The Kevin Sheehan Show - Terps-Gators + Nats' Opening Day

Episode Date: March 27, 2025

Kevin and Thom opened with the Maryland Basketball situation seemingly headed towards a Kevin Willard exit. The guys talked about the way it's been handled by Maryland, Willard, and the damper that the whole drama has put on the Terps' first Sweet 16 appearance in nine years. They boys previewed and picked the game tonight against Florida. Kevin had two Sweet 16 "Smell Test" picks. Thom previewed the Nats' 2025 season on Opening Day.  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You don't want it. You don't need it. But you're going to get it anyway. The Kevin Sheehan Show. Here's Kevin. Tommy's here. I am here. It is opening day, everybody.

Tommy will be on his way to the park here shortly for opening day. We are recording this Thursday, March 27th podcast, early in the a.m. So if something happens newsworthy during the course of the day, the day. I'll try to put out another short podcast to respond to that if it were to happen later on today. The show's presenting sponsor, as always, is Window Nation, 86690 Nation, Windonation.com. How was your birthday? Tell me about the bowling before we get into anything serious. The birthday was great. Okay. I had great dinner at the James Choice Pub in Baltimore. more. Really cool Irish pub. And then we went to this place called Mustang Alleyes, not Mustang Sallies, like I said last week.

Okay. It's Mustang Alley. It's about a 12-alley bowling alley in Fells Point area, 810 pin, four duck pin. We went duck pin. And duck pin bowling is hard. Okay? Yeah. A lot of gutter balls without the bumpers in the gutters. Right. A lot of, and it wasn't just us. The people on the lane next to us were just as bad as we were. We had a lot of fun.

Yeah, that's good that the next door neighbors were just as bad as you were. You know me, I'm a bottom line guy. Tell me some scores. Give me some numbers. Oh, they were in the 50s. They were in the 50s. Did anybody bowl well? No.

No. No, nobody did a lot of gutter balls. Did you have fun? Yes. That's great. Let me tell you about my birthday present for today, besides that, that, I got the Black Bird, the Maltese falcon. I got a replica of the Maltese falcon from the movie. That's what you got as a gift? It is awesome.

Really? I got it in front of me now. It's awesome. I took a picture of it. I posted it on X and Facebook. it's very cool. Nice. Yes. I'm happy for you. I'm very excited about that.

I mean, Maltese Falcons and James Joyce and good God. I mean, you are so refined. You are very eclectic, really. When it comes down to it, your interests are all over the place. And you go pretty deep on a lot of topics. I like that about you. I'm ready to get down in the dirt this morning. You are. Okay. Well, let's get to it.

Because we got a lot to get to. The Terps play tonight in a Sweet 16 game against Florida in San Francisco. And no Maryland basketball fan is even talking about the game. And everybody that is familiar with what's going on, I'm sure is waiting to hear the two of us talk about this situation. for those that don't know, and I know that Maryland basketball isn't, you know, it's not a pop culture phenomena. And so there are people listening that need to know what we are talking about before we get to it. I don't like to assume that everybody understands when we're not talking

about football or the skins, that everybody understands what's happening. Because everything else, honestly, and this is where I've been frustrated with Maryland in recent years, and I won't get into all the details, there's lots of reasons I've been frustrated with them, is they are very niche in the market, you know, on the sports landscape. No matter how popular Maryland basketball has been at various points in time over the last 50 years, the city, the DMVs a different market than it was when Gary was coaching. it's a different market from even 10 years ago when Mark Turgeon was coaching. You know, nine years ago, the last time the team went to a Sweet 16.

So I don't assume that everybody, you know, is wrapped up into the same social media, you know, firestorm that I'm wrapped up into here over the last week and a half. That's a good communicator, is recognizing that you need to add background to your subject. Okay. Well, thank you for that. Kevin Willard is the head basketball coach at Maryland, and this is the most successful season Maryland basketball has had in nine years. They're 27 and 8. They just won the most thrilling game of the NCAA tournament,

beating Colorado State at the buzzer on an incredible shot by an incredible freshman player, who, by the way, this week has been on multiple national programs, talking about the shot and talking about the team, including, by the way, someone told me he was on CNN the other night. Derek Queen was. And Maryland is in a Sweet 16 game tonight as a four-seat against the number one seed in their region, Florida, who many have predicted will win the national championship. But this is a highly anticipated Sweet 16 game. Maryland's very good, and they've been very good all year long. They finish second in the Big Ten. and no one that's watched them would say they have no chance.

They have a chance to win tonight. They have a chance to win a couple of more games. They have a chance to be in the final four. But the basketball has now taken a back seat to what's going on with the team's head coach, Kevin Willard. It started about a week and a half ago when Villanova fired their head coach, Kyle Neptune. Kyle Neptune was the man that took over for a legend, Jay Wright, a two-time national championship coach at Villanova. And he wasn't very good. The results weren't very good.

He was fired at the end of this season. And Villanova has been in search mode. But they are now the only power five school, whatever you want to call it, the Big East is not Power 4 anymore. But in basketball, it is a power conference. They are the only power college basketball program right now that has not filled their head coach opening. And about a week and a half, two weeks ago, it was reported that Kevin Willard was a leading candidate for the Villanova job. That caught a lot of people by surprise. Caught me by surprise.

I'm not going to lie to you. I was like, really? why would he leave Maryland and the Big Ten for Nova and a fledgling Big East, which you can't really predict the future of? You know, I have changed my mind on the Villanova versus Maryland debate, which is a better job. And I'll probably get to that here over the last week and a half for a number of reasons. But he was asked about it a week ago today prior to their first. round game against Grand Canyon in Seattle. And Kevin Willard took the opportunity to air a lot of, you know, dirty laundry, for the lack of a

better description, on the program. Now, what he aired, anybody that's been in the know as it relates to Maryland basketball and Maryland athletics, everybody understands that everything he said was true. The program hasn't been, you know, well run. had issues in the athletic department with athletic directors, you know, the business differences, the disagreements about what to do, the money, you know, splits. This has been an issue. Going back to Gary, Gary had issues with Debbie Yao paying too much attention to football. Mark Turgeon had issues with things like just getting carpet replaced in his office. You know, I could go on and on.

And everybody understands that while the perception of Maryland from the outside is big-time basketball school, it hasn't necessarily felt that way inside the university for those in the basketball programs. So when he went public with this, airing the dirty laundry, so to speak, no one that's in the no know said, oh, that's not right. That's not true. Everybody understood it to be true. But, you know, what was he doing it for? Why in that moment? Well, you know, I thought in the moment it was to leverage the Villanova situation to get Maryland to wake up and pay attention to basketball and to give him what he wanted. You know, he had talked about things like being able to stay in New York overnight.

That's a tiny little thing. The real issue is RevShare in the athletic department, having enough money. so that they can pay players at the highest levels of the college basketball games so that they can compete year and year out, not just to make the tournament, but to compete for national championships, which, by the way, if you didn't know, Maryland's won one. You know, it was a while ago, 23 years ago, but they are a national championship program, and no one's ever debated the fact that Maryland basketball has always been capable of winning a national championship. So he went public with this last week.

Maryland won two games including just an absolute legendary game on Sunday with a legendary shot by Derek Queen at the buzzer. A shot will never forget. And then since that moment, things have really turned ugly. He came on with me on Tuesday. I asked him and I pressed him on, is he staying or leaving? when he kind of danced around the issue, I said, look, if you get what you want from the university,

will you tell me that you're going to be here next year and beyond? And he said yes. And he has essentially said yes to that question, even going back to last Thursday's press conference, implying that, you know, I'm fine if we can just start acting like a big-time basketball program. So now we are at a point in which, in his presser yesterday, when asked about, you know, this issue of, is he staying or is he leaving, he deflected with, and I played both sound bites yesterday with, you know, his, I know his personality. He is very sarcastic. And he, you know, for those that didn't hear it yesterday, I played it on the podcast yesterday, but basically he's at.

you know, tell us, give us an update on the situation, and he talks about, you know, look, Walter Clayton Jr. is one of the best guards in America, and we have to be, he shoots going to the left, 48%. He shoots going to his right 38%. Walter Clayton Jr. is just flat out one of the best players, and we got our hands full, and we got a rebound better, too. So yeah, yeah, we, we, you're right. We have a challenge. And then he was asked again and he once again deflected. So the reporting out there, which I would say at this point, Tommy, I have not seen a report from someone I would categorize as truly credible. like, you know, a big-time college basketball writer, a big-time writer in town that has reported that Kevin Willard is leaving Maryland when this season ends. But the connecting of the dots is pretty easy.

The connecting of the dots is that Villanova has not said anything about their coaching search. They have not hired a coach that is dead silent on Villanova's. end. On this end, all of the sudden, he's not talking at all, not talking even a little bit. Maryland, I learned yesterday and shared with all of you yesterday on the show, and I've seen it reported now multiple times since sharing with you guys on the show. Maryland apparently has stepped to the table and given him assurances that he will get everything that he wants. There's been some discussion that the monetary compensation increase would make him one of the top 10 highest paid coaches in the game. Now, I can tell you, I think he was being truthful last

week. That's not what he was looking for. I'm not saying he wasn't looking for more money, but he needs the amount of money that he needs to buy players, to get the players that will allow him to win at the highest levels. And, you know, many other things. support-wise within the athletic department. But I was told that everything he's asked for, he's been given. So that leads me to this. And then I want to hear your thoughts. I think right now, as of the recording of this,

I don't know what will happen. I'm certainly leaning heavily towards him leaving. It certainly would appear that he is going to leave and take the gig at Villanova once Maryland's C. season comes to an end. I hope I'm wrong. I hope he stays. I think Kevin Willard's a very good coach. I think Kevin's personality actually in many ways is perfect for Maryland. And as effed up as this last week has been, you know, part of the effed up part of the last week has been because of him. It fits perfectly with sort of the overall, you know, mess that has sometimes

been the Maryland Athletic Department. But I want him to be the coach, but I don't feel like he is, but I would say this, Tommy, two things. One, and I think they're both true right now. Number one is this. He has a right to leave. He does have a contract that's got four more years on it, but there's always the ability for coaches to leave. That's why they have buyout clauses in contracts. And we see this all the time. We've already seen it three times in the tournament, the Colorado State Coach, the VCU coach, and the McNeese State Coach. You know, all of their players, everybody in the program knew these coaches were leaving, and yet they went out and played games, et cetera. And it happens every year. It gets messy every year with coaches

leaving and going to places. He has a right to move on if he wants to move on for whatever the reasons are. Messed up athletic department doesn't get the support he wants. Villanova doesn't have football. They're totally basketball driven. He is more comfortable living in Jersey, being a part of the big east. You know, I know that he belongs to certain places up there, golf-wise, that are really nice. And he just might be, and his family might be more comfortable living there. He has that right.

That's number one. But number two, if he leaves after saying that if I get everything, I'm staying, then he made this job so much less appealing publicly by going for the lack of a better description scorched earth on the way out. And he will be an all-time villain for the fan base. Both of those things are true. And I don't want that for him. I want him to stay.

I want them to win tonight. I want them, by the way, we can talk about in a moment. What if they do win tonight? What if they do win Saturday? And he's got to keep answering these questions. And, you know, there's an argument to be made if the, administration knows that he is leaving to go out there and tell him to go and have an assistant coach the rest of the way. But I think that, you know, because nothing's definitive at this point,

what I would say is he has that right, but if he does leave, it was not handled well. But there are a lot of reasons for him to feel the way he feels and perhaps to even leave to take a job at Villanova. But to say that if you get everything that you want and you get everything you want, and that's coming from one side at this point, and then you leave anyway, just understand that you'll be an all-time villain for Maryland basketball fans. So, with that said, I'll let you give me your thoughts. And then I will talk about the game because I do care about the game tonight. I know a lot of have been soured on it and all of a sudden don't feel into it tonight. I've watched this team all year long.

It's been a fun team to watch. And I actually think the drama of them going out and winning tonight and this continuing, it would be on one hand, embarrassing, continuing to be embarrassing for the university and the athletic department and even him to a certain degree. But, you know, this could be the last hurrah for a while for Maryland basketball. because the program will be set back in the short term significantly if he leaves. All right, go ahead.

Okay, first of all, I think you're 100% right on both counts. Both things can be true. He has legitimate issues about the program and the opportunity available to him in Villanova. He certainly has the right. if his family is more comfortable in a certain place to move on. There are all sorts of behind-the-scenes issues that could come into play. And maybe he felt he had no choice but to play it this way publicly, but there's been a lot of damage done.

There has been a lot of damage done. I don't know how much damage he's done to himself in terms of, of his next job at Villanova, if he's done any. You know, I don't know how recruiting works. I don't know if parents look a coach in the eye after they do something like this and say, how can I trust this guy? I don't know if that matters at all with recruiting

because he's not the first coach to basically do something like this and then go on to be successful. Okay. But, I mean, I understand why, Maryland fans would be so disgusted with having to watch this game. Now, they'll change your minds if Maryland wins, but if Maryland loses, it'll be a double gut punch. It will be losing the game and then the embarrassment of your program nationally. And then living with the idea that, like you said, you're going to have to start basically

all over again. so he did a lot of damage and I don't know if there was a better way to handle it there had to be a better way to have handled it did he do any damage to Maryland football if there now going to be resentment that your coach for Maryland left because you spent too much money on your football program

will there be resentment among fans saying Jesus let's just get rid of football Well, there's been resentment towards that for a while. I mean, you know. But maybe it'll be more public this time. But let me just say, the level of passion for football is just, it's a fraction of what it is for basketball. So I don't even know. The passion may increase and it may be much more negative.

Yeah, I think, look, in this era of college sports, I mean, pretty much anything goes. with players, with coaches. It really is. I mean, it just... It's a wild west. Yeah. And like for the last couple of years, I have thought, well, this is really going to impact my interest in college football and in college basketball.

The truth is, once the game start, it hasn't. You know, I mean, I loved the expansion of the college football playoff. You know, the teams playing in new leagues and, you know, all these matchups that ended up being conference matchups I thought was going to be really off-putting. I don't know. Once the games start, their games, I enjoy the games. I feel the same way about college hoops. I mean, yeah, if I could go back and turn it back to the way it was with Maryland and the ACC and Syracuse and the Big East and, you know, all these different things, of course.

Because I think they've done some damage to the, you know, the feelings that people have. But once the games begin and your team's good, you get into. it. As far as, you know, I do have to mention this because I don't know if you've seen this or not, but this kind of gives you an idea of just a little bit how disconnected sometimes, you know, I'm not saying Maryland's the only place. I'm just using it as an example because we see sort of tone deafness and disconnection from reality in a lot of situations. But the president of the school, Darrell Pines, teased on Tuesday. Big announcement coming on Wednesday.

And the announcement was that the 2025 commencement speaker is going to be Kermit the Frog. Kermit the Frog, I know. All right. So, I mean, Jim Henson, you know, the creator of the Muppets is a Maryland grad. He went to Maryland. Everybody that's gone to Maryland knows that Jim Henson, you know, there's a big statue with him and Kermit the Frog on a bench in college park. but I mean, how out of it do you have to be as the school president

to tease that with all of the shitstorm surrounding your basketball program going on, which, by the way, in many ways, in Maryland is a terrific school. It's a great academic institution. It's a great research. You know, everything about Maryland's phenomenal compared to what it used to. to be. And there are plenty of people at that university that make that university great beyond what it's ever been before that couldn't give a shit about sports, basketball, football, or any of this. And you've got to keep that in mind that in your world,

this may be an embarrassment. But I'm thinking for most of the Maryland alumni, they think that's a cool story. Yes. No, I'm telling you. I'm telling you. I'm totally with you. That's my point is that we get wrapped up in our bubbles and we think that everybody understands how, but no. Now, if you look at social media reaction to the announcement, it's all Kevin Willard, like how tone deaf could you be? I'm not saying that everybody, you know, looked at that and had the same reaction. I'm just saying, if you're the school president, you should have an ability to kind of read the room in the moment. I don't think that was the best timing for that.

And look, the reaction that he got on social media, again, social media, not real world, but I mean, it was vicious, vicious. But it was kind of funny. And by the way, I am curious to see how that works out. But back to, you know, the current here. There is a scenario in which that season ends tonight, or they advance tonight, or even before the game tonight, that all of this, you know, hullabaloo was all for not. Kevin and his agent have looked at everything, and he was just dialed in on the game, and they're really thrilled with what, you know, the university's put in front of him, and he's all Maryland. He's staying. He's not going anywhere. And they go out and win tonight, win or lose.

And it's like, you know, he says, look, I'm not on social media. I'm not paying attention to this. We had games. We had things, we had a real big time opponent. We had travel. We had all this going on. I let my agent handle everything. I said, let's get through this game and then we can talk about it.

You know, or let's get through this weekend and then we can talk about it. You know, people do. Get, like the reaction right now in the bubble that I'm talking about is so overwhelmingly tilted negatively. Like, people have already written them off. Like at this point, if he said, I don't know what you guys are talking about. They came to me with everything. I'm staying.

People would be pissed. They'd be, we don't want you to stay. And he might be like, what are you talking about? Like, all of this is still in play in terms of what the reality of the situation is. because as we're recording this, Tommy, I still haven't seen anybody report anything definitive. Maybe it's because Villanova's done a great job of keeping, you know, the lid on it, and Kevin and his agent have done a great job, and everybody around him has done a great job of keeping the lid on it. I don't know what silence would indicate that they've got what they wanted.

Yeah, I think so. Yeah. I think so. That would indicate that to me. You know, let's talk about how you're still able to enjoy the games, okay? That's good, but the games have become less and less relevant in all sports. It's the drama now that fuels. Not for me.

Not for me. I don't know. I'm not disagreeing with you for a lot of people, but not for me. Not for you, but generally right now, look, what are the top topic subject, top subject talking about today? LeBron and Stephen A. Smith's feud. That's one of the top subjects in sports today. People feed on the drama now that how goes on the sports.

So all this while seemingly self-destructive and the chaos of college sports, I think, increased interest in it. I think more people are paying attention now than maybe ever before because it's so chaotic, because it's so dramatic, because it's so soap-operish. So as far as damage to the sport, you know, damage of interest, I think this only makes it more interesting. And it's not for me either, Kevin. I hate it. You know? I mean, but there's a generation of kids that have grown up that don't watch games. period. Okay, so they're fueled by the drama. So I don't

I think like the chaos of college sports, however distasteful it may be for somebody who loves the competition and the games itself. For a generation, this is what they live with. This is what they live for. Yeah. This is their

I mean, you know, so... The Stephen A. LeBron thing is so dumb. I just don't have much interest in it. I mean, I mean, I think I think I had taken a couple of days off because, you know, I went away that went down to Florida for a few days. And I think those were a couple of the days that I took off. And when it happened, I just remember thinking, I mean, just two drama queens in, you know, together, just, you know, creating more viral moments together. Like I, Steve, the whole thing that started it was this, you know, confrontation on the floor.

floor with LeBron essentially telling Stephen A, keep my son's name out your mouth. And all the while, LeBron's the one that's brought his son front and center for everybody to talk about with the way he built his son. And the pressure he put on his son by having him drafted at a spot where he probably shouldn't have been drafted. I mean, he's a G-League player at this point. I mean, I don't want to give that any more attention, but that's an example. of what drives interest in sports these days, and the way sports are measured.

The bottom line is, I think he's leaving. I think Maryland loses. I feel bad for Maryland basketball fans. I did want to mention... You know, I think it hurts the football program, too. I really do. I wanted to mention that Chick Hernandez did actually report that Maryland, they are, you know, the search firm, these search firms, I don't get why.

I mean, they don't have an athletic director right now, understood, which by the way, and I mentioned this on yesterday's show, hello, Gary Williams is right here. How about Gary is the intram A.D. and settles all this madness down. Like, I don't, you've got a guy who has Maryland's best interest in his mind and in his heart. He's, 80 going on 50, and he can settle this shit down. He doesn't want to be a long-term AD. I'm not suggesting that, but you have somebody that can come in and handle a really difficult situation if Willard leaves.

Like, we got to hire a basketball coach and probably hire a basketball coach before the AD's hired. But Chick reported that the search firm, Marilyn has asked the search firm now to, include in its search, in addition to athletic director, a head basketball coach. So that is something else that is out there. Real quickly, too, if he does leave, I don't want to be hyperbolic because I think college sports with the portal and the whole thing, you can turn it around instantaneously. But there is short-term carnage here, no doubt.

You know, you don't have a coach. The portals open. You know, Gillespie and Rodney Rice, that's your starting back court at Villanova next year. Maryland will basically be punting on next season. The best coaches in terms of availability are not available anymore. I don't know who you're going to hire as a head coach. Maryland's not an unattractive job, no matter how it's perceived after the last week, you know, plus. but it isn't as attractive as it used to be. And anybody coming in is going to understand what Kevin Willard was talking about and what Mark Turgeon was talking about when he was here, and even what Gary was talking about. And they're going to need everything that Kevin Willard asked for

and apparently got assurances of before they come in here. But you can, in college sports now, you can turn it around in one off season. Look at what Marilyn had a losing record last year. year. They want their, you know, ranked 11th in the country and in the suite 16 this year. The portal allows that. So, but the short term, you know, there is short term devastation, carnage, destruction, whatever word you want to use, uh, because of the timing of it. And again, you know, this falls back on first and foremost, the administration, okay, this is, you know, this is, and an athletic department and a basketball program that has been at odds for too long,

and the AD Damon Evans should have figured this thing out long before the tournament ever started, before he left to go to SMU. This stuff should have been figured out a while ago, because Kevin didn't just start complaining about some of these things. But at the same time, I'm telling you. you, Tommy. He'll be top of the list all-time basketball villain. You know, if he leaves after saying that he would stay if he got everything he wanted. Now, again, I don't know if he's getting everything you wanted. I've been told, and others have been told that they gave him everything he asked for.

That's one side of the story. We'll see. Interesting to watch a play out. There is a game tonight. I promised yesterday that I would preview it and pick it. I've got a smell test. for games coming up tonight. Guess who's in it? Maryland! And it's opening day. So Tommy will preview the Nats' upcoming season.

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payments due until the year 2027 and no interest charged before you get to 2027. call them at 86690 Nation or go to windonation.com. So, Tommy, I actually, look, it wasn't a distraction to Maryland last weekend. I don't think it was. I actually don't think players are distracted by this. Look, these players are, Derek Queen's going to the NBA, Juju Reese is graduating, Seltin Miguel's graduating. Rodney Rice and Jacoby Gillespie were going to be massive, you know, draws in

the portal if they entered the portal. Either Maryland was going to pay them big time to come back and play with Kevin Wildard as a coach. Now, you know, probably head to Villanova. I don't really think this matters as much for the players. It probably matters for the coaching staff. You know, not only Kevin, you know, in his situation, and probably, although I have a feeling a lot of this kind of bounces right off of him, but the assistance, you know, in their future and what it means. They're trying to weather this storm that has nothing to do with the game. But I don't think the players matter. I like Maryland tonight to give Florida a really good game.

The key tonight is rebounding. Florida is a very good offensive rebounding team, and Maryland has been hurt consistently here in recent games with, you know, offensive rebounds, second and third chances. if they give Florida second and third chances in this game with 12, 13, 14, 15 offensive rebounds, I don't think Maryland can win the game. I think if Maryland turns the ball over, they're in trouble. But that's not really been an issue for them. I think they have a chance to play a lot better. They're capable of playing much better than they played opening weekend.

And I think Florida's pace will allow Maryland to get into a rhythm offensive. And it would not surprise me if we end up with, you know, a high 70s, low to mid-80s shootout between two very good offensive basketball teams. Clayton Jr. is a load. He's one of the best guards in the country. I think you'll see Rodney Rice on him. I think you'll see Seltin Miguel on him. But Maryland's key is for everybody to rebound. Guards have to rebound. They probably have to switch less. than they've been switching recently because that's gotten them, you know, bigs out high, guarding smaller guys and smaller guys down low, guarding bigger guys.

I don't want to see a lot of zone tonight. I don't think they have to play a lot of zone. Like with every Maryland game, staying out of foul trouble is huge. But I think Maryland's got a legit shot. I think Florida's an awesome team. When you look at Florida's season and you go through the games in which, and they only lost four, Tommy, you know, They lost a game 106 to 100 to Kentucky at Rupp.

They lost 8382 against Missouri. They got blown out in early February at Tennessee. Tennessee held them to 44 points in that game, and Clayton Jr. to just 10 points, and they lost to Georgia on the road in late February. In those games, the opposing teams shot well from behind the arc, and they didn't give up, you know, a lot in second chance. Georgia did in their game against Florida. I think if Maryland rebounds well, you know, maybe they get beat on the boards, but not significantly.

And they shoot the ball well from behind the arc, which they've done a lot this year. And they protect the basketball. This is a back and forth, highly entertaining game that goes 84, 82 one way or the other. but I give Maryland a really good chance to win the game tonight. I like them. I'm going to pick them 84 to 82 to advance to the Elite 8. If they get there, they might be favored over Texas Tech or Arkansas in an Elite 8 game. I know the shitstorm surrounding this game might impact it. I don't think players care.

They've been together all year. They've had an incredibly special moment on Sunday. They got tested big time, so did Florida. I'm picking Maryland to win tonight. Okay, boss. I hope you're right for your sake, because I want to see you happy. But I think this is a Florida beatdown. 8772.

Florida wins. I think you're wrong about the players. I think this impacts them significantly. I think all they're seeing from their friends on social media and texts and stuff is saying, what's going on, bro? What's going on with your program? Either that or they're getting embarrassing texts or tweets from their friends. I think basically you can't ignore something like this anymore.

That's not possible. You could if you lived, if you were in a program that was protective. Okay, but since you've got the coach involved in this, you know, it's almost like in every man for himself situation now. So I think this has a huge impact on the players. I think most of them are already gone in their minds, like their coach. And I think it's a Florida beat down. You got Florida 8772.

I've got Maryland 8482. It would be really fascinating if Maryland won and we had another two days of this. And if they won and we had another week. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. You know, you asked something in the last segment, and I don't think either one of us answered it. I could be wrong. I think you just mentioned it.

And that is, is there and would there have been a way for this to be handled by him in which, you know, the reaction wouldn't have been this? I don't think so. You know what? It would require putting his interests in the rear window. people do it all the time. Not necessarily. I mean, let's just play it out. If he doesn't say a thing,

every time he's asked about it, going back to last Thursday, which was the first time, it's not that he brought it up. He was asked, and then he, you know, then he went off on the inadequacies of the program. But if he were asked about Villanova last week,

and he said, look, I've got, you know, I got 14 guys and 5.5. coaches. We've had this journey together. We're playing great basketball. We're playing now our most important games. I am only focused on Grand Canyon. I am only focused on Colorado State. You're not going to get me off topic. I'm living in the moment. I am only focused on Florida. And then he left. And he never, ever, you know, disparaged, you know, the athletic department, the university, and you don't think that there would be incredible disdain for him?

There would be. Maybe not at the same level, but I'm... I think there are two ways this could have went. This way or else you button up and behind the scenes you say, I'm going to win a national championship and I'm going to shove it down their throat when I do. Right. but I'm talking about fan reaction when he leaves. Yes.

If you never saw it coming, other than the questions that he ducked and deflected all the... That's not the same. The question you had, could he handle this differently? Yes. And I'm saying he could have handled it differently unless he was leaving from the start. Okay. Yes, he could have... I'm suggesting that if he did handle it differently, as I just laid out, would the

reaction have been much different? If he left. Yes. No, it wouldn't have been. Okay, that's my point. So if he's already gone, there's no easy way to leave is my point. No, there's not. There's not.

But if he was using, if he, if he knew when he first answered this question that he was leaving, no, there's no easy way to do it. Right. But if he really was trying to leverage something to help him at Maryland and to help the Maryland program, then there was a better way to do this. I agree with that. I agree with that. I think that there was a better way to handle it. We agree on that, it sounds like. But I'm not sure the reaction would have been a lot different. It may have been less, you know,

sort of venomous. Is that the word I'm looking for? I think so. That works. It would have been, you know, it would have been less harsh. but it still would have been harsh. It still would have been Good riddance, you traitor. How could you do this? We just had the best season we've had nine years and you're going to leave to take the Villanova job.

No, there's no easy way to leave. But there's a better way to leave. Yes. And I would certainly guess that if he leaves, and it certainly appears as that he will, that this has been in the works for a while. It has to be.

It has to have been. It always is. So then the whole, you know, trying to get what you want for the program, while he may have been right in that the program deserved or needed more to be successful to meet expectations, it was kind of disingenuous to present it as that. Or maybe he thought they wouldn't, you know, respond and he could say, look, I told you guys before the tournament started what this program

needs. I really had the program's best interest at heart. And they're just not moving. There's not even an AD here to negotiate with. It's kind of an S show right now. I'm out of here. Sorry. But yeah, look, I guarantee you, the coaches that left that were tournament coaches, that stuff with their agents was in the works long before they played their tournament games. You know, the Colorado State coach knew he was leaving to go back to Minnesota before they played Maryland or before they played Memphis. He just wasn't asked about it, I guess, or didn't offer it up. All right.

Here's what Maryland could do. Maryland could hire Jay Wright. Somebody, I saw somebody tweet that Damon Evids should go on social media, the athletic director, and announce that Kevin Willard's leaving. A week after, you know, Kevin introduced into the conversation, yeah, my AD's taking the job at SMU. All right, I've got some Sweet 16 smell test picks. Let's get to those. Kevin looks where the John Q public is putting their cash and does the opposite. It's time for the smell test.

Smell test brought to you by, as always, MyBooky, if you're looking to bet on these Sweet 16 games and throughout the weekend, my recommendation is MyBooky. Go to MyBooky.orgie.orgie. Use my promo code, Kevin, D.C. They'll give you a cash bonus, extra cash to wager with when you use my promo code, Kevin D.C. If there's something written in the promo code, erase it and write Kevin D.C. My bookie's got everything you need for. all four Sweet 16 games tonight. Right now, Maryland is a six-point underdog to Florida. That's down from six and a half earlier in the week. Plus, they've got all of the NFL futures up. Right now, Washington's win total is up. 10 and a half. That's the highest win total for Washington entering a season since the year 2000. That was the offseason of Dion Sanders and Bruce Smith and Jeff George and Mark Carrier, etc. That's the last time that there were any legitimate preseason expectations going into a season was that 2000 season. Remember, they had won the division in 99.

They won a playoff game in 99, and they were really close in a 14 to 13 loss at Tampa from the NFC championship game to the championship game, which would have been in St. Louis that year against the Rams. But this is the highest expectation year for Washington win total-wise since 2000. Ten and a half is the over-under on wins, and we haven't even had the draft yet. So my bookie's got everything. Even if you have a place where you're wagering on sports, take the free money at MyBooky and take a spot in which you can ensure getting a favorable number. Point spread, total, moneyline price, just pricing in general. MyBooky.ag, I promise you, it'll work out for you. Remember this too with the cash bonus. You can't just take the cash bonus and then cash out. It's not

the way it works. You've got to bet with the cash bonus and your initial deposit if you're going to take the cash bonus. MyBooky.ag promo code, Kevin, D.C. Two picks tonight in the Sweet 16 games. And yes, Tommy, I already mentioned that Maryland is in the smell test. The Terps are six-point dogs. Florida is the most heavily bet public team of the night. I like the Terps. I don't think the players are going to be affected by all of this. The coaching could be, and I could be dead wrong. Every sports book tonight will need Maryland plus the points against Florida. So I'll give out Maryland. And I will give out Texas Tech laying five and a half against Arkansas.

A lot of John Caliperi, Arkansas public money. I was close to BYU and Arizona. I like both of those sides. There's slightly more public action on Duke, but there's also sharp action on Duke. and there is more public action on Bama in that game against BYU, but not overwhelming action, and there's some sharp money on both sides of that game.

So I stayed off both of those, but all four games are interesting to me tonight. But the official plays are Maryland plus six and Texas Tech minus five and a half. 9, 7 and 1 through the first weekend of the tournament. so two games above 500. All right, Tommy will have a Nats season preview when we come back right after these words from a few of our sponsors. All right, Tommy, tell us about Shelly's. Well, today is one of my favorite days on the sports calendar.

It's opening day of baseball. I'll be heading to Nationals Park shortly for the Nationals game against the Phillies. And my plan for today is a full day for me. Okay, 71 years old. starting the podcast in the morning, into Nats Park for a full day of opening day, and for a 4 o'clock game against the Phillies. And when the game is over,

I'm heading to Shelly's back room to watch the Maryland game. That's a full day at 71. That's a full day. Yep. And I won't be drinking water when I'm at Shelly's back room. No. Okay. No, you won't.

I'll be drinking my Sierra Nevada, of the many, the tremendous selection of beers that they have available. I mean, you can find out their drink. They list their drink menu online at shelley's backroom.com. Yes, they do. I'll be smoking what hopefully would be a winning cigar for the Maryland Terps. And I'll be probably eating one of Shelley specials tonight. One of their specials, the one that appeals to me, is the bacon-musroom chicken melt.

grilled chicken breast, smoked bacon, saute mushrooms, provolone cheese on a potato, Kaiser roll, one of the greatest rolls ever made, served with fries. That'll be my dinner while I'm watching the game at Shelley's Backroom. You can come down and join me at shelley's backroom.com, 1331 F Street, Northwest, in the district. So Kaiser rolls are the best rolls ever made? No, potato. Oh, the potato roll. You said Kaiser rolls. It says potato Kaiser rolls.

Okay. The two best six put together. I don't consider a Kaiser roll, a potato roll, but I guess you can put them together. Kaiser rolls, I was considered. When you open your bar, you can decide if a potato and Kaiser rolls can go together. Are you drinking the Sierra Nevada seasonal or the Sierra Nevada pale ale on draft? I don't think seasonal. There's no seasonal with me.

Okay. Sorry about that. You know, this is some made-up bullshit. In spring, it's opening day. I thought you might go seasonal. All right. What has to go right for the nationals to be a wild card contender when we get to September 1st? Well, I tell you why, they need to have tremendous pitching.

They need to have tremendous pitching. this pitching from a young untested pitching staff. Okay. They need a lot of players who we think may be good, but have no indication they are to be maybe better than we think they can be. Okay, look, people are going to be psyched up to watch James Wood, you know, take the field. Last year they called him up, and he looked really good in the time that he played in Washington.

He looks like an all-star. Dylan Cruz, their number one pick was called up last year. Did not play particularly well, but there's still a lot of promise about Dylan Cruz. They need those guys to both deliver because they didn't get the power that they wanted to get this offseason.

They added some power in the lineup, and that's for like 25th and run production last year. They may be a little better, but it's going to rest on their pitching, not just their starting pitching, but their bullpen before they get to their clothes are Kyle Finnegan. A lot of questions about the bullpen. And this kills you in April and May when you have pitchers going even shorter starts than they normally would later in the season.

You need the middle of your bullpen more than ever in April and May. And their middle of their bullpen is very, very untested and unsure of itself, right? now. And look, the Nats play the Phillies. Okay? And then I think they play the Mets. I mean, then they played at Dodgers somewhere in the next couple weeks.

They have it. I mean, it's, they play in the division with the Phillies, the Mets, and the Braves. You know, look, you have an ownership group that's cheap that doesn't want to operate their baseball team like it's a major league team. And any

success they have, which I think will be limited this year is through the good graces of mike grizzo the general manager so uh i don't have high hopes for much better than the 71 wins they had last year okay so 71 91 91 last year you think it's somewhere around that yes yeah i mean i just i just you would have to have massive years from mackenzie core who's the starter today jake irvin you know mitchell parkerker they just they would have to have so much go right and over 162 games a lot of things go wrong yeah i i guess that you know you believe if they get really good starting pitching from let's just say mackenzie gore you know as their ace uh from jake irvin from saroka uh from parker and then

you end up with, you know, Wood and Cruz, Wood having, you know, I'm not going to say an MVP caliber season, but how many home runs will Wood hit this year? He could hit 25 to 30. If he hit over 30, that would be very helpful. Right. If you get, you know, big time years from wood, from Cruz, like you said, the bullpen doesn't soil itself.

Like best case, because the division, vision they're in is what, 500? No. No, no, no. No, they might be seven or eight games better. Okay. So that would be wild card territory? No, they won 71 games last year. No, I just said 500. I said if all those things go well, could they be 500? And you just said seven or eight games better than 500. I don't think, I met better, seven or eight games

better than last year. Oh, well, 81. and 81 would be 10 games better than last year. Okay, so you don't think they can be... All right, got it. All right. Give me the player on the team that you think, you know, not talking about the gores or the woods or the, you know, cruises. Give me a player that has a chance to be much better than anybody thinks he will be this year.

Maybe Jacob Young in Centerfield, who showed a lot of promise last year. you know, he's not a home run guy, but he gets on base. He's very quick. He could emerge, and he's a gold glove. He should be a gold glove. Alfielder, I'm going to say Jacob Young, who's not one of the power bats, but could have a breakout year and wind up being an all-star. Okay. What else do we need to know?

Again, you know, Jesus, I mean, talk about a Maryland fan base. They've had five straight losing seasons, and people are looking forward to seeing what the kids do. You know, that's AAA baseball. That's minor league baseball. There's no demands on this franchise, and there should be. Okay, so the demands would be on ownership first. Yes. Not Mike Rizzo.

Absolutely. Not Mike Rizzo, your guy. their payroll is among the lowest in baseball. Every department they run is among the lowest in baseball in terms of money committed. And then they're a marketing idiots. How's that? You want to talk about marketing idiots? You wouldn't have even known there was a baseball team in town this winter.

I'll tell you what. I hope you get down there soon enough so that your seat doesn't get moved to a different part of the press box. Yeah, I, it is true. What you're saying, yeah. I once, in 2008, when the Nationals Park opened, okay, at the end of the season after he lost 100 games, I called Bud Seelich, the commissioner, to write a column and asked him point blacking if he thought he made a mistake by picking the learner's his owner. So that didn't get me from that. What did he say?

Oh, he gave some mealy-mouth answer, you know, saying it takes time. to build a franchise and stuff. But nobody opens a ballpark with a team that loses 100 games. Let me just point that out. Mets with Soto, Phillies, with Harper or the Braves? Who wins the NL East?

I think the Mets do. Wow. I think I'm a believer in the Soto Magic. All right. I think who doesn't win it? Maybe both teams are in the wild card, or at least, I think at least one wildcard team comes from the N.O.E. Will C.J. Abrams be available to play every game this year?

Well, I think if he's gotten over his gambling habit, yes. I don't have a great sense of what they're capable of doing other than what I have read. I feel like something better than 71 wins is in the cards. I'm hoping for... You've read from the cheerleaders, Kevin. I don't read just from the cheerleaders. In fact, I don't really read from the cheerleaders. I just read the national sort of stuff and previews

and, you know, people who are out there that are looking at the entire league. I think that they, what you said, I mean, McKenzie Gore has got to be a true ace. They've got to have some depth in their starting rotation. The bullpen's got to be better than anybody thinks it's going to be. And they've got to hit with a little bit more power than they did last year. year. And if they do that, they can win, you know, they can win 80, 81. But the division they're in makes it so much harder, even though you don't play those division teams quite as many times

as you used to. It's just baseball, Tommy, year in and year out, isn't, you know, the most predictable of sports, I would say the NBA, is that probably more than any of the major pro sports leagues? but man, you know, it is about having the players and those players being healthy. Because if you've got the best players and they're healthy, the predictions of, you know, 95 to 100 wins usually comes true. And they're in, you know, playing in October. And Philly, the Braves and the Mets all have those kinds of expectations because of the lineups they have.

And the money they've spent, which the learners have not. All right, anything else we should know about the upcoming season? That's all I got for you, boss. All right. I will be watching today. Gore against Wheeler, 405, Nats Park. Nice day, right? Beautiful day today for opening day.

Maybe should they at least let everybody know that there's a game today? Should they have done that in the last few days? I tell you what, you know what? In Philly, they know there's a game today. I know. I think there's plenty of people that know there's opening there. Because there'll be so many Philly fans in the stands today. Oh, yeah.

That happens for sure. All right. Enjoy it. I'll talk to you next week. I'll be back tomorrow with whatever happens today and tonight. See you, Tommy. See you, boss. All right.

That's it for the day. I'll be back tomorrow. Kevin, obviously, you've been very open the last week about, you know, trying to get greater NIL share, revenue share. I'm sure you saw Mike Loxley yesterday said he would prefer to keep some of these issues in-house. Why have you felt like kind of bringing this discussion in the open has been the best way to advocate for your program? Well, I mean, I'll be honest.

I think our biggest thing is we got to stop Clayton. He's really good. He shoots the basketball going left, 48%. he shoots it right going at like 38%. So really the last couple days, trying to come up with the game plan to stop, you know, Clayton because I just think he's one of the best guards in the country that we've seen.

And then really, you know, obviously trying to fix our rebounding woes have been at the top of my mind too. So yeah, it's a big problem.