The Kevin Sheehan Show - Queen Lifts Terps To Sweet 16!

Episode Date: March 24, 2025

Kevin opened with Derik Queen's buzzer-beater to lift Maryland to a 72-71 win over Colorado State sending the Terps to the Sweet 16. Kevin talked about the shot that will live forever in Maryland Basketball history and the moments that led up to it. He did a "Game-Take" on the Terps' win which included some "likes" and a few constructive clock/game management "dislikes". The show finished with 4+ minutes of last week's conversation with Logan Paulsen that somehow got clipped out. Logan weighed in on whether or not the Commanders should be interested in Trey Hendrickson.  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. Must be looking to throw it in. Gets it up top two, Queen. Driveling left, big step down the lane.

Runner for the win. Biggs 16. Derek Queen, instant Maryland legend. That was Ryan Radke from Westwood One on the national call of the game with PJ Carlissimo. The show's presenting sponsors. always is Window Nation, 86690 Nation, or WindowNation.com, if you need new windows. What a shot. What a game. I mean, really, it was not Maryland's best, but still a hell of a basketball game, the game of the NCAA tournament so far. 16 lead changes, nine of them

coming in the final 13 and a half minutes of the game. The last lead change, being the most significant coming with zeros on the clock. On a shot that Maryland fans will be talking about for the rest of our lives. Derek Queen's season was already one that was going to be remembered for a long time. But that shot last night to beat Colorado State and send Maryland to the Sweet 16 will go down in Maryland basketball history as one of the all-time legendary moments for a program that's got a storied history. A shot that he asked for.

Kevin Willard in his postgame interview on the floor with Andy Katz saying that he asked, who wants the last shot in the huddle? And Queen stepped up and said, Give me the MF ball. That will be an unforgettable part of the story as well. Queen saying, I'm taking the shot. And by the way, nobody pushing back like it was a crazy idea. You know, on a team of lots of options, and they've got plenty of scoring options,

Derek Queen was the best option. I mean, you could have argued Gillespie, you could have argued Rice, Miguel, but Queen in that situation on that part of the floor, with that much time left, 3.7 seconds, that was their best shot. You know, that was their best hope. He's been creating offense from that same spot on the floor where he caught the in-bounds pass all season long. He's their best player, you know, and they have four good players on their team, but he's different. He's been different all season long.

There have been some ups and downs, but he's the one who made the all-big 10 first team. He was the one that made honorable mention All-American. probably deserved even better than that. The shot itself wasn't easy. You know, it was well defended. We've seen him all season long Maryland fans have make shots like that. You know, fadeaways, fadeaways off of one foot. You know, runners, drives to the rim.

And so many of them have come from that origination point. You know, the free throw line or the free throw line slightly extended, the elbows. him going to his left, that's not been a problem at any point this year. He is so skilled as a big who can handle the ball, shoot from almost anywhere, and we saw him stretch the floor with a couple of early threes in the game. But we've seen him hit floaters, fadeaways, runners, drives to the rim, dunks at the rim, either hand all season long. And they set it up for him to go to his left.

You know, that was the side of the floor they cleared out with the exception of Rodney Rice, who parked it in the corner, hoping to draw the one help defender to him. Now, you know, I wonder if the help had come more significantly, would Queen have given up the ball to Rice? Would there have been enough time? Time was precious in that particular moment, and it certainly didn't look like the kid was giving it up. The angle for that shot, you know, all of you shooters know,

the closer you get to the baseline, the more severe the angle becomes for a bank shot. But he squared up perfectly, even as he was fading away off his right foot, usually the wrong foot for a right-handed shooter, but just a perfect release over a defender and soft off the glass as the horn sounded. Legendary, legendary shot. Maryland's had, you know, a few of them in the tournament. You know, Drew Nicholas made that incredible shot to beat UNC Wilmington in the first round of the 2003 tournament when the Terps were defending champs. Len Byes as a freshman hit a near buzzer-beater to beat UT Chattanooga in the first round.

He was in his first year and was not their primary option. Adrian Branch was. I mean, there have been plenty of regular season, memorable, you know, game-winning buzzer-beaters or near-buzzer beaters. You know, the other great freshman or the other greatest freshman in program history, Joe Smith, tipped in a miss shot at the buzzer at Cameron Indoor to beat Duke in 1995. He had 40 that night. Adrian Branch is a freshman beat number one verdure. Virginia at the buzzer and Cole Fieldhouse. Larry Gibson, there's a name for some of you older guys.

Beat number one Notre Dame with an old-fashioned three-point play with a second to go. Mellow Trimble, Cliff Tucker's game winner to beat Georgia Tech, rest in peace. Des Wells, Loran Prophet to beat Tim Duncan and Wake on the road. Dwayne Simpkins to beat Georgetown. The list is long. And I, probably have forgotten many of them or haven't mentioned them, but the queen shot last night might top all of them. A trip to the Sweet 16 on the line. Down one, not tied. You know, always feels different when you're down by one, down by two versus the game being tied, where if you miss, you get overtime. This was a make it and the season continues, miss it, and season is over. And when I say over, that would have been the last moment for Derek Queen in a

Maryland uniform had that shot not gone in. He's a top 10 lottery pick. Same for Julian Reese, Selton Miguel. As John Madden always used to say, you know, when he was calling the ends of playoff football games, it's the finality of it all that makes it so compelling and so dramatic. One team moves on, the other can't because their season is over. I would say, you know, poor Colorado State, but as a lifelong terp, been on that losing side too many times. You know, last night was interesting in the moment because if you're a lifelong terp like I am, you know, of a certain age, I would imagine there were a lot of emotion.

swirling in those final few minutes of real time. Really, you know, from the moment that Lake knocked in, Jalen Lake knocked in that three-point shot with six seconds to go, until, you know, the queen shot, you know, it just seemed, I hate to use this description, but it just seemed so Maryland that they had a foul to give, and they were up two, and you can't. can't give up a three-point attempt.

You certainly can't give up a three-point attempt to the other team's best three-point shooter. And it just all seemed in that moment when Jalen Lake made that shot just all too familiar. And not just because of the way that they've lost their last four games this year. For those of you who don't know, Maryland's last four losses this year, all right, at the buzzer in overtime at Northwestern, a banked in three with five seconds to go at Ohio State, a 60-footer at the buzzer at home to lose to Michigan State,

and then against Michigan in the Big Ten semifinals, coast-to-coast lay in to beat Maryland at the horn. All right, it wasn't just about what's happened recently, Over the years, Maryland basketball fans, like me, have been on the wrong end of so many soul-crushing defeats. And in that moment yesterday, when they knocked down the three with six seconds to go, it felt like that one would be added to the list. Part of being a Maryland basketball fan is carrying around scar tissue from years and years of getting wrecked.

in the biggest of games. David Thompson, Tom Burson, NC State in the 70s, Dean Smith and Carolina over and over again. Lefty Dresel's teams of the 70s, they lost five total ACC tournament championship games

before winning the first one in 1984. The last four of those five ACC tournament losses in the championship game were by a total of seven points. Four ACC tournament championship losses by seven points. One of those to Duke when Buck Williams had a chance to tip in an Albert King shot that was hanging on the rim. It would have been a Maryland win at the buzzer. Instead, Kenny Dinnard undercut Buck,

and there was no call. Lefty lost back-to-back suite 16 games in the 80s with Len Bias. by a total of four points. Maryland lost a Duke three times in 2001 out of their four games. Gone in 54 seconds at Cole, one of the more distraught moments of any Maryland basketball fan's life in terms of rooting for the team. Nate James tipped in a miss with two seconds to go to beat the Terps in the ACC tournament.

And then in the final four, Maryland had a 22-point. point lead and blew it. Michigan states got two late winners to not Maryland out of Sweet 16s. They beat Maryland in 2003 on a shot with a few seconds to go. And then of course, Cory Lucius in 2010 kept Maryland from the Sweet 16 and ended the great career of Gravis Vasquez. A few years ago, Tremaine Waters hit one with just about a second and a half left. to send the Terps packing as LSU beat Maryland. And I'm not even mentioning some of the shots that didn't go in, like DJ Strawberry's last second shot to beat Syracuse in the 2004 second round,

or Mike Jones's attempt to tie the game against Butler in the second round of 07. I mean, the list is forever. And when Colorado State hit that three, it was just so us. It was so Maryland. It was like, add that one to the list. And in that moment, it was bad because Maryland had a foul to give and they didn't give it. And instead they gave up a three-pointer wide open to a guy that makes three-pointers. Up two, you can't give up an open three.

I don't think it was beyond me or many of you who have rooted for Maryland. Maryland over the years, that in that particular moment, it felt like it was over. But it wasn't this time. And thank God, because this Maryland team, like many before, that lost games like last night's game, you know, they're better than a second round loss. This is a good basketball team. They didn't play great last night. I don't think they played that well on Friday night against Grand Canyon.

but they are still alive. Survive and advance. Both the surviving and advancing were in question until the king, Derrequin, took matters into his own hands. I don't think he called bank, but as Paul Pierce said, as a Washington wizard, he called game.

And now it's on to the Sweet 16. You know, I think it's Maryland's 15th trip to the Sweet 16. But the trips to the Sweet 16, which were plentiful during the Gary Williams years, they've dried up, you know, in recent decades. The last one was in 2016. They beat Hawaii in a second round game. Hawaii had upset a higher-seated Cal in the first round, and then Maryland lost to Kansas in the Sweet 16.

Before that one, nine years ago, you got to go back to 2000. 2003 is the defending champs when they lost to Michigan State in the Sweet 16. Steve Blake having a chance to win that one at the buzzer with about a 25-footer. You know, for a program that regularly was a threat to go deep into the tournament, especially during the Lefty years and the Gary years in particular, Gary had them in the Sweet 16 seven times over a 10-year span. It has been lean times in March, man, lean times. And the years have gone by quickly.

You can't really, even though I do it, refer to yourself as a great basketball program if you haven't been out of the first weekend but one time in 21 years. There were a lot of second round painful losses. Corey Lucius, Tremaine Waters, the list goes on and on, you know, nine times over this sort of wilderness out in the wilderness of not being a legitimate deep into March team. Nine times they had chances in second round games and lost one time they won in 2016. And they just couldn't get past the second weekend. I think winning last night's game was so important. was an element of relief. It was like, you know, agony of defeat. We talked about wide world of sports, Tommy and I did the other day, followed by the thrill of victory.

And then the realization that really what happened last night was relief because a loss would have really been devastating. Not that all of the other second round losses over the last 20-something years haven't been equally as important. But, man, Kevin Willard went off the other day. He needed to do it. The program needed him to do it. I am in favor of what he did the other day,

and I hope it affects the change that he wants, and I want him desperately to stay. And I think he will. That's not a report, but I do think he'll end up staying. I feel strongly about that. I think he's coming back. But can you imagine

when he went off the other day and the AD leaves for SMU and maybe some of the changes if he had gone out and lost a Colorado state. A good team. That team was good. I saw it on Friday. I'm sure many of you did as well. I was like, damn, I'd rather play Memphis. But can you imagine if it was another second round exit?

winning was so crucial to this program right now. Not that on Thursday against Florida, it's icing on the cake. No, I don't want to be duped into that feeling of almost mid-major category or high-major, but not used to this spot. We got used to this spot for many, many years. It's just been a while. I'm excited to be in the Sweet 16. I can't hide that.

but I don't want it to end. They're good enough to win against anybody they play. I mean, wow, what a freaking moment. Maryland is a big-time basketball program. They are, but March has been rough for a long time. Too many exits before what they'll play in on Thursday night, and it wasn't good enough. even with all the regular season success,

they're the third winningest program in the Big Ten since they entered it. I think they're still the third all-time winningest ACC program, even though they've been gone for 11 years. They might be less than that. Virginia may have passed them. I don't know. Big, big, big win. Oh, man.

A moment that certainly will live forever. All right. I am going to do a recap. I'm going to do a game take because there was a lot to like about the game, but there was also a lot to dislike. And I will cover the traveling, which wasn't, but seems to be a big topic today when we come back after these words from a few of our sponsors. Hey guys, whether you are a do-it-yourselfer or you're like me, you have somebody do it for you most of the time. Clogged gutters are easy to forget. They're annoying to clean and they can grow into a big problem. There's an easier way to clean your gutters and avoid the costly damage that comes from clogged gutters. The answer is leaf filter.

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estimate, free inspection, and 30% off at L-E-A-Filter.com slash. Kevin Show. See representative for warranty details. That call of Derek Queen's game winning shot in Seattle last night to send the Terps to the Sweet 16 delivered by Tyler Locti. I hope I got the name pronunciation right, Tyler. He was on the call for Maryland's campus radio station WMUC. What a moment for him and an excellent call of that game winning shot. This segment of the show is brought to you by Window Nation. You got a week left to take advantage of Window Nation's March by to get two free deal.

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But I think this game deserves it. And look, there really was no Washington football team news from over the weekend. Ovechkin didn't score. They play Winnipeg tomorrow night in a matchup of the two best records in hockey. Thursday night when Maryland tips it off against Florida, Florida in the Sweet 16, the Nats will have concluded opening day.

Yeah, Thursday opening day for the nationals, and they open up at home against Philadelphia at 405. So figure that game is ending and then the Terps start at 739. I am going to do something, though, in the final segment that is Washington football team related. and I'll explain to you when we get to the final segment of the show. All right, let's get to the game, what I liked. So I loved the final play. In fact, I like the setup to the final play.

After the Dagger 3, Maryland didn't panic. They've obviously gone over this situation in the past. They inbounded the ball. They dribbled it up over half court, and they use their last timeout with 3.7 seconds left. So I much prefer that situation than a timeout after the bucket and then you've got to go to the full length of the court against a set defense. You know, it's less time.

Yes, 3.7 seconds left, but plenty of time from that inbound position to get off a good shot. And then the play itself, I mean, Willard, you know, asks, who wants it? Derek Queen steps up. and they ran those, you know, they ran the downscreen to get him to the free throw line to operate in the middle of the floor, which is where he's operated at, you know, his best, at his best all season long. And then, of course, the execution really difficult, but incredibly successful. So I certainly liked the final 6.1 seconds of the game. Julian Reese is on the list of things that I liked.

Look, if you're just tuning in to college basketball this time of the year, and you're not a Maryland fan, or you are a Maryland fan, but you don't pay close attention. Juju Reese is a four-year senior. He has stayed at Maryland the entire time. He had opportunities for big NIL money and probably more NIL money to leave Maryland, but he stayed for his senior year, and he became a much better all-around player, specifically a much better offensive player. Julian Reese really struggled with anything other than shots right around the rim.

He was a terrible free-throw shooter last year and the year before. He shot 56.8% from the free throw line as a junior, 53.3% as a free-percent as a free- throw shooting percentage as a sophomore. This year, 73.5%. I've talked about it a lot on the show during the course of the year, often with guests like Gary, et cetera, knocky. It's amazing how he transformed that shot. That is hard work.

You've got to give a young person so much credit. He was in the gym. We had Kevin Wildard on the show early in the season, and I said, explain to me what Juju did with his free throw stroke, and he said he changed it. and he was in the gym, and he's in the gym earlier than anybody every morning working on it. And he shot 73.5% this year, and he knocked down four of four down the stretch in that game, including go-ahead free throws before Colorado State got the opportunity to take the lead on the three. He had six of Maryland's final eight points in the game.

He hit on that pick and roll with Gillespie, that mid-range shot that he's hit all year long as well. I mean, just an incredible turnaround as an offensive player, and I'm so glad his season didn't come to an end. 15 and 11, I didn't think his defense or the team's defense was that great in the first half. The rebounding certainly wasn't. We'll get to that when I get to the list of things I didn't like, but five of seven from the floor, five for five from the free. throw line, including four clutch free throws, big time clutch free throws, and that clutch mid-range off the pick and roll with Gillespie down the stretch. Juju Reese is on the list of things that I liked.

You know, the other five starters all had their moments. I mean, if you don't know a lot about Maryland and you're just kind of tuning in, Maryland had the most productive offensive starting five in the country. all five averaged in double figures. All five produced more points as a starting five than any team in America. And all of them had moments in this game. Reese, we mentioned, Queen's early threes. I mean, this was not a part of his game.

He knocked down some threes early in the season against Purdue on the road in a close loss. And then he didn't shoot him, in part because he didn't need to. But, you know, I've had conversations about him either by myself on the show or with a guest or with Kevin Willard. And Willard said at one point, I said, you know, he's got the stroke. He can stretch the floor. And he said, yeah, but we don't need him to. We got three shooters in Gillespie, Rice, and Miguel. So we don't need him to.

Maryland's starting five is capable every night of producing what they produced last night. five guys and double figures. Now, they were low double figures. Queen led the team in scoring with 17. Rodney Rice had 16. But any one of the five players is capable of going off and scoring 20 plus on any night. You go through their season this year in terms of points. You know, high scores. Queen had a, Queen at 31 against Michigan last week. Rice had a redone. Rice had a redone. game a few weeks ago. He had 26, well, he had the first half against Illinois. Gillespie's had big games. I'm looking to see what everybody's high was for the year. I mean, Rice had a 28-point game. Gillespie had a 23-point game. Miguel had a 24-point game. Rice had 23. Reese had 27. Queen had 29. Queen had 26. Queen at 31. I mean,

any one of these five guys on any night capable of going for 20 plus, that is rare in basketball to have that many options. And so everybody last night had moments on offense in particular. You know, Rice was slow to get going but came up with some big shots when they made that run from down 12 to get to within two. He's also the one that gave him their first lead in the second half. Miguel knocked down some big threes. I thought a big moment in the game.

Take you to about four and a half minutes to go in the game. And Colorado State has retaken the lead and they've gone up five, 64 to 59. And they had the ball. And they had the ball in the hands of Clifford, their best player, who by the way looks like a pro, doesn't he? 64-59. They're about to extend the lead approaching the four-minute mark. to either six, I'm sorry, to either seven or maybe eight,

but he's on a drive and Gillespie gets a hand on the ball and it gets knocked off Clifford and out of bounds. Huge forced turnover by Gillespie. And on the other end, Gillespie knocks down a three, and it's a two-point game. It could have been a seven-point game or, you know, and one for an eight-point game. Instead, it was a two-point game.

And by the time they got to the under four minute time out, the score was tied. That was a significant play by Gillespie defensively and then to knock down the three on offense. Yeah, there was, you know, overall, you know, they didn't, they protected the basketball. I mean, total turnovers in the game. Maryland had just six. They shot the three well 10 of 24, 44, 41.7 percent. They've done that well all year. Now let's get to the list of things that I didn't like

because that list is, you know, kind of matches the good list. I start with rebounding. Reboundings become a problem, Maryland people. We got a problem on the glass. The Terps got out rebounded 47 to 18 by Michigan a week ago Saturday in the Big Ten semifinals. Michigan in that game had more offensive rebounds, 19, than Maryland had total rebounds in the game.

On Friday against Grand Canyon, Maryland gave up 13 offensive rebounds to Grand Canyon, to a smaller Colorado State team that was near the bottom, statistically, on the national level for offensive rebound. They gave up 13 offensive rebounds. rebounds, they got a rebound better on Thursday night or they can't beat Florida. Before the game yesterday, I said, if you defend and you rebound in this game, you win the game. They gave up 13 second chance opportunities and it was hurtful.

You know, some of those second chance opportunities come on long rebounds off of missed threes. In that case, you can't do much about it. some of it comes off of them switching one through five and their bigs end up out on the perimeter. Some of it comes from being in zone. They played zone yesterday because they couldn't keep certain players in front of them. And it just was not pretty on the glass. And it would have been a deciding factor in the game. It almost was Maryland's guards have to rebound better. They've got to have all five guys rebounding. You know, they are a good fast break. They're a good transition team.

But unless Queen and Reese are dominating, you know, you can't start screaming, woo, woo, woo, throw it. I'm open, let's go. You can't release if you're Gillespie Rice or Miguel. You got a rebound. That was not good in the game. They got out rebounded total 39 to 29. defensively in the first half, man, they could not keep Clifford.

They couldn't keep the short white kid born, I think his name was, from getting to the rim. I mean, they had to play zone. He probably was not anticipating playing as much zone as he did, but they couldn't keep the ball out of the paint. And then once it got into the paint, the ball starts getting moved and you got to open three-point shooters. Fortunately, they didn't make a lot of threes. They were five of 21 from behind the arc.

You know, number eight, who I think for the season, they said, was, I think, something like 37 or 38 percent from behind the arc. He was 0 for six, but how many wide open looks did they give him? I bet you the scouting report wasn't just to let him shoot. Jalen Lake and Clifford, you know, well, Jailen Lake made three of them, and number zero made a couple of them. and I just didn't think their defense was that great. I didn't think their defense, quite honestly, was that great against Grand Canyon. Grand Canyon couldn't make a shot in the first half. They had just one player that was capable.

I give Colorado State some credit, though. They're well-coached. That guy Medved just got the Minnesota job. So if Kevin Willard continues to coach at Maryland, which I certainly hope he does, he'll be coaching against that guy a couple of times a year. although with that many teams in the Big Ten, more years than not, it'll be just one time a year. They were well coached.

Their spacing was great. They had multiple guys that could shoot it and beat you off the dribble. They passed the ball. Well, I thought that that was a team watching on Friday. I was hoping somehow Memphis could pull it out on Friday. I thought Memphis would have been a much easier matchup. I think I tweeted out at some point. If Maryland doesn't defend and rebound better,

it's going to be a problem on Sunday against a much better Colorado State team than I think people understood. They had not lost the game in 11 games. They had won 11 in a row, hadn't lost since early February. So a lot of that I give them credit for. But Maryland defensively has been, they were a top 10 defensive efficiency team per Ken Palm this year. I didn't think they were good enough defensively. I didn't think they were physical enough. You know, that game will get to the officiating was a game. game in which they were letting everything go. They should have started tossing people around, you know, Reese and Queen. All right. I thought, and I'm going to be constructively critical here of Kevin Willard at the end of the half and at the end of the game, at the end of the half,

Maryland had just two team fouls. It was 35 to 30, and they didn't use any of their fouls. They had four fouls to give and instead gave up a layup at the buzzer, and they were down seven at halftime. I thought that was bad use of fouls to give in clock management at the end of the first half. And then at the end of the game, they had a foul to give.

Now, Gillespie, in one of his interviews after the game, said they were instructed to use that sixth foul. They had five team fouls, and they didn't use it. They should have used it on Clifford when he started to go back to the basket before the pass to lake.

No one was on like, look, You couldn't have fouled lake because he was almost in his shooting motion when he caught it, so you would have given him three free throws. But I didn't like not using the foul there, and you just cannot give up an open three when you're up to, especially to that shooter. They were in a zone. It appeared, although with Kevin Willard sometimes they're in a zone,

but they'll quickly match up or they'll quickly go to man. But it looks like they came out in zone. you left the guy that had knocked down two of five or two of four at that point wide open. So I didn't like the way the end of the first half or the end of the game was managed defensively with fouls to give. Again, Willard instructed them to use that foul. All right, officiating is on the list of things I didn't like. I'm not going to do what Maryland fans do, even though I've been a culprit. before. This was not a game that would have been decided by officiating if Maryland had lost.

Okay, it would not have been. However, I did not think the game was well officiated at all. First of all, they just let everything go. They let, you know, they let travels go, not the last play. I'll get to that at the end here. They let three seconds go all day. There was a Colorado State bucket where two big guys, not one, but two, camped in the lane for six and a half seconds. And then, of course, in the first half, Colorado State's best player, Neke Clifford, and he is good. He threw an intentional, flagrant, deliberate elbow at Jordan Geronimo's head and connected.

That is a flagrant-to-toss situation in most games. Now, I wouldn't have tossed him in an NCAA tournament game, but it was certainly a play that has gotten many a player tossed. Many would say that's, and Stere Tor said that's certainly a flagrant two possibility. It's, of course, a flagrant one, right? That's a foul to Clifford. That's two free throws in the ball for Maryland in a five-point game. rather significant. Instead, they went to the end of the first half down seven. It could have been a lot tighter at halftime. You cannot let that go. This is an NCAA tournament game. You've got an alternate referee whose job includes

to make sure that those plays are identified and that the referees are then called over, as we've now seen, on average, probably four times a game in every game, to review something on the monitor court side. He admitted it going into halftime. They interviewed him, Andy Katz did, going in at the break, and he said, that was my bad. That was bad, and he said he apologized to Geronimo. Well, sorry he doesn't cut it for the referees. They blew it big time.

He also had an obvious hook and hold offensively with the ball on a bucket. So I thought the officiating was just, look, they let them play, and that should be to the benefit of Maryland in a game like this, but you can't let somebody try to hurt somebody on the floor with an elbow. He swung it, he swung it intentionally. He admitted to swinging it intentionally. It connected. It could have been devastating.

Part of the reason that it didn't get looked at is Jordan Geronimo is a tough kid, and he didn't react. you know, in a way in which it would have gotten the attention of the referees to go look. I mean, that's one where you've got to go over, you know, no matter what it looks like, and you've got to tell your coach, that guy just swung an elbow at me. And then you get the coaches to go to the refs to say, hey, my guy just got elbowed. You got to look at that. And if they look at that, it's a flagrant one.

It might be a flagrant two. I'm not advocating for a flagrant two in an NCAA tournament. game, but it's certainly what would have been part of the discussion among referees. And if that was a flagrant to Nick Clifford, who was, you could argue, yesterday in that game, start to finish the best player on the floor. He certainly looks like a pro. He could have been tossed from the game, and that would have been game altering. And it was game swinging in the moment. Maryland had a chance to cut it to two, or had a chance to cut a five-point lead to one with two free throws in the ball,

and instead they went into the breakdown seven. Poor job by the referees. But in this game, if you're a Maryland fan, you cannot say that if you had lost the officiating cost you the game. That was egregious, understood. Maryland got called for half the fouls in the game that Colorado State got called for. Colorado State had 14 personal fouls.

Maryland had seven. Colorado State never made it to the one-on-one. They never made it to the bonus, first half or second half. That's pretty odd and unusual. Maryland had the fouls to give. Four of them at the end of the first half, didn't use them, and had one to give in the final seconds of the game when Colorado State had the ball.

They only had five team fouls in the second half. I mean, they had seven total fouls called against them in the game. That's a benefit to Maryland that does a team that does not have, have a deep bench. Jacoby Gillespie got away with a walk on a big, you know, transition bucket and passed back to Rodney Rice for a score. All right. Look, if you are among those that said,

wait a minute, Derek Queen traveled on the game-winning shot. Two things. One, technically by rule, there are plenty of explanations out there on the internet, including from Gene Stereator, that say it's not technically or it's borderline too close to call on whether or not it was a travel. But the bigger picture here is, if you think that that's a travel or ever gets called as a travel in any game, at any level now, you just haven't been paying attention to basketball for about 25 years. I'd say, least 20. You know, the NBA, most of you, I would assume, know, that, you know, traveling,

palming, you know, all of that, three seconds, none of that stuff gets called anymore. It's the same at the college level. You don't get, you don't see anybody get called for palming or carrying the ball. You don't see three seconds get called, and you don't see traveling get called on what the NBA refers to as a gather step. I mean, you still see, you know, this is the thing that has always bugged me. Not what we saw yesterday. Yesterday was not a travel. There's no world in which anybody watching that live,

including the three referees on the floor, would ever call that a travel. It just didn't look like a travel. It wasn't a travel, or it was very, very highly debatable, whether it was a travel. We know what true traveling looks like. That's not it. That doesn't get called.

Hasn't been called for 20-something years, all right? But the thing that still to me is absurd is when a player catches the ball on the wing coming off a screen or not coming off a screen. You see it a lot on flare screens when you get a player moving away from the passer off a screen to catch it on the opposite wing, where they catch it and they gather themselves before establishing a pivot foot. It's one thing to catch and shuffle a tiny bit. It's another to catch and then gain an advantage by shuffling multiple times before you establish a pivot foot. You see that in the NBA.

One guy comes to mind whenever I think about it because it was really when I first started to notice it, you know, 10 years ago. is Bradley Beal. I mean, nobody catches and then takes three or four shuffle steps to get himself set before he decides to establish his pivot foot more than he does. Hardin does it. A lot of guards do it, obviously. But anyway, that is not a travel called in basketball in 2025, in 2015, really probably in 2005. It's been that long. All right. I think that's it from the game.

Maryland's got to play better against Florida, but they're capable of playing better. I don't think they've played their best in these first two tournament games, but there are games that for U-Turp fans, you know when you watched it on that given day or night, you thought, wow, they're good. you know, the win at Illinois, the win against Illinois in the tournament,

the win at Indiana, the win at Nebraska, the win early in the season, their first Big Ten win over Ohio State. Maryland was up 50 to 17 at halftime in that game. It was the largest halftime lead in a Big Ten game in 30 years, 50 to 17. They had some moments, you know, you moved beyond the early portion of the season. They had a game against Iowa at home where they put up 101. Iowa was terrible defensively. They looked great and unstoppable offensively against teams like Wisconsin at home and Rutgers

at home. The Penn State win on the road wasn't super clean, but they're capable. They've got 28 wins, 27 wins now. They're 27 and 8. They're capable of playing a lot better than they played Friday night against Grand Canyon and last night against Colorado State. And if they can put it together, and maybe, you know, again, I don't want to say the pressure is off now. The pressure is off for us fans and maybe for Willard and the program and et cetera. I don't think the players really understand the history

and know that. And they've played pretty confidently all year. But if they can put together their best, they can absolutely beat Florida on Thursday night. They can absolutely be beat the Texas Tech Arkansas winner in the Elite 8 in San Francisco on Saturday. They can win two games out west to go to the final four. In watching the tournament and watching a lot of the tournament over the weekend, I hate to say it, but Duke just looks to me like the best team by far. Every player, it seems like, is capable of destroying you offensively. They're deep.

They've got a superstar. They have shooters everywhere. I mean, you know, 93 to 49 in their first round game over Mount St. Mary's pulling away from Baylor and winning by 23. They play Arizona, who came from behind to beat Oregon. Duke's a nine-point favorite over a four-seed. You know, a Duke Houston semifinal would be phenomenal to see, because Houston's another team that just is nasty. I did get Gonzaga to come back and get the push there.

We almost had the cover. 9-7-1 is my smell test record for the first two rounds of the tournament. Yesterday, 1 and 3. I had the Terps under that did hit for most of you. Some of you it didn't hit. I know some of you pushed it at 143 or even had a 142.5 number. I actually played it at 143.5. When I gave it out, it was 144, 72, 71.

is a 143. But Gensag on Saturday, a lot of you had that at five and a half and probably one, I pushed. But nine, seven, and one. I was four and oh on Friday, one one one Saturday, and then one and three yesterday after a three opening day. So nine wins, seven losses, one push. Already like a couple of games Thursday and Friday night. The Terps are six to six and a half point dogs against the gators in the tournament.

All right, I'm going to finish up with something commanders related and Logan Pulsin related. That's next after these words from a few of our sponsors. The Leslie looks to Inback. There goes to Queen. Queen will drive in against McQueen with a shot off the Gilles. Got it. And the parapers have won it at the buzzer on a shot. Oh, my goodness, my Derby Queen, 72 to 71, and we're heading to San Francisco.

It's about time. Yes, it is Johnny Holiday. It's about time. Nine years since Maryland was last in the Sweet 16. They're heading back to the Sweet 16. This segment of the show is brought to you by MyBooky. If you want to bet the tournament, go to MyBooky.orgie. Use my promo code, Kevin D.C., and MyBooky will give you a cash bonus on your initial deposit.

It. My bookie has a sweet 16 bracket available. If you want to jump in on that, they'll have all of the games on Thursday and Friday, Saturday and Sunday. My bookie has everything you're looking for for March Madness. All the prop bets. All of the current odds to win the national championship. What are the odds right now for Maryland to win the national championship? Well, plus 3,300 for Maryland to win it all. That is right now the ninth best odds. There are eight teams in front of them with shorter odds. Dukes the favorite at plus 232, followed by Florida at plus 360. Maryland's opponent. Houston and Auburn are both plus 470 to win it all. And then there's a big drop off.

Tennessee at plus 1575. Alabama's plus 1,600, Texas Techs plus 1825, and Michigan states plus 2,200, and then come the Terps at plus 3,300. Arizona, Kentucky, BYU, Michigan, Purdue, Ole Miss, and Arkansas all have longer odds than the Terps to win the national championship. My bookie, they've got everything you need for your March Madness betting needs. my bookie.ag, use my promo code, Kevin, DC. I wanted to mention the Lady Terps got to win the other day. They're in a second round game late this afternoon against Alabama. It's a four or five matchup for the Lady Terps.

Would love to see them get into the Sweet 16. All right, we're going to finish up the show with an apology and then what you So last week I had Logan Paulson on the show. Logan was great. He is truly a phenomenal guest on the show. He really studies the game. He really knows the X's and O's. He is coolly in the film breakdown. We love Chris, and Chris will always be our number one, but he's not as engaged as he used to be. We'll try to get him fired up for the upcoming draft. But last week, for whatever reason, have no idea. and many of you brought it to my attention. And I didn't see a lot of what you guys sent to me until later in the week. And I apologize for that. But we had the interview with Logan Paulson clipped by about four minutes roughly. We can't figure out how that happened.

Basically, a commercial got inserted into the Logan Paulson interview, four minutes short of it ending. And there were still some interesting things. that we talked about. So that's how I'm going to end the show today with the missing four plus minutes from Logan Paulson's appearance on the show last week. And we got started with just Trey Hendrickson. That's where it kind of got cut off. I asked him what his interest level was in trading for Trey Hendrickson, which, by the way, I saw something over the weekend where a lot of the ESPN NFL insiders now believe that Hendrickson is going to end up in Cincinnati, that he's not going anywhere. But that's how we'll finish up the show. The missing chunk,

sorry about that last week, of Logan Paulson. Here it is. Would you be in on Trey Hendrickson for the right price? I mean, obviously, you know, you and me both, man. We like good football players at the right price. It just depends on what the price is. Like when I was talking to, I was talking to, someone from Cincinnati, maybe they were saying that the asking price right now in terms of draft capital is a little bit too rich for

my blood personally. I think it was like a first, a third or first and a second. Yeah, first third. So like that doesn't, that doesn't feel right to me. Especially because now the commanders have to give them a contract extension. And so I think that's, again, if that changes now that they've redone the receivers

and they still need to move, him and they say, oh, it's a fourth round pick plus a contract extension. Like, I'm all in on that, right? Because he's a heck of a football player. He adds a lot of juice, adds a lot of dynamism to your pass rush. And I think, like, that would be a great fit. Now, if they don't do that, I think there's a lot of great fits in terms of defensive line pass rushers in the draft. It would be great fit to as Washington commanders. So, you know, it doesn't have to happen. But yes, for Tray Hendrickson, his career, what he's done over the last, you know, three or four years has been really, really

over the course of his whole career has been tremendous. I think when we talked before, you and I would have both been in on Miles Garrett for a lot more than, you know, what Hendrickson is, you know, is what Cincinnati is asking for for Hendrickson. But it never came about. Kaleel Mack decided to stay. So some of those opportunities weren't there. Actually, I've got one more question because I think sometimes we all forget about last year's draft. Obviously, we didn't forget about Jaden Daniels, didn't forget about, you know, Santer still. obviously Newton and Coleman played a lot.

But if I were to ask you which of the following last year draft picks has the best chance of making a significant impact, you know, being a big-time contributor next year of Senate, McCaffrey, and I'll say McGee, because I know how much they liked him before he got hurt. Who do you think they might be counting on to be a big-time producer next year? Yeah, of those three, I do think all three, to be perfectly clear, I think all three will make a big jump. But right now I think Jordan McGee is the guy that I would circle of that group that I think could be significantly improved. I just remember him from last year's training camp, kind of the buzz around him, how excited they were about him for the injury.

And I think he's, I remember watching his college film. I really loved his evaluation. He just seems like he's the right kind of fit for this defense. And again, I can't wait to watch him healthy with an offseason. Hopefully he can stay healthy throughout preseason. But he's a guy that I kind of circles with him. I want to see what he looks like in year two, when he's healthy, when he can move around. And obviously, that same thing applies to Jerzon to, you know,

getting a full healthy offseason in, but that you didn't ask him about him. But for me, it's Jordan McGee. Wait, who did you just say? I think I said, Jezon Newton. Oh, John. Yeah. Because I was also, because I think, and just tell me if you think I'm on to something or not, I think they really liked both Holmes in 90 last year, John Baptiste.

What did you, I think they have some hope for both of those players. What do you think? No, I think so too. I think John Baptiste surprised me, surprised me in terms of his physicality, his athleticism. And, you know, ultimately, like, you need, like, defensive end is the number one. position driven by athleticism. And so he had like a 9-8-9-9-R-A-S score, like, and I wasn't sure if that would show up.

And it showed up in a big way. He's long, he's athletic. He's plays with good power. And so I do think, obviously, the room's a little bit crowded, you know, like with all the new additions and stuff. But I think he's a piece that I would kind of be keeping an eye on as well, for sure.

At Logan underscore Paulson, 82 on Instagram, Washington Commanders on YouTube, Washington Commanders.com for all that he does. Love having you on. Hope you're well. We'll do it again soon. Thanks, man. Appreciate it. It's always a good time. Logan Paulson from last week, the missing four minutes of tape. Sorry about that again. One piece of football news that I wanted to mention, the Giants signed James Winston over the weekend to a two-year $8 million deal,

$4 million a year. I mean, that in this day and age is barely back-up quarterback money. I don't think they're signing James Winston to legitimately compete and potentially be the giant starter in 2025. Now, if they don't get Aaron Rogers or they decide to pass on Russell Wilson and don't draft a quarterback, I mean, they may have no choice because the other quarterback on the roster under contract is Tommy DeVito. I have been a James Winston fan forever, and I have rooted for him to find the right spot. It just hasn't worked out for him. You know, it doesn't really matter where he lands. He has moments like he did in the snow last year in Cleveland when they beat Pittsburgh. But the bottom line is, like even last year in 12 games for the Browns, 13 touchdowns, 12

interceptions. He just throws the ball to the other team too much. That one year before he got injured with Sean Payton in New Orleans, the start that he was off to, but even Sean Payton sort of passed on that. So I don't know what the Giants are going to do. I don't know how they solve their quarterback problem, but I just thought it was interesting that Winston signed there. Again, if they strike out on Rogers, Rogers met with the Steelers for many, many hours over the weekend, if they decide to pass on Russell Wilson, which it's getting weird with Russell Wilson. I know everybody's waiting on Aaron Rogers. I just wonder if these teams would just prefer not to do Russell Wilson.

I think it's kind of a last resort deal with him. but I think the Giants have to, if they don't get Rogers, they got to be aggressive and figure out how to get a quarterback. And the quarterback that they want, and they may not have a choice if Tennessee stays put and takes Cam Ward. All right, that is it for the day. Remember Tommy's prediction of a Grand Canyon upset of Maryland? We'll ask him about that.

I don't think either one of our brackets is doing very well, but he'll be with me tomorrow.