The Matt Thomas Show with Ross - Rockets Get a Easy Win, Coogs Drop 3 In a Row, Nick Caserio Talks at Combine

Episode Date: February 24, 2026

Rockets Get a Easy Win, Coogs Drop 3 In a Row, Nick Caserio Talks at Combine

is the Matt Thomas show with Ross. 10-1 in H-Town. Good morning and welcome to a Tuesday edition of the Matt Thomas Show with Ross. This is Sports Talk 790. Here inside TOTA Center, they win by a final score of 125 to 105. Thus, for the 19th time inside Tota Center,

it's a Rockets win. I know I'm supposed to love the solo career of Lana Ritchie, but I can listen to this song 10 times today. Lake Commodores for you. An easy. Now, it's sometimes painful rockets game, but it was nevertheless a win. As they disposed of the Utah Jazz 125 to 105.

And this is the Matt Thomas show here. with Ross on Sports Talk 790. Ross is still under the weather, fighting a nasty flu. I've not checked on him. I guess I could text him. He's a C-minus texture to begin with. But I'm assuming that if you're sick, you become from, you get dropped the grade from like a C-minus with D-M-A-M-S,

so he's barely passing. Yeah, I doubt he's checking his phone. Yeah, I'm good with that. I'm good with that. So Jonathan's here. Gordon's going to come in and say hi to us for a few minutes. Throughout the course of program, Ryan Holland's going to stop by and say hello to us as well between 12.

30 and 1. We have gut feelings today at 1130. Believe it or not at 150, but a lot of it is going to be Jonathan and me and you. So if you'd like to come in and say hello, we would love to have you at 713-212-5-790. 7-13-212-5-790. If you want to visit with us through Twitter, you may do that as well, or Instagram, and my account is at SportsMT. Rockets last night, a late game, 125 to 105 was the final score. A lot of things are really excellent. 58% from the floor for the Rockets. 45% from three.

They only go to the free throw 11 times. They make nine of them. You get six different players and double figures. Kevin Durant only has to score 18 and you win by 20. Jabari Smith was 31 last night. A man Thompson was perfect from the floor. of eight for 20 points. There's only one thing

that kind of made you crabby. 27 turnovers. Nine in the first quarter. So if you take the nine turnovers they had in the fourth quarter of the game against the Knicks on Saturday, add the nine that they had in the first quarter,

they had 18 turnovers in two quarters. Finish with 27 that turned into 34 points for the jazz last night. Now, I'll say this. If the Rockets would not have turned it over 27 times. I don't know, maybe half of that, 13 or 14, they might have won the game by 35 points because the jazz are terrible. 37% from the floor. They were 8 of 44 from 3. And one of the guys doing most of the damage is the guy most of you don't even know who he is,

Bryce Sensible at 4-3s in his 31 minutes of playing. Rockets needed that one last night. Needed a blowout. Hadn't had to blowout probably in a month or so. Not that blowouts are on regular in the NBA, but sometimes it do happen. And last night it did happen for the Rockets. But dang, 27 turnovers, a season high. And yet the Astros, or the Rockets still win the game by 20 points. So with that being said, I don't know how much that's going to push the needle of our sports talk window today. It didn't help the game was at 8.30 last night.

It didn't help that it was the Utah Jazz. And it didn't help that the game was a blah. But if you're a Rocket and a fan and like to watch everything, and breathe and live and to do everything rocket related. You did generally speaking, enjoy the experience of your team shooting nearly 60% from the floor. So that can be a topic of conversation today. Also coming up today at the NFL Combine at 11 o'clock, Nick Casario is going to speak. Now, I have attempted a cup through a few channels to try to get some sort of live coverage of it.

I don't think that's going to happen. but I have been told through Texans PR that maybe it'll be an audio feed sent to us when it's all said done. So as soon as that comes down, I'll be happy to play a few cuts throughout the course of the show about that. Honestly, 99% of the conversation when it comes to what Nick Casero should be saying at the combine in Indianapolis, it should be about Texans' needs. Offensive line. running back, maybe another wide receiver, maybe some additional help in the secondary.

Look, it's a good football team. I think anybody's arguing that. But it needs to be a great football team. Great football teams go to AFC championship games. Great football teams reach the Super Bowl. Great football teams don't get stopped after the division around. And that's what we have been accustomed to. You have had, for a better part.

Now, there was some lean years, obviously, the last handful of years. But when CJ has been here, it's been good. Three straight division championships. Miko Ryan's got the team on the right path, but you're still good. You want to be great. Is there anything in your life? Think about this for a second. And this could be something that doesn't have anything to do with sports.

Is there anything in your life that has just been good but never been great? That's kind of a, isn't that a question, John, then a therapist would ask? I was going to say, you got real deep. I didn't mean to get all deep on year, but that's what the Texans are. The Rockets, now it's been 30 years, we're great. Great for two years in a row. The Astros two times in the last 10 years were the greatest. The Rockets, 30 years ago for two straight years, we're the greatest.

If you're a Texas football fan, you know what a national championship's all about. There's a lot of things in our life. I feel like I'm Joel Olstein here for a second. There's a lot of things in your life that are good. What can be done to be great? and that's what I would ask for Nick Casario. Now, what I'm deathly afraid is if I was to ask that question to Nick, if I was in Indianapolis today, it'd be the answer to be,

well, you know, we're trying to find the best guys for the best team, I mean, just a lot of that goofy-ass word salary goes through. But that should be what 99% of the conversation should be for Casario to the folks in Indy. There will be a C. There will be CJ Strug questions. Now, the question will be. be how do you pose?

You don't go to a general manager and you say, excuse me, general manager, are you shopping CJ Stroud? Because even if he was, which I believe they're not, but I don't have firm 100% assurances of that. But even if they were to shop, he was,

he sure as hell wouldn't tell you in the middle of a media scrum at the combine because the best trades in sports typically, with the exception of the Luca Donchus trade from the Mavericks of the Lakers are done went behind closed doors and you know nothing about them. My belief again, and I've been, you know, even though I'm the Texans insider, I think it would

be organizational suicide if you tried to trade C.J. Stroud. You want trade Davis-Mills? Okay, I'll listen to that. Although, again, I don't if I'm big on that either, knowing that maybe C.J. Stroud is not going to rehabilitate himself in those two playoff games against Pittsburgh and New England. But I'll be curious if we can get the audio that matches up with the question to the end. answer of how anybody that's in Indianapolis would phrase it to say are you a man here's what you would do is you would say are you 100% behind c. stroud and then of course his answer would be of course I'm 100% behind cdraud he's our

quarterback we wouldn't have won all the playoff games we wouldn't have won all the games that we did and got after that oh and three starting came back and won without the assistance of cj stroud i mean you could do it that way so be curious to see what it goes on that Astros play the today in spring training action. Now, in the past, we have jumped in a little live listening to kind of see what's going on. But the problem is when we've done that, people think the game is on and that I turn it off and I pulled away and then people get mad at me because if you're an astrophane, you want to hear it. So I can't even do that today. I was thinking about this morning when I was waking up. I was like,

should we do a live listening? But then it just pisses people off. So we will give you any relevant details. As a matter of fact, I'll give you the lineup card today for it. It's interesting. There's somebody playing in center field that we had kind of heard that might be a possibilities. We'll tell you about that coming up on the show today. NFL Combine, Rockets. And I need my Cougar fans to call me today because, frankly, as I was calling the Rockets game last night, I didn't have a chance to watch the game between the Cougars and the Jayhawks. I obviously saw the highlights and obviously I'm staring at the box score right now. And that wasn't a pretty thing. So, yikes. Did you watch any of the game? No, no, no, no, no. I'm looking at the box score just like you are now.

Don't look at the box score. I didn't know it was this bad, though. It's Kansas. It's Allen Fieldhouse. I know the Natty went up there on Saturday and beat them like a drum. I get that. But the murderers roll lineup of three games, Iowa State, Arizona and Kansas, unfortunately did not deem good for any of the three games for the Cougars. But if Calvin Samson's feeling okay, I'm feeling okay.

But it's strange. We don't lose three games very much in a season, much less in a row. And that's exactly, unfortunately, what the Cougars. did last night. So if you want to give me your, if you happen to watch the game, I want to give me a thought or two about what you saw last night, you'll be able to my unofficial analyst because, again, I was busy working with the Rockets last night against Utah. 713-212-5-790. It is me, myself and I, Jonathan's along the way, and Gordy's going to come in and say hello for us as well for a little bit throughout the course of the show. So if you want to join us, you may do so at 7-13-212-5-790. 7-1-3-2-2-790.

1018. Our buddy Gordy is going to hang out. out with us as Ross is still suppering with the flu. If I don't like you, I'm wishing the flu on you. Thankfully, I like Gordy a lot. The last few friends I've had that, like, hey, I got the flu shot. And then a few days later, got sick. So why do we get the flu shot? You know what? I don't have the answer to that to you because I typically get it,

but there's been years where I've forgotten to get it and it hasn't affected me one way or the other. Yeah. Just stay healthy. Take your vitamins. Say your prayers. Load up on vitamin C. Yeah. That's right.

That's right. Hydrate. All right. So I brought up in the first segment, Gordy. Rockets win last night comfortably, despite the fact they kept turn the ball over left and right, which is fine. It is what it is. I love to let big lead slip away, don't they?

Well, they didn't let this thing slip too bad. But in theory, yes. It has been, we've seen a 25-point lead going away. At New Orleans, we saw an 18-point lead at New York Goalway. The team's not, I think the team is 9 and 9 this year in games that are decided by five points or less. I think I got the number right there.

And I think there's even a metric that's the clutch performance. I think one of the Rockets are one of the worst records when in clutch performances, which is not good either. But, one is a win. Jabari was really good yesterday. So we'll get a little bit on the course of the show. I brought up the Cougars Laws. You watching the Cougars at Kansas game?

Oh, yeah. I figured they were going to lose that one. So you checked out. I see how you are. No, I saw they had a lead earlier. They did. But no, I mean, that's one of the toughest places to play in college basketball. I just figured they would lose that one.

Look, that's a brutal stretch. I know Duarte tweeted first three-game losing streak for the Cooke's. It's January of 2017. But then again, Matt Wins the last time they played three top four. team teams in a row. One in the American, I can tell you that for sure. Yeah. So, yeah, all good things come to an end.

This is still a really good team. By the way, they should win these last three. Colorado, Baylor and Oakey State. Take care of business against them. You'll, you know, maybe you don't win the Big 12 this year, but it's okay. Just you'll still be one of the top teams. Go make some noise in the Big 12 tournament. And you'll be sitting pretty.

Well, again, what I did, and because basically Ross told me to, because he guilt to me into doing it. I did book a flight from, I'm going to be in Phoenix on the day of the championship game. We fly in literally from San Francisco, like 2 o'clock in the morning. I will be on a plane at 7 o'clock that morning if I go to Indianapolis to watch a national championship game. Because I got to be there because he keeps telling me these opportunities don't come around a whole lot.

I mean, think about all the great programs in college basketball the last 25 years that are still thirsting for a final four appearance. I mean, think about Gonzaga. They go once every four or five years. They don't know what a championship's about. This thing is wide open. Wide open. I mean, there are so many good teams.

Duke's awesome. Arizona's awesome. Michigan's awesome. Yukon's really good. I mean, Gonzaga, it's this tournament. And you know there's going to be some of those damn teams near the bottom with 10 losses that are going to upset some of these big one and two seats. How's LSU doing this year? They are debating about, so the big topic is they are going to,

Fire Matt McMahon, likely, at the end of the year. Nice guy. How many years you've been there? Three or four. Okay. Go get Will Wade back? That's the rumor. Really?

Really? I was kind of joking about that. So you'd have to pay Matt McMahon's buyout and Will Wade's buyout and bring him back. But there's a huge push on the booster front that they all want him back. Let's talk about, I mean, we're going to go to the Cougars and Josh just a second. Let's talk about your boosters. Who are these people? They got money.

But I know that. I mean, clearly because they're paying out your boy, Brian Kelly. They're paying their thing, Caroline. Kiffin. It's a lot of, like, the health care system in Louisiana, a lot of those CEOs are all big-time LSU fans. And think of this. There's no other, there's no other state school, you know, big school in the state. So like if you grow up, even, there's people who didn't even go to LSU. Like the governor of Louisiana didn't even go to LSU, but he's vested in LSU being good because they're the state school. And he doesn't want to build, built, roads built. He doesn't

want kids to learn all the ABCs. He wants to make sure that Lane Kiffin's second care of. Let me tell you this. Louisianaans will deal with bad roads if it means the football teams winning championships. That's just the truth. Forget free dental care for underprivileged. Let's make sure LSU wins 11 games next year. That's the reality. All right.

I'll see how you'll learn. I think Ryan Clark said it on ESPN the other day. He was like, it is a city literally your attitude Monday morning going to work is based off of whether LSU want or not. Like that's across the state. Here it's a little bit different. Even Shreveport, they're upset if LSU loses? Monroe? Monroe?

Grambling? Yeah, they're smaller community. All right. Tulane, New Orleans? Yeah. Oh, New Orleans is definitely grumpy. It's different here.

Like, you just kept, like, because I ask people, I've had people try to tell me, Houston's a bad college town. Like, Houston's a great college town. It's just too many different fan bases. Right. I mean, you can go to a sports bar here on a Saturday, and there's a Clemson watch party with 30 Clemson fans.

Like, what the hell is this? But they're all die hard and yelling and screaming. That's why, and I don't blame people for not jumping on the Cougar bandwagon when it comes to basketball, because first of all, college basketball doesn't resonate here in Texas like it does other places. But even if you were a college basketball, you're going to root for your team. If you're an Aggie fan, you're rooting for Aggie basketball. You can kind of glimpse, take a glimpse and say, all right, Cougars in the tournament, I'll root for them. But you're not going to watch and keep track of a team over the course of season because it's not your school.

But you can get people to buy it. Like, we went to the Final Four last year, rooting for U of H. my wife bought a ticket. Like, she didn't go to U of H. So like, did I see you there? I think, no. Because you were with all the high rollers. Oh my God.

You were in the VIP area. I was in the VIP future COVID section is where I was. Damn you, San Antonio. But no, I mean, like, and it was the same thing. When Tom Herman was winning at U of H, pretty soon was Willie Fritz starts to win at a high level, like, you'll get me out to games. That's the true sign of you're doing something special.

Or are you getting people that didn't even go to that school? buying tickets to come into the game because, man, this team's good. Come support them. I hope you're right. Let's talk to Josh on line 2 at 1025 on 7.00. Josh, good morning to you. Hey, good morning. How y'all doing? Good. Thank you for calling. Good. I wanted to get into some grievances I have with this U of H team, man.

Now, let me be clear, man, this schedule, gauntlet, as bad as they come. You're only getting this pretty much in the Big 12 and some parts of the ACC. It's nasty. But I had to say, man, there's something about Emmanuel Sharp. It kind of reminds me of Jalen Green on bad nights. And it's just something I can't get out of my head. Now, I know that's some past traumas, man, with Jalen Green being off this rocket team,

but I'm getting shades of it. When Kingston Fleming isn't getting the ball, every possession, you know, and it's ugly out there. The offensive rebounding is nasty. The team is clearly not as good as it was last season. Right. I don't know where we go from here. Well, I mean, I think last year's team was better.

You are relying heavily, Josh, on two freshmen. Now granted, they grow up and they've been playing a lot of basketball games. And, you know, they're now, you know, 28 games into their season. And Kingston's been awesome. But you know what? It's not necessarily difficult to try to defend Houston. You go after Fleming's, you make it as difficult as possible, and you let Uzanne and Sharp do what they can do. and, you know, if Sharp continues to shoot one for 10 or shoots way below his season average,

you're going to win basketball games. You're going to take your chances with Sharp. Tugler doesn't provide anything on the offensive end. CNAC was inconsistent last night. Uzanne doesn't take a whole lot of shots. So he's, and you just don't have much of production off your bench either. So I don't mean to dumb it down, but I'm not, I don't think I'm speaking out of both sides here to say that if it ain't for Kingston Fleming's, this team just does not have enough offensive firepower.

Completely. This team might not even crack the top 15 without Kings and Flemmings. I mean, this true point guard coming at it, what was in New York, right? This kid is legit. I cannot see him falling out of the top of this draft. I mean, this kid is seriously carrying this load. Now, for Emmanuel Sharpe and guys like that who I think would be more experienced, you know, guys who I think wouldn't shoot one per 10, let's say,

you know, have bad, even defensive nights as well. Now, I know that guard play in the Big 12 is really, really tough, especially now. I mean, even look at the forwards out there, obviously, you can look at the Bansden, plenty of other guys like that, Dan Pearson, who's kind of a stretch, you know, this conference, man, it will eat you alive. It will. I just can't go into this. I can't go into March, you know, too confident, like how I was last season.

No, see, I would think, yeah, I would say, but, Josh, I would say the opposite. I think, you know, look, you are getting battle tested at the Big 12th, level. You are not having to go through a bunch of lollygaggers in non-power leagues. And I think this will toughen them up for a postseason term because you've played three top 15 teams in seven days. Guess what you're going to be doing the tournament? You're going to be playing three top 15 teams in seven days, essentially, if you get rid of the first round opponent. So I'm going to try to go glass half-fall in this saying that how many teams in this country would be able to go to Iowa State and to Kansas and home for Arizona and would have any more than one victory? I didn't

at that, which is obviously disappointing, but most really, if you gave North Carolina this three game stretch or you gave Duke this three game stretch, I wouldn't say they could win two or three of the games. Those are just very difficult opponents. I'll totally give it to you. You put, what? How many college basketball teams

are there in the D1? You know, 220. I don't think that 217 of those teams could even go two and one in that stretch. And like I said, I'll totally give you that. But anyway, I got to get going. I'll hang up and listen, but Thanks, Josh. Hopefully we'll figure it out.

We'll see you later. I appreciate it. I'll see you later. All right, so I've been talking about this kid a little bit. And look, not that we moved the needle on a college basketball whole lot, but Darren Peterson is a projected top five selection. In fact, some people think he's number one. He is really the epitome of what might be wrong with paying athletes in NIL.

We'll discuss that coming back in a minute. 1030 is our time. It is the Matt Thomas show with Ross Ross. He's under the weather again today, and our buddy Chris Cordy is going to hang out with us. How long are you hanging out with us? too. You going to noon? Probably noon. Oh, yeah. We get Gordy till noon. 713-212-5-7-90. Good morning, Houston, Texas.

I'm Matt. Gordy's with me here as well. We are with you today until 2 o'clock this afternoon. And again, Gordy's going to hang out with us until noon. And then later on today, we'll have Ryan Hollins, but with us for about a half an hour. So between 1230 and 1. We've got feelings at 1130, and then we have, believe it or not today, at 150. as we will give away another set of lovely prizes. What did we give away yesterday?

One prize all the guy. That was for the very last caller. I usually don't brag. I like to have winners. Like, Ross loves to have go over. I want to, I'm a giver. I'm a lover. I want to give things to you.

But you can't earn him. Believe it or not today, 150 here on Sports Talk 790. So, and I brought out this kid's name before, and this is the name that will be brought up in NBA draft circles come draft time. This kid named Darren Peterson. super highly recruited player, super highly talented guard, 30 minutes last night for them, which has got to be among his season highs.

He has missed a variety of games for illness, soreness, cramps, doesn't play a whole lot. I talked to my wife this morning and she's like, do you know who this Darren Peterson is? I said, yeah, he's a pretty special player. I said, yeah, he's really special. But she says, he misses time all the time. and she told me this and I have not done a lot of research on him because look we don't break down KU basketball very often on this show but apparently the agent is doing a lot of conversation

talking to Bill's self about how much the client should be playing that's really dangerous the new world agents wouldn't you say 75% of our decent people um I mean there's no way you can probably It's probably more half and half.

Okay, so 50% of them are decent, good in the best interest, and 50% are slime balls. Who's the one that's the slime ball? Oh, gosh. It's him and his brother. He's got the slick back hair based out of Miami. What's his name? Big NFL agent.

Not Rosenhouse. Yeah. Oh, Drew Rosenhouse? I remember, I was at a Saints game on the sideline. Standing Exit, Jeremy Shockey, warming up. It's like 0-8, 09. He comes up. Shock, how you doing, babe?

How's the mom? Mom good. Sis got good seats? Yeah, yeah, great. I mean, just like total douchebag attitude and conversation. Very successful. Not real. That's where I, like, if you're an agent, I think you got to be a great business, man.

But you got to be real with your client. You got to be, like, that BS. This kid is being, Darren Peterson's agent is being real with him saying, do not play very hard. All the mock drafts still number one, number one, Darren Peterson. I think there are red flags all over this kid. And again, I'm only seeing it from a distance, but doesn't want to play hard, takes a lot of games off on a self-imposed minutes restriction.

Yeah, I'd go with the boozer kid if I'm picking first overall. Cameron Boozer. Yeah. But no, I mean... I'd take Kingston Fleming's over them. I think at least Kingston's Lemming wants to work hard. Yeah. Get some good effort.

But no, I mean, every mock draft I've seen Darren Peterson still number one, number one. He's averaging close to 20 points a game. Because athletically, he's the most five-tool guy of the group. If there's such a thing in a five-tool in basketball. Problem is, the intangibles don't lend himself to being a guy that you want to build a franchise around. And here's the stupid part.

I heard, I think it was, I don't know, one of those washed-up NBA guys making the argument on their podcast every day. They ought to let kids, we ought to change the rule where you come out of high school again. Like, we've got to go back to that. And I'm like, we don't necessarily have to go back to that. But why didn't he do what the Thompson twins did? Like, go play, or Jalen Green, go play the G League. Why, no one said you had to go to Kansas.

Because there's more money in college basketball than there isn't a G League. Think about it. Think about the crazy money that schools are now budgeting. Remember, the schools can pay and then you have NIA on top of it, so you can double dip in your one year. Plus, you can be on national television. Look, how many G League games are on TV that people can see you in market? You can't get marketing if you're a G League player.

You can get marketed if you're a Kansas kid. See, and here's what's tough is I don't think you can put in those deals must play 90% of the game. must put forth effort. You know what I mean? Like that's where it sucks. Those are intangibles. Yeah.

Because I watch Bill Self in his press conferences. He's got to play this game, but it looks like he's cringing during this. Yeah. Yeah, I don't know how you, I mean, nothing said, like, you just got to do your vetting really well

and find out if this kid's a diva or not before you sign him. And the reality is most of the kids of this now generation, I'm not saying there's going to be 50 more Darren Pidd. Peterson's out there, but there'd be more than there were five or ten years ago. I mean, as talent as Darren Peterson is, he wouldn't last two days under Kelvin Sampson. Oh, yeah.

No, Kelvin would have his ass running and make him cry. There's only one coach that I've been able, that I've seen that has successfully been able to deal with the divas, and that's John Cal Perry. He has found a way, I don't know how he does it, but... He gets him to work hard for one year, and then they wind up leaving. Yeah. Push them out the door. But, yeah, this is a very unique... circumstance of you expect all these kids what the money and want to work hard but what if they

get the money and don't work hard then it's you know or it's like or just being total diva on protecting my future investment yeah i can't do this i can't do that for you yeah i just i really really really really want to respect the new rules of the game but if you've already got the money in your piggy bank you are and you're thinking about your pro prospects it's like it's like college football players gordy that skip the the bowl games I understand why they do it. That may not like it, but I understand it. This guy's taking games off during the regular season.

You know, it's different. In college basketball, you have an end goal. You can win a national championship. You get into a tournament, even if you've lost seven, eight, nine times. You get in the tournament, you've got just as good a chance as anybody else. In college football, you lose two or three games early on. You're more than likely not going to have a chance to play for a national championship. Now, obviously, if the college football playoff expands and you play on a power four team,

your team's really good and you've got some close losses. Maybe that lets you slip in. But in basketball, there is a prize. There is a bracket that you can, if you play hard and you play at your very best, you can slide your way from round to round to round to play for the championship. Well, not only that, like, Kansas is in a great spot. Like, they're, they're right there in the top of the Big 12,

right behind of Arizona. You're going to be a top four seed. You're going to be in a great spot to make on a tournament run. Like, if this were last year, was it Ace Bailey at Rutgers? kind of sucked. Like, I could understand that. Like, you know, we're going to protect the investment. My guy's going to take a couple games off. But like, you're Kansas,

a premier basketball school in the midst of an incredible year, why would you not, why would you, I'm sick tonight. Like, that just hurts your team. I don't get it. Oh, I can totally get it. He's saving the body for the NBA. Doug is with his son 7-90. Hi, Doug. Hey, Matt, how's it going? Good morning.

Thank you. I'm good. I got a question, two questions about the NBA and the NIL money. But first, let me preface that, when Jerees Walker came out from U of H as a freshman, there was not really the big NIL money that there is now. So he kind of sat for two years, and his third year now,

he's kind of an average player. He's playing about 18 minutes, 10 points a game. When you look at Sannack at Fleming's, those two kids, to me, need another year in college. I don't think they're NBA ready. So my question is twofold. Is it worth it? an NBA GM to draft these kids that young, knowing it's going to take them three years, possibly

four years, to really develop. And second question, is it better for a guy like Sanak and Fleming's to not go the NBA G-League route? Stay in school, get that G-League, I'm sorry, get the NIL money and the television exposure. So it's kind of the two-fold question, the NBA and the NIA. I'll hang up and listen and thanks again for all you do. Thanks, Doug. Yeah, for first and foremost, I do believe. leave now with all the money that is available to these kids in college basketball,

college basketball over G-League every single time. Because again, we just talked about a few minutes ago. You're going to get a good amount of money. You got a chance of further market yourself. And you get the best of both worlds. You get to go play high-in college basketball. G-League, it's interesting. You don't worry about going to class.

You don't have any sort of academic requirements, but you are playing in small towns that Franklin No one cares about those teams. Now, does it get you in a better spot for future NBA? I mean, some could say yes. I mean Thompson played for the And Asar Thompson played for that Ignite team So, but you know To me, if I'm a really good high school player

And I think I've got the NBA Right ahead of me I'm gonna go play college for one year Get that money from them Be on nationally showcased And build my resume there And this real quick this mock draft I'm looking at Kingston Fleming's fourth overall

Chris Senac 12th overall They are both gone They're both gone Especially Fleming CNAX's been good but not amazing, but good. I mean, you know, can he improve his draft stock in the next handful of weeks? Of course you will. But he'll also have a chance to go to the combine where these general managers will say,

hey, here's what we're thinking about you and here's what we're going. I mean, they'll have these agents that will say that, you know, the agents can make the phone call. Is my guy a high lottery pick? Is he a low lottery pick? Is he an out of the lottery pick? Oh, is he going to make the first round? Is he a second round guy? So they'll have a chance to go in, duck in and duck out if they want to.

But I would be, first of all, Fleming says, in my mind, zero percent chance of staying at U of H. and my Cinek is probably in the 5% range. And a tournament run could certainly help your case. Like I remember going into last year, Walter Clayton at Florida was thought to be maybe back end of the first. He ended up going 18th overall.

Now, Florida won at all. Oh, they did? I didn't know that. Thanks. It was really interesting. Emmanuel Sharp had a chance at a game-winning shot, but he lost. You know what? I can do the show by myself now. I'm fine. Why don't I ask you in here? But point being, I bet, I bet,

both those, if U of H goes on a deeper run, I bet both those guys move up, up, up. No question. We're talking about Kingston Fleming's possibly top three, and we're talking about Senac top 10. No question. All right, it is 1045. The Astros starting lineup for today's game against the Mets is out. We'll let you know how that's going to shape up, and there'll be somebody new in center field today. We'll discuss that next.

1045 on Sports Talk 790. It is the Matt Thomas show with Ross. Ross is off today because she doesn't feel well. I actually flew, probably sick as a dog. We got Casario speaking at 11 o'clock. And like I said, as soon as we get some of that audio coming in, sometime during the show, we'll play some of it. I'm going to assume there's some contract restructuring has to go on.

Got to say goodbye to Joe Mixon for sure. Got to go find yourself an RB1 for 2026. And we'll get to more of that as the date progresses. All right. As I mentioned, the Astros have a starting lineup out today for their game of the Metropolitan's in Port St. Lucy. Jeremy Pena is going to lead off and play shortstop. Joey Loporffito is in right field today.

Cam Smith bats third in place center field. Middle three is Cole in left Desenzo D.H. And Shea Wickham is at second. Alexander at first base. Alan at shortstop and Cesar Salazar will be the catcher for Jason Alexander, who will start today. And so that's what you got going on there for the Astros. Cam Smith playing in center.

It feels like to me, just reading between every storyline we have seen so far, whether you were there, whether I was there, or the comments that have been made in the offseason, I don't think Dana's thrilled about the outfield. And that's something that we've been saying for weeks now. Yeah, I wonder if they, were they in on some more veteran outfielder's

and just kind of missed or what? Because it kind of is what it is, right? You built this, like, you know? I mean, I think in a perfect world, you would have liked Cam Smith to finish last season strong, and you'd feel pretty good. Okay, we got Myers, we got him. We'll have Yoran sometimes and left.

You can live with one outfield spot worried about whether or not there's average. Now you're really worried about two, frankly. And you've got no power in your centerfield spot, although I know Jake Myers has told us when we were down there last week, he'd like to get his slug up a little bit. I mean... And honestly, if Jesus had he been really good, he'd be here right now. He'd be the right fielder.

Yeah. But you did move... away from a guy that did have majorly experience, that did have some power. I mean, he had more power than Cam Smith and more power than Zach Cole. So you dump the salary, which is, I mean, Sanchez was not rich, all things considered, but he wasn't particularly good. So you can kind of justify it if this was part A of a bigger plan. And so far we've not seen that second part of that plan implemented. I think that's what most people were saying was, oh, they did this to free up room so when they make the parades trade whoever they bring in with making money you'll have room for

it but yeah i mean a world of low perfido zach cole and cam smith that's super young super inexperienced and yeah i mean you have games or you have those three guys less than a thousand played appearances yeah it's just i don't know but i mean a certain point you got to get you got to get some kind of like i think fans i said this one they made a trade for low perfido fans are more willing to to watch Joey go out there and struggle through his growing pains as opposed to watch wasting at bats on Hesu Sanchez who you just already made your mind up sucks.

You know what I mean? Like I think fans are willing to give a leash to the young guy okay, he's learning. Well, that's because the Hesu Sanchez sample size was so disappointing. Right. Reyes didn't do much in his coming here. Sanchez didn't do much when he came here. That's why I said be careful with the whole

we won the trade debt. Everybody looked at it and Astros won the trade deadline. Look at those moves. They got Correa, they got this, they got that like you've got to be careful with it because you never know what a guy's going to do once he gets here. Yeah, again, I don't know. It will pain us if Sanchez goes to Toronto and starts for them every couple days and hits big home runs and whatnot. That'll be it'll be painful because that's what the outfield right now on paper does not have. So not that I remember rooting for X Astros, but you shave payroll for a guy you thought was not going to be a guy that you wanted to play in right field on a regular basis.

You just don't want him going somewhere else and being successful. you've got nothing back in return unless Oprah Fido all of a sudden becomes a new baseball player because Joey was nice for a little while for the Astros became kind of a cult hero, but he goes to Toronto doesn't set the world on fire. In fact, most of his time was spent

at AAA Syracuse. I mean, this is a guy that not much more than a 4A player right now. That's why I think if you can move Isok Piraeus and get an everyday left field or right field or you do it. But don't you think it right now we're, and I don't know how the intricacies of this work, but are they kind of too late for that right now?

They have to kind of live for the season to kind of get underway and see what happens because who's not, is there somebody out there? And I'm sure the answer to this question is yes. Is there a team in baseball that is still dying for a middle infielder? Is there somebody that needs a third basement in the worst way right now? Or maybe even a first basement for that matter? I think that was the fault with the Red Sox, right? When they lost Bregman.

Yeah. They were kind of indiating. And so has that window passed until one of two things. Somebody falls on a contention or somebody has a player that gets hurt or somebody needs an extra bat to maybe DH. And that's where Paredes can come through as well. So it almost feels like since they didn't do it before Camp began, that maybe this is going to be a much longer waiting process and maybe we even thought about it was going to be, say, four or five weeks ago. I'm just looking to see what's out there on the, if there are any free agents. But I mean, I guess that, at this point for spring training, you would have already brought in one of these guys.

But Jesse Winker, Randall Gritchick, Tommy Fam. Those are just kind of some of the free agent outfielders that Alex Verdugo. I know his name's been thrown out there a ton. But the fact that they haven't brought in any of those guys on an even like, well, because you do what, the minimum spring training invites. And the fact they haven't even done that with any of the past few years with random guys. I'm trying to think of some of the names, but like guys who are past their prime, but trying to hang on for a paycheck.

They've done that years past. They haven't done that this year. I mean, if Taylor Tremel is fighting for a roster spot, maybe that's what they view Tremel as. Okay, maybe they're something there. Or DeSenzo. I mean, you're still looking at a bunch of guys that just don't have a lot of plate appearances,

or any sort of slug. Well, I always said with the guys like DeZenzo and Che Whitcomb, like, awesome that they're versatile. You love the versatility, but also it's man of many trades. what is it master of none like you'd rather dezenzo be a stud right feet he is a right fielder yeah but instead it's like hey he can play multiple positions well is he great at any of him yeah no so i don't know but again i my take is i think the fans are more willing to go with the joey low perfido who's a fan favorite

fans are more willing to give him an opportunity show if he can i i've learned and i think all of us know this fan favorites can only last for a certain length of time if it comes out of the gate batting 126 and plays once a week. He will not be a fan favorite. Either it'll be a, you got to give him a chance to play six days a week, or we traded this bum for Hesu Sanchez or at least know we brought to the table. 713, 212-790, 7-190.790. So, Gordy with us for another hour, you and me and Jonathan all the way to 2 o'clock this afternoon. 7-1-3-2-5-790. 7-1-3-2-1-2-5-7-90.

This is the Matt Thomas show with Ross. 11 o'clock on Sports Talk 790. It is Matt. It is Gordy. Ross is under the weather today. Hopefully we'll get him back tomorrow. Astros play a spring training game tonight or today. We'll have a tape-flood for you beginning at 7 o'clock.

We'll be live with Astro's spring training on Wednesday and on Thursday. Rockets last night disposed of the Utah Jazz by a score of 125 to 105. Nikki C. is going to speak in a matter of moments at the NFL Combine in Indianapolis. And as soon as we get some audio from that, we will be eager to play some of that for you. How much I brought this up a little while ago before you joined us over under a number of questions that he gets about C.J. Stroud and whether he is the long-term solution for the Houston Texans. And you've got to put it in a very politically nice way. Yeah, I think he'll get asked once or twice, but he's the master of being able to sidestep questions like that. So, yeah, I don't know if he'll go as far as like, yeah, I'm not going to get in all that.

But he will not give you an answer. And again, the answer should be, unless there's a quarterback out there that I cannot think of right now, the answer should be we're not trading C.J. Stroud. And I know that he is public, not necessarily public enemy number one, but people are certainly down on his performance. You, in my mind, have to let this play out one more year. And I'm just going to continue to say that over and over and over again

until somebody believes me. Yeah, I think a normal GM answer would be, Yeah, well, CJ is our guy. He's the face of our franchise. There's no doubt he had a rough postseason, but we know he's going to get better. We know we're going to get healthy around him, and we're ready to make that next run again.

That's the answer you give. But his will be something stupid about, yeah, when you look at the player, the player is about getting better, and the player, you know, he won't even say CJ's name. Sometimes it gets better, sometimes it gets worse. Sometimes it plays the same, you know, oh, my God, and I said about a year ago I wasn't going to do anymore.

But look, unfortunately, when the general manager speaks and it's so rare that he does, you do have to kind of perk your ears up and listen to it. Right. So that's what we do carry it. But it, yeah, it's a lot about word salad. And like I told the audience about 45 minutes ago, and those of it just joining us, hey, how are you? Be where the hell are you been?

See, we're glad to have you. There are bigger fish to fry. I mean, look, CJ is the most important component. But give him a year of some things around him. The problem I say when I bring that up is, I brought this up with Ross. Ross. Gordy, you can't fix the running back core. You can't fix the offensive line and giving him an additional wide receiving target.

That can't be done in one season unless you have the greatest draft and the greatest free agency in the history of sports. And I mean, Casero's done a pretty good job, but that's a lot to ask of someone to get fixed in less than nine months here. Oh, here we go. 60 seconds ago. Nick Casario, amidst trade speculation regarding C.J. Stroud, quote, he's not going anywhere. So he did.

We can't cross and discuss that, though, Gordy. Come on. Let's go now. So he put his name on it. He's straight up said. Not happening. Which again, is good. But I thought, I thought we get more coded Nick speak than straight up. I'm applauding him for saying, not, he got right to it. It didn't waste any time. Not going anywhere. Next question. Anything else? How's Joe's Mixing's foot?

Jonathan, you get off your phone and focus when I say Joe makes this foot. What are you doing back there? You know the rule. Oh, we still doing that? I thought it was too much. It's never too much. It was too scared.

I find it. We're also scared about it. I wasn't scared about it. Now, the time it's past. You can't send it. But the next time I sneak it in there, I better hear that sound effect. I'll have it from now on.

That's what I'm talking about. All right. Thank you. Yeah, there's going to be some restructuring of contracts. And here's the biggest issue. that obviously will not happen this year. But when you have two top five selections in the same NFL draft, you've got two mega contracts you're going to take care of.

Yeah, the Will Anderson, I wouldn't waste any time on that one. You've got a premier absolute stud pass rusher in the midst of his prime. Let's get this done now. Quarterback we can figure out. Big time pass rusher, lock that guy up. C.J. Your thoughts about Will Anderson getting that big deal? you didn't get one. Your thoughts, please. What is it? It'll say, well, I don't deserve it.

Eh, I mean, if he's being real, he could say, look, I know I've got to play better to earn top dollar. He's not going to say that, though. Everybody's running with this quote now. He's not going anywhere. I believe him. Put that on a billboard. A year from now, you may not say that. Right, now, if he sucks again, if he plays like he did last postseason all regular season,

yeah. And look, this thing's compounded when Sam freaking Donald wins a Super Bowl, you got teams sitting out there going, you know what? Kirk Cousin's about to be cut. Let's go grab us to Kirk Cousins. He might least the Super Bowl. Did Sam Donald's reemergence, after all the different teams he's

been on, make you think more about other teams thinking maybe a change of scenery can help a guy? Well, not just that, but look at the teams that when you have your quote-unquote franchise quarterback and you lock him in, how much it handcuffs you? And how much, when he kind of,

that sucks. Look at Toil with the Dolphins. Look at Kyler Murray with the Cardinals. I mean, I might even put Trevor Lawrence in there. I know he had a nice year last year. I wouldn't put him in there, but I know what you're going on. But like, you know, it's that whole thought of, oh, we got our guy, let's lock him in. Or, you know, the Seahawks said, you know

what? We think we've gotten the most out of Russell Wilson. Let's go ahead and pull the plug now. And somebody just wrote a piece on this. All the trade assets they got from that Denver trade helped lead them to the Super Bowl this year. They took those pieces. And again, Sam Darnold is a nice player, but nobody would confuse him as a top 10 quarterback. But even if you

have a quarterback and you're paying him crazy money, because that's what quarterbacks get, it can hurt you because look at what the Dallas Cowboys are going through. The amount of money they have spent on Dag Prescott, they have let a lot of good defensive players go the last couple of years. And now the Dallas Cowboys are made fun of because they can't stop a nosebleed. Yeah. I'm surprised the NFL owners

and I don't know if it would be collusion or reworking of things have not tried to implement some sort of quarterback salary cap. And I guess you can't do that. You can't tell somebody, if you've got a bank of money, which obviously an NFL salary cap is, the player association is going to say you pay how you need to pay out who you want to pay out.

We're not, we didn't for you you guys, meeting guys being the owners, we didn't force you to pay these quarterbacks as crazy money. But the mock, but somebody started it. Nick Casario says, C.J. Straub will be the quarterback for the Texas at 2026. He called

speculation, otherwise moronic. Multiple people saying speculation moronic. Sid will be a starting quarterback at 2026 and who knows beyond that. So he ain't committing to paying him yet, but he's committed to he'll be here next year.

but that look perfect part of me does and this is where like you'd love to go on on like madden and try to simulate something because I just saw you know see the Falcons reported today they're going to let Kirk Cousins go in there a world where you look at maybe

what if you could trade if you get four future first for a CJ Strath what excuse me what like or three future let's say excuse me what? There are people out there might pay that. I don't believe that to be accurate would you do that and then like grab a Kirk Cousins and ride with him

and see if you could do replicate what the Seahawks just did. Do you really think you can get three first round picks for C.J. Strah. I think you get a haul still. I understand we're living in the moment based on what he just did in the playoffs, but I think a lot of people look at him. But what would you judge a guy on it? Why would you go trade as valuable of a trade chip as one first round pick, much less three when the most recent sample size in the most important game says he cracks like an egg?

He also was offensive rookie The year. Okay, I'm not going to those three-year-old numbers anymore now. Former pro bowler. He's 24. He's meaning to me. 24 still very much in his prime. Unless, what I brought up a few minutes ago, Gordy, unless you say,

I got an established offensive line, I've got some parts here, C.J. Strau needs to change the scenery. I believe this conversation we just had 10 seconds ago is something you wait for a year for. You got to let this play out one more year, at least. No, I'm with it. It's, to me, the Sam Donald thing just opens up the conversation a little bit more to go, oh.

Because I've always been, I mean, look at the last handful of Super Bowls. It's been Jalen Hertz, franchise quarterback, Pat Mahomes, Pat Mahomes, Matthew Stafford, Tom Brady. I mean, it's mostly been to win a Super Bowl in recent years, you've got to have that franchise face of your franchise quarterback. And then Sam Darnold wins one with the Seahawks. And you go, how much money to Sam Darnal make this year? He wasn't super rich, right? He got paid well. But, I mean, he wasn't in the $50 million category like most of the elite quarterbacks are.

No. He got, he earned a base of 12.3 mil. Isn't that pathetic, Houston, that we sit here and say, oh, that's great value. Guys making $12 million. Oh, okay, wait. So that was his base. The deal he signed was a three-year, $100 million contract. Oh, 55 million guaranteed.

Okay, so 33 million a year, 55. So he actually was paid pretty well. Do you know anybody? Who's the richest person do you know? Don't say me, because that's not the case. Like that I've met? I don't know, but I really want to know what his 8, when you, you know, you get money out of the ATM machine, you know, it shows your balance. If you've got $33 million in a piggy bank, does it, does it have room for eight numbers?

I don't think that money's sitting in his just checking account of Chase. I think a lot of that is invested in. Okay, so let's say I made $20 million a year here at IHeart. Mm-hmm. I got to keep probably a half million in my checking account, right? That's a waste of money, though. You would want that in savings accounts. How much is in my checking account?

If I'm making $20 million a year, do I even have an ATM a card? Yeah. But like cash flow, I'd say probably like, I'd put 100K in there. Because what are you buying on a daily basis that you're going to need more than... I don't know, but $20 million for like anything I want, I'll buy it. To me, that's a waste of putting that in a check-in account. You want the bulk of what you have. I'll put on a credit card to get to miles.

Yeah, well, that too. But you want that money, that cash flow invested. You want that earning money back to you. That's what you learn when you get older. It's not what you got in the bank account. It's what you got invested. I need to win the lottery because I want to be able to have, go get $40 left and say your available balance is $31,417,463.

And then go get robbed. That doesn't feel nice at all. Although most banks protect you now. They're like the most you could take out an ATM in a day is like a couple hundred. Because I'm trying to think, I mean, look, I know, obviously I know a lot of rich people. I wonder if anybody in the Fratita family has an ATM card. It says, I need to pull out $40. Yes, I'm sure they do.

What's the last thing you bought with cash? I've had a 20. I'm Team Cash. I've had a 20 in my wallet since December. And I've not used it. That's because you never spend money in anything. Well, I just use the card. Wouldn't you use cash only?

I love cash. Well, you're old. Oh, I also get cash for my per diem on the rocket, so I try to get rid of it because I don't want a lot of cash sitting around. Oh, you know the last time I used cash at the church basket. That's the only time I ever pulled out. Oh, that's nice of you to do that. That's the only time you ever pull out cash.

That's really nice. or a valet like a hotel you know what I'm gonna tell you something right now I don't like you guys that don't carry any cash because when us

that have to carry cash like if you want to tip the person that clears your table at a restaurant or you want to let's say you have breakfast at a hotel and you get the free breakfast

and somebody comes and clears your plate you only have two or three dollars if you want to leave tip money for the maid you can't put your ATM card out there and say here's a $5 tip for you

you know what you need to carry ones with you at all times Like 10 of them. If I do valet, do I have to report my tips? If somebody keeps up to me 20s, can I just tuck that away? What is wrong with you? That's actually a good question.

You have to report that to the government? 713-212-5-790. Are you taking tip money? Am I taking tips? I mean, are you taking tips? Sure. My Venmo's open. Oh, stop.

At Chris Gordy. Okay, 7-13-212-5-790. 7-1-3-212-5-790. It's 11-14. We've got feelings coming up at the bottom of the hour. This is Sports Talk 790. So once we get some of that audio in from the NFL Combine, we'll see if the boys in the back, we don't have any boys.

We have any boys in the back? We're so lean. No. Okay, so you're actually the boy in the back. Yeah, I'm pulling it right now. Are you? Okay. We'll play some of that audio throughout the course of the show today.

What did you say about Joe Mixing again? When I asked about it? Yeah, so here's the latest on what Nick Casario is saying at the Combine. He has said we are not trading CJ. Love it. We're glad he's our quarterback. Any trade speculation, he called Moronic. I can see him saying that easily.

It's moronic. It's probably said that a lot about show topics on this show. He probably says it about a lot of the people that have YouTube pages of have to fail media careers, but that's another hearing or there. Nick Casar, you listen to Matt Thomas show today? It's moronic. Oh, I mean, that's fine. I can live with that. Aaron Wilson, no clarity on Texans injured running back Joe Mixon's status.

GM Nick Casario said the former Pro Bowl selection had surgery this office. season. This off season? It was last off season. Did they have another surgery? Mm-hmm. It's a slip. Jonathan, maybe there were fragments in the foot that were loose. You never know. You know, I still can't believe that it's February, and this was news in July, and we still don't know what's going on. So you don't really think he shot himself in the foot?

I don't know that to be not true. You know what, exactly. We don't know. They're fault. Tell us the truth. I believe the theory that he went to a non-NFL approved doctor to do a procedure. I agree with it. Yeah, but that's not as much fun as talking about the gunshot at the foot. And then it becomes an insurance issue where the Texans are like, hey, we had a contract and you're not supposed to do that. Well, maybe there's a little bit of a you went against our medical rules, thus we're not going to pay you out and thus we're not going to say word one.

See, you know what, Gordy, that's the problem. You know, Jonathan, what he just said made total sense. We don't believe in total sense on this show. But even if that happened, why wouldn't they say? Because you have probably some serious legalities to worry about. Like the hippolysis? Okay. Oh, I don't mean, no, I think there's probably would be my guess here to take it one step further. Maybe there's litigation coming up.

Maybe the Texans are, this is all just purely speculative. Maybe the Texans found out that Joe Mixing went to somebody to get a procedure that was not authorized by the team and they don't want to pay on that contract because look joe mixon made good money joe mixon didn't take a snap in two thousand twenty six or twenty five i should say and they shouldn't be paying for joe mixon going rogue when probably he might have gone against team ordered team directed orders you never know or might have got shot in the foot you never know one of those two they they definitely need they need more o lineman they need a run back in this draft i need a complimentary piece for um for the u s c kids

Woody Marks. Woody Marks. Good back, not a feature leadback. See, when you say complimentary, I think of who's it, Jamira Gibbs and David Montgomery. Yeah. That's what I think complementary. The Texans don't even have that. Yeah.

Woody Marks is a one downback, a guy that fills in, but he would be clearly a number two. I think they're good at wide receiver. Honestly, the best thing you can do, if there's a quarterback you love in this draft in the middle rounds, I might take that. I don't believe in Graham Mertz as the viable future backup. Do you try to trade Davis Mills? Yeah. If there's a kid I love in the middle rounds of this draft, let's just say, oh, let's say third round,

Garrett Nussmeyer staring at me. You know what? NFL pedigree was one of the best quarterbacks in college two years ago, got hurt last year at LSU, wasn't great, but his dad, Doug is still coordinator in the league, comes from a football family, got a big arm. I'd take him as a developmental, and then you have a little insurance

if CJ does suck this year and you decide, okay, maybe we're not going to give him a big fat contract. I don't know. Is the GM? I always got to be thinking too much. I know, I know, but I think that's too far ahead.

I need depth. I need options at offensive line, especially because I've drafted so poorly. I need an RB1. I need probably another. cornerback, and I'm telling you, if Christian Kirk leaves and Higgins and Noel are not the guys, do you go again for another receiver? I just saw this posted Nick Casario talks about where to go.

Yeah, he's very excited about the second year for wide receiver, Jalen Noel. Okay, well, I mean, I would hope so. You drafted him in the up in the first two days of the NFL draft. Three-Dab Iowa statewide receivers here. What if he had said, God, I looked at Noel this year. Guys, I goofed up. Yeah, they never do that. It's like, you know, wouldn't it be fun if you really, really wanted to spice up these press conferences,

scorni, you put these guys on lie detector. I think that would be illegal. That would not be good business. I don't care if it's illegal. That would add serious drama. Well, I think these days in sports, I'm of the old school. I wish we had more Steve Spurrier's. Like coaches and GMs, they tell you exactly how they feel about people instead of pussyfooting around.

You know what I mean? Well, that Steve Spurrier world is long gone. I get it. Nobody wants to say anything that could be semi-controversial. They want to just give you, what did they give you? Like, oat brand? That's what. Nick Casserie gives you most of the old brand, huh?

Yeah. No raisins. You know, it's crazy? I had raisin brand this morning for breakfast. I'm glad you thought of that. I don't like raisins by themselves. Like, I would never go, hey, I can go for a bowl of raisins right now. But for some reason, they taste good in Raisin brand.

I don't get it. That's my food quirk of the day. No, hey, and raisin brand's good. So if you missed it, the headline of Nick Casario's presser here, about 24 minutes ago is C.J. Stroud is not going anywhere. He will be the Texans quarterback in 2026.

Now, I will not add in the words, and beyond, because and beyond is still to be decided. Right, right, right. Well, but this way, if we're having this conversation a year from now because of the uncertainty of the performance, then

the Texans are going to be in a real shaky spot. Now, you are much more of a college football geek than I am. How is the quarterback class of 2027 looks? Loaded. Really? Absolutely loaded. This quarterback crop sucks. That's

why I don't get the Trinidad Champles thing from Ole Miss. Why he would be fighting in these Mississippi courtrooms to get another year of eligibility. Well, again, he's got $5 million sitting on the table from Ole Miss to come back and play, but I think he'd have been a second round pick at the worst in this draft.

Fernando Mendoza is going number one, number one. After that, This thing is wide freaking open. Ty Simpson from Alabama is thought to be probably the second best quarterback. Dante Moore from Oregon, he went back. So next year, in 2027, you got Arch Manning, basically a lot to be number one, number one. Even if he is mediocre this year, the name Manning is going to have him number one. And he's the kind of guy that looks like the media, he will be a flashy on a pro day.

Yes. And look, and to Arch's credit, the family's done a great job of keeping him humble. I thought he got better as a year when along. I think he's going to be awesome at Texas this year. But you got Arch Manning from Texas. You got Dante Moore from Oregon. You'll have Trinidad Chamble's from Ole Miss. I bet if he has another great year, he'll improve his stock.

You'll have Sam Levitt from LSU, coming on from Arizona State. I mean, the list goes on and on and on. Then you got guys who are like, what happens with, DJ Lagway, now going to Baylor. If he's awesome, I bet he might come out. Like, next year's draft is loaded with quarterbacks. Okay. Well, that gives me a little comfort. But if you're a Texans fan, you need CJ to get out of this rut that he's in.

Because if he doesn't get out of it, you're not going to go any further this year in the playoffs. And you're going to be searching for a new quarterback. And how long does it take, Gordy? I mean, not every quarterback is. I mean, Drake May got to the Patriots of the Super Bowl in the second season. So it can happen fairly quickly. but that's more the outlier than it is the norm. Oh, the other ones I forgot.

Julian's saying at Ohio State, Lenore Seller, South Carolina, Jaden Mayava, USC, CJ Carr, Notre Dame. See, I saw something yesterday. They have CJ Carr as the odds-on favorite now to win the Hizman at Notre Dame. They think he's that good. So, yeah, it's going to be nuts. You're going to have a lot of good quarterback playing college this year.

We'll see how many end up going pro in 27. So if you were a betting man, I'm not saying off what you just read, if you had a chance to bet the field or arch manning is 1-1, what would you do? Not only the first quarterback, but I mean, I'm saying the first pick. I still think it's going to be an arch no matter what. Now, real quick with Strout, this is year four, right? Correct. He will get his fifth year option, I'm sure, picked up.

So they'll have the option to pick up the club option for 2027. I think that's likely. Now, I think the caveat here, if he's awesome this year as MVP type season, what's everybody going to be yelling? Pay the man. Pay the man. Do you lock him up then? All right. He's showed enough. Let's give him the long-term deal. Is this going to be tough to give both him and Will Anderson? That's what I've been saying. Top dollar. Derek's thing. He's already getting top dollar.

Daniel Hunter's got one year left. Yeah, he'll come off the books. I mean, that's, you know. That's a kind of a foregone conclusion. But yeah, it's just the NFL, there's a reason why there's a salary cap. You can't sign all, you can't have eight dudes all top paid at their positions. And that's why I kind of respect the salary cap in the NFL because it does require a general manager to watch his books. But it also requires a GM to get creative to go, oh, we can't pay all these guys. Let's flip this guy for more future assets.

So. Yeah, that's why I think the general manager's role. in football is the most difficult because not only are you having to evaluate 50 or 60 something players, you got to think about the massive draft and you also have to manage a salary cap and then if you overpay somebody,

you got to go and then convince them to defer some money for the pat to the future so you can save room for other guys. Just, I mean, but can't be understated. What a monster year this is for C.J. He has got to show. I think it's a monster year for Nick Casero too. I really do.

If this draft does not provide significant help in one of three categories. If you don't get a legitimate, I'm talking about draft and phrase. If you don't get a legitimate RB1 or a legitimate starter in your starting five that can play right away, I think you're in major, major trouble for Nick Aserio. I really do. All right, gut feelings are up next. Plus, Andrew wants to get in a little bit of CJ talk as well. 713-212-5-790.

713-212-1-2-7-9-0. Listen up, girls and boys. They've been so appealing. Girls Russ and Matt Thomas. Yo, they got a good feeling. This is their gut feeling on the Matt Thomas show. 1135 on Sports Talks, 7-9. Let me lay the lay in for you here.

Our friend Brad is calling in. He's got some gut feelings. Remember, Brad is a frequent contributor to the show. but the rule is we let anybody go in front of Brad. So if you have any gut feelings, 713212-5-790, 7-1-3-212-5-790. So if you've got any gut feelings, any sports predictions, you make them, you'll get in front of the list in front of Brad.

But if no one calls in, Brad eventually gets to the phones. 7-1-3-212-5-7-9. Now, Ross is off today because he's sick. We didn't do gut feelings last Tuesday because we were in. spring training. So I think Jonathan our spring training or our gut feelings are going to be like three weeks old when we get back next week.

Yeah, it's from the 10th of the February. Do you have them or does he have him? I have him, I have them, right? Oh, how do we do? All right, let's do this. So Matt, you said Rocket sweep the clippers. Nope. Josh Hader opens season on IL.

I got that. I mean, I don't have it, but I think I'm going to have it. That's not going on a limb. Hey, those are called gut feelings. Back on. It's not your bet, my bit. Ross said Rocket sweep the clippers. Nope.

Rockets finish as a top three seed. Very well could happen right now. They're in the three seed in the West. How about that? Baring injury, Rees Shepard will not be a full-time starter at any point. Yeah, that was easy. That was basically E. Mae Docker back that up. Would you have?

And then I said Cougars go for a seven-game win streak. I kind of... Wait, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, what did you say again? They go for a seven-game win streak. And we're there right now? They hit six, and then now they're on a three-leckers. and streaks. They got it.

Tournament's here. Are you sure you're not sick again? Because you can probably turn your microphone off. All right. Andrew and Brad Hank Time will get to you just a couple of seconds. 713-212-5-7-9. This is gut feelings. We've got this to the top of the hour.

By the way, Ryan Holland's going to join us an hour from now to talk some NBA for this for a couple of segments. All right. So, Gorda, you're our guest today, and we thank you for stepping into the last second. What is in your gut this week besides probably a lot of Cajun food and crawfish? Yeah, how about this? Going on a limb here. I'm writing these down, by the way.

I'm going to say the Astros, five-man rotation. We ran through it yesterday, right, the one through four. Well, we actually sent it to six. Okay. Who do we have? Hunter Brown 1, Javier 2, EMI 3, Erigeti 4. Who was our 5? Five was going to be, oh, the new kid from Pittsburgh.

Oh, yeah, Burroughs. Burroughs, and then Arrogate would be 6. Yeah. No, we had Arrogatti in the top five. Is Bromber off the team? Yes, he is in Detroit. I think you said Lance McCuller's six. Yeah, Lance McCuller's six. That's right. I'm going to go, my gut feeling, the sixth man that makes the aster's rotation is Jason Alexander.

Whoa! Uh-oh! Uh-oh! For a stretch last year was one of your most consistent pitchers. He's pitching today, by the way. He is. I talked to him down in Florida. Is that because he was nice to you? Is that the reason why you're doing this? He was working on a new pitch.

He said he feels good about his arsenal that he worked on and developed last year. So, yeah, look, it could be Ryan Weiss. It could be Nate Pearson, Lance McCullors. There's plenty of options. Okay, so if you're going to say that, then where is Lance McCullors in this roster? I think they almost, because of what they're paying him, he's a long reliever role. Okay, so you're going to say, multi-inning guy. Alexander is your six-man McCullors of the bullpen.

Yes. Now, again, we're assuming this is all because we're saying this is with health not being an issue for any of these people. Colors looks good, man. He's in great shape. Stuff look good. I love, you know, his... You are such a February baseball honk.

His delivery is... I mean, he's so good. When he's on, he's on. That game last 4th of July, Dodger Stadium. He was awesome. That's one time in five months. I know. I'm going next, huh? Rockets won yesterday.

See, this is the homer in me. You're ready? Just go and just go and just say it. They're one in the next four games. Next four? Yes. They are going to beat Sacramento tomorrow. By the way,

who snapped a 16-game losing streak last night at Memphis. Oh, good for them. And they're going to sweep Orlando, Miami, and Washington. Sacramento 2 and O against the Rockets this year, right? Both in Sacramento. There you go. Anybody want to fight me on it? Go ahead.

Call me Homer. That's fine. You do it. Who's our Kansas guy, the kid who's sitting out? The guy at Kansas. Peterson. The mock drafts I've seen have him going number one to Sacramento. He's going back to Candace then.

He don't want to play for Sacramento. All right. So I got the Rockets. Winning in Orlando and Miami. And Miami. Oh, wow. Orlando's mid. Miami's mid and Washington sucks.

I know, but I feel like odds are they split those. Okay. Well, I know odds are saying it, but you have to give you a gut feeling. I'm giving you a gut feeling. Put me down for a South Florida split. All right. Gordy says South Florida. split.

They win in Orlando, they losing Miami, vice versa. Can I say the Cougars don't lose again until the tournament? Yeah, I mean, come on. Don't even get the credit for that? Not really, right? I mean, Colorado, Baylor and Oklahoma State. Sucks. Oklahoma State used to be awesome.

We're okay. NIL. You know, Gordy, I don't even know this. I don't know if you've ever covered college sports before, but if you don't have cash, you ain't winning. Do you know, I'm looking right now, you know, on ESPN, they list tickets as low as on that secondary market site they use. Right. Next Wednesday, U of H hosting Baylor,

tickets as low as $211. Oh. Is that because it's senior day or something? I don't know, because of it were a hot ticket. And then their season finale at Oklahoma State, tickets as low as $16. Yeah. If you've ever been to Gallagher Iba Arena,

Gallagher Iba Arena, it's not bad. What is it? Gallagher Iba. Name after two people. Is that a name? That's the name of the arena. Yeah, Iba's Henry Iva, the coach, and Gallagher is some dude.

I don't know who that is. Travis Ford is the last time they, irrelevant there, right? Eddie Sutton, maybe? Okay. We're probably Travis Ford. Is Eddie Sutton, may he rest? He's dead. Okay. Drug driving? Oh, my God.

Well, I mean, he got busted so many times before it. Too soon. Too soon. Good Lord. All right, I'm not giving the Cougars three straight wins. That's almost like, that's chalk, so I'm not even going to bother for that one. Jonathan, what are you having your gut this week? Dude, Matt, you took mine. I'm not going to lie.

Oh! I'll put you down. Okay, put me down because I was going the same way. I think Rockets take this next four. Yeah, I'm good for that. Brilliant mind sick of light. Then we have your... Okay.

Where did Joe Lannardi have the Coogs? Two-seed. Two-seed. Two-seed. As a two-seed? Two-seed. Do you think this three-game losing streak hurt them at all? Not especially.

If they lose any more games before the Big 12 tournament, it could hurt them. They have to finish the table with three straight wins. He's got Illinois... So he's got them in as like the seventh. overall team Illinois 8 Florida 9 See Florida's red hot right now

I don't care about Florida They could jump you They do nothing for me I really want to go gut feeling U of H falls to a 3 seed But I don't want that to happen I got a terrible gut feeling for you The Cougars are going to be out of the south region

Out of the south Mm-hmm Like not in the south Because the south The Sweet 16 is in Houston and the playing was for them to all belong was to be here in town to play those.

I got a sneaky suspicion that cougars are going to find themselves in a different region. I don't think so. I hope I'm wrong about this. I really do. They tend to... I'm putting U.H. out of South region.

Again, I hope I'm wrong. Most times they try to make geographical sense out of it. Most time, but not every time. Like, if you're a low seed, they will punish you and send you out to the West Coast. But like, I don't know. I feel like, especially if there are two,

seed, I think they stay. All right. Let me get some people in here. We got somebody that want to call about non-gut, so we'll go to that first and we'll say hi to Andrew on 790. Andrew, thanks for waiting. Good morning. Hey, good morning, guys. Love the show. Thank you. I was calling in because I had a revelation the other night about C.J.

Stroud and he is starting to remind me a lot of another Texas Texans legend quarterback from the 2015 season, and his stats looked almost identical along with the four interceptions in a divisional playoff game and CJ's looking to me like none other than Brian Hoyer out there. Are you besmirching the name of CJ Strouda for Brian Hoyer? You're not.

On paper, man, the numbers don't lie and four interceptions in a divisional round. I think Mr. Hoyer was the last one to accomplish that feat. So I just think anyone that's defending CJ and thinks he's the answer hasn't been a Texan fan for very long.

No, but he's not Brian Hoyer. C.J. Stroud has remarkable quarterback skills. He just needs people around him and he needs to be able to kind of gain some, get some confidence back because I think towards the end of the year, his confidence was completely shot. It may never come back. But if there's anything to change, it's got to be better parts around him. And that could be said for any of the quarterbacks.

But he's not Brian Hoyer. Brian Hoyer sucked. I mean, great guy, but he really sucked. I know. I remember it still burnt into the back of my brain. I was having nightmares during that playoff game with CJ. I mean, I understand, I understand comp, Andrew, and thank you for the phone call, but the Brian Hoyer, C.J. Stroud comp is not particularly close.

That's very disrespectful. I don't know he was going to say Matt Schaub. That's a better comp. Shob-esque numbers, not Brian Hoyer. I mean, the pick sixes week after week after week. That was awful. Fetal position when sacks. And I got to tell you some one more thing about CJ.

he's well I hate to I hate to even says but I'm just going to say it is he one more concussion away from like being two attack of a little worried about him

well whose fault is that well it could it's probably a little bit I mean it's a combination everybody's fault put a damn put a damn offensive line around him yeah

but I mean you can have the world's greatest offensive line around him and still get concussed you mean offensive linemen do give up sacks and sometimes they'll sacks are blindsided. Sometimes the guy hits

his head on the ground. And look, those, these NFL turf aren't the aren't spongy. Was, so CJ Stroud was the number two overall pick at 2023. Drake May was the number three overall pick of 2024. And Bryce Young number one,

who by the way, took his team to playoffs. Granted, it wasn't a great team, but he rebounded after a subparer rookie year. His projection, his moving up is way faster than C.J. Strouds. If you think about it. Yeah. He was kind of reversal.

He was kind of just okay his rookie year and then was much better in year two. Yep. Quick time out. Back on the phones, Brad and James. Ooh. We go with that. 713-212-790. 7-1-3-212-790.

Our time is 1146. It's a Matt Thomas show with Ross. Got feelings continue. Come on and give us your gut next. Here on 790. Back to Matt Thomas and Ross via Real. on Sports Talk 790 at Thomas Show. 713-212-5-7.

On a last call before we go to Brad, you know how we feel about Brad. We love him, but you know, you get in front of him. Jonathan, I'm adding another one on my list of my gut feelings. Joe Mixon's getting released by the Texans. Really? Yep. Oh, Nikki C's like, man, I don't know what's going on.

He's just one of our players, and he's had some surgery, some sort of, I don't mean I'm in a bit, I'm an evasive, I'm, blah, blah, like, he's like, I'm going to get this a hole out on my team. So give me the, like, the business side of that. Like, how

does that work with the contracts? Well, there's some cap money. You know, some monies are guaranteed, some are not, so they're going to free up some cap space. Now, there's probably a little bit of a cap hit, but that'll be something to be manageable. I mean, hey, hell, he didn't play for you last year. You didn't miss him. You need an R.B. How does a guy

come back a year removed from whatever it is? Just saying, Joe Mixed and released. Save some cat my gut feeling. You heard it first. Bang bang! 713-212-5-790. 7-1-3-212-5-7-90 for gut feelings.

Let's talk to James on 790. James, what's in your gut this week? Yeah, my gut is with the addition of Sanders and Kirkland and Bass at the tight-in spot, you can pretty well go ahead and get your gamblers playoff tickets now because they're going to have explosive office. I don't know, but when you said gamblers are hung up on him immediately. James has been trying to talk gamblers talk for the last three weeks. Well, that's because James doesn't know how to touch a woman's like these days either. 713-212-5-790.

Look at here. Brad, what's your gut this week? Yeah, I'm tired of y'all talking bad about talking like you want to. trade paratus. My five star is Paratus is not getting traded. Dana Brown has a contract for the future. He's worried about himself too.

You get rid of Paratus. I'm going to make another prediction. Either Correa or the first basin we got, Christensen. Christensen? I mean, they're either going to get hurt. I mean, Walker, I'm sorry, Christian

Walker. Either going to get hurt or they're going to go into a a slump enough where you got to make a change. And so Parades is going to be your future third base or first baseman in the future this year. You get rid of Paradis, you ain't going very far in the playoffs. I guarantee you that. He's one of your best players. I don't care what anybody says.

You are not trading him. What more I would do that unless somebody like Boston would give you two or three players. Not one. They're not proven in Boston. Paredes is proven. Okay, that's my first one. And then I think your outfield will be taken care of. Matthews will be that player that fulfills that need.

I also think Kevin Grant is a cancer. I'm surprised nobody brought him up for using that burner phone and throwing all his players players under the bus. I mean, I guarantee you they are not going to win a championship with Duran on their team. I guarantee you that.

Let's see what else I got. I think that's it. Okay, thanks, Brad. I'm going to ask you, Houston, Texas. Is that how this segment's going to end with that? Kevin Duran is a cancer. And John, did he say he guarantees the Astros will regret moving Isak Paredes? Or he's going to, that he guaranteed that they're going to keep Issaq Paredes.

Because, oh, that's why I think he's keeping because he thinks Dena Brown's worried about his job. Yeah, it was a two-parter. Huh. He doesn't call in a while. That's a lot. That was hefty. You got one minute, Houston, Texas. If that's how the segment's going to end, we're in a bad spot America.

Kevin Durant, the cancer, huh? Okay. While we're out, you can go and put me down for LSU repeating as college world series champs. All right, put that down. You got three predictions here. Be the first team in a long time to win three and four. I'm going to go ahead and make a prediction that, unfortunately, Louisiana can't pay for teacher salaries. I won't write that down.

I was I'll think it, though. Sorry. Link Giffin'll pay. He'll buy him lunch or something. Do you, why do you, I mean, like, we make fun of four. Florida. We make fun of Louisiana too. How does that make you feel?

It's great. They care about what matters most. Football. Yeah, they don't care about tea cleaning. Or I don't know. Or that's Alabama. Oh, okay.

Okay. Got you. You've been to Dothan, Alabama? I've never been the Dothan, Alabama. I think I want to send some people in this market to do their next radio show there, but that's a different issue for a different time. Jacob on 790.

What is in your gut? Well, my good feeling, even though I hated, is that they will trade parades. The Astros will trade Paratus. Everybody likes it, right? He's a great player. But I think he said it on the show the other day. He's going to get us more than what Christian Walker will get us. Mr. Walker makes too much money.

He's older. So if there's hope for the future for the Astros to build another winner, they'll have to use a piece like Perettis to get more players, even though it may hurt us in the short. term. I don't think the GM is worried about his contract because short-term gain, I don't believe it's in their plans right now. So I think they'll re-up. I think his spot will re-up and then they'll reload. And maybe a year or two, nobody wants to hear that, maybe a year or two. But then I think they'll turn it back around and start winning again. And as far as the Rockets go,

gut feeling, they're going to be won and done in the playoffs this year. But next year, when point guard comes back, I think it's a different story. Thank you, yes. Thank you very much of the phone call. Last one belongs to Robert and Webster. Robert what's in your gut this week? So, guys, just talk, wanted to speak on not the last guy, but the guy before. KD is a cancer?

Come on. Easy Money sniper here. I'm not the biggest KB fan, but I mean, the guy's a monster. He's not a cancer. I've got a hot take. I think we go second round. Playoffs talking about the last guy too. I don't know if we're one and done.

I know we don't have a good point guard, but Katie's not a cancer. Yeah, he does the Twitter stuff. Was it proven? I don't know. But no, he's rallying those young guys. I'm not worried about it. That's my gut. I feel better about the Rockets, especially after watching last night.

It was good. Thank you for the phone call. I appreciate it. That was how we ended gut feelings properly. Thank you to our last two callers for saving me. Whew. Brad is something else. We love them, though, in a weird way.

Gordy, thank you for hanging out with me. I appreciate it. Sure. What are you going to do now? I'm going to finish getting this Casario audio for you. All right. We're going to play some Casario audio. Maybe in about 15 minutes, 20 minutes.

We'll do that. And we got Ryan Holland's going to join us at 1230 for some rocket chatter and some NBA big picture talk. The rockets were playing easy like Sunday morning. Last night at Tota Center. We'll describe that next. Plus the news at noon. It is 12 o'clock. on Sports Talk 7-90.

This is the Matt Thomas show with Ross. 9th Sunday morning. 2.7 seconds left to go, rockets back in H-town. And tonight, here inside Tota Center, they win by a final score of 125 to 105. Thus, for the 19th time inside Tota Center, it's a Rockets win. I want to be so high.

that doesn't sound weird right except turn the ball over too much hour number three is underway on the Matt Thomas show with Ross Ross is still under the weather hopefully getting back tomorrow if maybe not Thursday

let's go to get our habachi tomorrow we may have to postpone that a day or so let me know I want to we'll check on our boy later on Rockets will be a part of today's edition along with the Cougars of the News

Rockets last night Take care of the Utah Jazz By a final score of 125 to 101 6 different rocket score in double figures Led by 31 for Jabari Smith He makes 12 of 17 from the floor He was 6 of 11 from 3 Rocket shot 58% from the floor

45% from 3 Only negative in the 20 point victory was They turned the ball over a season high 27 times turning him to 34% points. Rockets at 35 and 21 with the win last night are now back in the three-seed in the Western Conference. College basketball yesterday in Allen Fieldhouse, a crowd of 15,000 on hand to see the Houston Cougars lose 69 to 56 to the Kansas Jayhawks. The Cougars for the game were 21 of 66 as 32% from the floor. Yikes! Ouch!

21% from 3 and 5 of 24. Kingston Fleming's was 6 of 18. He finishes with 16. Nobody else for the Cougars in double figures. Kristinaak Jr. was second in scoring with nine points. The Cougars are now 23 and 5 overall in the year. 11 and 4 in the Big 12. And for the first time in many a years,

the Houston Cougars have dropped three consecutive games. We will hear from Nick Casario coming up in a couple of moments, but we can tell you that the Houston Texans and Nick Casario had a media availability and he said Nick did that trade talks of C.J. Stroud are not underway. They have not been discussed and they're simply moronic. As far as Joe Mixon is concerned, he continues to be super, super vague saying there was an offseason procedure done, doesn't know any more details on it, which is ridiculous because you're his boss. Jonathan, it just smells super, super fishy.

I really want to. I want this news to break out so bad. I'm telling you, Gordy's right about this in all seriousness. This feels like an athlete going rogue against his team's medical condition and wishes. And I think it's a lot deeper than just something not nefarious. It's going to be, I had a botch procedure and you went to somebody that wasn't a team doctor. and it didn't go well, and I can't say much more because we're probably going to sue you, Nick,

or sue you Joe, get your money back, because you didn't play first this year, you didn't follow our orders. That's the chalk pick. I wonder what the second most likely scenario is, Jonathan. Do you have any ideas? I don't know. Do you have any ideas?

I'm waiting for it. What else could it possibly be? I'm waiting. Don't do this to me. I took it out. Put it back in. Get it up. Don't, don't clip it.

that either. I can't believe we just said that. And I'm like to put this phone. Okay. Oh, good. We're not going to win for production value. I just tell you that for sure. We tried.

Entertainment value, but production value. I know. Entertainment value, we're doing just fine. Everything else has been a hot mess. All right. So more from Nikki C. coming up in the next segment of the show. We've got some clips from the Combine in Indianapolis.

And what else is going on the national stage right now? Oh, the Astros in Mexico. are about to play a spring training game in Port St. Lucie, and if his anything relevant that happens in that game, we'll be happy to push that along as the Astros had an off day yesterday, back on the field to play. Jeremy Payne will leave things off and play shortstop this afternoon, and appears the Falcons are going to release Kirk Cousins on March the 11th, making him a street-free agent. My guess is he will have an opportunity to choose from a variety of teams to go play and quarterback, maybe even start in 2006. And those, oh, Chris Sale, by the way, signing a.

one-year contract to stay with the Atlanta Braves. One-year deal worth $27 million that does include a club option, and he will not reach free agency. He turns 37 years old on March the 30th. He helped the Atlanta Braves get a sign in 2024, a strong 2025. There was a little bit of rumors a few years ago that Chris Sale could have become a huge and astro, but that never came to mustard. But again, one year and $27 million. And that, my friends, is the news at noon.

Ryan Holland's going to join us in about 20 minutes. Looking forward to some NBA chatter with that fella, as he was on the call yesterday for the Rockets game against the Utah Jazz. We'll talk to him about the Rockets in the first segment, maybe a few more big picture things coming up in the second segment. But he'll be with us for a full half hour here on Sports Talk, 7. But yes, Nick Casero did speak at the Combine, and the clips are coming in a little bit.

So instead of us trying to paraphrase what he had to say, we'll hear directly from the Texans general manager. Just let you know, general managers and coaches typically. get to speak. They get their time in front of the limelight where all the national folks can run over there and talk to him. And to no surprise, there was some conversation

about C.J. Stroudon. And the thing is, there weren't really rumors. It was just one guy, Tom McShay, that just said, hey, don't be surprised if a name like C.J. Strau gets brought up. He could have been talking out of his ass or he could have actually had

somebody really tell him this. I think the example of C.J. Stroud trade rumors was just an example of people just looking on people's podcasts and looking at clips on Twitter and going, oh, did Tom and say you hear something? That's exactly what I think happened.

So we'll hear from Nick Asario, coming back, a full segment of Nicky C. Soundbites. How about that for a ratings grabber? 713-212-790. If you want to chime in, 7-1-3-212-5-790. It's 12-12. It's a Matt Thomas show with Ross. This is Sports Talk 790. All right, as promised, Nikki C spoke.

And instead of us paraphrasing and guessing and interpreting what he had to say, let's go right to some of the main things that Nick Casario had to say. Again, our friend Ryan Holland is going to join us in about 10 minutes here on the program for an NBA channel. And we'll revisit on the NICSERO stuff and also give you any updates we need to do on the Astros here in a little while. But first, here is Nick Casario when point blank asked about the future of C.J. Stroud. It's a moron. Like, we're not trading it. he's going to be playing quarterback

for the Houston, Texas in 2016. So anything beyond that? I mean, yeah, that's your world you guys can spend on that. But we're not trained in season. He's like, why would you bother asking me that? What kind of stupid question is that? Ask a stupid rumor start by stupid people.

And then you're going to kiss and discuss. We're going to take your calls right now. You won't talk, you won't talk about CJ Strong and Trade? No, no, no. I can see it happen. I can't see it happen. Oh, man. there are some more people that are going to talk about that for five more months.

Why isn't he talking about CJ Strongy and traded? Shoo, wait. Why am I, why am I sound like a host on He-Ha? I don't know what the hell's the wrong with me. I'm going to ask the same question. That's, I got problems, Jonathan. I try to be a perfect man, but I'm not. I got flaws.

Every time I hear about reckless conversation about them Texans, woo, wee, you got to, I feel like I'm working at a Beaumont grocery store or something. Jeez, what's wrong with me? All right, now Joe Mixon. Joseph Miller.

I don't know if it's middle name. I didn't know if he's got a middle name. Here's Casario on Joe Mixon. Yeah, we've talked to Joe and his representative. So honestly, it's day to day. So, like, we've had conversations, trying to get a little bit more information. You know, he's had, I think he had a surgery here

this off-season in some capacity. So, you know, trying to get some follow-up after that. So, again, I've said this multiple times. I'm not trying to be evasive. It's a moving target. So we'll kind of see what the availability is going to be, what the prognosis is for the season, and then ultimately try to figure out, like,

what makes sense for everybody. When did y'all know about the possibility of Joe missing some time? We knew it's probably, you know, last spring to the summer, probably a chance he was going to miss a period of time. at a time. Honestly, Glendor, I don't think we knew the extent of how long it was going to be. It was touch and go. So, you know, there was, again, it was, again, I'm not trying to create any problem. It was just a moving target. So we were just trying to figure out, all right, where are we in the scheme of things, and just try to, all right, what do we got to do moving

forward? Because there a time table for when you'd like to know clarity on it because of the contract and hitting into martial. Yeah, I think there's a lot of things between now and, you know, start of the league year, maybe right around the league year, just try to figure out for planning whatever their result is. So, you know, whether it's Joe or other players in the one category, we've got, I don't know, 25-ish or 20-something

players that are going to be for Asians. So all those conversations are pretty fluid. At some point, we're going to talk to an audience player. Man, it's certainly still very evasive. Isn't he the boss? And I'm not, I think he's just being overly coy and I think he's got to do that. But if you took Casario's comments about Joe Mixon literally for everything he just said,

you'd be like, do you not know what's going on? Because that's general manager, don't do that. General manager do know what every player on their roster, whether they're active or hurt, are doing. Again, my gut feeling is Joe Mixon's out and they'll have to recut him, which means you're going to have an, Another spot to fill in that running back room. Speaking of that running back room, here's Nicky C on that.

Not working? It's working now. Well, I mean, Nick's a free agent. So we've got three guys under contract right now. We got Woody, you know, coming back. He had a good year. I think that's pretty good. George's under contract.

Brady's under contract. Darry's a free agent. Nick Chubb is a free agent. So, I mean, we only got three guys that are on the team currently. We're probably going to have more than three players on the team. So, you know, where that that player? come from. Great to see.

It could be one mechanism. Draft can be another mechanism. Is there a trade market for somebody out there? So that's kind of where we are for today. That's a word sound. Now, two more things to get to that you'd actually care about. One would be about Nikki C.

And his team's offensive line. You know, certainly made some improvements. You know, probably look at a better pass protection in a run game. Run game was a little bit up and down. So we can improve some areas in a running game, you know, just relative to the overall offensive production will probably help us.

that's a free agent that's probably one of the key guys i mean as a free agent trying to free agent and had a really good year uh honestly had the best year of his career so you know that's a position we're going to probably have to evaluate kind of see what our options are have some players coming back and we play pretty good football um and eriante went in there and you know probably played as good as any rookie tackle so have some good young players have some veterans in there have some guys that are free agents so we're kind of you know working through that process right now um you know we'll kind of see where we're way end up All right, Jonathan, I'm going to do my Nick Casero impersonation.

I want you to grade it out. You know, we got some good guys. We've got some bad guys. And we're going to look good. We've got some young guys. I've got some older guys. We've got some guys that are looking to get stronger, looking to get faster. And we'll look at some guys.

We'd like some guys. And we're going to be looking for the draft to maybe find some guys. And maybe some guys will be faster and stronger and leaner and faster and better protector. And, you know, run game blocking his strength. Sometimes it'll be the past game string. Oh, man. Some of it's really good when Nikki C sucks. And some of it is exhausting.

That was 100% Thank you very much. I appreciate that very much. Thank you. One more comment before we get to our buddy, Ryan Hollins, on the Casario-led

Texans offensive line. And, yeah, we're trying to figure out, all right, what are our options? Who are the best five guys? They might not be here. And then once we kind of get

everybody together, which is kind of how that manifests itself this past season. Like last year we were sitting here. We've got a bunch of moving targets. Added some players, weren't really sure what it was going to look like. And then eventually,

kind of evolved into a core group, if you will. So probably going to take a bit of work to get to a similar point. But overall, I mean, that group is certainly improved. There's room for improvement. Cool did a really good job. It does a good job coaching that group. So, you know, I'm sure we're going to be adding to that group here. All right.

So there's room for improvement. There's room for getting better. There's room for getting a day by day, week by week, step by step. Moving target. Moving target. Why is it moving target? I like on my target's like still. Right there in front of you.

Doesn't move. Stiff. Moves. Does not move at all. Right there. Hit that target. You know, what makes it,

what makes a moving target, Jonathan? May I ask? I didn't mean to interrupt your lunch there, but. No, I don't, I think,

I've never heard that analogy ever until he used it today. When something, they don't know and they don't want to say anything, they say it's a moving target. I think it's ever changing. It's one I think that somebody

there's a moving target. that you may be able to be strength at one area of your game and you're not so strong of the other. But like Gorey said, why couldn't he just be, we don't know yet, instead of saying all this PR stunt, I don't get that. You're talking about Joe Mixon? Just even with the offensive line, why don't you say, oh, we don't know the guys yet,

we're going to look here. Yeah, because I don't understand that. Because you have to protect your players, which you have. You don't go to the combine going, hey, guys, I got to let you all know, I'm here to go grab some guys because our offensive line was way below average borderline sucked and we got to fix that. But they know they know they were below average.

Have you met athletes? They know. How many athletes have you met in your life that said, God, I sucked? Oh man, I was bad. Everybody has an excuse. But I'm just saying, I mean, they've had that end of the year meeting. Every athlete has an end of the year with their coach. They know they were below average.

It's no way. Yeah, that's true. That's true. All right. Hey, let's talk some NBA with our friend Ryan Hollins. He is one of my besties. He's a great guy. and can give us an analytical viewpoint of the Rockets game from last night,

plus a little big picture NBA stuff, all for the next hour, a half hour, I should say. And you can join us if you want to chime in in the conversation too. It's 713-212-5-790. 7-1-3-212-5-7-90. This is the Matt Thomas show with Ross Ross. He's off again today, still battling the flu. Hope he gets better.

Matter of fact, I got an update from him. He'll be back with us on Thursday. So very much looking forward to having it on for that. Time is 1228. Ryan Holland's next here on 7-90. 1232 on Sports Talk 790. It is the Matt Thomas show with Ross. Ross is under the weather.

We're back with us on Thursday. Hey, coming up today at 150, it'll be, believe it or not, the category of today will be all things about Jabari Smith. And he was excellent last line as the Rockets beat the Utah Jazz 125 to 105. In fact, Jabari was 12 of 17 from the floor, 611 from 3. 31 points in the victory to talk about some Rockets. and some big picture NBA. We got him for a couple of segments,

our buddy Ryan Hollins. Ryan, how the hell are you today? I'm doing great, man. How are you? I got no complaints. Hey, so if you turn the ball over 27 times in the game and you're supposed to lose by 25 points, right? Typically, what was that?

I was so weird last night, was it not? It was a lot of complacency. At the end of the day, And I think that it was good and bad. Like you saw a sense of urgency, you saw a carryover. That's a frustration from a tough loss, that fourth quarter up in New York, what it should look like, Matt. But at the end of the day, I've been a player in the locker room before,

and I felt like there's a lot of like, well, Utah's not taking this game serious. You know, a lot of moments where the focus definitely lacked, but the urgency and the hustle was there. So there was a mix of both. And again, EMA has given responsibility to essentially almost all four to five players on the floor to handle the basketball and make good decisions. So we'll see how he handles that. At any time, he can strip those abilities from the guys and see what he does there. But I think as a player, that's your responsibility to take care of the basketball.

And sometimes we saw a lot of last night looking for the home run play rather than the simple play. And a lot of those home run plays paid off, Matt. You know, Ryan, there were a lot of good numbers besides the individual performances of Jabari. A man goes eight for eight. They also were very good on the fast break. 13 out of 14 shot opportunities on fast break turned into baskets. They also were 27 of 37 in the points in the paint. Those should be, in fact, the easiest baskets to make.

That had to be a good sign, especially because, and it maybe sounds silly for me to even say, but is running a three-on-one or a three-on-two harder than it appears to be when you're watching a basketball? No, I mean, that's simple spacing and finishing at the end of the day. And again, I can think sometimes it comes out of complacency. Now, it's always nice. And, you know, I was in a generation where I was told, hey, get the ball to a guard and go. Again, Houston has four guys that can push on a break. So I think there's more responsibility of whoever has the ball in the middle to handle the ball or take care of it.

And Houston's very unique because you could very well argue their best playmakers, Alprin Shen Goulden. He plays majority five, probably 90% five on the floor. So as far as push on the break, again, that responsibility has been delegated to all the guys. And that's where you're seeing some of the mistakes happen. I'm so glad you're with me because there's so many things about the nuance of basketball that I trust and value your opinion on. Somebody asked me yesterday about why Alpi brings the ball up so much into front court. Give me the biggest positive about that. And then also tell me what that ultimately could be from a detrimental standpoint.

If he's not, forgetting about turnovers. What hindrance is coming to play if he is doing so much ball handling? And what are the positives on both sides of that? I see you're locked in today, Matt. You're with the details. First off, for Houston, sometimes there's a group that struggles to get the ball across half court. A lot of times that we just spoke of, he's got a four or five guarding him. So he's probably more equipped to get across half court with a five man guarding him who's going to struggle to pressure the basketball.

Remember early in the season in Milwaukee? Who wasn't? It was Janice Ans de Kupo trying to pressure pull a court and he got broke down and Alpi went to the basket and scored one of the more impressive buckets in the clutch time that we saw this season. So, you know, he's going to get the defender that's not going to be all over his jersey at the end of the day. And if you put a small guy on him, you know, he'll just run to the post. You don't like to see those mismatches ultimately. So that's why you can argue that he's better at doing that. Now, here's a challenge.

If I'm a team and I'm playing against, when you play against another team's best player, sometimes, you know, your best defense for him is your offense or making him work. So now if Houston, another team, let's say Oklahoma City, they know Shinggoon's bringing the ball up court. I'm going to pressure him up court. When he gets the ball, I'm going to double team him. When he's on defense, I'm going to run him into picking rolls. I'm going to make him have to work and move his feet.

So, you know, you would attack those really great guys. You know, if it was, you know, Tim Duncan, you know, or certain guys like that. Like, you want to make him work. It was Shaquille O'Neal for years. You know, hey, pull him outside of paint, make him have to slide his feet. See if you can tire him out, you know? So, again, you like to attack stars because it's extremely hard to score the basketball and then go on the other side and defend.

How many times in your life did you bring the ball up to the court? I mean, I might count on my hand, Matt. you know what I mean but I was always like get the ball to a guard and run and I was a guy I ran like a deer so I would run run and just run past people you know that was one of my best attributes

so as far as dribbling I mean I could have done it but it probably would take away from my strength could I have shot threes or shot more 20 footers yeah but at the end of the day when you are the most athletic guy on your team and possibly one of the most one of the most in the NBA it's like well we need you catching lobs and being

by the rim, you know, playing to your strength. So, no, Matt, to get you, I'm going to say some right now. If I'm running a basketball team, I'm letting you bring up the ball court as much as you want because you've got great handles. You just do. Oh, thanks, Matt. I appreciate that.

Thanks, Matt. Yeah, I give you. But you know what? You're joking about it, but in all reality, you look at Nicole Yolkich. Yes. And it's so dangerous because he initiates offense and he puts five in such a bad predicament. You put a small guy on him, he'd take him to the hole. And then you don't have a lot of, you don't have a lot of point guards in today's NBA. So now Jamal Murray would never,

would all due respect to Jamal. He would never have the success if he wasn't playing alongside Yolkich, because he's a perfect fit where he's comfortable playing off ball, getting downhill, running pick and roll, looking to score. And he understands the weapon that Yolkich is ultimately at the end of the day and it just released pressure. And Jamal Murray, is best when he's scoring. You know, if you get 20 assists from Jamal Murray, you're taking him away from one of his strengths at the end of the day.

And when you get 20 assists from Yolkits, he can do whatever you need. That's why he's so dominant. Our friend Ryan Hollins from Space City Home Network, Rockets analysts with us here on the Matt Thomas Show with Ross, 1238 here on Sports Talk 790. The Jazz tried to press quite a bit in the first quarter.

Rockets did not handle it particularly well. Do you anticipate that happening more between now and the regular season with perhaps teams that can cause similar problems. You said, will the rockets press more? No, well, the opponents will press more? Like Utah tried, and they were successful a little bit, but then the rockets started shooting well,

said to back off on that. You hit it right on the head, Matt. Like, you have to have the personnel to do that. And those are the teams that Houston has had the problems with. San Antonio did it early in the season. And Houston has improved, obviously, because teams are looking to do it. Oklahoma City, the very first game of the season.

They're probably one of the best in history at all five positions to be able to pressure the basketball. So to answer your team is going to be like a team with a personnel, you know, and like our guys have the Kings tomorrow night. And like the Kings weren't great at it, but like they just realized just pressure as much as we can. And we, you know, our group messed around and, you know, lost a very winnable game up there in Sacramento.

So you're going to see teams, like you said, like attempt to do it, but it may not look great if they don't have the personnel. And for Houston, I think the challenge is like somebody just stepping up and saying like, get me the ball and get like a great point guard. I was always told Matt, if you want to you can ask Calvin Murphy. You can ask any point guard to say, what would you do if you saw a trap? They just start laughing. There's no way you trap me.

It's almost disrespectful that you see a full court press. So I think the challenge for Houston is seeing a guy that steps up and says, get me the ball and just get out of the way. And a lot of times, Kevin, to his friend, has done as best as he can at doing that. But again, it kind of takes him out of this natural position and you got a group that's doing their best, Matt. Ryan, a lot of conversation with EMA and I,

and media ask it as well about the number of minutes at Durant and Men Thompson are playing, especially more for KD. You didn't feel like there was enough of a separation because there were so many turnovers that you could give Durant a lot of the fourth quarter off. Those two guys are two and three in the league in minutes played per game. Is that just going to be the norm of the rest of the way?

Because the bench is now shriveled up with no Adams, no Fred all year long, and now J. Sean's gone for a while. Or it was just a man Thompson built because of the way the team is built that he's going to be out there 37, 38 minutes a night. We should stop worrying about how many minutes he's playing. Well, for one, it's nice to be young. I'd be lying to you if I told you didn't. scare the heck out of me.

And I think Kevin understands that the schedule is a lot lighter going down the stretch. And like it's go time. You know, it's time for him to step up. But he stepped into the season with a mindset of saying like, hey, I want everybody else to flourish and make plays. And it's a real case and point last night. Kevin stepped out and like he was going for this career high and assist. And Matt, due to my notes, which I will love to share with you, his career high 16 assists. I was all tired up, Matt.

You're going to have to lock in. And it looked like he was going for it last night. And he knows that any time I can go get his 20. I think when he ended up with 18 or 20 last night, he can walk to 20 points. So Kevin's just so unique in that fashion. But he was definitely going for the assists, looking at pass the ball and get guys involved. And that becomes extremely instrumental because you're asking me, how is he going to play those minutes? You know how he's going to play those minutes?

Because his teammates are going to step up and make plays. And he's like, Jabari, I go for 30 or 40, Jabari. Like, I want you to. Like, that's what I want to see from you. And some of his frustrations at times, and don't quote me on this, is because he's like, I want you guys to take the next step. He believes in these guys. And there's a reason that he came to Houston, you know, and as great as he is,

he's willing to sacrifice some of that because he knows there's a bigger picture. Because if I can get Jabari or men or read or these guys that come around, we're going to be paired for success. Matt, am I wrong? He knows he can get 40. Yes. I don't know if I know anybody. Like, I play with Paul Pierce, Chris Paul, Kevin Garnett, Dirk Naviski.

Like, Dirk was probably the second closest guy. And maybe Paul, like, nah, probably Dirk. Dirk's fight only got to play with it against anybody. He knows I can go get 40. Now, I'm not saying it's going to turn into a win, but he knows he can go get 40. And Kevin still has that type of game. And he's 37 years old, too. I mean, that's one of the things is most incredible is that, look, that slide step to the baseline, maybe has taken a step back, maybe that dribble drive penetration that he lived on early in his career.

But to me, Ryan, he might be the greatest elbow jump shooter in the history of the NBA. And maybe even bet greater than that. But, I mean, at those elbows, it's about 90% accurate. It really is. He's the greatest national scoring talent we've ever seen. would all do respect to Michael Jordan to Steph Curry to whoever you want to

Michael's not seven feet dude and then he's got he's got the Kobe Bryant Michael Jordan baseline package fade away then he's got the dirt one legger then he's seven feet then he's obsessive then the guy has a chip on his shoulder like he's just trying to get under his own shoulders okay

and poke at himself and sometimes Kevin's just poking at himself to get himself going and I'm sorry it's not pretty at times but it's part of greatness Matt, I've seen you do that sometimes for your broadcast to ask yourself up. Yes, exactly. That's exactly what it is. I had the same prep like Kevin Durant preps for a basketball game.

All right. Some big picture NBA stuff I want to get to with our friend Ryan Hollins coming back in just a minute. 713212-5-790. 7-1-3-2-1-2-790. Our friend Ryan Hollins from a, from Space City Home Network, back with us for one more segment here on Sports Talk 790. Our great friend Ryan Holland is going to hang with us on our story. segment, some big picture stuff I want to get to.

So, Rhino, it appears that the San Antonio Spurs never want to lose again. We got to be worried about them, correct? Why? Why, Matt? Hats off to San Antonio, hats off to Oklahoma City.

You've played them extremely well. No, they haven't won every game. No, it's not just, you know, dominance in the series, but, you know, Those are two of the top teams in the NBA. And when I watch Houston play and I watch the matchup, I don't feel like, oh, man, Houston doesn't have enough to compete with them. Houston was up 18 and it was one of those games we don't want to talk about,

but it was a loss that went away, but it was very strategic. And here's the thing, Wimba can't guard out from Shungoon. They had success because he was off the ball. You put a small guy on LP and he was able to just roam center field. So those are strategic fixes that you can make. in a playoff series. Now, don't let me jump the gun here, but all due respect on what they've done here. But from a talent's perspective, I'm not shaking in my boots, Matt. I'm not, you know, I'm not losing things if I'm Houston. You don't look and say, you know, it's just heading shoulders

of a difference. And those are the two top teams of the conference right now with all the injuries to Denver. All right. So I have heard listening to like NBA radio people and some various podcast that look there are people that are down on the rockets and I and I hope they continue to be down on them because it'll surprise the world and be fun for us on a good championship run. I hear the phrase, now maybe this is a little different with Stephen Adams being up, so I've not heard this in a while, but I've heard the rockets are built for longer series. Validate that for me because I'm curious to hear your perspective on that. I don't know if I would agree to that.

Houston has talent, but it's almost like the game, you know. Right now, you'd like to just kind of, Houston is best when they can just kind of get out and overpower people, you know? And sometimes, because there's the difference. When you have a point guard, right? Let's make it very simple. He minimizes turnovers. And what happens is the message from the coaching staff gets shortened and relayed almost immediately. When you don't have a plate guard, it takes a while for the coach's message to get to the players and relate to the floor.

So the longer that a series goes on, the more adjustments that will come into play. So I think for Houston, you like to, you know, just we're assuming right now take care of business early. You know, not that you can't win. You have one of the greatest closers in the history of basketball with Kevin Durant. But again, you don't want to, if you're in Houston, you want to just be dominant. You don't want to play a game of adjustments right now. Okay, let's get to another couple big picture items for let you run. The tanking stuff has been a huge issue.

You've seen the Utah Jads get fined. You saw the Indiana Patriots get fined. Look, Ryan, they have been tanking in the NBA for a long period of time. First of all, why is it being so accelerated this year with so much talk about it? And then, two, if I gave you the cap that said, you are the commissioner, can you fix it for me? Or do you just let this go and say, you know what? This is how the league is created.

This is what happens. You can try to alter the lottery numbers, but if teams want to lose, they'll be willing to take the fine because if you go get a top three player that's a game changer for you, paying a $500,000 fine is pennies to worry about because long-term teams will get better

because them losing helps them get better players. Hey, Matt, when you, if you lost like a dollar out of your wallet or $5, I mean, you're a man of, of, principle, but you're not going to lose your wits. You know, if you got to pay off a $5 bet or something, that's what it's like to these, to these organizations. And $500,000, a half a million is a joke compared to getting a franchise like talent. Here's the reality, Commissioner does an amazing job. He's going to have to appease the fans and he's going to

throw up those fines and say, hey, we caught them and we find them. But ultimately, the teams don't give a darn. And the reality moving forward, and the reality from the past, Tim Duncan got to the San Antonio Spurs by them tanking and throwing away games. LeBron James got to the Cleveland Cavaliers and finally came back home and delivered a championship because of tanking. Okay, they just absolutely just mailed it in. This has been through the beginning, when teams figured it out, that's what they started to do, and it's an efficient way. Now, here's the reality. You're not going to see a draft this deep in a very long time.

So it's not going to be a problem every single year. What you don't want to see is it be loud, and you have to think the rights to the NBA has been sold for a whole lot of money, okay? So you want to deliver on those goods. The game last night was on prior, right? Or Prime or Peacock, right? Peacock. And the one thing they're saying is, man, we paid to see the Utah Jazz not, you know, missing

players here. So again, the NBA is going to have to pee the fans. They're going to say they're going to do anything. But in retrospect, it's a slap on the wrist. And again, for fans moving forward, you're not going to have a draft this deep. And what the commissioner did was actually genius, Matt. And I don't know if you remember this. So everybody doesn't really quite understand the playing tournament.

And what the playing tournament is it gives life, life to seeds all the way down to 10. So right now, you had teams that would just mail it in. A majority of things that would mail it in after a certain point in the season. I remember it, Matt, when you were locked in, when there was only eight teams going to the playoffs, you'd be locked in two, three weeks out of your seating, and then teams would just host. Even the winning teams would just stay and not be competitive. But you're seeing a competitive nature through the 10, 11th, well spot,

trying to get into the playoffs, trying to get into a play and berth far through the end of the season. So the competitive nature has risen by head and shoulders, and people just don't realize that. But again, you've got to appease the people who paid a lot of money to watch our sport. Is it smart to do? Is it ugly to see for the fans? Yes.

Has the NBA done something about it? Yes. So let's all take a moment and breathe that, Thomas. So you don't think this is going to be a radical announcement by the commissioner? Or do you think he kind of has to because so many people are complaining? Or is it full complaining? Is it teams that are saying these things, but in reality, are like if we're in the Utah Jazz's situation or we're in the Sacramento spot, we'd be doing the exact same thing? well the people who really made the big spink is Oklahoma City because they have that pick

yeah they don't want Utah to get the pick at the end of the day you know like there's a method to the madness so um I think what you don't want to do is become national news and at the end of day for Utah Nurtk just went in and had a season ending procedure uh you know like just at least fix the funk a little bit and here's the thing early early in the NBA I played for the Charlotte Bobcats we were group that played extremely hard, competed, and at the end of the game, it's just good change, Matt. So, you know, I think you just don't want to see a disrespectful product on the floor. Stay competitive, compete. And again, if you're competing with your young guys out there,

let them go compete. I thought that Houston, Houston never tanked. I felt like Houston developed, Matt. You can hear me. You can quote me on that if you want to. I will. I will develop their guys. And they just had young guys out there, and they played hard and they competed. and it just didn't work out in some games. So, you know, they put some lipstick on the pig. That's all the fans are saying, man. All right.

You've caught me down a little bit because I don't, it's not fun to tank, but I'll tell you this. The Rockets are playing the Kings tomorrow. They've lost 16 to 17. We need these victories as much as we King as I would love to see the Rockets stay at the number three spot in the West. Hey, it's great to hear your voice. Nobody ever watches games on Prime and Peacock

because you're not on those channels. So as long it's on Space City, it's Ryan Holland's 24-7. Can I hop on my time Next time we do this? Can I get more time on the mat top of the show? You're going to want me to pay for your meals, which is a big deal. But how about next time?

No, man, I just want to hang out with you, dude. All right, a full... How about you come to the studio once in a while? That's what you really need to do. I would love to. I didn't even know that I could the last time. I would love to come in. You're coming in for the studio for two hours,

and we're going to go eat at Batchie after that. How about that? Absolutely. I would love to, man. Extra shrimp, too. Thank you, friend. We'll talk with you tomorrow night, friend. Thank you very much for the time. That's our hero.

Look at him. He's just chuckling away. I love them. Some Ryan Hollins. Jonathan, he is just, and I'm just talking to you, I'm talking to the whole audience. He's every bit of what you see on television. Yeah. I mean, I'm fake sometimes, but I, but that man is zero fake.

He is authentic 100% of the time. I've met him one time when I got to the Rockets game and there were just lines of people, was just so happy to see him and he was nice to every single person like oh yeah just tight enough to anybody that wanted to talk to him just a real nice guy just a super super guy all right an astro spring training update is coming up next and you're not going to like it 1259 final hour we got believe it or not all things jabari smith coming up in 50 minutes it's the matt thomas show with ross here on sports talk 790 this is the matt thomas show with ross final hour the matt thomas show for a tuesday

Mm-mm-mm. Uh-oh. You have the music queued up. This is what I like to describe to you, ladies and gentlemen, as the gaudy curse. John, did you hear what?

He said about Jason Alexander when he was on with us earlier in the show. Yeah, there's some music, man. So he's working on a new pitch. Yeah, it looks good, awesome. To make the rotation. In the top half, of the third. The game started

55 minutes ago. Top of the third. It's 5-0-0-Mets. Jason Alexander, a friend of many, kind, gentle, sweet. Two-thirds of an inning. Five hits,

four runs, all of which were earned. One walk. one strike out two home runs do this to us this early astros already gave you his seal of approval and this is what you do jason alexander Astros have two hits

Nick Allen Jeremy Payne Dak Cole O for two Oh Cam Smith two walks okay so good news Joe Lopafito one at bat strikeout Zach Dessentzel with a walk

Shate Wickham with a K C.J. Alexander The former A playing first base today O for one. Cesar Salazar struck out. Is there no baseball God? I want your phone calls right now.

Astrosse Twitter, come on. I'm live with you. 713-212-5-790. Jason Alexander cannot get out of the first inning. JP France comes in One and a third A hit

A run It's earned A walk and a strikeout JP with those lovely frames of yours Are you supposed to be making it back in the big leagues Thank God we're not carrying this life And when you had like six people Call in asking for it and I was like

We don't got it man Who are those people? What are their names? I don't remember Have you told them tomorrow on Thursday? Yeah, I told them, I said we don't got it today, but we got it tomorrow on Thursday. I believe I can provide as much quality entertainment as a 5-0 Mets lead over the Astros and the top of the third with two outs now. They can come back, man. They can come back.

How distraught are you that the Astros are down, top of the third, 5-0-7-1-3-2-7-90? I want to hear the sorrow in your voice. All you, Jason Alexander, Alexander, truthers out there, i.e. Chris Gordy. I mean, damn, that's not the way. If you're Jason Alexander trying to make the team, ooh, Lorde. You can't make out of the first inning in a spring training game? Mm.

All right. They'll rebound. And they'll be much better tomorrow and Thursday when they were live here on Sports Talk 790. Tape delay at 7 o'clock. You've been warned. 713-212-5-790. 7-1-3-212. seven-90 main headlines the day the Cougars lost to Kansas yesterday.

And truth be told, I told you all this before. I was obviously calling the Rockets games. I did not see it live. I unfortunately looked at some of the low lights and the shooting percentages in the box score. So if you're a Cougar fan, can I just openly ask how you're feeling? Because I'm going to give you one of like three or four different options. One, I'm distraught. Life is over.

I hope that you don't feel that way. Number two, I wish we won would have won at least one or two of them. I can see that being a fairer assessment. Some of you could also say that's a murderous row lineup. Back to back, big Mondays, back to back on the road during those big Mondays,

and back to back on the road on those big Mondays against top 20 teams in a power, super power conference. Arizona game at home lost or hurt as well. But I ask you of all of the top 15, 20, 25, 30 teams in this country, how many of them would have gone 0 and 3 during that stretch? I think quite a few. Would you have liked at least one?

Yes. Two would have been awesome. Three, crown the national champion. I am not down on my Cougars. I'm a disappointed, of course. But again, Big 12 did the Cougars no favors by playing the two big Monday games they have this year on the road. Also, Nick Casario spoke today at the NFL

Combine. We'll play a couple of those sound bites again coming back because he does answer a couple of things about one, C.J. Stroud and two about Joe Mixon, who I believe will be released sometime by the team. Because, man, there is too much vague conversation coming on to Nick Pissarillo's mouth about the future of Joe Mixon. 713-212-5-790. 713-212-2-5-7-7-7. Believe it or not today, all things about Jabari Smith after his 31 point performance yesterday. That'll be coming up in about 40 minutes.

Gary on 790, thank you for waiting. Gary, what's going on? Hey, man, how about them Astros? No, nothing good about those Astros. It's torture. Let me ask you a question about them. Pain, you got a hit, right? Yes. How did Al-Tubei do?

Altube is not playing today. Hasn't played yet. How to Alvarez do? Did not play yet. How did it walk or do? Did not play yet. How did the rest of the starters do today? Cam Smith has two walks.

Zach Cole went 0 for two. And that's it. Yeah, Cole won't be a starter. The catcher, was he in there, the starting catcher? No. Yonair Diaz, no. It was Cesar Salazar. Okay, so you need to take two or three deep breaths.

No, no. Let me outrage, Gary. Gary, if I'm upset about Jason Alexander giving up four, runs in over two-thirds of inning. Let me be mad. It's spring training. He wasn't going to be a starter anyway. You don't know that. You didn't listen to what Chris Gordy said earlier. Chris Gordy puts him in the starting rotation and Gordy knows ball. No, he don't. No, he don't. I've just got one thing to remind you about, Matt, that may get you up off that ledge. And that's my go-to, Matt. So I'm good to go. Just take a deep breath,

let it out. And everything's going to be all right. They'll be there when the season's over, so it's all good, Bubba. But I understand your frustration. Keep up the good work, brother. Gary, Gary doesn't want me to be emotional about this. Look, Aster's Twitter is going to lose their mind. Why can't I lose their mind? I am allowed to as a major market radio host,

come to you and be upset about the spring training, which is going to be condensed because of World Baseball Classic and guys leaving. and the scramble for who's going to be in that starting rotation to be upset that Jason Alexander gave up as many runs he did. You cannot take these spring training games lightly. Would anybody to play a video game here?

Oh, turn this up. This is a jam. Is this after of 20206 theme music? I hope not. This song is a calming tool, is it not? It's a different type of soul, man. Makes me want to go to a bar in Galveston, and sit on the beach and pontificate life.

Yeah, I love Galveston. Because I'm Mr. Texas. How dare Ross not love Galveston and call himself more of a Mr. Texas than me? Tamales. It's a lot of. Yeah, food doesn't define a man. A city does. I love me some corpus.

I'll let me some Puerto Ranzas. Hell, I even appreciate McAllen. 114. Matt Thomas show at Ross, 7-13, 212, 5-790. 7-1-3-212-5-7-90. Still 5-0-0-Mats. Ooh, Jeremy Payne with another error. He's got two so far in spring.

Ah, Jeremy Payne with a second error. Top of the fourth, 5-0. Now, would you like some positive news? Kaiwi-Tang, is that how you pronounce it? score and ascending for the Astros. Okay. So I guess gives you some positivity. 713-212-5-790.

Let's go to Steve on 7-90 on line 2. Steve, good afternoon. Thanks for waiting. Good afternoon, guys. You know, I watched these last three Houston Cougar games. And the three things that's in common with all three of these is pressure. From the inbound full court, these teams are pressure. the Cougars all the way down.

And it seems like it's putting them in a funk where they can't get into their offense. Last night they were shooting threes from five foot behind a three point line. It didn't seem like there was any type of continuity or it didn't even look like there was offensive plays being run. It was just throw, throw, throw, pass, pass, pass, and then, you know, everybody, somebody would decide to shoot. So I'm really surprised that this is a, this doesn't look like a Calvin's Samson team here in the last three or four games.

And my question to you is, I don't think they're, I don't think they're, I don't think they're, they're going to make it. I think they're going to make for the Sweet 16. I don't think they're going to go any farther unless there's a complete turnaround and I just want to get your opinion on it. Thank you. You know, it's a, it's a team that relies clearly on Kings and Jennings for sure. Cineck has not been able to provide as much scoring as I think they would have liked.

and the fact is that, you know, some of the same issues that kind of played them last year, Jojo Tuggler is in foul trouble quite a bit. You know, Joanne Roberts was just a guy that was really missed. Obviously, he moved on. He's had to go on and play professional overseas. Manuel Sharp struggles was one for 10 yesterday, one for six from three. Milo Zuzan doesn't do as much scoring as maybe they thought he was going to.

It's still a really good team. Still plays very hard. Still rebounds very, very well. Turnover numbers are a little higher than they're supposed to be. But they only ate yesterday. They just got beat up by a really good basketball team on their home floor. And they basically, and again, I

kind of did this sight unseen because I was calling the Rockets game last night. That's why I thought you guys could maybe give me a better perspective that I can even give. is that they made Kings and Jennings beat them. They said, we're going to do everything we can to make life. It's difficult for you. Fleming's goes up, puts up 18 shots, gets 16 points.

So he's only 6 of 18. I just don't, you know, there's just, there's not enough offense. And CNA is going to step it up a little bit. You got to get sharp out of this funk. And I got to look at his stats. I want to look at his numbers in terms of where he is from a season stat line here. me look at doing this live on the air here.

This is not the greatest thing in the world. Manual sharp from three. Still shoot 37% that's good. 41% overall from the floor. That's okay. Uzan is at 38% from the floor and 34 from 3. You'd like better of that.

The reality is the cougars will go as far as their all-American freshman will take them. And that's Kingston Jennings. But I think there is a little bit to it. I think there is a little bit of that low block moxie that has been missing that the team has been able to rely on over the last couple of years. And Sokko's been trying to do the best he can,

especially when he comes in for Tuggler, who's had some foul trouble more times than not. But he doesn't provide much offense either. You have three guys in your lineup that score and double figures. But Fleming's has been the most consistent in the group, even though he had to take a lot of shots yesterday to get to his number. Thank you for the phone call. I'm still behind him. And look, if you would have told me a week and a half ago, they were going to lose all three games,

I wouldn't have been happy, which I'm not happy now, but I wouldn't have been totally surprised by it. I mean, that's three top 20 teams in 10 days. Again, I ask you, does North Carolina, does Duke do, there's a Michigan, does a, does anybody run through that? I mean, look at Iowa State. They beat the Cougars on Monday last week on their home floor. they go to BYU and get beat by the Cougars there. The B12 is filthy. Absolutely filthy.

And I will say, because my glasses have full in the Cougars, that this will get them ready for the tournament. Whether it be the Big 12th tournament, and more importantly, the NCAA tournament. So, yeah, am I disappointed, of course. But they're not the overall favorite to make into the final four. In fact, I will tell you this right now. the what did I see the latest numbers oh here it is this is college basketball's favorites to win the tournament

Michigan is three and a half to one to win it Duke is four and a half to one Arizona's five to one the Cougars are eight to one so even despite the three losses they're still protected to be a number two seat and because of their experience generally speaking without the use of the freshman they're expected to make a deep tournament run Let's go to Larry in spring on 798-126. Larry, good afternoon. Hey, M.T. How are you doing, man? Good, friend. How are you?

I'm good. I'm good. Thank you. MT. Now, you have to remember, what do you say during football season? Well, before football season and the preseason. It's just the preseason. Yes, right. Exactly. Calm down. Everything's going to be all right. and I hope Ross gets really better. Love you guys, man.

Thank you, Larry. Nice to hear from him, man. Take care of yourself. Yeah, just text it back with Ross. He's going to take one more day off tomorrow. Look, Fluse, you just can't recover in a day. It's just impossible. So we've got a shorter show tomorrow,

so it'll just be me and Jonathan for a couple hours before we get you to Astro Spring Training. And if they don't win tomorrow, we're hitting the panic button. They're going to be open for, right? See, if they lose this game. Don't bring that up. Yeah, you're right, you're right, you right.

One time. Oh, look at this. Top of the fourth. Runners at first and third. There's action going right now. Oh, you know what? Let's, can we, can you pop up the other room for just a second, put it up and see what's going on? Jeremy Payne is at the plate.

You know how to do that, Jonathan? You know how to put the studio in the other room on? For the Astros? I guess the answer is no. Maybe, possibly. he's looking or it's at the computer screen it's frozen no i'm looking all right because i need something positive in my life my partner's got illen my rockets turned the ball over 27 times my cougars have lost three straight games it's the top of the fourth in a spring training game in late february

my squad's down five nothing all right i guess we're not able to do it we should learn that for thanks time something special could be happening Jeremy Payne could it's a two two count anxious people around this town 128 sports talk 7-19 we'll talk to a ponder he wants me to calm down you want me to calm down with my Astros down

5-0 in the spring training game is that what you want we'll see if I can do it next it's a new day in H-town baby I told you the Astros are down 5-0 They score a run on the top of the fourth. Zach Cole got hit by a pitch where the bases loaded. That's a hard-earned RBI.

5-1. Bottom of the fourth. There is renewed optimism in the age, baby. We can come back and win this thing. We come together strong as one astro fan group. Thanks to, and I got to get his name raise, I don't want to butcher it. Kai Wei Ting. No thanks to you, Jonathan Alexander, or Jay's Alexander, or for you, Jonathan Alexander, for that matter.

I didn't need to throw in a bus. I just forgot your name. All right, 713-212-5-7-90. Believe it or not, all things about Jabari Smith coming up in about 15 minutes here on the show. Let's go to Baitown, Texas. Ponder, what's going on? Matt, Matt, Matt. Yes, sir.

calm down, man. No, I will not calm down. My squad is down 5-1. What are you talking about? Listen, dude, I like, look, Gary's take while ago, I loved it. But I got to tell you that as much of an optimistic Astrospan as I am, I like how he says, wait till the end, we're going to be just fine. Where were we last season?

We were not fine. We were not fine. However, however, I need you to rest in peace on this. there is no way of the nine different starters that are going to be competing for probably a six-man rotation that the one guy that looks like Mike fires is going to be in that rotation. No, sir, no way. You bring that up with Chris Gordy. He's the one that told earlier that it's going to happen.

I don't believe him, but he's someone that said it, not me. Well, and you're right, you told Gary Gordy knows ball, and he does no ball, but there's no way. There's no way. To say that he's going to start over, and I do have a question for you, and I'll hang up and listen I'll say this. There's no way that Lance McCullors is going to ride the pine on the amount of money that he's making. Correct. I don't think that Jason Alexander won't necessarily be.

I don't know when Hayden West Neske's going to come back or any other injury for that matter. But he may open up as a six-man rotational starter early in the season. But when those guys, all nine guys are fully healthy, assuming that all happens at once, there's no way he's sniffing this restarting rotation. No, here's the reality. Here's the reality of it, Ponder is that you're going to have guys that are going to get hurt. That's first and foremost.

Secondly, there's going to be a long stretch of games where the Astros need to go with a six-man rotation. It's happening more and more in baseball than ever. And you've got to get something out of that Lance McCuller's contract towards the end. I'm not overly hopeful or excited about it. But the reality is he's going to get that money. You might as well try to get some value out of him. And you already know he doesn't like the bullpillar.

So let's give him every opportunity to have a great offseason which he's had. He hasn't wasn't hurt. He's not behind in his throwing. He's not behind in his rehab. He's not worried about this. I would say you've got to be as optimistic as possible. But to say this is going to be the greatest comeback for a pitcher in major league history, I don't think that's going to be a scenario under any circumstance.

No, I'm just hoping he has a great first quarter and that they can trade for a six-round draft pick or something. Yeah, you can't trade for draft picks. but yeah, I understand what you're saying. I get it. Well, you know, I mean, you're right, you're right. But a prospect, excuse me. Yeah, that makes sense.

Yeah, that makes sense. Thanks, Potter for the phone call. I'll get my question. Yeah, go ahead. Yes, sir. Okay, well, look, so my question is with the, with the parades, Altuvae slash, you're on issue. And I'll hang up and listen.

Why have we not? Because you can't put them all in the D.H spot at the same time. You're going to play Paredes in the field. We've got a log jam. We have Impena and Correa, who's a long-term shortstop for Houston. Pratis is probably at third. What are we doing at second? Why have we not at least looked at the option of making Paredes, a first baseman,

or making Yorda on a first baseman so that we can clear the room for a D.H. And a person on the field without putting them up for an injury-plagued position. And I'll hang up on the same. Thank you, Ponda, for the phone call. there'll be no conversation about Yurton playing first base. That has been a talking point for you as fans

and for selected media for many years. The answer is I don't think they think he's got the footwork to play first base. First base when we were growing up was oh you put the fat guy at first base. It's not like that anymore.

I'm not saying it can't be achieved, but if you're a minus defender to begin with, there are intricacies to first base that just sometimes can't be taught. But there has been no real, at least public sentiment from the organization, whether it's been Jeff Leno as a general manager, whether it has been James Click as a general manager, or Dana Brown that says Yoron's going to be a first baseman. Esak Pertes can play first base. If Christian Walker super struggles out of the gate, you will see Isok Pertis playing first base.

Because he's a natural infielder. Now, Perrette is the second base, I ain't buying. But you know what? You never know. Strange things can happen. Like Cam Smith today is playing center field. I kind of pencil him as your right fielder for the foreseeable future, as long as he makes the roster coming out of spring training.

So the Yor-on conversation will be, his career will be primarily D.H. Occasional left field unless he gets grumpy and says, I want to play more left field. He always wants to play left field. But they want to keep him upright as much as possible. And they think that the risk of him not playing left field would also help him try to stay and play longer over the course of the year. Although most of his injuries have occurred while on the base pass and not nothing to do with his outfield, as he even said. said. But first based on a conversation piece,

Peretti's could be a first base conversation piece, and the reality is Ponder. My guess is the Astros would have rather traded putting up Christian Walker on the trade block, but he's got two years left on a contract worth $20 million a year, and that's going to require the Astros picking up some of the salary, or if not most of it, for the team that is trying to acquire Christian Walker. easier to trade paredes more upside paredes that's really the most simplistic way i can put it to you let's go to uh keith on seven on and keith what do you got today

hey man we got me and my wife got some great tickets from tick uh tick pick for tomorrow's game i wanted to see how do we come up there to see where do we where do we go uh what what section are you going to be in? 101 seat 28 or out of 28? Oh, look at you to tell me exactly where you're going to be. All right. Well, I'm in the East Club.

Can you get to the East Club or is that impossible? I don't know. How do you get to it from there from where I'm at? I don't run the bill. Oh, you're on the baseline. How about this? Why don't you, I'm going to put you on hold, Keith. Get your number and I will,

Johnson will give me your number and I will text you when I can come by and say hello to you. How about that? Okay, that'd be fantastic. I am a full service. I will come, I will come to your section. How about that? We're a 101.1-208. Is that your wife in the car? Let me talk to you. Is your wife in the car with you right now? Let me talk to her. How are you? What is your name, mawamba? Phyllis. Your husband's is nuts sometimes. You understand this, right? I love him, though. I'd expect nothing but, but he's crazy.

He has fun with y'all, don't he? Yeah, but he has some crazy-ass takes. Does he ever give you some crazy-ass arguments when y'all are having dinner at the house? Some crazy arguments. How long have y'all been married? Three years? Three?

We knew we went. Really? Where did y'all meet? We met on one of those sites. Oh, what kind of sites y'all talking about? What y'all salacious? Well, not no bad sight. I mean, you know, well, DPM.

Black people meet. Okay. So who pursued who more? You for him or him for you? Well, of course I'm going to say him for me. Well, I'll see it'll be good for you to come and meet her so you can see. I'm going to see. I want to see who I'm going to see who I'm going to see who kicked.

coverage you know what I'm saying? All right, I'm going to put you on hold, Keith, and I want you to talk to Jonathan, and we will get your phone number and we'll say hello to you guys. It's a meeting greet Matt Monday at the Wednesday Rocket Game. How about that? That's right. Jonathan, I met your girl at a Rockets game.

I'm a social person. I want to come here and meet everybody. You did. You're very pleasant. She really liked you. You told her I'm a good guy, right? Generally speaking? You didn't tell her about my flaws, did you?

Okay, I know you did. Let's play, believe it or not, is all things about Jabari Smith. It's up next 144 if you want to play. 713212-5-790. 7-13-212-5-7-90. How well do you know the Rockets Mall Forward? If you know good stuff about them, you have a chance to win some prizes next. Here on Sports Talk, 7-90.

We call on the show. What should we do? We should play America's fastest-growing sports radio game show. We simply call it B, believe it or not, and here's how it works. You call 7-1-3. 212-790. 7-13-212-5-7-90. Today's edition of Believe or not

is all things about Jabari Smith with a big game yesterday. I'll read your statement about Jabari. Statement is completely utterly accurate. You'll say this. Believe it. If the statement is the erroneous football bunk and made up, you'll say this.

Not. Two, believe or not, will win you a terrific prize and you'll be playing today for either a 790 t-shirt, a pair of tickets to see Rascal Flats, March 4th, Army Forces Appreciation Day

at Rodeo Houston. If you want to get tickets for any Rodeo Houston event, go to Rodeo Houston.com or see a pair of tickets to partake in the Santana Doobie Brothers concert. Live August 21st at the Woodlands Pavilion. Tickets are now on sale at Ticketmaster.com. 713-212-5-790. Chris, on 790, Chris, you're ready to play, believe it or not? Believe it. Chris, good luck to you.

Here's your first one. Jabari is 6 feet 9 inches tall. Believe it or not. Believe it. No, he's 6-11. Come on now. Get an old man's height. Yikes.

Phillip on 790. Philip, you're ready to play, believe it or not? Jabari has his high school jersey number 10 retired in Tyrone, Georgia. Believe it or not? Believe it. Believe it. Statement number two for the win. Jabari's distant cousin, Kwami Brown, was the first overall pick in the 2001 NBA

draft. Believe it or not? Not. Oh, he is. I'm so sorry. Thank you for playing. Josh on 790, Josh, what was your favorite part of today's 10-2 radio show? Oh, Brad's horrible takes. Jabari Smith's favorite food is chicken wings. Believe it or not? Believe it. I want to give you the prizes for what you said, but I can't. Here we go. You know it, Matt.

David number two for the win. Jabari had offers out of high school from schools like Tulane, Southern Miss and Florida Gulf Coast. His only power-four offer was from Auburn. Believe it or not? That's a believe it. No, he had nine power four offers. Duh!

Poor Josh. Andrew on 790, Andrew. You ready to play, believe it or not? Believe it. Jabari is an avid ping-pong player and once won a pre-tournament event before the start of an NCAA regional in Charlotte, North Carolina. Believe it or not?

Not. I made that up. Statement number two for the win. Jibari has a younger sister who currently plays volleyball as an outside hitter at South Alabama. Believe it or not? Believe it? No, I made that up. I'm sorry. Zebras takes pleasure in it.

I don't like it. I want to give away prizes. All right, Koso, this is your one shot. to play, believe it or not. I'm going to let Mrs. Casso take it. Mrs. Put her on the phone. She's here. She's here. What's her name? This is Mia.

Mia, here we go. Career high for Jabari Smith in a game. 34 against the Atlanta Hawks in 2003. Believe it or not? Believe it. Casso and the bride win. No, that's right. You got there right. She won. That's a believe it.

That's my bad. Yeah, hit the Believe it, so they know they won. Two straight days on me doing Believe it or Not, we only had one winner, and it came on the very last question. All right, up next, a man who's going to, a couple of men are going to entertain the hell out of you for four hours. Their names are Adam Wexer and Adam Clinton. They will break down all the problems in the Astros

in their 5-1 current deficit to the New York Mets. It's the team. And it's here on Sports Talk 790. Thank you.