The Kevin Sheehan Show - Lamar Jackson to DC?

Episode Date: February 22, 2023

Kevin opened the show with Pro Football Talk's hunch that Washington might make a play for Ravens' QB Lamar Jackson. Then it was some good NFL Draft talk with Thor Nystrom/Draft Analyst-Fantasy Pros. Kevin finished up with the unpredictable but always entertaining Jimmy Patsos. The boys talked Terps, Big 10, Super Conferences, Wizards, Rick James, and Neil Young.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You don't want it. You don't need it. But you're going to get it anyway. The Kevin Cheehan Show. Here's Kevin. The show today, presented by MyBooky, go to MyBooky.orgie. Use my promo code, Kevin, D.C. MyBooky is offering you a chance to wager your deposit amount just one time and then cash out.

Most books don't let you do that. MyBooky will if you use my promo code, Kevin D.C. It's perfect with March Madness. right around the corner. If you just want to bet the tournament, it will allow you to make an initial deposit, wager that deposit amount one time just once, and then you're eligible to cash out quickly. MyBooky.ag promo code Kevin D.C. Bet anything, anytime, anywhere with MyBooky. Two guests on the show today. Thor Nystrom covers the NFL draft and college football for fantasy pros. We've had Thor on the show in the past. He will join us. It's an early look at the

draft, but I want to talk quarterbacks, especially discuss with him what he thinks will be there at 16 if any of the four quarterbacks will slip that far. And if not, what will be. I'll also get his thoughts on where he had Sam Howell before last year's draft. And then we will shift gears, major shift in gears to my friend Jimmy Patsos. I love when we have Jimmy on. The conversation takes many twists and turns. I will tell you that per usual, because I've already recorded it with Jimmy, that half of what I wanted to get to, we never got to.

But that just leaves more to get to the next time he's on. But for you Maryland basketball fans, for you college basketball fans, lots of good conversation with Jimmy. Same for you Wizards fans as well. Jimmy, of course, covers the Wizards for NBC Sports, Washington. He's part of that pre-game, in-game, halftime, and post-game show on occasion. So Jimmy will be on after we have Thor Nystrom on. Mike Floreo from Pro Football Talk said something this morning

that I'm going to play for you in a moment. And it deals with Lamar Jackson. to Washington. But before I get to that, let me first say that Ben Standing reported earlier today that the commanders will use the franchise tag on Duran Payne. No shock there. They've got, I think, until March 7th to get it done. I don't know how Duran will handle it. I also don't know what will be said to Duran when they slap the franchise tag on him, whether or not they'll indicate to him that once the ownership situation gets settled, that maybe they will look at long-term deal with him. But Ben did report that the team does intend to use the franchise tag on Duran

Payne. Also, Alex Ovechkin back in town after heading back to lay his father to rest. But he is back with the caps and should be available for the game tomorrow night against Amher. Anaheim, the caps lost again. They've lost five in a row. They lost to the Red Wings last night. They are in big trouble. They've got a couple of games with Anaheim, the worst team in the NHL coming up. They're going to have to win some of those games because even in the standings where the caps are, and they're only two points out of a playoff spot, but a lot of the teams they're battling with have played fewer games. They have really struggled to score. I had Ben Rabie on the radio show this morning, part of the Caps, you know, pre-game, in-game, post-game show. Ben's a great guest. We've had them on the pod before. If you want to listen to that, and you're a Caps fan, Ben was outstanding. You can listen to that at the Team 980.com. By the way, also props to Brenda Fries and the Lady Terps. They blew out Iowa last night in a number six versus number seven matchup at Xfinity Center. What's notable about it is Caitlin Clark, the leading scorer in the country for Iowa, had 42 in a blowout

went over Maryland a couple of weeks ago. Terps held her to 18 last night in a big time revenge game for the Lady Terps. So I'm happy about that for them. All right, before I get to this Mike Florio thing, I got this tweet from Victor. You can follow me on Twitter at Kevin Sheen, D.C. You can tweet me at Kevin Sheen, D.C. And I thought that this was a very thoughtful tweet. not because he compliments me at the beginning. It's actually the end that is thoughtful. But Victor writes, quote, I appreciate your honesty on the hiring of Eric Bienemy the last few days.

I agree that it's pretty obvious that Washington was the only place willing to take a chance on him other than the chiefs. But looking at it the other way, is it possible that Washington, too, didn't have many options other than Bienemy? I actually think that's such a great point and I usually think about flipping it around and looking at it the other way, but I didn't. You did. And I think it really makes sense to look at it that way.

Because there are a lot of people that are saying, why would the enemy come to Washington? Well, I've said, well, he didn't really have any other choices, which I'm pretty sure is true. John Kime was on with me this morning and said the same thing. Now, whether or not he could have gone back to Kansas City or not. not, I think Andy Reid would have had to take him back. But that's the reason he's in Washington is essentially Washington was the only place for him that wanted him and was willing to offer him the gig. But why was Washington kind of in a bind? You know, the people that they had looked at that maybe they had interest in, you know, a guy like Thomas Brown, who ended up in Carolina,

Did those people essentially say, yeah, I don't want to come to Washington. I mean, they've got an ownership change going on. Ron Rivera is a lame duck. I mean, this is a one-year gig. And if I don't get it done in one year, I'm gone. I mean, it's one year with a quarterback that is totally unproven or I'm out of there. I think that's a really good way to look at it because I think people with options have always basically turned away from Washington.

You know, there are occasional instances here and there where, you know, it's been, Washington's been able to, you know, keep John Allen here. That's probably the biggest, they drafted him and then they kept him here with a long-term deal. You know, a player like John could have gone to a much better organization. Now, he's from here. And there are a couple of other examples, but for the most part, you know, everybody in the league agents will tell you that if someone has choices, Washington is at the bottom of the list or certainly near the bottom of the list. So maybe for a guy like Thomas Brown, maybe Washington was super interested, but he wasn't interested in them.

He was holding out for a better gig and he got one in Carolina with Frank Reich in a more stable situation. Now, personally, I don't think Pat Schumer's got a lot of options. I don't think Ken Zampezey has a lot of options. But maybe Washington wasn't interested in those people. You know, Charles London joined the Titan staff. Washington interviewed him. They interviewed, remember, they interviewed Anthony Lynn, and Caldwell didn't want an interview, and they interviewed Greg Roman. Greg Roman, out of all the people that they interviewed, was the most interesting to me

if they wanted to play football the way they said they wanted to play football. But, no, I think it's a really good point in that Washington may have not had many options either, other than Schumer, Zampeze, people who really didn't have any as well. And Eric B. Enemy, with the exception of maybe going back to Kansas City, he didn't have many options either. Again, let me just net it out. I am definitely excited about Eric Bianmi being hired because it's better for us that talk about this football team. This is much more interesting in Andy Reed protege. than Ken Zampese or Pat Schumer. But it doesn't mean that ultimately Thomas Brown or Charles London or even Greg Roman

don't go on to much greater success somewhere else. And they looked at Washington when they were here and said, nah, better opportunity somewhere else. Now, Greg Roman does not have a job as of now, as far as I know. But thank you for that tweet, Victor. So I'm going to play something for you. I'm playing something for you from not one of my favorite people in the national NFL media, and that's Mike Florio from Pro Football Talk.

I understand Pro Football Talk has a lot of influence. They have a lot of connections in the NFL. There's no doubt Floreo is a go-to for a lot of NFL teams. So that is something to keep in mind when you listen to this. Florio has a lot of, you know, a lot of sources for sure. He's just not my cup of tea. And, you know, the bottom line is he has had a hard on for Washington for a long period of time. And look, you know, it's not that he's been wrong about Dan Snyder, but he was, you know, anti-name, anti-everything. And by the way, was wrong a lot over the course of time in his reporting about Washington.

but I do think that this is worth a listen. It came out earlier today. It's about three minutes. I didn't cut any of it out because I think you need to listen to the whole thing. I'm just going to play it, and then you can listen to it, and then I'll react to it. Here was Mike Floreo earlier this morning from Pro Football Talk. One fascinating little wrinkle about Eric B. Enemy becoming the offensive coordinator of commanders. The statement made by Ron Rivera,

coach of the commanders during Super Bowl Week, set it on our show with Chris Sims and me. They're not going to pursue a veteran free agent. Starter Sam Howell is QB1 entering the off-season program. At best, they'll sign a veteran backup to support and develop Sam Howell. And as I was writing something up yesterday on what I think will happen between Lamar Jackson and the Ravens, it dawned on me that maybe there,

they're waiting to see in Washington whether the nearby Ravens ultimately apply the non-exclusive franchise tag to Lamar Jackson. There have been different thoughts out there on whether or not the Ravens go exclusive at about $45 million, although I think that number is going to go down by the time it locks in. If you go exclusive, he can't talk to any other teams. Can't sign an offer sheet. Can't do anything other than play for the Ravens

or play for no one. If he doesn't sign the tender, it doesn't play for anybody, out. We saw Leibon Bell do that a few years back. I doubt that at 45 million or 40 million or whatever that number is, Lamar Jackson's going to turn up his nose at that. Second, if you go non-exclusive franchise tag, that's when a team like the commanders could say, hey, you know, we're drafting fairly low this year. We almost made the playoffs. Yeah, we'll give up two first-round picks to get Lamar Jackson. We'll do it. We'll do it. And this would be the setup, throwing everyone off the cent. No, we're not. No, a year after we called every team in the league, inquiring as to whether or not their quarterback is available in trade and got ridiculed for it because, yes,

we even called the chiefs. This year, we're just not even in the market. We're not considering it. Nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, we're going with the guy to play one game. And we think he would have been a first or a second round pick if he'd come out in the draft a year earlier. We got him at a lower level. It's a steel. He's our guy. He's our guy. Next question. And look, it wouldn't be the first time that somebody did a 180 for something they told us. I'm not saying Ron Rivera's lying. And it's not like I could have asked him this question because it would be tampering for him to comment on it. But what if the truth is they think that the Ravens would be nuts to expose Lamar Jackson to the market via the non-exclusive franchise tag? That of course they'd give up two

first round picks to get Lamar Jackson if he's available. Of course they'd give him the five-year fully guaranteed contract if he's available. And that's the other side of this, too. You know, some of these teams may not want to get the same blowback that the Browns got last year for the Deshawn Watson deal. Well, you think Daniel Snyder cares right now about blowback from the league? Do you think he feels like he's got a tiptoe around the management council at a time when there's a sense they want to run him off? This would be the ultimate middle finger in the eye of the power structure if he does it. Oh, and he ties the hands of the next owner. with a five-year fully guaranteed contract.

Doesn't mean anything to him. He's cashing out. So I just got a weird feeling that the commander is taking the position that Howl is their guy and they're not going to pursue a veteran starter could be the first step in what culminates in. If the Ravens apply the non-exclusive franchise tag, the commander's making a play for him with Eric B. Enemy as the coordinator. And it wouldn't be all that difficult for Ron Rivera to explain himself

if that's what they ultimately decide. to do. So take Mike Florio and his hunch about Lamar Jackson to Washington for whatever you think it is worth. I think there are a couple of holes in what he pitched there. I'll get to that in a moment, but two things first before I get to kind of the holes that I think, I don't even think he was aware that he was creating as he was describing kind of this hunch he has. And maybe it's a sourced hunch. But look, this is something that's becoming a bit of a story here late morning into early afternoon, which is why I wanted to talk about it here on the podcast. Number one, I just want to say this.

Lamar Jackson, two first rounders, sign me up. I understand availability, injury history, all of those things would be concerns. But Lamar Jackson would be the best quarterback that's been in this building since Sonny Jurgensen was in it. He's a recent MVP of the last. league. So yeah, I would be all for Lamar Jackson coming here. Number two is this. It is interesting, right, that Greg Roman was here a week ago. Imagine they had hired Greg Roman and then this story came out. Well, then we'd all be buying it. I don't know why Greg Roman resigned in Baltimore. I do know after, you know, I said, I think last week on the show, is he leaving because Lamar Jackson

wants him gone. Actually, there's been a lot of reporting that suggests that Lamar Jackson had nothing to do with Greg Roman leaving. I don't know why he resigned and moved on. But he was in the building a week ago. Is it possible that Ron Rivera and company were on a fact-finding mission as it relates to Lamar Jackson? They didn't hire Greg Roman. They hired Eric B. Enemy, as we know. But Greg Romans certainly would have offered and been able to offer up a lot of insight into Lamar Jackson. So here are the holes that I would punch into Florio's spiel there. Number one is this. You know, he acts as if, you know, Ron Rivera has the potential to play possum on all of this. Well, that's not his history. You know, last year and the year before, Ron Rivera and the organization

telegraphed that they were going after big game quarterbacks. You know, they were, they were hunting for, they were hunting big game. And they did, you know, so they didn't, they weren't faking. They telegraphed that they were going to swing big after 2020, and they took a shot at Matt Stafford. They did the same last year, talking about calling every team in the league. Floreo even mentioned that. It didn't even occur to him, occur to him as he mentioned it,

that they telegraphed it last year and then they backed it up with a massive offer to Seattle for Russell Wilson. And then obviously ultimately settling on the trade for Carson Wentz after Wilson, you know, I guess wasn't interested in coming here. Or perhaps more importantly, Seattle not interested in trading with an NFC team. And I do remember reading that John Schneider liked Drew Locke as well. But anyway, the point is Rivera playing possum. that's not been the history here. So I think he's wrong about that. Maybe, maybe this is the first offseason. He's playing down the fact that they're going to go after somebody big. Number two is, I think he's missing the point as to why Rivera told him they're not big game hunting this

year as far as quarterbacks. And that is, I think they're on a budget right now with Snyder selling the team. Number three is, I just can't imagine that Baltimore is going to put the non-exclusive tag on Lamar Jackson. Everything you read is that Baltimore wants him back. They don't want to lose Lamar Jackson. The only way to ensure that they don't lose him is to slap the exclusive tag on him. Yeah, it's more expensive at $45 million. But I think I was watching early this morning, Jeff Darlington on maybe it was Get Up or maybe it was the Stephen A show. And Darlington's convinced that Baltimore is going to use the exclusive tag, that they want Lamar Jackson back. they're not going to lose him.

Even if they have to pay him $45 million and they can't get a deal worked out, they'll pay him $45 million and ride out $23 on the exclusive tag. So I think there may be some dreaming there as far as the non-exclusive tag on Lamar Jackson. I don't know, he could be right, but I think Baltimore wants him back. And then lastly, this whole idea of Snyder Middlefing, the new owner and the league on his way out, well, why would he want to do that to the new owner? Wouldn't, you know, signing Lamar Jackson to a five-year Deshawn Watson type of deal

in terms of guaranteed money, wouldn't that perhaps be, you know, something that lowers the value of the team, which we've already heard is much lower than what was originally thought anyway? Why would you stick? Now, Dan, I'm not putting it past him that he would. would do something stupid and that he would mess up the sale. Remember a few weeks ago I said, you know, I was just thinking about Snyder selling this team. He's messed up every single thing he's ever done is it possibly messes up the sale of the team, which ruins it for all of us as well. Of course it is. But I don't know. That's kind of a reach, right? That first of all,

we kind of understand they don't want to put all that guaranteed money out into escrow before they sell the team. So they'd have to do that. Well, they wouldn't have to do it right away. because technically he would be on the franchise tag, but you're not going to give up two first rounders for one year of $45 million. You're going to try to work out a long-term deal. And this idea that Snyder would just then take the opportunity on the way out to stick the new owner

and the league with like the biggest deal in NFL history of guaranteed money, that just wouldn't make sense for valuation, I don't think. I don't know. I guess you can make the case that Lamar Jackson being on the team would increase the valuation, but no, a bad contract, a middle-fingered contract, doesn't make sense. I don't think it's going to happen, boys and girls. I don't think it's going to happen. I think Lamar Jackson's going to end up playing in Baltimore. Maybe on the exclusive tag,

maybe on a long-term deal. That would be my guess. And I certainly think if he doesn't play in Baltimore, it's not going to be in Washington. All right. Up next, Thor Nystrom, we'll talk NFL draft. I know it's early, but really it's never early to talk NFL draft. That's next right after these words from a few of our sponsors. Jumping on with us right now is Thor Neistram. Thor we've had on the show before. Thor covers the draft for fantasy pros. He's a big college football guy. I love his draft analysis. I love the thing that he does every year where he comps basically every player that might be drafted to an NFL player currently. I remember last year. I remember last year he comped Jahan Dotson to Tyler Lockett. Actually, that's a pretty good comp. I know he also loved

Malik Willis. I won't let you off the hook for that one. But it's early on that one. But anyway, we've got Thor on because I know it's early, and I know your board will change between now and the end of April. But I want to talk quarterbacks, including Thor, the quarterback that Ron Rivera has essentially said is the QB1 here in Washington heading into the offseason. You know, it's at least his job to lose, and that is Sam Howell. What did you think of Sam Howell before the draft last year? So it's funny. I was probably lower on Sam Hall than just about anyone in the industry. I think I had him quarterback five, but I rated him as like a mid-delayed third rounder, I think. And so even by, you know, me being lower on him than everyone else, objectively, Washington got a

crazy steal with where he went. And I'm still trying to figure, you brought up Willis and with some of these other quarterbacks, the entire quarterback class last year, she'll try to figure out what happened there with a couple of those guys. And how was a great example? It sort of seemed punitive what the NFL did with him a little bit. I just don't know in what scenario that guy gets beyond the third round or the early fourth. Like getting into the fifth round,

I just didn't understand that. His last year in college wasn't the best, of course. He had lost all that talent and he sort of defaulted to running. you know, if his first read wasn't there. But like we had seen the year before that, there was a reason that he was being projected by so many people as the number one overall pick in those two early mock draft. Right.

And so I just thought it went too far. He has the tools. He's an athletic kid. He's super duper tough. And the thing he was best at in college was throwing the deep ball. You want to talk about like stress in the defense, both horizontally and vertically, you would see enough on tape to, you know,

to give you the idea or give you confidence. that he would be able to do that, at least to some degree of effectiveness. So, yeah, very surprised. And you saw the flashes in the brief amount of time that we saw him, and obviously the last game of season last year. Well, so what bothered you about him? About howl? Yeah.

Like, you know, as far as the e-out coming out, it was the whole thing. Yeah, I mean, you had him, you said you didn't have him, you had him probably rated lower than most in your industry, had him. Why? Yeah, so, like, in the, in the, long-go offense, he cuts the field and half for you. And a lot of times, Howell was going to that first three, you didn't see him as natural going to the second, third, you know, fourth, even at the good season that, you know, the year before, whatever the year before that. And so then the

year where all the talent left, you bake that context in of your supporting cast is way worse. And for people who don't know what I'm talking about, he had lost Devonte Williams, he lost Michael Carter, lost Iami Brown. Just a metric ton of guys. But that year, even though you're baking in that contact, you're giving them the benefit of the doubt for that stuff. Instead of sort of working through that stuff, we're trying to get better with the progression. It's almost like you sort of quit on it and you just immediately would default, like I said, to just pucking and running. And I didn't think that the mobility aspect of his game that he was able to sort of piece it together with in the ACC's last season when

UNC did not play a very good schedule of defenses, I didn't think that was going to be able translate to the NFL. So for me, it was like, I like his deep ball, I like his top and he is athletic enough. He can be able to steal your side of the pocket, but I don't think it's going to be like a fully translatable dual threat aspect, you know, like if that's something that needs to carry the day for him in the NFL. So that's why I knocked him down a little bit, but he still had the tools to work with, you know,

as far as like a day two investment. Yeah, I mean, you know, the other thing I've said about him at Carolina is not only did they play the bad defenses, they themselves were a horrific defensive team, which required them to keep up. And there were a bunch of games that were like 59 to 43 and 58, 55. And a lot of those games that he played in at Carolina. I want to look at this draft right now coming up in April.

And I want to start at the top of the draft where Chicago has the first pick. If you were Chicago, would you stick with, Justin Fields, or would you trade Fields and pick Stroud or Young? I would absolutely stick with Fields, and for me right now, I would be gauging that trade market, and with me, it would be with the thing in mind of I'm coming out of this draft with Jalen Carter. For me, like when you're thinking about like the non-corterbacks, for me, he's the clear top guy. Like I have them objectively, like a half step above Will I understand. And so that's what, you know, so like for me, like, you know, can you go to four and still be confident that you would get Jalen Carter or could you only fall to two or do you know, stay at one and take them?

There's this idea that teams aren't as motivated to move up to one as maybe we had thought coming into the process simply because you have those four quarterbacks and maybe on some of these teams as more, maybe there's not as big of a differentiation or there's this other idea that of the teams that, need the quarterbacks at the top, that they're going to have, those teams are going to have different quarterback ones. You know, we've heard some teams like Bryce Young. We've heard other teams like Will Evis. I think there's a decent shot of Will Leavis might be the number of quarterback on Indianapolis's board right now. Really?

There's other teams that might like, yeah, yeah. I think C.J. Straub might be the top on another team's board. And Anthony Richardson now is like the, Anthony Richardson, he's like the horse that was way back when you come into the home stretch, and now he's starting to just, you know, tear it up where he's, he's starting to close in on these other guys, and it's like, oh, my gosh. Like, you know, when he started the process, it's like, man, Anthony Richardson and Washington, that doesn't seem like too bad of a fit, but now, like, you look at all the mocks, and Anthony Richardson's going in the top ten, it doesn't look like he's going to

get down to Washington. So, you know, that whole thing will dilute the trade market for number one, getting back to the Bears. And so there could be a scenario where you're just sitting in the number of, But to take Jalen Carter, if you have the same opinion of Jalen Carter that I do, but in response to your question, the short version is, I'm definitely keeping field and I'm taking the defender, Jailen Carter. Do you like Fields?

I do, yeah. I'm definitely a fan. How do you have the quarterbacks ranked? So for me, it's Bryce Young with a bullet at the top. I'm not as concerned with the size because I saw him dominate the SEC the last couple years. And two years ago it was with the awesome supporting cast. And if he'd added the awesome supporting cast last year again, then you could, you know, you could be like, well, you know, he had the awesome supporting cast.

Maybe they were propping off, but he's got the unprecedented size thing. And there's more questions with that. But what people got to understand is last year, Alabama's offensive supporting cast fell off a shelf. Right. Their offensive line was the worst that had been in several years. They're receiving court. I can't even remember a year where it was as bad as last year. People watching his tape that weren't watching.

Alabama in the moment are going to be shocked by how mediocre Alabama's receivers were last year. Nick Saban had tried to go out in the receipt, the transfer portal and sign these guys to replace James and Willans to replace John Macch. And then, of course, the year before, they'd lost all the studs, too. But the guys didn't pan out. Like, Jermaine Burtain, they'd come from Georgia. He didn't really pan out. He played a lot of snaps, but he wasn't good.

Tyler Harrell was the kid they got from Louisville, the speed guy. They thought he was going to replace James and Willems. He barely played. And then they had these other guys that weren't getting separation. or they had a bunch of drops. Bryce Young valiantly stood in there. He was under duress for a lot of the season. He played far better under pressure

by both the I-test, by the grades under pressure, in comparison to the rest of the class. Some of these guys play really craters under pressure. Will Levis is a great example of that. But Bryce Young, he doesn't. He's the best quarterback in this class under pressure. But the other thing, like, valiantly battling through the receiver struggles last year, there was plays he didn't have a guy open.

and he would buy time, he would extend, battle through to the next rep, the ball would clang up a receiver's hands. Bryce Young made an awesome play. He never got frustrated. He just kept going with it. So he's definitely my number one. C.J. Stroud would be in that number two spot pretty comfortably.

He just, like, C.J. Stroud just sort of is what he is for me. Like, he's not a, he's not a polarizing prospect at all. These other guys that we talk about, they're the polarizing ones. With C.J. Stroud, he's almost boring because he just is what he is. Like, he's your prototypical pocket passer guy.

He wants to stay in the pocket. So much show that that became a criticism of his game. Like before the Georgia game, the playoff game in January, or the last day of December, we were like, did C.J. Stroud not athletic?

Because we just never feed him, like, you know, running out of the pocket. The Michigan game really was, an eye opener in watching that. And then fortunately he had to bounce back game against Georgia. He sure did. And, you know, in that game, you saw him under duress, where then he was buying time, he was escaping,

and making sound decisions. Both he had the athleticism to do it, get outside of these monsters who were Jalen Carter, you know, chasing him, getting outside. But making the correct decisions while he's on the move, very important, number two. and then number three, something that I didn't know, he can throw on the run.

Like, because we just hadn't seen as much of that stuff, because generally he wasn't moved off his spot. Because, you know, people talk about Ohio State's receiving court. Ohio State had an awesome offensive line. Like, yeah, both the tackles might go in the first round in April, the center is going to go pretty high. Like, they just had this awesome offensive line. But in that Georgia game, it was like the enemy was at the gates.

You know, they were through the moat. They were across the bridge. they were at the gates like every single snap. And then the ones where they weren't, it was like they were dropping the guys back into coverage. But Stroud had an answer for that, too. It was the best performance we saw of his career. And so for me, that mitigated the risk.

I'm putting them comfortably number two. Number three and number four, that's where it gets closer for me, the debate between Levis and Richardson. I'm going to put Richardson a little bit above Levis, but it's like on my overall board, they'll probably be separated by one or two slots. Because, you know, you can make the argument, I think, one way or the other.

But for me, both of them, you have elevated risk profiles on both of them. And the thing that you're hanging your hat on with both of them, it's the really, really high ceiling. Because when you're sort of looking into the distance, and then you're sort of like, if everything breaks, right, for both these guys, what do they look like? Well, both of them are going to go to a bunch of pro balls or beyond, you know, all pro teams.

If they hit, they're both going to be just, monsters if they hit. Richardson has the higher ceiling, though. Richardson's the guy where when you're watching a play on the reps where it, like, it all comes to get the flash reps or whatever, he cannot be defensed. The defense is literally helpless against him. And a great example of this is the Utah game in the opener this past season. We're at the end of that game, he just puts on the Superman Cape and he's like, yeah,

we're not losing that. and, you know, there would be, there's this one specific play at the end of the game. I think it was a two-point conversion. Utah had two free rushers on him. And, and Richardson was dead right. I'm talking free rushers right off the snap to the right. And Richardson's able to evade one of the guys. You know, athleticism that you just don't see spins or breaks the tackle spins away from,

then is able to outrun the other guy to the boundary. And the defensive backs on Utah, I think they just all assumed that the, play was over, that he was going to get set. And so Richard said he throws his dart to a receiver's wide open and the back at the end of the end of. But you see plays like that were like, oh, my gosh, there are so few human beings alive, NFL included, of course, that are physically capable of doing what I just saw. So I'm going to put him just a little bit higher than Levis. My concerns with Levis, it goes back to that pressure thing. I've not been impressed with Levis'

his work under pressure. Even the year he was good before this past season. This past season, he had, you know, sort of like we're talking about with Howell, but with Levis, it was way worse. Like, at least with Howell, he figured, like, Powell wasn't bad his last season. It's just Powell was running way more because that's how he could move the offense. Levis, he lost all of his talent, you know, before last season. And then this past season, he just wasn't good, right? Like, he just didn't have the, he just didn't have the talent. answer. And the thing that you saw, like, for instance, under pressure, going back to that, he had this ridiculously high percentage of pressures were being converted into facts.

There was an elevated turnover-worthy play rate. Just different stuff like that. You saw the bad decisions consistently and different stuff like that. I can see that he has the really good physical skills. But when you saw the circumstances change his play tended to a little bit and the struggle's under pressure, so those are my concerns with him. Man, you've said so much about the quarterbacks, and I'm so glad I have you on here today because this is good stuff, and we're still a couple of months out. But first of all, I think I want to emphasize the point you made about Bryce Young, because I think a lot of the listeners that they watch a lot of NFL. They don't watch as much college. That's what you do.

I love college football as well. Alabama just did not have the supporting cast that they typically have. and Bryce Young took a pounding. He missed some time this year. He took an absolute pounding and kept making play after play. And with one of the weakest offensive supporting casts Bamas had in years, they lost two games by, I think a total of, well, they lost by field goal to Tennessee, and they lost an overtime in the two-point conversion to LSU.

So by four points, lost two games by four points. So that was really interesting. The C.J. Stroud thing, I was totally. off Stroud until the Georgia game. And look, if the kicker makes a kick, he probably then goes on to destroy TCU in the same way that Georgia did because Georgia and in Ohio State were bad matchups for TCU. Michigan was just different in the way they played, the style of play. And by the way, they got a lot of help in that game, too.

TCU did to get to the final. But Stroud impressed me on that final drive in particular when he drove him down the field and had that, I don't know, 35-yard run that got him into field goal range. Incredible. Now, the Richardson thing for me, Thor, so I agree with you. Like, I have been talking about Anthony Richardson on and off all season long. But I keep coming back to this. The Utah game was the game.

You know, Labor Day weekend, that Saturday night game on Labor Day weekend, everybody's watching it. And I remember just saying, oh, my God. God, this guy is easily going to be a top half of the first round pick. Like there is no doubt. He's big. He's strong. He has to run.

Now, I've found this out afterwards that he runs like 4-5, 4-6. To me, it looks like he glides a little bit, but that he's still running 4-4. And by the way, strong arm the whole thing. But, you know, Florida was not a great team this year. I understand that. But to me, he really, as I watched more and more, looked like a total project as an in-the-pocket passer. His mechanics are off, which leads to bad accuracy. But then again, like, if you put him in an offense where it's dual threat and you're going to play him in the same way that maybe Jalen Hertz played early on, that Lamar Jackson plays,

you're going to have some success with him as a runner. But, I mean, you've got Richardson ahead of Levis. By the way, I agree. Levis, every time he was pressured to me, he either took bad sacks or put the ball up for grabs. Against really good competition, too, don't get me wrong. On a team that was more defensive in nature, Stoops' teams are always more defensive in nature anyway. But do you agree with me on Richardson that there's a bit of a project thing here

with him as a passer versus the other three? 1,000% and you hit it with what you need to work on. It's the mechanics. And you see when they get wonky, that's when the sidearm starts to get errant. And you start to see the accuracy just go. When the mechanics are right, when he has that base under them, you know, and when he has the upper half married to the lower half on his throws, that's when you see that accuracy is solid.

But like, that's the stuff that you have to work with them on. The reason that I'm like, maybe not, I shouldn't say not concerned, but the reason that I'm a little bit more bullish with the pocket game or the idea that he could have a breakthrough or that the like it going, I like his decision making. He doesn't make those mistakes that leave his stuff. And for people out there, too, Richardson actually goes through his progressions. like he's not one of these like sort of one-trick pony guys like back in the pocket where it's like it's just the one read and when it's the one read's not there he panics in fact he doesn't really panic at all because he's the most physically gifted guy at the field at all time like because he knows there's not one singular guy where it's like i'm going to be dead to right if this guy gets a free run at me he always he always has the trump card so he's fairly comfortable back there he'll go through through the progression and he tends to make the right uh decision

with the ball. But you're a thousand percent right. The accuracy is where you have the problems after that. But we've isolated the problem. It's the mechanics. He's now moving to the NFL. Like, as you know, his coaches in college, he was Dan Mullen who got fired. You know, his last year, Dan Mullen gives a hundred touches that Damien Pierce. And then he was platooning Anthony Richardson with Emery Jones. Yeah, Emery Jones. Like he was doing, yeah, Dan Mullen was doing all sorts of wonky stuff, absolutely deserved to get fired. And then they changed the offensive scheme to

Billy Napier. He already had this ball of clay in Richardson. He didn't have the best circumstances to, like, develop as quickly. Of course, I would have for him to go back to college for another year. Because, you know, it's going to be less risky when he comes out. It's going to be a little

bit more polished. But you do have to give him the benefit of the doubt with those kinds of things. And then one of the thing, as far as the pocket game, I mentioned how Levis had that extremely elevated rate of when the pressure comes, it gets converted into the sacks. I believe the percentage for Levis, it was over 25%, which is one of the highest in this class. Richardson, I believe, had the lowest percentage in this class.

It's under 10%, might be 8%. So when the enemy's at the gate for Richardson, he's able to avoid sacks with literally the best of them, the best of them in this class. And again, makes the right decision. and all options are on the table at all times. Until that ref blows his whistle, Anthony Richardson can do anything. You might throw that ball at 70 yards, you know, 55 yards down the field, hit somebody on the hand.

He might take off and run and run 50 yards for a touchdown. But you're fairly competent. Not going to make the wrong decision, but the accuracy, yes, you need to do a ton of work with that. We're talking to Thor Neistram. Thor's with fantasy pros. You can follow Thor on Twitter at Thor. that's T-H-O-R-K-U and get the link to fantasy pros and betting pros and all the things that he is associated with. By the way, Nick Ackerts from Pro Football Focus, who I have on the show all the time, he's a huge Washington sports fan and Skins fan.

He said the same thing about Richardson that you said. He said, okay, of course the mechanics are bad, and yes, the accuracy then is bad. But if you watch him, he goes through his progressions at like, an advanced level for the number of games that he has started. I think that's an interesting point. Let me ask you one last question on Richardson. If Washington at 16, if he were there, and I'll ask you where you think he's going to go in a moment, but if he were available at 16, would you take him?

For me, it's a yes. And it's a yes because I'm not going to say that I'm bullish on Howell, but I do think Howell has a shot. So this isn't throwing dirt on Howl, but it's not 100% shot, right? And we've already said that Richardson is not 100% shot, but of course, Richardson, you have that bonanza of a ceiling if he hits it. If Richardson fell down there, by the import of it, the upside of it, it's juice worth to squeeze in terms of the slot.

Now you've got two bites of that apple. If both the guys hit, great. Now you have a trade asset. You know, you could trade how on next off season. Certainly a team's going to want a young starting quarterback on the rookie scale deal. If only one of the guys hits, well, great. You have your starting quarterback going forward. And it didn't cost you a lot, by the way.

It caused you a fifth round pick and it costs you mid-first round pick. Any team in the league is going to give that up to get a solid starting quarterback on a rookie deal. And the odds that neither of them hit that you don't have anything there, it goes way down, of course, if you have the second guy. So for me, there, yes, I'm taking him if he falls down there. If I'm watching and though having Howl, I'm not going to give up assets probably to move up. So it would have to be the scenario where he falls down into my lap. But if that happens, yeah, I'm probably going to take him.

You do this thing before the draft every year where you comp all the players in the draft to NFL players. Who will you comp Anthony Richardson to? Cam Newton? Yeah, I mean, you know, when you think about it, Cam Newton was not a great mechanic, a great accuracy guy when he was forced to throw it on third down, but he had a lot of other answers there for a few years. I'm assuming that based on the way you're talking about him,

you don't think he gets by Carolina at nine, right? Yeah, you got it. And the Cam Newton application and everything like that, that's where I would bank right now. I think that would be his slot. But if he gets by there, that's where it's really in play that he could fall down to Washington. So Carolina would be the one to watch for sure at number nine. So all four quarterbacks you've got going in the top ten?

I do, yep. By the way, after those four, is anybody going to make a run at, you know, a discussion? We know how things dramatically change after indie and pro days, et cetera. is there anybody out there at that position that you could see surprising people over the next two months? In terms of surprising, like getting into the back half of the first round, I say no, but in terms of like, I do think we could get a guy like into the, maybe top half of the second, certainly into the middle of the second. I think Tanner McKee is the guy that could be the start of the darling of the moment. Yeah, the Stanford. Once he goes out and starts throwing, because he's got a pretty good arm.

And his circumstance, you know, as you know, as a college football guy, his circumstances in college were not very good. I'm not exactly sure what happened to David Schaer over the last three or four years, but everything went awry for him. But Tanner McKee, he's your prototypical pocket passer, and he's like your throwback guy where some of the guys that we were just talking about, it's either unprecedented profiles, i.e. Bryce Young, or you have like the wonky profiles with the extremely elevated risk profiles in Richardson and Levis.

McKee is like, you know, if you just want to like, you know, he's more like the 25 years ago kind of guy where it's like the six, five or six, prototypical pocket passer, makes quick decisions, very accurate, throws to all levels of the field. But he's not very athletic. Obviously, he ain't going to steal any yards out of the pocket or nothing like that. but I could definitely see him being sort of the darling of the pre-draft process once he goes out and starts talking when teams start throwing and moving up into, like I said, could be top half of the second round.

What do you think Washington will have at their disposal, knowing that O-line secondary to a certain degree, I think tight end is a major need for them. You know, at 16, what do you see being there at 16 for them to choose from? Yeah, but it's not Richardson. and cornerback, I forgot if you mentioned cornerback, it would be another one, I'd probably toss out offensive line, and

those are positions where there are going to be guys, especially cornerback, you know, like I haven't looked around as much with the mocks. I probably shouldn't say this because it's my industry sometimes. It's all right, they change so much anyway. Yeah, because before free agency starts, I don't care about the mocks.

And there's been years where my work has made me do a mock before free agency, but I just don't care about them before then. So I don't like, you know, the whole point is I haven't looked at them, but like I would have to assume that Washington's getting mocked some of those cornerbacks because at their, you know, if the mock doesn't have them getting like a guy like Richardson, because at their slot, it's a good slot for some of these cornerbacks like in that first round. It's sort of a sweet spot for that. You have like, you know, Joey Porter, Jr. from Penn State. You have Cam Smith from South Carolina. I don't think Devon

Witherspoon will get there, but this is all dependent on his combine, because he's, you know, as far as like weighing in, he's going to weigh in a little bit lighter. Like, he's going to weigh in like, you know, 12, 13 pounds lighter than Jaya Alexander, for instance, maybe even up to 15 pounds lighter in Jaya Alexander. He's on the smaller side, and the athletic testing will have to see, like, how he tests, but nobody thinks he's like a world-class athlete. It's just on film. He's the best corner in the class.

And so if some of the measurable stuff, if it introduces just a little bit of doubt, I do think there's a shot that he could fall to 60, and then you get the best corner in the class, you know, just on film, like I said. I don't think Christian Giddle is the guy. I don't think we'll get there because I think the measurables would take him out of there. But I do think corner for Washington at that slot, definitely in play. And then the trench play, you know, with the offensive line, would probably be the other one that I would be looking at.

Yeah. What about tight ends? Is there a tight end? Is the kid from Notre Dame worth taking in the top half of the first round this year or not? Yes, Michael Mayer. Yeah. I love Michael Mayer. And with him, some people are like, you know, like, oh, let's see how he tests.

The one thing you can nitpick about his Eval is he's not like the, he's not called. He's not going to get on the track. He's not going to run, whatever. He's not going to run for it for. He's going to run. What's he going to run, do you think? Probably four, six. It's like mid-four-sixthes, maybe.

Yeah. Like, yeah. But, like, everything else about his profile, you literally can't question it. He's, his routes are awesome. His hands are awesome. He's very, very fluid. He uses his body, like, ideally,

he uses his body, like, like, you would use it. Like, if you were playing, like, with, on PlayStation, like, it, like, exactly how, you would want him to. He pins the defenders to his back, and then the moment he gets the ball, he's just colossus moving down field. Like, you need a couple guys to get that guy down, and then you start seeing people do that diving at his knees like they used to do with gronkin stuff, and then, you know, he could do the thing, like, you know, he'll do the low stiff arm, or sometimes he'll do the little short hop hurdle of them and stuff like that. He's very dangerous

with that ball in his hand. And then this is the other very important point about Michael mayor, I think. There's been so many these tight ends who've come in the league in recent years, and not a ton of them have gone in the first round. A lot of times because they're the one-trick utility guy. They don't block. You know, a lot of these guys are just big slots or their age backs. Or if they are a guy that played in line in college, it's like a guy that didn't block well. Like, um, uh, uh, same college, Cole Komet. He, you know, he played in line there, but he didn't block good. Like, you know, you know, when he got, get off the line. It would like shock him back before he could like go into his route.

Michael Mayer, not only did he play in line, he's a devastating blocker. Like, he's one of the better inline blockers that we've seen coming to the league from that position in the last decade. Certainly while I've been doing this, he's not just that he gets after at every play, because there's been other processes coming that like they give you the effort every play, which that in and of itself is notable because like I said, a lot of these guys, they don't care about the blocking aspect of it. Mayor gets after it, but he also has the play string and the technique. He very clearly cares about it, not only in the moment, but he did in advance of it,

right, getting his body ready for it, getting the technique down, everything like that. If you watch his film, every single play where he is a blocker, he is getting after it, and he's moving somebody backwards. It just is what it is, and it's not just on the inline thing. You can move him into the backfield, and he can be a lead. blocker in the short area of stuff, doing the different motions of, different stuff like that. So true dual

threat tight end. And at 16, absolutely juice would be worth the squeeze there. I would absolutely take Mike Amerit. All right. Last one. Where's this draft strong? Where's it weak? The strongest positions for me are it's the trenches and it's

the cornerbacks. Specifically where it's really unique, it's the outside boundary press man guys who have like the teradactal reaches, you have this abnormal amount of cornerbacks in this class that fit that profile where, like, the past five classes.

We'll have to see when the measurements come out, but I would bet that this class just by the size is larger than any of those. And you have the athletic profile to back it up. So for me, it would be secondary. And then on both sides of the trenches, I think the defensive line class is good, the edge rushers are good.

and then the offensive line class, I think, too, is solid. And you think Jalen Carter is the best player in the draft, don't you? I do. Him and Bryce Young, like, if you brought the quarterback value into it, I put Bryce Young in there, but if it's not the quarterback value, yeah, Jalen Carter, for sure. Thor, awesome job. Really appreciate it. Hopefully we can talk again before the draft.

I'd love to, yeah, anytime. All right. Jimmy Patsos next right after these words from a few of our sponsors. Jumping on with us right now is my good friend Jimmy Patsos, of course, the longtime assistant with Gary Williams at Maryland, then coached up at Loyola in Baltimore at Sienna. He's been doing a lot of work with Under Armour, a lot of work with NBC Sports Washington, especially on the Wizards broadcast. And he jumps on with us right now. I want to start with Thursday night, last Thursday night, where you were and where I was. and that was at the X-Finity Center for Maryland against Purdue.

You get around, you get to a lot of venues, you know, some of the best venues in the country. And I'm asked occasionally by people who hear me talk about what a great home court advantage Maryland has to compare it to other places. And I've said, you know, on its best nights, and last Thursday was one of the best nights we've seen in a while, it's as good as any place out there. You've been out there. Do you agree with that? Well, full disclosure. I work front door armor, as you know, Kevin. So we have a vested interest in Maryland being one of our flagship, just like Auburn,

just like Utah, Northwestern, who's having a great year, Wisconsin, Notre Dame, Texas Tech. Then we have the Cincinnati's, and Davidson's. And then we have local schools like Towson who could make a run, an American U and Navy who's playing well. All these schools matter to us, but let's face it. Maryland matters a little extra. You know, Kevin Blank went there, high coached there. I was with Gary Williams. And we were, look, I hope Turs is doing well.

I miss Turs. You know, Mark, the last time I went to an NCAA game, Mark Turson, and the Terps beat Buk Knight in Danny Hurley in Connecticut, Handily in Indiana. Yeah. So, like, there's been some really good moments recently. I remember when Turg beat on Michigan, and they won the regular season. They tied for the regular season. And it was really good energy in there.

Everybody was like, where we were all moving. That COVID, you heard a lot of programs like Dayton, et cetera. That hurt Maryland a lot. You know, that was really a, we were really poised because we had the two big eggs and Jaylon Smith was playing so well. That being said, that dissertation to open and I apologize, but I want to let everyone know, there's been a lot of good time. Yeah.

We all have a lot of interest. Yeah. But Purdue the other night was phenomenal. I mean, and I, in the rushing the court, I like it. I don't want anybody to get hurt. I was there for the Penn State Saturday noon game, which Kevin Willemton very vocal about. We need more

Saturday and Sunday afternoon games, especially here when a major city. There's traffic issues. We like those. Well, Purdue took the thing to another level. That was back to the game. That's why I wanted to say. I like TURS did a lot of good things, a lot of good players, no hard feelings. But

that felt to me, Kevin, like the old day. That felt like Carolina and Colefield House with Johnny Rhodes and Joe Smith. That felt like Duke. that felt like beating Bill Self in Illinois or Kelvin Samson and Oklahoma back in coal, beating Wisconsin with Nick Kane and Medley hitting a shot against Wisconsin. You know, I left in 2004. Like that was that magnitude of a win, the energy, you couldn't hear you still think.

There was chaos. The fans were great. The popcorn was popping. Everybody was excited. You can feel the energy. And then they won. You know how that is, Kevin. We had that against UCLA, not such a good outcome.

These things happen. for the UCLA for the third in the country. But I just wanted to let everybody know of kind of my opening statement. The past is the past and the future is the future. And we all remember a lot of good things. But that was as good as it gets, in my opinion. And if it can remotely stay at that level,

Willard's done a magnificent show. Look, we're probably going the NCAA tournament. And if you and I talked last August, let's not BS each other. There's no way we thought we were really deep down going to be going to the tournament, let alone having a 7-8-9 C. right. So it's been a joyous year, but that Purdue thing was like a hope in the unseen. That was like getting the Willie Walker's a ticket, and Gene Wilder, flip it over, and now we're going in and

watching Violet Buregard, Baruka Salt, and Columbus. The Ompalumpus. That was just like, it all came together against Purdue, and it was so exciting, and it was so good, and it was a win. And how was you, like, how did you feel walking out of there that night? Well, first of all, I'm glad you said what you said at the beginning, because I know we talk every once in a while, not always on the air, but everybody that's listening to this knows that I've gone and bent over backwards trying to tell everybody, look, don't make this about, you know, what Turgeon wasn't, because you're fooling yourselves.

And many of our fans just flat out lie and make things up. I mean, Terge was the third winningest coach in the Big Ten when he was there behind Izzo and Painter. He went to more NCAA tournaments at Maryland in the Big Ten than anybody but Izzo. We were ranked, you know, earlier in the year when people were saying, oh, when's the last time they were ranked 13th? Well, they were ranked number two in 2020. They were ranked the top 10 pretty much the entire season that year. When's the last time they sold out a game? I don't know, five games in 2020.

Like, people just make stuff up. TURG and the program was good. The problem is, and I understand this, and I've said the same thing, is we didn't win enough in March. That's the mic drop moment for those that wanted to move on. But people need to stop making shit up about him because the bottom line is, is he won a hell of a lot. We were going to the tournament every year. Just didn't win enough in March like you did with Gary.

And people are always going to compare March results to what happened here. By the way, you went through it where we were only making sweet 16s. I mean, you were there the night against Florida State when this fan base, well, you know, would booge you guys off the floor. You know, and you went to the final four. But I'm glad you said that. But with respect to the other night, I just, what I wanted to really ask you was, you've been in a lot of these venues.

I've gone to a lot of road venues before. I think Maryland on its best nights, which we all believe we're the Duke and Carolina nights. You referenced the Johnny Rhodes, Joe Smith, Keith Booth, Dwayne Simpkins, you know, the 95 season when Carolina came in here, came to Cole number one. And that may be the number one during your era in terms of crowds that night. Everybody had red pom-poms. The place was insane. Insane.

But I want you to tell everybody what Xfinity Center is like on a really good night compared to the best places. Compared to Cameron, compared to Fogg Allen, compared to Mackie. You know, I've been asked by people, where does it rank? And I'm like, on its best night, it's up there with any. of them. I would agree. I would say that's a very fair statement. Look, Fogg Allen, the one thing Duke did, you know, as much as we hate to admit, they beat us on this, but I'm only kidding. Look, Duke drove the bus and made us get better. I wish we had built a practice in a facility next to coal. Like where the tennis courts were, we should have built a building like Duke did that had all the

bills and whistles and then renovate coal to the degree of, you know, better seats. And the floor wasn't going to work with those, you know, double aisle, wooden chairs. Yeah, yeah. It's crazy. But, and the bathrooms need to be added. And so all of a sudden, I'm talking about a lot of amenities, but yet Fogg Allen has done it.

And so has Cameron. But you need the next door thing, the practice gym, the locker room, the hot tugs, the offices, the video rooms. You couldn't survive in coal the way it was. And it really would have hurt all the other sports. So Gary Williams was the one that said, like, as usual with Gary,

if this helps every one, will move. Of course it's too big. I wish it was $15,000, $14,000. I want the end zone open as a restaurant. You know, where you can go the whole game. It should probably have like a deck off of it. Look, when you're playing bad teams, you've got to entertain business people. But it's up there. It ranks up. Now, Mackey, $12,12, 123, baby. I saw Gene Cady down the coast of Carolina with Cliff Ellis. First thing he says, Jimmy, 12,1, 123. We had the second most sell-ups in a row behind Jordan and the Bulls and the whole world. and Mackey, I was there when I was there for Mackey, and that's where we beat.

That's where we beat Connecticut. I was there when I was out there. See, being it to COVID year, and I want to jump back into that real quick, indefensive Turs, in defense of VCU and Dayton, the A10 right now is struggling. Well, they had a window, and you know how this is Kevin. Yeah.

Gonzaga is the superpower. Kinsaga carries their league. Houston carries the American League, right? Well, you have to have those teams be superpowers and go to the top four when they can. Maryland, the league didn't get hurt by COVID, but Marilyn did because that was their year to really make a big jump and march under TURS.

But VCU and Dayton, BCU had a game canceled against Oregon, didn't get to play. The year before, Dayton's the number one and two seats with Obitopin, and they don't get to play, and all of a sudden, they take a step back. You have to capitalize, whether it's TERS or someone else, and the COVID year hurts some teams.

That just, you know, that was just cycle to really cycle up. But in Mackey Arena, that's where Eric and Eric, Aiella, firmly I'll play James Bukknight. I try to look at all the NBA Scouts. Like, how about Bucnight? I'm like, how about Bucnight? How about Aiella? Right. He just kicked his butt.

And those are moments you remember. But the Mackey Arena, I think Bloomington's a really interesting way. And I want to jump into the Big Ten. Everyone misses Carolina Duke. Everyone. It was phenomenal. It's not coming back. It's the way it was.

But the Big Ten is better than the ACC. It is. It is. I've finally come around. Well, well, other than those two, okay, those are two iconic programs. They both went to the final four last year. People forget, oh, the ACC's down. The bottom of the ACC's not very good.

You're right. There's places where there's two and three thousand people. I won't cast dispersion. I might be generous with that. There's never a night in the Big Ten where there's 3,000 people in the arena. Never. Never. Ever, ever, ever, never.

Ever, ever. Exhibition game, worst game of the year. Doesn't matter. There are nights in the ACC where there's a big-time game on a Tuesday, where there's two and three thousand people and those arenas in February. And nobody wants to talk about that. Well, I will. Because the Big Ten's way better than that.

Okay. But Carolina Duke has the Mystique, and Mystique's carry, and they still win. I don't know if they're going to win this year. We didn't have a team on the Final Four last couple years. So the O' the ACC. No, the Big Ten is. It's not even close. It's the best league night in and night out for crowds.

You saw the Nebraska crowd. Tough loss in overtime. They got some players that won four out of five. The young Japanese kids very good. Hoyburn's son. Walker's good at the big. They had 14,000 people in their pack. You know, and I was going to say, Bloomington's tough ways to play.

I've never been to Michigan. Michigan State. Played Izzo. Northwestern's packing it now. We know the Buckeyes are crowded. Penn State has their flaws up there. Minnesota, when they're good, it's great. Minnesota's

The old, you know A funny little stadium they have The barn Like this is a great league And they are pulling in The SEC's close Now when Texas and Oklahoma comes up That's driven by Kentucky and Mandy

You can walk up to most SEC places And get a ticket on a Tuesday night Even in February So like that's where it's at now And it turned out to be a great move Forget about the 30 million extra we get every year Which obviously helps all sports included but it's going to be interesting because everyone loves a winner.

And the Big Ten has to prove it can have a final 14. And I don't know if it's because other than Zach Edy, they're a little young. They got some good guys in the back court lawyer and that's in those guys, but they're a little young. But if you don't have a final 14, then people go, where's your final 14? And like I said, Gonzag has done a great job. Houston went there and could go again this year. You know, like Memphis and Penny do a great job carrying the American. and that's the mountain west.

They've been great. You know, kudos to Coach Naki. Kelsey's out there at Utah State. Nevada's good. New Mexico's falling a little. San Diego State's really good. But if you don't make that second weekend, Sweet 16 on, your league doesn't get the recognition.

But yet when you make the Final Four, you get a big boost, and that's fair. And the ACC is really good at that. And they've always been top-heavy. And I miss those two teams. But after those two teams, I think the Big Ten has been a much better basketball conference. I was watching Jeopardy the other night, and there was a category called ACC School Something, right?

So of the six answers, five of them were Pitt, Syracuse, Boston College, Miami, and Louisville, I think. And I'm like, well, they are, they are trying to stunk. I'm like, that's not the ACC. No, but they're trying to stump you. That's why they're not for those of it. Well, they didn't stump me. Actually, I think I ran that category. My wife was like, Jesus.

And I'm like, yeah, but the sad part is none of those schools, except for Clemson was an answer. None of them were like real ACC schools. But I have to tell you because I told Tommy this, and I may have told Naki this as well recently. I am a big 10 guy now. I mean, I didn't think it would ever happen. I, for the first four, five, six years. By the way, I think Maryland suffered a lot from going to the Big Ten in basketball through a lot of those years because I think people were not excited about Minnesota on a Thursday night coming to Xfinity Center,

whereas if it had been NC State or Virginia, it probably would have been different. But beyond that, what has been just, I mean, I used to watch more ACCC games with Maryland in the Big Ten than I would Big Ten games. That is not the case anymore. I'm a Big Ten network guy. I watch all the games, and you nailed it. Like the venues, what's the Indiana? God damn, I'm blanking on his name. What's the Indiana player who played for night that was on ESPN?

Dockich. One of those first years I had Dockich on the show, Jimmy, and he's like, hey, you know, I did the Maryland game. That is quite an impressive home court, you know, place. I mean, but you're going to be going to a lot of great places, but my God, I was impressed with Maryland. and I said to him on the show live, I said, Dan, we went to Cameron Indoor every year. You ever heard of it? I mean, Little John on a really good night. You haul, the Dean Dome.

I said, we were in a little conference you may have heard of it, the ACC for the last 45 years, 50 years, whatever it was. He goes, no, I know, but man, the Big Ten's got some venues. Well, you know what? He was right. I mean, even Rutgers going there. Well, they go, well, Rutgers, yeah. Michael's done a good job. You could have gone there four years ago and walked in there.

Okay. They would have begged you to go. I'm just saying this. When Gary Williams was there, remember, we grew up in Big Ten. You should get an Indiana in 76. I know. With two undefeated teams going to the final, final fall, Bobby Knight's first win in Philly. And that's, you know, I'm 10 years old.

You're starting to watch a little basketball. But you had night, Gary was there three years and two teams won it. Rameel Robinson won it, and Bobby Knight won it. And they weren't the best team in the league. Purdue was. But the venues... With Big Dog, yeah. But, no, that was for Big Dog.

They had the three guys there. Then the other than the Big Dog. Oh, yeah, yeah. But anyways, those places, just because football got so much, you know, you're watching Ohio State. You're watching Nebraska. Now, Nebraska, that wasn't the Big 12, but those type of schools growing up, the football venues were packed. Keith Jackson talking about a sophomore and all this stuff. And, you know, like, you.

It's just, it took away a little. But they had Knight and they had Michigan winning it. Yeah. And they had other teams that Izzo picks up the slack for those guys. For Heathcote. Yeah. They went away in Lut Olson. Then Wisconsin makes their run with, you know, they almost win two titles.

They just couldn't quite get it done in 15 and 16. But their venues are really, really crowded and they have a really good fan base. But I thought, Blumen, could actually won there as a coach of the Loyola. I remember. Yeah. They made the mistake of giving us to check before the game. You were down a bunch in that game. I remember that game very well.

You were down a boat when we came back. We were up, then we were down, but that was one of those games I showed the players the $75,000 check they gave us. They said, they just gave us this check and they think we're going to roll over. This is a teaching moment. This is called House Money. Okay? We got nothing to lose.

You never give us the check before. now we're firing away at half time. I show him the jacket. I'm like, oh, I should have ripped it up because you guys don't want to play hard for $75. They're like, don't rip it up. I'm like, don't worry. I'm not ripping it up.

But we had a moment. But Bloomington, as I went there for COVID, what a great town. It's like I'm like Purdue is a little quiet, no offense. Yeah. But Bloomington's off the bottom. It's like a really, really good town. Cool town.

Cool, John Cougar stuff. But that venue is steep, and they go to it. God, it's steep. I'm sorry because I got off when a tangent. but this is, this has turned into a much better back. And Rutgers, I want to give all the credit in the world to what you said. Rockers and Maryland, Maryland had a tough transition because we had such tradition. Rockers was just, you know, a little orphan Annie over there.

No one would have heard of. Right. And he's really picked it up. And now, what is your thoughts, Kevin on left? By the way, we're going next year, December 20. If I believe that's the release date for basically it's the end of December is when Marilyn's going to return the game at UCLA. And if anybody wants to have lunch at Craigs in West Hollywood, I'm buying, because I will be there.

What about when we had those two venues? Now, USC, they don't quite draw any other ones. No, no. But UCLA does. What do you think about those two companies? Well, you've got it. Per usual, as you begin to talk, and this wasn't the plan, we get into all these other things.

Let me just mention one thing before I get to USC and UCLA. The one thing that I do miss, and I don't know when this will happen, you know, but it will eventually, as Maryland's in this league longer, is we just don't have a rival. You know, there isn't a rivalry. Like, I don't know if you see, you know, the Big Ten's going to go to, you know, they're going to get away from these divisions in football. And you're going to get three guaranteed rivalry games every year. And for Maryland, Rutgers and Penn State are going to more likely than not be two out

of the three, but it's like. And you know what? I've got to give you this. Hold on, Kevin. The Rutgers things different. Penn State has some of that Penn State. game was really good. And, you know, with Loxley and James going out and Franklin of football and all that, that creates drama. They're not a rival in basketball. No, but they're right next door and they

did bring people, though. No, no, no, look. Yeah, look, Carolina and Duke are walking in the door and I'm just, I'm not saying, I'm not saying, I'm not saying, I'm not saying, I'm not saying, I'm not saying, I'm not saying, I'm not saying that I, that I've, I've already told you, I'm now a total convert. I'm just telling you the one thing that we miss. But it's what constitutes a rivalry is other people coming into the building. And I'm telling you that Saturday, there were a couple thousand. Yeah, I know. Penn State fans there. They deserve credit for that. Okay. But I would. But you wouldn't, and I wouldn't say at any point, probably for the rest of our lives, that Penn State is a rival of ours in basketball. So to your... No, but you have to build somewhere.

Yeah, but I, well, what I hoped when we got in the league is that... I hope it will be Georgetown when Georgetown decides to start playing us. Well, that would be nice. They both need each. I want to, and Willard knows it. They both need each other, and we need to play each other early because it helps Selts season. They need us a lot more than we need them now.

I know the Hoyas could use a little boosted attendance. Yeah, you'd think? I mean, if you show an ID, you get in. and that's a DC ID, but I think you can fake it. I'm pretty sure you can just walk in and wave, and they won't come after you, which, by the way, I did many years ago at Cole Fieldhouse. But anyway, on the USCU-C-U-C-L. Anyway, what do you do with that answer?

I don't know. I think it depends on who's good at Michigan. Michigan and us because of the bad blood. I know, but it's not whatever. It's going to take time. I understand that. I'm not sitting here saying that I'm ready. I still want to go back to the ACC.

and I want to play North Carolina, Duke, and UVA every year. I'm just saying that the one thing that's missing is that, you know, that heated history, arch-rival situation that we had, that you only get because of time. And if you look over the time, in a short period of time, because of the Turs, Joan Howard thing, because of Dickinson, they have some local kids, Phil Martelli, in the way they roll. That's not a criticism.

They work very hard, but they've let it know that they can come to the NBA get kids. That's on the recruiting trail. Let's go inside stuff. It's building. And I think it's actually, and I really like Juan Howard. He was a good wizard. He's a good man. I like Joan Howard when he's on the road. I've got him on podcast really smart. He knows, though. He got to build hatred to build the rivalry. It's not just Michigan State and Ohio State for him, but because of our fertile recruiting ground, which, you know, is the best, look, this is the best farming in the country. Let's just face it. That's how it goes. We have the best soil for farming. you know, coming out of the DMV.

We are in Ag school. And we are an Ag school. But, like, I think Michigan actually has the most juice going forward to try to become a rival. So I'll add that note on, I hope that we continue to not like Michigan. And we split with them and they beat us up there and we beat them down here. They might not make the tournament this year. And we might. So I hope that becomes our rival.

Let's go next topic. Up next. By the way, I just want to make sure that people don't think that saying that Maryland's an ag school was a condescending comment. It actually was an ag school, as was basically most major state universities in this country, certainly in the early part of the 20th century. They were all farming in agriculture schools. But anyway, we move on. On USC and that's why we keep the dairy there. That's why the dairy is there. That's why the barnyard is still there. The dairy was awesome. I mean, the chocolate milk and the ice cream that that dairy produced for the dining halls was great. On the

USC UCLA front, let me just say, I hate it. But then again, what's the point? This is what it is. I mean, we're going to end up with two, three superpower conferences. I'm glad we're in the Big Ten. By the way, I would just add that, you know, a lot of people have said, man, Wallace Lowe and Kevin Anderson, they had this vision. No, they didn't. They just needed to get out of the financial position they were in. And I would say specifically that if Maryland hadn't taken the, the, the, hadn't made the move, we would have still been a very desirable team for the Big Ten and or the SEC

because of the markets, because of the combined Baltimore. Oh, yeah. No, no. We would have been scooped up by now regardless. By the way, Kevin Plank deserves a ton of credit because he pushed the Big Ten, you know, not just for football.

He was a pretty smart guy last time I checked. And he had the vision of, you know, plank and some people, they just realized that every hotel, whether it was a holiday inn, W. Marriott or Ritz didn't matter. Wherever they were in the country had the Big Ten channel. Like, it was just in your faith.

Yeah. When nobody, you know, it was ESPN 1, the ESPN 2 in the Big Ten. That was in every hotel in America, and it was kind of an odd thing. And it just generated this, like, thought process of, like, wow. They're like, because that's before. And I know the SEC's done a good job. And we know the Fox has come along and all that. But for a little while, like, no matter where you went, it, it was in a hotel.

It was in a hotel. It was like, right there, like, they're ahead of the curve. and it's been a beautiful thing. Let's just, the U.S. and it's going to be, you know, it's going to be like a pro league,

Kevin, and you know this. And therefore that means we're going to have these schools that we play a lot more Rutgers, Penn State, I'm assuming Ohio State, and those guys,

you know, that's why I like the Michigan thing. It's not too far. And then there's going to be the middle, you know, the old Indianapolis corridor to Chicago, you know, the Illinois and all that. And then Minnesota,

by default, Nebraska, are going to have to hang out in L.A., whether they're, hike it or not, but it is three hours, and these kids are on chart as these young men, so they can do. What do they do for the other? So it's probably going to be like three different leagues within one, and that's just

the way the world is now. You know, that's the way the NBA is, and that's the way hockey is. You don't play everybody twice, and it's just a region. There's going to be three regions. And that sense, for tennis and lacrosse or field hockey or whatever, there won't be quite the crazy travel you think until the conference champions. But that's okay. And if you have to do it for the money and you have to do it for the glory,

but as you said, if it went and done, the third conference at this point, Kevin, and you and I'm not, look, I'm not a conference expert, but I am around, you know. And we have Utah, very, very grateful we have Utah as one of our big schools. That's all we have left, Cal's out, you know, who's just not a, that Cal and those guys have to be worried because if Washington, Oregon, Stanford, get picked off, and then they go with the big 12, well, that's the middle of the country.

and then they take some of the ACC, I just wanted to reiterate, I really believe what you said is true, Kevin. Regardless of the shakeout, we were going to get picked up anyway. Yeah. And we were going to have to travel anyway. Yeah, exactly.

And so, actually, for the demographics of our city, like the Big Ten is better than the SEC. Hey, I love, I'm going to Nashville, I'm going the FCC tournament. But Auburn, Alabama, and Starkville, Mississippi, and all these places,

there's not quite the cachet in Washington, D.C., as Chicago, Detroit, Columbus. Yeah. You know, and that's the bottom line. We probably ended up in the best place we could have, because I agree with you. I think it's a fascinating thing. Whoever can predict where's that third conference coming from. But it's going to be a Po-Perea very interesting school.

Yeah. I mean, not to mention, by the way, not that this would have been a major factor. There are so many Alumn, Big Ten alums that live in this market, many more than SEC alums. I mean, you have Penn State, Michigan. I mean, yeah, exactly. Exactly. But again, I didn't plan to go down this path of what this ends up looking like five years from now or whatever it is. But I am curious about the ACC schools.

Like who gets picked off to be in the SEC, the Big Ten, or whatever this third league is? Maybe the third league is mostly ACC members. I don't know. Or it could be Big 12, Pact 12 members. I don't know. But isn't Duke in trouble? You know, it's a great question. And Gary yells at me all the time about this, and he's right to yell at me. But I just get so excited about, like, I just want the Big 12 to steal Kansas because,

and I like Kansas. You know, Kansas. He's in Adidas school. There's nothing to do to see them. The Big Ten. You're saying the Big Ten to steal Kansas. The Big Ten should steal Kansas because it's in the middle of just, right. It's closer.

Yeah, I apologize. No, that's right. I want the Big Ten to steal them from the Big 12. I stand correcting. You are smart of me, and I appreciate it. You've always been good at correcting you. Anyway. But very few corrections needed.

Like, I almost corrected you on 76 in Philadelphia because I thought you had it confused with 81 in Philadelphia the day Reagan got shot when Indiana beat North Carolina. But you're right, they beat Michigan in Philadelphia as well in 76. Go ahead. Yeah, he had Ricky Green. And by the way, I still have my apartment in D.C. One block from where the Reagan shooting took place.

Right on Connecticut and Florida. Exactly. Let me tell you this, though. I get excited about Duke in Kansas and Gary just stop Jim Jim Jim Stop and calls me Jim when he gets mad at me Like it just doesn't matter And by the way

Coach K's gone You know like it's already been a year And I like John Shire I hope he does well Roy Williams and Coach K Carrie more cachet than Eubert Davis and John Shire I want to see how that shakes out I think the most but Bill Self

is still the guy He's the master you know And he's got a couple national titles But as Gary says, other than Kansas having a decent football year this year, who cares about them in football? So no one cares, and he's right. So where they land? I think the Big 12 has the most juice. Now, they lost Oklahoma and Texas, and those were big.

The thing about them is, to me, Kevin, and I'm being around, is the ACC is going to be grateful for whatever they get. And you're right. Duke could be in trouble because the Big 12, look, let's do the math. They got both Arizona's and they got Colorado. and Utah sit right there. Those aren't very long trips. So Washington and Oregon

have huge markets. You know, Washington has, you know, sometimes people should go and look at the markets and you know this year in media.

Like Baltimore is the 25th biggest market. Like Miami's the 38th. You know, right. You got to look. Like the Bay Area is like fifth, you know,

Houston's fourth, you know, Philly third. Like, it's interesting. So, like Seattle's a pretty big area in San France.

So you've got to look at Stanford, and you've got to look at Washington. Oregon could be left out. Now, they've got the power of the floosh. So that's doubtful. But like the Big 12 is in the driver's seat because Arizona's, both Arizona's have history with them. And Colorado was in their conference forever.

And Utah makes sense because Salt Lake's growing rapidly. Like, that's how it's going to go. So who gets picked from the East? You bring up a fascinating point, Kevin. A fascinating point. Probably Virginia would be my number one. My number one pick in the ACC, if I was the Big 12, would be Virginia just based on their

geographics. Like, they're going to get the D.C. market. They win. It's a fabulous university with great reputation. Number two, probably Carolina, because they're not a football. Carolina would fit with the Big Ten, don't you think? Academically.

Virginia, too. I am, but stop. That game's not being played. The game is, you have to set some parameters to jeopardy, okay? The game is, what's the game? The game is, is that Big Ten stops at 16 and the FCC stops at 16. So I apologize to the news.

Okay, fair enough. We're playing. We're playing. So they're done. That those two say, we don't want to split our pine anymore. We got the West. The SEC has so much time. They just got Oklahoma in Texas.

I apologize. The game is those two are set. Because I'm going on your thing of who's the third topic. But I just think it's a fascinating discussion. So now you say it gets to be one more 16. Now they can go to 20 the third because they haven't set their goals yet. Well, Clemson's a part of that. Clemson's obviously a part of that.

It has to be because of football. But I thought the Big 12 jumped the gun by adding Cincy, BYU, Houston, and Central Florida. They panicked a little because they were in the driver's seat, as you said. Where does this shakeout? I guess two more 16 team conferences. And then that's it if that's what they want them because there's 12 bids. But I was just going on. Washington is a huge market.

Oregon has the swoosh. and Stanford, Stanford. Then you've got the Arizona schools are paired, and then the Colorado, Utah schools are paired. I actually think the first choice would be Colorado and Utah to go to the Big 12, and then they shut down at 15. Because they've added BYU, Cincinnati, and Texas, and Central Florida. They've committed to those teams.

So that brings them back to 12. So they got room for four more. I think if I'm the Big 12th, just give me the two Arizona's, give me the two Colorado. What does that do for the East Coast and the West Coast? ACC PAC 12? I don't know. But I'm just playing the game of 16s, the magic number, because we don't want to put the money up more than that.

Do you have a network? The ACCC network is the weakest. The weakest. Swofford blew it. He didn't, why? Did he blow it? Was it him? Did he blow that?

I mean, why did it take them so long to see that this was so important? I don't. I think they thought the ACD ESPN was going to carry him, you know? Okay. The answer, by the way, out of the ACC for whatever new 16-team league or 20-team league is created where they're picking teams from the ACC,

who are North Carolina and Clemson in Jeopardy Parliance? Because you've got... And I'm giving them UVA, so you have one left. If you're the SEC, you're right, let's just play that kid. We'll play the 20 games. It's probably Florida. What is Florida State?

It's Carolina. What is Florida State? Yep, it's large. Miami's out, because they haven't picked enough. So I agree with the Clemson, Virginia, and Carolina being state schools and that. And when does that leave Duke and all that? You're absolutely correct.

Yeah. In some basketball league with Georgetown, maybe. All right. I mean, it really, like, thinking about Duke and Georgetown being so minimized. It just doesn't, it's a different world that we're, I mean, we're living in the Georgetown situation right now. When we took the Maryland job, and I want to switch to the mid-major's because I think George Mason and GW... Well, because Georgetown's a mid-major?

Oh, no, that I... That Kevin said that. No, I mean, when we got the job at Maryland, Gary Williams used to remind me, Jim, Jim, Jim, my first two years at Maryland with Walt Williams in fear, the first two years, Duke won the title. Right. Then Carolina won the title. And Georgetown was selling the most gear in the country. they were the number one apparel gear.

And then the Fab Five came and challenged them. So Gary's like, we got the two best teams in the country in our league. And in our backyard, he's going to speak Lee. And she's got to have it and all that stuff that would come out, do the right thing. And like Iverson was, it was just an icon because of John, obviously, and you ain't. But really, Spike Lee helped them. But it was a moment in time to look back and say, like, wait a second, we are not going to win. Because those two were in our league.

and this other team down the street is the most popular brand. That's the most popular brand in the country is Georgetown, right? Like remember the silver jackets and all that way. You can go to L.A. I go recruiting in Chicago, Boston, L.A., California. Georgetown jackets everywhere. And I'm like, well, the goodness is you can kind of come watch and play. If you're right down the street.

That was your pitch. Come to Maryland and you can watch Georgetown. They're two miles away. But think about that. So we try to rebuild this program, and those are the three, the two obviously iconic programs. But Georgetown made no mistake about it. And AI was really fun to watch it, really good. You know, we got, because Joe Smith was on that, the day and YouTube.

But, like, it was kind of crazy to think about where that's gone to, you know, from that positioning of where they were, you know. It was it was unbelievable. But the most four times about programs was Michigan because of the South of Oz, AI and Georgetown and Carolina and Duke. and we dealt with all of them. But you know what, Jimmy? Because I remember having conversations about this with Coach Thompson at the station many times, about the Maryland-Georgetown dynamic and why they stop playing all that. We won't get into all of that.

We're having a lovely time. I came to love coach so much. And, you know, he said, you know, we... The Cal-Grad. I love Coach Tomp. We set out to build a national program. And one of the things that I realized with him and Ronnie and JT-3, they couldn't stand Maryland in the ACC, which always made me feel good, by the way,

because they in this town, even though they had a national brand in this area, they were competing with Maryland and the ACC. And Maryland had many more alum. It had a tradition which lefty began. And when you guys got there off of the Wade years in the probation, it was still a sleeping giant. And all you had to do was give people a reason to think you were going to start to win. And, of course, because you guys were great coaches and great recruiters,

you started to win and you won big and everybody was back. You're right. And you're right about this. Those two games, those two teams could carry you through a bad season. You can package Duke with three of your money games in January and December in Carolina with three of your money games with, you know, I don't want to cast dispersions, but teams smaller that you played in November, December, so you can get people to come because they were always going to come to those two games.

And the left hand was one of the great marketing teams as well. You know, Sonny Vicaro's movies coming out. I just got a great letter from Sonny over two weeks ago. Handwritten, of course. Sonny's a legend, good guy. I've always been really tight. Me, him and Rob 80s used to pal around this lawyer from D.C., really, really smart guy.

Well, Sonny McCarroll helped all the coaches. And Georgetown Syracuse in the shoe business, that all helped. Well, we had two of the iconic programs, whether you like it or not, they were coming into our building

so they can carry you through the bad times because Carolina, with these four games, Duke, with these four games. Gary was great at that package them, sell out the corners, get people interested, and they carried us for, I was there the first two years,

but, you know, the wall year when Walt, of course, saved us. And then you had the growing year of, you know, the Dwayne, we had all the young kids, Duane, Johnny, X, Re, Mario, Lucas, and stuff. They were just needed help. And then, of course, Joe came, and people forget, Joseph was the national freshman of the year. Like, that's hard to, that's hard to get. Yeah, well, I mean, you know, we, coach, you used to say, and he, whenever I would say, you play every year, I don't care where you play it. You can play at Capital One and split the tickets down the middle. You'll sell it out. You'll have 20,000 because certainly you'll get 10,000

Maryland people there at the game. You play it on the Saturday of the Army Navy game where there's no college football to compete with. There's no NFL. That's a good one. I like that. But you know what he would say is he would say to me when we played them, you know, on thanks on on that Friday at USA Arena, it wasn't sold out. And I said to him, I said it was a Friday morning following Thanksgiving. and Maryland was coming off probation. And oh, by the way, there were about 16,000 in the building. Unfortunately, 12,000 were rooting for Maryland because that was a home court environment that day. And I said, we would debate this all the time.

He was, it was great. Anyway, we just got so into all of this other stuff like we always do. But I did want to ask you, well, let me just ask you this about Maryland's team this year. What do you think that their best case is when they get into the tournament? Can they win a game? Can they win two games? What do you like about them and what are you worried about? Everything's wide open, but I'm always extremely, I'm an optimistic guy.

I'm extremely optimistic, but I'm a tad bit skeptical on how far we can go just because we've been so good at home and we know that's over in the tournament. Okay, the whole thing's over. But my optimism arrives from the day I was sitting with some of our friends, there in the Ravens game. We have some friends up there in Baltimore that have a keen interest in the Maryland basketball program for a long time, as we know,

and watching them dismantle a really good Miami team and beating St. Louis, who's really good. Travis can really coach Travis Ford. They beat GW this year. They were good. They won at GW, and I got to see them up in person. And me and Chris Caputo said that St. Louis team is really good when they make shots and the Fury Collins from slap and stuff.

So they beat them in a two-game tournament on a weekend. And Shishowski, I learned later, was the king of this. It's just a two-game tournament. And then the next weekend we got another two-game tournament. And then the next weekend we got to do, you know, sometimes you get caught up in one game at a time, surviving it. But Cheshowski, I learned was the king of this is a two-game tournament. We're looking at who we have to be to play the winner of that next game. Well, we did that this year.

I know it's back-to-back days, but Willard gets a lot of credit. They were nervous about playing St. Louis as they should be. And Providence was in there. tournament who's going to Providence in Miami are going to be single-digit teams. Yeah, they destroyed Miami. We destroyed them.

So they, that is my eternal hope. You know, I really want Dante Scott to pick it up a little. I know it's been a transitioning year for him. Young's been great. Hart has been great.

Reese has been great. Martinez is doing his best off the bench. Donald Kerry, he seems like he's, you know, he's a nice kid trying. He just, he makes some shots at home,

but he seems like he's struggling as of late. And then, but if Dante gets a little hot in the game, you can beat anybody. I'm just thrilled we're going to the tournament from where we were. And it is, and I'm not sure, this isn't

just coaches talk. We played Purdue as tough as anybody, and then we beat them. We played them twice. That's the number three team in the country. Okay, I don't make the rankings. Shasta's really good of used to Jarrett as a tremendous freshman. You come up here in Baltimore, kid that went to IMG. But I've seen them. They're beatable. Kentucky doesn't

have the fuck. UCLA, we caught them on a bad day, but they're struggling to score. I'd love to be in UCLA's bracket. I want to win a game. You'd like to be in their bracket. Interesting. Yeah. They're so seasoned. I believe. They're so seasoned. Yeah, they struggle offensively, though. And when we can hang with them,

we just got off to a bad start, but I don't really want to play Alabama. They seem to be the most talented people. Well, they may not have with what's going on. They may not have their best player. We'll see. Well, wait, we're waiting for the coach to comment on that. You might be waiting for a month down there. They have a little different media

policy down there. It doesn't matter that somebody actually passed away in the incident. I don't mean to be flipping about it, but I just thought that was funny the way you put it. Yeah, they have a slightly different way of handling things down there in Tuscaloosa.

But go ahead. I mean, you know, we're going to send down Joe Pesci for the, you know, lawyer, my cousin's day. And it's not a flip comment. It's like, how does that just like, we live in an area where if that ever happened remotely up here, It'd be like the end of the program for the rest of the year.

Right. Rightfully so. You know, whatever. But let's just move on to basketball. Let's stay in basketball. I'm interested to see who gets in. You know, Howard Bison have a good chance to get in locally for us because the Miacs wide open. Now, Morgan just beat them.

But George Mason with Aduro, Chris Caputo's done a fantastic job at GW. I don't think they have the horses to make a four-game run. I don't have a bitch. Kimmy English and them are getting healthy. American East had a really good year. They've hit some bumps, but the Patriot Leagues wide open. Mike has his good at big men at any. Like, it's going to be, Navy and Ed Gachelos deserve a shout-out.

They're in second place in the Patriot. He's got the big Pousin'Ovathon. You're the best. You're the best. Can I go to – I know, I know, I know. All right. We've got to give our young – we've got to give our little guys a shout-out. I get it.

I get it. I get it. But we have an audience that we're – that's listening to us, and we're now appealing to just a few of them. I want to ask you, by the way, speaking of appealing to just – a few of them. But this is a passion of mine. Do you, when you are, you're watching every Wizards game this year. I actually think that they are pretty good when they're healthy. I mean, they're not Boston or Milwaukee in the East. I understand that. But like, I've watched them

some nights when you get Porzingus going and Coosma going and Beal, who I thought had one of the best close-out games I've ever seen them have against Minnesota last week. Am I wrong to think that if they got into a best of seven against anybody but Boston or Milwaukee, that they'd have a chance? Absolutely. By the way, I'm going to close. The Terps are winning a game this year in the NCAA is what I'm going to go with.

And we hope it's someplace close. That's closed. I think they've done a great job. Do they have enough to win two games? You know, that second game can get treated. It's matchups. Yeah. They might play.

They might be a seven over a 10, and then instead of playing the two, they, you know, it's, you never know. You could end up playing the 15. Well, it's funny. I'm sorry. Let's finish. No, no. No, no. Stay right where you are.

That's why I want to be a six because the 14 can beat the three. The next thing you know, you're playing, you're playing, you know, you're playing Florida or Lantically. Well, you're playing. So, yeah, right. See, that was the turrets. I know. That's why I threw it out there.

He didn't make the match. He didn't make the match. I had right. Exactly. By the way, he got beat by LSU at the buzzer team that had the highest salary cap. that year with a coach that was just outwardly cheating. But anyway, can we, can you stick with this,

the topic at hand? They're awesome. The wizards, the wizards are nine and five with the big three. That translates to 50 and 32. Right. Can you imagine if we're 50 and 32? That would be, I've been doing this five years. I want to get to 5,42 and 42

is the goal because that's definitely in the playoffs. Yes. Housman's awesome. He's a fashion guy. He's cool looking. He's got smooth. He has game and can shoot threes. Forget all that. That dude plays hard. Kuzman's a tall guy.

He can defend the two, three, and four. He'll play the five. He works his butt off, off and on the court. Kuzman's outstanding. I love the guy. But he plays D, and he can switch on people. He'll take you inside. I love what Kuzan's doing.

Beal is settling in. He was injured early in the year. He's had a tough little goal of it. Beal's coming around. If Beal's your second or third option, forget it. He's one of the best in the league. Now, he's starting to go back to be in the real deal. B, or he can take over a game.

And Porzingis, it looks very comfortable to me. We were all worried about Porzengis playing. He's been fantastic. He seems happy. He's helping Denny Ogia, which is really important, because he's a six-nine guy off the bench that can do a lot of different stuff. You wait, JT3 said this to me. One day, it's all going to come together for Denny and watch out.

Well, Poizziangis is helping him guide him to having it all come together. Kenneth Nunn's been a good pickup. I thought Rui, I liked Rui and wanted to keep him, because of the scoring, I was wrong. Tommy was right. Kendrick Nunn has been a nice pickup. The Rui thing went along the. But the flow of the game, the defensiveness of the game,

the sharing of the balls improved, and they're nine and five without Rui and with the big three playing all the time, that's a really winning formula. The Nets are a mess. The Knicks can't score. They're very good. The NICs, don't get me wrong.

The Hocs just fired the coach that makes him go to practice and play the defense. We'll see how that works out since he only got him to the conference finals doing it his way. but coaches aren't in charge anymore in the NBA, and that's okay. Players have a lot of juice. So you got the Hawksman-McMillan gone. I really like the Knicks,

and I think Josh Hart, Sidwell friends, Josh Hart, by the way. It was a fantastic pickup. The heat, Butler's an ex-Bulner, times five. I love that guy. He can just win any game, okay? But, yes, I want to see us get in.

I'm hoping. I don't know if we have enough time. Remember, think about this, everyone. Just 25 NBA games left. 25! That's how many. game now in his place. I know.

That's a great. There's a whole other season left. Sure. But we're thinking this with Danny combo, Beal becoming much more comfortable and better with everybody and being it off obviously, you know, one of the best. Beal, to me, best two-point scoring league. And then I just love Coos because he brings a lot of swag and somebody's got to wear

that on their chest. You know, someone's got to have the S on their chest. And he seems to want to do it out in front and center, which helps Bradley Beal, who's also a willing passer. But you got, and then the combination, playing-type thing has worked. It's just when DeLon Wright's out there with Monta Morris, one small and can score, Monta,

one's tall and can score. By the little, they both have a Coosma connection. Monta-Morris grew up with Cozman, Flint, Michigan. De Lawn Wright went to Utah and they went to the Sweet 16th with Cozma. So that's good because they're all, like, there's little factions that all get along, and I believe in a happy, the bird flies highest when he's happy.

And they've done a really good job. And all of a sudden, if Kisper can make some jumpers and he's better off the bench. And Gaffred, I just love Gaffer. He's just like a, he's a Gafford's throwback, tough guy, athletic, all that crap. No, he likes to play in the pain. He'll dunk on your block shots and catch his lobs, all these crazy lobs. But I really like Gafford's energy and enthusiasm. And all of a sudden, what I've just described to is a pretty versatile and a pretty talented and a pretty damn good team. Now, can they stay together? There's 25 games left. Pozingis is the key. He never plays that many games until he came to Washington. But I think he's

really happy here. And I think he's playing because, hey, he is healthy and he's growing up a little and all that kind of stuff. And New York can be tough and Cuban in your ear every day. It's probably not the easiest thing in the world. So he's really found a home here, but I'm impressed with this team. And I think they can make a run and Philly with M. Bede until they improve. Like I like M. Bede, but they don't seem to quite have enough around. I think other, and I don't care if we play Boston and Milwaukee. Now, Milwaukee scares me because Well, you're not winning four out of seven against either one of those two teams. Probably not, but you could actually match up with Boston a little better.

Janice is just that guy that we don't have anybody like LeBron, like Michael George, like Larry Bird, like Luca Dodgwick. There's just nobody like, like Tatum and Brown are really good. But then I'm uniquor. This guy's insanely good. All right. I got a run. But let's go with this. It's great.

We had a good time. We got a little pro. I've got a trivia question for you to end it. That's it. So we got 30 seconds. Yes, yes, Brendan. Can you name, can you name one of the all-time great musicians, Canadian, that Rick James played with in a band in the 60s?

I'm going, Neil Young. Oh, my God, you nailed it. The minor birds. They were briefly in a band together. I will talk to you later. That's Jimmy Patsos. Hello, Kyle, girl, understand. Goodbye.

You are incredible. You've got a heart of gold there, Jimmy. Coming right back at you. Thanks, man. I always appreciate this. Looks like he hung up already. He's done with me. And I am done with the show today.

Hope you enjoyed it back tomorrow with Tommy.