00:00who you've watched so far in the NCAA tournament that you would want for the Mavs.
00:06Now, in terms of the game itself, you get another overtime game for the Mavericks,
00:13and they lose.
00:14Unfortunately, that is where the terrible Moses Moody injury happened.
00:20Why did I go back and look at it again?
00:22Did you really?
00:23I'm looking at it right now.
00:24I don't know why you would do that.
00:28Now, outside of that, which was obviously very noteworthy in the game,
00:33you can point to something specific because I feel like Cooper Flagg was getting a shot
00:40and his offensive flow back, but on the flip side, he was a turnover machine yesterday.
00:46So was Najee Marshall.
00:48I believe him and Najee combined for 15 turnovers,
00:53and that feels like that's never going to be good enough regardless of who you're playing
00:57because it is the Warriors, but it's not the Warriors as you think of them
01:01because they're mediocre at best as well.
01:04Yeah, they were sloppy last night, and that's a true factor,
01:08and that slop can't happen down the road.
01:12You're going to have games like this where you just are off a little bit.
01:17And, Kevin, I don't know how much being sloppy does go into you kind of know where you are right
01:22now.
01:23The tanking portion of this, you understand.
01:27I don't think that their collection of talent is this bad that they can't win games since January.
01:33It doesn't feel like it should be this bad.
01:36Right.
01:37But it does look that way right now.
01:41So hopefully they can correct that for next year, but we have a long time before we get there.
01:46From the 561, hold on.
01:47Is the Mavs season still going?
01:49I mean, technically.
01:51So it's been over for a long time, but they still have 10.
01:56To finish the game?
01:56Yeah, they still have 10 more games left.
01:58But this season is over.
02:00It's been over for a really long time.
02:03I think the biggest thing that people have been doing is kind of like watching the Jazz, for example,
02:11because you have the sixth worst record in the NBA, but the Jazz still feel very catchable in terms of
02:18moving into the fifth spot for lottery odds
02:21because the worse your record, theoretically, the better the lottery spot.
02:25And hopefully the ping pong balls treat you right once again.
02:29But you did get a whole lot of luck or, you know, a pre-setup deal last year.
02:35So, the question that we move into...
02:38Dude, the Jazz give up so many points.
02:41Oh, yeah.
02:42125 points a game?
02:44I think he could have just said, the Jazz give up.
02:46And I would have been like, that sounds right.
02:48Kevin, I know this is a new era of basketball.
02:53Not a single team gives up less than 107 points a game.
02:58Yeah.
02:59In the NBA.
03:00Yeah.
03:00If you can keep somebody to 107, 108, that's phenomenal.
03:04You remember the times back in the day where we were like, 89 points a game.
03:08Yeah.
03:08And now here we are with this, and I don't know.
03:10I do think it ebbs and flows, right?
03:13Because there was a time where, like, you would see these kind of scores in the 80s all of the
03:18time.
03:18And then you got into more of the Spurs and Pistons style where you feel like, oh, first and 90
03:24wins the game.
03:25And you're like, ugh.
03:26I can live without seeing that again.
03:28I know we could still stand for some better defense.
03:31But as long as we don't go back to the Spurs-Pistons time, I am fine with that.
03:37All right.
03:39Who, if anyone, have you seen in the NCAA tournament thus far?
03:44Or maybe you have no life like me and you've been watching regular season college basketball.
03:50Who have you seen that has impressed you?
03:53And I'm not saying just because they're supposed to be, like, a top five pick or whatever.
03:57Like, who have you seen that you like?
04:01It's the guy that I did not expect to like this much.
04:05But I've completely decided that this is the guy that goes next to Cooper Flagg.
04:10And if Cooper Flagg is the try-hardiest guy on the court, then Acuff can be the dude who fills
04:17up the bucket.
04:17Let Cooper Flagg go out there and be the Scottie Pippen of defense and the Michael Jordan of defense at
04:24the same time.
04:25And Acuff is basically a cone.
04:27He's one of those orange cones out there that's just like, you can go score.
04:31I just want the ball back so I can score, too.
04:33If that's going to be the case, I'm okay with it.
04:35But the dude can fill up the bucket.
04:37And so watching him play, I love that offensive style that he has.
04:42If I can learn him a little toughness on defense, I'll be happy.
04:46But he's a blast to watch.
04:48And making these games competitive.
04:50Thursday night, I can't wait for Thursday night's game against Arizona.
04:53Arizona's probably going to mop them all over the floor.
04:56But it's still going to be a blast of a game.
04:58So that is the team that I picked to win the tournament.
05:03And it is a fascinating dynamic.
05:04So you're talking about Darius Acuff with Arkansas.
05:07He's averaging 30 points per game so far in this tournament.
05:10Had 36 against High Point.
05:13And, man, they needed most all of that because that game was super competitive down until the end.
05:18But if you can knock off Arizona, that would be something.
05:23Because that's like some people have compared Acuff to Darren Peterson.
05:29Darren Peterson, for a while, felt like he was the presumptive No. 1 pick.
05:35And who knows?
05:36Maybe he will still be the No. 1 pick.
05:38But a lot of people are like, hey, look at what Acuff is doing for his team when the game
05:43is on the line.
05:44Versus, hey, look at what Darren Peterson is or is not doing when his team's on the line.
05:49That's exactly where this next level of things has changed my opinion on him even more.
05:57I see the dude playing and balling out.
05:59But then he's also like, and I want to be on the court.
06:02I want the ball in my hand whenever it's a big time.
06:05I want it in the big moment.
06:06Yeah, he really does.
06:07Now, here's the thing, though, Kevin.
06:09We saw that.
06:10We saw that kind of mentality in Dennis Smith Jr.
06:15That is true.
06:16And it never, we never saw the same dude from what we saw in college.
06:20But what I'm seeing right now is a dude who wants the big moment in the NBA stage isn't going
06:26to be too big for him.
06:27Now, before we move on to a couple of these games that maybe you should pay particular attention to,
06:31Alec, is there any player, whether it's Acuff again or somebody else, that has caught your attention that you would
06:38like to see on the Mavs?
06:40Acuff has been the one that's caught my attention recently, mainly because DeBonsa is not in the race anymore, and
06:47it makes me sad.
06:48But, yeah, we talked about Acuff a little bit last week, gave a little bit of a scouting report, and
06:54I think he's awesome.
06:56I think the motor is incredible.
06:58The court vision that he has, too, with the ball in his hands.
07:02I've seen some of the nastiest assists that I've seen from any player at the college level this season from
07:09him.
07:10And, hey, he just got himself a shoe deal today as well.
07:13So, you know, he's living up to expectation.
07:15People are taking notice.
07:17I'm afraid that too many people are taking notice because I know I started hearing his name a lot on
07:22this station a few weeks ago,
07:23and now I'm seeing the rest of the country kind of catch up with him.
07:27And I'm like, can we stop talking about him?
07:29Can we stop spotlighting him just a little bit?
07:32Okay, so I want you guys, if you have the time and interest, I think Metroplex people would be fascinated
07:39by this,
07:40check out the evening game, one of the evening games on Thursday.
07:45Houston against Illinois because there's one player that we've talked a whole lot about
07:51and probably another one that we maybe haven't talked enough about is Kingston Flemings with Houston
07:58and then Keaton Wagler with Illinois.
08:01I am really excited to see how that game plays out.
08:05I do have Houston in the Final Four, but I'm more excited to see how it plays out in terms
08:10of those two particular players.
08:14One of our sales guys, big-time Houston Cougars fan.
08:19Okay.
08:20And he was talking to me the other day.
08:22He was like, I guarantee you if Kingston Fleming was on Arkansas's team,
08:28he'd be just as good as he is right now next to Acuff as well.
08:32Right.
08:32He's like that.
08:34Acuff kind of carries that whole thing.
08:36Kingston Fleming is on a very good basketball team with a good partner as well.
08:41But when it comes to Fleming, a little bit of a better defender too.
08:46But this dude, he's an absolute baller.
08:49One of the things that kind of was mentioned here was regarding Acuff and some of these nasty assists,
08:54and we kind of talked about the right play.
08:57Cooper Flagg was talking about that last night after the game.
08:59Didn't you like hearing, like, I don't know, it's just instinctual.
09:02My whole life, it's just make the right play, not the one that's a fancy one,
09:06but just make the correct play.
09:08And that's really smart.
09:10Now, there's one more player I want you guys to take a look at or see if he's caught anybody's
09:17attention.
09:17By the way, somebody said Jeremy Fears from Michigan State.
09:21Ooh, that is an intriguing one.
09:22We can loop back around to him in just a second.
09:26Is Nate Ament with Tennessee?
09:30Now, this is somebody that you might have seen kind of, it's been mocked to.
09:35The Mavericks.
09:36The Mavericks, yeah, a couple of different times along the way,
09:40and the potential is definitely there.
09:45There's a couple of things that concern me about it.
09:48For as big as he is, he is an awful shooter.
09:53And I know you might be like, well, shouldn't big people be worse shooters?
09:57No, I mean inside the arc.
09:59Oh, that's no good.
10:00Yeah, like he's not a good three-point shooter, but that's fine.
10:02I realize basketball is moving more and more towards 3-3-3,
10:07but I don't automatically expect my 6'10 guy to have to be able to shoot the three.
10:12But inside the arc, he's a terrible shooter as well.
10:16And so I am really concerned about that.
10:18So when you talk about him, just keep an eye out on that Tennessee-Iowa State game,
10:23because that's another game where they're going to be the underdog.
10:26But we talk about a lot of point or combo guards in terms of Acuff, Flemings,
10:31just bringing up Wagler.
10:33But a Mint is somebody who, that's a different deal.
10:37I got a couple of notes on NBA DraftNet, Kevin.
10:40Sure.
10:40They do have the Mavericks at 7 taking a Mint.
10:43They also have them down at 30 taking Morez Johnson.
10:47And then they also have Jaden Bradley at 37.
10:50I was going to ask about Jaden Bradley, your Arizona kid,
10:52who, I think he's shooting, what, 39% from three.
10:55The dude's on the best team, according to you.
11:00Does that make a difference that he's like one of those really good players
11:03on a really good team?
11:04Yeah.
11:05And he's a senior.
11:06And it's kind of, would that be a Jalen Brunson move
11:09where you're just like, we got this guy.
11:11Is it ever unfortunate that it feels like seniors automatically get so discounted?
11:16Yes.
11:16Although, to be fair, I guess I did fall into that trap yesterday
11:20when I was talking about Ty Simpson.
11:22And I was like, why did it take so long for him to play?
11:24Yeah.
11:25You would never draft Yaxel Lindeborg because he turned down a lot more money
11:31to go play somewhere else.
11:33I will tell you this.
11:34If you have the ability to pick up Morez Johnson as well,
11:39I would be thrilled by that.
11:42I think he's actually going to end up going higher,
11:44maybe a decent little bit higher than that.
11:48So, if he was still available at the end of the third round,
11:51which is what I assume would come into play with the first round pick that you picked up
11:56from OKC, then I would be totally fine with that.
12:00I would enjoy that very much.
12:02But, just focus in on while you're enjoying the tournament.
12:05Just wanted to bring some spotlight to teams like Tennessee, Illinois, Houston
12:11that we've all talked about.
12:12Michigan State, that's another one we didn't really get a chance
12:14to talk a whole lot about fears, and then, of course, Arkansas.
12:18817, Luka got traded.
12:20What?
12:21Yeah.
12:22I don't know where they...
12:23I'm really sorry to tell you that.
12:28Oh, Aiden.
12:29Do we have to put the breaking news sounder up there?
12:31Let's go check and see if Shams has reported that yet.
12:34OK.
12:34Fortune favors the bull.
12:36Man, you'll have to go scroll for a long time
12:38if you're going to find that on his timeline, I feel like.
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