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NCAA Report for February 2023
104 Plays2 years ago
Russ and I talk about Brandon Miller, SEC, and the Big Ten Mizzou and the Illini.
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Transcript
Introduction to the NCAA Report
00:00:00
Speaker
This is Gateway City Sports. From Talking Sports on the Bleachers, it's the NCAA Report.
00:00:24
Speaker
And Michael Ross Robinson sit back and enjoy it folks
00:01:00
Speaker
All right. Hey, it's the NCAA report from talking sports on
Overview of Gateway City Sports Coverage
00:01:06
Speaker
the bleachers. And my compadre is always right alongside me. The incredible Russ Robinson or uncle Frank, if you will. Yeah. How you doing? How you doing, Russ?
00:01:19
Speaker
I'm doing pretty well. That's good. That's good. Hey, uh, just do a quick note here that talking sports on the bleachers is a proud member of gateway city sports at gateway city sports. You can find articles and content on anything and everything this side. Well, actually both sides of the muddy Mississippi, we do the pro sports of baseball with the Cardinals and.
00:01:42
Speaker
and uh the battle Hawks and the blues city soccer now is in is in play and of course we hit the college ranks with the University of Missouri University of Illinois SEC and the uh big ten uh if you want other podcasts tune into the team of rivals for all you coven Cardinal fans that's with Ron Nuttle Pete Gettys and Elliot Dewey you want just Cardinal content that's a winner podcast with Ryan Jenkins and Josh Brown
00:02:12
Speaker
And there's more Cardinal content. When you can tune into two for three with the mighty moose, Mike Stevenson, and always there's the Derek King sports show with the living legend himself, Derek King. Give us a look, see. And if there's something that you follow and we don't cover it, let us know about it. We'll see what we can do. That's gateway city sports.com.
00:02:35
Speaker
All right, Russ.
Brandon Miller Incident and Alabama's Response
00:02:37
Speaker
Well, I guess we're gonna jump into this and we kind of talked a little bit before we came on here. I'm intrigued and you're my SEC guys. So I'm intrigued with this whole Brandon Miller deal. I mean, from what I've been able to listen to today, I was listening to an ESPN program on radio today. What he actually did,
00:03:02
Speaker
although it sounds like it should be a crime, I guess it's not a crime. He delivered a gun to somebody and the gun ended up being used, I guess, by somebody else to kill someone. Is that the way it all worked out? Well, it is. I think the story that I heard, and I'll refer this to the Paul Feynbaum show, the story that they're telling on this guy is that he and a
00:03:32
Speaker
And another player and a friend of theirs went to this club outside of, I guess, Tuscaloosa where a lot of students hang out at. It was his car. He dropped them off and left because he didn't want to stay around and wait in line to get in the club. While this other player and this friend of theirs was in the club, there was a girl in there with her date.
00:03:59
Speaker
And the friend that's not a basketball player started, I guess, flirting, hitting on this girl. She then wasn't responsive to it. She wasn't interested. And if I understand right, the boyfriend sort of intervened. The argument went outside and the other player that was with him, Alabama player, texted these Brandon Miller
00:04:27
Speaker
who was not there at the time, to bring him his gun. Well, Brandon, apparently from what I understand, didn't realize that this other player had left his gun in his car. So the story is that he didn't know what was going on, but he drove back to the club. When he got there, the kid, the guy that was a friend of theirs that was in the argument with this boyfriend and girl, woman,
00:04:57
Speaker
came to the car, got the gun out of the back seat. He was in the back seat. And then that's when the shooting started. And then I guess he was shooting at the boyfriend, the boyfriend. He got the girl instead and killed her. And the boyfriend responded by shooting to his eye. That's where it got really complicated. Brandon apparently never, if I understood right, never got out of the car. That all happened so quickly, but he was there. And so the Tuscaloosa,
00:05:26
Speaker
police and prosecutor have been invested. This happened last year, late last year, I think, Don, what I understand. And they did an investigation and they charged capital murder to the player and his friend charges, but they didn't have anything to charge Brandon with. They said he was cooperative. He cooperated with them in every way he could. And they just didn't have anything to charge him with. He wasn't aware that there was a
00:05:56
Speaker
that there was the intent of the guy who did the shooting. He just showed up and the guy grabbed the gun and went and started the gun fight. And so they didn't feel like they had anything to charge brain him with. I think a lot of the controversy lays on is that there just hasn't been much said. Alabama, the Alabama coach has said some things in the media that kind of backfired on them. And so I think
00:06:25
Speaker
The thing is that a lot of people feel like Alabama should have been more forthcoming the university than they were about this investigation. They're saying they can't say anything due to an investigation going on. But what they've said apparently hasn't helped.
Alabama Basketball: Performance and Controversies
00:06:42
Speaker
So that's what I know, Don, and I don't know that's a hundred percent. Well, I guess, I guess the other thing is too, I was, I did happen to see this on, I think I went online and saw it, uh, some internet report they had with it, but.
00:06:59
Speaker
It was a game or two after all this had gone down or this year, I should say the last game they played when all this came out and never the whole trial was going forward and whatnot or whatever. And Miller was introduced during a game or at the start of the game. And I guess it's been the tradition when they when the players might they pat the player down. Right, and they did that and I guess it wasn't the crowd.
00:07:27
Speaker
didn't like it and yeah, bad. Yeah. And the coach made oats, I guess before his post game press conference said that, uh, uh, he thinks they had been doing that for a while because he doesn't watch the introductions.
00:07:46
Speaker
And so he didn't know what was going on. But rest assured, it won't happen again the rest of this season. That's not good optics. I mean, is Oats going to be in trouble with all this? Is there going to be some fallout to this, you think? I don't think so. I think Alabama is trying to circle the wagons around him and the team and Brandon Miller. They're about ready to
00:08:14
Speaker
they're going to win the SEC this year as far as the conference play. And they're being a top five. They could be a top one, the number one picks in the when the tournament comes around. I mean, they've been, they're really good. However, you know, Alabama has a head of basketball team like this. So they're, you know, I sense they're going to give, you know, they're
00:08:41
Speaker
I think they would really, I don't think they noticed any trouble. I think it was just quit talking. That's what he'll do and turn all the talking over to the, uh, to the university. Yeah. To their, to their lawyers and PR people and stuff like that. Cause the times he's chosen to talk about, it's kind of blown up into space. And that pat down was just bad, uh, certainly bad optics and bad. Uh, and, uh, I heard someone say, uh,
00:09:09
Speaker
And it might've, I don't know who I said, say this in the media said, doesn't Alabama had a lot of people around that they hired most big universities that are PR people that could have intervened and stopped that or, or could have at least said, Hey, they've been doing this anymore. Yeah. They've been doing that every game. Someone intervened. I mean, it just seems incredibly everything. It's just, uh, it's a bad situation. You know, young lady that was a mother.
00:09:39
Speaker
of a young child lost her life. And Alabama, and you know, I seem like Alabama is just hard, just just just made just made it worse. So I mean, you know, I don't know, God, it just seems like, you know, so that's what I know about it. Now, there may be some somebody that's listening that
00:10:04
Speaker
knows better and I guess they can. Yeah, they can give us they can check us out or something. Email or something. Let us know. So yeah, let us know what's going on. All right. Well, enough about the macabre stuff. Let's get into some fun stuff.
Top 25 NCAA Basketball Teams Analysis
00:10:17
Speaker
Um, I was looking at the latest top 25 rankings and you're right about Alabama. I mean, they're, they're pretty much, uh, I think they're going to be a number, uh, a one, uh, one seed for the tournament. Um,
00:10:31
Speaker
Cause right now they're, they're ranked second in the top 25 AP. Um, I haven't checked their Kim Palmer, but I think their net was their nets pretty high too is if I remember right. Um, so I, uh, but the top four looks like right now, Houston, Alabama, Kansas, UCLA, Purdue. I mean, they've lost four, four either last six. Wow. Which is.
00:10:59
Speaker
I mean, you know, if you, if you would have asked me two weeks ago, uh, was Purdue, uh, a lock to win the regular season big 10, I would have said guaranteed, uh, you know, bet the farm on it right now. I'm glad I'm not because it's, I mean, they've always said they've lost four. They're Indiana's only like two games behind them now in the standings. Uh,
00:11:26
Speaker
So it are actually Northwestern's a game and a half behind them in the same thing. I think they played later tonight, but. So they've they've dropped it out and then you've got Virginia has moved up a little bit. I think their number. There were the errors. My notes are their number six produced five Virginia six Arizona who just got beat by Arizona State.
00:11:54
Speaker
That was, I mean, there's seven, and then it goes Texas Baylor and Marquette to round out the top 10. Right now, I can see UCLA dropping back. I can see Virginia moving up. I kind of look at it and it's like,
00:12:18
Speaker
I think it's changed because if you looked at it two weeks ago, everybody was talking Purdue, Houston, Alabama, Arizona, you know, now Arizona, probably Arizona's probably dropped down to the end of the second line. Purdue's probably flirting that one, two line. You know, interesting, interesting as they say, you know. Yeah.
SEC and Big Ten Standings and Tournament Predictions
00:12:42
Speaker
Well, you know, I think probably what's happened to a lot of these teams that were doing so well.
00:12:48
Speaker
Uh, you know, in the SEC Tennessee for a while, they were just knocking it out too, but, uh, you know, the comp, when they hit conference seasons, it becomes a grind and it gets aware on teams. I think it gets to catch up to them. Even the better teams, I think take Purdue, for instance, you know, they were rolling through the big 10 and now they've had, they've had the, they've had a rough spot. Now this thing, it, it, uh, I think it's just the grind of conference play, you know, you're playing with teams that have better, that have
00:13:18
Speaker
They have good players. You're off the non-conference. You know, you're not playing the Prairie Views or the Linden Woods anymore. You know, you're having to go, you know, two nights a week. You're having to go up against someone in your conference. And I think it just catches up with them. And I think that's what you saw with Purdue. And I think that's what you see with even Kansas has faltered some. Although I see right now they're number three in the AP. I don't know what. This, I guess a new polls will come out tomorrow.
00:13:48
Speaker
Yeah, we'll probably come out tomorrow. And the new and the new rating, any T ratings that they use to rate the. The rate, I guess the rate them as far as NCAA tournament that comes that probably will come out tomorrow again because all the all the games will be complete, you know, on Sunday. So by the end.
00:14:10
Speaker
Right, yeah, I was. Yeah, I was trying to figure out those. I went on was a couple weeks. I started looking at it and was looking at the Kim palm and the quad and the quad wins and. I'm glad I'm not on that committee. I'm telling you right now, because that's that is so much data to look at because I think I think.
00:14:33
Speaker
Well, Houston, Houston rates. Well, as far as the, the, the top 25 and the net ranking, but, uh, they're Kim Palm and they're decent in Kim Palm, but like their strength of schedule is like 45th or something like that. I can't remember what it was right off the top of my head, but, um, I'm sorry. Who are you talking about? Houston. Who, who are you? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, they don't play in a particularly strong kind of playing the American
00:15:02
Speaker
Right. Athletic conference and all of that has some good teams. It's not like the big 10 in SEC or the big 12 or the pack 12. So they don't have the schedule strength, I'm sure, that some of the others had.
00:15:23
Speaker
Yeah. You mentioned, you mentioned that Alabama, you know, we'll take the SEC regular season at least. Um, and I, I, you know, I'm looking, I'm looking at it right now. And it's like, you know, they're, they're closest rival is Texas A&M. Uh, they're two behind them. Now they do play each other at the end of the year, but I think also Alabama's place Auburn ahead of that. So, you know, uh, unless you get an upset about Auburn, Texas A&M doesn't really have a chance at that, you know? Right.
00:15:53
Speaker
Right, right. Yeah, you know, Alabama would be the one seed going into the conference. So I mean, that's the way it'll be. Oh, yeah. Now, you were mentioning Tennessee.
00:16:13
Speaker
I mean, I'm, I'm looking at these records at the top four and in the SEC and you know, I'm looking at Alabama sitting at 25 and four, Texas A&M 21 and eight, Kentucky's 20 and nine, Tennessee 21 and eight, you know, and they will Missouri and Missouri's 21 and eight too. So it's like, Hey, you got some pretty good. You got a pretty good group of, uh, group of, uh, teams right there at the top. Well, everything's, you know, you got Alabama.
00:16:44
Speaker
And then probably Texas ADM is gonna be the number two team but there will be a five for three and four I think you're right. There's a lot of teams clustered up there. Missouri could make a run at the, at the top four spot that's important in the, in the big in the SEC tournament.
00:17:00
Speaker
Because if you get one of the top four ratings, you get a double buy. Yeah, that same thing. Yeah, yeah. Same thing in big 10. Yeah, you get a double buy. And so they're still in line for a four rating. You know, just depends how the games work out. They've got to win their last two. But yeah, there are some tough games that some of the teams ahead of them still have to play. So next week, this upcoming week should be an interesting week, you know.
00:17:25
Speaker
I think probably in all the, in a lot of the conferences too. I mean, I think this will be, they'll be wrapping up regular season play and I'll be, uh, for the tournament rankings. And then, uh, you know, of course having those higher tournament rankings will help them in the NCAA. So yeah. Well, it's like, yeah, Illinois, I mean, we, uh, they've.
Conference Tournaments: Financial and Competitive Impact
00:17:46
Speaker
dropped a clunker today against Ohio State, which they were in line for for one of those double buys. As of yesterday, they were in line for the double buy and then I said they lost today to Ohio State and that's pretty much going to. I mean, they've still got a chance. I mean, we play. We got Michigan and Purdue left and. You know Michigan's right ahead of us in that group and.
00:18:16
Speaker
you know, the way Maryland, Indiana, Northwestern are all beaten up on each other for, you know, it's possible one of them could lose again and, you know, get us right back into view. We've got Purdue at the top at 13 and five, and then we've got Indiana, Illinois, or yeah, no, Michigan, Northwestern, Maryland, and Indiana, all at 11 and seven, and Illinois and Iowa at 10 and eight.
00:18:39
Speaker
So we've got a group of six there that, you know, with two games left, anything can happen. Anybody can get shifted around in that whole mess. You know, but you're right. That, that double buy is really an important thing. You get that double buy. You're pretty much, you know, you're guaranteed, you're guaranteed you're going to be safe for at least until the quarterfinal weekend. Sure. You know, instead of having to play through it, but
00:19:09
Speaker
You know, I, I don't know. I, you know, I, before I always said that before the conference, they got conference tournaments everywhere. I always, I always didn't really care for it. Um, I I've kind of grown to accept it. Um, because I really don't think, cause we, I think we talked about this before the automatic bids, the way they go out to the, to the conference tournament champion. And I'm just, I'm just not sure that's the right way to go.
00:19:37
Speaker
I mean, cause Alabama, Alabama is right now they're, they're, they're, uh, uh, yeah, like you said, they're a lot. I think, I, I think if they continue, they're going to be a number one, see, they're going to be on that one line. But, you know, let's say that they get knocked out in the second round by a hot, you know, eight seed or whatever, you know, and you're, you're not going to give now they've got to come in, they'll get in, but they've got to come in as an, as an at-large and take, uh, take a spot away from somebody maybe.
00:20:07
Speaker
Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Yeah. That's what I don't like about the whole, I mean, I'd rather see them get the automatic bids to the, to the regular season champion and then, you know, let it go from there and figure it out from there. Well, I think it's, I think Don, that that's probably the, uh, that would be a fair way to do it, but it's a, it's the money thing. These conference tournaments bring a lot of money in to the seasons and the schools and make some people start tuning in.
00:20:34
Speaker
I mean, next week when the major conferences start playing, there's going to be a lot of people watching college basketball in those conference tournaments building up to the NCAA. It's almost like the elimination of the Rams. It's what it is. Those conference tournaments are the elimination of the Rams for the NCAA. Right. Right.
SEC and Big 10 vs. Other Conferences
00:21:01
Speaker
I mean, I know we, we don't, you and I don't either don't see a lot of these other teams like from the pack 12 or the big East. How do you think the, both the SEC and the big 10 rank up against, uh, the other conferences right now? I mean, I know we're probably, both of us are probably going to get more teams in than any other, any of the other conferences, but, uh, I mean, realistically, how do you think the SEC and the big 10, you know, as far as do we deserve that many teams? I guess would be the question.
00:21:31
Speaker
Well, I think, you know, some people are saying the toughest conference basketball conference might be the big 12 right now, as far as deep. And, but I think, you know, the big tip is to see both the relatively deep from get their fair share in. What's going to be interesting to look at, what the ACC does this year, because they're down. I don't know, you know, there's no, the Dukes, the North Carolinas,
00:22:01
Speaker
You know, the blue bloods over there. They're not as good as they used to be. I guess Virginia is the best team right now over there. And so be interested in how many teams they get in because I'm not sure they don't get as many in as they used to be getting in the past. But I do think that the that the the big
00:22:27
Speaker
that the SEC and the Big Ten will get their fair share in. How many they get in? There's a lot of people. There's a lot. I know there's a lot of SEC teams on the bubble. And I'll have to see, you know, when the, when Joe Locardi's ratings come out tomorrow. I guess he'll come tomorrow with his. We'll have to see, we'll have to see how many, where they're at. But I think Mississippi State won this weekend. I forgot who it was they beat.
00:22:56
Speaker
done, but they might play themselves into the last four in in the tournament. And that's going to be, you know, we'll just have to see. It's so hard to predict because the tournament could eliminate could take someone off the bubble, you know, and then put someone back in. So
00:23:14
Speaker
Well, yeah, you get a team that's sitting on that, uh, sitting on that, uh, that bubble, you know, they get through, if they win two or three games in, in, in their conference tournament, you know, that sometimes can make all the difference on them getting off that bubble and knocking somebody else, but maybe got that maybe God eliminated the, the first, uh, first week or something. Uh, right now, the last team in is Mississippi state.
00:23:42
Speaker
Okay, when they played, they won this weekend and offhand, I kind of watched the game and I'm like, yeah, is a B. This is the court. Yeah, this is, this is Lunardi. This is according to, yes, Joe Lunardi. This was published Friday at 9 a.m. Top overall seed he's got is Alabama. First team out, Penn State. Last team in Mississippi State.
00:24:07
Speaker
Well, they helped themselves this weekend, Don, because they won their game. They beat someone. They beat someone. Let me, let me, let me pull up the SEC here and see who they beat. And I walked to that game and they are right now seven and eight, seven and nine in the conference. So they still have a chance to be nine and nine. It was an impressive win. Yes. They beat Texas A&M. Yeah. Texas A&M. Okay.
00:24:32
Speaker
Okay. Okay. Yeah, that's a good win for them and that might have that help them. You know, probably help them but, like I said there's two games left and then there's a conference tournament so Sunday, Sunday schools could play themselves out, you know, as well as playing themselves in. So is, is on the bubble.
00:24:54
Speaker
is he's got last four buys or Pitt, Nevada, Memphis, and West Virginia.
NCAA Tournament Bubble Teams
00:25:01
Speaker
And the last four in our Oklahoma State, USC, Wisconsin, Mississippi State. Okay. Okay. Uh, Wisconsin lost to Michigan today. Yeah. Yeah. That may have popped. That may have just burst their bubble. Yeah. Yeah. I think so. I could, I see right now, uh, Don, um,
00:25:24
Speaker
in the SEC, and you're a better judge at the Big Ten, but I see one, two, three, four, five, six, seven. God, I can see possibly 18 to the SEC get there. That's pretty deep. That's pretty deep. Yeah, the 14.
00:25:45
Speaker
I'm not gonna, like I said, you're my SEC guy. So I'm not gonna debate you on that for sure. But now as far as big 10, let me take a quick look here, see what I'm looking at. Yeah, I'm looking at one, two, three, definitely those four. I mean, I can see where he's got the Wisconsin's being one of the last four in. I don't buy it right now. There's 16 and 12.
00:26:12
Speaker
eight and 10 in the conference, Penn State 17 and 11 and they're eight and nine in the conference. Let's see, what's their nets? Penn State's a 56 net, Wisconsin's a 70. I think Penn State is a,
00:26:41
Speaker
I think it's probably a bubble team. I'm going to be. I'm going to call it as a bubble team. Outside of that, we've got 246. Probably we could get 9 in. I could see getting 9 in depending on how Rutgers and Michigan State finish up their season. I think playing now or I think I think they're playing now. I think they maybe they might be playing right now. Hang on a second here. I think Rutgers is playing right now so.
00:27:10
Speaker
They were the last game I was. I've noticed that they started about five or so. Maybe they started six or something like that. Yeah, Michigan, Michigan State lost yesterday or yesterday to Iowa. So that that and since that case is that whole thing came out.
00:27:26
Speaker
on Friday that may have hurt their chances a little bit. They do have a chance to redeem themselves because they finished the season with Nebraska and Ohio State. But like I said, Ohio State just thumped us. So who knows what's going to happen. And we've got Michigan and Purdue. And it's quite possible we could end up losing both games. I don't think we will. I think we can beat Michigan.
00:27:54
Speaker
We should be able to beat Michigan because quite frankly, actually, the interesting stat, Juwan Howard has not beaten Underwood yet. Since Underwood's been in the Big 10. He has not won a game against Illinois since Underwood's been in the Big 10. But both those games that Illinois are playing are on the road. Excuse me, no. Michigan's at home. I think we played Purdue at Mackie. Or is it the other way around? I'll figure it out in a second here. Hang on.
00:28:25
Speaker
Yes, Michigan is at home. We go and we play at Macquarie and in Purdue. That's. Yeah, Michigan is the second and Purdue is the fifth. Oh, I get my birthday sandwiched in between those two. There you go. Yeah, at least at least it won't be we won't be depressed on my birthday. It'll be either before it'll be after.
00:28:48
Speaker
But yeah, I mean, so, you know, we, I said, I think we can be Michigan is that we should be Michigan state. And I think that might, I don't think that'll affect their, I think they're going to be in. I think they're probably, I think I see the minority, I think has them in, uh, as a, I see he's got Missouri as a 10 seed in the Midwest. Yeah. They should include between eight and 10. You get, you almost get to play a home game.
00:29:18
Speaker
Yeah, well they were out West not too long ago, so we'll see. I'm not liking where he's got Illinois right now. He's got us got us as a nine seed in the West. With Kansas is the number one seed in the West. Not to mention we play Arkansas first. That is not going to be fun. I don't care how you look at it. That's not going to be a good week.
00:29:45
Speaker
I don't care. He doesn't like Michigan cause they're not, they are not, I don't see them in here in his, uh, see Michigan state. He, he, he doesn't think too well of Michigan, I guess. Cause I don't see them in here anywhere, but let's see if they're playing it.
00:30:12
Speaker
No, that's the last one playing game. That ain't that one. There's not in that one. Yeah, I don't know. I don't see him anywhere in the so. So obviously, you know, I seven or eight probably is big 10. Again, we've got so many teams that are bunched right there together. Like I said, six teams within one game of each other, you know, and two games left forever. Pretty much everybody it could. It could. We could bring a couple more teams up. We could drop a couple teams out.
00:30:41
Speaker
You know, I think right now Wisconsin's on the, on the, definitely on the bubble. Um, Michigan States, or Michigan, Michigan State, they're probably sitting on the bubble or Michigan's on the bubble at least. Um, so the minority has 19 from the big 10 and eight from the SEC and eight from the big 12. Those are your top three conferences as well. According to, according to the minority. So, okay. So.
00:31:11
Speaker
Any news in football from the your end of your end of the Mississippi? Well, only there was a some. There's concerning news about Mizzou. They're they're. Redshirt freshman quarterback that will be a redshirt freshman this year that everybody saw how named Sam Homer.
Football Updates: Mizzou and Illinois
00:31:33
Speaker
He's a baseball player too. So before spring practice, he's going to play some baseball and he's a pitcher.
00:31:39
Speaker
And this weekend, he was pitching a game and they took him out because his arm was bothering him. So we haven't heard what happened. He was going to get checked out by the doctors. So that's concerning. That passing arm of his has been damaged pitching baseball. So we're waiting to hear that. That's the only
00:32:02
Speaker
And we probably won't hear anything for several days, but that's the only thing that's concerning or any news on the zoo football. Yeah, spring practice will be starting around the corner. I think pretty soon, so probably most assuming most most schools will be starting their spring practice. Yeah, soon. Yeah, well, we I guess that we've.
00:32:24
Speaker
Talked to a couple of guys around the program here and we think we think we're going to be in good shape a quarterback with Altmaier coming in. As the transfer from the transfer portal. Where we're concerned, where a lot of guys I've been talking to are concerned about is we know we've got some guys that have shown up well in a running game. Particularly Josh McCray and Reggie live the third.
00:32:54
Speaker
And as one guy put it, he said, they're going to prove themselves because they're not Chase Brown. McCoy, he did well two years ago when he had to fill in. This year, I was really was hoping to see him and Chase in the same backfield a lot. And then, of course, McCray got hurt like second or third game of the season and never did make it back fully anyway.
00:33:23
Speaker
So hopefully he will be healthy. I think he said that Reggie Love, we don't know what he really can bring to the table yet.
00:33:33
Speaker
Defensively, I think we're going to be fine. They, from what I've been told, the university spent a lot of NIL money to keep the defensive line intact. So, you know, we've, as they say, the, we've got, our law firm is still in place. The defensive backfield, the couple of kids have filled in for Sydney Brown and, and Devin Witherspoon in the,
00:34:02
Speaker
bowl game in the Reliaquest Bowl. They actually did pretty well. I was very impressed by them. One was a freshman. I think that was a red shirt, redshirt freshman. But I think they both did really well. I know they've looked at a couple defensive backs in the portal. I know they've picked up another wide receiver through the portal. And I think
00:34:28
Speaker
where Bilema is sitting right now and with the recruits, he's also bringing in aside from the portal or that he's brought in aside from the portal. I think, because I was talking to a guy and I said, well, what do you know, we went eight and eight this year. We went eight, won eight games this year. So what do you expect? And he said that, well, he said they didn't, nobody expected them to win eight games this year.
00:34:54
Speaker
Wow. Uh-huh. You know, he won five last year. He said eight wins. He said, everybody was thinking, okay, well, maybe we can get six or seven, be bold, eligible. He said, actually, we had eight wins and could have had 10 because, you know, we got, you know, we're going to attend maybe even 11. I mean, if you get a couple of calls going the way again, that, that, that, uh, phantom, uh, interference call against Indiana and.
00:35:21
Speaker
you know, a bad call, bad break against Michigan, you know, there's 10 wins there. And then I think we also could have, there's another game we could have picked up in there as well. But he said that next year, he said, definitely look at eight wins next year. He says, but are people going to be happy with eight? You know, because we're definitely bringing in a solid quarterback. And the good thing about this Altmaier coming in, he's a sophomore. So he's going to have three years of eligibility when he comes in.
00:35:50
Speaker
You are. So, you know, that's going to be something that I think, um, much to the chagrin of the freshmen that are on the team right now, you know, uh, but, uh, yeah, a couple of those guys is probably going to be on the transfer portal out next year, but, uh, um, but yeah, I think, I think we're in good shape there. Like I said, it's just the running game and the, and the received, because what we did, we are bringing back, uh, Isaiah Williams.
00:36:17
Speaker
He's he's coming back, which is thank God for small favors because he's probably the best receiver we've got on that team. They've got a pretty really good four star. Elky I think is in his name is a freshman coming in. Basically this kid is lights out.
00:36:36
Speaker
It's just something. Uh, so we, we, we should be good. The receiving course of the running game is the biggest, is the biggest question mark. So I'm going to hold, I'm hoping to be able to go to the spring game when they have it and, uh, take a good look at it and see what we got. For sure. But, uh,
00:36:56
Speaker
get back, get back to basketball
Illinois Women's Basketball Turnaround
00:36:58
Speaker
real quick. One thing I want to mention, I don't, yeah, I don't know if you follow the women's basketballs much, but I, I tell you what this, we got this, this new coach here at Illinois on a greens or name. And this, this group of girls last year, I think they won seven games total or no, 10 games total last year. And they've won only seven big 10 games in the last five years.
00:37:25
Speaker
Uh-huh. And she's already has them at, uh, hang on a second. They just won their 20th. They got their 20th win a couple, a couple, three days ago. And I think their conference wins, they're already in double digits in conference wins, which we haven't done since like 2002.
00:37:49
Speaker
Yeah, they're 10 and 7 in the conference and 20 and 8 overall in the ranked 25th in the nation. And that's the first time they've been ranked since I think they said 2012 and the first time we won 20 games since 2002 or something like that. So. Could we have we got ranked really early in the season back a few years ago and then lost like 12 in a row so.
00:38:20
Speaker
Yeah, but yeah, this gal, this gal over here, I mean, she's a young gal, came from Dayton, I think, or somewhere in there and brought a couple of players with her. And the good thing about this team is they only lose like two seniors and one of them doesn't play that much.
00:38:43
Speaker
So, you know, they're, they're not losing a whole lot of anything. I think, I think she's going to be able to bring her entire starting lineup back next year. Okay. Plus any recruits that she brings in. So, uh, you know, I just thought I'd pass that along to anybody, anybody that listens to us that wants to listen to what wants to talk about the women's sports. I, you know, you know, give me a drop me a line. I'll talk about them.
00:39:08
Speaker
Well, Missouri, Missouri may be changing women's coaches this year from what we're hearing. Oh, really? Yeah, they have a, Robin Pinchton's been here for, I don't know, it's 15 years. She's been really successful. She, she recruited this gal named Sophie Cunningham, who is a McDonald's All-American.
00:39:31
Speaker
And for four years, the Sophie was on the team. They went to the NCAA tournament four straight years, right? Had some some pretty good teams and one of the best women's teams in the SEC. She graduated, got drafted by the Phoenix Suns and our Phoenix got the WNBA team she saw. Yeah, yeah, I know it's when you're talking about. I can't think of a name either. Anyway, since then, that's this is the fourth year she's been.
00:40:01
Speaker
She hasn't been here and it's the four straight years that haven't made the NCAA tournament. This year doesn't look like they're going to make it unless they make a good run of the SEC tournament. Right. So it could be that Mizzou will be looking for a new basketball coach. You know, so, you know, that's just kind of the latest on the women's, on the women's team. You know, it seems like it's kind of stalled out as far as
00:40:27
Speaker
The progress she was making seemed like it just kind of stalled out in the last four years. So we might, so Mizzou might be looking. So yeah. Okay. Well, uh, I don't know that I was hoping to have a little more going into the day, but this is, you know, like you said, it's just a bubble watch right now. See who comes out and, uh, um, you know, maybe, uh,
00:40:54
Speaker
Maybe we'll do a quick quick. I'll have you on for a quick little 20 minute segment during my regular my regular show when the selection Sunday gets here. OK, OK, and then you know we can do a little quick selection show there for a little 20 minutes or something before. Because that because our next one won't be until. Just about the time that we get close to the final four. Yeah, right now there's a lot is in a lot of things.
00:41:24
Speaker
between now and the end of the regular season and the tournament. That could make a lot of difference. So we'll, we may have more to talk about when the, when the NCAA actually makes their selections. Yeah. I said, yeah, maybe, maybe we'll get together right after selection Sunday or something for a special, for a quick little special edition, uh, on selection Sunday and we'll go from there. So, okay. Well, uh, if there's, I know I'll, uh,
00:41:48
Speaker
I just want to remind everybody that, you know, talking sports on the bleachers and the NCAA report is brought to you by the Wiley Group. Check, check them out in Festus and Arnold. You can call them at.
00:42:07
Speaker
636-764-26294 or you can reach Sean at Sean Wiley at Allstate.com also brought to you by Fifth Street Motors at 2044 Rose Lane in Pacific Missouri. Call Don or Brandon today for stress free car buying 573-259-1306 and as always tell them you heard it here on Talking Sports on the Bleachers.
00:42:36
Speaker
All right, Russ, until we meet again, my friend, check us out. Oh, I forgot to ask you, Russ, as always, where can we find you? Oh, it's, I'm at, on Twitter at FR, Uncle Frank, FR Robinson, one nine five seven. You'll find me searching around some of the Mizzou Facebook groups and some of the,
00:43:03
Speaker
Uh, Cardinal Facebook groups. And of course I've put a Mizzou post every once in a while of Gateway City Sports. And I'm kind of waiting to see how this tournament, how the SEC tournament goes before I put up my next one, you know, so. Okay. Well, you can find me at the same spot, Gateway City Sports. I've got a couple articles in the works right now. I got one for
00:43:27
Speaker
I got a cardinal article coming up and then I'll probably do another one on the, like, yeah, I'm going to wait till see what, what happens with the, before the big den tournament starts. And I'm sure a little prediction thing out for that. You can contact the show talking sports hyphen O T B hyphen GCS dot on podium.com. Or you can reach me on Twitter. T S O T B G C S. So for Russ Robinson, this is Don Glenn.
00:43:54
Speaker
And our NCAA port with talking sports on the bleachers.