Free Agency Moves, March Madness Bubble Talk & WBC Drama

Neil (00:05)
We are live on the Height Differential podcast!

Nick (00:05)
Are you really ready? Are you really ready?

Are you really ready?

Neil (00:11)
Yeah, let's go.

Nick (00:13)
All right, let's go.

We are back. is the height differential. That's the six, six, Neil. am the four 10 Nick. Like going on before we jump in quick reminder, if you're watching live or catching this later, make sure you subscribe to the height differential, whatever you listen to podcasts. And if you like the show, rate it and leave a review. You can also follow us on social at height differential on all the platforms.

So you're doing a little spell, little, little spelling with the kiddos before you jumped on,

Neil (00:48)
Yeah, it's important, man. Glad to see that spelling tests are still a thing in elementary schools these days. These kids gotta learn how to spell. Everything's digital now. You get on the computer and you just do spell check. I mean, you misspell a word in an email, guess what? It highlights it for you and you just right click it and it fixes it. you know.

Nick (00:53)
You think this is gonna go away?

Well, that's

been a thing for a long time, Word processors, they've been around for a while. Now, all this other stuff that we have now that you don't have to do anything, that's really a problem.

Neil (01:09)
no, but...

You can

just ask your phone how you spell a word and it just tells you. No, spelling tests are important for kids. yeah, with the wife's out of town this week, she's actually in a different country. ⁓ So we're stuck here, solo daddin' this week, and making sure the kids are learning things.

Nick (01:33)
What was the toughest word tonight?

Neil (01:37)
probably separate.

Nick (01:39)
Okay, that is a tough word. A lot of E's, a lot of E's, a lot of A's, you gotta figure out where they go. Okay.

Neil (01:42)
Is it the ER or is it the AR? Is it an ER or is it an AR? It is an AR.

Nick (01:49)
All right, well, glad you're helping the kiddos get an education tonight. Like I said, we do have plenty to talk about. NFL free agency and full swing. The Bengals active on Monday, haven't really done much since. Max Crosby's going to the Ravens, then he's not, and then they get Trey.

So we got, we can definitely get into that. And then college basketball conference tournaments. A lot of the women's tournaments were last week. We were both there in Atlanta. Kind of go over the men's tournaments this week. Look at some of the bubble teams who we think is going to get in, who we think is not. And then Martin Rosa, the manager of the USA baseball made a little blunder yesterday. Doesn't look like it's going to matter. But we, we can discuss a little bit how, not really a mistake. I don't think you can make as a manager.

Neil (02:11)
Yeah.

Nick (02:38)
USA in the World Baseball Classic. And then the players this week. So plenty going on. Let's start off. With the NFL.

Neil (02:51)
Okay.

Nick (02:53)
With, I guess the whole story starts with over the weekend news breaks that the Raiders have sent Max Crosby to the Ravens for first round draft picks this year and next year.

Neil (03:09)
Yeah.

Nick (03:13)
Jamar Chase gets on Twitter, can't believe this is happening.

We're not very happy about it. You look at what the ASE North looks like against Joe Burrow. You got TJ Watt. You ⁓ got T.J. Watt. You got Max Crosby. You got Myles Garrett, all coming at him.

Neil (03:31)
I was gay.

Yup. That's enough. That might be enough right there if he was thinking about retiring. If I saw those three guys coming at me, I'd probably want to retire too.

Nick (03:34)
And then...

Yeah.

And then news breaks last night. Well, first off, Trey's market hasn't been exactly what I think he thought it was going to be. think he was hoping that he

Neil (03:48)
No, his work

is exactly what we thought it was gonna be, not what he thought it was gonna be.

Nick (03:53)
He

thought he was going to get close to $40 million. That market had dipped. And I think with that market dipping, the Ravens were getting a little interested. Got code feet with Crosby, used the physical as a reason to get out of that trade, which has pissed off most of the NFL. They get out of that trade. And then this morning we wake up to news that they have eight trade to a four year 112.

Neil (03:55)
Well, Trey's not smart.

Nick (04:18)
And the saga around Trey Hendrickson for the Cincinnati Bengals fans continues.

Neil (04:24)
I mean the saga of Trey Hendrickson is over for Bengals fans. mean he's not a fan. No, but I mean the saga as far as you know, are we gonna re-sign him, are we gonna tag him, are we gonna give him an extension, what are we gonna pay him? Like the drama around the, internally for the Bengals is over. Yes, you do have to face him twice a year and that doesn't make a lot of Bengals fans happy, I mean, to me, I think I'm actually more, it sucks to say this as a Bengals fan.

Nick (04:27)
I mean, it's not over. can see him twice a year now.

Neil (04:53)
I'm glad the Ravens ended up with Trey Hendrickson instead of Max Crosby. I would rather them have Trey Hendrickson than Max Crosby.

Nick (05:01)
I think that's obvious. They also didn't give up two first round picks.

Neil (05:05)
That's fine. That's fine.

Nick (05:09)
Look, whole thing is just, and look, Trey, as good as he was for the Bengals, he's the best free agent signing they've ever had in history of their franchise. And that will hopefully change here in a couple years, but as of right now, that's the case. But his legacy in Cincinnati is completely ruined because of the way that he's handled himself over the last couple years.

Neil (05:33)
I mean, he's been here for

three, four years. How many years was he in? Five years.

Nick (05:36)
He was there for five years, five years.

His legacy is completely ruined and you cement that by going to a division rival.

Neil (05:43)
I mean, was, he

is like, what kind of legacy did he even have? I mean, was he a great player for us for, didn't even play last year. So let's just say he played for four years. Was he a great player for us? Yes, he was for the majority of that time, but his Jersey was never getting retired. He's not going on the ring of honor. like you left a mark, sure, but it was, it was not in the, history of the franchise. You're just a footnote. You're a footnote.

Nick (06:09)
It didn't have to be that way. So they signed him to a four year, $60 million deal in 21. Two years into that deal, he does this. He extends it for one more year through 25. It's $21 million. So basically he was getting 15 a year. It increased it to 21. And that gets him through 25. Going after the 23 season, all of a sudden he wants to, he might retire.

Neil (06:15)
Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah.

Nick (06:38)
after he had 17 and half sacks. And you signed the contract. And then again, and then he's plays. And then again, the next year you hold out when you're still under, you sign up. Nobody forced him to sign that contract. And then the Bengals offer him a three year, $95 million deal with only 30 of it guaranteed the first year pretty much. But the Bengals don't get out of contracts for the most part, unless you're terrible. That's one thing they do. If they sign you a contract for the most part,

Neil (06:51)
Hell, of course not.

Right.

Nick (07:07)
They follow it through. You decide you don't want that 30, you don't want that three year deal for 95 million. Cause it's not enough and you didn't get guaranteed money. So they do what they don't have to do. They give you an additional $14 million just to get you on the field for last year. You play seven games, get hurt, have like four sacks.

Neil (07:09)
Yeah.

because he thought he was going get 40. Because he probably thought he was going get 40. Yeah.

He stole money.

He stole the money from us last year. We gave him an extra 14 million that we didn't even have to do. Because like you said, he's under contract. So you're either going to play or you're not going to get paid. But you know, you had a great season the year before. We're going to give you basically a bonus. We're going to give you a bonus. And then you just stole the money because you didn't play. And every time he did play, he came out about every other play.

Nick (07:47)
Well, but this is like the whole national media. And look, I get on the Bengals front office a lot. I'm going to get them on them in this show. But in this case, they offered him three years, 95. He's 30. He's 32 years old. Like, I don't think I would go four years.

Neil (08:06)
Do

we know what the guarantees from the Ravens are?

Nick (08:09)
It's 60, it's 60. It's double what the bingles was.

Neil (08:12)
But how many? So 60 million guaranteed.

Nick (08:15)
Yeah, and the Bengals was 30. So I get it. That's a big difference. That is a big difference. It is. It's a big difference. But the Bengals, I think, were comfortable to go to. They were in negotiation. They extended it to three. And Trey said no. And that's it. And once that was done, they could have played hardball and tagged him and not let him do any of this stuff and try to trade him, which we all talked about. They don't have the ability to pull that off.

Neil (08:18)
Yeah. I mean, 30 million is a lot. Yeah.

No, they don't. They don't.

Nick (08:44)
So

I was kind of glad, I wish they would have done it, but this front office does not have that ability. So I think that was the right decision. But like I'm just tired of the narrative being that the Bengals are cheap in this scenario. Because in this scenario, they're not. They thought he was too old to give him that big of a deal. They gave him contract they thought was fair. He argued with them every year, even though he was under contract for multiple years and signed that contract himself.

Neil (09:03)
which I agree with.

Nick (09:12)
Like if anybody's at fault, it's his agent and him. And he's finally free, he gets four years with the Ravens, and now we get to see him twice a year. But I don't want to hear that crap that the Bengals are cheap on this one.

Neil (09:15)
Mm-hmm.

No, the Bengals did the right move. They offered what I think was fair. And I agree with only offering the one year guarantee because he is 32 years old now. You know, to me, I think the Ravens probably overspends a little bit here. I can't anticipate. Maybe he'll prove me wrong, but four years down the road at the age of 35, 36 years old, I don't see Trey Henderson putting up the numbers that he's putting up right now. So go ahead, waste your money. Get your long-term deal. Good for Trey. He gets paid.

And like I said, I'm glad that the Ravens ended up with him instead of Max Crosby because I think Max Crosby's better. I know they kept their first round picks, which is why they backed out of the deal. I mean, it was complete sham what they did. I mean, I'm not buying this failed physical crap with Max Crosby. They had buyer's remorse. They realized, oh wait, we probably shouldn't have done this. Let's just go get Trey Hendrickson and say that Max Crosby failed physical because he was hurt last year. No, it's complete trash. They cheated the system.

Nick (09:58)
He is better.

Neil (10:20)
They didn't really cheat the system, but they did Max Grosby. They took advantage of it. Yeah, exactly. you they got a worst player. I hope Trey, you know, is a bum. He is a bum. I hope he stays a bum. Doesn't produce the way that the Ravens hoped that he would and that he sucks. And we'll just go down and torch him twice a year. I'm not worried about Trey Henderson. I was ⁓ worried about Max Grosby. I'm not worried about Trey Henderson at all.

Nick (10:22)
They took advantage of the system.

And look.

And look, I'm

not even sure it was cold feet with Max Crosby. I think it was you see that you can maybe get Trey and not have to give up two first round picks. And you've got this physical waiting there that if a reason to get out of it, if you want to get out of it, I don't even think it was cold feet. I think it was a different opportunity that presented themselves when his contract was a lot lower than they thought it was originally gonna be. And what?

Neil (11:12)
it's a thousand percent you're absolutely right.

Nick (11:14)
Once the numbers started coming down, they started looking at the writing on the wall and be like, look, we don't have to give up. And we're not a team that likes to give up first round picks. We give up two of them. Why don't we get those back and we'll just go sign Trey.

Neil (11:26)
And

then they trotted their GM out there today and he put on this pony show of, well we were gonna actually, we really wanted Max Crosby, we were gonna put Max Crosby with Trey Hendrickson. Like, no you weren't. Nope. It's complete trash. Complete lies, trash to cover his ass, which he has to do, because, I mean, they did him wrong. But it's whatever. It's whatever.

Nick (11:48)
Dude, it's

like, are you gonna do a trade with the Ravens after this? Who, who?

Neil (11:51)
I'm not surprised. I'm not surprised. It's

the Ravens. It's their franchise. They're a bunch of bums. Bunch of losers in Baltimore. Whatever.

Nick (11:58)
And then

Max Crosby has to go back to the Raiders facility today. He had already updated his Twitter account with the Ravens jersey. And now he's got to go back.

Neil (12:06)
I mean,

if the Raiders want to take a couple second round picks, I'll kick the tires on some Max Crossby to Cincinnati.

Nick (12:14)
Well, I'd give them one fresh round pick.

Neil (12:15)
I would give him a first round pick as well.

Nick (12:18)
I'd give them a first round pick and.

Neil (12:19)
Hell, you can

have all of our first round picks. Apparently every first round pick the Bengals actually draft and they all suck. So they can take all of our first round picks because we don't do a damn thing with them.

Nick (12:28)
I mean, there's a couple guys in that offense that were first round picks that are pretty damn good.

Neil (12:32)
That was

a while ago. But there's more misses than hits and we can go through the misses because there's a lot more misses than there have been hits.

Nick (12:39)
Look, and you mentioned Trey Henderson sucks. He doesn't suck. He's just not as good as Max Crosby. Like, you're an idiot.

Neil (12:44)
No, he sucks. sucks. His production's

gonna go down. He was on the field for seven games last year. I mean, we're now two years removed from his great year. He's getting older. I don't think he's as good as people think he is.

Nick (12:57)
It wasn't his great year, it was two great years in a row with 17 and half sacks.

Neil (13:00)
Well that was two years, three years ago. Now he's two and three years older. He's in his 30s.

Nick (13:03)
But he's

never been somebody that's great against a run. But when it's third and long, he's as good as anybody in the league. And if he's healthy, he's going to be.

Neil (13:13)
Yeah, he was two and three years ago.

He was two years ago. Three years ago.

Nick (13:19)
Look, I hope you're right. Will he get 17 and 1 sacks? I don't know about that. But will he get double digit? Yeah, I think that could very easily happen.

Neil (13:23)
There's no proof he's the same guy. There's no proof he's the same guy.

What, less than a sack of game? Big deal. Big deal.

Nick (13:34)
Well, and

the Max Crosby drama may not be over because Pac-Man Jones is on his camera on video saying, uh-oh, it's happening. He's coming to Cincinnati.

Neil (13:47)
Well, I love me some Pac-Man Jones, but I don't know if Pac-Man Jones is the Bengals' insider that we think he is. I do love some Pac-Man now. I do love Pac-Man Jones, but I don't know if I trust what the Pac-Man is doing. I mean, if the Bengals pull it off, somehow, someway, I don't care if you have a failed physical or not. I'm good. Come on. Come on with it.

Nick (13:48)
And look, look, if anybody I trust.

Wait, if there's anybody I trust on the internet, it's Adam Pac-Man Jones.

What would you give up for him? Would you do the two firsts like the Ravens were gonna do or do you think that's too much?

Neil (14:17)
No, I'd the two first. I would absolutely do the two first.

Nick (14:22)
I think this year's is a no-brainer.

Neil (14:25)
I mean just think about what the... We drafted Shamar Stewart with a first round pick. We drafted Billy Price with a first round pick. We drafted William Jackson with a personal pick. We drafted Dax Hill with a personal pick. I mean my guy Joe Burrow was a can't miss. That was a can't miss. You didn't have to do your homework on that one. You didn't even have to do your homework on that

Nick (14:34)
Wow, you saying that Joe Burrow and Lamar Taylor too long ago and then you break out Billy Price?

No, but you talked about how that was a long time ago. You talked

about how that was a long time ago, and then you go back to 2017 and Billy Price?

Neil (14:51)
I I'm just saying. William Jackson, Darkwez Dinard. Darkwez Dinard, we go all the way back. We can go as far as you want. Miles Murphy, we can go with this currency. Miles Murphy sucks. Shamar Stewart sucks. Dax Hill, not that good. we, like, Joe Burrow was a can't miss. Like, number one pick, it's an obvious choice. Like, I'm not gonna give the Bengals credit for drafting Joe Burrow. Everybody would have drafted Joe Burrow. And the same with Jamar, I mean,

Nick (14:55)
you now you went even farther back!

Like how about we stick to the last couple years?

There you go. I mean, he's going to be a big part of this team.

Demortation? can't miss it.

Neil (15:20)
And with Jamar Chase, was either that or Penne Soull, and they were both, you can't miss on them. Everybody else they've actually had to do some homework on and think about it on their first round pick, they've missed. They've missed. They've they've mis-evaluated almost all of them. So yes, the Ravens can take- the Raiders can take all of my first round picks because we sure ain't gonna do a damn thing with them. So they can take them and give me Max Crosby because you're not gonna find anybody- the Bengals will not draft anybody the next three, four years with those first round picks that's gonna amount to what Max Crosby can be.

Nick (15:30)
Well, the Falcons picked outfits. The Falcons picked outfits ahead of both of them.

100 % would do it. I think your logic with going back to the 2015s and then just saying everybody sucks is...

Neil (15:57)
It's more of a Duke Tobin sucks

because he's a terrible evaluator of talent is what I'm trying to get at so I don't trust them to do anything with our first round picks now. It's just a history of what the Bengals do. Drake or Patrick I'm pretty sure was a first round pick and he's my most hated bangle of all time. It's just a pattern of what the Bengals do. So yes, give me Max Crosby and they can take my next nine first round picks.

Nick (16:06)
What if

Will you stop with the 2010s? Goodness.

Well, you were not doing like, that's what the, you want to go back in history. That's what the saints did to get Ricky Williams back in the early 2000s.

Neil (16:27)
That's when Mike Ditka was running things. Yeah.

Nick (16:29)
Yeah, but

no, I think there's no doubt that and look the compensation might not be as high now that this has already gone through once. Maybe you can get him for a first round and a second round pick.

Neil (16:41)
It's just awkward. I think that it's over and for him in LA or in in Vegas, right? Like they don't they want to trade you

Nick (16:48)
That's not what

they're saying right now, but they're taking calls.

Neil (16:54)
I mean the Bengals put out a feeler before he was going to Baltimore, so put out a bigger feeler. Come on Duke, let's feel it out. Feel, feel.

Nick (17:03)
Well, Duke Tobin, he's all in on winning this year and talked about how they really gotta fix this defense, which is obvious. You've had the worst defense in the NFL for the past two years. And we talked about how you at least gotta get a stud or a top level starter on each level of the defense.

Neil (17:21)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Nick (17:26)
And they started off on Monday where they were actually pretty active. They got Brian Cook, Brian Cook from the Chiefs, former University of Cincinnati standout, basically coming home to play for the Chiefs. The best tackling safety in the NFL. So you go from who was the worst tackling safety in the NFL to the best. And then they get Bouye Mafei from the Super Bowl champions to

Neil (17:35)
Really got two good pieces. Good pieces, not great pieces, but good pieces, yeah.

Yup.

Nick (17:56)
to be an edge rusher. So everybody's excited on Monday night. This is a great start, but we still need more pieces. You still need a slot corner. You still need a defensive tackle. You still need a definitely need a linebacker. And then yesterday, one by one, you just keep seeing all these linebackers falling off the board and the Bengals aren't making a move.

Neil (18:04)
Lime back to you. Lime back to

Of course they're not. Did that surprise you?

No, no, it does not surprise you. You know it doesn't surprise you. Do they want to fix it or do they just not want to spend money?

Nick (18:25)
Well, if you really want to fix this defense,

Well, here's what they do. Like the contracts for MAFE is it's three years, 60 million, so 20 a year. But they just, take more of a cap it than they have to because they want to, because they don't want to have to spend that money. And that's why all this talk about restructure and borrows contract is just completely bogus because they have no intent to do that. None. Because

They don't want to have the cap room to where they actually have to spend the money. And we talked about this with T's contract last year too. Like you could structure these differently to where you have more money available to bring in more players. So now it's been two days since Monday and those are still the only two moves that they have made. In comparison,

The commanders who had one of the worst defenses in the NFL have already signed Owey, Chason, Chanal, Cross, they've made six moves on defense. And Leo Chanal was a guy that a lot of people had talked about for the Bengals to be their linebacker. The somebody that Barrett Carter and Fitzpatrick, did I say it right? My brain's going crazy.

Demetrius Knight. Like, do you need somebody to lead these guys? Chanal sides for three years, $24 million. It's not like he's going out and breaking the bank. Like, bring in a linebacker that these guys can learn from. They're going to play. We know that. But do they need to be playing as many snaps as they played last year? No.

Neil (20:00)
the richest night, yeah.

How do you know that the Bengals didn't try and that these guys just don't want to come to Cincinnati? We talked about what players...

Nick (20:30)
You don't? $24 million

for three years? You can't get that done?

Neil (20:35)
I don't know, maybe he just, we talked about what players think of Cincinnati. About the treatment of families and about the food and about all the rest of that other stuff that's just not about football and how terrible life is in a Cincinnati Bengal, in a Cincinnati Bengals uniform. Maybe he'd take a little bit less money to go somewhere that he'd rather be than Cincinnati, Ohio. With this poverty franchise that is not doing anything for anybody.

Nick (21:02)
If it wasn't for Joe Burrow, T Higgins and Jamar Chase, I would agree with you. I think that's your selling point.

Neil (21:11)
not as a defense player. mean, they give you a chance to win. You want to win, I understand, but you're not playing on the side of the ball with those guys.

Nick (21:12)
Well, if you wanna win...

No, but if you want to win, you know you're going to have a good offense that's going to move the football and is.

Neil (21:25)
I don't know, I just think there might be more to it than just, let's go get this guy. Maybe we try to get these guys and they're like, hell no, I'm not playing for Mike Brown and Duke Tobin and the Cincinnati Bengals where life sucks, where the travel sucks and the food sucks and my family has to probably sit in the 300 level because they don't care about them. Like no, like the Bengals need to fix themselves if they want to get some of these guys.

Nick (21:36)
Well, and then you over and then you maybe but then you have to pay a little more.

What is Joe Burrow, Jamar Chase, T Higgins, what are they thinking right now about what they've done in three days?

Neil (21:55)
Well you heard of what Jamar Chou said, I mean he's probably

thinking the same thing that you heard on his livestream or whatever he said. He's probably like, ⁓ mmm, like, we're not doing anything. They're not doing anything, I mean, I'd put the ownership's feet to the fire if I was those three guys. I mean don't know how much leverage you have because you're under contract, but I feel like Mike Brown needs to listen to you.

Nick (22:18)
They suck me in every year. think they're gonna make like in 20 and 21, they made a bunch of moves. They signed a bunch of guys. But they you know the difference was they had a rookie quarterback contract and they didn't have like.

Neil (22:32)
No, don't give me that. No, we have space. We have money to spend. We have money to spend.

Nick (22:34)
No, they have plenty of money to spend, they, no,

they have the room, but they are spending that which they weren't previously. So regardless of the cap, they are spending that much money and that makes them more hesitant to spend more even though they have the room in the cap to do it.

Neil (22:54)
If you want to win, you spend it. If you don't...

Nick (22:56)
Well, I think it's very obvious that they're not going to do whatever it takes to win.

Neil (23:01)
It sucks. It sucks.

Nick (23:04)
I just, they're talking about Devin Lloyd on Monday and I'm like, crap, maybe they really are going in. They're saying the Bengals are one of the three finalists. They weren't even in on him. They weren't even in on him. And look, I think the big reason is they think Barrett Carter and Demetrius Nair are their starters next year.

Neil (23:17)
There's no plan. I don't know.

There's just no way. There's no way. If you think that, that's why... If they honestly think that, they have no business in being in football at all. That's just ridiculous. It's ridiculous.

Nick (23:38)
I

think that's what they're thinking. And look, they're gonna sign, this isn't gonna be all the only moves that they make, they're gonna make more moves, but they're gonna be seeing.

Neil (23:52)
If Zach Taylor

wants to keep his job, he needs to get in there and he needs to demanding some things. Same with Al Goldin.

Nick (24:00)
Well, you don't think Al Godin wants better linebackers?

Neil (24:03)
needs to start knocking on some doors, banging, making some noise in the front office then. Because he's going to be looking for a job. And so is Zach Taylor. I know Zach Taylor is not a defensive guy, but that defense is going to be the reason that you don't have a job.

Nick (24:18)
Look, if it's like it is next year, like it was this year, there's no way you can run all this back.

Neil (24:26)
Said that last year.

Nick (24:28)
Well, last year they ran the defense back completely as it was with the addition of one guy. They brought in TJ Slayton. That was it. And a bunch of guys they drafted and threw him out there and expected it to be different because you have a defensive coordinator.

I don't know. It's just, like, why do we ever think that it's gonna be different? At some point, it will come going up.

Neil (24:53)
didn't think it was gonna be different. You

thought it was gonna be different. You had the trust that they were gonna do something. I didn't. I would have fired them all. Immediately. No, I'm telling you, I know, I know it's too late now, you have like, Duke Tobin knows he's gotta make moves. Duke Tobin doesn't know shit. Like, he's done. Done. He's an idiot. He doesn't know what he's doing. We've gone through this. He's done.

Nick (25:00)
Well, it's too late for that. ⁓

I don't know. It's...

I don't know, just, it's very disappointing.

Neil (25:27)
I

just don't know why you act surprised over here. I'm not.

Nick (25:31)
because I want to believe it.

Neil (25:33)
They've given you no reason to believe in your 41 years of existence.

Nick (25:37)
Well, and now Trey's gonna, and now Joe's, it's just, well, if they lose next year, Joe's really gonna start trying to get out

Neil (25:46)
Yeah. And then we're going back to the 1990s bangles all over.

Nick (25:50)
Yep, 100%. Because you didn't take advantage of this window and you ran out a terrible defense and did nothing to fix it.

Made two moves. But like I said, ⁓ you go from Trey, you let Ossai walk and Trey's gone and you bring in Mafay. Mafay's probably better than Ossai, but obviously you're losing Trey. then, yeah, you improved with Cook from Stone. But the difference is that...

Neil (26:19)
I mean, you're not losing trade from

last year. You're losing trade. We lost trade last year. Trade wasn't a brown last year. He was nothing. So as long as, you know, my face better than O'Sai, that's an upgrade.

Nick (26:32)
I mean, that improves

your, yeah, some small upgrade, but yeah.

Conference tournaments in action.

Neil (26:42)
That was most depressing segue I've ever heard. ⁓ Bless, man. That was a terrible... That was a depressing segue.

Nick (26:45)
Yes, I'm kind of depressed. ⁓

I just wanted them to make moves so bad. No, we got this, we got this. What are your thoughts on this court the Big 12 is playing on in Kansas City?

Neil (26:55)
You need to take like a five minute break. You just go have a cry in the bathroom and come back out. You sure? You all right?

I like the concept that they can do cool things with it, but can we not have it dark gray?

Nick (27:11)
Like, I don't understand. Like, you've got all this technology.

Neil (27:13)
It looks awful.

Yeah, it looks awful because like I love that they like light up the three-point line when there's a three made and like all the cool stuff that happens during timeouts and intros and all that other stuff but just change the color of the court make it like a light color like a like a like a wood like a brown like a tan make it a tan color court where it looks like a normal court we don't need dark gray it just looks gross

Nick (27:37)
It's so, like, you have, it's LED. You can do anything you want. You can do anything you want. And they're like, let's just go back to black and white TV.

Neil (27:41)
Yeah.

and let's put a bunch of 12 Roman numerals all over it. if we don't, as if we don't know that that's a Big 12 conference. We know it's the Big 12 tournament. We don't need your logo 50,000 times plastered from inline to inline.

Nick (27:55)
Great. Great.

Like do they think like the players uniforms like stand out on TV is.

Because with that technology, I feel like you would utilize it more. And I get it, they do stuff when there's dead balls and the court's changing around and stuff.

With the technology, it's the most boring cord I've ever seen.

Neil (28:28)
No, I agree. What they should do is make it like a tank, like a normal looking court, and then whoever's playing, just put their colors in the lane. So you got Kansas playing, let's say like, Kansas playing Arizona, like one lane is like red and navy blue, and the other one's red and royal blue or something. Put the team colors in the lanes. It'd be kinda cool.

Nick (28:51)
I just, don't

know if that's what I would do, but I enjoy trying to be different and utilizing the technology. at practice, I think they change it to whatever your team is. So when you go for shoot around, the court looks like your court back home.

Neil (28:57)
What are the bummer?

That's cool.

Nick (29:07)
That's cool. And then you play a game and it's like, great, great.

Neil (29:11)
gray.

Like what, it's, what is it? What's the surface made out of? Like what is it? What's the material?

Nick (29:23)
I mean, it's an LED board, but I don't know what the actual material is to make them be able to walk on it and play on it and make it to where.

Neil (29:28)
I want like, if you're a player for 32 games

of the season, you're playing on hardwood, then.

Nick (29:33)
Well,

it's got a grip to it. They talked about it, but I don't know what it's made out of. So if you squeak your feet on it, just like you do a wood court, it makes the same noise. So they've got that technology down. They're not gonna go sliding around like it's an ice skating rink.

Neil (29:44)
So it's very subtle. Okay.

Okay, I don't know. Yeah, no, they could definitely do something better than dark gray and big 12 logos plastered a thousand

Nick (30:00)
And then last week we talked about the crazy ass sunbelt. And then Georgia Southern goes and wins five games in a row to get from a tendency to the championship loses Detroit. But they almost did what we said couldn't be done.

Neil (30:16)
They almost, almost, and yeah. mean, what we said for sure wasn't gonna be done with seven in seven days. They tried to do six in six, which is really damn hard too. But, yeah, that was cool. Good for them. Nice little run.

Nick (30:23)
Yeah, well, thanks and thanks.

They didn't get it done, I think they ran out of gas a little bit.

Neil (30:35)
You know who else didn't get it done?

Nick (30:38)
Who was that?

Neil (30:38)
more headstate equals. I'm sorry.

Nick (30:40)
No, they did not. actually ran out of the gym pretty good. Tennessee State making threes all over the place and really just was, I was excited to watch that game Saturday night in Atlanta and it was, were ⁓ none of those games were good. We're excited about all those games. North Carolina Duke, Auburn, Alabama, more to Tennessee State and they're all just crap games.

Neil (30:42)
It got blasted. Blastered.

Where we go, the $3 cafe?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah, you and our buddy Michael Rooter had a little side bet going on there of whose margin of loss was going to be greater, Auburn or Morehead State?

Nick (31:22)
And it ended up being more of. Okay. Yeah. Well, you got to find some way to make it interesting, but congrats to Nolan Smith on his first year at Tennessee state got hired late and gets him to the tournament for the first time in 30 something years. So it's what this time of year is all about. We've already got 10 or 11 tickets punched to the, to the men's dance and.

Neil (31:25)
That's how bad it was. Whose margin of loss was going to be greater?

Yeah, that's true.

Nick (31:52)
Now we got the Power Four and the Big East tournaments going on. You want to, we were just talking about the Big 12 tournament. Who do you think comes out on top?

Neil (32:05)
I mean, it's gonna be good. mean, it's, I would say.

Nick (32:07)
The

best tournament of yeah, I mean they're just stacked at the top I Was saying was a five

Neil (32:10)
Yeah, let's

say it's even better than the Big Ten and the SEC. So yeah, it's the best tournament, there's no doubt. It's a one. I think I would probably go Arizona as my top choice, but I could also see Houston. It's between Houston and Arizona for me. Going Houston.

Nick (32:25)
Cool, again, ⁓ I'm going Houston.

And then SEC, I don't see anybody beating Florida the way they're playing right now. At Big Ten.

Neil (32:42)
It means Michigan's to lose. So it's Michigan's to lose.

Nick (32:42)
keep going talk, I don't think

I just I don't know who's going to be Michigan.

Neil (32:47)
I mean, Michigan's beaten all the other top teams in the Big Ten already on the road this year.

Nick (32:50)
But

I think I would go Michigan and then I would go Duke. My only one favorite I'm not going is Houston. But if Duke or Michigan, which one is more likely not to?

Neil (33:07)
Michigan.

Nick (33:09)
just because the competition is tougher?

Neil (33:11)
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I don't know who's going to beat Michigan. they're rolling. Purdue's not going to do it. Michigan State's not going do it. Maybe Illinois. See, maybe Illinois, maybe pulling an upset. Maybe in the title game or in the semifinals. I don't know how they match up in the, haven't seen the bracket, but I mean, Illinois is probably the only chance. Or unless, I mean, Wisconsin gets hot. Wisconsin.

Nick (33:36)
Wisconsin's had

a lot of good wins this year.

Neil (33:38)
Wisconsin

could get hot. They've already beat Michigan once this year at Michigan. So maybe if they match up somewhere along the line, maybe Wisconsin can get hot again and pull the upset. But I don't know, it's gonna take a lot.

Nick (33:49)
If you throw Florida in the mix, is it still Michigan for you? Most likely to get beat?

Neil (33:55)
Ummm... Yeah.

Nick (33:58)
I think it is for me.

Neil (34:01)
Yeah

Nick (34:03)
I'm just like, I don't know who is gonna beat Duke in the ACC. And even with them not playing all their guys.

Neil (34:03)
Yeah.

No, there's nobody. Now,

I mean, don't know who's going to be Duke in the country. And there's a few that could, but...

Nick (34:14)
Well, I

would take Michigan or Florida.

Neil (34:18)
You're taking the field. you're taking the, Duke for the field.

You're taking the field over Duke winning the national title.

Nick (34:24)
So win the title, I think I would,

Yeah, if you're saying Duke versus the field, yeah, I'm definitely taking the field. That gives me four teams that I think can win it all. And you've got one, because I think Arizona can win it all. I think Houston can win it all too.

Neil (34:29)
⁓ I'm taking I think I'm taking Duke

Not if Duke's still in it.

Nick (34:43)
Yeah, it's one game. That's what makes this tournament great. I think last year's Duke team is better than this team. And they didn't win at all.

Neil (34:52)
⁓

I don't know about that. That's... Yeah, maybe. ⁓

Nick (34:56)
You got the top two rookie of the year in the NBA.

Neil (34:58)
Okay, Kahn-Kinnu-Kunnupo

was not, when he was a Duke was not what he's putting up in the NBA.

Nick (35:03)
What you talking about? They don't have that shooter this year?

Neil (35:05)
I'll leave you.

Nick (35:07)
Like I say, Evans is a shooter, he ain't conkin' up.

Neil (35:09)
I don't think anybody expected Conn Canipal to be this good in the NBA. I mean, was he good at Duke? Yes, but he's been spectacular in the NBA.

Nick (35:18)
I stand by the fact that I think last year's team is better than this year's team.

Neil (35:21)
Uh-huh.

Nick (35:24)
You got back like they had player of the year last year, they had player of the year this year.

Neil (35:28)
Well, I mean, does that mean that Duke, that the competition around Duke or the other competition in the country was better last year than it is this year? Because Duke last year, if you're saying their team was better, was not the favorite to win the title. This year's team, who's apparently not as good, is the favorite to win the title. So our teams around the country just not as good as they were last year? More than not as good as they...

Nick (35:48)
I think because ⁓

the ACC was so down last year that I think people questioned how good they were. And I think that played a role in it because the ACC was gone awful last year.

Neil (35:55)
Okay.

Nick (36:01)
And the ACC is better this year. It's still not unbelievable, but it's a lot better than it was last year. No, just look at the bottom line is if you're giving me the field versus one team, when I think there's five teams that can win it all, then I'm going to take the field. And I got the defending champion that and I got Michigan who I think is right there with Duke. And then the next level I would have Arizona and Houston, but I think all five of them can win it.

Neil (36:31)
don't think all five of them can get to the Final Four. I don't think all five of them can win it. There's one team I think. All of them except Duke.

Nick (36:34)
Who can't win out those five?

That's why it's insane.

It's insane.

Neil (36:44)
You're insane.

Nick (36:44)
Looking at bubble teams, dude, and I know.

All this talk about expansion.

Neil (36:50)
Yeah, that should just go in the toilet. That's what that should do.

Nick (36:53)
Because, dude,

I looked at this yesterday and today, and I'm looking at these numbers and.

Neil (36:56)
It's bad.

Nick (37:02)
Like before tonight's loss to Northwestern where they lost by what, 17 Indiana? I had Indiana as my last team getting in.

Neil (37:12)
Mm-hmm. Well, they're out now. They're, they are out now.

Nick (37:13)
And that changes.

And now, so, and at Auburn is like the first team out.

⁓ But like some of these teams that are getting in are just like can we please not expand it?

Neil (37:23)
Yeah.

Just like we'll just like we're like let's look at the bubble right now. This is based on what Joe Lennarty has I mean everybody takes Joe Lennarty at his word because he's the bracket ology God I mean Texas for instance like let's just go like the from the last four buys and last four in Texas Loses tonight to a bad Ole Miss team and Ole Miss team has a losing record on the scene Pretty good. Yeah SMU loses to a pretty good Louisville team, but they lose they're in last

Nick (37:54)
gets worked, gets handled pretty good.

Dude, and I

had Texas in pretty easily. have six quad one wins. They're 33 in Ken Palm. And I mean, I don't know, like that's gonna drop them obviously, cause it's a bad loss, but.

Neil (38:16)
You got like it seemed like NC State who beats a bad Pittsburgh team today barely they struggled for most I mean they won they pulled away late Do what? During the last four buys last four by so I'm just starting with like the all right Let's start with the last four buys NC State they beat Pitt today, which Pitt is nothing, but they've struggled coming into the tournament They've lost like what five of six or something like that Texas loses to Ole Miss Santa Clara gets to the whack

Nick (38:24)
Does he have them his last four in? Does he have them his last four in? Last four.

Neil (38:44)
are the West Coast Conference? Yeah, yeah. We got a bottle. They St. Mary. They beat a good Saint Mary's team, so I think that probably puts them in. You have Missouri sitting there in the last four buys who will play Kentucky tomorrow. They got a ⁓ first round buy in their conference tournament, so Missouri with a big game against Kentucky tomorrow. I think if they win, they're in. Central Florida somehow.

Nick (38:46)
The the semis the semis no, got in the final baby, maybe st. Mary Yeah

The very

60-60 in the net and 50 in Kim Pong. But they have five quad one wins and I think that's what separates them.

Neil (39:14)
Yeah, that's bad.

Yeah, I mean, yes, if they win tomorrow, even if they lose tomorrow, they're probably still in because everybody else is running. Essentials.

Nick (39:23)
I think they're probably in, even though they're 60th in the net. But that's another

reason why we don't need to expand.

Neil (39:28)
Central Florida basically had a play-in game with Cincinnati tonight, because the loser of that was probably going to be out. Cincinnati blows a nine-point lead with about two and a half minutes to go, loses it in overtime. So Cincinnati, who was in the next four out, their season is most likely done. Central Florida stays alive for now. SMU gets a win yesterday over Syracuse, who's terrible. And then they come out and lose to Louisville. They've lost five of six. So they're not playing good ball.

Nick (39:56)
They'll probably still

get in.

Neil (39:59)
Yeah, because everybody else is losing around them. you said, Indiana, Indiana loses to one of the worst Big Ten teams in Northwestern. This is the second time they've lost to them this year. So I think that Indiana was the last team in the field according to the Linahti. They're definitely probably out now. You have Auburn, who's a source of controversy from what Bruce Pearl is, when his whole thing about Miami of Ohio, which we can get into if you want to. Yeah, well Auburn is the first team out.

Nick (40:00)
Yeah, no problem.

Well, I've got some stuff on them.

Neil (40:27)
They get a victory today in their conference tournament, which probably puts them on the right side.

Nick (40:31)
that

probably swaps them with Indiana, and cuz I had them 46 and 47 on mine too.

Neil (40:35)
Yeah, probably. like,

yeah. And then the next two teams after that, Stanford and Virginia Tech. Virginia Tech loses in the day of shame to Wake Forest. So they're definitely out. And you have Stanford, who lost yesterday in the day of shame as well. They lost to, what did they lose to yesterday?

Nick (40:47)
Yeah.

Neil (40:55)
Did they lose the pit? Yeah, they lost the pit. That's a bad loss. All these teams that are just right there trying to get in, the Cincinnati's, the Stanford's, the Virginia Techs, the Indiana's, all losing, losing, losing. Like, it's so bad.

Nick (40:58)
Which,

So

yeah, like I was adamant that Auburn cannot get in, right?

Neil (41:19)
They're gonna get in. They won today. They'll win today, probably good tonight.

Nick (41:21)
Avenue 11 in

League play.

But their net is 40, their Ken Palm is 39. They have four, not great, but they're four and 12 in Quad One, which is not great, but at least they have four wins in Quad One. I now think, unless some things happen, like here's the thing, if Utah State, who I have, is in, if they don't win the Mountain West, then that's gonna take away a bit from somebody, which would be Auburn, who was the last one on my line.

So they need no upsets ⁓ from these leagues that are one bid with the team that's gonna get in. ⁓ So they need that to happen, but these bubble teams are just.

Neil (42:03)
I just don't see any movement on the bubble except for like you said, flip flop Indiana and Auburn. Everybody's losing. So even though you're in the last four in and you lose, like you're SMU and you lose, everybody behind you is also losing. Like it's awful. Like can we shorten the tournament? Forget expanding it, let's shorten it.

Nick (42:23)
I think the way it works right now is fine. We don't need to shorten it. So you talked about Miami, Ohio. They're not even favored to win their tournament this week. Akron is the favorite. Akron is actually higher than them in the net. Akron is 52, Miami, Ohio is 53. But you go to Ken Palm, Akron is 61. Do you know what Miami, Ohio is in the Ken Palm?

Neil (42:32)
They shouldn't be.

as I should be.

We'll see.

Nick (42:54)
91.

91 their schedule overall schedule ranks 272 in the country according to Ken Palm and their non con schedule is in the 360s

Neil (43:08)
I mean, we sat there, watched this game on Friday night at the hotel in Duluth, Georgia with a few Miami fans. They're not good. Once again, they needed ⁓ basically almost a miracle comeback to force overtime against the Ohio team who now has a losing record. So once again, they squeak out another two, three point win, this one in overtime for the eighth time this year.

against a team with a losing record. They're not good. They're not good.

Nick (43:41)
Okay.

Like, and I agree, these numbers are not advantageous, but it's not like, like who would, I'd rather see them than any of these teams that are terrible at the end of the bubble because they have said so many opportunities and are doing nothing. Like they haven't lost a game. There's no, and look, you're on, nobody is on your side with this. They are getting in the tournament.

Neil (44:09)
You are on my side. You just don't want to admit that you're on my side, but you're on my side.

Nick (44:11)
No, look, if

there were teams that warranted getting in at the end of the bubble and that was instead of Miami, Ohio, then I would be like, yes, Miami, Ohio's numbers are not good. I get it. They don't have any quality wins. sucks. Miami, Ohio is undefeated. don't, they

Neil (44:24)
Don't reward them. You can't reward them. No. You don't reward

them for playing nobody. You don't reward them for having the 365th best non-conference schedule. We went over this. When you go to their page, their schedule page on ESPN, there are three or four teams that don't even have a logo. They don't even have a logo because nobody knows who they are. They're the only team in the Mac that did not play a Power Four team this year. We went through this. Every other single team in that conference

played a power four team. And I don't want to hear about this article that came out that the AD said he tried to schedule the big boys. I don't care. You find a way to schedule somebody, because everybody else in your conference did. 12 other teams in your conference found a way to schedule at least one big boy team, and you couldn't? No. Not buying it. You don't get rewarded for playing terrible teams. I know you're undefeated, but you should be undefeated. you're just an average team, you should be undefeated with that schedule. An average team. I guarantee you Auburn would be.

Indiana would be SMU would be undefeated with that schedule. They all would be undefeated with that schedule. With that schedule, they would all be undefeated. All of them. All three of them. You gonna put them all in? You gonna put all those bubble teams, all the bubble teams that you say suck, if you give them Miami of Ohio schedule, they would be undefeated. So let's put them all in. Put them all in,

Nick (45:23)
You... You didn't watch Indiana Get Beat by 17 Northwesters!

I,

I, but 1 million percent disagree with the fact that Auburn in Indiana would be undefeated with their schedule.

Neil (45:48)
Who they losing to? Go through their schedule and tell me who they're gonna lose to. No they wouldn't. They wouldn't lose that.

Nick (45:52)
They're gonna lose to Akron Well, they

just lost Indiana's got beat by 17 to Northwestern and they they ain't close to where Akron is in that Northwestern 70 Akron is 53 Or 51

Neil (46:02)
They ain't losing acts.

So

for argument's sake, let's say Indiana loses to Akron and they're 31 and 1. You'd said if Miami, Ohio had one loss, you'd still put them in. You gonna put Indiana in at 31 and 1 with that schedule?

Nick (46:19)
Yeah, because no team's ever been left out of tournament with 30 wins.

Neil (46:20)
I mean, those teams that usually suck

would be at least either undefeated or maybe have one loss. And by your criteria, that's good enough to get in the tournament. So put them all in.

Nick (46:32)
It's so, like, there's just no way, you just watched Indiana lose by 17-2, and then if they came down to it, where they're the last team, them or Miami, you're picking Indiana.

Neil (46:35)
Not rewarding, that crap.

I think Indiana beats Miami,

Nick (46:46)
But I'm asking you who you're picking. those, if it's, if you got 46 spots.

Neil (46:52)
Yep, because I think Indiana is a better team. You put the best teams in the tournament, right? That was your argument for the college football playoff. We want to see the best teams. want to see the best teams. Indiana is a better team than Miami of Ohio.

Nick (47:04)
And I'm saying 46 because I'm including some of the conferences that have multiple.

Neil (47:07)
Indiana's not hitting buzzer beaters against

the 10-win Western Michigan team or Central Michigan team. They're not going to overtime against Ohio University. They're not struggling against Buffalo. They're not doing that. Neither's Auburn, neither's SMU, neither's Virginia Tech. None of those teams are doing that. Miami's doing that, but because they squeak out these wins against terrible teams that are 10-win teams, they win by two, they're undefeated. Let's put them in. It's a terrible, terrible, terrible thing. No.

Nick (47:19)
Well, not.

Yeah. Look,

on my spreadsheet, the only teams that you got to scroll down and find that you're putting in the tournament per net are Miami, Ohio, and I've got Missouri. And the reason I have Missouri is because they have five, they're five and six in quad one. And that separates them a little bit.

Neil (47:55)
I really hope they lose the UMass.

Nick (47:59)
I know you do, and you've been pulling against him every game.

Neil (48:02)
My God,

they played Trinity, Illinois. Trinity, Illinois. You ever heard of them? No.

Nick (48:08)
That's

one of their three 9D1 wins. I'm aware that they have three games where they.

Neil (48:12)
We have Mercyhurst

on the schedule, they won by five. Mercyhurst, win by five, congratulations. IU East, where's IU East? Nobody knows, they don't even have a logo. They don't even have a logo. How about Milligan? They gave up 81 points to Milligan. Yes, we did this, but we did not do this for the listeners and I want them to understand how bad this is. Milligan, no, this was just an argument at the hotel on Friday. Milligan, nobody's ever heard of him. Like, come on.

Nick (48:21)
Easton, Indiana.

Haven't we already done this?

No, that wasn't for the show. That wasn't for the show.

Well,

Neil (48:42)
They don't even have logos.

Nick (48:42)
I'm just.

Neil (48:43)
Can't even find a logo of these people. Don't even know where they are. IU East. Not even a thing.

Nick (48:49)
I'm just.

Neil (48:50)
Made up

Like, they played the South Harmon Institute of Technology.

Nick (48:52)
I mean, they're ⁓ undefeated. They're undefeated.

And all

these teams at the end of the bubble are all losing over and over again. None of them want to get in and one other team is not losing at all.

Neil (49:06)
and they shouldn't lose.

Ballard High School could be undefeated with that schedule.

Nick (49:13)
I mean, you're wrong. Like, they're gonna get in.

Neil (49:15)
I'm not.

I'm gonna hate. If the committee makes a mistake and puts them in, they need to at least put them in Dayton and prove that they can be a Power 14. They'll the first Power 5 game of the entire season, put them in Dayton and make them prove that they can be a Power, I guess it's Power 4, a Power 14. Make them prove that they belong. Don't just put them straight in. Make them prove that they belong. Against one these Auburns. That's the only way to do it.

Nick (49:25)
I can't, like there's a part...

Look, and...

Neil (49:44)
Settle this argument by putting Auburn and Miami in the first four and we'll settle it.

Nick (49:48)
What

did I have him as? I had him as an 11.

Neil (49:50)
What's that play in 12?

drop them down one. Once they lose the UMass, once they lose the UMass tomorrow night and the committee makes the mistake of putting them in, put them in Dayton, let them play Auburn, and let's settle this thing.

Nick (50:03)
Well,

don't they have some 12 play-ins and some 11 play-ins, I think? Because some of the 12s are automatics.

Neil (50:11)
Yeah, I don't

Nick (50:14)
But this show has turned into a Miami, Ohio debate show. And there's a part of me, like I want them to finish undefeated, but they're also if they lose, I kind of just want to see them get in just to see your reaction as them as an at large, because then it would prove that you've been on the wrong end of this argument the whole time.

Neil (50:34)
No, it's just gonna set

a stupid precedent that now all of these mid-major teams are not gonna schedule Power Four teams, because they're gonna be like, well look what Miami of Ohio did. Let's go schedule Trinity, Illinois, and Milligan, and Mercyhurst, and IU East, and let's just load up on a bunch of wins, and then we get in the tournament, and we don't even have to win our conference. Tell that to Navy, who was a one-sweeper. Tell that.

Nick (50:54)
Well, you have to go undefeated. have

to go undefeated. What's harder, going undefeated in the regular season or winning three games?

Neil (51:01)
Probably going undefeated in regular season, I would guess. But it depends on who you're playing. Depends on who you're playing. So all these one seeds, like Navy and the UNC Wilmingtons, there were one seeds going into their conference tournaments and they get upset. Guess what they're going to do? They're going to go load up on Mercyhurst in Eastern Illinois State and South Harmon Institute of Technology and they're going to start... Yeah, it's going to become a thing. They're like, this is our ticket to get into the tournament.

Nick (51:24)
So this is just going to become a thing.

They're going to play

South Harmon Institute of Technology? They're still going?

Neil (51:31)
Yeah,

it might be. But look, this is gonna set a precedent. Other teams are gonna see this blueprint of how we get into the tournament without having to actually win our conference tournament, and that's what they're gonna do. They're not gonna challenge themselves. They're gonna load up. They're gonna be 30 and two, 31 and one, and then they're just gonna get rewarded for crap.

Nick (51:55)
So on that note, right now, will there be an undefeated team next year as we're going into the conference tournament? What do you want to bet on

Neil (52:05)
This season? Yes. Yes.

I don't know. Not allowed to gamble on sports, so nothing. A handshake.

Nick (52:15)
Like,

we can bet on dinner?

Neil (52:19)
I don't think that's allowed, but we can get McDonald's or something.

Nick (52:21)
not allowed?

I don't think this is an official like bet. There's not gonna be another defeated team next year. We've talked about how rare this has happened three times since 1985. This late in the year. But now they got the blueprint. Now they have the blueprint that you just said. So now it's gonna happen all the time. It's this easy to do now. It's this easy to do now.

Neil (52:38)
because teams don't have the 360.

They do. Your mic's your mic. I think they're, next year.

Next year. Next year, it's gonna happen. Yup.

Nick (52:50)
So that's what happened every year. So McDonald's on you next

year if there's not an undefeated, if there is an undefeated team going into conference tournament.

Neil (53:01)
Yeah, I'll get you a little McDouble. Maybe a...

Nick (53:04)
OK.

Look, value mil's fine. Right? Yeah, that's fine.

Neil (53:06)
A value, a little $5 value meal with the chicken nuggets.

Get you some hot mustard sauce.

Nick (53:12)
And no, this is not sponsored by McDonald's. We don't have enough followers to have a sponsor yet.

Neil (53:17)
Alright, Dairy Queen it is. Blizzard's and double cheeseburgers. Blizzard's and double cheeseburgers on me if there's not an undefeated team next year.

Nick (53:19)
No! No! No!

No. ⁓ Before we switch gears, I think we do need to talk briefly about Louisville's run in the ACC Women's Tournament last week.

Neil (53:37)
Yeah.

Nick (53:39)
Just.

Looked like it was in the bag.

Neil (53:43)
Yeah.

Nick (53:45)
and make a few mistakes, struggle to get some rebounds. And really, a championship that was there to be had unfortunately slips through your hands.

Neil (53:57)
No,

they played well. They played really well in the three games that they played down there in Duluth, Georgia. know, Syracuse, they took care of Syracuse by, what was it, 26 or so in game one. And then in game two, they beat a really tough North Carolina team who was 16th in the country, won that game by five. And you know, you go up against the Duke team that you've already lost to once by one point at home.

Nick (54:20)
that you spotted on the 16.1 start.

Neil (54:21)
that you

did spot them in early start, you know, ⁓ a Duke team that was hot that had won a bunch of games in a row there midway late in the season.

Nick (54:32)
No, they've lost a couple at the end of the year.

Neil (54:33)
At the

year, I know. Yeah, well before, mean, they had won like 14 in a row leading up to that, like, toward the end. So, I mean, they played well. Kinley Randolph ⁓ played absolutely fantastic. All three games was a ⁓ first team, all tournament team. She was great. Amari Berry was fantastic as well on offense, shot the ball really well. You know, all in all, you know, like Laura Ziegler played well. Taj played well in spurts, and then, you know, like,

Nick (54:49)
Battle their ass off.

Neil (55:03)
Raina Raina played well game one and two and struggle a little bit in game three. So I mean, they all had their moments. Unfortunately, in the last game, there just wasn't quite enough moments. But like you said, they had it had they had the ball up for under a minute. I've just had a few costly turnovers and then when rebounding is so important and when you can't get a rebound and you give up a five point basically a five point possession when you're up four. That's tough.

Nick (55:03)
E-E-Ela-Ela-Ela-Ela-Ela-Ela-Ela-Ela-Ela-Ela-Ela-Ela-Ela-Ela-Ela-Ela-Ela-Ela-Ela-Ela-Ela-Ela-Ela-Ela-Ela-Ela-Ela-Ela-Ela-Ela-Ela-Ela-Ela-Ela-Ela-Ela-Ela-Ela-Ela-Ela-Ela-Ela-Ela-Ela-Ela-Ela-Ela-Ela-Ela-Ela-Ela-Ela-Ela-Ela-Ela-Ela-Ela-Ela-Ela-Ela-Ela-Ela-Ela-Ela-Ela-Ela-Ela-Ela-Ela-Ela-Ela-Ela-Ela-E

It is. It is.

Well,

the 10 second call just changed the momentum of the game. It opened the door. It opened the door for other things to happen. And unfortunately, they did.

Neil (55:42)
Yeah, it did open the door for other things to happen and everything that needed to happen, it happened. I mean, they needed everything.

Nick (55:48)
Yeah, there was a list of 10 things that that happened when

they were up for with less than a minute to go and every single one of them happened.

Neil (55:56)
And even when Louisville got down, they came back and took the lead. And they had up one with 14 seconds left. You have a two shot, you're in the penalty, you got two shots. And your most reliable free throw shooter, Namari Berry, who shoots mid 80s, unfortunately she just made one out of two. And she makes both of those, you're still looking pretty good.

Nick (56:13)
Look, and then they

maybe come down and hit a three. You just never know. But you talked about Mack. dude, I didn't know if I'd ever see that McKinley Randolph. She was unbelievable. And almost had a triple double, was just battling down low the entire game, completely undersized. And you got to give credit to E, too. E was playing on one leg and really battled. And I don't know.

Neil (56:18)
Yeah, you know. I'm proud of them.

Yeah,

Nick (56:41)
Coach of walls is press conference after the game where he's kind of on national media for being lazy. I look UCLA is gonna be a once even the tournament two years in a row and has one of the best players in the country and nobody talks about So I I agree 100 % with what he's Like nobody talks about you sailing Lauren Betts. Why why?

Neil (57:01)
It's all focused, it's just the usual suspects, the Yukons and the South Carolina. mean, like you point out, like they have their minds made up going into the season and that's just the narrative that they take and the media takes. there's other, like you said, there's other great stories happening all around in women's college basketball that you just don't hear.

Nick (57:20)
And I say you gotta have a star to get the story sometimes, but Lauren Betts is a star.

Neil (57:25)
Yeah, cheers.

Nick (57:27)
So like USC came out nowhere, yeah, last year with Juju, but they were all over your TV. So I don't know how it works. But some of these stories are getting picked up and they're not. But the fact that UCLA is gonna be a 1C, two years in row and nobody talks about him is, like that's what I'm thinking about when he's going in his book. And by the the post game was absolutely electric.

Absolutely electric. ⁓ Bam Adebayo, do you think that he would be the one to break Kobe's record?

Neil (57:59)
I'm not a nut in a million years. No. Wait, what do you shoot, 40-something free throws?

Nick (58:06)
43. 36 of 43 from the line.

Neil (58:07)
That's just an... That's

an absurd amount.

Nick (58:11)
20 of 43 from the field, seven of 22 from the, Bam out of bio shot 22 threes and 43 free throws.

Neil (58:21)
It's

like, they have this game plan where we're just gonna give the ball to Bam every single possession and he's gonna shoot all of our shots?

Nick (58:26)
Well, he gets 40 at half

and then that becomes that. He broke LeBron's record for most points in the first half. So then the second half becomes this.

Neil (58:29)
Yeah, I could-

Nick (58:38)
Kobe when he did it, he was 18 to 20 from the line, so he had 23 less free throws. He was 28 to 46, so he had three more field goal attempts.

Neil (58:49)
and he was over 50 %

shooting. Like, Bane was 40-something percent. Like, he just took a gazillion shots, took a gazillion free throws. Like, isn't it impressive to score 83 points? Yes. I'm just not impressed with how he went about doing it. He didn't shoot it, he wasn't like lights out shooting. He shot a gazillion free throws. Like, I mean, it's almost natural that he's gonna get to 80 points with that.

Nick (59:10)
Like, I was-

It's a

record, record for free throws made and free throws attempted. And shot 22 threes, the most he had shot prior to that game was 13. He had did that once. He shoots way more threes than I thought he did. He shot a lot of threes this year, cuz I first saw that box score. I'm like, bam, shooting 22 threes in a game? He shot double digit threes a couple times this year. I don't know.

Neil (59:16)
Yeah, like it's almost naturally gonna happen.

think he's just doing it.

I'm not as impressed with this as I was with Kobe.

Nick (59:43)
I've told you, this is the least I've watched the NBA maybe in my life. And we should, I think when Kobe did this, you're running to the TV to see it, watching the highlights. I feel like the opposite's happening here.

Neil (59:55)
Yeah. Right.

We're not running to the TV to watch them shoot 45 free throws.

Nick (1:00:03)
Like, and it almost is kind of like the NBA is kind of fraudulent. It makes you not want to watch it even more.

Neil (1:00:12)
this was kind of a fraudulent 83 points. ⁓

Nick (1:00:15)
Well, look, we told him

that he was playing a bad team too. So.

Neil (1:00:19)
But

he shot over 50 % from the field. he was actually playing like... Bam didn't shoot it well. He didn't even shoot it that well. He just took a gazillion shots and it's just natural that he's gonna get to that amount of points just by the amount of shots he's taking.

I don't know. 83 is great, impressive, but it's not something I'm gonna remember and talk about for the rest of my life.

Nick (1:00:37)
So, go ahead.

I'm gonna give you another reason why, like Kobe, before he had 81, he was putting up 50, 60, not all the time, but when he did it, it wasn't that big of a shock. Do you know what Bam's previous career high was before putting up 83 last night?

Neil (1:00:54)
Also true.

34? Okay.

Nick (1:01:02)
41.

So we doubled it.

Double it.

I don't know. Like, yeah, give him credit, but...

Neil (1:01:14)
I don't really care.

Nick (1:01:15)
I really don't either.

I know. Like, I don't know why I'm just not into the NBA at all,

Neil (1:01:23)
I don't know. I'm not either. mean, I would be if the Pacers were good. Probably the same for you if the Bulls were good.

Nick (1:01:28)
Right,

right. And they suck, they both suck. And the Bulls traded away their whole team. And I have not watched a game since then, because why would I?

But yeah, I don't know.

Neil (1:01:41)
I mean, then you got

the Pistons are the best team in the league and I'm not tuning in to watch the Pistons play the Hornets on a Tuesday night.

Nick (1:01:48)
No, I'll watch the playoffs, end of games and then I don't know. If I'm interested in the series, I might watch the whole thing, but it's kind of where I am right now.

Neil (1:01:49)
Hey.

Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah, no, I'm

Nick (1:02:03)
World Baseball Classic is going on too.

USA wins our first three games.

And then they get Italy last night. Mark Gross is on MLB TV saying how they've already clenched in interview. MLB has since pulled it. They don't, you can't watch that interview anymore. Cause he said he misspoke. But clearly they didn't know the rules because you don't say that, Hey, we've already clenched and then sit through your big bats and then get beat. He said he misspoke.

Neil (1:02:27)
Yeah.

Nick (1:02:42)
But going into tonight, they needed Italy to win, which they were up earlier and are gonna win because they've already scored more than six runs. And they needed Mexico to win or score more than five runs.

Neil (1:02:52)
that he'd

be a Mexico to win and score more than four or five. They are now guaranteed to get in, but they're gonna be the two seed.

Nick (1:02:55)
So they're gonna get in.

But how

inexcusable is it for your manager to not know the tiebreaker rules?

Neil (1:03:05)
No, you need to

know the tie-breaking rules. It's not a good look, but this thing happens once every four years. It's not like it's a common thing.

Nick (1:03:13)
One thing you're made they like you're a manager somewhere else your TV studio guy right Go make sure you know the tiebreaker rules and you're on TV every single day This is not something that you're not accustomed to doing and then you say you misspoke and look he's a braves guy But just admit that you screwed up because you didn't misspoke. That's not something you can misspoke

Neil (1:03:17)
That's true.

You need to the rules.

No, you need to the rules.

Misspeak.

Nick (1:03:39)
No, I'm saying misspoke because he said he misspoke. But that's not something you can like you knew what you were saying. You got it wrong. And then you got beat by Italy and then you had to wait and see what was going to happen. And luckily they're still going to be alive. But it's pretty damn inexcusable.

Neil (1:04:00)
No, I agree with you. I mean, you imagine if this team, if this team didn't advance. Look, let's say that Mexico won, beat Italy tonight three to one. And the Americans don't advance because of this. That ain't After you've won them, won them pretty handily.

Nick (1:04:14)
Yeah, when you won your first three games.

Yeah, after you won your first three games. maybe some of the tiebreaker rules in this world baseball classic maybe need to be changed. I think head to head should matter. And then, I don't know.

Neil (1:04:34)
Win

it's head-to-head and you've three teams are tied and you've all beaten each other I mean they used to do run differential and so Canada started bunting up twig eight against Forgot who they're playing like Panama or something they in like they're up eight and late innings and they're bunting for base hits because they need to score more runs and then it's a brawl ensued after that I don't know if you remember that but that popped up Do I? Yes, yes, I believe that's what it is now

Nick (1:04:56)
So now it's allowed, right? Least runs allowed. It's a tiebreaker.

Neil (1:05:02)
Yes, instead of run differential, it's like, yes, least runs allowed. So they changed it after the brawl happened between Canada and, I don't know if it was like Puerto Rico or somebody, I forgot who it was, but.

Nick (1:05:15)
How much are you into this thing?

Neil (1:05:17)
I love it. I mean, I'm watching all the U.S. The quarterfinals will start here the next day or so. No, I'm all in on it.

Nick (1:05:19)
You ready for this?

Does it, is it the same level of Olympic hockey a little below that?

Neil (1:05:30)
It's not as important, I think, as the Olympics, but yeah, mean, it's close. It's close.

Nick (1:05:37)
I will say like the team is pretty cool. Like all the guys that are, they're all a little older, but it's probably okay.

Neil (1:05:40)
Yeah. Basically all-star team.

They're all all-star teams. But they actually care. It's not like an all-star game where you don't care. Like these guys are trying their ass off. Like they want to win this thing.

Nick (1:05:53)
I'm not gonna lie, after they were up 3-0, I kinda assumed they were through, so I didn't even watch last night. And then, like, they're 3-0, like, how are they not gonna get in? And then I see that, I see they're getting beat at the end and I turn it on, and then all this kinda breaks this morning, but.

Neil (1:06:09)
No, it's cool. It's a team full of all-stars on almost every level. You watch the crowds that are in the Dominican and in Japan, they're all going nuts. There's a lot of countries that love baseball and their fans are just crazy about it. And just to see that on this stage is pretty cool.

Nick (1:06:25)
Hello, yes.

And to have two walk-offs on Saturday night when there had never been a walk-off before was cool too. And then we saw the one in Puerto Rico live while we were at the bar in Atlanta. It was just an awesome scene. Everybody's going nuts. So yeah, I get it. I get it. And it'll be fun once the quarterfinals hit and it's when I go home at this point. You ain't got to about tiebreakers anymore, Martin.

Neil (1:06:32)
Yeah.

Yes.

I hope we get to play,

give me Puerto Rico somewhere in this tournament so I can send Yachty or Malena home.

Nick (1:06:55)
And so this weekend, in addition to having all these conference tournaments, all the suits, we also get the fifth major, the players. So we talk all the time about what's some of the better weekends in sports. this is one of the best ones of the year.

Neil (1:07:00)
Yeah.

Conference tournament, championship weekend, players, yeah. World baseball classic going on. I would agree, I would agree.

Who you got? Who you got?

Nick (1:07:26)
So

who do I think is gonna win?

Neil (1:07:30)
Yeah.

Nick (1:07:30)
I think Scottie's streak will come to an end and he'll get his third mate, third players.

Neil (1:07:35)
I was gonna

say that I agree that was my pick

Nick (1:07:40)
I mean, would I bet it? No, because

his numbers are so low, but... Dude, I need Rick to make a move.

Top nine gets him into the Masters. He finished ninth last week at Arnold Palmer and he's getting close. Playing well. So, he's one of the top nine. Top ten, I think top ten solo will get him in. Todd for tenth will be right there. He's won there before. He's playing good golf. So, a lot of pressure on Rick this weekend.

Neil (1:08:01)
Would you say top nine or top ten?

Okay.

I hope he does it. I like Rick.

Nick (1:08:22)
And then, so they're talking about the players championship potentially going to match play instead of this 70-50-30 where it cuts off and then Fleetwood wins last year when they didn't start with any advantage. Now they're talking about maybe actually going to match play. Would you like that?

Neil (1:08:43)
Yeah, I mean I would keep the format for the first couple rounds where you weed out the players. But when you get to the Tour Championship, the final round when it's 30 people, you can make it 32 just to make it even. So you got 16 on each side of the bracket. Somebody buy? Who buys? Okay. Yeah, no, I would agree with that. I love, yeah.

Nick (1:08:50)
final round.

I would give some of the higher seed guys buys. Yeah.

Neil (1:09:10)
I think that is an awesome way to do a tour championship. Like people be tuned in on a Sunday watching Scotty and Rory battle it out one on one for $20 million or whatever the prize is in the tour championship. That would be phenomenal.

Nick (1:09:10)
I think we'll be on.

And look, with top 30, you you got all good guys, cuz their concern with match play is you're gonna get two no names in the final that nobody knows. That's not gonna happen here. look, if you give, I would give your top four or whatever, maybe a double buy, and try to figure that out to where they're advancing to automatically be at least in the quarter or the round. I would say probably to the quarters, but I love this idea.

Neil (1:09:35)
No, no, not towards membership.

Okay.

I- I-

Nick (1:09:56)
Look, having the jump start two years ago, I thought was too much, it was kind of stupid. And then last year with having nothing at all, we're just straight up playing. And 30th place has the same advantage as the first place got made no sense. So we talked about this idea in the past. Yeah. So I think it would be huge if they did it. I think it could be great for TV. And everybody's filling out their brackets like they are March Madness. Like how fun would that be?

Neil (1:10:11)
I think we have talked about this match play idea.

Dude, yeah,

that is cool. I like the idea, yeah.

Nick (1:10:29)
Before we jump off, you wanna do this, what would Joe do?

Neil (1:10:32)
Yeah. We need a theme song for it though.

Nick (1:10:35)
Yeah, I don't have that yet. Well, I got to write something. Joe, a lot of times, Joe Ziegler, a lot of times when we're out, he'll come up with these crazy scenarios. And you got to pick one or the other. The one that he sent us tonight, you have to give up one of these forever.

Would it be your car or your phone? Forever.

Neil (1:11:06)
See, to me this is an easy choice. Do you think it's an easy choice? I have an obvious answer, and I don't know if you do or not. Do you think you have an obvious answer?

Nick (1:11:08)
Why is it easy? And whatever.

I think the answer is pretty obvious, yes.

Neil (1:11:19)
You're giving up your phone.

Right? ⁓ man, no, you give up the phone. You have to give up the phone. And here's why. You don't need...

Nick (1:11:21)
No.

Okay. I'm kind

of happy you said this because I wasn't expecting that.

Neil (1:11:30)
What do you use your phone for?

Nick (1:11:33)
everything.

Neil (1:11:34)
Talk to people. Look up like you're on your phone browsing the internet and all that.

Nick (1:11:38)
What you just you're gonna use your computer for everything?

Neil (1:11:40)
Yes, absolutely. You can FaceTime on your computer, you can get on the internet, all the information you need you can get on a computer for. You can also watch the news on TV, whatever you wanna do there, know, pick up that, or the weather, the sports, all that is on your TV, it's on your computer. You can text on your computer, you can call on your computer. Why are you giving up your car? I'm not gonna be straining someone, I'm not gonna rely on somebody else for me to get.

to point A to point B. I wanna go somewhere when I wanna go. That's why I need my car. I'm not taking ⁓ a scheduled bus. I'm not calling up Nick Evans like, buddy, can you give me a ride to work? No, can't do it. Car is way, way more important than a phone.

Nick (1:12:24)
I see what you're saying and I did think about the fact that you could just use your computer for everything. I when you're going for runs, you're not going to put your laptop in your pocket and listen to tunes.

Neil (1:12:35)
No, put your CD player. iPod? Go to the iPods. Yeah, the iPods. Remember the iPods? You little iPod minis?

Nick (1:12:37)
⁓ you're going back to the CD player. Here's my thing with car.

Here's my thing with the car. There's Uber. I can call Uber whenever I need a ride. And then, well, I don't have a car payment or insurance.

Neil (1:12:47)
Hey, you're gonna pay somebody $30 every time you want to go somewhere.

Nick (1:12:56)
So, and also I go to the bar, I can drink as much as I want and not worry about it. Cuz I don't even have a car to ever worry about driving.

Neil (1:13:06)
You're going to uber tune from where you're going to rely on somebody else to get you from point A to point B on their time. You don't get to do things on your time.

Nick (1:13:11)
I got my phone all the time.

If you're prepared, you can schedule Ubers.

Now, if you got a work commute, then it's going to get a little, then that could get expensive.

Neil (1:13:28)
So hold on, let's say Nick Evans is out at the bar, You're out at the bar, you find this fine, nice, attractive female at the bar, you hit it off, you know, and you're like, hey, let's go on a date. She's like, okay, let's go out to dinner. All right, she says to you, what time you gonna pick me up?

Nick (1:13:50)
That's easy answer. How hot is she?

Neil (1:13:51)
yeah?

I'm it.

Let's put her at an eight. I don't know.

Nick (1:13:59)
Dude, we rolling up like Louis Christmas in that limo in the front of the yard. It's easy. I just upgraded. I just upgraded.

Neil (1:14:06)
No, bro. No, she's

gonna think you're cheesy. Can't be doing that. No, she's gonna think you're Okay, so then let's say the first date goes well. You taking the limo on all that? What's going on second date? You're just gonna keep rolling up in limos every time. Every time you're rolling in limos.

Nick (1:14:11)
Why? It's the way I travel everywhere, baby.

Yes.

Neil (1:14:29)
don't know about that. I don't know about that. You okay?

Nick (1:14:31)
Yes.

You're driving along, you fall off the side of the road, spin around three times. You don't have your phone, you don't have your laptop. How are you going to call somebody and let them know where the hell you are?

Neil (1:14:41)
What?

Well if I fell off the road and spun over three times, I don't think I would be in a condition to call somebody. Can't you just hit the OnStar button? You hit the OnStar button on your... I'd get a car with OnStar.

Nick (1:14:50)
No, you're still alive. You're still alive. You're still alive. You're you're stranded.

What if the car so severely damaged on start and work?

Neil (1:15:05)
I would hope there would be other passer-byers that would see me roll off this cliff and would maybe call on my behalf.

Nick (1:15:12)
It's not as clear cut as you think.

Neil (1:15:12)
It is so

clear-cut. It is so clear-cut. I'm stunned that you went the other way. Huh?

Nick (1:15:17)
Why are you listening to tunes in your car?

How are you listening to tunes in your car? You're going to go back and get this old CD player, radio? But you can't listen to whatever you want.

Neil (1:15:22)
the radio? Yeah, CDs, radios.

Yes you can. Do you not remember iPods? Yeah. You just plug it into your USB? Yeah, I'm sure you can. Hold on, I can tell you right now. Let's look. I'll bet you can order an iPod. Yeah, you just download the music you want from your computer, you plug in your iPod, you can take your iPod on a run.

Nick (1:15:32)
you bring the iPod back?

Do you still have an iPod? Can you still get them?

Neil (1:15:50)
Yeah, at Walmart you can get one for $18.57. MP3 player, yup.

Nick (1:15:54)
really, they just feel like, they

just feel like 300 bucks.

Neil (1:15:58)
Yep, you can still get iPods. $71 new and sealed on eBay.

Nick (1:16:04)
See, I thought about this too. Can you have like a mini iPad? Are you allowed to have that or does that count as a phone?

Neil (1:16:10)
I don't even know what a mini iPad is.

Nick (1:16:12)
Like it's just smaller op-eds.

Neil (1:16:14)
Is that fun?

Nick (1:16:16)
I think it's pretty much the same technology. So I would say, no, you can't have an iPad either.

Neil (1:16:21)
Okay.

Don't get it.

Nick (1:16:23)
But I

mean, you gotta be able to have a computer.

Neil (1:16:25)
But I just, would rather take the car. I can get where I wanna go. Like if I'm just at my house and I'm like, I'm kinda hungry. I wanna go get my double cheeseburger and a Blizzard from Dairy Queen. I don't wanna have to wait 45 minutes for an Uber to take me.

Nick (1:16:29)
I will.

Well, you wouldn't do that. You would have the Uber bring the food to you. wouldn't get in the Uber. Say, take me to McDonald's and then take me back. You would get Uber Eats.

Neil (1:16:44)
over

I don't know if I'm Uber- I don't know if I'm gonna Uber

Eats a Blizzard though. I it's all melted by the time it gets to him.

Nick (1:16:53)
Well, if

you don't have a car, you don't have a choice. Like the only time I use.

Neil (1:16:56)
No, that's what saying.

I have a choice by keeping my car. I'm using...

Nick (1:16:59)
The only time

I really ever use any kind of food service like that is when I'm on the road traveling, I don't have a car.

Neil (1:17:06)
Alright, do me a favor. I want this summer at some point, like one week this summer, I want you to not use your car for a week.

Nick (1:17:15)
Well, then you don't use your phone for a week. Like, how am I the only one suffering? We'll do it the same week.

Neil (1:17:23)
and do it the same week.

We should probably put that to the test.

Nick (1:17:30)
We need to put this to the listeners, see what they say. That's why I think this is good segment. And also I wanted to pick different than you, so.

Neil (1:17:34)
Okay.

Nick (1:17:41)
Yeah, so I'm keeping the fun.

What else you got?

Neil (1:17:48)
Nada. Selection Sunday coming up.

Nick (1:17:52)
And but we're not going to be able to do the show on Sunday because.

Neil (1:17:55)
working.

Nick (1:17:57)
So we'll have to do it on Monday.

Will Indiana get in?

Will Auburn get in?

Neil (1:18:06)
Yes.

Nick (1:18:09)
Will Miami Howl get in?

Neil (1:18:10)
I mean, will they get in? Yes. Should they get in? No. committee's too scared. The committee's too scared to leave them out.

Nick (1:18:16)
You do think they will get any of us a loose?

Neil (1:18:19)
Yeah, because the committee is too scared to leave them out. They don't have the cojones to leave them out.

Nick (1:18:27)
Well, it's because they're undefeated in one of three teams to ever be 30, you know, so.

Neil (1:18:33)
A nine year old YMCA basketball team would be 30 on that schedule too, but.

Nick (1:18:37)
I'm just,

can't wait till every single year where teams are going undefeated because their schedules are so trash.

Neil (1:18:42)
Yeah,

just don't say I didn't tell you so.

Nick (1:18:47)
Will the Bengals make any more moves this week?

Neil (1:18:49)
Yes. Any noteworthy moves? No.

Nick (1:18:52)
I agree with that.

Well, I guess the kids are asleep now, so you can't teach them any more words.

Neil (1:19:02)
The test is until Friday, they have another day to prepare.

Nick (1:19:06)
Well, I think that's about all I got.

Neil (1:19:10)
Alright.

Nick (1:19:11)
So,

reminder, subscribe to the Height Differential, however you listen to pods, rate it and leave a review and then follow us on social at Height Differential. For the 660, I am the 410 Nick. We will talk to you next week after the selection show.