It's time for coffee and company.
Fueled by Thornton's on Sports Talk seven ninety Holy crap, I don't know who.
The hell we think when we are get off our show, idiot.
The kids are playing or tail off.
The countries are screwing it up.
Gold play Inner Murals, Brother, Goldplay Inner Murals.
They're supposed to be mature adults, but they're really not. Who's the kid here?
Who's the kid here?
Are you kidding me? Now? Here's Nick coffee?
So I try each and every day to get something up on Twitter X. By the way, I am now noticing that when I think of said platform that used to be called Twitter now called X. I once claimed that I would never ever call it X and it would always be Twitter to me, and that's been the case for the most part. But I have noticed recently that I am I slip up and almost say X, which I guess maybe I should just cave and accept
that it is in fact called something different now. But each day I try to put something out right when we start the show or right before the show, just to let people know, Hey, we're here, don't forget about us. The show is about to start. At showtime, join in. You're missing out if you're not with us. And what should I say today? I was gonna say, let's ride, it's time, let's go, Like, but those are you know, that's not those are getting a little stale?
You got anything for me that I could throw out there to like say, hey.
I've always been a writer, so like I feel like I would just wear that out as much as I could. But I mean, what other what do you call me? What other words?
How about let's get it on, Let's get it on?
Can we do that?
Yeah, let's vibe.
Let's vibe is good, Let's get it on. I like it either way that that goes.
This one, I feel like it was. This one is let's roll, man, let's rock and roll. Rock and Roll's fine.
That seems a.
Little bit older though.
Yeah.
At one point I was saying at one point, I was saying, allow me to enter your ears?
Is that okay?
Yeah?
No, I mean that sounds almost like I'm invading there. The only part to enter personal space. I mean, all I can do is invade the ears. That's what this is radio. I mean, you know, I'm when it comes to this, that's all we have.
I mean a drink first.
Yeah, I mean it's usually how it works. But again it's just radio. So uh, I'm just gonna roll. I'm gonna roll with uh. Let's get it on and then we'll we'll mix it up tomorrow and maybe in fact that that's what I'm doing.
I'm giving you some homework.
We got two words for you. Let's roll.
I got some homework for you tomorrow when we start the show. You you will you know, it's not like you gotta you know, it's no there's no pass or fail. It's just you think of something that we didn't throw out there today. That will be the tweet tomorrow to let everybody on the the world Wide Web know that we're here and it's time for coffee and company.
You think you can do that, Yeah, I can do that, all right?
The tweets. Let's go at the card connection. And then the reason I hate calling it X is because are you calling it X posts now?
Because I think Twitter is actually a really stupid name.
But it but it's been Twitter forever, or at least it was until Elon Musk bought it. And what made it unique is that your content that you post, it's a tweet you can have a tweet with no video and just text or a picture, so that that was different like Facebook posts, Instagram posts.
Like Twitter had tweets, you know what I mean.
So like I just thought that made it kind of unique and cool and I don't know what so I still say, hey, did you see my tweet?
Sure?
Like you just you got to have a uniform brand here, and X clearly is is everywhere now.
I guess they are rolling with posts because when you if I remember right when it was Twitter press, when you used to press a.
Button, did it say tweet?
It said tweets?
Okay, Now, now even when you Google, if you were to go to Google right now the top of your U r L screen and just type in Twitter, it automatically just leads you to X.
Anyways.
It doesn't go like this page is broken or this link is so like I'm in the same boat as you. For the longest time, I have failed, and I've refused to call it X.
I've slipped up every now and then and called it that, but I still call it Twitter.
It's probably it's probably gonna always be a little bit of both, because I think even the people who have gone with X and now reference it as that. When they talk about posting something they call it a tweet. Still, sure, and I don't know if you ever, I don't know if you're ever gonna get away with that, but.
People are always going to say, hey, did you see that tweeked? Did you see what blank tweeted?
Not what?
And I've always even on my radio show when I try to tell people my other radio show WAMZ, when I tell people to try to engage with us, it's still kind of you know, because we do have all social media accounts, but like, what do you even say, like find us on X or like x us.
Yeah, or like X is just weird? I mean again, I remember whenever it's kind of naughty. I remember when when it changed. I remember thinking to myself, like, this is really stupid just to call it X. But then again, I've always felt like Twitter is a lame name for a for a social media platform, but that's what it had always been up up until that time. So when it comes to you know, the I mean I'm trying to and sorry, I'm flustered here because I'm trying to refresh something because there were.
Won't yeah here here's what it was.
Sorry, At one point, Facebook went through something that I was wrong about. I remember seeing that that Facebook was going to be meta or meta Do you remember that, Yes, that we're.
Going to completely switch it into matter.
So apparently meta is part of Facebook. But like they didn't change the name of like the brand. Like some some things in brands are so big that that even if like if you were somebody that was going to buy Facebook from Zuck That's who owns it, right.
Zuck, you you would You'd be a fool to you.
It would lose a ton of value if you rebranded it and called it something different and like change the logo. So to be fair with Elon Musk when when he bought Twitter, it wasn't exactly in I mean, Twitter is not Facebook by any means. Twitter is Twitter slash x A is one of the popular social media platforms out there, but it's not anywhere close to Facebook. It's not anywhere close to Instagram, certainly not anywhere close to TikTok, at least for now. So a rebrand, I guess made a
little more sense. But I would have gone with something different than than x.
But here we are. How long has he owned it now? It's been at least a couple of years, hadn't.
I think only a here? Right? Is it like it's been longer X?
I don't know. Let me look it up now Twitter becomes X. This this happened in.
July of twenty twenty three, so about a year and a half. Okay, roughly so still fairly recent.
That's right, Let's dive in. Let's get this show started.
It is showtime, Ladies and Gentlemen, Coffee and company, fueled by Thornton's here on Sports Talk seven ninety taking you up until six o'clock, and there's a lot to get into. I know, the vibes around here for Louisville basketball still at a really high level. We talked a lot about yesterday and really just how this team's on a roll, kind of recapping that big win on the road at Syracuse. And I'm starting to feel something that I haven't felt in a long time, and that is anger for teams
that you need to like not suck. And Louisville can't control it now, right, But like the team, there's certain teams that are on Louisville's schedule, and in fact, everybody on your schedule in the Grand Scheme of things. You want to be good because if you beat them, then men, there's a lot of value if it's a good team, and if you lose to them, it's not as big of a deal if because they're a good teams. So really you want everybody on your schedule to be good.
But right now, I mean, you've got Pittsburgh, who I feel like Pittsburgh is a really good team still. I mean, I felt like, even though you know, you know, Louisville beat them, and clearly Louisll's playing pretty good basketball right now, But like I believe, Pittsburgh wasn't just good because the AC. I feel like Pittsburgh wasn't just good for the for the weak ACC. This year, I felt like they were actually pretty good team and I still kind of believe that.
But for them to now have lost three in a row. They didn't bounce back after the Louisville win. They went on the road and lost to Florida State, who is you know, right now sixty one in the kin Palm.
So I guess that makes so what this does?
I guess in a way, now that I think about it, Pittsburgh would have to fall out of the top seventy five for that to not be a quad one win, and that seems very very unlikely, and Florida State would have to fall out of the top seventy five for that to not be a quad one win. So Pitt was already in a good spot to where their loss it doesn't drop them too much. They're still in the thirties,
still very safely a quad one win right now. And then with Florida State because they beat Pitt, they jumped up significantly, so now they've got a little more breathing room. So I guess in a way, if we're looking at just stacking these quad one quad two wins, maybe that
was a good thing last night. But I think the reality is this, there's not going to be like we can call them quad one and they are like for they and they matter, but not all quad ones are going to be viewed the exact same way by the committee.
I mean, I think they look at your quad win quad two record, but they also use their brain, use common sense, and understand that if you beat somebody on the road that's in the top five, and you beat somebody on the road that's ranked sixty eight, those two wins are not the same, Like that's just common sense. So the reality is this, there's not a Let me ask you this, Austin, what do you think sounds more impressive, more significant a signature win or a resume win? Because
I kind of feel like they're the same. But maybe I'm wrong When I say signature win, I feel like that sounds a little better than a resume win.
Uh yeah, sure, I mean.
Resume wins mean. Resume win means that it's something that helps you. I think a signature win means like that's big time.
Like Louisville beating Clemson in football, that's a signature win.
Yeah right, not a resume win.
Yeah, so I would I would probably go for I feel like signature does more for the program, Like you haven't beaten Duke at home by like twenty points or something.
That's a signature win.
And like just beating a top ten team on the road, it could be anybody.
That's a resume win.
Yeah.
And the reason I bring this up is because I think that the Pittsburgh win on the road is a good win. And again, pitt would have to really kind of fall apart for that not to be a quad one. But I think right now, there's not any wins in the ACC that I think you could really qualify as like a signature win unless somebody beats Duke, and I'm not sure that's happening. I mean, and I mean I'm not bringing it up to just bitch and moan about it.
I mean, it's been happening for three straight years. The league just continuing to fall, and as I've said throughout the summer and this season, it's something Louisville One can't control, and also they could take advantage of. But if you look at Lenardi and where he put out a bracketology update, I believe it was either this morning or last night, and he has he has, and this is what I actually like looking at more so than just his bracket
is the seed lists and the overall seeds. So right now Leonardi has the ACC with Really, would you say an eight to nine seed is a bubble team? I feel like that is. I feel like, if you're at eight nine, you're in, but you're still like you're select. Yeah, you're a little close for comfort. And if there wasn't the play in games like they're currently is now, eight and nine is definitely bubble. So it's it's it's bubble. So right now, Duke is the only team firmly in
the tournament. Louisville is a seventh seed according to Leonardi, and I think that's firmly in now, but like you could fall apart and not make it. With that said, Louisville has already played the best teams in the ACC. Again, make your jokes if you like, but like they've already got the they already got the hard part out of the way, and they're they're in great shape. So they
may slip up and loose to somebody. But the scenario where Louisville the rest of the way significantly drops from where they are right now, as far as these projections from March for March, I mean, it's really unlikely.
So I think right now.
Louisville and Duke are the only two teams that are like safely in the tournament because the other teams that Leonardi has in from the ACC, Clemson's an eight seed, Pittsburgh's a nine seed, and I think Pitt's nine seed might have been yeah, Pitts nine seed was before they lost to Florida State last night. And then Carolina is also a non seed and then you've got SMU in the next four out, So they're not in and not even in the first four out. Wake Forest is in
the considered meeting. I guess they're still alive, but they got a lot of work to do if they even want to get on the bubble. So again, take advantage of it, right, I mean, it's not ideal, but the fact that they were able to get through Clemson, Carolina Pittsburgh, I mean that's huge, that's huge. So yeah, I mean pitt may have fallen out, Like what if the ACC only gets two teams in man, Like, that's crazy to
think about, but it's also somewhat of a possibility. Like last night North Carolina State lost at Virginia Tech Virginia Tech stakes. So I mean, again, it's it's something we've been well aware of and in fact, we talked about it a lot.
But just only for the ACC. You think only to get two teams, Oh.
It's possible, for sure. I mean it's absolutely possible.
Because right now, right now, because here's the issue, you're if you were one of these teams, Clemson, Pittsburgh, North Carolina, SMU, you have no real opportunity to get a big time win unless you beat Duke, and I don't think anybody's beaten Duke right now. Like SMU could get a big win against Louisville and that would help them, But you can't slip up at all, because if you're on the bubble now, which again Clemson, Pit North Carolina, SMU, those are teams that are firmly on the bubble as it
stands today. So let's just go to Let's go to SMU. So SMU and by the way, they nearly lost to a terrible Virginia team last night. They were they needed a buzzer beater late to win that one. So this SMU team, they're on the bubble currently looking at the next four out if you go off of what Lenardi says, so they have no chances to I mean, they've already lost to Duke. They have no chances to get any
real big win. In fact, Louisville being a top thirty team, Louisvill's at thirty right now in the kim Pom, which, by the way, check this out. This is I don't know if I meant to mention this when I started talking about Lenardi, but he has Louisville as the twenty fifth overall seed, meaning he thinks, right now, resume wise, they have the twenty fifth best resume in college basketball, which is awesome. Kentucky, by the way, number nine overall.
They're a three seed, and they are the number one three seed, meaning that maybe you go elsewhere and look at a bracket, they may have Kentucky as a two seed. But anyways, SMU is a good example here because right now they're not in and the opportunity to get wins that will really improve the resume.
They've got Louisville at home.
On Tuesday, and that would be a big win for him, but because it's at home for SMU, Louisville would probably fall out of the top thirty with the loss there, right, and then it doesn't become a quad one win, and then you've got games against other teams like Virginia is ranked one thirty two in the Knpom, so they needed
a buzzer beater to beat them last night. If they lost to Virginia, I kind of feel like that technically would have eliminated them from being able to make it, because you get no value with the vast majority of your wins in this league because most teams stink, and the chances to get good wins just aren't there. You can, I mean, if you play like if you beat the hell out of somebody, it can improve your your it could be a metric win that's more than just a
win in the win column. But I mean, again, what we don't know is how the committee actually views the ACC, and we'll never know. I mean, I guess we will get our early Do they still do that? I guess I think it's early February. They give you, like the early look at what the bract would be if if it started on that date, and they give you the top four seeds in each region, so the top sixteen.
Yeah, it's usually like a conference tournament's time. They give you the first four in, first last four out.
So I'm thinking we'll get somewhat of a look at what the committee thinks of the ACC. We probably won't because right now there's no scenario anybody in the ACC as of today is in the top sixteen outside of who duke. So because they only seed sixteen, when they give you that little preview of what it would look like at that time, it's gonna be tough to know.
So what it comes down to to answer your question, I think it's absolutely possible for the league to only get two teams, and I wouldn't predict that that's what happens. But the only way that like we end up getting surprised and teams that we thought were bubble on the wrong side of it, it would just be that the committee actually looks at this league and values it more
so than the numbers do. Because I mean, it's again, I know it's a broken record here, but the league is down in a way I never I never thought was gonna happen. But again, that's you know, Louislle could take advantage of that, and there's nothing you can do about it. And I know that this Louisville team, even probably from some of their own fans, is not.
Viewed to be like a really really good team.
Get it, Like they nearly lost to EKU when they've played some of these really good teams in a couple of in a couple of instances, they've been blown out. So like I understand that, and I don't think anybody really cares. They just love that these guys are playing so hard and that they are clearly given everything they have.
Pat Kelsey's putting a pretty entertaining style of basketball out there too, Like these guys compared to what we've been through in recent years, and these guys playing their ass off and starting to really win. I mean, they've got a hell of a street going right now. Like that, I think fans are just so lost in that that they're probably not really thinking about, like what the ceiling is, how good is this Louisville team compared to some other teams.
So I haven't gone there at all, just because, again I'm enjoying the ride, but I want to throw some numbers at you when we come back on the other side. That again, I'm probably getting ahead of myself here, but there are some things happening statistically that are as good or better than any Louisville basketball team ever. Now, what you do in the tournament is really how people view and define how good of a team you are, which
that's just how it works in college basketball. But again, you've got some things happening statistically that have that have not happened in a long time, maybe never happened before. And this is all happening while Louisville in the non conference portion of the schedule. It was the toughest non conference schedule Les was having a long time. It's one
of the toughest non conference schedules in the country. So, like, I keep seeing these signs and they may not be signs, but maybe, but I'm viewing them as signs that this team actually isn't just you know, getting better, rounding into form taking advantage of a weak acc I think I'm finding myself at times thinking, calm down, Nick, maybe this team is.
You know, I think they're really good.
I hesitate to say it because, you know, I feel like there'd be bad karma if I do that.
But I'm watching this team. You're watching this team.
I think we can both agree that they look like a damn good basketball team right now. All right, some other things we'll get into today. A big time visitor for Jeff Brohm, Penn State's leading receiver is one of the biggest names in the portal, and he is working on getting a visit schedule to Louisville, which would be it would be awesome. Also, Bill Belichick he never signed a contract at at North Carolina.
That's weird.
So there's some there's some rumor that that like he's going to try to just keep doing his job, but not signing a contract because he doesn't want that ten million dollar buyout for the NFL to actually, you know, be held up. And I guess you know, if he doesn't sign it, then it doesn't matter, Like but nobody would let him work if he doesn't sign a contract like that doesn't make any sense.
It's hanging out with college girls too long. They don't want to commit to you. Just only that's right, you know, that's right. He's he's he's a different man. He's still like not the most energetic guy. Like he's there's still a lot of the boring, grouch, crotchety old man.
But compared to like what his demeanor and his vibe used to be like when he was in New England, I mean, he's like a he's a brand new man.
He smiles, which is crazy.
So he's fun when he gets on and does media stuff, like when he is on the Manning Cast.
Yeah.
Yeah, the bar is so low for him that like he can just like show signs that he's human and that he's alive and that he has like feelings a little bit, and in that that that that's appealing to people because they've never seen that side of him before. So all right, let's suck get our first break out
of the way, keep this thing rolling along. If you want to join us, you can BABO two five, seven seventy nine hundred is the number if you want to give us a call, and again we'll take you up till six o'clock right here on Sports Talk seven ninety.
Now back to coffee and company, fueled by Thornton's on Sports Talk seven nine day.
We're once again abuff freezing.
So this stuff's melting out there, which is good, and I think we're going to be a buff freezing for the next few days, which again that's that's a good thing, that's what we need. But I did see something on WDRB in regards to the winter storm that we had last week that really hit us in a way we haven't we haven't had in a long time. But this is sad the winter storm. I'll read the headline here from WDRB. Winter storm claimed six lives in Kentucky. Be
sheer warns of snow shoveling risks. So when I heard that that six people had passed from the passed away from related to the storm, I just assumed that it would have been something to where. I mean, when I think of somebody dying in a weather related incident, I would assume that, you know, a little different if it's like a tornado that kind of stuff. But maybe somebody I don't know, hypothermia because they lost power and didn't have the means to which is really sad to think about.
But that's happened before, where a storm can impact an elderly person or disabled person and they don't have the resources to like get out of that situation. So rare, of course, but very very sad. So when I saw six people, I'm thinking, how and this makes sense and technically it is related to the storms, but this is again from WDRB. Basher said a woman from Spencer County died from an injury related to the storm, and five men from Oldham, frank And Boone and Breckenridge Counties died
due to injuries or medical emergencies this year. Said many, if not most, of the deaths were cardiac events. While shoveling snow in total from two storms that arrived five days apart, one foot of snow and a layer of ice coated Louisville the shear is urging people to shovel safely, dressed warmly, stay hydrated, and move only small amounts of snow and take frequent breaks.
So that's scary.
You gotta, I mean, and I don't know why instead of just and it's sad, but I'm just curious. Were they like overdoing it? Were they just out of shape? Were they like I? Cause I was shoveling snow on Friday because we ended up trying to go to Columbus if you remember, for the basketball for the Louisville pit game, and we had turned around and leave the next morning because the roads were so bad it was snowing, so
I couldn't get up my driveway once again. So ended up out there just shoveling snow and realized I wasted two hours because it wasn't gonna work. There was too much ice that was just coated on the driveway. So I ended up getting it in the driveway, but I couldn't get it all the way to the top. So I realized at that time that that's a lot of work, like that'll really wear you out, and I I don't. I don't lift weights anymore, at least not you know,
having it in a while. I mean, I know it's crazy to hear me say that because you guys have seen the physique that I have, and I know it's just yeah, I mean, stop baing.
Just just blessed. It really is what it is.
But uh, no, I I realized for me to stay at my where I want to where I want to stay as far as like weight and whatnot. If I'm if I you know, if I'm monitor what I put in my body and I get cardio in if I'm running you know, a few miles every couple of days, then I'm then I'll be able to kind of maintain. But I stopped lifting weights and I shoveled snow Friday,
as I mentioned, and I was so sore. I couldn't believe it, Like I mean, and maybe it's because I was using certain muscles in a way that even when I was working out, I didn't didn't do it the same way. But yeah, you got to be careful, uh shovel and snow. I mean, I guess I'm trying to think of things that are similar as far as what it takes out of you, because this is the kind of thing that.
I mean, it's a workout. Yeah, I mean it is a workout.
But and I think people realize that.
But I don't know if even older people like that aren't in great help or maybe know that they don't have a great heart. I don't think that they look at shoveling snow is like, well, I can't do that because it might, you know, be a real danger. I mean, I doubt any of these people that when they went to shovel snow thought to themselves, this may be this
may be it for me because I might. I mean, get nobody, nobody intentionally risks their life by you know, doing something they know they could give them cardiac arrest.
But I don't know.
I just I feel like that's that's not that common that that that you have people lose their life this way. But again maybe I'm wrong, but it's very sad, no doubt.
So I say, absolutely.
Loathe shoveling snow. I can't stand it.
Probably half the reason that my sidewalk and everything leading up to my house is kind of gross as it is right now. Can't blame that on this city, can blame that on on.
My lazy self.
But I just I just hate doing it and just because I know I'm gonna get sweaty. There's nothing worse in being like hot internally while you're outside and it's freezing. For whatever reason, I can't stand that.
Yeah, it's a good way to get sick too.
I don't know if that's a myth or not, But like I was, I was out shoveling snow Friday, as I mentioned, and I had a coat on and a hoodie underneath, and I took the coat off and just had the hoodie on because I was sweating like I was hot, but yet it was like.
Twenty degrees outside.
And my wife told me that that's that's gonna get me sick. And I said what she said, when you're sweaty and you take layers off, you know that you're gonna you're gonna be colder than you realize. And I'm like that, there's no way that's true. But I kind of believe her, like I don't know, I believe anything she says, because you know, happy, happy wife, happy life.
Right, I would, all right?
So Bart Torvik a name you probably aren't familiar with unless you're a college basketball dork like myself. He is one of the many college basketball analytical gurus out there. He has his own formula that is actually if you follow the NCAA's like what they reference.
And I'm pretty sure I'll look I look this up because.
I think the NC double A is now using something, some type of a some component within his formula. The bart Torvik formula. It's very similar to the kin Pom as far as you know how it works. It's updated every day. I don't I doubt their formulas are exactly the same. But bart Torvick to me, has always just been a different version of kin Pom. But I believe the NC double A values bart Torvik a little bit
more than kin Pom. So he has something really cool in his in his in his system here it's Barttorvik dot com b A r T T O r v I K. He has a similar profile section for each team. So right now Louisville is sitting at let's see, we know they are twelve and five and in the bart Torvik. Now I gotta pull, now I gotta go back.
Let's see.
So right now Louisville is sitting at number twenty nine in the bart Torvick. As I mentioned earlier, they're number thirty in the kin pom. So what he does here is he uses pre seasons with his formula and he will give you teams that at this time years ago, previous seasons had the same exact profile, meaning your numbers were exactly the same. And then it tells you sort of what what they You know, did they make the tournament or not?
Did they what seed did they get? How far did they go?
So the team currently that is the most similar to this Louisville team right now is Florida Atlantic from twenty twenty three, and that team, if you remember, was a nine seed and you know where they went. They went to the final four.
That's right?
I doubt.
I mean, I think that being the team most similar to Louisville is kind of weird to me because.
I don't know.
Again, I don't think they factor I don't think the bar Tory formula factors like conference or strength to schedule. But again, the number itself is is the is most similar to that FAU team from from a couple of years ago. But Lowell right now, I guess technically could they could be a nine seed?
Right?
I guess?
You know, it depends on where you look right now. When it comes to it to bracketology, so I don't know, it'd be real weird to have it to end up finishing with a gaudy record like Louisville could because of this acc and yet be an eight or a nine.
I don't think that'll happen.
But other teams that are similar to Louisville as far as the numbers here, you go back to let's see twenty twelve Iowa State. Don't remember that team, but they got an eight seed and they made it to the
round of thirty two. So again I just I just thought that was interesting because it's this is not bracketology, of course, but it's somewhat in the same realm, if you will, because you're looking at teams that had the same exact situation, the teams with the closest situation to you in previous seasons at this time of the year, and you can see how they did, how they finished
and look. So I don't think looking at how far they go in the tournament is really relevant, but more so than anything, just kind of seeing what's they ended up with. Now, I'm curious to look at Kentucky. So this current Kentucky team, I would imagine their profile right now is similar to some previous teams.
That were really really good.
But we shall see. Yeah, here we go right now. The team most similar to Kentucky is what here? I am gassing my man, Bart Torvick, and this number just doesn't make any sense Iowa. Of twenty fourteen, That Iowa team was an eleventh seed, so currently Kentucky is projected to be a three seed. Here according to Torvick and Lenardi. As we mentioned earlier, here's a better one.
This is a better one.
And I don't know what.
I guess what he's grasped, what he's referencing. As far as finding similarity, it is the overall like adjusted metric of your adjusted defense and your adjusted offense. And I can tell I'm nerding out too much on the numbers here, sounding like a Poindexter. But we'll move on in just a second. But this makes a little more sense. The other team most similar to Kentucky this year is twenty twenty four Illinois. If you remember, that team was really good with Terren Shannon and they made it all.
The way to the Elite eight.
They were also a three seed. So nearly every team in this ten team sample view here that we're looking at is a three seed at best. And then there's again I don't understand it, but there's some seeds that are in that. There's some teams that are similar as far as this formula, but they ended up with like an eight seed or a ten seed. That doesn't make a whole lot of sense. But anyways, I said we're gonna move on from numbers, but I lied. But these
are fun numbers. These are numbers that'll make sense. These are stats, not tiers and quads and formulas and analytics. This is just raw numbers and statste yes, this is.
This is just guys out here doing numbers.
Okay, So right now, Rain Smith, who of course you know, is is on fire. He leads all Power five players, meaning players from he's top five overall, but he is number one when it comes to players from ACC SEC, Big ten, Big twelve, or Big East. He's making three point six three point field goals per game, which again that's number one in the country. And he has made sixty five triples, which is the most. So I mean, this guy is not only bringing what he brought from Charleston,
he's actually playing better. And I tried not to well, I wanted to go here, but I haven't yet because I don't want to sound like I'm claiming that Rain Smith is the token white guy, right, Like, man, he's sneaky, athletic, he's he don't he's deceiving as far as you know how quick.
He can be.
Like, Rain Smith is just a really good basketball player. Like even when he's not making shots, louisvill is a better team when he's on the floor because one, he doesn't appear to be a defensive liability at all. Like that was something people mentioned earlier in the season, probably just because you know, he's the white guy you felt you probably thought he was slow. But he's a smart defender.
He understands spacing really really well. Like he's just a good player, Like he could run the point I think if you needed him to, I mean, that wouldn't be ideal. Chucky Clarly is one of the best point guards in the country. So rain is having himself a really really special season. And then Kelly Dickey highlights another stat here for rain Smith that is even more impressive to me than him leading all Power five players in three point
shots made. Currently, rain Smith is on pace to break the Louisville record for most three pointers made per game in a season. He is currently averaging three point six threes per game, as I just mentioned, and the leader is Taekwan Dean who's at three point four. So Taekwon averaged three point four in two thousand and six. He also averaged three point three in two thousand and five, and then Preston Knowles averaged two point nine in twenty eleven.
And then as you as you move down, you've got rees gains at two point eight twenty in two thousand and two, and then Dwan Whet was two point five two in nineteen ninety five. So I mean, he'd have to maintain this pace, which is even the if he keeps shooting well, It's going to be hard to do, I think, because I mean, if rand Smith continues to average three and a half or more threes made per game, if that average maintains, that's a really really good sign
for Louisville, I would say. And then another stat that I don't know if you I don't know if people see this as super valuable, but I do. Technically, dunks just count as two points, but dunks are dunks are not only safer meaning if you can dunk and you're there, like, you have a much higher probability of slamming a ball through the net then you do, you know, laying I mean much much less chance of of missing an easy two points if you if you if you can just
dunk it. And also, dunks can absolutely be more than just two points when it comes to momentum. And nobody, and I mean nobody proved that more than Montrez Haral. In fact, this is the stat I was getting a Mantres Harrel has. He's number one and number two in dunks per game in a season and and fourteen he was two point six dunks per game. Twenty fifteen it was two point three dunks per game. Well, James Scott right now is averaging two point one dunks per game,
and I mean I wouldn't be shocked. He he's he's hot right now. I mean, James Scott has played really, really really well and he I kind of feel like he's he's kind of he's still raw, and he still very much sticks to what he knows he can do well, which is just running the floor and dunking the ball when it's near the rim, and you know it's he's doing that and he's that's really been his role all year. But he's doing that now better than he ever has.
And and again I know it's just two points. Like, dunks didn't used to be a stat that was that was charted. In fact, Louisville at one point was one of the only schools in college basketball that did track dunks. So I'm glad they do. But now you can get it at bart Torvick. Bart Torvick actually tracks dunks. To my knowledge, it's the only way. It's the only in
CBA College Basketball stat website or you know rank. You know, you can't find it on ESPN, you can't find it in c double A, you can't find it anywhere to my knowledge.
But Bartrvick does have it.
And right now James Scott is currently sixth in the country in dunks. Ryan Cochbrenner at Creighton.
Is the leader. He's like eight foot tall, right, Cockbrenner.
I just met her. I couldn't resist I couldn't resist him, Sorry, Cock Brinner. Ryan Cockbrenner at Creighton, he leads the country in dunks. And then after him, it is a Zis Bondego from Cincinnati and then another name I'm not even gonna attempt to pronounce who plays for Penn State, and then Dylan Mitchell at Cincinnati, and then Asa Newell at Georgia, and then after that it's our man, James Scott, who
he's also shooting an insane field goal percentage. Now I got to look it up because James Scott actually missed a layup.
Either against Syracuse or against again.
You I really his missed shots stand out, which is crazy, not because you know he misses all the time, but because he rarely ever misses, and when he does miss, it's usually a shot that you feel like he should have made because he doesn't take shots that are real risky. My man's dunking if he can, or he's putting it up right near the rim, like I've seen him put one put one in that wasn't a dunk.
At like eye level to the rim.
So yeah, right now, James Scott is averaging or is shooting eighty two point one percent from the floor. I mean, that is insane. And if you look at his totals here, James Scott has made or has taken sixty seven shots on the season, and he's made fifty five of them. I mean, think about that. That guy does not shoot unless he feels really confident it's going to go in,
and it's usually a dunk. So I don't know what the minimum is, but he's he's not in the This is the guy who starts and averages twenty one point five minutes per game, but yet he doesn't he hasn't taken enough shots to qualify to lead the country in field goal percentage. Because if you look at let's see, yeah'm going to players statistic. Let's see, yeah, player statistics
field goal percentage. Yeah, Like, he doesn't show up. The leader is shooting seventy four point seven percent and he's shooting eight and a half shots per game like that. May that tells me that James Scott has got to be I mean, he's got to be getting close to hitting that bar where his his numbers will count. And I'm telling you, once they do, once he hits the bar, that puts him to where he's included in this in this statistic, he'll I don't and I don't know what it is.
I'm here.
I am thinking he's close. Maybe he's far away. I don't know, but he will shatter the I mean, I don't know if it's a record, but he will. He will win this by a landslote. He's currently shooting let's see, yeah, roughly ten percent better per game than the guy who's number one, who's shooting like seventy four percent. Again, I don't you know, maybe these numbers mean nothing to you.
Right you got to win.
There's probably some impressive stats out there for teams that are allows you when it comes to individual players. But
right now, Louisville's playing at a high level. They're winning, and you've got some guys on this team doing some things that rarely have ever been done around here at Louisville, which, again, it just further supports what I believe in that is that this team isn't just doing well because the ACC stinks, and they're doing better than anybody would expect it, and they're clearly doing better than what we had with Kenny Paine. I'm starting to really believe that their team that could
make a run in this tournament. All depends upon matchups, and we're not close to selection Sunday yet, but exciting times.
No doubt quick Break will come back on the other side.
I want to talk more about this TikTok stuff, because I'm now fascinated to kind of learn about those who would be really impacted, and I guess are going to be really impacted when this just goes away. On Sunday quick break, hang out right here on Sports Talk seven ninety.
Now back to coffee and Company by Thornton's on Sports Talk seven nine day.
Sometimes I will tune in in the mornings on News Ready eight forty. Whas to the senior citizens, my friends Tony ven Eddie Dwight when and I'm kidding they're older than me, but they're not old guys, but they kind of sounded old earlier talking about TikTok because.
They were listening to the same show.
They were questioning sort of why there's so many really important people, you know, like the president who's on his way out and the president who's about to take over, and even like we've got very powerful people that are trying to figure out how they can keep TikTok alive. And it's not a silly question, I suppose, because they just were thinking, why is this such a priority. Shouldn't they have bigger, bigger things to worry about, which that's
that's a valid question. However, you know this is something that isn't just for entertainment. It's now well, people make a living on TikTok by either entertaining you or selling you stuff.
So I guess to kind.
Of support their thought here is that even if that is the case, there's all kinds of industries and businesses that just crumble and it impacts people's livelihood and they no longer can do said job. And you don't see this kind of you know, this kind of effort from powerful people to save companies like TikTok. You know they're not. By the way, TikTok's not going away. It's just going away here. It's still gonna be able to be There's still gonna be alive everywhere else, but just not here
in the United States. So I was just looking at different stories out there across the country from people who are really worried because when TikTok's dead, they they got to shift elsewhere to Instagram or to X.
What else is there? Facebook? Obviously? Facebook, Instagram, X What am I missing?
Any there?
Any?
Snapchat? Snapchat still still a thing, it is, but like I don't use it, Yeah, I don't I kind of think it's fading.
I mean, I know who just goes to you like videos and reels like snapchat.
Snapchat to me, it's it's the first, and there's been another sense, but it was the first social media app that kind of became a big thing. Whenever I was in I was in an age that you know, I would be the target audience for it, right, But I never understood why it became a thing like you could everything, like there's nothing that like each of these social media apps that became huge rather than and maybe they still are today or they you know, maybe they fell off.
They brought something that the other one didn't have, like that that they stand out in a way that separates them. What didn't What did Snapchat do? I guess that it disappears after you send it. That's the only thing I can think of. So anyways, these people who have TikTok, they probably built a bigger following there than anywhere, which is why they're so worried, and which is how they're
able to make a living. But one of the stories I read made a lot of and that in fact, I know somebody who who I don't know what the what kind of money they make, but they they're they're a part of this TikTok you know program essentially, I guess it's not it's not just called you know, you're
you're a creator but also an influencer. But if you have like a million followers on Instagram or Facebook or Twitter or whatever x, you can just post stuff and if you're if it's a sponsored post because of the reefs that you have, you can monetize that in a major way. Like there are people who will just post something for a company and add on their social media account that has millions of followers and they'll make a ton of money. But on TikTok you can have a
substantially smaller audience. But if you have an active niche and they'll buy things you want them to buy, you can you can make a lot of money. So for example, one of my buddies, he is a he has his own lawn care business. So he decided to make content on Instagram or on TikTok that shows like lawnmower stuff, like tips and tricks about lawnmowers, or just showing just giving advice on how he got this look for this yard, or certain products that he uses throughout his business as
somebody who owns a lawn care company. So that's his niche. So his following is not crazy. He's probably got like six thousand followers, which is impressive in my opinion, but you know, we're not talking about a million people. He's got six thousand followers, and you know what, they're all following him because they're interested in that. He's the guy that they follow because they think he has interesting content
about lawncare, that kind of stuff, lawnmowers. So he gets twenty five items from a certain company, maybe there's some kind of fertilizer. They'll say, look, we're going to give you thirty of these. You sell them, you get a certain percentage of everyone's sold. Well, if these things, if the fertilizer's fifty bucks a pop, and I mean that's
good money. So like that, it's not just because when you think about the millionaires being affected because they've got millions of followers, like, yeah, there wouldn't be a whole lot of sympathy, but there are people who are probably making a good living or maybe it's just extra income that they really depend on now because you know, everything is so expensive, so TikTok is a little different than these other platforms because clearly you can monetize and make
money without having some massive following that'll take you decades to build. So I don't know if that's why you're seeing such a fight here from the powerful people to get TikTok saved from being unavailable to us in America, But I don't know. I found that fascinating. And that's really what social media's turned into is that you really have to have it if you would if you just want to be an influencer, you want to have a
lot of followers, you have to have a niche. And what I mean by that is like, are you reviewing food? Are you reviewing shows? Are you unboxing items and showing what it looks like fresh out of the box? Like I never seek any of that content out, but you know what a lot.
Of people do.
All Right, we got two more hours with you, and I hope a lot of you stick around.
Unbox us, unbox us.
We're gonna be here, So sit back, relax, make yourself at home, and hopefully you'll enjoy these next two hours. We're gonna give it our best. It's coffee and Company I'm Nick Coffee. He's Austin Montgomery right here on Sports Talk seven ninety