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00:00That's so much to cover with all of the games and opening day.
00:03I don't want to waste any time telling you what's going to happen.
00:05Let me just get right to it.
00:06Start off with an overtime game.
00:08Yes, those still exist in the NCAA tournament, Texas Tech ends up moving
00:13on in a crazy wild finish against the Arkansas Razorbacks 85 to 83.
00:19Darian Williams hit what ended up being the game-winning shot in
00:22overtime with seven seconds left.
00:24By the way, you thought I was being facetious.
00:28It was the first overtime game of the NCAA tournament.
00:31The Razorbacks were up 13 points with under five minutes to play
00:36before Texas Tech closed it out on a 16 to 3 run.
00:41Grant McCaslin of Texas Tech after the game giving a lot of credit
00:45to Coach Cal and the Razorbacks, but inevitably it's his team moving
00:49on to the Elite Eight.
00:51They're such a dynamic team.
00:53Coach Cal is doing an unbelievable job with their belief and they
00:56got basically their full roster back even though it was limited.
01:00And so we knew going into the game that man, it was just going to
01:04be difficult to defend them and the way they started the game and
01:09the shots they were making.
01:10We made some decisions to go under Paul's screens and just felt
01:13like we were too passive, but that's to their credit and they
01:18came out and punched us good and I just kept telling these guys
01:21in timeouts that we're going to win the game.
01:23And D5, I don't know what he started the game out.
01:250 for quite a few from 3 and Christian was 0 for and I'm just
01:29telling them we're going to make them when it matters and I believed
01:31it with all my heart and that's Red Raider basketball.
01:34It doesn't matter what the score is, what's stacked against us.
01:38I think we got down 16 at one point in the second half and telling
01:42JT we got to start getting stops and rebound and I thought one
01:46possession was just huge was Federico in there just getting I
01:49don't know how many offensive rebounds they got on that one
01:51possession and I thought that showed the grit of Red Raider
01:54basketball and Chris ended up making a three at the end of it
01:57and that started the I thought the real belief that we were going
02:00to win the game.
02:02In Texas Tech very dangerous going into the final weekend before
02:06the final four.
02:06They look like one of the teams to beat the other one.
02:08Of course is Duke.
02:09Although by a bucket, they did not cover the spread yesterday
02:12for Duke backers.
02:14They move on against Arizona.
02:16Although Caleb Love did everything he could to keep the team in
02:18the game.
02:19He had 35 points on the side of Arizona, but Cooper flag had 30
02:22points seven assists six rebounds and three blocks.
02:25Yes.
02:26He is the best player in college basketball folks.
02:29I don't know why there's any debate Duke is now one win away
02:32from getting to their 18th final for John Shire after the game
02:36talked about his team's effort a ton of respect for Tommy Lloyd
02:41his team Arizona their their program.
02:45I thought they were incredible tonight.
02:47I thought our guys made some big time winning plays a lot of game
02:51pressure.
02:52They just won't go away.
02:53Even the 19 point lead.
02:55No lead really felt safe with them.
02:57You know, I thought our guys hit some clutch free throws made
03:01just enough plays.
03:03Obviously was hard to get stops for anybody in this game.
03:05But sometimes that's how it goes, but I couldn't be more proud
03:09hats off to Arizona with the job they did and just proud to be
03:14moving on.
03:15It's a quick turnaround obviously.
03:16So for us our focus after this tonight go straight to the
03:20preparation, but we're going to enjoy this one never going to
03:23take for granted going to an elite eight.
03:25That's a special thing.
03:26So the team playing the best on offense and the best offensive
03:32player in the tournament could be Mark Sears the point guard
03:36from the University of Alabama.
03:37I've been talking about him all week on the show boy.
03:39Did he show up 34 points yesterday against BYU 10 of 16
03:43on threes final score 113 to 88 Alabama folks.
03:49They shot 25 of 51 from three-point range playing red-hot
03:54basketball beating st.
03:56Mary's beating BYU.
03:58Here's Nate Oates after the game talking about getting to the
04:00next round.
04:01I know I got to teach these guys some math.
04:03Occasionally.
04:04I told Sears.
04:05There's a thing called regression to the mean, you know, his last
04:08six games.
04:09He was shooting 14% 5 of 35.
04:13It's not a 14% shooter.
04:15Obviously, they had been going under ball screens on just about
04:20every game.
04:20We watched.
04:22I told both those guys Holloway and seriously, man.
04:26I hope they go under us is it's we're going to rain them.
04:29So we're in the gym last night the night before but you know,
04:32these guys show up for voluntary shooting every time it's
04:35available and make sure that they're ready to go and that
04:37work pays off, you know, we want to base our program on hard
04:41work.
04:41So told Mark he's playing chess not checkers.
04:45He just kind of set everybody up with that 5 of 35 thinking
04:48he was in a slump and he's going to come out shoot like 63%
04:52ain't bad.
04:53So 10 threes.
04:54I think first guy in NCAA tournament history.
04:56I was told that had at least eight threes and seven assists.
04:59So, you know, not only was he scoring it.
05:01He was moving it helps to get assists when you got guys like
05:05Cy and Aiden Holloway making shots like they did too.
05:10So between these three guys, we had 21 threes.
05:12It's you know, we've hit 22 before a couple times.
05:17I think I think maybe 23.
05:19We've never hit 25.
05:20So I think right now the other team that looks like the team
05:24to beat maybe besides Alabama is also in the SEC the Florida
05:28Gators.
05:29They dismantled Maryland in the second half of their game 87
05:33to 71 the final Walter Clayton jr.
05:36Had points and four assists Gator now in the sweet 16 for
05:38the first time since 2017.
05:40They got a lot of points also off the bench as the Florida
05:44Gators are one way away from the final four.
05:46All right.
05:47Finally, we can get to some baseball here on opening day.
05:49How about the Houston Astros taking out the New York Mets
05:52in game one of the season 3 won the final Juan Soto strikes
05:55out with two on to end the game.
05:57Josh Hader picks up the save for Amber Valdez really good
05:59start on opening day.
06:00He threw seven innings.
06:01Blake Snell wins his Dodgers debut.
06:04Yeah, show.
06:04Hey, Otani hit a home run shocker.
06:06They beat the Tigers five to four the Padres scored four
06:08runs in the seventh.
06:09They rally past the Braves as Fernando Tatis had three hits
06:12and the final score was seven to four there and the Yankees
06:14get a win on opening day as well.
06:16Austin Wells hit a leadoff home run first catcher to hit
06:20a leadoff home run on opening day.
06:22How about that?
06:23David Williams fix up the save and the Yankees win four to
06:25two San Francisco Giants fans are happy to start the season
06:28as well.
06:28Wilmer Flores with a big three-run home run in the ninth
06:31inning gave them a six to four win over the Cincinnati Reds.
06:35I was at the walk-off yesterday.
06:37That was one of the few.
06:38The Marlboro House Towers.
06:40It's a shot down the line and they rally to beat the
06:42Pirates by a final of five to four biggest offensive
06:45performance yesterday in baseball was Willie.
06:47You're a brave of the Red Sox.
06:48He hit two home runs.
06:49They beat the Rangers five to two and hey, the White Sox
06:52are in the win column.
06:53They're over 500.
06:54They beat the Angels and the final score.
06:56There was eight to one.
06:58Okay in the NBA the Bulls Lakers game was just flat out
07:02insane the final 30 seconds of that game.
07:05Saw like three four lead changes, but in the end Josh
07:08Giddey threw up a shot at half-court and he had 25 points
07:12in the game, but it was really that final half-court shot
07:14that beat the Lakers 119 to 117 couple of steals late in
07:17that game as well.
07:17It was insane.
07:18The Pacers scored a hundred and sixty two points.
07:22I said earlier this season.
07:23Someone's going to have 200 in a regular season game.
07:26Somebody laughed at me.
07:27It's going to happen.
07:28I bet next year 162 109 SGA had 37 points and six assists
07:34the Thunder beat the Grizzlies 125 to 104 OKC also went
07:38on a 15-0 run in the fourth quarter and the Cavs just keep
07:42on rolling Jared Allen had 29 points Donovan Mitchell had
07:4425 points and 14 assists as they beat the San Antonio Spurs
07:49of course without 124 to 116.
07:53That is the final there.
07:55Welcome back to Newswire here on Sports Grid.
07:56We got Sam McQuillan from Legal Sports Report for those
07:59of you who are living in states where sports betting is
08:01not legal.
08:02It seems like there's some different ways that some of these
08:06companies are trying to get around that.
08:08I want to bring in Sam McQuillan from Legal Sports Report
08:10to talk about this Sam.
08:11This is the year of discussion discussing the prediction
08:14market.
08:15There's no question about that.
08:16It almost feels like operators are joining the space
08:21specifically to do two things one potentially join states
08:24that you can't bet legally in and to maybe even sort of
08:28backdoor the taxes that you have to pay a pay of being
08:32a sports betting operator.
08:33So I think we're just scratching the surface of this and
08:37it seems like a lot of companies are watching some of these
08:41others as to whether or not they're able to operate and
08:43if they do they're starting their own.
08:47Yeah, I'll leave the intent of that up to them up to other
08:50people to decide but there's there's no question that that
08:53very reason you're talking about is what's raised flags
08:56with operators now in three states.
08:57We have Massachusetts just yesterday less than a week after
09:02New Jersey and Nevada.
09:04All three states have now taken some action against these
09:06prediction markets, which are being offered by Robin Hood
09:09and Cal.
09:10She specifically on March Madness, but other things now
09:12as well, which we've talked about time to get on this
09:15show essentially allow you to buy in on the stake of something
09:18happening sort of like a stock market.
09:21They want to function like they're not sports gambling,
09:24but they are very much catering to the same audience that
09:27attracts sports betters.
09:29And to your point Craig that means being available in states
09:32where sports betting has not been legalized bypassing
09:34essentially years of state law.
09:37And I mean it took forever just to get sports betting
09:39legalized.
09:40Now you have these companies basically entering immediately
09:43flipping a switch taking millions of dollars on March
09:46Madness and in New Jersey, that's what set off the red
09:48flag there.
09:49They're hosting the sweet 16 in New Jersey.
09:52So you're not allowed to bet on college events in New Jersey
09:56that take place there.
09:57But if you're wagering on these prediction markets, you're
09:59essentially betting on it, even though they're not calling
10:02it betting now.
10:02It's a very very murky space to your point.
10:05This is not the last we're going to talk about this.
10:06This is probably going to be the biggest story of the year.
10:09I wouldn't be surprised if this ended up in court and even
10:11the Supreme Court at some point because you have these
10:14companies like Robin Hood, which are huge entities say they
10:17want to be regulated federally.
10:18The states are now saying wait.
10:19No, we think we should regulate you.
10:21So when you don't know who regulates you you go to the
10:24courts and you try to figure it out there.
10:25But in the meantime, they're offering these markets are
10:28taking millions of dollars and to your point, they're not
10:31paying the same taxes.
10:33A lot of critics are saying that they are not doing the same
10:35guardrails.
10:36There's no safe betting monitoring because they're not
10:38calling it betting.
10:39So it's going to lead a bunch of different crazy ways.
10:43We'll be here to follow it all but now already three states
10:46taking action against them.
10:47It's starting to Mount the momentum against them.
10:50We'll see what you know, how it shakes out what pushes the
10:53other way.
10:53There's a federal roundtable that's going to be discussed
10:56later this month to essentially try to figure this out get
10:59on the same page.
11:00But even then it's going to be a really long story of who
11:04does this?
11:05How do we figure it out?
11:06What is this even but millions of dollars at stake?
11:08So it's definitely something we're going to be paying
11:10attention to.
11:12Yeah, great.
11:12And and I will as well with you and Pat and and certainly
11:15everybody from legal sports report as well.
11:17All right.
11:18So now let's get into some good news in that space and that
11:21has to be from the company underdog.
11:24There was a report that I read over illegal sports report
11:26that their valuation is significantly above what it was last
11:30season.
11:30What do you attribute this to?
11:33Yeah, they're now valued at over a billion dollars, which
11:36is huge news for a company that only a couple years ago
11:39was valued at about 400 million.
11:41It was a startup based out of Brooklyn launching daily
11:44fantasy sports technology.
11:45We talked about all pretty much all last year how states
11:48took action against their pick'em games, which they identified
11:52as parlays to underdogs credit.
11:54They took the necessary steps of working with regulators
11:56to figure out how to satisfy those concerns.
12:00But what I would contribute their, you know, huge valuation
12:03bump. Essentially, they figured out how to stay relevant
12:06and how to keep offering those same games despite the
12:09blowback from the industry.
12:11Despite companies like Fandle and Draftkings taking legislative
12:15and lobbying action against them trying to get them cracked
12:18down on. They kind of came out of that.
12:19Okay, they went through the battles tested.
12:21They're in a lot of states where sports betting isn't legal,
12:24but offer a product very similar.
12:26You can do the pick'em.
12:26You, you know, take over and unders on various players and
12:29they seem to be having, you know, a really be doing a really
12:32good job of it.
12:33They were just left New York.
12:34Part of leaving New York was agreeing to pay 17 million dollars,
12:38which is based off the revenue they made there, which is
12:41pretty significant for a state that does have sports betting.
12:43It shows that people were still in that state with that
12:46option and still going over to this fantasy sports provider.
12:48They're only seeking to grow.
12:50They're trying to become a sports book.
12:52Eventually, they're going to be competing for a license in
12:54Missouri. Once that launches, they already have the North
12:56Carolina license.
12:57So they're really growing their brand based off of, you know,
13:00this daily fantasy sports model that they already pushed out
13:03there. Now, they're kind of in this phase two.
13:04And another thing I'll note about this valuation is it comes
13:08off of an investment from the venture capital firm Spark Capital,
13:12which is known for investing in huge names like Twitter,
13:15Discord, and Slack. And it marks the largest single investment
13:19ever from a venture capital firm into a sports gambling company.
13:22So huge news for Underdog.
13:24Their company is really growing and they have their sights set
13:27on growing even more as we go into the year.
13:31Interesting notes there.
13:32Read that at legalsportsreport.com. Also, the latest on
13:36Oklahoma and a possibility of some exclusivity and the chance
13:40potentially to have a place that could house the NBA champions
13:44this year and the Oklahoma City Thunder with some sports betting
13:47there. Yeah, Oklahoma, one of the states that has not legalized
13:51sports betting yet, but has been trying to for the better part
13:54of the last couple years. Recent news there, the House just
13:57advanced a bill that would legalize sports betting, but it
14:00would do it exclusively under tribal control, which is at odds
14:04with what the governor wants.
14:05The governor doesn't want the tribes to be involved at all.
14:08There's also another bill that would let the Oklahoma City
14:11Thunder, maybe future NBA champions to your point, have sports
14:14betting under their control, but also working with the tribes.
14:17They would have to figure out an agreement there.
14:19So what you have here is essentially a bunch of different
14:22people wanting to legalize sports betting.
14:23They're all on the same page.
14:24The state wants legal sports betting, but they're getting
14:26caught up in essentially how they do it, who's in control,
14:30who's in power, and a lot of money at stake there.
14:32So the governor is not a fan of the Thunder plan as well.
14:35He's been criticizing lawmakers for essentially not seeking
14:39his input, not involving him in the process.
14:42So we'll have to see if the bill can advance past the House
14:46and get eventually passed by the Senate.
14:48There is a chance they can override his veto because he
14:50would definitely veto it if it got to his desk, but Oklahoma
14:53kind of on the, you know, we'll have to keep watching what
14:55they do there.
14:56Could be a state that eventually legalizes sports betting.
14:58But again, the competing interests, the tribes, the governor,
15:01everyone's got a different piece of the pie they want to grab.
15:04Definitely does.
15:04Seems like progress made and then, you know, one step forward,
15:07two steps back a lot of times.
15:09All right, Sam.
15:11Thanks again for coming on Newswire.
15:12Really appreciate it.
15:13We will catch up again soon.
15:15Thanks for coming on.
15:16Yeah, sounds good.
15:17Thanks, Craig.
15:17You too.