NBA Trade Talks with Adam Lefkoe

and it was definitely an interesting one. Plus, we have Olivia taking us around the country to share with us her favorite bites in her segment Olivia Eats, and this week it's from the home of the tournament, Indianapolis. Olivia, You've got some good food spots in India, I sure do.

I had so much fun eating my way through Indianapolis, and that was kind of the best way to preview the n C Double A Tournament in my eyes, in your eyes, and you'll put it through our stomachs hopefully and we'll be able to consume it in a way that I wish we could in person, but we can't.

And finally, here on this week's Lions Lock, Peter Andrew from bit MGM will talk about what Vegas got wrong and right and his locks for the Sweet sixteen. But first and foremost, Olivia, I know you and I are both chomping at the bit to speak about the n C Double A Tournament. It's truly madness in March. What do you make of everything that's been going on? Well, speedy, I I just gotta say, I'm feeling a little sick.

But if I wasn't, I wanted to sing you a song and it was going to be a dream, as a wish your heart makes, because this is the Cinderella story. This is the best March I think I've ever witnessed. And did I tell you or did I tell you last week? This is the year to pick the randoms. This is the year to go off of your favorite colors, your favorite mascots. And I was so right. Nine digit seeds advance, My man, I mean this is wild. You're lucky. I'm not singing to you this week. Maybe next week

if some of these teams keep making a run. But yeah, I I've got a little head cold or allergies or something, so bear with me on my voice. But okay, this first weekend was absolutely crazy. I don't know about you, but I was glued to not one TV, multiple TVs in my town. I had. Oh yeah, I've printed out three brackets. I'm walking around from the kitchen to the living room to the basement making sure I'm not missing a single game, and I don't feel like I did.

I honestly think I had eyeballs on just about every game. This is as seriously as I've ever taken my bracket, and I don't know why, because it looks like it is it like a Frankenstein uh image there. I imagine a lot of your picks are already on their way home back to their listen to this. This is garb. It just my trash days Friday. But I should just go ahead and speed this one up. I had Ohio State going to the final four. Wow, they're out of there.

I had Illinois going into the national championship there and they're gone. Well, let's let's kind of break this down a little bit, because, like I said, nine double digit seeds advanced to the second round. So you look at like Drake. They were in eleven seed, they won their first tournament game in fifty years. No one picked Drake. You're Syracuse Orange. They were in eleven seed. They beat six seed San Diego State, and then our producer, Maddie's

very sad. Three seed West Virginia picked them up to they face one seed Houston. Yeah, I know, Maddie's upset. And then the story I'm loving. There's like four stories I'm loving, but eight seed loyal in Chicago. They've got that hundred one year old nun sister Jean. Everyone loved Mr Geane in the house. She's doing Hail Mary, she's doing the Rosary. She's she was you don't want to bet against Mr Geane a prayer, she's she she's got it. She's anointed with the prayer. They beat Georgia Tech. Then

they beat one seed in state rival. In fact, I don't even know if you can call him an in state rival. They're not even on the same playing field. They beat the in state giant Illinois first one seed to go down. That was Sunday, and they'll advance to play twelve seed Oregon State. That's Saturday. Organ State is cooking their head. Coach is feisty. I kind of like this Oregan State team. I gotta say. They just beat Oklahoma State and that projected number one seed or projected

number one pick in the NBA draft Kate Undingham. So, man, my first question us Speedy with Loyal in Chicago. Their mascot is the Ramblers. What is a rambler? Do you know what a rambler? Is? A rambler? I think it's a um. You know, it's a toss up here. It could be a I'm assuming it's an animal, right, So their mascot is like a wolf looking thing, like a kusky ash wolf. But their name is the Ramblers. Googled it. Yeah,

I didn't know. I googled it. A rambler is a person who enjoys going on long walks, often as an organized group, and often in the countryside. Uh makee look. Maybe it's some sort of metaphor like, look, we walk together on these long journeys as one, like, as a unit, and that's why together where the Ramblers? Or is that a reach? I don't know. Is that a reach? It's a thought? It is a thought. Um, But a lot of people think that they are going to go far.

Sister Jean has him in her final four. I don't know if she's picked him to win it all. I would think she would, but they went to the final four, so it's not impossible. It can't be done again. It can be done. It can And I like what she said after They interviewed sister Jean after and she said, if we can be Illinois, we can be anyone on this piece of paper. So I love that. And they can. They truly can. One seed goes down. I like them. Did you also see their star player? I cannot think

of the guy's name, but he's got a very memorable mustache. Yes, he looks like that one actor from Remember the Titans who's gotten shape. I don't know his name, but you'd know him if you see him. The best player on Loyola looks like the guy from Remember the Titans. Well, I was I was watching this game. I was out with my sisters. We were getting some Mexican food, and we were really wanting to hunker down and watch the Wisconsin game my husband played. There were huge Badger fans.

My dad was calling the game on CBS, so we were all buckled him for that. On one of the side TVs, we start seeing this Loyola Illinois beat down and I'm like, oh my gosh, you guys look look, and then you know they're not huge basketball fans. I would say they you know, I have all my brackets printed out on the table, moving over my Margarita's to make room and Margarita's plural, and my sisters are sitting there saying, Oh my god, is that kid in college?

He looks like a grown man, like a corown adult. Oh, it's too funny. So yeah, Cameron Kripwig, we are learning is his name for the Ramblers? Okay, so that was gold. So I think the coolest thing about what you had to know from the first couple of days of games was that four teams, four speedy seeded thirteen or worst advanced to the round of thirty two. That's the most ever in the tournament. That is absolutely incredible. So my next question for you thirteen seed North Texas, four seed Perdue.

It's their first ever tournament win. Do you know where North Texas is in The answer is not North Texas. You can't say that that's off limits. I was gonna say Northern Texas, but I'm assuming that you won't accept that either. Nope, do I know where North Texas is? The short answer is no. But I'm going to give you a guess, because what am I here for if not to guess? I'm going to say that North Texas is somewhere like above Dallas, like maybe somewhere north of

Fort Worth. I don't I'm really reaching here though, I really don't know. No, you're not, You're not wrong. It's it's a little bit north east of Dallas. Sorry, northwest of Dallas. I had to do my never eat Saggy Waffles analogy. But yeah, there it's in Denton, Texas. Okay, do you know their team name, like their nickname? I don't know. I was, I was reaching, but no, I don't mean green. Well I knew that their jerseys are green,

but yeah, you're still at zero. Okay. I like the mean Green better than the Ramblers, though I might say I'd prefer to be the mean Green. Okay, well, okay, moving forward. So then fourteen seed Abilene Christian they beat in State Giant. Also three seed Texas Chaka smash in three in the n C Double A tournament. They cannot win in March. It's just absolutely crazy. But let me tell you this about Abilene Christian. I've got a bunch of Texas relatives. A lot of them went to Abilene Christian.

One of them played football at Abilene Christian. I never thought I'd be talking about them in March again, and I wanted to ask you this as well. So there's five thousand students who go to Abilene Christian It's out, like I said, in rural West Texas. They have daily chapel. And this little team from out in Abilene, Texas has made this an impressive statement. In just two years ago, Speedy was their first ever tournament appearance. So I mean

just getting there is impressive enough. And here they are beating Texas. Yes, and did you see one of the players on the team. I don't know his name, but threw up the longhorn on both hands in a photo and that photo was trending on Twitter this past weekend. It was quite the ballsy move. But he earned the right to do so. He threw up the longhorn because he's sent them pecking. I love it. Okay, Well, here's another one, and this is probably I think the story

of the tournament so far. It's fifteen seed Oral Roberts. They win their first tournament game in forty seven years. They beat two seed Ohio State. They won by three in overtime. That was one of many overtime games they were a sixteen point underdog. I mean, it's it's absolutely incredible. But to think it's been what five years since a fifteen seed as advanced past the first round? That was Middle Tennessee. That was that was a huge story. But

here's my next question for you. Speed pronounced the following word A B M A S SMIs Okay, you watched and you probably ready for that. Yes, listen is the last name Max. That's the last name of the nation's

leading score whom I was unfamiliar with. I mean, I was familiar with him, but I was not familiar with the pronunciation of his last name until I think was Ja Billis who brought it to my attention that you don't pronounce the be there and I would have been butchering this young man's name, but shout out to him because he had a very impressive first two rounds. He absolutely did. Yeah, it's a German last name. I was

curious as well. The B is silent. Okay. Pronounced the following word oh, B A and O R O B A N O R m hm. Oh that's a banner, close o banner I kept every time I read it. You know how you kind of pronounce things in your head as you're reading. Every time I would read that name because he's he had thirty points in one of their games and he was killing, killing, killing it. I kept saying, Oben or m Anyways, do you know where Oral Roberts is? Not a clue? I couldn't tell you. Tulsa, Oklahoma?

Is it okay? Have you been to Oklahoma before? My mom is Tulsa and went to Oh you a lot of I'm telling you what. I don't know who out there believes in a higher power. But if you don't, you should check out your bracket because we got Oral Roberts, Small Christian School, Loyal Chicago, and Sister jean An Avelen Christian. I mean, there's there's a higher power at play in the March Madness bracket. But Oral Robert is just an absolutely incredible story. Just the second fifteen seed ever to

advance to the Sweet sixteen. They are truly making history. One of my favorite sportswriters, Pete Damil, he described them like this, They're well coached, under recruited, overachievers. I just absolutely love that their head coach was under Scott Drew at Baylor and and just to kind of wrap up of this March Madness run. And when you were a team that wasn't expected to go far and you do, their head coach said, you know, I'm just glad we have a chance to do laundry. I'm glad that tomorrow

I run out of clothes that I packed. I thought that was amazing. That's the goal, the goal to have to do laundry, you know, and earn another forty minutes out there on the hardwood. That is the goal. But what an exciting first couple rounds from the tournament. I know that on our next episode in a week from now,

there will be very likely another upset and more brackets busted and more stuff for us to talk about, So I can't wait now. In the meantime, coming up next, we've got Adam left Go from the Bleacher Report you're listening to Unleased Well Olivia joining us now is a guy that you've definitely seen on the NBA on T n T. You've seen him on Bleacher Report, and as you pointed out to me, he is an Emmy Award

winning sportscaster. His name is Adam left Go, and I'm excited for him to talk about some NBA trade deadline stuff with us. Adam Left go, welcome to the show. We're so glad to have you with us. And this week it's a big week, ma Man NBA trade deadline. Thursday, three Eastern. This air's Thursday morning. If you can give us a little run through, and let's start with the East, because I feel like that's where you were wanting to go. Let's start with the East. What are the names, what

are the teams? Where does everyone need to focus today? Okay, so my Thursday is gonna be crazy because for the first time, our Tuesday crew is hosting the Thursday show. So if anything breaks, we're gonna have to cover it live as we record this. It sure does seem like Aaron Gordon is going to be on the move. He came out and requested a trade. Formally, I think a lot of people know Aaron Gordon for his dunks, but

analytically his defense has been really impressive this season. It's hard because you're in Orlando and people aren't really watching the Magic, whether it's the Celtics, whether it's the Sixers. The moves could be very interesting if we're sticking in the East. Could Kyle Lowry some call the greatest raptor of all time? Is he on the move as someone that is from Philadelphia, as someone that got his can

I curse on this podcast. Yeah, as someone who got their ass kicked by Kyle Lowry and a au growing up. I would love to see him on the Sixers, just to be the point guard that balances out Ben Simmons would be amazing. But Philadelphia and the Clippers seem to be the favorites for Kyle Lowry, And the question is do the Sixers want to give up young pieces, whether it's thy Bal and Maxie in addition to draft picks. And then for the Clippers, what do they give up.

They don't really have any assets because they gave so much for Paul George and Kauai before, so that'll be the question there. Do the Celtics make a move, do they try and add a piece? It's it's a lot more questions than answers right now. Utah Jazz fans are going do we want to add a piece? Are we comfortable the Lakers, whether it's the buy out of Andre Drummond with the Calves, do the Nets go after Andre drum And to add to what looks like a great

addition in Blake Griffin. So I don't think it's going to be a superstar being moved. I don't think we're gonna see a Bradley Beal. I don't know if we're gonna see a Vucevic. But right now, it's those little pieces, And I think for me, the one that's most intriguing is Kyle Lowry, just because of his experience in the playoffs, and if he goes to a Clippers, and if he goes to a Sixers, they're the odds of them making

the championship run definitely get improved. Do you think the Lebron James injury with the Lakers is significant enough that they're going to have to make a move and get some peace to fill in, get a scorer. I know it's a high ankle sprain. There's no timetable on how long he's out. But with no a D, no Lebron, are they in need of size or what are the Lakers in need of and do they do they make a move here? I think that they were in the

need before Lebron got hurt. I just think we all watched them in the bubble last year and saw how dominant to have beyond a D A JaVale McGee and a Dwight Howard and it seems like a big loss. Apparently was reported the morning of our recording that they are listening to deals for Montrez Harrold, which I think would be unlikely. But I don't think they need to

make a move to stay where they are. The question is does Lebron the facto GM, look at his team and go I need more pieces with Lowry potentially on the move, Adam, who do you think is a better suitor for him between the possible options there? I mean with Philly you got and beat out for a little bit, and many people thought he could win m VP. Maybe they could use some more offensive power there. What what? What do you think is the best fit for him?

It sounds like the two biggest suitors are the Clippers and the Sixers. The Clippers mainly because they've been very reliant on the three point shot. Patrick Beverley is more of an idea than a reality right now. When people talk about Patrick Beverley, I think they're thinking about like the Houston Beverly like four or five years ago, and they would really love that experienced point guard to set up Paul George and Kauai, and that experience with Kauai

in Toronto is very intriguing. But as I said earlier, they don't have a lot of pieces, and so it's what Toronto doesn't want to give away arguably the best player in their franchise just because they can. And so for the Sixers, they have a number of first round picks, some that aren't even theirs, and they have those young pieces, and they have a number of expiring contracts, whether they're

restricted free agents. They have guys like Danny Green. They have guys like Maxie, which is at least a young piece you can get back the other piece for the Raptors that they may trade, don't forget. I feel bad for the Raptors. They've been down in Tampa Bay. They've been living in a hotel, so they've been quarantining more than anybody. And I think they've lost I don't have it right. They've lost like ten or something in a row.

Like it's been rough for this Raptors team. So it would make sense for Massai to to maybe move on from some of these older players. But Norman pal is someone that has been killing it lately, and I think he had like a forty point game the other day. He's someone though that if you're the Raptors, you're going do we extend him and make him a piece of our core? Do we want the future of our team to be him Pascal Siakam, Is that our future? Or do we move him and get a lot of pieces

and kind of start rebuilding. But I know the market is really exciting if he became available. I'm selfishly a little bummed because there was talk a couple of months ago in the off season that Toronto was going to play in Kansas City. I live here in Kansas City, and Patrick Mahomes was making a big case for that, and I gotta say, Kansas City with an NBA team

would be fire. We have such a good basketball blueprint here because we just love you know, okay, you basketball is so huge here and I think if Patrick Mahomes touches that thing, it turns to gold. But that's a whole, whole other story. As we were continuing to talk about the East, what about it? I covered the Atlanta Hawks for years, and you know, we always played second fiddle, even when we played in the Eastern Conference finals. You know, he's like, well, he's just gonna get gobbled at by

Golden State. It's it's, you know, a prize to win second. But what do you think is so different this year about the Eastern Conference? Well, we haven't talked about the team that. Look, I grew up a Sixers fan, but I cannot stop watching the Brooklyn Nets when they come on television. Thank you. That's because you know, Speedy mentioned earlier the injury with Lebron. We have injuries right now to Lebron Joel Mba. So two of the top m v P vote gun. We we have Yokich that has

been unbelievable. But the success of the Nuggets hasn't been as consistent as other teams. Dame Lillard has made a case. But how we are not talking about James Harden is more of a act that people don't like him and they can't look past it. Don't forget that the media votes for m v P, and the media really didn't like that James Harden was seen at a birthday party at a strip club, and that he seemed to be not be following quarantine rituals and and and all that,

and he forced a trade. But if we're talking about m v P. This is a man that, with Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving missing weeks on end, carry this team to within a half a game of first place in the East, still within striking distance. And the team that he left has now lost twenty games in a row. So if we're talking about valuable, I think he's really shown it. So I look at the East right now, and I think there's four teams and then there's a drop off, but I think there's a gap between the

top two. I think it's and maybe three. I just have a lot of Bucks fatigue because they remind me of like the Cincinnati Bengals back when it was Andy Dalton and Chad Johnson and all those guys, because it's like I need to see in the playoffs. But it's Nets sixers. Then you have the Bucks and the the whole yanna should be the m v P race is starting up again, and then it's like the Heat have made a run. You know, the Hawks can be good, and I just I just think there's so really I

think it's like three teams. But for me, the Nets, I feel like the Nets are going to the finals. I hope my sixers compete, but it feels like the Nuts. With the addition of Blake Griffin, who we just discovered can dunk the basketball again, how do you think that changes things for the Nets? Does it make it better? Does it make it worse? And did you know that

Blake Griffin could still dunk? Yeah? Like I think this is this is It reminds me a lot of James Harden, where remember James Harden was grossly overweight before he came to the Nets and then all of a sudden he was great again. And I think talking to to d Wade on set and just talking about something that a lot of people don't talk about in sports, motivation and happiness.

We'll talk a lot about statistics, we talk a lot about potential, But when a player feels motivated and they are surrounded by people that make them happy, it's unbelievable

how much better they are on the court. And I think that if you were Blake Griffin and you were signed a five year deal with the Los Angeles Clippers in a top three NBA market, and and you were there on the bottom and now we're at the top, and then you get traded to the Pistons and you can't talk trash because you don't want to insult your new owner and your new teammates. And now you get to go to Brooklyn like with Durrant and Kyrie, and

there's no pressure on you. I think a lot of people make too much of oh, is you're gonna be upset not starting. He's excited to be winning, he's excited to be in a culture of accountability. His coach is Steve Nash with Dan Tony like he's probably looking at the old Phoenix suns and go and I can do it a Mari Stotomyer did. I can set a screen and roll and so I don't think it completely moved the needle to where it's like whoa, Just like I don't think p J. Tucker going to the Bucks is

that huge. But could Blake Griffin and p J Tucker give you a surprise twenty in game four of a playoff series? Absolutely. The thing that scared me about Blake Speedy was him and DeMarcus Cousins have only shot threes this season. Like it was weird. It was like, I want to prove to people that I can shoot threes. But I also think that when you go to a team like this now, it's let me, let me hustle.

You know he was. I watched that game on Sunday, and he's making defensive stops and all that and and that's what they need. So I don't think it it's a guarantee because I don't think he can cover and beat. I still think they could be in the running for Andre Drummond. But getting guys that are great teammates and and can be successful, he can't go wrong with them, he said. He mentioned the Brooklyn Nets probably being in the finals. You like them. They're obviously putting together quite

the roster. Who do they face in the finals if you have a guest right now in March mid March, Yeah, I think Net sixers is what I would predict for the Eastern Conference finals, and then for the West. I still I'll just do the finals because I don't know exactly who's gonna win the playoffs and all that. But the Lakers are still in there, you know, Like I'm not betting against Lebron, Like, how like how many times do we need to see this guy carrying his team

to the finals until we realize it's him? So he'll get arrest right now, as hopefully a d comes back sooner. I think a sleeper team if we're looking down the odds board there at MGM. I do think the Nuggets are a sleeper team. I could see them being active at the trade deadline. I just think that as I've had to do all these Tuesday shows, I look at all the injuries, and the Nuggets have just been decimated.

And so now that they're getting healthy and Yokich has kind of kept them in striking distance, I think they're very interesting. I have a lot of hope for the Suns, but I don't think I'm ready to put them in the finals just yet. I feel the same way about the Clippers, and I don't know like I feel the same way about the Clippers I do about the Bucks, where I just got a lot of doubt when it

comes to the playoffs, you know. And I don't want to start talking about playoff p and all that stuff, but it's definitely why why are you so down on the Bucks? Why do you have Bucks fatigue? He didn't really explain that to me. Will you tell me if this scares you? We have now seen the last few playoffs a team that has been dominant in the regular season get absolutely figured out in the playoffs, and their coach,

Budenholz or who I like, not adapt at all. They throw up the wall on Janice and he's been relegated to a rebound er outlet passer, and we haven't seen consistent shooting. And so I think regular season Chris Middleton has not translated into playoff Chris Middleton. Drew Holiday gives me a lot of hope, But I look at the rest of the roster and I go, look, could Drew Holiday and p J. Tucker be the magic elixir to

get them past the problems in the past. Sure. I think for me, though, my issues are more with Bodenholzer than anything because the spoilstras of the world in Miami heat who I left out earlier, When that turns into a half court game, and you can't be reliant on transition as much as the Bucks usually are during the regular season, the way that they defend the Bucks has been a huge issue, and so that's really my concern is. I think that if the Bucks don't make it this year,

I think he might be in trouble. I don't wish that on any anybody, but I think you have to start asking questions of the adapting, which Olivia, as you mentioned those Hawks teams that were winning sixty games, it was the same question, This is fine right now, but when we get into the playoffs, you don't adapt. And so that's really my issue, and that goes back to Budenholzer.

That's the problems personal It definitely seems personally. I gotta be honest, but you know, you said that you were excited about Brooklyn, and I want to take it to Queen's for a second and away from basketball for a second as well. And I want to speak about jaw Rule because if I rewind a year ago to Super Bowl weekend in Miami, I watched you host a lip sync contest and do a rendition of jaw Rule in in some sort of duet. Can you tell Olivia here about what I was able to see that day and

and and why that was so special. So I wasn't hosting, I was participating in Olivia. It was with our mutual friend Taylor Rooks. We were doing a jaw Rule j Lo duet and I thought speedy. It was like one of those like influencer events that was like really chill, like I like we walked into this hotel and I was like, oh, there's like these little lounges. This is

gonna be real, low key and we'll have fun. And then I walked into the back and it's like Venus Williams, C C Sabathia Wade, Carrie Champion, like Gabby like and there were so many people that didn't perform that we're like Bozoma like. I was like, this is nuts, and they're like, yeah, so you're ready to go to the stage and I was like the stage, what are you talking about? They take us out back and there's like five hundred people in front of a stage, like, yeah,

you're gonna perform there. We're gonna do like Mike check. And I was like this is crazy. And we changed our song to Jaw Rule and and j Lo and the lady I'm real and the lady tells me, you know that jaw rules here, and I was like, you've got to be getting me. This is my dream. And so we went out there. We did it. I got a nine from Gary Vaynerchuk, which I appreciate it, and then we became friends after that. But I thought I killed it. I was able to get my jaw Rule

voice Hello, Hello. You know I I think I can hit those that it kind of oh you Rellie, that's more it when I tell you he did the voice for the whole song, bro, like the entire song. It was impressive that he was able to sustain it for that look that was Rule d m me and was like, I heard you in the back. That was amazing, and I was like, this is great. Wow. The one thing though, that I haven't shared with anybody is and I totally

forgotten till this moment. At one point, I sat down and I was like singing when I was sitting down that stay because it rained was so wet that my entire ass it looked like I had shipped my pants. And so the whole time I'm trying to like rap, but I'm also trying not to show anybody like that. I looked like, Okay, do you remember what the three

judges were? By the way, it was Tianna Taylor, Gary Vaynerchuk, and it was like an influencer that you've definitely seen like Vine and Instagram with like twenty million followers, but I didn't know who they. Yeah, so I also was like Gary Vaynerchuk the Blood Tiana Taylor, her new album just dropped. She's great, and then I went and then I went. I was like, oh, ship, I have no idea who this is. And I was like, and I don't even need to say her name because she's killing it,

But like, I had no idea who she was. Imber that that's a good remember that, and she looked like Lanta del Rey, But I was like, that's not There were stars in the there was a whole like celebrity row on the right side. Quavo was there, and I was like, I'm like, I'm about to do rule in front of quav scarier than doing it in front of Ja Rule. Yeah, that's so funny, big vibe. Where does that rank amongst career accomplishments? Is that? Is that somewhere

near the top. Okay, so I've now beat Shock the last two weeks in knockout and three point contest, so that's up there. In college, I want a sixty one team beer pong tournament, that's up there. But performing Jaw Rule for Jaw Rule and getting his approval is a top seven moment. I have to work on the other four top seven. Fair enough, Adam, thank you so much for toking hoops with us and to rule a little bit. You are more than welcome to come back and kicking

with us whenever you'd like. In if you'd ever like to bring the jaw Rule voice back, You're more than welcome to do so right here. If you guys ever need a bump or like a fake jaw rule support of the pod, you know what I mean, like if you go like a fake coast coastign Yeah, I got it. No, I mean just now I'm getting into d MX. I appreciate you. Yeah, that got that got out there. Good buddy,

Thank you, Adam. Awesome, Thank you guys. Olivia eats well Olivia before the n C Double A tournament and March Madness was breaking all of our brackets. What the big tent tournament was in Indianapolis. And obviously you were there to cover the whole thing, but not only cover it from a basketball per sspective, because we put you on assignment to cover things from a food perspective as well. How was that food tour that you went on? And what can you tell us? Well, Speedy, I am nothing

if not a serious, hard hitting journalist. And when I get an assignment I give it my all. And I've got to tell you I was in Inde covering the Big Ten men's and women's basketball tournaments, so you know, some days I'd have four games a day, super busy, but I still was committed to the cause, and so I'd leave the arena, walk across the street, try to

knock off some of these places. Because I tweeted out, you know, y'all give me your best Indie food recommendations, and my Twitter was flooded, so I had to pick, you know, what was closest, what was walkable or whatever. So let me start with just the spot. And the reason we're doing this whole rundown is because as you picture all these teams in Indie now for the n C Double A tournament, You've got a picture where are all the big wigs going to eat? You know what

I mean? I like to picture where the coaches are go in, the university presidents, athletic directors, all the all the famous sports writers and reporters. So the the spot is saying, almost it's a steakhouse. It's incredible. They're famous for their shrimp cocktail. It comes in this ridiculously spicy horse radish sauce and it's amazing. I have posted videos of all of this on my Instagram if you want to go see it. O Olivia Harland Decker shameless plug.

It's incredible. And the bar is you know, it's one of those steakhouses that's like dark and sexy and kind of old fashion and you know a lot of dark wood and but big TVs. You can watch all the games. So I had an amazing vodka gimlet that is my drink, you know, the crushed ice floating at the top. I mean, it was just perfection. Absolutely loved it. And you look around. I mean the Nebraska men's basketball coaching staff was there.

They were all enjoying, and they were watching my table of my coworkers and myself as we ate the shrimp cocktail to see how much our eyes were going to waters. That was such a blast. Be how spicy are we talking on the shrimp cocktail? Because cocktail sauce can be spicy depending upon how much horse rad as you put. Is it like nose running, don't touch your eyes spicy or or help me out here. Yes, Like you know when you have sushi and you accidentally put too much

of a sabby in the soy sauce. Yes, that's what we're talking here. In fact, I could use it right now. That's probably clear at my sinuses. I feel like that would be a really good thing I should have right now. Okay, So next door to St. Almos, if you can't get a reservation because it's really hard to I I did it like two weeks in advance. They also own Harry and Izzy's. It's next door. It's a little bit more casual sports bars. So that's another hot spot in Indie.

And then if you really want something authentic to Indiana, because I know this is in Bloomington's is I think the original. And there are a couple in downtown Indianapolis called kill Roy's. It's like their version their local Buffalo Wild Wings, you know what I mean. A million TVs, really good food, really good service, and they're famous for these breadsticks speedy. Oh my gosh. So I sit down at the bar. I'm in between games. I ordered my

iced tea, you know, just I only have like thirty minutes before I got to get back to work. And I say I'll take the breadsticks. And they say, they say which ones? I say, I don't know the famous ones. And they say, well, we have a bread stick at the month and I said, great, what's that. It's buffalo chicken, so I ordered that. Obviously, I rip them apart, melty cheese and just spicy, like really good thick pieces of chicken. It's delicious. So kill Roy's breadsticks too. Thumbs up. Food

in Indy is incredible. I think my next assignment needs to be like intermitute fasting or interval training segment because I definitely went a little crazy with the food in Indy. Is there a such thing as going too crazy on food when you're not home, when you're on the road, it's like all bets are off, you know, you can kind of get away with anything. Yes, but I basically live on the road, so there's no excuse I can't do that. Fair enough. You make a good point. You

make a good point. All right. Well, I'm excited if I ever have a trip to Indie on my itinerary. I've got all of these spots written down and I can't wait to try that shrimp cocktail from St. Almos. That's what it was. St Elmo's, Saint Almos locked in all right. Now, coming up, we've got this week's Lions Lock, where our guru from bet MGM, Peter Andrew, gives you all of the insider knowledge about which picks are worth your money and which ones you may want to hold

off one Welcome back, Peter Andrew. Thank you so much for coming back. I know you were a little hesitant to come back because you know I'm not going to hold this against you, but you, like everyone else, had a lot of inaccurate picks from the first two rounds and everyone's looking at their bracket like, what the hell happened? And I need you to explain yourself, Peter, what happened?

First off, I'm expecting a couple of nimal requests because I probably lost some people, some money, ruined some brackets. But yeah, it was a crazy obviously a crazy first couple of days of the tournament. A lot of things that we didn't expect to see. Obviously, Teams like Oral Roberts just amazing. I don't think we've had something quite like this where so many double digit seeds have advanced, so, you know, unfortunate for some, but super exciting throughout the

entire weekend. So now we're coming into the sweet sixth team weekend. Let's start with the Wild Roberts since he talked about them. They're a fifteen seed. They play three seed Arkansas. Can they keep this magic going or is this the better team's gonna win out? Yeah? I think ultimately the better team will win out. Every Cinderella story has the the end of their historic run. But they're eleven and a half point underdogs. I love them to keep it close. I mean, they're riding so much momentum.

They may not win out right, but I think for for the betting world, I think you'd take him and make cover. Well, we know one seed Illinois is out, so one seed Baylor playing five seed Villanova. Now Villanova you told us wasn't gonna even make it past Winthrop. So what's the deal with Baylor Villanova? Yeah, you know, without Gillespie, I for sure thought that there'd be an opportunity for Winthrop to come in, sneak in, grab a wind. But Robinson Earl, I mean, he was co Biggies Player

of the Year. He proved it. I believe he had twenty two in his first game against Winthrop. As long as they're playing a team game like that, and I guess as long as they have Jay Wright on the bench. They look to be in good shape. It's gonna be a great one against Baylor. Expected to be really close, but ultimately I think Baylor will end up taking it. Well, Peter, you know, I'm a I'm a Syracuse guy, and many did not expect a Cues to make it this far,

including our very own producer and you what's going on there? Man? How far do you think Syracuse can go in this tournament? And and would you bet your any on them against a two seed Houston? So I think it's two words right there, Buddy Beheim. I mean the way he was shooting the ball, it was honestly unbelievable. Between that and the way they played that own defense, I mean, they're so big. I think if they can rebound the basketball well against Houston, I think they went out right. That's

one of my picks for Sweet sixteen. Wow, leven seed Ques beating to seed Houston. I would love it. Yeah, Peter, do any of these Cinderella's keep dancing past the Sweet sixteen? Well, it depends if you want to call loyal Chicago a Cinderella. I think they're probably the favorite in their region right now. I mean Cameron Crutwig played unbelievable and what he did to Kofe Cockburn and you saw the last the stash, love the stash the last five seven minutes. Kofe was

absolutely exhausted. It wasn't just the point production from Loyala, but it was just the second chances, the opportunities, the doubling, I mean, everything they did just completely wipe them out. So if they play with that kind of energy and they got Jesus on their side, let's usr gene. I see them coming out of their region. They look really really good and I think certainly they'll cover on Saturday. So I have Gonzaga winning it all. Is that still

looking the most favorable? Yeah. Anytime you come out of the first round with almost a fifty point when, I think you gotta feel pretty good about it. Jillen Suggs didn't even look that great in his first game, but you've got guys like Drew Timmy got Corey Kisper. They looked really really good. I think Kissper ended up shooting five or five or six or six to start the game from three, and that's really what separated them to to getting them kind of to that next level and

end up eventually blowing out Norfolk. Peter, you gave us a bad bet last week with Winthrop over Villanova. I want to give you the opportunity at redemption here. What would you say is the best bet or or maybe the most enticing bit that you see coming out of Vegas this week? Yeah, I think it's Loyal or Chicago. I think, given what they did last week, only a six and a half point favorite against Oregon State, something fishy about that line. I think they can end up

winning by double digits. So that's ultimately my lock. But right behind is probably accused money line where you sprinkle a bit of money there and you could end up being a happy man. I love that, Peter. We're hoping that you don't have to get many more Venmo requests after this week, but I'm I'm riding with you dog. I think my dog Buddy Beheim in the Syracuse Orange led by Jim Beheim have a good chance at that number to Houston. So we'll see, we will see what happens.

Absolutely gonna be fun weekend again. Can't wait. Peter. Thank you so much for joining us. Thank you, Peter. Yeah, my pleasure. Guys, thanks a lot, well, Olivia. That's it. Episode one and two are in the books and today it was a lot of fun. It was a lot of fun, such a great time of the year for sports. I had so much fun eating my way through Indie, watching the first couple of rounds of the tournament, and getting great picks from Peter for this week six team exactly.

There was so much action and you can continue to catch all of the action from bt MGM by following them on all social media platforms at bit mgm, and please leave a review of the show on Apple Podcasts and follow us wherever you listen to podcasts. Hill see you next week.