- 7 minutes ago
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00Let's get to another big story in sports from today and yesterday as well.
00:04Major League Baseball announced yesterday that they will be having a partnership this season with a company that we've come
00:11to be very familiar with over the last six months.
00:14Poly Market is the exclusive prediction market partner of Major League Baseball and the only platform allows to use teams,
00:21logos, and marks, representing the latest pro league to embrace the prediction markets, Major League Baseball, NHL, MLS, and UFC
00:29as well.
00:30So we'll see what exactly happens this season.
00:33Opening day is a week away.
00:34Meanwhile, the Midwest region is just 15 minutes away.
00:38Santa Clara takes on Kentucky at 1215 Eastern.
00:41As of right now, it's a very short spread here with Kentucky minus two and a half.
00:47The over-under is 158 and a half, and the winner will play Iowa State, and Iowa State will certainly
00:54hope for the best this weekend, too.
00:56If Iowa State wins, they'll take on one of these two teams with a chance to get to the Sweet
00:5916 as well.
01:00Over in the Midwest region, we've got Texas Tech taking on Akron, and right now that's the 5-12 matchup
01:06at 1240 p.m. Eastern.
01:08The winner will play Alabama, and if Alabama wins, that they would move on.
01:14They play Hofstra later today.
01:16VCU defeated UNC last night, 82-78.
01:19North Carolina was two and a half point favorites.
01:21The game went to overtime, and in overtime, North Carolina couldn't knock down their free throws.
01:26In fact, the final free throw was a shot that was missed completely, attempted to miss, but didn't even hit
01:32the rim.
01:32That frustrated Hubert Davis after the game.
01:36Coach, what did you, generally, what do you think went wrong?
01:42What do you mean?
01:44It sucked.
01:45Why didn't he score in the last four or five minutes of the game?
01:49Well, I mean, to go back.
01:53Um.
01:53I mean, I'm 10.
01:55What?
01:56What Seth said to him.
01:58You.
01:58You take.
01:59Just because you miss a shot doesn't mean something's wrong.
02:03We had open looks.
02:05We had shots at the basket.
02:07We had executed plays, and we missed eight free throws.
02:20And sometimes the ball doesn't go in.
02:25We also made, you know, in order, and you really want to compliment VCU of their resiliency to, in down
02:3519 to keep trying to find a way.
02:39Mine hurt.
02:41It also felt like just the small details in order for a team to come back.
02:49They have to be good enough and resilient enough to do that, and VCU was.
02:53But I also believe that there were mistakes made that helped them come back.
03:04Duke also defeated Siena yesterday, despite Siena having a big lead in this game.
03:08In fact, going into the second half, there were some folks who had their bracket almost busted.
03:13But Duke did come through.
03:14The Boozer brothers combined for 43 points.
03:17Here's John Shire and Cam Boozer after the game.
03:20It's not concerning from the standpoint that, unfortunately, this is the nature of the tournament.
03:26You know, it's the nature of the tournament.
03:27And, you know, look, I wish it could just be smooth sailing.
03:32And, you know, these guys, you know, even though we have returners from last year's team, we're all in different
03:40spots.
03:42You can face a team like Siena.
03:44They're incredibly ready to play.
03:46We made some mistakes early that they made us pay for it.
03:49And all of a sudden, you want to win very badly.
03:52And so, you can start making plays to try to get back in the game that are probably uncharacteristic of
03:58who we've been.
03:59All year, they're doing a great job pretending to paint.
04:00You know, they are really soft on the ball.
04:03They sell to the paint.
04:04They make you settle for threes.
04:06And we took the bait on that.
04:08You know, I think we really didn't come out ready to play today.
04:10And we've got to be a lot better moving forward.
04:12But coach has all the time.
04:14Whether you win by one or 25, it doesn't matter.
04:16So, just on to the next.
04:19Biggest surprise of the day, High Point taking out Wisconsin, without a doubt.
04:24That was the big one there.
04:25And right now, it looks like High Point's got a shot to go deep into the tournament if they can
04:29win.
04:30Finn Clayman was very, very excited after the game.
04:33He's the head coach, if you didn't know, of High Point.
04:35Talked about what it required to get to this point.
04:38Tough to even put into words what just happened.
04:42Couldn't be more proud of this team.
04:45In the summer, when we get those shot tracker numbers back, and there's 63 schools in the country to have
04:51it,
04:51and we're number one every week in shots taken, they can talk about whatever we have, but we're working.
04:57We're selfless.
05:00And it's pretty obvious to me that something needs to be done about this non-conference scheduling.
05:05High Point and Miami, Ohio are 2-0 in quad one games.
05:09We couldn't get games.
05:10They couldn't get games.
05:11Akron couldn't get games.
05:13UNCW couldn't get games.
05:14Belmont couldn't get games.
05:16We won 22 of our last 23 games, and we didn't move up one spot in the metrics.
05:20Not one.
05:21We won 22 of our 23.
05:23We've won 25 games by double digits.
05:26That team right there is a fantastic team that beat five top ten teams.
05:30If we can get games like this on neutral courts and some home games, I think we'd know who's really
05:34the best teams.
05:35I'm proud of these dudes, and we're not just here to win one game.
05:38We're here to get to the Sweet 16.
05:41Finn Clayman, a popular name right now in the NCAA tournament.
05:44Meanwhile, Texas, very popular.
05:45They win their play-in game and also beat BYU yesterday, and BYU was favorites.
05:50And so now Texas moves on.
05:52Also, St. Louis takes care of Georgia 102-77.
05:55100-plus points for the Billikens.
05:57Michigan takes control in the second half to defeat Howard.
06:00101-80.
06:01They were 30-point favorites.
06:02They did not cover that spread.
06:04Arkansas covered their spread late last night, beating Hawaii 97-78.
06:09Darius Acuff had 24 points in the game.
06:12John Calipari's 60th tournament win, fifth all-time.
06:15First five minutes of the game, says Calipari, were crucial.
06:18The start of the game, we talked about it.
06:21We've been talking about it for the last month.
06:23First five minutes.
06:24Now, the first five minutes could be 15-15, but you were ready to play, and the other team played
06:30well, too.
06:32Today, they missed some shots, and then they started making shots.
06:35You've got to give them credit.
06:37They did not quit.
06:39Hawaii just kept playing.
06:40And all of a sudden, I'm looking up, it's 15, but then we make a play or two.
06:45These two, Malik Ewan is showing, he's basically telling on himself,
06:51of this is how good I am, and the way he chased down balls with unbelievable energy.
06:58And then you saw TV, and the great news is, you saw him where he wasn't making shots.
07:04How'd he look?
07:05And he didn't make shots, and you're looking at him like, holy cow.
07:09And that's what I just keep trying to tell him.
07:11You don't, if you make them great, if you don't, just do all the other things you do.
07:15So that was a good start for us.
07:18Always worried about the first game.
07:20Hard game for everybody playing.
07:23Izzo's season began for Michigan State, just like it did for John Calipari,
07:27and went well, at least initially.
07:29In Game 1, Michigan State wins big.
07:31They move on to the next round.
07:33Texas A&M defeated St. Mary 63-50.
07:36St. Mary's two-and-a-half-point favorite, but they turned the ball over 18 times,
07:39and naturally, that's not going to work.
07:41Also, Gonzaga had a tight battle with Kennesaw State.
07:4573-64 the finals, so the Zags do not cover as well.
07:48As you can tell, the dogs were barking quite a bit.
07:50But Illinois basically takes out Penn in a very easy victory.
07:56And the final score in that one, I believe, was 105-70.
07:59They were 25-and-a-half-point favorites, so naturally, they did cover that spread.
08:03Also, yesterday, University of South Florida was a popular pick to upset Louisville.
08:07That didn't end up happening.
08:08Louisville won the game and barely covered.
08:10They had a 23-point lead, but did come down to the wire.
08:13They ended up winning.
08:14Vanderbilt rallies from double digits down to come back and beat McNeese.
08:18They were 12-and-a-half-point favorites.
08:20Xavier Edmonds game-winner gave TCU the early win over Ohio State yesterday.
08:24That was the afternoon game.
08:25Nebraska's first-ever NCAA tournament win is over Troy, 76-47.
08:30And Houston dismantled Idaho, 78-47.
08:34Welcome back to Newswire, the only game of consequence at the moment in the NCAA tournament.
08:37That's a little advanced in the game.
08:40Kentucky, Santa Clara, 20-18.
08:42Already closing in on the end of the first half here.
08:46Kentucky leads Santa Clara.
08:47That's the 7-10 matchup, 20-18.
08:50All right, let's bring in John Lafayette from The Measure for the very latest going on in sports and television
08:55and streaming ratings as well.
08:56And, John, great to have you back here on Newswire.
08:59The World Baseball Classic was obviously fantastic.
09:02I attended the championship, I attended the semifinals, I attended several games here in South Florida, and never would have
09:10expected to see these sort of television ratings, especially for Fox here, when you consider these games happen in the
09:18month of March.
09:18But if these are any indication, John, great news for baseball, to me, moving ahead of the NBA, which is
09:26very significant.
09:27Yeah, baseball seems to be pretty hot.
09:29I hope they don't mess it up with their labor problems at the end of the season.
09:33But as far as the tournament was concerned, Team USA may have lost, but Fox was a big winner.
09:38Like you said, the final game grew 10.7 million viewers on Fox and Fox Deportes, the Spanish language channel.
09:47That's up 128% from the 2023 final when Shohei Itani struck out his Angels teammate Mike Trout to give
09:56Japan the title.
09:58Over the course of the entire tournament, with Team USA hanging on until the very end, Fox, FS1, and FS2
10:06averaged 1.3 million viewers, and that's up 156%.
10:11You saw the atmosphere.
10:12Players seem to love it, especially the guys who are coming over here to prove that they can keep up
10:17with the United States.
10:18I think the tournament is here to stay, and I think that the league would be smart to find more
10:23ways to play some international baseball.
10:25Yep, three years from now, they'll do it again at the next World Baseball Classic.
10:29But the question, John, moving forward in the NBA is where will they be playing games if teams expand?
10:35There's a possibility that it looks like Las Vegas, who's been the topic of expansion everywhere, baseball, hockey, and now
10:41the NBA.
10:42Once upon a time, Seattle had an NBA team, and it looks like they may be getting one back again.
10:48Yep, well, they're going to be voting next week on expanding the league up to 32 teams.
10:54And like you said, Vegas and Seattle seem to be the frontrunners, and both of those teams have a history
10:59in sports now.
11:01The Golden Knights in hockey, the Raiders in football, and maybe the Oakland A's will be moving in when it
11:06comes to Vegas.
11:07Public officials in Vegas are really high on sports.
11:10They're pushing very hard for an NBA team.
11:12There are even rumors that LeBron James might be part of an ownership group, although he's denying it.
11:17You know, he's a basketball player for now.
11:19If he's going to be an owner in the future like Magic Johnson, we'll see that in the future.
11:23Seattle, they haven't had a team since 2008.
11:27Those fans were crazy for legends like Gary Payton and Sean Kemp.
11:31They had Kevin Durant when he was a rookie, and then the team bolted and went to Oklahoma City.
11:38Whatever happened to Oklahoma City?
11:39Oh, yeah, they're champions now.
11:41So, there's a lot of FOMO going on in Seattle when it comes to basketball.
11:45For the owners, expansion is big business.
11:49They could pocket up to $8 billion for each team that expands, and that would be great for them.
11:55The downside for some owners is that they'd have to split the TV money 32 ways instead of 30 ways,
12:02which means year to year they'd get a little bit less money.
12:04The big problem with expansion comes from the fans.
12:08Fans and other experts who follow the league, they say, hey, we already got a lot of teams in this
12:12league
12:12that aren't playing to win.
12:13They're looking for draft choices.
12:15They're tanking.
12:16What do we do about that when there's fewer teams contending?
12:19There are a lot of players to go around, but a lot of teams are still looking for next season,
12:23and that creates a lot of these games, especially late in the season when it's hard to get people to
12:27go.
12:28And, yeah, you want to make sure that there's going to be players for you to see.
12:31So, it'll be interesting to see what the owners decide next week.
12:36A big decision for the NFL Players Association.
12:39They, every once in a while, decide to switch things up.
12:42In this case, they have a new Players Association director here, executive director.
12:47Who is it?
12:48The guy is J.C. Tretter.
12:50You might not have remembered as a player, but he was a lineman with the Packers and the Browns,
12:55among other teams.
12:56He was also the chief strategy officer for the union until about a year ago when he quit.
13:02But him and the executive director both left, partly because of a lawsuit that they lost.
13:08Actually, it was an arbitration that they lost, trying to prove that there was collusion against the players.
13:15There was a lot of weird things going on with that particular case.
13:19And so, when they left, it was sort of like, okay, let's see what happens.
13:23Now, they're back.
13:25Roger Goodell, for one, seems to be pretty happy about it.
13:28He said all kinds of nice things about J.C.
13:31And there's a lot on the agenda as far as the union is concerned.
13:34The main thing is this 18-game schedule that the league wants to put through.
13:39Also, a lot of more international play.
13:41And both of these things could affect player health as well as the player's wealth.
13:45And so, that's something that they're going to have to negotiate.
13:48And historically, the NFL players' unions has been among the weakest of these sports unions.
13:53The NFL is very, very powerful.
13:55And NFL careers are very, very short.
13:58That's bad leverage as far as the players are concerned.
14:01And it would be tough to see if J.C. Tretter can figure out a way to give the league's
14:08players a little bit more leverage.
14:11John, the WNBA season begins in May.
14:13And good thing there will be no lockout.
14:15There will be no strike.
14:16They have come to a new agreement.
14:18And most importantly, in this new agreement, as the players have asked for,
14:21the minimum salary is up to $500,000 in the league,
14:25which is significant considering the pay previous to that was close to half of that.
14:31Yeah, it's a big jump for these players.
14:35Women's sports has become very popular.
14:37It's become a big business.
14:38And women want to get paid.
14:40And I think that's only fair.
14:41Like you said, this new team, this new deal that hasn't been ratified yet,
14:46but it seems to be pretty close to being finalized,
14:49it increases the salary cap to about $7 million per team.
14:53And that's up from $1.5 million a year.
14:56For superstars who qualify for the max, they can get paid as much as $1.4 million.
15:02So that's good for them.
15:03The other thing that's going on with the WNBA is that they're talking about expanding the schedule to 52 games
15:10from 44 games.
15:11That will bring in more revenue.
15:13That will help the teams pay for these new salaries.
15:17Already the league is doing pretty good in terms of media rights.
15:20They have a $2.2 billion deal that runs through 2037.
15:25So there's a lot of money to go around.
15:27And the players at this point are getting about 20% of it.
15:31That's not a really big share as far as pro sports goes.
15:34So they've still got a way to go.
15:37John, as always, thanks for coming on Newswire.
15:39We'll catch up again next week.
15:41Thanks a lot, Craig.
15:42Good seeing you.
Comments