The Kevin Sheehan Show - I'm A Skins' Fan But...

Episode Date: March 29, 2019

Kevin opens the show wondering why yesterday's show left a few people wondering. He recapped the Sweet 16, talked Nats' opening day with Mark Zuckerman/MASNSports.com, and gave out a Smell Test pick for tonight. <p> </p><p>Learn more about your ad choices. Visit <a href="https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices">podcastchoices.com/adchoices</a></p> Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You want it. You need it. It's what everyone's talking about. The Kevin Sheehan Show. Now here's Kevin. All right. Happy Friday, everybody. I'm here. Aaron is here. This show's presented by Window Nation. If you're in the market for Windows, call 86690 Nation or go to WindowNation.com and tell them that we told you to call. I'm going to get to the Sweet 16 games. There was an epic game. The Purdue Tennessee game was phenomenal. The smell test was two and one last night. It's funny. Aaron, you weren't here yesterday. I gave out Purdue. I gave out Gonzagin. I gave out Virginia. But I said about the Virginia game, I don't like Virginia personally. I think Oregon can win this game. I think they can keep it tight. But it was a major anti-public play. The public was on Oregon last night. So I laid the points with Virginia. Another smell test coming up here a little bit later. I did, I guess now it is a lot. 11 and 5 for since last Friday. If you count that first day, I'm 12 and 9. 12 and 9 overall. Not bad in the tournament, 12 and 9. Who did you have yesterday? Did you bet yesterday?

I had Tennessee. You did? Yeah. Fertile. I know. I'm so happy. You know I'm a big, as they call him, Coach Paint fan, Matt Painter fan. And I'm so glad that he's in the Elite 8. First time he's gotten past the Sweet 16. And that's going to be a hell of a game, Saturday night, Purdue, Virginia. The line's four and a half. Both of Saturdays games are going to be really good. Texas Tech, man. We'll get to the Sweet 16, I promise.

Nat's opening day as well. Mark Zuckerman's going to join us. Aaron was there also yesterday at Nats Park for their 2-0 loss to the Mets. Scher was great. DeGrom was great. The pitching was great. Not a lot of offense and not enough offense

from the Nats in their opener. The Caps completed the sweep of Carolina this week. They clinched another playoff season that's 11 of the last 12 years, quite a run. You know, it's a good chance that they're going to face the hurricanes now, I believe, in the first round of the playoffs. I don't know if it's a good chance, but they're definitely one of the teams that are possible. I mean, the Islanders and Penn still with a chance to win the division. The Caps have a three-point lead over the Islanders right now, five over Pittsburgh, with four games left. And the Caps still have another game with Tampa, I know.

But, you know, we're a week and a half away from the NHL postseason and the Caps quest to defend their cup, which will be a lot of fun. I wanted to start the show with this. I got a text message and a tweet yesterday that I wanted to share about yesterday's show. It's just interesting to me. It might not be that interesting to you, but who cares? Because I think actually it should be interesting to you. because it's reflective of either the phenomena that is people hear what they want to hear, or yesterday's show I just didn't make any of my positions very clear,

which I will admit sometimes I, it's not that I'm waffling, although sometimes I waffle, but sometimes I just consider too much both sides of an issue, and I get too deep into analyzing it. But I told Aaron yesterday, because he wasn't here, that I actually thought yesterday's show was a really good show. If you didn't listen to it, I was really into some of the Skins discussion yesterday, in particular some of the conversation about the reports that had come out the day before about Jay Gruden and his terrible frustration, something that Chris Russell had.

It's just we are in that season of speculation and rumor and lots of different things flying around this organization per usual. Scott was really good on the show yesterday, too, talking about, Tom Izzo in particular. Go listen to the show if you didn't listen to it. You've got all weekend to do it. But anyway, the tweet I got was from a major league Twitter a-hole. I mean, most of you would have blocked this guy by now.

I just don't know how to block anybody. I'm sure it's not that hard. I don't really care enough to figure it out. Tommy used to say to me all the time, I block people all the time. Why don't you? I've never blocked one person. Somebody told me you can mute people.

I've never muted one person. I don't really care to take the time because it doesn't really... Sometimes you get stuff that is borderline threatening. I'm not going to lie to you, but I don't know. It's Twitter. It's like this cesspool for negativity. And, you know, this guy is a total tool. I mean, a first-rate tool.

And stupid, too. Anyway, I'm not going to give out his Twitter handle. He's only got like five followers. I'll refer to him as Lenny. And Lenny tweeted, as he often does to me, with very hard to decipher English and very poor verb conjugation, not his strength. But I'll read it as he wrote it. He wrote,

You is so hater. The skins have one of their best years and you so negative. Kirk ain't here anymore. Get over your bitch. Case made Kirk bitch in Minnesota. That was the tweet. A lot of them, sometimes I do smile and I laugh at them. But just so you know if you didn't listen to yesterday's show,

there was not one mention of cousins. And not one mention I don't think of Case Keenham. But I did mention him potentially in the context of discussing the skin's quarterback situation, but nothing ridiculously negative at all. So anyway, you've got that one tweet from Lenny. And then one of the reasons I wanted to read the text as well is it's just it's interesting because this is sometimes how it goes after a show. I get a text from a guy that I know.

He listens to the podcast every day and he texts me. He's not a close friend. I don't even know him that well and I don't even know how he got my cell phone. But he texts me and he's very nice. And he texted me yesterday, he said, you are being too soft on this team. It's what Tom always says. If it looks bad from the outside, the reality is. even worse. You've got to be tougher on this group. And so yesterday was, I'm not saying that I don't

get that a lot. Sometimes I, in the same, after the same show, I'll get, you're such a homer and you're such a hater. I will get that, you know, occasionally. And I do know that, you know, it's always in the, you know, ears of the beholder, so to speak, and people hear what they want to hear. But I do also think that yesterday, I didn't really have definitive opinions on a few things. I was essentially going through the state of the franchise right now from a high level and saying, you know, the roster's not that great. You know, front office isn't a bit of disarray. There's a detached, you know, feeling of personnel to coaching.

And, you know, just high level, let's not forget while we get all these daily reports about what's going on with Jay and frustration. Bottom line is it's not a very good team on paper. I mean, it's the third best team at best in the division. It's the 11th or 12th best team, best case in the NFC. This is a team right now that is predicted to be a double-digit loss team. The over under in Vegas is 6.6.5. So if it's 6.5, they could be a 7 and 19. Anyway, I want to be clear on this so that there's no mistaking it for some of those

who aren't think, think I'm not being clear. enough. And some of you are new to the podcast or whatever, and you don't know my history as a fan of the team, as a born and raised Washingtonian, as a longtime season ticket holder, as a, you know, a true, you know, diehard over the years. I'm a massive fan of the team. Even still, I am. I want them to be good. And for the purposes of this podcast, it will be better for me if the Redskins won. I believe that. You know, we talked a few weeks ago, remember Aaron, about how, you know, some of the radio shows in town, podcasts, including mine, aren't hurt that much when the skins aren't winning. And there's truth to that, that some of you, actually, many of you,

prefer the conversation about the team as much or even more than watching the team anymore. And I get that. I've experienced that over the years with some of you, but it's still better overall. For anybody in D.C. that has a Redskins-oriented show, you know, it's better if they win. Much better if they win. But beyond that, I'm a fan, and then from a business standpoint, I want them to win. So I want to be really clear on that. It's my preference. Now, most of you who have listened over the years know that while I have no qualms ripping them when they do stupid things. I'm, you know, I'm also going to root for them on Sundays, Mondays, Thursdays, whenever they play. And I want them to win and look less stupid doing it. I don't know that that

can happen, but I am rooting for that. But I've not had any issue ripping them. And so while I'm a fan of the team and I want them to do well, you know, the other part of this is I'm not a fan of the people running the team. Not at all. I don't think the owner is a good owner. And I think the people he has working for him are subpar at best, incompetent at worst. It's not, this isn't revealing in any way to most of you. It's my opinion that because of the owner and the people he has hired to run the team, the chances that the team that I root for more than any other, the chances that they will be successful are just not very good. You know, I'm not a delusional fan. I want it to happen. Every September when the season starts, I do have optimism, less so in recent years,

but I'm always optimistic that, you know, if they stay healthy, if they don't have a lot of injuries, if the ball bounces their way, if the schedule ends up being not as difficult as it looks at the beginning of the year, hey, they could go 10 and 6, win the division, and have a chance. but I will be clear on yes I'm a fan but also I don't think that they have much of a chance I don't the chances that the Redskins ever have sustained success and how would I define that a run of let's just say a decade or so of being a contender you know 10 years five to six playoff seasons two NFC championship games one Super Bowl trip.

They don't even have to win it. Actually, you know what? I'll make it easier. A five-year run. A five-year run of three playoff seasons. Three playoff wins. Three playoff games that they actually win over five years. Not even a guaranteed NFC title game or Super Bowl trip.

Three playoff seasons in five years. And by the way, the two that they don't make it, they're competitive. Like, you know, eight and eight one year, nine and seven or ten and six the other year. year, but don't make the playoffs. You know, I don't even know if you would call that a successful run, but compared to what they've had it would be. But I don't see the chances of that happening as being very good. It would take stumbling into a transcendent quarterback, probably.

I think that's the only way. Yeah. There's the chance that they could get super lucky. They could get a great quarterback. They could stumble into Patrick Mahomes, you know, or somebody the next great quarterback. But more likely than not, the chances that the Redskins, with this owner and this team president, the chances that they have a run of five good years, not great years, just good years, of being a playoff type of team, slim and none.

It's never happened under Snyder. I don't know why anyone would think it would start happening now with Bruce Allen as his lead brain in the organization. This isn't a revelation to most of you. Most of you feel the exact same way. Most of you do. You would love it if somehow it weren't this way. And when the season starts, you have some hope that maybe they can have themselves a good season.

Let's go have ourselves a season, as my boy Zabe used to say. But the chances aren't very, good of them having a run, a mini run, a five-year mini-run of being a playoff contender every year. It's just, it's not. It starts at the top, and their top is really toxic. And, you know, the people, is there a chance he could empower somebody, you know, much more competent and not as subpar as the people he has, you know, empowered and hired in recent years?

I guess there's that chance. but what makes you think that he's going to do that? So, anyway, I don't know what made me do that, but I just thought it was interesting that I got this one tweet that says, you're such a hater after yesterday's show, and a text saying, you're not tough enough. And I just thought, well, maybe I just haven't been as clear as I need to be. I'm a fan, but my heart tells me, hey, maybe my head tells me,

probably not. I think a lot of you feel the same way. Another thing is it relates to yesterday's show, I did not answer the question of whether or not I would trade number 15 overall for Josh Rosen. That off the reports that the Cardinals are, you know, they want a first for Rosen. We talked about, you know, the Rosen and 15, and I didn't, I don't think I made it clear as to whether or not I would do it or not. I think I've made it clear in the past, but I'll clear it up for you.

The answer is no. But with that, understood, and this is what I do, I guess, I don't have the information on him as a person, and that's my biggest concern. I like him as a quarterback. I like him more than any quarterback in this draft. Cooley isn't a huge fan of Rosen. I think I like him more. Cooley's, you know, Cooley being hesitant does make me a little bit

hesitant on the football side, but I was a big fan of Rosen at UCLA, and I thought coming out last year he was going to be a very good NFL quarterback, but there is all of the stuff about Rosen that's unknown, you know, him as a teammate, him and his love for the game, how much he really wants it, you know, all of the things that have been talked about when it comes to him, I don't have the answers to, so I would be reluctant to trade number 15 overall for Rosen. Now, an NFL organization, like the Redskins, you know, if they're able to do proper due diligence, they would have the information on whether or not they buy into the person. You know, I don't trust their opinion on evaluations,

but I'm talking about an NFL organization in general, a decent organization, they're going to have the ability to really do enough background, interviewing, due diligence to know whether or not this guy is, you know, more than just a great prospect as a quarterback. But I do like him as a quarterback. I did. But I don't think because of those questions that I would trade 15. I wouldn't. If you told me that I could trade back to the late 20s,

I'd think more about it. If you told me it was going to cost a two, I think I would definitely roll the dice at that point. But there's just too much about him personally that none of us know. Let's get to the sweet 16. in the games last night. The Purdue Tennessee game, there have been two great games in the tournament so far

through the first night of the Sweet 16, the Duke UCF game and then Purdue Tennessee last night. That was a classic, a true classic. Now, a flawed game in many ways because it wasn't clean. People, they kept talking about all the missed free throws Tennessee had in the game, and they were four for 13 in the first half, and they finished 14 for 28.

That's terrible from the free throw line. Purdue was worse from the line. They were 16 of 33 from the free throw line. There were 31 missed free throws in the game last night. 31 missed free throws. Purdue shot 48.5% from the free throw line, and 48.5% from behind. the three point line.

They were 15 to 31 on threes, 16 of 33 on free throws. Go figure. Tennessee was 12 of 24 from behind the arc, and 14 of 28 from the free throw line. 50% on threes, 50% from the free throw line. Tennessee actually shot a dead even overall 50% for the game. The game was one of those classics because it starts out, with this incredible tempo, this incredible urgency from both teams, up-tempo game, people hitting shots from all over, missing, you know, easy shots, hitting long range shots,

steals, missed free throws, big shots, Purdue's, you know, getting the better of it. They built an 18-point lead early in the second half of that game. It was, I think it got to 51 to 33. Pretty sure that 18 was the biggest lead. 18 was the biggest lead. Yeah, and that was relatively early in the second half. And then here comes Tennessee. First, it's a slow grind back to get it to like 12 and then to 9,

and then it's back to 15, I think again. But then came a big run. And it happened while Ryan Klein, who had one of the great nights of the year for a shooter in college basketball, seven of ten from behind the arc, five threes in the second half. He was unconscious in the second half. Also went to the bench with four fouls. Two phantom calls, by the way, that I didn't think he fouled on.

But Tennessee came roaring back. Not only did they erase an 18-point lead, they took a three-point lead. But then Klein came back in the game. Klein hit a three. Then Tennessee took the lead. Then Klein hit another three to give. Purdue the lead, and it went back and forth, and then Tennessee built another three-point lead with about a minute left, and Klein hit another one. And the last one he hit was not the kind of three

that Ryan Klein hits. Ryan Klein hits the three where somebody's penetrated and kicked to him, and his feet are set, and he can knock down a feet-set jump shot without having to beat anybody off the dribble, or he comes off screens and shoots off screens. The last three, he made with 38 seconds left in the game with Purdue down three was Ryan Klein one-on-one jukeing his defender step back and he knocked that one

down it was a show from Ryan Klein in the second half especially over the last four minutes it really was and we know because we've watched Purdue all years as Big Ten people we know that Ryan Klein can shoot it he can but not like this yeah he's had he's had a

couple of these games. He's had a couple, but you know, he scored 13 points combined in the two Maryland games. Yeah, remember the three, though. He hit in college park right before half from about 35 feet. They didn't pick them up and he had hit one earlier. And I remember, because Maryland was down to Purdue at half time at home. I think they were down eight, something like that at half. And what got it to eight was was Klein hit like a 35 footer in that game. He's had some big three-point shooting games. Yes. Big three point. It's not unusual. But as you said, it was him being left open. It was, you know, things like that.

Not creating your own offense. It wasn't, okay, who are we going to cover here? Klein or Carson Edwards. Okay, we're going to choose to cover Klein so Carson Edwards can get a shot off. I'm looking through his game log early in the season in the, I guess this was the Big Ten ACC challenge. They played Florida State and he went seven for 11 from behind the arc. And those were all of his points, 21 points. He had a 5 for 8 game, 4 for 7, 4 for 6, 5 for 10, 6 for 7 game, a 6 for 9 game from behind the arc.

By the way, in the opener against Old Dominion, he was 1 for 11 from behind the arc, and then got it going with Carson Edwards and their blowout went over Villanova. The game was a great game. There was some controversy in the game. The controversy was at the end, down 3. Down two, excuse me, down two. Purdue had a final possession with 2.5 seconds left underneath their own basket. First of all, Klein is throwing the in-bounds pass, and I guarantee you they're running a play for Klein as the in-bounce passer. More times than not, a lot of basic under-your-own-basket in-bounce plays, the guy that you want to shoot it, will usually be the trigger guy on the in-bounds pass.

especially against zone, although Tennessee wasn't in zone in that particular situation. But anyway, I thought that it was very close to being a five-second violation. I thought it was like eight seconds. It was eight. It was close. It was far. He forced it into Edwards in the corner, and Edward shot a three and got fouled. And I thought it was a legitimate call.

He got hit with the lower part, you know, in the lower part of his body, you know, and he had not yet come down from his shooting motion. I actually thought it was a stupid foul. but it was a legitimate call, I felt, in the moment. You don't always see a call. I'm not going to say that it was a guaranteed lock that they would call it. But Edwards went to the line with 1.6 or whatever that was left with a chance to basically win the game by making three, and he missed the first one, made the other two, and the game went to overtime.

And Purdue, and this is why I like Matt Painter for a lot of reasons. I just, I've liked these Purdue teams, going back to the teams, he had with Robbie Hummel, and Hummel tore his ACL, not once, but twice, and I think he would have gotten a final four with Hummel and some of those teams. But anyway, they run phenomenal half-court offense. Always have, always will. And they ran sets down the stretch in that game, pressure possessions, after giving up an 18-point lead, and then in overtime that were awesome, awesome. had Tennessee completely going in multiple directions. They didn't know what they were doing, and Purdue scored,

and they scored effectively, efficiently with great offense. You've got to understand something about these Purdue teams under Matt Painter. They don't have a bunch of five-star guys, all right? This team coming back off the Sweet 16 last year was not supposed to be a Big Ten co-champion, not even close. You know, it was a bunch of really, I mean, we can say that Carson's, and Edwards was really good last year, and he was, but we didn't see the kind of year he had coming this year. I don't know. I kind of did. Then you were, you were by yourself. I thought

he was a really good player. He was not a preseason. I don't think top, was he a preseason all Big Ten players? I'm pretty sure he was. Okay, but it wasn't like a lock to be a contender for player of the year. No, well, and most of the people thought that what would prevent him being player of the year was that he just had nothing around him. I just think you look at the Purdue teams under Matt Painter. They rarely have big time recruiting classes. They are always seemingly in like what you would call a rebuild mode. They're always talked about, and they come out and they make sweet 16s.

That's his fifth suite 16th. First Elite 8. Carson Edwards is a star, but just so you know, it's not like this guy. a mocked first rounder. I haven't seen him in one mock draft first round as a junior. Have you? I've seen him in some second rounds and I've seen him not even mentioned. I mean, Edwards to me looks like an NBA player. He's able to create his own offense and he's got a ridiculous, you know, quick trigger, you know, deep jump shot. Like he can pull up from 30 and he did a couple times last night. I think this guy Eastern is a legit athlete.

I don't know where he was ranked as a college player, as a high school player, but I would bet higher than Ryan Klein was. Eiffert, who is Tyler Eifford's younger brother, Grady Eifert, who plays for Purdue, Tyler Eifford, the tight end in Cincinnati. His brother's a walk-on, and he's a significant player on Purdue's team. But anyway, I love Matt Painter. I think that his teams are always super well-coached. I feel that way about Barnes to a certain degree,

but I've always, those of you who have listened, know that I've always thought that Purdue, Painter in particular, is underrated. Now they get a chance to go to his first final four. It would be Purdue's first final four since 1980. They've had basketball tradition, Purdue. They've been a one-seat. You know, some of Gene Katie's teams were really good

and supposed to be final four teams that never got there. They're one of those programs that you know is a good basketball program. They're just not an elite basketball program, but you know it matters at Purdue. It matters more than football does at Purdue. The Big Ten has Maryland, Indiana, and Purdue that I would call basketball-first schools. Who am I forgetting? I guess Michigan State might be close.

Nah. You don't think it's close? I think it's close, but it's debatable. Yeah. It's just like Wisconsin. It's debatable. Purdue, I don't think it's debatable. I think most Purdue, you know, you can correct me if I'm wrong if you're a Purdue alum or a Purdue fan.

But I, when Purdue came here for the first time for their first game with Maryland in the Big Ten, Scott and I were at the game and we ended up sitting with like 10 Purdue guys that come from Indiana to see a game in college park. And I remember having this conversation, and they all said, no, basketball is number one. I think that's the only, Maryland, Indiana and Purdue, were the only obvious schools where basketball is the most important sport. I think I'm right about that.

Illinois football is still more important, isn't it? Even though they've probably had better basketball tradition and success. Yeah, I just say. Anyway. Minnesota's hockey first. Yeah, Minnesota's hockey first. But anyway, I'm happy for Purdue. I'm happy for the Big Ten. Michigan didn't show well. Get to that game in a moment. But I think the Big Ten's proven here that it was quite the grind. And Purdue took out a team that was ranked number one this season. And a lot of people had not only getting to the final four, but some of you had in the championship game. So they're there. My first glance at this is I think they've got a legit shot to.

beat Virginia. First of all, I like the point spread. I like that it's only four, four and a half. I think the public's probably going to play Virginia, is my guess. Maybe not. They played Oregon, which is surprising. And remember, Purdue is used to playing a team like Virginia. Wisconsin's the perfect, you know, comparable to the way Virginia plays. So Purdue's not going to be caught off guard by the way Virginia plays. I like their chances. That should be a hell of a game. I mean, it's not going to, the result in that game, I'm probably going to have Purdue plus the four and a half. But if Virginia wins a tight game, it's not going to be shocking, but I'm going to be rooting for the boilers. The other games last night, Florida State, you know, just they turn it over too much.

Gonzaga, man, if you guys haven't seen Gonzaga play because you're paying attention really for the first time because it's the tournament, this is a team with maybe the most athleticism than any team left in the draw now. Florida State you could have probably said that about. You know, Auburn's got some athleticism. Tennessee does. Kentucky. Kentucky does. But you'd be hard pressed to find as many players that have ridiculous quicks,

ups, agility, all of that, than Gonzaga. Gonzaga's got them in spades. and this is a very good basketball team. Just a really, really good basketball team. You know what's interesting about Gonzaga, at the beginning of the year, Hachamura, who is their Japanese player, their 6-8, 220, 230-pound power forward.

He was being mocked out as, you know, a lottery pick. And now, over the last couple of months, Brandon Clark has really emerged as perhaps a top half of the guy pick. I mean, they've got first round picks on their team everywhere. Yeah. They may be Duke in terms of, you know, four first round picks, three in the top six. Right. No one has that much NBA talent on their team. Gonzag is close, though. Look, there's a reason I had Gansai going all the way. I thought, especially offensively, they were the best team all season long. Florida State could not make a shot. They turned it over too much.

They still made a run late. Gonzagg ended up covering. The game that was truly ugly was the Texas Tech Michigan game. I said on the podcast yesterday, first team to 63 wins, and Texas Tech got to 63. It's amazing that they got to 63 with the way the game started. It was 6 to 6 with 8 minutes to go in the first half. I think that's what it was. It's somewhere around there. Hold on.

It was 6 to 6. Here we go. 6 to 6 with 9 minutes and 30. 21 seconds left. That's when Texas Tech made a bucket to give them an 8 to 6 lead more than halfway through the first half. Unbelievable. Michigan could not make a shot to save their life. They were down 24-16 at halftime. They went oh for their first 18 from behind the arc and then hit a late one when it didn't matter. They were one for 19. Michigan finished one for 19 on threes. These were two very good defensive teams. Texas Tech made shots. Michigan didn't. I thought it was much harder

for Michigan to score than it was for Texas Tech to score and watching the game. I thought Texas Tech's defense was even better than Michigan's. But that is the kind of game when you're watching it. You're like, you know that the first team that opens up like an eight-point lead is going to be tough to catch because an eight-point lead in that game felt like a 16-point lead. And Texas Tech Blue Michigan out. Wow, I mean, we watched a lot of Michigan this year, knew how good they were defensively. I didn't think any team could bring them to a complete standstill offensively the way Texas Tech did. And yes, Jared Culver is the real deal. Like he, he's got a lot going on in his frame. You know, he is so long, he anticipates so well. He's got a lot going on. He is, you know, he's been pretty much a consensus.

top 10 pick all year long for Texas Tech. And, you know, Chris Baird's doing an unbelievable job. I mean, who offers him just the blank check? Because at this point, at this point, if you have a job opening, even if you don't think you get him, that has to be your first play, right? Just say, how much does it take or is there any amount of money? We can pay you to bring you in, right? I saw Jeff Erman tweet this out.

I'm looking for it right now. This is back-to-back Elite 8s for Texas Tech. Yes. Okay, Texas Tech, hardly a basketball power. One of the worst, as of five years ago, one of the worst Power 5 jobs in the country. Before last year's Elite 8 run under Chris Beard, they hadn't won a tournament game since 2005, and that's when Bobby Knight was at Texas Tech. Who throws him a check?

a blank check. Well, I mean, it depends on what the situation with self at Kansas is. That would be the obvious one. I mean, I don't think he necessarily leaves Texas Tech to go take the Tennessee job, which will probably be available. What about the UCLA job? By the way, there have been some, you know, tweets. I don't know if they're genuine.

I don't know if they're, you know, quality reporting or reporters about Petino in UCLA. Well, I mean, if you think that he got, I told you that if the surgeon had left, like for Nebraska or whatever, I would have said, I wouldn't have had a problem. If you think he got a raw deal, he can coach. Yeah. Oh, no, he can definitely coach. And he would turn UCLA immediately into a contender. I don't know. Kansas is the answer because we don't know how the self and the Kansas stuff will play out.

I don't like firing a coach until you're really ready to fire him. But if I'm Texas right now, he's an alum. Well, he is an alum of Texas. And I am surprised because I have heard about Chaka Smart being on thin ice at Texas. So if I'm them right now, I say, will you come here right now? Obviously, you can't do it while he's in the tournament. He probably won't even be receptive to it. But the day after they go out, I say, what will it take for you to come here?

fire shocker to do it. Yeah. Look, to do what he's done at Texas Tech, and they've been impressive in doing it too. Like, that was impressive last night, the way they shut Michigan down completely. It's going to be much more difficult for them to shut Gonzaga down on Saturday.

That line is what? Did you say that line's four? Four and a half two? I haven't seen it. The other game we didn't talk about is the Virginia game. It was an ugly game. It was an ugly game, but, you know, if you're a Virginia fan, you know, you didn't play well last night. Oregon gave you fits with their defense and with their length defensively,

which is really impressive. And you can sort of see watching Oregon, and I didn't see a lot of them during the regular season, in this tournament, why they got on a role, you know, late in the season and why they were able to win a couple of games in this tournament, you know, shutting down Wisconsin and then they beat UCI, I guess, Cal Irvine in the second game. But the reason that they were there last night was their defense. You know, they were really disruptive. Virginia shot poorly. They didn't get a lot of open looks. When they did, they were, you know, I thought DeAndre Hunter had a terrible game last night offensively. I, you know, he, I know he's been mocked as high as like six or seven. I don't see it with him. I see him as a guy that's going to get drafted. Don't

get me wrong, but I don't see like obvious lottery and NBA potential and Hunter. I think he's a really good player. I'd be surprised if he ends up going in the top half of the draft by the time all is said and done. But Jerome hit a couple of big shots late, a huge shot late with the score tied to give him a three-point lead at 48, 45, and Virginia wins 53 to 49. You know, I was listening to Tony, listening to Tony Bennett after the game, and he said, you know, we didn't do a lot of the things that we like to do and weren't able to do them, but, you know, he pretty much gave Oregon credit. He said they were a very unique defensive team. They had a bunch of, you know, athletes that were long. They were able to switch, you know, basically throughout the game at any position.

And it was a difficult team for them to deal with. And they got through. Like, okay, you're, you're, you're in the elite eight again. You got a chance against a team your favorite against to get to the final four. You survive this game. Imagine how much worse it would be if Oregon had hit the big three late and had gone on to win it. I mean, every once in a while, you make a run, you win a national championship with a stinker in there along the way. And it wasn't a pretty game for Virginia, but they got the win. I do like their freshman point guard, Clark. I think he's clutch. He does a lot of good things to to make that team better. They got nothing from their bench. Virginia's 53 points came from five starters. In fact, their bench only played a combined 11 minutes, generated not one field goal

attempt, not one point, and only two rebounds statistically from their bench. Anyway, they're in, and I'm happy for them. I'm going to be happy. That Virginia Purdue game is the game I'm looking forward to Saturday. I'm going to watch all of them, but I'm going to be happy with either result. I'm rooting for Purdue,

but I'm going to be happy for a lot of the Virginia people if they finally break through here. Tony Bennett certainly had a... He's built a powerhouse that just hasn't gotten the tournament results quite yet. All right, let's do a smell test for tonight's games. Kevin looks where the John Q public is putting their cash and does the opposite. It's time for the smell test. Two and one last night, Gonzaga, Purdue were winners.

Virginia was the loser laying seven and a half in that game. Tonight I've got one play. There's only one truly, you know, heavily bet public game. And that's the public loves North Carolina. So give me Auburn plus the five and a half in this. game. I did that stupid formula before the tournament started with you and Tommy, where I came up with some criteria that allowed me to narrow the field of 68 down to basically five or six teams that I thought would win it. One of those five or six teams would win it. And it was like teams

that score, teams that score efficiently, teams that have excellent guard play, and teams that are reasonably well-coached. And one of the teams that was in that final group of five, actually, because I eliminated LSU because of their coaching situation, one of those teams was Auburn. I had Carolina, Tennessee, Auburn, Michigan State, and Iowa State. Iowa State got beaten the first round. But Auburn, North Carolina tonight, and Auburn can really score, and they've got great guard play.

And that is why I think they're... I like them because of the anti-public piece more than anything else. But I give them a legitimate shot even just in straight, you know, analyzing the game. This is a team with guards in Bryce Brown and Jared Harper that not only control tempo, but do the bulk of Auburn scoring. They are good long-range shooters. They are good at getting to the rim. Harper in particular.

They've got athletes at other positions. you know, the North Carolina team, the pace in which this game's going to be played at is going to make it so much fun to watch. The total right now, 165 in this game. I mean, 165 is a pretty high total. That's kind of ridiculous for a college game. In fact, Auburn hasn't had a game all season that has had a total anywhere near 165. Very early in the season, they played a game against Xavier, where the old. over under total was 163. And I think they played LSU. The last time they played LSU,

it was like 159 and a half. But this one's at 165, in part because Bruce Pearl apparently told Van Pelt on his show, play the over. Did you hear about that? I didn't hear that. Scott told me about it yesterday. He had Bruce Pearl on the show the other night. And Pearl said, you know, all I can tell you is play the over, basically. Carolina meantime, you know, on the total, they've a bunch of games in the mid-160s, including their first two tournament, or their first tournament game against Iona was a 166 total. That went under, by the way. I don't have a strong feel on the total on the game, but it's set up to be a highly entertaining game where very rarely will you approach the end of a shot clock. And I don't see any reason why Auburn would try

to slow Carolina down or vice versa. It's going to come down to who can get out, who can finish, and who can make shots. I like Auburn plus the five and a half because they're a major anti-public play. I also like their chances because they've got a very good team, and I like their chances potentially to just win this game outright against North Carolina. I think that's in play. So that's the smell test pick on this particular game. I'm going to be at Capitol 1 tonight. I like Michigan State personally to beat LSU, and I like Duke to beat Virginia Tech. You know, Duke didn't have Zion and Virginia Tech was missing, you know, obviously a key player as well the last time they played at Castle Coliseum where Tech pulled it off. It's going to be

an interesting environment tonight. I was listening to Jim Nance this morning on with the junkies on 106.7 and he said, oh man, he said it's too bad. Maryland didn't get there because that would have been quite the scene at Capital One Arena. And he's right, but it's still going to be, it's still going to be a great environment for college basketball tonight. Duke's got a massive following. Virginia Tech's got, you know, clearly a geographic, you know, a reasonable close following, although I think actually you can make it to Durham faster than you can make it to Blacksburg. You can. Yeah. Michigan State has a lot of alum in the D.C. market. LSU is obviously, you know, playing here on borrowed time because their program's going to take a hit

when all of this is over. They're trying to get out of the tournament. Provenor so they can raise that banner before they have to take it down. Yeah. I like Michigan. state to win. I think Michigan State's got too much for LSU. I like Duke, but the familiarity that Virginia Tech has with Duke will be helpful. I don't like Duke to advance, though. I like Michigan State ultimately to come out of this region. And then in the Houston-Kentucky game, it's a really interesting game in part because no one really knows that much about Houston, but they are really good. And we have seen in this tournament a lot of good defensive teams advance here. You know, part of the tournament is Gary Williams said it to me years ago. You've got to be

able to score to win six in a row. In the Sweet 16, we have a dominant defensive teams like Texas Tech and Michigan and Oregon and Virginia. And then tonight you throw Houston into that mix. Houston's a great defensive team. I definitely give Houston a chance to win this game tonight against a Kentucky team that, you know, is PJ Washington healthy and available? I think he is. Supposedly he is. But this should be a hell of a game tonight. I like Houston's chances, and I would probably pick Houston. I'll probably play Houston plus the two and a half. But the smell test confined to one selection, Auburn plus the five and a half. Looking forward to some good hoops tonight and throughout the weekend. And I will put out,

like I did last weekend, a smell test on. Twitter, Saturday, and Sunday. Real quick word about window nation. Window nation's got a really good deal going right now. Buy two windows, get two windows free. You can buy a house of windows for just $69 a month. And right now, if you call them, mention my name, they will come out and give you a free in-home estimate with a price that is valid for 60 days. Wind donations installed windows in my home twice over the last 10 years. It's worked out for me. It's worked out for some of you who, who have listened to the show over the years. My wife is a real estate agent. She's had Window Nation put windows into some of her clients' homes to get them ready for sale, and it's always worked out

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to free. You can buy a house of windows for just $69 a month and you get a free in-home estimate with a price valid for 60 days. No risk by just calling them again at 86690 Nation or go to windownation.com. All right, let's bring in Mark Zuckerman, who is writing per usual fromassensports.com. You can follow him on Twitter at Mark Zuckerman. Longtime person on the air with me and all the shows on 980 and someone who I enjoy talking Nats baseball with. And hopefully we'll be able to do that a few times during the course of the season, which got underway yesterday with a 2-0 shutout loss to Jake DeGrom and the Mets.

I actually, before we get to sort of some of the season, big picture, you know, predictions and thoughts, I wanted to start with the game yesterday with a couple of key spots in the game. Do you think Scherzer should have hit for himself in the seventh? I was surprised by that. Not because I didn't think that Max had more in him to come back out and pitch the eighth inning. He was at 93 pitches, I think, at that point. He had thrown 97 in his last spring training start. he had primed himself to be able to get up to 100 plus pitches

and he struck out two of the three batters he faced in the 8th so it wasn't so much of that I felt it was more a case of you're down 1-0 you're running out of outs in this game your best bat on the bench is Matt Adams it's a 1-0 game at this point why not take a shot with him to try to tie the game up or at least get on base and set the stage for something else and davy's explanation was that he felt like that spot was going to come up again in the game. It turns out it didn't come up. Adams did hit, but it was pinchating for gomes in the ninth inning. It felt to me like that was a

moment to say, you know what, as much as I love Max, as much as I believe he could still go deeper in this game, we're trailing. We need to try to score a run here, and the guy off my bench gives me a better chance of that happened. Yeah, that makes sense. Do you think, what about the decision to have Grace come in and pitch to Canoe? Yeah, that was the other kind of head scratcher, only because they went out and signed a top lefty in spring training. Tony SIP specifically for this reason. They know how many big lefty hitters they're going to face in the NL East this year. Canoe is high on that list. SIP did not pitch in a spring training games. They pitched in minor league games, but the word that

we got yesterday morning was that he was ready to go. He had gotten enough work. He was comfortable, ready to go and he did wind up warming up later on I think in the ninth and never came into the game now the one thing there is that over his career he hasn't had success against Kanoe they face each other a lot in the American League West Canoe seven for 21 with three homers against him so I think he felt like the matchup with Grace maybe was a little bit better Grace didn't make a bad pitch it was kind of a nice swing by Kano to just dump the ball in the left field But again, in the bigger picture, I look at, okay, you got to the end of the first day of the season. You have an off day today. Everybody's available in your bullpen, whoever you want to use.

He wound up warming up his top three relievers, in theory, Doolittle, Rosenthal, and Sip, none of them ever actually got into the game. Over the course of the long season, yeah, you have to manage them and be careful not to overuse them. But on opening day, when everybody's available and you have the next day off, you're not saving anything up, I thought that was a little bit. So, you know, it's one game, and there are 161 left, but one of the concerns from, you know, diehards and people like you who cover the team, and I'm not putting this on you, I don't know your position on this, is just that he struggled last year at times to manage his bullpen.

Yeah, no, that's fair. It is a fair criticism. I think it's a fair criticism of a lot of in baseball. there are very few who are that good at bullpen management, but it is a big part of the job of the X's and O's part of the game, certainly. You saw early in the season last year guys like Madsen and Kinsler, and so Lees maybe getting overused a little bit. There were some gripes about it in the middle of the season. Kinsler wound up getting traded. Madsen had some injuries,

So Elyse had all kinds of troubles in the second half. Now, what I would also say is when you're in close games and you don't have faith in your other guys and your starters were hurt in a lot of cases last year, you may have no choice but to go to your relievers in those situations. But it's a fine balance. It is something that Davey, I think, acknowledges that now that he knows the team a little better in year two, he should be better at. He knows the personalities. He knows that the relievers themselves are better able to speak up and say, hey, I'm good to go today.

or you know what, I really need a day off. So it's going to be something to watch all season long, of course. And there are a lot of ways this team needs to improve from last year, and one of those ways is the manager and his decisions late in games of school to pull out of the bullpen win. You know, the other thing, too, I was thinking yesterday, you know, there's Max Scherzer pitching another gem. He gives up an early home run, and he's been prone to, you know, early home runs in the past. but, you know, losing a 2-0 game, I didn't go back and check, and you probably have this information,

but it seemed like there were at least a half-dozen 1-0-0 and 2-0 games he lost last year. It felt like it, sure, yeah, he lost several of them. I don't know the exact number. I did see a stat earlier this morning that the Nationals had 18 times last year. Their starting pitcher had a quality start, and the team didn't win the game. was among the most in baseball and you just hope that that doesn't come up again but you know it's like on on one hand you say hey you lose two nothing to Jacob de Graham Sy Young award winner in opening day no big deal and yes that's true and yet

that game was right there for the state sure they had the ability to beat the Grom and to take advantage of this just gem by Scherzer it was the one mistake to know in the first inning and otherwise I mean he was brilliant I would argue even better than the Grom even though the run allowed in the end were different. But, I mean, Max was firing on all cylinders yesterday, and in this division, as tough as it looks like it's going to be, and with the kind of quality pitching that they're going to be seeing a lot,

they get Cinderguard tomorrow, they're going to get Aaron Nola when they face the Phillies, they're going to have to win games like that. They're going to have to beat good pitchers, and their own pitching staff is going to have very little margin for air because they're going to have to try to win some of these games two to one. As you were speaking, I looked up, you know, his game log from last year. Four times last year, he started and lost games in which the final score was either two to nothing or one to nothing. Yeah.

And not only that, there were another three games that he won with just a run or two runs of offensive production, but he shut out the opponent. Yeah. And I think there's going to be more of that this year, again, because the schedule and who they're facing and the style of team that they're going to have. there's going to be more of those kind of games. They have to find a way to win those. All right. I'm going to ask you the question about Bryce Harper. It's just one game, but did it seem different without him? No. Honestly, I don't think it did, and I think in part because Soto is kind of the focal point of the lineup now. He sort of takes over that role where that's the at bat everyone's looking at.

That's the at bat. The opposing team is kind of a game. planning for and I think you saw it in the first inning where they pitched around him once Trey Turner stole second base and that allowed them to then go face their members instead it's one reason why if it's me I think I would rather have Rendon hitting behind Soto instead of the other way around I'd like to have Rendon protecting him just like I like to have Rendon protecting Bryce if he is the focal point in the lineup if he's gonna be drawing a lot of walks you got to have a lot of faith in the guy behind you to get the job done

We saw too many times in the past that Bryce, if he didn't trust the guy behind him, that's when he started expanding his own and trying to do too much instead of just taking his walks and knowing that the guy behind him would bring him in. Again, it's one game. Zimmerman smoked a line drive to third base, that if it's six inches the other direction, a base hit that gives him a run. But these are all these little things that they talked about all spring,

and they didn't do them yesterday, and over the course of the season, they're going to have to be better at it. the way, just to digress for a moment on Harper, for those that missed it yesterday, on his second strikeout yesterday in the Philadelphia home opener, he got booed by Philadelphia fans. And, you know, Tommy and I got into this argument a few weeks back after Harper signed, and I said, don't underestimate the possibility, and because he had said this, you know, during free agency, and he said it yesterday, and I watched his post-case. game interview in Philadelphia, that he wanted a real, you know, enthusiastic, emotional, passionate

into it fan base, you know, and Sportstown for that matter, which, you know, there were subtle shots, you know, over the years about D.C. as a sports town and the Nats as a fan base. And I think he wanted to be in Philadelphia for the money first. I mean, that was Tommy's point. It was all about the money. But he has said it enough now and said yesterday, wow, what an opening day crowd. I love. love this city. I love the fans, the whole thing. But I'm wondering, based on your experience with him and being around him a little bit, is he thick-skinned enough to deal with what is a legitimate, you know, sports town and what he'll have to go through when he's, you know, in a 12-game slump? Yeah, no, I think it's absolutely fair. You know, if they were booing yesterday, that's a little

more of a sarcastic like, like, hey, come on, opening day, prove us. Fair. But, but that fuse is going to be short. And if he goes 0 for three again tomorrow, and if they don't win the game and a few things like that happen, they're going to be a little more genuine booze. I think it's absolutely fair to question how he will deal with that. I always felt like from the beginning that if he left D.C., he was going to want to go somewhere where there was a real rabid fan base that was a really good baseball town with

big crowds and passionate crowds every night, you could tell when they were on the road and they were in places like Chicago and New York and even Philly early on before they went through their down cycle, and even a place like L.A., which draws big crowds every night. He feeds off that stuff, and I think he cares about that stuff. Now, that's said, Philly's a little different animal, and they will love you forever if you perform, and they will turn on you immediately if you don't. And so the concern I would maybe have with him there is knowing all this, knowing what's at stake, the contract and everything else, does he put too much on himself and try to now do too much to perform and live up to the billing? And that's when he gets in trouble when he tries

to do too much. He's got to stay patient. Like I said, take his walks and trust the guys behind him, not expand the zone, not try to be everything for them. That's the thing that I'm going to be watching here early on because he's a guy who plays on so much emotion, and that can be great at times, but it can also be a downfall at times. Yeah, I'm glad you said that because I got into that argument with not only Tommy, but Aaron too here about, you know, just hearing him say it over and over again about, you know, being a sports fan and wanting to be in a real sports city, you know, not not direct shots at D.C., but subtle shots. And I thought his reaction yesterday, where he was over the top talking about, you know, the electricity in the stadium for opening day.

And it was, you know, the fan base and the city and the vibe. But I agree with you. It's, Philly's different. And by the way, you know, they haven't been the greatest of baseball fans necessarily or the most consistent over the years either. But we know what they will be with a winner if the Phillies. That stretch of five years where they were winning big, that was a great baseball town. Other years?

No, not so much. Look, I really think deep down, if the money was equal and things played out differently, he would have chosen a couple other players over Philly. But in the end, they were the ones that offered him the gargantian contract and the ability not to have to go to free agency again, and that's why he chose to go there. All right, back to the Nats.

Tommy said yesterday to me that Dave Martinez is on the hot seat. Is that a fair description of year two for him? I think the whole team is on the hot seat. I think I would look at it that way. There's going to be some pressure after the way last year went to be better to get back to the postseason and then once they get there to start winning, but one step of time here.

I think it's only natural to say, okay, they have never had a manager for more than two and a half years. And they just fired the last guy after winning back-to-back division titles because they didn't win in October. So now the new guy who comes in only wins 82 games, doesn't get to the playoffs, and if they don't do well, especially out of the gates this year, then it's only going to be natural.

Say, well, hang on, he's not living up to the expectations that the owners have now set. What I will say, though, is this. They gave him a three-year contract. He's the first manager they've done this with, kind of still tripped into it because that is the industry standard for first-time managers, and they have never done it before.

Are they going to, if things don't go perfectly, are they going to say, we're going to eat all that? It's not a lot of money, but it is an extra year. Are they going to do all that? And then who else are you going to go find? Knowing the situation here that they don't pay managers well and they don't last for long, that's a tough spot to be in. So I think even if things don't go swimmingly, there may be a sense in the organization of, hey, we have to stick with this. We've got to give this thing a shot. to work. I will tell you that the players like and respect him. He's a really good communicator with

them that even as things went downhill last year, that clubhouse stayed together and that was noted by a lot of people and there were years in the past where that didn't happen. And I think that that stood out to a lot of people as maybe a good sign for him. But you're under pressure to win and those exes and those situations like we saw yesterday are ultimately what he's going to be judged on and they're going to have to be better in those spots so that the seat doesn't become hot at any point. Is there any regret in the organization about not getting a deal done with Bud Black from anybody?

I think there probably is some, yeah, that that would say like, boy, we had ourselves like a pretty good manager. We could have locked up and we blew it in a way. Now, at the same token, they struck gold with Dusty for those two years. Whatever you want to say about the guy, he won 95 and 95. seven games and took them to the playoffs and won the division and all that. So they kind of lucked their way into that. I think more than anything, there is certainly frustration among many in the front office

and as you work your way down from there towards ownership and this feeling of, for all the success they've had and all the things they've learned over the years about how to run a franchise, for some reason that's still among the biggest things they haven't quite gotten yet. is how to value a manager and continuity and how important that is. And again, I said this last year, and I still believe it, it's not just that they changed managers, but they changed almost the entire coaching staff. And that was a tough spot to put all those guys in last year.

Now the whole staff is back. They know the players. But you find organizations where you have coaches who have been with that organization for 10, 15, 20 years. That makes a difference. That kind of organizational philosophy and understanding. and here's how we do things in the minor leagues and guys manage to coach them

when they were coming up through the farm system. That stuff matters, and that has not been the case here because of the constant turn oak. All right, finish the following sentence. The Nats are going to win 90 or so games and qualify for the postseason because of blank more than anything else. I will say,

because of starting pitching more than anything else, this is the way they've been built throughout this entire run of Microso believes that the best way to win, especially over 162 games, is with a dominant rotation. And last year, even though Scherzer was great, Strausberg was hurt at times and not his usual self. GEO and Roark had down years. Helixen was good, but then he got hurt, and the guys they had to fill in did not get the job done at all. And as a team as a rotation, they were middle of the pack and ERA.

When they've been at their best, they've had one of the best rotations in baseball. They think this group should be better. If they stay healthy, I think that will be true. But the depth is a big question mark there if anybody goes down. And so I would say the biggest key to whether this team gets back to October is going to be with that five-man rotation. And can they be one of the best in baseball like they should be? On the flip side, they win 82 games because what happened? injuries probably above all else

particularly the pitching staff because I think there's depth issues there I think it applies to the bullpen as well I think the lineup is going to be okay they're going to have to score runs differently and we saw yesterday that that could be a challenge at times I don't think this is going to be a case of internal you know they're being behind the scenes

drama anything like that like I said that could happen last year and it didn't. So I think injuries, and I think if that pitching staff cannot live up to what it should be, and if they cannot be a more fundamentally sound team, manufacturing runs, running the base as well, that Robles play yesterday really costly. And winning close games. They were 18 and 24 in one-run games last year.

They know all this. They know that's what has to change. But if they can't fix those problems, then I think you're looking at. at another, you know, 500 kind of season where they are left out. All right. Last question, and I'll let you run. Just handicap the National League East. How do you see it? Where do the Nats finish among the Braves and the Phillies and the Mets? I mean, there are four teams that legitimately think they can win the division. Whether that plays out, I don't know, but it's kind of refreshing for change to see a division

where four teams are actually going for it. And you can make a case for any one of them. They all have issues. Not one of them you could say is clearly. the front runner coming into this or, you know, has no significant potential landmine along the way. And my prediction, I actually had the Braves winning the division for the second straight year. They've been under the radar. They didn't make the big splashy moves like the other teams did.

But they won 90 games last year with a lot of young talent in their lineup. And they're supposed to have this big crop of young pitching that's going to emerge at some point this season. So I'm maybe banking on that happen. happening. I've got the Nats second as a wild card. I've actually got the Phillies as another wild card. Wow. Epic one game, winner take-all. Where is it? At Nats Park. Oh, Nat's Park. At Nats Park. Yeah. Look, I had to go with the emotional path there. Is it likely to happen? I don't know. It's going to be tough for three teams to win, you know, 90 plus games. But the Mets, I do think

they can contend, but they have to stay healthy. They have less margin for air than the other teams because so much is built on those top two guys in their rotation and guys in their lineup who have not stayed healthy over the years. So that's the landmine for them. But I do think they can if everything comes together. But it should be a great race. I hope it is a great down-to-the-wire race with multiple teams in it because we have not had that.

No, not one. It's always been somebody running away with it. It would, I think, it would be a lot of fun to experience a real pennant race in late September. You know, it's interesting about that because we've had four octobers of postseason baseball, you know, going back to 2012, yet not one true August, September pennant race that the Nats have been involved in. And that sometimes is what really captures, you know, a city is a pennant race. I mean, we've gotten to the postseason with the expectation that they were going to be in the postseason, the four years that they made it. And those series, you know, the Cardinal series, the Giants, the Cubs, and the Dodgers series were exciting, all of them. But there wasn't a drawn-out month to 90-day, you know, there's 60-day, you know, pennant race where you're living with it, you know, night in and night out.

I think that would be cool to see. Yeah, I agree. That, you know, every night watching the scoreboard and, oh, hey, did the Braves take the lead? And, oh, well, where's going to leave them at the end of the night? Absolutely. And whether this actually matters or not, but I've always kind of wondered this, and we've seen the alternate of it, which is that the Nats have kind of coasted into the playoffs and then not been able to win. Maybe there's something to be said for playing meaningful do-or-die games for several weeks leading up to it and carrying that momentum into the playoffs

if it comes. Well, if you're right, they're going to have at least one do-or-die game. We'll see. That would be pretty happy. Yeah, that would be. Thanks for doing this, as always. I always appreciate it and enjoy it. Thanks, Mark. My pleasure. Thanks, Kevin. Quick word about scent bird. A scent bird is a luxury fragrance subscription service. It's a way to discover new colognes or perfumes without having to buy an entire bottle. This is important because good colognes and perfumes are expensive. And a lot of you don't really know what you're looking for. You probably don't even know exactly what you're wearing some of you guys out there because

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Sign on. Smell amazing. Also want to mention, as I have before, that you can subscribe to the show and it gets delivered right to your phone without you even having to go out and search for it. And it doesn't cost you anything to subscribe. And if you do subscribe, rate it and review it. That's helpful to us. Also, anybody that's not listening to the show that doesn't, you know, know how to do iTunes or Apple Podcasts or Spotify or Google Play, just tell them to go to the Kevin Sheehan Show.com and they can listen right there. Big Tony, big Tony finally found the show.

Oh. I haven't talked to him, but he sent me a text saying, finally figured out how to listen to the podcast. I've been explaining it to him for months now. But it's really easy for those people that are intimidated by a podcast or technology. just tell them to go to the Kevin Sheeenshow.com, and it's really easy. Also, I got a note on Twitter from someone who said that they were a subscriber. I think they said on Stitcher. It may have been another platform. But if you're having problems getting it delivered, what I found a couple of months ago, the same thing happened to me. I just deleted it and resubscribed. And then it was reset. I can't explain the reason that it stopped delivering. I did check with, our provider and they said that they aren't having any issues with the podcast getting out through all of the various podcast platforms. So I think sometimes it's a phone issue or something's going on that can't be explained, but I can tell you this. It happened to me once about two months

ago. I deleted my subscription to the Kevin Sheehan show and then resubscribed and then I was getting it continually. So just some advice there. A couple of last thoughts. before we head out for the day. PJ Washington is still listed as questionable for the Kentucky Houston game tonight. That's important. You know, there are a lot of coaches and a lot of programs with a lot of issues, you know, in this tournament past and present, you know, obviously the LSU stuff. You know, Auburn and Bruce Pearl over the years, Carolina and the academic fraud.

You know, Houston with Kelvin Sampson and some of his issues in the past. You know, obviously, you know, we've seen, you know, issues with some of these coaches and teams over the years. I am a Kelvin Sampson fan as a coach. Someone said to me the other day, are there any coaches you don't like? Yes, there are plenty. But there just happened to be a lot of really good coaches in this tournament and really in the Sweet 16. I mean, I like everybody last night I think can coach. Dana Altman, Tony Bennett.

you know, certainly Mark Few, Matt Painter, Rick Barnes, Chris Baird, and John Beline. And you know what? Over the years, can you really, really debate the results? Leonard Hamilton has gotten at Florida State. I know a lot of people will say, man, doesn't always do the right things at the right time, but that guy has done nothing but win and a lot of games at Florida State. hasn't gotten to the final four. I think a lot of you thought that this was the year, but Gonzaga got the revenge. But yeah, there are a lot of great coaches in this Sweet 16. You know, Izzo, Pearl, Pearl can coach,

no matter what you think of them. Buzz Williams, great coach. Kelvin Samson, great coach. Yeah, they're just, I don't have a problem really with anybody in this Sweet 16. Is there one coach you would say, I mean, the LSU situation you're not sure about, But anyway, so the PJ Washington thing, we had mentioned earlier, you thought he was back for sure. It looks like he's still questionable for tonight. He's put out some videos with him running and stuff.

I mean, that was a nip and tuck game with Wofford down the stretch. If PJ Washington isn't playing, that changes things considerably. Yeah. There was some other sports news from yesterday. How about the Eagles trading for Jordan Howard? They didn't have to give up much either. Sixth round. Sixth round pick for Jordan Howard.

In 2020, it can become a fifth rounder. Yeah. Boy, the Eagles have really loaded up on some running backs over the years, right? J. Jayae, I think he's a free agent and they haven't resigned him. He is a free agent, right? Yeah, he's a free agent. So they, you know, they're looking for a running back, and Jordan Howard's been a product. You know, he's one of those fourth rounders that all of a sudden became really productive in Chicago.

And, you know, what? I think you were about to mention what Chicago did in the off-season. Well, you know, this seemed like something that should have happened a long time ago. It was very clear that Matt Nagy didn't really like Jordan Howard. He was someone who was one-dimensional and Nagy doesn't like one-dimensional running backs at all. Matt Nagy doesn't. Yeah. Yeah, Nagy doesn't like one-dimensional running backs.

So, you know, you saw it during the season as Cohen got more and more running even when he wasn't, you know, he was getting the inside runs, which aren't his forte. So as soon as they signed Mike Davis from Seattle, I thought that this was coming. I didn't know who exactly he would go to. There were a couple teams I thought would be interesting, but the Eagles make a lot of sense for him. The Bears in this offseason signed a guy that two years ago, I said to Cooley, that's who I want the Redskins to have as a running back eventually when he is off his rookie deal. And that's Mike Davis, who's been in Seattle, been behind a bunch of guys, South Carolina. This guy is the guy they're going to feed.

the ball next year. Him and Tar Cohen. I mean, Cohen's a dynamic, you know, back, and they use him a lot of ways. They use him a lot, in similar ways that Kansas City uses Tyree Kill, more as a receiver. But I think Tarke Cohen probably carries the ball more as a back. But Mike Davis is a legit, you know, 20-carry-a-guy game, and it's not going to surprise me if he ends up being a 1,200-yard back. And I know that that may not be necessarily what Chicago now will predict. deuce with their offense, but I love Mike Davis. And by the way, he can catch the ball. Yeah, that's the big thing is that unlike Howard who couldn't catch the ball at all, this is a guy who can run between the tackles and catch the ball, which is exactly what Nag is looking for. Right. Any Redskins news?

There was really no Redskins news in the last day. It was quiet. Yeah, all quiet on that front. I think really we're a month away from the draft, and we'll put a lot of people from the draft on the show. a lot of people that cover the draft, we'll put them on the show over the next month as we get up towards that. But, you know, this time last year, Sam Darnold was like the consensus guy to go number one overall. You know, a month before the draft, not many had Baker Mayfield being the number one pick.

And that's the thing about all of the mock drafts, is they're going to, you know, we're going to look back on them a month from now. And we're going to say, how did, you know, how did you miss such and such as a guy, that was going in the top 10. How did you guys miss that Noah Fant, the tight end from Iowa, was actually going to go before T.J. Hawkinson. And he went number nine overall. Just an example. Four or five of those things are going to happen, including at the very top of the draft.

I know most people, and I would put myself into this category, believe that Kyler Murray is going to be number one overall. But I don't think that I would bet a lot of money on it. I just think that there's a lot of time for big change. The one thing I will stick with is it relates to the question. quarterbacks. And it's just the way I felt watching him all season long. I think ultimately teams are going to pass on Dwayne Haskins and that he is going to fall and Locke is going to end up going in front of him and maybe even a guy like Daniel Jones could end up going in front of him. That could

be one of the big surprises, you know, that Haskins is pretty much a consensus number two quarterback overall. And if you asked me a shocker, three quarterbacks go before Haskins. Murray, Locke, Jones. Jones is the one that everybody thinks is the most ready to step in and run an NFL offense, primarily because of the coaching at Duke from Cutcliffe. All right, that's it for the day. You got anything else? Not really, no. All right, I'll, I gave you the one smell test, Auburn plus five and a half. I'll put out a smell test pick or two for the elite eight games tomorrow and then the elite eight games on Sunday. I'm going to the games tonight. If you're out there and you see me, say hello. I always love catching up with people who are listening to the podcast. And all of you

Twitter trolls, I'm never going to block you. So don't worry about it. I don't even know how to. I could figure it out quickly, but I don't care enough to do it. Have a great weekend. That's it.