The Kevin Sheehan Show - Terps, Ovi's 700, and Fury

Episode Date: February 24, 2020

Kevin and Aaron opened with a recap of Maryland's first loss in over a month. Jeff Ermann/InsideMDSports.com joined the show to discuss. Ben Raby/Caps Radio Network was a guest on the show to talk about Alex Ovechkin's 700th career goal and the Caps' win yesterday over Pittsburgh. The boys talked Fury-Wilder 2 and Kevin considered the importance of adding a veteran wide receiver for the Redskins. <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. Wide open eye out on the left side. Drives against Luther Muhammad. Here's Wiggins in the right corner for three. He got it. Big shot by Aaron Wiggins. This team will not ever die. 58 to 55 with 541 to go and Wiggins knocks down his fourth triple in this game. That was Johnny Holliday. Chris Nocky on the call. Heard here locally on the team 980. Same station where my radio show is, weekday morning 7 to 10 a.m. It's Aaron, it's me. It's lots to get to. We will have Jeff Erman on the show. He covers the Terps. He'll be coming up shortly.

And maybe another guest or two. Who knows what the day has in store for us here on a Monday. There was a lot of sports over the weekend. Like nothing huge unless you watch the fight, which I did. Aaron, did you watch the fight? I did. All right, so we will get to that. I just, you know, a little bit of a teaser. I really enjoyed it.

And I think I might get back into boxing. But we got more on that coming up shortly. A little bit on the Redskins, some thoughts I had over the weekend about whether or not this team has a good enough wide receipts. at this point. I know everybody's high on the young guys. I think it may be in their best interest to pursue a veteran starting wide receiver. And they could go big on that or they could go sort of mid-level. We'll talk about that. Some other Redskin stuff as well. Caps split over the weekend. Ovechkin gets his 700th goal. Lots to get to, including the NFL and the NFLPA and what's going on there. But we're going to start with the Maryland basketball game. First loss in their last 10 games. They had a nine-game winning street going into the game yesterday in Columbus against Ohio State. Just so some of you understand this, some will say, oh, you know, they're number seven. Ohio State's number 25. You can't lose.

No, no, no. Maryland was the underdog, okay? It was not an upset. I never look at a ranking and say that's an upset. I look at the point spread. I don't know, Aaron, if that's the way you do it, I would imagine that you do. In large part, there are some exceptions where I do think. that you can be, you know, when the bookmakers know something, they make someone a small

favorite, and it can still be considered an upset, but not in this. Yeah, like the, an unranked team as a, as a favorite, you know, at home over the number 10 team in the country, even though the home, you know, the unranked team's favorite, I understand if people want to call that an upset. But let me just explain this to all of you, and I think we've done it before. The boys in the desert know a lot more about sports than what. writers do to vote on an Associated Press top 25, just so everybody understands that. Ohio State was favored yesterday in part because there are a really good team who just happens to be ranked 25th because they play in the best league in America and they've lost some games.

You know, they lost at one point six out of seven in league play. Why? Because the league is brutal this year. They've also now beaten four top 25. AP teams on their schedule at home. And they actually blew out North Carolina early in the year when North Carolina was ranked seventh. Of course, you know, there's a perfect example. Writers don't know. I believe if I'm, you know what, I'm going to look this up because I'm almost positive

I had Ohio State that day because I think Ohio State may have been favored against North Carolina that day. And if they weren't favored against the number seven team in the country, they were barely an underdog. That would be an indication that the boys in the desert knew a little bit more about the game. I can find that out in two seconds here. Just give me a second. I am curious, was Ohio State an underdog or a favorite against North Carolina early in the season?

Against North Carolina, they were a three-point underdog. Okay? At North Carolina, Big Ten ACC Challenge, Chapel Hill. North Carolina ranked seventh in the country for that game, and Ohio State was a mere three-point underdog. So they blew them out. They won 74 to 49, and now we know what North Carolina is. They're the worst team of the ACC, which is just shocking to say.

But anyway, about the game yesterday, it was a good college basketball game. I love basketball. I like to see the game played well. I like to see the game coached well. Just to get this out of the way right now, to those of you who don't know a lot about basketball. Maryland was a well-coached team yesterday. Turgeon did an outstanding job coaching that team. A lot of you'll just say, see, you know, can't even beat Ohio staying in the road. You know, they turned it over, sticks and cow, and they tried to play Mario. No,

they were a well-coached team yesterday. They were down their two best players on a night where both of their two best players were off. They weren't right last night. Occasionally, you're going to have a night where you don't play great. They got into foul trouble, eventually Cowan fouling out. And Maryland still, as you heard Holiday and Naki call it, cut it to three with still six minutes left in the game down 14. They did it for a number of reasons. They did it because Turgeons continued to coach up some of his players who have suffered through confidence crises this year. You know, Aaron Wiggins, Aaron Wiggins, Eric Iala, both of whom came up big with Cowan and Sticks, not playing their best games. Iala had 16, was three for eight from behind the ark.

Aaron Wiggins had 20. He was six of 13 behind the arc. You know, I heard Turgents say multiple times in January, December, January, some of our guys got to get confident. I got to help them get confident. There are things we can do in practice. There are things we can do in conversation. And he's, that's been a big part of it. And he knew, why? Because at some point, Iowal and Wiggins were going to have to play well, and we're going to have to carry the team because sticks and Cowan have been carrying it pretty much every night, and they were off, and then they got in foul trouble. They got back into that game because Mark Turgeon did an outstanding job, switching up his defenses in the second half. It did an outstanding job of running good plays out of

timeouts, one of which ended up in a stick smith dunk off of a beautifully designed. First of all, was a back screen for Cowan, who turns around and then back. screens back for sticks and Morsell hits him with the lob. It was beautifully done. Turgeon's coaching well this year. For those of you who don't think so, you don't know what you're talking about. Are there things that you can nitpick here and there? Absolutely. I thought they went underneath too many screens, ball screens in the first half against guys that weren't necessarily great shooters statistically from behind the arc. But once they knocked a couple of them down, especially Muhammad, they chose to go underneath those screens a few times.

and sort of sit back a little bit. But they picked up their defenses, and then they switched defenses in the second half. They showed one-three one-on-one possession. Next possession down they were in their three-two. Next possession down there in the man-to-man. A lot of that, you may say, well, they're playing a college team, and they can handle that. You'd be surprised at how many college basketball games I watch,

where the defense is switch and it takes two possessions for the offense to even figure out what the hell is going on. You know, at the college level, you see it all the time at the high school level. And my God, for any of you youth coaches, if you have enough practice time and you can coach up a couple of different zones and a couple of different defenses, and you switch those defenses, you're going to confuse the hell out of most youth coaches and most youth teams. They're coming down, they've been running their man-to-man stuff,

and all of a sudden you're in a two-three and they're trying to run their man stuff. or you switch a zone from 2-3 to a 3-2 or to a 1-3-1 zone after they just call the time-out to try to run something against your 2-3. Okay, you attack zones differently. Every zone gets attacked differently. Man-to-man gets attacked differently. The way you're playing man-to-man, are you playing inside the arc, outside it? Are you switching?

Are you hedging? How are you playing ball screens? All of that. How are you playing the post, the mid-post? You can switch a lot of that stuff. Turgeon's an excellent defensive coach, and he has been throughout. And I thought some of what he did in the second half got him back into it on a night where they didn't have their best.

They didn't have their best, and by the way, they didn't get a whistle last night, which I'm not going to complain about at all, because on the road in big leagues like the Big Ten, more times than not, especially when a team's desperate like Ohio State, they sort of needed, they're in the tournament. You know, Ken Palm and the net rankings love Ohio State. And they had won two of three coming in. They had lost at Iowa in their last game. It was a big game for them.

It was sort of a big game for the Big Ten, Aaron. You know, somebody knocking Maryland off finally. And Ohio State had the building sold out, had the building fired up, and they got the benefit of the whistle. There's no doubt. Maryland's gotten the benefit of the whistle at home before, too. All right? Ohio State got a critical call that went their way late in the game,

which I will get to momentarily. I did want to mention one thing that I thought was interesting about the game. This is really for you hardcore Maryland fans that are listening, and I know we have a lot of them. And I know some of you don't really care. You'll have to wait for the Redskins stuff and the other stuff here. So early in the game, before Cowan or before Sticks, had gotten into foul trouble, Turgeon did something that he has been talking about doing but really hadn't done yet. He decided to give the bench some extended minutes.

in a key stretch of the game, including Chol Mariel, some significant minutes in the first half. Cowan and sticks both off the floor at the same time in the first half. And the guys went in there, and the lineup they had on the floor during that stretch was Chol Mariel, the 7'2 South Sudanese kid, who just as an aside, I have no idea if he's coming back next year. I hope he does, because he is athletic. He has good hands. He's got good feet.

He can run the floor. This dude, you can see why people projected him to be a first-run NBA pick before all the injuries and why he was a five-star guy. Aaron, just tell me real quickly, and we can ask Jeff Herman this, is there any chance he's coming back next year? I'd say there's a chance. Because he is intriguing. I'm sure they sometimes at practice are like, whoa, we've not seen much of that. that from a seven two guy. He's talented. Anyway, this extended portion of the first half, without sticks and without Cowan on the floor. Now, that doesn't happen. Turg doesn't do that very often.

And he did it for four minutes, and they went from down four to up two. I actually think in some ways that Cowan sticks may have gotten out of rhythm a little bit, their normal rhythm. But Turg was thinking big picture. He's thinking at some point in a six-game run, to a national championship if we're lucky enough to be a part of something like that. We're going to need the bench to contribute a little bit more, at least in one of those games. You know, in college basketball in a 40-minute game with, by the way, every four minutes, a TV timeout, you don't need a super deep bench. You really don't.

Now, you need some depth if you get into foul trouble, and yesterday was one of those games. They ultimately got into foul trouble. But you saw some of that, Turgeon thinking big picture in the first half, without losing. anything. Now, where they lost was at the end of the first half when Sticks went to the bench with his second foul and the game went from 30 to 30, I think, to 40 to 33 at halftime. That was a crucial stretch in the game. Cowan and Sticks hadn't played well in the first half. Now, Cowan had four or five assists in the first half. They had one made field goal between the two of them, and Marilyn was down seven at the half with really a chance late in the half to go in, you know,

really, really close. And then in the second half, Ohio State comes. out. They bury a three. Wesson, the big boy made a three, his brother made a two, and then it's 47 to 33 in Maryland called the timeout. One thing about this team is they can be down a lot and come back. In all four of their road wins, which proceeded yesterday in which they won, they came from behind to win all of those games. By 15 at Northwestern, by 14 at Illinois, by seven late against Indiana or eight late against Indiana and seven late against Michigan State. And so I never thought Aaron they were out of it. I did think that this wasn't their day from the beginning. Yeah, very early on. You could kind of tell, this might not go the way we hope.

And Ohio State played well, very well. They deserve a lot of the credit. And Mark Turgeon said this about their big boy, Caleb Wesson, who is a really good player, probably going to play at the next level. Wesson is 6-9, 265, 270. All right. He is arguably Ohio State's best player. He's got a chance to be an all-Big 10 player, probably not this year first team, but second team. He's a junior. He averages 15 and 10, something like that. He was very physical with sticks throughout the game and got away with a lot. Ultimately, Caleb Wesson ended up with three personal fouls. Sticks and Maryland ended up with a lot more. This was Turgeon talking about the way Caleb Wesson played. He was allowed to be the bully offensively today. I just thought he would, I mean,

it stuck a form right, and sticks his chest twice. I guess you're allowed to do that here in this building. So he was allowed to be the bully. If he's allowed to be the bully, he's a heck of a player. So he was terrific. He scored around the basket. His defense was great. His ballstream defense, and his recovery was really good. So he had to answer your question. He was, he was, he was terrific all right across the board. So that was Turgeon after the game. So a little bit of whining there, okay? At the same time, I think maybe what he was really intending to say or could have been perceived as a little bit of whining. In fact, Holpman, the Ohio State coach afterwards said, quote, Mark said that about Caleb Wesson being the bully offensively. And Holpman said,

to each his own, his opinion can be his opinion. I thought Caleb was physical and well within the rules, closed quote. So the perception, I think, by Chris Holman, the Ohio State coach, and maybe some Ohio State fans, is that was a little bit, you know, sort of whiny. I think what Turg was trying to say was he was allowed to play physically tonight, and when he's allowed to be a physical beast, then he's going to be really effective. And, you know, he complimented him there, you know, at the end, too, and Wesson's a good player. But, you know, look for a potential rematch in the Big Ten tournament between these two teams with that quote sort of coming back. There's no doubt Ohio State got a good whistle.

They had zero team fouls in the second half with still like 11 minutes, 10 minutes or like 10 minutes left in the game. Maryland ended up with a lot more fouls. Now, they were fouling late to put Ohio State at the free throw line. And Ohio State made, I think, like 17 of their last 18 free throws or something to their. that effect. But Ohio State was the better team yesterday. They shot it better. They made 10 threes. They were eight for 16 in the first half. The three-point shooting was a significant difference maker. Maryland's two best players had off nights and then got in foul trouble. And then came the stretch of the game at the end where Cowan with four fouls is in the game. He hits a driving

layup to make it 64 to 59. At that point, I don't know, They're like three minutes left in the game, something like that, Aaron? Somewhere around three minutes left in the game. And he gets fouled on the play very clearly, four minutes left in the game, excuse me, when he makes this driving layup. Gets foul by Caleb Wesson. Now, some say sticks push Caleb Wesson into Cowan. That's fine. Could have called the foul on sticks, but it definitely should have been called on Wesson as well.

It doesn't get called on Wesson. Cowan gets very frustrated. He yells at the ref, then kicks his leg up. frustrated from the ground, because he basically got tackled on the play, should have been going to the line for a free throw to cut it to four with 358 left. And they didn't call it, and instead they teed Cowan up for unsportsmanlike. However, when the pool reporter asked the official after the game, was it for unsportsmanlike for kicking his leg, they said no,

it was just a technical foul for him arguing the call with an official. which, by the way, I could see that. The unsportsmanlike, which it was told to the scores table in the moment, was over-officiating at its worst. It was an overreaction. Anthony Cowan's a star in college basketball. He's one of the stars of the Big Ten. He got fouled.

There's no doubt about it. He's allowed in a really good college basketball game that was physical. He's allowed to just bark and be a little bit frustrated at the night. non-call. Sorry. I think he was allowed to do that. I think it was overreaction 101 from the referee, and it was a big missed call because instead of him going to the free throw line with a chance to cut it to four, they shoot two free throws and they get the ball. So they're up seven and they get the ball. Marilyn still fought back, still had a chance. Eric Iala had a drive to the bucket where he was fouled in the motion, finished it, and they called the foul on the floor. Bad miss. And then

really the miss of the game came with about, I don't know, it may have been about a minute left in the game. Dante Scott got a, Eric Ayala got a rebound. They got out on the break. Iala hits Dante Scott. He hits a driving layup, gets fouled, but part of the foul was the defender grabbing his jersey and pulling it. That's a flagrant. intentional, and they missed that call. Anyway, that's it on the complaining about the officiating. Merrill didn't get a favorable call, okay? They didn't. At the same time, they fought, they hung in there with their two best players in foul trouble, with their two best players not playing well. I never like to talk about a loss as a, you know what, that's a good

loss, no. But it's okay, I think, to put it in this particular way. It wasn't a bad loss. those two may be the same thing. I just like it said the other way, because I don't want them to ever lose, but losses can be described in various ways. The loss is still a loss. It's never a good, but it wasn't bad that they lost that game. They played well. I think he learned a lot about his team.

I think he learned a lot about his bench. I think Wiggins and Ayala both probably got really some significant confidence out of that game, and it wouldn't surprise me at all if Marilyn bounces back on Wednesday, night and beats Minnesota on the road. Minnesota is not easy. Okay, Minnesota is a team fighting for a potential birth in the NCAA. They're definitely on the outside looking in right now. They have lost their last two at home to Iowa and Indiana. They haven't been nearly as good at home as Ohio State's been. But I like Marilyn's chances after losing Sunday to bounce back on Wednesday night, where I guess they will be a favorite, but only a slight favorite.

favorite on Wednesday night. Right, Aaron? Probably three-point favorite. Yeah, two to three. Yeah. What did you think from the game? A lot of what you said. I think that, you know, definitely the refs hurt. I thought that the fact that they did play hard, the entire game, they didn't completely will. We've seen that in the past. Those games, they go out on the road. They have a bad first half, and then it just gets completely out of hand. I thought that was really good. We haven't seen that once this year, except the Iowa game. Yeah, well, A, I meant the Iowa game for one. But in the past. Yes, we've certainly seen that.

I thought it was good. You know, it was certainly disappointing after, you know, the day before seeing Gonzaga, seeing San Diego State lose, knowing what this win could have meant, especially after Penn State also lost. Could have been an absolutely huge game to win. But that's the thing. It was a huge game to win, but not a bad game to lose. They're still in a perfectly fine position.

But, man, if they had come home, you know, we were talking this morning about a win, we're talking about them being probably the fourth number one seed, virtually having a lock on the Big Ten title. And now we're starting to talk about, okay, we're the one seed. Now can we get to like the number two overall seed? Right. And Marilyn would have been, according to Joe Laudy, had they won yesterday, a one seed in this morning's bracketology,

which he's got Maryland still as a two seed. And they're not going to probably drop in the rankings today. I doubt that. They didn't drop in the overall bracket. But if you missed it, San Diego State, Gonzaga and Baylor all lost on Saturday. Saturday. Kansas and Baylor, we talked about this on Friday. That was a hell of a basketball game. Azebuke is really good game. Kansas has a chance to win the whole thing. I think Baylor's got a chance.

I like Kansas's chances more. They're the favorites across the board. Are they right now? Yes. Really? Yeah. You know, Dayton's in town tomorrow night to play Mason. They've got a chance, a legit chance potentially if they run the table to be considered for a one-seat. I think right now they are, I think a lot of people have them as the fourth one seed right now. So, you know, Maryland didn't ruin their chances at a one seed with the lost to Ohio State at all. No. There's a lot of basketball left to be played, but they are solidly on the two line right now in Lunardi's latest bracketology. This Minnesota game Wednesday night, it's sort of a big game in this respect. You know, Minnesota's desperate.

They're capable. They've got a very, very good player in a tour. When I say they're capable, they've got big wins this year. Minnesota has stepped up and beaten some people this year. And Maryland, if they lose to Minnesota, it's two in a row with Michigan State looking for revenge Saturday night. And you don't want that. And Michigan all of a sudden is the hottest team in the Big Ten. And Maryland closes with them.

But Maryland's still two games clear in the Big Ten race. Penn State, Iowa, Michigan State, Wisconsin, all at 10 and 6. Maryland's 12 and 4. Maryland's still the favorite to go on and win the Big Ten title. Wednesday night will be big, though. And I would imagine that Cowan and Sticks are going to come back with big games on Wednesday night. Really good matchup, though. Okay, it's a good matchup between Stick Smith and Minnesota's big guy, Daniel O'Turo.

He's 610, 240. They have the same kind of build. Arturo may be a little bit longer. He's averaging 19 and 11. He's got a chance to be an all Big 10 first team player. Minnesota's got wins this year. They won at Ohio State. They've beaten Wisconsin. They've beaten Michigan. They beat Penn State. You know, they've got some legit wins. They're a good team, even though they've lost like three out of their last four, something like that with a couple of those games at home. As you said, it's not. not a must win, but when it comes to these loftier goals, these get a one seed, these, you know, be in Madison Square Garden, win the Big Ten. It almost is a must win. They can get those things without winning it, but it comes a lot dicier. Yeah, a big game for Maryland on Wednesday night. That's Wednesday night. All right. Listen to us on our new app. If you'd like the Kevin Shee and show app also on the website, tell people that aren't listening to the podcast that want to listen, that don't know how to listen on a regular podcast platform,

the Kevin Sheeonshow.com. It's up there. All the old shows are up there. Tommy and I had a great fun, a lot of fun and a great show on Friday, if you haven't listened to that. Let's get to some Redskins. So a couple things. Number one is I was thinking over the weekend that the Redskins,

I know everybody's really, really excited about their receivers, Terry McLaren, Stephen Sims, Jr. and Kelvin Harmon, the three rookies. They played really well with the rookie quarterback, and even before that. McLaren looks to a lot of you like a star in the making. And, you know, Stephen Sims Jr. is a guy who's a real playmaker and maybe a real slot guy, and Kelvin Harmon, a real good, solid number two. And I don't disagree with any of that. I don't. With that said, they were all rookies last year. And they had, you know, at least for some of the time, they had a veteran-wide receiver as part of the mix in Paul Richardson. You know, I don't know what Paul Richardson gave them. I'm not, you know, I'm not about to say that Paul Richardson was the veteran that needed to be on the roster, be with a bunch of young guys to teach him how to work, to teach him how to.

Apparently, Terry McLorn is super impressive, super mature. and just, you know, in so many ways people think is going to be a superstar. But there are some receivers out there that the Redskins could take advantage of in free agency, not all of whom will cost a lot of money. First of all, it's just going to be interesting to see what the Cowboys do with Amari Cooper. And look, Amari Cooper would get a big, big number. So I'm not sitting here saying that Amari Cooper is the guy and the Redskins should think about Amari Cooper.

I'm just telling you that from a wide receiver standpoint, He's at the top of the list if the Cowboys actually let him hit free agency. AJ Green, his best days are probably in the rear view, you know, and there's the issue as to whether or not he can stay healthy. He's going to get a deal, though. He's going to get a good deal. Emmanuel Sanders traded to the 49ers, remember prior to the deadline. He's a free agent.

You know, I can't imagine that San Francisco doesn't want Emmanuel Sanders back. he really made their offense more dynamic and more explosive. Then there's a guy like Robbie Anderson, you know, from New York. I'm a fan. He's dynamic as a home run threat, as a stretch-the-field threat. You know, there are other guys. I mean, you're not thinking about a Larry Fitzgerald, nor is Larry Fitzgerald thinking about here.

Devin Funches is available for basically nothing. He didn't really produce for the Colts because of injuries after signing a year deal. He was in Carolina. I wonder whether or not the Redskins will be thinking about a veteran free agent to go with this mix. I'd be very surprised if the Redskins don't add a receiver in free agency. Again, I'm not suggesting they go all out with big money. If they're going to spend big money on a pass catcher, my preference would be that it's on Austin Hooper. You know, as long as they don't have to trade for Hooper in the event that Atlanta tags him, and I think that that's a pretty good possibility. I'm also, you know, I would also be all in on Hunter Henry, too, if the Redskins

wanted to spend big money there more than at receiver. Let me also be really clear. I don't want them to spend big money on Eric Ebron. I think that he is a frustrating player to watch because I think he's extraordinarily talented, but I think he's inconsistent. I think he drops balls and I think he takes plays off. So I'm not an Ebron guy at all. They missed on Olson, as we know, even though there was significant interest. And Eifert's a guy that, you know, is going to be out there, not nearly at the money you would think that Hooper and Henry will cost. But, you know, at wide receiver, it would not surprise me

if the Redskins look to bring in a veteran guy. They don't have a veteran wide receiver. Right now, offensively, okay? You have a rookie quarterback, I mean, second year, but he'll be playing in the rookie games. Three second-year wide receivers that you think you're going to contribute. A slot guy in Trey Quinn, who's in his second year, and really

hasn't amounted to much. And then you've got, you know, potentially, you know, more than potentially, you could have a new left tackle, a new two new guards, that's

all in play, and a new tight end. I think they're going to look for some veteran influence offensively. Adrian Peterson's the veteran. He's the guy, right? It's Adrian Peterson, and if Trent comes back, they're the guys. One other quick Redskins topic here. So they made the decision on Josh Norman, made the decision on Paul Richardson, made the decision on Jordan Reed, made the decision to bring back or, you know, pick up the option on AP.

And there's a lot of decisions left to come. You know, there's the Trent Williams and the Post reported on Sunday, on Saturday, excuse me, It was Saturday's paper, and I wanted to read this quote because it just made me laugh out loud. This was a piece by Les Carpenter and Mark Maskey. The Washington Redskins believe there is a strong chance that seven-time Pro Bowl left tackle Trump, Williams will return to the team for the 2020 season, according to a person familiar with the organization's planning. New coach Ron Rivera remains intent on convincing Williams to rejoin the team, according to that person who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized. to speak publicly on the matter.

That just made me laugh so hard when I read it because do you know how leaky this organization has been, Aaron, over the years? How many leaks there are in that building? And some people, you know, when I've had various pieces of information over the years, people have always assumed coolly. I would never ever have coolly as a source or repeat what he's told me. He's too good of a friend, and I've wanted the best for him. and he hasn't really known much, to be perfectly honest with you,

compared to some of the other people in the organization that have been sort of sources or contacts. But, you know, this new culture, and within a month, you got the post saying, new coach Ron Rivera remains intent on convincing Williams to rejoin the team, according to that person who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the person is not authorized to speak publicly on the matter. So they still have people in that organization that are.

leaking. Bruce Allen was probably a leak. I know he was upset about people who were leaks. I know a lot of people were upset, but at the same time, they just never seem to be able to stop it. But anyway, Trent is real simple. Trade or extend. Eric Flowers, you've got to sign him or let him go. He's a free agent. Sheriff, you've got to make the decision. Extend him, sign them to an extension, franchise them, tag and trade them or let him go. Ryan Carrigan is real simple. You either try to trade him, release him, or extend him to lessen the salary cap hit, and have him as sort of a role player. You've got decisions on guys like John Bostic. I would not mind Bostic if he's back. I think he's a veteran player and a good player. I actually thought he was very much sort of a coach on the field, and I think he runs better than people give him credit for.

I don't think Chris Thompson's back, and I'm ready to move on from Quentin Dunbar. three public, you know, sort of demands. And, you know, first it was the demand for trade or release. Then it was, oh, I didn't really meet it. Then he was last week with Josina Anderson again with the trade or release. I'm moving on from Dunbar. I don't want a guy who goes public three times in a week and a half, you know, when we're trying to trade a change a culture.

A lot of decisions coming up. A lot of them, it's going to be very active here over the next couple of weeks. Also, real quickly, on the NFL Players Association in the league, I don't know if you saw or followed it. I've been following this, I've been fascinated by it, because I want there to be labor piece. I want the new CBA in place before the league calendar starts on March 18th, because if it doesn't, we're going to get into this probably nothing being done before we get to deadlines next March. And I don't know why that is, but the league apparently is not ready to negotiate. any further. And the 32 NFL reps held a conference call on Friday were set to vote but decided

to postpone the vote because getting a two-thirds majority on the NFL proposal apparently was a difficult prospect. Now, they're going to apparently vote this week at the, you know, it's Indy Combine week, Aaron, if you didn't know that. And so apparently, according to ESPN, there are players that don't want a 17th game. There are players that don't care about a 17th game and like the current deal, and then there are players that want more for the 17th game. The league's proposal that they approved last week essentially provides the players with an increase in revenue share. It goes from 48% to up to 48.5% with the 17 game season. They're offering at least $90,000 in increases on minimum salaries, increased pay for off-season activities, expanded pension

eligibility, a limit of 16 days in pads, so a reduction from where it was in training camp, and mandated improvements to visiting teams' locker rooms. The big part of this is the increase in revenue. And by the way, the overall revenue is going to increase, not just the player's percentage, but the overall revenue with the 17-game schedule and the enhanced an expanded playoff format. I don't get what the players are missing here. Now, if this is all about negotiation with Demore Smith, fine.

But players that don't want a 17th game and are really, look, players who don't want a 17th game or want more, that's one thing. The league, I don't know how much room there is, and maybe the players will get more out of the league for the 17th game. The 17th game benefits everybody. It's a lot more money that goes right into the owner's pockets and the players' pockets with an increase in their revenue share, all for a 17th game, one extra game. Is that really a safety issue? You reduce a preseason game, you add a 17th game.

What are we talking about? In additional three quarters of football for the entire season? I mean, basically it's like you. You qualified for the playoffs in a year where you didn't qualify for the playoffs, but only played three quarters. Like, it's just, I would say that the NFLPA, if this is less about negotiation and more about convincing, they need to do a better job of explaining to the players that don't want this, why they should want it. Simply put, it's more money for barely more football. It's not that hard, not that hard at all.

Let's get to the fight. I loved it Saturday night. I bought the fight. I watched the fight. I loved the fight on Saturday night. I used to be the biggest boxing fan. I can tell you so much about so many fights and so many fighters in the 70s and the 80s and the 90s. In recent years, I just haven't been into boxing at all.

So I'm watching on Saturday night and I'm watching Tyson Fury a much bigger man, a much better boxer absolutely dominate Deonté Wilder from start to finish. And even though the fight was so one-sided, I thought it was entertaining as hell. I thought Fury was entertaining. Um, you know, those of you that watched the fight know that Deontay Wilder was knocked down early, knocked down twice actually in the fight, knocked down early with a shot that basically split his ear open. It did not break his eardrum. A lot of discussion about his eardrum being broken and this was causing, causing balance issues and equilibrium issues. As it turned out, it was just a cut ear that required seven stitches. He was out on his feet multiple times in this fight. It got

shut down by Wilder's Corner in the seventh round, Aaron. They threw in the towel. And that was actually the least threatening of all of the positions that he was in, you know, at the time. I thought there were a couple times in the fourth, fifth, and six rounds where I thought the corner had be considering stopping this fight. Because he was getting the shit kicked out of him. He looked like he was on the verge of being injured seriously. And I know he's got a big right hand and a big knockout punch. But that thing was one-sided dominant by a guy who Tommy said wasn't a good fighter on Friday. I see what Tommy's saying about Wilder. I do. Fury to me, 6-9, 270, you know, can box, can really box, and has a shitload of charisma.

He's a star, man. He is a star, and I cannot wait for his next fight. That's going to be the interesting thing, exactly. Do they, does Wilder call for that third match that's in the contract as he go on to Joshua? We'll see what happens there. That's interesting. But yeah, no, there's no question that Fury is a Star. He's already started to cross over into other things.

he did WWE at one point at when Shocker if he pops up there again in the near future, possibly even before the next fight. But yeah, there's no question. And for a sport that needs a star, taking away what Fury, you know, there's some controversies around Fury, let's put it that way. This is exactly what they needed. A guy to go out there to look great to have that post, you know, the sing-along at the end there, and to do everything he could to be a star. those that missed it, at the end of the fight, Tyson Fury, in the middle of the ring, sings Don McLean's American Pie. Here's how it went.

I remember music used to make me smile. Sing along if you know the words. And I knew, boy, I had my chance. I could make those people there and maybe they'd be happy for a while. But February made me shiver With every paper I deliver Bad news on the doorstep I couldn't take one more step I can't remember if I cry When I read about

Something touched me deep inside The day The music tired all together now So by It was Bob Aram right there. Who Fierry put the mic in front of, you know, 80-year-old Bob Aram. This was, first of all, he's got a good voice. He's got a really good voice.

I can't wait to watch him fight again. He talked last week leading up to the fight that he was going to lick the blood off of Deonté Wilder. Deontay Wilder bled a lot during that fight out of his ear. And at one point in a clench up against the ropes, I mean, Fury started licking Wilder. I don't know if the tongue ever got to the blood in the shoulder, but you couldn't really tell from the angle. But there's something about this dude that's so likable,

that's so much fun to watch. I forget specifically if Tommy really bashed Fury on Friday. He really went after Wilder, and I can see it. You know, Wilder is a one-punch dude. There have been guys like him before. Tommy was not impressed with Wilder, was not impressed with him as a boxer. I am impressed with Fury.

He was a bigger man, 40-pound difference, 270 to 231. And by the way, just the leaning on him. And the, I mean, you could tell Wilder from the jump, unless he connected on one of those punches, had no chance to win the fight. This is going to get me to watch more boxing. Like if he fights Joshua next, I'm going to pay for that one. if he has another fight with Wilder, I will watch.

Wilder, you know, is going to take the third fight. It's too much money not to take the third fight. But based on what we saw Saturday night, Aaron, he'd have no chance. You know, I bet Fury Saturday night. I got him at plus 110. It was short, and everybody kept telling me that Wilder was going to win the fight, so I just went against all my friends. If they fight again, he'll be a significant favorite.

They've already put it out, I believe it minus 250 for Fury. If he were to fight wilder again. If that's the next fight. What's the chance is that it's Joshua that is the next fight? That seems, it seems almost like a 50-50 proposition right now. They put that up, I think Fury is a minus 300 against Joshua. You know, there's just something about it when the heavyweights are exciting and there's a guy there. And Tyson Fury is a guy right now, the Gypsy King.

Okay? He is entertaining. He's big. He's strong. And he can fight. He can legitimately fight. I thought it was very interesting before the fight. When I say interesting, I thought it was really cool to see Mike Tyson, Lennox Lewis, and Evander Holyfield, all in the ring being honored before the fight.

Tyson's got gray hair, man. He's graying. Holyfield looked good. Lennox Lewis is really good on the broadcast. We did have to listen to Tessator on this call on Saturday night. You know, he wasn't terrible in boxing. It's just, you know, it's a big event. I know it's not HBO.

But, man, you know what? go out and get Lampley to do it anyway. Lampley's the best ever. I was very entertained by that fight. I thought it was a hell of a night. A lot of electricity, you know, that came through on the pay-per-view. And, you know, I guess part of it was we were waiting for Wilder to see if he'd throw one haymaker, you know, and connect. But he never had a shot.

In his corner throwing the towel in, it may have been the weird time to do it because it didn't seem like the worst position that Wilder had been in, but I think their coroner was looking for some fight in him, and if they didn't see it, they were going to end that thing and save him, because he could have been seriously injured. Yeah, I mean, there was just no life coming out of him at that point. So you could argue they should have thrown it in earlier, but yeah, that was the thing. There was nothing happening there at that point. He had thrown one big shot right before that, and then he got up against the ropes, took two shots,

and they weren't the biggest shots from Fury all night, but the towel came flying in, and they said enough. And he wasn't happy about it. He said he wanted to go out on his shield. He would have gone out on a stretcher, had it lasted much longer. Tyson Fury, what an impressive, impressive performance that was on Saturday night. All right, let's get back to the Maryland-Ohio State game and what's to come here for the Terps.

Jeff Irman is a friend. He does a great job covering Maryland sports inside MD sports.com. Follow him on Twitter at Jeff underscore Erman, E-R-M-A-N-N. First of all, Aaron and I talked about it earlier. I thought it was a good college basketball game yesterday. I thought Maryland, like, you know, it's one of those losses, not totally unexpected. They were an underdog. They fought without their two stars playing well and being in foul trouble.

What was your takeaway from the game? That's exactly right, Kevin. I mean, if there's anything you can call a good loss at this point of the season, that's good loss. You know, you have your two stars at the same time having their first. I don't know if it was a dud, but pretty much a dud from Cowan and sticks. After both have been playing so well, you know, you have some tough calls, obviously, going against you,

and the other team shoots a light down. You still lose a pretty close game on the road, you know, against a team that's really tough at home, you know, a really good team. So, you know, that's a pretty solid loss. You have to be pretty happy, I think, if you're Mark Turgeon with what you got from your supporting Kat, too. So there were some positive signs. Yeah, I mean, it was odd to see Cowan and Sticks off.

You know, Ohio State played well. They played good defense. One of the things I mentioned earlier, and I want your thoughts on it, is Turge clearly decided yesterday was the day that he was going to change things up a little bit. He played Hakeem Hart early, hadn't played him in a while, played Mariel for significant minutes in the first half. Cowan and Sticks were both on the bench before foul trouble for about a three to four minute stretch where Marilyn went from down four to up two and, you know, playing without those two guys. And I don't know if he was asked about it in his post-game presser. I haven't watched it

yet. I'm going to go back and watch it later. But I thought it was an effort for him, and I think it was a specific intentional decision to try to get his bench confident and develop the bench in a different way yesterday. What did you think? Yeah, I think that's a really good observation. He wasn't asked about it in the press conference,

but he's increasingly spoken about the bench and his concern there. You can tell it's really keeping him up. at night that he doesn't have any really productive guys, except for Aaron Wiggins, obviously, coming off the bench. So I think, you know, so often lately when he's put in the bench guys, they've quickly lost whatever lead they had or, you know, Maryland's gone down by a few points, and he's had to quickly sub the starters back in.

So I think he was just trying to ride that out. And, you know, because they weren't losing ground for the first time in a while with Marial and those guys in there. So he's trying to ride that out and see what they could do and give them confidence, like you said because, you know, six, and we've seen plenty of teams make deep runs, sick deep, Duke, obviously is notorious for it, but it's a scary proposition going into March without much of a bench, so that's exactly what that was. I think with Hakeem Hart, you know, Terrell Smith kind of took the job from Hart back around Christmas as the fifth guard, but has really

struggled offensively. He's won for his last 13 or 14 from the floor. Just can't seem to hit his shot. Excuse me, well, defensively, but, you know, they're just, you know, they're just, looking for a little extra offensive punch. So, you know, who knows what they'll do there because Hart didn't really do much to establish himself, put up a pretty bad shot when he came in. Quickly, too. He fired it immediately. Yeah, you could tell he hadn't been on the court in a while.

He's ready to let that thing go. So, you know, that spot's not that vital. It's like an eight-minute-per-game spot, but if you could get a guy who could at least hit an open shot there once in a while, that would be helpful. He's got some, in watching him from earlier this year, year. I think he's got some decent basketball IQ and he's got some length, but so does Smith. I think Smith is actually a really good defender.

And, you know, I mentioned to Aaron earlier. You know, Turgeon talked about getting guys confident and getting guys who were struggling, getting their confidence back. Wiggins and Iyala in particular have had some streaky, you know, moments at best in a couple of stretches where they weren't playing well at all. And I think some of what Turg has been working on showed up yesterday with Wiggins and Iyalla. Absolutely. That's been his focus for several months now. The confidence talk really started when they went into that slump in December.

And I don't know if they had a professional talk with Turgent or where it came from, but it was really abrupt and constant talk about getting confidence. And it worked, you know. That's what turned it around. team went on that nine-game winning streak and turned their whole season around there after they were 0-and-4 on the road, you win your next four on the road and play much better. And, you know, with Wiggins and Ialla, they've been so inconsistent for much of the year, especially Iala with his shot, that if you can get a game, I mean, yesterday, Wiggins had a career

high 20, Iala had 16. If you get anything like that from those two and sticks and Cowan are playing their typical game, you could probably buy some tickets for, you know, I don't want to jinx it for you, but a deep run in the tournament. Yeah, there are parts of both of those guys that I love. I think Guy Al is actually a real crafty player. I think he's good, and if he's confident and shooting it, well, he's a big help. And look, I don't know if Wiggins is going to come back next year.

He's not a first rounder, as we know. I mean, who knows what will happen in March. But he's a guy next year if he comes back that I could see easily averaging 18 a game for this team. You know, he's gotten better. and he's very, very capable. I wanted to ask you about Mariel. I think I asked Aaron this earlier in this show. So he gets, I'm assuming the 10 minutes he played yesterday is the most he's played.

I don't know if that's, I think that's true. It may not be. Maybe he played early on more. He is coordinated. He can run. He's got good hands. Is he coming back next year? What's the deal with him?

because he's got a lot, a lot of upside potential. Like, I mean, really, at that size with his coordination and hands and feet and the ability to run, he could be a really good top-flight college basketball player. Yeah, there's a reason he was number one center in the country a few years ago, and then obviously the injuries derailed him. Yeah, I would be shocked if he didn't come back next year. He's obviously nowhere near ready for the NBA. He came in with a long run.

term plan, you know, of using this year to get better, get healthy. And anything you get from him this year is really just house money. But he did look better. He was moving pretty well. You know, it's really just going to depend on who they're playing this year. You know, Turgent has said, which I think everybody kind of probably guessed, is that he'll play against teams that have slower paces and traditional big men like Ohio State.

I think they're, you know, with Weston and also they're like 270th in the country and adjusted tempo. So, yeah, I mean, he's clearly got the potential. There's just no telling, you know, it's still kind of a lottery ticket with him. You don't know if he's ever going to completely put it together. And it's tough for a guy like that, even with good agility for his size, against so many of the centers now because you're playing so many big men who are, you know, agile kind of pick and pop guys.

But, you know, he's got to be good for them next year because they really don't have a lot else in the front court. No, they don't. All right. Let's talk about Wednesday night. Aaron and I talked about this earlier that you lose to Ohio State. I described it as it's not a bad loss, and it was a very good college game, and maybe a lot of good came out of it because of Iala and Wiggins and the fact that it's a three-point game with five and a half to go, you know, with nobody playing well and people in foul trouble and a lot of questionable officiating at the end, et cetera.

With that said, you know, you're playing at Minnesota. they're capable. They got a big guy that plays a little bit like, you know, Stick Smith does. O'Touros a really good player. They're capable at home. And I think it's a big game. You know, two road losses with Michigan State coming in looking for revenge on Saturday night. You know, you don't want this thing to even, you know, for a blip derail, you know, for a week or so. Because I think they're very capable. Nothing's going to change my opinion about them when we get to March. their effort to win the Big Ten regular season. But do you consider Wednesday night at Minnesota to be an important game?

It's a huge game. I mean, this is where you could conceivably lose your confidence if you lose two in a row. And then, you know, who knows how the rest of the season, you know, the short rest of the season goes. Because their schedule right now is, the remaining schedule, I should say, is second hardest in the country according to ESPNBPI. And that's not because of Minnesota. because of the games after that. Right.

So you really got to get that one because then after that, you know, you still have Michigan State. Michigan and Rutgers is a brutal final three games. You know, we've seen them go to Minnesota and stub their toe. There was, you know, obviously when discussions happened about the toughest losses of the Turgeon era, that one year at Minnesota where they were 0-13 in the Big Ten, and Maryland went out there and loss is usually one of the first ones mentioned. So, you know, you can't stub your toe out there.

You know, Tzu-Roo is obviously a monster. Otherwise, they're not that good of a team, you know, a little bit above, obviously, the kind of stellar dwellers Northwestern and Nebraska. But, yeah, that's a huge game just kind of get their momentum restarted and also because those final three games are so tough. You know, you've followed this program in Maryland sports for a long time. I have as well. I didn't like being in the Big Ten.

I hated it. I wanted to go back to the way it used to be. Not the ACC that we see today, but the ACC. that we used to be a part of. But I have to admit that this for me is the first year, and it's the sixth and the Big Ten for Maryland. It's amazing how quickly it flies

by. But first of all, I guess in part because the Big 10 is so good this year, and it's so clearly the best league. But the games night in and night out, I mean, we've watched a lot of Maryland basketball over the years, Jeff.

This is as intense night in and night out as anything we saw in the ACC? Yeah, it's really good. You know, it doesn't have those, like, those vintage ACC teams, like some of the Duke teams and some of those Carolina teams, obviously, or Maryland 2002. But the depth is just absolutely incredible. It'll be interesting to see how it holds up in the tournament.

You know, there's definitely not an established team that you can point to and say, like, that's clearly a final four team. but every single analytical ranking, except I think one, maybe it's the RPI that somehow is the Big 12 first just because of Kansas and Baylor. But, yeah, this has been the most enjoyable year because, again, and obviously it helps that Maryland's doing well,

but the most enjoyable year in the Big Ten, clearly. And, you know, I think that's going to be a big crown and Turgeon's, or a big gem and Turgeon's crown if they can win the regular season. title and arguably the best Big Ten season that there's been since they joined. Yeah, I mean, there were those winters where, you know, you're on Tobacco Road and you're playing in Chapel Hill one night and then, you know, you're home for the weekend against, you know, Duke and then you're at in Charlottesville the following Wednesday night, you know, the grind of January and February and the ACC was always highly entertaining. But this year, I mean, the games that

Maryland's had already. You think about the Friday night game at Illinois, the Michigan State game, Saturday night in the high-profile spot on ESPN. Yesterday, you know, the CBS late game in Columbus. And then what we've got heading in the, in two of the three final games, that Michigan State game is the ESPN game day game. And, you know, Michigan State hopefully will move, they should move back into the rankings this week, right? Because they won after, didn't they beat, they beat somebody last week after losing to us. Yeah, they beat Nebraska. Nebraska. They should be right around that 25 slash others

receiving votes. I would guess they'd jump back in. And then that game now that looms as the season finale, regular season finale against Michigan could be huge. I mean, Michigan is playing really, really well right now. And they've got talent. I wanted to finish up with this because I follow you on

Twitter and all of the recruiting stuff, which I actually, I had Scott on the radio show a week and a half ago, and his comments got blown up about, you know, sort of. Yeah, right. Yeah, so you heard him. And part of that sort of stemmed from a conversation that I had had with him basically the night before where I just said, stop talking about recruiting, stop talking about seating, just enjoy this. This is fun. Like, this is the first time in a long time.

Like, they're legitimately good. They've been good. It's not that they haven't been good, but they got a chance to win a Big Ten regular season title. And all of these games, like this Illinois game's big, and he's like, you're right, you're right, you're right, you're right. And then, you know, he comes on the radio the next morning or whatever and essentially says the same thing. But anyway, I did see that Maryland got a commitment for next year. I'm bringing it up with you because you reported it. It still matters.

It still matters. And, you know, they only had, you know, going into, you know, coming down the stretch here, they only had one commitment for 2020 with Marcus Dockery, you know, who's a guard. So tell everybody about who they had just added, and what else is on the horizon? So they got a commitment from a point guard name, McQuan Smart from Illinois, 6-3 kid, really long, rangy, kind of a late bloomer under the radar type. He was committed to East Tennessee State early in the process, and then backed out of that,

and then had interest from Maryland and some other high major schools, Butler, TCU, a handful of others. He's not the guy ranking-wise that we've typically seen those top 100 guys who've consistently signed with Maryland. But if you watch his video, he's clearly got some talent and for Turgeon to put this

many eggs in his basket when he has Anthony Cowan graduating kind of shows you how much he thinks about him. So you have him and Dockery. Dockery is more of a combo guard and kind of the Seth Allen mold, I would say. He's a lefty, too, played somewhat similar to him.

obviously you need at least one and I think two big men now because Jalen Smith is all but gone to the NBA even without that you probably needed another you definitely needed another big man with the twins you know having originally been in the equation and no longer on the roster so I think that you know a big focus moving forward is going to be the transfer market for them I think that you know aside from grad transfers and there's there's one who will be visiting Patrick Tapay I think it's how you say his name from Columbia, 610 kid, who had really good numbers last year. But even aside from that, now with this proposed new rule where players will be able to transfer and become eligible immediately if that goes through, it's going to be chaos everywhere,

and Maryland should have some really good options, and maybe even to grab another guard just to be safe, you know, because you only have Eric I.L. on the roster right now, point guard. So, you know, right now the focus, obviously, for him is finishing the season, but I think in March it's going to get very interesting. There'll probably be some new names pop up that, you know, haven't been out there. Last one, actually, for real, and I'll let you run. So, Maryland, you know, added a new school president. They've got, you know, an athletic director now that's been in the mix,

in Damon for a year and a half or whatever it's been now, you know, interim first and now where he is. What is Turgeon's situation? You know, I don't think that, I don't think Evans was ever fully 100% pro-Turgeon guys. They just kind of needed to support each other to get through. Most ADs want to have their own guy. Of course, Turgeon is not his guy. Kevin Anderson hired him. But, you know, he obviously wants the program to succeed.

And Maryland's having a great season. I heard I was told after the Michigan State comeback, the first call of Turgeon got was from Evans congratulating him. So, you know, I think the Turgents have done a lot to solidify his standing during the regular season. People always ask me what it will take to get an extension, what it will take if Evans wants to move in a different direction. You know, it's really hard. And if things have continued to go poorly after that losing streak earlier this year, then, you know, it was very easy to see a change happening. But now I think, you know, barring some sort of total collapse, I think Evans will probably have to give him at least some sort of extension, you know, maybe one with a little more wiggle room than the one that Kevin Anderson gave him,

where there was absolutely no buyout, all guaranteed money, just in case, you know, things go poorly or you hit another really rough stretch. But, you know, long story short, I don't think that they are, you know, hand in hand necessarily, but I think with the way things are going that, you know, that I don't know that Evan would have any choice but to give him an extension unless something really bad happened in the next month. Jeff Erman, InsideMDsports.com, at Jeff underscore Erman on Twitter. He's a great follow.

If you're a Terp fan, he's a must follow. Thanks. As always, I really appreciate it. I'm sure we'll talk in the next month at least once more. Sounds great. Thanks, Kevin. Jeff Erman, everybody. A lot of Maryland today, but a lot of good Maryland stuff. There will be a lot of Maryland hopefully for another month plus, Aaron.

Maybe a month. Another six weeks would be nice. that'd be nice. That would be great. Good to catch up with Jeff. All right, let's talk some Caps. Alex Ovechkin got his 700th career goal on Saturday in New Jersey. The Caps lost a tough one in New Jersey, but bounced back, I think, in critical fashion yesterday after trailing 2 to 1 to beat Pittsburgh at home 5 to 3. They're back atop the Metropolitan Division with 82 points. Ben Raby does Caps radio pre and post game, and he joins us right now. Let's start with Ovechkin and him getting 700 on Saturday.

First of all, where do you think he ends up? To me, I think as long as he doesn't get injured, Gordy Howe at number two will be sort of a no-brainer that he'll reach that. Do you think he's got a shot at Gretzky or not? Yeah, he has a shot. And to be honest, Kevin, I think if you would ask me this question a year or two ago, I would have said it was still premature to have the conversation.

I think to have the conversation now is appropriate. Still a ways away. You're right. I agree with you. I think Gordyhow, 802, 102 goals away. I think he'll get that, and even that in itself is pretty incredible. But 894, all right, still a little bit of race track to go before you get there. But look, it's a conversation.

It's an appropriate conversation piece. And the reason, Kevin, why, I think actually it is. is a possibility for Ovechkin is because it might be an exaggeration. It might be a stretch to say he's reinvented himself these past few years, but he's improved his play at even strength, and I think that's significant because the power play goals, the one-timer from the left face-off circle, that'll seemingly always be there.

But you look this year at his numbers, for example. He already has 30 even-strength goals. He's on pace for his most goals at five-on-five even strength since 2010, 10 years ago. And the fact that he's doing that now in his 15th year at age 34, it tells me that there's still a little bit left in the tank. And again, while the power play goals are always going to be there, this is always going to come down to.

Could he complement those power play goals with even strength tallies? And the goals he's scoring Kevin, I know I'm going on here, but the goals you score in the past couple of seasons that even strength, picking up speed through the neutral zone goals that I'll be honest, five, six years ago we're starting to come out of his game. They've been coming back the past two or three, and I really think if he can keep that up,

it really bodes well as he tries to get even closer to Gretzky. Tark El Bashir from The Athletic was on the radio show with me this morning, and he said, Alex Ovechkin is the greatest goal scorer in the history of the game.

The reason for him saying that is he said the era in which he's produced 700 goals, is a much more difficult era than when you look at old Gretzky or even Yager highlights and how much easier it was to score in the 80s as an example than it is now with the goaltenders and the size of the goaltenders, et cetera. Do you agree with that? Yeah, and to complement that thought, coincidentally, just found this last night

in researching something for an article I'm working on. Try to follow this. 52 years, Kevin, since the quote-unquote expansion era in the NFL, there have been 52 seasons. 24 of those 52 seasons, there's been an average of less than six goals per game. 24 out of 52, there's been an average of six goals or less per game league-wide. Twelve of those 24 seasons have come during Ovechkin's career. In other words, over the last 15 seasons, in Ovechkin's career, you've seen 12 of the lower scoring campaigns over the last half century.

And despite that, despite the league-wide goal scoring being down, he's an anomaly. What he's been doing in piling up the 50-goal season and piling up the numbers on his way to 700 career goals, to do it in this era where you can go down the list, whether it's larger goaltender equipment, whether it's better scouting and coaching and teams are more defensively sound, defensively structured.

There's a lot of reasons, but certainly you look at the numbers and the numbers support that. The goal scoring league-wide has been down the past decade-plus has been a little, little bit of an uptick, I will say, over the past two-three seasons. But if you look at a full-body work of Ovechkin's 15-year career, he's been doing in an era where, yes, it's been tremendously, tremendously difficult to score, especially when you compare it to Eric's past.

Real quickly, for those that missed it, just share with people, Wayne Gretzky's reaction to Alex Ovechkin scoring 700. Yeah, I think this is great, Kevin. A lot of times you see players who have records who other players are trying to chase. They'll say the right things. They'll come out and say, yeah, I'm rooting for him to catch my record, break my record. It'll be great, et cetera. I thought the perspective Grisky shared over the weekend on Hockey Night in Canada was terrific.

He said that when he was chasing Gordy Howe in the early to mid-90s, he was chasing Gordy Howe's then record of 801. He said Gordy Howe was around him and supported him, showed him class, and it was Gretke's father, Walter, who pointed out to Wayne at the time, you remember this. You remember what Gordy Howe was doing for you. So if someone down the line is chasing you, you return the favor, you pay it back. And Gretzky shared that anecdote over the weekend, and I thought it was very well articulated and something that clearly resonates with him still 25 years later.

We're talking to Ben Rabie, who hosts the Caps, pre- and post-game show and Caps Radio. You can follow him on Twitter at Ben Rabi 31. Let's talk about the two games. First of all, real quickly, on the New Jersey game, which I happen to have watched the third period of that game, it's not a good loss, and it was their fourth in a row in six out of seven, and New Jersey's not very good. But was I mistaken that there should have been an icing call or two at the end of that game where I thought the cap should have had the opportunity to get the right people on the ice with it with a face-off in the offensive zone? Did the refs miss? one or two icing calls there at the end?

It's very possible. I forget the detail, to be honest. Okay, no worries. At the end of the day, if you're relying on that, against the New Jersey Devils the other day, your original point, Kevin, that's what we referred to on the radio broadcast. That's an auto-win game.

We always talk about must-win games. It's an overused cliche, a must-win game, but you're facing the last place, New Jersey Devils team. You're arrested bunch. You're in desperate need of a win. There was no excuse for that the other day. That's an auto-win game for the Capitol.

I know they have pride on the other side, too, in New Jersey, but they've had a few of those games. They say auto win, and they haven't taken care of it. Let's get to the one that you certainly didn't say ought to win going into yesterday, but it was a need to win in many respects. And I'm wondering if you felt the same thing going into that game. You had the bad loss, as you say, in the auto win game against Jersey. The caps had won four in a row, six out of seven. They were under 500 since, you know, whatever date that was 22, 23 games ago. They're not in first place.

The rest of the division is gaining on them. It seems like every night. And they got the penguins at home who have lost two in a row and are desperate. And I thought when they went down two to one in that game, I was thinking, and maybe I was off on this, because it is the NHL and anything can happen in the postseason and there's still 20 games left. But I was thinking that the season was sort of a little bit teetering there.

Because if they lose that game, it's five in a row, and Pittsburgh's in first place again, and they're much closer to spots three, four, and five in the division. I thought that that was a bit of a difficult spot for the team in this season yesterday, down to one on those two goals in 30 seconds. What did you think? Yeah, no, that was a big game all around for all the reasons you stated. And also, Kevin of note, I think, well, first of all, big wins. You're right on that.

Let's see now if they could build off this, because if this just ends up being, you know, one of two or three wins over a 10-game stretch, not to suggest it'll be for not yesterday, but you've got to build off this. And that's been something they've struggled with over the past two weeks, being able to build off the odd good performance, and then they've, you know, come back a couple of days later and laid an egg on occasion. So we'll see how they bounce back from this. But the encouraging sign, certainly, with the way they got it done in the third piece.

period. Going back to, again, it sounds cliche, but going back to some of those blue-collar workman-like elements. They were physical yesterday. A couple of the goals in the third period, T.J. O'Shee, Carl Haglin, you know, from the old greasy areas, you know, there's a big greasy goals from atop the crease. And that has sort of been lacking from their game over the past few weeks. So it wasn't only that they came back. It wasn't only the opponent, but it was also the way they did it. And again, bringing the physicality, Brendan Dillon, we saw early in the game, his introduction of the rivalry, getting a, the face of the Genie Malkin and a post-wistle scrum.

And the way they played yesterday was more to what Todd Reardon likes to refer to as their identity. They've gotten away from their identity over the past few weeks. So there were a few examples throughout the afternoon in mounting the third-peer comeback, ultimately, but it was how they did it that is perhaps, you know, most encouraging. All right. Last, and I'll let you run. They dealt a third rounder to Montreal for Ilya Kovalchuk.

How does he help them? they should bolster the bottom six. I think ideally that's where you're going to see them. The top six is pretty much spoken for and solidified, but the capitals have lacked some secondary scoring this year, given the off-season losses of Andre Barakoffi and Brett Connolly, who each scored, you know, upwards of approaching 20 goals a year ago. Connolly was north of that.

They haven't been able to replace that offense. You bring in Colvichuk, who's a sniper, who's a former Rock of Richard Trophy winner going back a decade-plus ago. He could help the second unit on the power play. Not necessarily some of those identity things I'm talking about in terms of the physicality, but one area they've been looking to shore up has been secondary scoring, and he'll certainly add to that. And real quick, Kevin, something I think maybe gets lost in the shuffle, but never hurts to have the insurance.

Think about last year, T.J. O'She going down with injury in the first round, we don't know Tom Wilson, you know, you never know. He's been behaving himself, if you will, but going back two years ago, they lost him to suspension in the postseason to have Colville Chuck, as an option on the right wing behind Wilson and behind Oshy. It adds a little insurance in that capacity. So it should be neat to move up. Ben, thanks.

Really appreciate it. Great job. I'll talk to you soon. Yeah, appreciate it, Kevin. Thank you. All right, good job from Ben Rabie, who is the pre-and-post game show host for Caps Radio. That's it for the day.

Thanks to him. Thanks to Ben. Thanks to Jeff Erman for joining us on the show today. And thanks to Aaron. and thanks to all of you listening. Tommy, you'll be with us tomorrow. We'll certainly get his thoughts on the fight and more.

Have a great day.