2.11 - Splash Zone - Hour 3

as steep as I'll usually go. But on Saturday, I had a full day where I hit, I had my son's basketball game, and then I had to get ready for the Hall of Fame event.

bit of money. But because I knew only was going to do that three leg parlay, I just decided to put fifty on it because I was feeling pretty good because of Friday night being a good one and ended up hitting and it's probably the most I've won all year, so I'm feeling confident. Didn't have a good night last night. But there's some of these and this is what happens, man. And I know, if you're somebody that wagers on college hoops or maybe wagers on anything, you have a little

bit of momentum, you get a little confidence going. And it doesn't mean that you feel like you can't lose. But I feel like I've got a better ability to not overthink a spread, right, because when I get down bad and I'm losing, then I start to overthink everything. And at that point I just say, look, don't even look deep into it. Just trust your gut, because I still believe that there's nothing worse. I mean, losing always sucks,

but there's nothing worse as far as I guess. The worst way to lose, in my opinion, is when you had an initial thought right your gut, and then you thought more about it, you changed your mind, and then it go Then it's wrong. Like that to me is the worst feeling ever. So like I'm looking at some of these games tonight and I don't understand why some of these teams are favored or maybe not favored by a bigger amount like tonight. And for what it's worth,

Kentucky does play Tennessee tonight. Should be a good game. But Kentucky's gonna be without Jackson Robinson. So they are underdogs at home, which is a rare thing to see at Reparna. But Tennessee minus two and a half currently the total is one forty seven and a half. But Florida one of the best teams in the country. They are on the road at Mississippi State. A good team, certainly a row game, tough environment, but Mississippi State, I mean they're outside the top thirty in the Ken Palm.

They've lost four out of four out of five. Their only wins in the last five games are against South Carolina, who we know stinks and they needed overtime to beat them, and then Georgia, who is one of the worst teams in the league, and they beat them by one. So I don't understand how Florida, a top five team, is underdogs in Mississippi State. I mean, I wouldn't expect him to be big time favorites on the road because again

the SEC's loaded. But I don't I don't get this, And this is this is where I start to overthinking at times because I'm thinking, maybe they know something I don't know. I believe Walter Clayton, junior for Florida, was at one point dealing with some injuries. But I just checked the Yeah, I mean, I just checked the injury update for both teams and they don't have any notable injuries. Florida doesn't, So I mean I'm thinking about In fact, I'm not thinking about it. I'm gonna do it. I'm

gonna ta Florida money line. I just think they're better in Mississippi State. I don't know if they've done a whole lot to like deserve the benefit of the doubt as far as being a team that has a seventeen and six record five and five in league play. Like, I'm not saying they're bad, but they don't really have anything on their resume where you can claim, Okay, well, look, yeah, the record's not great, but man, they still have it. Like, Kentucky is the best example of a team that right

now doesn't have a great record in league play. They're five and five sixteen and seven overall, but man, they earned the benefit of the doubt with wins against Duke Gonzaga, Louisville, Florida, Tennessee on the road, A and M Mississippi State on the road. I don't want to gass them up because I might throw up doing it, but Kentucky has proven to where you can look at their five and five record in league play and chalk it up to hey,

it's because they play in the best league in the country. Yes, Mississippi State also plays in the best league in the country, but they don't have any of those impressive wins. In fact, their wins are against the teams that aren't good in the league. And I mean right now they're five and five.

I feel like, I'm laying on that long, skinny couch talking about my wagering habits and I know none of you care, but this is the mental bond that I get in at times when it comes to So if I decided not to touch it because yeah, that seems fishy, they must know something.

college basketball overall. I definitely enjoy coaching searches in college basketball, but this Indiana one is really gonna gonna be fascinating to me as far as how it plays out. They I don't know, Maybe they are already doing a search, right, I mean, they haven't made anything official, but like it's now known Mike Woodson will not be back, and if they end up moving on from him, I mean, he's

not gonna be back. I guess now they're just figuring out what he's gonna do, meaning is he going to take like a reduced buyout, is he gonna walk away and retire, or are they gonna have to like actually fire him and pay him everything. But either way, he won't be back, and Indiana is just one coach away from I think, being consistently one of the best programs in college basketball once again. And that makes it seem like, oh,

what's it's simple, just we'll hire a good coach. Well, they've been one coach away I think for like ever since Bob Knight. Now it is different now because when it comes to the new world of college sports, you don't need a lot of time. Regardless of what Kenny Payne will tell you, Tom Crean he needed a lot of time because Tom Crean inherited a program that was facing NAA issues. He couldn't go build a roster from the portal. He had to use walk ons. That's what

Tom Crean took a while to get going. Now you don't need that, and Indiana's got every resource that every other program has. Indiana's spent more money on nil apparently than anybody, according to those who cover college basketball. So just you got to find somebody who can utilize all the resources you have and has proven to be able to win. And I don't think that's that hard to do,

but they haven't been able to do it yet. All right, So for Louisville, they're in action tomorrow against n C State. We do actually have an early line on that.

like Louisville can't beat anybody without Chucky. They did just beat Miami by double digits, but Miami is one of the worst teams in the country, and I think at times, they look like a team coach by Kenny Payne just as far as like it's over, they know it's over. Their coaches left midseason. Like they're a team that on any given night, if they let it get away to

where they're down fifty, I wouldn't be shocked. I mean, that's an exaggeration, but that's how bad things are with Miami in NC State, they've lost eight in a row. I think it is like they stink, but like I don't look at any team on this schedule in factor in potentially not having Chucky and thinking, Okay, no big deal, we'll go out there and get it done.

a good core. But Chucky is so important to where I just think everything about Louisville is different when he's not out there. I mean, Terrence Elvers has done a good job defending this year, in fact, I think he's been a pretty good defender. But where Louisville can be a really good defensive team, it all starts with Chucky being basically a pest to the opposing team's lead guard, and that makes sure the rest of your defense a little bit more vulnerable when he's not doing that.

a half. Somebody asked earlier on the text line how both Brandon Honey Hatfield and Mike James were doing for NC State this year, and Mike James, I don't think he's played this year for them. He's got some kind of an injury. I don't know exactly what it is. Maybe he has, maybe he has recently come back and started playing for them. But last I checked, actually I

was wrong. I was looking at numbers earlier this year and I thought he was I thought those were numbers from his current season at NC State with Kevin Keats. In fact, it was his numbers from for Louisville last year because he hadn't played at the time. So Huntley Hatfield's averaging nineteen minutes and yet I'm sorry, twenty one minutes per game, eight eight points, and five boards. So he's having a solid season as far as stats. But again, NC State is not good, and you know, we talked

about it yesterday. I can't imagine that that NC State fans feel like the final four last year was long term worth it. I mean, maybe it was because final fours are really special and you don't you don't have them very often unless you're you know, one of the elite. I mean, look, even the elite of the elite, I feel like is not I mean, I think final four is in college basketball.

season debut. Do you have any nerves about this game, Austin, I know you probably haven't watched a lot of NC State this year.

top thirty for that to be a quad one. Clemson was not in the top thirty until they beat Dukes, so that helped you there, and then the rest of the way when it comes to like other like Florida State has falling out of the top seventy five, so that's not a quad one. West Virginia is still in the top fifty, so that's a quad one. Indiana is fifty five, so that's right outside quad one.

what that could I mean it could. It could make it to where the number maybe substantially drops, right, like maybe you fall far from being twenty eight, twenty ninth where they are now, maybe you fall like to you know, thirty eight or something. And that sounds crazy to have that happen in one game. But again, when you have teams lose in league play, let me give an example,

like Florida, Florida plays Mississipi State. We talked about that game because I just don't understand how Florida is underdogs here. But Florida, if they lost tonight a close game to Mississippi State, that would be them losing a quad one game and they would be losing to a team that is in the top thirty. Therefore, it would hit them, but not much because that's not a bad loss.

if you remember, they were really bad. But other than that, teams that weren't tournament teams from the ACC that you could slip up and lose to, they'd still be like top fifty in the net or the RPI that they used to use, or the ken like whatever it is. But the numbers are so bad for the ACC that any loss the rest of the way could be devastating. So again, my nerves aren't because I don't think Louisville is going to be able to win without Chucky if

he can't go. It's just knowing that it could be such a devastating result that really changes sort of how you view Louisvill's tournament chances. But with all that said, if Pittsburgh and Carolina can keep losing and yet people won't bury them, and people keep acting like they've got a chance to somehow make the tournament, then you know,

maybe Louisville could slip up and lose. I just don't want to risk it because Louisvill's in a position now where if they do finish strong, and yeah, they could beat teams the rest of the way, and it won't do a whole lot for the resume because of who's there, but you could still end up with a real Like right now, Louisville's projected record in the ACC is twenty I'm sorry, their projected record is twenty four and seven

seventeen and three. They're actually projected to win every game, but the formula does allow for at least you know, they don't. They realize they're going to have some close games as far as the projected score, but you know they could be off by a couple points and that actually means you to lose. But let's just say louisvill beats n C State, Notre Dame, Florida State, Virginia Tech, Pittsburgh, California,

and stand for the rest of the way. That sounds like, wow, you could win the winning that mini games consecutively easier said than done.

So that I think that's still on the table. I just don't want to, you know, but I think any loss the rest of the way to one of these teams would change that, maybe not to put you outside of the tournament, but it definitely I think lowers the ceiling of what.

You were able to kind of reinvent yourself relatively early in the season, and so far louis has done a good enough job to put themselves as of now is a team that looks like they're gonna be in the tournament. Kentucky didn't have any injury issues until a little later on in the year, and now it's starting. I mean, timing is not on their side. I don't really know if there's a good time to have an injury, but I think timing can certainly be worse in certain situations.

And right now, the fact that Jackson Robinson who's dealing with an injury to his wrist and played against South Carolina but now is not available to play tonight against Tennessee. I mean, I don't follow it as close as others, I'm sure, but I mean, if it's kind of a game by game thing, can he go, doesn't it make you worry if he's ever going to be at any

point like fully healthy the rest of the season. I mean, you'd like to be able to set him and get him healthy to where maybe he misses a few but then he's as close as he's going to get to one hundred percent by the time you.

in Knoxville. So it's nice to know that you have proven that you've been able to get wins against really good teams even when you are missing players that you rely a lot on. However, you got to worry if that's I mean, how how how sustainable is that?

I mean, it makes sense to let him rest. If I mean, we don't know the specifics of the injury. It's it's a groin injury, it was non contact. I feel like if it was severe enough to where he needed something done, we would know. But then again, we had Noah Waterman have his hand situated. I think it was it a it was his hand or as his finger that he had rods put in because he broke it, he had surgery, and yet he played through it the

whole time. So again, we're not entitled to, you know, a ton of transparency when it comes to injuries really at all.

Arizona State. That's Bobby Hurley, And I mean the let me see if I've got it pulled up here. Yes, So Creighton. If you remember last year, the last team that beat Creighton before they went on to win a national championship was I'm sorry, the last team to beat Yukon was Creighton before Yukon went on to win their second consecutive national championship, and they got beat pretty bad

in that game, meaning Yukon. So makes no it's no surprise at all to see that Creighton is going to really try to to have an insane atmosphere for this Creighton Yukon game that's coming up, because they're going to have one dollar Beer night as Dan Hurley makes his return to ol Maha, and that place is going to be absolutely jewice Creighton and and really I guess Creighton more than anything but Creighton Wichita State for a long time,

and I'm sure Creighton is still there. I'm not sure about which Toss State because they had a great run obviously with Greg Marshall, and they've kind of fallen off substantially ever since then.

And I wouldn't be shocked if Dan Hurley decides to, you know, call it a night and get himself thrown out. But yeah, last year when these two teams played to you know, to close out the well, actually it wasn't in the regular it wasn't in the regular season, but it was.

kind of games. Tune in tonight when you see Tennessee at Rupp Arena, because the atmosphere is going to be insane, and you just don't get that. I mean, certainly don't get that in the NBA, And I don't know the more I think about it, if college basketball was ever going to really explode and be not as popular as the NFL or even college football, Like I feel like if they were ever going to have a real big growth,

then it would happen. But look, the product's better than it's ever been because the new world that has the portal and NIL you essentially have. I mean, guys are getting paid. That's I mean, we call it in IL, but really it's pay for play, and you have free agency to where you can go wherever you want and not have to sit out really as many times as

you want. As it stands right now, I mean, that's led to so many guys in college basketball that are sticking around and playing for a lot longer than they

typically would. You know, guys in the previous world, if they knew that their best college days are behind them, and yet they still have like two years of eligibility and they know realistically speaking, they're not going to ever be drafted, it would make sense at twenty or twenty one to bypass your last two years of eligibility to go make money because you only have a certain amount

of time. You've got a window in your life where you can make I guess depends upon how good you are, but you can make a lot of money playing the game, even if it's not in the NBA. And if you stick around in college for two years extra and look, there's a value. There's value in getting your degree, there's value in the experience that you get right life experience and just you know, playing in front of college crowds

like that, that's something you'll never get back. But you also, before NIL, you weren't getting paid at least not like you are now. So I mean, if you just look at like, let's look at the college basketball pre season All American teams, because.

at a high level, but man, they're not. Like r J. Davis is having a good year statistically, but his team isn't good. Hunter Dickinson in Kansas. They're good, they're gonna make the tournament, but like they're not. They're not anywhere close to being one of Bill's self's better teams. In fact, now you get now as I look at these preseason All Americans, there are there's really no way to know

like what you're getting out of the portal. And I'll tie this into the addition that that Pat Kelsey's made for his team next year, which we talked about earlier. They've added a big man from from Germany. But before we get get into the specifics of that, just this is a this is an updated look at Actually no, this isn't updated. This was Let me see if I can pull it up here. I just had it in

front of me. Where the hell is it? The college the College Basketball Transfer Portal Top one hundred player list. This came out right before the season started. And some of these guys have ended up being really good, and some of these guys have ended up being like, Hey, what the hell happened? They were averaging seventeen a game at their previous stop. Why are they now you know,

nowhere near that? And it's just a reminder that, like, if you're a coach in the portal, these last few years have to I'm sure it was a learning experience. You've brought in players that you wish you could have had for four years, because man, they really fit what you want to do. They buy into your culture and

you've enjoyed coaching them and you've had success. But then there's probably guys that you went out, you know, you used a lot of your INNI OWL money to go get a certain player, and man, it just wasn't worth

the investment. That's going to continue to happen regardless. But I think guys like Pat Kelce like they had to do this in a different way before they were at Loutiver, Right, Pat Kelsey kept losing good players when he was at Charleston, because you know that's what happens to programs at that level. So moving forward, like Chucky, Hepburn, he wasn't even it was a big get for Louisville. We were really excited, but he wasn't even a top one hundred player in

the portal rankings by twenty four seven Sports. Now, again that's more so than anything, them just being way wrong. But either way, Chucky is the perfect fit for Pat Kelce right, Like he's hungry, he wants to prove that he can play at a high level. He was good at Wisconsin, now he's at a better program at Louisville. And I don't mean like recently, I mean just overall. Louisll' is a bigger basketball brand than Wisconsin. And the challenge was there, right, can he put Louisville?

go out and get guys in the portal. It hasn't usually been teams that you would have said that before the season started, right because guys can bring stats, they can bring production, but you already had that at times like sometimes you need somebody that's gonna gonna bring something that really isn't necessarily as noticeable from a stat line. Right, real quick, we'll get out of here and take our last break. We'll finish up by telling you about the

new player for Louisville basketball for next season. I mean he'll be a freshman, but he's going to be twenty two years old, which is certainly not the norm. But we'll get to that in a lot more as we wrap it up on the other side right here on Sports Talk seven ninety.

can provide. They do a lot of things. I mean, for me, I heard a lot about them because you know, when you do good things and you help a lot of folks in the Kentuckian area, and you've been doing it for over ten years, you're gonna get a lot of buzz just from word of mouth. So I started to think, Okay, maybe I would benefit from getting my levels checked when it comes to testosterone, And sure enough,

it's been a game changer. It's not an exaggeration to say that the last year of my life has been much better now that my levels are where they need to be. So that's where they've helped me. But it's not just that it could be a rectiltis function. It could be prone's disease, weight loss, therapy, hair restoration. They've got a lot of services they can help you out with. And I know when it comes to rectultus function, that's

not something that you want to address. Maybe you don't want to, maybe you're in denial, but if you know, you know, and I mean, what kind of fool would you be if you don't do something about it. I mean, I'm not into name calling, but there's people that can help you with that. And there's nobody better that could help you than the louisvill Men's Clinic. They've got a variety of different options when it comes to treating ed they've got oral medications pin palle therapy pulsed. So go

check them out louis Men's Clinic dot com. Give them a call BABO two four four four four thousand, and they'll they'll be happy to help you now real quick. The latest addition to Louisville's twenty twenty five recruiting class is a young man by the name of Senanda Threw, a six eleven, tw hundred and forty five pounds big man from Germany. He'll be a twenty two year old

freshman next year. He's a guy who didn't start playing basketball until I guess around the time he was seventeen or eighteen years old, and now he has been developing over in Germany in one of their top professional leagues, and he has signed with Lowell. I don't know if he signed. I don't think you've Ella has announced it. But he's raw and a guy that will be very old compared to other freshmen next year at twenty two

years old. But twelve points, five boards, a block and a half per game, shooting seventy five percent from the field. And I'm sorry, it looks like he's gonna have two seasons eligibility once he arrives. That's where I had it wrong. So you've got Mickel Brown Junior and Big Freu. That's what I'm that's what I'm calling him, Big Fru what I'm calling him, at least until somebody tells me not to. Six eleven, two forty five. And his last name is Frew Fru.