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On today's part of my take, we've got a twofer for the people we're finishing up our week-long previews. We did NBA Monday, we did an NHL Wednesday. Today, we have College Basketball with Mark Titus and Creighton head coach, Greg McDermott, which is a great interview. Great dude. A lot of fun talking him. We're going to talk about whatever else is going on. Maybe JJ Reddick versus the world. Hank has his number five Patriot of all time, according to Hank. We're going to do Firefest of the Week. We are brought to you by our friends at DraftKings. We're excited to announce our partnership with DraftKings Sportsbook. Draftkings will be our one-stop shop for all things betting. This week, new customers who deposit $5 or more can get a no-sweat bet up to $1,000 on any sport. That's a no sweat bet. It's just like getting an offensive board, miss your first shot, you get another chance to score with a bonus bet back. You can also follow what all of your favorite Barstool personalities are betting on by joining the Barstool Betting Group in the Social Social section of the DraftKings Sportsbook app. Download the DraftKings Sportsbook app now.

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Okay, let's go. Now in the street there is violence, and then a lot of work to be done. No place to hang out or washin, and then I can't lay all on the sun. Oh, no.

We're going to rock down to electric It's Part of My Take, presented by Marshall Sports.

Welcome to Part of My Take, presented by DraftKings Sportsbook. Go download it right now. Use code take, and you can get a no sweat bet up to $1,000 if your first bet loses. Today is Friday, February 23rd, and this has been just the JJ Reddick week. He pissed off the entire world.

It's his world. We're just living in it. He pissed off Pat Biv, pissed off Doc Rivers. Yeah. He pissed off not Ball Knowers online. Yeah. Of fans. When JJ says, I only get 50,000 watching an X's Nose thing. I'm one of those because I know Ball.

Humblebrag?

That's what I want.

Now, we like JJ Reddick. He's a friend of ours. He's a friend of the show. But I feel like this is just JJ Reddick doing his full return to Duke form. Yeah, I think he's doing a little bit of... There's a couple of things that he said that I was like, I disagree with that. But when he goes on first take, I think he's just playing up the fact that everyone used to hate him, and they see that face, and they see him being like, smarter than you. And it's like, Oh, yeah. That was Duke JJ Reddick. I don't like him.

I think it's more the Duke JJ Reddick in the mindset of, I'm the only one that appreciates true knowledge. You guys don't understand true knowledge. Jay Billis does that from time to time, too. When he gets deep in his bag on that lawyer shit. Sometimes we just want to watch people scream about the cowboys at each other.

Yeah. It was an interesting week for him because he basically started the week, he bashed Doc Rivers and said, But he always has an excuse, which I agreed with. Doc Rivers does have a lot of excuses. We played that on Wednesday. Then on, I think it was maybe Wednesday or Thursday, he went on first take and was like, Why does everyone care about what I said about my former coach? Which, yeah, of course, if a player calls out his former coach, we just did an entire Robert Griffin III versus Jay Gruden story arc. That's like everyone will always tune in if a player is like, My former coach. Johnny Manzell just bashed Brian Hoyer, and people are talking about that. That is always going to be what people want to listen to.

This is also the next iteration of saying something inflammatory, getting invited back on shows to defend your inflammatory thing, where now he's going back on shows and he's fighting back and he's like, This shouldn't be inflammatory. Then the discussion becomes like, Why aren't we, as a society, smarter about what we choose to watch and to get basketball knowledge?

It's funny because in 2024, I would make the argument that fans are more knowledgeable than they've ever been any part of sports history. There is countless things that you can watch if you want to learn more about the game that you love. It's the Internet. There's podcasts, there's clips. Everything is at your fingertips when it comes to becoming a more knowledgeable fan. Unfortunately, what JJ misses is we are fans, and fans are a lot of times dumb, I'm counting myself, and we like drama. We like to make knee-jerk reactions. We like to have stupid debates with our friends. It's not hard to figure out that we want to be entertained. We're dumb creatures who want to be entertained. Sports should be entertainment, being like, Why isn't anyone watching my Zion Williamson primary ball handler clip? Yeah, I guess I'd watch it. It'd probably be interesting. But yeah, I also want to debate, will LeBron go back to Cleveland?

Also, the people that end up paying JJ's salary are mostly the ones that just want to talk about LeBron, the Dallas Cowboys, the Yankees, and the Dodgers all the time.

It's like one of those things you can't fight it. That's why this show exists, is we're dumb sports fans that we're lucky enough to be sitting in these seats talking into a microphone. We also understand that most sports fans want to be entertained and have sports be an escape from everyday bullshit.

We can do both sides of the coin, too, because right now we're debating whether or not we want people to be smarter about sports, whether or not they should want to be smarter. It got distilled down to Duke sucks.

Yeah, Duke does suck.

That's the main takeaway that you can I do think he is doing a little bit of a bit when he goes on first take.

It's the heel in him.

He's being the professional wrestler. You guys don't deserve me on TV. I like that. Maybe you're a little bit of a masochist when you watch TV sometimes. I like it When experts on TV are like, You piece of shit walk me right now. I am so much smarter than you when it comes to all this stuff. I'm like, God damn, he's owning me.

Mjf is one of the most popular wrest in the world. He calls his fans poor constantly. We're all subs. We just want to be dombed.

When Andy Kaufman went to Memphis and called everybody Hicks and shit. Yeah.

We want to be assaulted, and then we want to get mad at you and be like, No, our conference is the best conference. Fuck you, dude.

Choke me out, JJ.

Yeah. Step on me with some heels. Pat Bev, I think, is going to be in the office next Friday. He's going to come on PMT.

Although I like what Pat Bev did. I don't have a problem with Pat Bev having Doc Rivers back because one thing that you know about Pat Bev, if he's in your foxhole, he's in there deep, real deep. He signs with a box, and immediately he's like, I'm riding or dying with Doc Rivers. That's as simple as it is.

Well, he's been Doc's guy for a long time.

Also a bit wild to claim that JJ's career was saved by Doc Rivers.

I liked it, though, because guess what?

Jj has been pretty good at shooting three pointers for his entire life.

But if you get to a take first, it's just like, Yeah, that makes sense. Doc made you JJ. I didn't look up any stats behind it because then JJ got caught in a... Basically, he got caught in his own trap because Pat Bev said something inflammatory, and then JJ tried to back up with stats that it wasn't true. I saw the tweet, and it was just too many numbers. So I just passed right over it. I was like, No, Pat Bev was right.

Yeah, there's the stats that normal people don't know how to read. Right. Yeah, right. He put a bunch of stats. I was like, I don't know if this is proving his point or not. I'm assuming it is because he posted them, but I don't know what any of this shit means.

We are dumb. I mean that in a loving way. I consider myself not that smartest person when it comes to the sports I watch, but I love watching sports. I love the drama of it. I love the sports. You put on a game, you don't know what's going to happen. That's the beauty of sports.

Pat Pat's point was you blew a 3-1 lead to us, and that's a fact. That's a fact.

That's basically checkmate.

That's easily digestible. That's a meme. Yeah. Yeah, he wrapped him up in a meme and said, No, here's why you're wrong. I think JJ responded to him by saying, Doc didn't save my career. I got offered that same year a multimillion dollar deal for another team that I turned down. So it's like somebody else wanted me. At that point, you're like, well, actually, I'm not poor. Here's a screenshot of my bank account. And then Pat Bev wins that round, too.

Yeah. Yeah. At the end of the day, it's like this debate has happened many, many times over. I think 10 years ago, it had more weight behind it because there weren't as many options for fans to find what they wanted in terms of content. Now, in this day and age, it's like there's everything. And guess what? A lot of times, the most popular thing is the one that takes sports as entertainment and an escape from everyone else.

There's plenty to go around. Plenty to go around. We could get this even dumber with our analysis. Is JJ Reddick overrated as anouncer?

I was going to say, do you guys think he's feeling himself off of his promotion from last week to the A-Team?

No, JJ is awesome.

I do think he's doing a character on first take. I swear to God, that might be just me growing up on the attitude era where I can just work myself into a shoot constantly. But if you watch it under the idea that JJ is being the Duke smart ass, I know more bald than you, it's great TV.

He should show I hope next time wearing an Ascot, like really to Ascot, fake prescription glasses that he doesn't need.

He should just wait till Steven A says something stupid and just shove a bunch of $100 bills in his mouth.

Or he should be like, Steven A makes a good point, and then JJ says, Do you know who my father is? Yeah.

That would rock. Yeah. My dad's a lawyer. He'll sue you right now. I'm all in for it. It's entertainment. Yeah, I like learning. I actually thought Dan Orlowski would chime in. Dan Orlowski is a perfect example where Dan Orlowski, when he started his career, I thought he a little bit boring because he was trying to teach everything, and he started having more fun. I think he's great. He's great at what he does.

It's a little bit weird, but in a good way. Weird is good.

Yeah, he's showing his personality, and he's like, I will stop when I see a clip of him teaching a play or something, I'll watch it because I know it's not going to just be droning on like, this is what you should know as a football fan. There's a little personality into it. Yeah.

I like both. I like it when Dan teaches me something, and I also like it when Mark Slerith pulls up a clip. He's like, you have to play man football sometimes. Sometimes it's just about being a man.

We are that kid. Why not both? Why not both? That's why we have guests on this show who can tell us smart things, and then it helps us even out the dumb things that we say.

Where do you stand on this, Hank? Are you stand behind your Duke Brethen? Are you on Pat Bev? The Brotherhood.

I mean, Pat Bev is my Barstool brother. I got to ride with him. But I love JJ Redick.

I never thought it was like you got to pick a side. It was funny because JJ did a good job of basically dominating an entire week just based off his own takes.

Can you put a reminder on the calendar? Next year, the week after the Super Bowl, say something really inflammatory. Just absolutely take over the news cycle.

No, not the week after the after the Super Bowl.

Well, the week after the Super Bowl is filled with the post-Super Bowl talk.

Right. So this is a perfect week because there was no NBA games for three days.

Yeah. Right during the All-Star break. And maybe we can do this during baseball season, too, at that midsummer swoon.

After Mars Madness. Yeah.

Yeah. Let's say something really, really stupid and just get people angry.

Yeah. And then we'll come back on the next show and be like, Well, what we said was not exactly what you think. And then say something even dumber, and we got them in a trap.

Perfect. Yeah.

I don't like when shows do these type of tricks to try to string everyone along and get everyone like, Oh, here's a cliffhanger. You got to tune in next week. Hank, do you have your fifth Patriot?

I do.

The number 5 Patriot of all time?

My number 5 Patriot of all time.

You know what? Let's save it. We'll save it for a little bit later in the show.

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We have another thing we have to talk about. Big Dom.

What's going on in Big Dom?

You see the report?

What report about Big Dom?

There was a report out of Philadelphia that I 100% believe. I do not care if this was made up. I don't give a fuck. This is one of those things that passes the feel test for me. The report is essentially that Big Dom was a lot more than just a security guard. He was essentially nick Seriani's emotional support animal. When he got suspended from the sideline, nick Siriani spiraled out of control, was fighting with players, and Big Dom is the reason why their season fell apart, and I 100% believe it.

I mean, we said this in real time. It was happening. It's like Big Dom, yeah, the whole vibe that he brings. I would not be shocked if Big Dom was like, Have you ever seen the movie Flight with Denzel? He flies the airplane upside down. He's a drunk pilot. That one?

Sully Sullenberger? No.

Anyways, you saw that one? Yeah. John Goodman in that movie.

Wait, the plane was upside down?

Yeah, he flew it upside down then landed it, saved half the plane. You did a barrel roll? Did a barrel roll, 747.

What was that game, N64? Barrel roll. Do a barrel roll. Do a barrel roll.Star Fox.Star Fox. Yes, such a good game. Yeah. Such a good game.

John is the banana boat guy that just shows up to calm Denzel down. He's got a briefcase filled with whatever he needs. Maybe Big Dom had a pocket full of Xanax. It was like, Hey, dude, just chill out on the sideline.

You need another Italian to calm down the first Italian. You can't have an Italian alone just on the sideline roaming around without an emotional support Italian.

Maybe his mother. Yes. He should have brought his mom down on the sideline. He should have done some Sunday gravy. Big Dom would not shock if he was a reason for nick Seriani flying off the handle. Do you think Big Dom enjoys this type of press conference or press coverage where it's like Big Dom is the reason for this thing? No, he hates all of it. Not even a tiny little bit?

He's probably calling up Putin being like, How do you get these guys killed? What are your thoughts on the Big Dom story, Max?

I mean, it makes sense. I agree with everything that you said. Talk about a leader of men. Big Dom is a leader of men. He's been around the program for a really long time. He's seen the ups and downs. He's probably the most well-respected on that sideline. When Big Dom tries to de-escalate, I don't think that's a word, a situation.

No, it was a word. It was a Philly pronunciation.

Yeah, you didn't say it right, but it was a word. Yeah. De-escalate?

De-escalate. Esculate is what they say in South Philly, for sure.

Yeah, no. But I think people are like, All right, Big Dom said to knock it off. We got to knock it off. It's like there was no dad. It was like there was no dad to stop the fighting.

Okay, so the question now, Max, is I think- Except I also agree with A.

J. Brown.

What did A. J. Brown say?

A. J. Brown. A. J. Brown has a burner that is his burner. It's like his handle with an underscore.

Okay.

And he said- Wait, A. J.

Brown has a burner So it wasn't A. J. Brown?

It's a burner. People were like, Oh, that's a fake tweet. But then people were like, No, that's his burner.

That's actually a genius idea. That rules. To do a fake account of yourself. Correct. No, you I missed it. That's an imposter, but it's actually you. Okay. I gained a lot of respect for A. J. Brown right now.

I tweeted about it last night, and then I got people being like, Oh, you're fake, and then people being like, No, that's actually whatever.

Okay, so what did he say?

He said, Philly Media is so lame. It's literally something every day. Then the fans be believe this BS. They really should start raising the prices of microphones and cameras because you people will say anything for views. I see why nobody likes us because we don't even like us.

#realitytv. So A. J. Brown is basically trying to be screlly for podcasters. He's like, If we raise the price of these microphones, no one can podcast?

Yeah, that's what it sounds like to me.

Yeah. Uh-oh. I don't know if I agree with this, Max. We're talking to microphones for a living.

No, but I don't think he's talking about us.

Just, actually, that's great for us because we already have the microphone so we can flip them.

What if they break?

I've only said positive things about A. J. Brown.

All right, so, Max, here's the big dilemma that you have now, though. So Big Dom is the most important person in the Philadelphia Eagles organization. I think we can all agree on that. We all agree?

Yeah.

You need a Big Dom for Big Dom.

I got the guy. The dude that's always the guy in the stands, the fan that has all the Philly mask tattooed with his butt hole. Belly Button. Yeah, Belly Button has his nose. That should be Big Dom's guy.

No, see, the thing about Big Dom is that he doesn't need the spotlight. Those guys don't need the spotlight.

Max, you just found out what happens when Big Dom gets suspended. So next time a Dre Greenlaw situation happens, you need a big dom for big dom.

That was anti-Italian discrimination from the NFL.

So maybe you don't get an Italian to be big dom's big dom. That way, if they go to Italians, this guy, he's German. He can walk in and be like, Hey, stop. Maybe not. He's not de-escalating. He's Swiss.

No, but if you're German, you could keep an Italian in your pocket. True.

No, I think I want a Greek guy. You want a Greek? Yeah, close to Italian, but not quite Italian.

Then he's going to start taking payments on the table.

Every dom needs a sub, so you just get a hoagie that he walks around with.

Yeah, but you realize that you need a big dom protector because he's the most important piece.

I'm willing to be the big dom protector.

Okay.

You would get him more fired up.

Yeah, I was going to say, you're definitely someone who doesn't get angry easily.

Actually, he would have to become your dad, too. No.

No, we don't need an Italian, Max. That's the problem. We have too many Italians on the Eagle's sideline. It's It's a bustable situation.

I think maybe they need some wine. Just calm down. Just have a nice glass of red.

Maybe a cigar, get some cigars on the sideline. I don't know. Big Dom is an important piece of this program, and I believe that he is sorry for his actions last year, even though it was bullshit and he should have never been punished. I think that he knows that he is important and can't be taken off the sidelines again. Yeah. I think it's I think it's more of an accountability thing, and Big Dom knows that he is now accountable.

Is it a good thing or is it a bad thing that your head coach is so emotionally fragile that he needs a security guard next to him to keep him calm at all times?

But then the fact that it's Big Dom, I understand because if we had a Big Dom, we need a Big Dom for this podcast. We had a Big Dom. Fuck. Fuck is our Big Dom. Fuck. Yeah. No, it really is one of those things that we said as a joke, but we were 100% serious at the same time, and we were right. Big dom was the most important piece of this.

He's holding that whole project together.

Yeah.

He gets shot in the stomach next to the end. The whole Esplanade falls apart.

I mean, BFT said he's coming on the show.

He agreed to come on the show.

Yeah, we booked him. Do you think Big Dom is going to get maybe a little extra sauce, extra gravy, a little box of Ziti out of this?

He deserves it all.

I agree. He should renegotiate his contract.

It wouldn't be the worst thing in the world if the Eagles and Big Dom moved in other directions from each other just as a Commander's fan. That's how much I fear Big Dom.

Do you think Big Dom, if a If a team wanted to get Big Dom, how many draft picks would they have to give up? Fifth rounder?

No, I'd say six. I would- Six, swap a seventh.

You talk about the Caleb Williams. I wouldn't take the Caleb Williams.

You wouldn't take Caleb Williams for Big Dom. No.

On a rookie deal.

No.

No. All the money, though. Actually, he's not crazy because I want Big Dom, and I would maybe give up the first Big Dom.

You build around Big Dom. We got our franchise security guard.

Build around Big Dom is a great T-shirt.

It actually is. Build the whole wall out of Big Dom.

Build around Big Dom would work.

Yeah, build the whole airplane out of Big Dom.

You give me 53 Big Doms, I give you a Lamardi. Is that easy? Easy. And Big Dom, to his credit, he did save your franchise quarterback from having a stadium fall on him.

Yeah. Is he the franchise quarterback?

That's a good question. He didn't look like himself this year.

He was hurt.

There's something else going on in the sports world that I think we should talk about. What? We're on uniform watch in baseball. Oh, yeah. Big time. People are big mad about the new baseball uniforms. Fanatics got cheap. It's Nike uniforms, and I read an article about it. I think I understand how it works. Nike gets to design uniforms. Then they send them to Fanatics to produce the uniforms. So Fanatics makes them. They put the Nike swoosh, they do all the uniform specs, and they look cheap now. People are mad, players are mad, fans are mad. I just saw today that players are a little a bit worried about their balls showing in the new pants. I saw one picture. It was some dude on the Giants.

Wait, this is a way to grow the game.

It might be a way to grow the game for sure.

Well, you look it up. The only thing I know about this whole story is people were blaming Fanatics, and then Darren Ravel tweeted right away being like, It's not Fanatic's fault, which just made me think it was 100% fanatic.

That was all I got. You don't want Darren Ravel defending you. You're guilty as fuck. It's like if you have a lawyer wearing a cowboy hat, that guy's guilty.

It was just instant. I was like, Yep, Fanatic's fault.

Okay, Here we go. Here's Casey Schmidt for the Giants, Big Cat. Look at this.

Just balls. Oh, those are just two big balls.

Just two big balls in these pants.

He looks like Frank Gore.

That's the on dick circle. Yeah.

Okay, so they got to figure this out. But this is actually a good... Now, if I'm going full wrestling brain, this was smart by the MLB because we're talking about them.

That's true. Way to stay relevant, baseball.

Way to stay relevant. Just make some shitty uniforms that have everyone's balls showing.

Vogelbach is going to look like Chris Christie at the NYPD softball game.

Oh, man, that's going to be a problem. That's going to be a big problem. Yeah, but we actually can't. People are complaining. I wouldn't mind seeing... Schwerber probably has a really big ball.

Oh, he's got a sack on him for sure.

Respectfully, all due respect, I'd knock it out of the park. Jeff Van Gunde.

Don't they wear cups?

He's not listening.

No.

Jeff Van Gunde? Yeah.

Baseball players wear cups, though, right?

It depends on the position.

I would definitely wear a cup.

I don't think Like, outfielders don't.

I would definitely wear a cup. Max?

No, you don't wear cups unless you catch.

Yeah, you're a catcher. Unless you catch, you don't wear cups. Yeah, you don't wear a cup.

I've gotten hit in the balls a couple of times playing baseball.

I think that's a Little League thing.

You got the Well, they're the BMGs.

Big media clankers.

Big media clackers.

Yeah, because cup is restrictive in running.

It is. Yeah.

I don't think they wear cups.

But also, yeah, in Little League, you play on fields that have a lot of bad hops.

Also, you're just not good enough to stop the ball that's going to hit your balls. A third basement is not going to let a ball hit his balls.

Yeah, but have you guys seen the actual uniforms, like the tops?

Yeah, they're terrible.

The letters are too small. Everybody has seen uniforms that they buy from China, and they arrive, and you're like, Well, that doesn't look like the real thing. That's what these are.

Well, it's like, yeah, there's the $150 versions, or you get the $25 version that aren't stitched.

Yeah, I saw the mariner's patch on their arm, it wasn't embroidered.

Really? Yeah.

It was ironed on.

It's become such a story now that what's going to happen is people are going to find every single small part that's wrong with the uniform, and it'll become another story. Then it's just going to snowball and snowball.

All we want to do is just fucking see how Zion Williamson is the primary ball handler.

That's it. That's it. Now we're talking about baseball. I want to know about the spin rate on Mike Clevenger's two-seamer.

That's a good story, though. We also had Johnny Manzell with an all-time quote. Did you guys see this when he- He lost 40 pounds in three months. Yeah, and Shannon Sharp being like, How did you do that? And Johnny Manzell, he was just as honest as possible.

I was 170 pounds sitting in Vegas that August, that September, October, whatever it was later in that year.

How you lose 40 pounds?

You're on a strict diet of blow. That's so great.

Yeah.

Fucking strict diet of blow, dude. What do you want me to say?

It's a fact. I hope he's not using it anymore because that is a big problem if you lose 40 pounds. 40 pounds. And you're only like, 210 pounds to begin with.

It's like when David Bowie had a whole entire year where he was actually... He had to be fed like a baby. All he drank was milk and hot peppers and cocaine.

Yeah. David Bowie also got so bored with having sex with women that he started banging men.

Hey, listen, sex positive.

Just went through every single hole.

We're sex positive. All right. Before we do, Hank, are you ready for your number 5?

Wait, can we hold on to that for one second? Because Big Cat wanted to bring up there's two more things. Oh, okay. Just real quick, the other big storyline. Justin Fields, he went on the Steve Brown's podcast. Yes. They asked him about unfollowing the bears on social media. I was right. He said that he didn't want to see NFL highlights.

Correct. He was bored of the bear. He just doesn't want to see bears highlights when he's going on vacation.

He said, Sometimes the girl that you like the most is the one that you're not following. Yeah. Is that true? Yeah. I didn't really understand that part of it.

I don't follow Sydney Sweeney.

That's Kat. Why? How many Sydney Sweeney fan accounts do you follow? Wait, so you sought that picture out on your own?

It was on a fan account.

Yeah. The fan accounts are the horniest. Always the one.

Correction, I do follow Sydney Sweeney.

Sometimes this girl-You know what?

I'm going to unfollow her.

Okay, there you go. Yeah.

We play a little cat and mouse with her. How do you like that?

That'll get her attention. Maybe it was a ploy to get the bear's attention because I bet Sydney Sweeney is going to see this and be like, Wait, why did Big Cat unfollow? Yeah. Maybe I should reach out to see if there's a problem.

After everyone flicked out about Justin Field unfollowing the bears, Matt Iberflus debute a new beard, so got a new coach. He looks That's really different. That's good. He looks like a winning football coach now. He basically is like, You know what? I know this marriage isn't going well. Let me change something up. Look at him. Tell me that's not a fucking football coach now.

When did you hire Brad Pitt? I know.

Guys, hot. He's going to win some games. So things are looking up. Sure. Would you rather have Big Dom or New Beard on your Coach? New Beard on your Coach. Easy.

How many draft picks would- Big Dom's so bad. The other thing was that Charlie Woods, he's trying to qualify for a PGA tournament today. He actually didn't shoot that- Don't say the score. He didn't shoot that bad.

We're pro Charlie.

We are Charlie. He got a 12 on the seventh.

Then he rebounded with six straight parts.

That's mental That's what I'm saying. People are talking about the 12. When was the last time you got an octuple bogey? And then hit six parts in a row. I bet you Tiger has never done that in his entire life. Keep your head up, Charlie.

Facts.

Also, if you get a 12 on a hold, that just means you're not good at cheating. You need to get better at cheating.

Yeah. Listen, everyone's trying to bash him. No, he's the next up.

You marked that in nine, and then you keep it moving. Wasn't he qualified?

He was trying to qualify for a PGA event?

Yeah, the event I'm calling next week.

Okay, so there you That would have been great if Charlie Woods had been in it.

He should get an exemption. Jake, can you give him a Jake exemption?

Charlie Woods, you are playing in next week's event.

No, what you should do is you should just randomly just start calling Charlie Woods highlights without anything on the screen. Here's Charlie Woods.

I'll I'll try to work that in.

All right, before we do Hank's number 5 Patriot of all time, Proper number 12 Irish Whisky.

That's right. Proper 12 is rich and smooth. It's Irish Whisky. They've also got the Proper number 12 Irish Apple Whisky, which is the best sipping whiskey that you can have. Just pass a bottle around, pour it on ice, pour it in a glass. You can even mix it. It's great, great stuff. I love drinking it. They sent us a bunch when they came on as a sponsor. Put it on my bar cart. That stuff went fast. It's crisp and fresh, especially the Irish apple. It was founded by Conor McGregor. You can shoot your shot of proper number 12 Irish whiskey and pour the roar. Order your bottle of proper number 12 Irish whiskey with Drizly. Check it out.

Okay, Hank. Actually, I have one more before we do your Patriot. I saw a list today that I would like people to take a guess at, which may be an insult list for some of us here. Worst win percentages in the past 10 years in all four major sports.

I don't care. Minnesota is the worst.

It's all combined.

Is it Minnesota the worst?

Minnesota is not the worst. No, sorry. It's each franchise separate. Do you understand what I'm saying? The Mets It wouldn't be all New York sports. It'd be the Mets.

Oh, got it. Yeah.

Anyone take a guess for number one?

Wait, so it's just one franchise?

One franchise, but it goes across all four major sports. It's ranked. I have a guess.The worst 25. No, this is not an insult. The first.

The New York Giants.

No, it was the Jacksonville Jaguars, which shocked me.

Yeah, I mean, Chaps always brings out these weird stats about the Jaguars every time they win a game, and it's like, Oh, this is the first time since 1999 that they've won eight games in back-to-back seasons. You're like, What the fuck? Yeah.

So it's- Show me the Pirates.

Pirates are not on there. They won 97 games in 2016. Or '15, or '98 games, and that was a Schwarber home run. Jets are number two, Pistons, three, Giants, four, Browns, five. Pft, unfortunately, we're brothers again. Bairs are nine, Commanders are 10.

It's been tough.

Yeah. Knicks are 11. The one that was... What was the shocking one? Oh, the Blackhawks being 25 was pretty shocking because I guess it has been a while.

Stanley Cups.

Yeah, but it's been a while since that happened, and they've been really bad since. The Lakers are 13. Really? Yeah. They were really bad in between Kobe and LeBron.

A few bad seasons, yeah. Yeah.

But I just saw this and I was like, Oh, that's interesting. Timberwolves were 14, Hank. That was your first Minnesota team. Then everyone else, I think, was clear except- The Wizards? The Wizards are not on there.

We had some good seasons with Paul pierce and with John Wall.

Yeah, the basketball teams were the Pistons at three, the Magic at six, the Lakers at 13, the Timberwolves at 14, Hornets at 20. That's all the basketball. So you're clear.

I'm surprised the Hornets aren't higher.

Yeah. I was a little shocked at this list because the top five made sense, and it It really does show the Giants and Jets, two and four. It's pretty bad.

If you zoom out a little bit on the Giants, obviously, the two Super Bowl's awesome. Maybe two of the best Super Bowl wins that you can ever have. So you've had some good times in there. But besides those, if the Giants aren't winning the Super Bowl, they're not doing shit that year.

Yeah, it is funny looking at this and being like, Oh, if you've won a title in the last 20 years, that doesn't mean you'd still take it like the Royals were 24th. Yeah. You'd still take it. Absolutely. 100% would take it. The Lakers, well, that didn't count as a bubble title. And the bears almost won the Super Bowl in 2018. They were just three games away. All right, Hank.

Number 5, Patriot of all time, as reported by Hank Lockwood.

First recap, number 6.

Number 6 was defense. Defense wins his championships. He made two crucial plays against the Seahawks, one against the Seahawks, one against the Falcons. Malcolm Butler. It's Dante Hightower. Number 5, also defense. Oh, Early era, first, dynasty I.

Teddy Brusky?

Probably the swaggiest Patriot, maybe on this whole list.

Asante- We already…

It's Tyla or- Tom Brady's house.

Leroy Malloy, Ty Law.Ty.

Law.ty Law.Ty Law.

All right. That's number 5.

That's number 5. You think he's the swaggiest Patriot?

On this list, I think he might be. Wow.

Can we do a top 10 swaggiest? Yeah.

Well, I mean, the Patriots aren't the swaggiest team. That's the whole Patriot way.

Is Four going to offense?

Four is going to offense.

Whoa. Can't wait for Monday.

Devlin.

No. I was trying to put Kevin Falk on this list, but my friends weren't having any of that. Wait, this is your list? It is. No, I'm saying we are arguing- Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

For what he meant to the team.

Do we have to start over?

This whole list started with me being like, I've been fighting with Friends. They're not fighting, but debating for the last day.

But if you wanted to put them on, it's your list.

But they show me.

I wish I could put them on his list, but- We might have to start over. This feels like Hank's Friends list, not Hank's.

It's my list. He's an honorable One Honorable Mention. We'll do one member, one honorable mention per show.

Kevin Falk is today's-Honorable mention. What number is he in the honorable mentions?

Two.

Okay. So ahead of the Lighthouse. Because who was one?

Bethel Johnson. Right.

Okay, so Bethel Johnson. Now we're going in reverse in terms of ranking the honorable mention guys.

Yeah, I'd rather you go 10 to 1 on the honorable mentions.

All right.

I don't know if I have 10, but I can add some more. On Monday, we're going to get the number 4 Patriot of all time and the number 10 Honorable Mention.

It was also just cool when they had a guy named Ty Law and then Lawyer Malloy also in the same backfield.

That was cool. Yeah. Very cool. All right, Hank, you feel good about that? Yeah, I feel good. You think people are going to come at you? They don't know what the rest of the list is.

Yeah. I thought he only played in two Super Bowl. Well, he played in three, but one was '97. But he only played in two.

He only won two Super Bowl.

Yeah, he was hurt in 2003.

So number four, I'm going to guess Jules.

No, I think we said Jules was three.

No, because I think he's going to go defense three. I think he's going to go like-Gronk, two? Yeah, I think Cronk is going to be two. It's going to be either-Wait, you think Gronk is going to be ahead of Jules? Yeah, I think so. Oh, my God.

I can't wait for Monday. I wish someone could knock me over the head right now, and I just wake up, and it's Sunday night, and we're recording the pod.

It's going to be either Brusky, Will Fork or Willie McGinnis at number three.

When are we going to start going back to 7 through 10?

That's when you get to 1, then you go to 10. But I want them to go evens first. So 10, 8, and then 9, 7.

Jj wouldn't understand this level of broadcast.

What a teaser. Who's it going to be? Can you tell us? Does it go offense, defense, offense, offense?

Starting at one?

No, starting at four.

Starting at four, it goes offense, defense, offense, offense.

Yeah. I think I'm right on the money with this.

No, I think Jules is going to be...

No, it said defense number three.

Yeah, I know.

I think Jules is going to be two. No chance. No No chance. Wow. Hank is playing this not from a level of friendship, but from a level of patriot.

I don't know. Remember when you didn't put Jules on the Mount Rushmore of Guess?

Yeah, I do remember that. But in this- He did.

That was really bad. If He would be, no matter what, he's on the Mount Rushmore.

What you're doing right now is you're bullying Hank into changing Jules being the number 2. I'm not.

No, Jake has the master list.

This is also what 4-1 is Mount Rushmore. True. So buzz off.

But still, there's a difference between 2 and 4. Big difference.

I don't think so.

Oh, yeah.

Is Chris Long on the list?

Two gets the BCS, four doesn't.

Chris Long is not on the list. Honorable Mission?

I didn't like that he went to the Eagles after, so I don't know. No. That He likes Philadelphia more.

Way more. Yeah, way more.

Yeah. He was playing into him and Lane Johnson being like, They have no fun over there, blah, blah, blah. Yeah.

He does hate the Patriots.

He's the only person that won a Super Bowl with the Patriots, then beat the Patriots next year in a Super Bowl. Ron. Who else?

Legarra Blonde.

He's an honorable mention, though.

Don't ruin it. By the way, ranking these one through four, we forgot to mention. I know we said it on Wednesday, the college football playoff, but it's very funny watching Notre Dame fans realize that they're fucked.

Yeah, it is.

It's great. It's just been a slow.

Then some were coming after me saying they actually wanted this. Why? They guaranteed a home game.

Oh, that's a hell of a spin zone. That's the 512.

Crazy spin zone. So If they're the number one team in the country, they're going to want to play a first-round game, no chance.

That does rock that you get to go to a home game, though.

But still no chance. If they're the number one team in the country and they have to now play an extra game.

If you were asked, Would you rather get an extra home game or be ranked in the top four and get a buy? You would take the buy. But I think a home playoff game is a pretty good consolation.

Yeah, people have been getting their shots in it. Notre Dame. Not relevant, they're saying.

Sad to see.

Real sad to see. Should have joined a conference. Why don't you just pony up and join a conference? Big Ten will maybe take you. Big Ten will take them in a fucking heartbeat. Okay, let's get to our interviews. We have great interviews. Doug McDermott and then Mark Titus are doing College Basketball Preview. Get you ready for March, which is what, a week away?

Yeah, it's pretty much March.

A week away.

Can't wait. We have to wait an extra day because of the leap year.

That's true. A motherfucker.

But it's the third birthday part of my take.

Oh, yeah, good point.

That's true. We are three.

Okay, before we do Greg McDermott, PFT, you had a quick word for one of our sponsors.

Yeah, before we get to Greg McDermott, he's brought to you by Rocket Money. Do you ever feel like money is just flying out of your account and you have no idea where it's going? Well, I know. Time out.

We're going to have to restart the ad. Hank's brain just broke.

Wait, I was wrong. It's the second birthday.

Yeah, what the12 years old. We're not 12 years old. I was so confused for a second.

It would be the second. No, it's the third. Wait, no. The podcast started on the-16. The podcast started in February 29th of 2016. That would mean that our first It was my birthday.

Okay, so it was 20.

It was February 29th. It was 20.

Good job, Hank. Time back in.

Second birthday.

Game on.

Yes. This Math and Greg McDermott is brought to you by Rocket Money. You guys ever feel like money is just flying out of your account? You don't know where it's going? I know. It's all those subscriptions. Think about it. It's between streaming services, fitness apps, delivery services, parenting apps, maybe you have an AI video generator on your phone. It's endless. Rocket Money is a personal finance app that fines and cancels your unwanted subscriptions. It monitors your spending, and it helps you lower your bills. I can see all my subscriptions in one place. If I see something I don't want, I can cancel it with a tap. I used Rocket Money a couple of years ago. I had no joke, saved hundreds of dollars per year on stuff that I did not know that I spent money on. It's fantastic. They'll even try to get you a refund for the last couple of months of wasted money and negotiate to lower your bills for you by up to 20%. All you have to do is take a picture of your bill, and Rocket Money takes care of the rest. Rocket Money has over 5 million users.

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Okay, we now welcome on a very special guest. It is head coach of the Creighton Blue Jays. It is Greg McDermott off of a huge, huge win. Coach, first of all, thanks for joining us. I wanted to go back quickly to Tuesday night. You beat number one in your con. Incredible game by your guys. It was also your 600th victory, so congratulations on that. And you said that it was one of the biggest wins in school history and one of those big, not tide-changing wins, but one that people will remember. We've had 48 hours. Are we sticking with that?

I think it was important simply because we've had six shots at the number one team in our history, and we weren't able to get a win. And to do it against the Yukon team that was playing so well, and to your point, really important this time of the year as we move closer to the NCAA tournament, the Big East tournament. So it just solidifies your resume and hopefully set you up for seating. But from start to finish, our crowd was absolutely phenomenal. They were into it from the jump, and it was one of the better environments I've ever been part of.

Yeah. By the way, I did a bad job of asking that question because it made it seem like I was expecting you to be like, No, I've looked back, and it's not that important. I'm a big believer as a sports fan, as a diehard sports fan, you have to embrace the ride and those big wins. Okay, maybe it doesn't end up in a national champion this year. Hopefully, it does for you. But fan bases have to enjoy those big moments because those are special nights that you can't just brush off and be like, Oh, it's another Tuesday night in February.

Yeah. I mean, college basketball is hard. Trying to beat a team like Yukon is very difficult. They're elite in so many different ways, offensively, defensively, on the glass. Obviously, they take on Danny's personality with the way they play and the toughness that they play with. You have to play a hell of a game. When you find a way to beat them, and we've been fortunate, we've had some success against them, but you don't take it for granted because it's hard to win, especially in this league.

You go down early, they punch you in the mouth right off the bat. I feel like most teams crumble because it's Yukon. They get intimidated, whether it's Coach Hurley or their reputation, what they've done in the past, what they've accomplished. But you guys bounce back after. Can you give yourself some credit for Hey, that's a pretty good job coaching that I did.

Yeah, I don't know about that. It was a bad job coaching the first four minutes of the game because we were behind 11 to three. But I think a lot of it was Trey Alexander and Ryan Calkbrenner. Calk has been here four years, Trey, three years. We've had success against Yukon. So a lot of teams haven't. And I think because of the fact that we've had some success in the past, and while we got absolutely spanked at their place, we did some really good things defensively. We held them to 62 points. Their field goal percentage, their effective field goal percentage was not good. We just were atrocious offensively, and most of it had to do with them. So I don't think our guys were concerned because we've had success against them in the past against in the past. Once we got the crowd in the game, all bets were off. It was a difficult place to play the rest of the night for Yukon.

Yeah. One last question about Yukon, and this is a Dan Hurley question. We're friends with Dan, so full bias out there. We have a theory, and I want to know from the opposing coaches box, when he drinks that mushroom tea at the beginning of the game and it looks like he's drinking piss, that's a little intimidating, right?

I've always wanted what in that.

It's piss. It's piss.

It's a fun game, and we've had some great battles with Yukon. But at Creighton, our fans don't come to watch the opposing team play. They come to watch us play, and that's different than most places. But Danny does a great job, and he's so intense, and I'm friends with Danny, too. Off the floor, he's an awesome guy, and the game starts, and he's a little bit psychotic, but that's who he is, and that's how he coaches. He gets every last bit of energy out of every one of his guys and deserves a lot of credit for the success they've had.

Coaches in college basketball, especially, because the rosters change year to year. I love guys who stay a while. You've been at Creighton for a long time. That's what fans start to... The teams take on the image of their coach, and you get Greg McDermott going against Danny Hurley every year. That's fun. That's what I like to tune into.

Yeah, it's fun to develop those rivalries. You're not getting anything easy. We're not getting our pet plays against Yukon, and they're probably not getting theirs against us. Just because we've coached against each other, we know each other, we know tendencies. Then at the end of the day, it comes down to players, and that's really what it's all about anyway. If You don't have good players, you're not beating Yukon. If you don't have pretty good players, you're probably not beating Creighton. It's fun to have some guys that have been in the league a long time. Those rivalries, we certainly, even though we're a long ways apart, I think We develop a pretty healthy rivalry with Yukon.

Yeah, especially in the big East. It's always been about having coaches with big personalities and the ongoing rivalries that they have and the battles that they go through with each other. In terms of the league, the big East, especially, who is your favorite coach to go up against, whether it's somebody that brings something different out of you or someone where you just enjoy the competition with that person?

Yeah, I mean, Yukon is certainly one team that I really enjoy competing against because you find out if you're doing your job well. But there's so many great coaches in this league. Ed Cooley is a great friend of mine that's been well-documented. He bought me dinner in Omaha this year, so it's good when he comes to town because I can send him the check because of that fat contract he's got over there. But across the board, from Sean Miller to Shaka to Thad Mata, and Sheehan has done a great job at Seton Hall this year. Right on down the line, it's really a league of really good coaches and a lot of good guys. For the most part, we get along pretty well. We're a basketball-centric league, and we're only going to survive if our men's basketball programs are doing well. So a lot of guys have done a lot for this conference.

Yeah. On that point, I know it's been a while. I think it was 2013, you guys joined the Big East, but it's something that is now happening in college sports basically every year, where teams are going up, teams are going down. There's all this transition. What was the biggest hurdle when you went from Missouri Valley to Big East and you took that step up in class? Because we're going to see it many more times with teams going up and down, left and right.

Yeah, fortunately for us, Big Cat, when we made that move, that was Doug's senior year. So Grant Gibbs, Doug, Johannes Madigut, Ethan Raguih, those guys were seniors. You could have taken that group into any conference in the country, and they were going to have a chance to be successful. I think it's so important that you have success early and you show that you belong. I think that group really blazed the trail for what's followed. And we had a little blip in the radar the next year because as the guys that were playing behind that group were recruited to play in the Missouri Valley. And while we didn't have a great record that year, we got better, and some of the younger guys in our program grew. But Thank God we made the move in this day and age with what's happening with mid-majors and with the transfer portal. And then I felt it's difficult. So I think you have to have a seat at the right table. And I'd like to think certainly the Big East has done a lot for our institution and our athletic program, and I'd like to think that we've added some value there as well.

But the fact that we were able to get off to a good start, finish second in the league the first year, we got beat by Providence in the Big East title game, I think had a lot to do with what the trajectory that we've had since.

How did you recruit Doug McDermott?

He went to Northern Iowa to start. When I was coaching at Iowa State, he actually signed with Northern Iowa. Then when I came over here, we were in the same conference, and he wasn't excited about playing against me twice a year. But I sleep with his mom, so that gives me-There it is. It gives me an outside chance.

I was setting you up for that because I had seen you say it. I knew you were going. It's a great line. I got him because I slept with his mom.

It's also I'm going back and looking at it, and There's a rumor out there, maybe you can dispel it, that he got tens of thousands of free meals before he came to play for it.

He got a lot of that. Actually, his senior year, back in the days without any NIL, Grant Gibbs got a six year of eligibility, and we didn't have a scholarship. We put Gibbs on scholarship, and Doug became a walk on his senior year. He actually still owes me for that. Oh, yeah. I paid his tuition his senior year. You think that would come around at some point, but he still hasn't made that check.

Interesting. I want to go back to maybe a sore memory from last year. You guys made a little run in the tournament, unfortunately, didn't end the way that you wanted against San Diego State, right? I'm curious from your perspective, do When you go back, do you watch that game film? Do you try to erase it from your memory because of the way that it ended? Then moving forward, did you watch the final four, or were you just in a place where it's like, I'm so devastated by this. I don't want to watch college basketball.

I finally watched the game on the last recruiting trip in July on the way home. Recruiting was over for the summer. I was going to go play some golf for a few weeks, and I'm like, All right, let's exercise this demon and watch that game. It was a hell of a game. It could have went either away, and it came down to the very end. I watched the final four. I like hoops. Brian Dutcher is a good friend of mine. Obviously, Yukon being in the tournament, I wanted to follow that. But it's hard to get on that doorstep and be knocking on that door. A lot of things have to fall right from a match-up perspective, and your team has to play at a high level. I hope we'll get back there. I hope we'll have another chance at it at some point during my career. But I also didn't want it to define what was a very good season by that group of guys last year. If I don't want the guys to feel like that to find the season, then I can't act that way either.

Yeah. How often do you practice free throws with your team? Because that's a big thing when I'm watching college hoops. You got to make your free throws. I don't know if you saw, but we did a free throw challenge. I did. Yeah. I mean, that was impressive.

Thankfully, we shoot them better than you guys.

Wait, well, hold on. We made 41 in a row with the mulligan.

What did it take? How many hours?

Sixteen hours.

That's a lot of free throws, Coach. Forty-one.

Was Frank involved in that, or was he not part of it?

No. Frank wasn't very nice to me after that seating the hall game in Jersey.

Listen.

Somebody sent me that. The dude killed me.

That's when you know you've made it, though. When Frank the tank, has shown his eye at you, if you're in sports, it's like, Yeah, I finally got on his radar. But yeah, listen, we 41 free throws in a row. Do you practice them every single day? Because I hope so.

We do. Our guys have to make a certain amount of free throws in a row before they leave practice every day.

How many? Sometimes it's eight, sometimes it's 12, sometimes it's 14.

Just depends where the clock's at at that particular time. But fortunately, we've knock on wood. Hate to say it, but we've been a pretty good free throw shooting team.

If PFT and I were on your team, we would actually be your best players because we'd never leave practice. We just That's always going to be a practice.

First in, last out.

How long would it take you guys individually to make 12 in a row?

Well, Big Cat can get hot. I'm not what you call a basketball player. If you asked me to make eight in a row, it'd probably take me five, six hours to be able to accomplish that.

But it could get done. Yeah, it could get done.

That's a guy that's in the gym, though.

Yeah, it could get done. Well, one other thing that I've seen you do, Coach, and I'm not sure if you can still do it, but I saw a video of you dunking at practice. Can you still dunk?

I haven't tried. My goal was to do it when I was 50, and I did do it when I was 50. May or may not have slipped a women's basketball onto the rack sometime during practice with the manager of the year. But I was able to get it done. But now I don't want to blow an Achilles or a ham string trying to do something stupid at 59, so I've shelved that one.

What about if you win the Championship? If you win the Natty, will you try to dunk again to celebrate? I will.

I will do that. Okay. If we win it, you guys- I like that. Yeah.

You can come to our... We'll host you and we'll have a big- Done. Greg McDermott, dunk off. Yeah. All right.

So now we might be waiting for you. We're going to need an elite physical therapist to do some stretching before and after. We can get you. We can get you set up. But we can get it there. We can get it.

Yeah. How many times have you had McDonald's with Warren Buffett?

Never. What? But you see Warren in a restaurant in Omaha once in a while. He doesn't come around a lot to games, but he was at Doug Senior Night. He was very upset with the official that called that foul against us on San Diego State last year, and he made it well known. But obviously, he's done a lot for this community.

It would be great if you went out to eat with him and you picked up the check. That would be such a power move, wouldn't it?

Yeah, that'd be a big-time power Yeah, if I saw him eating in a restaurant, I just point across the table, I'd be like, Hey, I want to cover that guy's build.

Don't tell me this, mate. I got his.

Going back to Doug real quick. We see it, obviously, all the time in college basketball. A lot of times, the coach will have their son on the team, but very few times, you guys have the success that you guys had together. Was it hard coaching your son and balancing that where it's like he's one of the guys, but he's also your son and you have to... Maybe there's moments where you're sitting there watching the game and you're just proud of your son, but you're like, Wait, I'm coaching a Biggie's basketball team. I got to snap out of it.

Yeah, there were some things the first year that were challenging, I think more so for Doug than probably for me. It was very important to him that he was treated like one of the guys. I remember a specific time, one of his teammates told me that after a really hard practice, he walks in the locked room and all of a sudden everything goes silent. Doug's like, Now, wait a second. I think he's an asshole, too, for what went on today. I'm with you guys. But when Doug asked me and said, Dad, I want to be treated like everybody else. I said, I can do that, but when I tell you to block out, you can't look at me like I told you to take the garbage out and you don't want to do it. If this is going to be a coach and player, then it has to be that from your perspective, too. It was a challenge for Doug because for the first 18 years of his life, my voice was his father's voice. Then all of a sudden, it's his coach's voice. Because in college coaching, you don't have an opportunity to coach your kid in junior high and you're doing your job.

I didn't really coach Doug much outside of driveway stuff until he got to college. But once we got to that point, it was great. Nba scouts that came in and watched us play, watched us practice when he was a junior and senior, they'd said many many times. If we didn't know it, there's no way we'd know your father and son by watching you interact in practice. That's the way he wanted it. That's the way I wanted it. Obviously, it was a really special time. I probably didn't embrace it and enjoy it as much when it was going on because you're in the grind. But looking back on it for both of us, it was a pretty special time.

When he got the nickname Dougie McBuckets, were you like, That's a cool nickname, or were you like, Chill out with the nickname, son.

No, that's a pretty cool nickname. I get a call from high school, more high school coaches, but some college coaches have called me as well that were contemplating coaching their kid. Obviously, it's different in high school because he goes home with you every night, and you're at the dinner table every night. But It's easy if he's your best player or a guy that doesn't play very much. People got pissed off if I took him out of the game at Creighton. That was never really a problem.

I have an X's nose question for you. This goes back to Uconn, but when you have a team that shoot well from the outside, how do you make them worse at shooting? Because it seems like it's something very difficult to do that a lot of coaches try to do, but very few can accomplish.

We're trying to limit the amount of three-point shots teams get. Everybody has a defensive philosophy, and Yukon is going to pressure you. They're going to try to force you into turnovers, and obviously it works really well for them. We try to send everything to Ryan Coughbrenner at the rim and try to make sure their best shooters aren't getting a lot of looks from the three-point line. I think Caravan and Spencer, their two best shooters the other night, only had five three-point attempts. So that's what we're trying to do. And obviously, we spend a lot of time in practice running guys off the line and making sure you're not getting hit by screens to try to accomplish that. Some days it works, some games it works better than others. But fortunately for us, the other night, it worked really well.

I like the word philosophy, too. It's culture, but every coach has their different philosophy on how to build a team and how to play. What would your philosophy be if you were to distill it down to one thing about basketball?

Well, offensively, it's freedom. I like that. We'll do a lot of different gimmicky stuff defensively, how we guard a ball screen, what we're going to do. We'll go over a screen on one guy, under a screen on another. But offensively, our guys have the freedom to play and the freedom to shoot. We take some crazy shots from six feet behind the line at times, but we also practice those shots. Everybody recruits to how they're trying to play. We want guys that can really shoot the basketball, that can handle it, that can pass it, and that have a good basketball IQ. That's what we've been successful with, and that's what we'll continue to try to do moving forward.

Yeah. So speaking of freedom, how many shots in a row does a guy have to make to allow him a really terrible heat check shot?

It depends who it is.

Yeah, that makes sense.

Steven Ashworth had a great start to the game the other night, the transfer from Utah State. He's played awesome here the last 10 or 12 games. But I had him do a drill in practice that I talked about in the postgame the other night that I used to have Doug do, where you have to make five shots from five spots. And if you miss two in a row, you have to go back to the beginning and start again. And he made 33 in a row. And so he said, What should I do now? Am I done? I'm like, No, if you're going to shoot those crazy shots eight feet behind the line in games, let's back up and practice some of those. And he had a couple of bombs the other night. But our guys have a lot of freedom. They know it. And I think it does something to the opposing defense when They know that a guy can pull from 28 feet anytime they want. I mean, that puts a little bit more pressure on our opponent's defense.

Okay, so counterpoint to that question, if you have a guy that has... How many shots in a row does a guy have to miss before you're like, Hey, there's limits to our freedom here. We need to reel in some of this freedom.

Yeah. There's the old coaching saying that the last thing you want to do is tell a bad shooter to shoot. But if our guys, if they can shoot it, And a lot of times you have to talk guys off the ledge and remind them that the best shooters in the world miss over half their shots. My son is one of top 10 or 15 three-point percentage shooter in NBA history, and that's at 41 %. So he's missing six out of 10. So that doesn't mean you make two out of every five. You're going to go six of seven, and then you're going to go one of seven. It just happens. But you trust your work, you trust your preparation. The other side of me is if a guy like Baylor Sheyerman has missed five in a row, I like his chances on the six one that he's going to knock the next one down. Yeah.

What's the fastest you've ever pulled a guy out of a game? Because I love old-school college basketball coaches.

Yeah. It's been seconds before. Really? Yeah. I love it. Yeah. I mean, it's been a while, but something stupid happens on the first play that you've gone I threw 100 times, and the guy screws it up. Let's get him out of there.

That's one of my favorite. I'm a Badger fan, and Bo Ryan used to do that all the time where he would just like, you'd be 20 seconds into a game and someone would get yanked, and you'd be like, All right, so he's- Yeah, Bo didn't mess around.

I knew Bo and I have known each other since his division, three days. So yeah, he didn't mess around.

Yeah, I like that move. What do you tell the guy when he gets pulled? He's a starter, and he gets pulled 10 seconds into the game. You just sit him down, you're like, Hey, we've been over this. What are you doing?

If that happens, you don't have to say a word. Message received. Yeah, he knows what he did. He knows exactly why he's coming out.

Yeah. I guess it's a tough question to ask, and I'm curious to know if you're going to actually answer. What is the expectation for you in this postseason this year?

Well, I mean, the first thing is you got to get there. And there's teams that have high expectations going into season, and it doesn't work out, and they don't make the tournament. So we're always gearing ourselves to play our best at the end of the year and build towards February and March, make sure your body's healthy, their mind's in a good spot. In the NCAA tournament, it's so much about matchups, and everybody talks about seating. Seating, to me, doesn't mean much unless you get to play close to your backyard. But it's about matchups. I know that the guys that decided to come back, Bayly Shyverman came back for his fifth year, Alexander and Calkbrenner tested the NBA waters last year and decided to come back. They want to get back to that game. They want to to that moment and have a chance to try to knock the door down and get to the final four in the first time in creating history. I know that's what they're thinking. I'm thinking about the next game and the next play. I think as a coach, if you think any other way, you're asking for It's terrible.

Do you guys pay attention to Ken Palm at all? Any guys in your office?

Yeah, my staff's looking at that all the time because it measures a lot of the things that at the end of the day, analytically, we're trying to measure anyway. How are we performing in comparison to our peers? It also gives us some information on what percentage of our shots are three-point shots. Is it what we want it to be? And on the other side, Are we making sure our opponents aren't shooting a high percentage there? We don't force turnovers. We don't shoot a lot of free throws, but we don't foul, so our opponents don't either. Those are things that we're constantly looking at.

Well, I got some good Ken Palm stats for you. All right, this is going to be good. You can tell to the guys. I saw this the other day. It's as of Tuesday. According to Ken Palm, the last 20 national champions have all been top 25 in adjusted efficiency margin, top 37 in adjusted offensive efficiency, top 38 in adjusted defensive efficiency, top 45 in strength of schedule rating. This is as of Tuesday. The teams that follow under those categories are Purdue, Arizona, Tennessee, North Carolina, Marquette, Michigan State, and Creighton. So you're in there. As of right now, you have the balance of the team, both offense and defense, and played a very good schedule. I don't know. You could tell your guys that. Maybe you want to do what you just did saying, Hopefully, we get into the tournament. I'm going to break some news to you. You're going to be in the tournament. But that's cool.

Yeah, it sounds like if they get any coaching, they're going to be in good shape. Yeah.

Now it's up to you. You have the guys. No pressure.

Try not to screw it up. Try not to screw it up. Stay out of their Yeah.

Here's an easy question for you. What city would you like to retire in more? Omaha or Columbus, Ohio? What do you think is a better retirement destination?

That's a cagey question. I live on a golf course here in Omaha, and I like the golf course, so it'd probably be Omaha.

Okay, good answer.

That's a good answer.

Good answer. I have one last question for you, Coach. This has been awesome. It's the rowback question, R-H-O-B-A-C roback. Com. Use promo code TAKE, 20% off your first purchase. Q-zips, polos, hoodies, joggers, great. Polos for the golf course, rowbackk. Com, promo code TAKE. I think I know the answer to this, but maybe you can explain it. I love college hoops. I I love the first two days of March Madness, but Conference Championship Week is my favorite. How much more difficult is Conference Championship Week than the actual tournament? Because it feels like every year, that's when it's like all these teams know each other, back-to-back games. It's the toughest as tough to get. What is the preparation when you're going into the Big East tournament versus March Madness?

Yeah. I mean, to your point, it's so difficult because there are no secrets. Hopefully, you don't play in that first night. It's three games in three days without a chance to breathe in between and against teams that really know you. In our league, and I turn on some of the other conference tournaments when you're sitting around, the garden is jammed. It is packed. It is an incredible environment, especially if we're playing somebody from the East Coast. It's a hard environment. You're essentially playing a road game. But it's really, really challenging, but it's also really special. And you really sense it, how important the Big East tournament is to the schools in the Big East to actually try to win that tournament. I think some conference tournaments, why they're important, they're looking ahead to the NCAA tournament. But in the Big East, it's huge to have an opportunity to win that. We played in at nine years because one year got wiped out by COVID. At least we played a half in that year. We've been in the Championship four times and just haven't won it. For us, we'd like to knock that door.

We've talked to a couple of big East coaches about that tournament, and I'm always curious to know, do you hold anything back at all, or is it just like, let's go full send during the tournament, and then we'll regroup and figure out what we want to do for the round of '68?

No. All you got to do is watch a game at so high level, and everybody's trying to win. I don't think there's anybody holding anything back. Even Villanova, I think they're national championship teams. I think they won the Big East tournament both of those years. And Yukon got beat, I believe, in the semis last year. But It's hard basketball, but it's also an incredible, incredible experience for the young guys to get an opportunity to play in it, especially in the garden in the Big East tournament.

Yeah, I love it. There's no better time than March. Coach, thank you so much. Listen, if my team can't win, maybe I'm rooting for you to come to our office and dunk one last dunk.

I think you can dunk. I think you can do it. I've seen you running up and down the sidelines. I think that you've still got some bounce of those legs.

Yeah. If I'm chasing a referee, maybe I have a little more adrenaline at that point. But guys, if we get there, I'll be there. I appreciate it.

Okay, we can get a ref for you that you can chase around. We'll get someone in a ref and just yell at you, and then you can chase them and dunk. But thanks so much, Coach. Best of luck the rest of the season.

I appreciate it, guys. Thank you.

Coach McDermott was brought to you by our great friends over at Coors Light. From day to day annoyances to the big stuff that life throws your way, it's easy to get worked up. But there's a better way. There's a chiller way. Turn that canceled concert into a parking lot dance party. If you're too cold for an ocean swim, play volleyball, light a bonfire instead. I was on the golf course last Saturday. I was playing. It started to rain. Guess what I did? I cracked open a Coors Light. I chose to chill in that moment. I'm going to be having a few blue mountains this weekend. Nothing better than watching basketball when you got a Coors Light in your hand. It's cold. When the mountains turn blue, it's as cold as the Rockies. I love Coors Light. When you choose to rise above it all, choose chill, choose Coors Light. Get Coors Light delivered straight to your door with the Instacart by going to coorslight. Com/take. Celebrate responsibly Coors Brewing Company, Golden, Colorado. Now, here's Mark Titus.

Now for something completely different.

Okay, it's time for some college basketball talk, we have our colleague, which is not weird to say anymore, but it is probably maybe a little weird for AWLs because we haven't had you on since I think. I think it's been a year. I think it's been around a year because you've been at Barstool for almost a year.

Yeah, I think I came on right when I signed on. Yeah.

It is Mark Titus.

We can't have him on more frequently than that given his outbursts in the past. All the comments. The things that we've had to bleep out after the fact.

Yeah, it's easier to book him now. I could just be like, Hey, you want to come on? It's been almost a year. We basically hired you because we're like, At some point, we're going to have to do a free throw challenge. We've done that. Unfortunately, I'm going to hear to tell you that your contract is going to expire and you're not going to be renewed.

Bring you back like Mantis for a day next time we meet you.

How are you feeling? We learned that we don't actually need you as badly as we thought. We have Mantis now.

You walk in, we'll be like, That boy's straight.

You've had a lot of welcome to Barstools. Your first week here was the first week of March Madness. I remember so vividly walking into you in your studio in the old New York office, and it looked like you had just come back Vietnam. You had a million-mile stare, and I was just like, You're right, dude. He's like, That was just a lot. I was like, You should go home to LA for a couple of days. But now that you're comfortable, it's not a bad place, right?

I love it. I absolutely love it. It's been awesome. The free throw stream was so fun. You said this, too, that I went home, I was exhausted. I went to bed immediately, slept forever. I woke up, and the first thought I had was, I want to get back on the line. Yeah, with the boys. I miss I miss it. I want to go to the guy there. No, this place is incredible. Every day is a circus in a good way. But yeah, there was an adjustment period, and getting thrown into the gambling cave out of the start was very difficult because my memory was like, day one, Dave asked me for a pick. I don't watch basketball in that way. I was just like, I don't fucking know. Kentucky, I guess. I think Kentucky played Kansas State, and they won. Then I went home, I went back to the hotel, and I was like, Thank fucking God, that's over. Then the very next morning, I was in line at Starbucks, and Dave was behind me, and he's like, Titus. I was like, Oh, what's up, Dave? I was waiting for the pat on the back, and he just goes, Give me another pick.

I was like, Fuck. I was like, Oh, fuck, again? He's like, Yeah, dude, it's day two. Another one.

Then you're his guy, and that's a dangerous place to be because you can get the ax immediately. You're on the radar.

I'll be better prepared this year.

We were watching You were on day one of March Madness last year, and there was a lot going on. There were a lot of games. You went through some ups and downs right off the bat. I don't think you'd been in a gambling environment like that before. What adjustments are you going to make for this year's March Madness?

I'm going to be more aware of spreads. That was something that I... It's already hard enough trying to decide who's going to win these games, but I'm going to be more in tune with that. I also learned that nobody actually... Yeah, I don't know. It It was difficult because nobody gave a fuck about the basketball. Everybody was just like, watch it. Big Evan and I got into a little dust up. I have a memory of that because he was just screaming like, How do you call that fucking foul? And then I just like, in retrospect, I shouldn't have, but I was like, I mean, he hit him right on the arm as he was shooting. He was like, I know that, but I don't give a fuck. How do you call it?

There's no rational.

I realized, okay, so we're approaching this a little differently. Yeah, I don't know. I guess I'm just going to gamble heavily. Yeah, Maybe that's the only way. I got to get into the trenches with the boys.

It's like if you can't beat them, join them. You'll become one of those people eventually. You'll become everything you aim for.

That's what I'll do. Let's talk some college basketball. It's been a very fun season. It feels like Very wide open, similar to last year. Yukon is the best team, you would say, right now, but they just lost to Creighton by a billion. What are your big picture thoughts going into the conference Championship Week and the tournament for someone who maybe doesn't watch college basketball is trying to catch up?

I want to say everyone sucks, but that's not a good way to get people into the sport.

Not everyone sucks.

Yeah. I think everyone sucks on the road.

Everyone sucks on the road. That's the thing. It's hard because you want to get excited about teams. But then even Kentucky is a good example. Kentucky goes to Auburn, a very hard place to win. They looked awesome. You're like, Oh, my God. I've gotten to a point where I only almost look at road performances because home The home court will lie to you. So Kentucky looks awesome at Auburn. I talked myself into them, and then last night, they looked like dog shit against LSU. So yeah, not everybody sucks. It's just everybody has very obvious weaknesses. A week ago, It was Purdue and Yukon and everybody else. Now, Purdue loses at a bad Ohio State against a bad Ohio State team. Yukon got blown out at Creighton.

That was due.

I felt like it was due. It was. And they needed that. I think Yukon I think when Yukon beat the hell out of Marquette, the conversations about, is this team better than last year? Way too premature. I think that was rat poison. Is it Saban this? Yes, that was rat poison.

Yeah, but you're right. The road games are tough. Kentucky is a good example. That was an incredible ending where they finally, Kentucky finally hit a big shot at the end of a game, and then they just stopped playing defense, which they never really started playing defense this year. No. I don't think they've ever been Let's start playing defense. They just started the season, and they're like, Oh, yeah, there's the other half of this game. Whatever. Is Cal on the hot seat for real this time?

Oh, dude, it's so.

I mean, it actually feels like it might be for real.

At some point, the meme becomes the reality. They're not going to fire him. He has a lifetime contract, so I think they have to kill him. I think they have to-He'll do that. They have to actually execute him. But it does feel like there might be a conversation where they're like, Cal, are you sure you want to do this still?

How much longer do you want to live?

There might be a friendly nudge. They might try, but I think the AD loves them. I don't know. The Kentucky fans are absolutely ready for a change, though. Absolutely.

It also hurts that this is a very talented Kentucky team. Then they have Reid Sheppard, their point guard, who's from Kentucky, who's like every Kentucky fan's like, wet dream, where he's really good. They're like, This should be everything, and they just don't play that.

This feels like it should be a vintage Cal team because the last couple of years, they haven't even been that bad the last few years, to be honest. They lose the St. Peter's, which was very, very bad, but they were a two-seed. I think when you look back on the last few years of Kentucky, if It feels like they were like 500 the last few years. They haven't been that. They've been good. They just haven't been Kentucky good, and then they fuck it up in the tournament. But Cal went away from what made his teams good, which is the one and done stuff and I'm just going to overwhelm you with talent. He started going to the transfer portal, and he's getting Oscar Sheeboy and Shaver Wheeler and guys like that. That didn't really work out for him. He hit a hard reset, and this team is all guard-oriented. They're all young dudes that are going to be NBA players. He has five future NBA players on this team, probably, if not more than that, probably more than that. Everything about it feels like a vintage John Calipari team. If he fucks this up, you're out of, I don't know if it's excuses, but you're out of paths for him to get it back.

If he fucks us up, he's completely lost the magic.

It's already been a decade, but it's like we're on 12, 13 years since they won a title.

What is a fuck up for him this year? He has to go to the Sweet 16, Final I mean, I would have thought if they...

They should be competing in the SEC. I mean, the SEC is good, so I don't want to say there's no excuse for them not to win the league, but the fact that they're not even going to come close to winning the league is crazy. They have to make at least the sweet 16. At least.

And they're not.

I don't think they're going to. And if they get spanked in the sweet 16, then it's like he fucked us.

Right. I guess that's the hard part when evaluating this stuff is you always move the goalpost. He loses the national Championship by five, and you're like, Fucked it up. Fucked it up.

We're supposed to be Kentucky. What about Purdue? Talk to me about Purdue. Because I think there's nothing in sports that you enjoy more than Purdue losing.

Purdue losing at the right time.

Yeah. Purdue is a sick joke to me and Chitus today, this year, because they're the only team that can win it all from the Big Ten. They've been talking about the Big Ten forever needing a national title. It's going to hurt us.

So can they win it all, or are they going to fuck it up?

They can win it all. I think this Purdue team is better than last year. The guard play, first of all, their guards are older. The two white kids that were freshmen last year, they are older and they're way better. Braden Smith last year was a game manager more, and now he's He's actually a stud. Then Lance Jones, the kid they got in the transfer portal, is fucking awesome. I do think that Purdue is going to make a final four. I think they're better. But what worries me about Purdue is they just can't resist B in Purdue. I don't mean that as a L-O-L Purdue meme. Watching them against Ohio State, they're one of the best three-point shooting teams in the country now. Last year, they couldn't shoot for shit. Now, they can. They're hitting threes. They shot nine threes against Ohio State because they just cannot resist just trying to dump it into Ed. Over and over and over. Ed is awesome, but I don't know what their plan be. They don't give you confidence that they have a great plan B, and that's what worries me about Purdue.

Purdue is good, though, this year. They're better than they have been in these horrific exits. The reason why I know this is because it's shifted now to... Last year was like, Well, their guards are so young. Are they going to be able to stand up? And they obviously didn't. It's basically like, wait till Zack Ead gets officiated different in March Madness. That is a sign that it's like, Oh, they actually are pretty good.

They are good. No, they are good.

We're clinging to that.

They can definitely win a national champion. It's Ohio State is one game, and you don't want to put too much stock in one game. And they have been awesome all year. But yeah, I do worry that they just become so Ead dominant that the rest of the guys are just staying around watching. But they are good. They are legitimately... They address their problems in the offseason. When push comes to shove and ass will start getting tight in the NCA tournament game, they're just going to revert back to what they know, which is dumping it into the post, which is great. But it's a guard-oriented game in March, and teams will... That's what Fairly Dickinson did that to him. We were laughing at Dave. Too small. Yeah, in the Camphallic cave. But Dave just kept yelling, They're too small. That's exactly what happened. I I still think the recipe to beat Purdue is the exact same, even though they've gotten a little better. Everybody knows that. That's the other thing that worries me about that, is every single team knows how to beat Purdue. You don't need the quick turnaround of scout of like, Oh, fuck, we're playing Purdue.

What do they do? What are their tendencies? I feel like every team in the country knows how to beat them. But the good thing for Purdue fans is executing that is going to be difficult. Yeah.

Best league in the country, Big 12?

Yeah, the Big 12 is the best, but I don't find it the most interesting. I think the Big East and the SEC.

Well, it's because Houston is at the top.

Houston's great. It feels like they're not yet Big 12.

And they're great, but they're hard to watch.

They're hard to watch the Iowa State? Yes.

Yeah, they're hard to walk.

Both those teams are really good. I love that game, though, because they were just beating the fuck out of it.

Yeah, they were.

But I think that is why the Big 12, it is the best conference. But when it's Houston instead of Kansas up top, it just feels different. I know Houston fans get mad about that, but it's just the facts.

Yeah, I'm still trying to make sense of Houston because their defense is unbelievable. They're so good. But yeah, Jamal Shed is awesome, and Criar is great. I do like their guards. Their guards are It's going to be interesting because I wonder how much offense they can generate. I wonder if Shed and Kriar are guys that can just pull something out of their ass offensively when they need to in March. And I don't I don't know if they are, but I could see them being that. I don't know. They're right at the line for me of how talented you need your guards to be offensively. Defensively, they're fucking incredible. But the Houston flame out in the tournament feels like they lost a game 53 to 49. They couldn't score, but they played great defense.

I'll rebound them by 20 rebounds.

It's just a disgusting game.

They go 21% from three. Yeah. But they still took 20 of them because they're like, We're desperate. Right.

But no, I like Houston a lot. I think the fact that they went to the Big 12 is going to help them immensely, obviously, because they're in a tough conference and they're playing well.

What I do love is there's so many fans that are fans of teams in the Big 12 that kept saying to Houston, just wait till you play in a real conference. Just wait. Just wait till 2024. You're going to feel what real basketball is like. They come in, they're still really fucking good.

They're like, We're going to win your Yeah, I respect that.

What about Texas? Have a chance? Also, why is his name pronounced Acemis?

I don't know. I never understood that.

He's really fucking good. Yeah, he is. So he can tell you how to pronounce his name whatever way he wants. But A, B, how does that make the sound?

I've never really understood that. I don't know. The problem with the Big 12 for me is there are a lot of teams, but it's that way across all of college basketball because there are good teams, certainly, and Texas is one of them. But But no, I don't think Texas is going to a final four or winning. They're not a serious national title contender.

Yeah, they're in the middle of Big 12.

Yeah, and all those teams are that way. I would say Houston is really the only team I think has a shot at winning. Iowa State fans won't want to hear that. Kansas is supposed to be good, but I think even Kansas fans realize that this team is not it. The rest of the teams are good. The Big 12 is more of a numbers game where it's like, We're not going to win the national championship, but we are going to have five teams in the lead eight. You're going to have to respect us because we just overwhelm you with how many good teams we have. But then when you look up, none of those teams are actually winning the national championship. Houston could, though.

Yeah, the Big 12 is...

They are the best teams. Tcu is another team I like, but I don't think they're...

Tcu... Dixon really screwed us because we went and did a TCU college football show, and we had him on, and he was like, We're going to run the Showtime Lakers. I was like, Oh, fuck. I'm going to bet the over in every single one of their games. They do run, but they don't make shots like the Showtime Lakers.

I've lost a lot of money there. There's a guy, Jordan Sperber, who does awesome breakdowns. If you're a basketball geek and want to see Xs and O stuff, he's a film nut. That only got 54,000 views. Yeah, right. Jay, Jay, Redick. Ryan, Williamson. Yeah.

What What a great Humble Rack by Jay, Jay, Redick. This boring thing, it only got 54,000 views.

I feel his pain because I'm the smartest fucking guy in the world, and I prove it on my show over and over and over again. I think the reason my show isn't the number one sports podcast is because I'm probably too smart.

You're too smart. I'm too smart for the average fan.Fans don't want it.Yeah..

I got to double down.

You can do X's nose, or you can get Cat Williams come on a show and call everyone in Hollywood gay, and then you get 60 million views.

Wait, so what are you saying about that?

I was saying Sperber always puts together. He takes the intro press conferences when coaches get higher in the offseason. Literally every single coach says, We're going to push pace. We're going to run and gun. He oftentimes will do an update and be like, Here's their pace, actually. Here's what their offense is actually doing. But every single intro press conference, the coach is like, One of the tenets of our program, we're going to push it. We're going to get good shots. We're going to put points on the board, and then reality hits.

Yeah, that's a fact. All right, so let's talk about the Big East real quick because Max over there, Vilanova. They are. We're running this tomorrow. You can't have a worse setup than Vilanova being starting to play some good basketball. Max had talked himself into the Yukon game. Now, it's game day is in stores. They're coming off a 20-point loss where Danny Hurley was like, I coached bad, the players played bad, and now Vilanova has to go play there. Danny Hurley is releasing Game of Thrones GIFs, videos.

This feels like an ass-kicking. It's going to be a fucking biblical ass-kicking for Max and Villanova.

Are you in on Arova, Max? I can't.

Yeah, I go with whatever way the last game goes. That's a true fan.

I'm all in or all out after every single game.

The last three games, double-digit wins, or three wins by double-digit points.

Yeah, and now you got to go play Yukon. Is there a team in the big East besides Yukon, and we'll say Creighton as well? Yeah. We have Greg McDermann on this show who can make a deep run.

Marquette, obviously. I think Marquette's.

I don't know. Maybe that's just because the Badgers Because the Badgers. Because the Badgers, yeah.

And I don't think the Badgers are that good. Yeah, I don't know. Seton Hall has been great.

It won't happen, though, because they're Frank. Frank is not allowed to have happiness.

Seton Hall is like an auto bet at home type of team.

Yeah. I'm drinking the Butler Kool-Aid. They're on the bubble. Oh, why?

Who's their coach?

Who is their coach?

Yeah, look it up.

Oh, who is their coach? Do you know their coach? You don't know their coach, do they?

I don't know, actually.

Do you know their coach?

No, it was the fourth best. Oh, it's Thad Mata. Oh, that's weird.

Where did he coach?

Oh, well, good for him. I didn't realize that. I was drinking the Butler Kool-Aid, but now I'm really drinking the Kool-Aid. They're so fun to They won at Creighton and at Marquette. We're talking about you want to see teams that can win on the road. They have two impressive road wins.

Villanova could…Do something.They're.

The fourth best team in the Big East.

Yeah, you're probably right. When they're at their best.

Yeah, there's a fall off.

It's something to be proud of. They've looked like the third worst team in the Big East for a lot of the year. But talent-wise, they're at least the fourth best team the Big East.Talent-wise.Talent-wise..

Yeah, the Big East is the most fun league to me, I think. Well, it's all basketball. It's just pure basketball. The fans are obsessed. It's all they care about. The coaches are incredible characters through and through. Yeah, and I do think a lot of these teams can go. Bias aside, I do think Butler, I do think They're not going to go to a final four.

That was Bias included.

I don't know what you mean by a deep run, but yeah, Butler could make the sweet 16.

Butler, bias aside, may not make the tournament.

No, I know that. But there's a team.

That would be the bias aside.

They're going to make the tournament. Are they? Yeah, they'll make the tournament. But there's a team over here that plays in the play and that makes a little run. Yeah, no, you're right. Every year, there's a team that's on the bubble that makes a run. I'm saying Butler could be that team.

Their last four in right now, according to Linaardi.

They'll make it in.

Okay.

Can I say something about the play-in? I've decided I hate the play-in. Why is that? I don't like it because it's an afterthought, even though it comes before. I don't like the play-in at all. I want my tournament to start on Thursday. I like it being clean Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. The teams don't get the shine if they play in the play, and nobody remembers if you play in the play-in and lose. I understand why they want more teams in there. They want to be able to throw some 16 seeds in and get them out of the way. It are some higher, some teams that won their conference tournament that they don't-How would you feel if- That they don't want to give shine to on a Thursday?

If they called it the play-in and you didn't actually get an NCA tournament, you didn't get to put on a banner in your arena, the NCA tournament appearances. You didn't get to put that on there unless you won the play-in. I'm fine with that. If it was truly like, this is not the NCA tournament. This is purely a play-in. The tournament starts on Thursday. But we're still going to keep the exact same format. We're just going to reprand it.

Yeah, the games can stay. I'm not in favor of... I like more sports on TV, for sure. But if you have four at-large teams that play on that Wednesday, you don't call it the tournament. But if you win, you get in the tournament. I'm fine with that. 68 isn't as cool. 64 is a way better number when it comes to a bracket.

I like the play-in because it's an advertiser. It gets you warmed up. I also think that UCLA legitimized the play-in when went to the final four from the play-in. That was it. I'm happy they got in. We need the play-in. I like the advertiser. It gets me warmed up. I do think that this idea that we're going to have whatever the number is, 132.

I hate that.

That sucks.

64 is the perfect number. I agree. With UCLA, they could have played in that as an at-large, and you get into the tournament that way. It would be fun. I don't like the number 68. I feel like 64 is way better.

Yeah, I agree. I guess you could just not watch until Thursday morning.Not.

An option.Yeah.

That's true. That's why I like it because I'll always watch it. You put it on TV, I'm going to watch it. It also feels like, oh, nice. This team could get...

Who else did it? I don't know why I said that because it isn't an option. I say the same shit sometimes. People will say the same shit to me about... I hate watching. I don't feel this way about Houston, but if you find Houston basketball disgusting and you're just like, I can't watch this basketball, people will say, Well, just don't watch. I have to watch. Yeah. You also have to realize that- I'm not going to watch one of the best teams in the country.

The play-in is objectively hilarious, too, for the teams that do lose, like Brandon Walker's Mississippi State last year. He didn't make the tournament. Yes. Cj, the Rutgers lost a few years. They didn't make the tournament. You get to do that with your friends. Right. They're like, You weren't really in the tournament. Right. I love the play-in.

I do like the play-in. I do think that it should be official, though. I do think that Mississippi State last year should have officially not made the-Yes, right.

I'm fine with that, but I just like the idea that-They should keep it. You can basically play... The play-in is basically a choose your own adventure, where it's like the losing teams. You can be like, Yeah, they They didn't make it.

There's always somebody that argues that we should not make the 16s play, but I think the '16s want to play. That's another thing.

They get a chance to win a tournament game. That's cool. Otherwise, and I get it, they want to play against a one seed. That's cool. But I don't know. I like the plan. I'm a big fan of the plan. All right, Pac-12, real quick. Arizona, Swansong. Arizona is for real.

Arizona is for real. They play Washington State tonight.

Yeah, it should be a great game. Washington State's second best team in the Pac-12. Is there a chance, though, that Tommy Lloyd spent a little too much time with Mark Few, and he's always going to be just close enough?

I know.

He's got a little too much Mark Few.

Well, Arizona. Purdue losing last year is the greatest thing that happened to Tommy Lloyd. Nobody remembers that Arizona lost to Princeton. No, you're right. They were the two seed. He is starting to get into that range of... I think that's why he lost some of these games this year because Arizona, they are very good. They're national title good. The final four is in Phoenix, which is an interesting wrinkle. The Pac-12 having its last year. There's a lot of stars aligning for the Arizona redemption. But I think they're not having quite as good of a year as they probably should be. I think that might be on purpose because Tommy Lloyd was getting way too many of those graphics that are like, This is the hottest start anybody's ever had in a college basketball coaching career. You don't want that when you've the last two tournament exits they've had. Houston was way better than them the year that they lost. That was a sweet 16, at least. But Houston just manhandled them when Arizona is probably the best team in the country a couple of years ago. Then you lose to a 15 seat last year.

I don't want to say Tommy Lloyd. He just signed an extension, and I think most people realize he is an incredible kid. He's still two or three years away from getting the narrative.

Yeah, but there's been a couple. They lost at Oregon State, I want to say. Then that game at home where they struggled with UCLA for the entire game. Right.

They let Stanford score 100 on him. But I think that's smart. I think he's got to show more cracks in the regular season. If you're dominant through the regular season and then you fuck it up in March- That's true.

That's what Gonzaga used to do.

That's what looks embarrassing. But if you have seven or eight losses entering the tournament and you lose in the sweet 16, it's not a bad year. It's not a bad year.

It's like Iso, right? Yeah. He limps in the tournament sometimes. You don't expect it. You're like, What a great coach.

Yeah. If Michigan State makes the sweet 16 this year, that's going to feel like a great-Incredible accomplishment. Yeah, they were... You picked him for the national champion.

They're a great team. They're a fantastic team. Very hard to beat at home, especially early on in the season. You're a national title contender. If you go in and you defeat Michigan State when they're ranked number four at the time, you'd have to be a great team to do that.

You should get an auto bed to the United States tournament, right? Yeah, great.

Let's talk Sun Belt, Mark. No, we won't talk Sun Belt. Acc. I'm going to say it, I miss Coach K. Big time. I miss having him around. I miss the rivalries. I miss him lecturing people. I miss Getting to talk about Coach K. It feels like it's not just Duke, but a little bit of the shine is off the ACC now without Coach K.

It is. Duke is sneaky putting it together a little bit right now. But yeah, it's not the same. I think beyond Coach K, the ACC lost a lot of characters. They lost Roy, they lost Bayheim, they lost Mike Brahe, who nobody talks about.

Dude, how about Bayheim calling games? I turned on a random ACC game the other day, and I was like, Is this Bayheim? And he was just so curmudgeon. I was like, It is Bayheim.

I don't like him calling gay. He should be the halftime and the-Yeah, it was so weird. He should be in the studio.

He's just in his whiny voice. I was just like, What is going on right now? But yeah, we lost a lot of ACC guys.

Yeah. Virginia is still technically one of the better teams in the conference, and now Virginia is as bad as When Virginia had those good teams and everyone was like, This team cannot score the basketball, they were wrong. They actually could. They just played slow, but their offense was incredible. They had NBA players, and they got good shots, and they made them. This is actually what Virginia basketball was to all the people back in the day. This specific Virginia team is disgusting, just disgusting basketball. They play great defense. They cannot score to save their lives. And the problem the ACC has is that they are still one of the better teams in the ACC, and they are very, very offensive.

Yeah. When they're good, when they win games, you can be like, if you're a real basketball head, you love Virginia basketball because they suffocate you, they smother you, they're careful, they're deliberate. But then when they can't score, it's just like, this is bad basketball.

It's bad basketball.

What is Tony Bennett's philosophy on just how he plays? What is the driving force behind why he chooses to play such a weird brand of basketball?

His dad, I think. I think it was just like his dad. Yeah, his dad did it, and he did it that way.

It literally is just like, if you're from Wisconsin, you got to play boring basketball.

Yeah. I don't know. It makes sense in an antiquated way where it's like, we want to work for a good shot, work the ball, wait till you get Don't shoot bad shots. That checks out.

Like the value of each possession. Yeah.

I think there was a lot of... The pack line defense is make them shoot further from the basket, which was a smart strategy in the '80s. Yeah. Now it's like that's where everybody wants to shoot. Yeah.

I also think it's like a lot of these teams. Virginia, obviously, you said when they won the national title, they had NBA dudes. But it's smart when you have a team that maybe doesn't have that one or two guys that can beat everyone off the dribble. It's like, All right, we're going to work as a team to get these good shots.

Right. Now, the introduction of the ball screen has just completely changed. Somewhere along in Steph Curry, it was the ball screen plus Steph Curry that have just revolutionized this game.

If only Steph Curry would have been recruited by any team that was around him when he was Right.

Yeah, damn. You know what? In all the Steph Curry Virginia Tech angles I thought of, it never did cross my mind that Virginia plays the pack line, and they give up threes, and they're fine giving up threes. And Steph Curry could have gone to Virginia Tech. Just fucking ran threes on Virginia.

Really, Virginia should have recruited Steph Curry. Everyone should. Yeah, true. But especially Virginia, because if they knew that tech wasn't recruiting them, at least At least you get the opportunity to be like, We got this guy, and it's a big, Fuck you to Virginia Tech, right?

Yeah, that's a good point.

That's a big miss.

I wonder if that should be recruiting strategies. Like, recruit the guys, recruit the sons that the dad's alma mater doesn't want.

Yeah, and then you can be the whole time like, They didn't want you, and fire you up that way.

Yeah, that's right.

We got to mention the Mountain West, so Mountain West fans don't get mad.

Yeah.

They're starting to piss me off, Mountain West fans. I don't know.

Why?

I think because there was the narrative that they couldn't do it in the tournament, then San Diego State. Maybe it's just one guy. Last night, I was watching that awesome, awesome New Mexico Colorado State game, and someone was like, Oh, just finding out about the Mountain West. Fuck you, dude. Yeah, I fucking watched the Mountain West. I fucking lost. I'm pretty sure that UNOV threw a game against Air Force a month ago that I bet on, and I watched every possession. They lost by 30. I watched the Mount West.

So they got hockey fan energy? Yeah, they're a little bit like, Oh, now you're taking attention to the Mount West.

To be clear, this is one fan. No, but no.

It's one guy that Big Cat's fan at. No, Mountain West fans do have a little chip on their shoulder. I mean, it's earned chip because they did have all those years where it was great basketball to watch. Then they get to the tournament, they'd be out in like... Remember the year they were out in 10 hours? Right. Yeah, so they have a chip.

I do remember that.

But I like Mountain West. It's fun basketball.

It's been great this year. It's so fun. They might get six bids. Yeah.

The UNLV should not make it for that one game I'm talking about.

But they They have a same problem as PFT said. It's like whoever's at home.

Yeah. Well, no, they lost at home by 30D Air Force. I'm pretty sure they- Oh, UNLV.

You're talking about UNLV.

I'm pretty sure that was a point-shaving game.

Yeah, I can't make sense of who the best team in the Mountain West is. I have no idea. It depends on basically what I just saw. I think New Mexico probably has the highest ceiling. They feel like the team that... They make the most sense to me. I like their guards. But yeah, Utah Utah State is probably the answer. They're probably going to win the league, right? The one thing that worries me about Utah State, they haven't played a single power conference team all year. When I realized that, that definitely worried me. San Diego State is When the bracket comes out, I'm going to make San Diego State go the furthest of any Mountain West team, though. Because it's last year bias, but it's also like they do have the pedigree. They were the one team that... They've never had, obviously, a final four run, but they were the one team that would have some semblance of success out of the Mountain West. They at least would go to a Sweet 16 every so often. I think San Diego State will probably end up still being the team. But yeah, fun league. Very fun. It has become the league that's like, if you don't know what game to watch, just throw on a random ass Mountain West game.

It might be the hipster's basketball.

Yeah, that's what it is. That's what it is. Yeah, it definitely is.

It does have that energy because it is like every night you can watch a great Mountain West game.

It's what the A10 used to be that way. Yeah, you're right. The Mountain West is It's trying to become that.

Yeah, you're right. Where it used to be like, Oh, yeah, no one's talking about VCU, Daten, all this. You're absolutely right. The Mountain West is the new A10.

This Richmond. Yeah.

Watch out for Bonnie's.

St. Bonaventure game popping off.

The Mr. Bier guy, he actually... I think his name was Dom. Awesome dude. Remember the St. Bonnie's fan who used to wear the beer hat and they'd show him at every game?Captain Bier.Captain Bier. That's awesome. He did an awesome move. He passed down the hat. That's good. Because he graduated. So there's a new Captain Bier. That's a fucking great move.

That's a great move. For college basketball. If you're a fan and you're in the student section, can you imagine continuing to go back to that fan section, maybe wearing the same-He did for a couple of years. Same sunglasses that you've worn every single year. That'd be weird.

He came to the office and he brought us some merch, some Captain Beer merch. That bit.

The guy rocks. Speaking of TJ, how awesome is it getting to host a daily show, which I love, by the way, mostly sports. You have a cast of Yeah, both. I love TJ. I love Ebo. I love Connor. You got everybody. Cody. Cody, it's going to be a great time hosting that show.

Yeah, it's fun hosting, especially when you guys are hosting it with me. That's when I enjoy it the most is when I look across the desk and I see a face I respect one of you two.

Like one of us.

I should thank you, though, because you doing mostly sports with... What's his name? Brandon.

Brandon Walker. Brandon. There's no D.

You doing Mostly Sports with Brandon Walker has definitely cleared my schedule a little bit with his anxiety phone calls. I'm assuming they're going to you because I know they're not fixed. I assume they're just going to you.

He helps my anxiety because I have a ton of anxiety as well. But then I see Brandon and I'm like, Do I look like that?

It forces you into a leadership role with it. Yeah, exactly. You have to calm him down. Somebody has to- It forces you into perspective about yourself.

Yeah, it really does. But no, We love the show. It's been great. We love that you guys help out with the show when asked. When called upon. Yeah, when called upon. It's been a fun show.

Now, is it going to be a disappointment for you if you don't get ranked as the number one college basketball personality?

No, because I don't know. I don't know what's funny, or is it if I do or if...

The funniest outcome would be if you were ranked number two or three, and then Brennan Walker got you a giant banner to hang up that said number 3. College basketball personality.

That's probably true.

Are you guys still in the honeymoon? Have you had the time, because this happens in every show that's ever been created on the internet, where, I don't know, a year in, everyone's like, This show sucks now.

We're not there yet, but I feel it. Brandon pointed out that we have a Reddit now.

Oh, that's the first time. Then it's over.

Brandon made the mistake where he's like, We apparently have a Reddit and everybody's super nice. I was like, Oh, yeah, for now. That's the problem.

Some light advice, take it or leave it. Just don't read the rest.

Yeah, never go on it, and then you don't have to worry about it.

We do have this problem, and I don't know if you guys can relate. Connor, who's a side character, but we let him talk every so often. He's a big Philly guy, and his opinions about Philly sports just fucking stink. So we get a lot of shit where it's like, Shut this Philly asshole up, please. I don't want to hear from this Philly piece of shit. I don't know why I'm asking. It's just something that we're trying to deal with.

I don't know if I can help you out with that one.

We don't have that problem. We're trying to deal with that because we enjoy it, but also the fans just hate his fucking guts, and that's a little weird.

Well, he's not Italian, though, so you're good. I think Max's personality is more Italian than Philly sometimes.

It's a lethal combination.

Where he'll start a sentence and finish it with his hands. We weren't like, Dude, I don't know sign language.

We weren't talking about me. No, we're talking about Connor. We're talking about Kelly Griffin. Well, you just said my name.

Well, no, because I was saying as long as Connor's not Italian or becomes Italian, you should be okay. What is he?

Irish? German-irish? You're fine.

He's Irish, right?

Yeah. Connor's an Irish name.

Connor Griffin. He has great takes.

I assume I'm sorry.

Probably, I have red head.

People get pissed off when you have that one guy that his name starts with E and he always talks about J-M-U. That's a bad person to have on a podcast.

All right, national title. We're going to have you back on, obviously, for the brackets when they are announced. But give it to us. Maybe give us a final four.

Okay, final four. It's impossible to do without a bracket. Yeah, it's also impossible because I did have this realization the other day that I don't think I could think of four teams that I trust to win four NBA tournament games in a row right now, which is a problem because four teams will. By definition, four teams- I trust Yukon. Yukon and Purdue feel obvious. I mean, that's why I'm going to just... Okay. All right. I have to think this through. Because everybody wants you to pick a wild card, but the reason they are a wild card is because they've sucked this year. Why would I pick them? I think Purdue is going to make the final four. I said that at the start of the year, I think Purdue is going to get their redemption in the sense that they're going to make the final four and not win a national championship. I do feel like Houston's defense is... The jump up to the Big 12 is going to help immensely, and I have to trust Houston. I don't think Yukon is going to do it. I think Yukon is good. I think Yukon is very, very good.

I just think back-to-back championships is hard. Back-to-back final fours is very hard. Yeah, like Yukon. Even Vilanova did. Vilanova was the year in between the national title. Vilanova had an awesome team, and they got tripped up. You get-Who beat them? I can't remember. Who cares? I can't Second round.

You didn't even get out of the second round. You were the one seed?

I'll take a second round exit sandwich.

But who did beat them? Who did beat them?

Who cares?

I'm just asking. I'm nervous. It seems like you know the answer. No, I It's like you know the answer. Jake, do you know the answer?

Yeah, it was the Wisconsin Badge.Oh.

Fuck.it was Wisconsin. That's weird. That's the one since Bad Mad.

It's crazy.

But yeah, I think Yukon is in a position right now where the foreseeable future, they will be national contenders, but I'm going to pick them to get tripped up in the sweet 16 this year. I got Peru. I'll take Houston. Give me Arizona because I like that. That's a sexy idea of Arizona being in Phoenix in the final four last year, the Pac-12. Then I got to ride with Tennessee, who I said, Big Cat, when you came on my show.

Yeah, they were one of my picks.

We talked about national title picks. Yeah, we threw out Michigan State and Tennessee.

Yeah, so you picked three number ones and a number two. Yeah.

Yeah, exactly. Let me pull a bracket matrix. What do you want me to pick? What's low enough?

I was going to pick Indiana State, but right now in Linardy's bracket matrix.

I can't quit Kentucky. Kentucky is probably going to be like a six seed. They're five seed, maybe.

I'll go with- Who else?

I'm going to go with- I did pick- Nebraska. I'll pick Ole Miss.

Okay, nice.

Vermont. Yep. Give me Nevada. And South Florida. Actually, South Florida is- Yeah, they are. South Florida is- They're very fun. South Florida is a fun team.

They won a big-time trap spot last week.

Dude, Look it. I'll pick Butler in the final four then. Love it. Take out...

I can't wait to Butler.

Take out Houston and put in Butler.

Give me your NIT final four.

Buckeyes. Buckeyes are back. We're in Purdue, so we're back in the NIT picture. Buckeyes, J-M-U.

There we go. Buckeyes, J-M-U. I would love that. Beautiful. Would we have to go? Yeah, we should. That was a women's... Was that a women's round of 16 game last year? Because I think me and you bet on that, right?

You know what? Now that I think about it, that was my Yeah, we did. I think I owe you something. It was a mustache bet. Yeah.

There were so many bets going on.

It was such a whirlwind. Because that was my welcome to Barstool moment in terms of the gambling was we bet on The Ohio State, JMU women. Ohio State won by 23 or something, and PFT was cackling in my face like, Ha ha, you lose. Got you. I was like, What is going on?

Got you. Loser. Yeah, I don't like looking at Bracketology right now because I just pulled it up in Wisconsin, playing Indiana State in the first round, and that's a loss.

Jake, I have a question for you with Bracketology. How do you feel about Joe Linardi becoming the lightning rod for... Anytime a coach has a problem with how Where he's at in the Bracketing, they go after Linardi. He gets so much shit, and I don't necessarily think Linardi is the best Bracketologist, but I just find it fascinating that Joe Linardi has created this industry where he's just like, Here's what I think the selection committee is going to do. And then every time around this year, a team that's on the bubble, their coach will do a press conference. We're like, Oh, one more thing before I go, Fuck you, Joe Linardy. Joe Linaardi is like, What did I do?

Well, Mark, as someone who tried going down the path of being a Bracketologist for one season, I can tell you that role is absolute hell. There is no way to make anyone happy. I left Wisconsin out of my preseason bracket two years ago. And they got a three seat. And the cat did not shut up about it.

Well, you shouldn't have done that. Because you just copied whatever they said. I wanted a true, real Bracketologist. They were projected not to do well that year. Projected? Who projects? It's an impossible job. It is impossible. There is no way to make anybody happy. It is impossible. I I agree with that. But then the funny part about it is it's actually super easy because when you're forecasting the field in the instate tournament, you're basically you're looking at a pool of eight teams, and you're picking five of those eight to make the tournament.

That's really all it comes down to. Correct. And somehow... I don't know.

But just the idea that Linardy is the only one that...

Would you take that as a point of pride, though, Jake? You're the guy that everybody wants to attack, or are you like, This is fucking insane.

Why is everybody coming to my dad? I think the fact that ESPN has the rights to 85% of college basketball games, he's the easiest target.

Well, he was the first. It is true.

He did his first. He did his first. He did his first.

A field of study. The fact that he putology at the end of it makes it seem like much more of a science. It was a class. It was a part-time class you could take with him.

I don't know if it still exists.

It's not really His opinions, though. That's what I find hilarious about it. It's like Joe Linardi, in his mind, he's like, This is science, dude. I'm not-Yeah. He's just doing what they think they will do. You don't see people coming for Jerry Palm. It's all Linardi. It's always Linardi.

Every time he's on TV, he's just the biggest Teddy Bear-looking dude.

The idea that these coaches are behind closed doors is like, Fuck, we got to fucking kill this guy. It's just one guy that's locked in his basement. The bunker.

Also, Jerry Pom, you can't go at him because his hair, what are you going to say?

Yeah, that's true. You just look at him and you're like, Your hair, dude. He just put a speed bump in front of all haters. We're going to make fun of that.

Look at his hair. That's it. You're out of the Bracketology game forever? I did it for one season, and it was a huge mistake. I've been I'm trying to find a field for Blake to get into because Leroy's thing was breaking news, and he was really good at it. Blake might become a Bracketologist.

Should we have him do a whole bracket?

You should become a FBI Bracketologist. He could be a Bracketologist.

Maybe he could also be like an NFL news aggregator, like a Dove Kleinman.

Yeah, football. Yeah, but maybe Bracketology, Blakeetology. That works. But yeah, it can't be the NCAA or the NIT. It should be the CBI or whatever. I don't even that exists anymore. That would rock. It was a CBI. Or it would be even better if he was like, Bracketologist for the Maui tournament. Yeah. We already know who's going to play next year. Just make the bracket.

We'll just do Champ Week where it's predetermined.

Oh, yeah. There you go. Conference Championship Week. Bracketology. I like that a lot. You talk about Tennessee. I want to circle back to them real quick because there are two teams I bet on preseason.

One is Houston, the other is Tennessee. And I feel like I'm getting big tea poisoning in my ears all the time. But they're a very fun team to watch. I actually think they would have been good last year if Ziegler didn't wear it towards ACL. Yeah, he didn't play in the tournament. Yeah, last year felt like, I don't know. I just like the guy because he's like 5'8, but he's fun to watch. Dalton Connect might be the most electric scorer in college basketball. He is, yeah. He's so fun. The problem with guys like him is when he's not on and it's not all there, he'll drive you insane because he does get a little... He spaces out when he's playing. He doesn't play defense, and he doesn't really... Sometimes offensively, he doesn't understand what the rest of the team is doing. But when he's rolling, he's the most electric scorer in college basketball, absolutely. Which is the reason I've talked myself into Tennessee all season.

Even as they lose, I trust that...

Because the Rick Barnes in March thing is very real, but it's also...

He He made the sweet 16 last year. He's made a final four before in his life.

I don't fully understand what... Dan, you'll say you'll be like, Rick Barnes in March. I'm like, yes, exactly. What does that mean again? What does They're just going to look.

You just visualize it.

He's not going to win a national championship?

No, you just close your eyes and you're like, Oh, yeah, there he goes.

Down the tunnel, sweet 16, lost. I can't visualize him for a week leading up to the final four, doing all the press conferences, talking about getting his team ready for a final four.

I just don't see Rick Barnes in that role.

But he's done it. He's very good. He's done it. He's made a final four. Yeah, but he's very good. But it's Rick Barnes in March. Yeah. But I think this team is different than the Tennessee teams in the past because of Dalton Connect. And Zekai Ziegler is a great offensive player, too, and he's gotten a lot better throughout his career. They have a good offensive. They have offensive weapons in a way they haven't since basically Basically, Grant Williams and Admiral Scofield, which is a team that, Ha-Ha, Rick Barnes in March. But if you remember that tournament, 2019, Virginia fucked that all up for Purdue and Tennessee because all three of those teams in that bracket were good enough to make a final four. All those games were close. Purdue-tennessey game was awesome. One team had to win. Whoever was going to lose that game was going to get point and laughed at and be like, You always fucked this up in March. And then the next round, the exact same thing happened with Purdue and Virginia, where Purdue had Virginia beat.

Virginia wins on a... They won.

They won on the last second shot. And that's how Purdue loses. And now all of a sudden, it's like, Purdue can't get it done in March. I don't know. This shit drives me crazy. It makes no fucking sense, but then it does make sense. Yeah.

Gonzaga is never going to make it for me.

But what I was saying, the point was this team, offensively, I trust more than any team since It's the 2019 Tennessee team.

And yes, that team lost in the sweet 16. But if you go back and see how they lost in the sweet 16. Rick Barnes. See how you did that?

Rick Barnes looked at his calendar.

Oh, shit. Oh, shit. Rock is ready to do that. All right. Well, Titus. Rick Barnes Rick Barnes, Rick Barnes, Rick Barnes, Rick Barnes, March. Who do we trust that's going to win a national championship this year?

Dan Hurley because I saw it last year.

Yeah, that's it. That's literally it.

These other guys haven't proven they can win. Bill Self. Are we going to trust Houston? Like, Houston's made one. Kelvin's made one final four as a Mickey Mouse run to the final four. No, it's Bill Self. Tommy Lloyd chokes in March. Yeah. Matt Painter chokes. It's Bill Self and Danny Hurley. Rick Barnes chokes. That's it. And if J. Wright wants to come back, I'll trust him, too. That's it. J. Wright is another perfect example.

Like, he thought Villanova was the-That's right. Oh, J. Wright. They can't win the big one.

It's like, All right. Then he just rouse off some national titles. All right, Titus, thank you so much.

Everyone can tune in Mostly Sports Every Day and the Mark Titus show where he talks in-depth college basketball. We'll have you back on for the Brackets. This is the best time of year. I'm excited, guys. Thanks for having me. Look forward to get the bracket in my hand. Yeah. Tell Brenda we said hi.

All right. Mark Titus is brought to you by our great friends over at Morgan & Morgan.

Today's Firefest segment is sponsored by Morgan & Morgan. We had dinner with Dan Morgan the other night. Great dude. Talked him for a long time. Explained to us some of the inner workings behind Morgan & Morgan. He gaslit BFT in thinking he could pass the bar. Oh, yeah, he did. We were talking about Hank being able to dunk, and he said that I could pass the bar way easier than Hank could be able to dunk a basket. Bax. I'm going to sue you, Hank, for defamation, for saying that I can't pass the bar when I do pass the bar, thanks to our good friends at Morgan & Morgan. Morgan & Morgan is America's largest injury law firm. If you're ever injured, you can check out Morgan & Morgan. They have over 100 offices nationwide. They have more than a thousand lawyers with over $20 billion recovered for over 500,000 clients. Morgan & Morgan has a proven track record of fighting to get you full and fair compensation. If you're ever injured, you can check out Morgan & Morgan. Their fee is free unless they win. For more information, go to forthepeople. Com/pmt or dial poundlaw529 from your cell phone.

Check them out, Morgan & Morgan. If you're ever injured, check Morgan & Morgan out. They will fight for you.

They will get you every penny that you're entitled to. That's F-O-R-the-people. Com/pmt or poundlaw, pound529 from your cell. This is a paid advertisement. Just sitting next to Dan Morgan, having him explain some of the cases they were working on, it made me think to myself, If I'm ever injured, I know exactly who I'm calling, and that's Morgan & Morgan. All right, let's wrap up. Hank, Firefest of the Week.

Go ahead.

I may have-Oh, no, it's been two days.

It's been two days.

All right, I lost my-No, go ahead. Say the first one. It's not a firefest because it's been two days.

You can't have it be a firefest two days.

You have nine months. Is it nine months? You have 10 months. Basically, nine. No, I mean, I've got a lot of people reach I've actually got a lot of positive reinforcements, which I appreciate. I had a lot of good advice. What? Have a different mommy and dad? No, I got to... That's the thing.

I'm athletic. I just haven't been athletic. My baseline is so I've chosen not to do athletic things for the last couple of years, give or take 10, but it exists inside me.

I like the belief in yourself, but also you don't have that belief in yourself because you're thinking about not doing it.

He's already practicing his It's a point shot.

No, I'm not. I'm going hard to dunk. When are you going to transition to threes? Summer? It's exactly the plan. It's going to interfere with your golfing, which is a real problem. I don't think so because I think it's good. I need What I've learned, which was surprising, was that obviously you have to train legs, obviously. You also have to train your hips and your shoulders, which I'm always on the search for boulders for shoulders.

You got to train your shoulders heavy so that you have good...

That's a big part of dunking. I've learned a lot about dunking in the past couple of days. What would you say the percentage of positive feedback to negative feedback has been?

That I've read?

I've read 100% negative. Well, I only read the one. I just block out the negative ones. So you're in the The one that I've noticed? Overwhelming. You're in the information gathering portion of this journey.

Knees over legs. Knees over shents.

Knees over feet.

There's an Instagram account. Oh, yeah. I'm following him. I downloaded a program There's a lot, obviously, a lot of... This is probably a common thing. These are all things that you've done on your phone. Is it information gather. No, I got a laptop.

I have a whole workout program.Oh, you found it?I.

Have it started.

Yeah, I found my laptop. I'm excited. I'm excited for the challenge.

I think it's going to help everything.

I'm going to be athletic.

I'm going to be a better golfer, healthier.

What point do you think you're going to get injured? We'll see about that. Okay.

Because it wouldn't be the worst if you had a Tom Seguro. Once I get injured, then it's all... Break your legs, ACL, arm.

Just make sure it's on camera. I also was thinking I should get something if I do both. What?

What if I jump- Now you think you can do both.

And hit 23s? Well, then you got to put something else up.

You I'm already over leveraged. Do you want to double down?

No. $20,000?

No, because the bet is if I couldn't do either. So obviously- All right, if you do both, then Be careful. I was going to say, if you do both, we'll both get cats.

And if you can't, you have to get a cat.

No. Okay. How about if you do both, you get to go on a month-long golf vacation?

No, no, no, no, no, Wait, but if you can't do it, then you have to pay us 10% of your salary for the next five years, every paycheck.

You know what? I'll double the price. I'll give you 20 grand. If you can't do both, then you have to get the soul patch. It doesn't matter.

Soul patch. Yeah, it's not going to happen.

It's not going to happen. Soul patch.

Hank, you have an extra day to prepare. Soul patch. Good point, Jay. It's true. It's been zoned. Soul patch. All right, we're good. Oh, that's weird. By the way, tune in on Monday.

We have Derek White and Payton Pritchard here, and Hank makes a crazy Soul patch. Absolutely not.

Sound like you did. No. In my cart- You're not going to get either of these. Good. Keep it coming. Okay. You're not going to get either of these.

I just have to basically change my entire lifestyle way of thinking and every- Yeah, you have to become a new person.

Yeah, you're not going to get either of these.

But once I do that, then it's to happen.

New DNA.

No, my DNA is there. It's just been bogged down by all the trash I consume.

It is going to be tough to learn how to dunk when you're golfing all summer.

No, I don't think so. Oh, okay. We have a basketball court in our... I will walk in the course. Pft, we brought up the rollerblading thing, and I was like, Absolutely not. Then I was like, You know what? My legs. As a person who's training his legs, I am so down to do rollerblading from LA to San Diego.

Getting a country club membership that you're going to want to use that quite a bit this summer, am I right?

We work in a gym. I just have to come to work, which I guess I will do now.

Oh, interesting.

You have to change everything about yourself. Yeah. Then you'll be able to dunk.

Okay.

Then both of my car key batteries are dead.

Dude, give me your car keys.

Do you have a thing?

You can change it.

Do you have the battery?

I mean, it's probably one that you can buy easily, or they probably have it in the control room.

That'd be clutch. I also don't know how to open the thing.

How have you been getting into your car?

Key?

The key, but it's a process. Yeah, it's annoying.

You can hook it up to a potato, too, I think.

Oh, damn. You drive a Rolls-Royce? That's crazy. Let's see.

I like the pussy wagon keychain you got on there.

It's this thing, Hank. You just got to get this open. Do you know that it's sitting right here? You get that open, then you can... What if I hit the panic button? If you get that open, it's like a watch battery. Easy.

All right, firefest solved.Yeah, just cool.No firefest for me this week.

Oh, wow. Okay. Nice. I didn't know you were doing a Rolls-Royce. Fucking stunting on us. She Fantastic.PFT.I.

Got a couple of Firefests. The first one is the Rick Pitino stalker's back.

Oh, yeah.

We talked about Coach, and apparently, he lit a fire under his player's ass. Rick Pitino, I think he's a great coach, and I think he didn't say anything wrong. We should all chill out.

Yeah, he texted me twice, and he also gave me a date.

We need to respect Rick Pitino, as we always do. I like Rick Patino.

I want him on the podcast. St. John's, if you're listening, please have Rick Patino come on the podcast. We'd love to have him come on the podcast.

Yeah, come on.

Okay. See, you're doing it again. Come write another text. I'm going to get another text.

Come write on this podcast.

This guy has been texting me for 10 years.

I hope he does.

Well, yeah, he's texting me, not you.

We might get killed.

I should just give him your number.

Yeah. No, don't do that.

I tracked him down in final four.

Yeah, that's right. Tell that story. Yeah. He no-showed.

Yeah, he no-showed.

But then he was like, You sent your goons. I don't know. So maybe he did show.

Max does give goon vibes. He is our goon. We're in a tracksuit.

I like Rick Pitino. Listen, we make jokes about everyone on this podcast, including ourselves. Rick Pitino, please come on the pod.

It's actually my lifelong dream to last 13 seconds.

That's stolen valor of a Firefest because he's texting me.

Well, he was texting you about something that I said on the pod.

Yeah, but he then followed up and texted me more pointedly.

Then my other Firefest is we've got March Madness coming Final Four, which also means it's time for- By the way, the soccer, let's just...

Great AWL. It's every show. I just want to at least give him some credit for that. Yeah, he loves the program.

Thank you.

He loves the program. Yes. Thank you. Because it's almost instant when we say something. I want to say, I know you want us dead, I think. But do appreciate you subscribing and listening to every episode. Yes.

My other Firefest is March Madness coming up, Final Four is coming up, which also means the Hong Kong 7 tournament's coming up, the rugby tournament in Hong Kong that I went to a few years ago. Donny has been texting me pretty constantly being like, Hey, are you going to come? And then now recently pivoted to, Well, who from Barstool should come with me if I'm going to go over there? It's the last year that they're going to have the South stand set up. The last year where it's going to be... It's probably going to continue to be a Zoom. What day is it? It's the exact weekend of the final four.

We'll do one Zoom on Sunday.

Listen, it was a lot of fun last time. The first thing I said when I came back is it was so much fun. In fact, it was so much fun that I'm never going to do it again in my life. I've been starting to think about doing it.

Why don't you just go? Because last time you went, when did you leave?

I left, I think it was early on the Thursday before the final four. Because when you fly there, it takes 18 hours. Then when you're there, it's an exact 12-hour time difference. When you guys are taping the show at night, it'll probably be 11:00, midnight. Yeah, that's tough. Then that would be 11:00 in the morning.

We might get... Also, now that I'm putting these two stories together, that'd be interesting that you somehow are out of the country when we're in a very public spot at the final four where Rick Pitino's stalker come get us.

It It could be interesting. Howard. These are unrelated instances. Howard. But also, you could do in the segment with an athlete who tries to take my job in case I die on the trip. George Kittle did that last time.

Yeah, we did. We could.

I'll just say, George, you're a great guy. Stick to football. I don't think you can fill these shoes, but I'm thinking about it. I will make a decision by the end of the week whether or not I'm going to go. Max is shaking his head being like, Don't go. You have no idea how fun it was, Max.

Yeah, we just got I got obloes. We got obloes.

What obloes?

We just got obloes.

It sounds like you're a hater. No. It sounds like you don't want to see me live my best life.

No. We got obloes.

I'll make my final decision by tomorrow, whether or not I'm going. If I don't go, I feel like Mincey would be a great person to go over there with Donny.

Oh, man. I don't know. He might be like Elvis. He might not be able to go out of the country.

It's true. Mincey in Hong Kong would be special, though. Yeah, it would.

That is a good replacement. Very good replacement.

Maybe I'll have him wear a wig and sunglasses. I mean, he does Pat Mahomes. Maybe he can be PFT. You could easily do it. But I do want to go. I've been feeling the itch recently, and it's like that's such a fun weekend. A lot of rugby. It's just a blast. Molly itch? No. If I go, I'm not going to take MDMA again. I said that's the first and only time I do that.

That's a lot. That's like saying Hank's going to dunk.

I'm not a drug guy. Even though when I did go to Qatar with Donny, I ended up doing Acid. But I don't want to do drugs. The reason that I want to go over there has nothing to do with drugs. It's just such a fun time.

Okay, my Firefest is the Rick Pitino stalker's back texting me. Also, I've actually started a real diet. Chef Donny's cooking for me. I'm a little grumpy, but I'll be okay. Yeah, you are. No, I'm not. I was a test. You're the grumpy one because you're sick. You've been sick all week. Right in our face, you got the Scottsdale flu. No, my real firefest is... No, actually, I'm not going to say it because then Hank will use it against me.

See what you've done in this podcast, Hank? Yeah.

I enjoyed vacation. Okay.

This always happens.

I did get a little... I got the itch, though, at the end. Also, I'm a big believer. I remember even when I was a kid and I would go on vacation and I would be like, Now I can watch all the MTV I want. My mom would be like, It's vacation. Go outside. It's like, It's my vacation. I should get to do what I want. When people are like, Stop tweeting about Mincey doing the... What was he on? He was on the- Crowdsurfing. Crowdsurfing or Sydney Sweeney's Boobs. It's my vacation. I can tweet about whatever I want. If it's Sydney Sweeney's Boobs, that's okay.

You should tweet more about the Mountain West on vacation if you really cared about it.

Yeah, that's true. But I'm a big believer in if your vacation, if I could do my real vacation, it would just be sitting in a room with a bunch of TVs and gambling on every game. That's my real vacation.

That's your job, though.

But it would be nice if I could do it just unfettered.

Yeah, vacation is really nice. It's really nice.

I'm not addicted, though, so don't get some thoughts, Hank. I ain't addicted. It was fine. Jake.

Remember when I interviewed with you guys, I sent you my website?

Yeah.

I haven't touched it in years, and I just got a $325 bill for an auto renewal.

Oh. So then renew it.

What is it? It was the auto renewal. It was an auto renewal, but I haven't used it.

Is it jakemarsch. Com?

Jake W. Marsh. I made it when I was graduating College just as a real/resume one-stop shop. Oh, my God. But I haven't I haven't touched it in a long time, and I just spent another $325 unknowingly.

Yeah, you got to update this website. I know.

It's so old.

You got to make it flash. We're on it.

Yeah, you added this part.

Yeah, but I haven't touched it since COVID. I think the last time I had it was maybe 2020, 2021.

I know that we do some advertising with some of these companies, but we You should just be like, Hey, do you want to last longer in bed? Just go read Jake Marsh's website. You'll have no problem. You'll be a stallion.

90% of the work on there is my college work. I'm either going to deactivate it.

You want to fuck like a porn star, go to jakewmars. Com.

Jake is a diehard New York Yankees fan and loves rooting for his hometown teams in Miami as well. Some of Jake's hobbies include playing golf, tennis, and relaxing with his family. You like chilling with a fam? Yeah.

Prior to that, Jake spent two seasons as a play-by-play broadcaster for the University of Vermont Men's Basketball Team. His other interests are petting dogs and eating pussy.

Yeah, word for word.

But yeah, we'll say a follow.

You should have a positions tab on here. Yeah. Resume. Yeah, just have one tab on the website be the Kama sutra.

Yeah, no, it should be an auto generator where you can hit for a new position. It just pops up a new position. I forgot one Firefest. I have one other Firefest. My last Firefest is I have a really good friend, and he's a crazy, crazy sports fan. He's in for just an absolute ass kicking on Saturday, and I'm worried about him.

Who's his team playing?

I think they're playing-Is it-Ukarn?

Is it going to be nationally televised? Yeah, I think they're playing Ucar.

This is a no lose situation.

What do you mean? It sounds like you guys could lose by a lot.

Yes. If you lose by a lot, then you lose by a lot.

It's a no win situation. No, there's a win.

There's a situation.

How is it a no lose?

Because exactly what you're saying, everyone's expecting Villanova to lose by 30. If they lose by 30, it's just whatever.

Oh, no, that would be funny.

No, if you get your ass kicked and it's such a prominent game.

But that's what everyone's expecting.

You understand that this is the weekend where the nation turns its eyes to college basketball. They're going to be 15-point favorites.

They're not going to be 15-point favorites.

It'll be 13.

Let's take a look real quick. Let's take a look real quick. Kampala 10. 10.

I think 8, 272.

Yeah, it's going to be a bad... I actually want to see him.

Max, is this a dream?

You want to livestream it?

72, 60.

What time is it at?

7 o'clock, Saturday night.

Oh, perfect livestream hours. I'll come in and livestream with you.

It's going to be an absolute blowout.

Is it going to be a must win for you? What? Must win?

No. This does absolutely nothing to the committee. It's only positive for the committee.

All right, I'm going to just... You're going to go out Saturday and watch it somewhere?

Yes.

Okay, perfect. Okay.

This is like the Philly's all over again.

What? I'm just going to pay everyone that you are friends with to make sure they send me all the clips.

I actually might try to track Max down. Yeah. Just stay across the bar incognito.

But I'm going in expecting them to lose by a lot. But in the off-chain set... How much of the public money you think is going to be on Yukon on Saturday?

A lot. You're You're right. But there is a lose. And also- If you lose.

Yes, correct. But imagine if Hurley loses after posting that meme.

Oh, you give him the business.

I mean, that would be an all-time bad tweet.

I'm also excited for the College Game Day signs that you guys told.

Yeah, Max, two sodas. We need a lot of Max, two sodas.

None of them. Max had two sodas. Nobody bring that to the College Game Day. Max, I got your back. If anybody brings a Max had two sodas sign to College Game Day, I'm going to have to retweet it so that nobody else does it and be like, This person is the only one that can do it. Anyone else that does it is not creative.

I'll go one up, BFT, because I don't want these Max has two sodas signs anywhere. If anyone does a, Max has two sodas sign, at least be a man about it and put your Venmo on it so that I could send you some money. Yeah.

I want some accountability. I want to Everyone's going to do it. You know what? Heaven forbid, somebody dresses up like Max and then shows up. It's also bullshit because gay days, the Nova Yukon. And then shows up with a foam dome with two sodas on either side of it.

Here's what I'm going to do. I don't want to see any of these, Max has two soda signs, but I will pick, obviously, because it's the two sodas, I'll pick two of my favorite, Max has two soda signs, and those people will win a prize on Venmo. I can't wait for that. I can't wait for that. Max has two sodas. Maybe pictures of a sad Max included in it. So it's best sign wins. Max has two sodas. Okay, Numbers.

8, 20, 3, 18.

What am I going to pick?

You said 40, Hank.

I said 40.

Diverte.

77. 77. Pug. 99 Pug, 99 Bug. What was Pug Talk the other day? That ruled. People just talking about pugs? It's a Pugs' new podcast. Pug, what was Pug Talk? Did you get in on it? They're asking about Pug Talk. Shane, what do you got?

It was trending on Twitter, so I had to get in on it.

Pug, who said that?

Who said that? Who said it?

You didn't sign off.

Say Pug. Pug. I really need headphones. Pug, you're our new big dom. Tell them that.

Yeah, I said that. You're our new big dom. We were looking for a big dom on the show, and we were trying to figure it out, and I said, It's got to be you. You're our big dom.

That's fine with me, Pug.

Perfect. You don't think my only issue with Pug is, if you look at pugs in the wild that live in a family, no house that has one Pug only has one Pug. Right.

They always have They're like cats. They're the cats of dogs.

You have to have multiple pugs.

Yeah. Shane, what's your number? 21. All right, everyone, say their numbers again real quick. 20. 40. 18. 77. 99 Pug. 3. I just want to see here it again. Eighty. Eighty. All right, see everyone on Monday. Love you guys.

I'm talking away.

I don't know what I'm to say I've said anyway.

Today's a night, a day to find you, shying away.

I'll be coming for your love, okay? ), take on me. Take me on. (i'll be gone. (in the day I'll change. (me, as to say, (I'm all ♪ But I'll be gone after I've done. Means to say I'm all to sleep, but I feel so little way ♪ Telling them why it's okay ♪ Say up to me ♪ It's no better to be safe and silent ♪ Take on me ♪ Take me on ♪ I'll be gone ♪.