The Kevin Sheehan Show - Jeremiyah Love To Washington "Makes Sense"?

Episode Date: March 24, 2026

Kevin opened with some Jayden Daniels/Flag Football follow-up before reacting to Adam Schefter telling the Pat McAfee show that Notre Dame running back Jeremiyah Love to Washington is a landing spot that "makes sense". Kevin recapped the NCAA Tournament's weekend games and then brought College Basketball analyst Randolph Childress on to do the same as well as preview the Sweet 16.   For all your football betting needs: DCRELOAD at MyBookie for a 50% Deposit Match Our listeners get the Harry’s Plus Trial Set for only $10 at https://www.Harrys.com/[INSERT CODE]  #Harryspod For all your garden needs: fastgrowingtrees.com/sheehan 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 Sheehan Show. Here's Kevin. Notre Dame running back Jeremiah Love to Washington at number seven. That was a prediction earlier today from, you could argue, the most prominent NFL reporter of them all. This show's presenting sponsor is always Window Nation,

86690 Nation Window Nation.com if you need new windows. I'll get to the NCAA tournament with my thoughts on the weekend games in the next segment and then Randolph Childress who I love will jump on the show with

his thoughts not only on the first two rounds but he'll look ahead to a power-packed Sweet 16. Before I get to what Adam Schaefter said earlier today about Jeremiah Love. A couple of quick emails and tweets.

This from Teddy. Teddy writes, Sheen, give it a rest on the flagged football thing with JD5. I hate saying this about you because I used to think you were different, but you and the rest of our DC media are so negative and soft. This from Lynn, Lynn writes,

well, he didn't get hurt. Ha, ha, ha. What an overprotective parent you are. Kids will be kids. You can't be there every time they fall down, Kevin. And then this from STZ. STZ writes, Find another team to root for, Sheen.

You're such a negative ninny. It's freaking flagged football. OTAs are more dangerous. The chances of him getting hurt in a mini camp practice are better than in a charity flag football game. If you had it your way, you'd bubble wrap them until September. Grow a pair. I love the word mini. It's one of my favorite words. It's so good. And STZ, you used it perfectly. Thank you for that. So for those that don't know, but I have a feeling most of you do. I talked about this on Friday show.

Jaden Daniels and many other NFLers played in this flag football game that was originally scheduled for Saudi Arabia, but because of the world we're living in right now, got rescheduled for Los Angeles on Saturday. Jaden Daniels and Joe Burrow were the captains of one team, and then there was Tom Brady and Jalen Hertz. They were captains of another team with NFL players and retired NFL players. and then the Olympic flag football team was involved. So there was like a round robin. The game was nationally televised on Fox on Saturday. I didn't watch any of it, but I did see a lot of the highlights on social media,

as I'm sure many of you did. My favorite being Jaden, the wide receiver, out there trying to juke defenders in the open field. David Blow's brain was spinning, I'm sure, with ways that he can use Jaden as a wide. wide receiver next year. Not really. Of course he looked good. Apparently, I didn't watch it, but he looked healthy, which is great news. And of course he did not get hurt in the game because the chances of getting hurt in a flag football game are very, very, very low,

something that I talked about on Friday that drew some of the responses that I've just read, and a lot more from people who agreed with the three that I read. It was never about like this was a high-risk event. This wasn't hang gliding or skiing or race car driving. The chances were always super low that anything would happen, although they were higher than if he didn't participate. But that was never my point. My point was that I didn't think it was the best overall look for a guy that's been

hurt all season long, pretty much hurt every time he took the field, played in four complete games out of 17. I just didn't think it was the best overall idea for him to have his first on-field football action be in a flag football game that clearly wasn't helping advance his number one priority, which is getting better at playing tackle football in the NFL for our team. I'd did say on Friday, and I still, you know, feel the same way. If this had happened a year ago off his brilliant rookie season, no injury season, it wouldn't have occurred to me to feel the way that I did because injury proneness was not in our minds. But after this season, it is. And so this year, you know, after missing so much real football during a five and 12 miserable season,

and miserable primarily because of his absence. I just didn't think the first football he plays should be something that wasn't advancing his number one responsibility. I'm sure it was fun. I'm sure it was a great promotional event for flag football. And I'm sure he and everybody else, all of the pros were paid handsomely by the Saudis who backed this initially.

And look, it was probably a good enough payday where if I knew exactly what the number was, I'd probably say, yeah. I mean, of course, you can't turn that down. Because I am very much a proponent of guys getting as much as they can in sports, especially in the NFL where careers are very short and very fleeting. But to all of you who reached out to tell me how idiotic and soft and negative nini, it was for me to feel that way, look, Lynn wrote in her open. line. Well, he didn't get hurt. Lynn, you're right. But what if he had gotten hurt out there running

routes as a receiver against the Olympic team with guys just itching to show how good they were? From all accounts, this was feisty, this was highly competitive. Of course it was. You got professional athletes and then you got these Olympic guys out there just trying to prove that they belong. And apparently they more than belong. They won. the games. But I mean, Jaden's out there juking defenders in the open field.

This was not, you know, a grab ass with a bunch of fans and sponsors where Jaden and all the other players took a couple of, you know, snaps. And in Jaden's case, a couple of shotgun snaps through a few passes and then sat down and signed pictures

and autographs. I mean, it was competitive. I mean, he's playing receiver for crying out loud. And as far as as STZ, as far as you go, you know, go root for another team. You know, that suggestion you made to me, that just proves what an overly sensitive little nini you are. I mean, oh, go root for another team.

I mean, I'm sorry, I don't agree with you, STZ. And by the way, OTAs aren't dangerous for quarterbacks, just so you know. Suggesting that they're more dangerous than a flag football game, they're not dangerous at all. They don't get touched. They're wearing the yellow jersey. And, you know, and he's not playing wide receiver in OTAs. The whole comparison to OTAs is stupid because OTAs and mini camps are actually his job and things he does to get better at his job. But hey, to all of you who think, you know, my reaction on this on Friday was silly, you're entitled to think that. But I promise you, the organization,

that he plays for, the one that was, by the way, super soft, overly protective, nini-like for the final four games of the season when they shut him down? I think those people had their fingers crossed and set a prayer or two on Saturday. I mean, playing wide receiver, running pass routes as a wide receiver, trying to shake guys that want to prove they're just as good. I mean, seriously, what are we doing here? But, you know, can you imagine if something had happened? And that's kind of the point that the juice was never really worth the squeeze for the team, for us. But for him it probably was.

So I can't kill him for taking what was probably a very, very handsome payday. It just would have been much nicer had it been, you know, hey, we're going to take the shotgun snaps five, six times, throw a couple of passes, and then, you know, hold and kiss some babies and sign some autographs. Anyway, done with that. Adam Schefter this afternoon on Pat McAfee's show on ESPN being asked about Notre Dame running back Jeremiah Love and the draft, which, by the way, four weeks from this coming Thursday night, here's what Adam Schaefter said about the prospects for Jeremiah Love on draft night. To me, he's a top 10 pick. I know a lot of people have had him going to Tennessee.

Again, it's just not what I'm sensing right now. And by the way, it's March 23rd. The draft is a month from now. There are a lot of teams that go back and forth on these things. And just because they're not in a spot on March 23rd, doesn't mean they won't be in a different spot on April 23rd. So it's hard to say. Today, as we sit here today, my guest,

would be, I don't see them going to Tennessee. I don't see them going to the Giants at number five, although that would be an interesting spot. And I think you'd have a lot of support there. To me, a place that makes sense today, a month out, would be the Washington commanders. They've added to their running back room. I could see Washington being interested in a player like Jeremiah Love,

seven would be the spot. if we go back to other years and other great running backs, Bejohn Robinson went number eight to Atlanta. Christian McCaffrey went number eight to Carolina. So to me, Washington, I know they went out and they added Rashad White and they added some depth at the running back position. But I still think that if you could pair Jeremiah Love and Jane Daniels, that would be dynamic. and they've been in need at that spot. So to me, that's a spot that I'm watching a month out. Although, look, he could turn up at four, he could turn up at five, he could turn up at six.

I just think seven is interesting to watch. That's me. A place that makes sense to Adam Schaefter for Jeremiah Love running back Notre Dame, that place would be the Washington commanders. You know, we've talked about this in the past. When prominent and very reliable reporters like Adam Schaefter, like Ian Rappaport, like Jeremy Fowler, when they are in a certain context, in this context, he's on a show as a guest, the Pat McAfee show, and he is sharing his opinions.

He's not reporting anything. That's not a report, but he's sharing opinions. And when the Adam Schaefters of the world share opinions and they are. are opinions that you can tell they feel strongly about in the moment. The question is, is it something that's based on information that they have? Or are they just riffing? In this particular case, I thought the part that seemed like it's something that he knows is that Jeremiah loves not going where a lot of people have had him mocked,

which is to Tennessee at number four. That sounded more like Adam in that environment sharing an opinion that is an opinion based on some information that he has. So if he doesn't go to Tennessee at 4 and he also feels like the Giants would not take him either, then he could certainly slip to 7. And so the fact that Washington does have a running back need, even though they signed Rashad White and they signed Jerome Ford and they've got, you know, Bill Kroski Merritt coming back. You know, did it make sense to him because he feels like Tennessee based on information isn't going to take him? Giants based on information isn't going to take him. And therefore, the next spot that would seem obvious would be Washington. Yeah, that could be it.

or maybe he knows something. I think it was probably more about he's got a sense informationally where he isn't going to go prior to Washington at 7. We'll see. Look, we've talked a lot about the players so far and we're going to talk a lot more about these players as we approach next month. I don't feel strongly about Jeremiah Love at number seven for our team. I don't feel good about Jeremiah Love at number seven overall as a running back that is going to be a truly elite level back, because you don't take a running back at number seven unless you think he's going to be the next Bejan Robinson, the next Christian McCaffrey.

I don't see that with Jeremiah Love as a fan of football. I see Jeremiah Love as a guy that's going to be a very good running back. I've compared him to Josh Jacobs, but with much better speed, a much faster version of Josh Jacobs. Josh Jacobs is a really, really good back. He's not Bijan. He's not Jamir Gibbs. He's not Christian McCaffrey. You know, he's not Sequin Barclay.

And I think that Jeremiah Love is going to be a really, really good back. Don't get me wrong. but I need to know that I'm getting Christian McCaffrey or Bijon Robinson or Jumeer Gibbs if I'm going to take a running back at 7. The thing for me about Jeremiah Love more than anything else is I see the incredible breakaway speed, the big playability, the home run threat. I see the ability to make people miss, but I don't see the high, high level of making people miss, not like Bejohn does, not like McCaffrey.

or even Sequin does. I see a little bit more of a straight-line speed guy. It's not RG-3, you know, and that was the guy that I always used, is he's got straight-line track speed. It's not just track speed. He's got wiggle, but he doesn't have Bijon wiggle. Now, who does? I don't think anybody in the league.

I think Bejohn Robinson is the best overall back in the league right now. And certainly as a pass receiver out of the backfield and as a runner, Christian McCaffrey is probably close. But McCaffrey isn't available as much or hasn't been, and he's older. So for me, I'd rather, if you told me they were going to take an offensive player at 7, I'd rather it be Carnell Tate. I would. I think Jeremiah Love, look, I'll be excited if they take Jeremiah Love

because he immediately gets, you know, penciled in as a major upgraded weapon offensively for this team that needs that. I just think it's too high for him. But if he's the highest rated player on their board in a draft that apparently has the fewest kind of obvious first round grades in recent memory, and they can't trade back, okay, I'm not going to hate it. I just think it's too high for him. I want David Bailey if Bailey falls to seven. I'd rather have Sunny Stiles if Stiles falls to seven. I think I'd rather have Caleb Downs.

if Downs falls to seven. I think I'd rather have Carnell Tate if Tate's there at seven. I think Tate's going to be really good. And again, on Love, don't mistake what I'm saying about him as I don't think he's a good player. I do think he's a good player. I think he'll be a very good player. I just don't think it would be a very good pick at number seven. That's all.

All right. Before we get to the NCAA tournament games from over the weekend, I wanted to mention that the smell tested pretty well over the weekend. I'm 14 and 8 for the NCAA tournament. Long way to go, but 63.3%, you know, 3% a pretty good start through the first weekend of the tournament. On Friday show, I talked about my bookie offering boosted odds on my smell test picks, or at least, you know, a few of them. And that was the case on Friday, and I think it was the case yesterday. Saturday was a problem, and I apologize for that. That was on me. I didn't get them the picks in the proper amount of time. You know, some of these smell test picks I got to wait on and wait

to get some information. I did tweet them out at 11 a.m. both days over the weekend, same on Thursday and Friday. Sweet 16 picks will be out on this show. before the games even begin. But for those of you going there looking for the boosted odds and didn't see them, my apologies. Now, the 50% cash bonus still applies. You just have to use my promo code DC Reload, D-C-R-E-L-A-D, and they'll hit you with a 50% cash bonus. So whatever you deposit, new customer, existing customer doesn't matter.

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Go ahead. So, Jones, it's going to this week 16. Condonan will end up to Lee. Lee, across mid-court. Lee speeding toward the basket. Lee leaves it underneath. That's it. Iowa for the first time since 1999.

We'll head to the Sweet 16 as they knock off the defending national champs. I think that was the best combination of high-quality basketball and an exciting finish of any of the games this weekend. I'm going to get to that one to start, but we'll recap the entire weekend. coming up after, I tell you, that Window Nation is offering 50% off everything right now. You can't go wrong if you've been thinking about new windows. At the very least, giving Windonation a chance to come out and give you a free in-home estimate. It will include half-price 50% off on any window style and they have over 1,500 to choose from.

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First of all, I had Iowa plus the 10 and a half, so that helps. And they were a smell test selection yesterday. But, man, high-quality game, two excellent coaches. How good is Ben McCollum? He has four championships at the D2 level at Northwest Missouri State. Coached to Drake last year. Remember, they upset Missouri in the first round before losing in a second round game. They won 31 games in his only year at Drake.

He got the job at Iowa, and he's excellent. He's intense, but he is excellent. I mean, he's really good, an outstanding coach. They faltered down the stretch. They lost a bunch of games in February, including at Maryland. Buzz Williams' best win of the year really was against Iowa at home when Iowa was rolling at that point. I think they had won like five or six in a row. They faltered down the stretch, cost them a little bit, but they got it together this past weekend.

They were impressive against Clemson on Friday night and then got the win over a much bigger and more physical Florida team. And they hung with them on the glass throughout. And they didn't even get a great performance scoring-wise from their best player, Bennett Sturts, who is likely, you know, a mid-to-late first-round NBA selection. Sturts played for him last year at Drake when they pulled off that first-round upset in the NCAA tournament.

But Sturts was Ofer from behind the arc. But there was a situation at the end of the game that I wanted to talk about because Todd Golden, the coach of Florida, said after the game that they had a different strategy that they were unable to execute in their end-of-game situation that would have been totally unique for me anyway. Let me just give you the whole setup. So Florida makes a free throw with 8.9 seconds to go to go up to 72 to 70. Iowa faces Florida's full court press with a man on the ball, which is not the best strategy. I don't think with 8.9 seconds to go, to go full court pressure up to with a man on the ball. You typically want to have somebody on the ball with, say, less than five or less than four left. So that'll kind of force a pass into the back court.

And then you're talking about dribbling and heaving one up from half court or maybe just, inside of it. But when you full court press with 8.9 seconds to go and you get beat on the pressure, then you're at a numbers disadvantage often. And that's what happened yesterday. Iowa ran a really good pass to get a play to get the inbound pass to Bennett Sturts on the move heading up court. And they immediately broke the pressure. They immediately created a four on three. And then it became a three on two as he sort of approached, you know, the circle. And they've got a wide open three-point shooter spotting up in the corner, sterts, throws him the ball, he knocks down a three with about, you know, three point eight seconds to go in the game. Now, Florida had no time

out. So I'll come back to that in a moment because they stopped the clock to fix the clock, which just was an incredible, you know, advantage that Florida gained from that, getting almost a free time out. But Todd Golden said after the game that their plan was to foul, up two, not up three, up two. They wanted to foul. Apparently Golden believes in this end of game up two situation. Because somebody tweeted about it last year before the actual national championship game against Houston saying, don't be surprised if Todd Golden fouls up too late in the game, which would have sent the announcers into a tizzy, like, oh, you can't foul there? Well, that's what he planned to do. I've got to be honest with you. I've never really heard of this

strategy. But here is the explanation from Golden and others today after they learned that that was his strategy. First of all, the strategy is to foul the worst of the free throw shooters on the floor, not the best free throw shooter. And the ball came into the hands of their best free throw shooter. So if you don't want their best free throw shooter to get the ball, maybe you don't put somebody on the ball and maybe you double team him. But he not only got the ball, he got the ball on the move. Credit to Ben McCollum again for designing a really good inbound play against the press. pressure. But the idea is if you foul a lesser free throw shooter, A, you're not going to lose the game in regulation on a three. You could, like he could make the first free throw, miss the

second, and they could get the offensive rebound and score. But a big team like Florida is likely going to snag the rebound off of a miss, and you're either going to rebound, you know, up one, rebound, up two, or take the ball. out of the net in a tie game, and you're going to have the last opportunity to win the game. But you're not going to lose on a three. And so the analytics on that is, apparently there is at least a tiny, tiny advantage if you foul a poor free throw shooter. Now, Iowa did not have a poor free throw shooter on the floor, but they did have a good

free throw shooter who was struggling yesterday. Tavion Banks had missed a couple of front ends of one-on-ones down the stretch, and he was five of ten on the day. So maybe that's who they wanted to foul, but he didn't get the basketball. They didn't foul, and they lost on the three-pointer. And then at the very end, after Florida was essentially given a free timeout as the referees moved the clock from 3.8 to 4.4, or whatever it was,

they put an extra five-tenths of a second on the clock. That's a big deal. I'm not saying it isn't. I just hate an end-to-game situation where the team that just got scored on has no timeouts, and the referees stop the clock. Because in that harried, kind of hurried, frantic situation, you feel like you've lost the game, and you've got no timeouts in 3.9 seconds, and you've got to go the length of the floor without, you know, at least the coach saying, remember what we do in these situations.

here's what we're going to do now. Well, they got that free timeout. A caller today suggested to me, and I think it's a great rule change, that if they stop the clock to look at a clock malfunction or to look at, is it a three versus a two or whatever, foot online, the team should not be able to go back to their huddle and be coached unless they want to call a time out.

And in Florida's case, they would not have been able to. But interesting strategy, right, to foul up. up to. Certainly, it would have looked good now because they lost on a three-pointer. The other really good game yesterday was Kansas St. John's. Now, I say good game because it was an exciting, crazy finish. But if you watched the first three quarters of this game, I mean, this was some of the ugliest offensive basketball game of the entire tournament. I mean, neither team could pass, dribbler, shoot. The turnovers were high. The defense was excellent. Both of these teams are very good defensively. St. John's in particular. Excellent defensively. But down 14,

with, I don't know, four minutes to go, here comes Kansas. And you're waiting for Darren Peterson to do something this year, like to have a signature moment in his one season in college basketball. And he actually opened the game with two threes, but then went somewhat dormant until the very end, and he did have a couple of big buckets, had a couple of big free throws to tie the game, ended up with 21 points. I mean, it was not a strap the team to his back performance by any stretch of the imagination. I'll tell you what he is good at. He is a good defender. He's a willing defender for sure.

He gets his hands on balls. He sees it, he feels it. He's not my guy, though, not number one, and probably not even number two. I'll get to my number two here in a moment. But that game, he ties it at 65-65 with

just over 13 seconds left in regulation. They come storming back to tie the red storm at 65. And they had four fouls to give. Four, they only had two team fouls in that particular moment.

And you got to use all of them, you know, and you got to try to use as much of the clock as you're using the four fouls as well. And I thought, they used all four, I thought they could have used them a little bit more effectively. They fouled

immediately on the first in-bounds pass. Like a half a second came off the clock. Then they fouled again immediately. Their first two fouls, only a second and a half, elapsed from the clock. There was like 11 and some change left. So now you're down to two more fouls to give. And by the time they gave those, St. John's had 3.9 left on the clock. I think there was a way to whittle that clock down to maybe 1.9, you know, or something under two seconds.

and you've got to be careful because you can't foul somebody in his shooting motion. But I thought they could have gotten a little bit more out of that. And then they didn't defend the kid Darling, Dylan Darling on the last play. He drove literally from in-bounce pass to lay up without any resistance. Horrible, horrible defense by Kansas and St. Johns wanted it the buzzer with a kid who had not scored. He became the first player in NCAA history to win a game with a buzzer beater with his first bucket of the game. That was his first and only bucket of the game. I'll tell you, man, Petino's reaction, if you haven't seen it, check out Petino's reaction to the win. I mean,

it doesn't look like he is excited at all. And it's really probably more about how devastating the loss was for Bill's self. That may be it for Bill Self at Kansas. We'll see. But that was certainly a thrilling ending, if a bit disjointed in terms of the game. I love the Calhoun, the guy Calhoun at Utah State. What a good coach. He just took the Cincinnati job.

They hung in there with Arizona. They were legitimately in the game with a few minutes to go with just really good defense. Purdue's guards, I mean, Braden Smith didn't have a great game, but Fletcher Lawyer did. They beat Miami by 10. Iowa State so impressive,

but they lost a key player, Jefferson, in the game yesterday, but they blew out Kentucky. Yukon pulled away from UCLA late. Tennessee over Virginia, that was a really close game. How good is Jacoby Gillespie? The former Terp,

who was a big part of Maryland's run to the Sweet 16, last year back in the Sweet 16 with Tennessee. The two games for Gillespie in this tournament, 29 and 21. He's averaging 25 a game in the first two. He can really shoot the three and does a really good job at the free throw line, which he did down the stretch against UVA. So Virginia's, I think, somewhat surprising season in Odom's first year, comes to an end as a three-seed against the six-seed Tennessee.

Only one ACC team, by the way, left in the draw, and that is Duke. What else from yesterday? Man, Alabama, even without the kid, they lost. They really can shoot the three. They blew out Texas Tech last night. Saturday, I just got to go back to TCU Duke. I know that Maryland fans and ACC fans

and sometimes just college basketball fans in general complain a lot about the Duke whistle and it is a real thing. There's no doubt about it. I do think that it's been exaggerated at times over the years, but man, did they get the whistle against TCU? That game was 44-44.

That was a close game and then all hell broke loose. They missed in a, egregious goaltending call, and then teed up Jamie Dixon for arguing it. It was the turning point in the second half. There was also a play where a TCU player took the pump fake from Cam Booser down on the block, and literally to protect himself on the fall so that he didn't, as he flipped over, didn't land on his head. He grabbed for support Cam Booser to sort of break his fall, which it did, he landed on his back, not his head.

And they called a flagrant one on him. Absurd. Both teams were aggressive, and Duke shot 23 free throws and TCU shot 10. That was, you know, a stretch in that second half that really benefited Duke, some of the real, I'll just say, bad officiating. But anyway, what else from Saturday? the Nebraska Vanderbilt game was unbelievable. The Nebraska crowd, that was in Oklahoma City.

It was a home game for them. Vanderbilt really, really good team, and people said they were underseated, and they probably paid for it by having to play, you know, a virtual road game against Nebraska. But, man, the Cornhuskers into the Sweet 16 for the first time ever after winning their first ever tournament game on Friday, and they're going to face Iowa. I mean, two of the six Big Ten teams in the field.

Illinois was impressive against VCU. Texas and 11, you know, no mid-majors. You know, I'm sure you know the storyline now. Pretty much the second straight year of just the biggest leagues getting all-sweeted 16 teams. And I think we're at six Big Ten, three Big 12, right? and then one ACC and I think three SEC. I think that's what it is. And maybe two big East teams.

Who am I forgetting? Whatever. Arkansas, I wanted to end with this from the weekend. Darius Aikov Jr. The player that I would say right now, if I had the second pick in the draft and A.J. DeBonsa from BYU was gone, I'd consider Aikov Jr. before Peterson.

definitely before Cam Boozer. Acuff Jr., now let me just say, he's not a proficient defender. I'm not even sure it's something that he really enjoys doing at this point. He's not a good defender at all. But he is a lethal score as a point guard. Dame Lillard, Derek Rose come to mind. He is just incredible.

incredible as a score. He had 36 in the win over high point on 50% shooting from the floor overall, 50% from behind the arc. I think I did this maybe a week or so ago. He's got games this year of, let me go through him. 29, 29, 26, 31, 28, 31, 49, 49, 49, 49, 49, 49, 49, 49, 49, 49, 49, in a double overtime loss at Alabama. He had 49 points in Tuscaloosa. On 16 of 27 from the field, 6 of 10 from behind the arc, 11 of 12 from the free throw line. 28 in the SEC quarterfinals.

37 in the SEC quarterfinals. 30 in the SEC final win over Vanderbilt. He is physically stout at 6,000. 3, 195, whatever he is. He is smooth. He can just flat out score. He is going to be a big-time score at the NBA level. I think he's got a very high ceiling and a very high floor.

And I just don't think that Peterson is, I mean, there are times when I'm watching him and I'm like, yeah, that's really impressive how easily he scores. and I know the stories about the load management may have gotten a little bit sideways. There was a good story in the athletic last week about that stuff, but give me Darius Aikov Jr. from Arkansas at number two. DeBonsa would be my number one, and I think Aikov Jr. would be my number two. I mean, Caleb Wilson, the kid who got heard at Carolina, certainly would have to be in consideration. I'm not going boozer.

I don't think I'm going Peterson at number. number two. The Sweet 16 matchups, my God, what a lineup. I mean, Thursday night, you know, you get Texas Purdue, Purdue impressive. I picked them to win the whole thing. Then you get Nebraska, Iowa, a Big Ten matchup. During the course of the season, Iowa went against Nebraska, one at home against Nebraska, lost on the road against Nebraska. so they split with Nebraska this year. Arkansas, Arizona might be the best Sweet 16 matchup of them all. And then Illinois, Houston.

I mean, that's a home game that's at the Toyota Center in Houston for Kelvin Samson's team. So they certainly have a huge opportunity to get back to the final four with what could amount to two home games. Then the two games in D.C. on Friday, St. John's Duke early, Michigan State, Yukon late. But the other region, the Midwest region, I think actually has the better teams. Michigan against Bama and Tennessee and Iowa State, they might be the real deal. Unbelievable matchups.

A couple of lines, too, that really reek to me. I mean, Arizona's an eight-point favorite over Arkansas. I guarantee you the public's going to be all over Arkansas getting the points. Houston's a short three-point favorite, three-and-a-half-point favorite against Illinois. My bookie has right now Michigan as a 10-and-a-half-point favorite against Bama. I would not have guessed that. I would have guessed Michigan minus seven and a half maybe, minus eight. But really good games.

Tournament's been good so far. I think it has been. We'll talk to Randolph Childress about the tournament. after these words from a few of our sponsors. Thrive Markets a product that I've been using. I think you should use it too. Thrive is a membership-based grocery service where you can shop from wherever you are,

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All right now. Randolph Childress, love having him on the show. One of the great ACC players from back in the day, a wake guy, but played and grew up in this area, went to Flynn Hill. and he's done a phenomenal job as a broadcaster calling games for ESPN during the course of the year. And then over the first few days of the tournament, being a big part of the coverage on TNT, TBS, etc. And he'll be working with the field of 68 from the Sweet 16 on. So let's start with this.

The most impressive team of the weekend for you was who? Well, I mean, I don't know how we can't acknowledge what I would just did, right? I think that upset was just unbelievable and what they pulled off. And I think everyone had floored as a favorite, and I did as a final four, at least. And I thought Iowa was just with a more physical and tougher team. And that's something that's surprising me because I didn't think there were many teams more physical and fluid all year long. And you watched that game, they finished up even on the rebounds. they were leading for the majority of the game.

And just, you know, made the right plays. Obviously, everyone saw the game, made the plays, made the shot to finish the game. I was really impressed with them. I knew their guard play would be good. You know, Ben Sturts and Banks were amazing in the way they played. But to see the way they rebound and they competed on the front line and their toughness was, I thought the biggest, the best performance so far the tournament. And I don't have many great stories.

I thought High Point was fun to watch. uh, Rob Martin was, was, was so fun. That match up with he and Darius A Cup at Arkansas.

Yeah. So, it's almost like, you can actually watch those guys play again. I mean, there were so many good games and I thought the tournament,

you know, when I was watching the games, actually said, the tournament committee gets so much flak for who didn't get in and everything else. I thought they absolutely crushed it this weekend.

Uh, I thought the right 68 teams got in. I thought the right matchups were, were great. You know, how about that? Nebraska, you know, Vanderbilt game I thought was amazing the way that ended. Just was a really good weekend of basketball.

You know, you started with Iowa, and I talked about them in the open. I remember Ben McCollum coaching Drake last year. I knew that he got the Iowa job. I knew he was a good coach. But watching him against Florida, you know, you were a player, and I'm wondering if you get impressed by certain coaches to the point. point where that guy, whomever he is, actually makes a massive difference in the overall, you know, result. Do you feel that way about coaches in college? And then, if so,

do you share the same feeling about McCollum that I have? I think he's as good as we have. He's one of those guys. He comes up as a D2 coach. And you see his growth in a success. I mean, he, he's D2 school. He comes in and he gets Drake instantly. Like, it doesn't take long. He knows what he wants. He knows what system is. And you come along with a guy like Ben Sturts, I mean, again, you know, you see a lot of that now with a under-recruited player. You know, look at his

journey. You're talking about Ben Sturts a Division 2 player. Yeah. Drake, Iowa, and now he's a first round NBA draft prospect. And I think that, you know, obviously that talent, you know, that's, he gets the credit for that, but what

the column's done, it's just been amazing. And, and again, there are when he took the job, you saw him last year, it was a problem. He took Iowa, we knew they would be significantly better. He's done nothing but winning. I mean, I'm with you. I'm big on what I see.

I was really impressed with them, and that's why I set them first, because they out, they didn't out rebound them, but they were the even match when he would dominate everybody on a glass. I mean, they dominate everybody on a glass. Did a really good job. And they didn't do it by making a ton of threes. Let's be clear with that. Exactly.

The other part of it that, I think that, you know, Had they made 13, 14, 15, 3, you'd have been like, oh, Vince Sturt, shot it well, they dominated the two-point lane. They dominate the paint. They beat Florida at Florida's game, and that was the most impressive thing. And you see guys like, not everybody can motivate their team

and their players the way he has, and credit to him. He's one of the best that we have in college basketball. I mean, to your point, Sturtz, who is going to be an NBA player, was 0 for 9 from behind the arc in that game. What did you make, and I don't know if you caught this, but do you know that Todd Golden, the coach of Florida,

that the plan at the very end with 8.9 seconds to go and up to was to foul up to, that that was his strategy. They full court pressed, which they did throughout the game. And by the way, that was one of those things where, I mean, Iowa just handled it incredibly well, you know, the pressure. You know, often with the ball out, you would not even hitting the floor. And the strategy from Golden was to foul up two. I mean, we've never really seen anybody do that,

but the analytics for him say, if you foul a lesser foul shooter, that you're not going to lose by a three-pointer, worst case is overtime, and if they make two, you're going to have the ball with the last chance to score. I don't know if you get into all that stuff like I do. I do.

So what did you think of that strategy? They didn't execute because they got sturt. Yeah, they obviously didn't execute it. But I'll say this, I think at times you can't be so analytical. At a point in time, Tom, it says takes over. Why would you, when I saw them come out the defense, again, if you wanted to fight, I didn't understand why you would do that because Ben Sturts, there was no question who was going to get to basketball, right?

If you want, taking that approach, putting a lesser player on the line, then why would you have a player on the ball, not off the ball? Doubling. Kind of playing in safety. Doubling Vince Sturt. So he doesn't get the basketball. Exactly. Like, you kids. Like, he's the one guy you knew was going to get.

And this happens throughout the college basketball and late game situations. And I say this all the time. There are certain guys you know. You watch and you're going, I said at the end of Virginia and Tennessee game. I'm not letting Jacoby get to basketball. Gillespie's not going to the free throw. Someone else on that team

is going to be closing this game out, and it's not going to be him. And you put a guy that got on a line, he knocks down four free throws, then the game's out of control. So the mistake I made was, well, if you were going to file, then why wouldn't you have a safety there anyway?

Like, it just didn't make sense. Some people are so analytical, where you get burned by it, and I thought his team did. Because to me, The safe bet would have been double team sturt, Ben, me Sturts, double team starts, and then you stay home on everybody else.

Allow him to run off. You guard the basketball and you force him to run. If he takes it, because I thought the same thing, hey, give him the two. Give him the two. And if he lays it up, fine, lays it up quickly, you got plenty of time, you outlet it, and then you come back down and make a play. I thought Florida had issues because I didn't trust their guards,

and I thought for the most part, Biggie Flann and Xavier and Lee were solid. It was their frontline guy that was disappointing. It didn't show up. But that's one of those analytical comments where I look at it and go, you guys blow it. And I don't know what you were doing. Come out of that timeout under no circumstances,

one should that guy have been on the endbounder and not playing safety. Yeah. And that makes it even worse hearing that that was your approach. And that way everybody else could have stayed home. And I thought they completely screwed that up. And I know Todd Golden is a really good coach, and he's a, you know, he's a national champion. But that's a really difficult way to not to be able to defend your championship or lose in that manner. When I thought the team wasn't, you just got too analytical, and you overthought that, and I think it costs your team that.

Because that's the case, you should have had someone playing safety and not on the ball. Yeah, I mean, on the ball when there's less than four seconds, so you force a pass into the back court. But when there are 8.9 seconds left and you let the best player on the team not only catch it, but let him catch it with forward momentum with the run on the run. And you're automatically, when you've got somebody in the ball in that situation, it's going to be three on two, more likely than not. And they had a wide open shooter. That's what it was.

Yeah. That's exactly what it was. He caught the ball 75 feet from the bat. And it was a three-on-two fast break. Yep. That staff and everyone, and that's a great staff. But you got to wake up today and be sick because that was just a mental mistake. I don't know.

You did a great job of that, of pressuring and getting back in the game and speeding Iowa up and doing all the things to be disruptive to kind of flip the momentum a little bit. I think the other thing was posing the game out, not allowing your back. big to touch the basketball. I thought that was another big mistake that they made. I mean, play where boogie flann turned the corner, went down the lane, the deflection went out of bounds. Well, they ran a horn set, and it was a switch.

Though he had the big guy on him, he went off a house and he had a guard on him. Right. Thomas Howe had to touch the basketball. And if they scored there, the game's over. They're up. It's over at that point. And he doesn't touch it. And then the final play, Xavier and Lee had no idea.

I don't understand what he was thinking. There was four seconds. Yeah. You got to get it up. You got time to pass. You did a great job of taking advantage of your speed. You got to get that shot up on the glass. So they just didn't handle the moment well on either end of the floor.

And that's why they'll be home. And they want to advance to the three-16. How about the end of the Kansas game? So I talked about, you know, they had four fouls to give. Kansas did after Peterson hit the two free throws. And we'll get to him in a moment. I thought that you're obviously going to use all four of those fouls with 13 seconds left. You're going to make sure that they're inbounding the ball with like a second and a half left and they got to heave something up there.

And I thought, of course, they did the right thing, but they fouled too quickly with the first two fouls. They fouled literally with like a half of a second off on the first inbounds in the back court. Like you've got to let some clock roll before you foul. they're not going to be in a shooting motion in the back court. And I thought that was the mistake they made. Did you see that the same way or maybe a different way? Well, I'm going to tell you what. I actually applaud what they were doing because they had so many files to give.

Yeah. The reason I liked the first couple of files, because they kept making them saying John have to inbound the ball in the back court. Right, without the baseline. Without, yes, without a sideline. And they kept inbound in the back court. So it limited their options of what they were able to run. Okay.

Because they still had the inbound of ball in the back court. Yeah. You just gave a guy catching the ball in the middle of the lane and just drove a straight line drop to the rim. But I thought that was actually good on their part because they kept St. John in the back court. They were letting time elapsed, but every time they filed, the ball went back.

And it stayed in the back court. So the problem would have been, if you let them advance it and you file, then all of a sudden they were in the front court. But there's more time off the clock. Yeah, I mean, the first two fouls were a second and a half off the clock. That was it. That was the only thing.

But your logic makes sense, too. Keep them inbounding in the backboard. But you ended, yeah. The third one was fought. And even with the four, I don't know what, they committed, what, four foul? Yeah, they committed four. No, they had four to give. Committed four.

Yeah. And even with the four file, look at where the ball would be inbounded with three. Yeah, it was barely at half court. Yeah. It was barely at a half-court. So I thought that was great because, again, it was limited. That look how far, and it was, I think it was 13 seconds. I don't remember it.

Yeah, it was 13 seconds. Yeah, yep. 13 seconds. So when you think about that, nearly 10 seconds went off, and all they made it to was half-foot. So that's why you filed, because had you not awaited, then they would have advanced the ball into the front court. And then now the problem with that is that what's dangerous what that is,

Now you bring into effect of if they can start inbounding the ball in the second court, now you've got to be careful of your fouling because now I can run my side of the amount of ballplay and then you can get into my motion of shooting. And remember, college now has the continuation motion. Right. So if we were to catch it and you try to foul, I don't dribble, I go into my shooting motion. Now you give it up a three and you're going to lose the game of free throw. So I thought they handled that part of it great.

They just didn't execute the final play. You let a guy go straight down the middle of the court and, you know, catching it past half court and dribbling in three seconds, getting it to the rim. And I thought it was, I thought it would work that well. I thought they did everything they needed to do except defend the last basket and pay for it. Again, it's about the plays you don't make.

And fans it didn't make it and now just season it. Yeah, don't get me wrong. Of course you're going to, I would of course use all four of those fouls. I just would have loved for on the first two more than a second and a half to roll off the clock. But you make a good point. It kept forcing them to inbound the ball from the back court. The other thing, too, is you can be super aggressive in those spots going for steals, not worrying about fouling.

And it was they were more just making sure that the refs saw that they were fouling them, rather than being aggressive going to try to get the basketball. Deny I could agree with that, but I thought the file were okay. Yeah. Because if you let them advance it... No, no, no, that makes sense.

That makes sense. You have them inbounded in the front port. Now I get to run a plane. Yeah. And now if I... You bring in a consideration, the continuation of the continuation, shooting, and all those things,

and that's where it gets dicey. I thought they did it perfectly. It just didn't execute defensively on the last play. So tell me your thoughts after the two Kansas games in the tournament. Where are you on Darren Peterson? I think it's the talent fair. I do say this, and we talked about this before.

I think everyone has mishandled his situation. What I mean by that is there was a story that come out and he had said, hey, how he had. He cramped up and it caused some very serious issues with him. Right. I think you should have come out with that from the very beginning. I think Kansas should have come out with this, at the very beginning.

Totally with you. Totally with you. They could have communicated that and taking them off the hook a little bit. Yes. I think everybody is going to hook for that because had you said this, the narrative around him is different. There's no mystery. There's no mystery.

And there's an understanding of like he's had serious issues with this. Right. Where he missed significant time. And so when he had that issue the first time, he missed significant time. And so for him, he's thinking, well, I'm going to sit out because if it gets bad as it once did, I may not be able to play again. He's trying to play. So I thought that was a complete mishap on Kansas and his representation. I think everyone mishandled that should have been more forthcoming with the information instead of people questioning his character,

questioning his ability to play. And in some cases, you now have people questioning whether they should. draft to number one or not. So he won't go any less than number two. I think A.J. DeBaz has earned it with his size. He's a big guard. I don't think anybody's going to be upset. And I don't think there was ever a guarantee that he was one anyway. So it's always one or two. And I don't think that'll change. So, you know, I think it's a personal opinion about which guy you like. There are obviously a lot to like about A.J. DeBaz and what he brings. But I'm a strong believer in an NBA team will do their homework.

they'll have all the information that they need to be to help them with the injuries of the cramping and everything to be preventative and I think his talent I think those two guys are legit talent that can be all-stars and flip a team I think there's good players everywhere else but I think those are the best team talent with the highest feelings of all the talent that's in this draft all right well what if I told you that I had a crystal ball

and I'm sitting here the day after the draft, and DeBonsa went one, but Peterson nor Boozer went number two. Who would have been picked number two? I think the only person you're picking would be Caleb Wilson. Ooh, okay. Yeah, yeah. Under that scenario, I think it's only Caleb Wilson.

I think he's the only guy that, unless there's some international prospect that's coming in that we're just not paying attention to, that we don't know a lot of right now, but if it was college, and it's not Cam Boozor and it's not Darren Peterson, I don't think there's much debate about the next person in line would be Caleb Wilson. So where are you on the guy that I have fallen in love with over the last few weeks in that Starius A Cup, Jr.?

Even though he does not seem to really like participating on the defensive end of the floor. That does not seem to. What is a part of basketball? Yes, it is. It is. It is. He's playing a wide receiver, right? Unless he's playing a wide receiver playing football.

Right. I think that's it. He is dynamic offensively. He really is. It's fun to watch. But unfortunately, that's a part of it. So that would be the reason that you, because to me, offensively, he looks like Dame Lillard or Derek Rose to me.

Like, he's going to score at the NBA level, don't you think? Yes, I do. Yeah. I don't think he's an athlete, though, of some of those guys, but I think he's a really good player. But again, if he was an elite athlete, I think he belongs in that conversation. I think at times we talk about Derek Rose,

and you use that analogy, and I get it from his body type. But Derek Rose was arguably the best athlete, one of the best athletes in the league. He and Russell Westbrook are the best point guard athletically in the history of the game. And Darius A Cup is really good. He's not those guys,

it's not athletically. I mean, he's a really good shooter, really good score of the basketball. He's just not very interested in the defensive end of the floor right now. And that's going to be a concern. And I think that position is hard. I think it's, you know,

you've got to still look at, that Kingston Fleming's is a really good player. Yeah. You know, like the biggest difference between old guys is that I really want to get their measurement. I really want to get what's their height, what's their weight? I want to see those guys. Right.

What are they in shoes and what are they not? I want to see their measurable because I think it's closer than people giving credit for. I think Kingston Flemmings could have been in a system similar to Darius Accoff at Kyle and put up ridiculous numbers. I mean, look at his pitch. Look at his numbers. he played at Clemson and put, I mean, Houston, and put up some really impressive numbers playing for a defensive four unit coach.

Right. That controls tempo, that doesn't play with a lot of pace. If you put Kingston Fleming in a situation like that offensively, no telling what his numbers would be. He would have been one of the best scores in college basketball because he takes and makes difficult shots. And they both are. So I think it's apples to apples with both of those guys,

and then you get into some of the other guys. I thought the point guard playing college basketball, in my opinion, is the deepest invest in ever been. With NBA talent and just four-year really good guys, and it's been fun. I think it's why this league in college basketball this year has been collectively as a whole and the best has been in quite some time.

By the way, you mentioned Russell Westbrook, and I talked about this last week. I read this story on The Athletic. You probably know this, but I don't think a lot of listeners, or a lot of fans know this. And that is what an incredible teammate, Russell Westbrook, has been, beloved by every organization, every locker room, every coach, every teammate,

apparently one of the most generous. Now, I do remember when Tommy Shepard took over for Ernie Grunfeld as the general manager here in D.C. for a few years, and Russ was here. I remember having a conversation with him. It was not on the air. And he said, do you know who the absentee? absolute best dude in the world is, and I don't think fans know this, and I go who? He said, Russell Westbrook. Did you know that about him?

I did. He's one of my favorite people that I've never met. I love the way he's played, and I think it angers me to hear people who speak at him in a negative way because I know the person he is and what he's been through. I think it's, you know another guy who's been like that? Carmelo Anthony. Okay. Another guy who teammates love him. And he takes the hit and he takes the responsibility for things that are not always in his control. And it's not saying that both of these guys did everything right.

I mean, sometimes, you know, I don't want to make that comparison and in that aspect of saying everything in totality. But really respected by the guys in the locker room. And I think sometimes you're in no organization, once you get to a point where you're not winning, then people kind of flip the narrative on you, and I think that's happened with both of those guys. You know, for like Melo being one of the best scores his game has ever seen, and then you see the way his career ended.

I think it's, you know, I thought both of those guys deserve more of that. But just great guys and teammates. You just love guys like that, because they took care of their guys. You know, and that was something that's, you know, I don't want to say it's lost, but I remember, you know, for myself,

like, Ross Strickland was that way for me. You know, when I got to Portland, Ross Strickland, you know, fight his reputation. Yeah. You know, his reputation at that time. Took care of me. I mean, brought me in and told me so much.

And it was a mutual respect because here I am as a first round draft thing coming in. And his exact words to me, he took care of me. And he goes, hey, your job is to come in here to take my spot. And I'm telling you, I'm not going to let you do it. You're my guy, and I'm going to take care of you. And I got you. And he did. And even when we were no longer teammates, when I was in Detroit, and he was there,

every time I went there, that's who I was with. We would go out and hang out and hang, and that was just so there are guys like that, and I think people just don't realize how important they are, and everybody in locker room tend to gravitate toward those type of people. Well, I'll tell you one right now, and he's been one of my favorite players, favorite team sport athletes for a long period of time now, and I think he's always gotten a bad rap. But there's a very strong sort of negative image of Kauai Leonard because of the injuries and the load management. You know, people will say next to the definition of load management in the dictionary is a picture of Kauai Leonard. And yet, his teammates have always loved him. His injuries have been

legit real. I mean, he's not all due respect to Anthony Davis, and I hope he stays healthy. He's out three weeks because somebody stepped on his foot. You know, this guy's had ACLs. He's had the whole thing. And I believe, and this conversation's gotten away from me, but it always does with you for some reason, but it's good. I love it. But I believe that if Kauai Leonard had been healthy his entire career, we'd consider him to be right there among the 10 greatest players that have ever lived. In terms of two-way players during his... You won't get an argument for me. I think he would have been the best two-way player that generation.

Definitely. I think he would have been the best two-a-player generation. And some may consider him that. I think now because he was an elite on both ends of the floor. He wasn't flashy offensively, but you knew. I mean, both ends of the floor, he guarded the best guy. That's how he came up. And he's more and improved and credit to him.

I mean, but like he said, great guy. And he doesn't, you know, once I think the national media, kind of flip that narrative on them, and players take too much of a hit on load management. And I know a lot of that comes from ownership. Yeah. A lot of that, that's why these guys are playing until they're 40s. Like, you look at Golden State right now. Do you really want to Steph Curry Errida in?

No. You want him in a uniform as much as possible. Yeah. That means rest. Especially in April and May. Absolutely. Yeah. Absolutely.

You want that guy. You don't care. If he sits out, I was down in Atlanta and Turner Studios, and they played the Hawks the other night. Yep. What I tell you, the amount of traffic and the amount of people that were hanging out the hotel waiting to see stuff, and he wasn't playing. Yeah. Superstar. He's not playing.

Rockstar. Those are things where they're studs. And so teams you would rather have, especially when you're not necessarily, you always have a shot of winning a championship with guys like that. but they're just such amazing players and their knowledge and what they've accomplished. You want those guys in your organization, no matter what their age is. And it's why Houston wants KD at this age to be their leading guys. It's why the Lakers still want, you know, LeBron is still in the building at 40 years old. So you see a lot of these veteran guys, and I think that the teams want them in as much as the players.

It's not just the players. They're not just saying, hey, I don't want to play. Teams want them there and want their availability, whether they play that game or not. when they miss a week or two, that's not, everybody's in a line and everybody's uniform when it comes to that. Well, look, I mean, until last year when OKC won it with a young team, that sport in May and June has always been about the older, more experienced players winning when it mattered the most.

I mean, last year's an aberration, and we might see it again with them. We might see it with somebody like Detroit, who knows. but yeah, it's funny because, you know, I've told you this before, but college basketball was like, you know, my number two after football, and a lot of it was because of my ACC fandom and my Maryland fandom and remembering guys like you and what it meant when Maryland played Carolina or Duke or Waker, Virginia. But the NBA, when you watch an NBA game on the same night when the tournament's going on,

Not that this hasn't always been true, but the difference in talent and skill is just, it's like varsity in eighth grade. Yes. Yes, it is. It really is. But that doesn't matter, it doesn't matter because the pageantry and the excitement of the tournament. So, look, I didn't call you to talk about some of the things that we talked about, but let me get back to the tournament.

Give me the thing from this past weekend or the first two rounds, of the tournament that you learned about, you know, a team or a player or anything that you didn't think about or didn't know before the tournament started? I don't know if anyone surprised me. I think if I had to say the biggest surprise was Alabama. I thought Alabama would be in a world of hurt without A.Hawlois. And to be quite honest, they hadn't missed a beat. So what does that say about NATO? So what does it say about that team in that? system. I think it says what we already knew. We knew he was a heck of a coach. I mean, people

were taking his assistance. I mean, you talk about, you know, his assistance in what they've done. When you come in already for a coach to have not won a national championship, he may be leading college basketball as far as their coaching tree. I mean, he is one of the guys. If he started naming coaching trees in the sport, he's going to, he's in his young coaching career already. He's already in the top five of a coaching tree. I mean, people are just raiding his staff, trying to learn what he's doing. And, you know, and no news have been announced.

I'm not making any announcement, but I think he's going to be at the top of the list. If UNC in Chapel Hill, if they decide to go a different route, I would imagine his name would be a top of the list. Would they go outside the family? They would have to. they would have to.

I think if they do, I think that's the end of it. They would have to. No, they don't. Those coaches stayed around so long. Like, Roy stayed around so long. And he's got, you know, Kay had so many guys and, but they do guys with so many young guys and so many of their guys around.

Carolina doesn't have many. And remember, Hubert, had he not joined the staff, would not have any coaching experience. I mean, all those guys. Right.

He was in TV. He came back to coaching after being in TV. Yeah. Yeah. And we read the same thing with G. Mack at 13thew now. He just got the job, but that's it. Who do you think, Carolina, who would you hire? Play A.D. in Chapel Hill. Who would you hire? Right. Or first of all, would you fire Hubert Davis, who lost Caleb Wilson, his best player? All right. So there is that, and probably the single biggest reason for the early tournament exit. But who would you, what would you do? If I had to make a phone call, there's only three calls I'm making.

And I'm not hanging up a phone until all one of those three said yes. My first phone call would be the Nate Oach. My second phone call would be Tommy Lloyd. And my third phone call would be Todd Goldie. And it's blank checked. And when I pursue these guys, it's all hands on deck. MJ, let's get on the plane. Let's go down and see him.

that's what we're doing. I'm bringing on everybody. Michael George and everybody. All my Tar Heels, my Hall of Fame was everybody. I am calling former players from different eras. James Worthy. Let's go. You know, from every era, I mean, Phil Ford, all these guys, most recently,

I'm calling everybody. We're getting on a plane. We're sitting down. And I am all three candidates, until one of those three tells me they're accepting my job. If that's the route that Carol out, if it becomes available. But I think those three guys, I'm not taking another up-and-coming coach. I'm taking the sure thing.

And I think those three guys, I know what I'm getting. I know we're going to win. And I wouldn't kind of mess around anybody else. I think those three, then I'd have to sit and take and make some time. But, again, I'm not going to allow any one of those three hang up the phone. without getting the commitment from one of them. That's the way I would handle it. Does Billy Donovan want to get back into college coaching?

I can't imagine he would in this era. I think people don't realize the difference in you have to really love this era of college athletics. And you also have to have significant amount of money. Well, they do. You have to have it. Carolina's got it. That's what I'm talking about.

But that's the job where in the NBA, I don't know if you really want to do it. Right now he's coaching. And with him, he's done it all. It's like been there, done that. Now, I can't speak for Billy Donovan. I don't know him that well. I know his staff members.

I work with a couple of guys that were on his national championship team. Like Matt McCall being one of them, and I talked to him about he's a great guy and a great basketball coach. But it's hard for guys who can coach in the NBA to want to come back and deal with, At that level, it's basketball and it's purely basketball. To come back and have to deal with so much nowadays, coaching is just a very small part of it now.

And I don't know if everybody wants to deal with that. I don't know how much coaching he would actually enjoy doing at the college level because now you're dealing with so many young men, so many off-to-put issues, speaking so much to donors, having to raise money, continuously raise the money to pay these athletes. I think that's all part of them. And on top of that, oh, by the way, you need to win another,

you have to win another national championship. For a guy that's went back to back, and one of them, you would have to go back and do it again. And that's not easy. That's not an easy thing to do. All right, let's get back to the Sweet 16. We'll finish up with you looking ahead and even predicting the champion.

We'll do that right after these words from a few of our sponsors. All right, we're down to 16. Let's wrap it up with this. a couple on just these matchups. What's the matchup? We have eight sweet 16 games, four elite eight games, two final four games, and a championship

game. Is there a matchup that you want to see more than any other? Wow. I think the entire East region is weekend. There's so many storylines for one. I think, and I'm so excited about coming home this weekend to watch Duke. You're talking about

Duke and St. John, with Caleb Foster being out. and Duke only having a freshman point guard. I guess that type of freshman. That's not ideal. That's not the team that you want. I mean, and then we're talking about,

look at Alabama and Michigan. Are you kidding me? We're just talking about that. I guess a team that's been as dominant as anyone all year long, and now you're going to have a team that plays with the PACE that Alabama plays with as still going to force you to score in the 90s. I mean, then you got Yukon and Michigan.

You could not ask for a very best of, Friday coming up. And in Tennessee and Iowa State, two tough, physical, defensive-oriented teams, that Friday's slate is going to be great. I just don't, I'd love all the matches, to be honest. You were in the ACC when Rick Barnes was coaching a Clemson, right? Rick Barnes recruited me to Providence. Okay. And I was, I just didn't visit because I was like, I was too cold and it's too far. I'm not going there. But I played with Stu Vedder there. and at that time, Stu Vedder and Rick Bonds were...

Of any coaches, that was probably the closest person that he was with and would spend the most time talking to was Rick Barns. So I've known Rick Bonds really well. I got the utmost respect for what he's doing and how he's done

and how he's coached his program. And, like, I don't know if I'd have a favorite game, but I'm telling you, I'm so excited about every matchup from Houston and Illinois to so many great matchups this week. And I think, like I said,

The committee got it right. They crushed it. And I think all these matchups in the Sweet 16 will be amazing. We got some good ones. All right. So who ends up playing in the championship game two weeks from tonight and who wins it? I think Arizona plays in it and they win it. If Duke, if you're telling me, Kain and Foster comes back,

I think Duke can put it off. Losing Florida was big. I thought Florida really had a legitimate shot of being there. I think whoever comes out of this Eastern region will win. I think, you know, and so it's just so hard to say. But again, it could be Houston. If I had to pick defensively, I think Houston would be a problem right now. But do get they healthy.

And I don't think anybody beats Arizona. I think Arizona is the best team in college basketball. I think they've been the best team all year long, and I fully expect them to cut down the net in Indianapolis next week. Were you as impressed as I was with Utah State's defense and pressure against Arizona in the second half when they got back into that game? I thought he did a great job. Calhoun. They had some tough, tough kids.

He did. He did. That's what I was impressed with, again, the coach. And he saw the plot. Yeah. And what they did was he just said, hey, we're going to make you shoot jump shots. We're going to lay off certain guys. I thought this would have hurt Florida, too,

was that they just, you go into matchups like that, and you just say, you know what? This is what we're doing. I'm going into this game, and I'm going to allow you to shoot jump shots, and if you're making threes, you're going to beat us. But what I'm not going to let you do is dominate the pain as much as I can.

But what they couldn't do is keep Crevis off the offensive glass. Oh, God. He was unbelievable. How many offensive rebounds did he have in that game? Unbelievable. unbelievable what he did. Yeah, that was ridiculously impressive.

I think he may have had nine or ten offensive rebounds. Yeah, he did. I'm looking it up right now. He did. I saw it in the knife, but I remember him getting a knife rebound. I think the other things remember again, they're guards. Nine offensive rebounds. I played himself into the first round

draft. He did. They have one of the best closers in the game in Jane Bradley. So I still think Arizona cut the next time. Thanks for doing this as always. Follow Randolph on X. You can do that at R22 Childress. Really enjoy this.

Always appreciate the conversation. Talk to you soon. Enjoy it. Have a good one. He's really good. Randolph Childress, everybody. Back tomorrow with Tommy.