Show - 16 to 8

Episode Date: March 29, 2021

Kevin solo today talking about the most impressive and exciting moments from the Sweet 16. He's got two "Smell Test: Elite 8 picks for tonight as well. He addressed the differences between Friday's big Miami/San Francisco trade with the Washington/Rams 2012 trade that led to the selection of RG3. An update on the Mark Turgeon situation and a crazy NBA ending that may never happen again.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You don't want it. You don't need it. But you're going to get it anyway. The Kevin Cheon Show. Here's Kevin. Winnerly. Pass it off. Reese.

Oh, yeah! Well, that was the shot of the tournament so far. It came from Alex Reese, a senior for Alabama, who took two total shots on the night and made that one at the buzzer at the end of regulation. But it didn't lead to anything great for Alabama as they were running. out of the building in Indianapolis by UCLA, the 11-seed first four team that is now advanced to the Elite 8. Much more coming up on the Suite 16. It's going to be a shorter podcast today. I know I say shorter all the time, but today it's true. I had something work related after the radio show that took longer than

expected. By the way, Cooley's on vacation for part of the week, so no guest today. Just a couple of topics. The NCAA Suite 16. I've got a tweet to respond to regarding the conversation we had Saturday about the latest trades from the NFL. Something that happened over the weekend that I'm not sure has ever happened before. I'll get to that. And some of you ask that I do, that I repeat, or at least give you the Cliffs Notes version of the radio show rant on Friday, my defense of Mark Turgeon. I'll do the brief version. You can go listen to it at the team 980.com or via the radio.com app. I will do, I'll do it again in sort of a briefer version. And I'll ruin this tease. I do have a little bit of information on the situation. Not much. Really nothing

super compelling, but I have some information. I'm not going to build it up bigger than it is. and on a podcast it doesn't really matter anyway because you could just fast forward to it. Real quickly, I do feel bad for the Maryland women. They seem to be the biggest upset victim of the weekend in college basketball, a huge favorite in their Sweet 16 game over Texas last night. At Hemisphere Arena, the iconic legendary Hemisphere Arena in San Antonio, where the spurs of the ABA and their early NBA years where they played

and some of the great players, including George the Iceman Gervyn, Artist Gilmore, Larry Keenan, and all those guys played. That was a loud arena back in the day when the Spurs were good in the Eastern Conference initially in their back-to-back years against the bullets and the playoffs, including the Eastern Conference finals in 1979. And then in the Western Conference where they lost two conference finals series to Magic Johnson and the late. makers. George Gervin never made it to the NBA finals, never made it to the NBA finals, but was close. And they, the Spurs will tell you, George Gervin will tell you, and he told me, and Cooley on a radio show two years ago when we had him on when he was playing out at Creighton Farms in a Jack Nicholas course event, that that was the one that they felt robbed by. Spurs fans to this day think that the bullets game seven win over the spurs in 1979 was basically taken from San Antonio.

The lights went out with about four minutes to go in the game and the bullets down 10. There was one bad call after another down the stretch. The bullets seemed to get every call. Game went to overtime. They won and then the bullets lost in their defense of their title in 1979 to the Supersonics in five games. Anyway, I digress. I was mentioning Hemisphere Arena. That place back in the day in San Antonio when the Spurs played there was one of the most raucous and loud arenas in the NBA.

But the lady Terrapins were averaging 99 points per game in the first two rounds. I think they averaged close to 92 in the regular season. They were the highest scoring team in America this year and they are out in the Sweet 16. It was a tough loss. I watched the end of it. There were some ugly offensive possessions with the game on the line. The team really looked like they hadn't played a close game in a while because it was true. They hadn't.

Their last close game had come two and a half months ago when they lost by two to Ohio State. The closest game they had played in during a very long winning streak heading into the tournament was a 10-point win over Nebraska. Anyway, that's a tough break for them. I was rooting for them. Always root for Maryland in any sport. And turn that on. It was my father who's been watching the Maryland women throughout, who said, you've got to watch this team.

They're going all the way. Well, they are not going all the way. They are out in a 64-61 loss to Texas. 99 a game they were averaging. They were held to 61 points. Defense wins. Speaking of defense, Here is the recap of the Sweet 16 this weekend on the men's side.

The teams that played the best defense won. Oregon State better defensively than Loyola. Loyola really seemed to struggle against the zone that they saw in that game. Baylor's defense on Villanova in the second half is the best you will ever see in a college basketball game. More on that coming up. Houston's defense against Syracuse's two best shooters carried the Cougars to the elite eight. against a totally disorganized Florida State offensive attack, that led the Wolverines to a blowout of the Knowles. And UCLA and USC defensively were outstanding, and they were moving

and are moving on. The best defensive teams of the weekend won out. So did Gonzaga, who was clearly the best offensive team, with four NBA 2021 draft picks on their team. Four. Three will probably going the first round and maybe one into the second round. And to date in this tournament, they just haven't faced a team capable of defending them well enough to even push them. They could get that in their next game against Southern Cal. Let me run through these games a little bit. And I want to start on Saturday with the Baylor-Villanova game.

I was blown away with Baylor in their previous win. Baylor's really, I wagered on Baylor midweek last week at plus 250 to win the whole thing. I think they're the best all-around team in this tournament, the best combined offensive team and defensive team in the tournament. They were so impressive against Wisconsin and their second round win. But against Villanova, they took it. to a different level. They were down in this game. They were down by seven at half. They were down by six with 13 and a half minutes to go. And over the final 13 and a half minutes, I'm not exaggerating

this. I don't think I've ever seen a college basketball team play better defense. Maybe as good, you know, some of those UNLV teams of 90-91 were just hellacious defensively. Stacey Ogman, Larry Johnson, and et cetera. This team on Saturday against Villanova trailing 39-33 with about 13 and a half minutes to go. They, over the final 13 and a half minutes, forced Villanova into 10 turnovers. They had seven steals and they outscored Villanova down the stretch 29 to 12 to win the game going away, 62 to 51. Davion Mitchell, number 45 for Baylor. He is a 6-2-210-215-pound two-guard. He's the best on-ball defender in college basketball

and one of the better on-ball defenders I have watched in years. I mentioned during the course of the season, during this college basketball season, that I had not seen a lot of Baylor, during the regular season, especially prior to their COVID pause. I watched them coming out of the COVID pause, and to be honest with you, they really struggled a little bit. They were winning games, but they weren't winning them in the same impressive way that

they were winning prior to that pause. They actually lost to Kansas at Allen Fieldhouse by like 12 or 13 points. And then they lost to Oklahoma State in the Big 12 tournament. But they have gotten it going in the NCAA tournament. They played more perimeter-based teams in Wisconsin and Villanova. I will concede that. Villanova really doesn't have a way of going inside. Wisconsin does a little bit more.

They've got more size, but still, a lot of their action comes on the perimeter. And Baylor, what they did to Villanova down the stretch was just so impressive. If you're just becoming, you know, if you're just one of those people that watches the tournament and you've watched them, you know they're good. You know, Jared Butler's a first round pick. But Davion Mitchell's is good as any defender that I've seen in college basketball in a while, certainly as an on-ball defender. And Baylor's defense was halacious. Villanova couldn't, I mean, in football terms, they couldn't come. close to making a yard. They couldn't move and advance the ball in the half court towards the

rim. It was just unbelievably suffocating perimeter defense. And Villanova is a perimeter team, and I just thought it was by far and away the most impressive performance of the weekend was Baylor's defense against Villanova. They get tomorrow night, tonight they get Arkansas, a team that can really score, a team that really likes to run. I like Baylor, and I like Baylor to continue to win impressively. Arkansas's win over Oral Roberts on Saturday was one of those games in which Oral Roberts can't guard. They've got Max Asimus, the guy that was leading the country and scoring this year,

and he had 25. He got a look at the end of that game to win it on a three-pointer that was just too good. He missed it. It would have been the shot of the tournament. Asimus had an incredible tournament. Several of you asked me, can he play in the NBA? He's so tiny. Like, I don't know who he guards at 6-1 and, like, 160. But it's really hard to stay in front of him.

And he was an Iron Man. If you go look at Max Asimus's year at Oral Roberts, there were so many games where he never came out of the game. In the NCAA tournament, he played, 45 minutes in an overtime game against Ohio State, 40 against Florida, 40 against Arkansas. He also played the same number of minutes, played all 40 in their championship game in the tournament against North Dakota State, played 40 in the semis, and played 40 in the quarters. This guy never came out of games. And he had a tournament in which he went for 29, 26, and 25. Impressive player, real impressive college player,

and got a great look. Arkansas finally figured out that if they stopped, you know, shooting threes and jacking up quick shots, if they just were patient, they could get something at the rim on almost every possession. And so they turned a double-digit first half deficit into a two-point win. But I like Baylor against Arkansas. I just, I see Baylor really creating a problem. Now, Arkansas's pace and Arkansas's ability to go to the offensive glass, will test Baylor, a little bit. I just, I think teams that play defense the way Baylor plays, it's a big advantage. You know, from Saturday also, Houston's defense was unbelievable on Syracuse. Unbelievable, the defense they threw against Buddy Beheim, who was one for nine from behind

the arc, three for 13 overall. And then Gerard, the other shooter for them, four for 10 overall, two for five from behind the arc. So the two big time long-range shooters for Syracuse went seven for 23 and three for 14 from behind the arc, and each had 12 points. And Syracuse, a team that can really score, was held the 46 by Houston. 46. I really love the way Kelvin Sampson coaches, and I love the way that team is playing. I don't know how they survived Rutgers, and they were lucky they survived Rutgers, but they're here. And now Houston has a chance to be the first team in history to make the Final Four playing nothing but double-digit seeds. I mean, they have had the draw. Cleveland State, Rutgers, Syracuse,

and now Oregon State the 12 seed. A 15, 10, 11, and a 12 to get to a final four. I think they will get to a final four. Yesterday, Gonzaga's is impressive offensively. I don't know that any team moves the ball, passes the ball, is better coached offensively than Gonzaga. They haven't been tested by a decent defensive team. They're so good. The Michigan, Florida State, game. Michigan played great defense. They really did. Florida State offensively was a train wreck. By the way, the game was officiated very poorly as well, and I thought Florida State got the short end of the whistle the entire game, but it didn't matter. You know, I love Leonard Hamilton. He has recruited a certain type of player for Florida State. He's turned Florida State into a

heavyweight program in the ACC. There is no doubt about it. He's done that. But offensively, over the years, sometimes you just have to wonder what it is they're trying to do. They seem completely disorganized, and they were against Michigan. Michigan's defense had something to do with it, but a lot of it was Florida State's bad offense. The game or the upset, I guess, of the weekend was UCLA beating Alabama. Look, Alabama made 16-3s against Maryland, 16 to 33, and they didn't miss a free throw. night against UCLA, they were seven of 28 from behind the arc, and missed 14 free throws. 14. If they had had that kind of shooting night against Maryland, maybe Maryland would have been

playing UCLA last night. Now, UCLA had something to do with it. They were excellent defensively, and they had size. Cody Riley's really shown up in this tournament, and he's had really good games. I mean, last night he had four block shots in that game against Bama, had five rebounds, 10 points on 5 of 10 from the floor. Now, look, UCLA was there last night, you know, and Maryland wasn't in part because of Alabama shooting. But UCLA had the, you know, one of those draws, right? They beat Michigan State in that first four game,

all credit, you know, from coming from double digits back to beat Michigan State. But since then, they played, you know, an overrated, overseated, BYU team, and then Abilene Christian in the second round. You know, I had somebody texted me and say, well, UCLA was able to get to the Sweet 16 and then beat Alabama. Well, UCLA got to the Sweet 16. They've played really well. I'm so impressed, and I've always been a Mick Cronin fan.

And I'm so impressed with some of their players. First of all, one of my favorite players, other than Davion Mitchell, is Jaime Hakez for UCLA. He was sensational last night. Johnny Juzang, the transfer from Kentucky, fouled out. They didn't have him for the last couple of minutes of regulation and then the entire overtime. But UCLA, you know, they got a really good draw.

You know, if Marilyn's second round game had been Iona instead of Alabama or Abilene Christian, they might still be alive. Many of you will say, well, that's why they made this Sweet 16, the only time they made it under Turgeon is they got Hawaii in the second round. Well, UCLA's gotten the luck of the draw, but last night wasn't the luck of the draw. They played great defense, and really Alabama, two things. One, they couldn't make a shot, including the free shots, the free throws.

Missing 14 free throws in the game, you don't have to look any further as to why they lost the game last night. If they shoot poorly from the free throw line instead of dreadfully, they win the game in regulation. But really, in watching them play, man, so many of you Maryland people want Nate Oates. Really? You want Nate Oates? This is a team that there were nine possessions, not fast break possessions, nine possessions in the second half, where only one person touched it for Alabama offensively. that makes for an easier team to guard. Now, Quinterly did a lot of what he did against Maryland, broke down the defense, but he

ended up taking too many shots in the game. Quinterly had this left-handed underhand, you know, thing that got blocked like three times. He shot 22 shots in the game. You know, he was breaking down the defense a lot of times with nobody, nobody touching the ball other than Quinnerly. and he crushed Maryland by being a better passer on the drive. Last night, 22 shot attempts, the most for him, the entire season by a lot. Like the high for him this year was 16 shot attempts.

He was 8 of 22. He's really quick. He's good. But man, he had multiple shots blocked and probably missed an opportunity to create more for his teammates. and Bama just doesn't run that much. Let's try to run, try to get something in transition, and if we don't, you know, the first guy with an open look, fire it. And if you're not hitting, then you're in big trouble,

and they weren't hitting last night. And they got to the free throw line 25 times and missed 14 free throws in a game. That's unbelievable, 11 of 25. I like UCLA. They're better coached than Nate Oates coached them last night. They've got a big guy that's playing really well, and Hakez and Juzeng, and I like Tiger Campbell. I think he's doing a really good job at the point, and Jules Bernard really had it going in the first half from deep.

UCLA is going to give, I think they're going to give Michigan a tough game in the Elite 8 tomorrow. Last night, the last game of the day, another Pact-12er, man, and I'm going to give some props. to my son's good friend Nick Clark. Nick, uh, congratulations, man. You had this the whole way. My son's friend Nick, midway through January, said to my son and I, Mr. Sheehan, Corvin, the Pac-12's the best league in the country. I stay up, I bet it. I watch it every night. And I'm telling you, they are going to really have a great tournament. And you were right, man. You were right. Three teams in the elite eight. I know that you loved Colorado all year, and they blew out Georgetown before getting beat by Florida State.

But I got to give it to you because not one person, not one person other than you, Nick Clark, said to me, at any point this year, the Pac-12 is the best league in the country. And you were on that early, and you nailed it. The smell test, I didn't like it. I gave out Creighton because the whole world was on Gonzaga. The line actually came down, so there was sharp money on Creighton as well. The line came down to 12 and a half shortly before Tip. I just don't know if anybody can stop Gonzaga, except Baylor, who I do think can stop Gonzaga.

I actually think SC's got the athletes to, and it's going to be a really interesting matchup tomorrow night. Gonzaga is a nine-point favorite. in that game. All right, I will have a smell test. Two selections tonight coming up. I'm 11 and 12 for the tournament, so I've got some ground to make up. Wanted to respond to a tweet about the conversation I had on Saturday before I had Buck on. And if you miss that show, Steve Buckhance was on with me, and it was such a fun conversation. You can go back and find that wherever you're getting my podcast. Also, don't forget, subscribe, rate, and review. Doesn't cost you. It doesn't cost you.

And if you haven't rated or reviewed the podcast, it'd be really helpful if you did that. But before I had Buck on, I was talking about the trades from Friday. Somebody sent me a tweet that I want to respond to, and I'll do that right after this word from one of our sponsors. From Ian on Twitter, not Ian on Twitter. Kevin, thanks for the conversation about the crazy day in the NFL on Friday. Why did we have to give up three ones and a two to move up four? spots when the 49ers only had to give up three ones and a third to move up nine spots. He is referring to, I'm sure, the RG3 trade of 2012 and the deal that the 49ers pulled off

with the dolphins the other day. It's a good question. By the way, I wanted to mention this real quickly before I get to that answer. Mike Tannenbaum, the former GM of the New York Jets, who is on ESPN a lot, put out this tweet over the week. weekend that I thought was very interesting. Here it is. Quote, an interesting fact related to yesterday's trades, meaning Friday's trades. Over the last 10 years, the quarterbacks that were traded up for in the top three picks include RG3, Jared Gough, Carson, Wents, Mitch Trubisky, and Sam Darnold. This is a cautionary tale for the 49ers. Yeah, it is. The Chiefs traded just into the top 10 for Patrick Mahomes. That turned out pretty well.

But not a top three pick. Yeah, the 49ers gave up number 12 overall to move up nine spots to number three, Miami's spot. And they gave up first rounders in 22 and 23. And they gave up a third rounder in 22. So it wasn't even, you know, it was just there were no picks from this draft. They were future picks. Like the only thing that they did in this draft is move up nine spots. and, you know, give Miami their number 12 spot, which Miami then parlayed into a deal for number

six overall with Philadelphia. The RG3 trade was in 2012 a swap of six for two. They were at six and the Rams were at two, and they gave up their 2013 and 2014 first rounders and their 2012 second rounders. So basically it was two firsts and a second rounders. So basically it was two firsts and a second to move four spots. By the way, that gets described in a lot of ways that frustrate people. I don't really care how it's described, but when you say Washington had to give up three first rounders and a second rounder for RG3, remember they gave up two first rounders and a second rounder just to move up to swap spots with the Rams, just like the 49ers gave up two future ones and one future third rounder to move up nine spots. Look, here's the reason. It's a very simple reason. This is a draft with

many more quarterbacks. That was a draft in which the Rams had a much better opportunity of holding out for more because there were only two quarterbacks. You know, the 49ers had other options. They could have traded potentially with Atlanta at four with Cincinnati at five or somewhere afterwards. It didn't have to be number three in Miami, although that's where they wanted it to be. But they also aren't 100% sure, more likely than not. Although that's not true. I think they probably are sure about who they're going to get. And by the way, more and more is coming out that Mack Jones could be the picket number three. They've got pro days tomorrow at Ohio State and Alabama, and apparently all of the San Francisco Brain Trust. They're going to Tuscaloosa. That should tell you

something. But remember, it was Andrew Luckin RG3, and that was it in 2012 at the top of the draft. And so, you know, to get up there, it was going to cost a little bit more, even though they had less room to move up. That would be the answer. The other part of it really, and I've said this so many times, is, you know, a lot of this is just about supply, demand. You know, there are formulas, but much of it ends up being sort of arbitrary. It's what is the, you know, what is the buyer willing to spend and what is the seller willing to accept? And in this particular case, though, I think that the answer probably lies in the fact that Washington, there was one other quarterback. It was RG3. That's who they wanted. It was the only other quarterback worth trading up for. They had to trade up. And even though it was fewer spots, the ramps could hold them hostage a little bit more than maybe. Miami could have for number three overall because there were other options and there are many more quarterbacks. It's very possible five quarterbacks are going to go in the top eight

picks, you know, through the Carolina pick. That would be my answer. And also, you know, this was from Kenny. Kenny followed up on my Laramie Tunsell reminder and what Washington, look, Washington for Trent Williams wasn't going to get the hall that Miami got from Houston for Laramie Tunsell because Trent was older and he was coming off this, you know, very interesting medical situation. Houston had to be sure that Trent was healthy, you know, and so there was that part of it too, but really it was because Trent was older and he was going to have to get paid. So was Tunsel, by the way, but Tunsel was younger. But more importantly, it was never an option. You know, old Brucey didn't make Trent Williams available to anybody, including Cleveland before the

trade deadline when Cleveland was willing to give up a first rounder. So they screwed themselves. I mean, they could have gotten, I believe, not everybody agrees with me on this. I believe, look, it's been reported about Cleveland willing to part with a first before the trade deadline. The Houston thing is a little bit more speculative. I think it's, and I think, you know, there are Kime and others at the time that speculated about Houston being interested in Trent Williams, but the bottom line is it never

went anywhere because Bruce never made him available. And by the way, the number three pick that Miami parlayed this year, that was the 2021 pick. That was the second first rounder they got for Tunsell. If Washington had traded Trent Williams to Houston for just one first rounder, that would have been last year. So Washington wouldn't have had number three this year. Anyway, yeah, I look, I mean, we can go, we've gone through the list over the years. It gets boring after a while. I mean, this was, um, this was a petty, arrogant, insecure, um, group of people who weren't very savvy. I mean, there's, there's, there's just so much that was working against the organization over the last 10 years, almost as much working against it in the last 10 that there was in the first 10. It was

just different. But yeah, they'll claim that, you know, Houston would have never parted with a first, but it didn't matter. It's just, it's very similar to the Kirk Cousins thing, where they say, well, Kirk was never going to sign. Well, that's fine. That may be true. But you never presented an offer that was good enough for him to accept. So how do you know? So Houston wouldn't have given us a first. Well, they gave up two first rounders and a second rounder. And a second rounder, to Miami for Tunsell. Two firsts and a second. That doesn't even involve the players

that were involved in the deal on both sides. So one first, I mean, that's half, not even half the price. But it didn't matter because they never were interested in trading Trent Williams. They were going to make him bleed, all right, figuratively. They really, really had it out for him. And, you know, I've said this,

many times as it relates to the Trent Williams situation. I don't think he's 100% scot-free in terms of having any of the responsibility of everything that happened here. I think there were probably justifiable reasons that Bruce and Dan and others were really angry with him. However, you know, you take the emotions and you put them to the side for a business deal. You know, you can't let emotions get in the way of a business deal and you ended up hurting yourself. when you could have helped your team. But instead, they got, you know, the package they got from the 49ers last summer. All right.

When we come back, I do want to mention something that happened over the weekend that I don't think I've ever heard of before. That's next right after this word from one of our sponsors. Friday night in the NBA, Houston was leading Minnesota 101 to 85 with, seven minutes and 30 seconds left in the game. Houston did not score another point the rest of the game. Not another point. DJ Augustine made a 20-foot jump shot with 731 left in the game to give Houston a 16-point lead over Minnesota. By the way, we're talking about two of the worst teams in the NBA. And they never scored another point. They were outscored by Minnesota over the final seven and a half minutes, 22 to nothing.

22 to nothing. And they won the game. Minnesota did 107-101. Now, I've looked for any kind of ESPN stats and information, any group to tell me that that's never happened before. And I can't find that anywhere. So I'm assuming it's because it has happened at some point along the way. I just don't remember an NBA team going seven and a half minutes over the final seven and a half minutes of a game that then became close without scoring a point. They were outscored in the fourth quarter, 31 to 10.

Their first 10 points were obviously in the first four and a half minutes of the quarter. That is crazy. By the way, they came back to next night and crushed Minnesota Houston did 129 to 107. You know, Houston had a 20-game losing streak in the NBA, which they ended against Toronto last weekend, actually. But I think, I don't know, Detroit might be worse. I haven't looked up the standings recently. They could be worse. But I think Houston and Minnesota, along with Detroit are the three worst teams record-wise in the NBA.

By the way, the Wizards beat the Pistons on Saturday night, 106 to 92. This game also featured something pretty remarkable. At one point in the third quarter, the Wizards had a, hold on, I'm going to find it right here, a 74 to 44 lead. They led by 30 points in the third quarter. 74 to 44. The score was 74 to 44, all right, at the 857 mark of the third quarter. At the end of the quarter, it was 79 to 75. They went from a 30-point lead to a four-point lead at the end of the quarter.

They were outscored during that stretch, 31 to 5 by the Pistons. Now, the Wizards went on to win the game. By the way, Daniel Gafford, the new guy that they acquired from Chicago that I told you, I think I mentioned this with Buck. I talked about it on the radio show. He's really an intriguing prospect. I loved him at Arkansas. In his first game the other night,

he was six of seven from the floor, had 13 points, 5 rebounds, and three block shots. This guy is an athlete like you wouldn't believe. He had 13 points, 5 rebounds, and three block shots in 14 minutes. I think he's going to help. I think this is going to be an acquisition that actually ends up helping. Bradley Beale, by the way, got hurt in that game against the Pistons the other night.

But anyway, all right, so some of you wanted me to repeat this rant that I had on Friday on the radio show about Mark Turgeon. Okay, I'll do that for you because there's actually some additional information to throw into it. So it basically stemmed from not only my natural instinct to defend a coach that I like a lot in Mark Turgeon, but Coach Negative, who is a longtime listener of the station and maybe even the podcast. I forget if David, you are listening if you listen to the podcast of the radio show, but you've been listening to the radio shows on 980 for a while, and you're very creative, but you really came after me last week with several tweets that actually had me laughing out loud on a couple of them. But Coach Negative, who is a big basketball guy, clearly not a Mark Turgeon fan,

and seems to be utterly repulsed by the fact that I am. He sent me the following tweets. The first one was this. Mark Turgeon, Kevin, is Dave Lato. He ran a clean program and got to the second round once and tied for first in the ACC like Turgeon. UVA had some competitive teams and was solid, like Maryland under Mark Turgeon.

That's laughable. I'll get back to that in a moment. Kevin, you just need to stop with the excuses. Turgeon displays nothing. that would indicate a leader with strength and motivational abilities or expertise to elevate the program, just let it happen and stop with the ridiculous excuses. And then these two tweets as part of this tweet barrage were sent to both Scott, Van Pelt, and me.

The first one reads, I think it's absurd how hard they, meaning Scott and I, stump for Turgeon. It's actually quite strange. Turgeon hasn't scheduled shit, hasn't scheduled for shit, which is why his career record is what it is, unconscionable the way they stump for Turgeon, but bash others in the same situation. And then my favorite tweet, just bring me a present so I don't have to listen to these two bald heads. Kevin Turgeon and Scott Van Turgeon, ever apologizing for their father, Turgeon ever again. It's sickening to listen to them. They're on the payroll at ESPN.

Well, Scott is on the payroll. I'm not on the payroll. I don't work for ESPN. So let me go down these in order. Dave Lato, comparison. That's really one horrific comparison. Like it almost disqualifies coach negative from even being able to weigh in on the subject matter. Dave Lato had a 15-year head coaching career and has a 464 win percentage. He's been to the tournament one time in 15 years.

His DePaul teams finished dead last in the Big East, five of six years in the Big East, dead last. His Virginia team went to the tournament one time in four years, and he barely finished above 500 overall, and was 10 games below 500 in ACC games. So I don't know what coach negative you're talking about. Mark Turgeon hasn't had a losing season in 22 years. He's got an all-time win percentage of 634. He's got the third most wins in Big Ten games since Maryland joined the league. Only Tom Izzo and Matt Painter have more. He's coached teams to the tournament 11 times and at Maryland in six out of the last seven years.

Dave Lato? You can do better than that. I mean, what you really should have done is you should have done Fran McCaffrey. Fran McCaffrey is a better comp, I guess. Well, anybody would have been a better comp than Dave Lato. Fran McCaffrey at Iowa, all right? He's been there amazingly now for 11 years at Iowa. Fran McCaffrey has been there.

And he has not been out of the first weekend of the tournament even once. So it's not a direct apples to apples to Turge, because Turge has been to one sweet 16 and may have gone back last year. and Iowa was not in the same seating position that Maryland was in last year, so they would not have been favored to go to the Sweet 16 in the COVID year. But Fran McCaffrey has been to six tournaments in the last eight years, turd six in the last seven, and he has not been out of the first weekend once, not once, and he had the best player in the history of Iowa basketball this year, Luca Garza, and he got his ass kicked in the second round by Oregon, who just, by the way, got

their ass kicked the other night by USC. Why do I bring up Fran McCaffrey would be a better comp? Well, it's a better comp than Dave Lato, okay? I mean, McCaffrey doesn't have the overall winning percentage that Turgeon has and doesn't have the overall win percentage in the Big Ten since Turgeon entered the league. Turgeon's got the third most wins, again, behind Matt Painter and Tom Izzo. Those are the two coaches, the only two, that have more wins since Maryland and entered the Big Ten. Why did I bring up Fran McCaffrey, though? Well, because he just got a six-year contract extension at Iowa for the results that he has coming off the massive disappointment of all time, which is Luca Garza and a team that was ranked at 1.2 in the nation, bowing out in

the second round and blowout fashion to Oregon. Yeah, he just got to extend it through 2028. Look, Iowa's not Maryland. I understand that. Football's much more important. They don't have the same history that Maryland has. I was been to a final four under Lute Olson, actually. I think Lute Olson took him to a final four. They've had some really good players over the course of time. I would not put Iowa on the same level of Maryland as a basketball program, but it is, you know, it's not Northwestern. Anyway, back to the coach negative emails. Look, I don't know what's going to happen to Mark. I will tell you that for me, you know, and I mentioned this as part of the thing, and I'm just going to try to brief it up a little bit here. I'm going to be a Maryland fan no matter

what happens. And the only information I have about what will happen is I think we're going to have the matter resolved by the end of this week one way or the other. That's my guess. Either he's going to get a contract extension by the end of this week, or he's going to be moving on by the end of this week. I guess there's always the possibility he stays and coaches with two years left on his deal. That's possible. And it's also possible that he could get fired. But I don't know. I've heard every single thing I've talked to a lot of people and there's a lot of conflicting information. The only thing I do know is I think that Turg and Damon Evans, the athletic director, more likely than not, are going to get this thing resolved. I would think by the end of this week. I want him back. I want

him back in the fold for the next few years. Not because I think he's a good coach, which I do, but because I think he's getting better as a good coach. I think he's improved as a coach. I think the best of Mark Turgeon is still to come. He's a better offensive coach than he used to be. He's always been excellent defensively, but he's a much better offensive coach now than he was a few years ago. Maryland's much more efficient offensively. Somebody sent me average points. Dude, I'm talking about efficiency, the metric of offensive efficiency. They're much better offensively in recent years. But beyond any true metric or measurement, they've been, you know, like sort of non-quantifiably, they've been a better zone offensive team, which I used to

struggle with a little bit. I think he's much better at adapting his offensive plan to the talent that he has. This year was a great example. He simplified things, including shortening his bench. You know, he used to sub a lot more. He ran fewer sets, fewer plays, micromanaged possessions less, did more conceptually, things like spacing and ball movement. And then what he did a really good job of this year, and you see it more and more in college basketball, actually, identifying certain matchups in games, especially with Iala and Wiggins, where they could take advantage of those mismatches in certain places on the floor and he would get on the ball in those places. Defensively, you know, he's mixing in more defenses than he used to.

He's much more willing to play zone, if it makes sense. Their three-two zone's been very effective last couple of years, especially with Aaron Wiggins out in front of it. He's exceptional in things that I always use to measure coaches. Out of bounds plays underneath your own basket. I think those are easy opportunities to score. It's always amazing to me when I watch college coaches that don't have really good plays to get good looks and get, whether you're playing against zone or man on an inbound play, Maryland's always had phenomenal. Look, witness the Yukon game, the consistent plays that they ran from underneath their own basket that got Wiggins looks and Iala looks for three. He's been exceptional after timeouts and set plays. Beyond that,

you know, and those were examples of where I think he's really improved and where I think he's been good. I've just noticed a more patient, a more positive. Mark Turgeon, better body language in front of his players. He admitted to me last year on radio that he had gotten better communicating and dealing with today's player. He's very good at that, keeping young people enthusiastic, keeping them bought in. You know, there's a little doubt. Nobody will argue this. That there's little doubt that the players that stick around with him for a few years, they respect him, they love them, and they play hard for him. You know, when Coach Negative said, you've got to stop with these excuses, he displays nothing

that would indicate a leader, a guy with strength or motivation or expertise to elevate the program. First of all, you hit on all the things that everybody agrees are absolute characteristics that are positive for him. He's a very good leader. He's very tough. He does a great job motivating young men. if you had said, I don't like the way he schedules, or I don't like the way at the end of a game,

you know, he doesn't put somebody on the inbound pass with a lead like he didn't do at Michigan a couple of years ago, which I thought was a big mistake. Or you don't like that he doesn't use timeouts more effectively. That would have been better than what you said, Coach Negative. What you said, you actually listed many of the things that everybody that knows him and follows the program would list as his strengths. Anyway, look, there was a ridiculous story. By the way, just to be clear on this, I didn't know until the other day that it was Jeff Erman's story.

Jeff's a friend of mine. Jeff covers Maryland sports as effectively as anybody else does. But I guess Jeff had a story before a late January game against Minnesota on the road that things were starting to unravel and that there were reports that Turgeon was losing his team. They went to Minnesota and they beat the crap out of Minnesota, beat him 63 to 49. The game was never in doubt. If there were any issues, well, the team rallied around him and fought for him.

This team, he was never in jeopardy of losing this team. They got better as the year went on. They played harder. They started winning games. I just think personally the best is yet to come from him. You know, it doesn't mean that they're going to win national championships in 35 games a year. you know, I don't want to ever shortchange the potential of Maryland basketball. Maryland at its best, you know, in the past has been a solid top 10 to top 15 program.

70s, part of the 80s, late 90s into the mid-2000s, you know, capable of contending for a final foreign title, and they've proven, they've done it. You know, not every year like Duke, Carolina, Kentucky, Kansas, Maryland's never been that. It doesn't mean that I wouldn't love to see it. It doesn't mean that I don't want them to strive for that, but it does mean that it's a bit of a reach to expect it. What should be expected is more than Turgeon's 10 years, but not a lot more than his last seven. And this is where some of you wanted me to talk about this a little bit more on the podcast, which is fine. I'll mention it real quickly.

I think the first two to three years at Maryland were tough. I think really, if you're going to judge Turgeon, you judge him on his big 10 years. which is the last seven. You know, the first two to three years, it's not that he was starting from scratch, but when Gary retired, his best player, Jordan Williams, left early. His best recruit Justin Anderson pulled out and went to UVA.

That left Turgeon with Sean Mosley and crazy Terrell Stoglin who never met a shot that he didn't like. You know, it was a tough first couple years. Now, they won 25 games in his second year, went to the NIT semifinals. They were actually very close in that second year to making the tournament.

They beat Duke twice that year, and they had Carolina in the ACC tournament semifinals on the ropes. If they won that game, they were going to the tournament. The third year was the last year in the ACC, and it was a joke the way they were treated that year by the league. The transition from the ACC to the Big Ten wasn't easy. He navigated it. He navigated it well. Seven years I look at. And in the seven years in the Big Ten, Maryland's finished second twice, first one.

third once, fifth once, and then eighth twice. They've never been at the bottom of the league. They've been in the middle portion of the league twice, but the other five years they've been in the top five, and in four of those years they've been in the top three, and in three of those years they've been in the top two. As I've mentioned, he's won more games than any coach since he's been in the Big Ten with the exception of Izzo and Painter. He's made the tournament six out of seven years, and the only year they didn't make it was the year that they lost Justin Jackson, Jackson to a torn labrum. If they had had Jackson that year, they would have gotten to the tournament. They nearly made it anyway. They won 19 games that year, went 8 and 10 in the conference.

Six out of seven, all right? The first year, remember, they were favored to get to the sweet 16 as a four seed, and Mellow Trimble got concussed in the second round game against West Virginia, and that cost them an opportunity to move on. They went to the Sweet 16 the following year, and then don't forget in the third year of making the tournament, they did lose in the first round to Xavier. They did. They blew a lead and they lost to Xavier. Xavier then went on to the Elite 8 that year.

They blew out the three-seed Florida State, beat the two-seat Arizona, and lost to the one-seed Gonzaga in the Elite 8. So it's not like they lost to a terrible team. In 2019, after missing the tournament for that one year, when Justin Jackson got hurt, they beat Belmont in the first round and they had a game and a four or five game against LSU. I'm sorry, three six game in the second round.

Look, LSU is a team that has no salary cap. They've got basically one of the sketchiest coaches in the country in Will Wade. Just go pull up the documentary that HBO had called the scheme and listen to the wiretaps with Will Wade's voice on it. They lost the buzzer to a team with no salary cap. Look, if you want to play that way, we're going to have to move to the SEC. Because it really doesn't fly that much in the Big Ten. It certainly doesn't fly at Maryland. All right?

The best team he had couldn't play because of COVID. And this year, after losing a lottery pick in one of the best veteran point guards in the country, they made the tournament, won a game, and lost to a team that was better than they were. Alabama. All right? They did. Alabama was better, period, in that game they were. 16 to 33 from behind the arc. No miss free throws after last night going seven for 28 and missing 14 free throws.

That would have been the better Alabama team to play. And it was one of the reasons I said, you know, about the Maryland Yukon game, hey, there's a chance because Bama can go cold. Six out of seven years in the tournament. Third winning as coach in the last seven years in the Big Ten. I want better results in March. I do. My expectations are not lowered after the Gary years. I want a tournament team 80% of the time. I want to feel like most years we've got a chance to win games in March. Every four or five years, I want a legit final four contender. That's not a lot to ask. That's what Maryland basketball should be. Okay? And I know some of you will say, Sheehan, your team has been to the final four twice, and that was 20 years ago, basically, and you've won one national championship. That's true, but Maryland had a lot of teams that were capable of winning the whole thing.

Several of lefties teams, clearly. He had two elite eight teams. But Gary's teams, I mean, the Steve France's team was favored to get to the final four. Joe Smith's sophomore year, that team was a final four contender. And the Vasquez ACC co-championship team in 2010 was definitely a legitimate deep into the tournament contender as well. And they nearly could have pulled it off had Corey Elusius not made that shot at the buzzer. I want more in March. I do.

I want to be a legitimate contender more often. I do. But I also love the trajectory of six tournaments and seven years with his. best team being the Big Ten championship team from 2020 that didn't get to play. I wouldn't budge off Mark. I just wouldn't. He's smart. He does it clean. He does it cleanly. His teams play hard. His players get better. He's led the transition from the ACC to the Big Ten, which was a real hard thing to do. It was a hard thing to do for the team. It was a hard thing for the fans. You know, part of our DNA was the ACC, and now we're in this tractor league that nobody wanted,

nobody except a president and an AD wanted, neither of whom really understood what it meant for all of us to be a part of the great league that we were in for 50-plus years or whatever it was. You know, I just, we've started to settle in, though. You know, like the Big Ten, we've been one of the better teams in the league since we joined it. The schools, the teams, the coaches, the fan bases, the venues are becoming more familiar. And they're great. You know, they didn't necessarily want us in their league. We didn't want them, but we're acclimating. And, you know, eventually the rivals will come.

And for a generation that's younger than me, they'll know the Maryland basketball teams in the Big Ten. They won't know going to Cameron Indoor or going to, you know, the Dean Dome. They'll know going to Mackey or they'll know going to Assembly Hall. You know, the Big Ten, to be honest with you, top to bottom. has more great venues than the ACC does. Xfinities, one of them, obviously. The ACCC, in Florida State games were dead. Clemson at Little John when they sucked dead. Now, it did have Cameron Indoor, and it did have Colefield House and Xfinity Center, and it did have, you know, U. Hall when Virginia was great, and Carmichael and Dean Dome, et cetera.

Bottom line is, look, winning solves all. He's got to win. He's got to win. He's got to win. bigger when they were rolling last year. Tickets were hard to come by late in the season. That Michigan State game tickets were going 500 to $1,000 to $1,000 just to get in the building. You know, he's won a lot of games, but he can win bigger too. And I want him to be given that chance. Winning big will quiet the critics, which the fan base has plenty of. It'll generate more revenue. It'll help with recruiting. I personally think he's heading in that direction. You know, I'd like to see him do one thing and that it's scheduled better in the non-conference. Gary seemingly every year had three, four, five games against power conference schools in

November and December. You know, you were in Maui, you were in neutral court games, you were at home and homes. I'd like to see that. But, as I said on radio the other day, I'd like to see him back. I'd like to see him extended. I'd love to see Aaron Wiggins come back. If he comes back and they can add a couple of pieces, you know, they could be, a top 25 preseason team. By the way, did you see that Mike Woodson got hired by Indiana? Thad Mata, for all of you mouth breathers on the Maryland message boards, it said, why?

We need Thad Mata. He got hired as an associate AD at Indiana. Anyway, the smell test, O-N-1 yesterday, 11 and 12 against the spread in the tournament. trending like my NFL and college football season did where we're going to have to make a late run to get above 500. So let's do it. I like both favorites. I hate favorites, but I like them both tonight.

Houston's an anti-public favorite minus seven and a half against Oregon State. And Baylor is a slight anti-public favorite at minus seven and a half over Arkansas. Take both favorites. Houston minus seven and a half. Baylor minus seven and a half. Those picks today brought to you by MyBooky. Go to my bookie.ag. Use my promo code Kevin DC to secure deposit bonus of up to $1,000.

Make sure you use my promo code, Kevin, DC. They'll know you heard it for me, and that'll help us out as well. If you've got a place to bet, I would do this just for the free money that they're going to give you to bet with, and a place to sort of comparison shop on point spreads and pricing. pricing can get, especially if you do it with local places, it can get pretty expensive. MyBooky's got fair pricing, really quality lines, a place you can trust. MyBooky, my bookie.orgie.g. Use my promo code Kevin D.C. All right, back tomorrow. Again, the picks are the two favorites tonight.

Houston and Baylor. Back tomorrow with Tommy.