It's time for coffee and company, fueled by Thornton's on Sports Talk seven nine day. Now here's Nick coffee.
All right, let's get it start at five o'clock on a Friday. After a late night last night, gonna be another late night tonight. Louisville survives. What a moment for Chucky Hepburn. What a wild ride it was throughout the entirety of that game. But Louisville and in action tonight, tipping off late against Clemson. Chance for them to get the get a second resume went against Clemson Kentucky, same thing for them. They were really in control for the
majority of the game last night. And then, I'll be honest with you, I went to bed because I didn't want to. I didn't want to see them, you know. I needed to go to bed anyway. And it looked like as if they already had it under control. They were up like eight with just a few minutes left or something like that. So I got my lazy ass
off the recliner and went in bed. And I woke up to get some milk for Moose and looked at the TV and I thought, Okay, maybe it's four thirty in the morning, So maybe they're replaying the game, because they do that.
Sometimes they weren't.
It was on I don't remember what it was on, but I know as soon as I looked at the TV on the bottom scroll, it showed that Otiga Oway was able to score a bucket really as time expired to lift them up. And I'm thinking, one, how did it even get how did it even get that close? And sure enough, it was quite the collapse for Kentucky, only for them to, you know, do the same thing Louisville did. Right, looked like you were letting it slip away, only to find a way to win and hold on
in a weird way. There have been some real similarities with these two teams in their seasons. And that don't mean because you know, style of play necessarily, although both coaches like to play the same way or even record and that kind of thing. But it's a group of brand new guys that are all for the most part working together for the first year, and they've got a real strong belief in their coach and they never get
too high or too low. And sure enough that played out for both last night, all right, real quick, Pat Kelsey, For those who were not aware, and I'm sure you're not surprised. He's been named one of the top ten finalists for the n A Smith National Coach of the Year Award, and he is among good company others that are in the top ten finalists here, Tom Izzo, Dennis Gates, Pat Kelsey, Grant mccaslan, Ben McCollum, Bruce Pearl, Rick Pattino,
Kelvin Sampson, John Shire and Todd Golden. I still think when it comes to National Coach of the Year, the real biggest threats for Pat Kelce as far as this has got to be Rick Pattino and Kelvin Samson. I mean maybe is oh, but I don't know. I mean again, when it comes to these awards Coach of the Year, it's never the same exact criteria, right, But I think if you can get a little bit of both, that's who usually goes to and I have no issue with that.
You've got somebody who does have a good team and they clearly did a lot more than people expected. That's really where I think you find most Coach of the Year awards ending up a guy who did that, where you feel like the results the success, not a lot of other coaches we would have been able to do that maybe or maybe the coaching specifically was what you think is the factor and why they were able to have that level of success. I mean, you could be
an overachiever and be a five hundred coach. Now you also could be a great coach that won a ton of games. But if you in fact were you know, supposed to do that, because you feel like there's other coaches that if they had the same personnel that you have, they would do the same thing.
Coaches that you don't think.
Are as good as others would have the same level of success because most coaches would be better, you know, with a great roster. So you can really slice it anyway you want, because then again you get into the conversation, will are you going to hold it against this coach for having a good player? Having good players? Isn't that what we're supposed to do? Yeah, so again it really is. It's it's all objective. But I still think pack Kelsey's got a legitimate chance to win a national Coach of
the Year award, which would be would be awesome. Want it for them, you know, I want all these guys to have all the accolades and honors, because you know, it's been that fun of a season. And last night somebody asked me this on the text line, I'm glad that you brought it up, because I hadn't thought about it since last night. But you know, I kept saying, I'm not sure there's anything this group could do for me to be mad at him, and and you know, I don't know if there's any result that would make
me feel any different, which that that didn't change. But when they were down fifteen and it was just looking as if they were kind of shell shocked and not quitting, but just kind of in shock and very complacent, I felt to myself, Okay, well now I'm disappointed. Yeah, because I don't know if I could be mad at them, but I'm you know, just being disappointed was a feeling that I hadn't felt with this group in a while.
Like even when they nearly lost to Virginia Tech. They did lose to Georgia Tech, I just I couldn't find myself generating the same level and the same type of emotion that I used to give with my team would lose the game they shouldn't lose, you know, And it's just because I feel like we've gotten every bit out of this group as far as what they can do on the floor. That didn't mean it's over. But last night just kind of to see them not really in the moment was kind of a surprise and a real bummer.
But then you know, you're reminded why you love him and why this is such a special group because they internally realized, hey, let's lock in. We're not losing this game. That's what Chucky Hebburn told him, And man, it just kind of feels like with Chucky Hepburn, you could lose.
Right, He's not perfect.
He made a really bad turnover right before he saved the day, but like he's just Chucky plays at times with the confidence that is so infectious to everybody.
And I don't just mean his teammates, his coaches, I mean.
Fans, and at times it's not like he plays without confidence. But early Chucky last night he was taking shots. It wasn't like he wasn't aggressive. But when he's got a little bit of a bounce to his step, and honestly, it starts on defense, when he's just able to impact the game and disrupt everything else starts rolling for him. So again last night, what a moment. I went from one extreme to the other on the way back to the other side of the extreme, which was the sad.
One, only to then be.
A mad man running around my home nearly tackled my wife. So the kids weren't home. And thank god, I mean, I mean that sincerely. No matter what would have happened last night, win or lost, the blessing in disguise was that my young, sweet, innocent children were not there to see their father behave like a lunatic.
It would have been a bad, bad thing for them to do.
Do you think Maya's reaction would have been.
Well, it kind of got tested because they got home when Aubles started making their run, so you know, energy level was up. And and as I don't mean to be so serious here, but I've never really been in a moment like that. It's a little like you know Maya is. For those who don't know my daughter, she is intellectually disabled. She's autistic. So consider consider the sweetest little girl who you.
Know, is a little bit get.
I get to have her innocence a lot longer in life than most other parents, which is a beautiful thing for me. So she's you know, consider her from an intellectual level being maybe like a three year old despite being nine, so you know, she's just again imagine her on the intellectual level being that young. So she's just like, hey, daddy, watching the game, watching the game, and like, you know, it's high stress. But she was kind of like my
stress relief. Like with her, it wasn't as big of a deal because you know, it just wasn't and I don't know, you know, there's weird thing. Again, not to be serious, we're having fun, it's Friday, but I just mean, like that was something that I didn't ever think about happening, but it realizing, you know what, with her, I don't
really care if we win or lose. I do, but you know what I mean, it was just different, Like it was just it was kind of a kind of a weird moment that I didn't didn't plan on happening. But you know, once we started rolling, you know, I'm cheering, I'm jumping around, Moose is clapping, so they missed me being a madman, and then they saw me kind of, you know, slowly thinking there's no way this is happening.
We're not losing.
We didn't just lose an eight point lead in the snow app of a matter of seconds?
Did we? And sure enough we did?
Only for I remember, and I think I think I'll remember this for a while because that was you know, that shot was big. I mean, even if it's just for one appearance in the semi finals of the ACC tournament, I would hope that Pat Kelsey is going to have many many long tournament runs over his time here.
We'll we'll have to wait and see.
But like, just took the first buzzer beater in a long time to keep you advancing in your conference tournament. It's a moment that I think I'm gonna remember because we hadn't had it in a while. But also I was watching in the whole family and Moose he was worried that they were holding the ball, like, oh yeah, he sees the clock running down. I'm like, buddy, Pat's not scared to get overtime with him, Yeah, he's learning.
And then he said, well, I'm not scared either, So then you know, we were ready.
To ride and overtithe if it goes there.
And then sure enough that throws up the kind of awkward shot doesn't doesn't doesn't get a great look, and then you know, we know what happens. The ball bounces the way that it does, and sure enough Chucky right there with confidence, smooth, cool as the other side of the pillow.
Man.
I mean that again, I said it earlier. Most people in that instance, even elite players, better than Chucky. I feel like, more often than not, most human beings in that moment would have caught it like a hot potato. They'd have been moving like they had ants in their pants. They would have been so tense, they wouldn't just have the natural motion of shooting. Really a jump shot, but you're just a few feet away from the rim, and Chucky,
I mean, couldn't have executed it more perfectly. Again, it's an easy shot in the grand scheme of things, but when you consider when it was, the moment and all that, I mean, he was, he had ice in his veins, which is what she needed. But as soon as it happened, I just we all screamed. I did run past moose and just went right for my wife and grabbed her,
and she was excited. And then she you know, I don't think she looked she I think she saw that look in my eye of like, oh my god, this guy's alludatant.
I've forgotten about this guy. This is the guy.
Who's not well mentally because he's obsessed with Louisville basketball. He's got issues.
She remembered.
Oh yeah, this is the man that I had children with. And you know, and this is what's crazy. The majority of my children's life haven't had any of this. We haven't been good, I know. And when we were good, like in twenty seventeen, Moose wasn't born. Maya was a baby baby, like, she wasn't even a year lad. So you know, it's all kind of playing out for the
first time. And once I once I once I realized I was going to tackle my wife, I went right to Moose, picked him up and you know, he was screaming, yelling and dancing and it was it was a hell of a night, hell of a night.
You know what, I actually love selfishly more about it. It's just because I like the attention that it got. Like when you, I mean, when you just think of March, you think of that kind of stuff happening that's going to be on like montages and b roll footages. I feel like, for maybe not forever, but like especially not when they're talking about the tournament and when they bring up Louisville seed line on selection Sunday, that's going to
be in there. When they're talking about the craziness of March you gets you ready for it, that show is going to be there and there. And I like doing that. I like being able to look up and say, that's my squad.
I mean as a I mean having moments like that, like as like seeing everybody sharing videos of them reacting to it. I mean that is like we're all like we've been a very toxic fan base with things that have gone on with our basketball program over the years, to where you know, you try to block it out, but I mean, just what we have gone through as a basketball program. I think regardless of what program it is, it's going to lead to toxicity and infighting within your fan base.
And we had that a lot.
And clearly things have been on the right path because man, everybody's all in with Pat Kelsey and it's been amazing. It's been a beautiful thing. But to see that in a major way last night, I don't know, like I was nerding out on watching you know, somebody in their living room with their family and all of a sudden, you know, one of the family members or all of them, they lose their mind. They run around like crazy people.
Because I can relate to that, and you know, I think we all know that there are like those of us that are crazy about this stuff the way that we are.
We know we're not alone.
We know that's what makes this program special and very different when it comes to most college basketball programs and fan bases out there.
But I don't know, I.
Just felt a level of relatability in you know, almost like a family kind of thing, if that makes sense. I'm getting real corny and sentimental here. I don't mean to, but it's just it's it's what's happening. So yeah, I mean, and I'll say this, I'm sure right now, it's not the focus. It's not it's not even on their mind because they're getting ready to play tonight and hopefully win
another postseason game and get to that championship game. But I you know what kind of makes this whole thing just such a beautiful you know, beautiful timing more than anything. I mean, really, I think this group, this group these I'm not getting choked up, trust me, it's not that.
Something in my throat.
But I think these players, like they would really enjoy to see videos of people in the crowd reacting or in their home, just because you know, that's a behind the scenes thing that they don't. You know, I'm sure they know they've got support, but to see really in someone's own domain, in their own environment, what a win like that can do to grown up people, you know that you know, become a version of themselves that is just different.
Because they're so excited, they're crazy about this stuff. Would I mean, I just I.
Don't know these guys on a personal level by any means, but I can tell you they have a real appreciation for this whole process of getting Louisville basketball back to life. And again I said this earlier in the show, and I mean, I'm joking. I would never prefer what we went through previously. But there was a moment I was texting Austin. He told me he left to go on a walk to walk his dog, to try to get some mojo going, just to try to shake some things up.
Called my dad.
He told me that, you know, he turned it off briefly, just because you know he's he's one of those guys that he'd rather just walk away from it for a little while than come back and hope that it's in a better spot so than he can rejoin, because you know, he's a seasoned veteran, my dad is, So he doesn't Yeah, he doesn't want to. He doesn't want to have to live through the whole agony of it just because you know it'll it'll drive you mad.
And you know, I don't know why I've done it before too.
You do feel like if you hit pause or you walk away, or you like, I mean I've done this before, I'll hit pause and give myself like three minutes to pace and be like, all right, this is a really big possession coming up here, like this is how that's how crazy. Mean, it's been a long time since I've done that, because you know, it's been a while since we've been good.
But it's it's just different. So whenever the bad.
Part of last night was in full flow, I mean, I thought to myself, you know what, everything about the previous regime sucked and I never want to be there again. But if there was a benefit is we didn't have to experience the hurt that will be there if Louisville ends up getting their ass kicked. Which point which they were getting their ass kicked? I mean, it was bad, and I just remember thinking like, Okay, maybe life was better.
When we were dead. Maybe the dead the dead.
Fan in us kept us from feeling not only the emotion that makes you happy, but man, the emotion, because I'll say.
It, this is what's just so twisted about me.
I guess as a college basketball lunatic, there's like there's no joy in any postseason win other than maybe the whole thing that is a stronger feeling than the hurt you get when it's over.
Does that make sense? Sure, Like it's a stronger feeling.
Now again, I think you kind of reflect a little bit, hopefully not taken too long to where you can still say, man, that sucked.
That was painful.
But a couple of days have passed, and you know what, I still think we had a great year, you know what I mean, Like you can you can still big picture not think you had a bad year, that anybody needs to be fired, or that your team let you down. But man, when it's over, it's brutal, and I you know, I remember it, but it's been a while since we've been there. Last night wouldn't have ended the season, but man, it really would have put you in a spot where
you're no better than an eight, I think. And also you're carrying such little momentum into you know, it's a winn or go home situation. So tonight, you know, we'll see what happens. But I'm confident, you know, I even
if you know. I mean, last night was ugly, clearly, but this group all year, they've had moments where they've you know, it hadn't gone their way or I mean, I guess this was a little bit earlier in the season, but I mean, keep in mind when they came out and looked like a different team and went on a run like we've never seen around here, at least for a long time. I mean, that was right after they needed the Noah Waterman bucket to survive against EKU. After
that game, it was North Carolina Florida State. I'm sorry, no, I think it was. It was North Carolina, I believe, And then from then on they went on a run that really laid the groundwork for them to be safely in the tournament regardless of what happened this week.
All right, quick break. We'll come back on the other side. Keep it rolling along.
It's coffee and company fuel by Thornton's 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, coffee and company, fueled by Thornton's here on a Sports Talk seven ninety getting you set for the weekend, big weekend of basketball and joining us to talk some injuries in basketball. Is the one of the only doctor Eric McElroy from pro Rea Physical Therapy.
Eric, are you ready to talk some ankles?
I'm absolutely ready to talk some ankles.
So a beautiful day. It's basketball season, tournament season. It's hard not to talk about ankles right now.
Yeah, ankles are very important and you may not appreciate a good ankle until you you know it's it's no longer good.
And Rain Smith one.
Of Louisville's best players, clearly one of the best shooters in the country. He's been sidelined for a week now with with an ankle injury. It sounds like it's some level of a sprain.
Uh.
And he he did not play yesterday, is not expected to play today. And I guess maybe you know, there's always a chance things could change, but as of yesterday, he was not able to really go through anything as far as like any kind of like full workout or practice. Therefore, you know, they know if he can't do that, then it'd be tough to expect him to play in a game. I mean, is this one of those things where it really just comes down to monitoring.
It and and and seeing.
What kind of you know, pain tolerance level a guy can have, because you know there's no magic fix here.
Yeah, Well, the first thing is stability.
So it's no matter what he's it's got to be stable because if he can't obviously cut or land on it or elevate, then it doesn't matter. You know, pain, You can work around pain depending on the function. And so you know, early aggressive treatment is what's best for ankle springs. The day and age of putting them in a boot, resting it for two weeks, three weeks and then doing something is long gone.
And so you know what I'm assuming that's.
Happening is it's early aggressive, you know, trying to get the inflammation.
Down, trying to basically stick late or kind of re educate is what we call it if you will.
The muscles that help dynamically spring or stabilize the ankle, and you got to get those quote unquote woken up as fast as possible because the reality of what happens with ankle springs is those muscles are basically told to shut off so you don't rupture attending. But you didn't tear the ligament, but you would rather do that than rupture attending. So but when that happens, they're very sensitive.
So if they.
Feel like the ankle is gonna roll again, they're gonna shut the muscle off quick. Well, you got to override that.
You got to get those muscles.
Working again so he can get the stability back he would need to perform.
So yeah, early aggressive treatment.
Obviously they're gonna look and see how he's doing every day, you know, on the court, uh, in practice, and you know, it just becomes weak by week, to be honest, and hopefully it's not super severe and he's not.
You know, I didn't see. I didn't. I don't think it's a high angle sprain, but I may have. No.
Yeah, they it didn't.
Apparently there was no real visual of like oh wow, because you know the Cooper Flag one. That's a different situation, but with brain I don't remember knowing exactly when it did occur, but that he he had and apparently he's had issues with ankles prior to his time at Louisville. He Pat Kelsey shared a story of him having a
similar situation. It might have been a couple of years ago where he he was able to, you know, sit back and you know, I guess heal his best as he could, but then play through the pain level that he had at that time. So this is something he's done before, which I guess is a bonus knowing he's at least gone through the process of of kind of
fighting through it and still being able to play. But like if in fact that, if in fact, you know, you don't see him any in Charlotte today or tomorrow, which doesn't sound likely even if Louisvill wins tonight, he would be off of the ankle two weeks. In those two weeks, I mean, is it. I mean it's not a scenario where he's just sitting around and they just say, okay, go give it a go, Like, what what's it?
What's it? What's the process like to kind of determine.
Okay, you know, yes, he's going to be in pain, and initially when you're when you're getting you know, when you're getting going, there's gonna be some clear discomfort. But like, how do you how do you navigate knowing? Okay, yeah, it's not you're not one hundred percent, but you're probably good to go.
Well, you're you're in.
You know, you're keeping in at the max threshold he can possibly operate at.
You're challenging the pain, right.
You're challenging him. Yeah, you're challenging him.
You're not just worried about pains, obviously very important, but you're really more worried about the function of the ankle, how stable it is, how well he can push on.
How vulnerable it is to potentially roll again? Right?
Correct?
Gotcha? Yes?
Because it's the risk reward, Like if you if if he's not gonna be able to play at the level he needs to any it's no, then the risk of him injuring it worse is not worth it, especially right now. Uh, And so you know you're gonna, you're gonna Basically he's a give and take.
You got to say, all right, it's not even worth him going out there one.
He can't even operate in basic movement patterns without favoring it.
So yeah, would hurt you more than it would help you.
Yeah, right, And so then it's like, well, and then we got we're still in the tournament.
We still have things to play for.
Uh, we're gonna do what we can to keep him, you know, allow him to heal as best we can, knowing that he may not get to one hundred percent even going into the NCAA tournament.
You mentioned risk reward, there's no real reward I think for Duke to play Cooper Flag. I mean, they're they're clearly wanting to win the ACC tournament, as any team is that's left. But they really wouldn't change their situation at all. They're one seed regardless of what happens, and so he's not going to play tonight. I would imagine
they'll sit him out tomorrow. But just for those who don't, you know, this was of course a big topic yesterday because Cooper Flag is gonna be the number one pick in the draft, a sensational player, and the visual off his ankle looked really bad. I mean I thought it could have been super severe, and who knows, when he's back. However, when they say they got imaging and it's negative, what are they looking for when when they do that right right away?
Likely a fracture, you know, the because my assumption is they probably did an X ray. You know, I'd have to see if they didn't MRI. But they're they're looking for tendon rupture. Well not in an X ray X ray, they're looking for a fracture. But then they're also looking if they're into him a RI. You know, did he rupture any tendons? Did they do it?
Is there a fracture there in certain areas.
That you may may not be able to see on an X ray? What's the significance of the ligament damage?
Uh?
They can taken kind of gauge, you know, how bad.
Of an ankle spring, So ligament tears are graded out one, two and three, three would be like a rupture.
Uh.
And so that they were looking to see that guy gives him more of a structure issue.
You know, he had an inversion spray. So it was a lateral ankle sprain, is what that is. So those are usually usually less.
Problematic than the ones we all you know, we always hear about with the high ankle sprain where you're worried about the bones separating in our in our lower leg, which is creates a lot of instability. In fact, you can't even wait there if it's bad enough, So you know that's what they're doing. And then basically like if it's I mean, you know, it's not like your a cl if your ligaments are torn in your ankle. That happens to basketball players all the time. Now it's like, hey,
that's the same thing with rain. Let's get him, Let's get the inflamation down, the pain, let's get the stability back, and let's start being aggressive and so we.
Can get him back as soon as we possibly can.
Yeah, when it comes to the you know, the a guy like Cooper Flag, who is he's just built different. Clearly he's a very gifted, gifted individual. But I'm and I'm mate to put you on the spot. Did you see the replay of his ankle?
I did?
Okay, I mean, I'm just I just want to pick your brain a little bit. I mean, there's no way to know. Not everybody's the same, right. A visual can look super scary, could look super dangerous, and it and it just doesn't end up being it just it's not everybody's the same. But when you saw that, I mean, were you of the opinion that that looked to be potentially real, I mean real bad.
Well, it look like a really bad ladderal ankle spring.
And you know, and I guess for us, it's I would much rather see that than other things. Uh Okay, you know I was a little concerned about like a fracture.
But you know, generally speaking, you're gonna.
I hate to say this, but when they go to unless it's real mild, when they go to slow that down, you can if it's a bad fracture, we've all seen it, right, you can start to see it.
Uh.
So, you know, I don't get a hung up on bad lateral ankle springs. It happens, they look gross, But generally, if everything's you know, he doesn't dislocate, like the ankle doesn't dislocate or something like that, it's just a matter of like, hey, we gotta.
You know, we gotta get rolling now.
You know, this isn't gonna be a long term issue most likely, and so once the imaging comes back there's no fractures or nothing like that, it's go time.
Doctor Eric Macroepprop.
We have physical therapies our guests joining us here on Sports Talk seven ninety.
It is that time of the year.
We had the last week it was the Whiskey Row five k, and now we've got the Derby City ten k, the Louisville ten milers coming up later this month, the Mini marathon before too long. Each time, each time we get to this point of the year, I always ask you to give give folks some training tips as far as getting set, because I know some of some folks have already started doing the other races, but obviously there's some that are maybe getting set to around the ten miler,
maybe doing the mini marathon. What advice would you give those who, you know, maybe they haven't done one of these in a long time, maybe they've never done it before.
The biggest advice we give right now, because they're kind of getting into their peak training is, you know, don't be afraid to to take a day off or to recover. Don't feel like a lot of people get caught, especially more of our novice runners, that they have to stay on the program and if they deviate from the program, it's going to impact their performance.
And that's not always the case. Overtraining will definitely impact your performance. Injuries will one.
Impact your performance. So we always say, like, if your body you feel like you're having a hard time recovering, which means you're sore, abnormally store it, lingers, you're having kind of abnormal aches and pains that don't recover very quick, which is like in the first twenty four to forty eight hours, and you try rests and you know, different ice, whatever it may be, and and you know, things like that, and you're still lingering.
Take some time off.
It's not going to kill your your race, but you just can't. You don't want that stuff to compound. And then the other thing is just making sure that you're you know, you're fueling your body appropriately. You're training for a race, you're not training to lose weight, so you know, you don't you want to make sure you're matching your caloric intake with their level of training, uh, because again that can also lead to injuries and uh and and and also really crash your performance, uh if you're not
you know, keeping up with your your fuel. So those are the main things right now that we probably spend the most time educating people because we started to see him coming in with these.
Little eights and pains.
Sure, and they just get s super nervous and have high anxiety around you know, you know, having to take time off, I think it's the end of the world.
So and it's not. You know, usually don't lose it that fast.
Eric is always You're the man. I appreciate you making time for us. Have a great weekend and we will talk soon. My friend awesome Nick, Go cards, Go cards. That's right, Doctor Eric mclroy PROI of physical therapy, always appreciate his time and he's right, Go cards. So we're gonna actually get this thing wrapped up earlier than usual today. We've got to get out of here for some programming that is coming up, so we only have a couple of minutes left. But you know, tonight's match up with
this Clemson team that I you know, this is. This is just how twisted I am when it comes to just overthinking this stuff because I care so much, Like I don't feel like I have actual I've respected Clemson and Brad Brown well a whole lot in the last couple of years.
I mean I haven't like disrespected them by any means or maybe I haven't.
I don't remember it, but you know, for the ACC to be in the position that it's in, at least they've been one of the good teams the last couple of years. So I'm just worried, Austin that, like, is this gonna be karma because I've never really treated them like they're actually good? Are they gonna, you know, come out ready to play tonight? I hope not.
It's like underlining thought in the back of my mind too.
They're a good team that you really don't feel like you should be scared of though, right, Like that's just what they look like.
And are they are they mad from football or are they wanting to get one back up on Louisville.
I mean, we got them both football, and we got them when they came to the ump set. That's right, That's what Chuckie had the Cuffsaw, wasn't it?
That was right?
That was cuff season.
So look, they they're good, clearly, and Brad Brownwell has done a good job with this group that he has. But I don't know, I just here's here's what has kind of stuck out to me when I when I think about this matchup. You know, this Clemson team. One thing that really won't stand out on paper. It's not any thing when it comes to analytics, and it may not even be something that you notice unless you're paying close attention. But what they don't do that makes them good.
They don't hurt themselves. They don't have a lot of silly turnovers. They usually get high quality shots. You know, they're not loaded with talent, but they've got good enough players. I mean, clearly, they've got one of the best players in the ACC and Chase Hunter, who's averaging sixteen points a game. He was their leading scorer again last night.
And who's not hurt.
That's right, correct.
The other Hunter is the one who's hurt, which you know they'll miss him to an extent, but he's you know, clearly he's a little more replaceable than his brother. And then Ian Schaefflin probably the best player in the country who doesn't look like one. And that's probably a really mean thing to say, but I mean, Ian Schifflan, go look at him. He doesn't look like a player, but the guy he's good. He's averaging about ten boards a game,
thirteen points. I mean, he's been a big factor in their success and he was a big factor last year in their run to the Elite eight, So you know.
They they are.
They are a rare team to where there's really not one specific thing that you're really worry about, like, Wow, what are you gonna do about their length? What are you gonna do about their shooting? But they're solid in all phases and they don't hurt themselves, and they also will take advantage if you let them of your mistakes. And that's what's got me because again, Louisville lately, just some silly turnovers I feel like could cost you tonight.
But we'll see what happens. Let's hope the magic continues heavy. Good night, everybody.
Talk to you on Monday.