sports uncaged 4.9

You're listening to WCCU Sports Network on CCU's Tribute Station. I'm the host Davis Myers. Here with my co-host Shane McGee. And you're back here with us at Sports Engaged on this first show on this Tuesday afternoon where March is done. It's been done for quite a few days. I meant March Madness is done. March Madness is done. All the maddening is over. Unfortunately, UConn is their defending champions. I meant UConn is their defending champions. Two time champs. Back to back. Back to back champs. They beat Purdue 75-60. I don't mind it. I picked NC State to win the whole thing last week. You did pick NC State. Just because it's boring to pick the same team to win it twice in a row. Yeah, but... But, however, the thing that we expected to happen truly in our hearts happened. Yeah, we all knew that UConn was going to win the whole thing just because of UConn's death. And last episode I talked about how Purdue was very dependent on a certain player. And NC State really at a point in their game with Purdue had a chance to come back and win. They kind of blew it in the latter half of the second half. However, look at the stats. I'm sure Zach Eadie had a big game in that game. Zach Eadie only got 20. In the NC State game? Yeah, he had three players that scored over 10 points including Zach Eadie. So Purdue, they had some depth there. But what about the championship? They did not have any depth unless Zach Eadie was a one-man show. As Shane was saying before, Zach Eadie had 37 points and 61.5% according to ESPN. Which is shocking because Zach Eadie had only 20 points and he still beat the Wolfpack. You know, it's upsetting for NC State fans right now. Can we just be honest for a second? They would have lost if they played UConn. Maybe put up a better fight though. Yes, Shane. We'll be right back. Don't go anywhere. Yeah, they probably would have lost unfortunately. But maybe NC State would have played better. 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They were 16 versus 36 versus Clemson. Wow, Shane. They scored more threes than UConn. They were 11 out of 23 to UConn's 10 out of 25. I mean, in the grand scheme of things, UConn is a very well coached team in terms of the intangibles and boring stuff. It is. Unfortunately, threes are not what is considered to be the most important thing. It's more about getting points. It is. So it's not exciting basketball. However, when you told me that Alabama scored more threes than UConn, I wasn't surprised. Yeah, it's not a surprising thing because at UConn, they scored from the three of the whole tournament and yet at UConn, they're champions. And let's go to the UConn-Purdue three-pointer. UConn and a Purdue three-pointer stat sheets just to get an understanding of, I guess, really what it came down to. Purdue was 1-4-7 for threes. UConn was 6 out of 22. So both teams didn't really fire it out too well. But, you know, UConn had five more and at UConn, the more rebounds, the more assists, more blocks, more points into paint, more fast-break points, and more field goals. So, it's kind of like a theme of, I guess, of volleyball inside. They use Purdue's game against them. I don't know. They just find ways to score. You know, it's very rare that UConn has an offensive possession where they don't figure out some sort of way to score. Absolutely. Or even if they are not scoring as much as they normally do, that's still, sometimes that's still better than the team that they were playing against. Yeah. And UConn was very good off the ball. They made a space happen. Like you said, they did a great job. Their ball movements, their bounce space, they found the open sweet spots where Purdue wasn't really a physical. They just kind of outplayed Purdue. Outplayed them. Rebounded. It was kind of like Zach Edie was the only player that was actually doing stuff. And yes, he's seven foot something, but he was the only one that was looking like he was wanting it really bad. I'm sure he did. He carried that team the whole year. And you get to that point in the championship, you finally made it. I'm sure that the rest of the team wanted it just as bad as he did. However, I feel like the pressure adds to the want of something. He's had a lot of pressure on them. Last year, he was their star player too. They got first-rounded in the tournament. They did. They got first-rounded. They added more scores. I feel like Purdue hasn't really stretched that from first-round exit they made the championship this year. Just a little bit too much for UConn. Sorry, a little bit too much of Purdue. I guess they haven't faced one. They have not faced somebody like UConn. Purdue definitely had plenty of losses throughout this year. Once again, I think an over-reliance on Zach Edie plays a big part in the loss. Oh, for sure. Nobody has played a team like UConn unless they've played UConn more than once. Absolutely. And from the Big East, they have some competition there as well. They have a lot of competition. Big East, you've got Villanova, Creighton, Georgetown. That's right. We'll be right back, guys. Don't go anywhere. Oh, dude. Got the start. You're listening to WCSU Sports Network on CSU Student Radio Station. I'm the host, Davis Myers, with my co-host Shane McGee. And you're back here with us on Sports Engaged as we're just talking about the Final Four and the National Championship in March Madness as Zach Edie with a 37-point and a loss to a very firing UConn defense and squad who are back-to-back champions for the first time since Florida, right? In 07-08. I believe I Let me check that stat real quick. I don't want to say wrong things here. Florida basketball basketball champions as they were in March Madness. I forgot about that. As national champions Okay. Yes. Yes. Back-to-back 06 and 07. I know UConn's the first team to do it since 06-07. What are your thoughts on this March Madness? Was it fun? Was it not fun? Was it exciting? To be honest with you, it was not. It was fun to see a few things, most particularly NC State. I love seeing NC State. It definitely wasn't a super fun March Madness. I feel like the last two years it's been a lot less exciting just because it feels a little bit more like the higher teams take the win more often. Even when you do get a Cinderella, they haven't made it past the second round really. Like Oakland this year. Oakland and I thought they were going to do something. They lost. You know I think back to the 2022 March Madness with St. Peter's and St. Peter's coach Kays last year and Duke played North Carolina in a game to go to the National Championship. And then you had another awesome Final Four game with Villanova and Kansas and Villanova eventually lost to the would-be champions Kansas. And I think that was Jay Wright's last season as well for Villanova. And I don't know. There was a speciality to the 2022 tournament and even tournaments before then like when Loyola Loyola Chicago and Sister Jean That's right. I forgot about that Shane. They beat Illinois maybe? They beat They beat I'm not sure who they beat. I'm pretty sure I watched the game where they lost I think to Michigan. And Michigan had a stack team that year. They had Wagner and Duncan Robinson You know these are role players in the NBA but these are still NBA talent guys. Did Michigan go on to win the whole thing? No. I think that was either 2016 or 2018 so that was Villanova. Okay. That's right. Villanova won in 16 and 18 like we were talking about before. I think Michigan I'm going to look it up just in case. It's like before maybe. The last two years to me it's felt like there was something missing. It feels like maybe it was due to the fact that the last two years women's college basketball has been so great. I can probably name you more girls from the women's March Madness tournament than guys from the men's March Madness tournament. Which is a sudden change. It's definitely a sudden change but it feels like the first time in a while where women in college sports have the platform and the personality at the same time at the right time. You know you got Angel Reese, Caitlin Clark, Paige Beckers. Cordoso from South Carolina. Yeah. And the coaches are awesome. You got Dawn Staley. The LSU head coach I forgot her name. The Iowa head coach, UConn's head coach. You have all those people. Yeah. Maybe that's why March Madness at least on the men's side hasn't felt as special. Even with the women's tournament this year it felt the same for the men's and women's tournament as to you kind of felt like you knew who was going to win it. But it was different because you knew South Carolina was going to win it but I feel like a lot more people were rooting for South Carolina to win than they were for the UConn men's team. Yeah. I didn't want to see a Caitlin Clark. Unfortunately I don't think she's going to win a national championship in college. She will not. However she's lined up to be the number one pick in the WNBA. She has an offer from the big three league ran by Ice Cube for $5 billion. I think she's just fine. Yeah. She's going to do great. For a lot of these college guys and it's another thing. Back in the day guys stayed for a lot longer and you got to know the guys that were playing on your college team. Guys that are going to go number one a lot of the guys from top 10 that are getting drafted out of college have only spent one year in college and you don't have the time to get to know them throughout their career. That's a great point. For example, Bronny James. He's going to have his first year in college. He didn't even make the tournament and he's transferring while I'm entering the drafts. How can you transfer and enter a draft? I think he's just maintaining his college eligibility I get that. while also being in the NBA draft. The fact that he is in the draft makes me believe that he's going to get drafted no matter what. Because of LeBron James, LeBron is going to go with him. What if the Pistons dropped Bronny James? I don't think they need LeBron. They're still rebuilding. They have a great young core. They are rebuilding. Teams that it would make sense to go out and get Bronny are teams that are really close but haven't quite made the jump to champion yet. Like the Miami Heat. The Miami Heat is one that's bold right now. The Heat can take Bronny. I assume the Sixers might take Bronny. Maybe even a team like the Thunder. It's a very young team and they don't really have a vet on the team. If you're thinking of a veteran on the Oklahoma City Thunder, I think the guy with the most experience on the Thunder is Shea. He was drafted in 2018-19. 5-6 years. 5-6 years and he's already the vet. I feel like he could draft Bronny James. It's really weird talking about a player who has averaged 6.3 points a game in college and is still transforming and he's going to draft already because of his dad playing in the league for 20 years. That's a great point because Kaitlyn Clark she's played at least 2-3 years in college. Angel Reese has played a long time. One of the star players of women's college basketball, Paige Beckers, got an extra year of eligibility so she's going to stay for a fifth year. She's going to stay for another year. How often would a men's player do that? Not common at all, Shane. It would probably just be like, hey, you know what? Free money, man. We're going to draft right here. If a men's player were to stay for 5 or more years, it's because their draft stock isn't where they want it to be. That's right. We'll be right back for our last segment. Always hard. But yeah, I agree. I don't think a men's... Hello? Yeah. Hello? You have a subjection? We're here to make sure that it's streaming over because Randy said we were having problems yesterday with the beam on air. Sweet. Looks like we are. Yeah, bro, bro. Keep going, man. Sorry, guys, to interrupt yourself. It's fine, bro. What's up, Ricky? This is Final Four. You're listening to WC2 Sports Network on CSU Sturt Radio Station. I'm the host, Davis Myers, here with my co-host Money Man McGee. And you're back here with us now, Sports and Cage, with our last segment on our first show of the day, where we were talking about the comparison between women's and basketball players going to a draft. Sorry, sorry, sorry. In college. Women's and men's basketball, college basketball players, I don't know if they want to stay or go to a draft. And just like the comparison between those two. So, for example, Paige Bukers, as Shane was saying in our last segment, Paige Bukers will be returning for a fifth season. Fifth year of eligibility, where she'll be playing for UConn, and she could potentially hope UConn win a national championship. Yeah, and I really think you know, there's a lot of things that go into you know, the one and done rule in men's college basketball that, you know, sometimes it makes sense, but then you bring in a guy that you expect to only be there for a year, and they kind of have a real college career, like Caleb Love went to UNC. Why did he transfer to Arizona? UNC fans didn't really like Caleb Love all that much. For his playing style, or for his attitude? I think it was tournament related. I can't remember why, but, you know, he was expected to be something, and you know, he was still great, but they weren't what he was expecting him to be, and so he left, you know, and you know, he's won a lot of awards for the Pac-12. I mean, he took Arizona into the tournament, kind of their star player of sorts for this season, and, you know, he played four years of college basketball, so he is a very talented player, and he'll probably go in the draft because of age. He's 22 years old. He's probably going to fall, and that's another reason why the one and done kind of makes sense, but ruins college basketball, because if you get too old, you're going to ruin your draft stock, which makes no sense to me at all. It's unfair, because you have players who are 19, and you have players who are 22, but yeah, the 22 year olds aren't being a discount because they are older. Yeah, you get 18, 19 year old kids coming into the draft. Yeah, he didn't even play college basketball. No, he played, where again? I don't even know where. Probably, I think he played in a France Pro League or something of that nature. It's like Luka Doncic. That's what he played in. And Jokic. So you have all these players who are coming in at like a young age, and they're shining, and like they do, but I feel like... Well, yeah, the European basketball market has exploded in recent memory, and you'll find gems in European players because they've already been playing pro basketball. They've been playing pro basketball or have been in a pro basketball style system from the time they were 16 to by the time they get drafted. Right. That adds a little bit to it. You get these European guys, and they'll come in at 18, 19 years old, and then you'll get the one and dones from college. They'll come in, they'll be great. They'll be 18, 19 years old, and then they're these guys that really work their butt off at college and have great careers in college, and for whatever reason, they're expected to go one and done when they come in, and they decide not to maybe because of draft stock issues, maybe because they're just genuinely enjoying college and want to finish with a degree, and in the long run, that kind of shafts them a little bit. It does. Let's say if they're a one and don't, it's expected to be a top-five pick if you work your butt off in college and senior. You could fall into a second-round pick instead of a first-round pick if you had just left first year college. And the only thing that really keeps one player at the top from the time that they are like... Rookie? No. The only thing that keeps guys in primed draft position as they go four years in college is if they never have a bad season or if they never get injured. Yeah. Because one injury in college, and there's injury concerns about your career, and it's bull crap. Yeah, bull crap. It's more words, but we can't say that on the show. It's like Stephen Curry. He was seen to have problems with ACL, and he was too short. That's different, though, but his ACL out of Davidson, he got injured. I think he got just once. But, you know, he took them to a nice run of March Madness. He got drafted seventh. So it's kind of like that. It's like, you know, it hurts them sometimes, but if you're a player who is consistent and shines, I feel like it would be fine, but I see what you're saying. Yeah. Back then, it was more popular to stay four years anyway. It was. It was the right thing to do. Guys, I don't know if you've ever heard of Imani Bates. Yeah, I have. Imani Bates in my freshman year of high school was a projected first-round pick. No, he was the projected number one overall pick in his draft class. That's crazy. Then he skipped a year of high school, declared college early. He went to Memphis with Jalen Duren. Didn't have the year that he was expected to, and he went to Eastern Michigan, played there, balled out, and he only played two years in college. He was still relatively young. I think there may have been a couple concerns character-wise, but he fell all the way to the late second round. Yeah. And, you know, this is a guy that was projected to be number one overall over guys that we are talking about right now. He was supposed to go over Jalen Duren. And I got to watch Jalen Duren play high school basketball in person. And after seeing him play a game, I said that I don't think there's anybody better to watch in high school basketball at the time than Jalen Duren. But apparently Imani Bates was better than him in high school. And, you know, he kind of he never lived up to his potential and partially character things, I'm assuming, but it's also partially you know, he didn't have the first year that everyone expected him to have. He basically yeah, he basically had to leave Memphis. And went to Eastern Michigan. What if he stayed and worked at it? Worked at his craft? Was it like a Memphis place kid? I don't know. Memphis year was kind of weird because him and Jalen Duren declared up a year. Oh, okay. So they were both supposed to be high school seniors when they played their first year. Got it. That's not allowed now, right? That's not allowed now. I think it is still allowed. Like how Quinn Ewers did it? Yeah. But he never got to play. But he wasn't like in football comparisons, he was not the way Jalen Duren and Imani Bates were. Yeah, they were already at the top and like they're supposed to be seniors in high school with their freshman playing at a high level, a D1 school like Memphis. You know, it just goes to show how tough it is to stay at the top. How tough it is to try and live by everybody else's word and it could be the pressure as well to Imani Bates. Not just Imani Bates but everybody else who are like projected to do this and this and this but are put too much on them so they kind of like they play well but not like like oh my gosh, expect them to be like this and not like this. So it's kind of like a negative thing sometimes. But yeah, we are I don't know like 10 seconds left for our last segment but we will be back for our last little few minutes segment. This is WCCU SM. Don't go anywhere guys. This is Sports Engaged. We'll be right back. But yeah, I never really thought about that like ever. Hey guys, welcome back to listening to WCCU Sports Network on Coastal College University radio station. I'm the host, Davis Myers here with my co-host Shane McGee. Shane Money McGee back in the house and we are, no, and you're back here with us on Sports Engaged for our last few minutes segment here. Just a quick apology for getting so off topic. Yeah, we apologize viewers. But it is a very frustrating thing and if it weren't for the women's tournament this year and last year I feel like interest in the tournament as a whole probably would have gone down a little bit from year to year. However, just being appreciative and acknowledging the women's basketball over the last couple of years and how good it's been. It really showed out. Yeah, sorry to interrupt you Shane. And you know, just the players as a whole, as people, as basketball players, just keeping us invested in them and their tournaments and games. Absolutely. I agree. I feel like more people have tuned in to the women's games and the men's games this year. Because of the big names, the teams coming up, the revenge games, the LSU versus Iowa. Iowa and South Carolina. It's just been a great game of rematches. A great game of players for the women of college basketball. March Madness. It's been really exciting for me because I've never really tuned in like this before. I've never really watched like, watched a Kaitlin Clark or a player This is the first time I can remember like, not going out of my way, but like, before the men's games started. Watching the women's game before the men's games. And it's not not like a not not that the women's games have ever been bad or anything. No. I don't think there has ever been this type of interest level. Which is awesome. We want this. The WNBA should be able to capitalize on this from a viewership standpoint and hopefully marketing and revenue standpoint. Because the NBA is never going to put the amount of money into the WNBA that they do into the actual game. You know, not saying that they shouldn't or should, but it's just an unfortunate reality for the WNBA. And so, stars like this coming into the league after they already have so much interest from people after their college days Very special. Hopefully it starts a movement for the WNBA. Hopefully they start getting bigger fan bases and wanting to expand doing things that they haven't been able to do before. That's right Shane. Well guys, we're just wrapping up. Have a great day and have a great weekend. We'll see you guys soon. Weekend. I'm not signing. But that was a good way.