The Herd with Colin CowherdColin compares free agent quarterbacks Aaron Rodgers and Russell Wilson as they look to make their final decisions on which team to play for in 2025. He tells you why he was right about the Warriors and wrong about Cooper Kupp. Plus, he talks to Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo about preparing for the Big Dance and adjusting to the modern landscape of college basketball
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This is the Best of the Herd with Colin Cowver on Fox Sports Radio.
Oh.
Here we go in a rambunctious Monday live in Los Angeles. It's the Herd wherever you may be and however you may be listening. Thanks for making us part of your day. One hour from now. Where Colin was right, Where Colin was wrong. Tom Izzo, my friend and the legendary Michigan State spartanhead basketball coaches, joining us this hour. Why I'm rooting for Izzo and Rick but Tino in this tournament. Jmack. I'll get to that in about five minute. The Warriors remain on fire Free. Agency's mostly done. Hope you had a great weekend. We checked out Friday. I got Auburn with in the Natty. We'll give our picks in the second hour. I'm gonna go with Auburn is there a team off the top you like?
Oh, well, I love everything about the tournament. I'll say Texas Tech a team I like. But Auburn's had some trouble in round two.
I'll just tell you that.
Right now, Loui Ego's got a home game Colline.
So I gotta start with this. Though, for years and years it was sort of understood that Russell Wilson and Aaron Rodgers.
Eh, you know.
They weren't really into each other, and they were opposites. And then as I look at all the stories that emerged over the weekend, vikings are going to pass. Looks like they're going to pass on Aaron Rodgers. The Aaron Rodgers waiting game in New York. Russell Wilson is ready to sign and doesn't have a team. And it's funny Aaron and Russell. One is all worshiping of God and one pushed back on his family's religion. One is hopelessly optimistic to the point of cringey, and the other, let's be honest, he's like a sad trombone in cleats half the time. And yet here's Russell and Aaron in the same boat, a little needy and most of the league not interested yet yet to add another layer to that, And I'm sorry for the radio audience. Since twenty twenty two, they are identical quarterbacks. Wins, losses, completion percentage, touchdown passeray, same guy. No playoff wins since twenty twenty two. And if you sign either, you're guaranteed something. With Russell a new slogan, let's ride. And with Aaron you will be notified very quickly if he's in the room, you're the second smartest person. And what you find with both is this is not the NBA. It is not a player controlled league. Even if a player is a talented quarterback, is a where drama and noise and occasional semi conflict is bad news, and you will tolerate it when a star is in his prime. Fortunately, unlike the NBA, you just don't get it much. In the NFL. Most quarterbacks good guys, all about winning, great teammates, quality people, no nonsense. But now I've always defended Russell Wilson because he was not a grasses, greener guy. He wanted to stay in Seattle. They got rid of Russell, and I used to be a huge fan, but Sean Payton bailed on him. Pete Carroll bailed on him, and Mike Pate, Mike Tomlin just bailed on him at some point. There is something here that coaches find it pretty easy to bail on Russell Wilson. But it was never a grass is greener thing. Meanwhile, Aaron was a Green Bay isn't doing me right thing, and the grass was incredibly green in Lambeau, but he wanted something else. But it is remarkable to me how these guys. Aaron was so sort of I was told rolled his eyes at Russ, and here was Russ. Hey, I'm not like the guy in Green Bay. No drama here, all about team. Let it ride, go Hawks. They've kind of become the same guy in a sport where the shield, the GM, the coach runs the show. If you're scene is a little high maintenance, whether it's passive, aggressive or cringiness, most of the league is going to pass on you. So Tom is, oh, later this hour, I will tell you I've got Obviously I'm a huge Iso fan Mark few college basketball is more about the coach. And in a year we don't have Yukon this year, we don't have a thirty seven and three team, we don't have a we don't have a you know, Duke has some NBA guys. Last year, Yukon is one of the I mean, honestly, it's one of the best college basketball teams we've had in over ten years. I mean, they were blowing people out, including an excellent and an excellent Zach Heedy and an excellent Purdude team in the Natty. Like like last year, it was an easy one. I pick Yukon. I mean, you could watch him once, but they look like an NBA team, big, physical. A team I'm rooting for this year is Saint John's a dead program. I'm rooting for Rick Patino, and I think they have a chance to win it. He is the story and we see this a lot in America of a really talented guy that kind of screwed his life up. There is an argument he is, along with John Wooden, coach Kay and a few others, the greatest college basketball coach. Ever, what is this his seventh final four potentially six programs. He's gotten into March madness and he's taken over some dumpster fires. Now he's gotten a little help from the richest Saint John's alum, the Cat who created vitamin water has sprinkled a little green vitamins into Saint John's nil. So they went and bought some good players. But what Rick Patino is, He's kind of got a Bill Parcells feel, an Urban Meyer feel, a Jim Harbaugh feel. He's got a formula, coaches hard, great eye for talent, teams play suffocating defense. He's situationally brilliant. And here is his team again going into the tournament. He is a turnaround wizard, and a lot of programs they didn't want anything to do with Rick Mattino if you go look at his coaching turnarounds, which I'm putting on the screen here. I never thought when he was coaching the Celtics or Kentucky he'd end up at Iona and a dead Saint John's program. But you know, he's a brilliant basketball coach, and occasionally his moral compass has flipped around a little bit, hasn't gone as north as you'd prefer so. But what's interesting with Patino, and this is what's fascinating kind of about life as his stray because of his kind of mess ups, is his flexibility, his mobility, his ability to be thrown into turbulence and course correct the program overnight. And for years and years a college basketball coach would go to a program like Dean Smith and you just didn't leave. You stayed there forever. But now with a transfer portal in the NIL, and so many college basketball coaches saying, enough of this nonsense, I'm out of here Patino. The sport is leaning into Patino. His specialty, the salesman with a brilliant basketball mind. Right, a lot of guys in coaching, they don't want to be a salesman. They love basketball. We've seen a Boston college football coach last year said I don't want to be a salesman. I want to be a football coach, went to the Packers. Most coaches are like that. A lot of great coaches, Jay Wright had plenty of years left. They want to do all this NIL and transfer port it's just exhausting and he become like a pro GM. But actually, if you look at Patino's career, it plays right into his strength. You can throw him into any room and he can sell Rick. He can sell basketball, he can sell his ideology and his knowledge. And the sport now is built for Rick Patino. And I'm gonna root for Saint John's because a lot of really smart people occasionally in life screw up. That's that's the world we live in. We can be an avalanche and bury him, or we can say, well, what are you gonna do? Put them in jail. So I am all for Saint John's. I think it's great for the sport. I love to see New York City care about college basketball because I grew up in the Pacific Northwest and my favorite conference wasn't the Pac twelve, it was the Big East. You had Rowley and John Thompson and Louis Carnaseca, and they've been trying to get Saint John's going for years and the facilities still aren't great, but they got a big booster, they got some money, and they have arguably the best coach in college basketball, and he's heading to the tournament once again. Here's Rick.
You are a New Yorker. You delivered on your promise to New York. What's your message in New York City as you headed the Big Dance.
Well, we've built this program now into a solid foundation. Now we're going to take off. This garden's packed every night. I always say the NCAA have been knocked out in the first round of it. The seven final fours, and nobody knows what's going to happen. Play it one game at a time.
Yeah, Now, last year we all kind of knew what was going to happen. Yukon was going to end up in the Final four and be favored in national championship. But I think this year is a year for an Izzo. Keep your eye on the coaches, because I Auburn is the best team I saw, but Florida now is hotter. The SEC is completely stacked. I have two teams in the SEC going to the final four. Wouldn't be shocked if there was three. I would not be shocked if there were three SEC teams. I said this two months ago with Jmac on the air. I watched them SEC basketball in January. I'm like, it doesn't even look like any that conference, Like it is sixth best team is great. So I'm I'm my bracket's got a lot of excellent veteran coaches moving up and moving out over players where I think there's just a lot of sameness. But I can't wait to see Patino tom izzoh later this hour. And oh, by the way, the Warriors won again this weekend with Jimmy Butler the hottest team in the NBA. You love j Mack, you love the tournament. You bet the tournament. You're the only guy that's that follows Creighton Basketball's depth chart. So I'm gonna go. I do think coaching is going to be really important. I also think all these SEC teams, these Florida's, these Tennessees, these Auburns, They've all played each other all year, and I think there it reminds me a little bit of growing up when the ACC or the Big East was stacked. I think the SEC those teams have been playning like tournament level intensity for the last month.
Yeah, and you know I've mentioned this many times to you. I'm a multi bracket guy.
I'm like, it's still out twenty brackets. Some of them will have three SEC teams in the final four. You're a one bracket guy. I'm trying to get you off that tough team.
I got two SEC teams in the final four interest two.
Yeah.
Oh, and do you have Duke in there?
Uh No, I do not have Duke favorable draw of any of the time. Okay, I have I have one dark horse in the tournament. I'm not gonna give it away. Now give it away next hour.
The staff got me onto who your dark horses. I'm not going to say anything.
It ain't that dark.
Don't love it. Don't love it, Colin, I'll be honest with you. But it should be a fun week.
Then be sure to catch live editions of The Herd Weekdays in neonon eastern non am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio FS one and the iHeartRadio.
App Coaches in college basketball and a friend and how lucky are we? I asked the guys, I said, just get me, Just get me is O and Mark few and I'm good and Tom is Oh thirty seasons at Michigan State, eight Final four appearances. Okay, I've watched you play four times. You defend the three, you don't shoot it particularly well. Well, okay, I'm just being fair. Your team's always defend, they rebound, They're tough, like Patino. You coach your players hard and they respond to it. What about this team? What's the secret sauce about this team? That why you like them?
They're connected, you know, and everybody talks about being connected, Colin, but this team is really connected. It's been connected, and you know, we've kind of put our egos aside and everybody's playing for.
Each other, and that doesn't always happen.
We're playing nine to ten guys, we're we do rebound pretty well, we actually score it pretty well, we shoot free throws well, and yes, you are correct, you did your scouting report.
Did not shoot them three very well.
But the last two three weeks we've been moving up drastically from the three, and if we can get that down, I think we could really do some damage.
You know, It's funny. A lot of coaches, my buddy Jay Wright, like, I think there's a lot of coaches that look at nil and as for portal and go get me out of here. And I don't know if Jay did that, but I think, you know, Jay's such a great guy. But you have kind of said, like, hey, this is the world. I can complain or I can adapt. Why have you with all this fluctuation? Why are you still Michigan State? Why are you still good? Why have you adapted so easily?
Well, since you were honest with me about my three point shooting, I'm gonna be honest with you.
I don't like it. I don't like it.
I don't like it for a lot of reasons, especially in the transfer portal. I think more kids are going to get hurt. But that's another story on another day.
But like Jay right, like Nick Saban, you know, those guys are friends of mine.
They decided to go another way. I'm too dumb and stubborn to do it.
I guess I just figured that I got to get back to the basics.
Last year, I was on all kinds of committees. I worried about it.
This year, I kind of stuck the coach in my team, and I've been lucky.
I got some good players.
I got a couple of guys that really elevated their game. I got one of my former stars, Jason Richardson son, who has.
Really elevated his game. And uh, you got a player's son from the past. That either means you're getting older you survived.
Oh, and I don't know what's you know, it's interesting years ago. It's funny about the tournament. Everybody loves Florida, and I said, be very careful hot teams. It doesn't translate all the time. You got to be caring. For years and years, everybody always said you gotta have great guard play. Well, you know what does matter in your years of doing this, is there one or two things that absolutely translate from regular season to March.
Well, you know, I'm a big football guy.
I love football, and I think in football, you know, at the end of the day, yes, still all the fancy stuff comes and goes. You still got to build a block and tackle and not turn the ball over.
Well, and you ask me.
And basketball, you still got to be able to defend and run and you can't turn the ball over. So well, there are some things that are similar no matter what sport you're in. Ours is a little different because that damn ball's got to go in the basket sooner or later.
You could run all the best offense. If the final shot doesn't go in, it hurts.
But I think what translates defense carries just like it does in all other sports, whether it's hockey, baseball, basketball, or football. We've been pretty solid. That's why I think we've had a pretty good run. But you know, getting to the free throw line, I think matters and making shots because in the tournament you get down to the nitty gritty and people are following you, so you got to be able to make free throws, which we can do on the three point line.
We're improving.
Listen, I'm not a scout. I just watched your games and I'm like, Okay, that's not what they do.
You know.
It's interesting. I was talking to Mark View Friday and when I've talked to Mark privately, and I'm like, Hey, do you ever steal stuff from coaches? And He's like, oh God, yes, I take stuff from everybody. When you've been around as long as you've been, do you ever find yourself during the court You're sitting at home and all of a sudden, you watch a game and you're like, oh, I must steal that. I like that inbounds play? Do you do that?
I'm so dumb. And Mark Few and I are good friends. We're both on these committees that we just went through all this stuff.
But I'm so dumb.
I not only steal it, but I name it after the team I steal it from. So if I got a Zags player, if I got a seventy six Ers player, a Lakers play, it's because I stole it from them. So my plays are named after a lot of people or a lot of teams, which means I'm stealing a lot.
Yeah, So listen, I watched the SEC this year and I said this, I picked Auburn to win it, and I said, I think it helps when your conference is good because you get battle tested, you're in close games. Is there I ask everybody this. In fact, I asked few about this, and he said, Houston, is there a team you've either played or scouted that you've looked at and you think to yourself today, Yeah, I'd rather not see them until maybe the final four. Who's a team that guys like me won't pay attention to, but you've seen them and you're like, yeah, that team's trouble.
Well, it's interesting, Mark said, Houston.
Believe it or not, I replaced Kelvin Samson here as a GA.
He used to work for jud Heathcote many years ago.
And I think my teams are tough and pretty good defensively.
I think his teams are insane.
They're like the eighty five or six Bears, whatever it was. You know, they're phenomenal defensive team.
They got toughness. What he's done is he's added the.
Three point shot and now they're a better shooting team. So I'd have to agree with Mark, they're one of but I saw Auburn in person and Hawaii we didn't play them, but I saw him.
They were impressive. Florida has been impressive as of late.
I still think the Alabamas, but I I played against them last year. I think Tennessee still brings those intangibles. Yeah, they have toughness, they're well coached. Rick is a great coach, and they're really really good defensively.
Tom, it was a politician's answer. I gave you a bunch of them.
By the way, I see right behind you you have lunch, so you look fantastic for your age. What do you have back there? Vegetables? A kale salad? What are you having for lunch?
It's a salad man. You got good eyes. Your scutting reports are pretty good.
You got that.
We catch you threes and I eat salad for lunch. This is a hell of a deal man.
Tom is the great. Tom is Oh, good luck coach, Thanks for coming on the herd.
Thanks going saybuddy all right?
Tom is oh a great coach. I actually have j Mack. I have Tennessee in my final four.
Interesting.
Interesting, I also have a ridiculous dark horse.
Oh ahead, tell them.
You're not gonna get into I. I want to save it for the audience tomorrow, no later, in the next hour. I gotta give you the audience some gems. I have Auburn winning it. I do have Tennessee in the final four.
Okay, I can't hate it. No, no love for Cooper Flag and Duke.
How good did Duke look without Cooper Flag in the a SEC tournament.
I know the AEC wasn't great.
Anybody can go total chop. You have to have at least a four seed in there?
Is that? What the minimum is? A four seed?
Well, I mean that's historically not a lot of five seeds get in.
Like last year, NC State, two years ago. Fau like somebody always sneaks it.
I have a sneaky team.
They play as sneaky as you see San Diego.
God, everybody is on that Wait.
I talked about him last weekend.
Michigan.
Yeah, I already bet it money line and with the points.
Michigan's big.
They are big, but they have any depth.
And there's a history of Big ten tournament teams trying super hard in the Big ten tournament where you scout well and care four games and four days and then you've got to turn around and play quickly.
You know what let down?
You know, it's ridiculous. College basketball is the only sport where your conference tournament means nothing. Well, I mean like Michigan. Well Michigan got a fifth seed, didn't they They won the tournament, didn't get anything.
Out of it.
That's a fair point.
Yeah, Michigan is very big, as you see San Diego that just became a Division one couple of years ago.
Now, they're a great story that the athletic had an awesome story on them. This is gonna sound so nerdy. I stole some of his coaching principles and applied it to my kids.
Youth basketball leagues.
They do this no middle defense where everybody keeps a foot in the paint.
We're not giving a playoff.
You're not getting in the late even though they have no size, and it works great.
Uh listen, man.
That sounds like the Wildcat offense.
That's what it sounds.
No middle defense. I guarantee you it'll work for a week.
That's all you need, well, three weeks to win the title. You see, they're not they're not winning the title obviously.
So I've watch Michigan State. Michigan State's the kind of team that's gonna win multiple gay. They play too hard, they play defense, they rebound, they just don't shoot three. So that's not what they do.
They gotta get Jason Richardson's kids more shots. There is those a little too balanced. No, we gotta we got to sub him out and get all these Richardson's a stud.
That kid is awesome. We've got to get more shots, keep him on the floor.
This is such a fun time of the year.
This is the greatest.
Yeah, there's only one time of the year. I don't talk to my wife about finances. It's this weekend.
You know.
I'm gonna go ahead and guess Aaron Rodgers makes a decision like Thursday or Friday, because it's got to be about Aaron all the time, you know. And he's gonna try to steal the thunder from them.
That felt like a little boy.
Has your boy doing? Is he in a dark mis retreat?
I haven't heard anything, boy, A lot of shots fired, I am. You know what is he might bump into him at Arawon here in Malibu. You gotta be very careful.
I'm not going to Malibu all the earthquakes are hitting over there.
I had a shaker yesterday.
Yeah, I didn't feel it, Oh I did. I did, locked in on brackets, so.
I thought it was the gin and soda. It was just that it was just a default line.
Be sure to catch editions of The Herd weekdays and Noone eastern nin am Pacific.
Hey, Steve Covino and I'm Rich David and together we're Covino and Rich on Fox Sports Radio.
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We talk about everything life, sports, relationships, what's going on in the world.
We have a lot of fun talking about the stories behind the stories in the world of sports and pop culture, stories that well other shows don't seem to have the time to discuss.
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That's Covino and Rich. Welcome in at to hour two and a Monday first one flew by. Thanks to Tom Izzo for stopping by live in Los Angeles. It's the herd wherever you may be and however you may be listening. Thanks for making us part of your day. Later this hour, the best free agent signing that's not getting discussed. I think you'll love it and I'm really rooting for this guy, Colin right, Colin wrong in a couple of minutes. And the NCAA tournament listen last year was easy. You've con ended up thirty seven and three four NBA guys, physicality, size, guard play. They were great, great coach this year. A lot of the best teams, Michigan State, Saint John's Houston, they're really defensive teams. The scoring does not come easy. So now now duke duke scoring comes a little more easily, but I just I can't go it's not gonna be perfect. I do think coaching will matter. That benefits you know, Izzo, Mark Few, It's gonna benefit Rick Fatino. I think coaching will end up being big in this tournament because I don't think we have a dominant team. And I've watched as much college basketball in the last two or three weekends as as I'm gonna watch, and so defense is the overwhelming story. Very few teams score easily or a lot. Tom Ilm made a great point. They score, they just don't shoot threes to score. But they'll end up in the high seventies and eighties. They just they do it a little unconventionally. Their defense leads their offense. All right, here we go Colin right, Colin wrong. Every Monday. Where Colin was right, I've take another right on the Warriors now fourteen and two. Since Jimmy Butler arrived, they have the best net rating in the league. And when they made this move, I said, it's more than just scoring. It's the fact that he's tough. He fits their ethos, he fits their mindset. And what's great about Jimmy Butler is completely unselfish player on this team. He's not taking a lot of shots, he's not taking a lot of threes, and he does not care playoff Jimmy. He has been absolutely great. And this was a move I had said a month before. Get him in the building. It will work.
Where Colin was wrong.
I thought the historically perpetually frugal Bengals would not sign Jamar Chase and t Higgins, and they did. And reportedly Trey Hendrickson is now talking his reps to the team. Listen, will they be top heavy? Yeah, but the NFL owners all get a check for four hundred and fifty million dollars. This league is swimming in money. There's four great players on this team. Pay them. Everybody's swimming in cash. You see what they're paying coordinators. I mean, these owners have money to burn. I was wrong on this.
One where Colin was right.
What a shocker. Aaron Rodgers is dramatic Minnesota now not sure if we're gonna go. Giants have offered him, but reportedly we're gonna draft a quarterback to or bring another one in. He was gonna have to battle for the job. So I've said this before. Uh you know, Aaron's his own guy. You're gonna get some noise in drama, and it has turned out. If I would have told you that either there is one quarterback who can't make up his mind, you would have.
Guessed Aaron where Colin was raw.
I thought Gino Smith to the Raiders, I don't have a problem with it. But reportedly he's going to get forty to forty five million, that's a big contract. He's never won a playoff game. Last year, twenty one TDS fifteen picks Sam Darnold criticized him. All you want signed a team friendly deal and he's seven years younger and more athletics. So I don't have a problem with Gino Smith making them, you know, going to Seattle. I kind of like it for Pete Carroll, but I didn't think he had another forty five million dollar a year contracting Where Colin was right. I said a year ago the Niners should reboot. They waited a year, and now they're they're doing They're getting doged. Essentially, they're moving off all sorts of contracts, and I said they should have done it last year. Ward is now gone, green loss, smart, good player's gone. Who fund it? Excellent safety struggles with health that's gone. I thought last year they got too old, too expensive, and increasingly too brittle. So this is what I said last year they should have done. They waited a year to do it.
Where Colin was wrong.
Little surprise, John Snyder signed Cooper Cup to that deal. His yards have declined four straight seasons. McVeagh moved off him because he couldn't get open. He's also missed eighteen games in the last three years. Now, Schneider has drafted and acquired receivers at a really good rate, so he knows his stuff. But again, there's a forty five million dollars three years. Again, the league has so much money now they're looking for like a number two or three receiver. But I'd be honest with you, I didn't think. I didn't think he'd get that number.
Where Colin was right.
When Brian Kelly left Notre Dame, I said it because the SEC is all about commitment. And this weekend LSU doubled its nil money to eighteen million. A year after losing a recruit to Michigan and again Notre Dame. You have rigorous debates about academics at LSU. It Costa winnin Nanty and that's not a knock on Notre Dame. I love them for who they are. But this is why he left, because you don't have to argue you lose a top recruit to a northern school. Suddenly they double the nil at LSU, where Colin was wrong, well, the Falcons kept their veteran quarterback on their roster, a little bit of a surprise after the way he play at the end of the year. I like Kirk Cousins. I didn't have a problem with a move. I thought his first half of the season was excellent and I thought that's what you would get for the two year contract. Kind of regressed whatever it was, lost his fastball. I would think it's Michael Pennock's time in Atlanta, but this move makes me question that and Colin Wright Colin wrong on a Monday
