Episode 133: Team USA Delivers A BIG Win Over Serbia & Is Headed To The Gold Medal Game
Mark Titus | The Mark Titus Show
Transcript
00:00:00On today's episode of the Mark Titus Show, the United States survives. Survives in advance.
00:00:05Serbia, best player in the world, Nikola Jokic, obviously. What I don't think really any of us
00:00:10saw coming was all the role players hitting everything. Could not miss from three. It felt
00:00:15like the U.S. We'll talk about it. Tate's here to talk about it, but I will just say this before we
00:00:20get into it. That fourth quarter was maybe the most fun 10 minutes of basketball. I'll say it.
00:00:27I'll say it. I'll say it. It might be the most fun 10 minutes of basketball in my life to watch
00:00:31Steph, KD, LeBron, even Embiid showed up, which will give him his flowers. But to watch Steph,
00:00:39LeBron, and KD score the final 13 points, to see all three of those guys on the floor together,
00:00:43three guys that have defined a generation of basketball in this country and the world really
00:00:47finally playing together in a high stakes game. This was not an exhibition. This was not a
00:00:53case of like the USA was taking Serbia lightly. This was Serbia playing very, very high level
00:00:59basketball with the best player on the floor and going up against the best team in the world.
00:01:04And it was an incredible basketball game. And USA moves on and now we play France and
00:01:09we get to talk about it. But what a game it was. What a comeback. All sorts of things to unpack.
00:01:14Let's just get into it. Let's just dive right in because that was so much fun. All right. Tate,
00:01:20where do we want to start with this? Because maybe we start with the end, I guess. Steph,
00:01:25KD, LeBron, just take over. Like all three kind of took over in their own way. Steph was hot from
00:01:29the start. Steph, he was unconscious in the first quarter. Yeah. I was like grinning from ear to
00:01:35ear because I've been critical of Steph wearing the USA jersey this cycle. He hasn't played great.
00:01:41He just, he hasn't. And he doesn't play great defense. So like if he's not hitting shots,
00:01:46it is a little confusing why he's out there when he's out there. But today he reminded you,
00:01:51this is why I'm out here. And he could not miss. And he had Serbia running in circles. And it
00:01:56wasn't just like the first half or the first quarter or whatever. Like he was hitting throughout
00:01:58the entire game. Obviously you can't sustain. I think at one point I did do the on pace. I did
00:02:05the on pace thing. You did hit it with a, he could get a hundred. I was like, he's on pace. He's on
00:02:08pace for over a hundred points right now. But he was. He, there's, I'll say this. There's nothing
00:02:12that gets my blood going. Like a Steph Curry shot turned to the bench and shimmy. Yeah. And then the
00:02:19ball goes, he got to the point, he had a heat check in the right wing where he pulled it from
00:02:25pretty deep for his range. It wasn't even really that deep, but it was, it was a pretty deep,
00:02:28like pull up in, in semi transition. And the bench was going crazy. Like the United States bench,
00:02:34like got up and they all start like holding each other back and he missed it. But it was,
00:02:38it just reminds you of like what he's capable of. And that was the stuff that we've all been
00:02:43wanting to see. And we see it out of the gate. Now the problem is Serbia had like five steps.
00:02:49Serbia could not miss. It felt like in the, in the first half specifically. And they,
00:02:53we ended up out shooting them from three. Like we ended up shooting better percentage-wise from
00:02:58them from three, but in that first half they couldn't miss. We doubled out. They made us pay
00:03:02for it every single time. Every time. And it was a perfect recipe for, for Serbia and Jokic. You
00:03:08surround Jokic with like smart players that can shoot. It's, it's, it shouldn't be a surprise.
00:03:13And I guess my overarching point, and we will get to like how fun the fourth quarter is. We'll talk
00:03:19about some of the players individually. My overarching point is that my concern, my alarmist
00:03:25attitude, not necessarily that the world is catching up to us. I don't think, I don't think
00:03:31I need to be alarmed that like, there's going to be a time where the United States is no longer
00:03:35considered the best basketball country. What my concern is, is there will be a time where we lose
00:03:41in the Olympics and it doesn't necessarily feel like an upset. Now, if it would have happened
00:03:44today, I do think it would have felt like an upset. But, but, but the, what, what stood out
00:03:51with this instance is Serbia has two NBA players. So this is not a team full of NBA players.
00:03:57And we're sending our best guys. This is in the past when we've lost at the world stage,
00:04:03we can always rationalize it by saying we didn't send our best team. Or maybe there's a world
00:04:08where like Canada beats us. This year's Canada team beats us. And you're, and maybe like the
00:04:12rationalization is like, yeah, but Canada had a full, you know, starting five, starting five of
00:04:18NBA players. And like, you know, like that's, that's probably not going to keep happening for
00:04:23the, I don't know that like there's ways you get the concern is that Serbia is not from a talent
00:04:28perspective. They are not the most talented, like at the top. Sure. But like the, from the entire
00:04:33roster, they are not the most talented team in the world. And they made it look like they belonged
00:04:37with us. It did not look like a fluke at all. No, it didn't. They played good basketball. That was
00:04:41the most fun I've had watching a basketball game in quite some time. Cause it was literally
00:04:46super team, 12 NBA all-stars against the best player in the world. And like his buddies.
00:04:52Yeah. It felt like it, it sort of felt like, like LeBron versus the Warriors or something.
00:04:56Like I'm probably more exaggerated because the gap between the two teams is more exaggerated,
00:05:02but yeah, like you said, it didn't feel like a fluke at all. And I think that's what was,
00:05:07that's what was, I don't want to say concerning, but that was like validating to my viewpoint that
00:05:11like the world's kind of coming. They're kind of coming because it wasn't, this wasn't a case of
00:05:16like where you're watching USA play and you're like, who the fuck are these guys in the USA jersey? I
00:05:20don't recognize these guys. We were playing well. We're playing well. Serbia was just playing well
00:05:24too. They were playing better than us for most of the game. And we shot 50% from the three-point
00:05:28line and we needed every single bit. Yeah. 16 of 32. Steph was nine of 14. He went for 36 and eight.
00:05:34LeBron went for a triple double. That was a good-ass basketball game, but it's not like
00:05:38we're out there dribbling it off our foot. And we're like, all right guys, turn it up.
00:05:41It's not like Serbia was like Pat, they were playing zone, but it's not like they were just
00:05:44packing it in. And, uh, we're just, we shot like 48 threes and we have a team full of non-shooters
00:05:50or something. And, you know, like that, that's what, that's what stood out to me is like, this
00:05:55was not a fluke. We have our best guys. Um, everything about this was, was legitimate in
00:06:00the sense of, you know, like the, the, the style of play from both teams, the ebbs and flows of
00:06:05the game. There wasn't like our, all of our starters got in foul trouble or something like
00:06:10this was a legit basketball game where we were down by double digits for most of the game.
00:06:15And so that I say, uh, America, the, the days of America, like showing up and saying, we're
00:06:20going to win by 20. I do think that like, yeah, by like, we beat the fuck out of Brazil. Sure.
00:06:24We beat the fight, like all these other teams, there are teams out there where I'm not worried
00:06:29about France and the championship until I need, I have a reason to be worried. But, uh, yeah,
00:06:34I mean, I think, I think if the attitude is like, we're USA, now that we got that one out of the
00:06:38way, we'll just take care of France. I, I, I will continue to say it. I don't think it's going to
00:06:43work that way. Moving forward. I think we have to really fucking lock in as a country and continue
00:06:47for, for the game against France and every Olympics moving forward. We have to take it
00:06:50very seriously. And you can't just like throw dudes out there in USA jerseys and say, we're
00:06:54going to win that time is over. And the idea that it was awesome today to watch our super team have
00:06:59to have to edge it out down the end. It was great. Steph's gone. Yeah. Brown's gone. Katie's gone.
00:07:06Well, those were our finishers today. Yeah. 2028 comes around in the United States. We got Jason
00:07:11Tatum. We got Jason. We're going to play him. Would you take right now? Would you take USA
00:07:17or the field in Los Angeles? In 2028? Yeah. I mean, you got to take USA. You would, but I, but,
00:07:23but I'm falling, I'm falling victim to the trap that I'm trying to, to call attention to, but I'm,
00:07:29I'm still doing it, which is like the, those days are gone over. But then even when you say,
00:07:34you're like, dude, we're hosting the Olympics in LA and we're still going to be trotting out.
00:07:38Yeah. And, and Bede these people, Anthony Davis, I think Durant's playing, by the way,
00:07:42I think he's playing. I think he's got one more in him. Got one. That'd be quite the meme. I got
00:07:46one more in me. Um, it was so awesome, dude. Carmelo on the sideline chirping at Serbia all
00:07:52game. Cause you know, he hates Jokic and he, he hates Jokic. And also he's Mr. Like him being
00:08:01watching his boys, but also he's the Olympian. He was Mr. America before Durant came along. Um,
00:08:06and, and, and Bede was Mr. America there for a little bit. Captain America, Joel Embiid. I like
00:08:11that one. Uh, he, he played well, he played well and we needed him to play well. And, uh, yeah,
00:08:16him and him and the story of the game to me was, uh, the, I'm talking the total game, the overall
00:08:21game, not just the end was, uh, Embiid and Steph playing as well as they did. Um, those were two
00:08:27guys that have not been playing particularly and have been here and say, yeah. And they finally
00:08:32showed up when we needed them. Um, and yeah, for Embiid, Embiid played well against Brazil,
00:08:36but like, I mean, we won by a thousand. We needed him down the stretch. We needed him. Yeah. And,
00:08:41and the Jokic matchup, uh, in the NBA, when, when they meet it's, it's talked about fairly often
00:08:47and be ducks him sometimes. And then other, you know, even when he, when they play at home and
00:08:50be plays well, but that'd be, that's become like a thing. They're the, you know, so, uh, the,
00:08:55the last two MVPs. So when those two guys are on the floor together, it's easy to like get
00:09:00sucked into like that head to head matchup. And I thought, you know, and be, he wasn't perfect.
00:09:03There were times where he's sometimes where it's like costing us. Yeah. But we, I don't,
00:09:08we don't win the game without him. That's a fact. I think, I think that that is, that is fair to say
00:09:11what would flip it. We don't win the fourth quarter 32 to 15. We lose that game. What would
00:09:17that have done to, to Jokic's legacy? Oh my God. Think about that. Yeah. Like took on the 12 super
00:09:23team from the United States by himself and came out victorious. Yeah. But it wasn't by it, but it
00:09:28was, it was history would say it was by himself. It wasn't by himself, but history would say it
00:09:33was by himself. Um, yeah. What a game dude. Like if you, if you watch that game, you'll never forget
00:09:38it. And if you didn't watch it, I, I, man, I feel bad for you if you're a basketball fan,
00:09:42cause it was incredible. And that's like, it underscored why I follow international basketball,
00:09:48why I love watching team USA, even if we're 40 point favorites in games and all that sort of
00:09:52thing. Cause, um, yeah, moments like today where we're seeing, seeing Steph Curry, Kevin Durant and
00:09:58LeBron James close a game together, put the fucking country on their back. Carmelo Anthony
00:10:04standing courtside, yelling out plays, telling them to get KD the ball. KD hits the, was that
00:10:10the shot to go? I don't think it was the one to go to head, but there was that KD pull up, um,
00:10:15kind of a bad shot, but it's Kevin Durant. So, you know, it's going in, but it was a long two.
00:10:19Um, and, and Carmelo's like calling it out and it goes like the whole scene was awesome. It was
00:10:24exactly what I've always dreamed of like international basketball being is like, I want
00:10:28to watch USA at our, at our peak, but we have like a worthy challenger and Serbia was a worthy, worthy
00:10:33challenger today. I mean, they were, they wasn't, we've said it a hundred times. It was not a fluke.
00:10:37Let's say what it is there. I thought there were two times in that game where Serbia had us beat.
00:10:42Yeah. Like there was, so they were up 11, Jokic got a wide open three. He missed it.
00:10:47That would have put them up 14. Instead we come down, we hit a three Jokic pushes someone in the
00:10:53back. That's right. Picks up his fourth and we get, and then we hit an, so six point possession.
00:10:58That's right. Jokic picks up his fourth. They could have been up 14 instead. They're up five.
00:11:02Yeah. And then, and then the other one was even up to two minutes to go for Serbia. They got the
00:11:08most wide open three. They did. They did. They, they did cool off. They definitely cooled off.
00:11:14And I think the moment, I'll say at the moment was too big for him. I don't know if I can prove
00:11:19that, but it just, it felt like it did. It reminds me of like a, a college bat. I mean,
00:11:23how could it not? It reminds you of like the NCAA tournament and there's a team that's like
00:11:28trying to pull off an upset and they just like, like the clock strikes midnight on Cinderella.
00:11:32And it felt that way for the last like three or four minutes. Well, we watched the game together
00:11:36and, and we went down early and there were some people calling like, okay, I'm touching the panic
00:11:41button. And you kept saying, now's not the time. Now's not the time. Was there was a time.
00:11:46There was a time. Yeah. There was a time somewhere in the second half. I was definitely panicking
00:11:50cause I, cause I noticed, I felt like the players were panicking. And so when you're that talented,
00:11:56maybe it wasn't panic. I felt like the players were playing. I felt like the United States
00:12:00started playing outside of their comfort zone where they were no law. Like they, they, they
00:12:06were aware of what the score was. They were aware that Steph's going off and we're still down.
00:12:09We're still on six. Oh, whatever. All right. We'll be all right. And then they gave like,
00:12:13we're still down 12. Like, how's this happen? Like, we feel like we're playing well, what's
00:12:17going on here. And I feel like there was a time, even in the first half where it was less like
00:12:22panic, maybe it was more like, we're going to get it all back right now. And like, they were,
00:12:26they were taking crazy chances on defense. They were not boxing out. Cause they're like trying
00:12:30to like, like a guy who should be securing a rebound, like taking off and transition and
00:12:34the ball gets battered around. There were instances like that where I started screaming
00:12:38at the television. Like, why are we panicking? There's so much fucking basketball. Like,
00:12:41why are we trying to like, get it all back on one steal? And then, but that's what we talked about
00:12:46before the Olympics was we just want to see one time where Kerr has to coach or where the team
00:12:51has to play in crunch time. Are we going to all of a sudden try and hit the six point shot? If
00:12:56we're down by six is LeBron going to try and do it all by himself. They shut up a lot of people
00:13:00today with the fourth quarter was panic time. And we won the fourth quarter by 17 points.
00:13:05Crazy that we won by 17. Go ahead. You think anyone in Serbia called game
00:13:11watching that game in Serbia? I have, I have a devastating confession. What's that? There was
00:13:18a man in Chicago, Illinois who called game. For who? I may have called game for Serbia. You called
00:13:24game. You know, I'm a gay man. I know. I'm a gay man. You came out as a gay man many times. I'm
00:13:30a gay man. And, uh, I love calling game. Um, I'm addicted to it. Most famously Baylor, uh,
00:13:38Gonzaga. I call it game before the end of the, the first media timeout. And I meant it. And a lot
00:13:43of people did a lot of people did, but I meant it. I meant it. I was like this, this thing's
00:13:46fucking over. Um, I called, I called game in the first half. I called game in the first half when
00:13:52Serbia hit, we had, we missed like a, because what happened, we took some stupid shots. We
00:13:57were taking stupid shots. Serbia was hitting everything. And I was like, I think, I think
00:14:00Jokic is going to get him, get him over the finish line. I think he's going to figure it out. And I
00:14:05was wrong. I was wrong. I'm proud to be wrong though. I've never been happy to be wrong,
00:14:09but I thought wrong to be a game man. I definitely hit the panic button though,
00:14:12because it just felt like it felt like the team, the team just kind of lost their minds there for
00:14:19a second where they were, they just weren't playing basketball as much as they were like
00:14:22trying to like, yeah, that's the only way I can describe it. What I saw was like,
00:14:26even towards the end, there was that, that play. Um, I think we had just tied it up or something
00:14:31and Jokic gets the ball at the free throw line. And LeBron just comes and doubles when Jokic has
00:14:36his back to the basket. Jokic turns and just throws it to LeBron's guy who cuts the basket,
00:14:40dunks it. And I'm like, that's not a LeBron's like one of the smartest basketball players to
00:14:44ever live. Why would he do that? It was frantic. It was, is this team going to lose? Yeah. And
00:14:49we were doing uncharacteristic. Right. And it felt like in LeBron's mind, he's like, I'm going
00:14:53to fucking drive the final nail through this coffin. I'm going to get the steel. I'm going to
00:14:56just put my head down and dunk on everybody. He kind of did that with like some of those finishes
00:15:00late. Um, but that was what concerned me. It was like, we started, we started doing that shit like
00:15:06halfway through the second quarter where it's like, I'm going to watch this, watch it. Okay,
00:15:09fine. You're up 12. Watch this. I'm going to, I'm going to get it all back right now. And that's
00:15:12to your point is we, the rest of the world is now at the point where we can't just do that.
00:15:18Like we can't just put our head down and go through and beat Serbia and they're not scared
00:15:22of us. I mean, I think that matters too. I think, I think the, there's a lot of comparisons between
00:15:26this team and the dream team. And really there's, as long as we're sending our best guys to the
00:15:30Olympics, um, there will be comparisons from the current team to the dream team, you know,
00:15:36like that's going to continue to happen every single year. Uh, but one thing that should be
00:15:41noted between the difference between the dream team and this team, the dream team, if you've
00:15:45watched any media about the dream team, they're just like countless stories about how they would
00:15:49play guys. And then the guys would ask for their autographs after the game, the guys that, you
00:15:53know, like the, the game's tipping off and like the guys were like shaking. They're so nervous
00:15:56to meet Michael Jordan. You think Yoka chest LeBron? Yeah. Right. Right. Right. So, uh, there
00:16:02is that, I mean, that's, that's a real thing is that, uh, if nothing else, the world is no longer
00:16:06scared of us, but, um, yeah, what a treat to, to, to figure, to, to watch the, those three guys at
00:16:11the end and, and, and be, but, uh, to figure out who our crunch time lineup is, let's talk coaching.
00:16:18Devin Booker is in the mix. That was crazy, Devin, but I don't think, I think it's, I think it's,
00:16:23he's, he's, he's deserving of the spot, but it's, uh, if you, if you showed like NBA fans, this
00:16:28roster, and then you said, tell me who are the five that are going to be playing, like before
00:16:32all the, before this whole cycle happened and you saw this roster and you said, NBA fans, you tell
00:16:36me who are the five that would be out there. I don't know how many would have Devin Booker,
00:16:40Titus, you and I, you and I did an exercise before where we chose the starting five and we
00:16:44both wrote down our final two. And our final two, we couldn't decide was Tatum or Ant. Tatum or Ant.
00:16:50Tatum, DNP, Ant, 13 minutes, got benched. Wow. Wow. Not a good look for the podcast.
00:16:58But we got the other ones, right? We did. We did. And Devin Booker, 24 minutes and out there
00:17:02belonging. Yeah, dude, he's, he's awesome for team USA. I mean, last time we did, we,
00:17:06last show we did, I said that about him. Like, if there's something about him in a son's uniform,
00:17:10or I'm like, get this pussy off of my television. Get this, this fucking guy. This is fun.
00:17:14He's always whining to the refs, dude. He's, but it's, it's finesse. Team USA is different.
00:17:18He plays a finesse, bitch ass, brand of basketball. And he's jump shooting and like,
00:17:24can't handle, like, I don't, I don't need Devin Booker. And then he puts on the USA jersey. I'm
00:17:27like, that's my fucking God, Devin Booker, let's go. Is there anyone that could slap on a team
00:17:32USA jersey and you're still like, I'm still like, because that that's a powerful, that's
00:17:37patriots. It is dude. It is. I don't know. I don't know who the, I think people that,
00:17:43that watch and listen to my show would say I hate Tatum more than anybody else. And I don't
00:17:46really feel like I hate Tatum that much. So I don't, I don't know who in the NBA I hate the most.
00:17:52Yeah, I don't think so. It is a powerful jersey. Who was, who was the side conversation? Who is
00:17:57like the most hated guy in the NBA? The dude that plays for Canada that LeBron has a beef with.
00:18:02Oh, Dylan Brooks. Yeah. Dylan Brooks, but he's also Canadian, but he's Canadian. Who's the most
00:18:06hated American? Um, I would say, I don't know if he's the most hated American. I mean, the,
00:18:11the answer is kind of LeBron, but it's not really. Cause LeBron for all the hate LeBron gets,
00:18:15there's an, there's another, there's a faction of like, it ends up in the middle. Yeah. I would
00:18:19say that Kyrie Irving is polarizing. Kyrie Irving's good one. You might Kyrie's, you might
00:18:24have some people up in the Northeast Draymond Draymond, but his dream, at least how I've always
00:18:30been is Draymond is a hate him for playing against him. Love him if he's on your team.
00:18:35Yeah. So you throw a USA on Draymond. I hear that. Um, I think Draymond's problem is like
00:18:41Draymond's thing was like, when the Warriors were winning championships, his behavior was,
00:18:47was, uh, tolerated. If you want to call it that by the public, not that we have any power over
00:18:52whether we tolerate it, but like he would, he would act a fool we'll say, and the Warriors
00:18:56are still winning championships. And you're like, I don't know, man, the results speak for
00:19:00themselves. Right. And then as the Warriors have kind of fallen off a little bit and Draymond's
00:19:05not really changed and he's still punching dudes. And yeah, it becomes a little bit like,
00:19:10is he just a bad guy? And, and, and, and I, I mean, we all saw it, but also winning is cool.
00:19:16And he was winning. So like we, yeah. If you're punching teammates and holding people accountable
00:19:21and yelling at the coach and yelling at Kevin Durant, but then winning the title at the end
00:19:24of the year. Yeah. That's because you're a winner and you hold your teammates. Michael Jordan,
00:19:27Steve Kerr punched him in the face. You do that on a team that finishes eighth in the West and
00:19:32gets bounced in the first round. Yeah. You're a cancer in the locker room. Yeah. Just win baby.
00:19:36I don't know who the most hated American would be. Yeah. That's a good point. I don't, I don't
00:19:39think there's anybody that would put on, um, on the hate watch Aaron craft and I would love that.
00:19:48John Moran's really popular, but he's had his John Moran's had his problems, but he's hot in the
00:19:52streets. Yeah. And John Moran's so electric on the basketball court that he can win people over.
00:19:58Would we see him in law? I don't know because talent wise. Yes. Now the thing with team USA
00:20:05that they have, have tried to establish is like, you have to, you have to want this. You have to
00:20:10like make yourself available to various world cups or like whatever training cycles we're on.
00:20:17Then the next four years, um, it's not Colangelo and like, I don't know what coach K's influence
00:20:22is, but he's probably, he's probably calling all the shots as well. And Grant Hill's like
00:20:26technically the guy picking the roster, but we all know how this stuff works. All the, all the,
00:20:31the Illuminati of USA basketball will lead you to believe that they are not going to pick their
00:20:36team based on just like when, you know, 2028 rolls around, who are the 15 best USA players? Let's
00:20:42extend invites to them. Uh, so you know, like John Moran, how, how much is he going to be in
00:20:49the mix based off of like, you know, how much he meshes with, cause if Jalen Brown's not on the
00:20:53team, like if Jalen Brown, you feel like is an off court problem, which is, they didn't really
00:20:57say, but they're kind of saying, cause he's not an encore problem. Right. He's not an encore
00:21:01problem. You can't say that about Jim. So it's gotta be some sort of off court thing. I imagine
00:21:05John Moran might be an up, but he's so fucking good dude. Like he, and what you said earlier,
00:21:09if we're losing like the talent, we can't afford to be extending invitations to like
00:21:14second tier guys. Well, Cooper flag, it'll be Cooper's flag, Cooper flags time. And then who's
00:21:20our, our DeBanca or AJ DeBanca. Yeah. He's, he's, he's a young goat as well. Um, what about,
00:21:26here's a couple of hateable ones. James Harden, James Harden's a good one. I don't really like,
00:21:31but I put James Harden in USA. I'm I'm in. Yeah, I would be in. Yeah, I would be. I won't lie. If
00:21:36he starts fucking it up for us, like if he's playing, if he's like, if he shows up to the
00:21:41Olympics fat and he's, and he's doing like James Harden, ISO ball, where he's just dribbling
00:21:45between his legs, like 30 times without moving, kicking his feet out. And then does a, does a
00:21:50gather step two, three step backs. And then it kicks his leg out. Like, and then he air balls
00:21:56it and looks at the rest with his palms up. Like, Oh, you're not gonna call foul. Then I'm probably
00:22:00out. But the idea of James Harden put on USA Jersey, I do think it makes him likable. I think
00:22:04his power in that the USA Jersey, I think there's no more power in it needed. Then I would say
00:22:09Embiid is up there as one of the answers. Yeah, dude, I would listen, me, you, the whole fucking
00:22:15world outside of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and probably Lawrence, Kansas. Cause they probably
00:22:18still love and be too. Um, but he, we've been, we've been clowning and being stopped playoffs,
00:22:24uh, all the way through this Olympic run and beat is not there. There've been moments where
00:22:28you're like, yeah, I'm, I'm licking my lips, rubbing my hands together. Like I want to clown
00:22:32Joel Embiid. And then during this game, he's hitting shots and getting stops and grabbing
00:22:36rebounds and I'm screaming. Yeah. That's our guy. Captain America. Let's go. Captain America.
00:22:42Captain America. And then after the game, he's dancing in front of the fans. And I think he
00:22:46hit him with the, with the suck. The suck it sign him and Anthony, dude, that's a story. If you like
00:22:50storylines, I don't know if you like him as much as Jake Marsh, uh, who used to appear on the show
00:22:55fairly often, uh, used to, used to love to come on and talk storyline state Joel Embiid playing
00:23:01France in Paris for the gold medal, just the way the script wanted it. Huh? It's pretty good.
00:23:07Um, how about the, uh, LeBron? I just keep going back to those three guys, Durant,
00:23:12Durant, Curry, and, uh, and LeBron, um, LeBron and Steph looking like they were going to kiss
00:23:18at the end. Well, that was, that was awesome. I think they should have just kissed. That was,
00:23:23that was a personal favorite of mine because, you know, as a Cavs fan, we went to the finals four
00:23:27straight years as LeBron versus Curry, LeBron versus and then throw Durant in there too. That's
00:23:32right. Damn. This is the biggest collection of talent in NBA finals. They're on the same
00:23:36fucking team. They're on the same team, Tate. Pretty cool. They're on the same team and they
00:23:40have not really played together at all this entire run and no exhibitions and no, um,
00:23:46none of these Olympic games, Durant's coming off the bench, which I found shocking, but also
00:23:50we talked about it a little bit that when you have that much talent, maybe it makes sense.
00:23:54Bring Durant off the bench and be the scoring guy off the bench and whatever it made sense.
00:23:58But, but in the back of my mind, I was frustrated. I was like, I, these three guys,
00:24:03LeBron, James, Steph, Curry, and Kevin Durant have run the NBA for at least a decade, a decade,
00:24:10a decade. I mean, LeBron going back for a decade, they ran it for a decade, but they've been running
00:24:15it now. They are, aren't they kind of, yeah, kind of, I mean, the Celtics as a team are, but like,
00:24:20those are the, those are the stars. Those are the guys, those are the American stars. Those
00:24:23are the guys that like, if LeBron James is on the Lakers and the Lakers start next year one in
00:24:29and 23 to start the season and LeBron James is coming to your town, you don't give a fuck that
00:24:33they suck. You don't give a fuck how good your hometown team is. LeBron James is coming to town
00:24:37and Steph's that way. KD's that way. Those three guys are, are mega mega stars have run this league
00:24:44and we, we, we put together team USA and throw all these three guys on there. And all of us are
00:24:49like, Oh my God, for the first time, we get to see all three of them play together. And we have
00:24:53not seen it really. We haven't seen them on the court at the same time at all until the fourth
00:24:58quarter it happened. And it was like, well, like the greatest. So here's my question. Whose fault
00:25:02is that? Like I get that Durant was hurt and I get that I wasn't playing great, but also
00:25:08is if Steve Kerr's job is to win the Olympics, who starts on Saturday? Yeah. It's the, it's
00:25:14the lineup that he threw. Are we playing this? Are we playing this rec league ball again,
00:25:18where Tatum sat out this game? Does Tatum start the gold medal game? I think Embiid played well,
00:25:23but I think, I think you put Anthony Davis into, for, for Francis Link. I think Embiid was for
00:25:28Jokic. And I think, I think it matters matchup. So I would, I would still put Anthony Davis in,
00:25:33but like, no way. Right. But he's not going to, I don't have a problem with it though. If
00:25:36Embiid's playing better, Embiid is playing better basketball. And I think you have to with the whole
00:25:41storyline and everything. But yeah, if you're asking me straight up, like you want to win this
00:25:45game, what do we have to do? I like, I like an Anthony Davis matchup against. So are we fucking
00:25:50around or are we not fucking around? Yeah, I don't know. But Embiid did play well. So like,
00:25:54at least it's not going to be as egregious when he starts, but yeah, Devin Booker's been,
00:25:58I think Devin Booker's deserving of, of all the run he gets. I think Devin Booker has been great
00:26:03and he does the little things and that's so important for a, for a team that's talented.
00:26:07How does, how does the Embiid France matchup, does that scare you at all? Does that excite you at
00:26:12all? Does that, like, I get it's a great storyline, but you've, everyone's seen situations where
00:26:18someone is more focused on a different storyline than when he's, he's caught up in like the, his
00:26:22own shit instead of just winning the game, doing what he can to help USA. I, I am a little bit,
00:26:28but I would say the, the Jokic Embiid matchup could have done the same thing and he played well
00:26:35today. So I feel like that's sort of like a good test that he didn't get sucked into the Jokic
00:26:41versus Embiid matchup quite as, as much. So yeah, I, I, I trust him, but yeah, I'm fired up,
00:26:48dude. You can't get any better than that. The, the Paris is hosting the Olympics. You got the
00:26:52young goat Wimby. You know, France has more talent than Serbia does, but it's still a similar,
00:26:59it's going to be built as a similar storyline that it's like Victor Wiminyama versus U.S.
00:27:03Right. That's not the case. That's not the case. They have more NBA players, but speaking of which
00:27:09Rudy Gobert is, uh, that's, that's a funny, it's just fun. It continues to be funny. I need,
00:27:13I need somebody, I will put my hands up and say, I don't understand. Cause like,
00:27:18I don't, I don't know of any other player trying to figure out how to say this. Rudy Gobert is a
00:27:26good basketball player. That's a fact that is, if you, if you were to say he's not good, I would
00:27:30say you're wrong. That is, you're objectively wrong, but I've never known of a good basketball
00:27:37player to be taken out of games over and over and over and over and over and over again. And
00:27:44his team is better FIBA. And yes, no matter what Jersey he's wearing when, when, when all the chips
00:27:52are in the middle of the table and Rudy Gobert comes out of the game, that always seems to be
00:27:57the best thing at that moment for his team. That's tough. And I don't know how or why that happens,
00:28:02but I can't unsee it Tate. And that's exactly what happened today against Germany. Germany was,
00:28:08I don't want to say cruising, but they were, it kind of felt like Serbia, USA, where it's like,
00:28:12Germany's the better team. And they got a double digit lead. Gobert's ass goes to the bench.
00:28:18Some wild shit starts happening. You think that'll happen Saturday then? I don't know. Yeah.
00:28:22I want to talk to Francis. Who's Francis coach figure out Francis coach for me. I want to talk
00:28:26to him. I want USA to win, but like if we're holding coaches accountable, I got to figure
00:28:30out, well, you want to talk about taking the gold medal game seriously. What is he going to do with
00:28:34Rudy Gobert? Vincent Kole. That's what I thought. Yeah. I had that on the tip of my tongue.
00:28:39Uh, speaking of coach, can we get on Serbia's coach real quick, please? I thought, yeah,
00:28:43you know me at the end of game situations, I think are really when you see if a coach has
00:28:49like a grasp of, of controlling his players and prepared and all that. I thought, so the United
00:28:55States is up four. Yeah. Serbia scores the bucket. So now it's a two point game. And the difference
00:29:01between shot clock violation and game clock was two seconds. So first of all, Titus, are you found
00:29:07you found that immediately? You foul immediately. We were, we were saying in the gate, you got to
00:29:11foul right now. How right now you have to foul when LeBron gets the ball, you have to foul when
00:29:16and bead gets the ball. You have to, they're passing it around and Serbia is not fouling.
00:29:20Steph Curry gets the ball. And what does Serbia do? Well, they, they let them dribble it out.
00:29:25And then it's like, all right, fuck it. They're going to, they're going to try and, you know,
00:29:29get a stop. And with like two, three seconds left, go down and shoot the basketball.
00:29:33They fouled Steph Curry. You know what they did before they fouled Steph? They, uh,
00:29:38flopped the, one of the worst flops I've ever seen in my life. Well, if you're a fan,
00:29:41she got ejected. If you're a fan of flops, that was actually the best flop. That's true. Yeah.
00:29:45That was a great, it was a great flop, but it was also, it was so egregious. Yeah. Like I think
00:29:52flops like oftentimes have to be like in the heat of the moment or like someone's barreling hard
00:29:57down and then you flop. He ran up, initiated, he initiated the flop. He put his chin onto the
00:30:03guy's elbow. Brad Davidson saw that and started blushing. He was like, that's, I mean, come on,
00:30:07dude. Brad Davidson said, what are we doing? He's like, what are we doing? We can't be,
00:30:14we can't be doing that. Yeah. That was, that was pretty bad. Where were, uh, you know,
00:30:17who I want to call out on Serbia, the Jokic brothers, where were they? Cause I feel like,
00:30:22I feel like Carmelo gets some credit for pushing us over the edge and he had the court side. And
00:30:27if we, if we, if I'm Serbian, I'm asking questions about where the Jokic brothers were to fight
00:30:33Carmelo Anthony. I like that. I like that a lot when, so they were up like, I don't know, 15,
00:30:39all of a sudden USA is coming back. Carmelo's chirping. Yeah. I'm, if I'm the coach, I'm not
00:30:43looking at the bench. I'm looking at the crowd. I go, yeah. Two of you guys shut him up. You're
00:30:48going, you're going, uh, did you watch the, uh, I tried to, we were, we were busy doing the,
00:30:56I guess our jobs is what this is the word I'm looking for. Um, the, the Germany France
00:31:01game a little bit. I thought it was, I thought it was awesome that, uh, that Dirk and Tony Parker
00:31:06and Boris D I were there. Um, and then it, and then it like drove home how cool it must be to
00:31:11be like a Dirk or a Tony Parker where you're from, like a country that is good at basketball,
00:31:16but you don't have a ton of legends. It's kind of, I mean, it's a college thing. That's, I think
00:31:20that's what I love about FIBA. I think what I love about FIBA, I'm just now realizing it. Um, the,
00:31:25the, the international basketball is just college basketball with better players. So that's why I
00:31:30fucking go crazy for it. Cause it's the, it's like, like, we're like USA is Duke or Kentucky
00:31:34where like every guy that's put on a USA Jersey, but we still have our all-time greats. Yeah. Like
00:31:39Carmelo is still an all-time great Kevin Durant, LeBron, still all-time greats when they, when
00:31:44they go back to Duke, that's like the big, still a big deal. But, but if you're like inviting back
00:31:48all of the, the like awesome team USA players, it's a big room now, like in the same way that
00:31:55like if Duke wants to bring in all their NBA players, but to see Dirk and be like, dude,
00:32:00that must be so cool to be like, Dirk is Dirk is like Steph at Davidson. That was my exact example.
00:32:05Steph goes back to Davidson, Dirk going back to a FIBA game. So you're watching a Davidson game
00:32:09and they cut to Steph in the crowd. And you're like, that's so fucking, he runs that school.
00:32:12That's how I felt about Dirk. I was like, dude, that must be so cool to just be the
00:32:15face like Yao is with China. You know, where you're like, I am the face. I am the face of
00:32:19this entire country's basketball scene. Um, but yeah, that was pretty cool. I'm fired up, man.
00:32:25Cause I, I have my whole life. I've wanted international basketball to like matter to
00:32:30people and it's still a long way to go. I think the general public, um, it's hard. And especially
00:32:36like when these games are happening during the Olympics and there's so much other stuff going on
00:32:40and like they're, even though the country is locked in on the Olympics, some people love
00:32:44swimming and some people love track. And I love all that too. So maybe that makes, that's going
00:32:48to make it hard, but, uh, I think we're closer. I think we're closer to a world where like,
00:32:52like if you're a soccer fan and you love Chelsea, say you probably almost certainly love watching
00:32:59the world cup and the euros and like all, all this other that goes on with the international
00:33:03scene. And I'm like, why isn't that the case with basketball? Like, why can't we get to a point
00:33:06where like the FIBA world cup is exciting and people get really excited about that. We're
00:33:11sending our best guys to that. And, uh, et cetera, et cetera. I've always, I've always wanted that to
00:33:16happen. I won games, not going to do it, but this game to me did feel very different in 2004 in
00:33:22Athens when Larry Brown was coaching the team and LeBron was like 19 or whatever. And he's
00:33:28and him and D Wade and Mello, I think was on the, I think all those guys were on the team.
00:33:32Um, we weren't, it wasn't necessarily all the best guys. We couldn't really shoot the basketball.
00:33:37That was the whole reason we got in 08, we got the redeem team and all the guys signed up to play,
00:33:42but no four, um, we lost, but there was a lot. I remember it well, like when we lost,
00:33:48like the attitude was yeah. Okay. So we did send NBA guys. It is, it is a little bit of a panic,
00:33:53but we didn't send the best and we didn't, and you have, and you have to, and we also like,
00:33:58we didn't send shooters and like, we didn't send, and it's always like, yeah, we had,
00:34:02we still have this in, in the whole stuff. We still have the ACE up our sleeve. If we want,
00:34:06if we really wanted to, we could. And I think what made this so different, even though we won,
00:34:12um, and, and hopefully people don't just like come away from this Olympics. Like,
00:34:16Hey, we went undefeated. We're still USA. We're awesome. What made this different
00:34:19was we sent not the 15 best guys, but we sent our, this was the best. This is the best team
00:34:25we could send. This is the best guys. We group a hall of Famer, some of the best to ever play
00:34:30all stars up and down a max contracts. You name it this up and down the road that there was talks
00:34:35of this team was more talented than the dream team. Um, and Serbia not only pushed us to the
00:34:40brink, but they did. So like, and as I keep saying, it felt like legitimate, it felt like
00:34:46if we played again tomorrow, they're probably not going to shoot like that. Sure. But
00:34:50if Serbia would have won, I don't think I walk away from it saying like, how the fuck did that
00:34:55happen? I think I say like, yeah, they have Jokic and they have shooters and they have Bogdanovic.
00:34:58Like they have dudes like we, this is what the world is now. Yeah. The people that didn't watch
00:35:03the game. Cause they had something going on at three o'clock on a, you know, Thursday would
00:35:07have been like, that's the greatest choke of all time. But if you actually watched the game,
00:35:11they were a deserving opponent. Yeah. Oh yeah, for sure. Here's my question for you. Have you,
00:35:16you've been in a situation in your playing days where you've been heavy favorites and survived,
00:35:21right? Yes. I'm thinking where you want me. I was on the bench, but yes, that Xavier game, right?
00:35:26Xavier. Yeah. And no seven. So what's it like after that? My question being, did that,
00:35:32are we tired after a game like this? Are we awoken after a game like this? Is it good news for France
00:35:38that a team woke us up? Is it bad news for France that we're woken up? Yeah. I don't know. Cause
00:35:42like when, if you're using Xavier no seven, the Ohio state Xavier game, as an example we move on
00:35:48to the sweet 16 and then we're down 20 at halftime against Tennessee and we have to do it again. And
00:35:52we come back and beat Tennessee. What happened in the final four? How close is that? Uh, what the,
00:35:57the Georgetown game? I don't remember the final. Um, I, that was like a dog fight. Like I remember,
00:36:02uh, like I think Hibbert and Greg got in foul trouble and then it was just like a gross game.
00:36:06Georgetown was running their like Princeton offense. Um, I just, I don't remember much
00:36:11from that game cause it was, it was just like a gross basketball game that we were up at like
00:36:15seven the entire time. I think. I personally think France has to be disappointed that
00:36:22someone just took us to the brink. Yeah. Cause you're not going to catch this team. I agree.
00:36:26I agree. Yeah. We're, we're not gonna, it's a gold medal game anyways, but the best way to beat
00:36:31the United States is what happened today. Sure. Serbia jumps out us early. Yeah. You're not going
00:36:36to come catch us. But, but you know, like I've, I've been trying to say a million times, like,
00:36:41I don't think it's a case of like, if the U S loses, it's cause they didn't try hard. And if
00:36:45the U S wins, it is cause they tried hard and took us through. I don't think that I think those days
00:36:48are over. I think there are scenarios where the USA can send their best team. They can play as
00:36:53hard as they fucking want. They can bust their ass and say they can, they can all like with four
00:36:58minutes left, slap the floor and be like, now we're locked in and still not, it's still not,
00:37:02it's still not enough. Cause like there are teams that are, that are good out there.
00:37:06And it's like, you have to like play smart. You have to execute with shooting. You have to like
00:37:11take good shots. It's not enough to just be like, we're going to try hard. We have to actually play
00:37:15good basketball. Um, and women Yama, I just got to say, I hope, I hope this is, this is a moment
00:37:23in time. I don't want France to win at all, but I do want, I do want this country to take Victor
00:37:29women Yama seriously. He is fucking disgusting. He is, he is alien. Isn't even the right word to
00:37:36watch what he does on a basketball court. It is, it is insane that France has this. And we don't,
00:37:41I can't believe he is like, I I've never seen anything like it. There was the, the, I mean the,
00:37:48you can pick a million plays of this guy's career and he's however old he is 1920. Um,
00:37:53Schroeder had a, had a shot towards the end of the game. I think they were down three. I think
00:37:57Germany was down three. The ball gets like swung around Schroeder's on the wing. And, uh, I, I,
00:38:02as he's going up to shoot, I was like, he's got to hit this for, for this to be a game.
00:38:06And Victor women Yama blocks the shot from like what seemingly he's in the paint blocks the shots
00:38:12kind of seal the game. I mean, it kind of turned into a foul, whatever, but, uh, uh, yeah, I don't
00:38:18know. He he's, he boggles my mind and I am, I am absolutely terrified. Tate that like Victor
00:38:23women. Yama has the moment that we thought Yoka was about to have. We were like, what does this
00:38:27do for his legacy? What is it going to do for Victor women? Yama's legacy. If 19, how old is he?
00:38:3119. Is he 19? I thought I had him at 20, but every young guy's 19, right? That's what we, that's,
00:38:37that's become the meme and Boppe and 20 years old. He's 20. It's 20 year old Victor women. Yama
00:38:43leads France to a gold medal over LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Steph Curry, and a bunch of other
00:38:48future hall of Famers. I mean his league. Fuck dude, we got a problem. We got a serious problem.
00:38:55So we, yeah, we have a problem, especially when these most recent first round picks are Frenchmen
00:39:00as well. Yeah, I know. 2028. I know. Um, you know who the big winner for me though was today was,
00:39:06uh, Bryce James, his father, uh, his father balling out on that stage. Uh, I think,
00:39:13I think he got bumped up to 99 on some recruiting rankings. I think, I think I really think today,
00:39:17are we talking? I think they were like, I think they were like, if Bryce James has the DNA of
00:39:21that guy, we a hundred feels too low. We got to bump them up to 99. Here's my thing. And, and
00:39:28we've, we talked about Brownie obviously a lot over the whole draft process. What are we doing
00:39:34to Bryce James? It's not, what is Bryce James doing? Why are we doing this to a seven? I don't
00:39:39know. I don't know. It's disgusting. Like the people in the know, the people that do this for
00:39:44a living say that this is more egregious. Putting him as a top 100 recruit, a four-star recruit
00:39:50is more egregious than anything that has ever happened in Brownie's career. Shout out Kevin
00:39:54Sweeney for into the program. Yeah. I saw him. He was, he was banging that drum. He's like,
00:39:59what the fuck? I mean, we talked about peach jam, put peach jam a couple of weeks ago.
00:40:03Brownie, or I'm sorry, Bryce came out of peach jam, five points, two rebounds, 30% from the
00:40:09field, 18% from three, 50% from the line. And he bumped up to a hundred. Yeah, I can. Brownie's
00:40:15not, yeah, I don't, I don't want to get sucked in. I did it to myself. I was the one that brought it
00:40:20up. I don't know why I'm mad. Bryce is, Bryce is bad. Bryce is that, that's a, that's going to be
00:40:26a not fun, but we got to, that's going to be a not funny. We're not doing this again. Are we?
00:40:29That's what I mean? Like Brownie, Brownie was a little bit deserved. Brownie was deserving of
00:40:34scholarship offers. Brownie is deserving of getting playing time at, at high major division
00:40:39one college basketball programs. He's, he's a good basketball player. Brownie James is a good
00:40:43basketball player. I don't know if he was, he was deserving of getting drafted. I don't think he's
00:40:47deserving of getting a first, whatever. But you could squint hard enough and see a, a promising
00:40:54prospect and Brownie James, if you really, really try. Bryce James, I don't. No, not the move. I
00:41:01don't, I don't know what I'm flipping. I don't know how we're going to live on. This is going to
00:41:04work live on air. I'm flipping. I want LeBron to do everything within his power to get Bryce
00:41:10James drafted in the NBA and he got his three boys. I think the way to do it, the way to get Bryce
00:41:17into the league is have him pull like a Michael Porter where he goes to school for a year, but
00:41:21then like gets hurt. He gets hurt like immediately. And then he just kind of sits out the entire
00:41:25season. But then by the time the draft rolls around, he's feeling better. Yeah. Michael Porter
00:41:30came back for the NCAA tournament though, so that's not entirely fair to him. But yeah, Michael
00:41:35Porter, Kyrie Irving did the same thing. He played 11 games, I think for Duke. If you could do it
00:41:39again, would that be your move? What? Just like sit out? Be like eight games into your freshman. Try
00:41:44to have a four-year walk on career where I was hurt for four years. And then I didn't even hype
00:41:49up your draft prospect. I was a walk on that didn't practice or play. Could go second round.
00:41:55What use could I possibly be to the team if I've never once? By my senior year, if I'm being
00:42:05completely honest, I didn't practice either. You weren't practicing? I mean, I was lacing
00:42:09them up, but I'm standing off to the side, just cracking wise with the managers. Man.
00:42:13I'm cracking wise, dude. I was cracking wise. That's what I was doing. Yeah. I got fat because
00:42:20I would, anytime we go to a team meal, I would justify it as like, I would eat whatever I wanted
00:42:25because I would justify like, I'm an athlete, dude. I got a, I got a car. Michael Phelps,
00:42:29you know how many calories Michael Phelps eats? He's like 12,000 calories, dude. I'm fucking
00:42:32Michael Phelps. I'm like the Michael Phelps of this bitch. And I would eat so much and I would
00:42:37get like seconds for dessert and it's on like the, it's on the school's credit card, you know,
00:42:41like it's a team. I'm not paying for it. So like we're going to these fancy ass steak houses on
00:42:45the road and stuff. I would eat so much. Uh, and I would justify that. I'll burn it off in practice
00:42:51and then practice would roll around. I'm just staying around. Were you, were you the first
00:42:56person? Like, you know how, when you have like a superstar, but they don't have to go hard in
00:42:59practice, but then they get all the plane load management. You know, you were, you were literally
00:43:04the first bench warmer that the starters were probably like, why is Titus getting minutes at
00:43:08the end of this? Oh yeah. He don't work. He don't work. Kevin Turner said literally that I got,
00:43:13I was hurt. I was like constantly hurt. Cause like when I would practice,
00:43:17they'd throw me into guard, like Dallas, Lauderdale was six, nine, like two 60.
00:43:22Just I'm breaking like every bone in my body trying to guard these dudes. Um,
00:43:26banging down low with like big 10 centers and power forwards. I was like, what the hell is going
00:43:30on? Uh, so I, I had, I had heard like, uh, I'd like broken my foot or something. And I was like,
00:43:35just coming back from it. And it just so worked out that I was coming back,
00:43:39getting clear to practice as we were playing at Indiana. And, uh, Evan, I, I, I didn't, I mean,
00:43:45no secret in the locker room that like, you know, my dad was a Hoosier and I grew up a Hoosier fan
00:43:48and all that sort of thing. And I loved assembly hall. And anytime we went back there, it was like
00:43:51really special to me that like, I got a, I'm not playing, but like, I'm like, Holy shit, this is
00:43:57crazy. This is like childhood me. It was, it was just like, it was cool to me that I got to do it.
00:44:02So anyway, uh, I'm coming back from injury and, uh, we're playing at assembly hall and my family's
00:44:07coming and I don't expect to play or anything, but I, I, uh, decided, um, this would, I just
00:44:13gotten clear to like start jogging and shit. So I decided like, I wasn't clear to play. If they
00:44:19needed me to play, I could not play. Cause I couldn't put enough weight on my foot.
00:44:22Did you tell coach that?
00:44:23Yeah, he knew that. No, but like, if there was like a, if there was like a six overtime,
00:44:27everybody fouls out, like I literally could not play under any circumstance and everybody knew
00:44:31that. But, uh, I, I asked, uh, I asked the equipment guy, I was like, can I, can I at
00:44:35least like suit up just cause we're, it's my last time at assembly hall. Evan Turner got so
00:44:39fucking mad. He was so mad. He was like, your, your ass hasn't practiced and God knows how long
00:44:45now you're going back home and you're trying to suit up and sit on the bench. Fuck that shit.
00:44:49You gotta wear a, you gotta wear your jumpsuit, man. You can't.
00:44:52We're talking number two, picking the draft, big 10 player of the year, national player,
00:44:56national player of the year is yelling at the walk on saying you can't get up.
00:45:00That's exactly what I said. I was like, Evan, read the scouting report,
00:45:03bitch. Like, go worry about the game. Don't worry about what I'm wearing on the bench, dude.
00:45:07Go worry about beating Indiana. Why are you worried about what I'm doing? And he's like,
00:45:10cause your ass ain't practiced in two months. And all of a sudden you think that's how you hold
00:45:14people. That's culture. Fair point. Um, speaking of Buckeyes, TBT champions, dude, shout out.
00:45:21Sully solely is, is that dude million dollar shot. I didn't see that coming. I get when we
00:45:26won it a few years ago, I saw that coming. Like we had solely was on that team too with Buford and,
00:45:31and, uh, uh, Linzel Smith was on that team. Um, trying to think of who else Deshaun Thomas was on
00:45:36that team. I don't think we had anybody else of note. Um, who was the Carmen's crew? I have it.
00:45:41This is like a white kid that I can't remember his name. Like 34, 33 or Jeff Gibbs had to be on the
00:45:46team. But yeah, this, uh, there has always been since it, since we started entering a team like
00:45:52excitement around Ohio state's team, like this, we've got craft coming back. So he's going to
00:45:57play craft was on the team that wanted to take all these, all these like big names this year was
00:46:03the first time where I'm like, I'm not even really excited for it. No, that's what I came out of
00:46:06nowhere for me. I was the same way. I was like, I don't know. Willie Buford used to play on the team
00:46:11and stuff like that. We're getting old, Tate. We're getting old now. And I'm trying to explain
00:46:15that to people. They don't want to hear it, but so the West, the Wesson bros are our savior.
00:46:19Oh yeah. The Wesson bros were on the team. Yeah. I didn't see that coming though. They,
00:46:24I didn't see us winning it and we did Carmen's crew. I think we were, I think we're a TVG
00:46:28champions. Yeah. Away from us. Kentucky Louisville game was a ton of fun. I enjoyed watching that.
00:46:34They fought afterwards. I got a couple of things I want to do before we get out of here.
00:46:37Um, number one, Kyle guy's going back to Virginia. This is big college basketball news. I'm excited
00:46:42about this. Kyle guy retired at age 26 family, man. He's a family man. Um, and he's going to
00:46:49be on Tony Bennett staff. And, uh, I love Kyle guy. He's the reason I got into Virginia basketball.
00:46:54Actually, that's not true. I liked, I liked to been a ball before Kyle guy got there. And then
00:46:58Kyle guy got there and I like shot it to the stratosphere. Cause he's a Hoosier Kyle guys from
00:47:02Indianapolis. Um, and, uh, first time I ever met him, he told me that he grew up. He, he, he,
00:47:08first of all, he knew who I was, which I got so excited. Already gets you. Yeah. That's, that's
00:47:12easy. That's an easy W for him. Um, but then he goes, yeah, I know who you are. He's like, I, uh,
00:47:16I grew, when I grew up in Indiana, I was, well, I remember my dad would take us to watch your
00:47:20guys' AAU games. And he's like, and I remembered everybody from that AAU team. And I was like,
00:47:24now I fucking love this. Um, but anyway, uh, most outstanding player in the final four. And,
00:47:30uh, yeah, news just broke, I think today or yesterday that he's, he's going to go back and
00:47:34be on Tony Bennett staff. And that's awesome. Is he going to turn it around? I mean, not turn
00:47:38Virginia basketball around. I don't know. Maybe that's what they need. I don't know. I, I will
00:47:43always root for Tony Bennett. Cause I do think one thing you'll learn about me, Tate, and, and,
00:47:48um, maybe you'll understand this a little bit at this, this current climate that we're in,
00:47:52in, in the college football, you know, Michigan situation. I'm a, I'm a guy who's still, uh,
00:48:00I'm a guy who does appreciate guys who do it the right way. I'm still a guy jokes aside. I do. I,
00:48:05my biggest flaw with, with the current landscape of college sports is I still believe in like a
00:48:10Mayberry pie in the sky fantasy of like, I don't, I don't necessarily care for amateurism to return,
00:48:16but I still believe in like coaches who are like Dean Smith and are writing letters to their
00:48:22players 60 years later, like congratulating them on the birth of their grandchildren. And like that,
00:48:27I believe in coaches like that. Like, I still believe that there's hope that that can exist
00:48:31and that like not every coach is just a scumbag looking to enhance his own brand, you know,
00:48:36and Tony Bennett to me is definitively one of those guys. So I will always root for him.
00:48:41And that's a long-winded way of defending Tony Bennett. Cause it's like Virginia basketball
00:48:44is kind of falling off. I was going to say Virginia basketball is kind of falling off.
00:48:48You got me going there with, I agree in an ideal world. It's like, Hey, can you like
00:48:52be hard on your players? But they, they learn life lessons and then you hold them accountable.
00:48:56And then they come back the next year and you return all this. And it's like, well,
00:48:59yeah, we all want that. But also Virginia basketball being bad, but you can't, I think
00:49:03the problem he's going to run into, and he's already running into it. One, Virginia is a
00:49:06hard school to get into. I think they're tough on, on transfer admissions, which Michigan is
00:49:11having that problem too. I think Michigan basketball has had all sorts of problems
00:49:14getting transfers. Good. Damn shame for Virginia. I like Dusty May. That's going to be a problem,
00:49:22by the way. I do like Dusty May. I'm just being honest, dude. I told you, I've told you,
00:49:26I've told everybody else I'm a Buckeye. I'm a hundred percent a Buckeye, but I'm also a guy
00:49:30who, unfortunately I have to call it. Like I see it. I have to, I have to that.
00:49:34What Jawan Howard punched me a little bit. Jawan Howard struck a man in the face. So it made it
00:49:39easy to hate him. Easy to hate him. When you say Dusty May, I'm not rooting for Dusty May too. I'm
00:49:45not rooting for Michigan basketball. What I am simply saying is I might, there might be a world
00:49:50where I have Dusty May on my show. Okay. I have no problem with that. And if he comes on my show,
00:49:54I'm not going to like disrespect him and be like, dude, you coached the wrong team.
00:49:58Now that's where I have a problem. Have him on all you want to tell him to fuck off.
00:50:02I'm not going to be like, no, I'm not going to tell him to fuck off. But yeah,
00:50:05I want him to lose every game. But I also, I think he's a, I think he's a good dude.
00:50:09The problem with the, like the college basketball landscape in that way though, is like,
00:50:12yeah, Dusty May went to Michigan. So now it's like, all right, I'm not a Dusty May guy.
00:50:16I also wanted Dusty May to be Ohio State's coach. So I can't be that anti-Dusty May.
00:50:20Yeah. You can't be, that's exactly right. So he has to earn any will. There will be a time where
00:50:26we'll be playing Michigan and Dusty May will like clap in one of our play spaces or something.
00:50:30All right. Nevermind. I kind of hate this guy right now. I can't, I can't lie to you and say
00:50:34I hate him. I don't hate him. Yeah. But anyway, Virginia they have, I think they have a transfer
00:50:41problem and I think they have a transfer coming in problem. And I think they have a transfers
00:50:46going out problem and which is what everybody has. But like, how can you, if you're, if you're
00:50:50a program that's built on that culture and that like, you know, like Bennett ball, frankly,
00:50:56is unlike anything else. Yeah. Do they have a style of play problem? They have the style of
00:51:00play where it takes, it takes a few, like the way they were successful is like guys were sticking
00:51:03around the program and learning each year. And like by the time you're a sophomore, you know,
00:51:07maybe if you're really good, just your sophomore year, if not, it's your junior or senior year,
00:51:11you blow up and have a big year and you just keep that cycle going. And you, can you have that cycle
00:51:17in modern college basketball with dudes want to transfer? I would say the biggest change is there's
00:51:21no more consistency in roster turnover. Yeah. And no one will get hurt by that more than a program
00:51:26that has a system. Right. So hopefully Kyle guy can, can solve all of those problems. Kyle guy,
00:51:32it's on you Kyle, the special assistant, uh, slash like graduate. I don't know. Like they've
00:51:37kind of made up a title for him. I love that though. I think, what do I think? I gotta,
00:51:42I gotta figure out how I want to say this. If you're a legend at a school, you should be able
00:51:46to be on staff in an official capacity. You should be able to have as many legends as you want on
00:51:53staff. I don't think you need to, I don't think these staffs need to make up fake, fake rule.
00:51:58Like I just think, I think Kyle guy's status, or I think Kyle guy's title averaging, it should just
00:52:02be Kyle guys. Kyle guy. Yeah. This is Kyle guys. Kyle guy's official title athlete development
00:52:10mentor slash specialist special assistant. Yeah. And they have to do that because,
00:52:16you know, you have to for appearances and all that. I think Kyle guy's official title should
00:52:20be Kyle guy. This is our Kyle guy. Kyle guy, dude. I was most outstanding player. I brought
00:52:26a title to this bitch. Like I'm Kyle guy that I don't need, I don't need to explain why I'm on
00:52:31this step, why I'm sitting on this bench. I'm Kyle. You open up that Virginia program. You
00:52:34want it to say Tony Bennett, head coach, Kyle guy, Kyle guy. Yeah. It's Kyle guy. And I think,
00:52:39I think every, every school should be able to do, I think you should get like three spots on every,
00:52:44on every, where you're just like, like what Carmelo was for us today. Yeah. Put him on the
00:52:48actual bench though. Let him do that. Was Carmelo Anthony, not an athlete mentor and special
00:52:52assistant today at the team USA game? That's kind of what Sean May is for North Carolina. Every
00:52:56North Carolina game you, you, you, you look and Sean May, he's like an assistant coach. I think
00:53:00technically he's not, he's Sean May. You look on the bench and it's just like, yeah, I'm Sean May.
00:53:06I won most outstanding player in 2005. Remember me? I'm Sean fucking May. I'm going to sit right
00:53:10here. I think we need guys like that. Last thing, and this is, I don't know how much I trust my
00:53:18sources, but this is a little college basketball note. I'm in the, I'm in the Bosco scoops game.
00:53:23I'm getting in the Bosco scoops game a little bit. I got a text today that it blew my mind.
00:53:29Oh wow. Colman Hawkins is going to get a lot of minutes at the three for Kansas state this year.
00:53:35Um, now how much do we trust this guy? Yeah, I don't, this is a guy that I, uh, haven't trusted
00:53:43in the past. This is the reason I trust him is cause he's not a scoops guy. So for him to give
00:53:48me a scoop that actually makes me trust him more. Um, I'm not sure how plugged in he is to Kansas
00:53:54state. He explained how he knows this. Like it was, it wasn't just like a vibes thing. It was
00:54:00like, I've talked to these people who are telling me that Coleman Hawkins is going to get some run
00:54:04at the three. Um, that's crazy. Coleman Hawkins is playing for Kansas state. How can we use this
00:54:09information? Yeah. Uh, is that, is that how they got him? Like, is that what he wants to do? So
00:54:15that's how they got him? Is that what the source said? All I can think is Coleman Hawkins went to
00:54:20Kansas state because Kansas state's becoming a player now. Kansas state is, is, do they have
00:54:24just a fuck ton of money? What's they do? Jerome, they have Jerome Tang who I, I, I believe in.
00:54:30And so far as like, I think he's a good coach. And I think like Jerome Tang leaves Baylor,
00:54:33Baylor falls off a little bit. I don't defensively, especially, I don't think that's a coincidence.
00:54:37I think Jerome Tang is a hell of a basketball coach, but he's got, he does have that charisma.
00:54:41He's got a little bit of the charisma where like, I think he's a, he's a dangerous guy on the
00:54:45recruiting trail against all these other schools. Cause they apparently have money. Kansas state's
00:54:48got money, but, and they got a charismatic guy who can coach ball, which matters. Um,
00:54:54and it wouldn't surprise me if Coleman Hawkins part of the deal is like, I'm trying to get to
00:54:57the league. Uh, and I need to show I can do that. I need to show that I can do this, but I felt like,
00:55:02I felt like Underwood let him do whatever the fuck he wanted. Yeah. If you're watching Illinois,
00:55:06it's like Coleman. And if he wants to stick around in the, in the, the, the catches,
00:55:11I get to do this. Who's to say no. You know, whose heart you could break. You know,
00:55:16who's a big Jerome Tang guy. Big K state guy. Bosco. Bosco. Yeah. And I know that our group
00:55:22chat right now, that's why I sent him on my Bosco shit. Like, how does he not? Well,
00:55:25that's what I'm saying. Our group chat right now is just strictly little league world series,
00:55:30regional results. Um, which you didn't talk, you didn't chime in on last night.
00:55:34No, I was, I was, I, I know, I know, I know. Um, you gotta, you gotta pick up. I've gotten
00:55:40bad with the Bosco group text. I'm sorry. But the way to fire it back up is, Hey Bosco,
00:55:44I'm sure you already knew this, but right now Bosco is going to say, I'm going to do that.
00:55:50I had that. I didn't have clearance to show you that Titus we're doing this live to tape. Um,
00:55:56but I, boy, I wish this was a live stream right now. I wish this was live. Uh, where's,
00:56:00let me see this. Okay. Let me screenshot the text. I'm going to send to the group right now.
00:56:09Bosco. All right. T okay. Uh, yes. Last talked about was the Staten Island regional.
00:56:17So I got TM as the initials. Yeah, that's right. Um, that's you Tate. And then
00:56:25there's, there's, okay. Uh, Bosco Rico. I'm sure you already knew this.
00:56:32Sure. You already knew this Rico. I'm sure you already knew this, but already knew this Rico,
00:56:39but this, uh, got this text today. Got this text today. Hmm.
00:56:47Uh, made my, Hmm. How do I say this? I'm sure you already knew this Rico,
00:56:52but got this text today that, uh, made me raise my eyebrows.
00:56:58There we go. And now we wait. How does Bosco play this shirt? You already knew this Rico,
00:57:02but got this text today that made me raise my eyebrows.
00:57:04He's got, he he's definitely going to be like, yeah, we knew that already. Yeah. We're trying
00:57:08to keep that close to the vest. He's going to, he's going to hit you with like,
00:57:11oh, so words getting out. Yeah. Yeah. That's a controlled leak. That's a controlled leak.
00:57:16We did that on purpose. We did that. We did that on purpose. You were supposed to get that news
00:57:19today. In fact, you talking about it on your show is good for us. That's a good, I don't know where
00:57:24K state is on his rankings though. I don't, I, it Bama's one Bama's definitely one.
00:57:29He was, he was chirping you hard for not having Bama as a clear favorite at all.
00:57:33He's he's, he's wrong. It's gotta be Kansas. And he doesn't understand that. And when the,
00:57:37the more time boss, he responded, he responded, he said, he said, he's a hell of a coach.
00:57:46He's now triple. So to, to respond, what Bosco said, Bosco said, Tang is a hell of a coach.
00:57:51And then if you miss what I just said, he's a hell of a coach.
00:57:54To respond, what Bosco said, Bosco said, Tang is a hell of a coach. And then if you miss what I
00:57:58just said, he re sent it in all caps, hell of a coach. And now he's, I can't, I even got to stop.
00:58:05We just, just dropped the whole fucking thing. He's now sent a fourth text that will not be read.
00:58:11Um, no, I, I, I told him, uh, nevermind. I gotta go text Bosco the rest of the night.
00:58:22Uh, let's just end the show. Uh, USA playing for gold on Saturday. I am, uh, some show
00:58:27housekeeping. Um, I've loved having Tate on, uh, you're going to, you're going to stay on,
00:58:32um, pretty regularly moving forward. Um, but I also want to keep mixing in guests,
00:58:36so I gotta get, I gotta get Mike Rutherford on this show soon. I gotta get, I gotta Louisville
00:58:41basketball is, is I think they're fucking back. I'm ready to say it. I saw Louisville basketball
00:58:46beat Calgary, my dinos, Calgary, the university of Calgary is my favorite Canadian basketball team
00:58:51and Louisville wiped the floor with them. Pat Kelsey is putting points on the board. It has
00:58:55my attention. I need to talk to Mike Rutherford, my history with Mike Rutherford. You might not
00:58:59know this day. Every time I have Mike Rutherford on my show, it's because Louisville has shown
00:59:03their ass in some way. Um, and this is different and this is different and he's called me out on
00:59:08it. And I'm a bad friend because it's always like, it's always like, Oh my God, Louisville
00:59:12blew a 27 point lead. I gotta get my rough on this. I gotta get, I gotta get Mike on the show.
00:59:17Oh my God. Another violation for Louisville. I gotta get Mike on the show. We got to talk
00:59:21about this. And in my defense, Louisville has been a joke and they've just been a perpetual
00:59:26like, like patino shit. Obviously people forget that Chris Mack was getting extorted by Dino
00:59:31Gaudio. Like that was happening. His assistant coach is like extorting him. And I'm like,
00:59:35this is crazy. Kenny Payne was a, there was, there's so much to laugh at with Louisville
00:59:40basketball. And I'm here to tell you, I think the tide has turned. Is he going to be drink? Kelsey's
00:59:44got him back. Is he going to be drinking the Kool-Aid as much as you are? Probably if they're
00:59:49good. He'll yeah, he's, he's, he's a straight shooter. That's why I love having them on. So
00:59:52I'm going to try to get Mike on next week, but we're going to still like pepper in. Um, I'm
00:59:57gonna still pepper in guests. So I'm, we're going to, we're going to keep that going with the,
01:00:01with the show, but I love having Tate on. Cause you beat the hell out of doing the show by myself,
01:00:04man. I can't imagine being that excited about team USA and then coming in. I don't know how you did
01:00:09it. Well, I'm the hardest working man in show business. That's what they call me. And I think,
01:00:14I think I've proven that throughout my career. Yeah. Remember after this, you have to go back
01:00:18in and play video games for another hour and a half. I think, I think at some point today,
01:00:21when I was playing children's games and eating on crustables and playing video games, it dawned
01:00:25on me, am I the hardest working man in show business? I think I might be. I think it might
01:00:28be. Um, thank you to everybody watching, listening. Uh, we'll be back on next week.
01:00:32We're going to talk about hopefully a gold medal and hopefully we will get Mike Rutherford on the
01:00:36show. Maybe. I don't know. I saw he's selling his house. He's a busy guy. I got to reach out to him.
01:00:40I haven't even texted him, but, uh, that's the plan I'm going to try to get rough on. And if
01:00:44nothing else, um, an attempt will be made, but yeah, we'll, we'll talk about the gold medal game
01:00:49one way or another, hopefully it's a win for USA. What a game today. Uh, so, so fun. If you're,
01:00:54if you're someone that like pops into this show, I don't know why you would, you're not watching
01:00:57basketball, but you're just like popping in to listen to this show. You got to watch on Saturday.
01:01:01You got to watch it. It's good. I got USA large USA. What do you think the spread is a spreads
01:01:07got to be out right now. I'll let me guess. Let me do a podcast segment. I'm going to vent right
01:01:11here called, uh, predict what the odds makers are saying. Um, Hmm. I'm going to say this is a road
01:01:19game. This is right at France. I'm going to say USA minus nine and a half USA minus nine and a
01:01:26half. There's too many freaking USA minus nine, but that feels, that feels like too much. It might
01:01:32be like seven. I got bad news for you. Like I said, guess one more time. It's like USA 15,
01:01:4015 and a half. Damn dude. That is, that's crazy. That is disrespectful. That's disrespectful to
01:01:46the young goat, Victor. Well, we had, when we were watching there, people were talking about
01:01:50how cool it is going to, how cool it could be for France to win on their home. We got
01:01:54fucking turncoats at this company. We do. Hey, how about let's, you know, think between the ears a
01:01:59little bit. Do you, this is like winning a game seven on the road and champagning all over in
01:02:05their faces. The United States has the chance to go into France, win the gold medal in front of
01:02:11France, and then Joel Embiid can be sucking it to the whole, to the whole crowd. So maybe this
01:02:16won't be so cool for France, Jake Malasek, Jake Malasek, Stephen Chey. Dude, we got turncoats.
01:02:22All right. We'll be back next week. Thanks for watching, listening. See you guys.