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- [00:01]
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- [00:32]
Mike Wilbon
Pardon the interruption, but I'm Mike Wilbon. We were both off yesterday, Tony, did you miss our viewers?
- [00:39]
Tony Kornheiser
I'm Tony Kornheiser. You do this for the viewers? Really? Come on. You don't do it for the viewers.
- [00:46]
Mike Wilbon
We do not do it for the viewers. We do it for the kids. Maybe the viewers can.
- [00:51]
Tony Kornheiser
We do it for the kids? Yeah. That's so great. It's so great to think we do it for the kids. Welcome to pti, boys and girls. We are back, baby. In today's episode, Phil joins Tiger in missing the man. The women's final four is set to start in 90 minutes and Jay Bilis joins us for a breakdown of the men's semis. But we begin today with the Oklahoma City Thunder answering all questions about how much of a challenge the Lakers posed to them by beating the Lakers last night by 43 points, 139.96. In that game, Shai Gilgeous Alexander had 28 points, seven rebounds, seven assists and just one turnover in 30 minutes on the court. And in that game, Luka Doncic went out in the third quarter with a bad hamstring. And in his 26 minutes, Doncic had just 12 points on 3 of 10 shooting and six turnovers. Wilbon, what does this game say about the Thunder and where does it leave the Lakers?
- [01:43]
Mike Wilbon
Well, it said about the Thunder exactly what we knew it would say. They're the champs. And they got tired of a little gnat buzzing around their heads. And that gnat happens to be sort of treated royally in most quarters, the Los Angeles Lakers, and deservedly so. And it says about the Lakers, Tony, it's not the loss. It's bad enough and that would say something. But Luka pulling up lame on that hammy with a week to go in the regular season. So two weeks to go before the playoffs, that's bad. Even with, you know, LeBron James in a role that he can expand or contract or do anything. He can. And he does because he's LeBron James is still Luka, who's the player of the month of August. Luka, who's appearing on everybody or most people's top of the MVP list the last few weeks. No Luca or Luka limping around. The Lakers wouldn't struggle anyway against okc, San Antonio, Denver, maybe even Houston and Minnesota. And now this. But about the champs, it said, we're tired of this. We'll guard whoever you put out there, however great they are, whatever they're called, whatever category we got waves of them, bring them on.
- [02:59]
Tony Kornheiser
Yeah, my inclination initially is to look at a game like this with a 43 point spread, just a beat down and say that where it leaves the Lakers is at the side of the road waiting for the Triple A truck to show up. But I mean, let me also add this because I don't want to be too hasty here. The Lakers get to play Oklahoma City next Tuesday in Los Angeles, in la. If they were to win that game, that negates a lot of these impressions. If they were to play very well and Luka was healthy and played very well, then every conversation is back on the table, including mvp. But it is also true that what happened last night was a big punch in the face for the Lakers and a standing eight. What. What it says about the Thunder is pretty much what you said. You know, they're a really good team. They played really well. And. And they destroyed the credibility of the Lakers. But. And this is a very big but, it is not the Lakers who are the large object in their rearview mirror. No, it's not.
- [03:59]
Mike Wilbon
It's the spurs who are the large
- [04:01]
Tony Kornheiser
object in their rearview mirror. And the Thunder is I think 14:1 or 15:1 since March 1st. But the spurs are 28 and 2, something like that since February 1st. And the spurs have beaten them four out of five. So this game, Mike, this game does not affect that at all.
- [04:20]
Mike Wilbon
It does not. Tony, two good points. You made that one. And the first one. These declarations have to be temporary. You and I have covered enough like 100 total seasons of NBA between us. And we know what happens next week can reverse what happened this week. But that's on the Lakers. That's now on the Lakers.
- [04:39]
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- [04:40]
Mike Wilbon
It's your serve. What are you going to do? The Masters BE begins next week and it will be without two of the golfers who have defined it and the sport for decades. Five time winner Tiger woods is seeking treatment following his arrest on suspicion of driving while under the influence. And three time champ Phil Mickelson withdrew yesterday saying that he'll be away from the sport for an extended period to, quote, allow his family to navigate a personal health matter. Close quote. Tone the first Masters without Tiger And Phil since 1994 has you feeling Hal
- [05:19]
Tony Kornheiser
it has me feeling sad. Of course it has me feeling sad, because one of the players who's not going to compete in the Masters is apparently under the influence of a drug problem, and one of the players who's not going to play in the Masters is apparently under the influence of a family health matter. So these are not injuries. These have nothing to do with golf. That's what makes me sad here, the extent to which these people have to change their lives. It also feels sort of like the end of an era. But again, let me not be too hasty about that, because in 2019, when Tiger couldn't play and nobody had seen him, he came back and won the masters in his 40s. And Phil Mickelson, a couple of years ago, when he was 52, finished second in the Masters. So I don't want to write him off. I don't want to write them off completely. I don't want to do that, though. I don't know how competitive they'll be. But I do want to say this, okay? These people, these two are the most important golfers in the last 30 years. Tiger has five green jackets, only Jack Nicklaus has more. Phil has three green jackets, only Tiger, and Jack and Arnold Palmer have more. They got eight between them, Mike. And if you look, people ranked number one for long periods of time in the last 10 to 15 years. Rory McIlroy, Dustin Johnson, Jon Rahm. Who else am I leaving out? Scottie Scheffler and. Come on, I wrote it down. All right, that doesn't matter. I'll get to it at some other point. They've got six among them. Jordan Spieth, they've got six among them. These guys have eight. I mean, their dominance is so important.
- [06:51]
Mike Wilbon
It is. And I feel two ways about it. I wonder about this, because basketball has it coming. There's going to be some postseason that doesn't include LeBron and Steph or LeBron and KD and Steph. And the sport has to go on. They do. They have to go on. And so golf is in that place right now with Tiger and Phil. And there's a sadness. First, my first response is these guys not being there for these specific reasons, it just sort of casts a Paul initially. But Tony, even if they come back and they're competitive once each one time more or something like that, which we Both would wildly applaud. They're. They're guys out there. You mentioned Scotty Scheffler. Golf seems to be in as good a hands as the sport could be competitively at without those guys. As good as it can be right now?
- [07:52]
Tony Kornheiser
Yes and no. Because they were also not only the greatest players, they were the most popular players. Everybody loved them. Scottie Scheffler is number one. He is not beloved, not like these guys. Maybe he will be in time. He's not like these guys. Yeah. Let's get to the college basketball being played tonight and being played right near where you are right now in Arizona. Phoenix is hosting the Women's Final Four. I'm sure Mike, somebody would send a car for you if you want to go. All four number one seeds have reached this point. UConn will play South Carolina in the early game. UCLA will play Texas in the late game. Wilbur, does UConn or UCLA face the tougher test?
- [08:28]
Mike Wilbon
This isn't close. And yes, I will be here. Not going to the games today, but certainly plan to be at Sunday's national championship final sitting close. Texas, the current Texas regime, doesn't have any national championships, do they? The answer is no. So UCLA is playing a team that, yes, it lost, too, earlier this season. So they sort of have the revenge factor going for them. But no, UConn is playing a worthy current champion, a champion once removed, a school and a coaching staff. Dawn Staley with three national championships, and that would be two more than Gino and UConn since 2017. So this ain't close. South Carolina got their clocks cleaned. Who said that?
- [09:18]
Tony Kornheiser
Years ago.
- [09:19]
Mike Wilbon
And a year ago by UConn, they were down by 100. They lost by like 23. Talk about revenge motive. South Carolina. Tony, I will take South Carolina right now to win the first game tonight. Not cover and all your get a bookie draftkings junk to win the game. South Carolina to beat UConn tonight. That's what I'm taking. So that question is an easy answer.
- [09:49]
Tony Kornheiser
Yeah. So I'm going the other way on that. If you had asked me to write a bracket three weeks ago when this began, I would have put UConn in the final game and I would have put them in. In ink because they have now won 54 straight games, and they're beaten people by a million. I will give you this. South Carolina has won this thing recently, okay? Not years and years ago. 2022 and 2024. Forget 2017. Like, this is not a long time ago. They've done that. And they do have Dawn Staley, who's got three. And so they have to be given a chance, a good chance. But I look at what happened last year in the final, that was 23 points. That's significant to me. I will say this, Mike. I think that Texas has great wins this year. They beat ucla. They beat South Carolina twice.
- [10:32]
Mike Wilbon
They do.
- [10:32]
Tony Kornheiser
Texas may actually be underrated at the moment, and I think Texas can beat or should beat ucla. But I will, unlike you, I will be less surprised if UCLA wins that game than if UConn loses. That would be for me, the biggest surprise. So we differ on this. Let's take a break. But coming up, we will ask Jay Bilis who he favors in tomorrow's men's games.
- [10:54]
Mike Wilbon
We'll also ask him what Tommy Lloyd's stand in Arizona means for UNCS Head coaching Search how's that historical note going for you with UNLV and Duke when they went back to back years and somebody won by 40 the first time? How'd that work out the next as
- [11:12]
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- [11:43]
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- [12:49]
Tony Kornheiser
We are about 24 hours from tip off for the men's Final Four, which makes it a perfect time for a visit from our great friend, the ever dashing ESPN college basketball analyst Jay Billis in Indianapolis, outdoors at the moment. Let's start with this. The early game tomorrow is three seed Illinois against two seed UConn. Illinois is a slight light favorite. Is that how you see this game?
- [13:12]
Jay Bilas
I actually have UConn as a slight favorite in the game. These two teams played earlier in the year in late November. I don't think that game really matters because Illinois point guard Keaton Wagler, freshman, didn't have ball handling responsibilities in that game. Kylan Boswell was handling the ball more often. He had 25 in that game. But I think that game's kind of irrelevant with regard to this because both the teams are substantially different. But Illinois poses Yukon some interesting issues because they're excellent offensively and what Illinois does really well is they hunt out matchups. They'll hunt out the weakest defender and they do a great job with ball screen angles so they can get a switch and then attack the switch that they get. They did that very effectively in the second half against Iowa in order to get here. But Yukon runs such beautiful offense and terrace Reed Jr. Is going to be their biggest problem because of his size. I mean, he's averaging close to 23 points a game in the tournament and 13 and a half rebounds. But Alex Caraban, I think is a key on both ends of the floor. And if UConn were to win the championship this year, Alex Caraban will have three, three championships in his career. That would make him the only non UCLA player in history to have three national championships.
- [14:24]
Mike Wilbon
Wow. That's pretty wild. That, that, that is pretty wild. We'll stay on UConn for a second. Jay and the word demonstrative certainly seems fair when describing Dan Hurley, who you'd know pretty well. Last week he had the forehead taps with officials being the latest incident. You know him well, you've known him for a long time. Give us just your sense of Dan Hurley, just sort of just the picture of who he is and how he is in a situation like this.
- [14:59]
Jay Bilas
You know, I love Dan Hurley, you guys know, I mean, he's from a family of basketball royalty with Bob Hurley Sr. In the hall of Fame and Bobby Hurley, arguably the best point guard to ever play college basketball. But Dan is unique and he's old school in the way he coaches. He's new school in the system he uses. It's like watching a European pro team out there. Very creative, especially offensively. But he's really quirky. Like he's a high character person and coach. That is a character. And you know, back in the day, you know, in the 80s, 70s, you know, we had a bunch of characters. We don't have as many now. It's more corporate. It's a multibillion dollar industry now. But Dan is really quirky. You know, he wears the Superman underwear and the socks and he's really superstitious. And he burns incense on the floor before games and puts garlic under the stands and all that stuff. I can't imagine that helps, but if he thinks it helps, that's great. But I love having a character like Dan in the game.
- [16:03]
Mike Wilbon
JAY the second game, Michigan, Arizona, seems just irresistible, one of the irresistible matchups in recent years to me. How do you separate the two?
- [16:15]
Jay Bilas
The one separator, Michael, that I think could be there is the free throw line. You know, Arizona is a pounded inside team. They play inside out. They make threes, but they don't take a lot of them. They shoot a really good percentage, like 38% as a team from three. And Braden Burry is an outstanding three point shooter. He's their best shooter and top scorer. But they like to pound the ball inside and as a result, they get to the free throw line a lot. Arizona has made more free throws than their opponents have attempted. In fact, they've made 100 more than their opponents have even shot. So that means if their opponents made 100% of their free throws, Arizona has outscored their opponents by 100. And so Michigan being able to play really good defense and be physical without fouling is going to be important. And Michigan is a really good interior defensive team. Adai Mara is one of the best shot blockers in the country. They've got size and bulk as well. So that's going to be a key is who wins the battle of the paint and then the glass is going to be important. And when you've got to send everybody to the defensive glass, that can affect your transition as well because it pulls everybody in. So it makes it a little bit tougher to run.
- [17:20]
Tony Kornheiser
Let me get you out of here on this. And it's news today. Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd is going to stay out west with Arizona rather than leave for the North Carolina job. What does this mean for Arizona and where does this leave the Tar Heels?
- [17:35]
Jay Bilas
Well, it's more of the same in the college basketball industry. Anytime there's a coveted job open like North Carolina, and North Carolina happens to be the program now, they wind up making Coaches a heck of a lot of money because the schools get. They feel insecure that their coach may leave, so they sign them to extensions. The coaches can get more money for the program, for their staffs, all that stuff. And I thought Tommy Lloyd handled it beautifully. And Dusty May, the same thing. You know, I always thought that Skip Prosser, the late, great Skip Prosser, when he was at Wake Forest, had the best answer. When anybody asked him about a job opening, he would say, you know, I don't talk about my job status. It ended all the discussion. But you could still make people feel a little insecure, because when coaches have leverage, they have to use it. When they're not winning, the school is the one that has leverage, and they're the ones that are insecure. When they have leverage, they have to use it. And I think Tommy Lloyd did a great job of using it, but North Carolina just pushes them a little further out and. And you know, they could wind up going to options that are further down the line. But they're having to wait now. They got to wait. Maybe if. If they're after Billy Donovan, they got to wait till the NBA season ends. If they're after Dusty May, they got to wait till this ends. And Dusty May is taking the. The Skip Prosser line. And. And I think he's been really smart in doing that.
- [18:57]
Tony Kornheiser
Thank you so much, Jay. Enjoy.
- [18:59]
Mike Wilbon
Appreciate.
- [19:01]
Jay Bilas
Thank you. Great being with you.
- [19:03]
Tony Kornheiser
Let's take one last break. Still to come, did Cam Boozer deserve to win the AP Player of the Year?
- [19:10]
Mike Wilbon
And LeBron says the NBA should move out of Memphis.
- [19:14]
Tony Kornheiser
Really?
- [19:15]
Mike Wilbon
You know, Billy Donovan's season is going to be over in about 12 minutes. They ain't got to wait long for Billy Donovan. They should just declare their season over now. They only give up 135 a game over the last four, five or six.
- [19:30]
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- [20:48]
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- [22:06]
Tony Kornheiser
Happy time people. Happy 24th birthday to the Miz. The full name of the young brewers ace is Jacob Misarowski, but calling him the Miz keeps us from having to spell it in scripts, also enables Wilbon to chanted repeatedly throughout the season. And he's already had reason to do so. The brewers have won both of the Miz's early starts, and he struck out 18 batters across 11 innings. Wow. His fastball touched 101.1 in Wednesday's win over the Rays. It seems like every year we wait for the brewers to fall apart. They never do. This appeared to be a rebuilding year, but once again they're atop the NL Central with a record of 5 and 1.
- [22:40]
Mike Wilbon
Sorry, they may skip right over rebuilding, indeed. But beating the White Sox three times to start the season. The White Sox should be relegated. They may be worse than they were a couple of years ago, so I don't know what that means for the brewers just yet.
- [22:53]
Tony Kornheiser
Happy anniversary, Michigan. On this day 37 years ago, the Wolverines won the national championship in overtime, beating Seton hall when Ramiel Robinson stepped to the line and did two free throws and three seconds left. Glen Rice had 31 in that title game and 184 for the tournament, a record that still stands. The Wolverines were coached by Steve Fisher, who got elevated to the job just hours before the tournament when Bill Freeter announced he'd agreed to leave for Arizona State after the tournament and AD Bo Schembechler fired him, saying he wanted a Michigan man coaching Michigan.
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Mike Wilbon
I'm with my man Jalen Rhodes when he says to the current Michigan players, love you guys, but don't get carried away yet. Talking about greatest team ever. Because these guys won. Not just Glenn Rice, Ramil Robinson, Terry Mills, Lloyd Vaught and the next Michigan team, Jalen's own Fab Five. They got further. So you know, Michigan's got these Michigan kids. They're great. They got some work left.
- [23:46]
Tony Kornheiser
Happy trails to last night's start for Carter Jensen. The Royals removed their rookie catcher from the starting lineup before last night's game against the Twins because he overslept and showed up to the ballpark too late to adequately prepare. Salvador Perez had been planning to dh caught the game. Instead, Jensen did eventually enter the game in the ninth and told the Kansas City Star afterward, I didn't wake up to my alarm. Slept through it. Don't really have an excuse, nor should I. Sucks. It happens. I feel like I let teammates down, coaches down. Just know it won't happen again. The 22 year old was aware of his awakening challenge back in the spring when he told the Royal Social Media team that he needs six to eight alarms to wake up.
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Mike Wilbon
We've all overslept. I still have nightmares about oversleeping my last final exam in college. Come on. Stop. We've all done it. The apology should be sufficient.
- [24:37]
Tony Kornheiser
One omission. Promising Cubs starter Kate Horton left today's game against the Guardians in the second inning with right forearm discomfort. Your reaction?
- [24:45]
Mike Wilbon
That's it?
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Tony Kornheiser
That's your reaction? Let's go to the big finish. Mitchell Wembanyama sat out of the spurs win over the Clippers due to injury management of his right ankle. You okay with that?
- [24:55]
Mike Wilbon
Yeah, I think he's getting ready for this. Run. He can't miss three more games and be eligible for the postseason stuff, but I think he'll be fine. Cam Boozle won the AP Player of the Year. Fred Hoiberg won Coach of the Year. Those make sense to you?
- [25:11]
Tony Kornheiser
Yeah, they're both worthy. They were fine. Nebraska was more than fine. LeBron told Bob does Sports that the NBA should ditch Memphis for Nashville. Adding it to Grizzlies had drafted him, he might have pulled an Eli. Your thoughts?
- [25:24]
Mike Wilbon
That seems particularly mean. And beneath LeBron to go after Memphis like that. That just doesn't sounds out of character for him to me. A Virginia judge ruled against UVA quarterback Chandler Morris playing a seventh college season. Seventh make sense?
- [25:40]
Tony Kornheiser
Good. I mean, how long are you supposed to stay in college? Come on.
- [25:44]
Mike Wilbon
Come on.
- [25:46]
Tony Kornheiser
Last one. 19 year old Pirates rookie Connor Griffin had an RBI double in his first major league at bat. Your reaction?
- [25:52]
Mike Wilbon
My God. The Pirates and the brewers in our division keep stockpiling talent. We can't lose. Kate Horton. Please hope this is temporary.
- [26:01]
Tony Kornheiser
We're out of time. We will try and do better the next time. And I'm Tony Kornheiser.
- [26:05]
Mike Wilbon
I'm Mike Wilbon. Have a great weekend, knuckleheads. And now coverage begins of tonight's women's final.
- [26:13]
Tony Kornheiser
You're going to the final game, right? You're going to the final game. Oh yeah. Hey sports fans, the ESPN app has all of ESPN all in one place. The ESPN app is your home to thousands of live events, ESPN shows and originals across every ESPN network and service. And now you can check if you already have ESPN Unlimited as part of your TV package for no additional cost. Visit Activate ESPN.com to learn how to access your your account or sign up then start streaming. In the ESPN app. It's all of ESPN all in one place. Sign up or activate now.