The Kevin Sheehan Show - Redskins: What Do We Know For Sure?

Episode Date: March 28, 2019

Off a new report about Jay Gruden and his frustration level, Kevin takes late-March Redskins' inventory on what we know for sure versus what's being speculated/reported. Thom joins the show from Nats Park to preview the Nats' 2019 season. Scott Van Pelt on the show to talk Terps and Sweet 16. Kevin has 3 Smell Test picks too. <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. Corbin is in for Aaron. Tom's going to call in. He's going to be out at the park today for opening day, so he will call in for a segment. And Van Pelt will call in a little bit later on. This show is presented by Window Nation. If you're in the market for Windows, call 86690 Nation or go to WindowNation.com and tell them we told you to call. opening day, and I will save that for Tommy. We'll do a Nats preview of the season. We'll do Sweet 16 with Scott. I've got a little bit before then. I've got a smell test for the Sweet 16 games tonight, and I've got a lot of Redskins here to do very shortly. I did want to mention that the Wizards won last night in Phoenix. Bad Wizards. Bad Wizards. Do not win games. Every win down the stretch is a bad win for them. The NBA lottery, by the way, if you

didn't know this, is different this year than in recent years. The lottery will determine the top four picks in the NBA draft, not the top three anymore. And the odds for winning the lottery are spread out a little more, meaning that it's not nearly the long shot that it used to be. The NBA changed that to try to prevent teams from tanking at the end of the season. So the worst three records are going to have the same odds of winning the lottery, and then the odds decrease from there over the final 11 teams. There are 14 teams that don't make the playoffs. They are the lottery teams, and in those 14, through the draft lottery, will compete for, I say compete, they'll be drawn for the top four spots, and then it would go in order after that. So,

you know, that last night's win doesn't help the Wizards. They were the seventh worst team in the league before last night, and now they're tied for ninth. You know, they were just two and a half games away from being the fifth worst team in the league, and now they are just two games away from being the 11th worst. Translation, last night's three-point win in Phoenix didn't help their lottery odds. It hurt them. I've mentioned Jabari Parker in recent weeks, only to say that I've really been blown away impressed with his explosiveness as a score. He had his best night last night, 28 points, 15 rebounds, three assists, one turnover. I don't know what they're going to do with him. They didn't bring Parker and Portis Portison for Otto Porter to sign Jabari Parker to a long-term

deal, but he's been impressive. Meantime, by the way, totally switching subjects and getting off the Wizards, which is a killer to be talking too much about the Wizards. The team's owner, Ted the bookie Leonis, made what we've all known for a while official. It's what's excited him more than anything else in his life right now. He was giddy talking about how he's going to open up a sports book that will be accessible from inside Capitol 1 arena and from outside of it. Most people think it's going to be that green turtle spot, that that will be turned into a sports book, but that was not confirmed yesterday.

This is his baby right now. legal sports betting allowing him to be one of the cool kids by providing sports betting, you know, Vegas style in his arena. He can't wait for this. He can't give you a winning NBA team to spend your money on, but he's going to give you a chance to lose your money at his sports book. That's for sure. His enthusiasm over this has been off-putting to me, as you know,

and I think a lot of people that don't have the naivete that he has when it comes to the pitfalls of sports gambling. I mean, he's already been out there saying, essentially, that the smart kids who haven't had access to gambling are going to take the house down with all their data. You know, the data can be crunched by some of these really smart kids in a way that they'll give, you know, they'll have advantages over betters in the past.

I mean, it's irresponsible, really, to promote. But I don't think he knows any better. I don't think he's doing it with sinister motives, really. I think he really believes it. I've said this before. I've lived it, and by the way, from both sides of it, I'll leave it at that. But a lot of my friends who live in, you know, warm tropical places in the Caribbean and have for the last 20 to 25 years, and they've been on the right side of the sports betting

relationship, they get a good laugh out of people like Ted. They would stand in line to take his action and the action of all of his stat geek friends. Trust me, if you think you're... you've got a system to take down the house, think again. It ain't happening. But anyway, Ted's a businessman. He's been very good. He has been very good at creating really, really good and exciting game day environments. That's undeniable. He's got a championship hockey team. I just wish he'd be as excited about trying to do the same thing for his NBA team that he's trying to do with the sports book. It just seems to me he's more excited about that than fixing his NBA team.

Enough about that. The Cardinals, according to reports, want a first round pick for Josh Rosen. There are teams that have been interested in a second round pick. They want something more. They want a first round pick. As far as the Redskins are concerned, I've said this before. I think it's really simple. You include him on your 2019 draft board. You slot him as if he is a college player coming out. You evaluate him, you put him on your draft board. If he's the 15th best player or higher on your board, you make the trade. If he isn't, then you don't make the trade.

I'd make it that simple. If he's the 24th player rated player on your board and you can trade back and get the 24th pick, then trade that pick. But it's real, maybe I'm oversimplifying this. I'd put him on the 2019 draft board. Where does he rank right now among all the players coming out? Well, you know, Kyle and Doug and Bruce come back with each other and they say, we got him at 27th. Well, we're not giving up our first round pick for him then.

We're not giving up number 15 for him. Or we've got him at 8th. Oh, well, then we can give up the 15th and we feel like it's value. I don't think it should be that much harder. Maybe I'm missing something. He's on a rookie deal for three more seasons and then there's an option for a fourth year, so that's attractive. He'll come in here for training camp, or anywhere for training camp,

a bit more ready to compete for a starting job because he's had a year in the NFL at quarterback. There are a couple of things that may keep you from making a deal if you're the Redskins, even if he is a top 15 player on your board. You may love the quarterbacks in 2020 even more. You know, you may think that in 2020, your second, round quarterback possibility is a higher rated quarterback than Rosen at 15. The other thing you would think about if you're being realistic, truly realistic about the team situation, which they're not

usually, is whether or not Josh Rosen would be easy to sell to a new head coaching candidate next year. Because if you're being realistic, then there is a chance Jay Gruden may not be here next year. and you may have to attract a new head coach. Would Josh Rosen do that? Some of the other things I think you think about. That's not the way they're thinking, of course. Even if Jay's thinking that this could be his last year, I don't think they're thinking that way.

They think they're close. Bruce Allen and Dan Snyder believe that 2019 is the year that if they stay healthy and they get all those players back from injured reserve, they think that 2019 could be their breakout year with a big nine and seven record and a wild card birth. You know, that's what they think. And if they do, I promise you, if they go nine and seven and make a wild card,

they will act like they were geniuses all along, and we just couldn't see it. How about this story from 106.7, the fan yesterday, was Chris Russell on Chad Dukes' show yesterday afternoon, answering the following question from Dukes. Dukes asked Russell, Is Jay Gruden frustrated? Frustrated, I said.

Russell. Chris Russell. Friend of mine. Love Chris. I do. Chris answered, quote, yes. And he's come out, Jay, he's come out guns ablazin in some ways. From the way it was described to me yesterday, me being Chris Russell, by a source that is very

familiar with Jay, Chris Russell says, he doesn't give him. give a bleep right now about what he says and what people think about him. He feels he's going to be ultimately the one that's sacrificed, and Bruce is going to keep his job, and Eric Schaefer, rightfully so, is going to keep his job. Guess who else is going to keep his job, Chris Russell said yesterday. That is frustrating Jay Gruden. Quote, Doug Williams, and that's a problem too.

I think that Jay feels that Doug is walking around with like this, protectant on him, that he's impervious to suffering the ultimate fate, and he's supposedly in charge of personnel, right? And Jay's point is, Chris Russell continues, wait a second, I'm the head coach, and I have a share of the burden and a share of the responsibility, but damned if you're going to blame me all for it when I'm not making all of these decisions, when I'm not in as much control of the bottom line decisions. Like, for instance, James and Crowder, Jay desperately wanted to keep Jameson Crowder. Jay's absolutely,

Jay absolutely would have kept James and Crowder if it was truly up to Jay. It was not. Closed quote. Good stuff from Russell yesterday. I have no idea if he's right about all of that. I don't. I think that he's right about the general feeling

of at least some frustration on Jay's part. But Jay, and I've met him, mention this multiple times over the last few months. He's not going to do anything to risk the remaining contract money. He's not. He is go along to get along, as I've said in the past. Bruce hired him. He may not think Bruce is the genius that Bruce thinks he is. I'm pretty sure Jay is that Bruce isn't the genius that Bruce thinks he is, but I don't know that there's animosity between the two. In fact, I would doubt it. I would doubt that there's real animus between the two. So what do we know about the Redskins here in late March?

Because it is rumor, speculation, it's the season for all of that, you know, as we head towards the draft at the end of next month. I mean, some of these stories are legitimate, some of them pure speculation, some of them dead wrong. What do we actually know to be true about the Redskins right now? I was thinking about this after reading the Russell quotes from the Chad Duke show yesterday. I made a list of things that we actually know to be true about the Redskins right now, and it's a high-level list because I'm not going to get into position battles and what they're going to do in the draft. We've got plenty of time for that.

I made a high-level list here just to make sure all of the day-to-day stuff in stories and speculation isn't clouding the big picture, because we can become, as a fan base, those of us that are still paying attention, we can become so immersed in the latest tweet or radio appearance or something that's said on a podcast, and I'll take some of the blame for that. We do that so often that we sometimes forget in the moment the big picture,

the what we know to be true. So here is a big picture list of the things that we know for nearly 100%, from nearly 100% to be true. All right, here's the list. Number one, the team right now on paper has lots of needs. On offense in particular, they do not have an upper half of the league's starting quarterback on their roster. They don't, and they likely won't even have one if they draft somebody or if they trade for Josh Rosen. It's a team that on paper is lacking offensively, as it was last year. There are a few good young

players on defense that give you some hope, but what? What we know right now is that at best, on paper, the Redskins at best are the third best team in the division. That may be optimistic, but at best, the third best team in the division on paper, and they are at best, the 12th best team out of 16 teams in the NFC. At best. Their over-under season win total right now for 2019 is six, six and a half. That seems to be right. to be fair to me. We know anything can happen in the NFL year to year and often does. But right now,

what we know is that their roster, their coaching staff, at least for betting purposes, is a six to seven win team on paper. I think that we know that to be true. I think that big picture, that's one of the things we know that right now on paper, this appears to be a team that is six to seven wins. next on the list of things that we know. High-level list. We know that they've got a front office that is delusional about the state of their franchise. We know that. We all know that. Anybody that's reasonable understands that Bruce Allen has said he believes the team is close

and believes his fan base last year was expressing disappointment with the team's results, but mostly because the team had all those injuries. He believes that the fan base is with him, that they're upset and they're disappointed, but it's because of the injuries. He doesn't seem to realize that his and the owner's mere presence with the record they have over the years has driven fans away for good and others away until he leaves in particular. He seems to believe that the only game that wasn't packed with die-hard Redskinned fans was the Eagle game at the end of the year. I mean, seriously, he thinks that. He's either being dishonest or he's just hoping the rest of us didn't notice the half-empty stadium for the opener,

home opener against the Colts, or the two-thirds-filled stadium in late November when the team was six and three in first place and playing Houston. I think he thinks we didn't notice that. He either thinks we're stupid or not paying attention to the fact that the Cowboys games here locally outdrew the Redskins game. on TV here in Washington. And when they had a huge Monday night game in Philadelphia in early December for a share of first place on Monday night football, nobody watched it. The ratings locally were the worst we've ever seen for a game of that stature, ever. So they are delusional about the state of their franchise right now. Or dishonest, one of the two. The third thing on my list of things that we know, high-level things that we can be comfortable that we have a good

grasp on right now. They've got a front office that is at the very least slightly detached from each other and slightly detached from the coaching staff. I think we know that. Doug Williams is out there saying things that he has either had to apologize for, like in the case of Ruben Foster, or he has gotten scolded for because he was inaccurate. Meantime, Jay says they're definitely considering a quarterback in the draft, while Bruce says not necessarily. Now, I'm reasonable here. Some of these may be mistakes, honest mistakes in public communication. I'm open to the possibility of some of that. But does anybody really think that when Jay let slip out at the end of the season, that he thinks it's important that personnel and coaching staff be on the same page,

that there wasn't something to that? Of course there was. And is it? Is it a lot of better than it was? I think Jay has input, not final say. I think Jay may have more input right now than in recent years, but far from the final say. I think some of the coaching staff decisions reflect that more than anything else, that Jay's input hasn't necessarily been taken that seriously when it comes to some of the coaching staff decisions. I do not know about the Jameson Crowder thing. That was news to me. Had not heard anything about that. That's the high-level list of the things we know.

Just wanted to clear it up with all the day-to-day stuff, the reports, the tweets, everything that comes out, the different interviews. We should not let the day-to-day cloud the big picture. We know that this isn't a team right now that's very good on paper. It's got some good young players on defense, John Allen, Duran Payne, Landing Collins. They all three should be good. They've got some young players on offense like Brandon Sheriff that you feel pretty good about. You know, Trent's really good, but he's not always totally healthy. We're not really sure about anything else, though.

You can't be sure about Geis at this point. Adrian Peterson was great last year, but he's 34 this year. You don't have a receiver or a tight end that you can be confident about. Excuse me. You're short, at least one guard and definitely depth along the offensive line. You know, we know the team isn't a contender on paper. We know that. Big picture, the team on paper is not an NFC contender.

It's not an NFC East contender. It's not an NFC contender. It doesn't mean that something couldn't happen to change that. They draft the next Patrick Mahomes, and it's the NFL. We know that. But we know that they've got a ton of holes. We also know the front office is weak. The coaching staff is average.

And we know that the fan base is mostly either angry, or completely checked out, not disappointed. They can talk about the fan events that they'll hold in the offseason, the draft day party, and they can try to get you excited about Case Keenham and Landon Collins, and they may add another quarterback through the draft or via trade to try to sell you that all is well, but it's not all well. It's a franchise big picture as we speak today in big trouble, which is a spot they are used to.

Now, there are a couple things that we don't know, like high-level things we don't know. I'll list those real quickly. We don't know the real reason Bruce Allen is still running the franchise. I mean, we're speculating. My speculation is that he's heavily involved in the stadium talks, new stadium talks, and he is, for all intents and purposes, cover for Dan Snyder. He's been the voice for Dan Snyder, organizationally, league meetings, etc. But we don't know for sure why Bruce Allen is still in the organization.

We don't know for sure the level of Jay's frustration. Is he really frustrated and ready to bust? Or is he just occasionally frustrated about certain things? Not sure, really. I don't think he was thrilled with some of the staff decisions. I bet he won't be thrilled with every personnel decision because those decisions, as mentioned, aren't solely his to make. Kyle, Doug, and Bruce.

They may select a player or sign a player he doesn't love. but Jay's level of frustration, I'm not entirely sure. I don't think anybody really is entirely sure. I've heard lots of things. Many of those things conflict with each other. I would say one thing for nearly sure. I think Jay believes that 2019 could be his last in Washington.

I believe he thinks he better win. But then again, I thought the same a year ago, and nothing happened. There was this Gruden quote from the other day that Kime wrote up. about early this morning. It was part of a larger conversation about adding a young, a young quarterback in the draft, and Gruden talked about it. And he said this one thing that I wanted to read, because I found it interesting. He said, quote, if you have a number one guy and you draft a guy,

and he's in competition with one or two other guys, then it becomes harder for him to develop and see where he's at. I never like to have two-man competitions, and I really don't want to have a three-man. competition. That's really hard just because the reps are so few and far between for these guys. But if it's something we have to do, then we have to do it, closed quote. That's an interesting quote from Jay Gruden. I didn't see that the other day. I saw it in Kimes column this morning. It says to me that Jay Gruden wouldn't necessarily be thrilled with a first round quarterback or a trade for Rosen. Hell, he may not be thrilled with Case Keenham. or if he is, he may be ready to move on from his Tommy's son, Colt McCoy.

He's feeling pressure to produce a winning team this year, and he's telling you, I think, that it's not ideal to have competition during this offseason or in training camp to resolve the quarterback situation. He wants to have a quarterback that gets all the reps. He thinks that's their best opportunity to produce offensively. Now he had Alex Smith last year for all of the reps, and it was a disaster. You know, Cooley's breakdown of the first down offense and Jay spoke to it the other day. It just wasn't good enough at the position or offensively as a whole.

Part of that is on the lack of a true receiver that could get open, that could get separation. Part of that's on the play calling and the scheme. Part of that was on Alex Smith. It just didn't work, and they had a quarterback for the whole offseason leading into last year. But I thought that quote was interesting from Gruden. I think it's telling to a certain degree. One other, two other things real quickly before we get to Tommy. One NFL, and then we'll touch on the Sweet 16 a bit.

Do you see what Bengals owner Mike Brown said about the new rule, allowing replay to be used for pass interference penalties? They were the one team, I'm sorry. The Bengals were the one team that voted against it. Mike Brown was the one vote against. It was a 31 to one vote in the league. That's rare, by the way. He said, quote, the reason we are against it is that it interrupts the game.

Closed quote. It's putting it pretty simply. I think that says it all. And if you listened yesterday, you know that I'm against it, but I'm not like vehemently arguing that they shouldn't do it. I just think that they may have overlooked a couple of things. And that's crazy to assume that they may have overlooked some things. They have so many

people experienced in the room thinking about these things. So my sense of it is they did consider these things and just didn't consider them to be much of an impediment to this. But I feel that there is a chance that the final two minutes of halves and games will be

interrupted more than usual, more than before. You get a lot of passes thrown at the end of halves and games, close games in particular. There's contact on a lot of throws. All right, think about every throw and catch. A lot of them include contact.

Offensive contact, defensive contact, if it's not flagged or if it is flagged, in the final two minutes, New York's going to review them all. Al Riveron's going to review them all. Final two minutes, only booth reviews, no coach challenges. Is every throw with contact going to be reviewed? How are you going to determine which get reviewed and which don't? I mentioned yesterday, Hail Mary throws. almost always on that play there is contact.

It is a throw to nobody specifically more times than not. It's a jump ball free-for-all, and there's contact on that play. Are we going to wait until Al Riveron decides whether or not there was defensive pass interference, allowing the offensive team to put the ball at the one-yard line with an untimed down? Are we going to wait five minutes at the end of halves for that? I suggested that this new rule, pass interference calls or non-call, being reviewable, only be challengeable by the coaches,

including in the final two minutes. I don't want New York looking at every single throw in the final two minutes of a half or a game. I think, you know, clearly the pass interference rule has to be well defined, but I just think it could result in too much interruption.

I do. It may not, but I can, I mean, just think about end of halves, end of games, lots of passes, contact on passes, are we going to review all of them? I think if the coach is forced to challenge that particular, not a scoring play, not an interception or a fumble or catch, no catch, I'm talking about pass interference called or uncalled should only be something a sideline,

a coach can challenge. Too much interruption potentially if New York is allowed to do it. By the way, that's the rule. That's what they're going to do. Lastly, before we get to Tommy, Sweet 16 starts tonight, four games, four quick thoughts on the games, and then I will give you my smell test right now. Smell tested pretty well last week, certainly over the weekend. The first thought is on Purdue, Tennessee.

I'm a big Matt Painter fan. I am really rooting for Purdue. He has not gotten past this round, the Sweet 16. This is not his best team. All right, but it is his fifth sweet 16 team. This is the fifth time to the sweet 16 for a Matt Painter Purdue team. I'd love to see him get past this round. Tennessee's good, really good, with athletes and a hell of a coach in their own right,

and Rick Barnes. Grant Williams is a closer. All right, I told you guys about him in early January. He's the guy that if this game is close, he can close it out by himself down the stretch. That's Advantage Tennessee. Purdue has Carson Edwards. If he's on, like he was against Villanova, where he scored 42 points in the game on 9 of 16 from behind the arc,

if he is on and he's not always on, advantage Purdue. I would think Tennessee's not going to give Edwards much room. Purdue has more than just Edwards. They've got a big guy in harms. They've got Klein, another shooter, Easterns and athlete. They can absolutely win this game. I think they will. probably my biggest route in terms of cheering for and hoping for in the Sweet 16

is Purdue beating Tennessee. I want Matt Painter to get his due. Coaches have told, last week, Jeff Jones was on the show, the old Dominion coach, and they were playing Purdue, and he said, Matt Painter is one of the most underrated coaches in the country, he never gets his due. And I completely agree with that. I can't wait to watch Virginia and Oregon tonight. Two very well coach teams again. Oregon's rolling. They've won 10 in a row, and only one of those games was close.

I mean, they do not think they can lose right now. And by the way, they may have the sickest athlete left in the draw in Kenny Wooten. This guy is, he's got hops like you read about. He is a shot blocker like you would not believe. Virginia's going to have to deal with him as a shot blocker, is a guy that can create second and third chances offensively. Rebounding is going to be huge in this game. I'm looking forward to this one.

I'm rooting for UVA. I want Tony Bennett also to get past. He's been to the Elite 8, not the Final 4. I'd love to see Virginia get to the Final 4. Plus I picked them in my bracket to win it all. Gonzaga, Florida State, oh my God. Athleticism, size, length. I think Gonzaga gets revenge from last year.

and then you've got Michigan, Texas Tech. I think the first team to 63 wins that game. Two great defensive teams. The smell test last week was 10 and 8 overall for the first two rounds. Last Saturday, Sunday, 5 and 1. I went 4 and 0 on Saturday, 1 and 1 on Sunday. I've got three plays right now for you. The first one is Purdue plus 1.5.

The public is on Tennessee, laying the point in a half. Higher-seated team. They got through Iowa. They've been, you know, rank number one at various times this year. The public likes Tennessee. I like Purdue plus the point in a half. Believe it or not, the public really likes Florida State, even though Gonzaga is laying eight in this game right now.

I like Gonzaga laying the eight. I think Gonzaga is, this should be a crazy game in terms of the athleticism and the pace in which the game potentially gets played at. Florida State has the ability to grind you. I mean, they do. I like Gonzaga. It seems like a lot of points. The public thinks Florida State plus the points is the right side.

I'll take Gonzaga as the favorite and lay the eight. And then finally, believe it or not, the public is on Oregon in the UVA Oregon game. That number is eight right now. Give me UVA minus the eight. I actually feel less confident on the three picks. the least confident about the UVA game in terms of analyzing the matchup, because I actually think Oregon has a chance to keep this thing close, but the public is lined up on Oregon plus the eight.

Give me UVA minus eight. So the smell test, Purdue plus a point and a half, Gonzaga minus eight, UVA minus eight. Two favorites, one dog will give you another smell test tomorrow. Quick word on Window Nation. Window Nation right now has a great deal going. Buy two windows, get two windows free, and buy a house of windows for just $69 a month.

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All right, let's bring in Tommy, who is down at the stadium, ready for opening day. The Nats open up today against the Mets. They get three with the Mets this weekend, and then Philly comes to town early next week, and people are already getting jacked about Bryce Harper's return. And I want to start there, Tommy, as it relates to the Nats. What do you think the perception of the Nats are around the league, fans, media, teams. What is the perception of the team without Bryce Harper for the first time in eight years? Inside the industry of baseball, front offices, players, I think they think the nationals made the

right move. I think they think the nationals are a better team this year than they were last year with Bryce Harper. That doesn't mean they're a better team without Bryce Harper. If you add Bryce Harper to all the additions they made this is offseason, then they're a better team than they are now. But this team this year is better than last year's team with Bryce Harper. I think that's the perception in the industry. I think fans, you know, who didn't pay close attention to the Nationals last year and are caught up into Bryce Harper,

I think that the Nationals probably are not as good without Bryce Harper. Do you think they're better without Bryce Harper? I think they have a better team this year than they did last year with Bryce Harper. Again, if you added Bryce Harper to all the moves they made this year, they'd be a better team than they are now. But they have the talent, they have the best talent in the league across the board, in the division, the NLEs, when you add in their starting pitching. It's deeper than everybody, including the Mets,

who have very good starting pitching. And today, we're going to see King Kong versus Godzilla, Jacob de Grom versus Max Scherzer. Yeah, a hell of an opening day matchup, pitching matchup. Will the Nats feel a hit, a business hit, Tommy? You know, attendance for 2019, television ratings, everything that you would put into the equation that's labeled as revenue. will they feel a hit with no Bryce Harper?

I suspect merchandise-wise, they've got to feel a little bit of a hit. I mean, Harper was a merchandise machine, and I don't know how much of their revenue is that, but I would suspect that would be down. They get off to a good start. I don't think attendance is going to take any hit at all. And what has happened down here in this area around the ballpark? I'm still marveling because I hadn't been down here in a while.

how many people live down here now? Oh, yeah. And are probably going to make the ballpark, you know, part of their, you know, semi-regular routine at the very least. So they have a built-in audience down here. Attendance-wise, if they don't tank early, I think they'll be fine. And then the television ratings, they may take a little bit of a hit without Harper initially. But, again, baseball, more than basketball is not necessarily.

is star-driven its wins and losses that will eventually, you know, bring money into the cash register. What's the strength of this team? Is it its starting rotation? Yes, it is. Starting rotation again, historically when they've been good, their starting rotation has been what I've called their safety net. If they're not hitting well, if they're in a slump, the starting pitching will win the

three to two games, the three to one games, the two to one games. They certainly did have that last year with a lot of their starters hurt. At one point, only Max Scher was the only real healthy starter they had. So they're starting pitching

and what's going to help that is they've improved significantly defensively with better catching with Jan Goams and Kurt Suzuki, a better second baseman with Brian Dozier, and a better center fielder with Victor Robles and when he comes back healthy, Michael A. Taylor.

Does the team have a weakness? And if so, what is it? Well, it's probably the bullpen, which is like a lot of other teams. It could be power in the lineup trying to make up the home runs that Bryce Harper hit. He's a 35 home run, a season guy. They don't have that in their lineup now. They might have six or maybe seven guys with over 20 home runs. But The power is probably going to be weakened a little bit, and the bullpen is uncertain. You know, Trevor Rosenthal is coming off Tommy John's surgery.

He looks unbelievable in spring training, throwing over 100 miles an hour, but you don't know how he's going to do. And you don't know how Davey Martinez will handle that bullpen. So the bullpen is always a question mark, but bullpens evolved over the course of a season. They could change. What could hurt the NACs this year?

is the learner's reluctance to add payroll to go over that luxury tax at the trading deadline. The Nationals made the right move halfway last year by not trading Bryce Harper at the trading deadline. But if you weren't going to be sellers, then they should have been buyers, and they weren't that either. And that's what really hurt them. I mean, one of the reasons that they shouldn't have been sellers is that they were at the time still in a playoff race. I mean, it wasn't, you know, they weren't that close to it, but they weren't out of it either at the end of July last year. They were five games out of the wildcard last year. I don't think you'd surrender to season then.

But then if you're going to do that, then you have to be willing to add the pieces that you think you need for the stretch run. And the learners, you know, they couldn't pull the trigger either way. They couldn't figure out who they were, buyers or sellers, and not being buyers hurt them initially in the long run. And Dave Martinez's second year, first of all, and you probably don't remember it because you can't remember that far back. But do you remember how you graded out Martinez in his first year? And then what are reasonable expectations for him in year two? Where does he need to improve in particular? Well, he's on the hot seat, at least perception-wise.

if you listen to the sheep. And he may be on the hot seat. Well, yeah, I was going to say, you're not part of that herd, but do you think he is on the hot seat in year two? And if so, why? Yeah, I think. Explain to people where his weaknesses were last year, because a lot of the sheep, you know, outlined him in detail

in terms of a lot of the in-game strategy mistakes he made during his first year. Okay, well, I don't think he made that many in-game strategy mistakes. I think the bullpen, the bullpen, there's not, again, for everyone who says he didn't manage the bullpen well, I challenge them to tell me the manager, the list of managers in baseball who manage their bullpen well. Joe Madden is a managing god. And I don't know if I've ever seen a manager, manager bullpen worse than what Joe Madden does. It is a very inexact science. again, I had a change perception of what Dave Martinez did last year when I came to spring training this year.

And it really struck me how woefully bad off they were when they left camp last year with two of their starters on one leg in Adam Eaton and Daniel Murphy. And Murphy never really got healthy. The best he could do was play first base for him occasionally at the end of the year. And again, I mean, when you've got good pitching and you don't have good defense to back it up, Bryce Harper and Centerfield was a defensive liability because they didn't have role plays to even call up last year because he was hurt. So I think the 82 wins that Dave Martinez got out of this team last year was a miracle, and I think he should have been patting on the bat. I didn't think that at the end of last year.

But after watching this team in spring and remembering how bad off the same, they were coming out of camp last year. And here's the other thing that happened last year. The Phillies and the Braves caught everybody by surprise. They kind of arrived a year earlier than people thought. Certainly the Braves do. And the Nats had traditionally, the feeling has been, well, they have enough talent. They just simply have enough talent to overcome their injuries.

Well, they had to compete last year, and there wasn't enough talent then when they had stiff competition. One of the reasons it was easy for the nationals to move on from Bryce Harper was the emergence of Juan Soto last year. How good is he, what are your expectations from him in his second year? All-Star. He'll be on the All-Star team this year. He is such a smart young man, such a smart hitter at the plate and so disciplined. I think you're just going to see improvement on last year's.

really historic season for a 19-year-old kids. So I think they've got an all-star in Juan Soto. I think he's a guy who maybe might make up that power, that power, you know, absence of Bryce Harper. He's a guy who could hit over 30 home runs over the course of the season. He wasn't a great defensive left-fielder. He only played left field six times before he came up last year. So he should get better at that.

But I think he's going to have a big year. And every this year, they couldn't afford to overcome. Oh, wow. Outside of starting pitching. Outside of starting pitching. Outside of starting pitching, well, they've got nobody to replace Anthony Rendon. Unless they call up, you know, T-boom, their hot prospect, if Rendon gets hurt. But that's a kid.

You don't know how he's going to do. I mean, at second base, you could play Defoe, Wilmer Defoe if, you know, if they have an injury there. In the outfield, if Michael Taylor is healthy, they have a fourth outfielder. Tendrick, when he's healthy, it's a little bit unnerving the fact that Hallie Tendrick and Michael A. Taylor are absent here on opening day

and not healthy. That's a little bit reminiscent of last year. That's not a good thing because they're both very valuable. Tentric in particular, and hopefully those don't turn out to be long-term entries. But Anthony Rendon is the guy that can't afford to lose. Is there a player on the roster that you think has a chance to have a big season that nobody else is talking about? Big season, it's hard for the fourth starting pitcher to have a big season, but Annabel

Sanchez is going to really surprise a lot of people. He, and late in his career, he made the change from being a power pitcher to a finesse. pitcher and really has mastered it last year. In a way, he's like Levon Hernandez. He can throw 15 different pitchers. His ability to change speed is really tremendous, and his command on those pitches is good. And like I said, he's the fourth starter. So, I mean, how much, you know, how big of a season can't afford starter have, you know, maybe, you know, 14 wins or something like that? I think people are going to be pleasantly surprised at Annabelle St. I think he's going to be a really reliable pitcher for them.

All right. How many wins this year for the Nats? And where do they finish in the National League East? I'm going to say 90 wins and they finish first. You know, a lot of people think 89 wins will win the division. And, you know, like this game today against the Mets, look, they play 162. And I always love the Earl Weaver quote about baseball is when he says, this ain't football, we play this every day, you know, to give sign of perspective on wins and

losses. Right. But every series against an NL East rival this year is going to be big. They're all going to be big. The Mets, the Braves, the Phillies, they're all big series. You want to win the series. You know, you don't have to win every game, but you want to win the series. And their first 11 games are against the Mets and the Phillies.

Who ends up being the biggest competitor, the team that finishes second? I'm going to say the Braves again. You know, the Braves don't get any love. No. Even though they won the division last year, because their pitching is very suspect. But their young players who came through for them last year, are going to be a year older and a year better. They added Josh Donaldson to their lineup, a big, powerful bat.

And, you know, I think the division champs are going to be the toughest matchup, the toughest battle for the NACs to unseat them. Are they better than the Dodgers in the National League or not? I think so. Okay. I think they are. So you've got them in the World Series? No.

No, they lose in the National League Championship Series. Two? And again, you know, that's just a guess. Two. I mean, like that. They'll lose because they'll lose to the Dodgers. Oh, I just... You know, because better doesn't mean they win.

Right. All right. You know how random these playoffs are? I know they are. I know they are. You know, the 162 proves something. The best is a sliver of the 162 rarely, really proves anything. All right, thanks. I mean, the Dodgers will have been going, we'll have won the, you know,

will be at their third straight NOCS championship series. And I think that counts for something where the NAC will be there for the first time and experience matters in games like that. All right, enjoy the game today. Maybe I'll see you tomorrow night down at the arena for the Suite 16. All right, boss. Take care. All right, thanks.

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and we've got to go back to last weekend and talk about Maryland. First of all, the loss to LSU, your thoughts on that, and just the season overall, how would you describe it to somebody who's a Maryland fan that didn't catch enough of it? The end was absolutely devastating. I'm still not over it. Maryland should be playing Friday night against Michigan State and D.C. with Duke a game away, and it should have been, it should have been, it should have been. But it didn't end that way.

How would I describe the season as someone that didn't see it? More good than bad and more good than people expected, and yet somehow it still managed to be unsatisfying to Maryland fans. Was it unsatisfying to you? You're a Maryland fan. Well, the end was because I thought they got screwed on a couple calls after they came back and erased a 15-point deficit to a team that's going to end up having to vacate these games someday. But, I mean, yeah, it's unsatisfying because they should be playing Friday night. But I think take it on balance.

That game against LSU, when you play it back, being down 15 and all that, That was symptomatic of struggles they had falling behind, but the way they fought back, particularly those last five minutes, there were haymakers. I mean, I was proud of the effort. I just was incredibly disappointed that they lost the game. It felt like they could win. But, I mean, it wasn't like some, that game wasn't some drastic thud.

You know, I mean, like, the Nebraska game is the one that will always baffle me. Like, I'll never understand how they play it that way in the Big Ten tournament. but the LSU game was just heartbreaking. There's a difference to me. Yeah, I mean, I said the other day, and I think we're saying the same thing. I said, it was a good season. It wasn't a great season. And they can describe it, coaches, players, department, any way they want, because they've got a lot more information than I do as a fan. But for me, it was a good season, it wasn't a great season.

And a great season for this particular group, once we got into early January, I thought that this was a team whose upside was further than the first weekend of the tournament. And that's entirely fair. And as far as the tournament goes, and I realized this after spending far too much time watching every play of the last five minutes over and over again. Yeah, I know we've all done it. Well, watching the Jalen Smith block up 64, 62, that's a two-on-one-one break, and they call a foul, and it's absolutely not a foul. I don't want you to do this. It's the Maryland thing to do to complain about the officiating and blame the the officiating.

And I'm not saying you're on the verge of doing that. But like three possessions earlier, Daryl Morsell raked Naz Reed over the arm and it wasn't called right at the rim. Agreed. And that's entirely true. That's entirely true. I'm just talking about the one that would have benefited Maryland, Kevin. Waters didn't travel. You do agree with that, right?

No, no, no, no. I don't want to hear that. I don't want to hear that. I'm talking about just that incredible sequence of just, it was a war in the paint where about five different things happened that resulted in Skylar Mays having a shot get blocked clean by Jalen Smith, and they called a foul. I'm talking about that one.

But here's what I'm getting at. I dissected this like this Spruiter film, and I'm heartbroken over the season ending on a two-point loss, and then I had this epiphany. I didn't spend one second after the Belder. Belmont game thinking about how they felt. And I'm certain they did the exact same thing. They lost by two points.

They had their best player cutting back door open for what could have been a game-winning layup, but it didn't happen that way. And that's the tournament. Maryland won by two. Maryland lost by two. You know, Belmont season ended, and then Maryland season ended. So it was a heartbreak. And it was a specific, like, if you're playing in San Jose this week, who gives it

crap? But it would have been in D.C. And you and I both know. you and I both know what it would have been. The scene would have been absolute mayhem. There's a lot of Virginia Tech people there. The presence of Duke, the presence of a Big Ten rival. I mean, it's a once-in-a-lifetime thing, and it didn't happen,

and that really, really sucks. Corvin has his face in his hands, buried in his hands, because that's all he wanted was Friday night in Capitol One Arena. even if, you know, no matter what the result was against Michigan State, it would have felt like a totally different ending to the season had they played that game. And, you know, to your point, it's the tournament, it's a one-and-done environment. I mean, we think back to the most painful loss, I think, of our Maryland lifetime, which was Corey Lucius hitting that shot to end Gravis Vasquez's career.

And you had a player duck, just, you know, randomly duck, if not, the ball hits that dude in the head and Maryland moves on and probably goes on to the final four, and maybe that year plays Duke in the national championship game. But whatever. Yeah, but none of that happened. So here we sit. The tournament, well, actually, one other thing about Maryland, uh,

you're feeling right now about Fernando and Stick Smith. Who's back? Who isn't? I've, I've operated all year under the idea that Bruno was going to go. played himself into the first team all big ten and i just assumed he's gone now having said that you know the lSU game was a decent point he went through a pretty decent stretch there late where he wasn't some dominant postman no um in part because i think he could have shot more and you and i

both wish he would have taken more you know jumpers from the free throw line because he could do it anyway i just have operated an assumption all year that he's gone um that could could he benefit from another year. I'm certain he could, but I just I've never thought he would come back all year. Jaywin Smith isn't like the guy Mike Schmitz from ESPN, who is awesome.

If you don't follow him on Twitter or pay attention to him on any of the platforms of the ESPN. He does a who are you talking about? Mike Schmidt never heard of his name. Him and you got to go follow him. Him and Jonathan Gavoni that do the draft express stuff.

Schmidt is the dude that's all over the world following everybody. And they put out like a top 100. And they like Jalen. Like they have him as like the 100th prospect. But everyone thinks the talent's obvious, but the lack of strength throughout the entire season was obvious.

Now, are two games in the tournament where he showed those flashes of his talent enough for him to go? I don't believe so. And I've operated under the premise all year that his family and, you know, and his group, whatever that even means anymore, like, they get that. And I've thought all year that he'd be back and that Brunard would be gone, and I still feel

that same way. Is his last name, the baseball player, Mike Schmidt? It's S-C-H-M-I. I think it's with a Z-Smits, with Mike Schmitz. I think it's T-Z. You'll find him. He's worth out. He's awesome.

I mean, for a college basketball guy, like, he is so well-respected, so well. travel. I just found. Well, check him out. You'll get great content from that guy. All right. Let's talk about the tournament. I'm on your show, by the way.

He's awesome. I will, definitely. You think it's a good thing or not that the first weekend of the tournament didn't produce a ton of upsets? And really, you know, outside of the two Maryland games and maybe one or two others, obviously the Duke UCF game, not a whole hell of a lot of dramatic endings. Yeah, I mean, it was not what you expect. But, I mean, Calhurt always said this line when he worked here and with Fox, which I agree with it. Everybody loves the upset until the next round.

You're like, oh, yeah, that team that we really liked watching is gone. Like the UCF Duke game, I couldn't root it harder for UCF. And this is not an anti-Duke thing at all, because I like watching Zion play just like everybody. It's just in that moment, I thought they deserved it. I thought. They played, I thought, better with not as much talent. And watching them play with that level of heart and fight, I just wanted to see it rewarded. But that said, in that moment, that's what I wanted. But then, like, no duke the rest of the way would have been like, oh, that's kind of a bummer for the storyline. So I think what we got denied last week in terms of really great games sets us up to have

potentially a tremendous, you know, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. Because you've got the teams left that I thought all year would be part of it. I thought it was going to be real chalky. And now you get those teams on the floor with each other. So, you know, it wasn't great, but I think it sets it up now to potentially be awesome. Duke's still the favorite. Do you think they should be? No.

Yeah, me neither. I don't think they're, I just don't think what they, they get like three guys. You don't have to guard. I mean, that doesn't work a lot of the time. The issue for you, though, is that the one guy you have to guard, you can't. Because Zion's just going to get his. But I just don't think, I mean, if they are, it's far from feeling like a sure thing or overwhelming. I mean, they had a decent stretch in their first game where they were okay but not great.

And, you know, they had to survive gravity to be UCF. Do you think they're going to win four games right now? No, I didn't think. so before the tournament started that they would win six, and I don't think they're going to win four now. And I think it's beyond, I wouldn't view them as a team where you don't have to guard three players. I don't think that's accurate. What I do think is accurate is that they are not a team that defends well across the board. You know, Trey Jones can guard, but you can score against them, you know, and UCF prove that. You can score against them, and if you're aggressive against them,

you know, you can have a game in which you score, you know, 75 to 80 points, and they are vulnerable to a bad shooting night. Without a doubt. I mean, I could easily see Michigan State bullying them around on Sunday at Capital One arena. I could see them easily losing to North Carolina in a final or Gonzaga, you know. I think there are a lot of teams that could beat Duke in the draw. What are the game, is there a game?

Is there a game or two in tonight's four and tomorrow night's four that you're looking forward to more than any other? I mean, I don't feel like there's anyone that's a standalone because I'm interested in all of them. But the Gonzaga things, I've liked them a lot all year. I know they had a bad game against St. Mary, so that made people that don't watch them all year decide that they sucked, which was just dumb because they're really good. But, like, Florida State has that rare combination of athletes and depth that's not easy to deal with. It beat them last year, right? Yep.

So I look at that game as a giant sort of magnifying glass-on-get-bag. Because if they win, I think what it says about them is that they absolutely – I think they – whether they are or they aren't, that makes them like the favorite in my mind because I picked them to win to be. getting with. But now it's like, I don't know if they can survive tonight. I think people have real doubts about Virginia. Their ability to survive, maybe not this game, but the next one. And I like them a lot. I think, I think, you know, they got bullied by Florida State in the game, and then they look bad for 10 minutes against Gardner Webb or 20 minutes, and then that creates real doubts. I just, to me, like, I'll have the TV on from 730 until we go on the TV tonight,

and every game is, I'm interested in, because I think, you, you really don't have any bad matchups to me. Is there one you think that's better than the other? I am really, because you know how big of what a big fan of Matt Painter I am. He's never been to be on the Sweet 16. I like him tonight as a smell test pick. I gave him out. The world's on Tennessee.

I sure are. I like their chances tonight. I don't know if I like their chances on Saturday. I think Auburn, North Carolina could be a phenomenal game to watch. Do you know what Pearl said the other night, by the way? probably didn't see this. He came on. And I said, you know, they want to do the same thing. You want to do it? Is that like, is that excite you or scary? He goes, I don't know, just take the over.

Bruce, wait, Bruce Pearl said that to you? On the show. That's the first. I've never had a coach give out a selection, given out a side. What is the total? It's got to be in the 160s between those two. It was 160 when it came out. It was 161 the day he came on. And by the next day, it was 165. I'm like, he's moving lines. Are you serious? I'm not joking.

Did it really shoot up after he said that? I mean, it's shot. I'm not saying that it's cause and effect. Well, what else would have been the cause and effect? What else would have been the cause? I don't know, the coach came on the show. He didn't say bet. He said, take the over.

And I just started laughing because I've never, as I said, I've never had a coach give you a lead on a side. But, I mean, he was speaking just about the fact that they, his team, Auburn loves to do the same thing, Carolina. Yeah, they do. And they just, it was funny, because you said something about, you know, if we can just avoid getting, like, you know, just physically bullied or this or that, and then when we got done taping, I said, they're not going to bully you. Like, that's not their M.O. I said, they want to play pretty.

They don't, their big guys aren't big brooding, like, you know, physical guys. They're more finesse. And he's like, yeah, I guess that's true. I don't know. But anyway, that game seems great. And just back to your Purdue thing, like, I love Painter, too. I think he's awesome. but that shooting game they had against no one of them felt like an outlier like Carson edward's awesome but he has had a bunch of like eight for 30 nights that game against novo they just couldn't

miss so to me like he as I mean and this is no great sort of epiphany but I mean if he shoots it great they'll have a chance if he has one of those bad shooting nights they're going to get rough I just don't think they're you're so right I mean he's had six for 23 you know seven for 29 nights and last week he was on fire. I mean, that was the best individual at 42. And the funny thing is, you and I were on the phone, and we were both like, why is he still in the game? Yeah, he was still in the game late shooting free throws. I don't know why he was, but they're not just him. You know, they have other players, but Grant Williams might be my favorite player left in the draw. I love him, and I know a lot of people don't think he's going to be a really good NBA player. I do.

He can score. It doesn't matter about his athleticism. He is a guy that will figure out a way to get 18 and 10 in the NBA. Who may not be more? I don't, you know what? I don't know who will guard. But you know what? It doesn't seem like anybody guards anybody in the NBA anymore anyway.

It doesn't matter. The Texas Tech, it's 165 right now, the total in the Auburn, North Carolina game. And the total tonight in the Michigan Texas Tech game. And I just said about, yeah, I said about a half an hour ago, I said first team to 63 wins this game, and sure enough, I just checked at the total's 125. 125. Now, the UVA Oregon total is 119 and a half. I gave out tonight Purdue, Virginia, and Gonzaga.

Those are three big. The public is on Florida State, Tennessee, and Oregon tonight. I actually think Oregon can play Virginia tough, but I'm going to be on Virginia. Did you, have you looked at the board or not? Uh-uh, no. I knew Tennessee. I knew people like Tennessee. I hadn't looked at it yet.

But Oregon is really, they're spooky, man, because, like, they're that team that were, they were awful. And in the last three weeks, they found it. Kenny Woom for Oregon, to me, was the most fun player, I think, to watch all of last weekend. It felt like he alley-uped, dunked everything that Pritchard threw up. and the poor kids from Oregon were just petrified by the time the game got to an end. They just didn't want to get another shot blocked into the band. That said, Virginia, as we know, they have an ability to just like a boa constrictor, just kind of slowly and methodically squeeze the life out of you.

But that, to me, is just such an interesting contrast of styles. But I think you and me both like Virginia more than maybe the public does. Yeah, I mean, Oregon was impressive. For that very reason, I mean, Wooten was just the best athlete, the freakish of athletes I saw all last weekend. And it's not like I watched a lot of Oregon this year, but to your point, everything that went up, he was trying to throw back into the third row. And it impacted. Yeah, it impacted both of those games that they were in, including the Irvine game. Remember, Irvine came out, I don't know if you were watching this, but they came out.

14-0, wasn't it? Yeah, they came out down 14 at half and were up three or four. four, you know, on a big run to start the second half. But, um, yeah, I, these, the best part of all, you know, of chalk, other than, you know, we, I would have preferred, you know, one six seed in the Sweet 16, Maryland, that would have been nice, but even Maryland would have felt a little bit like chalk. Um, but I, I, I kind of like, I kind of like what we're going to watch here, uh, the last two nights. Um, I know you have to run and I'll just save this for next week and I'm going to go watch it. I have not seen it. But a lot of people told me to watch your thing on

Izo, which I haven't watched. Tommy and I got into a big argument the other day. Well, he disagrees with Tommy disagrees with me because he's very anti-Izzo yelling, right? Yes, exactly. And you and I, you and I talked about this anyway, but I have not seen what you did. I'm going to go back and look at it unless you want to summarize it real quickly, because I know you have to go. Well, I mean, the gist of what I said was that I think it speaks It's just sort of this societal issue of no one wants to have anyone, you know, say a mean word to them. And this turned into the, like to me, this is a matter of accountability. And by the way, we had Cassius Winston on later this week after I did that bit.

And he explained about how much they love is, though, how much he loves them. And for the last three days, I've had people, you know, trying to tell me that this is abuse and this is what abusive people do. I have people, Kevin, comparing this, you can't even fathom. the kind of things they compared this to. Like it turned into that they defended Sandusky in Penn State. I'm like, are you comparing Tomizzo with a quarter century of accomplishment to a convicted child molester? That's what you're doing.

Well, these people are. Those people are nuts. They are not to be. Of course they are, but it's amazing. It's amazing the people, because the thing that people took umbrage with is I said, just don't, don't be offended by things that don't concern you. And I'd say it a different way if you have a problem in that. Don't be offended by things you don't understand.

Because every single guy within that is a program going back to Draymond Green. I went on social media, Kelvin Torber, Delvon, Rowe, and on and on, Gary Harris, Miles Bridges. Everybody was retweeting what I said or saying that you need to understand within our program the love he has for us. And he gets, you know, angry. And people put, like, talked about as bald up fist. as if he was going to swing on this kid. And the kid himself came out and said, I came here to be coached by this man this way,

and nobody cared. But the kid said this. Like, what's he going to say? He's in the program. What did the guys out of the program say that have long since left? And if he was this monster, somebody would stand up and be going to go, you know, his was actually pretty volatile and hostile

and fright me and scarred me. Nobody has said that. Not one. No one. And you know what? So Stanford, Steve retweeted, that and it turned into this thing like it's been retweeted

like 75,000 times what the Winston thing or your thing? The thing I did with is it? Okay. And like LeBron James and JJ Watt and all of these athletes and all these coaches are retweeting it saying this thing how much they liked it

and what was fascinating and you know me I'm a political and I have been like I did a thing a couple years ago where I got ripped by, you know, by conservatives and like, oh, you're liberal, this and that. Well, I had very conservative people saying, this is great. They were like senators and congressmen saying, this is what's wrong with America. This is great. And it was a lot of people with flags in their avatar retweeting me. And it was, it was the wildest thing where it seemed, it be, I was being

retweeted by conservative political leaning sort of Twitter handles and by very liberal athletes. So it's like, It seemed like a lot of people agreed with what I had to say, maybe for different reasons. I don't know. But I know that there are people like Tommy, Kevin, who are passionately opposed to the idea of what Izzo did. I know him. I thought, I think he gets the best out of his guys. You don't like his tactics. That's fine.

My point would be they don't concern you and they shouldn't trouble you because you don't understand them or have the context of what goes on in that program. I agree with all of that. I think something that you said is very interesting, and I think Tommy may find interesting, too, because a reasonable response is, well, there are a couple of reasonable responses if you're against what you saw. I totally agree with you. First of all, it's track record. We're familiar with him. We follow him. We know what he is. We know what his players say, et cetera. Two things, though. One, it doesn't mean it's the only way you can get a point across,

way to coach a young person. There are lots of different ways, and some of them don't involve any screaming, and that's fine, too. It's just his style. The second thing is, is that people will say, and Tommy said this the other day, that you're never going to have, you know, current players, and in many cases, former players, speak out against someone like that, because in many cases, they are intimidated for a lifetime. And you know what? There is some truth to that, but you said something that actually, I think, is interesting in that you tweeted out, or Stanford Steve tweeted out what you did, and players past and present retweeted it. So there's no pressure. They're not answering a question on camera. They're not being put on the spot as far as their

coach goes, but they're retweeting it. They're making the decision, you know, based on their personal experience without any pressure being put on them to endorse their coach, which we've heard over the years about Izzo, that they love them, they respect him. One of my favorite interviews I ever did, and I talked about it the other day on the show with Tommy, and it was a day in which Tommy was off. It was, you know, five years ago, and I was promoting something, and I forget what it was, but you know he's been one of my favorite coaches, and I had him on, and after, you know, spending 10 minutes on the Cory Lucius shot and how he broke my heart and everybody's heart, we talked about a lot of things, and I remember specifically saying, how do you get and recruit the play

that you end up with. These kids that tend to be on the tougher side and you play this. And he talked about it. He said, I'm very upfront with the kids and the parents. I'll never forget it. He said, I tell them the way I am and how demanding I'm going to be. And those are the kids I recruit. I won't recruit a kid that I don't think can handle me. So they go in knowing that. And that's why I don't think you see any pushback to it. And by the way, here's the other thing. I didn't even think visually it was that bad to watch. Maybe it's just because I'm... the clenched fist and the finger point were what were what brought people the wrong way but he's done it before Kevin I I said specifically in the piece is this the only way to do this of course not you can do it any number of ways

but these guys that is a program that is the identity is toughness and you go there understanding that that is going to be how you're coached. And Henry said he went, he said, my parents and I, I came here with the understanding that that's what we wanted. And again, I felt that the fact that Winston and McQuaid, the two players were able to basically put their hands on his own and say, we've got this, shows you he empowers his players. Right. Like, it's a family dynamic. And again, I get that optically, it might be troubling the people. I get that it isn't for everybody. But this is my issue. with it, that is a reason I did the piece.

It becomes, since it isn't for everybody, that allows people to yell and suggest it shouldn't be for anybody. That's bullshit. You don't get to tell people what they're supposed to, what they're allowed to want to be a part of. Like, you don't, because it's, because it's concerned you. As it relates to a basketball team, and they're like, look, your boss wouldn't do this to you? Of course not.

My boss also wouldn't pat me on the ass and say good job, because it's sports. in sports you do those things in sports you like get hostile I just found the I found the reaction to it to be amazing very very instructive on a lot of levels I agree with all that I'm going to go watch it and I know you got to run but that was good

I appreciate it I'll talk to you later enjoy the games and it just sucks that we don't have a game to root for tomorrow night would you I didn't even ask you were you going to be able to go or did you tell me that you weren't going to be able to go Friday night I wasn't going to be able to go. I'm going down to Jacksonville to help Tim Tebow with his charity events.

Oh, right. I would have been in the middle of helping the kids, not being able to watch Maryland, which would have been a catastrophe. But you know what? I'd have figured something out. And it's a bummer. It's a bummer that I don't get a chance to. Hey, Tim, I'm not feeling well.

You're going to have to find somebody else. All right. Enjoy that. I'll talk to you later. Sounds great. Have a good day. All right. Thanks to Scott.

Thanks to Tommy, too. Thanks to Corvin. He did a great job. Also, real quickly, consider launch workplaces if you're looking for new office space in Bethesda. They've got brand new, fully furnished offices right in that Mass Ave corridor in Bethesda just over the D.C. line. They've got conference rooms, co-working desks, high-speed internet, complimentary drinks, cafe, free parking and plenty of it, 24-7 access. you can get more work done today by moving your office to launch workplaces. You can call today for an exclusive free two-day trial, 240-86714, or visit launchworkplaces.com today.

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