The Dan Patrick ShowDan isn’t a fan of MLB opening its regular season in Japan in the middle of Spring Training. Does this help to grow the game or is it too much of a disruption to players' schedules? Hall of Famer Bill Cowher takes a deep dive into the Steelers' QB options and shares a coaching decision that still haunts him to this day. And college hoops insider Seth Davis breaks down the unpredictability of March Madness and gives some picks of teams who could prove to be "bracket busters."
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The Bracket Challenge is live right now at Foxsports Radio dot com. If you want to test your skills, your knowledge, your guesswork with Hours and other celebrities, including Alex Ovechkin, you can at Fox Sports Radio dot com. Stat of the Day has always brought to you by the great folks at Pinini America Official Trading Cards at the DP Show, and this first hour brought to you by Mako. At Mako, they bring your car back to life, affordable paint chimps like collision repairs. Get a free estimate today. Uh oh, better get Mako pull question Play of the Day, stat of the Day your phone calls eight seven to seven to three. DP Show operator sitting by taking your calls. The Dodgers have opened their season in Japan against the Cubs, and it counts. So they're going to play a couple of games there and then they come back and then they resume spring training. Do I want us exporting opening day? I don't. I understand. It's business, certainly with the Dodgers and the number of players from you know, whether it's Korea, whether it's Japan. I get it. I understand it. I don't like it, but I understand it. It's business. Uh ten years ago, five years ago, I remember the Yankees went over there, Like I just you know, how about we think of the players you're in spring training, totally chill. Now, let's go to Japan, play a couple of games, they count, and then let's come back and then let's chill again. Tough to manage your staff you're pitching, and you know, once again, I know, it's business, and it's the Dodgers, they're pipeline with all the players. I understand all of it. I don't know if the fans in Japan would be that upset that if you said we're going to play two spring training games over there, are they going to be upset? I think just having Shoheutani over there some of the other players who are from Japan, that would be enough. We don't need to have opening Day over there. Have Opening Day here. You can have kind of a faux opening day. You can have an opening day. How about opening Day there? You go, yeah, it's a fake opening day, Opening day, and you play a couple of games. You have all the pomp and circumstance and the pageantry, and then you come back and then you resume spring training. Everybody benefits. But you know, I know, we're trying to grow the business there and the Dodgers have done a wonderful job and Japan is a great market. The Dodgers game with the Cubs is over, Paulie, do you have of a review of what happened?
Well, ear muffet in case you taped it for later, because if it's Los Angeles, you had to be real real early or really really late. The Dodgers won four to one over the Cubs. Otani two for five, great start, Yamamoto. Uh the Dodgers pitcher one hitter, five innings.
Yeah, huh. Okay, So they got one more game over there, and then they come back home and then they resume spring training again and then they wait for their decks their second opening day for both of these teams. All right, get off my lawn. I know, I know, I know. All right, the NC DOUBLEA, the first four, get ready. You don't have to fill out your brackets. You have to be in for our bracket challenge by Wednesday. End of business, what is it? Seating? End of day? Is that what we were doing?
You could do cob, you could do, EOD you could do yeah. Okay, there's a million of them all right. End of day, close a business.
Saint Francis of Pennsylvania against Alabama State eos.
End of show.
Ok Is there a team in the tournament who has more of a must win situation than North Carolina does? Today? North Carolina against San Diego State because the fallout from selection Sunday. How could they do this? North Carolina? Oh my gosh. The head of the selection committee, the athletic director at North Carolina, he got a bonus for North Carolina being in the tournament one hundred thousand dollars. Now, I don't think you jeopardize your job, but I like cow. They go, hey, Bubba, we're going to talk about Carolina. You have to leave the room. Now, what about all the other times when all these people are together, maybe for breakfast or lunch or dinner. Do they go, Bubba, you're going to have to leave dinner. We're talking about North Carolina. Yeah, but you were just talking about, you know, the Jordan team that beat George up. We're talking about North Carolina. Bubba, You're gonna have to leave the room. You're gonna have to leave the restaurant. Silly. But North Carolina against San Diego State, now it becomes mussy TV. Now I'm curious about how North Carolina does against San Diego State. They should win, right, they're North Carolina. I don't know who's favored in this game. Maybe it's a Pickham that would be even better.
Yes, Marvion, my model for March madness is bring your game, not your name.
Oh okay, it matters if you're North Carolina.
They're not all that good this year.
Okay, all right, so bring your game, not your name. All right, sounds like a slogan.
I like that.
Uh So, North Carolina against San Diego State, the first four. Now the West Virginia governor, he's upset. I love when politicians pandered to their fan base. Patrick Morrissey, he's the governor of West Virginia, and he wants to investigate the North Carolina nc double A bid.
Today I'm joined here with our attorney general. He's the chief legal officer for the state, and I've asked Attorney General McCuskey to launch an investigation into the NCAA tournament selection committee to determine if any backyard deals back room deals, corruption, bribes, or any nefarious activity occurred during the selection process. I know that the Attorney General and I are going to leave no stone unturned during this process. We need to get to the bottom of it. I think a lot of Americans count on the fact that there's transparency and that there's fairness when dealing with selection.
Whether you're talking.
About college football playoffs, remember what happened to Florida State a couple years ago, go or when it comes to March madness.
Okay, he better get on this because North Carolina is playing tonight. So I don't think there's going to be an injunction where all of a sudden, they go, Tonight's game is being postponed due to an injunction by the West Virginia governor. He's got to pound the podium. If you really want to get my attention, you got to pound the podium.
I mean, he's going after all those backyard deals. Yeah, and the back room backroom ones too. He is in West Virginia. We do backyard deals. Let's go take care of flaw state.
Yeah. See that's where it's abbreviated on his piece of paper fla State. Remember that. Yeah?
Yeah, me too.
Yeah, I know he sounds like me. It's like he thought, Okay, I'll just put f l a state. I'll remember it's Florida State, and he's got Flaw state. Today I'm joined And that was another problem.
I don't know if he put a lot of thought into that before he started speaking, but it's kind of like he was like, hold on, or maybe forgot his glasses.
Today I'm joint, joint.
The processed here by Flaw State.
Play it just the beginning there, Marvin.
Today I'm joined.
Here with Okay, I mean it starts very official today. Today, Today, I'm the luckiest, luckiest man on the face of the earth. Oh, we're going to get to the bottom of this.
He's no Mayor Menino, that's for sure.
I like that he's going to find out. You know, if you're going to go after the NCAA governor, I'd go after a lot of other things more than West Virginia got snubbed. I'm gonna guess Indiana's governor is probably going to be upset and get involved in this. Boise State governor probably will get involved in then get all the governors in here of those who got job you know, damn it, We're the sixty ninth team and I'm not going to take it.
Yes, and he used all the political terms, no stone unturned. I was expecting a Blue Risbon task force, you know, like anyone who when they do this, these politicians do. They have to know that this isn't real and they really can't stop the NCAA tournament. Yeah, So is it smart to play to your fan base that's also upset.
Yeah, I mean, as long as you don't mind being ridiculed by all the other states. Sure, I mean you're standing up for a great injustice, not the fact that your team had thirteen losses. Yeah, I'd investigate that, but they look, there are other schools that had I guess a legitimate gripe. But I don't even know if you can say legitimate, because if you leave it into somebody else's hands, that is your fault. If you leave it it's open to interpretation, that is your fault. Should North Carolina be in the tournament? No, North Carolina should not. I don't know if that means West Virginia deserves to be in there. If Indiana wasn't firing their coach, would Indiana be in there? Like, you know, we can make some arguments here for other schools, but if you get to that point in the selection committees afternoon and you're gonna go, hey, we're like sixty eight, there's sixty seventh, or sixty ninth, there's seventy. I mean, it's on you. It's on you.
You know.
This isn't like TCU when you have the final four teams playing for college football the playoffs, where you're like, nah, I'm gonna be on the outside. Look at we're gonna be fifth, not fourth. We're not getting it. Okay, that's different. This is the sixty eighth sixty ninth team. You left yourself vulnerable. You paid the price, so did some other schools. I don't know if this opens, you know, the gates for other governors. Like if you're a governor, you're the governor Indiana. Now do you feel like you have to say something here? The guy in West Virginia did. Why aren't we investigating the NC? The NC double A is right there in Indiana.
Yes, I just saw the video of Governor Morrissey a West Virginia when he said this speech. He had a sign in front of him that was hastily made up that said National Corrupt Athletic Association right in front of him.
That's such sense. Okay, all right, now, the NC DOUBLEA is corrupt. What are some of the other things the governor has gone after with the NC double A. I'm just curious because you could have done this a long long time ago, not just you got snubbed. But we'll see, we'll see if there's an injunction before tonight's game. I don't think there's going to be. But you have the first four coming up tonight. What's the poll question today, Seaton first Hour. Well, we got a few of them, all right.
I know you've been waiting to get to this topic because it's overwhelmingly the number one story of the day. Do you want to guess his name is?
Jackson Dart. Oh, here he comes, here he goes. I warned you, Jackson Nord. He gets his own day. Mel kiper draft expert, is mock draft Jackson Dart top ten to the Saints top three. Perhaps I think he's really good. I do. I think he's he's athletic. He just he can play in the NFL. I believe great name too. No, he's throwing darts up there but yeah, Jackson Dart, uh ja X does he have two x's only one? Only one X J A X S O N D A R T all right, Jackson Dart former USC Trojan Jackson Dart at old Miss. Yes.
But if his name was you know, Charles Troubles and not Jackson Dart, would you still be like this is a guy we could build around.
Probably not.
No.
I I used to call Chris Chambliss Charles Troubles for some reason when I was a kid. The name has never left my head.
Hopefully it leaves mine. But Jackson Dart top ten mel Kiper, Yeah, there's always somebody who is sneaky moving, and always somebody who might be dropping a little bit. Jackson Dart hasn't really done anything since I don't know, December. Maybe you know, workout. He had a really good season. That's I'm always amazed, and you go, wait a minute, that guy didn't do anything unless it's a pro day or your combine.
You know.
But it played well against Duke in the bowl game. Okay, But now all of a sudden, people are opening their eyes and this is what's going to happen. You're gonna get a lot of analysts who go, yep, I can see it now. If mel had him in the second round, then you know you I know, one Orlovsky I think was really big on Jackson dark and that was a while ago. That Orlovsky was all there. But this is where you just everybody doesn't want to be left in the dust here. Hey, I knew, I told you you know all this stuff. I remember my source said Michaeh Parsons is the best player in the draft, but he has baggage. Well can you say Michael Parsons was the best player in the draft. Who's the lineman for the Boltz out of Notre Dame Quentin Quentin Nelson. My source said he's the best ready to go player in the draft. You can make that case. So when my source tells me something, I tell you. So when he says, hey, you know, the Big ten is going to stop playing football, you know during COVID, that's from him. When he says the Browns are taking Baker Mayfield, that's from him. And when he tells me about certain players, I listen, and he's got a pretty good track record. But Jackson Dart is a good He's a good player. He really is and you played for Lane Kiffin and you know you played in the SEC. So do I think he can play in the NFL? Absolutely. I think he is not as athletic as cam Warden. I think he is more athletic than Shade or Sanders. But it's in the high of the beholder. Does he fit with what you're trying to do. That's the key. You've got to get the right quarterback for you, not a quarterback.
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It was a month ago when Bill Kauer was on the program and he said that he expected the Steelers to have dialogue with Aaron Rodgers. Well, they probably had dialogue and we're still waiting for Aaron Rodgers. Coach joins us on the program. What do you think the Steelers are going to do? And what do you think the Steelers should do at quarterback?
All right, Well, number one, I've done a very good job of keeping their playing their cards in house and not sharing a lot of the conversations that they've had. I'm sure when you think about it, Dan, So you know, I think right now there's really not a deadline. So I'm sure they're sitting back way and what their options are. I don't know exactly how much money has played into this, you know, I think they want justin fields is my speculation. Again, this is all speculation. I've talked to nobody within the building, but I think they wanted to go with a younger player to see if it can develop. I personally think that Russell Wilson is your best choice. It's the better it's going to be a better offensive line room with Fontano coming back and moving broader to left tackle. I think you're looking at the best receiving core you're going to have in a long time. In terms of they can keep George Pickens or not. They will be in the next conversation that you will have to have remand Wilson was a guy they're very common on. Last year, Kylevin Austin stepped up, so I think the offense and whole and I think, you know, with Arthur Smith in the second year in theory, should should take a step forward. So I think they're sitting back and again I think this is not I like a Pittsburgh way of doing things, of seeing what their options are, not feel impressed to make any decision based on the fact there's no deadline.
But also, with Aaron at this age, how much how much should you found your age into this the way he plays the position?
Well, I think the same is you factor Russell into it. I think that these are two players that who gives you the best chance to win this year, maybe next year, and then in the meantime bridge yourself to the next quarterback, whoever that may be. You know, I think back then to when we had Neil Donn who was a third round pick, and we ended up having Cordell Stewart who was a second round pick. You know, both those players, you know, as you sat there and you built your team, realize that you know that was a position that you know you had to have a consistent play from it. I think that's what they need to get. Is it going to be a guy that's a franchise quarterback? Not everybody has one, but I think the biggest thing you have to do is build around it and not just sit there and wait on one position to say that that's going to be the fate of your football team.
You think got to the.
Last five losses. This wasn't just on Russell Wilson. This was you know, you played two of the teams were in the Super Bowl, and then you lost three games to to division teams, two to Baltimore and went to Cincinnati, and those are very much playoff caliber teams. And you know, I think we look at all five of them. You played against five really good quarterbacks and the defense is not play up up to snuff, to be quite honest with you, and certainly the offense didn't contribute, didn't have your best players at the time. George Pickens was probably hurting at the end of the season, so you really a little handcuff from that position standpoint. But again I think you go back and as you sit back and reflect, I think you know, they had a chance to work with Justin, had a chance to work with Russell. You know who they are and they know the system as well. You lost Justin, Russell's still out there. You have a chance to get Aaron Rodgers and case still throw it. Yes, is he mobile enough? I think so? But does he really want to play? I mean, the longer you wait, you just have to wonder where is his heart and how much does he really want to do? And I said, you know, I just think when so he starts talking about retirement, they've already checked the box. So they've checked out to some degree. And you know, so how much is he modified to want to come here and be a part of trying to win a championship and then consequently consequently bridging a bridge to the next guy. And maybe that next guy's Mason Rudolph. And he's sitting there right there unerneath your nose. He played there before. Could he be a leader? Geno Smith? Could just be Sam Darnold who all of a sudden they blossom later in their careers. So I think there's a lot let that has to play out. I think signing Mason Rudolf made a lot of sense.
If you were still coaching, would you reach out to Aaron Rodgers?
Yeah, I think I would have reached out to him from the very beginning. I'm sure that they did.
Again, Mike Tomlin reached out to him and just to gauge his interest.
I don't think there's any any question about that. And I think, again, from Aaron's standpoint, he's a guy that thinks through a lot of these things.
This is where he's in his career.
I do not think that if he decided to go wherever he goes, he'll be all in. That's just the way he is. I do think that there's a degree. And I said this to you last time I was on the show. I don't think he liked the way he exited. And you look how he played last year. He played all seventeen games, determined to do so. But you know, the five wins, that's just not who he wants to go out as being a quarterback on that kind of team. So I think he's motivated to play, and I think at the same time, where does he want to play? But you know, those are conversations that you've got to be convinced that's where his heart is at. And I think that's the thing that you'd have to have is constant communication with him from that standpoint and where's wrestling this whole thing? So, I mean, you know that's the thing again, I go back to the same thing. You've worked with him for a year. A lot of good things were done, they weren't healthy at the end of the season. This is a much better receiving room. Corps DK Metcalf, you have a history with him. Again, the biggest question to me on that offensive side is what are you going to do with George Pickens? Is he going to be motivated to play in the last year of his contract? Are you going to extend him or is there going to be any degree of getting something for him from the standpoint of trade. So these are conversations that I think are having, but also there's no deadline to some of these conversations. The biggest deadline you're going to have right now is going to be the draft.
Talking to Bill Cower, Hall of Famer, and now with the NFL today on CBS. When it comes to quarterbacks, I always think, you know, if I get together with you, I see your medicals and I do an interview with you, But I got to look at game tape, like game tape has to factor in, you know, a really high percentage. I think we get caught up in the combine, and we get caught up in pro days and then all of a sudden, I don't know, did you fall in love with somebody at a pro day or the combine and going against maybe kind of that intuitiveness of that guy's my kind of football player.
Yeah, I think you those are metrics that you're looking at that you know, whether it's there's speed, there's size, there's athleticism. The quarterback position is their accuracy, the ability to have anticipation and throw with anticipation, the ability how much did you do in college and how much do you really how much did you run the offense or how much leeway did you have? Can you set protections, can you make audibles? These are things that to me, when you start to work with the guy, you find out what his strengths are and what is maybe his liabilities may be, and what you know, certain things that you just don't want to do with the guy asks me to do something he can't do. So I think it takes working with someone sometimes and again, you know, how much is the comfort level of that quarterback?
I go back.
I think the one thing I've been very much suppressed with is kind like Kevin O'Connell. I think he can take a quarterback, he can sit in a room with them and realize exactly how much he can get out.
Of this player.
Where is his player comfortable and that same that may be scaling something back, but also maybe an opportunity to open something up where they feel like, let me see it, let me spread this out and see it, and I can process things there. So how coret of that process is information, how you deliver the information, the leeway you give him. What's his strengths athleticism wise, what his strength reads wise, what's his better throws? Is he more accurate? Uncertain A and certain throws? So these are things that you have to work with someone on a regular basis and you get a better feel for what they can and more importantly what they can't do.
Okay, but how much I don't know if you were skeptical with Ben Roethlisberger, Like what what was the big concern you had with Roethlisberger when you drafted him?
Probably just the level of play. You know, I watched them play, you know, you know, play many big games. You know, you're playing in the back. I get it, and there's you know, it's not bad competition, but you know it's not the NFL, and you know, but when he did play those big games, he did play well. And so when we got him, I just, you know, I just didn't think it was fair to a young quarterback to throw them in there right away. Dan because the game is faster, you're processing things more, it's more complex, it's a new system. I just think you want to make sure that quarterback is comfortable, and that's your football team is comfortable with that quarterback, you know. So I didn't want to set our team back by putting someone who wasn't ready to go in there. And at the same time, do I stunt his growth and development as a quarterback. So I do think there's a lot to be said for not even starting up now. He came in in the third game of the season of his fookie year and started playing, But he didn't have that pressure in the preseason. He had that pressure in training camp. He was doing a lot of like one minute and two minutes, you know, no huddle quarterback I mean practices, and he was he was running in a no huddle and doing the one minutes. And he played in the preseason then limited time in the third and fourth quarter, maybe in a backup role. So the pressure of not being the week one starter was not on him, and so when he came in, you know, we kind of try to ease him into it in terms of we had a football team around him. And that's why I say before I said building it around him. We had a good offensive line, we had a running game, We had a pretty solid group of receivers. So it was just coming in and making sure that you ran and it did your part in that offense. I didn't ask you to win games. We'll asking you not to lose games. That doesn't mean you're being risk adverse. So does means you're not taking answers and doing the things that allow him to do. And he did come in and he you know, he felt more comfortable out of the pocket and running around and I used to call it playing street ball, where he didn't. He made the game look very simple. It wasn't how we designed it and frustrating at times as a coach, but at the same time, we were winning games and he was doing things that he felt comfortable. So you try to reel them in, but not too much because you kind of let him do his thing because he was having success, but you knew it wasn't sustainable. So what you really try to do is just get him to grow to develop. While he was very comfortable within this system that he thought was very simple, so you try to keep it simple and let it become more complex and he becomes more comfortable.
I think you gave us the story that Ben would act like he couldn't hear you.
Yeah, that's when he got real. He got wall he got too comfortable. So it says like, like, let me just do this. I think I think my headphones are out. No they're not, because I'll let me get that home. And I said, the helmet's fine. Go oh, Ben, the helmet's fine. He goes with just came back on. I go, yeah, I came back on. It's called selective hearing. Selective hearing. So yeah, if we have it with our kids, it was like I have one of my kids, they have selective hearing.
Can you relate it all to Bill Belichick?
Yeah?
I mean well as a football coach for sure. I mean I think that.
Like, did you ever think like, I mean, that's that's a big change. Could you ever see yourself? I don't think you coached in college as a head coach, but doing something like that. If NC State says would you like to coach us? Could you see that? Even right now? I mean you're younger than Belichick.
Yeah, no, I mean the coaching landscape right now in college sports is just I don't know. I always looked at college sports as being a purity of its amateur element to it you work your way to the professional element. It's a period of time. You know, only one percent of college players are going to play football and everyone else is going to move on to their next state stage in life. And so I thought it was the best four years of my life when I played in college.
Uh.
And you you're tremendously impacted by your coaches, and I love that part of it. I remember going down when I stepped down, be able to talk to to the NC State football team on sprint print spring practices and just recognize the kind of impact you have as a coach for for those people. I remember, you know, my coach had Lou Holtz my first year of bo Ryan my next three years.
Uh.
Some of the players I played with I still am contact with today. And so you know, it's you know, high school football, college football. I mean, that was that was pure, and it was it was a part of growing up, and you know, at that point then you have to be ready to move on to the next days of life. And I was fortunate enough to be able to stay in the professional football make it for for five years and get into coaching, and but I coaching.
Is still it's in your blood.
That's the only thing I'll say about Bill I I do doesn't surprise me, because I do think he does love coaching game of football. I think he's his core values of how he believes the game should be played, and the respect that he has for the game is something that will be a great benefit to the players that he ends up coaching. So I think that from that standpoint as a football coach, he's tremendously insightful. I think he's very good at what he does, you know, have great impact on those people. So I think that if mess standpoint, it doesn't surprise me. It wouldn't be interesting to see how the how it goes with them and the whole college football scene. Dan right now with the NIL and they're hiring gms. Now you're talking about positions of gms and college football. It's almost like the wild wild West. I just just doesn't seem like to any guardrails sometimes in terms of what they can and can't do.
How many times do you think you were out coached in your career.
I think it does happen.
I mean, I mean We spend a lot of time talking about coaches and Belichick being maybe the greatest coach of all time, but can you get out coached?
Yeah, I mean, I think when you're not prepared and you don't have the ability to have flexibility to make you know, uh, you know, alterations in terms of what you do in the course of a game. You got to know, you talk about in house game adjustments. That's real. What's real is the fact is you can prepare all week for something and if I can show you something that you have prepared for them, it's gonna be your ability to be able to be a good teacher on the men and to be able to do some things on the sideline to make some adjustments in game adjustments. And so that to me is where at times, you know, you feel like you're you're you're play caller or you're a defensive signal caller. Sometimes you feel like you're just just one play behind. There's there's a step ahead. Then you call something and they can beat you with it, or something you are ahead of them. You're dictating the pace of play. So I do think coaching is so impactful in the game and every game that you win or lose, you can go back to three or four plays that maybe you wish you had back, and three or four plays that you say, wow, you know it was a great call at the right time. Or at times it's just the way the ball bounced. And so there are times when you know it's just you know, you can take one or two plays and it's a fifty to fifty ball that you didn't come down with.
Is that being out coached?
I wouldn't say that is, but I think to a degree, I think every football game that you win and lose, there's a tremendous impact that coaching can have in that game in terms of what you do and also then moving forward, and I do think that sometimes some of the greatest lessons you learned is you watch a football team you think one thing going in then you come.
Out of it.
Is that ability to be able to stay a step ahead all of a sudden, all of a sudden, not be a team that can be all we know exactly what you're going to do every week. I'm always going to have the better players than you. So I got schematically be able to do something that can give my football team a competitive eage And how I coach them, and my decision making and my ability to adapt and adjust and do some things differently because it's just not working. He beating my head against the wall. Think, Okay, we're's going to keep doing it because that's who we are. To know who we are should be someone you're not sure who we are. If I can make sure you're not sure who we are because we show a lot of different things. That to me is what great coaching is about. Is to be able to stay a step ahead, to be creative in your thinking, open mind in your thinking, and keep your players kind of excited about what's coming up next, because even they know if there's gonna be something a little bit tweaking, we're gonna tweak something about how we approach every game each week, making it all personal.
Is there a decision that you made that still haunts you?
Ah?
You know. I mean, you get fourth and three in the AFC Championship game and you have the three yard line, and it's like, that's your game. If you go score a touchdown, you you go to the super Bowl. If you don't, you go home. Well, we called the play and Neil Donald pass that was batted down by Dennis Gibson that was intended for Barry Foster. So I guess I just gave you that play, which I was so yeah, so it was incomplete. When I want that play, yeah, maybe I would want that play. Yeah, okay, you had to bring it up. I just told you there was a Neil Donald now by Dennis Gibson and it was intended for Barry Foster. I thought it was a great play. I actually called the play and it was the nineteen ninety four AFC Championship game against the San Diego Chargers, So.
Yeah, that was.
Ironically enough, the following year in the same end zone, AFC Championship game, last play of the game was a hail Mary from Jim Harball into the end zone and this one was bada don So this was another incomplete pass the end zone, but this time it was a good thing. So it was I remember those two plays very vividly, and also the remember the play that we have Ben Roethlisberger block and Antoine Randael to Hines ward play. We practiced that for so long and it was in the fourth quarter and it was kind of sealed the game. So you do remember particular plays that we're very impactful in big games, and they're not always wins.
Are you glad you called in today?
Yeah?
Yeah, I'm glad.
IM glad you even asked me to come in.
Yeah, okay, I am okay, I know, I just.
I like this conversation. This is great.
I didn't want to ruin your day where you're you know, you're going to lunch and your wife's going, what's wrong? The very foster throw and.
I know you started listen.
I I love the fact this time of year there is free agency going on. They're getting ready for the draft, you know, and free agency really does impact the draft. Say what you want, but like a lot of things that happened between now and then, you know, I go back to up until the very day of the draft. We traded for uh Drome bettas against with the Rams, and consequently we didn't uh, we didn't we were going to take Eddie George if we didn't get very uh, if we didn't get Drone Bette.
So h there's you know this this time of the years.
It's funny because everybody's decisions and you have like the musical chairs with the quarterbacks. He's got Russell Aaron. You still have the giants probably looking for one, but are they going to draft one? You know, is Kevin o'kake going into it with JJ McCarthy and no other veterans. So you're kind of waiting to see what happens and how that unfolds. And so it's if you wake up and you kind of check the news and see what any news is the other day, and we're still still waiting on Aaron And know you, Ie'm sure he's still on the beach walking up and down this morning to see what he wants to do. I don't know, but you know, but it's like I said before, there's no timetable right now. I know we all got in and get anxious about what's going on, what are we going to do here there? But you know, at the same time, I think you're getting ready for some of these pro days, you're getting ready for the draft, and and I think right now you're getting a feel for what you want to do and and more importantly where the where players mindsets are.
Great to talk to your coaches always, thanks for joining us.
Thanks Dan. Anytime.
That's the Hall of Famer Bill Counter.
Be sure to catch the live edition of The Dan Patrick Show weekdays at nine am Eastern six am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app.
Let's bringing Seth Davis. He of course from CBS Sports. You know, that Loyal and Marymount team was so far ahead of everybody in basketball when you think about what they were doing when they were doing it. This is what the game is now, certainly in the NBA.
Yeah, and it's kind of you know when you mentioned that, you know, so many unbelievable memories obviously from not only that team but that era, and it's it's interesting that nobody has really tried to do that. Now we have the analytics, and we have the three point shot and the spacing and all of that, but just the frenetic you know, early shot clock attempt no matter what. You know, there's like that Division III school, Grinnell College is that way and there's some dispute and it's an interesting conversation. Is that really basketball? I mean are they trying to win the thing about that Loyal and Marimount team is they were really good. I mean they won a lot of games playing that way. It's just interesting that you know, in today's era, especially with the Portlal, you think a lot of players will want to try to play that way.
But also it's a we want to take a three, We'll give you a two. We're going to take a three. And Paul west had, you know, had great shooters on that team, great scores on that team, and really you haven't seen anybody replicate that in Division one basketball, which you know, given the fact that everybody wants shoot threes, you would think that that would be something if they found a couple of really good three in d guys, that you'd be able to incorporate that. All right, I got off on a tangent there. What if North Carolina loses tonight? Seth, I do not like.
The better question? What if North Carolina makes the Sweet sixteen, does that mean they deserve to get in? No, the tournament is nuts. Stopped trying to make sense. Everybody wants to make s Oh, Gonzaga, that means they shouldn't have gotten remember whichitass State didn't get the right seat on that show? That No, no, no, no, no, the turn it it all starts over again. There are a lot of teams that are not in this tournament that could win a few games. We've had two teams in the last fourteen years, go from the first four to the final four. We don't need to get off another tangent. But I happen to be a proponent of expansion partly for this reason. I mean, imagine, by the way, Dan, you know we've got two games tonight and two games tomorrow night. How excited are your listeners about those games? Maybe not really, But if there were six games today and six games tomorrow, I think there'd be a lot more excitement. But yeah, I encourage people. Please don't use NCAA tournament results to retroactively justify whatever narrative you're trying to create.
Could we have total transparency with the selection committee and they would allow us to see and hear what goes on behind the scenes. Is that asking too much, invading somebody's privacy to let us see? So there is no discrepancy, so we do hear the arguments here.
Right, So I start with this spaceline. No matter what happens, when that Brackett comes out, people are going to be pissed, and some opportunistic governor is going to do whatever he does, and everyone's going to get on social media. Everybody's going to be pissed. No matter what happens. I got half my timeline criticizing me for fawning over the committee and Bubby Bubba Cunningham when I asked him the question on the selection show, and the other half things that I am totally unfair Duke Hack who set them up for an unfair question. It's just the nature of the zeit, guys. This happened with the college football playoff when Alabama didn't get in. So I think the basketball committee, I think the football is way behind on this, and I understand this is the first year that they've done this. The basketball committee in the nca in general, has been extremely transparent about the process. Why do you think there are two hundred and fifty or five hundred bracketologists out there all using the numbers everything is out there. At the end of the day, it becomes very subjective. You get seven teams for three spots, right, that's the math. And so I've actually frankly talked to them about putting a pool reporter in the room so they can report on the person in the room can report on that at least maybe for the bracketing. Because everybody has a million conspiracies? Are you just they obviously, obviously they just want to set up Patino in Calipari. You know, they used to and they haven't done this in a while. Then they actually used to do a mock selection where they bring in members of the media such as myself, put them in the actual committee room on the actual committee computers, and have them go through, you know, a truncated process so we all understand what the process is at the end of the day. I get the argument that, hey, these are big decisions and we want people to be able to speak freely, and if there's a camera in the room, they can't speak freely and have a real candid discussion about things. It's a very difficult position to be in because you know they're subject to such criticisms. So, look, I disagree with the North Carolina decision. By the way, go to all these bracketologists who are up in arms. All of them had Carolina in their first four out. Many of them had Carolina as their first team out or their second team out. And every year there is a team that comes sort of from further down the list, but people don't expect to be in. It's a little unfortunate that this year that team happened to be the school where not just someone on the committee, but the actual chair of the committee is the ad from that school, and he's gotten an incentive in his contract. It's all bubba mice. Dan, I disagree, but that doesn't make it corrupt.
Yeah, I just there's so much money at stake, there's jobs at stake, you know. I just I want to make sure they get it right. It's just like the college football playoffs. I want to make sure they get it right.
Would't you agree that that there is no right at the end of the day, it's otherwise. The better answer, Dan, would be, let's not have any human beings do it. Let's have an algorithm and let's plug in the numbers and let's let the AI computer or whatever will use your image AI generated to you know, but why even have people in the room. It's subjective. You're gonna get what the football went from four to twelve. That means whoever thirteen is going to be mad. It's just it's just math.
Okay, So why don't we do that? Or why don't we let Vegas decide who are the teams that should be in.
There's a case for that. Listen, I've made the case, and I'll give Joe Lonardi credit for being one of the first to really say this. People talk about the eye test. I don't think there should be an eye test. Oh look at them. They both like, you see your vine and you see San Diego. Look at this game, they both. Have you seen every team play every game this year? Because I watch a lot of basketball and I haven't done that, but those numbers have seen that. So you know, there is some subjectivity built into the really on the fringes of the process. You know, ninety percent of what happens and who's in and where they're seated and where they play is pretty baked in. So it's only in that last maybe ten percent where you get genuine human subjectivity. And as long as you have that, people are going to be mad. They're going to have conspiracy theories. Oh, we should have basketball people on the committee. We should have non NCAA people on the committee. Blah blah blah. Win enough games and you don't have to worry about it.
Seth Davis from CBS Sports joining us. Let's say Duke doesn't win the national title. Let's say Duke maybe bounds out in the Elite eight. Is there a scenario where Cooper Flag would come back to Duke in your.
Opinion, there's a better chance that I will play for Duke next year. And by the way, I do have eligibility that Cooper Flag there is zero chance and he should. I would not suggest that anybody make that kind of a decision based on the NCAA tournament and what happens in a postseason. Who knows what happens in this tournament. He's going to be the number one pick in the draft. Yes, he can make good money coming back to Duke. He can make exponentially more going to the NBA. You know, when Zion Williamson was about to make his announcement, he said, well, we don't know how serious he really was, but he actually talked to coach k about this and he said, what if I come back? Like I had such fun Like what if I come back? And KA basically told him, well, you don't have a scholarship here and you don't have a roster here. I don't want that. On the go pro go make your hundred million dollars so.
Much Cooper Flag get paid.
That's a great question, and he wants transparency that's what I'd like to know. I would guess neighborhood of eight million all in right between. He's probably getting two from Duke and their whole collective. Mean, he's got his own new Balance.
He's got to get more from Duke than the guy at Kansas State got two million dollars.
He got two million dollars from their collective. But Cooper Flag is a unicorn in terms of his market. I mean, he's got his own shoe deal, he's at the signature Nike's school, and he's got a new Balance deal. That's pretty good. That's my hat's off to him, man.
But but you don't want Brown.
I want to.
Shout at his agent at SAA, that's pretty good.
You don't want to go to the Wizards though.
You know what, It's funny. I grew up a Wizards fan, and I went down to Durham to interview Cooper Flag and a couple of guys for Fox Sports. I said to him, I said, you look pretty good in the Wizard's uniform, but they're not gonna win. Look, it will be the most Wizards thing ever to not not. They're gonna pick third or whatever whatever, the.
Lowest one what were you a Bullets fan before then? They became because I remember seeing the the Bullets with Wes Unsell and Phil and Elvin Hayes.
Elvin Hayes, Yeah. Do you remember the old Capital Center with that sort of concave. Yeah, yeah, out in Landover, Maryland. Dad, you know those games back in the day. We are old, and we are old.
The transfer portals effect on college basketball good or bad?
I think it's I think on balance it's been very good. I think that I would like to see maybe for the second time transfer you have to sit out of here. That's really what happened. People talk about the portal. The portal is just a database that allows everybody to see who wants to transfer, who doesn't, and help you to get in touch. What really happened was it used to be if you transferred, you had to sit out a year, and it was only in like a couple of sports. So they got rid of that, and then they said, oh, okay, on the second transfer, you have to sit out of here, but we're gonna have exceptions for hardships. And then everybody's uncle got super sick and they had to, you know, go live near the uncle, and so they ended up getting rid of that. That's part of why, you know, I'm hoping at some point it seems inevitable, then they just make them employees, let them unionize, get a collective bargaining agreement, and maybe maybe it gets rectified that way. But you know, I see and I understand, like when people will say, oh, you know, these mid major teams, they have a great player, and then he can just transfer up, and that's not fair to the mid major schools, but they can also get transfers from schools who are in lower divisions. And by the way, a lot of these players start off at those power conference schools and don't get a lot of minutes and they end up transferring down. So I don't think there's been any change in that regard. The best players are always going to go to the schools with the best resources, and so it's sort of manifesting itself differently. But this is as far as I'm concerned, It's been that way since the beginning of time.
Well, look at Drake. They took players from Division two to fill out that roster. So you're right, you can go down lower if you need to give me the sneaky give me two or three sneaky teams that they may not get to the final four, but they're going to create some havoc.
Well, Drake is definitely one of them. You know, Ben McCollum came from D two, won national championships there, brought four players. And by the way, you see San Diego as another team. I've got them going to the Sweet sixteen. Actually this is their fourth year in Division one, but there's a transition period about being so is their first year being eligible for the tournament. So those are hungry. But a lot of those guys came from a Division two as well. What I like about Drake dan and maybe this is someone that all the bracket filler outers can look out for, Like I do like teams that slow tempo because it's you get these stylistic contrasts. So they're playing Missouri, which likes to get out and go, and you know basketball better than anyone. It's much easier to take a team that wants to run and slow them down, then take a team that wants to play slow and try to speed them up. So St. Mary's is another team that plays a slow tempo liberty. They're playing Oregon in the first round. That's my first round upset. I really like high Point as a thirteen seed. They won their league last year, lost in the conference tournament, brought a lot of those guys back. They got a guy Bobby Pettiford who played at Kansas Ye now coming off their bench, and they won all year. They won their league by three games. And then McNeice is the other one. Will Wade's got some serious, serious high major athletes. I like high Point because they go seven feet six' eight in the front court and they're six. Man is a stretch for six.' nine a lot of times those mid major teams don't have the size up front that some of the high majors. ONE does i Like the panthers Of.
High point give me the vulnerable number. One, SEED well i Think.
IT'S auburn, I mean i think there's any question that they've lost. THEIR edge i think the mantle of being as good as, they are as good as they've been in that league. All, season now, you know maybe they know. Rejuvenate themselves auburn is an, Amazing, story dan and that all of, those guys they got, one guy a freshman point guard. To hot pettiford comes off. The bench he was a. Top recruit everybody else. ARE trained, I Mean jenni broom is the player of, the year spent his first two Seasons At. MOREHEAD state, i mean they got guys who transferred Into from. Division Two, Chad baker mazara came from. Junior college so they kind of they need to get, that back like that chip on. Their shoulder they're much Better Like, sea biscuit, you know trying to play.
From behind should there be an age? CEILING that i think the point Guard for creighton is? Twenty four is that? That right we get to the, point where, you know maybe.
Twenty, THREE well i don't think it should. BE age, i, DO obviously i think it should. Be eligibility, and again this is why we just need to get to, collective bargaining because the Governor Of, west virginia, YOU know, i mean what's what makes you more popular as a politician or attorney general prosecutor than, you know sticking up for athletes AGAINST. The ncaa one thing that is going to happen. Next year the whole sport's going to get younger because this is the last year of the QUOTE unquote covid senior everybody got an extra year of eligibility BECAUSE, Of covid so you got guys who are playing and if like you had a medical, red shirt but now like they're trying to make it so and these judges are helping them out that the junior college doesn't count against. Your clock so you can play two years in junior college and now and now have five to play Four in. Division one that's not. Gonna last. IT'S craziness i.
Tell you we'll talk to you in. The tournament always great to connect.
With you Love, you dan thanks for having. Me on enjoy.
The tournament, Thank you sin
