FAU HC Dusty May, NBA With Kirk Goldsberry, MLB Opening Day + Fyre Fest Of The Week

Speaker 1 Hey, pardon my take listeners. You can find every episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube.
Prime members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music.

Speaker 2 Mint is still premium unlimited wireless for a great price.

Speaker 1 So that means a half day.

Speaker 2 Yeah, give it a try at mintmobile.com/slash switch.

Speaker 3 Upfront payment for $45 for three-month plan, equivalent to $15 per month required. New customer offer for first three months only.
Speed slow under 55 gigabytes, but networks busy.

Speaker 3 Taxes and fees extra.

Speaker 1 See Mintmobile.com. On today's part in my take, we have a twofer for the people.

Speaker 1 We have Florida Atlantic head coach Dusty May getting ready for Saturday night's semifinal at the Final Four in Houston. And then we have our good friend, Kirk Goldsbury, on to talk a little MBA.

Speaker 1 We're actually in his classroom right now. We're at the University of Texas, and we taught a class.

Speaker 4 Molding some young minds.

Speaker 1 Yeah, scary thought, scary thought. And we have both of them on the show.
Great, great show. We're going to talk a little

Speaker 1 baseball opening day.

Speaker 1 Firefest of the week. Hank is doing the shocker.

Speaker 4 That's the Houston Cougar sign.

Speaker 1 He's doing the Houston Cougar sign. Wrong team.
But we are going to hang out with Dana tomorrow night. We just actually solidified those players.

Speaker 4 We'll be doing this a lot tomorrow night.

Speaker 1 Yes. Yes.
Hell yes.

Speaker 5 When cool, creamy ranch meets tangy, bold buffalo, the whole is greater than the sum of its sauce. Say howdy, partner, to new Buffalo Ranch sauce only at McDonald's for a limited time.

Speaker 4 At participating, McDonald's.

Speaker 1 Okay, let's go.

Speaker 1 No place to hang out on washing,

Speaker 1 and then I can't blame all of the sun. Oh, no, we're gonna rock it down to Electric Avenue,

Speaker 1 and then we'll take it higher.

Speaker 1 Oh, we're gonna rock it down to

Speaker 1 the Trick Avenue.

Speaker 1 Welcome to Part of My Take. Today is Friday, March 31st,

Speaker 1 and we got baseball, boys.

Speaker 4 Baseball's back. Advanced stat, Christian Yelich is on pace to hit zero home runs this year.

Speaker 1 Love to hear it.

Speaker 4 Fraud, no power in that guy.

Speaker 1 Love to hear it. There's nothing better than opening day.
It does feel like we've made it through winter. Just feeling seeing the boys of summer out there.

Speaker 1 It also is very fun to do those stats. I think Aaron Judge at one point was on pace for 570 home runs.
That was cool. The Cubs are on pace for 162 wins.
The Phillies are on pace for zero zero wins.

Speaker 4 Yeah, you remember for about two hours when Aaron Judge was a giant and then in his first at-bat, he goes yard off the Giants? Yes. That's a two-point swing.

Speaker 1 Yeah, remember, too? Didn't Billy say that because Aaron Judge deleted or he unfollowed the Yankees, it was a good negotiating boy? Yeah. Yeah,

Speaker 1 I remember that as well. But yeah, we...

Speaker 4 Do you see how big those bases are? They're huge. They look bigger than spring training.

Speaker 1 I'm going to say it. I'm legitimately excited for the new rules.
Like, I think that this actually, there's been so many, so much hand-wringing about how to fix baseball.

Speaker 1 I was reading an article that basically everyone who played in the WBC

Speaker 1 who had come from spring training was like, yeah, this feels like we're playing 10 hours. Like, why wouldn't we have a clock?

Speaker 1 I'm excited. I think it's going to be awesome.

Speaker 1 More stolen bases, more, I think there was, it was something, every single team stole more bases in spring training than last year, even though it was the shortened spring training.

Speaker 1 The shift, everything. Like, I'm excited for baseball.
The shift is speaking. And that might be because the Cubs won their first game.

Speaker 4 No, the shift, I think they actually listen to what baseball fans have been saying. Yes.

Speaker 4 Which is even baseball, that's how you know that your game is boring as fuck when your most die-hard fans are like, this, I'm watching too much baseball. Yes.
You need to shorten it a little bit.

Speaker 4 So there was some initial controversy today. I think it was a Red Sox player, right?

Speaker 1 First ever to

Speaker 4 get called out because you have to step back into the box before eight seconds. And then the umpire watches.
And if the pitcher gets the pitch off in time or whatever, boom, you're out. See you.

Speaker 4 It's fun. It's fun like watching these rules be implemented and watch players freak out for the first time.

Speaker 4 But overall, I think that what they've done is they've turned baseball into a game that more people will.

Speaker 1 Congrats, we did it. We did it.

Speaker 4 Through our Mike Greenberg stumb rules, we made baseball watchable again.

Speaker 1 Yeah, but there's going to be games that are two hours and 20 minutes, which is perfect time. Yep.
Yeah. Ready to go.
And we will do a baseball preview at some point.

Speaker 1 It was kind of, I don't want want to take some AWLs to task, but if you know, we're a little backed up. We just did our NBA preview like a month ago.
We did our college basketball preview in January.

Speaker 1 We're going to need a little bit of time to see how everything shakes out before we do our preview.

Speaker 4 We still haven't done our NHL preview, have we? No, we did. We did that in December, actually.
We just did that so that... Business would stop hitting us up asking.

Speaker 1 But we're going to do it.

Speaker 4 We'll do another NHL preview. We will do an MLB preview.

Speaker 4 You want to just say who our World Series champion is? Yes. San Diego Padres.
Ooh.

Speaker 1 You're not going to say who they're playing?

Speaker 4 No, I'm just saying we'll do our World Series loser preview later.

Speaker 1 Okay.

Speaker 1 I was going to pick the Mets, but Verlander's already hurt.

Speaker 4 Yeah, so the Mets are on pace to have every player injured this year.

Speaker 1 Hmm.

Speaker 1 The Rangers are at the top of the AOS right now.

Speaker 1 1-0.

Speaker 1 Huh. Catbird seat.
You know what? I'll say it. This is the year.
I think the Tampa Bay Rays are going to win it all. Okay.

Speaker 1 They've always been for the last, what, like 10 years, 15 years, they've been like knocking at the door where they'll have a couple years where their advanced analytics will always work and they'll be the team that everyone's like, watch out for the Rays and then they'll fall back down.

Speaker 1 I think they're coming back up this year.

Speaker 1 I think the Cincinnati Reds. Yeah.
Good, good, yeah.

Speaker 6 I think they were my pick last year.

Speaker 1 The Cincinnati Reds are 0-1. They lost to the Pittsburgh Pirates.
O'Neil Cruz is a monster. Monster.
So you're already a major comeback. Okay.

Speaker 6 I do love these Cincinnati, like, for whatever reason, they party the hardest for opening day.

Speaker 1 Yeah, it's a big, it's a parade and everything.

Speaker 6 That's exciting. It's awesome.

Speaker 1 I mean, opening day is awesome. Yeah.
It really is. Like, it does feel like we have a lot of people.

Speaker 6 There's like not a lot of day games on. There wasn't a lot of games on ESPN.

Speaker 1 No, there were a lot of day games on the bus.

Speaker 1 I did my strategy of with all the rule changes, just blindly bet every over. There was like nine games during the day.

Speaker 6 Not on ESPN. I feel like in the past, it was just the opening day was.
Baseball, baseball, baseball, baseball, baseball.

Speaker 4 It was one game.

Speaker 4 Was the World World Baseball Classic bad for baseball? Because now the regular season is going to pale in comparison to it.

Speaker 1 Baseball fatigue. Yeah.

Speaker 4 I'm already out. I'm out.

Speaker 1 People are wondering.

Speaker 6 Actually, I'm touching Angels.

Speaker 1 Yeah, Angels.

Speaker 4 I was about to say my loser of the World Series is going to be the. Let's do it.

Speaker 1 Let's do losers. Okay.

Speaker 4 Angels, Padres, Angels lose in a sweep.

Speaker 4 Unless they bring back the rally monkey, in which case they win.

Speaker 6 Angels beat the Giants again.

Speaker 6 Shades of, what was that, 2003?

Speaker 4 Social. Mike's socialism.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 6 Okay. Eckstein.
I mean, that's your guy.

Speaker 1 I'll do.

Speaker 1 Exteen? Oh, yeah, Estee. Oh, yeah.

Speaker 1 Hustle monster. I'll do

Speaker 1 the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Philadelphia Phillies because, of course. Yeah, Title Town.
Yeah, of course. That would absolutely happen.
I actually am.

Speaker 1 I'm also very excited for the Cubs because I think they're going to be. My line is Sneaky Not Bad.
I'm excited. Sneaky Not Bad is very close to good.

Speaker 4 Yeah, Sneaky Not Bad.

Speaker 4 At least you got young guys you can root for.

Speaker 1 Like you're building something. Do I have to find some guys? Mancini, Swanson?

Speaker 1 It's sneaky, not bad.

Speaker 6 Do I have to pick a Chicago Cubs or White Sox since I'll be out there this summer?

Speaker 1 Well, just look into White Sox Dave's eyes and then you can pick.

Speaker 4 They're your Sox brethren. That's true.
You have to go double socks, right?

Speaker 1 That's true.

Speaker 4 Keep those feet warm.

Speaker 1 By the way, I think Trey Mancini is like the universally most loved guy in all of baseball. Because remember, didn't he beat Cancer? He did.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 And he then went to, like, he's the only guy who's ever gone to the the Astros and people didn't hate him. Yeah.
Think about that.

Speaker 4 That's really hard to do. He's a really good feel-good story.
Yeah, right. Dominated Kevin.

Speaker 1 Everyone hates the Astros. Everyone on the Astros.
Yeah. And

Speaker 1 he is somehow not hated.

Speaker 4 Shohei Otani, not hated.

Speaker 1 Yeah, although I think there's some people who are like, he should be a Yankee. Yeah, he's just

Speaker 4 a Yankee.

Speaker 4 You remember when he made his debut for the Angels? It was in spring training? And Mike Francesa was like,

Speaker 4 Yankees dodged a bullet by not getting this guy.

Speaker 1 Yeah, they're talking about this guy like he's Babe Ruth. They're not even going to be able to put him on the roster.

Speaker 4 Babe Ruth would have been cleaning his jocks.

Speaker 1 Great call. Great call.

Speaker 1 Yeah, baseball. Let's have some fun with baseball.

Speaker 4 It's just good. You know what baseball is great for, especially this time of year, is just walking past a TV and seeing a sport on.
Yes. A live sport in the middle of the day.
Seeing grass.

Speaker 1 Yeah. And a ball.

Speaker 4 A live sports on a TV that I walk past.

Speaker 1 I'm in. Makes me feel good.
Yeah. And then, you know, usually it's like opening day happens.
Then you kind of hit a lull where you're like, oh, shit, there's 162 of these.

Speaker 1 And then like June rolls around, you're like, no, this is fun.

Speaker 4 Plus those bases, man. I'm telling you.
They're huge.

Speaker 1 Those things are fun. They're fucking huge.
All right. What else we have going on? Oh, we have a tweet that Hank has to address.

Speaker 4 Yes, Hank. We do.
It's more than just a tweet. It sounds like a culture that you have to address.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 So Asante Samuel tweeted out of the clouds, like really, I don't know what he's even doing these days. Is he on a show anywhere?

Speaker 4 He's being a dad. He's being a dad.

Speaker 1 He's a bad job of all he said lamar jackson my brother trust me you don't want to play for belichick

Speaker 1 out of nowhere

Speaker 6 he's a defensive player i don't really know how that's relevant well belich is defensive i thought you had something better than that no i just think it's like i don't know i think i think you know a guy like tom brady

Speaker 6 Hoyer, maybe a quarterback. A quarterback says something like that and maybe holds some more weight.
But a defensive player talking to a quarterback, they're not even in the same position rooms.

Speaker 4 No, he's just saying he doesn't, he knows how Belichick is and he knows Lamar. You wouldn't want to play for this guy.

Speaker 1 Does he know Lamar? Well, maybe. I also

Speaker 6 sounds like he's just a little, I mean, again, Belichick's known for cutting players when, you know, the second they're on their decline.

Speaker 1 Well, Asante Samuel

Speaker 4 has experienced two separate cultures. He's experienced the Patriots, and then he's experienced a winning culture on the Eagles.
And he just knows that you don't want to play for the Patriots.

Speaker 1 What is his beef, though? Because I just went to his Twitter page, and the tweet before that is a retweet where Brandon Marshall was calling him out saying, how dare you, Asante Samuel?

Speaker 1 How dare you, Shady McCoy, how dare you say Bill Belichick ain't that guy?

Speaker 1 What is the beef?

Speaker 6 He probably got cut.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 1 It was very weird out of nowhere.

Speaker 1 I mean, it kind of didn't make any sense.

Speaker 4 It has to make you stop for a second.

Speaker 1 There's got to be something else to this.

Speaker 4 There's something deeper there. Yeah.
Yeah. We got to figure out what that is.
Maybe it's...

Speaker 6 Oh, maybe. He held out in 2007 and there was a free agency departure.

Speaker 1 I mean, I think

Speaker 6 he was the classic guy where it's like they cut him. They weren't going to pay him.
They cut him.

Speaker 4 So that seems extremely relevant to me. And on the eve of a big payday,

Speaker 4 he tried to hold out, maximize his value. Sounds like that's exactly what Lamar is going through right now.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 Who's the guy who picked off Russell Wilson? Darius? No. Malcolm Butler.

Speaker 6 Malcolm Butler. He also was.
He was

Speaker 6 because of that. Sante Samuel is

Speaker 6 David Tyreek Ketch.

Speaker 1 Yeah. But no, I'm saying Malcolm Butler.

Speaker 1 Malcolm Butler got like put, you know, remember he didn't play in that game the next year, so maybe he's like he treats players bad. I don't know.

Speaker 1 It seems weird.

Speaker 4 It does.

Speaker 1 It seemed out of nowhere.

Speaker 4 Hank, you seem like you're very delusional about anything related to the Patriots right now.

Speaker 6 No, that's not me. I'm thinking I'm very level-headed with the Patriots always have been.

Speaker 1 Longest odds they've ever had in the Bill Belichick era since the first year, I think.

Speaker 6 Yeah, it's going to be a fun season. We're not going to get Lamar, unfortunately.
It doesn't seem that way. Why not?

Speaker 6 It just doesn't seem like Belichick wants him.

Speaker 1 I just don't think Belichick wants him, which is crazy because it'd be so fun.

Speaker 4 So fun. I would love to watch and see what they did.
All I know is I'm all in on both

Speaker 4 Richardson and Will Levis.

Speaker 1 Yeah, so Anthony Richardson had his pro day today, and he's lighting it up.

Speaker 4 He's an absolute athletic freak. Adonis.

Speaker 1 He threw it at the roof. He said afterwards he did that because Will Levis did that.

Speaker 1 I do feel bad for our friend Will Levis that he's like, Anthony Richardson is such an athletic freak. Will Levis would be an athletic freak any other year.

Speaker 1 He just happens to be matched up against the guy who's like literally the, I think it's, he, what did he chart higher than any quarterback ever, right?

Speaker 4 Yeah, it's basically, he's basically Cam Newton.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 6 No, he's better. He's better.

Speaker 1 But more athletic. One

Speaker 1 generation talent.

Speaker 4 It's Cam Newton with regular captions on Instagram.

Speaker 6 Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 Speaks English. And also no Heisman or national title.

Speaker 6 But this is, that's college. This is a pro game.

Speaker 1 No, no, but Anthony Richardson, Anthony Richardson didn't do what Cam Newton did in college.

Speaker 4 Right. What Steele lasted?

Speaker 6 That's the past. Yeah, that's it.
We're focused on, you know, in the present day, Anthony Richardson.

Speaker 1 Is better than Cam Newton right now?

Speaker 6 I'd probably agree. When they were both this age, whatever age they were, yeah.

Speaker 4 Okay, so when Cam Newton was the number one pick in the draft

Speaker 1 and

Speaker 1 beat Alabama with a team that had no offensive NFL talent.

Speaker 4 So now Anthony Richardson is better than that guy.

Speaker 6 That SEC wasn't the same as today's SEC. Oh, no.
It's much harder. It's much harder to win in today's SEC.

Speaker 4 All I know is I've seen enough from both of those guys. If you can throw a football off of a roof, I'm in.

Speaker 1 Dude, he was sitting down, not on his knees, sitting down, throwing 30 yards. Okay, I'm in.
Yeah. Like, it was insane.

Speaker 6 How do you not take him number one?

Speaker 1 What would happen in a game? It has nothing to do with your bet.

Speaker 1 No.

Speaker 4 What would happen in a game if a quarterback hit the roof of a dome with a pass?

Speaker 1 I guess what? Jerry's world. Yeah, in Jerry's world, don't

Speaker 1 cardboard. They have to repunt, right?

Speaker 4 Can you, does that wind time off the clock when you do that?

Speaker 1 Ooh, I don't know. Now you found a loophole.
I think I found

Speaker 1 a wrinkle in time, yeah.

Speaker 1 Aren't the Titans getting a new stadium? Yeah. Maybe they build it specifically to

Speaker 1 raise time.

Speaker 4 Yeah, it's funny because I think Will Levis, he's obviously like... He's way stronger than he was a couple months ago.
They did the before and after pictures of Will Levis.

Speaker 4 I think all the Mayo talk got to him. I think he was sick of being asked about how he puts Mayo in his coffee, how he eats.

Speaker 4 Every question was like food related to Will Levis. He's like, I'll show all of you.
I'm going to get really strong. Now the question, it's shift to, is Will Levis too jacked up to play in the NFL?

Speaker 1 I mean, I'm rooting for Will Levis. He is a friend of the program.
I'm rooting for Anthony Richardson, too, because he seems like if he could put it all together, he'd be electric.

Speaker 1 I did have a dream the other night, which is... Terrible to say, admit that these are the dreams I'm having.
CJ Stroud to the 49ers.

Speaker 4 Oh, imagine him and Kyle Robertson. That was my dream.

Speaker 4 Yeah.

Speaker 1 They just, it was crazy. I just had CJ Stroud in a 49ers uniform.
I don't know how it happens. Yeah.
Someone figure out how they can move up with, I don't think they have a first-round pick.

Speaker 1 No, they definitely don't, right?

Speaker 4 They don't, but they got a bunch of third-round picks.

Speaker 1 Okay, so that's how it happens.

Speaker 4 They bundle their third.

Speaker 1 How many third-round picks equals a first-round pick?

Speaker 4 We got to do our own draft value.

Speaker 1 15

Speaker 1 third-rounders in the past. I'd say dozens.

Speaker 4 Bakers dozen. 13.

Speaker 1 First pick in the draft. Yeah.
That would actually rule if someone

Speaker 1 traded for an entire round of the draft.

Speaker 4 You would be able to build a hell of a football team out of only third-round pick. Yeah.

Speaker 6 I've got major respect for the whole Patriots organization. Being drafted to that team helped me be a better player and a better man.
And for that, I'll be forever grateful. Who's that? Asante Samuel.

Speaker 6 When?

Speaker 6 After he retired. Oh.

Speaker 1 Was he still owed money?

Speaker 6 No, that's what it was. It was he held out before the 2007 season.
He went all pro, and then he signed with the Eagles and he was mad that he said the Patriots offered him half as much as

Speaker 6 what he should have been getting.

Speaker 1 So don't hate the player who's big. Hey, he's better.
Belchek's playing the game correctly.

Speaker 4 Yeah, but it sounds like Lamar wouldn't want a situation where your coach is denying you money. That's exactly what Lamar's leaving right now.
That's all I'm saying.

Speaker 6 Yeah, I mean, I thought the only way that it would work is where Lamar was kind of just going to do like a fuck you to everyone else and prove it with the Patriots and and then I don't know it never really made sense other than just like it'd be sick if we did it would be be sick.

Speaker 6 But, like, in the world of...

Speaker 6 I just want to win. I'm just going to win to prove him.

Speaker 1 It's going to suck to be Mac Jones.

Speaker 4 Car insurance rates are through the roof. Yep.

Speaker 1 A lot of points. Yeah.

Speaker 1 You don't think it sucks to be Mac Jones?

Speaker 1 I don't.

Speaker 1 Mac Jones is a good quarterback. If you can get...
An all-pro quarterback. I guess now that he has an offensive coordinator, it doesn't suck as much.

Speaker 4 Yeah, but you still have the threat. You've got a looming Zappie over your shoulder.

Speaker 1 Yeah, it's more like I feel bad. I'm not saying like he sucks.
I'm saying it's got to suck to know that even like Robert Kraft being like, Meek Mill texted me, let's get Lamar. That's got to suck.

Speaker 4 Yeah, knowing that your boss has to suck is texting with Meek Mill trying to get you fired.

Speaker 1 That sucks. It's a business.
They know. Okay, blinders on.
All right, we're going to talk some, let's talk some final form.

Speaker 4 Hey, it's PFT here, reminding you that Boarshead makes game day entertaining elevated and effortless.

Speaker 4 Whether you order catering platters ahead from your local Boarshead retailer, or you create your own spread at home with Boar's Head premium deli meats and cheeses, you are sure to impress your guests.

Speaker 4 My favorites like oven gold turkey or blazing buffalo-style chicken, paired with their classic Vermont cheddar or creamy Munster cheese, are sure to score big and help me elevate my entertainment every time, whether it's for a tailgate or a home gating celebration.

Speaker 4 Seriously, guys, it's a game-changing flavor for every gathering. Boarshead, committed to craft since 1905.

Speaker 1 Okay,

Speaker 1 let's figure out this ticket thing right now, and we'll talk a little Final Four.

Speaker 1 Fun fact about the Final Four.

Speaker 1 If Jim Laranega wins the championship, he will be the oldest coach in any sport to win a title.

Speaker 4 That's wild. Wild.

Speaker 1 Wait, now we're counting all college sports? College, yeah, college football, basketball, and the four major pro sports.

Speaker 4 That is wild.

Speaker 1 And he would do it. I think he would be a month older than Dusty Baker was in October.
So, so Dusty Baker's action

Speaker 4 gets like

Speaker 4 so he gets Dusty gets like six months of being the oldest.

Speaker 1 Dusty Baker is older than Jim Laranega, but Dusty Baker was like 73 in five months when he won the World Series. Jim Laranega would be 73 in six months when he wins, if he wins the title.

Speaker 4 I like it. I mean, I feel like Miami is kind of becoming a trendy pick right now, just because people don't want to see UConn win.
Right.

Speaker 4 Because it's the final four of underdogs, so you have which one of these underdogs is the most likely to win.

Speaker 4 And you'd probably say whoever wins the UConn Miami game is going to be heavily favored to win the championship, right? Yes. So hypothetically, whose line is it anyway? Miami against FAU.

Speaker 1 I don't think it would be that big of a... What, three and a half? Yeah, I think it would be like two, three.
I don't think it would be that significant. UConn, if UConn like...

Speaker 1 kills Miami, they will be a significant favorite in the championship game. But yeah,

Speaker 1 listen, I want UConn to win because of my future, but I am scared to death of Miami. I don't think

Speaker 1 there's two ways that this game is going to go, and I'm hoping that Dan Hurley does the fun way because UConn, basically, they have a lineup that I think could defensively stop Miami, but that lineup won't be as explosive offensively.

Speaker 1 I'm hoping he's like, fuck it, let's just go shot for shot.

Speaker 4 Yeah, you know what we really need? America needs Miami's super rich boosters to step up to the plate right now.

Speaker 1 Danny Boycaine.

Speaker 4 Danny Boycain.

Speaker 4 Dave Portnoy. Dave Portnoy, all the lawyers, all the drug dealers get together and put a bounty on this game.

Speaker 4 Put like, tell the kids, you know, they created like an NIL company in Miami that does not actually. Life wallet.
They don't actually have a product down there.

Speaker 4 They're just like, if you come to Miami, we're going to pay you money. That's how it should be.
So they created that. They need to step up to the plate and all donate like...

Speaker 4 tens of millions of dollars to split up as a bounty if this Hurricanes team wins the national championship. Put like some serious, serious money on the line, motivate the hell out of them.

Speaker 4 That's the only way that I see it happening. Agreed.
Because other than that, I feel like we're in store for two Yukon blowouts back to back.

Speaker 1 I would be fine with that.

Speaker 4 If I get, all I really need out of this Final Four is just one close game. One classic.
One classic game. We got three chances at it.
Give me one classic.

Speaker 1 I think all of the games are going to be close. I honestly do.
Maybe not the championship game, but I think Saturday night we're going to have two competitive close games. I really do.

Speaker 1 I don't think FAU and San Diego State, either team is that much better than the other team. In Miami, like Miami, what if they just keep making all their shots? Yeah.
Then you can't beat them.

Speaker 1 It could happen. Yeah.
All right, so how should we decide who's going to sit in the last row in the stadium? Hmm.

Speaker 1 Do we do odds and evens?

Speaker 4 We could do a random number generator and the person who's furthest away from it. Okay.
One through 100.

Speaker 1 Do you want to do that? Well, no, because then we'll all pick.

Speaker 4 Oh, yeah. Yeah.
We're not good at math.

Speaker 1 Yeah, we're in a business school right now. I think we go odds and evens, right? Everyone, memes and max come over here.

Speaker 1 You go one, two, three, shoot. You throw a one or a two, and we keep shooting until one person has it by themselves.

Speaker 1 All right. Okay, here we go.
So this is going to be for the San Diego State FAU game. One person will buy tickets thanks to to game time,

Speaker 1 so that they can come down

Speaker 1 in the second game. But for the first game, they're going to have to sit one single ticket last row in the stadium.

Speaker 4 Max is already defeated.

Speaker 1 You throw a one or two. It's very easy.
You just go one, two, three, shoot. You throw a one or a two.
You can't throw a three or four, too. No, you can't throw a three or four.

Speaker 4 Max looks like a four-year-old right now on the ground in kindergarten. Blazer Evens.

Speaker 1 Oh, I guess we could do that. Yeah.

Speaker 1 You want to do that? No, no. All right.
All right.

Speaker 4 One, two, three, shoot.

Speaker 1 One, two, three, shoot. Do you want to do a practice round? Yeah, yes.
Okay.

Speaker 1 This is great. Everyone should be watching the YouTube.
All right. This is a practice.
No, this is not a practice.

Speaker 4 You just said no.

Speaker 1 Okay. Yeah, now I know.
Let's do one practice. Okay.
We're going to throw a zero. One, two, three, shoot.
Okay.

Speaker 1 All right.

Speaker 4 So I would be out because I threw a one.

Speaker 1 Yes. Yes.
All right. Here we go.
I got it.

Speaker 1 One, two, three, shoot.

Speaker 1 All right. We got to go again.
We got to just keep rapid fire. One, two, three, shoot.

Speaker 1 One, two, three. Shoot.
Terrible podcasting. One, two, three.
Shoot.

Speaker 1 Damn it.

Speaker 1 All right.

Speaker 1 Another loss. See you in the back row, buddy.
All right, so San Diego State FAU. I'll be sitting in the back row of NRG Stadium.
I'm excited. I actually

Speaker 1 have I. Oh, no, in Jerry's world, we went to Alabama, Wisconsin, and I almost had a heart attack climbing up those stairs.

Speaker 1 Might have been from extra crocodilers. But yeah, that was, yeah, so I'll be all the way up at the top for the first game.
I can't.

Speaker 1 You can see the whole swing from gas. Yeah, that's true.
Yeah, the cops came over and they're like, is this your bus? We're like, yeah.

Speaker 1 They're like, you're like five minutes away from blowing up everyone around you. It's like, okay, cool.

Speaker 4 You're just, you're going to have the all 10 angle.

Speaker 1 Shout out game time. Gonna get great seats.
Great seats. I'll come down and join you guys for Miami-Yukon.

Speaker 1 Yeah, this will be fun. I'm excited.
Tweet out the picture. She's being like, hey, look how far away I am.
Everyone's like, nice seats, nice seats, bro.

Speaker 1 All right, anything else before we get to our interviews?

Speaker 4 I saw that.

Speaker 6 The Celtics beat the Bucs by 40.

Speaker 1 They did. And we're about to talk to Kirk Goldsbury.
And while we were talking to him, they were playing. And he's like, I like the Bucs.
And if they match up against the Celtics.

Speaker 4 They match up real well. Hank, so the Celtics are on fire now, right? They beat the Bucs by a whole lot.
They probably blew the doors off the Wizards when they played.

Speaker 6 No, they lost to the Wizards by 20. That was a tough loss.

Speaker 6 Really made getting the one seed a lot harder. Zards played tough.
Celtics were never in it.

Speaker 7 I don't really know what happened there.

Speaker 4 I think the Bucs are doing some load management.

Speaker 6 I don't think so.

Speaker 1 Yeah, I think they might have just lost. I think they might have just lost.

Speaker 6 They're coming off a back-to-back.

Speaker 7 That's what Bucs fans was saying.

Speaker 6 The Celtics were coming off back-to-back,

Speaker 1 I think, against the Wizards. We had a hilarious double.

Speaker 1 No, they weren't. Almost a double ejection last night where Kyrie was.

Speaker 6 Pretty much a back-to-back. Pretty much.

Speaker 1 Kyrie and Russell Westbrook in separate games tried to kick fans out of the arena.

Speaker 4 Just so soft. They're dictators.

Speaker 6 The Mavs are a fucking joke.

Speaker 1 They're a disaster. Yeah.

Speaker 4 The one guy

Speaker 4 got kicked out by Westbrook because he called him Westbrook, which is apparently, you can't say that to him anymore.

Speaker 4 He said the W word. Yeah, you can't say that.
Got kicked out, but then he got kicked in after they determined, you didn't tell him that he sucked or anything. You didn't cuss at him.

Speaker 4 You called him Westbrook. Yeah, we're sending you back to your seats, which I like.

Speaker 1 Yes. I like.
I agree with you.

Speaker 4 You shouldn't swear at players. You shouldn't say anything vulgar to them or threaten them.

Speaker 1 But you can call him Westbrook. You can call him Westbrook.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 Also, Pat Bev got too small by Austin Reeves. Who Austin Reeves is very good, but

Speaker 1 it really hurt because LeBron was like, you go do that. I'm not.
I'm above this.

Speaker 4 He had his henchmen take care of it.

Speaker 1 That's light work for him.

Speaker 4 He doesn't want to get his hands dirty. That sucked.

Speaker 4 The NFL is apparently exploring an international division oh in football like an entire division so expanding uh this was discussed at the owners meeting apparently so everyone's been thinking london's gonna get at least one team germany might get at least one team and they're looking at other maybe mexico city I don't know.

Speaker 4 I don't know if it's going to be a European division or

Speaker 4 a full division that's just international teams.

Speaker 1 So the Jaguars are going to London finally?

Speaker 4 They might be. They might be moving over there.
There are two stadiums in London right now that are ready for NFL teams.

Speaker 1 Tottenham, and then I think.

Speaker 1 The O2?

Speaker 4 The O2. No, Wimbley.

Speaker 4 Which might be Tottenham. Yeah.
I'm going to have to fact check that one.

Speaker 1 No, Wimbley is not Tottenham.

Speaker 4 But I like the idea of having international rivalries.

Speaker 1 Yes. Like, I think if they...
Which Queen play?

Speaker 4 Queen?

Speaker 1 Wimbley. Wembley, yeah.
Well, she's

Speaker 1 not. She's not playing anywhere.
Queen. Queen.

Speaker 4 Queen. Six feet under.

Speaker 1 Queen.

Speaker 4 But it'd be good to have England versus Ireland in a rivalry.

Speaker 1 It's just another move by

Speaker 1 the NFL to just own every hour of our lives. Yeah.
Because we will just be watching NFL football at 6 a.m. I will.

Speaker 1 At 8 a.m., just constant.

Speaker 4 Can you imagine an Italian team? I would love an Italian team.

Speaker 1 Italian team would be great. Yeah.
Maybe

Speaker 1 we could actually get NFL rigged. Oh, yeah.
They do like to rig games there. Oh, yeah.

Speaker 4 There's a team in Sicily. Yeah.

Speaker 1 Let's do it.

Speaker 4 Wear the tightest pants.

Speaker 1 I'm in. I'm in.

Speaker 1 All right. Should we get to our interviews?

Speaker 4 Let's do it.

Speaker 1 Oh, one last thing.

Speaker 1 In Hilarious

Speaker 1 Politicians Trying to Talk About Sports, Eric Adams today was on the Yankees broadcast and he called it Yankee Park.

Speaker 4 That's good. I love that.
I always love it when there was like some politician from Massachusetts that tried to pronounce it.

Speaker 6 Monino.

Speaker 1 Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 6 Hondo.

Speaker 1 Just a couple guys talking ball.

Speaker 6 He called KG and Rondo, KJ and Hondo.

Speaker 1 What was Ted Cruz called it? A basket goal? No, a goal? A basketball rim?

Speaker 1 A basketball hoop.

Speaker 1 What did he call it? I think he called it a goal. Throw it through the goal.
Yeah, or something like that. It's just always great.

Speaker 4 DeMar Hamlin met with Biden today. Two guys that have been accused of being dead.

Speaker 1 That one place.

Speaker 1 I think that one flew. Yeah, that one definitely flew.

Speaker 4 What else? That's about it. Yeah.
Yeah.

Speaker 4 Trump got indicted.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 4 Fucked a porn star.

Speaker 1 And that's our politics update.

Speaker 1 Yeah, come see us. We're going to be at Kirby's Ice House in Houston on Friday and Saturday, 5 to 7 local Friday, 1 to 3 local Saturday.
So it should be great.

Speaker 1 Yeah, a lot of times on maths. All right, let's get to it.
We got Dusty May and then Kirk Goldsbury.

Speaker 10 All protein bars generally taste the same, but not one bars. One made protein bars are actually delicious with Reese's and Hershey's.

Speaker 10 Only one Reese's peanut butter lover's protein bar is made with Reese's peanut butter, and only one Hershey's cookies and Cream protein bars is made with Hershey's cookie bits while delivering 18 grams of protein and 3 grams of sugar.

Speaker 10 One bars are the perfect protein bar to get you through your busy day, whether you need a quick pick-me-up between meetings or you need some fuel to power you through your next workout.

Speaker 10 One also has other delicious flavors like birthday cake, maple glazed donut, and blueberry cobbler. Find all one bars at a retailer near you or on Amazon.com.

Speaker 11 The Pro Football Football Show is presented by the Chevy Silverado. Built for the hustle, ready for the game, Chevy Silverado is America's most dependable full-size truck.

Speaker 11 Whether you're grinding through the week or gearing up for kickoff, the Silverado is one ride that's always game ready. Just like football, it's about grit, grind, and getting it done.

Speaker 11 Head to Chevy.com to learn more and build your own Chevy Silverado.

Speaker 1 Okay, here he is, Dusty Mae.

Speaker 1 Okay, we now welcome on a very special guest. It is head coach of the Florida Atlantic Owls, headed to the final for Dusty May.

Speaker 1 Coach, thank you for joining us. Appreciate it.
I think we met in Columbus. I don't know.
You were staying at our team hotel, or we were staying at the team hotel.

Speaker 1 And I want to start by saying if we did meet, I apologize because I'm pretty sure I walked through the lobby after your win against Memphis just saying

Speaker 1 that wasn't a jump ball, guys. That wasn't a jump ball.
We got lucky. We got lucky.
So,

Speaker 1 yeah, apologies for that if I ruined the moment at all.

Speaker 12 No worries. Actually, I didn't meet any of you guys.
I went through quickly, got out of the way, but our players and I have three sons. I have three sons, 21, 19, and 17, and they recognized everyone.

Speaker 12 So I think they're spending too much time on Barstroll Sports.

Speaker 4 Yeah,

Speaker 1 that's probably true. So let's start with there, though, because this run has been incredible.

Speaker 1 With seven seconds left in the first round, it could have been over.

Speaker 1 Have you had a moment to think like, holy shit, that was quite the sliding doors moment of my career, of FAU's, you know,

Speaker 1 trajectory? Like, has that set in? Like that, we were, we were on the edge there. We were about to be done.

Speaker 12 Yeah, it seems like every big run, when you look at national champions, you look at final four participants, usually out of their first four or five games, they had one really scary moment where I even remember Coach Donovan at Florida got over the hump.

Speaker 12 He had been knocked out the first weekend, maybe four or five straight times. And then Mike Miller, Butler missed a free throw from a 90% shooter.

Speaker 12 And then then Mike Miller hits a floater at the buzzer, and the rest is history. So it seems like every champion or Final Four participant has some type of storyline similar.

Speaker 12 So, you know, fortunately for us, we didn't have to bank in an 80-footer or anything like that. Like our guy made a good play at the rim.

Speaker 12 And even I thought that the timeout call is a little bit overblown because there was a stop in play a couple minutes prior that we had a three-pointer waved off

Speaker 12 and we didn't scoring that possession. So I think it's just when you lose, those plays

Speaker 4 stand out a lot more than the winning team having having similar uh similar bad luck yeah it might be a team of destiny i'd like to give you the opportunity to make your case for for florida atlantic as being america's team or america's sweetheart in this final four because i think we're all searching out there there's a lot of underdogs it would be one thing if it was you know ones and two seeds and then you guys but there's a lot of underdogs out there so why is fau america's team Well, we have a fun style of play to watch.

Speaker 12 I think from day one, we've wanted to be entertaining. You're in Boca Ratone, Florida.

Speaker 12 You need to do something other other than just win and just play the game to get people into a gymnasium when it's 80 degrees and clear skies out. So we wanted to have an entertaining brand of play.

Speaker 12 And fortunately, we had some guys buy into it. And then on the other end, we've got some pit bulls that compete every possession.

Speaker 12 So I believe we're top 25 in the country in offensive metrics, efficiency.

Speaker 12 Same with defensively. So we play both sides of the ball.
We're very unselfish, and we're a throwback team because we have a different best player almost every single game.

Speaker 1 And you guys are physical. I saw you push back some people maybe in the lamestream media, ESPN, saying that you guys aren't physical.

Speaker 1 You guys went and beat a very physical Memphis team, a very physical Tennessee team.

Speaker 1 Why are people saying you guys are soft? Let's change that right now. You guys are physical.

Speaker 12 It's a great question. I think we're 330th in the country in height, and we're top 25 in defensive rebounding percentage.
So it's difficult to be soft and do that, but I don't know.

Speaker 12 And especially when you watch our league, UAB, man, they've got a high major, big, strong physical group. I think you guys have seen them in your event.
And then North Texas is the same way.

Speaker 12 So we've seen these types of teams in our league.

Speaker 12 Obviously, you still have to go out and put in the work, but we're confident we can play any style and figure out a way to win or at least be in position to win.

Speaker 1 Yeah,

Speaker 1 Conference USA is going for the triple crown. You guys are, you know, you've got two teams left in the NIT.
You won the CBI, and you guys are in the final four. So it's obviously a very good league.

Speaker 12 Absolutely. And it's the best it's been since Derek Rose and Cala Perry were in Memphis as far as numbers.

Speaker 12 And, you know, you look top to bottom, there's some really good teams in our league that didn't make postseason.

Speaker 4 Yeah, yeah. You said before the Tennessee game, and we are a big rugby podcast over here, that you're going to have to start watching some rugby to get ready for Tennessee style play.

Speaker 4 Did you actually watch any rugby?

Speaker 12 A few clips. Actually, I don't even know.
I'd seen on Twitter that there was a big

Speaker 12 people were complaining about Tennessee's physicality, and I had no idea what exactly it was, but you know, social media skews our minds anyway.

Speaker 12 So immediately after the game, they asked what I knew about Tennessee, and I was more embarrassed that I confused Australian rules football and rugby and combined the sports.

Speaker 12 So I was embarrassed by that. But no, I said it as a joke and jest.
And if you said our team plays like a rugby team, I'd say hell yeah.

Speaker 4 Yeah, I love it. Yeah, it was funny because when you said that, my initial reaction was, one, coach knows ball.
Rugby is a very important sport globally.

Speaker 4 Two, it's interesting because it almost reminded me of something that Phil Jackson used to say or how he would treat the refs in the media.

Speaker 4 He'd send a message through the media by you saying that you're like, hey, you better call it fair next game. No more forearms, no more elbows, nothing like that.

Speaker 4 I thought that was a good piece of coaching on your part.

Speaker 12 Well, hopefully it helped maybe one possession, but that wasn't why I said it. I was trying to be funny.
And sometimes when you're not that funny and you try,

Speaker 12 you get the backlash.

Speaker 1 Yeah. So sticking with your run.

Speaker 1 We were in Dayton. We fell in love with Fairleigh Dickinson.
Dave actually called his shot. He said they're going to beat Purdue.

Speaker 1 And we had the theory that they were actually too short to play basketball. Did you notice that at all? Where it's like their lack of height was actually kind of shocking and how much speed they had?

Speaker 1 Because that was a tight game. They gave you everything.

Speaker 12 Yeah, well, going back to the Purdue game, as soon as we saw them play Texas Southern, we said, man, this is going to be a tough matchup for Purdue. Now, we didn't call the win, and obviously Dave,

Speaker 12 he was out ahead of that one, but we did think that if things didn't go well for Purdue, then they could pull the upset.

Speaker 12 In the first couple of possessions, the big fella missed a couple hooks in close, and then their three-point shooters, Purdue's three-point shooters, looked out of rhythm.

Speaker 12 So from the first couple of minutes, it looked like it was going to be a scary game for Purdue. And then when we played them, I was blown away at their team speed.

Speaker 12 And then they just found the rhythm at the right time.

Speaker 12 After playing them and then playing the way they did, I was like, how did this team lose 15, 16 games or whatever?

Speaker 12 But then they had a couple of guys who were 30% shooters or 20% shooters that started making three or four threes a game. And the heck, that could be enough on a given night.

Speaker 1 Yeah. Are you, were you, were you a little happy that Purdue went down because you're a Hoosier?

Speaker 12 Oh,

Speaker 12 I was just happy that,

Speaker 12 well, I was shocked. I said, the staff and I were talking about it.
We said, we're going to be a double-digit favorite to go to the Sweet 16.

Speaker 12 So it was just kind of a joke, but we knew how difficult the game was going to be.

Speaker 4 Yeah, it's funny. After the game was over, we went back to the hotel and you guys were getting in.
And Dave went up to every player on your team. He was like, nobody believed in us.

Speaker 4 He thought that you guys were FDU.

Speaker 12 Yeah.

Speaker 1 Well,

Speaker 12 I don't think very many people picked us to beat Memphis either. I thought they were terribly underseeded.
I thought they were a really good team, especially the last month of the season.

Speaker 12 They were probably a top five or 10 team in the country after drilling Houston in the AAC championship. So

Speaker 12 he probably said that, and I doubt anyone in our travel party that team at that time even noticed.

Speaker 4 Yeah, Pigat brought up the Indiana connection. I was wondering, we were talking about this on Monday's show.

Speaker 4 You came up, you were a student manager with Bobby Knight when he he was the coach of the team.

Speaker 4 Did he give you any tips or is there anything that you've incorporated into your coaching philosophy and coaching style that you got from Bobby Knight? Any chair throwing, things like that?

Speaker 12 No, I try not to throw any chairs. But yeah,

Speaker 12 there's not a day that goes by that I don't use something that I learned from Coach Knight.

Speaker 12 I don't think people realize how far ahead of his time he was as far as teaching, communicating, efficiency of his words, efficiency

Speaker 12 of the English language. But he also used analytics that we use now at the time.

Speaker 12 He's talking about the percentage of defensive rebounds and

Speaker 12 these types of things. And now they're considered the analytics movement.
Well, he was using a lot of that stuff back in the day. So I just think in so many areas, he was ahead of his time.

Speaker 12 He was an unbelievable teacher. And just things were a lot different then than they are now.

Speaker 4 That's interesting. They said efficiency.
Every way to put it, efficiency of language is my new favorite.

Speaker 1 My dad isn't that.

Speaker 4 Yeah, no, is there anything like that?

Speaker 4 It's really interesting because, like, obviously, we can see where that would take us with his fiery personality, but also at the same time, I have to imagine that as a coach, sometimes less can be more.

Speaker 4 You don't want to you don't want to overdo it with information that you're passing along with, you know, when a fewer or a simpler concept might work. Is that fair?

Speaker 12 Two side notes. Number one, I was probably a sophomore manager and I was in charge of stats and he asked for a score.
There's three teams playing.

Speaker 12 And as a 19-year-old, you said, hey, Red has three, gray has this. And he says, gee, mini, blah, blah, blah.
Red two, gray five, white one.

Speaker 12 And at that point, I said, you know what? I was just mumbling and rambling to say I was given way too many details or way too much information.

Speaker 12 And then the other one, Coach and I used to say the word, the F word could be used as a noun, verb, adjective.

Speaker 12 So I guess that may be part of the efficiency of the English or the use of the English language.

Speaker 1 Yeah. So

Speaker 1 the ball has been a big point of contention in this tournament. Have your guys complained about it?

Speaker 1 Do they feel different shooting this ball? We got to get to the bottom of the ball.

Speaker 12 Well,

Speaker 12 it's a brand new ball, and I don't think there's a ball made that you can pull out of a box, air it up to its maximum, whatever it is, and then go out and balance it.

Speaker 12 And it feels like what you use every single day because you don't get a new ball every day.

Speaker 12 So hopefully these basketballs have been used a little bit and they're worn down because I think the newness is the biggest part.

Speaker 12 But it seems like we should have one universal ball for college basketball for every team to use and i know they use one ball for the ncaa tournament but every game we go to we have to practice a different we have a closet full of basketballs we have to practice with a different one every week depending on where we're playing so i would think it's time for for all of us to come together and even if we have to sacrifice a few thousand dollars into our overall budget to have one basketball for the betterment of the game yeah why why can't you guys just take all the balls that they're going to be using the final four and just just practice with those all week

Speaker 12 well we've we've accumulated several now and actually uh we have the the game balls from our games. And one of our players came in yesterday morning to shoot and he said, hey, can I use these?

Speaker 12 Because we only have like two of the regular basketballs that we purchase. So I said, you know what? You could use these.
It doesn't matter.

Speaker 12 Just make sure you bring them back because they are the game balls for the FAU's first Suite 16 and Elite 80.

Speaker 1 Oh, yeah.

Speaker 1 Yeah. And what about the stadium? Because the NRG stadium, this is a big thing we talk about.
You guys, I'm sure you guys talk about it. We talk about it for a different reason.

Speaker 1 Whenever you get into a football stadium and you're trying to shoot, has your team ever played?

Speaker 1 Well, you did play the Conference USA Championship is in Jerry's, is it in Jerry's world or the practice facility?

Speaker 12 Yeah, it's in the practice facility.

Speaker 12 They curtain off half of the stadium, and there's two courts set up simultaneous. And then, so there's a curtain behind one side, and then they use the stands on the other.
So it's a big open arena.

Speaker 12 It's different.

Speaker 12 So we've probably played in the closest thing to a true football stadium is anyone playing.

Speaker 1 Yeah, yeah, because it definitely is an issue. I feel like every time we get to the final four, speaking of the conference USA, why is Jelly Walker the best player you've ever coached against?

Speaker 1 Because we love him.

Speaker 12 I'm a big Jelly Walker fan, but I'm not taking anything away from Marquise Noel. Okay, okay.
Kansas State Guard, man.

Speaker 12 These New York City guys, because usually the small dynamic guards, they really score and put a lot of pressure on your defense. But Noel, he might go get 30 and 20.

Speaker 12 We felt like we did an unbelievable job on him, and he got 30 and 12.

Speaker 12 So go ahead.

Speaker 1 Yeah, well, I was going to say, I thought that you watched the Michigan State game, and maybe I'm way off and I don't know ball, but I thought that part of your game plan was let's let him shoot more.

Speaker 1 Let's give him more opportunities to shoot because we'll take a three-point shot from him instead of him throwing a perfect pass for an easy layup or dunk. Was that part of your game plan with him?

Speaker 12 It was.

Speaker 12 We wanted to first take away as many of his assists as we could, and then we wanted him to take shots at the rim or the mid-range we actually wanted he's he's slightly more efficient from three than he is in the paint or from mid-range but uh his his shots around the three-point line are extremely efficient fortunately he takes some that are really really deep that skews his his numbers a little bit but he is he's a special talent and for him to play 40 minutes the way he does i don't know if we faced a better guard and i thought kendrick davis was sensational jelly walker tyler perry from north texas was our league's player of the year um and they play low possession and he puts up great numbers.

Speaker 12 So we faced that. We faced Antoine Davis, who just came up shy of Pistol Pete's record.

Speaker 12 We faced probably a who's who of dynamic guards this year. And when you look across the board, our guys have pretty much made them score officially almost every time we played them.

Speaker 4 Yeah, would you like to apologize to America for knocking him out of knocking Noel out of the tournament?

Speaker 1 Absolutely not.

Speaker 4 Okay, that's the right answer. That was a test.
How much of your recruiting technique is just like if you were to split it up between

Speaker 4 X percentage basketball stuff and X percentage look at the beach. Here's the beach.

Speaker 4 You're in South Florida. Isn't the beach cool?

Speaker 12 Well, we obviously, when they're on their official visits, we go to the beach and we eat our meals on the beach and we do our photo shoot on the beach and we on the beach, on the beach, on the beach.

Speaker 12 But then once they get here, we condition a couple times on the beach.

Speaker 12 And other than that, we never go to the beach, except we do tell them, hey, on Sundays, if you enjoy the ocean, go hang hang out on the evenings after you've got you put in your work if you want to go hang out we even have a couple players that sometimes they'll go at 6 a.m and read and meditate we've got a serious group that that's always looking for the the best way for them so we use it a little bit but the thing we sell is is the perfect weather all year the blue skies the the quality of life you can wear shorts you walk around campus and just how much better you feel when the sun is out 365 days out there so we sell that part of it that you're going to have more energy.

Speaker 12 You're going to feel better because of the natural beauty than you would going up to

Speaker 12 wherever, you know, who else is recruiting you?

Speaker 1 That's a good sales pitch. So I read a story that when you signed with FAU, you had a moment of regret.

Speaker 1 And it's funny because we actually were talking to Danny Hurley on Monday's show, and he had a similar moment where he was like, what the hell is going on here? This is a mess.

Speaker 1 So that moment, you cried? Did you cry?

Speaker 12 Yeah, you said moment of regret and made me choke on my water. I did.
And the media, we just had about 100 media members and they asked me about it. They said, what would 2023 tell 2018 Dusty May?

Speaker 12 I'd say, you tell him to stop being a big baby and stay the course and get to work. So it was just, it was overwhelming.
I was leaving complete and utter happiness.

Speaker 12 And one thing in our business, I've tried not to ever chase anything other than happiness and.

Speaker 12 professional fulfillment. So, but yeah, it was overwhelming at the time.
I was very impulsive signing the contract, going too fast. And then when I saw everything,

Speaker 12 I was just overwhelmed in that moment. But luckily, my wife is tough.
She's tough as an L. She basically told me that, hey, this is a decision you made.
There's nothing we can do now.

Speaker 12 You might as well get to work. And by the next day, I was in the trenches again.

Speaker 1 Yeah. So you mentioned your son.

Speaker 1 Have you given him some shit? Because he's a walk-on in Florida, right?

Speaker 12 Well, we gave him some stuff. We went up to Florida and beat those guys.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 But now

Speaker 1 his dad's going to the Final Four. I would assume you would have had a roster spot for him.
And instead, he

Speaker 1 didn't make the tournament.

Speaker 12 Yeah, I have a middle son that's a walk-on at UCF. It was never an option for them to play for me.

Speaker 1 Oh, okay.

Speaker 12 Yeah,

Speaker 12 the last week they're calling me Ted Lasso, and it's something that I've evolved into being mild and cool, calm, and collected because by nature,

Speaker 12 I'm nuts like a lot of coaches used to be. And so when I still coach my sons, it's hard for me not to be nuts.
So my wife said from early on, you'll never coach the boys, no matter how good they are.

Speaker 12 And as a coach, if you're going to coach your sons, they either have to be way too good above your level or they have to be not good enough to ever play.

Speaker 12 If they're ever in between that gray area, it's not.

Speaker 1 So this is your wife's fault. Like, are they pissed? Like, I would be pissed if my dad was in a Final Four and I was like, I didn't, I didn't get to go.
I wasn't playing on the team.

Speaker 12 Well, luckily, you know, and I'm close with both staffs. I'm fortunate that both of them have a place in this game and can be a part of it.
But fortunately, both of their seasons were done, are done.

Speaker 12 And so they're traveling with us now. And FAU has been awesome with taking our families and letting everyone's families share this experience because that's probably the coolest part.

Speaker 12 Other than watching your players put in all this work and

Speaker 12 receive what's going on, seeing your family who you drag them all over the country, changing schools, daycares, jobs, all that. And heck, I was obsessed.

Speaker 12 I would just leave and my wife would have to sell the house, organize the moves, all that kind of stuff while raising three boys. So it's awesome just to be able to share that with them.

Speaker 1 Yeah. Well, so you mentioned you before we started taping that you were on the sidelines for the buzzer beater Florida versus Wisconsin in the Sweet 16.

Speaker 1 Fuck you, first of all. Second of all,

Speaker 1 I guess tell me what it felt like from your point of view because it was utter heartbreak for mine. I mean, the video,

Speaker 1 that's the beauty of Barstill is we videotape everything. So I get that tweeted to me anytime that

Speaker 1 the shot comes up, it's just I get tagged under it constantly.

Speaker 12 Would you call that your moment of weakness, McKett?

Speaker 1 No, I would still say that when we were up nine against Duke at halftime of the national championship, that was probably the weakest I've been, but it was a weak moment for sure.

Speaker 12 That was the Brian Butch team?

Speaker 1 No, Brian Butch was a long time ago.

Speaker 1 Yeah, no, that was Frank Kaminski and Sam Decker. Okay, yes, those guys.
Yeah,

Speaker 1 yeah. But yeah, that sucked for me.
I mean,

Speaker 1 you have to admit that that was lucky.

Speaker 12 Well,

Speaker 12 without a doubt, but let's rewind. The Wisconsin has the ball.
We're in position to foul. We knock it loose in the back court.

Speaker 12 I forget the guard's name. Shoal Walter grabs it, and he hits a floater to send it into overtime.

Speaker 12 So a floater to go into overtime is somewhat lucky.

Speaker 1 That's his shot. He made that shot all year.

Speaker 12 So you see my point. It's a lot like the missed calls in one of these games where it follows a missed call that the winning team.

Speaker 12 So, yeah, you get my point. But yeah, how about that? A floater to go overtime and a floater to win the game.

Speaker 1 Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 4 I mean, they were good shots, both of them. As a fan of the sport of basketball, I had to take my hat off and say that's just a good shot.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 12 And obviously, A-Rod sitting court side added to the

Speaker 1 show Walter did the discount double check. It is funny because you actually just proved your initial point for the first question that, like, I do black out the fact that we had a lucky bounce.

Speaker 1 All I think about is, like, man, we got screwed. So you're right.
You're right. Okay.
That makes me feel a little bit better.

Speaker 1 Did you guys go on to win, go to the Final Four that year?

Speaker 12 No, we were up big against South Carolina.

Speaker 1 Oh, damn.

Speaker 12 Absolutely. They shot like 25 free throws in the second half, and they were tough.

Speaker 12 And they had, you know, obviously Thornwell and Dozier, and all those guys ended up, three of those guys ended up playing extensively, you know, playing multiple seasons in the NBA.

Speaker 12 So it was a heck of a team. And yeah, they found a way to win, but a great run.

Speaker 1 Brutal.

Speaker 1 Here's a tip because you've never been to a Final Four. I've been to two.

Speaker 1 So if you win on Saturday, try not to go to the bar on Sunday for 14 hours because you still got a game on Monday.

Speaker 4 Noted. Okay.

Speaker 1 All right. Because

Speaker 1 that was a mistake I made. I made that mistake.

Speaker 1 I was the day that Wisconsin played Duke, I was drinking Petalite in my hotel room being like, how am I going to get myself off the mat here? So just don't do that.

Speaker 12 So after Saturday, you went to the bar Sunday, and I'm assuming you were overserved.

Speaker 1 I didn't leave. Hank's not in the room right now, but I literally, we went to the bar at like 11 a.m.
and I I didn't go home till 2.

Speaker 1 I was like, I'm staying, because I was like, I may never get back here,

Speaker 1 which is proven to be correct. But yeah,

Speaker 1 try to keep a little something in the tank for Monday.

Speaker 12 No promises, but I'll do my best.

Speaker 4 Maybe just eight hours at the bar. Just beer only.

Speaker 4 No shots. Yeah.

Speaker 4 Okay, just maybe one shot right when you get there, but then that's it. Then you're done.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 4 When you're going up against a coach that's that's super fiery, like if you were to coach against Danny Hurley,

Speaker 4 do you step your game up in that situation where you see him screaming every word under the sun at the refs, doing the scowl at the refs?

Speaker 4 Do you then have to be like, okay, I need to match that intensity? Or is it just going to be Dusty? Just Dusty is going to be Dusty every day?

Speaker 12 Just dust in the wind. I'm going to be me, just hanging out, not getting too emotional.
It's not who I am anymore.

Speaker 12 And I'll lose my voice too quickly, and then I'll never be able to help our guys the rest of the game. Yeah.

Speaker 4 Yeah, Dusty's a great name, by the way. It is.

Speaker 1 Dusty is a fake name.

Speaker 9 Yeah, you were born.

Speaker 4 If you're going to be named like Skip or Dusty, you're going to be a coach at some point. Was it a situation where the name led you into coaching?

Speaker 12 No, I hated it my whole life until I became an adult and then I would meet people and 20 years later they would remember Dusty May.

Speaker 12 And so I was like, wow, this is actually pretty cool in my profession that I can meet people and they always remember me, even if I have no idea who they are. So I've actually used it as a positive.

Speaker 12 I never liked it before. I don't particularly like it now, but I've rolled with it.

Speaker 1 Yeah, I mean, memorable. Yeah, I think we said it sounded like a porn star from the 80s.

Speaker 12 Well, I think Titus and those guys, I remember there was a show, and it was either I was a NASCAR driver, a professional wrestler, or a basketball coach.

Speaker 7 I think

Speaker 12 basketball coach third.

Speaker 4 Yeah, or an allergy advisory.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 1 Yeah. Yeah.
That's exactly it. All right.
I have a couple of nerdy basketball questions for you. One is, your team is phenomenal shooting the three.
You guys play, you know, four out, five out.

Speaker 1 In terms of recruiting, like, is it as simple as we won't recruit anyone who can't shoot? Because you see teams all the time struggle with finding those shooters. And

Speaker 1 how does that like, is that something day one you're building? Like, if you can't shoot, I'm not recruiting.

Speaker 12 We try not to recruit anyone that can't shoot. And if you can't shoot, then you have to have one really unique skill.
You could be an elite playmaker, elite passer.

Speaker 12 And we feel like if you're a lead in one of those other areas, we can find a way for you to be successful.

Speaker 12 What we've tried to do is take really good athletes who are smart and tough and are good shooters and feel like because of the work we put into it, that we can help them become really good shooters.

Speaker 12 So we feel like we have a group that's tough, athletic, strong, can guard, but also they're all good shooters, or they were good shooters that become really good shooters, but they can also dribble pass as well, which I think that's what makes us unique, that they all can put it on the floor and catch and shoot and really defend at a high level.

Speaker 1 Yeah, I mean, you'd be shocked with how many teams I feel like I watch where it's like, none of these guys can shoot. So it's refreshing to see a team where it's like, you can't leave anyone open.

Speaker 1 It obviously is a complete mismatch hell for the other team.

Speaker 1 And the other question was, the transfer portal, a lot of people hand-wringing about the transfer portal. Oh, my God, it's going to ruin college basketball.

Speaker 1 You've done a really good job of getting guys from Power Five conferences to go to FAU.

Speaker 1 I think that's the beauty of the transfer portal that a lot of people don't see, that you get the movement both ways. It's not just, oh, the best guy on Wofford's going to go play at Kentucky.

Speaker 1 You can get guys who maybe aren't getting time in power five to come to FAU. What's the pitch there?

Speaker 12 Well, anytime there's a power five guy, I would say anytime, because we have three on our roster and two of them were situations where they're plug-and-play guys. We need a point guard.

Speaker 12 You're a point guard, you're coming down for a reason because you're coming down a level because you want to play and be a major, have a major role, excuse me.

Speaker 12 And then we had our starting center left to go play professionally in Europe a couple of years ago. He had a bad knee, so he needed to start making some money with his career.

Speaker 12 So we had a starting position open. So we got two of our power five guys because we had an immediate need.
And so they were plug and play.

Speaker 12 And then the third one, Jalen Gaffney, I'd known him because we recruited him at Florida. And he was just looking for something different when he left UConn.

Speaker 12 And so because of the relationship, we didn't need a guard. We had everyone back, but he just wanted to be a part of it.

Speaker 12 And he's been, he's received almost no credit, but he's had a huge, huge imprint on our success because of his intelligence and unselfishness and him just wanting to be a part of a really good team.

Speaker 12 So it's been unique that all three of those guys are major contributors, but I don't think we would bring one in that we didn't think could play a major role because they would be frustrated because they're leaving a lot of nice stuff where they're not playing to go to a place where it may not have as nice stuff where they're not playing.

Speaker 4 Yeah, what about your son? He's at a Power Five conference right now. He enters the transfer portal.
I know you said that you're not allowed to coach. What if he just says, you know what?

Speaker 4 I'm going to transfer to FAU. Do you have to resign at that point?

Speaker 12 Well, I've even said, too, that I don't know if it's completely healthy to have my sons in the locker room.

Speaker 12 I have a great relationship with them, but I would never want our players to think that they're telling me what's being said in there.

Speaker 12 I just, unless it's the only option or whatever the case, I don't think it's a good fit. And I want them to go grow into their own,

Speaker 12 be their own men, develop who they want to be, their personalities. And probably if they're here, I'm going to have too much oversight and control over

Speaker 12 who they are. So I want them to grow, make some mistakes, learn from them, and just decide who they want to be as people.

Speaker 1 That's probably healthy.

Speaker 1 healthy i see i see there's a bunch of stuff written behind you on the whiteboard do we have to blur that out are you giving away this competition spirit no it's just it's it's the traits we talk about in recruiting and then uh oh so give it to us yeah without recruit us act like me and big cat are in your living room right now

Speaker 12 you guys obviously have the competitive spirit that's number one gotta have that coach first question do you have a beach i'm really into the beach do i have we have a beach okay i'm in

Speaker 1 first question for me i shuttle to the beach from campus

Speaker 1 first question for me i can't shoot at all but i have a competitive spirit. Would I be a match?

Speaker 12 Well, we're always looking for a good 14th man, so he has to that doesn't close any doors.

Speaker 12 Functional intelligence, you guys are probably out on that one.

Speaker 12 That's not a good fit.

Speaker 4 The word functional completely ruins it for us.

Speaker 12 Basketball skills.

Speaker 1 Okay.

Speaker 4 I'm the exact same size as Marquise Noel.

Speaker 13 I can give you a look.

Speaker 4 Maybe Scout Team Marquise.

Speaker 12 And then speed, physical and mental. I think you guys have the mental speed.
You guys are quick-witted, but I don't don't think you have the physical speed. So probably not a great fit for the Alice.

Speaker 1 No, no. All right, so I have a very important question.
I got a couple more questions, but one very important one.

Speaker 1 And you're going to have to start prepping yourself for this because you've done a great job with FAU, but knowing how the Big Ten works and knowing how the Indiana fan base works,

Speaker 1 if you have more success, they're going to just be tweeting that picture of you in a red sweater and being like, Coach, you want to come home? You want to come home to Indiana?

Speaker 1 What are you going to say to that? Because that's going to happen. I mean, Indiana Indiana fans are still asking for Brad Stevens to go to Indiana.

Speaker 12 I'm going to say, I absolutely love my time in that state, and the basketball there is a religion. Coach Woodson and his staff are doing an unbelievable job.
They've got a great team.

Speaker 12 They got it rolling, but I love being here.

Speaker 12 I don't know how you could ever leave these guys in this situation from what we've built and the direction we're going and the growth, the growth opportunities here.

Speaker 12 This place is amazing how fast this university athletic department are growing. And hopefully, this just speeds up the process even more.

Speaker 1 Okay, good answer. Counterpoint, Hoosiers,

Speaker 1 the movie. I pop that in, and I'm like, check it out, Dusty.

Speaker 1 And then you start crying,

Speaker 1 and then I seal the deal.

Speaker 12 Well, that's different.

Speaker 12 Yeah,

Speaker 12 coach stays, I stay. Coach goes, I go.

Speaker 1 My team is on the floor. Yeah, exactly.

Speaker 4 You know, Coach, I measured the height of the basket at FAU and the height of the basket in Indiana. It's the exact same height.

Speaker 12 It is. The dimensions are the same.
Actually, a couple of people asked me if I'm going to do that in the dome in Texas.

Speaker 12 I'm not, but it reminds me yesterday, one of the reporters asked me, how tall are you? And I said, 5'10 with shoes. Let's make sure we're clear, but I only measure myself with shoes.

Speaker 1 Yes, yes.

Speaker 4 You got Tom Herman down there at FAU, too. You guys are building a little good, it's like the new cradle of coaches down there.

Speaker 4 Tom Herman is one of my favorite college football coaches because of his longhorn hydration chart that he would post up in the bathrooms where it would show on a scale of how dark your pee was whether or not you're a bad guy or a good teammate has he put those up around any of the athletic facilities is he monitoring people's level of urine not yet but i'm i'm i i'm assuming he he'll monitor big cats on on sunday in between the games yes yes that's a good call whether i'm hosting game day at my place or taking my talents to the tailgate boarshead is my go-to for a spread that's as exciting as the game itself Their platters are a hit every time.

Speaker 14 They've got everything you need to keep your guests coming back for more. And if you want to take it up a notch, grab a few dips.

Speaker 14 My personal favorite, the Blazing Buffalo Chicken, Hummus, or even one of their charcuterie collections for game-changing flavor.

Speaker 14 Boarshead helps me elevate my entertaining every time, whether it's for a tailgate or a homegating celebration.

Speaker 14 To upgrade your spread, visit your local Boarshead deli for platter options or build your own to make it perfect for your crowd. Boarshead, committed to craft since 1905.

Speaker 1 My last question is actually: I'm going to give you another tip. So I'm giving you all my tips.
I'm doing a brain dump for you.

Speaker 1 I do watch a lot of college basketball.

Speaker 1 Usually, when San Diego State's down like seven or eight, the game is over.

Speaker 1 I'm going to tell you right now, that's not the case this year because there's been multiple times in this tournament where I've been like, oh, they're done.

Speaker 1 They won't be able to find seven or eight points. So don't think that you've won if you're up like 12 to 4.

Speaker 12 No

Speaker 12 celebratory dances before the buzzer sounds.

Speaker 1 Yes, yes, because they're different. They're different this time.
It confuses my brain. There's some teams, Wisconsin, Virginia, some of those teams, like if you open up a 10-point lead,

Speaker 1 they can't score that many points.

Speaker 12 So if we have a 10-point lead, how early can I break out into the gritty?

Speaker 1 Oh,

Speaker 1 I think maybe like a minute and a half left. I was going to say halftime.
Yeah, do a halftime lead. Get a half up 10.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 Yeah. Make your free throws.
You got to make your free throws. That's the big thing.
You have to make your free throws. That's the, I stress that all the time.

Speaker 4 Do you guys simulate?

Speaker 12 They're lie like us.

Speaker 12 They found ways to win just about every night, and a lot of nights it looks differently, but man, they're a good basketball team.

Speaker 4 Yeah. Do you guys simulate pressure in practice when it comes to shooting free throws?

Speaker 4 Is there anything that you do to turn up the heat on guys and see, you know, okay, you're under the gun right now. Go shoot your free throws and you see what happens.

Speaker 12 Yeah, we have competitions. We try to do everything we can to add a little bit of pressure.
But our guys, now being a veteran group, they've been in these game moments so many times.

Speaker 12 I think you just, once you're in it, you know how it feels. You know how to prepare better.

Speaker 12 So because of our guys have been in these situations so many times, I think they're more comfortable than a lot of younger teams.

Speaker 1 Yeah, yeah. Well, Dusty, thank you so much.
We appreciate the time. I am upset that you mentioned that Florida thing with the buzzer beater.

Speaker 1 That's going to put me in a little bit of a spiral for the rest of the day, but that's okay.

Speaker 1 We're rooting for you, and uh we're excited to see you live in houston we're get get the owls ready to go and maybe yeah do do the tape you you can go viral if you just do the the tape measure for the for the basket like you should do that

Speaker 12 i'll consider okay

Speaker 1 that's why i do this for an opportunity to go viral yeah yeah exactly exactly why that's i mean isn't that the goal of all coaching that's the goal that's just the goal just go viral i also you what you did to uab in the conference championship game that was mean that was too much you got that was too much.

Speaker 1 Did you watch it? Yeah, of course I watched it. I love Jelly, and I was like,

Speaker 1 I think UAB was up like 15 to 14, and then the next thing it was like a 20-point lead for FAU.

Speaker 1 And you got everyone off the scent, too, because you guys would have been an at-large team, but you win the Conference USA, and everyone's like, oh, it's just one of those small conferences that's an auto bid.

Speaker 1 So I guess that worked in your favor.

Speaker 12 It did.

Speaker 12 I was, you know, obviously I didn't want to lose, but if we did, it would mean two conference USA teams got in the same year because the UAB, North Texas, there were other teams that were that are good enough to be playing in the tournament.

Speaker 12 But you know how it goes: if you lose one game here or one game there, it knocks you out. Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 So, yeah, that was not nice. Jelly Walker's my guy, so yeah,

Speaker 12 they're tough.

Speaker 1 I apologize, yeah. There we go.
I accept your apology. All right, uh, coach, best of luck, and uh, looking forward to Saturday.

Speaker 12 Appreciate it. Enjoy the show.
Thanks, guys.

Speaker 8 Paul's here, kids are back in school, vacations are over, and cozy season is officially on. You know what that means? Bombus season is on.

Speaker 8 Bombus makes the most comfortable socks ever, and they even make slippers, tees, underwear, all crafted from premium materials. Perfect for this time of year and cozying up for football watching.

Speaker 8 Their slippers are also Sherpa lined, which feels like you're walking on the clouds. Bombus really has it all.

Speaker 8 And if you head over to bombus.com/slash audio, you can use the code audio for 20% off your first purchase. That's B-O-M-B-A-S.com/slash audio, code audio at checkout.

Speaker 8 Experian is your big financial friend, helping you find ways to save, manage your credit, and apply for cards labeled No Ding Decline.

Speaker 14 No approval?

Speaker 4 No ding.

Speaker 8 Download the Experian app today. Disclaimer: Applying for No Ding Decline cards won't hurt your credit scores if you aren't initially approved.

Speaker 8 Initial approval will result in a hard inquiry, which will impact your credit scores.

Speaker 1 Experian!

Speaker 2 And now for something completely different.

Speaker 1 Okay, we now welcome on our very good friend. It is Kirk Goldsberry.
We are in his

Speaker 1 classroom. We just finished teaching his business class at the University of Texas.
So let's start there. How do you think we did? Because we have to be the dumbest.

Speaker 1 It was PFT, Hank, and I, and we have to be the dumbest people ever to teach a business class.

Speaker 2 I don't think that's true,

Speaker 2 but my students were thrilled to have you guys in our classroom. It means a lot that you guys would come here.

Speaker 2 They all love your show. Your show is very popular at the University of Texas, and I think we saw that in class today with the enthusiasm that you guys received.
So thank you for joining us.

Speaker 4 We appreciate you having us. Nobody offered us an honorary doctorate or drugs.

Speaker 1 Or drugs, which usually we get on the road.

Speaker 1 Can you give us an honorary, honorary doctorate?

Speaker 2 Yeah, I think you guys are almost to honorary doctorate stage. Honorary MBA has been bestowed upon both of you.
Let's go. And I don't have the authority to do that, but let's just go with it.

Speaker 1 Congratulations. So it was a great, we loved being here.

Speaker 1 But I will say at the end, I asked you a question and you basically cut the entire

Speaker 1 class short because I think it was like the scene when they pull back the curtain on Wizard of Oz. I asked simply, do you, Kirk Goldsberry, think that you took part in ruining basketball?

Speaker 1 Because we do.

Speaker 2 Oh, it hurts. Basketball is my favorite thing in the world.
The fact that people would even say that, big cat, it breaks my heart.

Speaker 1 But you're one of the first people to point out that three is more than two.

Speaker 2 Yeah, well, three is more than two, and mid-range shooting has gone down. And we've helped sort of illustrate why that is.

Speaker 2 But man, as I said to my class, Kevin Durant, great Longhorn, back in action this week.

Speaker 1 Oh, yeah, what did he do in the tournament?

Speaker 2 He's a great Longhorn legend, two-time finals MVP.

Speaker 4 He was on campus for what, four months?

Speaker 2 Yeah, he keeps coming back, though. He's a big part of the program.

Speaker 2 But I love the mid-range shooting. And Kevin is breaking the math right now.

Speaker 2 If you look at his mid-range, he's arguably having the greatest mid-range season in the history since we've been tracking this for 25 years. And he's breathing life into it.

Speaker 2 And it's beautiful to watch. So, how do we do that?

Speaker 4 How do we bring back mids?

Speaker 2 You just need more Kevin Durants, more guys who are

Speaker 1 feet tall.

Speaker 2 DeMar DeRose and Chris Paul, guys who can make that shot at a 48, 50% clip like those dudes. Kevin's almost 60% right now.
It's incredible.

Speaker 1 Wait, so what is the actual math where it's a mid-range shot is more valuable than a three-point shot? Like if someone's shooting 38% from three,

Speaker 1 what's the math for the two?

Speaker 2 So an average mid-range shot is worth about 0.8 points because they go in 40% of the time. They're worth two points.

Speaker 2 An average three-point shot goes in 35% of the time. That gets you to 1.05.

Speaker 1 So an average paint shot,

Speaker 2 how can I explain it? Paint and threes are each worth a little over one,

Speaker 2 and mid-range is sitting here at 0.8 for the league. Now, there are exceptions to that rule, and we just went through Kevin, Paul George.

Speaker 1 What are those worth? What is Kevin Durant's mid-range shot?

Speaker 4 So, that's a great question.

Speaker 2 So, right now, it's funny because an average Kevin Durant mid-range shot is going in 60% of the time, pretty close this year, which brings it close to a really good three-point shooter's number. Okay.

Speaker 2 And so, Kevin is, and by the way, he's not taking easy ones. He's dribbling in the face of the best defender their opponent can put, and he's still doing it.

Speaker 2 And he's having an incredible season. We just hope he can stay healthy because it's so unique to watch.

Speaker 2 And Devin Booker on his team and Chris Paul on his team, the Phoenix Suns this year have a chance to not only win the championship, but doing it in the mid-range. Yeah,

Speaker 1 he's doing the same thing he did with the Nets.

Speaker 9 It would be a massive, massive

Speaker 1 disease

Speaker 4 if Chris Paul and the Suns did not. not win the championship this year.

Speaker 2 And Ryan Rossillo, I don't know if you guys know this, huge Chris Paul guy.

Speaker 1 Huge Chris Paul guy. Yeah, and he's good inflection.

Speaker 2 He expects big things.

Speaker 1 No, but I mean, listen, this is good because I'm not rooting for the Suns. And

Speaker 1 you famously came on the show and told us the Brooklyn Nets have the greatest offense you've ever seen in your entire life. And then

Speaker 1 they've got a couple played, yeah. Yeah, Kevin Durant actually tried to carry them.
Kyrie got anti-Semitic. Like, a lot of things happened since then.

Speaker 2 It's crazy to think back. It was 2021, and I remember Kevin was carrying that team.
He was. And he had his.

Speaker 1 game seven.

Speaker 2 And he had his toe on the line. Yep.

Speaker 4 And he was

Speaker 2 on such a heater moment that I knew that shot was going in. And I was already looking at his feet, and I was on TV.
I wasn't there. I'm not a big shot like you, big cap.

Speaker 2 But, dude, I mean, they were that close, even without

Speaker 2 the injured players that year. They were very close.
The Bucs obviously ended up going on to win the championship, and they're a great team, too.

Speaker 2 But yeah, they were pretty close, but you know, that's the league now. They're dismantled.

Speaker 4 Yeah, if a game was played on a spreadsheet, they would be the best team ever assembled. They would beat the dream team.

Speaker 2 Definitely, the dream team would beat them.

Speaker 4 Have you gone back and tried to quantify the dream team and just how good? All I know about them is they never took a timeout.

Speaker 2 They never used one. The thing with the 1992 dream team is they were obviously a great assemblage of American talent.
Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Larry Magic at the end.

Speaker 2 Yeah, Christian Leighton, obviously deserving

Speaker 4 over Shaq.

Speaker 2 Yeah, Isaiah Thomas wasn't there.

Speaker 1 I don't remember why.

Speaker 2 But the thing that's changed since then the most, and then 30 or 40 years since then, is

Speaker 1 the world is caught up.

Speaker 2 You know, 12 years later, Manu Janeau, believe me my friend from the Spurs, beats Team USA in Athens. And now, you know, Team USA isn't getting much worse.

Speaker 2 We're still very, very good, but you don't go into the 92 Olympics thinking you're going to lose.

Speaker 2 If you go into these Paris Olympics, you're going against a French team that's going to have Wembinyama, Gobert, Nick Batum, like

Speaker 2 five starting NBA players on their home turf. And you're like, oh my God, like we could legitimately lose.

Speaker 1 Yes. Yeah.
So, all right, so let's talk a little NBA. Yeah, let's do it.

Speaker 1 Let's do the West first because it is absolutely chaotic.

Speaker 1 Is there any team that you confidently can sit here and say, I feel good about them getting to

Speaker 1 at least the conference finals?

Speaker 2 No, it's the weirdest season. It's just the weirdest conference season I've ever seen, period.

Speaker 2 I mean, you look at it, to me, Big Cat, it's the unproven teams who have deserved the top three seeds you have memphis which has their issues denver is at the very top and sacramento and then on the bottom half you have the illuminati you have yeah steph curry kevin durant kawaii leonard uh and lebron james right and luca outside if you look at who's won the finals mvps for the last 10 years those guys i just named have won most of them and they're now sitting in the bottom half of the western bracket against unproven teams up top so all of my friends in the nba media are going to have, okay, so let's say it's the Warriors nuggets in 8-1.

Speaker 2 It's like, well, if you believe the regular season, the Nuggets are going to wipe the floor here. The Warriors can't win on the road.

Speaker 2 But if you believe in Steph Curry and Draymond Green and Clay Thompson and Steve Curry, you're going to be like,

Speaker 2 so nobody knows what to trust. If you believe like the last five, 10 years NBA basketball, the teams on the bottom half have a legitimate chance.

Speaker 2 If you believe what we've seen all season, it's Denver, Sacramento, and Memphis. I tend to side with the players.
Like, I think there's going to to be some upsets in these first-round series.

Speaker 2 And if you're Denver or Sacramento after these great seasons, you see Steph Curry, LeBron James in the first round, what a bummer.

Speaker 4 Yeah, I was reading your article, your most recent one, about Jokic's issues on defense. Actually,

Speaker 4 I should preface that by saying I didn't read the article. I read the first three paragraphs before it became ESPN Plus only.
And then

Speaker 4 I read the last two sentences as it was fading out.

Speaker 1 I just read his Instagram caption. Okay, so it sucks a deep.

Speaker 4 So you hate Jokic, and he gets dunked on all the time by shitty players.

Speaker 2 Yeah, I'm honored. That story did really well for us at ESPN, but it was really cool because it was the first time one of my articles was labeled a hatchet job by an NBA coach.

Speaker 1 Yeah, but you were just using numbers.

Speaker 2 Mike Malone called it a hatchet job. And I was like, these are just facts.

Speaker 2 But in reality, on March 10th, Nicole Jokic went to San Antonio. I was a big favorite.
And this viral video emerged. You guys probably saw that.
I was all over the NBA internet on Twitter.

Speaker 2 It was just Jokic's layup line. Spurs guys just beating him.
The most points any rim protector has given up all year.

Speaker 2 I went and looked at a bunch of numbers and he's giving up more points per game on layups as the closest defender of any player in the player tracking era, which is now 10 years.

Speaker 2 And so I brought that up because it's in the heat of this chance for the Nuggets to finally get out of the Western Conference for Jokic to be a three-time MVP.

Speaker 2 And I didn't think it was a loud enough part of the conversation. So I was just like, hey guys, what about this?

Speaker 2 And that's the hatchet job I got labeled for. But in all seriousness, when I look at the MVP race, Nikolai Jokic's defense is a big sort of consideration that I don't think is being.

Speaker 1 Because Embiid's defense, he is that rim protector.

Speaker 2 Yeah, so the other two guys are incredible defenders. Giannis is my favorite defender in the world.

Speaker 2 The Bucs have one of the best defenses in the league, and I think the Sixers are currently ranked sixth in defense, and Embiid's a huge part of that. Right.

Speaker 2 You know, meanwhile, Denver's middle-of-the-pack are mediocre.

Speaker 2 And of the 16 playoff teams, if you look at Denver's performance and defense of the last three years, they ranked 12th, 12th, and 16th in the last three years. It's been their demise.
Right.

Speaker 2 And Jokic is really important. Centers have an outsized importance.
Like quarterbacks on offense and football, centers on defense and basketball.

Speaker 2 Tell me who your center is, and I'll tell you how good your defense is in the NBA.

Speaker 4 Yeah. Is there any historical basis for teams that are middle of the pack on defense, elevating their game in the playoffs, though, and like turning it on?

Speaker 1 Like, I think one of the late sort of chubby Shaq era Lakers teams, as he played himself into shape, like during the regular season was was middle of the pack on on defense but it was shack by the time the playoffs came around and it was a problem but it is so fascinating because the NBA I love the NBA playoffs I obviously like it's it's my it's one of my favorite I love basketball but the regular season feels like it doesn't mean as much and what more than anything, any other sport, it's like similar to who's your center, it's like who you're starting five in the playoffs.

Speaker 1 Because you can win a lot of games in the regular season, trying a little bit harder, like, you know, getting people on off nights.

Speaker 1 But then when you have to play in the playoffs, it's like, who's going to be playing in the fourth quarter? Who's going to get stops? That's the team.

Speaker 2 Right. And that's why these two sort of unproven teams in the West right now are near

Speaker 2 over-indexing on the betting odds, right? Like if you look at the Golden State Warriors, who are terrible on the road, well, they're starting five if they can get them together. Right.

Speaker 2 If Wiggins comes back, it's like the numbers are great. And we saw it last year.
They're pretty good.

Speaker 2 And then the Phoenix team is like, oh, they have Kevin durant now right all the regular season numbers so i wanted to ask you guys this is like it's starting to feel more like the nhl right like who's hot yeah who's healthy yeah during the stretch run is that just the reality for basketball that sort of seems with the western conferences yeah the eastern conference is sort of more normal yeah and it's the it's the old pat riley which is like one of my favorite quotes about nba basketball is it's uh

Speaker 1 uh start what is it play trust eight place or no yeah trust seven play eight trust seven play eight yeah yeah right Like, you're, you, when you get to the playoffs, there's you're going to play seven guys.

Speaker 1 Yeah. Like, that's just really what it comes down to.
Meaningful minutes.

Speaker 2 Yeah. And I think some of these teams, like, the Lakers are another good example.
That was not who this team was in October, November, December. If LeBron and A.D.

Speaker 4 show up healthy with these guys they got at the trade deadline like the regular season legitimately doesn't matter he's doing the ESPN so because if the Lakers win one game everyone on ESPN's like watch out for the Lakers yeah but what you're also doing is you're saying the Lakers should win in the playoffs which I like because I want to be disappointed in LeBron if they lose in the playoffs it's their it's their championship to lose it's

Speaker 2 what you just I mean you just said LeBron James and AD aggregate folks I mean just think about those two they should dominate I do think the Lakers are very fascinating what I was saying is they're they're bad their regular season identity is a bad yeah but b not indicative of who they are going into the playoffs like they haven't been healthy and they haven't had all these supporting pieces.

Speaker 2 They're playing great defense. They're simply one of the better NBA teams in the last 15 games or so.
And that was without LeBron for a vast majority of that. They're scary.

Speaker 1 Oh, so they're better without LeBron.

Speaker 2 Dude, LeBron. No, they are definitely not better with A.

Speaker 7 A.

Speaker 2 They did a lot at the trade deadline, Big Cat, that made them. a dangerous team.
And to your point, they have seven or eight dudes that can play playoff basketball, shoot threes, defend.

Speaker 2 They kind of resemble, and I know where you guys are going to go with this, they resemble the team we saw in the bubble. Like they're physical,

Speaker 2 they're stronger,

Speaker 2 and they're playing great defense.

Speaker 1 And they take like 150 more free throws in the next team. I don't know if you saw that stat.

Speaker 2 Yeah, they're physical team. That's what it is.
But I'll say this. You know what

Speaker 2 is I think the dominant trait of this NBA season, guys, is it's wide open. And I think that's more fun.
And we saw it in Marshall Madison. Nobody knows who's going to win.

Speaker 2 The thing with LeBron's legacy is for eight years in a row, we knew the Eastern Conference playoff preview was pretty simple. Yeah.

Speaker 2 It's the calves or it's the heat or whatever. And it's like, what I love about this year is that, man, nobody has a good feel for who's coming out of either side.

Speaker 4 Yeah, yeah, we respect the Kings on this podcast, by the way. We respect them.
We know everything about them.

Speaker 4 I just want to hear from you why other people out there should also respect the Kings because we definitely do.

Speaker 2 In word offense, these dudes are scoring more points at a higher rate than anybody, and they destroy really good defenses in big moments, and it's not a fluke.

Speaker 2 I mean, Fox and Sabonis are just, the chemistry couldn't be better.

Speaker 2 That Kevin Herder, who they got from Atlanta, has emerged as one of this Clay Thompson late, like a catch and shoot threat who spaces it out, and then they just are fast and young and smart.

Speaker 2 And what they aren't is defense. So the Haters case against the Kings is on the other side of the court, which is weird because Mike Brown, their coach, built his reputation as this defensive genius.

Speaker 2 So, So, you know, one of the stats, guys, that I,

Speaker 2 no NBA team has won the championship with a defense that's ranked 11th or worst in the regular season in a very long time. And they are not checking that box.

Speaker 2 The Denver Nuggets are not checking that box.

Speaker 1 And that's, yeah, I mean, that makes sense because it really does. Like, when the games slow down in the fourth quarter and it's a half-court game, it's like you got to get a stop.

Speaker 2 Yeah, and there's no bad teams.

Speaker 2 You get exposed if you play Giannis in a seven-game series.

Speaker 2 If you play LeBron and A.D. in a seven-game series and you don't get stops, like they're going to smell blood and they're going to just destroy you over and over again.

Speaker 2 Chris Paul, like these players, Luca Donchitz.

Speaker 2 Whoever makes it, it's like you can't cover up bad defense.

Speaker 1 Well, Luca's a bad defender.

Speaker 1 I actually want you to do in advance that, how many points Luca gives up complaining calls on the other end.

Speaker 2 Oh, so I went to Eurobasket and watched him play for Slovenia, which was awesome, by the way, like watching international basketball in Europe.

Speaker 2 But I came home being like, this guy is just giving up so many fast break points.

Speaker 1 Like, you talk about hockey.

Speaker 2 There's a power play seven times a game because it's five on four because he's back on

Speaker 2 the back.

Speaker 1 I need that advanced stat. How many times?

Speaker 2 Too many times. I'll look it up for you.

Speaker 1 Yeah. What about you?

Speaker 4 What about the opposite of Jokic, which would be Rudy Gobert in Minnesota?

Speaker 4 People aren't respecting the Timberwolves enough. If they're a team that checks a defensive box, why aren't we talking more about the Timberwolves as a society?

Speaker 2 Yeah, as a society, I think it's a conversation we need to have more of PFT. And I think you guys provide a platform where we can talk about the Minnesota Timberwolves and feel comfortable.

Speaker 4 Just make it so that our listeners in Minnesota, they've had a tough time probably as long as they've been alive with their sports.

Speaker 4 Is this the year the Timberwolves can win at least one postseason series?

Speaker 1 This has nothing to do with PFT's future.

Speaker 4 Oh, I forgot that I had that massive, massive future on them.

Speaker 2 So where the Timberwolves are is the short answer is yes, but you got to watch these matchups. and what's happening in the lower half of the Western bracket right now is chaos.

Speaker 2 Like you could, I don't know who's going to be the sixth, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven. It's all jumbled up.

Speaker 2 If they get Minnesota, I'm sorry, if they get a team like Memphis or if they get a team like Sacramento or Denver, of course they can. Everybody's unproven.

Speaker 2 They played pretty well in the playoffs last year.

Speaker 2 They got a chance. They're playing well now, too, in my opinion.
I think most people think they have a very good coach.

Speaker 2 Rudy Gobert and Anthony Edwards are pretty good players but it's going to be a matchup dependent thing they got a chance who should who should minnesota fans be rooting for them to match up against in the first round would it be sacramento

Speaker 2 you know what i think that's the normal that's the obvious choice everybody wants sacramento because they're sacramento and like they haven't been good in our lifetime like since like vladi divach was there and and this is their first time in the playoffs congratulations them it's one of my favorite stories light the beam i i mean the fact that they were almost they almost moved and and everything, like, that's a die-hard group of fans that deserve it.

Speaker 2 Yeah, and I don't roast people on social media as much as you guys, but I did like make fun of Light the Beam when it first came out.

Speaker 2 I made some stupid joke like, well, they're not going to need a lot of energy to fight.

Speaker 2 And I was like, and one of their coaches texted me, who I worked with at the Spurs, and I was like, F you, we're going to get it together. And sure enough, they did, and I'm happy to see it.

Speaker 2 I love it. I want that team in that city to be great.

Speaker 2 That said, I do think whether you're talking about the Lakers, you're talking about the Warriors, you're talking about the Timberwolves, the team in that lower half.

Speaker 2 They might be picking Sacramento because of that defensive limit.

Speaker 4 And also Delhi. Delhi's plus minus is 16 wins this year over what they had last year.
So the intangibles you brought.

Speaker 4 That would be fucked up, though, if it was the Kings and the Lakers in the playoffs and LeBron got all the calls. And it's just a fucking thing.

Speaker 1 Has that ever happened before?

Speaker 4 That would be heartbreaking.

Speaker 2 Halftime show, as my friend likes to call it. Shout out to Shim Camp.

Speaker 1 But yeah,

Speaker 2 that will bring back memories. But it's cool to have that there.
And the other interesting thing that could happen is Golden State playing Sacramento, which is like a regional thing.

Speaker 2 They're 90 minutes apart, and it would be like this cool thing for Northern California to have that.

Speaker 1 So East. Yeah.

Speaker 1 Couple thoughts. One is it feels like the Bucs are, it feels like last year they had Chris Middleton injury.
He's getting back. He's starting to play a little bit better.

Speaker 1 If the Bucs have everyone healthy, it feels like it's like almost like a defense of their title in 2021.

Speaker 1 Is that fair to say?

Speaker 2 That's where I'm at. Because, you know, last time they were healthy, they got there and they won it.
And so they deserve that respect. Boston deserves respect.
Philadelphia. The thing is, the East is.

Speaker 1 Did Philly deserve respect? I'll tell you.

Speaker 2 I'll tell you what's going on. The East is sort of the new West.
Like, for the last 20 years, the West was stacked.

Speaker 2 And when I worked with the Spurs, it's like, oh, my God, we're playing Chris Paul in the first round or whatever it is. And it's like, they're the seventh seed or we're the seventh seed.

Speaker 2 And it's like, that's where the East is right now. So So it's Cleveland is playing really good.

Speaker 2 Philly is really good. The Knicks are fun.
I mean, you know, but I keep coming back to Milwaukee. Drew Holiday scored 50 points.
He's their third option.

Speaker 1 Right.

Speaker 2 You know, when Brooke Lopez is playing defense like he is,

Speaker 2 they're impossible to score on in the paint. And Giannis is the most terrifying help defender in the league, like the best free safety in basketball, can guard anyone.

Speaker 2 And Chris Middleton, as you said, is just gives them another threat to get a bucket. And when they did win, they wouldn't have won without him when they did win.

Speaker 2 He got so many late-game buckets that Giannis, like, if there's a limitation to Giannis' game, it's late-game execution.

Speaker 2 They deserve to be the favorites. They have the best record without Chris a lot of the year.

Speaker 2 I think they deserve to be the favorites coming out of the East.

Speaker 1 So Hank is sitting over here.

Speaker 1 He actually has been pretty honest that he's maybe not nervous, but something has been off with the Celtics.

Speaker 1 What has been off?

Speaker 2 You know, they have really leaned into shooting a lot of threes this year, and when those threes are going in, they look

Speaker 1 beatable. That's your fault.

Speaker 1 That's literally your fault.

Speaker 1 I don't know why they're shooting all these threes.

Speaker 2 I have no idea. But like in October, November, they were making all of them 40% up and down the roster, and then they stopped going in.
Their offensive efficiency tanks, and they start losing.

Speaker 2 And not a lot of games, but enough that Milwaukee catches up.

Speaker 2 And, you know, I think at worst, their offense depends a lot on three-point shooting and Jason Tatum isolation, and it doesn't always work.

Speaker 2 And I think the offense is the thing to watch there in a playoff series against defenses like Cleveland, potentially, and the Bucs.

Speaker 2 No weaknesses on those defensive teams.

Speaker 2 You might not get easy threes. Jason Tatum might have a harder time.

Speaker 2 And look, all due respect to the Celtics. I think they deserve to be the second favorite to come out of the East.
But I see a matchup with Milwaukee.

Speaker 2 And right now, I think a lot of us would take the Bucs this time around.

Speaker 4 Yeah, yeah. Let's talk Wimbinyama.
I don't know if we say his name right. We pronounce his name differently every time.

Speaker 2 I did notice on Wednesday's show that you guys might have said it incorrectly, but don't make me say it.

Speaker 4 Yeah, so is he actually as different as we're being told that he is?

Speaker 2 He's one of the tallest prospects in history, and he can shoot threes.

Speaker 1 Isn't he like lying that he's shorter? I know, I'm serious. He's like, Kevin Durant doesn't want to be a seven-foot.

Speaker 2 It depends on where you measure. And me and PFT are big eye height guys.

Speaker 2 And I think we're going to bring that into into the combine in Chicago. Maybe you guys will be there for the combine.
But yeah, the eye height thing, I think his eyes are 7-2 off the ground.

Speaker 1 That's incredible.

Speaker 2 I don't know what they are, but he's one of the tallest prospects around. The thing that people need to talk about with him is the defense.

Speaker 2 He's defensive efficiency in a can. I think he can guard almost anybody in the league.
And his length,

Speaker 2 nobody, imagine trying to shoot against a guy like that.

Speaker 1 I'd fucking back him down. He's like a buck 50.

Speaker 1 I would body him. He gets bullied.
I've seen him.

Speaker 4 He got bullied by some like, I don't know, 6'4, 300-pound Latvian dude. Just put his ass into it.

Speaker 1 Give me one box out. He would be hurt.

Speaker 2 This isn't going to be a deep cut PFT, but Kenny Lofton last year in Summer League.

Speaker 1 It's just a big hulking. Oh, yeah.
Louisiana Tech. Yeah, I loved it.

Speaker 2 He took it to Chet. Yeah.
And it was exactly what you guys are describing. Just like, welcome to this.

Speaker 1 Is he on a roster?

Speaker 2 Kenny Loftus. He's on the Memphis Grizzlies.

Speaker 2 okay yeah i love his game he has he he would have been the best player in like 1993 for a long time i legitimately thought he was related to the i did too baseball player kenny loftin the baseball player played hoops in arizona too and was really good but he has the best but then you see his physique and you're like i don't think they're related yeah kenny loftin was like the sick ass no he was the best like the like anything that he shot like like 10 feet out it would just roll it oh great touch around the rim yes great player but yeah i think uh Wembañama is the most hyped prospect, arguably since LeBron James.

Speaker 2 And a lot of it has to do with the, yeah, he's Ralph Sampson with a three-point shot.

Speaker 2 If that's too old school of a reference, I can't help it because it's been that long since we've had somebody that tall

Speaker 2 that we've been this excited about in the NBA. Maybe Yao May.

Speaker 4 So my theory, and you can, I don't know if you're able to answer this, but I think the Spurs have gotten to the perfect position. This is like Pop's masterpiece.

Speaker 4 He thought to himself, I want to leave a legacy here.

Speaker 4 We're in a position where we could win the lottery and get Wimbiama from France.

Speaker 1 You nailed it. And then

Speaker 4 I bow out. I leave.
Maybe I take a front office job. This is my last season.
I've put us in the exact right position. And now I'm out.
The future is in your hands right now.

Speaker 2 From your lips to God's ears as a Spur for Life. I love that idea that they would get him.
He has connections to Tony Parker and Boris Diao.

Speaker 2 The Spurs have been very good with international players for a long time. It does sort of fit poetically.
But one thing people don't realize, even if you're in that very low category,

Speaker 2 they have a 14% chance.

Speaker 1 And the lottery's rigged.

Speaker 1 Yeah. Is it rigged? It is rigged.

Speaker 4 So if the lottery was rigged,

Speaker 4 where does David Stern want Wimpy to go?

Speaker 2 San Antonio, right? I mean, like you said, it's the best story.

Speaker 1 So let's speak it into existence.

Speaker 1 I've let myself believe this, that they're going to be like, hey, the the Bulls are never getting out of this stuck in mediocreville

Speaker 1 roster. Let's rig it.

Speaker 2 I would love, you know, I know you guys are looking forward to some time in Chicago, but man, I miss going to big-time basketball in Chicago with that fan base.

Speaker 2 It would be a great story.

Speaker 1 And you actually are part of Adam Silver's little inner circle, so you probably will rig it yourself.

Speaker 2 You know how you guys do the ping-pong balls? Yeah. Yeah, I know how to do that.
Yeah. Have you ever gotten it?

Speaker 2 I've never tried. Are Are you guys gonna let me try?

Speaker 1 You wanna try? Yeah, all right, let's try. All right, let's try.
Here we go.

Speaker 1 All right, so for people who are watching on the YouTube, I have one to a hundred written on the board, and I will circle it of the number that I'm picking.

Speaker 1 Kirk is not looking at the board, and he's gonna guess.

Speaker 4 Hank is looking at the board, and he's furious.

Speaker 2 I'm gonna use

Speaker 2 my cosmic

Speaker 2 strategy. I can't see it.
Am I supposed to? I'm not supposed to see it.

Speaker 4 When do I guess? He's thinking about writing.

Speaker 1 I'm faking you out.

Speaker 4 He has not circled yet.

Speaker 4 He's going up, down, left, right.

Speaker 4 Okay, he's got it.

Speaker 1 Big cat,

Speaker 2 I'm going to use a Grateful Dead reference here because

Speaker 2 I know you're a deadhead. I'm a deadhead.
We've bonded. We're going to go to all these shows together.
I was listening to the Grateful Dead channel on Sirius Network.

Speaker 2 One of my favorite shows is the Egypt Show. They play the Pyramids 91678.
And I'm going to go

Speaker 2 one of those numbers. Let's just go 78.
I feel 78.

Speaker 1 Are you serious?

Speaker 1 That's that fucking insane.

Speaker 1 He did it. You literally got it.
He did it. Oh,

Speaker 1 fucking face hanged. You see how easy that is?

Speaker 1 What do you mean it's rigged?

Speaker 1 I didn't tell him anything. I just told him.

Speaker 4 We would never rig this.

Speaker 1 I didn't tell him anything.

Speaker 4 I think it's so easy.

Speaker 1 He literally just said, I didn't even think he was going to want to guess.

Speaker 1 What do you say, Max? Reflection off the TV. What about it? Reflection off the TV.
Why? No, there's no reflection. That is the trash.

Speaker 1 He's angling. Are you going to celebrate someone else getting it? This is, I mean, this is how it is.
Come on. Look at what he thinks.
I can see. All I can see is the reflection

Speaker 2 in a rainbow.

Speaker 1 Yeah, Max. There's no chance.
Don't take this away from Kirk.

Speaker 1 He nailed it.

Speaker 1 Can't see it. Can't see it.
Can't see it.

Speaker 1 Congrats.

Speaker 2 I almost picked 16.

Speaker 1 Yeah. So there you go.

Speaker 2 It was easy.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 1 Okay. Sorry.
I mean, it's that easy. All right, last question.

Speaker 2 Sorry, not sorry, dude.

Speaker 1 That was incredible. He just got it, and you have never gotten it.

Speaker 1 Okay, he's just silently staring at me. Last question.
We do have to, let's do a little March Madness.

Speaker 1 I'm excited. You've been watching.
Yep.

Speaker 2 Who's winning it all? Well, my beloved Longhorns gave the Miami Hurricanes a run, and credit to Jim Laranega, who we all adore. It's hard to root against that guy.

Speaker 2 I found a way because the Longhorns were playing him last weekend, but these dudes were making shots, man.

Speaker 2 For me, it's either Miami or UConn who seems to be one of the more talented.

Speaker 1 You don't respect the little guys.

Speaker 2 I mean, honestly, I've been waiting my whole life for this Final Four, just chaos, five seeds, nine seeds, like whatever. And if Florida Atlantic wins, like that's like my childhood dream coming true.

Speaker 2 Like there's a story. You make that bracket and you're like, no way this is going to happen.
That would be the coolest story that could happen, right?

Speaker 2 It's like Florida Atlantic coming out of the world.

Speaker 1 37-3 they would be if they won it all. Yeah.

Speaker 2 You know, but I think the more talented teams, which don't always come out on top, are UConn and Miami. I mean, I know you guys are going down.
What are you looking forward to?

Speaker 1 I mean, I have a future on UConn. I just am worried.
Miami,

Speaker 1 they might just make every shot. San Diego

Speaker 1 is bad years. Oh, San Diego San Diego.
They look like an incredible team when they're

Speaker 2 the length and athleticism they have on the court.

Speaker 1 Yeah, no, there's a lot of like, oh, these guys are the mid-majors, but I would not be shocked if any of these guys are.

Speaker 2 You guys have the great Mountain West stats come into the tournament.

Speaker 13 I always use that in my opinion.

Speaker 1 People were getting upset about it. It's like, you guys got eliminated from the tournament in 10 hours last year.

Speaker 1 You have to say it, but San Diego State's been tremendous.

Speaker 2 It's been a great tournament. I just want to say, I found myself really watching games and getting into this year, and I think the chaos helps.

Speaker 2 The thing I'd say against against it is: I kind of miss some of the blue bloods in the final four.

Speaker 1 Okay,

Speaker 1 you're a snob.

Speaker 2 I don't know if I'm a snob, but last year was a little extreme on that side. It was Villanova, Kansas, and then, of course, North Carolina and Duke.

Speaker 1 Somebody coming me a piece of paper up there.

Speaker 1 Have you heard the good news? We're getting it. We're getting it.
We're getting close to the year anniversary that I put them in the gray.

Speaker 4 You can say that if UConn wins, they might become a blue blood.

Speaker 2 That's a good point. I think UConn is potential.

Speaker 2 I'm not on the blue blood Committee.

Speaker 4 I don't know who you are. Yeah, that's us.

Speaker 2 I won championship away from the five.

Speaker 1 I have five in the last 24 years.

Speaker 4 I would give them a

Speaker 1 next closest is Duke and UNC both have three in the last 24 years.

Speaker 4 Blue Blood. Yeah, so I think this is the Blue Blood Final Four.
They have a chance to become, what is it? What's the name of the disease that you get if you're...

Speaker 1 Haemophilia. Haemophilia.

Speaker 4 Yeah, they have the opportunity to gain hemophilia.

Speaker 1 Royalty.

Speaker 1 That's why they call it Blue Blood. Did you know that? Exactly.

Speaker 2 I didn't know that. Yeah, fun fact.

Speaker 1 I had had one last question about March Madness, and this is my. I have an old man take that I love to

Speaker 1 bring out anytime Alabama and Nate Oates and his stupid you know spreadsheets falter in the tournament is that what their biggest problem is yeah

Speaker 1 that is their biggest problem uh

Speaker 1 do you think there's anything to be said for a team that shoots only threes and layups to struggle in big moments from the free throw line

Speaker 2 they don't practice mid-range yeah i think in the nba what we've seen is is Kawhi Leonard and Kevin Durant

Speaker 2 really excelling in these tight spaces in the playoffs. The mid-range does seem to be where the biggest shots happen, whether there's Jordan's biggest shots.
But

Speaker 2 I don't know, but there is, again, there's a virtue to the mid-range.

Speaker 1 And free throws suffer.

Speaker 2 Brandon Miller did not have a good tournament, and there's all sorts of jokes, but the bottom line is I expected that player to, because the way he played in the SEC tournament, I expected him as an NBA sort of prognosticator to come out and continue that and that team to go a lot further than they did.

Speaker 4 Why they struggled, I don't know. You can't put that in a spreadsheet.
You find out he's in a different type of situation.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 1 All right. Well, Kirk, you have one last question?

Speaker 4 Yeah, I was, there's another way that basketball has been ruined.

Speaker 4 I don't necessarily think that this one is your fault, but the gamification of the free throw line, people getting these cheap fouls, James Harden, you know, jumping into people, drawing fouls.

Speaker 4 They found an inefficiency that wasn't there before. Is there a way mathematically to fix that? Make free throws worth 0.75 points?

Speaker 2 Yeah, I think Dean Smith famously said the best place to score on the free throw line or on the basketball court is the free throw line.

Speaker 2 And I think it took a little too long for basketball players to really figure that out. I blame the European soccer.
countries that taught us how to flop and my friend Monaginobli again.

Speaker 4 Italians, just say Italians.

Speaker 2 James Harden. James Harden bringing that Italian strategy into pro basketball.
He's perfect. It's a really smart play.
Nothing elevates the expected value of a possession more than a whistle

Speaker 2 if you're in the bonus or if you have a two-shot foul coming your way.

Speaker 2 But are free throws too easy?

Speaker 1 Yeah, I think they are. They move it back? Yeah.

Speaker 2 You know what's weird, guys, is that the college basketball has one-on-one, and then when you make millions of dollars to shoot free throws, we don't need you to take one-on-one.

Speaker 2 Bring the one-on-one to the NBA. I think that's one thing we could do to actually increase the risk for some of these guys.

Speaker 2 You're going to get zero points on the possession if you don't make that front end. Yeah.
It's terrifying for these college kids in a tournament.

Speaker 1 Oh, yeah. That's a great rule.

Speaker 2 What was the end of the game?

Speaker 1 San Diego State. He missed the front end.

Speaker 1 Or no, it was a two-shot foul, but he was one-on-one.

Speaker 2 But it was a shooting foul and whatever, we can get another call. But how terrifying was that?

Speaker 1 Yeah, that second one was terrifying.

Speaker 2 He made the second one, though.

Speaker 4 Yeah, I like that. Tell Adam Silver that.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 2 Mr. Silver.
Mr.

Speaker 1 Silver. And also to rig it for the Bulls.

Speaker 1 All right. Well, Kirk, thank you.
Thank you for for having us.

Speaker 2 On behalf of the University of Texas and the McComb School Business, thank you guys for coming to visit me as a lot and hook them horns.

Speaker 4 Let's go.

Speaker 15 That's the sound of extremely processed dog food, which is the norm at most pet food companies. But at the farmer's dog, we do things differently.
We gently cook our food without ultra-processing.

Speaker 15 It's developed by our team of board-certified nutritionists, made to human-grade safety standards, and portioned for your dog. Then delivered right to your door.
How does that sound to you?

Speaker 15 Get 50% off your first box, available only at thefarmersdog.com.

Speaker 16 Aldi is now on Uber Eats. So whether your fridge is empty and you're too tired to shop, or you just ran out of essential ingredients, don't worry, we got you.

Speaker 16 Get 40% off your first Aldi order on Uber Eats with code NewAldi25. Orders $30 or more, save up to $25, and it's 1231.
See out for details.

Speaker 1 Okay, let's wrap up the show. We got Firefest of the week.
Henry?

Speaker 6 Yeah, this one's kind of ongoing, too, because

Speaker 6 I don't know where it is. I was, you guys know me, I'm a prompt guy, I'm a prepared guy, I like to be ahead of the curve.

Speaker 6 I was packing for this trip last night around midnight, and I decided not to bring my backpack and instead go for a carry because I didn't want to check a bag, a big bag. So I decided to bring a.
Why?

Speaker 1 We're only gone for four days.

Speaker 6 I'm going for 10 days. Oh,

Speaker 6 don't know if I mentioned that. Didn't want to bring it, so I brought a carry-on bag and then like a little duffel as my carry-on.

Speaker 6 Go to pack my laptop in, open my

Speaker 6 backpack. My laptop was not in there.
It was midnight, so I wasn't going to go to the office to even look for it. And I didn't even know where it was in the office.
I was like, you can get to it?

Speaker 6 I was replaying my

Speaker 6 steps. Had no idea where it was.
So I, and obviously I'm going away. I have to have some type of laptop or something.
So I had to bring it.

Speaker 1 Do you?

Speaker 1 Are you going to work?

Speaker 4 When are you going to use a laptop? I don't know. Oh, for porn.
For internet.

Speaker 1 This is like when I bring my gym shoes. It kind of, well, that's the thing.

Speaker 6 It was like, do I not need my laptop? It's like,

Speaker 6 I probably do. Like, I don't know.

Speaker 4 Because it's like, if you don't bring your laptop, then you're openly admitting to everybody, I plan on doing zero work.

Speaker 6 Which is, I will be happy to openly admit that.

Speaker 1 I plan on doing zero work.

Speaker 6 But I had to bring, I have a, I have like an all-business Pete, like the old laptop I used to stream during COVID.

Speaker 6 It's like one of those little Dell Mac, like little Dell books or whatever you call them.

Speaker 1 Dell books, yeah.

Speaker 6 The Dell books. And I just, I don't know.

Speaker 1 What does that have to do with Pete?

Speaker 6 It just, that's what he uses. Oh, okay.

Speaker 6 And then today I hit up Evan and Shane because they're coming down to shoot a video we're shooting on Sunday. And I was like, can you look for my laptop at the office?

Speaker 6 He's like, yeah, it's nowhere to be found.

Speaker 1 Uh-oh.

Speaker 6 So I have no idea where it is.

Speaker 1 Can't know where Rack and Mintz is.

Speaker 1 I think it might be in Lake Charles. Shit.
Yeah. He might have stolen it.

Speaker 4 So your Fire Fest is you're not doing any work?

Speaker 1 I don't know. And you lost your laptop.

Speaker 6 I lost my laptop. No, not doing any work is more like a

Speaker 6 fire fest. A good fest.

Speaker 1 Yeah, it's a good fest. Yeah.

Speaker 6 This is Fire Fest.

Speaker 4 Oh, speaking of Fire Fest, like literally Fire for Hank, I found out a very interesting fact about Henry.

Speaker 1 Oh, yeah, you told me you were going to save this. Yeah, yeah.
When we were doing

Speaker 4 our golf stream with Rudy,

Speaker 4 Hank was like, I think I'm going to turn my fog machine on.

Speaker 1 And I was like, wait, what?

Speaker 4 Does Hank have a fog machine in his apartment?

Speaker 1 Is that a humidifier?

Speaker 4 No, no, that he turns on. Hank has a fog machine that he turns on when he's just like trying to blow off steam or relax.
He just calmly goes home and turns his fog machine on.

Speaker 6 Yeah, no, that was...

Speaker 6 I don't think you understood.

Speaker 1 That was me and Renol way over here. Oh my gosh.

Speaker 1 Damn, PFT, we were making us look old.

Speaker 4 What's your fog machine?

Speaker 9 Fog is

Speaker 6 smoking.

Speaker 1 He's smoking weed. He's smoking marijuana.

Speaker 4 Marijuana cigarettes? Yes.

Speaker 1 Just a little popular.

Speaker 1 PFT. Now I wish you had told me this

Speaker 1 in confidentiality so I could have been like, wait, let's think about this.

Speaker 6 Because I was like, yeah, I think I'm going to. I had a bad shot.
I was like, I think I need to go turn on my fog machine.

Speaker 1 Oh.

Speaker 6 And then PFT's like, you have a fog machine? And I thought he was playing along. I was like, yeah, I just turned on the machine.

Speaker 1 And right now, this is me continuing to play along. I know.
Maybe a humidifier. I don't know.
No.

Speaker 4 Because I was laughing so hard at the imagery of Hank just like having a tough day at at work and sitting in sitting and sitting yeah he's like i gotta turn the fog on

Speaker 1 it always makes me feel better he's like undertaker's entrance just sitting there yeah now that now that i think about it i'm a real fucking moron yeah that one hurts that was dumb

Speaker 6 I thought you were talking about the Mezcal, Gatorade Zero.

Speaker 1 Oh, yeah.

Speaker 4 So that's another fun fact that I learned about Hank. That's just an elite drink.
I was like, what cocktail are you making, Hank? And he said he likes to relax with a Mezcal and Gatorade Zero. Dude.

Speaker 4 Mix.

Speaker 1 I used to drink, I had a whole summer where I was just drinking Gatorade and vodka. That's normal.

Speaker 9 Yeah, that's normal.

Speaker 1 My friend who owns a bar in Chicago put it on the tap for me. Yeah.
Gatorade.

Speaker 9 It's a good drink.

Speaker 4 It's a good drink. But Gatorade Zero and Mezcal, I don't think that's ever been made by anybody before.

Speaker 6 Yeah, that was just like I don't, I don't really drink at my house by myself a lot. So it's just, I had Gatorade Zero and then I had some Mezcal.

Speaker 1 It is a wild, it's a wild, crazy combo.

Speaker 6 It's good. It's really good.
Yeah. You should try it.
Don't knock until you try it. You have great taste.
Everyone says that, yeah.

Speaker 1 Barbacuffalo. Yeah.

Speaker 6 Barbacuffalo.

Speaker 1 You can get some soup at the hotel.

Speaker 4 Do they have soup?

Speaker 1 I don't know. Lister quill.

Speaker 1 Oh, shampoo soup. Yeah.

Speaker 1 Yeah, that's really hard to do. Next question.

Speaker 1 Soup? Come on.

Speaker 4 Well, that's really embarrassing. You thought he was talking about actual soup thing.

Speaker 1 All right, PFT.

Speaker 4 My firefest is that I thought that Hank was using a fog machine in his house and he was actually smoking weed, which makes me very uncool.

Speaker 4 In addition to that, it is opening day, so I retold the

Speaker 4 story of my dad punking me on opening day, April Fool's Day, back when I was in elementary school, where he picked me up from school, gave me my glove, drove out of the parking lot, and then told me April Fools and made me go back to class.

Speaker 4 And people pointed out...

Speaker 6 Shireen in the bathroom at school.

Speaker 4 Well, people pointed out something I didn't realize. There haven't been any opening day Orioles games on April Fool's Day throughout the entire 90s.
Oh, no. So I went back and I looked at it.

Speaker 4 This motherfucker, my dad, pulled an April Fool's prank on me on April 2nd.

Speaker 1 Oh, that's illegal.

Speaker 4 A full 24-hour.

Speaker 4 So not only did he make me go back to class, but it wasn't even April Fool's.

Speaker 13 He was just like, he must have done something devious.

Speaker 4 He pulled a psych on me. He just psyched me.

Speaker 13 You must have done some devious shit.

Speaker 4 I don't know.

Speaker 4 I don't know what I did to deserve it. It's funny in retrospect, but it does make it worse finding out that not only was it a punk, but it was also just not even April Fool's Day.

Speaker 1 Yes, that does suck.

Speaker 1 All right, my firefighters is that I have to sit in the last fucking fucking row of a football stadium to watch a basketball game.

Speaker 1 That sucks.

Speaker 4 That's tough.

Speaker 1 This is going to suck.

Speaker 4 Yeah. You should get benign.

Speaker 6 You're just going to watch

Speaker 1 the jumbotron. I promise to the AWLs I will not watch the jumbotron.

Speaker 1 I won't. I'll watch the court.

Speaker 1 I'm going to give you all, I'm going to call fouls from all the way up there.

Speaker 6 Someone who snuck into a lot of basketball games and ended up sitting in the last row, you'll just end up watching the screen.

Speaker 4 So I could just watch TV?

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 6 Maybe I'll watch it on my phone. But you'll be in the atmosphere, which I'm sure will be electric for the FAU

Speaker 1 game.

Speaker 6 Yeah,

Speaker 6 fans will be in there rocking.

Speaker 4 If you hit your first bet, you're going to want to stay up there maybe for your second. That's true.

Speaker 1 No, yeah, you're right. I haven't decided who I'm going to bet on for the first game, but yeah.

Speaker 1 Although you guys are going to get good seats.

Speaker 4 I'm going Alice, baby.

Speaker 1 Damn. I think I'm going to go.

Speaker 1 I don't know. Fuck.

Speaker 6 I don't know. I'm San Diego State.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 Because you're going there? Yeah. Because you want to party with them?

Speaker 4 They got a beach at FAU, too.

Speaker 1 Dusty Mae on the podcast.

Speaker 1 Nothing? Doesn't do anything for you? Owl up. Okay.

Speaker 1 All right. That's our show.

Speaker 1 We kick it to ourselves. We did the lottery ball back in the studio.

Speaker 6 You can admit the Kirk Goldspiring thing now.

Speaker 1 It was not fake.

Speaker 4 Yeah, it wasn't fake, Hank.

Speaker 1 I don't know what you want me to say.

Speaker 4 Hank's too woke.

Speaker 1 He got the number.

Speaker 1 It wasn't fake.

Speaker 4 He could not see the reflection. Look at the reflection right now.
Look at the the reflection. He can't see it.

Speaker 1 He walked you through his reasoning of picking a random number. We were talking about Grateful Dead before we got in here.

Speaker 1 Okay.

Speaker 4 You're too inside your own head.

Speaker 1 Yeah, that sucks for you that he was able to get it to that easy.

Speaker 6 It's just like, I don't know. You guys are, you know, you're really laying it on thick with like The Bachelor.

Speaker 1 Oh, yeah, The Bachelor came in the office.

Speaker 4 If you didn't see the video of it,

Speaker 4 The Bachelor came into the office. He's an AWL.
Shout out Zach. Came in with his Bride to Be or Bride.
I don't know how that works on The Bachelor. Call Call a fiancé.

Speaker 4 You can also say bride to be.

Speaker 4 That's a normal thing, but I asked him just pick a number because we just had Stav on the show and we just did the drawing. I said, we just did it.
What would your number have been?

Speaker 4 And he fucking nailed it.

Speaker 4 First guess.

Speaker 1 Everyone gets it except you. Well, maybe not.
Let's kick it to ourselves. See if Hank gets it.
Okay, we're wrapping up the show. Numbers time.

Speaker 1 Getting ready for the final four.

Speaker 1 We're in Houston. Come see us, Kirby's Ice House.
5-7 on Friday. 1-3 on Saturday.
Local time. Numbers.
Oh, wait, Hank, have you ever gotten this?

Speaker 6 No.

Speaker 1 Numbers. 16.

Speaker 1 18.

Speaker 6 Hank? 46.

Speaker 1 I don't want to win. I'll say 17 for the record.

Speaker 6 If I win, I'll be 42.

Speaker 1 42 for

Speaker 1 memes. Evan, what do you got? Two.
Two.

Speaker 4 82.

Speaker 1 82. What was your number, Hank?

Speaker 4 46. You picked 46.

Speaker 1 I picked 17.

Speaker 1 Don't want to win, Hank.

Speaker 1 59.

Speaker 1 59.

Speaker 1 God. Yeah, right.
You're trying. You're trying to win.
All right, that's our show. We'll see everyone on Monday.

Speaker 4 Love you guys.

Speaker 2 Tigers can eat up to 40 pounds of meat and then not eat for a week.

Speaker 2 you shine away.

Speaker 1 Though I'll be coming for your love, okay.

Speaker 1 Take on me.

Speaker 1 Tell me less to say.

Speaker 1 I'm once in it. It's about me, so I'll let everywhere.

Speaker 1 Slowly learning my life is okay.

Speaker 1 Say after me.

Speaker 1 It's the better to be safe than sorry. Take

Speaker 1 on

Speaker 1 me.

Speaker 1 Take only

Speaker 1 the one

Speaker 1 that you

Speaker 1 are.

Speaker 1 take

Speaker 1 me

Speaker 1 on,

Speaker 1 Lord.

Speaker 1 Take only I'll be

Speaker 1 only.

Speaker 1 me.