The Kevin Sheehan Show - Quinn Changing Minds

Episode Date: April 1, 2024

Kevin opened with an email from a fan who didn't love the Dan Quinn hire initially but has changed his mind. Kevin discussed the Commanders' two additions today and talked about Brandon Aiyuk's potential trade availability. Plenty of Elite 8 and Final 4 talk including with Jimmy Patsos who jumped on for the final two segments of the show. Download the PrizePicks app today and use code Sheehan for a first deposit match up to $100! 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.

Hey guys, I'm really pleased to have a new sponsor to the podcast. Prize picks is the largest daily fantasy sports platform in North America. They're the easiest and the most exciting way to play DFS. It's just you against the numbers rather than you battling thousands of other players, including pros and sharks. Football season's over, but Hoops Action is heating up. Whether it's tournament season right through the end of this month or the fight for playoff home court advantage heading. into the postseason, there's no shortage of high-stakes basketball moments this time of year. Get in on the excitement with prize picks, America's number one fantasy sports app where you can turn your hoops knowledge into serious cash. Download the app today and use code Sheehan, S-H-E-E-H-A-N for a first deposit match of up to $100. You don't want it. You don't need it, but you're going to get it anyway. The Kevin The show is Kevin. The show's presenting sponsor, as always, is Windonation.

Call them at 86690 Nation or head to Windonation.com. Mention my name for a free, no obligation in-home quote. One guest on the show today, my good friend, Jimmy Patsos, who will be on this show. We'll talk about a lot of things, but primarily college basketball, the Elite Eight games from over the weekend, and we'll look forward to the final four. I'll have more on those Elite 8 games coming up here in the opening segment. I want to read this email from Eddie to open up the show. Eddie writes, Kevin, I really wasn't a fan of a retread coaching hire and thought you were wrong that Quinn was high on the list of their choices, despite your insistence that he was.

I'm also not a big fan of the hat-on backwards high school thing, but I've changed my my mind on Quinn. They got it right with him. The staff he's hired, the players that have chosen here instead of somewhere else, especially guys like Wagner and Louvo. He could be one of the retreads that works out, like Belichick or Andy Reed. All right, Eddie, you have turned around quickly in two months. You went from not a fan of a retread hire, and and worried that they had to settle for Quinn to now thinking he could be Belichick or Andy Reed. The reason I picked this to read today is that in the two-plus months that Dan Quinn has been aboard, I bet that Eddie isn't the only one that has changed his mind or her mind.

I think he's not the only one that may be rethinking the original position that they had, that Quinn is a retread uninspiring hire. You know, first impression for a lot of people on Dan Quinn. Retread, afterthought, uninspiring hire. Second impression after two plus months of a very impressive assistant coaching staff that's been hired, a slew of free agents being added to the mix of players on this roster. impression number two, maybe I should reconsider my first impression. Look, not one game's been played yet.

Okay, so let's just slow the role if you've now turned completely towards, oh my God, they hired the next Andy Reeder Belichick. I think Eddie's probably in the minority on that one, I would hope. I'm not quite there yet. but Quinn could be one of the few retreads to work out like Bella Chicken Reed, by the way, many more than just a few Eddie have worked out. That list of retread coaches or second chance coaches that have worked out well is quite long, actually. You know, we did this when Quinn was hired and people were saying,

oh, this reeks of retread. I mean, why would you hire a retread coach? Well, there have been so many. I mean, they're impossible to, it's impossible to go through the entire list. You know, there's probably like 30 to 40 of those second chance coaches that took teams to Super Bowls or won Super Bowls. In addition to Belichick and Reed, Shula, Shanahan. Remember, Mike was the Raiders coach before getting a second chance in Denver. Guys like Coughlin and Pete Carroll and Tony Dungy and Don Quiriel, and Marty Schottenheimer and John Gruden.

You know, that list goes on and on and on. There is nothing wrong with hiring a guy if you think he's the right guy and just was in the wrong situation. Dan Reeves, Gary Kubiak, John Fox. I mean, that list goes on and on and on. George Allen never took the Rams to a Super Bowl, came to Washington, took Washington to a Super Bowl. Anyway, I do think there's a chance that people like Eddie, there may be a long list of people like Eddie that have changed their minds a bit here in two plus months. I think it's too early to change your mind on something like this.

Let's just wait until the games are played. My initial impression was it's somebody that they really wanted and it was a solid hire. and I wasn't, you know, doing backflips over Dan Quinn being hired, but I think that they got something that they wanted. And I think the reason people like Eddie may be changing their minds was, is the reason that they hired Dan Quinn in the first place. Josh Harris, Adam Peters, and company got a guy that provided something that, they were dearly looking for, you know, and they found it in Quinn more than any of the other candidates that they were reportedly interested in. And that is the ability to hire a first-class

staff and the ability to make Washington much more of a destination than it's ever been, or than it's been in a long time. You know, Josh Harris, a couple of the owners, Mitch Rails, along with that search committee, Bob Myers, Spielman, et cetera, along with Adam Peters, knew that a guy like Dan Quinn would give the organization something it didn't have without him at that point. You know, with a first-time head coach, a first-time, I'm sorry, a first-time owner, a first-time general manager, they wouldn't have gotten what they got with Quinn had they hired specifically a first-time head coach. and what they got with Quinn that they wouldn't have gotten with a first-time head coach

in an organization that had a first-time GM and a first-time owner is they got credibility with Quinn. They got league cred. People around the league really respect Dan Quinn. Just about everybody that is here right now is here because of Dan Quinn first. and then I'm not sure what second, probably the money and the opportunity. But just about everybody. Not everybody, but just about everybody.

New coaches, new players are here because of Dan Quinn. Whether they played for him in Dallas or Seattle or whether they know players who have played for him. This is the reason that they were excited about Dan Quinn. Quinn from the jump versus some of the others. Thank you for the email, Eddie. Two new players added to the roster today. They added Jeremy McNichols running back.

I remember him at Boise State. I didn't realize that he was still in the NFL, but he played a couple of years with Tennessee and then was with San Francisco last year on the roster for a few games. so they've added a running back to the roster. Remember, the roster's got to be 90 strong when they go to camp, and they added a quarterback today. They signed Jeff Driscoll. Driscoll's been in the league since 2016. He was a sixth round pick in 2016 by the 49ers. He finished his last season with, Cleveland by starting a game for the first time in a while. It had been a while since he had started a game in the NFL.

But last year when Joe Flacco had clinched the playoff birth with Cleveland, they sat Flacco for the season finale, and Cleveland started Jeff Driscoll before the playoff game the following week against Houston. But it had been over a year since he had started a game, a couple of starts with Houston. He also started a game for Detroit back in 2019. This was his third year in the league. He was the starter for the Lions on November 24th, 2019 at FedEx Field. That was the game that Dwayne Haskins led Washington on a fourth quarter drive for a game winning or a go-ahead. field goal with just a few seconds left and then went over and started taking selfies with people

in the crowd when there was still a kickoff and a Hail Mary to come. Jeff Driscoll was the starting quarterback that day. He was 20 of 33 for 207 yards, a touchdown, and three interceptions and six sacks that day for Washington. The sacks were by Cole Holcomb. Ryan Anderson, Sean Dionne Hamilton, Matt Ionitis, Montez Sweat, and Alan and Carrigan each had a half of a sack. Fabian Moreau had two interceptions, and Quentin Dunbar had one of Jeff Driscoll on that day. You know, that was the game during Dwayne's career where I said, I want to see more, you know.

I think I'd said that earlier about Dwayne in 2019, but I think that that was the game in which, look, they picked him in the first round. I want to see more. This kid's big, he's strong, he can throw it. And that game against Detroit was not a masterpiece by any stretch of the imagination, but it was a game in which he had to lead them on multiple drives. in the fourth quarter to tie the game and to take the lead.

And he made some big throws and big runs, if I recall, on those two drives when they were down, I think, three or six or whatever. And I was like, well, let's see the rest of it. Let's see what the rest of it looks like. And look, there was a lot that we didn't know about Dwayne. I was not a fan of Dwayne Haskins coming out in the draft at all. was very much against it, but I was intrigued by his physical talent, which he did have some, but there was a lot going on there that none of us knew. And we would find out, you know, certainly when Ron Rivera arrived.

That's for sure. So anyway, Jeff Driscoll, Jeremy McNichols, add them to the list of now 24 players. Four of their own, 20 new ones, probably 15 to 16 of the 24 on one-year deals. And look, some of these signings that they're making right now are really last-chance opportunities to make a roster for these guys. I did see Ben tweeted out that this was something Dan Quinn talked about, that they'd have four quarterbacks in camp. So, you know, you've got Jake Fromm, who's still on the roster, Marcus Mariotta, Jeff Driscoll now and whomever they draft in the early portion of the draft when we get there. All right.

I wanted to talk a little bit about the Elite 8 games, and then we'll get to Jimmy Patsos. So the NC State Duke game, man, that DJ Burns, love watching DJ Burns go, man. 13 of 19, 29 points. He was outstanding. I didn't watch a lot of NC State this year. Didn't watch a lot of ACC, but when they beat Virginia that night in the ACC semifinals, we were in here either the next day,

if it was a Thursday or maybe it was the Monday. And we were talking about DJ Burns and his high level of skill for that body type. I mean, he's got great feel for the game, great hands, great feet. really good, solid, you know, old school low post moves. He can really stroke it. You can see, when you see a guy's free throw stroke like his, you know he's got soft hands and he shows that around the basket as well. NC State off to the final four, a little bit reminiscent of their

1983 run. That run, if you recall, started also with needing to win the ACC tournament in Atlanta that year. But they had been a good team, but they lost Derek Wittenberg to injury in the regular season, and they faltered towards the end, needed to win the ACC tournament, and beat Ralph Samson and Virginia in the final of that ACC tournament to get them into the NCAAs as a six-seed. The field was 52 teams back then, but they went on an incredible run. And, you know, it's funny. They only had to win three games in 83 in the ACC tournament, right? And this year they had to win five. And they were dead to right against Virginia.

And Tony Bennett didn't foul. Had three fouls to give up three in the final seconds, and Michael O'Connell launched a prayer that he banked in from, you know, 38 feet, something like that. So they would have been done there. They would have been out. And Kevin Keats probably would have been fired in that particular game, after that particular game. But they've kept it going, and it's been an incredible story.

I think it ends against Purdue. But in 1983, we know what happened. They beat Georgia in the final four. Well, they beat Virginia again in the Elite 8. They beat him in the ACC finals and then beat him again in the United States. FACC finals and then beat him again in the Elite 8 and ended Ralph Sampson's career without a national championship. And then they went on to face FI Slamma-Jama in Houston in the final and it produced one of

the greatest upsets in the history of sports. Now, you know, another big difference between that team and this team, that team played without a shot clock. There was no shot clock. I don't think that FI Slamma-Jama team that had scored 94 points in the semifinals against Louisville. I don't think Clyde Drexler, Elijah Juan, Michao, et cetera, would have lost NC State with a shot clock. That's, you know, maybe just a personal view.

But they were a massive underdog and they pulled it off. I don't think anybody's beating Yukon. But it's the same kind of feeling that people had about Houston after they beat Louisville and the semis. But, man, Yukon looks so good. But look, NC State beat Duke in the Elite 8 game yesterday. and I have to say that I thought John Shire was completely out-coached by Kevin Keats. And I'd like to give Keats a lot of the credit, but I think Shire deserves a lot more of the blame than even Keats does the credit for this reason.

You know, DJ Burns was dominating that game from the low post, and they never changed defensively. I mean, they may have thrown one or two doubles at him. And by the way, I think doubling him would have been the wrong thing to do because he killed double teams and has throughout this tournament and going back to the ACC tournament. He's just such a great passer. But you had to try something else. I mean, John Shire played DJ Burns essentially straight up in the post. At times with a player who was in foul trouble in Philipowski, it didn't matter, though.

Nobody could check him down there. He was 13 of 19 for 29 points. The six shots he missed were not like shots that were defended well. They went halfway down and came out. He could have scored 39. NC State shot 73.1% in the second half and scored 55 points. They weren't shooting it well from the outside. in the first half or early in the second half.

They had players in foul trouble, especially Philipowski. How about some zone? How about try some zone? So they can't just post them up man to man. I just, I could not believe what I was watching. Look, he's in his second year as a coach at Duke, understood. But he is the coach at Duke. I mean, you've been around long enough and around K long enough.

You can't get annihilated by one guy the same way over and over again and not try something new. They went to some pressure late, full court pressure late, but that's after they got behind by 10 and the clock was winding down. They just didn't do enough. Actually, they didn't do anything to disrupt Burns from completely dominating the basketball game on offense. And then I didn't think they ran good enough offense and they didn't make Burns work hard enough defensively. See, sometimes your best defense starts with your offense in basketball. You know, making the other team work so hard to guard you offensively, it makes your defense a little bit, you know, it makes defense a little bit easier on the other end.

You know, people used to rave about Golden State's defense during their runs of titles. And what was really true was, yeah, they were okay defensively, Draymond, excellent clay. But what they were really doing is they were running such good offense and making teams scramble and cover every inch of the floor, cover five players, not ISO ball, not two-man. and they were burnt out by the time they got down to the offensive end to face Golden State's defense. But I was absolutely blown away by the lack of John Shire doing anything to make DJ Burns do something differently. He was great. Love it. One thing that I would say is if you watch the game on Friday night against Houston,

and I talked about that game on the Saturday podcast, it is fair. to say that Duke looked a little physically worn out after what was a knockdown dragout game Friday night against Houston, coming back less than 48 hours against an opponent that really knows you. It wasn't the easiest thing, and I thought they looked a little bit tired for sure, and I think the shooting really represented offensively how tired they were. I think Houston had a lot to do with that on Friday night. A game in which Houston probably wins if Jamal Shed doesn't get hurt. But I thought Duke was impressive Friday night with their fight. I mean, they took blows early on and they kept punching back and they won a game. Yeah, with some luck because of the injury,

but they won a game because they were physically up to the challenge, but it looked like it burned him out a little bit. NC State's tough right now. I don't see them beating Purdue. They're a nine-point dog in that first semi-final game, but Eadie versus Burns Jr., if we get that matchup, I'm a few, you know, during the game, it'll be fun to watch. As far as Purdue goes, let me just say, I'm so happy for Matt Painter. I'm happy for the Purdue fans. They're outstanding fans. I know that is a Big Ten guy now. The Purdue fan base is great. Matt Painter's always been one of my favorite coaches. He's an outstanding coach, has been. Everybody knows that. Anybody that knows anything about basketball knows how good of a coach, how good of an ex is an O's coach he's

been. Now, he has not been a top-tier recruiter. They just never get top classes at Purdue. So I was glad to see him get over the hump because remember, he's had some horrible, horrible losses in the tournament the last two years out so much earlier, first round last year. It was just, it's embarrassing. And as he said, they had to wear that for a year. They had not been to the final four since, you know, back in 1980. So, So 7980, I guess it was. I'm happy for Matt Painter and Purdue. He needs, you know, for the casual basketball fan that pays attention this time of year, he needs that validation.

You know, he gets it from people in the game. And the outpouring of happiness for Matt Painter afterwards was really obvious from coaches in the game. But, you know, the bottom line is you don't have a lot of happiness. that final four to turn to. And you come up short, super short as he has the last couple of years in the tournament. I know they were close to knocking off UVA. They should have in the Elite 8 a few years ago, the Carson Edwards game. But I'm happy for them.

At the same time, I have to say this. That whistle in that game yesterday was an embarrassing whistle. Tennessee got hosed. It wasn't just that Eadie drew all those fouls. He drew 15 fouls in the game. Many of those fouls were legitimate calls. Don't get me wrong. He gets the shit kicked out of him and beat up on and banged on all game long.

But all you had to do was breathe on him and it was going to get whistled. He shot 22 free throws in the game. Tennessee as a team shot 11. Tennessee took a lot of jump shots, understood. Purdue goes through the post. They get it to the rim. They forced a lot of those fouls. They did.

But he shot 22. Tennessee shot 11. Purdue got called for 12 fouls in the game. Tennessee got called for 25. Dalton Connect, who went for 37 for Tennessee, he was grabbed, hooked and held, hacked, and just the refs

just turn their eyes. an embarrassing game from a referee standpoint. I'm not saying that Tennessee wins the game with better refereeing, although it was a tight game that they had a chance to win despite the foul discrepancy. I mean, Zach Eadie had one foul called on him in 39 minutes. There was one offensive rebound where he pushed a guy so hard, grabbed the rebound, put it back in, and the ref just stood there and looked at it. Now, I know Dalton Connect had a vicious, or no, it wouldn't connect.

It was their point guard that had a foul on either a lawyer or Brayden Smith that didn't get called. But overall, it's not that Purdue didn't deserve to shoot more free throws than Tennessee. They did. The way they played and the way they played through Eadie, they're going to get more free throws. They're going to get more fouls called on their opponent. I just thought the disparity and some of the missed egregious calls, especially against Connect, I thought it was pretty obvious. Still love the Purdue situation and that they're going to the final four.

I gave out losers to you guys this weekend. I gave out on Saturday Clemson. That did not get it done. And I gave out Purdue. I'm sorry. I gave out Tennessee and I gave out Duke. All of them massive needs for the sports books. I'm sure if some of you are better as you've seen just all of the stories coming out of Vegas

and other places about what an absolute bloodbath that was for the second straight weekend as the public has really, really done well in this tournament. I am still just 12 and 13. So I still have a chance to end up with a winning record, which is kind of amazing, actually, meaning meaning that I think if I'd given out almost every game that I liked and bet myself, I'd be down like eight or nine games in this tournament. Anyway, a few more things and then we'll get Jimmy on. The first is this.

I can't wait to watch Iowa and LSU tonight. Seven o'clock on ESPN, Angel Reese, Caitlin Clark, rematch of the National Championship game in the Elite Eight. This is going to do a massive TV number. I mean, men's game, women's game doesn't matter. It's going to do a big number. I wanted to talk quickly about Brandon Ayuk. I don't know how many of you have followed the last few days in the Brandon Iukes San Francisco 49ers saga.

But Brandon Ayuk and San Francisco are at what Mike Garifolo from the NFL network calls a standstill in contract negotiations. Add to that, Ayyuk has said or implied that he'll hold out if he doesn't get a contract extension. He's entering that fifth year, the option year, which they picked up a year ago. And that has fueled speculation that Brandon Ayuk is on the trade block right now. I mean, Brandon Ayuk, people, I hope you've been paying attention to this. There may be a tier one of Tariga. Kill, Jamar Chase, Justin Jefferson, does Devante Adams still apply for that category? But tier two, you know, when you get to the tier two guys, you know, if you want to put

AJ Brown, Amon Ross St. Brown, Stefan Diggs, you know, into that category. Brandon Ayuk's in that tier now. He is. You know, pro football focus ranked his season last year. as the second best wide receiver season in the NFL. He was the second highest graded wide receiver last year behind to Rekill. He's an outstanding receiver. He's better than Terry McClearns.

Sorry. I love Terry. Terry's probably in that next tier when you kind of get just outside of the top 10 now. There are just so many good receivers. We do this every year. It's really hard. But if he's on the trade block, Where's he going?

Well, there's a lot of discussion about Kansas City. Like, why would the 49ers... I understand not wanting to trade him in the division, not wanting to trade him within the conference, and trading him to the AFC sounds better, I guess. But why would you trade him to the team that just beat you in the Super Bowl and give them something that they really don't have?

By the way, you saw the Rishi Rice story, I'm assuming. Rishie Rice could be in some big trouble. Police are searching for Rishi Rice, all right? The guy that was the real target, ultimately, of Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs as the season went on, he became other than, you know, other than Kelsey, the go-to guy. But he is being sought out for in an investigation of a major vehicle accident that happened Saturday over the weekend in Dallas. apparently there were two vehicles involved in a race, a Corvette and a Lamborghini. They lost control of their vehicles, and it started a chain reaction collision involving four other vehicles.

Nobody was killed minor injuries, although two people were taken to the hospital, but Rice could be facing charges for this. But back to Ayuk, why would you trade him to Kansas City? and what would it take to get this guy from San Francisco knowing, knowing that you have to pay him? It might not be a first round pick. I would bet that Washington's number 36 or number 40 overall, the second round pick, the two second round picks that they have, that one of them and maybe, you know, a later fifth or sixth round pick might do it. And then you've got to pay him. I would definitely think about it if that was the compensation.

I think they're going to be looking for receiver anyway. Now, I am not giving up on Jahan Dotson, not even a little bit giving up on Jahan Dotson. And I love Terry McLorne, and I think they've got a good fit there with Dotson and McLoran, but I think they're going to be looking for somebody else. You know, they signed Zakias and Crowder. Those two will battle it out for the slot,

but Ayukes a star, people. I mean, he's in that second tier. He is a massive deep threat, and he is a phenomenal route runner and terrific after the catch. Okay, so they have Kittal and Samuel. Is he benefiting from that? And McCaffrey? Sure. I'm sure that he has benefited from that, as they are from his presence on the field.

And you do know, right, that Brandon Ayuk went to Arizona State, where his quarterback was Jaden Daniels. Yes, it was. One last thing before we get to Jimmy. Sad news I'm reading right now. Vante Davis, the younger brother of Vernon Davis, passed away today at the age of 35 years old. It happened in South Florida.

Police are saying that there's an investigation, but they do not think that foul play. is involved. Really sad. Vonte Davis has two Pro Bowls in the NFL with the Colts. He was drafted out of Illinois first round back in 2009. By the way, you know who recruited him? I'm pretty sure. Mike Loxley. Lox was at Illinois after Maryland with Ralph Regian in the early 2000s. He was at Illinois in the mid-2000s and was an offensive coach and a big-time recruiter. and he was recruiting this area like he did for Ralph. And he recruited, I'm pretty sure it was Loxley that recruited Vante Davis to Illinois.

He and Vernon both went to Dunbar in D.C. That's very sad. Jimmy Patsos next, after these words from a few of our sponsors. Hey guys, most of us are interested in our mental and physical well-being to a certain degree. And with that in mind, I'd like to welcome and introduce a new, new sponsor to the podcast. The new sponsor is Unified Healing, Unified spelled Uni-F-Y-D healing. It doesn't matter if you're a big-time world-class athlete or just a somewhat athletic podcaster like me. We all understand the importance of mental and physical well-being

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assistant coach for Gary Williams, the head coach at Loyola in Baltimore at Sienna as well, and he's been doing a lot of work for the Wizards Network on monumental sports. Jimmy, before we get to Elite 8 talk, and we'll skip Wizards today because we're coming off in Elite 8 and Sweet 16 games. and looking forward to the final four.

But do you know what you were doing 22 years ago tonight? You know, April 1st is very interesting. I believe I was named the Sienna head coach in April 1st, the Loyola head coach in April 1st, but no date more important than Juan Nixon, Steve, Blake, Chris Wilcox, Byron, Lottie Baxter, Todd Holden, through Nicholas, Ryan Randall, and Gary Williams, winning the national title in Atlanta,

when we beat Jared Jeffries and the Indiana who's most important day in my life. 22 years ago tonight. Do you know, I don't think I've ever asked you this. Every once in a while, I'll just put that game on and I'll watch it. And Billy Packer's final line of the broadcast

goes something like this. It was an odd, strange game, but a very deserving champion. Now, the Kansas game was phenomenal, you know, in the semifinals. But have you ever looked back on just how kind of disjointed that actual national championship game was? You know, there's a lot to be said for defense. And, hey, I'm just happy we won. Yeah, me too.

Going to the final four back to back is a huge accomplishment. But it's not quite the same as winning at all. I can go to a lot of teams that have made Final Four runs and Brad Stevens to Butler teams, and Ben Holland and UCLA go to three. final fours, one final game. They're amazing accomplishments. I'm so happy for Alabama to go. Purdue, Matt Painter gets

that off him. Obviously, we know NC State's just an amazing story. And Yukon's turning into a mini-dignancy in the way he's got that thing rolling. He's probably going to win back to back. That's different. We want it all is a big thing.

Like Hurley has the we want it all thing because of Calhouns set it up, but I know Kevin only one. Winning that type of having the banner, whether it was a defensive game or not. Both teams were a little nervous. You know, they held the ball a little. They really ran their sets all the way through. And so the game wasn't like, Kansas was like,

we'll play fast, and we're like, well, we'll play faster. And they're like, we'll play faster too. Then we just kept going up and down. Drew and I talk about. Yukon of the elite eight. It's very interesting. We meet Yukon in the regular season and then beat them to go to the elite eight. That happened yesterday with Purdue.

That's very rare. where you beat someone earlier in the season and then beat him again to go to the final four. And so, in other words, a lot of things are lining up if you watch these tournaments, but to go back 22 years, it was a great win. Muton's play was important to us,

probably a little underrated, and Juan had a four to eight minutes stretch that he was the best player on the court, and that's why we won. But I do agree with Billy Packer that, like, Gary deserved it, we deserved it because we worked so hard, but, like, that runs,

forget Wisconsin who has a banner hanging. Seattle, Wisconsin, Kentucky, Connecticut, Kansas, between Indiana. You're talking about going through all those teams. But it wasn't the most fluid of games. It wasn't the poetic justice, beautiful game, and it wasn't a game-winning shot either. We just kind of pulled away.

Yeah. But I was real happy we won. No, look, I mean, I'm not knocking it. It was great. But when I went back earlier, when it was sent out, you know, it's the final call with Nance and Packer, and Packer talks about, and I just remember it wasn't the most aesthetically pleasing championship game. Yukon played one of those in 2011, I guess it was, and there were a lot of turnovers,

there were a lot of miss free throws, but that stretch, and, you know, the Yukon game, the Elite Eight game against Yukon is one of the highest level tournament games you'll ever, you know, Absolutely. You'll ever see. You know, there's something else, too. Geron Butler and I still talk about because he does some wizards. By the way, I'm Scott Hall on the Wizards. They're the great people.

And we've done this year, I really liked what Miller and Drew Good. They've turned into a nice team and the Wizards. But Will Dawkins and Wingerer are trying to rebuild this thing. And remember, with rebuilding, some teams. And I think that now you're going to see that in college basketball because teams are not going to be the same every year. because the free agency. It's unrestricted.

Marvin Miller and Charlie Philly wouldn't know what to do with this, okay? The Afrinos listening, that was the advent of free agency, the 70s and baseball. It was immediately the wild wild. West Kurt Flood actually came to Washington. He was the guy that started all this.

We are in that right now. Well, Winger and Dawkins with the Wizards, they've at least got a plan, Bilobali's good and stuff, but like it's going to take a little while to turn that. And I say that, call it. Georgetown's going to take a little while to turn that. Evan Willard has Derek Queen coming in.

He kept Julian Reese. He's got the point card from Belmont-Kalespie. But, like, the college landscape right now is going to be rebuild your team every spring, almost universally and probably at least half your roster. So that's going to be interesting to see how this thing shakes out. And that's why winning it with Maryland was so big, because we got to keep everyone together for two years. And it's just it's not insured anymore that you're going to be good next year.

I think one thing you've done an amazing job of Kevin is, like, they lost three really good players. They lost Hawkins. You know, they lost Jackson, two really, really good players. Hawkins are short. But they lost their center. Yeah.

Who was the best, you know, and they replaced them with Klingon, who played 12 minutes the game. I think he's a lottery pick. I don't know what guys are watching. I know you don't like Biggs in the NBA, but he's kept most of the team, but Cam Spencer's new,

and then Castle's a new freshman. Like, it's going to be really good. So that's why Connecticut almost gets extra. points. Like back when we were doing it, we knew he had everybody back, and then the final year we weren't to Sweet 16, because we still had Ryan Randall, Steve Blake, and Drew Nicholas, like, the transition wasn't so fast. And the NBA, keeping guys in free agency and getting veterans to come and all that to do. It's a little bit white stuff. There is more turnover in college than the NBA right now. That's a little

scary to me. Oh, well, it's, I mean, look, I think you and I talked about this the last time you're on. It's unrestricted annual free agency, something professional athletes, don't even have. And it's really impacting the enjoyment of it, although I've really gotten into the tournament, but I probably watched less college basketball this year than I ever have. But I want to come back to the teams that have made the final four in a moment, but I wanted to ask you something. So, you know, the national championship 22 years ago tonight, but the year before that, this program went to the final four for the first time when it beat Stanford in Anaheim. And, yesterday when I was watching Purdue and I was watching the celebration and Matt Painter getting

that 10,000 pound gorilla off his chest and getting to a final four, we all know he's an excellent coach. I thought back and I've said this many times and I'm curious as to what you thought being on the bench. For me as a lifelong terp, getting to that final four, the countdown against Casey Jacobson and Stanford in that elite eight game was the most emotional. moment for me, even more so than the national championship game. And I say that because college basketball is weird, Jimmy, in that the final four is a massive accomplishment. It's the only sport that has something short of a championship that feels like a championship. What do you think about that? A, the Stanford game to get this program to the final four for the first time,

and then just the idea that the final four in accomplishing that is really, I mean, there's no sport that celebrates kind of a runner-up or just a final four like college basketball does. I think that's a great point, Kevin, and it's not, that's kind of my point. Either you make the final four or you don't, and then either you win it or you don't. Nobody really remembers like the final four games as much, like who won and who came in second and are. But they do remember the, look, line.

Ronnie Baxter is the only two-time regional champion MVP, like Burns got French State. Lonnie Baxter got it two times in a row. The only other guy to do that was Christian Leitner. Think about that. But you're right. In other words, the regional win is celebrated very, you know, this confetti, you cut down the neck. You won your region. And that is very rare.

You know, they don't cut down the necks when you even win the conference championship in the NBA. Yeah, they got to Larry Burry, Mary, match, Johnson, trophies, whatever. but the celebration of the hoopla and the meeting of winning your region, which means you go into the final four because you advance a full week. It's a very unique thing in sports. And I think that's why it's so important that we went. Look, I'll never forget Steve Bichotty's and the Raven and some other people. Because remember, we had won in Boise.

The Boise thing was changing the landscape of the NCAA. Hampton was there. We sent our charter. We said, you guys take our charter back. we're going to go stay an extra day, and we're going to go right to California, because we're in the West region. So Hampton, it was Georgia State with left here to Zazel, George Mason. Luckily, the boss rolls through George Evans. George Evans was a 28-year-old guy that played in the Army.

Now that's a rare, that was the rarest of rare, and now that's almost a common thing. 23 and 24-year-olds are common there for basketball because of the fifth-year COVID, which has one more year, graduate school, guys reclassing, up school. Back then, George Evans, 27 years old, the ball rolls through and he takes his eye off it.

He might have hit the jump hook and they might have beat us. Yeah. We play left dude Rizel, who's, you know, a legend from Maryland, but him and Gary,

you know, Gary's there, left, he was kind of a way. Then we'd go to play Georgetown in a Sweet 16 to advance, and then we play the Collins twins,

and Casey Jacobson was the perfect, look. He's a guy from Stanford that had that pedigree and everything. But he had a little Lex Luther in him. Let's face it, okay? He was like, you know, the UCLA fans in Arizona fan tamed him for a reason. He had a little bit of the, you know, he was a little Don Johnson from Tin Cup, if you get my trip in this.

Okay. Right. So, which we love, you know. So anyways, Casey Jacobson comes out, and they're like, they think they're just going to smack us and go to the final four, which they've never been to. Well, neither would wait. So that's why you're right. It was a big deal going, but I remember all our fans showed up because they, like, to fly out and make clean, you know, change flames.

One of the great things Gary said is we're not going back. We did that before and I don't want to go back. And sometimes you've got to go all the way back and then you get distracted and guys are trying to get haircuts and get tickets for their mother and grandmother and aunt. He said, we're just going to go from Boise and we're going to go right down. So, of course, I'm like Disney World on Tuesday. We're going to Mortons on Wednesday. You know, we've got to fill them, you know, we're going to go.

We stay at basically, we were down by, Newport Beach is where we stayed. Then on Wednesday, you check into the hotel to play on Friday on Sunday. He did a really good job, Gary, you're saying like, you know what? Let's just go. We'll focus on basketball, but go to Disneyland for a day.

Go to Morton's for Day. Let's go to the beach for day. John Brown from Bentley's was with us to other people, and we went straight to California on Monday. And I remember it was a two-day stint. And Gary had been offered the UNLV job. Rob 80's the former D.C. lawyer. Lovely, lovely guy passed away.

Rob A's legend was in the middle of that. Remember, UNLV wanted Gary Williams to come because that February, we had been booed off the court. The Valentine's Daymaster when Florida State beat us. Yeah. And I don't think Gary Williams was ever going to leave. And nobody wanted to leave. We loved Maryland.

We just had a rough stretch because we lost the lead to Duke. And then we went to Wake Forest. We played horse. Gary did a great job coaching that year of getting the team back on track. We win at Duke. Then we go out there and win two games in Boise, but we stay out west. But that's when the NCAA got a lot of criticism from Mike Feinstein and everybody writing articles.

Why are five teams from the East Coast in Boise, which isn't the easiest place to get to for the record. Right. That was for the first two rounds. And that's the first two rounds. And then you have to go down to play, you know. But George Town was good. And we were, you know, they battle us. Gary Swift was that one going to last eight minutes.

I don't think it was him. I think it was Boom Jay, Boom Jay and those guys. Okay. Greg Esrick was the coach. I remember Gary had watched Providence. Tim Ross was his friend, and we had watched. You got to pick who you watch, who plays like you, whatever. And Providence beat them by switching the zone in the second half

so they couldn't adjust to it. We talked about in the locker before the game, Coach Williams and I'm like, remember, some people switched the zone in the second half when they can't go over it at halftime. We played our typical pressure in man to me. With about 10 minutes to go, it was your old Rocky Balboe, switch back to lefty. Guy went zoned.

In Georgetown couldn't solve our zone, and we beat them. Then, of course, you beat Stanford and Casey Jacobson and the Collins twins and those guys. And then you go to the final four, and you're up against Duke. We were only up 10 at the halftime. We were up a lot early.

Up 22 early, yeah. Yeah, but not at half. I always judged, what are you up at the half? We were only up 11 at the half. They had Shane Battier, Carlos Muzer, Jason Williams, Mike Dunleady, and I guess, forget who was Chris Duhon.

Five pros. Yeah, it was, yeah. But I'll never forget, and Nate James. Gary Williams. And Bozor. And, they changed, too. And, well, Boozer, by I mentioned, he said that. Yeah.

Yeah. That's the story. Whose kids are, whose sons are really good right now, by the way. Well, Boozer should have fouled out, and Lonnie shouldn't have, but we, we don't need to go down that path. Right. And that's the last time. Think about this.

That's the last time, Maryland. Well, we went to the following year. But that's the last time Arizona went to a final four. Arizona's struggling to get out of the Sweet 16th. What a program. So it's not easy to win your reason. And I won't go on any further, but you're correct. Winning your region is an own special thing.

You saw Hurley cut down the nets of Boston and be really excited because it's hard to do it. Now the Final Four is a whole other tournament. This is a whole other tournament. But they do celebrate the regional championship. And like that's why Don Staley and South Carolina women were so happy. You know, they're an Under Armour School full disclosure. But everybody wants to see that LSU playing in Iowa tonight, that they have some bad blood between them. LSU's got the feistyness to him, and I kind of like, I like Angel Reese, I know her brother and her mother.

And that's going to be a dogfight to see you can go to the final four. But South Carolina women, we're extremely happy to go back to the final four. Yeah, so let's, I was going to ask you about tonight. I'm actually looking very much forward to watching the game tonight. I can't remember the last time I said that, if I've ever said that about a women's college basketball game. Although last year's final, I was looking forward to it. Well, she started to get momentum last year, when she's done an unbelievable job of Kate McClark's

and carrying the momentum and adding to it and getting better and drawing bigger crowds and selling out on the road and doing all the things that she does. You know, last year you thought it was just a fad or whatever then to break the scoring record of people. But all that stuff aside, she's just done an amazing job for the sport of women's college basketball. Don Staley wins.

Angel Wreath and then were the defending champions. We know what Gino's done. There's been all these success. and Yukon's in the thing tonight, too, to see if they can meet U.S. City. There's a lot of side stories that are interesting. She has taken this to a whole new level. And as you and I know, Kevin, maintained it. That's not easy to maintain as hard.

Right, which actually is a perfect segue into this. Let's just assume that compensation-wise, NIL versus however the WNBA would compensate her through their marketing budget, through base salary, through, you know, endorsements, et cetera, beyond that. Which would be better for her if the compensation is the same, to return to Iowa for one more year, which she could do, or to go to the WNBA? You know, that's a loaded question here. Her boyfriend is Fran McCaffrey's son.

Yeah. And he works with the Indiana Paces. I'm not saying that Connor and Patrick and Margaret and Fran, I'll have a good. great family, love that family, know them well. Margaret was one heck of a player at Notre Dame. And, you know, she's talking a game in black. I mean, I'm not there every day, but they have, like, that's a, that's a tight group. Connor happens to be there.

Indiana has the first pick. Maybe it's the perfect time to go. She's broken all the records. I don't think the, I don't think the advertising dollars are going to change. And that's, that's NIL. But the salary in the WNBA is whatever it is. I think Deladon made the most money, and she makes $2.50. or probably play less games, but the salary is sort of what it is.

That's irrelevant in the number because it's all about her marketing. Sure. Which has to be a couple million dollars a year. Does that change in the WNBA from college? I would think not. However, college basketball, the women's college basketball ratings are, you know what it is? During the season, they're one type of rating. Then the NCAA women's basketball tournament starts in there another type of rating.

And then their final four, ratings are through the roof. And I don't know what that does to the NIL of sponsors. I'm not that smart. I went to Catholic U. And I'm not, and I bartended at the third edition. Yeah, we, I can't be that smart. Familiar with that part of your life. Let me know what, what I was, what is the marketing part? That, that, that NCAA final four numbers of, you know, tonight's game alone, and the next week in the final four, if she makes it, those women's ratings for college basketball are used. That's what I'm saying. WNBA get that? I don't know.

That's what I'm saying. I wonder whether or not Caitlin Clark can carry 6 to 8 to 10 million viewers from a Final 4 or an Elite 8 game or a championship game which some say could rival the men's final this year in terms of numbers. So we're not even talking about it. We're talking in the

15 to 18 million or whatever. If she can carry that to a league that just doesn't really draw flies for the most part. I don't know. I don't know the answer to it. Maybe we will all be watching Caitlin Clark, WNBA, Indiana games.

Look, people forget, and I'm young, I mean, I'm sorry, I'm old, but I was very young, but I was old enough to understand that Magic Johnson and Larry Bird. Remember, I'm in Boston, and back then Larry Bird was already going to the Celtics because the Red Alback had maneuvered a trade. He was draft eligible because he sat out a year because he went, remember, he went to Indiana and didn't like night and 7th. out of the year when he was a garbage delivery,

correct guy and all that stuff. So we knew he was coming, so he was already being written about halfway through the year, but for Indiana State to go that far, you know, there's obvious reasons why it was so watched, you know, two different styles. White guy, black guy, black guy, six nine forwards

that could handle the ball. That changed the game of basketball. For the NBA, even though it's a college game. Does Caitlin Clark and Reese have the potential and it's more Clark than Reese, but Reese has a lot of juice too. Do they have a chance to do that?

Is the LSU thing, South Carolina, Don Staley thing, and all that combined with Caitlin Clark, that's propelling this final four in last year's NCAA tournament. In the madness you saw that, you know, you know, infinity center was sold about this year when she came. Does that carry to the NBA? Because as you know, Kevin, if you said in January of 1979 that the NBA was going to be, the second best sport behind the NFL and must see TV and buy tickets now. Everyone would have told you were crazy. Yep.

But three months later, Bird and Magic happened, and then a year later, Magic wins it, and two years later, Byrne wins it, and David Stern is probably the executive Hall of Fame, king of any league in the stuff there in heaven, above Paul Tagliaboo and all those other guys, only because of where they came from to where they went in such a short time, but it started with Bird Magic, would you agree?

Oh, the NBA was dead in 1979. Do you know who played in the NBA finals in 1979? The wins, I mean the bullets played Dennis Johnson and Super Sonics. On tape delay. On tape delay, it was the second straight year of Bullets Sonics. Bullets won it in 78. They lost in five in 79. And the league was dying on a vine.

And then 1979, Indiana State, as you said, Michigan State, the final. Still to this day, I believe, the most watched basketball game ever. NBA college basketball doesn't matter. Wow, what a stat. Yeah, I'm, I will look that up. I believe that I trust you. The 79 final in Salt Lake between those two teams is the most watched basketball game of all time. And then, you know, Magic wins it. And then Magic goes to Lagas and bird goes to Boston. And every piece of drama. Well, maybe Caitlin Clark going to Indiana, because they have Boston.

It's really good as an inside player there. She's the one that led South Carolina two years ago. We have Boston to the finals. I know this stuff because I'm in basketball, and we have South Carolina. But you don't have to explain why you know it. I'm just impressed that you know it. But can Caitlin Clark?

It's been done before. Can she transform that league to the next level? Because Kelsey Pomeranagan, you will send in those girls. those ladies, those women were playing well in Vegas. New York's re-upping with some players. Page Beckers coming out or coming back and all this stuff. Cameron Brink from Stanford's going to leave.

Like, that lead could turn on its axis because of what Caitlin Clark's doing. So it's going to be an interesting watch. But she's going pro for a lot of reasons. But it's time. And the money advertising will be there at first for sure. Can it maintain? As you said, that's about whether the league can draw numbers or not. The real question is, could she replace whomever plays center,

and in game six of the finals, score 42 points, grab 15 rebounds, and dish out 10 assists like Magic did in Philly when Kareem was hurt? In Philadelphia, unbelievable. In Philadelphia, Kareem's probably not going to play either in game seven. He could have tried. He didn't even travel. She's 6'1. She could do it if she had to.

Yeah. But Magic man, Magic and Bird had that competitive fire, and they were bigger than you thought. But let's face it, they also went to really the right cities and the right teams. Both teams, while they weren't really good the year before, were good, I still think Kareem's the best player ever to play in the NBA. I just do, and I think his numbers are, you know, he was on the Lakers who just had a bad year. The Celtics had Tony Archibald and Cornbread Maxwell and all that.

They had a crazy bad year, but very quickly got good under it with Byrd. But, like, that's just a different way. I don't know. It's been proven that no one can walk. in the NBA and turn a team anymore like those two did. Now, Duncan took a year, he did it, Elijah won did it with Houston, but like, it's very interesting to see, and then we'll get back to the Elite 8 stuff. It's like, like Burns has turned NC State into a force to be reckoned with all of a sudden

and it started in D.C. I was there for the first game. Joel Justice, the assistant coach for Kevin Keith is my friend. Joel Justice, how about this one? Joel Justice is the guy that went one of two from the line against UNC Romington. and had he made that free throw, Drew would have only been able to send it to overtime. But he went one of two and missed. Goldsbury had made the threes, and they had Brett Prism. He was on the world.

He still shakes and said every time he sees me. And then Drew came down and hit that shot in Nashville that propelled us to the win over. Brad Brownell was the coach of Wilmington. Brad Brown was the coach. That's why we were kind of rooting for. But, you know, it's interesting when you look back at situations. And that's why March Madness is crazy. and that's why it's such a great thing to watch,

but Burns is dominant, Zach Eaddenia, I'm happy. And this all started. We'll go back to meetings. Yes, I was happy for Matt Painter. I was happy the way the Purdue kids. Remember, we didn't do what they did at Maryland. We went to the Sweet 16, 5 out of eight years,

we had St. Francis. Right. You know, we had Joe Smith. Yeah, we lost the game to, you know, Arizona when they were the defending champs in the Sweet 16th. They lost the St. Peters and FDU. Yep. That's a little bit of a weird run.

And so to have that, you know, on your shoulders and like the players love Matt Paineer. He played at Purdue. Gene Cady there. To see them do that and then all the players said they wanted to do it for Matt Pater, I thought that was very touching. I did too. I thought the reaction from a lot of coaches, which I saw in social media,

was really telling too, because he's obviously respected and well-liked. And to your point, like, you know, before Maryland went to the final four in 2001, it's not like you were getting eliminated by lower-seeded teams in the first round. There were four or five sweet 16s. There were a couple of teams that should have been, I still think that the team with Steve Francis that lost to St. John's, with Barclay and with Ron Artec, et cetera, was the team that should have gone on a little bit further.

There was a member of being a tour as a killer two weeks ago. That didn't help. Right. No, you're right. I just remember of the Arizona game we were an underdog, the Michigan game, we were an underdog, the Yukon game, the second year of the Sweet 16. That was hurtful.

Man, four pros. I know. But the St. John's game, we were favored. I just want to say this, Joe Smith, who we loved, who doesn't get enough credit. He was sick, right? I think Joe Smith was one of most underrated players. Let's just say, I thought he might have had his eye looking at it.

the NBA draft when you're the number one pickback then. Remember back then it was a big deal to leave and go early and all that. This is 1995. It's a lot of pressure on Joe. In other words, Joe had a lot of people telling you should leave it. Nowadays, everybody knows you're gone. It's no big deal. You're allowed to talk to agents. I mean, look, it's the NIL year, but I mean the last 10 years, it's no big deal. Back then, I felt Joe had a lot of pressure on him. Like, he loved Maryland, but he didn't really want to go, but he had to go. And like, there's a, That's when back then that's when people, especially with Guy Williams as the head coach.

Right. There was going to be no, there was going to be no shenanigans or any of that stuff, right? None of that. So. My point, just is that the St. John's loss, we were supposed to win.

We were, but they had Eric Barkley, Bootsie, and we're on our test at a pretty good NBA career in Glover and all those guys, but they weren't good. And Francis, Obina got hurt.

And once again, Steve like Joe had all the speculation, is he going, is he not going? You know, all the, it was a lot different pressure than now. Everybody knows, like, oh, he's just playing one year, so it's no big deal. I thought more Joe than Francis, but Obina, we needed a physical guy to play against Glover and our test, and we didn't have it. Yeah. All right, let's get to Yukon and your thoughts on this juggernaut of a team, and the rest of the

final four teams. We'll do that right after these words from a few of our sponsors. Two rounds are in the books, guys. Round of 16 coming up on Thursday, Friday, then the round of eight. And by the time we get to late Sunday night, we will be down to the last four teams standing in the tournament. If you're looking to combine daily fantasy sports and the tournament, I've got the app for you.

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We continue with Jimmy Patsos. So let's focus in a little bit more on the final four, and we'll start with Yukon. Can anybody beat Yukon, seriously? And where do you put this run, this Hurley Yukon run of the last two years? Put it in some sort of historic perspective. How great has this run been?

there'll never be another UCLA dynasty but after that the closest thing was obviously Duke and then Carolina has had sustained success but not back to back and Florida had a two-year run with Joe Keene Noah Joe Keene-Kin-K-K-K-K-Kin-K-K-Kin-Haw-Ferford and Florida and Horford and those guys but

you know I'd say UCLA is the number one dynasty Duke is the number two dynasty you know for Shushchevsky back-to-back and all that. Yukon's now number three. Think about that. When Jim Calhoun got there, they were the worst team

with the Big East. They had a little bit of tradition, but it was more like an in-state thing that people just liked them because they didn't have a protein, but they didn't have a one. What Jim Calhoun has created and now Hurley's going to take over,

and I like Kevin Alley, but Calhoun had stuck the way that, you know, left on a pretty good team, and Calhoun was still around trying to half coach, and him and Ollie were thicker than these men. So it's Calhoun's architecture, Curley has done an amazing job of taking it. Billy Donovan took something from nothing,

and then the minute he left it disappeared. Yes, I know they're trying down there, but let's be honest. They've completely disappeared since Billy Donovan left. On the national level scene, final four, early in 18, 16. The Gators are gone. Sparrier left, Billy Donovan left.

The Gators are back to making Gatorade. Nobody cares anymore in Gainesville. I'd say that half jokingly, but it's just they were a power to be reckoned with. They were the number one team in the country when we beat them down there in games. Billy Dunnman had them, you know, they were just exciting all over the place. So that's the one.

What Hurley's doing is creating another dynasty within a team that's had two runs. UCLA hasn't been able to do it again. We'll see if Shire and them can do it after Shoshke. From Calhoun to now having this resurrected again, Dean Smith did it, then Roy didn't, even though they didn't do it back to back. So I would say Connecticut is approaching the North Carolina stage where they're going to do it twice. with two different coaches, and I don't think anybody can beat them,

except it could be a weird, you know, anything can happen game like NC State did to, you know, Houston or Ed Pingney did to Georgetown. You know, Georgetown's close. You look at Thompson's teams. They only won one. They could have won three. Yeah.

And it's not being critical because I love Coach Thompson. They just ran into Villanova. And that's like how hard this thing is that Hurley's about to do, and can he do it again? I don't think Klingon State. He loves playing there. He's from there and all that, but he's still sophomore. He's been there two years.

I just, Alabama's shot 16, made 16-3s. I don't know if he's going to let him do that. Clemson had that game in the hand by going inside. They stopped going inside, and they gave up uncontested threes from the corner, which was very poor defense, to let Clemson in. Then they started trying to defend.

But that was the Golden State Warriors beating the Boston Celtics. Clemson should have won, like the Celtics probably should have beat the Warriors. But Steph Curry took over. Jordan Poole, by the way, a wizard had a really good games off the bench, Clay Thompson. But for a couple of days, they shot threes better than the Celtics did, and they beat them. That's what Alabama did.

Alabama's got a big guy that could help a little bit. But I don't see this thing completely changing. Like, they're going to go inside, and Alabama's going to have trouble, and they're going to keep Camp Spencer's pretty tall kid from Boyce Latin and Baltimore. Castle's only getting better than the freshman. from point card who I think could be a lottery pick. He's just got a big upside, even though those numbers aren't great for Connecticut. Because they have a really deep team.

They get the shooter from San Diego. He is building a dynasty there. Now, can he do it again because this is going to change every year. You know, this is what's interesting about the world we live in. But I think that Connecticut is a fascinating story to watch. I'm happy for Coach Hurley. He coaches both offense and defense. He lets him play, but he still holds him accountable on defense.

I think Oates is a night's story. NC State, you just have to love what's going on there. But nobody more than me wants to see Purdue versus Yukon. I just want to see Zach Eady and the big guy go out of it. I kind of want to see the two different contrasting styles. I think it's good for the Big Ten. And I just can't believe NC State's run and has continued. Duke just did not shoot the ball well.

And I thought Duke somehow rather lost their way in the second half. And you know what I'll give North Carolina. I unfortunately have to go. But North Carolina State did a good job of this. They aren't making three, so they didn't take too many. Like a lot of teams, like Alabama's going to take them. They just happen to make them. NC State's like, we'll just take 10 threes and make three,

and we can beat you the other way. And they just did a really good job. The NC State miracle thing with Valvano up there is interesting. But I want Purdue-UCon, and then I see Yukon cutting down the nets again. You know, I didn't even have to ask you anything about the other teams, although I did want to just ask you about Burns. why do you think Shire didn't do something different rather than just let him dominate the second half the way he did yesterday?

I mean, he had in ones going all, place. I'm sure he thought he had Filipowski, who's Jews. You know, people had him as a lottery pick to start the year. He's probably like a late first. McCain's young, but he played really good at 32 points. Proctor's a proxer. Would you have played zone? Would you have done something differently?

I would have played zoning. Clemson beat Arizona by playing zone the last eight minutes. I would have tried to play zone, and I might have tried to double down. But I'd have to go. I love you so much. We can do this forever. You're a legend. Love you. Bye.

All right. See you. Jimmy Patsos, everybody. By the way, it wasn't scheduled to have him on because it's impossible to schedule him. I just called him because it's the only way to do it. He answered the phone and I said, I'm going to record something with you right now. And he said, all right, let's do it. Most guests are actually scheduled.

You know, you call him the day before, a few days before, and you schedule a time to do it. With Jimmy, it's impossible to get him to, A, commit to a time, B, to remember that he's actually doing it on that day and that time. So the best thing is just to call him and say, hey, what are you doing right now? That's what we just did. and he's walking into a meeting right now, and he told me he was going to have to do that.

All right. That's it for the show today. Back tomorrow with Tommy. Maryland will get to end the game with the ball in their hands. Give it to Dixon. He deserves it. It's his shining moment. And for all the Terrapins as well, a first ever national championship.

The two seniors, part of more wins in four years than any time. time in Maryland's history just jump on each other. Unusual game, but a very outstanding champion.