← Dan Bernstein Unfiltered
Dan Bernstein Unfiltered
Illinois advances to the Elite 8, Feedback Friday Feedback & the Top 10 NCAA Tournament 'Guys'
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Dan Bernstein
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Dan Bernstein
Dan Bernstein unfiltered unfiltered on 312 sports foreign it's DBU on 31 2. We're brought to you in partnership with my bookie and also today by our friends at Chicago window guys. Call 847-302-9171. Call Russ when you need new windows and by Giordano's Illinois can win it all. The Illini can win it all. That game last night showed me that there are a couple things that they are capable of doing that will allow them to overcome what I think might be some of the pitfalls as a potential national champion. If this team can't do it, I don't know if Brad Underwood's ever going to do it because boy, you have an almost optimized group of players out there. And that game against Houston in Houston showed when they defend as intelligently, as physically as they did, they've got a shot to beat anybody. They are enormous. They are very difficult to to find a someone off of whom to double because so many of their guys are aware and good passers. They don't give the defense against Them an option to say, well, we'll make this guy shoot or we'll make that guy shoot. They're a step ahead of the rotation. I love how hard they play. God, Merkavich is one tough nut, man. He's. He is a. He's a. He's a very skilled college basketball player who will make some money playing professionally somewhere. And that's. That's what's really clear, too, about this Illinois team, is there's a lot of people who will play professional basketball on the floor. It makes it certainly easier to watch when you were watching a lot of college basketball, because there's a lot of. It's bad. Let's just face it. They just miss too many damn shots. There's way too many missed shots out there. And you can say, oh, it's great defense, it's great defense, but it's aesthetically, it's difficult. I know some people love it and go ahead, you know, not gonna yuck your yum on that one. It's not necessarily my yum, but there. There are. There are a lot of Illinois players out there who will play in Europe or play in G League. You know, I think. I think could be a guy who gets a little G League time after, you know, being on somebody's roster and works his way in. I. He'll struggle the next level just because I don't think his feet are quick enough defensively. But he's got some moves, man, and they move the ball around. If they can keep playing in a way that prevents Brad Underwood from having to strategize. That's really good, too. Like, that was almost the perfect Illinois game and a defining game. In a lot of ways, that's a defining win for Illinois because they, they overcame a lot of some of my defensive doubts. Houston's quick. They've got some quick guards, and they were able to shut off some of the quick guards. What they did brilliantly to make the Elite Eight is they forced Houston's worst shooters into taking contested twos. You can live all day with those sac baseline jumpers that they were taking. You know, you turned Flemings into a non factor. And there. If you want to force a team to take baseline, 18 footers all day, that is a really good recipe for winning. And when you build out a lead like that and you can keep it out of the hands of strategy, if you make it not so much a coaching matchup when you're bringing guys in and out and you're calling plays and running plays, and because it's it's just not the strength of your coach that if you can, if you can keep things in a place where it doesn't become a strategic battle of wits, where it's not a chess match, you could beat anybody. And I would say that Illinois right now, because that was, that's the recipe. Everything they did, that is the recipe, with a couple of exceptions. And I'll say this to Keaton Wagler, if you are trying to impress NBA scouts, my man, you gotta finish, you gotta come correct on those drives. It's one thing to be fast, but when they just go vertical on you like that, you gotta get fouled. You gotta come harder into them. You make a choice. If people are going to surround the rim and build those ramparts of long arms around the rim, you got to get over them, you got to get through them, you got to get fouled. And sometimes you might finish, but you can't just kind of lean in and try to flip something up like that. Not at the next level you can't, because that's. Every team is going to have somebody like that. I love the pace with which Wagler plays. I love his heartbeat, his demeanor, his. He can go from zero to 60 on that dribble. But, but man, you, you gotta finish. You gotta not see those defenders. You've gotta make sure. And if they knock you to the ground, show it because get to the line. They were letting him play last night. I thought in both games the officiating was pretty laissez faire. And I, I do not mind that one bit. I know it can, it can muck up a game here and there with guys balling all over the place, but that's fine by me. That's fine. And Tugler was physical. They all were. Boswell was. Boswell didn't have a really good game. I also, I think, you know, the one guy out there who might not be a next level player of some kind of, you know, cash and a pro check somewhere might be him. I wouldn't necessarily force him out there. And also I need a better answer as to what was going on at the end of the first half with all the take files. I, I don't know why you want to increase the number of individual fouls on players unnecessarily. There was no need for that. And you had a five point lead. You end up going into the locker room down two at half and you might have done that anyway without, without adding fouls to some of the individual foul totals there. But boy, there's they, they, they're all aware of each other. They move the ball around really well. They play unselfishly. They've got role players who know their jobs. You know, they've got, they got, you know, biker bar guy who shoots threes, Hum house who shoots threes and is large. That's a job, being large in college basketball. So this is if, if you can't win, if Brad Underwood can't win the title with this particular squad, I don't know if it's ever going to happen. They clear they should make the Final Four. I haven't seen any odds. I haven't looked at that. I haven't looked at what my bookie says about their, their odds to do that. But this is your shot. This team this year, speaking of my bookie, whenever the stakes are high, my bookie is where you turn bets into bankroll. There's always a big matchup on the schedule right now. What more do you need? What more do you want? It just is wagertainment in life than everything you have between baseball and NBA and college basketball. You like props? You got props. Everything can be just as fun as the final score. If you're talking about player points or other stats, that prop board at my bookie is deep and fun to play. Game milestones. You can bet live betting once the game's already started. So jump on in one account, one wallet. MyBookie AG. Bet the spread live bet during the action. There's a casino you can jump in during halftime or between games. You always have something. And it's all there, all at MyBookie AG. But remember the code. Your code is DBU, and that gives you your first bet covered up to 500 bucks. If it doesn't hit, use your bet back bonus token. And then you can run it back like it hadn't even happened. Register Deposit at MyBookie AG. Use the code DBU, and your first bet's covered up to $500. Then you're not just watching the action, you're making it pay. With my bookie here on Friday, we always bring you Friday feedback Friday. And we're going to do that today. I've got. There have been a lot of things going on through the week. Oh, wait, one more thing before I start that. Fred HoIberg. Fred, my man. What say, Fred? Fred, I love you. You're awesome. Your family's great. I even, you know, enjoyed you as a Bulls player. But you got to have enough players on the floor. You can't come out there for a Key defensive stop and be missing a player. 20% of your team was not on the floor. And Fred has always his reputation has been as more of a culture builder puts his system out there. He's not a hardcore disciplinarian going back to Iowa State. It's just never been his thing. But you can be all those things and you can do it your way. And it's been a historic year for Nebraska basketball, winning tournament games. I I get it. You can still say it's been a great year, it's been a positive year. Huge step for the program. But. But my brother in basketball have a full team out on the floor for a critical defensive stop. Please, I beg of you. That's really all I ask. Got some fun basketball obviously coming for the rest of the weekend and maybe maybe next year will be Nebraska's year. There's odd things going out there when when by the Big Ten celebrate Big great time for white basketball happening right now in the college ranks. I think a couple things have happened this week that may have set some kind of record when when there are stories that have been sent in asked about people sending stuff messages with question marks. Are you going to get to this? Are you going to get to this? Are you going to talk about it? Bernstein, please, I'm begging you to talk about this story. And the answer is yes. Yes, I'm going to and yes, I did see the story about Dayton James Weber. Dayton James Weber and the headlines said it all. And I'm for to you who has asked will you discuss this story. Quadruple amputee cornhole player fatally shoots man, Maryland authorities say. And now he has he's being accused of first and second degree murder. This is the AP copy presented as is A professional cornhole player who's also a quadruple amputee has been accused of fatally shooting a passenger in the front seat of a car he was driving during an argument. Quadruple amputee, you driving while driving, kills the guy in the front seat because he's arguing with him. Dayton James Weber, 27, was featured by ESPN in 2023 in a story of Inspiration, noting he rode dirt bikes, wrestled and played football before becoming a professional cornhole player. In the same year he wrote an essay for the Today show about how he became a professional competitor. Sunday night he was arrested and charged as a fugitive from justice by police in Albemarle County, Virginia. He's seeking his extradition from Virginia to charge him with first degree murder, second degree murder and related charges. He was pulled over in La Plata, Maryland. He. Excuse me. He pulled over after the shooting and asked two passengers in the back of the car to help pull the victim out. The witnesses refused. They got out of the car and flagged down police officers. Weber fled with the victims still in the car. Two hours later, a resident in Charlotte hall, about a 10 mile drive away, reported a body in a yard. Officers found the victim, Bradrick Michael Wells, who was pronounced dead at the scene. The American Cornhole League posted a statement on its Facebook page saying it's aware of allegations involving Weber, but it would not comment on what it called an active legal situation while proceedings were ongoing. So then you go back and you watch the videos. The guy was a, was a, A gun fanatic or is a gun fanatic. They eventually found Dayton James Weber in a hospital. He had checked himself into a local hospital and they found him and they arrested him. I don't know why he was in a hospital and I don't know how, how is he going to hide even in a hospital? Because all you gotta do is roll up to the hospital. You go to the front desk and say, is there a quadruple amputee in your hospital? Like, it's not a difficult description to find this guy. This is not just like, well, he's a 5 foot 7 white male of intermediate build who was wearing a white T shirt and black pant. No, he's like, hi, have you seen this guy? Oh, yeah, he's here. Like, come on, man. And second of all, the videos of him with the guns, he's like unloading and loading guns, slapping magazines into these things and firing them. He has no arms and no legs. He has no hands. I'm not making this up. You know what? He's a bad hombre, man. This is a, this is a bad dude. That was my first thought is I'm like, you know, I'm, I'm not going anywhere near this guy. And he was, he was firing away with confidence. He shot a guy while driving. He's driving, first of all, he's driving. He doesn't have any hands or feet or arms or legs. And he's driving. And he was able. He either had a loaded gun, but I, I've seen the video that I can load a gun and fire it. And he shot the guy who's sitting next to him and they got him and he's, he's. He's going to jail for a long time. Professional cornhole player or not, he's going to jail, like real jail. And how does that work? I. I don't. I don't know how it's going to work, but I hope. I hope he's able to. To make some friends in prison, because otherwise. Good luck to you, man. Good luck to you. But this is. This is a. This is a legit bad dude. And I. I don't know if somebody's optioned the rights to the story or if the story is ongoing, but prison ain't gonna be fun. Is one thing to say, don't drop the soap. It is another thing when you are the soap. So is that, like, do they put him in gen pop? Is he going to be, like, there in. In the yard at. In. In the, like out at the. At the weight room getting lunch? How does this work? I don't know. I just. I. Yes, the answer. That is a long way of saying, I did see the story. I will continue following the story. And, man, all the questions that you have, I can't answer. And I. I can't wait to find out more about how this is going to work with this apparently troubled and dangerous young man, because that is. If. If you told me that somebody I don't know, I. I don't. I don't want to get myself in trouble. I just think that's. It's pretty. It's pretty amazing to think that this guy, while driving a car was. Get. Got an argument with the guy in the front seat. He's like, you know what? Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang. And then. And then ask the people in the backseat, can you help me with that? Hey, do. Do me a favor. Can you help me dispose of this? They're like, no, let us out. Like, he. The audacity of that. I feel like, yeah, I just. I just cap this guy. So can you help me take care of this, will you? And I also, we're gonna go to the Taco Bell. Drive through, too. I'm hungry. I mean, come on. I want to know more about this guy. Here on Fridays, we like to do a couple of things. One of the things we do is Friday Feedback Friday. And I'm going through some of the emails here, and I try to pick a representative sample of some of these. And there was this one who was sent in by Brent in Beloit. And Brent says, I loved your interview with Ray Ratto. It was the closest thing to having Terry Boers, minus the odd noises, back on the air, for lack of a better term, since he was last with you on dbu. Between raise depth and breadth of sports knowledge and his disdain of dopes and idiots like your own for both former and latter, coupled with unique radio friendly ways of calling somebody an asshole, it felt like a familiar and enjoyable experience. Said I thought with Matty being gone it wouldn't be as fun of a listen without him trolling you. But these interviews have been a rewarding time. Thanks, Brent. Yeah, I thought it would be just because it's not a busy Newsweek generally and we can and we have and I knew that because we were launching off the Ivy we would be able to handle all the Cub stuff there. And I thought why not, you know, that we were going to. We're still early in what we're doing. There's going to be a time and a place for some of these long form interviews. And thanks for all the feedback that did come in of not just with Ray Rattle, but obviously setting the the baseball table with Joe Sheehan a little bit and then checking in with Craig Calcatera yesterday. I want to thank Craig too that he put a link to the YouTube video of the whole episode in his cup of Coffee newsletter. So you might have run into that again as if you are a consumer of that. And I would urge that once again that if you did enjoy the these guests this week. Ray Ratto writes for the Defector, which is I think the single best sports journalism and sports culture journalism going on right now. And it's absolutely worth paying for. I think it is a place that will make you feel, they'll make you smarter. You know, my rule on this is don't make people dumber. And the best thing you can do is aspire to make people smarter and entertain them. And the Defector does that brilliantly and it's absolutely worth the subscription for an employee owned news outlet that is not under the thumb of some dickhead billionaire. We also had Joe, so the Joe Sheehan newsletter, you should grab that. And Craig Calcatera cup of coffee will make you a smarter and happier baseball fan, I believe, because he brings you more than more than baseball. There's a lot of there's music stuff in there, there's movies, there's cultural stuff. Craig's mind is a very interesting place and he shares so much stuff every day. So those are, those are all things to which maybe you hadn't been exposed before and now you have been. So have fun. Speaking of Joe Sheehan, I got this question that was sent by Glenn who always is thinking it perhaps in an oblique angle and he says when you interviewed Joe Sheehan, he mentioned the pitcher's mound may need to be moved back to restore competitive balance between hitters and pitchers. This has been proposed for a while and yeah, he's written about this for years. He said, I've pondered a different idea to achieve the same end, and I can't believe someone hasn't proposed this before. I assume I'm missing something. Prohibit pitchers from digging in on the mound in the way that they increase the depth of the rubber off of which they can push against. I think this would reduce pitch velocity. Am I wrong? Is there an injury risk that creates this. Creates. I'm overlooking the short answer. Yes. And that's the pushback that you're going to get that already there are so many arm injuries. If you deny pitchers the ability to use their core, which that would do, all the arms are going to fall off faster than ever. And then you'd have to do this too, at every level. It's nearly impossible to do at every level because. And I know this from, you know, mounds that I've seen and that all the kids have to work on, you know, cps and public fields and all that. No, they. It's hard enough just to get some of these things in a way that you can. You can function without stepping in a hole or. Or stepping on a rock that. That ends up in there. That there. You've got to let them push off a little bit because that spreads the force out through the larger muscles. And if that's just a flat rubber where you just say as long as they're touching it, as long as your heels are on it and you cannot push off, then forget it, because then. Then you're transferring all the force to the upper body. It would be too drastic a loss of velocity. And it the. In supplying all of that force from the upper body, I think you'd be accelerating injury. So it's an interesting thought, but I think it's pretty obvious why it's not happening. And that would be the reason. If you look carefully, you can see a window behind me when I'm broadcasting here at home. And I can tell you that my windows have been taken care of by our friend Russ Armstrong at Chicago Window. Guys, I could not be happier with these windows, and I don't pretend to be an expert in windows because that's what Russ is here for. And my rule on things like that is I leave those things to people who are experts in them. So if you need new windows, Russ is your expert because he is Chicago Window guys. He owns the factory that's here in Chicago. And you call him at 847-302-9171 or you could contact him and check out the five star reviews@chicagowindowguys.com and then Russell will come to your house and then you'll talk about windows and you'll pick out what you want. He will explain to you why the buy one, get one free deals that you hear in radio and TV and elsewhere are not what they purport to be. Russ will give you the best price for the best quality windows. He's going to match any of these, these gimmicky prices that you hear and he's going to explain what's real and what's not in some of those offers and you'll just get good windows at a good price, the best price. In fact. There's no subcontracted labor when the people come out to measure. When the crew is here installing, it's Russ's people. He doesn't pick up third party labor. These are all it's his crew. The same people that install my windows will install yours. And that's why I've recommended Russ to everybody who's asked everybody, neighbors, coworkers, other friends in and around Chicago. So when you're getting quotes too, you can ask all the questions about installation. Some of these other places won't be able to answer in the way that Russ can about like, yeah, I know what crew is going to be at your house. I know the people that work for me. That's a Russ is going to tell you and he'll custom make the windows for your house. You'll be happy. 847-302-9171 and chicagowindowguys.com this was sent by Jerry from South Bend who actually signs off on this one as Jerry in Tokyo. He says, dan, I understand why Munetaka Murakami negotiated for bidets in the White Sox locker room. I am in Japan visiting my daughter who is teaching here. These toilets basically roll out a red carpet when you walk in. And he sent a video. It's not too great. He just had a video of the toilet. He said the lid opens automatically, the seat is heated. The bidet situation makes a compelling case for early retirement of Dude Wipes. At this point, I am starting to think that these toilets have a higher emotional IQ than most people I know. So the only downside is if it's coming out the other end and I'm throwing up. I prefer the honesty of cold porcelain. However, I am buying and installing one of these the moment I get back to The States next week. Okay. All I can say, Jerry, that is. That's absolutely duly noted, and thank you for it. I do know I do have. My cousin has one in his home and he showed it to me and I kind of freaked out a little bit because it was too much. Like, it was almost sentient, the one that he's got. It was almost like a droid. And I felt bad, like, I don't want to befoul your droid. You know, it was like if R2D2 was a toilet, you know, there'd be thoughts there, there'd be judgment, and there was too much going on. It had too much personality for me to want to get. I don't want a smart toilet. I want a dumb toilet because it's going to make me feel better. But that's just me. Maybe I'm sharing too much. Either way, I appreciate the feedback here on Friday. Feedback Friday. And let me. Let me close with this because this was the other kind of the theme of the week. And I was. I was so pleasantly surprised at the feedback I got for when I was asking Craig Calcatera about the band Ween. And as I told him I'd always heard of Ween as. As a. As a joke band where they didn't take themselves seriously. They don't take themselves seriously. They're weird on purpose, inscrutable on purpose. Sort of dilettantes in that they don't really pick a style of music. They have different styles. The lyrics are. Are out there. They're the fans. And I'm like, all right, I don't know if I want to get close to this. But what happened was that as the more people I talk to and people I really respect their. Their musical opinions, who. And some of them are musicians, in fact, were like, yeah, Ween's got some good songs and the vibe of them might be difficult. It might be. It's inscrutable. Like, you can't quite understand. Is this a bit. Are they totally in on it? How. How much are they earnestly trying to play great music and how much are they not? Are they tiptoeing up close to the border of joke band satire and then retreating and then occasionally wowing you with something earnest and spectacular? And the answer that I'm learning about Ween and based on emails and response here has been yes to all of it. And it sounds to me like their fandom is a big tent, which shocked me, because for most bands like this, and I don't know if it's this way with King Gizzard and the Lizard wizard, which is another quirky but really talented group. I don't know how welcoming some fandoms are where you get like, you don't get it, man. You can't be a part of this where if you don't get it, we don't want you. It's the opposite of that. So many people are like, hey, yeah. They don't tour often, but they're still playing. Come check out a show. There's been all people send me links to videos. Try this song, try that song where it's the opposite of like punk rock or some of these things where. Well, we knew it when it was cool and it's not cool anymore and you can't be part of our club. People are like, hey, yeah, it's all cool. Check it out. And it was really encapsulated in this. That was sent by a guy named Luke, who says, I never thought I'd hear you talk about my favorite band. Wean unfortunately, aren't often recognized outside of true weirdos or music nerds. Now, I don't know if that's a. Like a. A compliment or an insult or both, but if that makes me a true weirdo, I'm. I'm. I'll. I like that. I'll. I'll. I'll own that. He said, they're a band I've really gotten into later in life and truly appreciate the community they've grown. It's a pleasant bunch. Wayne is on a touring hiatus at the moment, but if they ever get back out into the world, I strongly suggest you attend a show. Best vibes I've ever experienced in a crowd. If you're looking for more, listen to their All Request live album. I find most of it to be the best version of those particular songs. I'm also a King Gizzard enjoyer, so your episode really spoke to me. Thanks for that. Well, thank you, Luke and. And maybe I will check it out. One thing I. I kind of was I wanted to find out more about the. The people who are who make up. We like Gene and Dean Wein. I think it's Aaron Freeman and Mickey Melchioni are their names and the latter. Dean Wein is now a charter fishing boat captain. It seems like he's off of some of the rivers and the brackish water off in New Jersey and it looks like he's got his own boat and he takes people out fishing and that's his job. So when I saw that, I'm like, something has Got to be in the stars here. That's what he decided. He's also a really good guitarist and they're still playing together. But his he has like retired from rock and roll to be a professional charter fishing captain. So I'm cool with all of that. And as it has made. If this is the kind of week that we get at 312 sports or certainly at DBU for the DBU community, if I can have some of this stuff and we get to this point in the week and we're talking about the quadruple amputee murderer in Japanese toilets and ween it makes me feel like it somewhere somehow I'm doing something right because I don't know why I get such a quirky pleasure out of that. But if that's the kind of community we're building here, I'm certainly proud of it. And also I will say that there was a lot of reaction too when I was talking to Craig about men's mental health and the mental health of middle aged men and sometimes what we have to do amid everything that's going on in the world and you know, we're always, always going to be here for that. Let's be honest too, as it's, as we do that here, this is when the games, these tournament games as I talked about with Illinois and our guy Fred, are really interesting. And when you need food, don't overthink this. Your game day food is Giordano's. Giordano's, Giordano's. Because they've got you set. Maybe you're watching by yourself. You know what you like. If you're at with with friends and you got to take care of multiple tastes and people want this and that. You got the full lineup. You want Chicago deep dish. You want something loaded and heavy and you can just sit there in a half food coma and watch the games go for it. You want tavern style pizza just as a nosh and you kind of want it there and you want to go grab one and, and kind of do laps, go back for more. That's there thin crust. You want to keep it classic. You get thin crust wings. I tried both. I've tried the barbecue, I've tried the, the, the regular which I the spice level is just right. Wings, cookies, game day deals. You got this perfect spread. You're not scrambling around at halftime. You're not making bad last minute decisions. It's food that shows up the way it's supposed to. You know, these games might be unpredictable. Your setup does not have to be. You don't want unpredictable. You want Giordano's dot com. Visit a Giordano's location near you for pickup. Grab the perfect game day spread. They have all kinds of special game day deals happening right now. It's Giordano's. Your bracket may bust. Your pizza shouldn't. So I gave it some thought on what I was going to do for the top 10 list here and wait, let me actually grab it. All right, so I made this tough on a couple of my group chats because I've done this before when I start crowdsourcing things, especially when I'm talking to my childhood friends about just to take. Because I'm old and my memory gets faulty in my old age and I have to make sure I'm not missing anything. So I was trying to remember my personal favorite NCAA tournament guys and that first I had to define tournament guy because it's not like looking up the greatest tournament performances or the, the most impactful players in the history of the NCAA tournament. It has to be guys you, you remember in large part only because of the tournament. They don't all have to be small school. It doesn't have to be, it doesn't have to be silly or it has to be some kind of novelty. It just guys who didn't necessarily then go on to become great NBA players because we know there's a million. You can, you can do Bill Walton and Danny Manning and, and, and all that stuff and have the longest list possible, Larry Bird and Magic Johnson and Michael Jordan and have all of these great all time players who had fantastic NCAA tournaments. The point of this list is not that. The point of the list is tournament guys. You know the gestalt of this, when I say it's a tournament guy, you know, I mean I made one little exception here for number 10. But I have a very specific personal reason for that. So anyway, I go to my friends, I'm like, who are my favorite tournament guys? And like, wait a second, you're asking us to try to figure out who your favorites are? But I just want names because they were probably in the room with me for half this stuff. I'm like, do you remember any guy that I said that I loved or why I loved him? But I got most of them. I did okay. There were only a couple that I'm like, oh yeah, yeah, yeah. Thank you for that. So I put this list together. These are my top 10 tournament guys. And one of my criteria was you can't have been a good NBA player. With one potential exception. So by honorable mentions. When I really thought this through and looked it over, the honorable mentions on my list of tourney guys. God, sham God. 1997, he led that Elite Eight run by Providence. Remember that team with God, Sham God and Austin Croerier that made the Elite eight. So God, Sham God who had a brief and indistinguished undistinguished NBA career. He has a move named after him that the. It was parallel evolution with Europe and they call it the whip dribble. The American version is known on playgrounds as the Sham God. And the God Sham God dribble is you're bouncing the ball with one hand, whichever it is. And as you dribble instead of as the ball bounces back up, you reach across your body with the opposite hand and pull it to that side. So if you're dribbling your left hand, you dribble. The ball floats in the air and you reach over with the right and swing it back, same the other direction. Bounce, the ball comes up, reach over, pull back. That's in. It's called a whip dribble. In other countries it is called the sham God. Big reason why honorable mention God, sham gun. Also honorable mention Jai Lewis of The George Mason 06 team. The Jimmy LaRanega George Mason team in 06. And Jai Lewis was the big dude and everybody loved George Mason that year. This giant commuter school on. On the Atlantic coast and didn't know who but they, they made their run. Jai Lewis was the fun guy on that team. So I added him to my honorable mention list for tourney. Guys, number 10. This is the exception for a personal reason. My number 10 guy is he was a great player at Indiana whose son actually won a national championship with North Carolina over Illinois. Scott May is number 10. And Scott May, the reason he's on this list is because he was a huge part of the famous Indiana undefeated team. It was Kent Benson, Scott May, Quinn Buckner. Was he on the team? Yeah, that. It was one of the first basketball autographs I ever had. And it was a. It was a Hanukkah present that I'll never forget because one year I think it was. What year was he drafted by the Bulls? 77 or 78. Was the Bulls first round pick. He ended up getting hurt then he was bad. But it was a big deal that he was on the Bulls. Big deal that they got this famous guy from Indiana with their first round pick. And I was looking at all the way we used to do it in our house for Hanukkah was. We'd set out all the presents, but there's eight nights. And then you. And my parents would usually, they'd fool me where they'd put a little prayer, like a pair of socks in a giant box. And I'd be like, I want to open the big present first. And I'd open it up and it'd be a pair of socks. And then the good present would be somewhere else. But I remember one present was a rolled up piece of paper with a bow on it, and it was sitting there. I'm like, what's that? Like, that's a Hanukkah present. I said, it's not wrapped. Yes, it is. And I waited. I'm like, my curiosity got the best of me. And I think the second night I'm like, all right, I'll open that one. And I pull off the ribbon and I unroll this. This scroll of paper. And it said it was just personalized, like two Danny Go Bulls. Fully personalized. All the best, Scott May. It was the coolest thing I'd ever seen. I was just. And it turns out that his. One of his lawyers was working at my father's firm at the time. And I didn't even. And he's just like, hey, can he do this for my kids? I sure, but. And that was all after the fact. But all I was running around the house, like, I mean, I just. I just thought that was the coolest thing. And I put it up my bedroom. And so for that reason, Scott May is number 10. Number nine, Marcus Kennedy. Marcus Kennedy was the big man on Eastern Michigan who led them to the Sweet 16 in 1991. And if you also remember that team, they had identical twin guards. Carl and Charles Thomas were on that team, but they had this big dude, Marcus Kennedy. He was about 6, 7, enormous and good goggles. So goggle guys always get a benefit for me. I always liked goggle guys. And that's why, you know, Elliot Perry from Memphis might have been on this list, but he was too good an NBA player had a 10 year NBA career. Marcus Kennedy did not have an NBA career. And the reason why is awesome, because Marcus was in the CBA when I was in the cba. And I learned from scouts that the reason why he never got a crack at the NBA was because of Cool Ranch Doritos. And you think I'm kidding, but I'm not. Cool Ranch Doritos debuted in 1986. And I think Marcus Kennedy might have consumed a third of all sales of Cool Ranch. Doritos when they debuted and he just was never able to get his weight down. And I look, I, I asked scouts, like I saw NBA scouts all the time. Every game, every CBA game is NBA scouts around. And Marcus Kennedy, I think like first team all CBA player, led the league in scoring and rebounding. But the NBA guys are like, yeah, he's, he's got to lose 30, 40 pounds. And everybody said that his, his thing was cool Ranch Doritos. So Marcus Kennedy, number nine, number eight, the first former Bull on this list. Number eight, top 10 tournament guy, RJ Hunter. Remember him? Remember Georgia State in 2015? Georgia State. And if I tell you what happened when he hit the shot, you'll remember RJ Hunter because the 14th seeded Georgia State team came back to beat third seeded Baylor during the, some of the Baylor powerhouse years. His, his dad was the coach, Ron Hunter, who had been at iupui. I think Terry and I actually interviewed him when he was at uipui, but he was at Georgia State and he had torn his Achilles. The coach had. So he was on a rolling chair. If you picture like in a doctor's office, the one that you're the low chair, not, not the chair for the patient, but the low rolly chair with the casters on. It's just a stool that the doctor sits on or sometimes it's a half stool with a little back on it. That's what he was coaching on. And RJ Hunter hit like a 30 footer to beat Baylor and his dad fell off the stool and was lying there celebrating on his back on the hardwood. But RJ ended up being, he was somebody's late first round pick, ended up on the Bulls and now is actually an assistant coach for his dad at Tulane. So shout out RJ Hunter, my number eight tourney guy. Number seven, also a former Bull. 2011 BYU Sweet 16. Give it up for Jimmer Fredette. Bad pro, made some money in China and just walked into the gym shooting, walked out of the gym shooting, spent his life shooting somewhere. He's probably still shooting or he's coaching or he has, he's a motivational speaker somewhere. I don't know. But Jimmer Fredette is number seven on my list of tournament guys because of his performance in 2011. Number six. You were waiting. You were waiting. I did not know. By the way, he's now the head coach of Colorado State. But Ali Farouk Manesh. Ali Farouk Manesh. Northern Iowa when they upset Kansas, the guy that hit a bunch of those shots and it Was that he's the. In some ways and just ideal encapsulation of the name. You haven't heard. The name itself is fun to say. And it's. He was a. He shot the lights out and they. They beat Kansas. You can probably put a whole team together of people who have led upsets of Kansas because was it. Mike Muscala was on the Bucknell team that knocked off Kansas. And he was another one of those guys. But Ali Farouk Minesh, now the head coach of Colorado State. So he might be a little too famous for this list. He's number six. Number five. This has to do with a fun name to say and somebody who is a. A. A decorated college player. Bad pro Fennis dembo fenis dembo. Wyoming, 1987. They had a little run. He and the. Who was the big white dope, etc. Eric Lechner. Eric Lechner, who also was in the NBA because you know what happens in the NBA draft every year? They draft a lot of bad basketball players. And I'm glad I brought that up because help me out here. How can we have this? This is an aside, but I can do this. I can do whatever I want. It's. My name is on the show. So as a quick aside to top 10 tourney guys, make sure I remember we're at Fenist Dembo. Number five. We don't need both Bennett Sturts and Braden Smith. Braden Smith is the guy on Purdue and Bennett Sturtz is on Iowa. Right. We don't need both of them. They need to be. Either one of them has to be removed or the two of them need to be combined into one single entity. They need to be merged. It was sort of like when with Sirius and XM Radio and at some point they. They're just like, all right, we have to. This has to be the same thing and same thing. I think for Braden Smith and Bennett Sturts that those businesses have to merge into one entity to improve their. Whatever NBA chances there. There might be. I don't like the NBA chances of either one of them. But you want. You want to draft Bennett Sturts in the first round, Be my guest. Have fun with that. Go ahead. Good little college player. But have fun. But I just. I kept thinking that because then I was getting confused. I'm like, wait, is that. Is that Braden Smith with, like, the. The weird, like, beard thing where it looks like. With a beard like that. You should also have wraparound Oakley's on, like, reflective wraparound Oakley's all the time. Because they're that team's got weird beards. But yeah, that's neither here nor there. We don't need both of those guys figure out a way because that, that's. That's a redundancy somewhere in this. In the. In the world that it can be. Can be changed. Fenis Dembo number five. Number four, Cameron Crutwig from a Loyola Final Four team. I know they had Clayton Custer and Williamson and other guys who might be better basketball players, but I'll be damned if Cameron Krutwig that and then he went to play for Antwerp. I remember he played professionally. I'm not sure what he's doing now, but I loved watching Crut as they called him. If you know him well, you can call him Crut. I liked watching Cameron Krupwig play because old school big man footwork, high post, low post, some passing some around the Maypole stuff. And if I Porter Moser had. There were a couple sets that had some. Some triple post principles going on with some pinch post and split post stuff. All when they got it into big Cameron Krutwig he didn't move all that fast. But he, he was a. He was fundamentally sound interesting to watch which is why he checks in at number four. Cameron Krutwig of Loyola Chicago. On my list of top 10 tourney guys, number three. 1994. Lon Kruger was the head coach of Florida. They went to the Final Four. That was the. Andrew de Klerk was the guy who was. Who was more famous. But their power forward Dimitri Meat Hook Hill. First his shot was called the Meat Hook and then he started to be called the Meat Hook. Dimitri Hill was listed at 672 90. That was the listed weight. And I obviously fell in love with this guy. Spelled him D A M I T R I. Dimitri Hill. When he arrived at Florida he weighed 350 pounds. He had to lose 60 pounds to get down to his playing weight of 290. He was fun to watch. I loved him. Demetri hill, my number three tournament guy. The meat hook at 67290 when Lon Krueger departed Florida. And is that when he took the Illinois heard UNLV either way or Atlanta. Right. He didn't go to the Atlanta Hawks bad. Number two on my list of all time tournament guys, Billy the Kid Donovan. And now you know him as the. The gray haired coach of the Chicago Bulls. But Gen Xers remember Billy the Kid Donovan is that guy on Providence. That guy on Providence who came out of nowhere to take that Friars team to the Final Four and that was when we first met Rick Pitino, because Rick Pitino had been at Iona and. Or he later went to Iona, but I think he might have come up. There was that whole group, the whole Valvano group, and he decided they were going to run when he got to Providence. And Billy Donovan, as the story goes, Billy Donovan was. He was exactly what you thought he was, you know, scrappy, tough point guard out of White Plains, New York, wherever he was in Westchester county or something like that. And I guess Pitino told him, you're out of shape. We're going to run and we're going to shoot, and you've got to get in better shape if you want to make this team. But Donovan was like this fringe little point guard guy who the Pitino system and his. Donovan's own dedication had him shooting and shooting and shooting. And Billy the Kid was a national phenomenon in Providence. It was crazy. That town that was starved for sports success in its own own right and not just things that were happening in Boston. When Providence, Rhode island itself could say, hey, we've got something to be proud of. People would like the. The pictures there of the crowds around him. It was like Billy Donovan. It was like the Beatles in Providence. And it was a huge story in that particular Final Four, great Final Four that year. And it's. If you're not old enough to really remember the hysteria around that team that started everything, really, for Rick Pitino and began to build Billy Donovan up into somebody who, you know, tried to make the NBA and didn't have it. Not because he just. He just could. He. Billy Donovan could do everything he could possibly do physically. He didn't leave anything in the gym, in the weight room. He got whatever he could get out of that body. And that skill he did in the NBA was. Was not going to be for him and ended up becoming a Hall of Fame coach. But there was a time where he was one of the ultimate tournament guys. But he's not. Number one on my list. Number one on my list. And because this is the first time I want you to know you've heard me talk about this guy before. But because we're here on three one, two sports and not governed by the FCC and not on the radio, I can tell you a couple of my favorite stories about the best tourney guy of all time and an awesome dude who died way too young, and that's Lorenzo Charles. Lorenzo Charles was the power forward who was standing under the basket when Derek Wittenberg's shot against Houston came up just a little Bit short at the buzzer. In 1983, there was Low Charles. He dunked it in and NC State won the national championship. That's when Jim Valvano went running around the floor looking for somebody to hug. And that's when Lorenzo Charles was kind of standing there trying to figure out what happened. Now Lorenzo was the power forward for the Raleigh Bullfrogs. My very first job out of college when I was 21 and I was the play by playman and PR director for the Raleigh Bullfrogs, the Global Basketball association. And we had Chris Corciani and Chuck Nevitt and Lorenzo Charles and Quinn Snyder and David Henderson and Renzino Smith. Lot of ACC talent on our team. But, but Lorenzo, man, a big, intimidating, powerful man with a Brooklyn accent. And he would, he wore a Raider's jacket and sunglasses and scowl. He would scowl. I was, I was terrified of Lorenzo Charles. Not realizing until later. And the people who knew him well knew that that was all an act. The whole Mr. Mr. New York tough guy. And he didn't could talk like this, man. Yo, he sounded like Rakim sometimes because, because his accent was so thick. Never got too excited. But this, the, the stories I have about Low Charles didn't, couldn't make in the NBA. Wasn't tall enough, wasn't a good enough leaper, but made a lot of money playing overseas, playing in some of the fringe leagues. Got into coaching a little bit. So after he dunks the ball home and wins the national championship, you see if you watch the highlights, you see this bench player run up to him and hug him and like put the crook of his, of his arm around his neck and he's saying, you did it Lorenzo, you did it. That guy's name's Mike Warren. The guy that's grabbing Lorenzo, he was my first boss. He was sales director and like assistant GM of the Raleigh Bullfrogs. And he's grabbing Lorenzo and he turns that, he turns to him and he just goes, yo, Mike, man, let go of my neck, man. I can't breathe. And that he just won the national championship. He said it just like that. He's like, oh, oh, okay. Just, he always just the coolest dude. And at one point we, he made the All Star team in the gba. And that was, that was a sort of this like Hunter S. Thompson experience that I had going to Saginaw Michigan for the GBA All Star game because I broadcast the GBA All Star game for the league. And I was like, I don't know, selected to be the broadcaster. And we get there and it's the big meeting with all the, all the mingling and the party as you get there. And it's free. It's 25 below zero in Saginaw, Michigan, which is a dump hotel, was a dump. And we're going to talk to the NBA scouts and NBA executives, everybody there to watch all these players at the All Star Game. Kazi Russell, coach of one side, Kevin Mackey, coach in the other other. And Lorenzo Charles and Chuck Nevitt decided they're going to switch name tags. They literally had name tags. We had to write our name on them and put them on there. So Lorenzo has one saying Chuck Nevitt. Chuck Nevitt has one saying Lorenzo Charles. John Crotty is there. John Crotty, who was the point guard for Virginia. Remember? Blonde haired, little lefty guy and who's now, I think, doing TV for the Heat. I'd love to talk to John because John and Lorenzo and Chuck and I decided we were going to do tequila shots, which is kind of a running theme in some of my old basketball stories here, that before the party we were just going to just knock down a bunch of Cuervo shots. And we did that and went in the party and Lorenzo Charles kept insisting he was Chuck Nevitt. A little bit later on in the season, I was experimenting with using the lavalier microphones under the baskets in our home arena so I could use the effects in the broadcast. Because, you know, in the minor leagues you don't have effects mics. You can't hear the swish or the clank because the microphones aren't up there. But they were left there for something else that was played there and they worked and we plugged them in so like, oh, we can hear what's going on under the basket. So it's the middle of the game. I think we're playing the Albany sharpshooters. And it's the middle of the game and Lorenzo Charles jumps in the air and rips a rebound down like, pulls it with his left hand, slaps the basketball, sticks his elbows out and Chuck Nevitt goes, nice rebound, Lorenzo, you big old. And he goes, yo, Chuck, man, thanks, man. And it was during the game they gave it to. It gave it to Quinn Snyder to walk it up the floor. But I've saved my favorite story for last and I'm going to leave you with this. I will, I will let you roll into your weekend with this. In 1992, 91, 92. When I was. When the Bullfrogs existed It was their only year of existence. Sky Point Raleigh Bullfrogs. We're sitting in an Airport, it's 6:30 in the morning. We're in Greenville Spartanburg. We had just played the Greenville Spinners in the campus of the Furman Paladins. And we're all everybody's dog tired and half hungover and it's this rinky dink airport and the TV is on and it's on espn. And this is when Jay Billis was starting out as, as a broadcaster reporter. I think he might still been practicing law here and there, but he was, he was starting to do some stuff for ESPN and he comes up on the screen because remember Billis was at Duke when Lorenzo was at NC State and, and you know, Billis is doing a report and here's, I thought Lorenzo was sleeping because he had his sunglasses on and he's, and he's, and he's lying there and he looks up and he looks at everybody looks up again and he just goes J. Billis like, yeah. He goes, I used to use him like a plastic fuck doll. I'm like, all right, okay Lorenzo, thanks for that. And then we look, he, I was asking about some of the stats and kind of did kind of had some big days against Duke and some of those teams. I will absolutely never forget it. And unfortunately I think Lorenzo, he, he passed away in, in a, in a bus accident. He was, he was driving a tour bus or something and got into an accident, but gone too soon. The absolute number one top of my personal list. My favorite tourney guys. That's been our top 10 list here on this, our Friday DBU. Matt Abaticola will be back on Monday. If you're like, I'm sick of Bernstein, I've heard enough of him and I want a Batacola back so he can make fun of Bernstein. Well, you can also want him back on his own merits because he's smart and nice and interesting and I miss him. So he's coming back and next week we're going to have, on Monday we're going to have a final four. We're going to have the details of whatever that Nico Horner contract is and everything else. But it's been a really interesting week and thanks for having, you know, giving me a little bit of latitude here. Thanks for being a part of some of the long form interview stuff and everybody else that we've been doing. But I've really enjoyed it and as always, what part of the reason why I enjoy it is because of, of you being a part of it and because of the feedback that we get. And I hope that I can give it some kind of representation. Like I say, trying to return every single email. Thanks also for participating in our Giordano's Bracket Buster Challenge that we're doing with the NCAA Tournament, everybody who's been a part of that one as well. Also thanks to everybody who came by and said hello when we were hanging out yesterday on Thursday at Cubby Bear with our friends at the Drive. So it's been a great week and I'm looking forward to another terrific one here on dbu. I also want to remind you that and oh, I got to do db. I got to do my picks. I got to do DBU picks and I haven't. I just want to make sure that I, I don't forget. But when it comes to you getting your shots at this particular tournament and what is left for you on this board, my bookie is your place to be because my bookie has absolutely everything you need when it comes to this sweet 16. Every opportunity that you see, whether you want to make a bet on an individual player, if you want to make a bet on the the team props, that's there. My bookie is celebrating 100,000 followers on Instagram with another $10,000 in prizes. And when you go to my bookie AG and you use the promo code DBU, that is going to give you every opportunity you need to cash in. Because that code allows your first bet up to $500 to be part of their bet back bonus token. And that means anything up to $500. If you say, oh, it didn't work, what do I do? How do I handle this? Well, all you have to do is invoke that token and then you can run it back like it never happened before. Maybe you like spreads, maybe parlays. Maybe it's the kind of thing where you, you love to wait until a game starts and then you can find advantages in some of the live betting. Whatever you like to do. Look, High Point took down Wisconsin. VCU knocked off North Carolina, Texas sent BYU home. The money's just getting started. Single games, live bets. You don't have to have a perfect bracket. So use that promo code. If you're going to be in it, be in it to win it. My bookie AG promo code dbu. First bets covered. Mybookie AG register. Make your deposit. The tournament is heating up. Don't just watch it go big, win from it. We've got your back only at my bookie and that leads us to DBU picks. DBU picks are presented by my bookie and I'm rolling with something that's been good to me. I'm just going to take the other side of it. I've been getting a pretty good handle on the performances of Matas Buzelis as he's become a much more reliable shooter and a better scorer on this Bulls team is winning too many games. I do not think they are going to win tonight against the Oklahoma City Thunder. You know what else I don't think? I don't think Modest Bouzelis is going to have more than 3.5 three pointers made. So I'm going to take the under. That's where it is. It's set at 3.5 on my bookie. I'm going to go under three and a half. Three pointers made for Modest Bouzelis tonight against OKC and that's my DBU pick. Lock in your picks now with my bookie. Bet on anything, anywhere, anytime. Dan Bernstein Unfiltered is brought to you in partnership with my bookie today. Also brought to you by giordano's go to giordano's.com visit a Giordano's location near you for pickup. Grab the perfect Game day spread by Chicago window guys. Call 847-302-9171. We will talk once again on Monday. Dan Bernstein Unfiltered Unfiltered on 312 Sports.
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