The Kevin Sheehan Show - Redskins Offseason Grade + MD Hoops Goes Big

Episode Date: May 7, 2019

The Redskins' offseason is pretty much done now. Kevin discussed what he liked, what he didn't like, and graded it out. He gets to the two NBA Playoff games last night then to the Nats loss in Milwaukee with MASN's Mark Zuckerman. Maryland basketball got a commitment from 7-2 center Chol Mariol. Jeff Ermann/Inside MD Sports was a guest on the show talking Terps' hoops and football. <p> </p><p>Learn more about your ad choices. Visit <a href="https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices">podcastchoices.com/adchoices</a></p> Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You want it. You need it. It's what everyone's talking about. The Kevin Sheehan Show. Now here's Kevin. All right. I am here. Aaron is here. This show is presented by Window Nation. If you're in the market for Windows, call 86690 Nation or go to Window Nation.com and tell them that we told you to call. The Nat stumbled and bumbled big time last night against the Brewers. Mark Zuckerman was there. We'll talk to him a little bit later on. got a huge commitment yesterday from Shoal Mariel. He's 7-2-7-3, I've seen him listed at as well. He played high school basketball in Arizona, but he's from the Sudan. His wingspan of 7 feet 11 inches would be the longest in NBA history. He started Aaron as a five-star recruit and a projected NBA lottery pick two years ago, but he's been injured. Shin splints have been a problem, a big problem, so the interest in him has dropped off. Maryland got him yesterday, and now the Terps finish with like

the third best recruiting class in the Big Ten, a near top 25 class now, according to some, and this was supposed to be an off-year recruiting because they had such a prominent class a year ago, a top-10 class a year ago and the best in the Big Ten. So Turgeon continues to recruit his ass off. Very clear why now Bruno declared so early. Yes, so that they could clear the spot for him. By the way, I've seen a lot of mock drafts, and Bruno is really in that as high as 10 and as low as I've seen as early second round. He's that guy. It just takes, you know, someone's going to fall in love with him. You just have no idea who. Maryland basketball, by the way, and it's not because of their incoming freshman class next year,

it's because of what's coming back. They're projected now across the board preseason top 10 team. I thought personally, if they lost Bruno, kept sticks, it would be more in the top 15 range. But they are pretty much everything you've seen in the all-too-early top 25s for 2019-2020-2020. Maryland's a consistent in the top 10. So are other big 10 teams like Michigan. State, Ohio State, and Michigan. So the Big Ten is going to be loaded next year, especially at the top. We're going to bring Jeff Erman on the show. Jeff's been on the show before. He covers Maryland for Inside MD Sports. We'll have him on later in the show. I'm going to get to the NBA playoffs. I promise I'll do that as well. I did want to start with some Redskins real quickly in Les Carpenter's

piece in The Post. He wrote a story about Case Keenham. And in that, in that, story this morning, there's a paragraph about Colt McCoy and Les writes, Coach Jay Gruden said Monday that he hopes McCoy will be back for training camp. Reached later in the day, McCoy said his latest surgery has made it hard to predict when he will return, but he's hoping to participate in the team's June mini-camp and OTAs. Boy, the McCoy injury is looking like more and more. It could be an issue. I mean, we won't know until we know, but, you know, they may have to go sign Josh Johnson as a third quarterback for camp anyway. If Josh Johnson doesn't have another opportunity, meantime, there were, I guess, social media pictures of Alex Smith at Dulles Airport yesterday. And he still got that jungle gym around his leg, doesn't he? Yeah, it does. It's amazing to see him walking on that and not, you know, in a cart or something going around Dulles.

Yeah, I believe that it is Alex Smith's birthday today or recently, May 7th today. Happy birthday, Alex Smith. He's 35 years old. I hope you enjoy whatever you do celebrating it. And we wish you, you know, a continued recovery from what was just a horrific injury. So I got a call from a friend of mine, Aaron, who lives in Northern California yesterday. a big skins fan. One of those friends that, you know, I talk to during football season primarily. You like, you know, before Redskins game, he texts during, after, you know, just one of those people.

He's not like a super close friend, but I've known him forever, went to Maryland. And one of those guys, he's lived in the Bay Area, I think, for 25 years. But, you know, you catch up with them and it's pretty much just about the Redskins and Maryland basketball. I'll hear from him on that as well. But he's a massive skins fan. and this is what we talk about. And typically, you know, months will go by and haven't heard from them, but the draft ends, and I hear from him. Great guys, got kids.

By the way, congrats. He got his son into Stanford Business School. Didn't have to pay anything for it, I don't think. But the conversation about, you know, his family and mine, it lasts like two minutes and then it's, well, you know, he says, I've been listening to the podcast and I've got a few things to say about the things that you've said. So that's how it went. He hated the land in Collins signing, thinks it's way too much money for safety, for any safety.

But he liked the draft, but admits, you know, what we've talked about here on the podcast that you really don't know for a few years. He's obsessed, Aaron, obsessed with the schedule and the start of this schedule. And he's convinced that the teams that the Redskins play in their first five weeks are going to doom a decent season before it really gets started. And I tried to talk him off that ledge. he's still surprised that they didn't trade for Rosen. He doesn't know if Rosen would have worked out or not, but he just thinks Rosen would have been a much better, you know, cost, you know, a second and a fourth round pick.

And, you know, he made the case. He goes, Rosen would have been every bit the splash that Haskins would have been. Anyway, there was a lot more to our conversation, and you don't really care about what my friend in San Francisco thinks about the team. But at the very end of the discussion and the reason I bring it up is he asked me the following question. he said so was the off-season now that we're through the draft a net plus or a net negative so i went through it with him and that lasted another 20 minutes um and i thought i would do that right now with all of you what i said to him and how i answered the question and one of the things i said to

him is i'm like look we got to take the emotion out of this and just focus on what they did and how they did it and whether or not, you know, it finishes up or concludes with them having gotten better or worse. You know, I also said to him, I would contemplate this question differently if this were a normal organization, meaning I would wonder whether or not they had increased their chances of being a winner in the long term or if those prospects of being good in the long term had decreased. But you don't really do that with this organization because as long as Dan Snyder owns the team and has people like Bruce Allen running it, the only hope is a short-term one-off. You know, that occasional winning season, perhaps even a playoff season that every

NFL team has, you know, occasionally has access to if everything breaks right. This is what they've been. This is what they are. This is what they will be unless he sells the team, which he's not going to do or turns it over to a high quality person and professional and then empowers that person. That hasn't happened yet, so we're left with just focusing on what they did and how they did it, and then coming to a conclusion as to whether or not they improve their team, all the while, understanding that a long-term winner with Snyder and Allen is unlikely more like impossible. So that's, I get that. I understand that. And many times when we go through this and we're talking about,

hey, maybe they'll do this. A lot of you will remind me, it's never going to be what you want it to be because of the top of the organization. I understand that context to every conversation we have about the Redskins. I do. But it doesn't mean that they didn't do some things that in a normal organization could work out well. So the question is this. What did they do that I liked?

What did they do that I had a problem with? And I'm going to go through this, because now that the draft is over, so is for the most part the off-season. Could they add Zeke Ansa? He's still available. Could they add Eric Berry? He's still available. But for the most part, this is what they have going into 2019.

So I'm going to start with the positive. The things that they did in this off-season that I thought were good things, and then I'll get to the negative, and then I'll come to a conclusion. The positives are this. Number one, the trade for Case Keenum was a good trade. It cost them next to nothing. And they ensured that they got a guy that can start if they need a guy to start. I said the day of the trade that those of you that were reacting like, oh my God, that's our quarterback move, Case Keenum, are you kidding me? that you had to wait. You had to wait to see what it cost them.

And when we found out that Denver had eaten three and a half of the $7 million commitment, and the Redskins only had to give up a sixth rounder and they got another pick back, that it was essentially a no-risk deal. And it didn't prevent them from being aggressive in going after another quarterback. I said that that day, the next day, this move when we found out what the details were, it's a nothing move. It's an important move in the event that they aren't able to find another quarterback, a Josh Rosen via trade, or drafting somebody, or potentially even another veteran free agent, although I think the trade for Keenham eliminated the Ryan Fitzpatrick scenario,

if you believed that Fitzpatrick was a possibility, or another veteran free agent quarterback was a possibility. Keenham worked out much better because he was a much lower cost move. It was, as it turned out, one of the two quarterback moves, and it was a good move. Three and a half million for one year? Are you kidding me? Now, look, I'm not a Keenham guy, but I'll tell you who is a Keenum guy. Jay Gruden's a Keenum guy. Kevin O'Connell is a Keenum guy.

They thought going into the draft that they were okay at quarterback. They like Case a lot from what I've been told, and would have preferred to have gone into camp with a clear cut number one in Keenham. But the owner had different thoughts on that. And by the way, even though I'm not a Haskins guy, it's important for me to say, and I think I just said it, I'm not a big Keenum guy either. So I would have wanted the quarterback situation to be addressed, you know, in a different way. I would have signed Fitz, I think I said this, I would have signed Fitzpatrick and drafted a guy, or I would have just traded for Rosen and kept Colt or gotten another veteran. But the trade for Keenum is a standalone move, a no-risk deal for a team, for a team,

excuse me, that had a quarterback issue. It's a net positive for the team. It provides them with a guy they like and a guy who has started in the NFL and has had some success starting in the NFL and they got them for nothing. That's a good move. That's one positive. of this offseason, a positive move. Number two, I liked the landing Collins signing.

I know it's a ton of money for safety, but it filled a need and the player is really good, and the person by all accounts is first rate. The Collins signing continues for the most part, a free agent strategy that has been focused on players entering their prime versus the old days, the very old days now, were they overpaid players exiting their prime? It differed in that many of the Bruce Allen free agent signings during his era

have been bargain basement deals for subpar players in production. This was a big contract, but again, it was a player entering his prime, not exiting his prime. It was something different in that it wasn't the Orlando Scandrick, Pernell McPhee, Kendall Reyes, you know, etc., off. seasons that for Dan had to stop. He was done with those. They paid big like they did for Norman, but they have some real upside because the player is still young, the player is very good, and the player appears to be of high character. I liked the Colin signing, even recognizing that it's a lot of money for a safety. Number three, they made the right move extending Matt Ionitis.

he's a good player he would have gotten a contract after next season more likely than not and it could have been a pricey deal he's only 25 years old he's entering his prime he's got to stay healthy we know that but when he's been healthy he's been damn good

number four and the ionitis extension brings me to my number four which is the Redskins made the right decision in bringing Jim Tom Sula back He is perhaps their best position coach on the team, and it may not be close. He's coached Ionitis into a very good player, and he's doing the same with John Allen, John Allen, Duran Payne, and he'll do the same with Tim Settle.

Players have grown here under Tom Sula, and they are going to thrive under Tom Sula. good position coaches, which haven't always necessarily been the case here under any coaching staff, you've got one in Tom Sula. They brought him back. That was a really good move. The fifth positive of this offseason. And I've thought about this a lot. But I think resigning Adrian Peterson was the right thing to do. I'm okay with it. I have no idea if he can provide some of the same moments he provided last year. You know, we can't be sure about Geis, though. We can't be sure about Chris Thompson. And as much as I love Bryce Love, and I think he was a brilliant pick in the fourth round because of the upside, we don't know about his health for 2019.

They needed Peterson last year, and they may need him this year. Beyond that, he's a mature voice, and he is the baddest-ass competitor on the team. You know, for them, they're thinking, about, you know, being close, you know, to something, they see a guy that can produce at least one more, one more year at 34 years old and is a major insurance policy. And I think it was smart. You know, I think the net takeaway is you needed an insurance policy there. And because you're getting a badass competitor, a guy that's going to be in shape, a guy that does have a chance to produce even at 34 years old at a position that rarely sees 34-year-old production I think it was an easy decision for the skins to try to bring them back, and I'm glad they did.

I do think that Bryce Love could ultimately be the steal of the draft, of the Redskins draft, but I don't know if we'll see that in 2019 if we ever see it. Next, at least, and really the final thing, I've got a couple of other things, but to me, the number one good decision of this off-season, the number one decision that I thought really thankfully came to fruition is that they didn't trade up for Haskins or any other quarterback. And because of it, they were able to get Montez Sweat, who I would have been thrilled with at 15. Now, this assumes it's a, and I know it's a dangerous assumption, but it assumes that sweat is healthy and his character concerns are overrated. but whatever Jay and Bruce and Kyle and Eric Schaefer or anybody else,

whatever they did to calm Dan Snyder down in the draft room and stop him from trading up to get Haskins, be thankful that they did. Because I believe that if it were the Dan Vinny days, they would have made the trade, probably a terrible one. Haskins would have gone number three overall, and the skins wouldn't have had sweat or a first round pick next year. this was a great thing that happened on that first Thursday of the draft because it kept their

draft picks intact. It allowed the possibility to go back into the first round and get sweat. You could argue that they could have waited even longer for Haskins and gone back into the draft at 26 and gotten Haskins there and taking sweat at 15 because I'm not sure where Haskins would have gone before the end of the first round. But avoiding the likely impulse of the owner to trade away part of their future for Dwayne Haskins was a very fortunate result. Now, if Haskins had gone to Denver or Cincinnati or Miami, as they were sitting there being patient and as, you know, envision this, Bruce, Kyle, Eric Schaefer, whomever it is saying, Dan, Dan, Dan, just slow down. We can wait. We can wait.

he's going to fall to us at 15. We're going to get your guy. We don't have to trade a shitload of picks in our future to get him. Are you sure? Yes, we can. However that went in there, whoever it was that ended up convincing Dan to wait, they had to go through Denver, Cincinnati, and Miami. And they knew that if one of those three teams took Haskins,

he was not going to be happy about it. But I think the football people in there knew he would be there at 15. They had a hunch or maybe more than a hunch that the other teams above them didn't have Haskins that high up on their boards and they made the owner wait. That may have been the best thing of this offseason. Imagine you didn't get sweat, you lost a third rounder and a first rounder next year. Let's say you didn't get sweat and you didn't get McLaren either.

and you don't have your first rounder from next year because you went up to three to get Haskins. Best thing about this offseason is they did get a quarterback prospect for, you know, more likely than not the future, but potentially the short term. And they didn't do what I think the owner would have done on his own, which is trade up and trade away the future to get them. Two more quick things. It was huge that Ruben Foster wasn't suspended. for them it was in their own minds of victory of sorts from a public relations standpoint.

But much more importantly, they have filled a need. They have a starting inside linebacker. I still will never think they handled it correctly from the jump, but from a football standpoint, it may pay off. With that said, you know, this guy will always be one bad decision away from being close to done. I mean, you do have that risk, but for now, they have a starting inside linebacker with unbelievable talent. The other thing I wanted to say is this on the positive front. I predicted, right, Aaron? I predicted that Dan would be different this offseason,

that he was going to go for it. You did? And that I didn't have a problem with that. And I'm not going to backtrack from that. I thought it would happen, and I said back in January, why the hell not? It was partly tongue-in-cheek, but really the other way wasn't working. he certainly wasn't going to sit back and have another bland off season. So why not just go back and do it the way he used to do it?

Or at least get more involved and try to gin things up, get some juice, get a jolt. It couldn't be any worse. So, you know, he didn't get Antonio Brown. They tried. Didn't get Golden Tate. I think they tried. They certainly would have loved to have had Greg Williams. But, you know, Dan's back in the saddle trying to jolt this for.

franchise. And it's strange because it's the one thing that I hated more than any thing, you know, during his first 10 years of ownership. But it can't be any worse than what we've seen for the last eight, nine years, where as Cooley once described, you know, Bruce Allen was Dan's attempt to become a good owner. All right, the things that I didn't like, I would have preferred Bruce Fired, J. Fired, a complete reboot. Period. I said it. at the end of the season, even before the end of the season. That was my preference, even though I knew intuitively that it was more likely than not going to happen. And by the way, also knew intuitively that there was no guarantee that rebooting it

would end up producing a positive outcome either. But I would have rebooted the whole thing. And I would have, as part of the reboot in getting rid of Bruce and getting rid of Jay, I would have traded guys that you could get draft choices back for, like Ryan Carrigan and potentially even Trent Williams. The second thing I didn't like, you know, once that didn't happen, and we were off to an offseason without a reboot, I would have traded for Rosen instead of drafting Haskins. I liked Rosen more than any quarterback in the draft, with the exception of Murray, and I would have made that trade, certainly for the second and fifth that Miami gave up, if the Redskins had to give up a second and a fourth, I would have been in favor of that more than drafting any quarterback,

not named Murray at 15. The third thing I didn't like, they weren't able to replace Greg Minneski. He is an average defensive coordinator. I wanted Greg Williams or Todd Bowles. I would have loved Todd Bowles. I think Todd Bowles is going to be a head coach again in the NFL. I do.

and I think if he had had a chance to continue in New York as Sam Darnold grew, I think he could have been a successful head coach. Jet fans don't agree, and I'm sure I don't have all of the information. I just like Todd Bowles. I think he's incredibly smart. I love his demeanor, and I know that he is an incredible defensive mind. I would have loved Bowls even more than Williams, but I would have taken either one of them.

And I think that not replacing Greg Minnowski leaves the defense with its biggest question mark. You know, Minoski is a pro's pro. I'm not going to be critical of that. He'll handle it as best as he can. But it's not that typical that a team brings in replacement interviews right in front of him. Not that he was in those interviews, even though they said he was. I don't believe that. But they made it very clear that they wanted to replace him.

And yet they weren't able to do it. Why not? Well, mostly because nobody wanted the job. So Minusky is here, and he's got to suck it up and prove them wrong. The defense cratered late in the year last year. It's the most talented side of the ball by miles right now. It's the one thing if you are in the camp of, I think they can have a good season next year. It's the one thing that is probably making you optimistic about them having a competitive season next year. year. You likely envision a bunch of 17-13 type of games. Minusky remains the defensive coordinator, even though they desperately tried to replace them. I don't think that that was a good thing that came out of this offseason. Next thing on my list of things that I didn't like. They needed another safety and they didn't get one. You know, they probably found a guard in the draft, maybe. You know, they drafted potential answers at guard. They didn't draft a safety.

Here's hoping for Monta Nicholson to be A, eligible, and B, still a player that the coaches believe is worth the time and effort. They may not. They may have moved on, but Nicholson is a talent, and his range would go perfectly next to Landon Collins. I could be way off on this. They may have moved on from Monta Nicholson already. I don't know what the answer to that is. maybe they think he's going to be in trouble here or maybe they think he's going to be okay but that they don't want him because he's too much of a headache. I don't know.

I have no idea what the thinking is on Nicholson, but I do know this. The coaches are absolutely in agreement that he is very talented. They didn't get a top flight receiver in the offseason and it wasn't something that was easy to get. I think they tried to get Antonio Brown, but he didn't want to come here.

I don't know what Terry McLaurin will be. I like Kelvin Harmon a lot, but they still don't definitively have an answer at wide receiver. And lastly, they haven't extended branded sheriff yet. I find that a really interesting situation. I don't know why that is. I really don't know why that is. I'd still lean towards it's going to happen,

sometime soon. But if you get to the season, it doesn't mean that it can't happen in season, but I've said this a million times, and they, you know, found this out with the quarterback situation, the closer you let a player get to free agency, especially when that player thinks there is huge money available for him in free agency, then he wants to get to free agency. Now, they can use the franchise tag on him, but it would be a hefty price. That's the list. The list of things I liked, the things I didn't like, focused much more on football than the other stuff. My conclusion, you know, in a vacuum, you know, where this is a normal organization,

you may feel differently, but this is my view. They've had a B-level off-season, far from great, very far from terrible, leaning more towards them having made more sound moves than bad moves. Again, I would have rebooted the whole thing. That would have been the direction I would have taken. I would have hired somebody with a real pedigree and empowered that person, but that's just, you know, that's dreaming in this organization. But I think, you know, football, you know, primarily football stuff,

a B-level off-season. Make no mistake, though. The ultimate measure of this off-season is going to come somewhere down the road when we know what kind of quarterback, Dwayne Haskins is. Again, they didn't trade up for. which the organization deserves credit for. You know, they deserve a lot of credit for not doing what I think would have been Dan's preference.

You know, maybe Bruce's biggest contribution here in the offseason, Aaron was saving Dan from his worst impulses. Sort of a Tyrion Danny situation. I would not put him in the Tyrion class. But whenever we get to the point of knowing if Haskins can play, that's when we're going to be able to truly judge this offseason. If Rosen or Locke turn into really good quarterbacks and Haskins can't play, you know, we'll know that Dan really fucked it up. If Haskins turns into a star, it could be, well, no, it would be. If Haskins turns into be the quarterback that the franchise has

always wanted and he turns into a star, it will be the owner's finest moment. There's no other moment to even compare it to. But if Haskins turns out to be that guy, it will be Dan Snyder's finest moment because I'm not going to forget, and you shouldn't either if you're a fan. The Haskins selection was Dan Snyder's selection. Now, the patience to wait for him, we can give other people in the room a lot of credit for keeping him from forcing that kind of trade that would have given away a lot of the future. All right, so that's that. I wanted to get to the NBA playoffs,

which I will hear in a moment, but a quick word about Window Nation. It's graduation time, not just for schools, but it's time for your home to graduate. Up to new energy-efficient windows from Window Nation, and as a graduation gift, all Windows styles are 50% off.

You choose, bays, bows, double-hung, wood, vinyl, any size, any color, all custom made and all at 50% off. Window Nation's massive buying power is a diploma in deals, and they'll pass the savings on to you. It gets even better. An entire house of windows, just $69 a month.

$69 a month is lower than your cell phone bill. And if you call Windonation this week, take 50% off every window, plus get free blinds with the purchase of a house of windows. New windows save energy, improve the look and value of your home, and you can do it all for as low as $69 a month with free blinds. Call When Donation today for a free in-home estimate. They'll come out the next day and they'll provide a quote, a price quote,

that will be valid now for one full year. Harley, Aaron, Eric, three of the best entrepreneurs I've ever met, they will send somebody, mention my name, they'll send somebody the best guy to your home, The next day, they'll give you a quote, you can then decide. The school year is about to end, and so is this deal. So hurry. Call 86690 Nation or go online today at windonation.com. That's 86690 Nation or Windonation.com and tell them that I sent you.

NBA playoffs last night. I watched both games. First of all, people can talk about Kyrie Irving's slump, and he, you know, promised after. game three that he wouldn't have another game like that. And then last night he went out and had an even worse game. I think he was eight of 22 the other day. He was seven of 22 last night. The bottom line, and I was dead wrong about this series, is Milwaukee's just better. And there's no answer for Janus. And by the way, when Janus is off the floor, as he was for much of the

third quarter last night with foul trouble, they are really good everywhere else. I mean, last night, George Hill was phenomenal. I mean, what a player and what a career he has had. He's got to be in his mid-30s at this point. But, you know, if you recall, he started in San Antonio. Then he had all those years in Indiana. And he's been, you know, in different places, including Cleveland a couple of times. He is so important to that bench. He played 27 minutes last night, had 15 points, five assists, no turnovers. And by the way, got to the rim at will. George Hill, at whatever age he is. He's got to be 34 years old. I'm guessing. He was incredible last night. Have you watched Pat Connaton play? The kid from Notre Dame? You know, he's now what in his second

or third year in Milwaukee? Maybe more than that. He is first of all one of the better athletes in the NBA with a ridiculous vertical leap. But he is also uncheckable and is a good defender. He had a a blocked shot on a Rozier three-point attempt. I think it was Rozier. He had a blocked shot and ended up on the other end dunking. He had nine points and ten rebounds off the bench. Pat Connettin, who was all a six-three or six-four, had ten rebounds in the game. But what I love about their team is right now, Lopez and Bledsoe and Mertich and Middleton and Ilyossova,

they're all playing so well, especially. off of Janus, who even though he only played 34 minutes last night because of foul trouble, went for 39 points, 16 rebounds, four assists, a block shot, a steel, unguardable. Like right now, is there anybody, this is a great question, and I'm sure if you're watching the NBA playoffs, you've seen a lot of the same and similar arguments. Like, who is the most unguardable player in the NBA right now. You know, LeBron's not in the NBA playoffs right now. Is it Janice?

Is it Durant? Is it Kauai Leonard? Like, you know, is it Lillard? I mean, but those are the three, really. And the more that I'm watching Janus. And I really, one of the reasons I really thought that Milwaukee would get beat, and they still could to Philadelphia or Toronto in the next round. They're going to win this series.

They're up three games to one, and they're going home. Is I just thought, you know, the NBA is about experience. It's an ascension of a few years of gradually winning more in the postseason and learning how the postseason goes. And then you eventually get to the point where you can compete for a title. Charles Barkley last night predicted that Milwaukee will win the NBA championship this year. Now he predicted that they'd beat Portland in the final. Can you imagine if it's Milwaukee and Portland in the NBA finals? Oh boy.

Oh boy. Who would watch that? I would. And Janus has become a big enough star that they could certainly sell that. In watching them in this postseason, I do wonder whether or not they can make that kind of a run. I think it would be Golden State that they would play in the finals, but they can't stop him. He cannot be stopped from getting to the rim. Marv Albert last night compared him to Connie Hawkins. you know, because you look for the comps from way back when,

because he's so unique with his length and his size and his hand size, like everything about, like, he gets to, he scores more in the paint points than anybody. And the game has really, over the years, has become a three-point shooting game. Not Janus. Yonis just gets to the rim. By the way, he can shoot the three. I don't know how you guard him. You can't do it with zone because there's a defense of three-second.

rule. You can double them and force him to give it up, but they've got guys that can score. They got guys that can drive it, and they've got guys that can shoot it. Like, are you really going to leave Chris Middleton open? You know, are you going to double off Middleton? Are you going to double off, you know, Meritich? Are you going to double off even, you know, Bledsoe, Iliassova? Like, they got guys that can shoot it. They're really good. They are really, really good. And he is terrific. And the Celtics didn't lose that game. game last night because Kyrie didn't go off. They lost it because they couldn't stop the bucks. At any point, they couldn't stop them. And they can't rebound against them, and they can't

stop them from getting to the rim. They can't stop them from getting open looks. And Boston offensively was a mess. Not just Kyrie Irving, but everybody was a mess. They actually looked for Brad Stevens. They looked completely out of sorts on offense last night. And by the way, and I know he broke his leg and it was an awful leg break. Gordon Hayward at this point, pretty much sort of a bust as a big free agent signing. Maybe the fit isn't right. I think he's a good player. I do think he's a good player.

But he really hasn't been able to provide, you know, on nights when they've really needed him. You know, just in the postseason alone, he's not really been able to provide anything for them. His three-point shooting has been average. I think there was a game against Indiana that he went off a little bit, but that was it. Now we get to the game last night. Houston was better. Golden State had a chance late to tie it, which was miraculous. The fact that they got back into that game and had two good looks down three in the final 15 seconds. Durant got an open look and Steph Curry got an open look and neither went down. Here's the biggest observation for me out of that Rockets Warriors game last night.

The biggest one for me is that Golden State looked physically beaten up and tired. Houston, you know, they're an ISO team, you know, a hardened ISO team, and, you know, it's hard to guard him. He was brilliant last night. He was so good last night. But they physically on defense have really beaten up Golden State a little bit. I don't know why Golden State shot last night as many three. as they did when they weren't hitting them.

I still think they can get to the rim, and I think they can post-Durant more and work off of that a little bit. But anyway, the better team won last night. I don't know what will happen in Game 5. Houston was close in the first two of Golden State. I thought Golden State would win this series in 5. Obviously, it's set up to go 7 now.

Houston, you know, survived game 3, an ugly game, a thrilling game that went to overtime. the Golden State had a much better chance to win that game than they did last night, even though they had a chance to tie it late. But Houston played the best game of the series for them. They're difficult to guard, I guess. I mean, Hardin's clearly difficult to guard. Eric Gordon's been phenomenal in this series.

PJ Tucker is such a tough, competitive, you know, all-around contributor. mean rebounding, assists, steals, defense, everything PJ Tucker's doing is awesome. You know who in limited minutes has looked really good in this series? Neney has given them valuable minimal minutes, but when he's been in there, he's done valuable things. You know who's really played well for Houston and who really came off the bench last night and gave him a spark? Austin Rivers.

Wouldn't it be great to play off a guy like Hardin if you're a shooter to just sit there hang out behind the three-point line, wait for the defense to collapse, and if Hardin passes it to you, you got a wide-open three. That's what happens. It's a weird series to me right now. I really, my general feeling is that a team that plays as much ISO ball as Houston does can't win a best to seven against a team like Golden State. But one of the things that you saw last night is Golden State looked physically beaten up and tired. I thought even if they did tie it up and that game had gone to overtime, I still would have favored Houston to win it. Houston looked like the fresher team. Maybe it's because they're at home, and certainly they were the team that knocked

down more shots. I mean, Curry had a lot of opportunities, but more of his threes were contested, and where the hell's Clay Thompson, man. He did have open looks, couldn't knock down any of them. They ended up going eight for 33 from behind the arc. Dremon Green was great last night and really provides. He's their energy, heart and soul. Anyway, the playoffs are great. More games tonight. If you're not following this and you don't want to follow it, that's fine. But if you were on the sidelines waiting for good basketball, you've got it now. All four of these series are really good. You know, the Milwaukee Boston series is over, but the other three are all setting up potentially to be seven-game series.

Three, two, one. Quick thing, by the way, I would recommend Wizards fans to read Candace Buckner's story today in the post on just the culture under Ernie, Grunfeld in particular. That's primarily what it's about. There were a couple of interesting quotes in this story and a couple of things that I thought were interesting. Somebody, Brendan Haywood said,

when they had veterans on the team, guys like Paul Pierce and Trevor Reza, it was a different type of culture compared to when you don't have those types of veterans on the team. That's why you can sometimes see the team dip in maturity and how they'd handle adversity sometimes. The culture wasn't something that was continuous. That was from Brendan Haywood. A lot of the story that Candace wrote was about the culture and the very lenient culture and passive culture when it came to punishing and sort of laying down the line uncertain behavior with star players Gilbert Arenas in particular. Another GM on the condition of anonymity said, quote,

when you have three guys who want to be the guy, and he was referring to Wall, Beal, and Otto Porter, you're not going to win. And I think the GM or the owner should have known that, a closed quote, I don't think Otto Porter ever wanted to be the guy. But then there was this piece of information that I thought was interesting, and that is that in 2000, I'll read the paragraph. In 2016, the team never had a shot with Kevin Durant,

but had enough salary cap space to lure another free agent. Members of the front office flew to Atlanta for a meeting with All-Star Al-Horford, but could not convince him to join Washington. While it's common for NBA owners to make personal pitches to top free agents, Golden State Warriors owner Joe Lacob joined a large contingent in the Hamptons to Wu Durant. Leonis did not even attend the meeting with Horford. That was something that I found to be interesting.

But part of it, you know, you credit Ted because he hires people, empowers them, and lets them do their job, which, you know, most people, most of you would say it went on far too long with Ernie. The two games tonight, I didn't mention, I mean, I mentioned we're going to watch them in two great games tonight. But I just, as I was sitting there talking to you about the Wizards, I simultaneously pulled up the point spreads on tonight's games. Toronto is a six-point favorite tonight at home against Philadelphia. You know, they got beat up pretty good in game three against the Sixers. And Beed was sick and they won game four.

I would have thought that number would have been less than six. I think that that is a little bit of a smell test special. I think the public will be on Philadelphia tonight. And rarely do you get a favorite, you know, sort of anti-public play. But I like Toronto tonight, laying the six. And then Denver's four and a half at home against Portland. That series has been great. I mean, I think it was, it may have been Weber last night on one of the two games said,

you know, if you're watching the NBA playoffs and you're not watching Denver, Portland, and that's the series you should be watching because it's been the most entertaining. A quick reminder that if you're listening to this podcast and you haven't rated or reviewed it on iTunes, if you'll do that really helps us out. Subscribing helps also appreciate those that have done it. Also, just a reminder to tell people

that you can also listen to our podcast at the kevin-sheanshow.com. The kevin-sheanshow.com. And it's easy on the website to, you know, fast forward, you know, rewind, which you can do, obviously, on any podcast platform. I had somebody, God, I wanted to read, I'll just paraphrase. Somebody tweeted yesterday that they said, can you please, please stop doing the Game of Thrones recap? And I'm like, I didn't respond.

Whatever. I'm responding now. Don't listen to it. If you're not watching Game of Thrones and you don't care, we put it at the end of the podcast. You don't have to listen to it. In fact, you don't even have to jump around. If you listen to the podcast, once you hear the introduction to Game of Thrones, just assume it to be like a completely different podcast. You don't need to listen. I don't understand why that's so hard to understand. All right, let's bring in Mark Zuckerman, who covers the Nats for Mass and Sports. You can follow him

on Twitter at Mark Zuckerman. He's in Milwaukee after the Nats dropped the first of three to the Brewers 5 to 3 last night with a disastrous 7th. We'll get to that in a moment. But I was reading this morning your follow-up to the game last night. And there were some quotes that I'd like you to share with everybody from various nationals and Scherzer, et cetera, Davy Martinez, et cetera, on the situation they were in last night where they had what really turned out to be a traveling nightmare trying to get out of Philadelphia, which they weren't able to to get out of Philadelphia until yesterday to get into Milwaukee super late and to have the lead, you know, last night, a three to two lead. It was a loss last night, but talk about what their

general disposition was after the game about their effort. Well, it kind of went a couple different ways. I think on one hand, they were, I hate to use the word, but kind of proud of themselves, given what the ordeal they had been through, combined with the fact that, look, they know that as a lineup right now, they aren't coming anywhere close to being representative of what they should be. They've got a bunch of backups, rookies, guys out of position in there. They know the state of their bullpen. And in spite of all that, you know, they could have just kind of folded over last night.

Instead, they go into the bottom of the seventh, up three, two, and it looks like this might be one of those character wins in a weird way for them. a bunch of guys talked about how the plane fiasco where they're sitting on the tarmac for eight hours just waiting for something to happen it kind of brought them together they were bonding they were having fun they're playing cards they're all watching Game of Thrones on their iPad

they actually came out of that thing feeling maybe a little closer as a team than maybe they were beforehand and so to go from that to then blowing the game the way that they did I think it was disheartening for a lot of people and at the same time, at some point, you just kind of throw, you know, shrug your shoulders, throw your hands up and say, you know, hey, what are we supposed to do? We're just trying to survive right now until we get our healthy team back.

All right. You want to take everybody through what happened in the seventh with the Nats entering the bottom of the seventh with the three-two lead? It's funny because I was watching basketball, but I was switching back and forth. And when I switched back, the bases were loaded and it was three to three. and I didn't know what had happened until the game ended, but it was a disaster, wouldn't it? Yeah, and the ball never left the infield. I'm sorry, I think one batter hit the ball out of the infield.

It was ugly. It was take your pick of infielders. Chances are they botched to play at some point in the inning. And that's what really, I think, got Davey Martinez upset at the end of the night. I mean, you've got – he understands that guys are sometimes – out of position. Maybe they're asking a lot of some rookies of theirs to get the job done. But all he's asking them to do is just make a play, get an out. They don't do anything spectacular, just make a play. And there were plays that just were not made last night and have not been

being made over several weeks now. You know, you can pound fundamental all you want in these guys' heads. And I know people are going to say, hey, it's a reflection of the manager and the coaching staff. At some point, these are professional ball players who have to just be able to make routine plays. And you saw Key Boom unable to do it, Dozier unable to do it, Defoe unable to do it, Suzuki unable to do it on a ball that was hit two feet in front of the plate, maybe tops. And so I think that was so aggravating. Max Scherer poured his heart out last night, going 112 pitches to get through six innings. He should have been able to go deeper in the game,

but because of earlier defensive mistakes, it built up his pitch count. So on a night when so many things they had to try to just cobble this together, and they were actually in position to beat a very good team on the road for it to fall apart the way that it did, I think was especially frustrating for the manager who didn't mince words afterwards. for people who who didn't like it when Davy, especially last year and maybe the first few weeks this year,

would just try to stay positive and sugarcoat things when they didn't go well. That's not who he's been the last week or two. He's not been afraid to come out and put the blame on the players for not doing their jobs. And, you know, I think last night was maybe the culmination of all that. Four total errors in the game for the NAS. And that doesn't include at least three other plays that they probably should. have made that weren't ruled air. Yeah, and it was Dan Jennings who came in in the seventh and should have gotten out of that inning unscathed, if not for Dozier, Defoe, and Suzuki in the seventh when Milwaukee

took the lead. They added one in the ninth, and they won five to three. So here's this critical road trip. Well, let me rephrase. Do you believe that this is a critical road trip? Well, I think it's critical in that they need to somehow just survive this trip. I don't think anybody's going to suggest that they should come out of this with a winning record or that this is going to save their season or anything like that. The state of the roster as it is, the schedule they're facing, the daunting trip with no off days, the travel, everything else they have to deal with here, you just got to survive. And I don't know what that means.

Does it mean going five and five at this point? That might be too much to ask. maybe it's four and six. I think basically their goal here is just not to let the bottom fall out and then come back home and hopefully by that point you're healthy, somewhat healthier again and able to regroup. I don't think that the results of this trip are necessarily going to prompt any major changes beyond what they've already done. I think at this point it's just about survival and they're just trying to get to a point

where they resemble a major league roster again and then hope that things start to come together. Yeah, and I want to get to that here in a moment, but they're very fortunate in that, you know, their division is led by a team with the worst division leading record in all of baseball. Philadelphia lost last night. They're 19 and 15, so the Nats at 14 and 20 are only five games out, and maybe that's just the nature of the division, that there isn't, you know, an elite team that's going to, you know, threaten, you know, 97 to, you know, 100 wins this year, which it certainly looks like that's the case. So does that change the way that Rizzo, the learners, and anybody else that would be involved in any sort of significant early season decisions?

Does that influence those decisions? And I'm not suggesting that they would, if they were down 10 games right now, out 10 games right now, that they would fault Dave Martinez any more than they would out five. But it has to play into it a little bit because they could come home, as you suggested, after an unsuccessful 3-and-7 or 4-and-6 road trip and still be very much within striking distance because of the nature of the division. Yeah, and I think that's how they have to look at it. I think it's probably how they are looking at it. Everybody in the division is flawed in some respect.

So on the one hand, I think they have to feel fortunate that as bad as they've been, they haven't fallen so far out that it's going to be impossible to make up the ground. on the other hand you could also say boy the way that the Phillies the Mets and the Braves are still losing games at the moment this has been a completely missed opportunity for them to not just not fall out of the race altogether but maybe to even win a couple of these games and now you're only two games out or maybe you're even challenging for first place

so that part's frustrating as well it's going to be a grind all summer I think in this division maybe one of these teams goes on a run and gets hot but maybe they just kind of keep beating up on each other. They all have issues, especially in the bullpen. Pretty much all four teams have issues in their bullpen. And so maybe that's the saving grace here and allows Rizzo and the learners to say, let's hang with this.

Let's believe that if this team gets healthy, particularly in the lineup, and that maybe as you get closer to summer, the bullpen stabilizes a little bit and you can make a trade for someone, maybe that's enough to get them hot and go on kind of a run that gets them back in it. But like I said, I think the mindset right now is survival mode and hope that the rest of the division or that nobody else in the division takes off and that you can keep it close enough so that once you do have something more resembling a real team again, then you can make up that ground.

What's been the biggest contributor to this ugly 14 and 20 start? Injuries, poor, you know, overall pitching, certainly bullpen. I think they've got the highest ERA in the National League right now, or perhaps something else, managing or some other factor. Rank the biggest, you know, contributing factors to 14 and 20. Yeah, I mean, I think they all have played a role in it, but I'm going to say that the most significant thing is what I'll just kind of wrap into this package of calling the little things.

And that's where they're losing games. They have been in almost every game. They're not getting blown out for the most part. And even with the final score ends up maybe a little bit lopsided, they're almost always in the game come the seventh inning or so, whether it's tied, whether up or run, down a run, and things tend to fall apart. So yes, the bullpen is part of that.

But there are, I feel like every single night, at the end of the night, you're looking back and saying, boy, there were three or four moments where if they just did that one little fundamental thing right, it might have changed the outcome of the game. That can mean defense, of course, we saw it last, night what a disaster that was. But it can also mean at the plate in a particular situation getting the job done, putting the bat on the ball, advancing a runner, not swing from your heels three times in striking

out. It can mean base running, smart base running, taking an extra base when it's there for you, not getting thrown out on the bases when it's going to cost your team. I think all those little things are building up together, and that is what's maybe turning a team that in spite of all the injuries and the bullpen and everything else could probably be at 500 right now because they've had enough winnable games in spite of all that. But they should probably have a 500 record right now. And it's because they haven't done those little tiny things that you expect for Major League teams to win those close games.

So if there's one thing they could clean up to fix that would address all this, I think that's it, even more so than the bullpen, even more so than getting healthy. Those things will help them, of course, in the long run. but in the meantime, if you just play a clean game of baseball, they're in a position to win a lot of these games right now. Do you still consider the Nationals fully healthy to be the best team in the division? Possibly. You'd like to believe that, but then you also see some trends here

and you say, boy, is Max Scherzer really the Max Scherzer from the last few years where he was a Sautil Young contender? Not necessarily. The back of the rotation, Sanchez and Helixen have been healthy, but not really as effective. We know that the bullpen, even when everybody's healthy, the bullpen is still going to be an issue unless something changes there.

So I don't know, best in the division, maybe, maybe not. I think we've seen that the Phillies are pretty talented. I still believe the Braves are going to be good when it's all said and done. I think the Mets maybe are coming back to Earth now. I guess I'd put them in the mix, but I wouldn't say clearly the best team or the most talented team in the division, even if healthy.

I think even with health, there are a few flaws that have been exposed here so far in the first six weeks of the season. And would you also agree, or would you agree, with whatever happens with the Nats and the National League East, there are much better teams in the National League in the other divisions? Yeah, I think it's pretty safe to say at this point, the Dodgers, the Cardinals, the Cubs have gotten really hot and playing. well. The Brewers who we're seeing here this week

are a very good team. The Padres look like they're good. The dimebacks have played well. Yeah, it's funny. I went into the season actually high on the NL East and I predicted the three teams would make the playoffs a division winner and two wild cards. That's probably not going to happen. They're probably going to get one team in the end. And it may only be 88 wins, maybe 90 wins,

but get to the division. So maybe that's a saving grace for the nationals. On the other hand, if you really want to, even the best case scenario, map this out, if you somehow get to October, that's going to be an awfully stiff challenge against the rest of the league. The National League looks pretty tough. Lastly, when will they get some of these players back that they need so desperately, Rendon, Trey Turner, etc.? Yeah, slowly but surely it is finally happening.

I think Rendon is going to be active tonight. He's eligible to come off the aisle tonight, barring something, unusual happening between now and then I think it's going to happen. Soto is eligible on Saturday. My guess is that that will happen as well. He probably would be ready before that, but they felt like they couldn't play a man down for another 10 days, so they put him on the aisle.

Trey Turner feels like it's maybe within the next two weeks. They've been pretty murky about this. Eight weeks from the injury would be June 2nd, and he described himself as being a little bit ahead of schedule. So I'm thinking maybe late May for him. Zimmerman, I have no idea. Plantrophastyitis, who knows what's going to happen there. And, you know, he's had it before,

he missed seven weeks the last time they had it a few years back. So I wouldn't get really optimistic about that. But I think Rendon, Turner, and Soto, that's a big lift right there once you get those three guys back. And so that's why I'm kind of looking at these next two weeks as just survival mode. And you get those three guys, and now as soon you have your two, three, and four hitters again. I do think it's going to make the lineup much more competitive and maybe allow them to overcome some of the bullpen and defensive woes.

Mark, always appreciate it. Thanks so much for your perspective. Follow Mark on Twitter at Mark Zerkerman and at Massinsports.com. Thanks as always, man. Appreciate it. Thank you, Kevin. Anytime. All right, thanks to Mark. Always good to catch up with him. The Nats. Aaron still have two more in Milwaukee. Strasbourg goes tonight. And then they've got that daunting four-game. set in L.A. Last night when they took that lead three to two, I was thinking this would be a huge win for them to get that, you know, after getting pounded on Sunday night in Philadelphia to lose that series. But did you expect it at any point? I don't know. I mean, sometimes like from a

you know how I think about these things and you think about these things from this perspective as well. I was thinking that this would be a typical, you know, gamblers are all on the favorite because of the traveling problems that the Nats had, and it's baseball. Anything can happen in any given game. I actually think Milwaukee went off as only a slight favorite because Scherzer was pitching. I don't even know if they were favorites. They were. I saw them at like minus 1.15 at one point. I know as of like, you know, mid-evening, it was, but they were at minus one and five both sides. All right. Well, then whatever. So it was a pick-em game, but I just thought maybe, you know, most people would have been thinking that it would have been a tough spot for the Nats.

but they didn't come through. Strassburg's pitched well recently, so maybe they can get a really good outing from him. It's amazing that we didn't get to talk about it because I believe it happened late in the week, but Strasbourg being the fastest pitcher to 500 strikeouts. It's amazing to think, like, a lot of people think of his career as a disappointment,

but if you look at it, obviously the injuries have derailed him, but his numbers, he's almost lived up to the hype, which is amazing. Yeah, and he's still got a lot of career left. Yeah, a lot of career left. A quick word about launch workplaces. If you live in Bethesda, launch workplaces in Bethesda provides a brand new, affordable and flexible private office solution environment. You can get work done if you're not getting it done from home or if you're looking to move out of where you are. This beautiful new space provides fully furnished offices, conference rooms, co-working desks with high-speed internet, complimentary drinks, a cafe, and free parking, which is available. 24-7. Get more work done today by moving your office to launch workplaces in Bethesda. It's right there in the Massachusetts Avenue corridor right over the DC line. Call today for an exclusive free two-day trial.

240-86714. That's 24086714 or go to launchworkplaces.com to find out more today. They've got other locations throughout town. You can find out where all of those are at launch. workplaces.com. All right, let's bring in Jeff Erman from Inside MD Sports. You can follow Jeff on Twitter at Jeff underscore Erman, E-R-M-A-N. Jeff's been a long time guy with Maryland sports covering everything. And Marilyn made an interesting signing yesterday, Jeff. Scholl Mariel, a 7-2 or 7-3.

I've seen them listed at both 7-2 and 7-3. I've also seen that his wingspan would be the longest in NBA history if he makes it to the NBA. Tell us about Shoal, Mariel, why he was available and what Marilyn got in him. Yeah, Kevin, he's an intriguing guy. You know, early in his career two years ago, he was ranked as the number one center in his class nationally, and might have even been number one overall prospect. And then, you know, he had some injuries. He's had chin splints specifically that have dogged him, and he hasn't played much at all the past two seasons.

So with that and questions about whether he'd qualify, which seemed to have been answered now, he kind of fell off everyone's radar, you know, went from being the number one center to outside of the top 100 nationally. But like he said, he's an extremely unusual specimen in terms of size and his length. You know, when he did play last year, I think he played eight games or so. He averaged eight or nine blocks a game. So, you know, it's kind of a lot of ticket, you know, low risk, high reward scenario for Maryland. They do need help in the front and court at the same time. They're not going to be relying on him to come in and be the guy necessarily. But, you know, there's a lot of upside to work with. You know, one of the things I was thinking about is, you know, with the loss of Bruno,

Maryland had a legit, you know, college rim protector in Bruno Fernando. And, you know, going into next year, sticks is a hell of a shot blocker too. And we hope that he gets stronger and more physical and more of a defensive physical presence than he was as a freshman. And I think that'll happen. But, you know, the one thing, I think I said it to Aaron, because we were off the air when the news came through, or we had finished recording the podcast when the news came through, there would be nothing more frustrating for me. if they put this guy out there and he turns into an elite shot blocker, you know, a guy that averages three plus blocks a game,

leads the nation in block shots, and maybe he can't do anything offensively right now. And after a block shot, Cowan comes back to get the ball from Ayala who caught the block shot and they walked the ball up the court. Walk it up court. There's nothing that starts a fast break better, more effectively than a turnover or a blocked shot. And that's what, at least based on what I've read,

what Maryland may be getting at a minimum is a guy that you put in and he's going to block a lot of shots. Yeah, his wingspan is ridiculous. His timing is actually really good, too. I don't know how much timing you need when you're, you know, that tall. But his timing is really good when you watch the video. You know, it's really just a question of adjusting to the college game, especially because he hasn't played much the past couple years

and then health. I think Maryland does have some concerns from what I've been told. I don't think it's a scenario where he's likely, I mean, I guess it's probably not safe to say this given how much time he's missed, but I don't think it's necessarily a scenario where he's going to just be done for the year with shin splints, but he could definitely be a guy who's in and out of the lineup.

You know, the way the coach, his high school coach kind of described it to me. He made it sound like Scholl could have been playing a lot the past year and decided to be conservative about it and kind of preserve himself for college, which is another reason why he didn't have the kind of offers you would expect someone to have

with his profile. So if he's healthy and he's ready, you know, and strong enough, obviously, he's pretty thin. He's up to 2.30 now, which sounds good until you think about how tall he is. He could definitely help them. And even if it's only in 10 or 15 minutes a game as a defensive

presence, that would help because, like you said. They lost Bruno and they don't really have much. You know, they've got several big men, but they're all young and sticks is the only guy you can probably count on. All right. Let's use this signing yesterday as an excuse to talk Maryland basketball in the early portion of May, because I'm always thinking about it. You are as well. First of all, when will Anthony Cowan, you know, announce that he's coming back to Maryland? Because he's clearly not going to be drafted, and I guess I'm asking you that question, because I guess there's always the chance that Cowan wants to start earning money somewhere playing basketball.

Yeah, I think he's got another three weeks or so to decide. I don't think that he'll leave, obviously, anybody else would think at this point. He's not a draft prospect, this time, not even mentioned in the second round, and, you know, they announced a list of this G-League elite camp where they've invited a lot of the top college players and secondary college players, and he wasn't invited to that. So, you know, I have heard, you know, some, I've heard some unconfirmed stuff that he could possibly consider, you know, Europe or something like that if he wants to go make money right now. But, you know, I really have a hard time seeing that as a guy who can come back.

And obviously, they're really loaded for next year. They've got a top 10 team. He's got a chance to really see. cement himself among the top point guards in the program's history, at least statistically. So it would be pretty stunning if he would have announced he wasn't coming back. But you never know. You know, we've seen crazier things before. So you just got to wait it out.

But I haven't heard of them recruiting any other point guards for next year or really being concerned about it. By the way, just as an aside, how is Mello Trimble doing in – he's playing in Australia, right? Yeah, he's actually tearing it up. put up really big numbers. Unfortunately, he was on a losing team that really struggled. But he had an MVP caliber season last year. Just re-signed in Australia for, I think, another two or three years.

He averaged 22 and a half a game. So, you know, I think there was some thought maybe given to trying the NBA again. But, you know, to me, he feels like one of those guys who's just that slight level below the NBA or maybe, you know, five years from now once he's become, got his grown man on, he's ready to come and play in the NBA. But, you know, not everybody's cut out for that. You can make a great living overseas, and he's well on his way to doing that. Just out of curiosity, do you know specifically what a guy like Mellow Trimble makes in Australia?

I think a lot of people always wonder, you know, the kind of careers these guys can have overseas. What does he make? Yeah, they didn't announce it. My guess for a guy like him is probably. Probably $200,000 to $300,000 a year would be my guess. Somewhere it could be more than that, potentially, but I would say somewhere in that range, most likely. And they give them, in some cases, a friend of mine, Darren McClinton,

I don't know if you remember Darren. Darren, Darren, so I remember him. I went to Blair, so I remember him not fondly at all. So I've gotten to know Darren really well. He's a hell of a coach in the area and trains and has, you know, coaches high-level AAU team, but really good guy. He had a forever career internationally. I think he played in, I don't know, double-digit numbers of countries.

And, you know, I think he made a great living over a long period of time. But, man, there is also the side of it that you don't get more likely than not playing in the NBA is living in different countries, learning different languages, learning different cultures. It's an incredible life experience for these guys. And in a lot of cases, and what I started to start, to say about Mello, is these guys are also given sometimes housing and vehicles and other things, you know, in addition to, you know, straight salaries. Yeah, that's really common. I'm sure his housing is paid for in his car. So, and, you know,

taxes, obviously you're not paying American taxes. And, yeah, these guys all, they come back, a lot of times completely different guys who've never been outside the U.S. and they're all the different guys for the experience of McClinton. So I went to Blair High School. and he was the Springbrook guy, and he used to absolutely murder our hopes on a yearly basis. But, yeah, it is. You can make a good living. I mean, there's guys, Nick Caner Medley, I remember a few years ago we did a story where he had signed on for, I think, like, a million and a half a year or something like that. Well, isn't James Gist still in the midst of a very successful international career as well, or has he done?

He's got a really good career in Greece and actually played for Rick Petino last season. Yeah, I knew that was going on as well. All right, back to Maryland. Assuming Cowan is back. The other members of the incoming class, it's interesting that now Turgeon ends up with the number three class in the Big Ten and a class that's pushing top 25 nationally in a year in which we all thought they needed a year off from recruiting to a certain degree because last year's class was so strong. He's really doing an incredible job recruiting. the Mitchell twins who are coming in. One of them I know is really highly thought of, the other a little bit more of a project.

Both of them, big guys. For people that haven't followed the Maryland recruiting scene, tell us about Mackay and McKell Mitchell. So Mackay is the more highly regarded of the two. He's 6'9. McKell is probably 6'10, but, you know, Mackay is a little bit more skilled, more agile at this point, and I'd say you could argue easily that he's the favorite to start,

to be the fifth starter, just right now you've got a pretty good idea who the first four are going to be, you know, you know, Cowan and Morsell and maybe Wiggins and obviously sticks, so you've got a spot open. So, Mackay, I think, could be that guy. He's ranked number 65 in the country in the 24-7 sports composite ranking. McHale's a bigger guy, more of a traditional post-player than the playmaker that Mackay is, I think he'll need a few extra years, a year or two to come along. It could even be a redshirt candidate this year just considering how much depth they have. So Mackay is clearly the one of the two to look forward to make a quicker impact.

But, you know, the other early, early commitment they had, Dante Scott, small Ford from Philadelphia, could end up being the best of the bunch. I mean, I feel like he's vastly underrated at about 100. I think he's 151 nationally or something like that in the 24-7 rankings. A kid is, when you watch his video, I mean, he is big. He's got a grown man's body. He can shoot. He can create.

He's explosive. So I think he's going to be a real factor right away, too. I've heard a lot of good things about him that they really may have gotten a guy that is much better than the stars next to his recruiting profile. And they also added Hakeem Hart, who was a St. Joe's commit. but once what's his face, why am I blanking on the same time? Phil Martelli. Yeah, Phil Martelli. Once Phil Martelli was fired, Hart became available, and Maryland signed him as well.

All right, right now, assuming Cowan's back, I think we make that assumption. This is a preseason top 10 team, isn't it? It is. They seem to be in everybody's top 10. Surprised me a little bit. I thought they'd be more like top 15. I did too. Considering, yeah, top 20 considering Bruno's leaving.

But, you know, I think some of that might be related to how well Sticks played in the postseason. You know, everybody saw him. He had struggled a little bit before that, but the light really turned on for him in the NCAA tournament. So I think that coming out party kind of opened people's eyes up. Obviously, Cowens had a reputation for a long time. And then people know they had a lot of freshmen playing really big roles last year. So, I mean, to me, this is by far Turgeon's deepest team. There's not, I mean, there's no competition in terms of that.

He's filled out the roster. You know, he's no longer leaving a few spots open. I think he always was concerned about chemistry issues and having too many players. I think he's kind of let that philosophy go. So they're by far his deepest team. There's still a little bit inexperienced. You're relying on those freshmen to make the next step, especially in the front court. you know, you need a guy like Ricky Lindo who showed a lot of potential to become a guy for you.

But, you know, talent-wise and depth-wise, especially in the back court, I mean, he has, you know, you remember those years where it was like mellow tremble and then you're pulling a walk-on off the bench or pulling somebody out of the stands to back him up when you need somebody to play. So now you've got loads of guards and a lot of size now, obviously, especially with Mario on board. So it's going to be a really interesting team. the hype will probably carry through the off-season. I guess if you're a Maryland fan, you have to hope that it pans out a little bit more than last time we had that scenario.

Yeah, I think one of the things that's going to be really interesting is to see Aaron Wiggins in his second year. I mean, you know, for him to enter the starting lineup potentially and to play, you know, 28 to 32 minutes instead of what he was getting, you know, then you're going to have more likely than not a smaller lineup a lot of the time with Cowan and Morsell and Iyalla and sticks, you know, if Wiggins is in there, and I don't know how you keep him off the floor. He's just, he looks like a guy that could potentially take that big jump from one year to the next, and we could be sitting here a year from now talking about him as a potential,

you know, first round pick. Yeah, he's unusual with his length and scoring ability in that jumper, obviously, is beautiful kind of along the line. It's not to compare him in terms of how good his career will be, but along the lines of those Juan Dixon, Drew Nicholas, Mike Jones kind of guys that they've had in the past. And he's sneaky, I don't want to say sneaky athletic, he just didn't have a chance to show it a lot. Most of his shots came from three-point range. Toward the end of the year, though, he had a couple times where he went up and dunked on people

or tried to dunk on people where you could see it. So, you know, people are going to be calling for him to play a lot. It's going to be interesting because, like you said, you have Cowan, Morsell, Ayala, and Wiggins, all guys worthy of commanding a lot of minutes. in the back court, but they're not all going to be able to play bulk minutes all the time. So who's going to get them or sell is your best defender? I think Wiggins' defense kept him off the court at times last year, so he needs to improve there.

But it's a much better problem to have in coming into the year and wondering who's going to play for you, I guess. I think it's going to be interesting to watch Lindo in his second year as well. Real quickly, before I let you run. Football. Who's the starting quarterback next year? Is the Virginia tech guy, Josh Jackson, the favorite to be the starting quarterback? Yeah, I would be stunned if it's not him. The only caveat there being that we haven't seen him play yet, he wasn't in spring camp, obviously,

still finishing up with graduating. So I think that I think he's the guy, you know, clearly Loxley has shown, in my estimation, that he's not really high on Tyrell Pigram. He had him with the second or third string at times during spring camp, even behind Max Bordenschlager, who we've seen before. So if it's not him, you know, Tyler DeSue, I guess, would be the wild card. He's a freshman last year, kind of an unknown, pretty good recruiting profile, not like a blue chipper, but, you know, a solid guy they got in. And he was the MVP of the spring game, which was a surprise. So, you know, he could be the wild card.

but if you're putting Vegas odds on it, then Josh Jackson is clearly the odds on favorite. Marilyn's got some talent offensively. I mean, they're running back stable of McFarlane and Fleet Davis and, you know, leak. And, I mean, not even mentioning, I think Lorenzo Harrison's still on the team, you know, and then they've got some wide receivers that can really run and, you know, in Jones and some of these other guys, in Jacobs, they've got a chance, I think, to be a very, very explosive offensive football team next year. Do you agree or disagree? I agree 100%.

I mean, they're pretty stacked. This is the best running back committee maybe that I've seen at Maryland. You know, the only other candidate being that Bruce Perry, Chris Downs, crew that they had in the early 2000s. That was really good. But talent-wise, this is probably better. McFarland's obviously a star. These other guys, Javon Lee could be a star.

himself if he was the guy. So you've got two number one 1A running backs and Teon Flee Davis and Lorenzo Harrison like you said, Jake Funk, so they're stacked there. They have a ton of young talent at receiver. Offensive line is really offensively the biggest question mark along with

quarterback. You know, they've got a good five or six guys but not much depth after that which you need. You know, they lost obviously Derwin Gray who was drafted and Damien Prince who had started like 40 games in his career. So that's question along with quarterback, but to me the biggest question is, you know, I don't think

there's any doubt they're going to put up points. The question is defense. Can the defense keep them in games? All right. Jeff, thanks. Really appreciate it. Good to catch up on everything, Maryland. You know, I'd sit here and talk to you about it for another hour. If we, if I thought people didn't care about other things too, but I'll talk to you soon. Thanks so much for the time. Appreciate it. Inside MD Sports for Jeff. Follow him on Twitter at Jeff underscore Ehrman. He's got a podcast. So all of you Maryland fans keep up and follow Jeff. He's the best at covering Maryland sports. Appreciate it. Talk to you soon. Thank you, Kevin. All right, thanks to Jeff Herman. Good to catch up with him. And Maryland's got, you know, an interesting team next year. Aaron, I think we're going to be

really excited about it. And actually, before we even get to that, I'll be excited about the football season to see what Loxley can do. He's got some talent on offense. And, you know, they've got, they've got a schedule right that that has a couple of good non-conference games before they even get into the conference schedule. Don't they play Syracuse? Yeah, they play Syracuse and Temple and Temple's you know kind of a fun one usually. The Syracuse game is here, right? Yes, Temple is on the road. I think they open with Howard, but then they have like Syracuse and they've got a Penn State home game to kick off the Big Ten schedule on a Friday night on national TV. Oh, that is a Friday night, isn't it? Yeah, and I think that's in late September. So looking forward to that.

All right, last thing that I wanted to finish up with is a tweet from a kid in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He's a basketball player in high school. A friend of mine who's a coach in the area sent me this tweet. I guess it's making the social media rounds. The kid tweeted out yesterday, I would like to announce my Division II commitment to Ferris State University. my D1 recruitment remains open. I will continue to play spring and summer basketball at the highest level to further develop my game and for a D1 scholarship. If the right D1 offer doesn't come about, then I will be extremely excited to continue my academic and athletic career at Ferris State University. Oh, boy. Okay.

So this is the problem with people in social media. better to think it and not be heard. There's no problem, by the way, with this young man wanting a D-1 scholarship offer and continuing to pursue that through spring basketball, summer basketball, and if he gets that D-1 offer, that's awesome for him. If he can get out of the Farris State commitment, I don't know how that works once you've committed and you've signed a letter of intent at the D-2 level. I don't know how the D-2 level works. But don't say it. You look so unappreciative of the opportunity that Ferris State,

you look ungrateful for the opportunity that Ferris State has offered it. It so minimizes and reduces. It's condescending towards Ferris State. Apparently, I guess this tweet has made the rounds with, you know, coaches and various people. And I'm not going to mention the kid's name. You can probably find it. You know, he's young. Just people think before you tweet.

Nothing wrong with aspiring to a D1 commitment. You didn't get one. That's okay. It doesn't mean that you won't get one. But don't knock Ferris State. The school that is offering you this opportunity to play college basketball, don't knock them through social media. I'm telling you, one of these days,

Cooley and I are going to have this PR, this social media PR company, and they run everything through us before they tweet something out and we give them direction on it. That would have been one. Nope, keep that thought to yourself, but go after that D1 scholarship, man.

Don't give up on it. You can still get it, but at least you got fair estate as a fallback. But don't tell them publicly through social media that they're a second rate fallback position for you. All right, thanks to Mark Zuckerman, thanks to Jeff Erman.

Thanks to all of you who really enjoyed our Game of Thrones recap. And yes, we did get to it at the very end. I think some of them, Aaron, didn't listen until the very end of the Game of Thrones recap. When I said, oh, my God, we missed out on the most important thing, which is we never got to see the reaction that Sansa and Aria had to John telling them the truth. We never got to see the reaction to that. Anyway, still to me, and several of you said the same thing that you thought it felt really, really, really. rushed. But I guess we sort of knew that, as Aaron has mentioned before, we knew that that's the

way this final season was going to play out regardless. Was my least favorite of the four episodes so far. My least favorite. I love the first two. The battle was great, but awfully dark, and man, did Sunday night feel rushed. We didn't put a spoiler alert up for that, but it is Tuesday at this point. Enjoy the day, everybody, back tomorrow.