For Coffee and Company, fueled by Thornton's on Sports Talk seven nine day, Holy.
Crap, I don't know who the hell we think when we are.
Get off our show.
Idiots.
The kids are playing to trail off. The countries are screwing it up.
Gold Play Inner Murals, Brother, gold Play 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?
All right, good afternoon, Happy Monday, and welcome in.
This is Nick Coffee.
I mean, I wasn't here Friday because I had to take one more day to get my voice back in order, which I'm not sure if it's one hundred percent, but man, I feel a lot better.
And it hit me on Friday.
Whenever I was starting to feel better, I had a weird sinus infection slash bronchitis type thing going on, which really sucked, to be honest with you, But uh, you know, it didn't really hit me until Friday. Whenever I was feeling better, right, I didn't. I didn't feel, you know, like congested as much. I started to feel a little bit more like myself. But the voice continued to really
really suck. And even when healthy, I'm not sure if my voice doesn't suck, but you know what I mean, Like it was, it was rough, and uh, I thought, given that I do talk for three hours a day on a talk show, and I talk a lot. You know Austin, of course he's here today, He's always with us.
Yeah, what's up back.
He's a big he's a big part of the show as well. But you know, I can, I can get to yapping. So probably within one hour of the show, of the three hours, I may talk more and project more than a lot of people do in their entire day, depending on what they do. So me still doing the show. Oh, while dealing with that, the voice was never going to
get better. So I got together with with the brass here, the bosses, and we just decided, look, let's just let's give it an extra day to rest meeting the voice, and hopefully by Monday we'll be rocking and rolling. And that's exactly what is happening right now. I mean, we are rocking and rolling. It's coffee and company.
It sounds like you're over it. Yeah, I'm for the most part. Yeah, I mean I think like every now and then I may have to, you know, blow my nose or something like that.
But overall than the coughing spells, oh yeah, yeah, we won't have any coughing spells today, knock on wood. But I mean, we're good to go, and I really just wanted a normal week. Last week was weird because of the holiday that I wasn't going to take off because we get the camp day option. I ended up taking it because it wasn't feeling well, and then we got the snow, so my kids were out of school in daycare.
I'm very much big in routine, in rhythm, structure, and when it's when it's thrown off, I'm just kind of out of wax. So typically short weeks with holidays, days off, that kind of stuff, it's a good thing. But for me, I'm excited to get another week started here and as far as I know, God willing, it'll be a regular week where we are here with you from three to six Monday through Friday, just like we always are. So thanks for hanging out again. We are fueled by Thornton's.
Make sure you keep Thornton's in mind. You can sign up to become a member of their Refreshing Awards program. And if you do that, you will save money at the gas pump every single time and then after a certain amount of fillups. And it's not just a one time thing, but you can periodically get that twenty five cents off per gallon, which of course is a big saver. So sign up is free. Download the app on the android Google Play Store or the iPhone's Apple App Store,
and again you'll be happy that you signed up. And if you guys want to take us with you wherever you go throughout the day, you can certainly do it.
Listen live on the iHeartRadio app.
Listen live at seven ninety Louisville dot com, and we'll let you know how you can be a part of the show. Got ways for you to interact and join us, and again we'll set that up for you coming up a little bit later on. But I guess we just kind of dive right in here talking about the weekend that was when it comes to college basketball, certainly a lot to unpack with college hoops overall. We are now just you know, I mean, what are we less than
a week away from March? Yeah, I mean it'll be March on Saturday, folks, Which is crazy to think how quickly January and February gone by, but just four regular season games left. I know for Louisville Kentucky, I believe it may be the same thing. So we are rounding out the regular season. I feel like, if you are safely in the tournament now, have a hard time thinking there's anything that could be done that would remove you from the tournament. But you know, Louisville Virginia Tech tomorrow
on the road. Then they finished with three straight home games to wrap up the season, Pittsburgh, California and Stanford. So I mean they're currently in the top twenty of both poles. Now they're up to number nineteen in the APE Pole and number seventeen I believe it is in the coaches polls.
So Lowell's in a good spot.
And now I just hope they can finish wrong and avoid some kind of a loss. And I'm not worried that they're going to slip up and loose to one
of these teams. So you know, it's not that I'm thinking we should be, you know, concerned about seeding that kind of stuff, because I mean, if they just take care of business, win these games about double digits, they'll probably maintain their status and then you get to the ACC tournament and hope that you get an opportunity to get a valuable win against a team like Clemson or Duke.
So Louiell was in a good spot.
But I found myself on Saturday during the Florida State game having to kind of balance the all right, not our best performance, not the best game. You know, defensively Florida State, you know they're not good by any means, but they're also not even close to being one of the worst teams in the league. So like I was doing the thing where I it's almost like I and this is the way it's going to.
Be the rest of the season here in the ACC. Like if Louisville ends up playing closer against Virginia Tech tomorrow night, then maybe we expect because here's what Louisville has done. They've beat the hell out of a lot of teams. Like, They've not just won fourteen of their sixteen ACC games thus far, most of their wins have been enormous or close to it. I mean, Florida State was an eight point victory. You beat Notre Dame by fifteen. You beat NC State by fifteen.
Actually no, you beat them by twenty five, beat Miami by double digits, beat Boston College by close to twenty five or something like that. So it's not just that Louisville has, you know, been able to take advantage of the ACC that's in a spot that a lot of us never thought they would be in like they've really And that's look, I don't if Louisville has the same record, maybe they're still ranked, but I do think that people are paying attention that they are not just running through
this league with just two losses. For the most part, they're beating down teams. And even though these teams that they're beating down aren't very good, it could be a different situation if you're barely getting by. That's where I think you would say, man, they're just they're not any good. It's just the fact that they're playing and allows the ACC.
Which I'm sure you'll find some people that say that, But I just need to realize if Louisville isn't a closer game against Florida State like they were Saturday, when they play when they play Virginia Tech tomorrow, like if this game is if it's a seven eight point game with ten minutes left, I think instantly my mind would be like, all right, what are we doing here?
Are we gonna do?
This?
Is this gonna happen?
And I need to just realize, like, no, like these teams are still I mean, they're not dead. None of these teams you play the rest of the way are any good. But you know, if you don't come ready to play, they may have a good game and surprise you. I doubt that that happens, but I'm going to enjoy the rest of this regular season as best I can because I love watching this team play. But I'm also kind of just ready to see what would happen when
they play a legitimately good team. And I'm not saying that we haven't been able to take legitimate positives from this run that they've been on since January, because I mean, it's it's been phenomenal.
But the reality is, I believe Louisville is as good as a top five seed. Overall. I believe they could be a Sweet sixteen team.
I think what I've watched in the last couple of months has made me feel confident that this is a team that they play well, they'll find themselves in the second weekend.
And the reality is you never know.
But what I'm getting at is, it's just we have to also consider that when they get to the NCAA tournament, and let's say they win their first round game, which, by the way, what are they looking at like a sixth seed right now? I'm gonna pull up the latest bracketsology here, and of course, the first one that comes up that is most recently updated, we've got our man, mister Jerry Palm of CBS Sports. So Louisville is at a seventh seed right now, so they'll play a ten seed in the first round.
Let's say there are seven.
The other tens are San Diego State, Nebraska, West Virginia BYU. But let's say they get let's say they get a six seed. Eleven seeds could be Oklahoma VCU and then the play in games, I guess would be Xavier, Arkansas, Indiana, Wake Forest, those kind of teams. And I'm trying to see the point I'm trying to make is this as much as you know, you maybe you don't care, and I don't care either.
Look the acc stinking it's not good.
I don't like it, but like it has not made me feel like I need to really just you know, not be excited about Louisville. And it's not made me at any point think I need to pump the brakes and say, well, this team really isn't very good.
They're just playing in a bad league. I think both things can be true.
The league is down substantially, but I also think this Louisville team has really rounded into form and when they're playing well, they've got a lot of good pieces, and I think they could be a team again that making the second weekend wouldn't be a big shocker. But one thing that just is worth pointing out is when you get to just your first round game, there's a good chance you're gonna play a team that is better than everybody you've played January on outside of Clemson. Think about that.
So I don't say that to like put anybody on panic, you know, the panic alert. As far as well, Louisville isn't a team that can win games in the tournament. But I just like I I that probably doesn't matter. I hope it doesn't matter. But just know that when they get to that first round game, especially if they're a seven seed, Like, do we think that these ten seeds, you know, Nebraska, I mean even West Virginia BYU who's been playing great lately. I mean, look at teams like Yukon.
Even Yukon could be your ten seed if you're seven, Baylor, Illinois, Gonzaga, New Mexico, those are all teams in that range that you could play in your first round game. And I have confidence that if Louisville played right now against a Gonzaga against New Mexico, they'd win.
I mean, I don't know that for sure.
I don't know enough about those teams specifically to know about matchups, but like, I feel really really good about Louisville, but I also will admit that that would be the biggest test we've seen them have outside of Clemson in the last however many games they've played since January started.
So it makes sense, Austin, Like, I'm not telling anybody that, like, we shouldn't be super excited and feel great about this team, but I think we also just need to be aware that everybody who gets in the tournament from the ACC they're likely going to be playing teams right out of the gate other than Duke, who's going to play, you know, a sixteen, but even Duke, when Duke gets to the second round and they're playing an eight or nine, whether
it be these teams that just mentioned Saint Mary's, Yukon, Vandy, Baylor, Illinois, New Mexico, like in the second round, Duke will be playing probably the best team that they have played, sure in you know, since since January started.
That's just the kind of feeling that I have because I am excited. I mean, we're finally gonna make the tournament again watching these blowout wins, but you also had the caveat in the back of your mind that this is the ACC I'll be at a very down ACC year. So it just, if anything, it just makes me nervous for what other games that we have ahead of March. That's why I wouldn't get myself too excited, even though I know that we have the dudes and hell even
the coach that could probably get us pretty far. But just knowing that we're not ads battle tested.
Yes, as a second round team that we face up again, we still never have to worry about that, right.
Yeah, No, it used to just be a given if you're playing in the acc In previous years, you're playing tournament caliber teams maybe every night, and now that's just not the way it is. So let me try to, I guess, walk you through sort of why my mind is there, because again, I'm going to probably emphasize it more than I need to, because I still have an issue. I haven't recovered from being labeled this negative, awful fan because I just, I mean, I had a job to do.
I had to be honest and talk about how bad things were with Kenny Pain. I know a lot of people agreed, but you know, I seemed like I was a little heavy handed because you know, it's something that we have to talk about. That's quite literally what this job is, talk about college basketball in a Louisville market.
So you know, I think Louisville will be ready.
I think Pat Kelsey's the kind of coach that'll make sure his team is absolutely ready in the tournament. But I worry that Look if they did have an early upset, like again, if they're in a seven to ten game, which is what a lot of people would project it to be right now, and they lose, like I think, because of the ride we've been on since January, fans
would feel like, man, that was such a disappointment. They went to the tournament and they flamed out, And I would be so defensive of that because like, yes and no, like they won a lot of games, right, but really, what you know, there's no way, there's no way to balance it the way I want to, because it's gonna either sound as if like I'm like, if Louisville makes it to the first round and loses in that seven to ten matchup, or maybe they lose in the eight nine,
or who knows, maybe they lose in the six eleven. Because again, like let's just be real, if if Louisville's a six seed and they get one of these play in teams who wins, they could take on Arkansas or Indiana, and you've already beat Indiana. But the way they played yesterday against Perdue, I don't know, they look really good. And Arkansas, I mean, I just wouldn't want to play
a team that talented with nothing to lose. So I'm not saying that Louisville will lose to those teams and I'd be scared of them, But like, I just think given where the ACC is, as much as we feel good about Louisville. We have to acknowledge that when you get to the Big Dance, there's a good chance you're going to be stepping up in competition, and I think Louisville will be ready for that competition. Again, they're not just beating these bad teams in the ACC for the
most part, they're beating them into submission. I mean, they're kicking their ass. But I'm already starting to fear that an early exit in the tournament would be viewed as if Wow, choke job. And I just think that would be so unfair because the reality of it would be this and really, we wouldn't even.
We won't even.
You'll never know, right, Like if you end up losing in a six to eleven game or in a seven to ten game.
It won't mean it won't prove that that well, yeah, you know what, you were not really that good at all. It's just that you play in a lousy league, Like, we won't know that for certain people will probably run with that if that was how it played out, or it could just be that, you know, you were a really good team, but you played a team that had some issues early, they got hot late, found a way
into the big dance and they're riding some momentum. I mean, there's just not a scenario really where I can look at me because I think right now, with this Louisville team, you're getting, for the most part, really the most that you can from most.
Of these guys that play, Like what do we think Chucky Hepburn's not given us that he's holding out on nothing. I mean, same thing with Javon Hadley. I mean sometimes you see Terrence Edwards miss some shots, but I mean like he's I mean I feel like you're But even with all that said, I still don't look at Louisville and feel like, wow, they just have some big talent advantage over Like when I watch Florida State the other night, Louisville was better.
It was clear.
I mean they won the game and it never really got you know, within reach. It got down to six or seven I think it was in the second half. But like, just from a personnel standpoint, I don't look at Florida State and say, wow, they just have players Louisville or Louisville just has players Florida State can't match up with. So there's not a whole lot of room
for air. With this Louisville team, I think that's always been the case all year, and they played really well, especially defensively, during this great stretch, this streak that started at the end of December.
And you know with that, they're dangerous.
Like I think there's a lot of teams that would not want to play Louisville right now. It's just when I look at the tournament landscape here, because again you have teams that the bubble, like wake Forest losing to NC State, who's awful on Saturday, it's probably it probably means wake Forest is going to have a tough time getting in the tournament.
I mean, at least I think that it should.
So just knowing that when you get to the Big Dance, unless you get a I don't know, unless you get.
A five seed, which I guesse is still possible.
Any seed that is realistic right now as we as it stands, I think six and seven most realistic. Eight could happen, but I don't really know how you'd have to lose to a bad team I think to get it to get anything worse than a seven, And I kind of feel like if it goes chalk and let's just say you end up, you know, easier said than Doumble. Let's say you you end up making it to the semis and loose to Clemson and Clemson plays Duke. I don't think that would hurt you to where you would
end up. Like I think at that point you're probably looking at us still at a six at worst. So the eleven seeds, I guess it's more it's more of a debate, right, like is maybe a wake Forest who didn't get in, Maybe they're better than an eleven you would play And really you'll never know. But by the time you get to the second weekend, unless there's been some kind of a big upset your second and not saying I'm sorry not second week in, second round.
Round of thirty two is what I meant to say. By the time you get to the round.
Of thirty two, of course, if you get there, there's just a good chance that whoever you play is probably gonna be again substantially better than everybody you've played in the last two and a half months outside of Clemson.
Doesn't mean Louisville can't beat them. It's just that if they do end up playing one of those teams and it's close and they fall short, I think there's gonna be a level of like wow, all that for round to thirty two, and I'll understand sort of the emotion because it would be a bummer because I want this thing to ride on until I mean hopefully when the whole thing not super realistic, but you know what I mean, And I just would hate for such a fun season, a team that has been so easy to root for,
a team that I just I'm gonna remember them forever.
I love them.
I mean, how many times a day do we text each other Austin and say we love this team?
Almost every day? Yeah, I mean it's there.
I mean I love them, and if they fell short, I'd be disappointed, But like, I just don't want anybody to have any negative energy about.
Like, well, that was all a fluke. The ACC stinks.
Look, the ACC does stink compared to what it typically is, but that's not at this point changed sort of what I think Louisville can do. But it's there's still a big unknown, right if you were going through a conference schedule in the SEC or the Big Ten, you still never know what's gonna happen when you get to the Big dance because you know, it's the tournament, it's March, Madnes, it's anything can happen. But I would feel a little bit more, I guess, solidified in my belief in my team.
I believe in them, I really do. It's just that without opportunities, and it's not like they've done anything wrong, it's just they have the acc is not given the tournament caliber teams. I mean, in fact, think about Clemson, Louisville and Duke, the only safe teams in right now, and yet they've had to for the most part January,
February and into March. Now they're going to be playing teams that give them no benefit on the resume, but also they're not giving them any kind of a realistic test for the tournament, and that's just not a fun place to be.
But you can't control it.
We'll also talk about Kentucky because I mean, I thought their performance against Alabama at Alabama, given you know, their injuries and given Bama's Bama, I don't know. I mean, I'm not really sure what else you'd expect from them.
Now.
With that said, the losses keep piling up, and I guess now the question is are they getting these guys back, Jackson Robinson and what's his name, the guy.
Who lit up Louisville, Lamont Butler.
Those guys like for I think for Kentucky to make a run in the tournament. I mean, I guess it's possible they beat teams without those guys, but man, they're clearly a much better team whenever they're at full strength. And I still think it's a huge question mark if either of those guys come back anytime soon. All right, quick break, we got a lot to get into. It's a Monday. We'll react to the weekend. Coffee and Company,
Nick Coffee. Austin Montgomery with you until 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.
That's right, it is Coffee and Company fuel Beth Thornton's here on Sports Talk seven ninety Nick Coffee.
That's me the tribal chief himself.
Austin Montgomery right alongside Saiday, if you guys want to join us on the show, you can.
Phone lines are now open.
Five oh two, five seven one seventy nine hundred is the number if you want to give us a call. You can text in on the Ellen and Federal Credit Union text line at five O two six five three zero seven ninety and we'll get back into the Louisville matchup. Well, do we really need to? I do have some thoughts on the Florida State game, which I'll share in just a moment. I mean, it's it's kind of in the rearview already, and I I'm not gonna nitpick or complain
because clearly there's still some great things you're seeing. Chucky Hepburn break in another record rain Smith doing what Rain Smith does, so you know, but with this game that they just finished, and of course the rest of the ones, you can still get better. You can still I mean, look,
I'm gonna love watching every second of them playing. It's just I realize, as I talked about to begin to begin the show now that these are games that Louisville really is just taking care of business and that's all
you can do. And I'm not ready to fast forward anything, right I want I want to hit pause and just enjoy knowing that Louisville basketball last few years has been one of the most embarrassing programs in the country at a place nobody ever thought we'd see Louisville basketball at and now we're in the top twenty of both poles, safely in the tournament.
Again, I want to hit pause.
This is intoxicating, this is awesome, but I just kind of, you know, we.
Know what it is.
Let's get these bums out of the way the rest of the way in the ACC and see where we end up on selection Sunday and hopefully ride some magic. So I'm kind of in a I'm kind of contradicting myself clearly, because you know, I don't want to have this potentially come to an end anytime soon. But I also just, man, I've got such a desperation to know where Louisville stands, right Like, I think they're pretty damn good. I don't really need, you know, I don't really need it.
I mean, it's not like I need them to beat a top five team for me to feel like they're any good at all. But I just one of the things that I I.
Don't think I'm different than anybody else.
Maybe it's just because you know, I have a platform like this one, and I you know, I speak to you guys coming from a the position of a diehard fan, so you know, I'll take it any way I can get it as far as my team winning and having success. But man, there's I love knowing that there's something on the line and there's value, and clearly beating the teams the way you're beating them has allowed you to get a really good record at this point, and that's got value.
You're in the top twenties, so clearly things are going well. But I just would love to see this team play another really good team, and you know, just just because, not because like I needed to feel good.
It's just I feel like they'd.
Win and I want that, right, I'm I'm kind of numbed to now, just you know, knocking off these bozo teams that are.
In a bad way.
Now, with that said, I think it'd be even harder for Louisville fans if we hadn't gone through the previous few seasons meeting. I think anytime you start to feel like, all right, yeah, I guess we play play Virginia Tech tonight. They're allowsy and look they can beach. If you don't
play well, you don't come ready to play. We know that, but I think this team's also kind of proven that they will come ready to play because they're they're mature, Like they're not gonna you know, they're not gonna look past opponents that kind of stuff. So anyways, I feel like if they were to play a really good team next week, they beat them. I don't know that for certain, but I guess more than anything, I just have a desperation to see them in action.
All right.
So on the Kentucky side of things, you know, they're game against Alabama. I don't really know if their fans were like expecting them to win. And I really feel like it's been a weird year for uh, for for Kentucky all the way around, because one they just have I mean, they don't have any bad losses really, I mean as of right now, when you look at I mean, let's see, when you look at their worst loss, I mean, it's got to be Georgia, right that would be my
it'd be my guess. Yeah, Kentucky's worst loss right now is to Georgia, who is at number forty five in the in the Ken Pom. Everybody else is higher than that. So they have no bad losses. Arkansas, Vandy, those are
bubble type teams. Maybe they don't get in, but still those aren't bad losses, and then you know you've got wins against Gonzaga, that wind doesn't look nearly as good, which, by the way, with all these jobs in the ACC opening up, with Indiana already opened up, now might be the time to pick up the phone and call Mark for you, Like I think now maybe the time where.
You could you could get him away.
But anyways, you know, they beat Duke, but I'm not sure that matchup would play out the same if they played him now compared to what it looked like on
November twelfth. So I'm not like setting anything up to like Dog Kentucky, but like if I was in their shoes as a fan, I wouldn't really know how to feel about my team because I think you know that you've been able to pull off some pretty tough victories when you're not at full strength, but you also know that that's not as expected when you're not when you.
Play I mean Tennessee. The sweep of Tennessee, I suppose.
Is really the real outlier on their schedule to where they were able to do that being really shorthanded. But the other wins they have that of course you know, have legitimate value. I mean, in fact, looking at it now, their best when outside of Tennessee in twenty twenty five would be they beat Florida that was on January for but they were more strengthen, or at least close to it. I think Cresa was the only guy that they were missing. So again I feel like assessing sort of what they
did against Bama. For me, I'm like, yeah, they clearly were not as good as Bama and lost by thirteen, kind of what you'd expect against a really good Bama team at their place when Kentucky shorthanded. But if they played when they're healthy, maybe it'll be a different game. Well maybe, but then again, like will they be healthy?
Like I haven't paid as much attention as I'm sure Kentucky fans have, and I probably should have, but today I haven't been able to listen to see if there was any kind of an update, But like.
Are they getting those guys back?
You know, clearly their ceiling is not as high if they don't have Lamont Butler and Jackson Robinson. And you know with Jackson Robinson looks like he's still got something on his wrist.
So anyways, we'll talk a little.
Bit more about sort of both teams as far as what the most likely scenario is on selection Sunday for them, and I guess maybe worst case, best case, because I still think Kentucky is in no position to where they got to worry about missing the tournament.
I think they could lose out and still get in.
You obviously wouldn't want to do that, but I just think at this point, the bubble being what it is, there are teams that are so far from the bubble that again, they could lose a lot and probably still make their way into the big dance. All right, Five two, five seventy nine hundred is the number again. If you guys want to jump in and give us a call, we'll start things off here by welcoming in, lou lou.
How are you doing this afternoon, sir?
Good Nick. Let's have a little fun here and play what if Okay, let's do it all right, Louisville wins out, win's the ACC tournament. I say we're at least at two seed. What do you say, man?
If they went out?
That would include a win against Duke, which right now only three teams can claim they have that. I think if you beat Clemson in Duke, those and that's where it gets tricky, Lou, I think two seed is probably a little I'd say three seed is the highest just because they're just I mean, they'd have a gaudy record, and if you have a second place finish in the regular season and you win the tournament, there'll be a
lot of value there. I just think every team you're gonna play the rest of the season, and probably every team you're gonna play until you get to Clemson in the semis, there's just not.
A whole lot of value. So I would say three is the best that maybe they could get. But you may be right.
You may be right that it's a two because at that point they would have finished with a record of let's see, that would put them at twenty five and six in the regular season, and then the ACC tournament, I think they'd only end up playing three games because they're gonna clearly get a double buy so that would make them eight and six. But they do get two
real more valuable wins. That would give them two against Clemson and then of course a split with Duke, So maybe maybe a two is I think at that point, I think putting them at a two would not be crazy at all. But I think what it would come down to, lou is the committee. Would they be willing to give, you know, an SEC team with six conference losses a two seed ahead of a Louisville team that's twenty you know, twenty eight and six overall or something like that.
So, uh right, A lot of it depends on what other teams did. Sure, here's one thing that I really don't like about the way they see this ternament anymore. Used to be several years ago they would consider who's hot in February and March, and that would be like a you know, a pretty big factory, sure, playing really well. But now they say, well, these November wins are just as good as something in late February, which is full crap, but it is what it is. I appreciate you showing there.
Thank you, Thanks, lou appreciate it. Yeah, So.
I think the best way, and I don't really know how you would put it into you know, I don't know how you put it into words and express it to everybody within the NCAA to where they would know for sure the exact way you're measuring it.
Because it's hard to measure.
I think every game should matter, right, like if you like, for example, Kentucky, they beat Duke, like that should matter. But we also can't lie to ourselves and act like that win is the same thing as if they beat Duke over the weekend. I mean, Illinois is a pretty good team in my opinion, I don't know how good they are, but they're pretty good. I mean they're to me, Illinois is easily a top twenty five team. I mean they're safely in the tournament, although they have lost three
in a row. But like Duke couldn't named the score against them on Saturday in that neutral site game, Duke beat them one on one to sixty seven, so you know, to lose point, they no longer really emphasize where you are like now, So again I think you know again, I can't give you the exact way you would. You would measure it each and make it to where it evens out. But we all know beating a certain you know, beating anybody in November, you should it still counts, right,
it's a real game. But beating them when they're closer to the turn, closer to the ending the season, like that's when the team is more rounded in the form. But you could also but again, like there's so much of this that's the human element, the eye test, that kind of stuff, to where it's really not a metric,
a quad or a formula. It's just all right, look, I know that you know, for example, like this is maybe a little bit of a little hypothetical type example here, like Tennessee is still a really good team.
They're twenty two and five. Like let's say Louisville.
You know they beat Tennessee earlier this year. Well, let me back up, that wouldn't have been that would not even have been a good example. But there are certain teams that fall what I was trying to say, there certain.
Teams that fall apart.
Like you beat a team early on in the year and they were really, really good, and then you play them late in the year and they've fallen apart. Like clearly, anybody who watches these teams play and he keeps up with college basketball would know, hey, I'm not as impressed by you beating them when they were at this point than they were at that point. And again, you can't
control that. It's out of your control. But I do think to lose point you should value every game, but what where you are I think, like in the last month or so is a bigger I mean, it's it's just the reality of the situation, meaning like, yeah, that team in November is clearly not the team they are.
Now in late February, early March.
And that could be the case because they're much better, or maybe they got they've gotten a lot worse. And they also used to not really factor in the.
Margin of victory.
Well now it's quite clear, like you, I mean, and I hate this, and I probably should mention this more than I do. But when it comes to needing to beat certain teams by a certain margin in order to not fall in the net or the kin palm, I know that that's really dumb. But I just I also know that that's been the way it's been for a
long time, and everybody knows that. And if you were operating a schedule, or if you're leading a college basketball program, and or you're coaching i mean coaches, ads, whoever makes the schedule and whoever coaches the games, if you're not mindful of that, now, given that it's been many years since that's been in place, you're not doing your job.
Like I use the example all the time, Wake Forest, Whoever's like, that's that's in competence to put yourself in a position where you have, you know, a pretty good record like wake Forest. Right now, depending on where you look, they're like the last team in or they're one of the first four out. And I swear to you they have only themselves to blame for that because they you know,
they're nineteen and eight. They do have two losses in the last three that absolutely makes it tougher to I think justify putting them in because they lost it to NC State and they lost it home to Florida State. So but they did beat SMU which on the road, which was a somewhat a valuable in between there. But like when you play the three hundreds teams in the three hundreds one, that's stupid to play them anyway, but
you have to know, we gotta beat them bad. If we don't, we're probably gonna be like it's gonna it's gonna like it's gonna linger on our resume. And that's exactly what's happened with wake Forest. So again, I know that it's stupid, but it's the way it is. And you gotta you gotta be mindful of that in every in every way. So and I think Pat Kelsey somebody asked the question last week, which I think it's probably
a little bit of both. But they asked me, do you think Louisville is beating down these teams in acc play more so just because they're that much better, or because, you know, Pat Kelsey is emphasizing we need to go out there and win by this number. I don't think he's doing that as far as telling them, you know,
we gotta win by this this amount. But I think everybody collectively knows that when like, for example, when you play Louisville's got Virginia Tech tomorrow, the kin palm projection as you win that game by eleven, I mean, if you win by six, it's not gonna kill you, but you might it might drop you outside the top twenty five in the net. I know that stupid, but that's
just that's how that's that's the way they do it. Now, if you play you know, you've got Pittsburgh and Home on Saturday, you're projected to win that one by eight. Eighty to seventy two is the projected score. If you were to somehow win that game by thirty three, and I'm not saying they will. That would also probably bump you up in the metrics a little bit more than
it probably should. So like, you can manipulate this and I'll give you real quick and I'll stop nerding out on numbers, I promise you, and then we'll go to break.
But there's different ways to go about it.
One team that manipulates the net and the quad system in a much different way is Iowa State. So, Iowa State, where are they at? I mean they yeah, they're number eight in the kin Pom right now. They're sitting at twenty one and six their losses. Their first loss was to Auburn, who is one of the best, if not, I mean Auburn is the best team in the country right now. But then they played Mississippi Valley State beat them eighty three to forty four, played IU Indie beat
them eighty seven to fifty two. So they're strategically scheduling these teams with the belief that, all right, we're gonna put them on the schedule, but we know we got to double them up and if you do that, it'll really help.
You in the metrics.
So there's a lot of different ways to go about it, but you just have to be mindful of it. And I think again, one of the reasons why Louisville has such a good net and such a good kin Pom despite having no real signature win is because when they play the bad teams in their league, for the most part, they're crushing them, which is all you can do.
Right quick break, we'll.
Come back on the other side. Can we talk about what's going on in the city of Louisville. I mean, we have this conversation on this show, not that often, but like every now and then. It's worth talking about because you know, the majority of people who listen to this live in Kentucky, Anda, and like, why has this place become so dangerous? I mean, the murders that took place at the driver's license bureau last week.
Like insanity.
Those things shouldn't never happen, but God forbid if they do. I'd like to live in a world where that would still give me a lot of shock. Like wow, But now, man, I don't know if that really surprises me that those kind of things happen. It's tragic, but man, we got to clean it up. Somehow quick break It's coffee and company. Feel about Thornton's on Sports Talk seven.
Ninety Now back to Coffee and Company, fueled by Thornton's on Sports Talk seven nine day.
So, one man, two women killed in a shooting on Friday outside of the Louisville Driver's License branch on Dixie Highway, and just a tragic situation. I mean, I don't know anybody who would hear this and not think.
All that's terrible. But how surprising is it? I mean maybe.
The way it happened in a place like that, maybe that's a real rarity. I mean, it is, that's not I would imagine that that's not a place that you know that something like that's happened at before. But man, just thinking of how often you know, you pop open social media, turn on the new like again, you don't have to be looking for it. I feel like it'd be hard. Maybe I'm wrong. I do do work for a company called iHeartMedia, so it's kind of our job to kind of be up to date with what's going on.
But I feel like even if you're trying to distract yourself from how dangerous.
Louisville it can be.
I don't know if you'd be able to do it, and I'm not really sure that you should, because you should be you should be well aware that you're in a city that really anywhere I mean, you know, obviously there are certain places that have a higher rate of crime that kind of stuff, but I know, the south end Dixie Highway again, anywhere in Louisville you can find, I mean, prospect, there's there's probably been a murder that's happened in the last couple of years that nobody would
have expected. But what I'm getting at it's like these are areas that you wouldn't think that like anything like that would happen, but when it does, there's still a level of like what the hell, But then also like, well, yeah, you know we are I mean, I don't know what.
Yeah.
Right now, if you look at in twenty twenty five, which we're about to wrap up the second month of the calendar year. This is from WDRB, after just two reported homicides in the first half of February, there now have been at least non people killed in the last week in Louisville.
That was as of Saturday night.
And I'm sure and in fact, I think I just saw there was another person shot and killed last night in Louisville, So separate shootings, just people killing people, and it's and it's awful, and I know when that happens, you know, you're angry.
You want to figure out how we can fix it.
And I would be a fool to try to tell you that I have like the answer, because I don't. And ultimately, when you want to blame somebody, I mean, if you really have a time knowing who to blame, just blame the person who is the awful human that
did the unthinkable act. But as far as sort of how it happened, because look, we know there are a lot of bad people walk in the earth, but you know what, a lot of them that have proven to be dangerous and violent and a threat to others, you would think they're where in jail or you know, maybe prison and what really can No, I don't know how you fix it. I'm not smart enough to know. But one thing that, like you just can't have become a
non surprising thing to hear, but it has. It's starting to get there, and that is that when you figure out some you know, when you figure out who they arrested and charged with doing something unthinkable like killing somebody or killing multiple people.
You'll read about his recent.
Arrest record charges from all activity in the last you know, I don't know, sometimes within a few months, like people that have proven to be very dangerous to us, why are they not in jail?
Why are they out on bond?
Like that's one of those things where it's like, I don't know what the fix is, but like, let's stop letting people out on bond, or maybe you know, give them no bond, maybe make the bond a certain amount to where they can't get out.
But we've had way.
Too many in the in the last couple of years, not even really, I mean seemingly more so in like the last I don't know, a year or so to where you see something awful happening and then you realize, yeah, that that person should not have been out, that person should have been in jail long ago. And that's where it really you know, for me, is somebody who lives in the Louisville I mean I've lived here my whole life.
I mean technically I live now in Bullet County, but I can I can walk out of my house and go on a quick run and be in Jefferson County and you know, I consider LOLC from my home.
I always have, always will.
But you feel helpless knowing that, Yeah, the judges and you know, the judicial system, the criminal justice system, they knew that the guy or girl who committed this act that took someone's life, they knew they've already done something that was a pretty big red flag of like, yeah, might want to not have that person out roaming with the rest of society.
Like they knew it. It wasn't somebody that just woke.
Up one day and became a murderer, and yet they were available to go commit an unthinkable act again probably you know, ends up being the last one they'll do because this will lead to them actually, you know, if they get convicted and they go through that process, they're probably going to go to prison for the rest of their life. Are close to it, but like they shouldn't have had the opportunity to take.
More lives.
Or you know, somebody that has had four or five DUI's and then they get the DUI where they kill somebody, Like, what are we doing again?
I know that there's certain things you like you have.
To follow what you were allowed to do as far as the law, and I know that some of these people have really really you know, really great lawyers, but like that that to me, you know again, I'm I'm kind of dipping a little bit outside my lane here as far as talking about something we don't typically talk about. But that that's like the looking around, like what so
we knew this person was a threat to society. We knew this person had already you know, had a had one endangerment charges or assaught one charges or attempted murder charges, or they were out awaiting trial for you know, another serious offense. But while awaiting trial, they did something even worse than they were awaiting trial for. Like again, I'm not pointing the finger any specific part of our local government or the judicial system, but that just that doesn't
that that don't makes sense, doesn't make sense. So anyways, that's that's that's the that's the only you know, serious type of talk you're gonna get today. I mean, we're gonna be serious and have fun and whatnot. But you know, that just kind of felt like not really what this
show is. But it's a big deal. I Mean, again, a lot of people around here, this is this is this is our home, and it's just crazy seeing so many people end up getting caught and you realize, oh wow, this isn't even the first, maybe the second time they've done something really violent and reckless, and yet why were they not in jail?
Our two hours left, it's coffee and company.
We are feel about Thornton's right here on Sports Talk seven to ninety