← The Herd with Colin Cowherd
The Herd with Colin Cowherd
THE HERD - Hour 1 - Michigan wins the National Championship, the Bucks have made a mistake
00:41:45
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- [00:00]
Colin Cowherd
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Fox Sports Radio Announcer
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio.
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Colin Cowherd
Here we go. It is a Tuesday. Congratulations to the Big Ten in the University of Michigan. It's the herd in Chicago, the heart of Big Ten country. Wherever you may be, however you may be listening. John Middelkoff in all week that. That had a football feel to it last night. We said yesterday it's gonna be a hard game to officiate. These are easily the two most physical team. There was a point in the second half, I'm like, there's gonna be blood on the floor. These guys, these guys are doing everything shy of headbutting. And it's interesting. We got into this topic yesterday. Is this an all time team? And I said, no, no, no, it's not an all time team. It's a very, very good team with a great coach. But they were the perfect team to finally beat UConn. UConn fans grumbling about the officials. Well, that's interesting because UConn style under Dan Hurley has been pounding people and bullying people. Mike Tyson in his prime, bullying. But Tyson eventually met another bully, Evander Holyfield. And last night, UConn met a bigger bully. Michigan. Michigan had 36 points in the paint. That's the most UConn is allowed in March or April. There's a reason they were a favorite. There's a reason they clobbered Arizona. They didn't struggle with Duke. That, that, that's. Come on, let's be honest. In the tournament, Duke had UConn beat, but they got young and tight. And in the tournament, I mean, Illinois got close to Yukon at the end, but they fell behind early. That was not Michigan. Round one, first punch. Bring whatever you got because we're bigger and stronger. The bully of this tournament has been Yukon for years. And I love their style and I absolutely love their coach. But Michigan's a better team. Blame the officials. That's what people have been doing in college basketball since Dan Hurley arrived. Every time UConn wins a title, the losing team complains about the officials. This morning, UConn, that's you complaining that you got pushed around. Hey, a bully always meets its match. 36 points in the paint. And the truth about UConn is they don't shoot a lot of free throws. They were 275th in college basketball all year long. Why? Because they don't initiate contact very often. They're a jump shooting team. It's like those warriors with kd. On that four year run, they were bottom five in the NBA. And free throw attempts, jumpers. Michigan's the opposite. They initiate contact they drive their size. They bang. They love it. Michigan just as a more talented version of Yukon and UConn. Dan Hurley admitted this before the game. He admitted it at halftime. We have a certain way we have to play to win. And you can see it in the first eight to 10 minutes of the game. It's rugby, it's tug of war. That's the only way UConn could win. Michigan's the opposite. Their best player was about 70%. They could not hit a three. They were brutal for the outside. So Michigan has the dexterity to go, all right, let's just pound it inside. And they did. The physicality of Michigan, they're like a great run team in the NFL. It's got a little Seahawks feel. Oh, you think the Rams are physical? You think the Patriots are physical? You know, we'll show you physical. So I want to hear about grumbling fans. That game was hard to officiate. There's a reason Michigan was the favorite. I mean, if I would have told you Linda Berg did not play well. Worst game in the tournament. They only scored in the 60s. They could not shoot all night. And they controlled the game in the second half. They're really good. Every time UConn got close in the second half, here's Amara with a alley oop dunk. Here's somebody racing in Johnson to slam dunk. A miss or. It was just overwhelming size and power. You got to remember UConn doesn't shoot free throws. They don't all year. 275th. It's a lot of off ball warrior action. A lot of movement off ball. Michigan can do that or shoot threes or pound, and they did. So there's a versatility with most UConn teams. There was a UConn team years ago that had Stefan Castle and Alex Caribbean, was like a freshman and. And that team would have beat this UConn team by 20. That team would have beaten this Michigan team. That team was an all timer. Michigan's not an all timer. I mean, if you look at Michigan, they had a starter from uab. They took a non starter at Illinois, a non starter at ucla. They had a freshman and they had a guard that shot like 30% from three the last two years in the Big Ten. They're not an all time great team. There's been some duke teams and UConn teams or a Kansas team. That was what they are, is a tough, physical team. Brilliantly coach that was built to beat Dan Hurley style. Mike Tyson humiliated guys and then he met his Match with Holyfield and was frustrated, had to go to the biting the ear tactic. UConn didn't go in that direction, but you could tell in the second half, they just. They were missing a guy. We felt it the whole tournament. We're like, how in the hell is UConn here? They need another Stefan Castle. It's remarkable that Hurley got him to this point. And he talked about the officiating in the game after.
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Dan Hurley
I just thought that the first half, you know, foul trouble, you know, really, I thought we were, you know, positioned if we didn't have that foul trouble to potentially go into the halftime with a lead. We also, too, you know, a problem for our team has been undisciplined fouling, you know, at times. But, you know, it's hard to refer that game. We both played so hard. I mean, that's not an easy game to officiate. And, you know, if I could have those three guys ref, you know, you know, every game the rest of my career, I would sleep well at night.
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Colin Cowherd
Listen, the other advantage that Michigan had is the Big Ten. Illinois was outstanding. Iowa beat Florida. Purdue is always exceptional. Michigan State and Tom Izzo. I mean, for years and years, the SEC always had an advantage because they played harder schedules. 100,000 people in the south by the time they got to the national championship. It's like, if you can get through the SEC championship, it's a piece of cake playing in the Natty against the Big Ten team. So Dusty May afterwards talked about the Big Ten schedule, had them ready for this tournament.
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Big Ten Representative
We take a lot of pride in representing Michigan and with that, the Big Ten Conference, because every year we're competing against each other. We're competing against the SEC, the Big 12, the Big east, all these other leagues. So the better we can do as a group, as a league. And it also helps financially as TV contracts are renegotiated and things like that. So we do. We have to do well for us and the Big Ten if we want to continue to be on the cutting edge and hopefully be the premier basketball league in the country.
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Colin Cowherd
He. He reminds me a lot of Brad Stevens. He's just a little smarter than most people in the sport. For the record, I had Michigan winning in my bracket. I'm sure many of you had Michigan winning. I watched them bulldoze Gonzaga early in the season. Then I watched him late in the season go to Illinois and win. That's. That's the best team in college basketball. There's a reason they were a big favorite over UConn it's not about the officials. Brutal, brutal, physical warfare in that game. And thanks to the families and the coaches and the networks and everybody involved, it was just great college sports again. And by the way, The Big Ten is the first conference in Division 1 history to have three different schools winning Natty. One in football, Indiana, one in basketball, Michigan. And one in women's basketball, ucla. So I don't know how the NIL and the transfer portal are working for your conference, but they're doing really well in the Big Ten. The Big Ten has always been their alumni. Smart, affluent and strategic. And the Big Ten has always taken great pride in their academics. And the new model in college is not just about, hey, we got a bunch of really good athletes in our geographic footprint. That's not what it's about. Have you noticed the program in the SEC that was top 10 in football and basketball and had a Heisman finalist last year? And you don't normally see that from this school. It's Vanderbilt, the best academic power in the south. And their graduates make almost double the average SEC graduate. That's the new reality. That's the new model. It's not that the other way was bad. It was an advantage. Coaching football at Texas or Georgia. That was awesome. Still awesome. But this model pays the players. And this model benefits universities with very affluent alumni. And the Big Ten has huge schools, excellent academics. Their graduates make a lot of money. And outside of Chicago, not a lot of great jobs in the Midwest. They go to LA and San Francisco and Seattle and Tech and Miami and New York and Boston and Philadelphia and they come home and give money to their great institutions. It's the new model. I'm not saying it's perfect. Indiana, though, is a top eight business school. Michigan's got one of the biggest endowments in the country. The new model, and this is sort of how it should work with universities and stuff, benefits those who take academics somewhat seriously. I love seeing Vanderbilt kick ours. I love it. I think it's great. They're building a new football facility at Northwestern. They hired Chip Kelly, they got Rick Neuisel's kid. It's like they're flush with cash. Let's see what happens. It's like, AI, it's not going to be perfect. It's going to be bumpy. That's the nil. But you can grumble about it and convince yourself the sports are broken. But I just watched the best national championship in college football. I think I maybe ever saw. I saw unbelievable dedication, coaching passion last night. How about UCLA women's basketball. What were they, 71 and four over two years. So you can grumble about it, but the train is moving with or without you. Congratulations to two great institutions last night. You can grumble about the officials all you want. That's what people have been doing for years. That, that, that Yukon tramples. Well, I mean, we couldn't get a call. No, you weren't willing round one step up and exchange blows in the middle of the ring. UConn did. Michigan did. But eventually Michigan's talent end of the first half pulled away. All right, good stuff. We got, we got all sorts of stories here. The they call it cleaning house. That's what the Chicago Bulls did yesterday. And I mean they just, they just tilted the United center on its side and just executives got flushed out. We'll talk about that around the corner too.
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Fox Sports Radio Announcer
Be sure to catch live editions of the Herd weekdays at noon Eastern, 9am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio FS1 and the iHeartRadio app. Fox Sports Radio is taking over YouTube and you can be a part of it. Just go to YouTube and search Fox Sports Radio. Hit that subscribe button and smash that notification bell and catch all the videos from your favorite shows. Two pros and a cup of Joe. Dan Patrick, Colin Cowherd, Stu Gotz and company Live. Covino and Rich, the Odd Couple with Rob Parker and Kelvin Washington, the Jason Smith show with Mike Harmon and the Ben Ma Show. Fox sports radio on YouTube.
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Colin Cowherd
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So next time the afternoon slowdown kicks in, head to your nearest Starbucks and try one of the new energy refreshers or order one right now on the Starbucks app. For years, if there are certain teams in the NBA or baseball that struggle, it's because the market's not very appealing or they don't have the capital. The owner isn't as rich as the other rich guys. And then there's the Chicago Bulls, where they are a complete cash cow. They fired their GM yesterday. Needed to. And their leader of basketball ops needed to. They kept Billy Donovan, who I'm a huge fan of and strongly lobbied to go to unc. I have this theory that basically UNC offered him the job and he said, well, the transfer portal starts today and yeah, I'm not going to do that. And then he went to the Bulls and said, can we make some changes? That's just my theoretical take, but I'm a huge Billy Donovan fan and they needed to make the moves. They did. But what's interesting about the Bulls, they're a cash cow. If you take out every non Covid season since 2010, everyone, they've led the NBA in attendance every year. Chicago loves basketball. Loves basketball. Chicago's been voted best city in North America nine straight years. Conde Nast Traveler survey. Middle of the country, beautiful people, restaurants, beaches, skyline. Great arena, cash cow, jammed to the rafters. Yes, I'm a Bull season ticket holder. Great arena, great food choices. It's awesome. And the city loves basketball. And the Bulls over the last 15 years have butchered it. How? I don't know. I mean, they haven't won a single playoff series in 11 years in the East. Forget the west and the East. And my takes always been choose a direction, tank or go all in. But yet over the last decade plus, they're right in the middle of the pack. They're like the 16th winningest team. They're in NBA quicksand purgatory, and they're a cash cow. Ryan's Dorf's never going to sell it. You got this beautiful city. When they went all in, they were the NBA's Dodgers, Real Madrid and Manchester United. They were the symbol of greatness in America. When they had a legitimate gm, I would get on the phone, I would call Bob Myers, Brad Stevens, Eric Spoelstra. I would call Steve Kerr, I would call Sam Presti, I would call the top of the market. 75% of the GMs and coaches in this league are either would rather upgrade or live in a better city and live in an arena that was jammed every night. They are a cash freaking cow. They can be playing Orlando on a Tuesday night. You can't get a ticket. And so their question has been, what's the plan? What are you doing? Because usually in the NBA you got like a Sacramento or LeBron's banging on Memphis or you got a market that's not that appealing. Ling. And nobody wants to play here, there. I don't want to pick on markets. That is not the issue here. That. That's not the issue. Money, not the issue. Your ownership stable, they're going nowhere. But I think you got to get hyper aggressive. I think you got to call the best people in the market and make offers. I mean, again, the last time they had an elite coach and elite gm, they were North America's standard. Go look at the Patriots, Robert Kraft, he didn't mess around. Go find Your Elliot Wolf and your Mike Vrabel. Go find him. The NBA can be hard. It's hard to make trades anymore. I think Adam Silver's made it much too hard to make trades. You cannot get good overnight. But the funny thing is, the Bulls are always like, okay, but I always had this theory in sports that it's not that difficult. Very early, when Brad Stevens took over coach and gm, you could see the plan. I used to watch Nick Saban in Alabama. I could tell within one series. Same with Belichick and Patriots in their prime. I could tell within a series or two what Belichick thought could beat him and he was going to take it away. Or what Saban thought. Okay, we're going to have a. We're going to have problems with this. We're going to attack this and take it away. You can see great coaching. It jumps through the television. You can see great GMing if you pay attention. Last 11 years, it's not that they've been terrible. They've won like 45% of their games. They should probably be awful for a year or two, whatever you got. They've had three different head coaches. I'm a Donovan believer. Maybe you don't. I am a Billy Donovan believer. I'm a Bulls believer. And I'll just throw this out there. Whatever city I've moved to in my life, the teams get really good. Really quickly. I moved. The Midwest, the Big Ten now is just stomping everybody like a narc at a bikers rally, babe. And I'm telling you right now, Chicago is just waiting for the right people. It's just humming. And I mean, a lot of these cities, you're like, well, nobody wants to play there. It's too cold there. The arena stinks. The same owners forever. Cash cow. Take big swings and pick a lane and find a direction. John Middelkoff with the news.
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Spurs Head Coach
No, no, no, no.
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Colin Cowherd
Turn on the news.
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Fox Sports Radio Announcer
This is the Herd line news.
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John Middelkoff
Well, Colin, tell me if you've heard this one before. An NBA MVP candidate injured. We have another injury in the NBA. Last night, Victor Wembanyama collided with Paul George. He went to the locker room. He ended up coming back to the bench and re entered the game before asking to be subbed out. Here's the spurs head coach on the injury.
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Spurs Head Coach
I know he came back and he just didn't finish. And so at halftime, I was told he wasn't coming back. And I honest to God, I haven't heard anything else up to this point. I think it would be a Positive that he felt like he could come back. And he played the last four or five minutes of the half. So that's a positive from my perspective. But I'd have nothing.
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Colin Cowherd
Well, you know, now you have these, these, these game levers that you basically have to play so many games to win awards. So every time you have a late season injury with three weeks to go with a really top player, my take is always, well, how many games does he have? Does he hit the number, the line of demarcation? So, I mean, I, I think it's pretty obvious if you're the spurs, you view yourself as a championship team and you want to get him right or there you're not. You could be. I mean, honestly, without him, he is so transformative. Without him in a big playoff game, it's not the same team. They're not the same defense at all without him.
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John Middelkoff
Well, and they'd obviously have no chance if they played the Nuggets, who just passed the Lakers last night to now be the three seed. That's who they would play in the second round. If Wembanyama had to miss any time, they would be done.
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Colin Cowherd
He has to play one more game to be eligible for the award. So you check him in.
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John Middelkoff
Yeah, he has a lot of those games this year. They've done a good job. He plays like 21 minutes. I mean, he'll play like 25 minutes, score like 30 points and 20 rebounds. Take him out. You're like, what is going on here? The NBA just has to find a way to the top seven. Eight guys just got to be on the court. I don't know what's happening here. Well, let's move to the NFL because this story, obviously Puka Nukua became over the last couple years one of the best players in the, in the entire league. Reports indicate that the Rams will not sign Puka, though, to an extension until he's shown that he's matured enough to stop the off the field issues.
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Colin Cowherd
Yep.
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John Middelkoff
Some have even suggested that the Rams are significantly more worried now than four months ago.
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Colin Cowherd
Yep. Probably.
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John Middelkoff
I mean, he's in rehab right now as we speak. I do think, Colin, the JSN contract. If you watch the press conference, Mike McDonald and John Schneider specifically, we're not just signing the player, we're signing the person. And his parents did a great job.
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Colin Cowherd
Yeah, we. John, we. I had a rant on this about a week ago. Is that at that position there is a history of high maintenance. Don't know why I'm not a sociologist or A psychologist. But that position, I mean, you don't have a lot of guards that give you trouble. You know, there's not a lot of veteran running backs who you can't trust. It could be Tyreek Hill, it could be Puka. It could. There's just a lot of drama at that position. George Pickens. And so when it flares up for any team at that position, the first thing we all do and GM's do is, all right, what's our. What's our draft capital like? I can tell you. This is that and Puka's brother had an incident and Puka's had several. This is. You're just hearing about the stuff that. That gets out, that there's always a chance there's more. We don't know that. But, you know, I talked about this before. If you see a couple arguing at a party, that's what you see in public. What's the drive like? I'm just seeing too many things for Puka. That's just what I hear about and see. So I think the Rams do not mess around. They let great players go via injuries or immaturity on a regular basis.
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John Middelkoff
1 think about their, you know, their couple core guys over the years. Aaron, Donald, total package on and off the field, Stafford and golf. You couldn't ask for anything more. So once that JSN number came out, which was astronomical, they gave him $120 million guaranteed. Puka had to get ahead of this because his life was spiraling. I also think we're too quick to go. Extend them. Extend them. Why can't we ever play anything out anymore? If I'm the Rams.
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Colin Cowherd
Yeah.
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John Middelkoff
One, I could never copy and paste that contract. Even if he comes out, feels like we got to have some time. Let's play it into the season, maybe even the off season. And if you show, we got no problem doing it, you're a great player. But that's a lot of money to invest in someone that you have any questions with off the field.
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Colin Cowherd
I mean, ask yourself this. Occasionally you will see a great player drop in the draft.
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John Middelkoff
Yeah.
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Colin Cowherd
And you like, I could name five receivers. You're like, how did they end up in the fifth or sixth round? When Puka came out of the fifth round and literally it was the, like day one at practice, Stafford's like, oh, my Lord. It did make me think recently, was there stuff out there? I didn't hear about it pre draft, but he's so gifted and so good. You're going to tell me every team in the League passed four times like it does. All this stuff now becomes fodder and it becomes fair game because you're getting in trouble. And we're all sitting there because you know teams aren't going to give you the inside details. So in our business it's like, how did he drop to the fifth round? You look at his, you start looking at people close to him and you're like, I don't know if I wouldn't. I could, not right now, today, in good conscience as a gm, I could not resign him. I couldn't.
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John Middelkoff
And I don't think they're going to. But I also think there have been some conversations. Could they trade him? They're kind of all in this year. They just traded for McDuffie. This could be Stafford's last year. I don't think it trades an option. The other thing is his value. I mean, what's a guy I, I, I understand he had 129 catches. He is currently in rehab. That's not exactly screaming two first round picks, right? So they're kind of in this spot. Let it play out. Let's see if he can mature. Devonte, super high character guy. I think ideally, hey Devonte, can you kind of even do more? I mean, it's a lot to ask of you. I know we just might have traded you for A.J. brown. A.J.
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Colin Cowherd
brown.
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John Middelkoff
Puka might have been a lot in that wide receiver room. So they might have avoided disaster there. Speaking of the NFL and just polarizing individuals, big report came out about Jalen Hurts. Nick Foles chimed in. He knows a thing or two about Philadelphia and you know, one thing he mentioned is he went through a lot of different play callers and he saw with Carson Wentz and he talked about the challenge of guys coming in and out. But you know, I think there have been a lot of parallels with, with Hertz and with Russell Wilson and obviously a couple of the play callers got head coaching jobs. Kellen Moore, Shane Steichen, some of them got fired too. And this, that's sometimes on the quarterback. Like not a lot of offensive coordinators got fired for Tom Brady and Peyton Manning usually or Aaron Rod usually when you're a great coordinator, those coordinators become head Matt Ryan, Kyle Shanahan, boom. That they, they vault you. So sometimes that's on the quarterback. But this situation, I've lived in that town, they're always a big story. I think this is one of the biggest stories going into the year. And you know, Sirianni, who has this great record is in A weird way kind of tied to this. If this goes wrong, you know, Jalen's obviously his job would be in trouble but. But Sirianni could get tied to it.
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Colin Cowherd
Well, John, as you know defensive head coaches, the offense with their team is often tied to the coordinator because they don't have the offensive sensibility. Right?
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John Middelkoff
Yeah.
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Colin Cowherd
But usually offensive coaches, McVeigh, Reed, Shanahan, whoever the coordinator is, it doesn't really matter. You know, I mean Andy Reid, McVeigh mostly. You know, Kevin O', Connell, he's the head coach. That's why I've always like higher offensive coaches. There are some great guys but like Mike McDonald in Seattle is a great defensive coach. But he loses Kubiak now you roll the dice and hope you can find at least a guy close to his good. And so what bothers me about Sirianni, it's always been my problem. He's an offensive head coach, yet totally dependent on his coordinator for offensive success. That's not an elite coach. He has an elite record. But Andy Reid could have b enemy. He could have. I mean he could have six different guys in the NFL. Matt Nagy, it doesn't matter. Sirianni is too dependent as an offensive coach on his offensive coordinator. And I think Manion's going to be good. My guess is they get it right this year. That's my guess. But I listen, as you've said, Bill Parcells used to say as when he was coaching the Giants. That's not nearly as tough as coaching the Eagles. It's different.
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Fox Sports Radio Announcer
No.
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John Middelkoff
I think one huge problem with Jalen hurts is in this happened with Russell Wilson. Remember, he didn't want to move anymore. He just wanted to play from within the pocket.
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Colin Cowherd
Right.
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John Middelkoff
Jalen's great attribute. He's a good deep ball thrower. He's a great runner. Not like Lamar Jackson fast, but he can turn into a running back. He doesn't want to run.
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Colin Cowherd
That's right.
- [32:37]
John Middelkoff
And so. So it's like he's a dual threat quarterback that took the duel out and I'm just going to play a pocket. Well, you're not a great pocket quarterback. Part of that article. That article is not about, you know, him screwing around at night, coming in tired. It was all about football and he just. He'll change the play because he wants to throw a go route and not against the 49ers in that playoff game. They could have run quarterback draws and powers. The Niners would have had no chance. But he refuses to run that. And I think what makes a Great player. You could have told Peyton Manning or Tom Brady, we are going to call a run play every single play for the next 10 games. If it worked, they would have no problem handing it off. They'll do whatever. If you ask Andy Reid about Patrick Mahomes, he'd say he will do whatever it takes for us to win. Jalen. And this happened to Russell, I'll do whatever it takes for us to win as long as I'm doing what I want to do. And that becomes a problem.
- [33:24]
Colin Cowherd
Okay, a great example. Kyler Murray. He got tired of getting hit. Russell did, Jalen did. Michael Vick told me this one time. He said, for the first two years, I love running. End of the third year, I got smoked. I didn't like running as much. It was still a weapon. And the reality is, is, and we've said this before, John, there, there. Russell Wilson got a lot of guys drafted. What we know now between TUA and Hertz and Kyle, size matters. Six, two should hopefully be the floor with offensive linemen now on a regular basis. At 6, 7.
- [33:58]
John Middelkoff
I agree. The thing I would say with Jalen, though, as a runner, you know, I was around Michael Vick. He could be, because he was so, so fast and excited, explosive, a little reckless in the open field. If you watch a lot of Jalen's runs, he's natural at getting to the sideline. He doesn't take a lot of big hits. His runs are actually, in a weird way, kind of safe, but he wants no part of it.
- [34:17]
Colin Cowherd
Yep. John with the news.
- [34:20]
Fox Sports Radio Announcer
Well, that's the news.
- [34:22]
Colin Cowherd
And thanks for stopping by the herd.
- [34:24]
John Middelkoff
Lies.
- [34:24]
Colin Cowherd
You know, it's funny John mentions this, because I think a lot of what Jalen Hurts is saying is I've been doubted my whole life because of my size. And I'm gonna prove to you guys I wanna be a pocket quarterback. And I get that. I mean, it almost be like if you had a great singing voice and you could act a little, but you were, you know, you knew you could act longer than sing, and you're like, hey, I can act. And you weren't bad at acting, but you weren't great at acting. What you were great at is singing. Right? Like, and I think Jalen's like, yeah, I know I can run. But in the end, I've been doubted my whole life, that I'm a pocket guy and I'm gonna prove you guys wrong. And I think to John's point, to his detriment, I think part of every quarterback has a secret sauce. Everybody's got a thing. There's no perfect quarterback. And I think to John's point, Russell and Jalen hurts Russell because of his baseball background, never took shots. He just slid perfectly. Kyler Murray, baseball background, great slider. And I and I think Hertz is kind of trying to prove a point more than win. Remember a couple years ago and I think Ryan Day is a great coach at Ohio State. I think Ryan's amazing. And there's one game with Ryan Day that he out thought the room they played in Michigan and they were favored and they and they were better. And Ryan wanted to prove a point is I'm not going to let Michigan push us around. It's like Ryan win the game. Don't worry about all that. All the headline stories the next day. And it was the one time I watched Ryan Day and I've heard critics for years and I'm like, he's a great coach that game. I thought you're letting you're getting distracted by the mission. The mission. Win games, lean into your strength, avoid your weakness. Find their flaws, make them play left handed. And I think, I think that's hard. I think it's easy for me to say, but it can be hard as a coach or a player when you're also trying to create a culture, make a point. There you go. Coming up next, we often say aggressive wins and this is a franchise that's got some really smart people and ownership in the front office. But in this instance, this franchise I'm going to talk about, I think made a big mistake and they're paying the price. Next,
- [36:52]
Fox Sports Radio Announcer
Be sure to catch live editions of the Herd, weekdays at noon Eastern, 9am Pacific.
- [36:56]
Colin Cowherd
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- [40:18]
John Middelkoff
Pro Football in the spring week two wraps up with the St. Louis Battle Hawks against the Dallas Renegades tonight at 8 Eastern on FS1, it's going to
- [40:29]
Colin Cowherd
be 70 degrees tomorrow. Chicago Bulls. Why don't you invite some people up here for the next few days? Weather's going to be good, boat's going to be sailing. So about three years ago, we talked about this. The Bucks had a title with Giannis. He'd had an injury or two, and there was rumblings, not so private, that he was not necessarily satisfied with the roster. And I said at the time, once a star starts grumbling, get on the phone then now, that afternoon, skip lunch, make calls, because when word gets out, you're going to lose value. Well, I'm reading a story by Shams this morning in detail about the Giannis Bucks relationship. He apparently told them more than once, I'm ready to be moved. And they haven't made the move. And my question is, well, what's his market now? Adam Silver's created a league where it's hard to acquire Giannis, and the league's never been more three ball centric, and he's not a perimeter player, so you'd like to put him on one or two teams, but he needs the ball. He can't shoot from the outside. He's now in his 30s. I mean, even last year he was what, 30 a game up there in the MVP voting. Bigs age fast. People aren't built to be seven feet tall. Right. It's hard. I mean, there you see injuries, you see clotting. It's difficult. And he's a nice guy, he's a remarkable player. But three years ago, I mean, three years ago you were hearing, I'm not quite sure if this is it. Get on the phone. And I think Milwaukee's done a remarkable job to make their downtown attractive. 5.5 billion. It's a cool city. The arena is great, the ownership is smart, but I gotta be honest with you, I think they kind of fumbled it. And this is just the way life works, right? The new five years ago, you could have traded him four years ago, three years ago. The new CBA trading is hard. It's not in baseball, it's not in football. It is hard to make trades work in the NBA. And you know, the warriors would love to have him. They can't pull it off. What do they got to give him? I mean, what are the matching salaries? I don't know how they do it. So I think this is a classic example where aggressive wins, preemptive wins. Don't react, act. And I think they fumbled it. And I have a connection. The Bucks aren't A bunch of dummies. I mean the organization much better. They're north an hour of Chicago and been a much smarter organization for most of that time. But it's just life business. If somebody's grumbling and they've got a market, you think the grumbling's going away. I mean you knew you had limitations on what you could get him. The Dame Lillard was a swing, but we all knew we're like he's a defensive liability, he's older, he's diminutive. You can work him on the defensive end. That wasn't the answer to anything. Okay, so I saw this yesterday. Michael Mulvihill, he works for Fox, it's a very popular company. And he said total viewing first week of baseball up 54%. So I don't get too caught up on the rating stuff. I mean everybody's telling you their ratings are up. But I will say this. There was about a six to seven year period where major league baseball, as we all had our iPhones were getting more frenetic and caffeinated. Baseball was plodding and slow and attendance was doing this and ratings were doing this for about six, seven years. And college basketball had become a one and done factory. You never knew who the players were. But yet baseball due to tweaks and college basketball due to the nil are now great watches and those sports are on fire. And over the course of that six, seven years when the NBA could have pulled away, they got paralyzed by dynasties and have now made it virtually impossible to make big trades. And the best team in the league, and this is no knock on Oklahoma City is the Thunder whose best player is 6 foot 6 non vertical, lives on 17 footers and flopping. I'm sorry, I think, I think he's a great kid. I think he's a great player. It's not that captivating. So. And you know I'm not going to go over the Internet and tell you what rating means what. Here's what I know. Baseball is not afraid of the Yankees and the Dodgers and the Phillies crushing. You know who's in first place in baseball right now? Milwaukee. Cleveland. The small market Reds are really good again and low budget Miami's crushing and so are the Dodgers and the Yankees and that's okay. And big market Washington's a mess. It's okay. And the and the big market Mets are good but they'll screw it up probably. You know it met fans. So you can tell me how great the NBA is. But over the last week here's what I know to be True. Friday night, five NBA games. The average score was a 24 point spread. Because of the tanking issue, a story came out yesterday. The salary cap is expected to be lower than projected amid the media revenue dip. Oh, I thought everything was rosy or John Hollinger put this out on social media and this was a, this was bad. That they went to ABC, ESPN, NBC, Peacock, Prom, all the NBA networks. Only 32% of the time in the big network games of the week did the stars play. That is your problem, not tanking. Shohei Ohtani, who pitches and bats with a schedule that's twice as long as the NBA and plays outdoors in the summer heat, misses about five games a year. If you go to a Dodger game, Shohei Ohtani is playing. If you go to a Laker game, a Warrior game, you have, you got no idea who's playing and who isn't. That was Tom Haberstrough, not John Hollinger. My bad. The, the point being is I'm seeing that 32% number bad. The salary cap lower than project hell. The NFL salary cap comes out every year. It's like 20% higher every year. It's a rocket going in one direction. You see those Friday night games, the largest margin of victory on a day with at least eight games in league history. Stop telling me everything's great. It's not. There was a seven or eight year, six or seven year period. However long it was, college basketball was increasingly unwatchable. Regardless of what everybody was telling you. It was a one and done factory. You never knew who was staying, who was going. Now guys are staying, it's older, the quality is better, and baseball was slow and plotting. But this, this is what I've said before. You can keep telling me something, but I'm, I'm seeing the. There's all sorts of signs. Last week was like the drip, drip, drip, drip in the NBA. Bad news, bad news, bad news, bad news. Cross your fingers on Wemby's injury. That's all I got to say. I want to go back to Michigan winning the national championship. Is that we said, I said yesterday, I believe this. If Michigan shot well, they could beat him by 12 to 15 points. Michigan did not shoot well. Well, because UConn is a relentless defensive team. But there's A reason that UConn was an underdog is that UConn really was missing an elite player. A couple years ago. They had four of their five starters were NBA guys. Caravan was a freshman. That UConn team was one of the best I've ever seen that rivaled those Billy Donovan, Florida back to back championship teams. Length, guard, play, coaching, toughness could beat you several different ways. They could pound it inside, they could hit shots. So this, this UConn team, by UConn standards was just marginally talented. I had them losing to Duke. They were outplayed by Duke and Duke's really young and got really, really tight. But most of that game you felt Duke was better. You never watched a single game in this tournament that you thought anybody was close to as good as Michigan. I watched multiple games this year with UConn. One against St. John's I'm like, I'm not sure they're that much better than St. John. They got, they got whacked by Marquette. I mean, they were a good team. Don't get me wrong. It's March, it's Dan Hurley. But this group of players for UConn, they overachieved. I don't think anybody would deny that previous Yukon teams would have dragged this Yukon team. Here's Hurley.
- [49:25]
Dan Hurley
To play to the last, you know, to be one of the last two teams standing. I know a lot of people talk about, hey, it's. You're better off losing the first game in the final four than losing in the championship. That is the biggest bunch of. It's the biggest bunch of crap of all time. It's such a bull stuff.
- [49:45]
John Middelkoff
Stuff.
- [49:46]
Dan Hurley
It is. I mean, it's like, this is where you want it to be.
- [49:50]
Colin Cowherd
Yeah. And it's it. I thought last night's game was what you would call inevitable, is that Michigan's best player had his worst game in the tournament. He wasn't you. He said at halftime, he's like, I'm out of juice. They could not hit threes, even open ones they couldn't hit. And they had that burst at the end of the first half. And you're like, okay, that's Michigan. They're going to do that about two to three more times. They did. They took a lead. They never looked back. Nick Wright's around the corner. It's Tuesday. Come on, Bulls. Take a swing. Hi, it's Colin Coward. If you want your outdoor space to really stand out, deckorator, Surestone technology is where you should start decking with. Surestone technology is made through a patented process that uses crushed rock, not wood fiber like other composites, which gives every board incredible strength and durability. And it's engineered with a unique surface design for better traction when things get wet. It's comfortable, it's safe, it's durable. And that just looks great too. Build season is coming fast, so order a sample today. Visit decorators.com herd to get your free sample. That's decorators with a K again. Decorators.com herd service opens doors. And at the American Military University, it can open doors for the whole family. If you have a loved one who served in the military, you may qualify for reduced tuition. AMU offers flexible online programs designed to fit your schedule so you can keep moving forward wherever life takes you. Learn more@amu.apus.edu Military open doors to the future for you and your family with the help of American Military University. Everybody hits that mid morning moment where a little boost would really help. That's where the new Starbucks Energy Refresher come in. They're great. If you already love Starbucks refreshers, these have the same taste now with an added boost of caffeine. Your favorite flavors like strawberry, acai or pink drink now have an extra kick for the perfect midday reset. So when a little lift sounds good today, try the new Energy Refreshers at Starbucks. Or order one right now on the Starbucks app. Most people think their insurance will cover them if disaster strikes. But here's the truth. Many are wrong. You pay your premiums. You assume you're protected. Then the fine print hits. Exclusions, loopholes, limits. Suddenly that coverage you counted on isn't really coverage at all. That's why I like my policy advocate. They take your actual policies, home, life, auto, break them down in plain English. They show you what's really covered and what isn't. Cost 27 cents a day. That's it. Less than a cup of coffee. Before you assume you're covered, go to mypolicyadvocate.com let them review your policy. You might be shocked at what you'll find. MyPolicyAdvocate.com this is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.