PMS 2.0 1519 - March Madness Rounds 1 and 2 Recap, Coach K, Adam Schefter, Seth Greenberg, Iowa Head Coach Ben McCollum, Darius Butler, & AJ Hawk

Summary

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Podcast Summary: The Pat McAfee Show 2.0 Ep. 1519

Date: March 23, 2026
Main Theme:
A jam-packed “Overreaction Monday” live from ESPN’s Bristol studios, this episode recaps the opening rounds of March Madness, digs into coaching strategy with Hall of Famer Mike Krzyzewski (Coach K), offers betting trends, explores the impact of NIL and the transfer portal, and covers NFL free agency—including exclusive takes from Adam Schefter. Features interviews with Iowa’s Ben McCollum, Seth Greenberg, Darius Butler, and regulars AJ Hawk, Ty Schmidt, Boston Connor, and The Toxic Table.

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Episode Highlights & Structure

[00:00-10:00]

Flag Football vs. NFL – Olympic Reality Check

• Pat (remote from ESPN), AJ, and the boys open discussing the Fanatics flag football event, where NFL and influencer squads got walloped by pro flag footballers.
• Pat’s take: NFL legends didn't realize what they'd signed up for.

  “These dudes are on hydraulics… They’re making the car bounce. These guys on the field. How is Luke Kuechly, five years retired, supposed to dance with guys on hydraulics?” – Pat [03:10]

• RG3’s bid for the Olympic flag football team is discussed with Darius Butler and AJ. Lots of respect for the unique flag football skill set—NFLers and influencers, not so much.

[10:00-17:40]

March Madness Recap & The Death of the Cinderella Story

• Pivot to March Madness:
  • Recap of favorites dominating the first two rounds (21 straight at one point), oddsmaker trends, and rare upsets (Iowa over Florida).
  • Connor: Favorite’s sweep led to wild parlay potential for bettors.

  “Friday the favorites went 16-0. You’d be like +5000 if you parlayed all the moneylines.” – Connor [10:15]

• Dissection of the Rick Pitino/St. John’s buzzer-beater and the impact of self-belief and coaching:

  “To want the ball when you haven’t scored a shot is unbelievable.” – Pitino (as quoted by Pat) [11:40]

• Betting trends: heavy on favorites, Sweet 16 now all Power 5 schools. “Cinderella may be dead in the first round, but the round of 32 was great.” – Tone Diggs [14:57]

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Main Interview – Coach K Breaks Down the Tournament

[17:43-51:18]

Key Topics:

• Transfer Portal & NIL Effects: “The best are getting better; Cinderella’s are rare. Older, more physical teams. International players are huge—Arizona has 8.” – Coach K [22:24]
• Big Ten’s Dominance:
  • Pat: Big Ten’s money, alumni, and NIL is changing the tournament landscape.
  • Coach K: “ACC hasn’t won in 20 years. The Big Ten is crushing it… they’re playing a man’s game now.” [24:35]
• On Coaching & Game Strategy:

  “End-of-game situations? You work on them an amazing amount. Side-out, under-out of bounds, after timeout—hidden gems.” – Coach K [25:19]

  • Keys: empower players to make reads, don’t over-coach, use timeouts smart.
  • Pat: “So many life lessons – be in the moment. Basketball favors the continuous thinker.” [30:19]
• Hairgate & Humor:
  • Pat grills Coach K about his “jet black” hair and eyebrows.

  “Quit looking at my damn eyebrows.” – Coach K [37:12]

• Prepping for Sweet 16:
  • Don’t over-practice, don’t give too much info, limit distractions for players, “Let them be instinctive, healthy, focused.” [39:47]
  • 3-word mantras: “Fun, Fight, Fantastic.” (Pat is invited to ‘write the foreword’ of the fictitious book.)
• The Shot – Christian Laettner 1992:
  • Behind-the-scenes of the most famous NCAA play: “He was 20-20 that game. When he shot it, I knew it was going in. He had it. He was a winner.” [46:56]

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[53:00-74:00]

NIL, Transfer Portal & Betting Trends

• Major vs. mid-major gap grows:
  • Utah State’s coach: “The difference between making the 32 and being out: $2M on the roster.” [52:31]
  • Mick Cronin: “I need $5 million more for my roster.”
• Sweet 16 odds: Arizona, Michigan, Duke—no clear ‘superteam favorite.’
• Free agency NFL updates from Adam Schefter:
  • Jackson Smith-Njigba becomes highest-paid WR (4yrs/$168.6 million).
  • OBJ, Diggs, Hopkins—next WR dominoes, team fits, and the effect of the draft on signings.

Notable NFL Quotes:

“Puka [Nakua] is on deck. He’ll get paid. That’s a good problem to have when your draft picks are this good.” – Darius Butler [55:03]
“Ty Simpson will definitely be a first round draft pick. But this stuff always evolves right up to the wire.” – Adam Schefter [76:45]
“[On Aaron Rodgers] — Pittsburgh wants him back. If he wants to play, the job is waiting for him.” [86:09]

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[102:00-115:49]

Seth Greenberg In-Studio – College Basketball State-of-the-Union

• Mid-Majors Squeezed Out:

  “Mid-major players use it as a springboard now, but you still need fit and culture guys, not just money.” [102:58]

• Evaluation over Bankroll:

  “Saban said it: You spend money on the wrong guys, you’re out of luck. Evaluation is crucial.” [103:52]

• Big Ten & Michigan State Praise:
  • “Izzo’s identity and culture is the difference—players understand the standard, and continuity matters.”
• Iowa’s Cinderella Potential:

  “They’re mistake-free, keep you in front, and limit mistakes. The art of the upset: can you impose your identity on the game?” [106:59]

• Favorite for the Title?
  • “Arizona – eight true starters, starters coming off the bench, excellent pieces, deep and complete.” [111:08]

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[130:26-137:44]

Iowa Head Coach Ben McCollum

• On beating Florida & NCAA run:

  “We brought pride back to Iowa. After winning at D2, you learn success is process—not just the outcome.” [131:00]

• Difference in Power-Conference Play:
  • “Big Ten games are more half-court, more physical & tactical; SEC games have more overpowering athleticism.”
• Handling March Madness Pressure:

  “At D2 you play the next day, take bus rides. Now it’s private jets, sleep at home, best food—if you can’t get up for the next game, we’ve got bigger problems.” [136:36]

• Culture & Passion:

  “The beauty of competition is you leave it on the floor… it brings out the best and worst, but once it’s over, it’s over. It’s hoops, baby.” [135:45]

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[121:00-125:00]

Women’s Hoops & WNBA Players’ Deal

• UConn women favored; major new pay deals for WNBA players (max contract jumps up, more bonuses)—“A win for women's sport.”
• WNBA scoop drama: Shams’ breaking news upsets some; Pat and crew riff on media competition.

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[124:25-127:02]

Sweet 16 Betting Odds (Men’s)

• Arizona +330, Michigan, Duke next; Iowa a long shot at +12,000.
• Ty: “Do NOT be late to this train. If you’re good with +12k, hop on. I took +20,000 before the tourney.”
• The ‘old firm’ of coaching (Calipari, Pitino, Hurley, Izzo) dominate the tourney.

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[145:00-153:40]

Pop Culture & USXFL Halftime Shows

• Lively end-of-show riffing about spring football league USXFL aiming to draw crowds by booking big halftime acts (Nelly, Gavin DeGraw, DJ Khaled, Wale).
• “Five-minute quarters and a 45-minute halftime—maybe that’s their thing. Nelly’s going to bring it.” – Pat [147:14]

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Memorable Quotes & Moments

• Coach K:
  • “It’s not what you know as a coach; it’s what your players can do under game conditions.”
  • “Quit looking at my damn eyebrows.” [37:12]
  • “I’m not putting out a goddamn book.” [43:52]
• Adam Schefter on Aaron Rodgers:
  • “[Pittsburgh] wants him, he knows it… the job is waiting if he wants it.” [86:09]
• Pat to McCollum:
  • “If you keep fighting, know we’re on your side.” [137:29]
• Ty Schmidt on Iowa’s run:
  • “I wasn’t kidding when I said last night was maybe the happiest I’ve been in 20 years.” [138:11]

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Important Timestamps

• Flag Football/NFL/IShowSpeed: 00:00–10:00
• March Madness: Parity & Favorites: 10:00–17:40
• Coach K Full Segment: 17:43–51:18
• NIL/Money Talk: 51:00–53:00
• Betting Trends (Sweet 16): 53:00–56:00
• Adam Schefter/NFL Updates: 74:01–98:33
• Seth Greenberg In-Studio: 102:01–115:49
• Iowa Coach Ben McCollum Interview: 130:26–137:44
• Women’s Hoops/WNBA Pay: 121:21–123:45
• Sweet 16 Odds: 124:25–127:02
• USXFL Halftime Riff: 145:00–153:40

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Recap/Takeaway

March Madness is evolving: Money, NIL, and the transfer portal have shifted the field—dominant “blueblood” or “power” schools are deeper, older, and more physical, squeezing out mid-majors and reducing Cinderellas. Great coaching—retention, fit, and culture—still matters (per Coach K, Seth Greenberg). Flag football’s Olympic debut highlights just how specialized—and underappreciated—different football skill sets are. Meanwhile, NFL and college football offseasons bring blockbuster contracts, new college stars, and plenty of rumor mill drama, with Schefter remaining the go-to news broker.

Signature quote:

“Don’t overcoach; let your players be instinctive, healthy, and focused. You got a shot.” – Coach K [39:47]

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[End of summary]

Transcript

[AJ Hawk]

Welcome to the Pat McAfee Show.

[Pat McAfee]

I am not Pat McAfee.

[AJ Hawk]

I'm A.J.

[Pat McAfee]

hawk sitting in at Pat's desk today.

[AJ Hawk]

He'll be joining us from some big time meetings in Bristol, Connecticut. Boys Spores, it's what we do. We have ball over Pat. Obviously your name is on the show. This is what you do. You're in Bristol. What's up, buddy?

[Pat McAfee]

How you doing, AJ thank you so much for traveling out to the Thunderdome. Obviously the boys love when your big ass dome is in the Thunderdome. The energy you bring is immaculate, especially on this overreaction Monday where there is so much to talk about. And this show is absolutely jam packed. We got coach K12, 15 Eastern. We got Adam Schefter joining us. We got Seth Greenberg. He'll be here live with me.

[Ty Schmidt]

Right.

[Pat McAfee]

They got me in a bunker down here. There's a bunch of studios here at espn. Got some super duper meetings up here. Okay, good luck. Yeah. And to them. And to them. Okay. Good luck to all parties here. Good luck to all parties here. But good luck to them. Come up here. It's a wonderful thing. And then who's around? Seth Greenberg. He's been incredible for our show. Does he want to come on? Would love to. Remember, he called Texas was going to go on. He called a couple other teams were going to go on. So we'll have magical conversation with him. We also caught up with coach Ben McCollum earlier. Head coach of Iowa. You saw him almost want to fight the national champion golden head coach as he was talking to the boys. We certainly addressed that with him. And then in the third hour, we'll be joined by Logan Paul. And when you think about Logan Paul and why would he be coming on this show? Well, he won the super Duper flag football challenge where the NFL players got their asses beat by actual flag football players. Now I would like to say a team that had Logan Paul, who's obviously WWE megastar and I believe a former amateur wrestler as well, and deflected that pass and caused interception for Lou Keakley, hall of Fame hall of Famer, who is retired by the way, in the booth. Hall of Famer law retired. Guys. Okay, we had Ishowspeed out there, okay. He was doing his thing against Devonta Smith, obviously. Jalen hurts, drops it. And that's Logan Paul getting a sack. Sorry. Jalen hurts though. Drop one on iShowSpeed. Okay, Great coverage. Just, you know, Jalen hurts and Devonta Smith kind of doing their thing. So whenever you think about the Fanatics, flag football thing as a whole, My take, the boys are bamboozled. I don't think the NFL guys retired or currently playing had any idea that these guys got the whoopty whoop. The whoopty whoop moves. They drop that shit. They're on hydraulics. These dudes. These dudes are. These dudes are on hydraulics. They're making the car bounce. These guys on the field. How the hell is Luke Kuechley, at least five years into his retirement, supposed to be dancing with this guy who's on the top floor and then drops his ass down to the lobby in the snap of a finger? Did the boys know that that is who they were playing? Was this Team USA ever? Were they supposed to go to Saudi Arabia and beat the hell out of us over there in front of Turkey and God bless them? Is that what this was supposed to be the whole time? Did Joe Burrow know he was going to be playing against the greatest flag football team of all time? And also, we say a lot about, like, Joe Burrow ended up on the ground three times at least. Joe Burrow's taking hits in flag football. Joe Burrow's all. I saw Joe Burrow's butt cheeks. I saw Joe Burrow was on the ground. Did Joe Burrow know he was playing against a bunch of guys who had been telling their family and their friends for so long how good they are at football? And then a couple years ago, whenever flag football got announced as an Olympic sport, I see too much of Joe Burrow here. I see too much of Joe Burrow there. I see Joe Burrow on the ground. I see him getting hit. These flag footballers, though, these flaggers, okay, have been telling. I told you I could do it. I'm good at football, too. I'm better than these NFL guys. The Olympics come around, the NFL guys are going to be in the Olympics. They're going to do flag football. These are the best we got. And the flag footballers say, whoa, whoa, whoa. We've committed our entire beings to this. We know the rules inside and out. We got the hydraulic system going, and you can't tackle us. Now, granted, if we were to put pads on, you would demolish all of us. Because they got tiny little legs, these guys, tiny little leg. I think they would all get absolutely crushed. But these flaggers knew that they would cook, these NFL guys, especially the retired gu or the influencers. And it's like, I feel like Ruben knew that was gonna happen as well with Fnatic. And did Tom know that this was gonna happen. And did all the boys know that they were running into a juggernaut of flag football talent? I don't think they did. And if they agreed to put that on tv, that's just. I'm kind of confused by it all. I'm kind of confused by it all. But on that note, I feel like team USA flag football is in a good spot. I think we're gonna win the Olympics. I think these guys are good. Now granted, one game with some influencers only lose by 10. Magic Dronk's playing the whole game. Instead he slips his falls on the outside, pulls his hamstring. That things rip forever. Caught two point conversion, was wide open down the middle. Maybe it's different. Tom Brady gets absolutely smoked and killed. He has one incredible play that reminds us all of why he's. Tom Brady scores a touchdown, obviously. Whoopty whoop whoop. I'm still doing the avocado. Ice cream spins it. Touchdown to Diggs. Good to see Diggs doing that. Tom could play Tom look good. They wouldn't score another touchdown this game. They would go on to lose 73 to 8. What the score would be. The flag footballers just smacked face belt, ass foot, butthole. I mean the, the flag football guys killed these retired and NFL legends on tv. And I don't know if the NFL guys knew were signing up for exactly because I don't like seeing Saquon Barkley on the loose and then somebody that, you know, frankly cannot hold Saquon Barkley. Shoulder pads. Yeah, okay. But on this particular day, on this day, they killed him. And then RG3 comes out afterwards and says, hey, I'm trying out for the team. It's like, good luck. Good luck. These fuckers are good. Yeah, he's doing it the right way.

[D'Bud]

Doing it the right way.

[Debug]

I thought he made it.

[AJ Hawk]

Thought he already made it. Yeah, he already went through the process.

[D'Bud]

He's doing it the right way.

[Pat McAfee]

I didn't know this tweet, I think kind of made us all think he was on the team. And maybe he is on the team because he'd be great at it. By the way. I do think then he followed up with saying they aren't picking the team yet.

[Coach K (Mike Krzyzewski)]

Okay.

[Pat McAfee]

Nobody's on team. If you want to make the team, you have to do what I did. Go to trials just like everyone else. Prove yourself and get selected. I'm doing it the right way. I'm not afraid to put it out there that I'm dedicating my energy towards being a part of the flag football community like I have for the past four years and beyond. If NFL players, okay, these assholes want to make the team, they have to put in the time, energy and effort like I will and like the countless great flag football players are doing. No one is too good to go through the process. No one is too good to come out and compete. Respect the flag football players and their knowledge of the game. Respect the flag football coaches and show them you want it. God bless them. Now I agree RG3. I think that's why we were all so confused after watching these guys just beat everybody's ass on a flag football field. You say you're on the team, it's like RG3 if you're making that team. Pumped about that because it does feel like he might have the skill set to do it. But I don't think the guys that were playing in that fanatics flag football game knew what they were running into. D butt. Is that something you would have signed up for? And how do you think you would fare at flag football against that group? They were able. Hey, they were dropping that shit mid run. Hey, full run CEO. And then they're back. I didn't know how they do it. I don't know how they do it. The tendons, the joints, it all. It's a different game, D. But it's a fully different game.

[Debug]

Completely different game. This is why the flag football guys are so calm, confident. Forgot the guy who came out a couple years ago saying like, hey, I'm better than Patrick Mahomes. I will be Team USA's captain. And that's why, I mean these guys, like you said, trust me, they feel a lot better than those NFL guys do. And look, I see a lot of wide receivers, I see influencers, I see retired players. If you have some active DBs out there, you gave him a training camp and get ready for his maybe two months or so to get ready for this. They would have been good. But it's a lose, lose situation for the NFL guys. Outside of the their bank accounts, I'm sure everybody was compensated well. They showed up parties. It was cool parties, cool people, but good gimmicks out there. I think this was good overall for flag football though, especially the guys that have, you know, committed a long time. Just like RG3 said in that long statement, the guys committed, respect them, no show up and I think we're in good hands. But for the NFL guys, I hope they had a good time. But this was, I mean a lot of, a lot of people were looking sideways at him.

[Coach Ben McCollum]

Now.

[Debug]

I don't like what it did for the bread.

[Pat McAfee]

I don't like. These boys are in their off season. Yeah, these guys. These guys are supposed to be going to these good parties. OBJ earning a camp. Right there, Right there. Still got it. Fingertip catch right on the tip. What a phenomenal. OBJ had a big time. I think he won. I think OBJ won fanatics. I think he won fanatics. Flag football. Congratulations to him. I think he's starting D hop. Obviously he's been saying a lot of positive stuff about Kyler Murray. Is D hop going to end up with the Vikings? Is D hop going to end up with the Vikings? Well, it looks like he's still one hand catching and tell flag football they'll go on to win by a thousand. He's too small. Too small, too small. And I saw Jalen Ramsey a couple of different times. He said, and he, you know, he was going. And he just go ahead and drop a guy. Obviously it's a penalty. You can't do that. It's like, are we playing football? Are we not while we're playing flag football, It's a little different. Let's get off of flag football. Let's go to the story of the weekend. March madness is spectacular. Let's go to the toxic table at Boston Connor and at Ty Schmidt, con man. There was a run of favorites fight 21, 22 straight, right. I don't remember the exact. But the weekend was kind of carried by the favorites doing their thing. What is the overall combo you think, coming out of this weekend's March Madness?

[Connor]

I think the biggest thing for me, at least. And to your point, I think Friday the favorites went 16. Oh. It was something where if you did a parlay with all the favorite money lines that, you know, you'd be like, plus 5,000 something ridiculous. But the real thing for me is Saturday, Sunday. The games are unbelievable. I don't know. The whole nil Cinderella conversation, that does stink. And I was bummed out about it as someone who is betting on every single underdog and losing every single bet. But with that being said, the basketball, as these rounds go on is just getting so much better. Kansas, St. John's is great, but I mean, this was the story. Ty's Iowa team coming in hot, winning over the defending champs, Florida. That was kind of the biggest, you know, upset, if you will, even though it's still big ten school, still number nine seed overall. But for the entire weekend, especially looking ahead, I believe only the Teams Left are Power 5 conferences. So although the Cinderella might not be as big of a story, these are the games that we're going to see and it's just only going to get better and better from here on out.

[Pat McAfee]

I feel like that's kind of what we were talking about. What a call by this guy. By the way, I think Coach Pitino will be joining us tomorrow. Obviously the Johnny's move on. Beat Kansas. That was that guy's first bucket, darling, right there as he has the first buzzer beater to win it. In the March Madness run thus far, there was a buzzer beater to tie, I believe, North Carolina that there hasn't been a buzzer beater to win it. And this was, I believe, the first one and also this guy's first bucket. And he called the play himself to Pitino. Pitino had an incredible quote after he asked, after this guy asked for the play, he goes, I'm thinking to myself, this guy hasn't scored a point, hasn't got a single bucket tonight. And then he think, but he's Bells, this guy. I mean, he does kind of win. This is Coach Pitino talking about the enigma of the situation he had with Bells and who was going to try to win this thing. But here's the amazing thing and the funniest thing I've ever been involved with. So we're going to run a play and. But they got fouls to give and Bells comes up to me and says, run power, which is a high back screen pick and roll. So I walk away. I said, okay, power. I walk away and said, wait a second, he hasn't scored a bucket and he wants to run a play for himself. And I'm thinking as I'm walking, I said, but he's Bells. And not only did he do it, he went with his right hand. So real proud of him. Because to want the ball when you haven't made a shot is unbelievable. So both of these guys had a major impact in us winning tonight. I'm so happy for St. John's and the fans. We had great fans out here and we get to go to D.C. and I'm just so jubilant, so happy for the fellas. We've taken another step now, so it's just awesome. Proud of our guys and now it's just starting. The fun's just starting. Listen, I'm so happy for the fellas. You know, the boys been having good times. They have. You know, we got cards, we got drinks, we got camaraderie. And you Know Bells, we call him Belzy righty, you know. Cause he's actually a lefty and he's fucking calling these shots for himself. The reaction out of Pitino there was absolutely beautiful. AJ it's like everything that we out of March Madness has seemingly been the best of sport. Even the super passionate coaches doing their thing. Now we got a player who's had a rough night still having a belief in himself and a coach giving him an opportunity to do as such. It's like this March Madness teaches so many life lessons and has so many moments and this is certainly one are the Johnny's about to go on a run because Belzy took it with the offhand off of power. AJ that's what we have to ask right now.

[AJ Hawk]

Well, I think in basketball I think you need to have like delusional confidence. I think in all sports it helps to have delusional confidence. Like hey yeah, I don't have a bucket yet tonight, but let me have the game winner on a national stage in the biggest game of my life most likely. So yeah, why not? This the Johnny's are on a. I said they got to ride this high for a little while. And coach Pitino, as he said he's so jubilant for the boys and the fan, the fan base. So yeah, why not? I think these guys can still, still go do it, make a run. But this was March Madness has absolutely lived up to the hype. I feel like with so many games coming down to the wire and ending like this.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, I agree there was a couple blots but that's about it. Everything else felt like who knows who's going to win. And then inevitably the favorites seemingly were. And there was a couple star that want absolutely off. Let's go to one half of the Hammer Cowboys AP tone. Obviously the favorites were a good bet. How about the over unders? How, how. How have we been trending this March Madness over there as we tried to beat DraftKings's ass.

[D'Bud]

Obviously the. The story and the graphic shows like it was. It was the favorites and it was

[Pat McAfee]

the most sick hoodie. That's my first time seeing that on.

[D'Bud]

Got that on Saturday night, went down to pbr, watched some guys ride some bulls. That was electric. But no, the favorites were the story all week, all weekend long. Most 20 point wins. I believe in a tournament and it's the second straight year, the second time it's ever happened. Connor mentioned it that the major conferences they make up all of the Sweet 16 teams. So yes, the Cinderella. Cinderella may be dead in the first round of 64. But those round of 32 games were awesome. I believe the unders went a little bit more than the. The overs let. Maybe because of the ball, maybe because of the inflated ball. We saw that happen at one of the end of the games. A lot of people saying that ball would have went in for Tennessee in that situation. But. But no, as far the. The public did really, really well. Because when you do, when there's a lot of Moneyline parlays on that Friday and every single favorite hits, the public did really, really well on that day. And as far as the tournament goes overall because of the favorites.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, that's what we're talking about. Hey, DraftKings suck it. Ain't that right, D boy?

[Debug]

Damn right. Crown is ours.

[Pat McAfee]

The crown is ours. It feels like it is. And I'll tell you, every time I put a bet in for the favorite, I always go, wow, the gambling people are going to mock me for this. You know, must be easy just to go, chalk, chalk, chalk. People are going after J. Will a little bit. Look at his. Look at his brackets from last two years. It's like, hasn't everybody kind of told us that the good teams are going to be gooder in that kind of. What everybody has said with this nil and the transfer portal stuff, like, we'll kind of know who the teams are. Joining us now is a man who kind of gave a pretty good preview of what we should see over the weekend. Now, his school, his beloved school couldn't come close to covering 28 and a half. I mean, couldn't even. We almost lost that thing. I mean, I put out a tweet saying, we are definitely not a jinx. We are definitely not a curse. Because people were saying that with Team USA losing in Venezuela.

[Connor]

No,

[Pat McAfee]

I didn't like it. They were saying it in different. They were saying in different languages. They were saying it to be in different languages. I had to translate the post. And they were saying, this guy's the reason they lost. I'm like, well, now that we got Coach K on a program, Duke number one outright team, they got to go on and just demolish everybody. Turns out, plus, we got Bone dressed like he's literally in ninth grade. Okay, ninth grade outfit, costume for the day as we're watching day one of March Madness. He'd been dressed like this since 6am he said, I got up and I dressed like this since 6am and we almost lose to Sienna, but we continue to go, and now we're still Alive. And joining us now is a man who might be able to give us more information about college hoops as a whole. March Madness as a whole, and certainly life as a whole. A guy who's been halfway decent on this show thus far. We'll see how today goes. Ladies and gentlemen, five time national champion, Coach Kyzevsky.

[Coach K (Mike Krzyzewski)]

Thank you, guys.

[Pat McAfee]

How you doing, coach?

[Coach K (Mike Krzyzewski)]

I'll try to do better. Yeah, hopefully you have the same attitude. You can do better too.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, I'm trying. Every day I wake up, I read a bunch of Coach K scripture. You know, all the things you say, all the super duper stuff that you. What is your. I should know that. Next time, next time we'll talk to you. I'll go through all your quotes. I cannot wait to go through all the quotes of yours that are obviously going to motivate, inspire me to be a better human. But you certainly have made us a smarter college basketball group. What did you take away from the first couple rounds of March Madness? Because there was a conversation about the haves and have nots and there was a conversation about maybe the Cinderella stories being something of the past. And it's new nil transfer Porto era. There was a long run of favorites winning this weekend. Longer than ever, basically. In March Madness. How do you kind of view what happened this past weekend and what is your takeaway where March Madness is right now?

[Seth Greenberg]

Coach?

[Coach K (Mike Krzyzewski)]

Yeah, well, it's so, it's so damn exciting, you know, buzzer beaters. Florida getting knocked off was a big surprise to me. And it wasn't like that big of an upset if you watch just that game. That's right, because Iowa was more physical than Florida. A cool thing about Iowa, Ben McCollum, their coach, he won four national titles at Division 2 Northwest Missouri State. When I coached, we had two exhibition games you could play. They've changed that now. And we always played the Division 2 national champion from the year before in an HBCU school. And so I coached against Ben twice. He brought his teams here and they gave us a run, but a 10 and 10 Big 10 team making it. I think a. One of the most impressive performances for me was Iowa State, especially with Jefferson getting hurt. And then Kentucky blitzed them right at the start of the game and all of a sudden, boom. You know, they defense, character, depth and then they, they kind of ran them off the court. But they could have been knocked back. And you know how they, the coaches do these interviews during the game. TJ Otzelberger, he was the first one interviewed at say 8 minute mark or 12 minute mark? Maybe 12 minute mark. And they were down and he was poised. He just said, hey, Dave, hit some shots. We've missed ours, you know, we're going to stop them from shooting. And damn, they did. Yeah, they, they did. And Arizona, really impressive. I'm really proud of our Duke team. You know, they, they had a hiccup against Siena and. But we got Pat back, our big guy. We're hoping to have him still around and hopefully we can get Caleb Foster back this week because we don't play until Friday. The other team that, that really impressed me was Michigan State. Although Tom's teams, issu's teams impressed me all the time. The kid fears was amazing. I think had 16, 17 assists and he just made play after play. And that kid who just dunked their car, he's, he's had, he's been a solid, unbelievable player for him, but he's now taken it up to another level. Not just in jumping, he's hitting his shots. I think for me he's made a big jump and he's already a really good player.

[Pat McAfee]

That'd be so much fun to be able to do. Coach K. You know, back in my younger days, I used to be able to do that take off from like the elbow to a big whooping like dunk like back in the day. That's what I used to do, coach, before I started punting balls in the NFL. That's what I used to do. But I do think because, because like you chatted about, teams are getting older. It does feel like I'm feeling more physical. Basketball seemingly a little bit more, I don't want to say explosive, but it does feel like it's a little bit more of a man's game. When you watch some of these teams because of how old they are, not saying they are, and there's certainly some young studs, but I've loved the quality of basketball that's been happening throughout March Madness. Yeah, I think it's been good, quality basketball. Through it all,

[Coach K (Mike Krzyzewski)]

there's so many international players playing. I don't have the exact count, but you know, Arizona has eight Internet, not all of them play. Illinois is playing outstanding basketball. They have, I think, five international players. And so the international influence and those guys aren't coming in as 18 year olds. They're coming in at 21, 22 and whatever. So it is more of a man's game and there are more good teams, I think.

[Pat McAfee]

Really?

[Coach K (Mike Krzyzewski)]

I don't know if there's a clear cut favorite right now, because Purdue, Matt Painter's done an amazing job. His three seniors have done an incredible job. So they're old and they're playing, I think, their best basketball. And, you know, how about the. The big 10 having six teams?

[Pat McAfee]

I mean, also, who's the national champs

[Ty Schmidt]

in football last couple years?

[Coach K (Mike Krzyzewski)]

Yeah,

[Pat McAfee]

you Southerns are about to have to start dealing with it. Well, we do know what we're saying is last three years it's been Big Ten. Three different teams in the Big Ten have won the national championship. Even Indiana, which obviously you know very well because it used to just basketball school. Now it's a football school. It's like now Big Ten with basketball showing up the way it's showing up. And coach, we asked Coach Saban about this, and he had a incredible line. He obviously coached at Michigan State at the beginning of his career. So he understands the Big Ten culture a little bit at some of the places. But the Big Ten has money. The Big Ten has money. A lot of business schools, a lot of alumni, a lot of people in. So I think this whole modern era for the Big Ten has been great because their alumni can be a part of the sports and the athletics. And I guess I'm finding this out right now and I should know more. I understand. I should. I'm a football guy, I guess, is carrying into basketball in a pretty. I mean, the Big Ten is looking to win every. Hey, Coach K. I don't know, the acc, they haven't won a.

[Coach K (Mike Krzyzewski)]

They haven't won a national championship in basketball in over 20 years. And whoa, they're not exactly knocking it out of the park.

[Pat McAfee]

Nothing against the big. Okay, now, of course. Yeah, of course, of course, of course, of course.

[Connor]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

AJ from the Big Ten has a question for you. Coach.

[AJ Hawk]

Yeah, Coach K. When I watch these games, you see a lot of them coming down to the wire and you see coaches drawing up, you know, plays to get their guys open to get a shot four or five seconds. Also, defensively, you got to figure out like situational basketball. How much of that do you work on throughout the year? We talk about it in football all the time. Bill Belichick's great at, obviously, Mike Vrabel, they. Situational football, they're great at. Is this a thing in basketball that you're spending a bunch of time on situations like this at the end of the game?

[Coach K (Mike Krzyzewski)]

Game, yeah. Amazing amount, you know, end of game situations, atos after timeouts, you know, it's amazing. To me, that's like one of the hidden gems in watching a Game is after a timeout. What a. What a coach does. Side, out of bounds, under out of bounds. Magical. I think our guy, John Shire does an amazing job with it. That and when he was a player and we won at our national championship, it was ACC. Won the national championship in 2010 and. And wanted, I think six or seven times in the last 20. Anyway, my mind was wandering.

[Pat McAfee]

Be in the moment, coach.

[Coach K (Mike Krzyzewski)]

Now, let me finish what I said. Shire, in our. In the Butler game, he scored, I think four times, made reads four or five times on under out of bounds plays that we scored on and we won as a result of that. Not one play, but he put together about five of them. And the thing with that is you can draw up a play. Are your players good enough? Where can they make a read just in case they see something new? That's what I like. And when John was a player, he did that for us numerous times, I think. I think gives fears, that latitude. He has confidence in him to make those reads.

[Pat McAfee]

Empowers him. And obviously it paid off. You have to have a high basketball iq, I assume, for a coach to want to go ahead and hand over the keys. Speaking of handing over the keys, you just brought them up in John. He's doing it now with Duke. And you talked about the hiccup. Ty actually has a question for you about that.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah, Coach, throughout your career, in games like that where, you know, Pat was mentioning, like we were all saying, like, oh, Duke's. They're covering 28 and a half. They're gonna beat the hell out of Siena. How quickly into a game can you realize, or did you maybe realize throughout your career, like, oh, boy, like, we're actually, we're in trouble here? Like, does that happen quickly or is it. And like, is it at halftime, maybe? And how do you kind of get them out of that when, you know, when they. When they start to feel that and then the pressure mounts and it's like, oh, boy. Now this is like, we are in a prime spot to be upset here.

[Coach K (Mike Krzyzewski)]

Well, no, you sense it right away. I think from one if your team's playing well, you know that score. But like the Sienna game, John Shire knew right from the get go that his guys just didn't. They looked sluggish, they didn't have good faces, and I think he let them have it in his way, and that still didn't work. That's what's scary when it lingers. Like, I've called timeouts a minute or two minutes into a game. If all of a Sudden I sense that I don't wait for a TV timeout. The other thing I mentioned, the timeouts. Sometimes a coach makes a mistake take because of the TV timeouts of letting a run of another team continue. You know, like, you know, there's 8:45 left in the game and the team's on the run call a timeout. You know, timeouts not at TV timeouts are also big decisions that, that coaches can make. I tried to, I thought I was decent at that.

[Pat McAfee]

Hold on. So you're telling me that most coaches just rely on the TV timeout instead of wasting time out of time.

[Coach K (Mike Krzyzewski)]

Not most, I'm just saying can get

[Pat McAfee]

trapped in that somebody that doesn't, you

[Coach K (Mike Krzyzewski)]

know, when the, you know, put water on the fire, you know, like, you know, stop it burning for Christ's sake. And, and, and what a coach does out of that timeout. Sometimes a lot of games are won between five and nine minutes, not necessarily the last two minutes. Everyone knows something's going to happen in the last two minutes. But what do you do under double digit minutes in a game? When do you call timeouts, that type of thing? How you saw that's what makes the game so beautiful. And football is beautiful too. But you have time in between plays. Basketball favors the continuous thinker, the continuous worker. You can go offense, defense, offense in 12 seconds. And so being able to call a key timeout is huge.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, but it's 45 minutes for your final 40 seconds of your game. Okay, so I don't need the whole hey, in our game we just keep counting. You don't. Okay, you guys take forever. You guys take absolutely forever. Great game, great sport, we respect it. But like also, let's not, you know, let's not do that. I didn't know we were going to

[Coach K (Mike Krzyzewski)]

have a fight between football and basketball.

[Pat McAfee]

You started it. You said I know football. You got.

[Coach K (Mike Krzyzewski)]

I like love football. I just mentioned that you were pounding your chest about the Big Ten with football championships. I had to remind you that there's no chest pounding for the basketball national championships.

[Pat McAfee]

Well, see, I'm in the big. West Virginia is on its. Okay, okay, you got it. Big 12 is about to win it next year. West Virginia is finding a new nil person and we are off and running. So everybody's in deep shit whenever that takes place. But let's talk a little bit about the sec. They got a stud. Tone has a question for you about a superstar.

[D'Bud]

Yeah, coach, I do. Coach Cal down in Arkansas has, it feels like he always has an incredible Guard. But Darius Auff is going for in postseason play. He's going for over 30, he's going for over 7 assists and is shooting close to 50% from 3. Is this one of these kids that can lead Arkansas single handedly to a, to a championship? And if you're on, if you're facing them like what do you do?

[Coach K (Mike Krzyzewski)]

Well they also have another freshman Thomas who you know their two freshmen are average and geez like almost 40 points a game and but Acuff is one of the top two or three players in the country and he, you can, he's got, he's got a man's body, he's got a NBA, he's NBA ready, you know and, and he loves the pressure. You know he, he can put that team on his back. They have a tough draw though. Arizona, Arizona, Arizona lost two games in February. They've won 11th straight. But I love Acoff and John Calipari is a good friend and a great coach but he has produced more NBA guards than anybody. You take a look around the NBA how many, how many Kentucky players and star players are playing and so he gives them freedom and, and personalizes an offense around the guards and Acuff is. It's been fantastic. But I, they're going to have a tough time I think against Arizona.

[Pat McAfee]

Arizona you talked about all the international players. They also got co opied freshman stud. His dad, I believe an offensive lineman. He committed to Arizona on our show. Coach, big college basketball show. Obviously that is going to be a very difficult match for anybody with that Arizona team with how dominant they have been. Let's start talking about some more of the Sweet 16 matchups as we go ahead. Yukon grad and UConn. Great D butt has a question for you.

[Debug]

Absolutely. Got Michigan State coming up so it'll be an in office battle with me and Foxy. I know you know both of these coaches of both of these teams very well. How do you see these teams matching up? I know Caribbean two time champ carried us last game game. And then there's great weapons on Michigan State side as well. How do you see these two, two teams matching up?

[Coach K (Mike Krzyzewski)]

Well, Connecticut got their point guard back. You know the Mary played I think 22 minutes in the last game. He didn't play in the, the game before so that, that's a big plus. I, I think Michigan State's hitting on all cylinders now and this kid fears is special. I mean and he runs the show to me. It'll be interesting how Danny Hurley defends fears. Like do you Deny him the ball. Do you make it difficult for him? Because the Michigan State players, as soon as they get the ball, give him the ball. And so denying him the ball would, would be one, one thing making it more difficult, difficult for him. I love, I've known Danny since he was a high school kid and, and both these guys are really good friends and great coaches to me physically. This, watch this game, they're going to go after one another. They both play outstanding, outstanding defense. I think Michigan State has a little bit of an ad pitch because of they have more than one big guy. Although the, the kid read for how about his performance in their first game for Connecticut? He had 31 points and 27 rebounds.

[Debug]

Yeah,

[Coach K (Mike Krzyzewski)]

I haven't watched Connecticut that, you know, every game or whatever. They may be changing their offense a little bit to take advantage of that and, and getting him the ball more. He's probably saying why the hell didn't give me the ball more. I got 31 for you at the last game, but I, I, that that's going to be a, a big time matchup and Michigan State has a couple bigs so they can, they can combat that.

[Pat McAfee]

Terrace Reed, to your point, ends up with 41 points and 40 rebounds over the weekend. He's first player to go 40, 40 over the opening weekend of the NCAA tournament since the big fundamentals Tim Duncan in 1997. Yeah, I think that's pretty good. Hey Hurley, why don't we get him the ball? Fucking Tim Duncan's here. Let's go ahead and figure out how we could do that. I got nothing but faith obviously in Coach Hurley doing his thing. All right, last question here for you Coach, as we appreciate your time just making us so much smarter and better. I'm up here in Bristol, Connecticut, you know, shaking hands. Got big time meetings up here. I'm letting them know know I think maybe you could do tv. You know. They're saying, is that Coach K worth a damn? I'm like, ah, I think so guys. I, I think he, I think he's worth a damn. So I'm going to back certainly have a TV face.

[Coach K (Mike Krzyzewski)]

You know, I'm more of a, a radio face but with my big nose and big ears, I take up.

[Pat McAfee]

Join the club, brother. Join the club brother. We're all in there. Your hair I think is what everybody has been kind of because no, I

[Coach K (Mike Krzyzewski)]

don't, I don't color my hair. I'm 79, but a lot of people accuse me of that. I don't have much hair to color either.

[Pat McAfee]

I did color it, but what about your eyebrows? You color your eyebrows? You color your eyebrows?

[Coach K (Mike Krzyzewski)]

No, no.

[AJ Hawk]

It'd be hard to pick just your eyebrows.

[Coach K (Mike Krzyzewski)]

I don't use any color up here. Any.

[Pat McAfee]

You don't color your eyebrows or your. I'm looking at those eyebrows right now. You're telling me there's not more gray in those eyebrows?

[Debug]

Bros. All natural, brother.

[Coach K (Mike Krzyzewski)]

There's maybe one gray hair and. Quit looking at my damn eyebrows.

[Connor]

Yeah, I agree.

[Seth Greenberg]

I agree.

[Pat McAfee]

You gotta dye that.

[Coach K (Mike Krzyzewski)]

What's wrong with this guy?

[Seth Greenberg]

I don't know.

[AJ Hawk]

Especially, I mean, it'd be weird to dye your eyebrows.

[Pat McAfee]

Does he do this on Mondays?

[AJ Hawk]

He's remote.

[Coach K (Mike Krzyzewski)]

The next thing, he's gonna look at

[Pat McAfee]

ear hair, you know, and let me tell you. Let me guess. You don't shave that either. You don't grow it. How does your hair stay perfect? Because I. I remember you were coaching and you were super, you know, and you've been doing it a long time, so you immediately go to the hair. You're like, this guy's got to have the grayest hair of all time. And you just stayed Superman jet black, basically. So that's unbelievable. You did. Way to clear the air. You do not dye your hair every single week to make sure that thing

[Coach K (Mike Krzyzewski)]

is always flexed black ever, Ever.

[Pat McAfee]

You don't go the herbal essence intense darkening kit every single morning when you put that thing on your eyebrows and your hair. I don't even know what the hell you're talking. Okay? Hey, that's what somebody would say. But I just want to let you know, it looks unbelievable, and I'm hoping for the ball.

[Coach K (Mike Krzyzewski)]

Obviously, my eyebrows look great.

[D'Bud]

Yes.

[Coach K (Mike Krzyzewski)]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

I'll tell you what, brother. We just spent three minutes talking about them, so you need to know that they are absolutely fantastic. All right? Now let's talk about spending time, shall we? Let's get back to college hoops, as we just found out that coach K might be aging better than any white in history. Like, for sure. This is actually a potential. Congratulations, coach.

[Ty Schmidt]

Well done.

[Pat McAfee]

You're a great college basketball coach. You're also aging maybe the greatest any white has ever aged in the history. It's unbelievable. Okay, let's talk about spending time here. Con man has the last question for you, Coach.

[Connor]

Yeah, Coach. Over these next couple days, you know, these players and teams are going to be preparing for their biggest game, you know, of their lives, Basically. How does a coach. You know, when you were doing it, when some of these vet guys who are still out there. Hurley is ocal. Perry, how do they schedule these next few days? It's a lot of traffic, of course, and, you know, you got to factor that in. But how do they kind of do that? And then also, how do you keep your players locked in? They're coming off one of their biggest weekends of all time, you know, Iowa upsetting Florida, some of these other teams and, you know, do they get kind of in their feelings as far as, oh, I'm the best. This is amazing. I'm, you know, we're going to go on. We already won the whole thing. Like, how do you keep your team locked in? And also, I'm just going to say it as a conspiracy theorist. I don't believe you. You definitely dye your hair and your eyebrows.

[Pat McAfee]

I'm sorry. Have to. Dude, I'm sorry, dude. Look at that. At that. Look at that hair.

[AJ Hawk]

I believe you, Coach.

[Debug]

You wouldn't lie to us.

[Coach K (Mike Krzyzewski)]

Yeah, well, first of all, you can't. Don't over practice this wig. You know, I. Stay away from real physical drills, you know? You know, make sure that one. If you have some guys that been injured like Duke has, you're. You're trying to bring them back, you know, big thing like for Iowa State to get Jefferson back from his ankle. Ankle injury. But don't over practice and do not over practice. And during this time, as you. As you progress, you find out you have more friends and relatives than you've ever knew in your life. And everybody wants a piece because everyone's into March Madness and the player is the March Madness. And so, you know, limit your activity. Focus on what we're doing. Don't focus on what everyone else wants you to be talking about. They. You're very popular during this time. And let's stay within the group. Let's keep our heads. Let's stay in our lane. Don't get out of. Get out of our way. And I think you watch a lot of tape during this time and you get healthy. Make sure you're as healthy as can be. And the other thing with this is don't over coach with scouting reports. You know, don't you have a lot of time, especially for this round of 16, the Sweet 16 game? You can give them too much information. Make sure you make sure they're instinctive, healthy and focused. You got a shot.

[AJ Hawk]

Did you have to figure that out, coach? Was that something you figured out? Did you overcoach at one point in your career, in your long, illustrious career?

[Coach K (Mike Krzyzewski)]

Yeah, you can, you know. You know, like, I've always laughed when. If you're In a locker room before a game and a coach has the whiteboard completely filled with things I said. Holy crap. Yeah. Is this an exam or what the

[Pat McAfee]

hell are you doing?

[Coach K (Mike Krzyzewski)]

I would like to put down words like courage, enthusiasm, fight, or like, this is what I want you thinking of. You should already know your damn game plan by that time. Now you're in execution phase, an instinctive phase. Don't have them think too much, but have them think a lot about a few things that are going to be necessary. And have fun while you're doing it, man. Have fun, fight like hell, and let's see what the heck happens here.

[Pat McAfee]

So fun, fight, and fantastic might be like three key words for each game. Are you changing those words each game in the basketball season? Or is there a season mantra like hustle, loyalty, or something? Respect. John Cena had those three words, Career. Okay? That was his monster over there. Are you changing those focus words for each game?

[Coach K (Mike Krzyzewski)]

I'm going to tell you, I'm coming out with a book on three word pregame talks, and I have a list of about 153 word groupings that I'm going to put out. Will you write the forward to that book for me?

[Pat McAfee]

Absolutely. I'll write three words for you. No problem.

[Coach K (Mike Krzyzewski)]

It is important not. Not to give them too much. It really is. It's not what, you know as a coach, it's what your players can do under game conditions. That. That's. And sometimes you. You try to show them that you know too much.

[Pat McAfee]

When's the book coming out, do you know?

[Coach K (Mike Krzyzewski)]

Soon as I get my forward from you.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay, so this is very soon.

[Coach K (Mike Krzyzewski)]

No, I'm not putting out a goddamn book.

[Seth Greenberg]

Jeez. Maybe you should.

[D'Bud]

Yes.

[Debug]

You're the greatest.

[Pat McAfee]

You're the absolute greatest. Hey, I want to let you know, maybe you put out a book about, you know, the shot with Leitner in 1992, which Patino just came out and said he's trying to get some revenge for, you know, as his boys take on Duke in the Sweet 16? Do you feel like maybe you're motivating this St. John's team to beat a Duke team that you're no longer coaching? Do you think you're maybe a distraction because of what you guys did in 92 with that play, Call for Leitner for the shot, Something that we remember forever. Oh, no. Is this going to be on you if they come out super motivated? Coach, are these things that you've thought about? Because it sounds like Patino has.

[Coach K (Mike Krzyzewski)]

It happened 34 years ago. None of These kids, including the international players, were born yet. All right, so I'm sure Rick is really smart. He's one of the best ever. I'm sure he brought that up just to get it out of the way. Just to get it out of the way. But I will tell you this. One of the most impressive things he ever did was the way he handled that game. Not just coaching the game, but what he did afterwards and how he celebrated what was a devastating defeat. I've always admired what he did with that game.

[Pat McAfee]

Can you tell me about the play, how he came up with that? How often did you practice that? What are the personnel practice?

[Coach K (Mike Krzyzewski)]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

What a pass.

[Coach K (Mike Krzyzewski)]

Interesting. About a month before this game, we're playing Wake Forest and at Wake, and we tried the same play, and Grant Hill threw the ball and he hit a lady on the side, not that it was long. He threw a curveball. No, I'm not lying. He threw it and it went into the stands on the side. And so we practiced it. And then during that time out, I asked him, can you throw. Can you throw the ball 75ft? And he said, I can do that. I said, well, I didn't say this, but I'm thinking, well, the last time you threw it about 60ft. And so don't say those things. Don't say a negative during that time, but he'll tell you that. Once he said he was going to do it, but it was easy for him to do it. Waitner, during that time timeout, said, hey, I'm going to bring you up from the foul line, from. To the foul line from the baseline, and can you catch it? And he. He was so damn cocky and good. He said, coach, if. If. If Grant throws, throws a good pass, I'll catch it and I'll do something with it. And. And he was 20 for 20 from that. In that game.

[Pat McAfee]

Damn.

[Coach K (Mike Krzyzewski)]

10 for 10 from the free throw line, 10 for 10 from the floor. That's why they didn't double him. That's why they was able to get the pass. They were afraid to foul him. Okay? And he got it, and then he dribbled the damn ball and then shot it. And 20 for 20. A lot of people don't. Don't they just remember that shot? But when it. When he shot it, I said, well, it's going to go in, for crying out loud. Hey, he has it.

[Pat McAfee]

Ms. Clean, too.

[Seth Greenberg]

Splash.

[Pat McAfee]

It sounded like the hoop was gigantic. They're coming out talking about him being like one of the biggest menaces in the history of sports.

[Coach K (Mike Krzyzewski)]

What was it like coaching him the best? No one. No one believed in me more. A lot of guys the same amount. But Christian was easy to like. You never had to worry about fire from him. Every once in a while, you had to make sure the fire wouldn't burn the house down, that he would really get on people. But I loved him. He's one of the ultimate winners. Four final four. I think his teams were 21 and two in the NCAA tournament. You got to be kidding me. I think he's the leading scorer in the tournament history. You know, number of points scored. Not bad. Not bad.

[Pat McAfee]

Not bad.

[Coach K (Mike Krzyzewski)]

I'll tell you that.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, there's a lot of those guys through Duke, obviously. The shot is legendary, and Patino is never going to forget it. Hey, have you thought about the room in which you're putting the goats? You remember last week you omitted LeBron James from the room.

[Coach K (Mike Krzyzewski)]

Don't say that. That's a lie. You. You like you do with the guys on your team, they're in the midst of saying something really profound and you interrupt them.

[Pat McAfee]

I was going through a list of

[Coach K (Mike Krzyzewski)]

people in that room, and all of a sudden you spout off. You left LeBron out. I didn't know you as well then as I do now. I would have told you to shut the hell up. You keep having me on the show, I'm gonna start coaching you harder, okay?

[Pat McAfee]

I love good coaching. Hey, everybody that, you know wants to go on do great things, loves to be coached. So you go keep them safe. Keep sending them this way, okay? Just keep sending the coaching tips this way. I want all 153 words. 3 words. Go get em. You know, like, let's have fun and hustle. All do you respect. Send those. Send all those to me so I can be motivated every morning. Coach, we appreciate the hell out of you.

[Coach K (Mike Krzyzewski)]

Yeah, well, when I. I've never questioned you, your motivation patient, you know, Never. Sometimes what you. Yeah, what you say is not the smartest. But you're. You're definitely motivated.

[Pat McAfee]

I am motivated, Coach. I certainly am. And you know what else I'm motivated to do? Win a bet on Duke. So why don't you tell him that this isn't a cakewalk? Okay, so when these guys come out and say we thought Sienna was going to be a cakewalk, I don't need to hear that. Okay?

[AJ Hawk]

I don't need to hear.

[Pat McAfee]

Why don't you send them a text? Why don't you write. Send a picture, pigeon letter, whatever you need to do. I don't know how you olds do it. Can you get a message, please, to the team and sell. We're not cakewalking, okay? Patina's not a naughty. He's not. What's a good Italian cake? What's a good Italian cake? Any tiramisu. It's ain't tiramisu, boys, okay? Just because Patino's there, we need to really go, okay? We need to go, coach.

[Coach K (Mike Krzyzewski)]

Okay, okay.

[Pat McAfee]

I'm not gonna do that. Need two period.

[Coach K (Mike Krzyzewski)]

Shire's the only one who should be talking to my Atari team.

[AJ Hawk]

Whoa.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, yeah. I heard what you said. You're the man. Ladies and gentlemen, that's Coach K. You're the goat. Okay, I'll tell you what. Coach K is getting comfortable, isn't he?

[AJ Hawk]

Yes, he is getting. I'm excited for the book. Even though it sounds like he made it up on the spot.

[Pat McAfee]

Maybe it's gonna have to happen. It's gonna be a good book. How about that? Did he just make up the fact that he has 153 word mantras that he's gonna write a book if I'll write the Ford to just out of nowhere, just as a gimmick, and then says, I'm not doing that. Go fuck yourself. Unbelievable. Coach K, you had me, bud. I was excited. I was so p.3 word things. I can read that book. That's like a tweet. Old tweet. I can read those. I can do that all the time. Day. What a legend. Feels like he thinks Duke's going to get healthy and they're going to continue to go. Feels like he thinks good coaching matters. Feels like that has been a constant through the conversations with him. And I'll tell you what, Tone, the big conference schools having money and shit, certainly paying dividends here in March Madness.

[AJ Hawk]

Tone.

[D'Bud]

Yeah. Especially when I looked at it in second year in a row that it's all major conferences that make up the sweet 16, and that's the second time, all time. So the last two years, nil is definitely showing its teeth for these teams that are spending money and getting to where they are. There was even a coach. I think it was Utah State, maybe. What if they were like, what's the difference between last year, you losing in 64 and making it to 32 this year? He said about $2 million on the roster. So all the.

[Pat McAfee]

And.

[D'Bud]

And Mick Cronin said, I need $5 million more dollars for my roster. Everyone talk about the money and this. They had a good. They had a good game yesterday. But no, it's making a huge difference and I think it's making a huge difference. And Connor said it first and like, yes, maybe the Cinderellas aren't going to be a huge thing anymore in the round of 64, but like that was one of the best rounds of 32 that I've ever seen because there was, there was so many close games, so many buzzer beaters and it was like the basketball was really, really well, well done. And I think that's kind of what you're seeing with the nil in this year and last year.

[Pat McAfee]

But it's real madness in march right now. UConn still cooking. Good for you guys.

[Debug]

Yukon is still cooking. I can't wait for this matchup. This would be a real good one after I feel like the years that we won the chip and it's something that kind of goes unnoticed. But like at the free throw line, like you talked about all the late games and the coming out of timeouts and obviously defense like rebounding and free throws, I think we're 90% last night. So if we can keep shooting well from the stripe, obviously dominating in the inside with the bigs, I think we got a chance to run it. And I forget who said it. I'm not sure if it was coach care or not, but like it's no really a clear cut facility favorite this year. But March Madness, it always delivers everybody and all the sports we watch. The playoffs are great, but like March Madness, it's always going to be a surprise story, a superstar, a play or two or nine. So I can't wait for this one.

[Pat McAfee]

Man, I do hate when I just fall asleep in that first half though. That's a real bummer. It's a real bummer when you fall asleep during the first half and then all of a sudden everything's, oh, it's a blowout. Okay. Oh, this game. Game matters. Okay. Nice. Perfect timing, brain. Thank you for waking me up here. There's been some electrifying moments already. I'm excited to see who takes it and will the Big Ten win for the first time in 20 years. Nice little stat there from Coach K. How about Jackson, Smith and Jigba? AJ Just became the highest paid wide receiver of all time with the Seattle Seahawks. How do you feel about it?

[AJ Hawk]

I mean, I feel good. I know the Seahawks, this was expected, I think, right? I mean, obviously we knew he was going to be the most likely, the highest paid receiver ever. The, the numbers, we weren't sure exactly where that would come in, but he's averaging 42.15 mil per year. That is where I guess does it. Is there a ceiling? Does it stop where how much guys like what's going to be a contract eight years from now? What's it going to look like?

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, indeed. But that's the thing. Jackson, Smith and Jigba obviously has gotten better and better. But this past year, like clear cut guy, right with Sam Darnold, they keep Sam Darnold. They have to move on from Kenneth Walker. They win the Super Bowl. So they're going to have to move on from some pieces that are probably going to be a bit too expensive. But you got to hold on to your guys, your pillar guys. Feels like JSN became that quickly out there. Debug.

[Debug]

Yeah, this was a no brainer. Obviously you reset the market now, but when we look at this contract a couple years from now, they're going to look like geniuses. When he's sitting at 42 a year, which sounds absolutely nuts. Puka's on deck. Puka will probably get somewhere close to this for sure. But Seattle, this is the problem, the good problem you have when you draft good players, especially these first rounders, like they're going to reset the market when they. When it's there time. But what he did for Seattle last year was unbelievable. Obviously he led the league in yards, offensive player of the year and Seattle was near the bottom when it came to actually throwing the ball. So when they was throwing the ball it was 211 and he was making big plays. But on defense they got another young stud who's in the same draft class. Witherspoon, their cornerback who will probably reset that market as well when he, when it's time for him to get paid. McDuffie just reset it for corners at 31 he year. So I expect him to get somewhere around that. But yeah, this is. These will be two cornerstone pieces for the defending champs Seattle Seahawks. But this is a no brainer with Jackson, Smith and Jake. But he is unbelievable from the slot, from the outside, short routes, intermediate route, deep routes. He's unbelievable. He's going to make your quarterback, your offensive coordinator better week in, week out.

[Pat McAfee]

Straight out of Ohio State. They continue to just, you know, create wide receivers that are problematic. One thing before the first hour ends here that we got to talk about. Shout to the ESPN people. By the way, decorators, West Virginia State.

[Connor]

Yes.

[Pat McAfee]

Good work on the graphic bone. You know, it's been incredible. I'm very thankful for the space here and this campus is beautiful. You know what else is beautiful UTSA kicker Jaffer Murphy. 4477 yard field. Absolutely shredded. That's what I'm talking about, Jaer. That's what I'm talking about.

[Seth Greenberg]

Okay.

[D'Bud]

He won the weekend.

[AJ Hawk]

Draft him in the first round.

[D'Bud]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Should I love what he's doing to kick off?

[AJ Hawk]

Hey, kick it off high. Kick a pooch and go have him go kill people.

[Debug]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Be a part of the COVID Yeah. I mean, 11 men. Covering is obviously good, especially when you're running four, four. Shout out to him. Doing that for the brand. We'll see you on the other side. Goodbye.

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[AJ Hawk]

Sports that's what's going on, Pat. How do you think. How do you think Coach K was? He was pretty amazing. Obviously you're very shifty too to to show us what the flag football guys

[Pat McAfee]

were doing the other day. Well, I don't know what their drug testing is for the Olympics, but I am going to work on the little penthouse at house move where they drop their hips, you know, and they make it impossible to get tackled. This guy right here needs to be on a team stat. Yeah, I don't know if he's slithering

[D'Bud]

through, I don't like us.

[Pat McAfee]

Imagine Canada trying to tackle this guy in the Olympics. Yeah, right. You think Canada's gonna be able to get their mitts on these flags? I don't think so. Who else is a big time flag competitor? Take a look at what you're gonna see in the Olympics. Whoop, whoop, whoop. Down in the ground, up into the sky. He's a bird, he's a plane. He's a touchdown man. He's Brown Jr. He's USA flag footballer. Who? I'm not sure. These NFL guys. Luke Kuechley just got into the hall of Fame. To get into the hall of fame, you gotta be retired for at least five years. I don't think Luke had any idea what he was signing up for. There was one time where he grabbed the guy's entire pants and just pants the guy and was like, did I get the flag? I don't know. The guy's naked, so I don't know the entire thing. It felt like we didn't really know the ins and outs maybe got bamboozled. But I do know the flag football team that we're going to put on the field in L. A in 2028. It ain't going to be no ray gun operation.

[Coach K (Mike Krzyzewski)]

No, no.

[Pat McAfee]

We're going to be out there doing it. We're going to be out there doing it big and it was a great weekend. AJ Hawking. I need to start working on the little dip. It he do, you know, because when Mackenzie wants to get into flag football, you know what I mean? Here's the ranking. USA Austria.

[Debug]

What?

[Ty Schmidt]

Wow. Okay.

[AJ Hawk]

Arnold.

[D'Bud]

European power Austria won silver in 2024 and 2018 and then Mexico got silver in 2021. It feels like it's a three team race with the U.S. austria and Mexico as far as medals are concerned.

[Connor]

Italian.

[Pat McAfee]

This is by far the best. That's the best screen we've ever put on team tv. Just right there. Just old school. Spelled rankings wrong. Two G's in rankings. No. No decoration. Not even a single flag on this thing. I have no idea what website this is from. They want the GoDaddy.com and said, give me the lowest level. I just need to be able to put the numbers in and they're like, you want to tie title, sir? Do you want like at least to be able to do a title? We guess. Do you want to spell it right? Do you want us to spell check it? No way. 2 ranked 2 GS in rankings because this is a Different game. It's flag football. I. I can't believe we lost to these guys. I can't believe we.

[AJ Hawk]

It's all. Yeah, we know that. I think like you said, we got bamboozled.

[D'Bud]

We went into.

[AJ Hawk]

Hey, we got some nice. We got some nice coverage beaters. We'll get. We'll work guys open. No, it was just dink it down and have a guy bo break 55 times.

[D'Bud]

Why do we have so many retired guys?

[Pat McAfee]

Paul did incredible.

[AJ Hawk]

Logan.

[Pat McAfee]

Paul was against the NFL guy.

[D'Bud]

He sacked Jaylen Herz, but he stunk against Team USA boy.

[Pat McAfee]

You want him to dinner professionals. What's he doing on chasing these little guys around? This is fanatic football. That's fanatics football.

[D'Bud]

That's what it was. It was a white party on a football field.

[Pat McAfee]

It was. Well, okay. All white party. You mean? Not just a white party. A little bit different. Everyone knew what I was talking about.

[Seth Greenberg]

About.

[Pat McAfee]

No. Geez Louise.

[AJ Hawk]

You know.

[Pat McAfee]

But on that note, they do. Who's they? Everybody.

[D'Bud]

That weirdo party they all go to.

[AJ Hawk]

Well, there's.

[Pat McAfee]

Well, it's not weird. It looked like it was a good time. They're sharing games.

[Connor]

Yeah, they had one after too. It was a movie, bro.

[Ty Schmidt]

They did say that.

[D'Bud]

Scenes fam.

[Pat McAfee]

I don't like that we're getting our asses kicked in football ever. And I don't like that. I didn't like the Team USA was winning. I didn't like that they were named Team usa. Usa.

[Coach K (Mike Krzyzewski)]

Yeah, it's confused.

[Pat McAfee]

I'm like, I like usa. USA is kind of dunking on us right now. And then you're like, well, who owns flag football going forward? It's like, oh, is there potentially a little bit of investment in this from some people that would like to see the flag football? People look really good in the future. Did the NFL guys know that they're about to get smacked in the mouth in flag football on tv? I'm not sure. New debt.

[Debug]

If they watched the other guys practice at all or play it all, they're probably. Yeah, there's no way. Because if you watch.

[Pat McAfee]

When they were being told about this, when they were like signing up for it, do you think they knew that?

[Connor]

No way. Not like that. They got smoked in every single game.

[D'Bud]

Were the rules going to be different in Saudi?

[AJ Hawk]

Like what we could.

[Connor]

I think for the losers.

[Pat McAfee]

I don't know. I don't.

[AJ Hawk]

Whole.

[Debug]

Whole second.

[AJ Hawk]

Every. Every place has different rules.

[Ty Schmidt]

Good point.

[Pat McAfee]

I don't know if anybody was zening in there. I don't think so. I Don't. I don't. I don't think so. Let's move along. Come on, let's do it. Aaron Rodgers. Aaron Rodgers was playing a flag football game this weekend, and it looked like he was doing well. Did you see his. No, look. Throat. Did you see him and Will Howard bantering? Did you see him appear to be in great shape? AJ I know the people of Pittsburgh would like to. To hear it. Aaron Rodgers playing football again next year. And what are your thoughts of the videos coming out from this past weekend at his annual charity flag football tournament, which he does.

[AJ Hawk]

Yeah, it's good to see this tournament. I think this is the same tournament we saw he throw the ball back at the little kid who picked him

[Pat McAfee]

off at one point. Right.

[AJ Hawk]

Just a little friendly competitive banter back and forth. I don't know, man. I. I'm no joke. I've been sending them texts, telling him, hey, man, you got to go back. You need to go play for Pittsburgh. You need to play for Big Mike.

[Pat McAfee]

Thanks. Yeah.

[AJ Hawk]

And who are they? I love that I've been say shut up or nothing. So. So we're good.

[Pat McAfee]

And so I've been saying the same thing. I mean, I haven't, but I'm just going to say publicly that I did because he won't come out and say that I didn't. So I'm just going to say I'm doing the same thing. I've been texting him and saying, hey, the insers would love to have you back. They'd like to know right now, do we know where they stand? Because last time whenever you talked to us, and I know everybody just kind of shooted away, but he was like, I've not heard from Pittsburgh either on what this looks like in its entirety. Do we know if they've talked to him? What is kind of the standing where they're at? And I'm going to say this. I know Aaron's trying to stay in shape so that he can go to Pontan.

[Ty Schmidt]

That's right.

[Connor]

And it's working.

[Pat McAfee]

He wants to go to Pontan. He wants to move in there for a couple hours. It seems like, especially at this stage, that is what he's in shape. He's probably an expert in the world, but he does look. He does look very good. Like, he looks very good. And obviously coming out looks good. He looks like he's in great shape. And the way last season end could definitely see him coming back. What are the people at Pittsburgh thinking and what are you hearing?

[D'Bud]

The people of Pittsburgh are thinking we're being held hostile hostage. Okay? That's what the people. Pittsburgh. That's not. That's not what I'm saying. And it was nice of QB1 to invite Aaron to that flag football game. That was cool to see. Will Howard did that. But no, we would like to know sooner rather than later if Aaron's going to come back, preferably by the draft, which is 30 days away. I don't know if an offer has been made. I assume Aaron knows he's welcomed back, but no, I don't know if anyone other. If there's any other players in the league who are waiting this long to decide if they want to play again this year or not, but he's. He's one of them. So we're just waiting on that.

[Pat McAfee]

Well, the good news is, yeah, I. I think before the draft would have to happen. AJ Sorry I stepped on you there. And where's the draft at this year,

[AJ Hawk]

AJ I believe it is Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, home of the Steelers.

[Pat McAfee]

That'd be pretty sick. Wouldn't that be pretty sick?

[Ty Schmidt]

Oh, yeah.

[AJ Hawk]

Football time. What if he came out and announced it right here? Like, excuse me, beginning of the first round, he's like, I'm bad guys. And he pumps the crowd and then they draft, like, draft a quarterback right in first round.

[Seth Greenberg]

That'd be sick.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. Just like Clay Matthews. Clay Matthews did that last year, right in Green Bay came out. He read a letter from President United States of America, and then he said that the Bears still suck. Bob West, I believe, is what he said in place, went crazy. Imagine if Aaron does walk out there and say, I'm coming back and my new teammate is Ty Simpson. What?

[Ty Schmidt]

Again?

[Debug]

That would be great.

[AJ Hawk]

Hopefully someone would let him know before that.

[Pat McAfee]

Dana Orlovsky's out there, A.J. saying that, you know, Ty Simpson's his favorite quarterback in this draft class. A lot of people tying Dano to his agent ties and a lot of people saying there's a lot of different conspiracies going around. I genuinely believe that Dana Orlofsky through the first eight weeks of the season because remember, this is where he. He watched Fernando through eight weeks. He watched Ty through eight weeks. This Indiana team was a wagon. This Indiana team was unbelievable. Fernando didn't have to play his absolute best ball till the end of the season. Dano came out publicly halfway through the season and said, yeah, Ty Simpson's better than Fernando. First eight games, he got killed for it. And we all know whenever you get attacked for something, AJ what do you normally do?

[AJ Hawk]

You normally Double down.

[Pat McAfee]

Bingo. SOB Dan Orlovsky's been quadrupling down. Here he goes. You know what? It wasn't just the first eight weeks. How about this? He's better as a whole. I appreciate that. I respect that. I think Ty Simpson does have a chance to be a good football player in the NFL. Fernando Mendoza won a national championship with Indiana University. Indiana University, the Hoosiers of. Once again, Indiana University just won a national championship because of this man and his team. It's like if, and I've said this a couple times, if he had an LSU on his helmet like Joe Burrow did, you know, and Joe Burrow's offense was a little bit different. I think Fernando could have ran that offense, by the way, with the way he spins it and how he can break down defenses and everything like that. But I think it still is like the IU thing. I still think, you know, Cal to iu. I still think there is a little bit of a. It's hard to believe that somebody who could be this talented would end up at Indiana. And it's like, well, I think what you're going to see over the next 10 years is that Indiana is about to become a very regular conversation in college ball. So I think it might be a little bit more digestible for people five years from now, four or five years from now. Whenever they run it back, run it back. But we were talking. I forget who it was. Here we were walking through and they are obviously college football fans and they say something about like, Indiana is dead now, right? Like they're dead. And it's like, no, no, they're just. They're just getting started. More money's flooding into that program. Kurt Signetti, the man who was able to evaluate talent and get people in there in certain positions that you need. He's only getting started there. So I think the IU on it, his helmet is still holding him back. And I think Dano can't get over it. Con man, what are your thoughts on why Dano's doing this? Because we got respect for Ty. I think Ty Simpson's good leader, good athlete. Obviously Saban likes him. I think he's a good player. But like, this dude won a national championship for Indiana University and he was third down, best in the country, red zone, best in the country, 4th and 5 to win the Natty, 6 foot 5, 245 pounds, running, scampering all over the place, Rose bowl, extending plays. It's like, feels like he's a Sunday guy. Clear cut, but obviously film and Everything else can be held against him a little bit. Con man.

[Connor]

Yeah. And Ty Simpson is a tough son of a bitch. Like I have to say that too, just because he was playing injured in the Rose Bowl. But the whole entire thing with Mendoza, it just doesn't make sense to me, to be honest with you. You mentioned Joe Burrow and LSU. The SEC in 2019 was, you know, the top tier college football. But today it's not like the Big Ten now is what the SEC was when Burrow was there. So for that whole entire thing, I'm three straight years Big Ten. When was the last time the SEC won it? When was the last time the SEC was in it? I can't even remember. But that is like the entire thing that I don't understand now with Dan. I do think Dan just kind of chooses the things that he wants people to get pissed off about. He says, in my opinion, you know, Tyler Simpson is the best QB in this draft. I don't know if I believe him, but I do believe that he's doing great Internet by doing this. When it comes to Orlovsky though, I mean, he does know quarterbacks. There's no doubt about that. He understands everything they're trying to do. It's just when you watched Mendoza, like not just his, and you can say, hey, Indiana was better. Like Mendoza leading the team down at Penn State when they were down and they had that toe tap catch from Omar Kun Cooper, like that moment in itself, let alone all of the big moments in the biggest stages, winning and dealing on every single play. I mean, they blew out Oregon in the semis and then even in the Natty, they had a pretty big lead and then he answered for them to kind of put the game away, it just, it doesn't make sense to me. But shoot, I hope both of them, you know, hopefully Simpson and Mendoza go on to be unbelievable, but it just feels like how would anybody even know who the best quarterback in the draft is if it isn't the guy who won the Heisman and the national championship Championship?

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, it's, it's, it's pretty wild. It's been Indiana's coverage all year and obviously there's a lot of different graphics about how everybody has selected Indiana's games this past season. And I rode with Indiana because we were forced to kind of watch their highlights because we live in Indiana. But it's like Fernando's special and his growth as a leader amongst his teammates, it's like to be able to rally that group. He has beers with the Boys, he's six' five. He gets every throw is a perfect spot spiral. Even during warmups, it's like, all right, I don't know what we're looking for, but I do appreciate the fact that Ty Simpson, also NFL quarterback. I like that for the NFL. D Bud.

[Debug]

Yeah, I love it for the NFL and I love it for both these guys. And I, I believe Dano wholeheartedly when he says the shit that he says, especially when it comes to these quarterbacks. You know, he does the NFL every day until that stops. And then he kind of dials into these QBs. And I think a part of it, not with just D. Dan O. Obviously we watched them much closer, but Fernando Mendoza wasn't really that guy until the height, like late in the season when he won the Heisman. If you even look at the draft odds, I'm sure he wasn't number one guy, you know, halfway through the college season. So it's hard for people to look at that guy and say, hey, this is a Cam Newton or Andrew Luck or a guy that's going to be good day one on the next level. And then some of the things that Dan said, as far as making, you know, the layers throws and intermediate throws, it was an RPO heavy offense. It was a lot of deep balls, but he did everything that was asked of him. And not only did he win, like he dominated through the playoff run, like we were there. They had the bye week. The storyline or the narrative of all the teams that had to deal with the bye week. I think this was the first team that even won a game in the bye week. And they made Alabama quit and then they beat the dog shit out of Oregon and then beat a very, very good Miami team. So we saw it close in boots on the ground. So it's easy, easier for us to see it, but for everybody looking out and then watching the tape, you don't get the same feeling as like being in the building and watching the guy operate. And he's like Coach K said, in these game conditions, I feel like he makes the right decisions. And then even if it's close between him and Ty Simpson, me and Tony just talked like The Dems, like he's 6, 5, 2, 35, like, so you go with the traits for sure. But I hope both of these guys are successful. But I'm of the opinion that Fernando Mendoza is still the clean, clear cut, number one quarterback in this draft.

[Pat McAfee]

And on that note, Daniel Jeremiah does not have Ty Simpson in his most recent mock draft of the first round. Will anything change as people continue to look at film and remember all you need is one team that needs a quarterback to like him and then all of a sudden you could be top five. I mean it doesn't matter. If you need a quarterback and you like a quarterback, you go and get them. Does it work out? Who knows? Not everybody's a home run. There's going to be a lot of bus in this draft just like there is a every year, but maybe a couple hall of Famers. Joining us now is a man who will be in every single hall of fame that revolves around broadcasting and news breaking friend of the program, senior NFL insider, Michigan man. Ladies and gentlemen, Adam Shefter.

[Adam Schefter]

Gentlemen, what's going on?

[Pat McAfee]

Okay, so Mike Tanenbaum, as you guys call him, Mike T Now Mike Tomlin is Mike T in my world. But in your guys world, Mike T is Mike Tanenbaum, former general manager for the jets, also one of the founders of the 33rd team, which I think was doing great things in there for a little bit. Now Mike Tannenbaum, obviously great on TV as well for espn. Dan Orlovsky said he thought Ty Simpson was the best quarterback in the draft. Mike Tanenbaum said, I've caught around there's other people that are saying the same thing. What are your thoughts or early hearings about what this draft looks like coming up in Pittsburgh and has this really crossed your radar yet or is this all just kind of fodder happening early in a smokescreen filled world?

[Adam Schefter]

Well, I would say this, Pat, that these things always evolve as the draft moves close, closer. And again, I think back to last year at this time, everybody, everybody had Shador Sanders going in the first round. Couldn't slide past Pittsburgh in the 20s. Wasn't going to happen. And lo and behold, on draft night, all of a sudden he's not taking the first night, he's not taking the second night. I got people in all walks of life that I've never heard from texting me draft questions. When is Shador Sanders going? It captivated the entire, entire football world and country about where he was going to go again. I think back to the draft of 2018. I always remember driving to the airport early in the morning. I get a call, they're like, hey, you were the fact that Baker Mayfield may go number one to Cleveland. I'm like, Baker Mayfield, how often have we had a draft where a certain player never has been connected to the number one pick and then actually, actually becomes the number one pick on Thursday night? So I remember filing A story. Baker Mayfield is in serious consideration for the number one pick. And I remember flying to Dallas and my own father texts me and he says, hey, did you hear about Baker Mayfield possibly going to Cleveland? I'm like, yeah, I reported it. And he goes, yeah, that's fake news. And I'm like, I really appreciate that. So again, these things, they. They change and they evolve. The one thing I can say confidently right now, talking different offices is I believe, and it's not going on a limb. Ty Simpson will be a first round traffic. A first round draft pick. That's all I'm comfortable saying right now. We will revisit this topic many times as the draft marches closer. We're one month out. Exactly. The draft is one month from today. And again, I think that'll probably be one of the central focal storylines of the first round of the draft. Where does Ty Simpson go? All I feel comfortable saying right now is I'm confident he'll be a first round pick.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, it's quarterback position. If he's by far the second best quarterback coming out of this class. He has the athleticism, he has the leadership. Obviously Saban will sing his praises to these NFL teams, which obviously matters. Why not take a shot if you need a quarterback? So especially if you're a team that has been looking like ass for a while. I'd like to see Ty get drafted in the first round. I'd like to see him go on to have a great NFL career. But this is pretty wild. What's going on with old Dan Orlovsky, your CA counterpart, doing what he's doing to help a CAA client get a little bit more rub going into the draft. Adam Schefter.

[Adam Schefter]

I don't think that has anything to do with it, but that's fine. People can believe that. I don't even know who Ty Simpson's agent is. I no idea who his agent even is right now, to be perfectly frank with you. Who is it?

[Pat McAfee]

I don't know actually either. I know. And your world. I know. I know it's in your world. I know it's in your world. I know. He's texting you right now, probably saying, yeah, keep it up. Say you don't know me. Say you don't know me. Also, Ty Simpson runs fast. Runs fast. He wipes twice after he poops. He uses. He picks up people's jackets whenever they drop them. He helps old people across the. The street. Yeah, he does everything. Is that what's happening right now in your. In your phone? Is that what's happening?

[Adam Schefter]

Yeah, yeah, that's I, I, I, I, I can look up who his agent is. I'm, I am curious right now.

[Debug]

It says Peter Webb and I looked it up.

[Seth Greenberg]

Oh, Pete Webb, Peter Webb.

[Pat McAfee]

What is he ca p?

[Debug]

Three sports reps, it looks like.

[Pat McAfee]

No, he's not even caa. Dan Orlovsky's doing this for no reason.

[Debug]

It also could just be his nil agent, so I'm not sure.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, I forgot we got agent. Assistant manager, dietitian, strength coach, cardio coach, hand coach, butt coach, legs coach. I understand that these guys are obviously superstars. They're, they're all in there. Okay, let's talk about the huge NFL news as opposed to just Dan Orlovsky giving his opinion. And we appreciate Dan O. Will obviously have Dan O to join us in the next couple days to chit chat about how he found himself in this particular predicament with Ty Simpson being the number one quarterback. Let's talk about a brand new highest paid wide receiver, Adam Schefter. You broke the news today. Jackson Smith in Jigba reaches an agreement for $168.6 million. 120 guaranteed. Congrats to him, congrats to his family. 42.15 per year. How'd we get here and did we expect this? When Kenneth Walker leaves and other people leave, they had to pay him.

[Adam Schefter]

Oh, that's definitely a part of the Seahawks planning. You know that you're going to be resigning and retiring Jackson Smith and Jigba and you also know that you're going to be resigning at some point this offseason. Devin Witherspoon, two players that have worked out great and you know you have to budget for these elves. What I find interesting also is that you see the big money involved in a deal like this and the Seahawks are for sale. So it's kind of interesting to me that this team that's in transition, that is essentially moved, moving or changing hands this off season, getting texts about Ty Simpson stuff now.

[Coach K (Mike Krzyzewski)]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, we all are.

[Pat McAfee]

We all are. We all are.

[Adam Schefter]

Yeah, we all are that they sign off on this. Like John Schneider, the Seahawks GM has the authority to go spend tens of millions, hundreds of millions of dollars on Jack and Jigba, on Devin Witherspoon, on free agents to do what he has to do to keep that team humming along like Jackson Smith and Jigba was as good as anybody in the game last year. The offensive player of the game or the offensive player of the year and Performed unbelievably well, was as good as anybody at that position. And they paid him like that. Today it's record marks for a wide receiver. Puka Nakua is still out there right now. You see the money right there, you know. $42.15 million dollars. Jamar Chase, Justin Jefferson, CD Lamb, DK Metcalf, Garrett Wilson also on the list. Puka Nakua soon will be joining that list. A bunch of running backs are going to get paid this off season. Every year there are certain positions that get taken care of. Last year it was the pass rusher. It was the off season of the pass rusher. This year I would expect that there'll be at least a couple of these receivers. Jackson Smith and Jigba and of course Pukin Nakua. And I think you're gonna see a bunch of running backs get paid this offseason. Bijan Robinson, Jamir Gibbs, get this offseason.

[Pat McAfee]

So we got. We got offensive skill players getting paid, wide receivers. Jameer Gibbs, Bijan Robinson. I'm sorry, you were going to say somebody else. I couldn't hear you. Go ahead.

[Adam Schefter]

Me too.

[Debug]

Hell yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

You pronounce his name right? Very kind of you for doing that. There's a couple debut was going to ask about who's next in line and at the wide receiver. It sounds like you just mentioned the guys who are going to be next in line. Are they going to topple that number or is it going to be around that number, you think?

[Adam Schefter]

Well, would depend on who's answering that question. It's going to be right in that range and we'll see whether or not it's just south or just north. Agents typically don't like to do deals for players of comparable skills that are less than the deals that got done. But I don't know where the Rams would be willing to go on Puka Nuku. So that's a battle that Puka and the Rams will be engaged in here these coming weeks.

[Pat McAfee]

Situations are situational. You know, Schneider has now found himself in the general manager sphere of being like, yep, that guy knows what he's doing. So I assume the next owner will be grateful for the decisions that he's making currently with future owners money. Okay, that is currently happening. Happening. But if that team remains great and Jackson Smith and Jigba remains the guy and they got Sam Darnold on a good deal, new owners are going to be pumped with what's going on in Seattle. Let's talk about some of the OG talents. Go ahead.

[AJ Hawk]

AJ yeah, Chef what about like Stefan Diggs? D Hop? What do you. What's the timeline look like and where could they possibly be going? Well, I think, yeah, obj, obviously. I don't know if you saw him in the flag football game. He just, bam.

[Connor]

He just looked confused.

[Pat McAfee]

He's back.

[Adam Schefter]

I saw OBJ the Super, super bowl and we talked and he definitely wanted to play and he feels healthy, feels like he could help a team. There are certain places I think that would appeal to him. The Giants would make some sense. That would be an awesome reunion. There was some way that could happen, but he definitely would like to come back and play and he feels like he could definitely help somebody this year. But there's a lot of guys out there right now, whether it's Debo Samuels, Stefan Diggs, Juwan Jennings, some of the other free agents, some of the other potential positions. The problem we get to now is if a guy is sitting out there, he obviously hasn't gotten his price that he feels like he's worthy of. He's holding on to get that, holding out to get that. You got the draft coming up. Typically, I mean, there could be a deal done today, but typically you see veterans added a week or two before the draft. As teams are making their final draft preparations and really assessing the position and the around, they're like, you know what, let's go get this receiver right now and kind of fill that need going into the draft. So I think we're in kind of a quiet period for free agency. That doesn't mean that something couldn't happen with one of these players. Of course it could. But this is not typically a time where you see deals get done.

[Pat McAfee]

We saw Diggs score touchdown this weekend with Tom Brady. Obviously we saw OBJ do some OBJ shit. We also saw D Hop kind of high up guy, you know, one handed tud. He's come out very, very positive about Kyler Murray. And then Minnesota made some moves. Connor has a question for you. Adam Schefter.

[Connor]

Yeah, Shefty Carl Wentz back to Minnesota. We remember last year he basically laid his life on the line going out there and ripping his arm off his shoulder. Still playing absolute beast. What does this mean for J.J. mcCarthy? Now it's Kyler Wentz. J.J. mcCarthy is once going there to basically kind of help J.J. learn a little bit more, grow as a quarterback. Or are we kind of near the territory of is J.J. mcCarthy's time in Minnesota maybe, you know, done?

[Adam Schefter]

I know people have raised that question how I'm viewing it right now, like this is a team that has gone through so many different quarterbacks and may maybe there's something to the when signing that would dictate or influence J.J. mcCarthy's future. But I, I don't view it that way. I, I view it but like they've got guys here. JJ has struggled to stay healthy. Kyler hasn't played there yet. They got to see how that goes. And Wentz is somebody that knows the offense is comfortable there. They're comfortable with him. You can never have enough quarterbacks. That's how I view it. Now let's see if it's something different. But to me it's just a situation of Wentz having an opportunity to go there and give them more depth at that point position.

[Pat McAfee]

Let's talk a little bit more about veteran quarterbacks. Tone Diggs, Pittsburgh Steelers don't have a quarterback right now that's a veteran. Go ahead your with your question to

[Adam Schefter]

really do Mason Rudolph.

[D'Bud]

Yeah, Mason is technically yeah and Will. But no, Aaron Rodgers is the question. We just saw him and Will Howard this weekend at the their flag football game that Aaron hosts. Aaron hasn't made a decision yet. Has there been an offer to Aaron? Because when he was on our show he, he said that there wasn't yet. Have they, has there been contract talks and is Kirk Cousins potentially waiting on Aaron to make a decision?

[Adam Schefter]

I don't think Kirk Cousins is waiting, but I do think he's following and watching because I do think if Aaron decides that he doesn't want to play, that Kirk Cousins would be a logical pivot for the Pittsburgh Steelers at that point in time. I don't think Kirk Cousins is any rush to go do something. I think he's going to wait for the right opportunity and if that happens to be in Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, that would be great for Kirk Cousins. But Pittsburgh wants Aaron Rodgers back. And when Aaron Rodgers said that, that they hadn't even had any contractual discussion, that surprised me a little bit because Pittsburgh's been pretty clear about its intent to want him back. All the players want him back. Everybody wants him back. So what's the delay in a contract? And it just feels like, I don't know, like they want him, he's interested in them and it shouldn't be that hard to figure out, especially after last year. But I don't know whether they've actually started it. I think everybody's just waiting to see what the deal is with Aaron, whether or not he's going to actually come back or not. If he wants to come back. The job's waiting for him. If he doesn't, then.

[Pat McAfee]

Why don't you text them, Shefty?

[Connor]

There you go.

[Adam Schefter]

What's that?

[Pat McAfee]

Why don't you text them and ask him?

[Adam Schefter]

We've tried that. It hasn't worked out very well.

[Pat McAfee]

Go on. If you could remind me, because I, you know, sometimes I. You know what altitude.

[Adam Schefter]

I try to be respectful. Like, I don't want. Like you don't want me to text him. I'm not going to text him. It's not a problem.

[Pat McAfee]

How'd you know he didn't want you to text him?

[Adam Schefter]

Well, you know why he came on your show and he said to lose his number.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, he was mad.

[AJ Hawk]

You don't actually delete it.

[Adam Schefter]

I forgot about it, you know, since, like, I'm trying to think of the last time that I've been told to lose a number. Like,

[D'Bud]

he's in a better place now. Yeah, he wouldn't do that.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. It's a different Aaron. We're at a good time. Remember? He's super happy right now. He is loving his life. He's having. It is great.

[Connor]

Probably Mr.

[Pat McAfee]

Text show because you didn't delete his number. There's no way you delete it. You still got it in there. Just in case, you know, just in case. Adam Schefter football. We need it now. If he blocked you, that's a whole. Another story. That is now. That's a whole nother angle that pops up. A green text for which he might be. Anyways, we're not sure. Then you know you've been kicked out of it. But if you get to the bottom of that, I think all of Pittsburgh would be appreciative. Let's go from Pittsburgh side of Pennsylvania to the Philadelphia side of Pennsylvania. There's a lot of questions still about what's going on over in Sirianni squad. Ty has a question for you.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah, Shefty? Has there been any kind of update in, you know, A.J. brown potentially getting traded? I know we had a couple other names that were kind of rumored out there. Has there been any movement on this or have things kind of been mummed and then maybe it'll pick up around the draft or post draft? Like, what do we know about this situation?

[Adam Schefter]

Again, my understanding recently was such that the Eagles weren't in a rush to make a move, that if. If they made the move, that it would come after June 1st. Now, a lot of people have connected. The Patriots. That's a logical landing spot. But what we don't know is what's going to happen with New England from now until June 1st. New England could, for all we know, bring back Steph Diggs. They could go sign some of these other wide receivers that are out there. They could go draft a wide receiver. And if any of those things happen, then that would probably take them out of the A.J. brown Market. New England. New England's been through a lot with the league in recent years. You know, deflategate other things. They're not going to bend the rules and take chances and do handshake deals under the table. Like, if A.J. brown works for them in June, they'll make a move. If it doesn't, they're not going to do that. You know, other teams, I think might be willing to look the other way and say, okay, yeah, okay, yeah, we're good, Philly, we're good. Yeah, okay, we'll revisit this in April, but we're all set. New England is not going to do that. I'm just telling you right now. Now, they're not going to sign off on something that would be against the spirit of the NFL rules. And if A.J. brown is still available on June 1 and they still have a need on June 1, that becomes a very logical destination. But there's no under the table, to my knowledge, handshake agreement between the two sides to get A.J. brown to New England despite the rumors.

[Seth Greenberg]

Okay.

[Coach K (Mike Krzyzewski)]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

It sounds like how dare you. Isn't that what it sounds like, con man? It sounds like the block is hot for the New England Patriots because deflate gate, that was he said without the recent years. It feels like the flake gate was a long. I'm watching the quarterback at deflate Gate lose to flag football players on my TV at this particular standpoint of life. But I do, I like the fact that Schefter just said the NFL is not letting the Kraft Patriot family get away with anything at this stage. There's none of that. Is that what you're basically saying there?

[Adam Schefter]

She I'm just saying that the Patriots are going to go out of their way to abide by the rules.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay, that's nice of that.

[Seth Greenberg]

Okay.

[Pat McAfee]

Thank you, Patriots, for doing that. They also, they also, they proved that

[Connor]

the Flake game wasn't real. Chefy.

[Ty Schmidt]

Who?

[Pat McAfee]

Who Bill the Gourd on you to bring that up on a Monday in March. You son of a. Lose my number. How about that? Hey, Chef, Science Guy and oh, Oz. All right, Shefter, last question here as we go into draft talk. Just if you're hearing Anything from general managers, from dbut.

[Debug]

Yeah, Chef, you mentioned some of these big time running backs getting paid shortly here, Bijan Gibbs, those type of guys. So obviously you look at the draft at the top running back with Jeremiah Love. What do you hear? What's kind of like his ceiling as far as how high he can go and what's the floor as far as you'll be shocked if he gets past this pick.

[Adam Schefter]

Another great storyline heading into the draft. Another reason for people to tune in to all the draft coverage. But to me, he's a top 10 pick. I know a lot of people have have had him going to Tennessee again. It's just not what I'm sensing right now. That. And by the way, it's March 23rd. The draft is a month from now. There are a lot of teams that go back and forth on these things and just because they're not in a spot on March 23rd doesn't mean they won't be in a different spot on April 23rd. So it's hard to say today as we sit here today, my guess would be I don't see him going to Tennessee. I don't see him going to the Giants at number five. Although that would be an interesting spot and I think he'd have a lot of support there. To me, me, a place that makes sense today, a month out would be the Washington commanders. They've added to their running back room. I could see Washington being interested in a player like Jeremiah Love. Seven would be the spot. If we go back to other years and other great running backs. Bijan Robinson went number eight to Atlanta. Christian McCaffrey went number eight to Carolina. New Orleans just spent on Travis HN Jr. Well done, Chefty.

[Debug]

Great job.

[Pat McAfee]

Nailed it.

[Adam Schefter]

Thank you.

[Pat McAfee]

Oui, oui. Bonjour, Sava. Merci beaucoup.

[Adam Schefter]

So. And Kansas City just spent on Kenneth Walker. So to me, Washington, I know they went out and they added Rashad White and they added some depth at the running back position. Position. But I still think that if you could pair Jeremiah Love and Jaden Daniels, that would be dynamic and they've been in need at that spot. So to me, that's a spot that I'm watching a month out. Although look, he could turn up at 4, he could turn up at 5, he could turn up at 6. I just think 7 is interesting to watch. That's me.

[Debug]

Sure.

[Pat McAfee]

Schefter's got his eyes on the Washington commanders and Jeremiah Love. Love story potential. We are huge fans of this dude and also player excited for that draft. What city's that draft in?

[Adam Schefter]

Adam Schefter, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

[Pat McAfee]

That's right, brother. Hey, we'll be there all week for you to get into. Yeah, you're going to be there all week. Okay. I have an event that I'm doing on Wednesday night at the Cayman Science Center.

[Adam Schefter]

Okay.

[Pat McAfee]

Need you there.

[Adam Schefter]

What's the event?

[Pat McAfee]

It's an event that you need to go to.

[Connor]

You'll see.

[Pat McAfee]

We're going to be shooting, showing. We're going to be showing the Football Town, which is the NFL Films movie about the city of Pittsburgh and its history of football and everybody that's been drafted and how the football community actually ties together the entire city of Pittsburgh. It's done by NFL Films. It's in a sphere like thing that our science center has and it's a full production and it's. I was lucky enough to voice it over, but Wednesday night, the night before the draft, I'm kind of making an announcement right now. The night before first round, I'm going to be inviting everybody that's going to be on camera talking during the draft to come check this out so they can learn about the city of Pittsburgh and how much it loves football and how many legendary football moments and humans have come from the city of Pittsburgh. And it's a beautiful. We'll raise some money. We'll watch a thing, maybe a couple cocktails. I know that's not your thing for some weed down your lungs. I don't know if you do that either. But we'll have a little night celebrating Pittsburgh and then you go on to cover the draft. If that's something that you'd be cool with on Wednesday night. We'll get your confirmation.

[Adam Schefter]

I figure out the schedule. Wednesday night is usually a. A fairly intense night. I have to see everything. But yeah, I would love to come. I'm interested. I will definitely try to make. Do my best to make it down there. I never want to disappoint my friend. If you need me there, I will certainly make my way to stop by for a little bit.

[Pat McAfee]

Bit.

[Adam Schefter]

Wednesday night's usually a busy night.

[AJ Hawk]

Are you gonna watch it?

[Connor]

Jeez.

[Pat McAfee]

What do you mean? You said no in a hundred different ways.

[AJ Hawk]

That's a pretty good no.

[Adam Schefter]

I said we're gonna figure it out. That's problem.

[Pat McAfee]

Wednesday, we'll give you. But also on that note, I'm gonna be there, but not really you. You guys will see. I'm here.

[Seth Greenberg]

I'll drive.

[Pat McAfee]

I can't. Okay, thank you. Now back to who's drafting Ty Simpson, right out there in the entire. We understand that. We appreciate that. And you're the man. Have a good one, Shefty.

[Adam Schefter]

Thank you, guys. Appreciate it. Enjoy. Bristol. Pat.

[Pat McAfee]

What is that? What's on your hoodie?

[Adam Schefter]

Bristol, Connecticut. You're there right now?

[Pat McAfee]

Yes, I am in Bristol. What's on your hoodie? What is that? What is on your hoodie?

[Connor]

Mad happy on your shirt.

[Pat McAfee]

Do you know what I use? It's a. Yeah. What is that? What is that?

[Adam Schefter]

It's a. It's the LA Kings. That's my. One of my hockey teams that I'm tracking.

[Ty Schmidt]

Oh, wow.

[Connor]

Oh, Kings guy.

[D'Bud]

Great playoff.

[Pat McAfee]

I like the Kings. Hey, they got good people working for the LA Kings. We got a chance to really enjoy an LA Kings game out there. A lot of great people. You're. You're a hockey fan. You love the hockey.

[Adam Schefter]

I. I like trades. I like when they make with la. With the LA Kings, are involved in big trades.

[Pat McAfee]

Have you done any other sport trades that have pissed other insiders off?

[Adam Schefter]

No, but we. But we reported on that trade with

[Connor]

Panarin, right?

[D'Bud]

Yeah.

[Adam Schefter]

Deadline. Me and Emily Kaplan, we did that.

[D'Bud]

Jack Hughes was stunned by it. Remember he came up to you at the conference?

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. I said, how did Shaft. Yeah. He walked up and asked him, how'd you get that information?

[Coach K (Mike Krzyzewski)]

You know.

[Pat McAfee]

You know, sometimes. But Shams broke the WNBA news, and there was people pissed that it was Shams that ended up breaking the news. I think if I was reading the tea leaves properly. But it's like, how do you, as an insider, decipher what information is your. Like, how does that whole thing go?

[Adam Schefter]

Well, reached out to me about the trade. I said to them, I said the only way that I would do it was. Would be if I could include Emily Kaplan because she's our hockey. And I don't want to do. I didn't want to. To do anything disrespectful to her, so I included her on the byline because she. She made calls and she did work as well.

[Pat McAfee]

That's all that makes. That makes me mad happy, dude. That makes me mad.

[Ty Schmidt]

Well said.

[Pat McAfee]

That's. Makes me mad happy. Whenever you do start, it's right there on your chest, right there next to your heart. I appreciate that. Actually. Turns out your heart rate.

[Adam Schefter]

Very popular sweatshirt brand, according to my daughter, Pat. Matt. Very popular. Very popular. You need to get yourself a mad happy sweatshirt, Pat.

[AJ Hawk]

Do.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, that's wicked dope. Maybe I'll think about a mad happy thing. That'd be lit. You're the Best. Ladies and gentlemen, Adam Shef. Mad happy is so sick, dude. Mad happy. Someday, Lydia Skier, aj, you're going to be mad happy.

[AJ Hawk]

I mean. Yeah, I'm just having. I've. I've said no a lot of ways and tried to get out of things before, but his, like, 45 second no wasn't amazing about Wednesday night.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. I'm going to introduce somebody on this side, so if you could take it away for a moment and then I'll be back in two minutes.

[AJ Hawk]

Yeah, of course. Can't wait. But yeah. So you think Chef's coming Wednesday, Con man?

[Connor]

You. I mean, my early read right now is no.

[Debug]

Yeah, maybe I'll go.

[AJ Hawk]

Yeah, I should go. Wednesday is really busy.

[Connor]

I'm.

[Debug]

Yeah, I'll go.

[Connor]

I stopped by.

[AJ Hawk]

Maybe I'll be there. Yeah, we'll see.

[D'Bud]

We've seen how Chefy gets when he's in really busy mode.

[AJ Hawk]

What's he get?

[Ty Schmidt]

Like, I haven't seen the dog bites.

[D'Bud]

Yeah.

[Connor]

So.

[AJ Hawk]

Really?

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah.

[D'Bud]

We had to put signs.

[AJ Hawk]

Can you imagine Chefy coming after you, Bruce? My night, he came after Bruce. What'd you do, Bruce? Bruce. I wouldn't.

[D'Bud]

Well, Bruce.

[AJ Hawk]

Bruce has a. He has a professional boxing match as well.

[Pat McAfee]

I respect. I respect the dog and. And the bark and. And the bite. Shafter, he's got a lot going on, you know, you got to respect it.

[Connor]

And to Shafter's credit, I mean, when Bruce is coming up to you Monday, a free agency, asking when Pat Ricard signed him with the Giants, you know, with all this other stuff going on, you can understand, he said, hey, sh the hell up.

[D'Bud]

I'm working.

[AJ Hawk]

I can imagine Wednesday night for Chef before the draft.

[D'Bud]

Yeah, but.

[AJ Hawk]

Okay, how many texting, though?

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, that's what I.

[AJ Hawk]

And what do you say?

[Coach Ben McCollum]

Four hundred?

[Ty Schmidt]

A thousand?

[AJ Hawk]

And every single gm, scout, front office

[Pat McAfee]

person, agent, are all.

[AJ Hawk]

Are they texting players?

[Connor]

But that's what I don't understand.

[AJ Hawk]

They're texting him, actually asking Shefty for info. Hey, what are you hearing? And he's trying to relay to other teams.

[Ty Schmidt]

I mean, so, like, I do his podcast with him, and on just like a random Tuesday, like, we will have to stop recording multiple times because he's either getting calls or he's got to respond to something. Like, so I would imagine the night before the draft. Yeah, it probably is.

[AJ Hawk]

Like, people are coming to him, don't you think?

[D'Bud]

Oh, yeah, yeah.

[AJ Hawk]

Teams are coming to him for. What are you hearing from this Chef? He's got a. He's kind of in a weird Spot and either because he has to. He can't tell him he's a broker of information.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah.

[Connor]

It's kind of like a proxy.

[D'Bud]

Right.

[Ty Schmidt]

Like it's almost always just like a. Well, me make a couple calls and then, you know I'll. I'll get. I'll get back to you. It's just.

[D'Bud]

He's a broker of information.

[Connor]

Hey, are they interested in trading, you know, pick number 8 or number 12? You know like I feel like. Because originally I was like this. This guy's full of. He just wants to get to bed early because. Because the draft's the next day. But now thinking about it. Yeah. Like GMs might call him to see if another GM is open to a trader.

[D'Bud]

What are you hearing?

[Debug]

Yeah, we had shrags with us last year and he's not even, you know, an insider but you know were with him more than we were. Like he was on the phone all night long. But she. I think shefty will he. He'll show face on Wednesday.

[Connor]

He will.

[Debug]

Maybe for 10 minutes.

[Connor]

What he said like he'll show up for Pat as a friend. Now granted. Will he be there for 15 minutes?

[Seth Greenberg]

Perhaps.

[Connor]

Perhaps that's all he.

[AJ Hawk]

But but still, I mean still that'd be nice to show up for especially in drafts. Is his absolute pinnacle the super bowl of what super. What he does? I guess kind of his Super Bowl?

[Ty Schmidt]

Well, I think free agency. Free agency is his super bowl trade deadline.

[AJ Hawk]

Trade deadline for those types of things. I think we got. We might have a special guest with Pat back in studio in Bristol. Pat, what's up man? You got everybody.

[Pat McAfee]

Here we go. Ladies and gentlemen, living legend coach Seth Greenberg. Coach, I appreciate you man. I. I just had to run and go to the bathroom. I'll tell you more.

[Seth Greenberg]

More information than I need.

[Pat McAfee]

No.

[Seth Greenberg]

Which one?

[Pat McAfee]

One washing my hands. Coach, you didn't encourage incredible job for us. Predicted some things that were going to happen. Did you know that the first two rounds were going to go the way they went with all big conference ended up stealing the day. Did we understand this was going to be the case?

[Seth Greenberg]

Yeah, I did. Because it's a cost to do business in college athletics. You guys understand that and like the mid majors are going to eventually not be extinct because you're going to have a guy that does a great job of developing players. Have them for a year or two and they have a chance to do maybe what High Point did get a bunch of guys that were older guys. But the reality is is that if you're a really good mid major program player. You're going to end up using that as a springboard to get you where you want to go make the money you want to make.

[Pat McAfee]

Good job battling that wire. Yeah, I think it was a pretty good job there.

[AJ Hawk]

Yeah.

[Seth Greenberg]

Not as. Not as nimble as that used to be.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, well, you know. Yeah, that's on us though because it's kind of over here. But it's over there. You're kind of doing it. The players getting plucked. They have a good Thursday night during a regular season. Teams are looking for them on Saturday already is. That's kind of what's happening in college basketball.

[Seth Greenberg]

Guys have been recruited and they don't even know they're being recruited. All these guys have agents. Even the mid major guys have agents. So guys are literally. You start to get off and make plays and do some things that agents on the phone and saying like do you need X, Y and Z? You know, this kid's interested, but here's the number. And what they're doing is the agents are smart. They're playing everyone against each other. But if you're trying to rebuild your roster, especially guys that think over new jobs where they got to get 13 guys, those guys are really valuable. But we're finding out you also got to get culture guys. You got to get. You got to have some type of continuity. You got to have some type of retention long term. And the guys that have done it the best have found a balance between retention, recruiting and basically the portal.

[Pat McAfee]

I'm seeing some ex coaches, mostly Dan Dawkich say how can you lose with that much money in Kentucky? I guess Kentucky has like the most expensive roster that's ass I guess in the history of college basketball. Do you, do you have any thoughts on that? Is that real?

[Seth Greenberg]

And because Coach Ms. Saban said it right on your guy's show.

[Pat McAfee]

If you spend money on the wrong guys, you out of luck.

[Seth Greenberg]

Exactly. I mean like coach said and it's 100. Right. Like evaluation. People understand. Look, you played. You guys played.

[Pat McAfee]

That's why Signetti so good.

[Seth Greenberg]

Yeah. The most important part of recruiting is evaluation. Don't like. And I don't want some dude that writes a scouting service to tell me who can play for me. Like your assistant coach has got to know who can play for you. The guys that understand your system, they gotta. You gotta find fit guys. Guys that can play in your system, buy into the good of the group. Are all about winning, competitive. And also can dudes. I mean in the end you need

[Pat McAfee]

a couple of dudes need real athletes out there, real players. So tell me about why great coaching probably matters. And all this because the evaluation, like Tom Mezo, we assume January, February. Okay. Because they were saying booze, are there

[Seth Greenberg]

broad delay here, right? They were. They were a little behind.

[Pat McAfee]

Well, they were worried Boozer was going to get sent there instead of. But it feels like good coaching really matters in March Madness. Because they know the players they have or because they know how to handle the game.

[Seth Greenberg]

Well, it's a lot of things Tom's been able to retain. Guys, like, guys don't leave Michigan State. They leave Michigan State maybe to go out early and his culture and his identity. I just talked to him right after they won the game the other day.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, that's cool.

[Seth Greenberg]

And I told him is like, how you win is because your identity and your culture is the best in college basketball. Those guys understand they're playing for those guys to play before. I mean, it's like real. When you have all those former players around when they come into Grind Week, when you have all those players around, when they come in the summer and work out with those guys, when you have magic coming in and out at all the great players they've had, there's an expectation, this is who we are. This is how we win, this is how we act, this is how we compete. And they understand, like, Izz is nuts, right? He's demanding, there's a standard. He's not gonna, like, he's gonna outlast you. You're not winning that battle. Like, oh, I'm gonna take notes. You're not. You want to play. And like, that's just the way it is. So there are certain guys, like Hurley's been able to do that. There are certain guys that have been able to do that. Cal's in a lot of ways been able to do that. I mean, what Cal's done at Arkansas is a joke because Auff. Like, he's a joke. Like, like, that guy's just different. Like 30 points a game in the last two games. And at the end of the game, you give him the ball. But like, Cal coaches him really hard. Like, really hard. Like, you go to one of those practice, you go. But that kid wants would be great. And when you have Shay Gis Alexander and Tyrese Maxi and all those, you know, Derrick Rose and all those guys perform, it's easy to buy into, like, hey, this guy's going to help me get me where I want to go.

[Pat McAfee]

We started the conversation there with Izzo and I think a Big convo right now is six teams from the Big Ten make up the final 16, and obviously it's all the big conferences. Iowa knocks off the reigning champs. Ty has a question for you back in studio.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah, Coach. What. What do you think the likelihood that Iowa can, you know, continue this run here? Obviously, they've already beat Nebraska this year. They split in Big Ten, and they don't really strike me as the kind of team who's going to come out flat after, you know, they might not make threes, but the way they play defensively, like, I don't know if being flat kind of, you know, plays into that, but how. How much of a chance do you give them to, you know, kind of continue this run and maybe make, you know, an elite eight or a Final Four?

[Seth Greenberg]

I give a legit shot.

[Pat McAfee]

I mean, they're not.

[Seth Greenberg]

They're a mistake free team. They don't make mistakes. I like those guys. They don't beat themselves. They're going to keep you in front. They're going to play in the gaps. They're going to force a contested shot. They're going to limit you to one shot. Like that's the art of the upset. Can you impose your identity on the game? That's exactly what they did to Florida yesterday. All right? They imposed their identity on the game. They took Florida's length and athleticism. And plus Florida, like everyone said. Well, what happened that last play, we can show that last play again, that was absolutely brutal because the last play in that game. Game right here. All right? He catches it around. Why do you have a man on the ball? There's eight seconds left in the game. It's not a long pass. You have a man on the ball. They're playing four on four. And actually, if you're fronting them, you see right here, they're fronting him right there. The game's over right there. Because right there, Boogie Fl is trailing that play. Watch when the balls get passed out. Now you're four on three. Now you're three on two. You can't leave the corner because that's the only thing that could have beaten you. The corner three is the only thing that could have beaten you. A layup, tie game, we go to overtime.

[Pat McAfee]

So what are we doing? Golden was all worked up trying to fight McCollum.

[Seth Greenberg]

Those guys were frisky, weren't they?

[Pat McAfee]

Starting to dance a little bit. Column.

[Seth Greenberg]

He's no joke now. I mean, he. He'll tell you, too.

[Pat McAfee]

I mean, he.

[Seth Greenberg]

He ain't afraid now.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, it looked like they were going to fight each other. Especially whenever there's a little bit of.

[Seth Greenberg]

Who are you taking that one? Who would you take?

[Connor]

Come on now.

[Seth Greenberg]

Call him like lower. Good base range range with Golden. What do you think?

[Pat McAfee]

I don't know. Golden's coaching history. Was he D2 four time national championship two guy.

[Seth Greenberg]

No, he wasn't. But he has a thing called a national championship and a very big banner and he.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, but we're talking fighting. I want to know the grit, the grit.

[Seth Greenberg]

I agree with you there. I agree with you there.

[Ty Schmidt]

I think McCollum would not beating the out of me.

[Seth Greenberg]

I mean, he's an Iowa guy, right?

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah.

[Seth Greenberg]

Wrestling's big in Iowa. I bet back in the day he

[Pat McAfee]

was as big as it is in Penn State. Congratulations, Penn State. Now that was a good. That was a good lead by you. You're anything I could do.

[Seth Greenberg]

I saw Penn State up there a second ago. I said maybe lead Pat to that.

[Pat McAfee]

You're a gentleman. You're an absolute gentleman. Penn State wins the national championship. Into March Madness. The Matt Madness. They are legends. They're doing something that's never been done before. They weren't even on the sports books. You couldn't even bet on them.

[Seth Greenberg]

They that good?

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. That big of a favorite and they go on.

[Seth Greenberg]

That's amazing.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. To win.

[Seth Greenberg]

A lot of people probably pissed off they couldn't bet.

[Pat McAfee]

Yes. Me. I'll hammer a -1100 any day just to see one go through the hoop. Congrats to them doing that. Let's get back to the basketball now. Obviously top dog still around. DBut has a question for you about maybe falling off somewhere.

[Debug]

Yeah, you're just talking about the art of the upset. I want to know who's highest on kind of like your upset watch list. You got Duke, Arizona, Michigan, all one seeds with pretty good big spreads and then Purdue as well. So who will be highest on that list to be on the upset watch?

[Seth Greenberg]

Coach K is not going to like this because I know he was just on. He's a friend of the program. I mean, you got Sabian, Coach K and Green, Greenberg. I don't know how I fit in

[Pat McAfee]

this mess, but I appreciate Belichick.

[Seth Greenberg]

I mean, it's unbelievable.

[Pat McAfee]

Thanks, coach.

[Seth Greenberg]

Good to be here, brother. Yeah, I think Duke. I think Duke. Because if you think about again, style play, Rick Patino, what are they going to do? They can extend their defense. They're going to press. They're going to wear you down with numbers. They're going to be physical. They're going to make it a rock fight. They're going to get up and underneath. Kaden Boozer's been great. They only have one point guard. They don't have a backup. Their backup point guard is Campuser. So you got Kaden Boozer. They're going to beat the crap out out of him. If he gets in foul trouble, he gets worn down. They've got to come in and actually run their offense through camp. So style of play, styles make fights. Style of play and the physicality of the game, how it's officiated. The more physical, the better it's going to be for St. John. You saw it like, yesterday was like a rock fight. Like, I mean, it set basketball back about 10 years, but the ending was great. I mean, the ending was absolutely spectacular. But I mean, like that thing, there were more shots in the first half where they missed a whole rim than that. Balls that went into basket.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, it was.

[Seth Greenberg]

Including our boy Darling.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, it was.

[Seth Greenberg]

Darling was right, right, wide, left, short. And then like church bells, just went and won a game.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. Well, that's Belzy. That's what, you know, said. You know, it's Belzy. You said it last year. I think about Patino's team being tough. Yeah, it's all about how the refs decide to officiate it. We saw that in the college football playoffs. Feels like we're going to see that with Patino anytime they play. Maybe Duke is in trouble. Let's talk about maybe who can get it all. AJ has the last question for you here, Coach.

[AJ Hawk]

Yeah, Coach, with all your, you know, your expertise, who's your favorite team? I guess left as of now, standing here looking and looking at the future.

[Seth Greenberg]

I think Arizona and the one that's obviously, they have eight starters. I mean, they don't have five starters. They have eight starters. Every guy that they bring off the bench impacts winning. Del Orso, he had like 26 in the Big 12 tournament. He's absolutely a killer offensively and defensively. Toby Iwaka should be a tight end in the NFL. Might be all right. And he might be. The guy averages double double in 10, in 10 minutes. And like Aristotle makes shots. Jaden Bradley is the best finisher in the game. Burry's is another one of those dynamic freshmen. And like, we watch and we say, well, what does Krivis do? Well, he protects the rim, he rebounds the ball. He does what they need to do. So, like, the pieces fit. And Tommy Lloyd, he's. He's incredible. He's just like this like they were down like 14 points to Iowa State in the, in the Big 12 tournament. And like I was joking with managers, I said like, you were down 14? And he goes, yeah, and my dumb ass didn't call timeout. And he just kind of worked with his team, worked with his team. They fought through it and that was like a shot makers delight. And like every shot went freaking in in that game. But I like, I like Arizona, but that, that other team, Iowa State, they actually surgically removed Kentucky. His heart kept five minute markers. Yeah, I mean, they didn't use a scalpel, they just removed it. This one there.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, with a hand.

[Seth Greenberg]

Dead hand. He swear and grabbed it. It was unbelievable. They play so hard. Iowa State plays so hard. It's, it's ridiculous. And TJ's great. I don't know about the, the medians, but besides that tj, he's, he's a monster.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay, so let's talk about. You say they set basketball back yesterday. What are your thoughts on the first two rounds of March Madness? You feel like you loved it. Obviously the favorites have done very, very well. Yeah, there hasn't been as many Cinderella over the last two years. What are your thoughts on the style of play in the tournament that we have thus far?

[Seth Greenberg]

The game's going up and down, is more scoring, the better teams are winning. Yeah. The mid majors are getting beat up a little bit. But we, we still had, look, we still had High Point. We still had Miami, Ohio. We never have a zillion of those guys. Everyone was, oh, no, the mid. How many, how many mid majors really make it deeper. Yeah, Loyal made it deeper on that

[Pat McAfee]

was rest in peace, by the way, to her sister Jean.

[Seth Greenberg]

Sister Jean.

[Pat McAfee]

She should be sainted. If that lady hasn't been sainted, I, I don't know.

[Seth Greenberg]

We have no chance.

[Pat McAfee]

Well, I don't know.

[Seth Greenberg]

I don't know about Greenberg. Greenberg's not gonna be sick anyway. I'm worried about you, Patty. I know you got a nice family and everything.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. I don't know, but she should be. But yes, obviously 102 year old incredible lady goes to a good race. But you're saying there isn't a lot.

[Seth Greenberg]

I just, I don't look, 106. The economics is what it is. So, I mean, like there's never a zillion of them. We overreact to everyone because it's such a big, big thing. But the middle range of all these conferences that are getting 7, 8, 9 bids, they're good teams. They're not great Teams, they're not the top three. So like a team can go nine and nine or can go eight and 10, but like they got like five or six, seven good wins. So like they're just beating the crap out of each other. So you know, to me that the. The mid major, the mid low majors, you got to get lucky by getting a six year guy. Like High Point had two six year guys, two fifth year guys. I mean, that team is older than the Oklahoma City City Thunder. I mean, and they were good. So, I mean.

[Pat McAfee]

All right, you got five seconds here. Who's going to win it? All right now as you stand.

[Seth Greenberg]

Arizona. I like, I like Arizona. I think they're the deepest, most complete team, but. And then maybe next time I'll give you a couple of picks for this sweet 16. I got. I'm still digesting.

[Pat McAfee]

Goodbye. We'll see you tomorrow. Okay. You nailed it.

[Coach K (Mike Krzyzewski)]

Yeah.

[Connor]

Absolutely.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. We're still live. If you'd like, say bye to everybody back in the Thunderdome. We're still live. People can still watch you too. We are still on.

[Seth Greenberg]

Hey, boys, thanks for having me and love to come back and we'll talk about May before the games and kind of give you guys a couple of hell yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Picks. Yeah, we need them. Dude, we've been losing.

[Seth Greenberg]

You want.

[Pat McAfee]

You have? Yes.

[Coach Ben McCollum]

All.

[Pat McAfee]

I lost every bet on. What was that? Thursday. I lost every.

[Connor]

Yeah, Thursday was tough.

[Seth Greenberg]

You didn't have Alabama. That was an easy one.

[Connor]

Okay.

[Pat McAfee]

I had Arkansas, I think in Vandy. And then I. I forget which one was the.

[Seth Greenberg]

I went south after that.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, yeah. Everything's. Everything's bad.

[Seth Greenberg]

I'm back.

[Connor]

Duke Troy.

[Pat McAfee]

Hey, will you give us a speech here before we go to a break and then we'll come back on the other side and get to wrap everything up. Team on me, boys.

[Coach K (Mike Krzyzewski)]

Team on me.

[Seth Greenberg]

Yeah, Coach, I'm giving speech.

[Pat McAfee]

Hey, guys, break up.

[Connor]

Yeah.

[Seth Greenberg]

Hey, we might be editing this segment right now, but here's the deal. When we leave here, your career best effort.

[Pat McAfee]

I like. We don't.

[Seth Greenberg]

We don't punch the clock like each and every day. I want your career best effort, like, no shortcuts, all right? You are your habits every single day. You guys make a difference, especially you guys on the right over here, all right? Because I'll tell you what, you've heard a lot better speech and I've given. I mean, you had Shasheski here, you have sa. You've had Belichick. Screw those guys. I'm telling you guys right now, we need our very best effort every single day. Let's go.

[Pat McAfee]

That's right.

[D'Bud]

Hell yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Team on me. Team on three.

[Seth Greenberg]

One, two, three.

[Pat McAfee]

Come on. See on the other side. That was good. That was good speed. As you know, managing maintenance, repair and operations is never easy.

[D'Bud]

But for the ones who always rise

[Pat McAfee]

to the challenge, Granger has your from professional grade products you can count on to fast, dependable delivery. They're there to help you keep things running smoothly.

[D'Bud]

Plus, their technical product specialists are here to help answer your toughest questions. And because Grainger knows safety is always

[Pat McAfee]

a priority, they're committed to being your

[D'Bud]

partner in protecting both your people and your facilities.

[Pat McAfee]

Call 1-800-GRAINGER Click grainger.com or just stop by. The world moves fast.

[D'Bud]

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[Pat McAfee]

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[D'Bud]

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[Coach K (Mike Krzyzewski)]

helping you quickly write, analyze, create and

[D'Bud]

summarize so you can cut through clutter and clear a path to your best work.

[Pat McAfee]

Learn [e-mail] M365 copilot.

[AJ Hawk]

That's what we're doing. Pat McAfee joins us for a beautiful set down in the the bows in Bristol. Pat, what's going on? There's Greenberg I hear is doing a SportsCenter hit like right now already.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, Seth Greenberg pooped his pants. Sprint out of here as quickly as possible. He's got to get to another building. Okay. For a sports center. He's in the A block of the 2 o' clock season. Probably already been on Sports center. Didn't even get a chance to say goodbye but did tell me on the way out he'd like to make some picks for us going forward. We like that he wants to win for us. I'm not sure he's going to get some sainted. I've been thinking about that a little bit. I'm not 100 sure how that works, but maybe not for him. Probably not for anybody. But it has been a fantastic Monday up here in Bristol, Connecticut. You know this is where sports are king. You know up Here where it's 14 degrees, it is freezing up here. I forgot about this New England. Let's go to the talks table at Boston. Connor and at Ty Schmidt, con man. It's cold as hell up here. I mean it is windy, rainy, cold Wednesday. Stop. Don't Punxsutawney. Phil said we're close. They do not con me.

[Connor]

Yeah, I don't know about Punxsutawney Phil, ready to shoot that little road in the head. But you're just lucky it's not snowing, dude. They've gotten some of the worst snow since, like, the 70s up in New England. I think they've had over like 40 total inches throughout the entire winter. They had a span of like, three weeks where they had three feet of snow. So the cold, awful. I think it's probably maybe turning the corner. This might be their second winner or third winner. They get three up there.

[AJ Hawk]

Jeez.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. Well, it's an honor to be up here. Obviously, walking through the building, you see so many greats got a chance. Mike Foss, obviously peacocking around, running the town. Oh, you should see him. I mean, he is shoulders back. Obviously, we're doing the entire thing. I asked him where a bathroom was. He said, right this way, sir. Walk four down, four wrong hallways. Okay.

[D'Bud]

Nice.

[Pat McAfee]

Had to turn around, go all the way back. I thought they might drop the S in SVP out of his name just because how embarrassing he was with the directions around the building. Exactly. Places gigantic up here. You kind of forget how. You know what I mean? Yeah. I walk back, there's a newsroom out here. I'm sure there was about a thousand anonymous sources out there, probably very positive about me. So I'm very appreciative about them out here. But you forget about how. How many humans kind of piece this whole place together. It's an honor to be here. Saw a couple Emmy Award winners walking around, just kind of walking around. Ms. Laura Rutledge. Ms. Laura Rutledge was walking around, obviously. NFL Live Emmy Award winner. You see these. Super Seth Greenberg just bumps into me, poops. His pants prints out. You know, it's like you're. It's a Disney world for sports media here at the. ESPN's campus. And it is gigantic. It is gigantic. Can't wait to get down to the little cafeteria, steal some of their food and enjoy it all. Age. It's a. It's a great overreaction Monday here. Ajr.

[AJ Hawk]

Yeah, it is, I guess. When's the first game? This coming up.

[Seth Greenberg]

This.

[Connor]

Oh, my gosh. The lineup. That. That's the only thing with March Madness. I'm glad you just said that.

[Seth Greenberg]

Why?

[Connor]

On Thursday, it starts at seven, and then they just have like four game. Yeah, here it is. They got 10 oh, five kicks. Exactly. It makes no sense. And it is in central. And that was the biggest problem the last two days.

[D'Bud]

Saturday, Sunday was ridiculous. They have a game at 1215 or 1240, whatever, one at two and then six games between five and eight.

[Ty Schmidt]

What are we doing?

[AJ Hawk]

They're playing to the west coast, right?

[Connor]

Wake up, man.

[Pat McAfee]

What are we doing? Man, I'm sick of the timing of this sucks. Sick of it. This feels like when I got to watch Scott Hansen bounce back and forth between two games. Remember they had 17 in the other.

[D'Bud]

Bingo.

[Pat McAfee]

So it's like allow me to watch it with my life happening now. I do like whenever there's a score up on the top of the screen and I can maybe get baited into going to another game because the game that I'm currently watching is absolute shite, or you learn that a game's on, then you try to go to multi view and all of a sudden you have a women's first round game on because you didn't know if it was men's first round or women's first round. When you build the multi view and all of a sudden you start looking, you're like, hold up, we got some badasses in the women's college basketball tournament happening as well. And Iowa State lost.

[Debug]

Oh no.

[Pat McAfee]

What?

[Debug]

Already?

[D'Bud]

I thought it was March.

[Pat McAfee]

Dropped 37 though. It was Audi crooks dropped 37 points. Okay, she had 37. She had 37. And we thought they were about to get cooked by Audi Crooks and they did. She dropped 37. Team just couldn't stop. I mean it was a tough loss for Iowa State, but we are certainly going to continue to fall along with the women's college hoops. That Darius J. Butler, who's going to win that over there in the women's college hoops in your eyes. I know you've been watching.

[Debug]

Of course we still have the odds. It's a long favorites. The Yukon Huskies, I believe. Still undefeated. Long obviously still undefeated. 36 and old. Now we'll be back in the final four.

[Pat McAfee]

We'll win it all.

[Debug]

Sarah Strong FUD. They'll lead the charge again with Gino the Godfather still doing it. Minus 250 right there. Draft King, the crown is yours. I mean that's, that's easy money. Damn near guaranteed.

[Pat McAfee]

The crown could be ours. Crown could be ours. There it seems like could, could be Yukon, especially with the men and the women. When was the last time that happened? Did you guys ever do that?

[Debug]

Yeah, we did it a few times. I know the year 2004.

[Connor]

Yeah, like 10 years or something, right?

[Debug]

And maybe 14, 14, 24.

[Connor]

Did they do it?

[Seth Greenberg]

They do it.

[Pat McAfee]

And how about, how about this? Let's continue with women's Basketball. I reach retweeted it, wanted to showcase it. New deal done for the WNBPA and wnba.

[Ty Schmidt]

That's right.

[Pat McAfee]

Right.

[Debug]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

It's good for a league. Big time bonuses and then I think from or big time upgrades to what their money was $1.4 million now max contract. It's a. There's a bunch of other stuff up like 107,000% or something. There's like the amount of. Of money that they are now agreeing to with the wnba A I think is a beautiful thing. Hopefully they're able to continue to run it up and hopefully WNBA survives. Because I want to Let you know, MacKenzie did soccer again this weekend. Scored a goal.

[Connor]

Nice.

[Pat McAfee]

But she does have a natural tendency to grab that ball and throw it into things. So I'm thinking she might. Yeah, you know, I, I don't know if she's a lefty too. I think so. You know that that's, you know, there's a lot of those going on. So we need every. All these sports to continue to thrive and we're very grateful and pumped that they got that deal done. Sean Sharanya breaking that deal really pissed off a lot of people when they're stolen.

[Connor]

Son of a.

[D'Bud]

Who was supposed to break?

[Debug]

I mean, so some poor lady was out of camping out for like 17 hours.

[D'Bud]

Why did she break it?

[Debug]

Getting the news, getting the information, gathering. Sean just swoops in, does his thing,

[Ty Schmidt]

scoops the scoop, bruh.

[Debug]

Yeah, I guess so.

[Connor]

Trying to do his job.

[Ty Schmidt]

Exactly.

[Pat McAfee]

I love that's what Sean is. This hoops, is it the same ownership as the NBA? Okay, yeah, that'll be mine. Thanks. Where have you been? Outside the court? Well, I've been living on my phone for the last 20 years. I don't have any friends. That's how I got here. And I eat my oatmeal with a fork and I like lunchtime. And I know everything going on in basketball. WNBA is going to continue. We're pumped up about that. College hoops also going to continue. Let's go to one half of The Hammer Cowboys. AP 10. We just learned that the Yukon women are favorites to win the women's NCAA tournament. Who are the favorites to win the men's March Madness tournament?

[D'Bud]

Arizona, Michigan and Duke are still your heavy favorites to win it at. Arizona being the favorite at +330 with Michigan right behind them. They looked really, really good against Bob Avila's Boys of St. Louis on Saturday. And then Duke at +370. They were your tournament. Tournament favorites to start the Tournament. But they, you know, had, they had the run in with Sienna and then with tcu, they hung around for a bit before they pulled away. But those are your three largest favorites right there. And no surprise, they've been the best three teams in basketball all season long.

[Pat McAfee]

Tom, how do you feel? Or Ty, how do you feel about that plus 12,000 down there? Ty, that seems like a pretty juicy little odds for the Iowa Hawkeyes.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah, certainly, I think took Iowa at plus 20,000 before the tournament started. So, you know, and you know, you kind of just do it because, hey, I got to. But now we're, we're in the stage where, you know what? Don't, don't be late to this train. If you, if you're good with plus 12,000, you take that Hawks got a team that they've already beaten coming next, so. Yeah, I really like that number. That is very juicy.

[Pat McAfee]

I'm.

[Ty Schmidt]

I may put my mortgage on, you know, I might double down, put my mortgage on, you know, plus 12,000 thousand as well.

[Pat McAfee]

I don't know if you heard while you mentioned a plus 20,000 for Iowa, there was a Canadian Gumpy. You love that. Yeah, it's good. It's good odds there.

[D'Bud]

I like the old firm too. Johnny's in Arkansas. Great odds. Those coaches, they know how to win

[Pat McAfee]

at this time of the year. The old Firm. What do you mean by that, pal? Calpar Patino. They've been around. It is funny. What about Izzo? Yeah. January, February is though. We know how it goes. It is kind of the old firm owning college basketball still as we carry on. Okay, so Arizona, Old firm. Not quite old firm. M. Michigan, Old firm, Newer firm, New school dude. Duke, New school dude. Houston firm. Old firm. Kind of half and half here.

[Ty Schmidt]

Purdue.

[Pat McAfee]

Purdue, Old firm, Old firm.

[Debug]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Illinois Middle firm, Older firm. Iowa State.

[Connor]

New school.

[D'Bud]

New school.

[Connor]

Newer.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Old fir firm, Old firm. Dan Hurley, the oldest of old firm, Old school dude. How about Michigan State obviously is old firm.

[D'Bud]

I tell you what, I feel like

[Pat McAfee]

the dogs are going to be barking in this sweet 16 here. You look at those, you look at those lines. There's a lot of good teams there. Yeah. The favorites are saying we're the best and we have been for this entire tournament and I've lost a lot of money and if Gumpy says something, I'll certainly ride with it blindly. Aj I don't know if you do that as well, but I, I ride with old Gumps blindly and I was in a +4000 something 8 team. One that ended before it Even started.

[D'Bud]

That was Ohio State.

[Pat McAfee]

Right off the hop. Yeah. Thanks, Buckeyes. I was going to win 20 grand on the first day of March Madness off of Gumpy's big brain, but instead, the Buckeyes just couldn't make a fucking basket. Why didn't you tell? You didn't answer either. We FaceTimed you. We FaceTimed you four or five times. I wanted you to get in there and motivate.

[Seth Greenberg]

Yeah, yeah, I was probably four or five times.

[AJ Hawk]

My plan was to FaceTime you guys back. Back once they won the game.

[Pat McAfee]

They didn't.

[AJ Hawk]

They didn't. Unfortunately, that was the problem.

[Pat McAfee]

Thought I was gonna call boys.

[AJ Hawk]

You guys are all hanging around like, hey, look at this. You guys thought they're gonna lose.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, well, they did. Well, we did, actually. Yeah. Everything you guys thought was accurate. Everybody that I know that had a team that was losing a bet for me got a face done. Everybody. Coach K, he got two of them. Coach K got two of them in that first half. Yeah, right. We're losing. We're losing, Coach. Okay. And then immediately after the game, coach, we can't cover 28 and a half against Sienna. How can I believe in this team at all? And then he goes into an actual basketball breakdown as if I'm being serious. And I'm like, coach, I was just around.

[Connor]

Yeah, but thanks.

[Pat McAfee]

He was talking about. He was talking about getting healthy, though. Like, the way he started breaking it down, he was like, well, because we don't have a guy, Boozer has to do more. Boozer's getting beat up. Then we get this guy. If we just get one more guy or two more guys in there healthy, it should help everybody is kind of how he started talking. So I go again, Hammer time. And obviously it goes out goes. So it's like, I. I appreciate this March Madness, but it does seem like it's a bit unpredictable. Okay. And there's zero perfect brackets. How many was there in total? Do we remember what the number finally got up to?

[Connor]

I think they're in total. I'm not sure. I know going into yesterday, there were two. And then Tennessee beating Virginia ended them completely.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, but what is that, like, 30 million? 40? How many?

[Connor]

Oh, how many total brackets? Oh, geez. I don't know. When we almost fold it out there, there were like eight. I think we would have probably that, too.

[Pat McAfee]

I haven't checked my almost crying.

[Debug]

I saw you guys. I saw it. I saw it brewing, too.

[AJ Hawk]

What

[Connor]

we didn't get to.

[Debug]

I saw it brewing the last 12 minutes. It's like, nah, no. No way you're gonna do it.

[Coach Ben McCollum]

Bracket.

[AJ Hawk]

We did the one.

[Pat McAfee]

What do you mean? What do you meant? Riddle me this. What are you talking about? Talking about how everybody was making a mockery out of it. Everybody was basically telling me, let's not do this. Everybody was pretty pushing me.

[AJ Hawk]

Yeah, I was ready.

[Debug]

You're pretty hyped.

[AJ Hawk]

We end up doing the Super Duper 18.

[Pat McAfee]

It's the college basketball crowd. Yeah.

[AJ Hawk]

They tip off in like three months, so it should be sweet.

[D'Bud]

DraftKings tweeted that there was 26.6 million brackets.

[Pat McAfee]

26.6 million brackets. Nobody's perfect. And maybe one will have a perfect bracket for the super duper culture college basketball crown that West Virginia is going to win.

[D'Bud]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

And that's. That's what it's all about. They got the Toronto Blue Jays in the semifinals. That might be a tough team to beat. But Oklahoma, Colorado, Baylor, Minnesota, we're comfortable against all them. So West Virginia, Toronto will battle the winner of Oklahoma and Baylor, if we had to guess. And that's coming to you in May. And you can get your picks now. Vivid seats back to the March Madness. We had a chance to catch up with a coach earlier today in the middle of his travel. He is currently plus 12,000 to win it all. Will your thoughts change on those odds after listening to him speak? We think so. We caught up with coach Ben McCollum this morning. Here it is. Wow. Congratulations, coach. How you feeling, brother? Freeze. How you feeling?

[Coach Ben McCollum]

Thank you. I'm good. I'm good. Just get ready to get on this plane and head back to Iowa City. God's country, Hell, yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Well, we appreciate you taking time here quickly to join us in route in the middle of this chaotic March Madness. Obviously, you have won everywhere. Okay, so now you end up at Iowa and you get this gigantic win over the reigning national champs. How can you compare it to maybe in the past? How do you kind of describe your fear feelings having this big win at a new school at Iowa? Like, how do you kind of describe where you are right now and how you feel about your program?

[Coach Ben McCollum]

Yeah, you know, I think it's. We wanted to make sure that we brought some of that back to the state of Iowa and Iowa City and University of Iowa and. And have them take pride in. In what we're doing. So I think that's. I think we're doing that. I think we're trending that the right direction for me personally as a coach. You know, I. I think in 2017, we won our first national championship and, and at Division 2. And I got done and I'm like, man, this is what this is supposed to feel like. And it, it didn't necessarily feel like you would think it would because we're so process driven. Like everything's process, everything's next game, next play, next thing. And, and that's how you sustain success. So it, it felt good. Probably not what you would, would think, but I'm, I'm really happy for the state of Iowa and the University of Iowa.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. And we have Ty Schmidt here. He'll be asking you a question in a second. I mean, he was erupting last night. I mean. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Coach Ben McCollum]

He always looks good too.

[Pat McAfee]

He's always got that highway gear.

[Coach Ben McCollum]

He is repping it in the. And I. My understanding, because I actually watched your show some. He's from Waterloo.

[Ty Schmidt]

That's right.

[Coach Ben McCollum]

Is that right? There you go. And when did you graduate Iowa City?

[Ty Schmidt]

2013. 13. 2013.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah.

[Ty Schmidt]

So I, you know, hey, I was, I was there for the lick. Lighter era. Like I, I've seen some dark days.

[Pat McAfee]

You're a real fan.

[Ty Schmidt]

Oh yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh yeah.

[Ty Schmidt]

Big time coach. Yeah. Like you said that that was the. I think that was the most excited still coming in here, just like floating this morning. That is maybe the most excited I've ever been after a sporting event. So the state is behind you. They appreciate it. This is all awesome. I'm curious, looking ahead, like, is it more difficult playing a team like Nebraska, who's in your conference, who you've seen twice, or is it, you know, because I feel like Florida and some of these other teams, like, they're maybe not used to Iowa's style of play in terms of, you know, playing really slow and like the defense, like, what, how, how would you look at the next game? And like, how difficult is that as opposed to playing, you know, the number one ranked team like Florida?

[Coach Ben McCollum]

Yeah, I think it's probably conference driven a little bit. Meaning obviously they've seen us, we've seen them. The, the Big Ten isn't necessarily a slow league, but it's a little bit slower than the sec. A little more half court, a little more physicality, more just X's and O's driven for the basketball purist, if you will. And the SEC can just, they're, they're physical, they overpower you, they can get downhill, they score a lot of points. And so, you know, specific to Nebraska, I think just having them seen us and us seeing them, it does make it more difficult probably to score and it probably makes the scores go down quite a bit just because we know each other so well. What matchup do you want?

[Seth Greenberg]

I don't know.

[Coach Ben McCollum]

There's only 16 teams left. I don't think there's any good matchup at this point.

[Pat McAfee]

I think it's, hey, how about in coach fighting? How about in coach fighting? Because we saw you almost do that. Is there any coaches that Patino probably good right now, but he might sneak you. You know what I mean? So I don't know if you thought about that.

[Coach Ben McCollum]

He might outlast me. Patino's tougher than hell. I, I wouldn't mess with him. He. He might outlast me. And I. I can guarantee Fred, a.

[Pat McAfee]

A.

[Coach Ben McCollum]

A former NBA player, you don't want to mess with him either. So I'm. I'm just going to stick to. I'm going to stick to my own bench at this point.

[Pat McAfee]

Will you. Would you like to chatter a little bit about the passion here? This is a part of March Madness. That was love. I believe the Maryland women's coach was shown obviously coaching her player up hard, where she was saying, I believe in you, but you got to want this. Hurley gets a lot of stuff because he's obviously a maniac and a psycho. Same with Mick over there in ucla. But, like, I think it's a part of college sports and a part of college hoops as a whole is the passion. You obviously get caught up in that yesterday. Your team has a huge win. What are your thoughts on it all, how people talk about it, how it's perceived and kind of how you handle all the type of situations that pop up in a very emotional time here in March Madness.

[Coach Ben McCollum]

Yeah, I grew up in a time. In a time. I mean, I'm still young, I feel like, but I grew up when we would go play pickup and you'd play against your. Your best buddies or your teammates, and if there wasn't a fight, it wasn't fun, not an actual fight, but you're. You're competing against each other, right? Like, that's not even. It's not any fun. Like, if I'm just to go, you know, be nice to each other and stuff like that. That's the beauty of competition, is you can do that and then it's done and you leave the. You leave it there. So they say, leave it on the floor. That's what it is. Now, do I make a habit of that? Absolutely not. I didn't. I didn't know what was going on, to be perfectly honest. I was like, just started yelling at

[Pat McAfee]

her at our bench.

[Coach Ben McCollum]

But it is, it is a part of it. Like it doesn't necessarily need to be a constant deal. You know, those guys were going for 50, 50 balls, they got into it, there was a little scrum there, but it's nothing. It's, it's competition, it's fun, it's, it's, it brings out the best and the worst on occasion. But once the game's over, it's over. And that's, that's, it's hoops, baby.

[Pat McAfee]

That's why sports are the greatest. That's why sports are the greatest. It's the greatest thing on earth. Sports are the greatest thing on earth. And what you guys are cooking right now with this March ma madness is obviously electrifying. Go ahead, A.J.

[AJ Hawk]

yeah, coach. I guess you obviously you had a ton of success as a coach. Not really, I guess on this stage, at this level. Have you talked to anybody, any other coaches about how to handle the rest of this tournament? Obviously the rest of this week. Like you said, you're flying back home now. Like, what does the rest of the week look like for your coaches and your players?

[Coach Ben McCollum]

Not, not a lot. You know, I think it's probably actually more, I think that the noise is different at this level. So you've got to get that correct, directed with your team. Like, hey, we've got another game we actually want to continue to win would be the first part of that. The, the second part of that is at Division 2, you play the next day most of the time. So you, you'll play the next day or you might have one day break. You don't change locations at the high major level. You get your private jet, it'll fly you back. It's a two hour flight. You eat the best food ever, you get to sleep in your own bed, and then you get back on your private jet and you go to your hotel. And I don't know, it's, it's pretty easy from, from what it is at Division 2 where you're taking six seven hour bus trips. I mean, it's, we're pretty spoiled. So if you can't get up for this next game or you can't handle it the right way, then I think we got bigger problems.

[Pat McAfee]

That's a beautiful thing, Coach. We can't wait to watch you the rest of the way. Good luck. And if you continue to fight, coaches just know we're on your side.

[Connor]

Hell yeah.

[Coach Ben McCollum]

As well as talking there with me. Got my back.

[Ty Schmidt]

Oh yeah. I'LL die for you, coach. Know that.

[Coach Ben McCollum]

Love it.

[Pat McAfee]

And then with a bottle of Jack and with a bottle of Jack emptied in his soul. He'll be ready. Yeah, he'll be ready for whatever. Ladies and gentlemen, the head coach of the Iowa Hawkeyes basketball team, Coach Ben McCullum. Guys a winner. A.J. guy's a winner. And I'll tell you, I love the fact that Ty gets a chance to say that his coach is a dog. Ty, is that your biggest takeaway there from our conversation with the four time D2 national champion?

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah, without a doubt. And I, I wasn't kidding when I said, you know, I will die for that guy. I'll go into battle for that guy. Take a bullet for that guy. I mean, Iowa basketball for the longest time, like, had had a lot of success, but it was one of those things where more often than not they would go to the tournament and be a higher seed, win the first round, like, squeak by and then get upset in the second round. It was kind of just like a rinse and repeat type deal for him to come in in his first year. And he's doing it with a bunch of, like, mid major guys who were with him at, you know, the D2, Northwest Missouri State, then went to Drake with him, then came to Iowa for them to be in the Sweet 16 in his first year, where they haven't been since 1999. Like, this man can do no wrong. I wasn't kidding when I said last night was maybe the happiest I've been in like 20 years. It was just, I mean, just unbelievable. And I'm still just floating today like, I cannot wait for Thursday.

[Pat McAfee]

Let's go, Hawkeyes. Congratulations to Utah and to coach McCollum, who him making time for us was sweet.

[AJ Hawk]

Oh, yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

That was in between travel for him to join us. I think we got coach Patino tomorrow. Yes. We will obviously continue to try to contribute to the sports world as much as we possibly can. AJ Great work. Traveling over there to Thunderdome.

[Seth Greenberg]

All right.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, oh, no.

[Connor]

Good save.

[Pat McAfee]

I just had the Justin Timberlake microphone. You remember when he had.

[Connor]

Oh, yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

That he used to kick down and like catch it and then bring it back.

[Connor]

He had a great weekend.

[Pat McAfee]

Videos of him.

[Debug]

Yeah, Great, great.

[Pat McAfee]

Why come out now?

[Debug]

Great Internet white.

[Seth Greenberg]

Great delivery.

[Pat McAfee]

I don't love that they're doing that to Justin Timber. The guy's already been through it 100 times. And then they show him, like, dancing. Now they're doing it again.

[Seth Greenberg]

We already.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, I mean, it's gonna be me People will never forget it. That's Justin Timberlake forever in its entirety. But, AJ Anytime we're on this show going forward, we need you to stop making any jokes about concussions in football players.

[D'Bud]

Yes.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay.

[AJ Hawk]

I don't. I know. What do you. What do you. I know what you're trying to get to, but I don't. I don't really mess with the same

[D'Bud]

sentiments as some players.

[AJ Hawk]

What's that? I. I joke about?

[Pat McAfee]

Had to apologize. Apologize. Cam Scatterboo had to apologize for making a joke about CTE and asthma, saying he doesn't believe in both of them.

[D'Bud]

He said, just breathe, man. He said, just breathe. Asthma's not real.

[Pat McAfee]

He doesn't. And I will say I've met a few people in my life that do have similar beliefs to Cam Scatterboo. I used to not believe in headaches because I never got one. Now, on that note, I've been told that that is not right. Real. On that note, we will continue to try to bring awareness to the dangers of football and concussions to the future. But we gotta be able to joke about stuff. Come on, come on, come on, come on.

[Coach K (Mike Krzyzewski)]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Football players are allowed to joke. People that aren't like Cam Scatterboo, AJ Hawk, you know, guys like this have to be able to joke about it, obviously, to get through it. Sometimes that's the only way people can really get through stuff is by making jokes. I appreciate him coming out and saying, I'm sorry I offended you. And I think Webster's son came out and was like, hey, this has affected a lot of people's lives, you know, in a negative way. So we appreciate, you know, acknowledging that. We would like to go and say, we certainly understand that the future of some players because of concussions with CT is not great. But on that note, I don't know how we're supposed to not reference it in some sort of way that is, you know, real, you know, in a reality of a situation. Happy Cam got through that. I love Cam Scatter. Boo. I hope he plays football good again. We think he's going to.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yes.

[Connor]

Yeah.

[AJ Hawk]

He only knows one.

[Debug]

Yeah, I think so as well. But I did feel find it interesting how many times Chefy mentioned Love and the Giants at five, even though that would be pretty cool.

[Pat McAfee]

Pretty cool. Hey, Scaboo and in love. Yeah. Dart and Jackson. Dart.

[Debug]

Oh.

[Coach K (Mike Krzyzewski)]

Oh.

[Debug]

Ricard.

[AJ Hawk]

Scaboo with love behind him.

[Debug]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Ready to punt.

[Coach K (Mike Krzyzewski)]

Power.

[Coach Ben McCollum]

Yeah.

[Connor]

Neighbors back.

[Pat McAfee]

God. Jeez, Bruce, The Giants not suck anymore. I. I don't think so. I Think we're. I think we're going to be all the way back. We're definitely going to be pounding the rock.

[Ty Schmidt]

Neighbors seems to be a little bit

[Pat McAfee]

more behind in his rehab than Scaboo is. Scoo is going to be good to

[Ty Schmidt]

go for OTAs, but neighbors knee apparently was pretty up.

[Pat McAfee]

All right, well, hopefully everybody gets healthy over there. Would love to see the Giants have a good team. And Cam Scaboo. Keep living your life, dude. Keep living your life, brother. Doing whatever. You dominate that taco, Cam. Okay?

[Ty Schmidt]

That's right.

[Pat McAfee]

You dominate that taco every single time. You just keep it moving. Congrats to Matt Fitzpatrick. Huge putt on 18. He was so close a week ago. Obviously, Cam Young gets the win. Fitz has a chance to finish it here on 18. And how you doing? Gets excited, does the quiet, I'm an introvert, but I want to do a fist bump, lose my mind thing. And I appreciate him doing that. Congrats to him. Getting a big win, Foxy. PGA's doing it. We like the Valspar Championship. And how do you feel about Fitzy getting the win, Fox? Yes, sir. PGA is doing it. Fitzy's on absolute fire right now. He's one of those guys you look at because the Masters is pretty close. And then over in the live golf league.

[Debug]

Thank you, Fox.

[Pat McAfee]

Bryson D. Shambo has won back to back tournaments he just won in South Africa. The scenes were unbelievable after he said that it was the best live tournament they've had to date. So look for Bryson D. Shambo, who won in a playoff against John Rom in that tournament. Look for both those guys at the Masters as we get close to that. Okay, so first place and second place or first place and runner up or first place and last place to Tone's point, whenever it comes to what the live is at this point. But we love the alternate option, don't we? Debug. Whenever we find it on a super duper DW channel, we turn it on and we say, wow, Rambo's playing. D. Shambo's playing. We got golf in its highest form, right, Debu?

[Debug]

I think they kind of figured it out with the. With the international scenes whenever they go to Australia or South Africa. I know it was Rom and DeChambeau in the playoff, but it was a South African. I'm not sure of his name, but he got a huge pops, huge route.

[Connor]

Yeah.

[Debug]

With this shot, this finish, like, like, I think he was like 290 out, shot two, got it up on the green for like a 15 footer. For eagle. Ended up tapping in for par to win it. Like this is top tier Bryson. I know after the win he was pretty emotional. I guess he's dealing with something in his personal lives life. So T's and P is there for Bryson, but it was a great scene. And then post match Calvin Harris still bringing it out there in front of a hundred thousand. So yeah, they'll be back in South Africa 2023. But those of you who in the office who have been to a live tournament live, I think they kind of have that down pack even over the PGA Tour. But pga, you know, that's still the cream of the crop right now. But when we get these guys on the same field when the Masters coming up, I will definitely have a nice ticket on Bryson. The crown will be mine.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay. I like that you're trying to get the crown. And the crown might be yours. We'll see if the crown's yours or D sham crown bow. Whatever the case is. I like that he's getting emotional. Big win. Especially the stuff going on in his personal life. Debo, what's your favorite Calvin Harris song?

[Debug]

I mean, you know, they kind of all sound the same.

[Connor]

That's not true. That's not.

[Pat McAfee]

Not Calvin Har.

[Debug]

You know Diplo freaking Rufus played the

[AJ Hawk]

afterparty of the flag football situation.

[Pat McAfee]

He did. He did. Yeah.

[Debug]

You know all of them they bring. He's bringing it all of.

[Pat McAfee]

Let me hear just a little melody. Let me. Let me hear. Sounds like that really guy.

[Debug]

So we give him beat.

[Connor]

Most of his songs usually start with lyrics, actually. So it be if we gave you the beat.

[Pat McAfee]

It's like half a summer.

[Debug]

That's not.

[Pat McAfee]

How about they found love in a hopeless place. I believe. That's Calvin Harris right there. I think Diplo. Go ahead. Sorry. No, no, no.

[D'Bud]

I just say look at Calvin Harris's glow up with research that on the Internet. Okay, we're done here.

[Debug]

Look on X. Yep.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, yeah, bro. He's at the top of the world right now, dude.

[Debug]

See that crap?

[D'Bud]

Yeah.

[Debug]

Who do they have out there?

[D'Bud]

Who at Valspar.

[Debug]

Look at this.

[Connor]

Better watch it, man.

[D'Bud]

I think Darius Rucker playing Vesper.

[Pat McAfee]

So I know I brought up but Liv stinks that. Let's let me make one thing clear. I brought it up. This is on me. But it. It still stinks on tv. They got to figure that out. All right. Let's think about things that stink. But have a a pretty good show coming. The UXSFL has. Have you seen the halftime performances? Have you seen them no. Who Stack? We got Nelly playing somewhere. We got of Rid. Russell Dickerson somewhere. We got everybody they don't have to boom. Gucci, man. Tv Myers. Tv.

[AJ Hawk]

Which one's the Columbus one?

[Debug]

Wait, who?

[Connor]

I believe.

[Ty Schmidt]

I believe it's Ty Meers.

[Pat McAfee]

I was thinking the same thing. How did they get here?

[D'Bud]

Tv.

[Debug]

Well, bring it. He's still bringing it.

[Pat McAfee]

Wale is gonna fucking murder that. Okay, we love Wale. We appreciate Wally. We assume Gucci's gonna do his thing. Gavin's been doing it forever. Tv Myers. I apologize. I cannot wait to watch Nelly in the St. Lunatics going crazy. DJ Khaled. I just watched him jump off a yacht. Okay? And then he. While he was swimming to shore, he said, new muse comes soon. Okay, so we assume he's gonna drop some. Some of that Russell Dickerson had the song of the fall, obviously. And then Luda. Yeah, right. That's 100 bangers. I don't know how they're going to have. Is that halftime going to be 45 minutes? Maybe. Maybe that's the new UXSFL thing. I'm not sure. But I love that they're coming out with some bangers for halftime. I will certainly be paying attention. Aj, which one here are you most looking forward to? Are you looking to get back to the M. Ah. Cooking letter? Cooking letter. O, U, R. I ain't nobody know I better. Hey, that Nelly Saint lunatic is good. That's good.

[AJ Hawk]

Had a good run for a long time, I'd say. I mean, T.D.

[Pat McAfee]

what's your favorite?

[AJ Hawk]

Ty Myers. I'd say Gavin DeGraw. I don't know that. I can't name any songs right now.

[Pat McAfee]

What?

[AJ Hawk]

Let me hear one of his good ones.

[Connor]

Dude, you don't know Gav.

[AJ Hawk]

I know Gav.

[Pat McAfee]

What is Gavin De Groff Gav back.

[Connor]

Come on.

[AJ Hawk]

I'm not a good singer, but speaking.

[Pat McAfee]

What is it called?

[AJ Hawk]

What's the one. Him and Jason Moraz like had a good run.

[Pat McAfee]

You know Jason Mor playing?

[D'Bud]

Yeah, he's still doing it.

[AJ Hawk]

He should.

[Connor]

He's doing the super bowl or whatever they call.

[Ty Schmidt]

Are we worried at all that the USXFL may have spent their entire league year budget on getting these guys to perform?

[Pat McAfee]

And you gotta remember last time they played, they lost $60 million. So picking up Nelly and the St. Lunatics for halftime is nothing.

[Connor]

What's another.

[AJ Hawk]

What's it gonna look like though?

[Pat McAfee]

Go and charge it to the game, says Rapole.

[AJ Hawk]

I hope they get they can fill the stands because think you know how it is. It's tough to play anyway at halftime with the stadium.

[Pat McAfee]

Russell Dickerson's filling the stadium.

[Debug]

Smart business move by him.

[AJ Hawk]

You're right.

[Pat McAfee]

Let me.

[AJ Hawk]

Yeah.

[Connor]

Make it two minute call.

[Pat McAfee]

I like that. They're trying to make it an event. I have no service. I can't look up a Gavin. What is a Gavin song?

[Connor]

I don't want to be anything other

[Pat McAfee]

than what I've been trying to be.

[Ty Schmidt]

And then what is the other one?

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, cherry. Oh, yeah, that's a banger.

[AJ Hawk]

All right now time do TD Myers. What's he got? What's his.

[Ty Schmidt]

I've never heard of that guy, but I'm excited to watch him.

[Pat McAfee]

Ty's got. He's USXFL opening weekend.

[Ty Schmidt]

Exactly.

[Pat McAfee]

Ty Meers is gonna bring it. Hey, what's that Russell Dickerson song? I listen to it at game day. It's a hit. He does this one here. He's got good girls.

[D'Bud]

Something about girls.

[Connor]

Couple trucks.

[Pat McAfee]

Nothing.

[Ty Schmidt]

I'm being ice cold beers too.

[Debug]

Or.

[Pat McAfee]

All right, what's it. Nick knows the song in the back. Nick looks like the guy. Nick, what's the song from Russell Dickerson? What's that sound? Why? Why do I know the song?

[Debug]

Happen to me?

[Connor]

Driving down a mud road.

[Pat McAfee]

Is it happen to me? I think that's a song. Sing it. Let's get a little.

[Connor]

Go on.

[Pat McAfee]

But I have no service. You know it hit the. Russell.

[Debug]

It is Mike. I didn't have my tea.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah.

[Connor]

Rust Dick brings it.

[Debug]

He does every time.

[Pat McAfee]

Rust Dick is what it is. RD's a dog. He was on the Thanksgiving Macy's Day parade. That's right, isn't it? Girls just want to have fun. Isn't it a ride? Yeah, girls.

[Connor]

Yeah, but like a country version.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, it's a country. I'm watching it. I'm going to watch all these things. And not just watching for the halftime show. I'm watching the football. I don't think any of these quarterbacks can complete a pass. We're talking about the 100th ranked quarterback in in the country playing for the US XFL. I got faith. Especially if DJ Khed's coming out there blessing him up. Especially if Nelly and the St Lunatics are coming in with Give me two. And Wal's coming in. Yeah. Who knows? USXL coming out with a bang. What's that? Debug.

[Debug]

I said who knows who DJ Khaled's gonna bring up.

[D'Bud]

We taking over Remix the entire crew.

[Connor]

Yeah, Drake.

[Pat McAfee]

I heard Beyonce's may be coming out her. Beyonce's may be coming Out.

[D'Bud]

She's a big Houston Brahma Renegades.

[Connor]

She does like the Brahmas though. To your point, who's in Columbia?

[Pat McAfee]

I think they're. They're the crew. They're calling them the Beehives.

[AJ Hawk]

Ted Ginson.

[Debug]

Yeah, I know. That's. That's. That's about ball.

[D'Bud]

I don't know.

[AJ Hawk]

Do they show? Does it say where each one's performing?

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, I'm done with it.

[Seth Greenberg]

All right.

[Pat McAfee]

We. We promoted ball. We did. I like.

[Connor]

I like the.

[D'Bud]

We're on. On how we're ending shows. This is good.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, I'm done.

[Connor]

Five minute quarters, 45 minute halftime.

[Pat McAfee]

4.6 point field goals.

[Seth Greenberg]

Boom.

[Ty Schmidt]

That's right.

[D'Bud]

Is Team USA flag going to be in his league or.

[Pat McAfee]

No? I. I don't. That's the first Team USA I've ever wanted to see lose so bad. And I don't ever want to see him on my team TV again. But on that note, they are very talented and we need to respect them and hopefully they'll go win us a gold medal. But if they lose to Austria, oh

[Connor]

man, it's gonna be hell.

[Debug]

Don't sleep on Italy upon us once.

[Connor]

Yeah, the Italians tackle those.

[D'Bud]

Has anyone bought that espresso machine yet?

[Pat McAfee]

The nespresso one? I got one for the bus. It was a cure again. I said nope. I needed a airstrike. I'm not espresso. That's where I. Cause that's. What did you say that Pasco patino.

[Connor]

Oh yeah. Soaking wet.

[Ty Schmidt]

I don't know why.

[Pat McAfee]

It was Six Flags.

[D'Bud]

Yeah, Mickey Mouse Six Flags. And not, you know, Kennywood.

[Pat McAfee]

But whatever he said he set the record for the three point challenge. I thought the hoop was built so you couldn't make shots at these things. I. I didn't know you actually go in there and knock it down. The big pies on the Pasquatch is certainly on quite a run. Have you ever got a record at one of these?

[Debug]

Absolutely not. All the I've never seen one as fair is this one. Usually they are gimmick pretty smashed in from the front, so you got no chance. But yeah, this is.

[Seth Greenberg]

I.

[Debug]

This is on repeat. But I thought he

[Pat McAfee]

said ten shots.

[Connor]

Ten in a row.

[Pat McAfee]

All right, let's get out of here. Please get out of here. D. But you're the man. Be a friend. Tell a friend something nice. It might change your life. We're in this thing together. I got a chance to watch that movie yesterday. That was crazy. The movie I was in you like was insane. I don't I. I don't know what I'm allowed to say, what I'm not allowed to say. I think there's a lot of money involved in all these things, but me and Gumpy were in a sweet theater in Beverly Hills with what appeared to be kind of tired. Didn't they seem a little tired, A little edgy? A little edgy?

[D'Bud]

A little bit, yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

West coast difference there. Yeah, a little edgy. One of them in particular can't stay up late. Yeah, a little bit of don't got it like they used to. Yeah, used to have it. From what I've been told. They used to really have it.

[Coach Ben McCollum]

Really have it.

[Pat McAfee]

Now it's like 9am going bed, because I got a super duper bed to lay in in the morning. So I live forever, you know, There's a lot of that. But the movie was. The movie was. It was. It was awesome. It's a fucking. Hell, yeah. Yeah. I can't believe I'm in a movie. It's a war movie, though, as a war movie, it was sick, and I haven't watched a war movie in a long time, so it was very cool. Yeah, I was in there. I mean, we were in there. In there. Just. I think that movie is going to be really good. I think people are going to think it's very good.

[D'Bud]

It's the best genre.

[Pat McAfee]

But it was.

[Ty Schmidt]

I agree.

[Pat McAfee]

I'm very excited for that. What, war movies? Yeah.

[D'Bud]

By far the best genre of movies out there.

[Debug]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

I mean, I was in war last night for an hour and 40 minutes. Me and Gumpy were in war. That's what it felt like as we were watching this movie. It was like. It was a. It was a reminder, you know, of, like, what war actually is. Like, you know, especially because where we're at right now and everything that's happening today, it's like, hey, this is what happened in World War II. Like, actually, you feel like you're. The way it was shot. Peter Berg, obviously. Obviously a genius, the way he does stuff. And it's like. It was. It was very intense. It was very intense. Very lucky to be a part of it. Tells a wonderful story and, you know, you're crying at the end of it. So I guess that's. That's good.

[Connor]

That's the goal.

[Pat McAfee]

Yep. I don't like that I'm a crier now all of a sudden, though, because I have a daughter, you know, it's all right. I start crying and stuff happens.

[AJ Hawk]

You cry when you're happy, not when you're sad.

[Pat McAfee]

Or both. I was sad. I was sad during this movie.

[AJ Hawk]

Well, it's like a sad, half happy thing, though.

[Pat McAfee]

Sure thing.

[Debug]

Yeah. Test me now.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah.

[Debug]

Dial it in.

[Pat McAfee]

It.

[AJ Hawk]

Be good.

[D'Bud]

Use that harness that I didn't even

[Pat McAfee]

think about me just being able to cry like Vernon.

[Coach K (Mike Krzyzewski)]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Yep. All right. What's everybody laughing about? Take it easy, boys, huh? Okay, buy in. Let's be professionals. Be a friend. Tell a friend something nice might change your life. We're in this thing together. ESPN people. Thank you so much for the hospitality here. Honestly, thank you, ESPN people. Appreciate you guys. Really appreciate it. Weeks was on the lead for this entire thing. And I'll tell you what, the bald guy did some magic in here. And a, There's a guy named Tyler here. He's got great hair.

[Coach K (Mike Krzyzewski)]

Yeah.

[Connor]

Weapon, of course.

[Pat McAfee]

Beast $. Huge hocus on this guy.

[Connor]

Love it.

[Pat McAfee]

He's walking around on clouds. This guy's really doing it. I mean, it is a. It is the time. All right, we'll be back tomorrow. Be a friend. Tell a friend. Gumpy. Way to go, Gump.

[D'Bud]

That is a giant.

[Pat McAfee]

I'll have you guys know Gumpy's sleeping these days. I don't know if you know that. What? Catching Gumpy sleeping. I don't believe you. Oh, I'm telling you. What do I hear? I hear a little snoring elf from Canada

[D'Bud]

getting old. Oh.

[Pat McAfee]

Be a friend. Tell a friend something nice. It might change your life. We're in this thing together. We'll see you guys tomorrow. Team on me. Thank you, everybody at espn, for being kind. I washed my hands three times when I was in the bathroom because I didn't want any anonymous sources to say that Pat McAfee didn't wash his hands. So a new person came in. I had to say it loud, like, I'm washing my hands right now. This is what I do every time I piss, you know? All right.

[Seth Greenberg]

Be a friend.

[Pat McAfee]

Tell a friend something nice about change your life. Or in this thing together. Team on me. Team on three. One, two, three, Team. Goodbye, Monster Energy. Everybody knows White Monster, Zero Ultra. That's the og it kicked off this whole Zero Sugar Energy drink thing. But Ultra is a whole lineup now. You've got Strawberry Dreams, Blue Hawaiian Sunrise, and Vice Guava. And they all bring the Monster Energy punch.

[Seth Greenberg]

So if you've been living in the

[Pat McAfee]

White can, branch out.

[D'Bud]

Ultra's got a flavor.

[Pat McAfee]

Flavor for every vibe, and every Single one is zero sugar. Tap the banner to learn more from

[AJ Hawk]

30 for 30 podcasts.

[Pat McAfee]

Did you say someone got shot, Brian?

[D'Bud]

Pata. Senior defensive lineman from Miami, gunned down

[Seth Greenberg]

the key to this case.

[Pat McAfee]

It's Brian. Before he died, he was on the phone arguing with somebody. This might be a hit. You want the truth, they just want a conviction.

[Adam Schefter]

Being placed under arrest.

[Pat McAfee]

We had a killer amongst us.

[AJ Hawk]

Murder at the U.

[Pat McAfee]

Listen now.