2.5: Bouncing Back - Hour 2

I got up gross right, three thirty am. That's when I woke up, and I took a shower, hit the road and came in here and filled in for Tony Cruz was on from five to nine AM on News Rady eight to forty whas And I've been tired here in stretches throughout the day, but I've been able to kind of sit and rest without falling asleep. And then I get not re energized because that's a stretch. But to where I'm you know, I'm better after just sitting and kind of letting, not only you know, physically just

to rest, but I mean just mentally resting. But for some reason, I just literally during the break was like, wait, wait where am I? I'm My brain is a soggy pretzel right now. But we'll finish strong. That's all we can do. But it is coffee and company and we are fueled by Thornton's. It's not Thursday, it's Wednesday. And I didn't want to take another extra energy drink because

I want to be able to fall asleep tonight. And last night, I mean I had the ultimate you know, hey, you better go to sleep, you gotta get up early, you better go to sleep. So what happens you think about it NonStop and you can't fall asleep. So I didn't end up falling asleep until about one fifteen last night, and I got up at three thirty. So I'm on a couple of hours sleep, And honestly, I'm tired, but I'm not as tired as I thought I would be.

to the winning ways. I mean, I guess that's accurate. If they do win tonight, they're gonna be winning once again. But I really don't think that they're lost to Georgia Tech was a game where they they took steps backwards, right, I mean technically they did, because they lost and free throw shooting is an issue and clearly they didn't get enough stops and really didn't execute well.

But Georgia Tech can get hot and do that to other good teams too, and they proved that last night. Boston College is not a team that I believe is going to be a real threat, and if they are, I mean that's an issue, right. I mean, Boston College is bad, Like they're not a good team at all though, the worst team in the ACC in every metric, And I guess that's exactly what you would want whenever you're

coming off of a loss, all right. Rick Pottino last night really seemed to have his biggest moment so far at Saint John's. They sold out the Garden. Marquett the two hottest teams in the Big East, at least the two teams with the best record in the Big East. I think Marquette has now lost to in a row, but still that was a big game and Rick Patino's

team got it done. They're currently sitting twenty and three overall, and I don't think they've got I mean, they will play at Marquette to close out the regular season, but the rest of the way, I mean, they look like they're going to be in good shape now. They play Yukon twice. They've got them on the road coming up tomorrow or I'm sorry, Friday night, which should be a great game by the way, and then they'll also play

Yukon at home. So to be fair, they have gone through I guess the lighter stretch of the Big East thus far. But I've watched them enough in the last couple of weeks to know that they're playing really well. And Rick Patino has proven to be a really, really good coach. So again, last night kind of felt like the moment where the chatter, the noise about the job he's doing in just his second season at Saint John's

became louder than it's ever been. And what I think nobody is really acknowledged when it comes to Rick Patino in how impressive he has been as a coach, is that Rick has been elite. He's won championships in different eras when really the game is a lot different. I mean, he was a big innovator of the three point line

at Kentucky. Obviously that was a big factor. And when they got it rolling there three point shots, and obviously he brought in a load of talent when he was there at Kentucky, and then when he comes back to Louisville still really emphasizing the three point line. Taekwondin, Francisco Garcia, Alario Bannon twenty year anniversary for that Final four team this year, which again they're going to be honoring that

group on Saturday when they host Miami. But his first Final Four at Louisville, I feel like you still could see he was a guy that was going to really pressure you want to play fast, really good after you defensively, but man, really just take advantage of the three point line, and it worked.

not fun to watch. It was fun to watch Tea will get loose and dunk on somebody in transition, and they had games where Jerry Smith would make a bunch of threes. But really they were elite because they would lock you down defensively and they didn't necessarily play insanely fast. So you know, he didn't have a great shooting team. I think the percentages weren't great and they didn't score. I mean they had games where they scored like sixty two points. So that was Rick winning and he never

broke through and got to a final four. But those two teams two thousand and eight and two thousand and nine, those are really good teams, and Louisville was won. Those were two of the best teams in the country that year.

So then at Louisville in not really a different era, but twenty twelve to two thousand and I'd say seventeen was a great run for Rick and he won a title, got to a couple of final fours, and you know, it's a different game then than it was when he did it in the nineties at Kentucky or when he did it Providence when the three point line was like invented.

So here he is now at Saint John's and he hasn't really done anything yet as far as the accomplishments that really matter, because Rick Patino having a twenty and three start is not a surprise. He's Rick Patino, and he knows that you get your real value in the NAA tournament and he's already And by the way, if you look at the coaches with the most wins in NAA tournament games that are active. The leader is Bill

I'm sorry. The leaders Cali Perry with fifty seven. Bill self did uh, how far did Kansas go last year in the tournament? IM gonna have to look this up because this what I'm referencing is this actually came out last year before the tournament, and I think, in fact, I think Kansas lost. I believe, Yeah, they lost in the round to thirty two. So he added one more. Cal of course did not get a tournament win last year thanks to Oakland. So Bill self has fifty six.

Cal has fifty seven. Tom Izzo has I believe, I believe he's also I think Tom Mizzo may be tied with Bill Self. So again tom Izzo is he has Let's see, so Izzo has fifty six, just like Bill self. So Cale has the lead at fifty seven. Bill self has fifty six, and Tom Mizzo has fifty six, and then and then Rick Patino has fifty four, so he's he's right behind those three guys. And keep in mind

he didn't coach college for a long time. When he went to the Boston Celtics, and he also didn't coach college for a long time whenever he got fired at Louisville. I mean I shouldn't say a long time, but you include the years he wasn't coaching at when he was at the Celtics, in the years he wasn't coaching after he left Louisville. I mean, that's still a big chunk. And all those guys that I just mentioned in that

amount of time they were coaching. So like if you really, you know, if you just base it off of like the winning percentage you have in the tournament, and I'm sure if you crunch those numbers, he might be first and this would be.

eighty three. Didn't win, but he made the tournament. So Rick Patino is about to take his sixth team to the NAA tournament.

great he is as a coach. But right now it seems to be that people are just you know, the conversation. Maybe not as much locally, but just in college basketball, nobody forgot he was great. Nobody would tell you that he wasn't great. But what he's doing now, I think it's a real reminder of how successful he has been, and I think if he's able to really break through and make a Final four at Saint John's easier said than done, right, I mean, you can have a great team and not make the final four.

needed to succeed regardless of the changing landscape. And that, actually, I think is what makes him more impressive than anything. I mean, Nick Saban, he went from being a guy that was content and he knew he could win six to three because you know, that's all it took. Whenever he could just load up a defense and run the ball and not need a quarterback to do much of anything.

I remember some of those matchups between LSU and Bama where it was like number one verse number two or number one verse number three, and I mean they weren't. They weren't big time scoring games by any means. Well, then the game changed, right Like Nick Saban knew, Okay, I've got to adapt in a ball because nowadays they're throwing it all over the yard. You got to be able to score some points. So he hired an offensive

coordinator and made some adjustments. And you know, coaches that are willing to adapt regardless of what's going on and succeed that that's easier said than done. And you got to keep in mind, look at all of the coaches that are sort of from the Patino I wouldn't say era, but just you know the ogs, right like cal and Rick. I think Bill Selp he's the younger og, but he's certainly been doing it in a long time and he's

really successful. Tom Izzo, all the other guys I feel like have have have kind of left, right, Like, there's not many guys left that you know, you would include is not only a great college basketball coach right now in the current scheme of things, but guys that have you know, have done this decades and proven to be great that if they called it quits now, we'd still look back and say, man, that was one of the best college basketball coaches of his generation. A lot of

those guys have not been able to adjust. They've complained, and they've sometimes just quit and walked away because they couldn't even if they tried. Maybe they tried and didn't work, or maybe they were stubborn and they refused to adjust. Whatever it may be like, that's what Rick, that's where he, in my opinion, looks the most impressive. And you know, just not something I hear a lot of people really mention that. You know, the wins are there, right, the

tournament runs are there, we all know that. But to do it in multiple different decades when clearly the game has changed quite a bit when he took that Providence team to the Final four in nineteen eighty seven, A lot has changed in college basketball many different times throughout And here we are in twenty twenty five and he's got a nineteen and thirteen that looks like they're going to be in good shape to maybe win the Big East.

And I'm not doing this to you know, kiss his rear end and act like you know, he should still be our coach, but you know he's He's a hell of a coach. There's no doubt about that. All right, quick break, We'll come back and keep this thing rolling along as I'm trying to rally through here, and I'll be good. I'm not gonna, you know, like fall asleep or anything. But it did absolutely hit me recently that I've been up since three point thirty in the morning on two hours sleep roughly.

because it's hands for Luck. Also Ron Rivera, you heard there during the update from our national anchor that he's going to be going to cal to do it. And it's one of those positions that I really wouldn't be shocked what they pay for that, because it's really important.

I mean, if that role is to be instrumental in helping raise the funds and then sort of managing the funds you have for your roster, communicating with the players and their representatives, because that's what the coaches really hate. I'm sure they hate all of it. Even the coaches that embrace it and act like it's great and their happy players are getting paid. I mean, some of them are probably lying and they just know that if they come off as anti player, then they probably won't have

great success at getting players. So, you know, but the guys who have actually called it quits and said they're done with it. It sounds like what really was a factor in them just walking away was having to deal with agents who aren't really agents. They're just you know, I mean, they're not certified. They can't represent real professional players. They're just guys who you know, got a sports administration degree and started DM and players saying hey, let me represent you.

And by the way, I'm not exaggerating, that's absolutely what has happened with some of these guys. And they're getting terrible advice from these unqualified people. They're giving up way more money than a real agent actually gives up. So you know, if you've got somebody that's GA, they can weed that stuff out and really they can take care of the stuff that like coaches would never want to do. So. I do think though there are some coaches that are

just it's more so your personality. They're more hands on to where they would have a tough time Like for example, I think Jeff Brom's fine with handling a lot of this stuff himself. I think his personality is one to where he's pretty good at being direct, which sees what you get with players, to where you know he can be pretty open about what you know, what Louel will can do for somebody when it comes to taking care of him. Again, there's certain things that you are and

aren't allowed to do. But I'm not sure people even in the world of college athletics, you know, coaches, are they even clear on what they are and aren't allowed to do, because I swear I feel like there are things that have just become openly talked about when it comes to player you know, coaches having conversations with players about nil. But yet, like, isn't that actually against the rules?

Like nobody knows what you are and aren't allowed to do, And the NCAA has never seemed less legitimate as far as being able to actually have any control over anything. So with these new positions, it really is going to be super important. Therefore, it may be a position you pay somebody more money than you're paying anybody other than your head coach. I mean, I don't know if that's how it's gonna shake out, but let me give you an example. So in basketball, Carolina is a mess, right.

They're having a very bad year under Hubert Davis for the Carolina Standard. They're not going to make the tournament I guess they might. I guess technically they're still a lot, but I'll be honest with you, it's a better look if they make the tournament and the ACC needs all the teams they can get. But I can't tell you with this straight face the Carolina belongs in the tournament because they're a mediocre ACC team in a year where the ACC stinks out loud like they're not good. I

wish they were. And they're also a team that just pisses me off because they're also talented enough to where they might mess around, play well and beat anybody in the league or anybody in college basketball. It's one of the things where I'll kind of believe it when I see it. But what I'm getting at is like they could beat you in the Instubble or they could beat you in the ACC Tournament because they've got elite talent, but because they stunk it up all regular season, it'll

be a bad loss for somebody. Like That's where that what's for the ACC is just irritating, like Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh should be a tournament team. They're not going to be because you know why they keep losing. So anyways, Carolina, they went within the family, right, they elevated Hubert Davis, and I believe despite making a championship appearance, I don't think he's done good enough to where he should feel secure in his job. He's got the rest of the

season to finish it. But what he said recently, and I guess the reporting that's going on in Carolina make it seem as if they're not making any kind of move because Hubert Davis, I guess, understands that his results

aren't great enough. So in his coaches Shows radio show, he talked about how they tried to do it the Carolina way like they always do right, you know, clearly know that nil is a factor, but really sell Hey, yeah, you can get more money maybe here or there, but look, this is North Carolina and that doesn't all that really doesn't always work. In fact, I don't think it does work. And to be honest, Calipari not Callibarry, but Mark Pope

has sort of that same mindset. Clearly they're going to be competitive in il a'ts Kentucky basketball, but he believes that what Kentucky can provide can be the kicker that gets guys over other elite programs that are offering more money, and so far he does have a really talented group of players.

that connection to Kentucky. So I kind of feel like Hubert Davis on his radio show was essentially acknowledging, Yeah, I'm gonna keep my job, but we got to bring in some help because I'm trying to do it the Carolina way and it's just not working anymore. So the reported candidate for this job, the GM of North Carolina Basketball,

is apparently let's see and I'll read here. This is the quote, yeah, quote from Shubert Davis on his radio show, and he was speaking about Carolina making plans to increase their staff and hire a GM. Quote the old model for Carolina basketball just doesn't work. It's not sustainable. So one of the names mentioned for this job is Buzz Peterson. If you remember former was he a teammate a Jordan. I think he was back at Carolina back in the day.

Obviously he coached at Tennessee and I think he coached at Coastal Carolina. He's been a coach, and he's got a lot of Carolina connections. And look, Carolina, man, they're consistent. They keep it in the family with their head coaches, and their entire staff is former North Carolina players or former Carolina like you know, or guys who've been around forever as an assistant on Roy's staff or I mean,

I doubt there's anybody left from Dean Smiths staff. But nonetheless, another candidate that apparently is is now the guy that people think is going to get this job is a guy named Jim Tanner, and he is a veteran sports agent. He's the founder of an agency called Tandem Sports, and he's represented Hall of Fame players like Grant Hill, Tim Duncan,

Ray Allen, a lot of other big names. He's negotiated tw hundred and ninety one million dollars worth of contracts according to Forbes, and of course he's a graduate of UNC. So I'm just thinking, this guy, if he's going to take this job when he's already a super successful agent. Yeah, he's Carolina, he's family, he's an alum, but he's also going to need a lot of money. Right, So are we going to be in a spot where successful agents

decide to take these GM jobs. I kind of feel like, why would you do that when you can kind of just be an agent. And when you're an agent, you work for your clients as far as you know what's best for them, but overall you kind of work for yourself. Well, right, maybe you work for an agency, but I mean to me, it's kind of like being a real estate agent in a way. So I think you're going to see a lot of those kind of hires made, and it wouldn't shock me if they're gonna make a ton of money,

because again, that's a very important position. But one thing to keep in mind, I think there are certain coaches that are a little more hands on, maybe even dare I say, their control freaks, to where they're just gonna want to be that wrapped up in it. And I think those are the guys that you really you know, and I think Louisville for the most part here with Pat Kelsey and Jeff Brohm, they are guys that I think all they want to do is succeed. All they

know is coach and ball. So there's really not a mindset to complain about where we are with college athletics and how it's not regulated and we need more guardrails and all that Stuff's true, by the way, but like these guys don't even give a second to complain about it. They just try to adapt and figure out how they can succeed with the ever chain landscape of college sports.

So you may not see it around here, but if you do, I won't I won't be shocked, because again, it's an important, very very important thing.

is kind of huge. I'm not worried because I just I expect this team to come out and play well and win.

too high and never too low at any point. And I don't think their loss to Georgia Tech was anything related. I don't think it happened because they were feeling themselves and they were just you know, riding high and started to read all the good stuff that everybody was saying about them as a team and their coach. I just think they got beat by a team that took advantage of your mistakes miss free throws, and they made big

shots when it counted. And again they got some momentum right now, meaning Georgia tack.

what it is like. You've got a lot to lose from now and to the end of the regular seat and really not much the game, and that's just not a fun place to be in. But all you can do is play who's on the schedule, take care of business, and I think they do that tonight. And I've said for a while now, I don't think Pat Kelsey's somebody.

He left Wisconsin after three good years there and he took a slight step back as far as his role in his third season, aj Stores kind of kind of became the guy for Wisconsin and he transfers to Kansas and barely plays, Like was the leading scorer for Wisconsin, one of the better guards in the Big Ten last year, and now he barely gets I mean I shouldn't he barely plays, but he is a bench player and not a big factor in Kansas in any way.

And he still does that, but he's clearly turned it on and been more aggressive as a scorer since they had some injuries, and it's turned into him being I think one of the best point guards in the country. So, I mean, Chucky I think has had some real genuine reasons to be motivated to prove to people that hey, I'm better than you guys know, I'm better than you guys are giving me credit for. So I think he's already kind of wired that way, and that's healthy, right.

I think staying competitive, staying you know, motivated, to always proved to people and really prove yourself even that you're you know you're that. I mean, that's a key component I think to being a good player, other than, of course, you know, having talent. Chucky certainly has that. But we now have back to back days where my man Chuck is getting disrespected. Yesterday it was the Bob Coosey Award

finalist list that came out. He's not one of the ten finalists, and there are a couple of guys that I don't think below on their ahead of Chucky. But either way, you can't look at his numbers and what he's doing and say that he's not one of the best ten point guards and one of the most deserving

guys for that award. I mean, you can't put everybody on it, but I mean it did become sort of a I don't want act like it was one of the bigger storylines in college basketball, because that would be a stretch, but a lot of folks looking at that list saying, man, somebody's missing and it's Chuckie Hepburn, and I don't mean just Louisville fans saying it. So anyways, we now have another list that Chucky Hepburn is not on, and I don't know what else this guy can do.

I mean, I say this tongue in cheek, meaning I want people to understand this is a bad joke, but it's also kind of true. The bad joke part of it was when I said Pat Kelsey is holding Chucky back. That's ridiculous. I don't believe that in any way.

putting together a ten game winning streak. I do believe there's a chance that that has led to people not realizing that he has a point guard that has been really, really good, right because the attention and again to every bit of attention and praise that Pat Kelsey's getting, I think is deserved, but I think it might have actually kept people from, you know, taking a look at statistically

what Chucky is doing. But Naysmith Defensive Player of the Year watch list came out today and Chucky's not on it.

I mean, again, maybe I'm wrong here. I don't believe that people are out there saying he's not good and he's not deserving. I kind of think they're just sleeping on him, as they say. And maybe it's because Louisville hasn't been relevant in a few years, or maybe it's because when they think of Louisville they just think, Wow, this Pat Kelsey guy, he's doing a great job. Many seems high in it. He seems like a really good fit for Louisville, and all that's true, But my man,

Chucky like to see. I mean, Lamont Butler's on this list, and yeah, he's a good defender, but like he may not play getting the rest of the season. I mean, it's Ace Baldwin guy for Penn State has now been on two lists that Chucky's not on, and Penn State thinks out.

teams even when they're short handed. But obviously they've now lost four out of five, and I don't think their fan base is turning on him, but clearly, you know, this is the roughest stretch of his early career at Kentucky.

But somebody on Twitter asked if it really fell apart and they were to kind of flame out this year and then next year they're just not very good, which again I don't see either of those things happening, But if it did, and like they wanted to get rid of him, Rick Patino would be their coach, and yeah, I mean I kind of feel like that would happen, right, I mean, maybe Rick has always kind of been putting it out there and he's been showing this, you know,

fake support for Mark Pope, and he knows that deep down Mark Pope's going to be in over his head and he's just hoping for that to happen, so again he can get the call for I mean, I I doubt, I really doubt that that would play out beautifully. Yeah, I mean, I'm not as much thinking about Kentucky, but think about how many programs never even considered hiring Rick Patino and Saint John's did and now they're.

having conversations. I mean Kenny Johnson's I mean, Kenny Johnson gave Brian Bowen's dad money, which is just funny to think about now, is that was a huge issue because now that's how it works.

how do you not hire him? And yeah, maybe he only has a four or five years left because he's old, but you know what, this guy's going to coach till he's dead, and you know that hopefully is not anytime soon.

is I would say likely going to open up. I mean, how sad was it that Mike Woodson's team came out They were down like twenty four to six, maybe twenty four to four actually at one point, and his comment was, well, we came out with good intentions. I mean, that's a sad program that you know. I've never been able to

articulate it the way that I want. But when it comes down to it, you can have guys that aren't out there completely loafing, But when you have a culture of players that really just aren't competing at the level you need to, and it's not something that's predetermined, it's not like they're out there Y'm going to give seventy percent effort today. But the fact that that's just kind of how it is, that that's a bad thing that

needs to be gotten rid of. It may not even be that you're a bad coach, but if that's where your program is, you have it, I mean, I think you're gonna have a tough time fixing it. And I think now he has had enough talent in his few seasons there to where he's not the worst coach ever. But there's no doubt they should be better than they

are and they're just not in a good place. And I would imagine that job will likely end up opening up, and if it does, just maybe, just maybe it'll be Chris Beard, because one he's proven to be a great coach. He's only available and not at Texas because you know what happened with his wife, some weird stuff. Yeah, So Chris Beard last night after beating Kentucky, and I'm reading this from WDRB dot com and I didn't realize the connection with with with Beard and Bob Knight, but he

quoted Bob Knight. This was on Tuesday night, as his team got up to fifty four to thirty one lead at halftime, he credited the Rebels success to his beloved mentor Bob Knight.