Episode 22: March Madness or March Heartbreak?

The OGs take two - episodes about the tourney, that is.  Part 1 is about the NCAA women players and teams and Part 2 about the men players and teams.  In Part 3 the discussion shifts to the NBA - who’s clinched the playoffs and who’s playing in?

Part 1 Stars and Sleepers - NCAA Women                                                                  

Part 2 Stars and Sleepers - NCAA Men                                                                        

Every March since 1939 the NCAA Tourney delivers both the stars that shine under pressure and sleepers who wreck brackets. This year is no different, so far, the stars are steady but the sleepers are lurking.  The OGs talk tourney for the Women and the Men in two separate sessions.                                                                                                                                 

Part 3 Locked In or Playing In?                                                                                          

Mary Lou and Phyllis discuss the NBA top dogs and surging squads.  The vibe - young teams are loud; old powers are waking up and just a few have it locked. The play-ins and playoffs could be messy, but in a good way. 

Follow us on Instagram #OGs Talkin’ Ball

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Welcome to OG's Talk and Ball. This is Phyllis and Mary Lou back with you. We had a little spring break a couple of weeks ago. We did. Mm-hmm. Uh what w what were you up to?

SPEAKER_01 0:15

Well, actually, um, I think I mentioned back in January that my sister had passed away, and we were able then the family to gather together, and um my nephew and his wife and uh brother-in-law put together a beautiful service for my sister. So it was really a good time for family to gather in Southern California, and we had amazing weather down there at that point, and um, so it was really a nice Saturday afternoon to spend together with family and um you know pay our final not really final respects because we will always be thinking about her, but really had the opportunity for some good times to laugh about things, to remember just what an amazing person she was when she was on this planet, and um it was pretty cool. So that was mine, and I know yours was a lot more more um involved and exciting, fellas. So tell us what you did. I went to Greece and Turkey. Good grief, good grief, two fabulous countries, I must say.

SPEAKER_00 1:15

Um but on a food and art tour, and believe me, nice, I I did imbibe in the food. I bet you did.

SPEAKER_01 1:23

I bet you did.

SPEAKER_00 1:24

Yes, yeah, and here's a fun fact. Did you know Istanbul is the only um city in the world that's on two c two continents? Yes, I did. I did this. Half of it's in um Europe and the and across the water, the other half is in Asia.

SPEAKER_01 1:42

I have had the opportunity to go there twice. Yes. So I learned lots of and yeah, that's always like, oh my god, how does that work? You know? But it works. And and it's obviously you see you saw it, I'm sure, two distinct kind of the separation is quite distinctive with the influences of both of those countries that you mentioned, but I don't want to take away from you. What else? What was the best things you ate? What did you enjoy?

SPEAKER_00 2:05

Oh, there were there were too many things to uh list. Uh-huh. You know, the pistachios were great. Yeah. You know, yeah. We tried all kinds of things made with pistachios.

SPEAKER_01 2:17

Yum. Yum. And I'm sure all olives and olive oil are plentiful there. And oh yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:23

You know, you know, in the cooking class when she says, I'm we're gonna add about a tablespoon and she pours in a cup of olive oil.

SPEAKER_01 2:32

Oh my god. I know they do love the it's that Mediterranean diet thing, you know, they do love it there.

SPEAKER_00 2:37

This is a great tablespoon.

SPEAKER_01 2:39

Yeah. And I remember you uh showed online on your Facebook actually uh the how baklava baklava baklava was made, and that I love that. Oh my god, the honey and the nuts on that are always just mouthwater.

SPEAKER_00 2:52

You know the the old company we went to to see the baklava being made, and um doesn't use honey, it uses uh beet sugar. Beet sugar? Beet beet beet, like sugar beet. Sugar beet sugar. Okay, all right. That's what they grow there, they don't have cane sugar. Right, right. So they grow beet sugar in. Cool.

SPEAKER_01 3:15

Well, God, we could talk about this on all day, but let's not. Let's get into one of the main topics that we're gonna discuss today, and that's the NCAA women's tournament. And any surprises or things that have popped in your head so far that you've enjoyed watching?

SPEAKER_00 3:31

The first round the um there were no surprises. Yeah, only the top rated um teams won their games, which they should.

SPEAKER_01 3:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:42

They were top rated because they win most of their games. Exactly, exactly.

SPEAKER_01 3:48

And the final four last year are uh, you know, it'll be interesting to see how many of those resurface this year. And who's gonna be able to beat UConn? That's the big question.

SPEAKER_00 3:59

Well, yes.

SPEAKER_01 3:59

They are so dominant, and our buddy, our peer, age-wise Gino Hori Emma, you know, their coach, is just an amazing coach, and I know he's got a great team of coaches around him that help him with making those kinds of decisions, but what a group, you know, what a group of outstanding uh women players.

SPEAKER_00 4:18

Have you seen uh all the commercials now with Yukon players in them? I know NIL, baby, NIL. Men and women, you know. There's one I don't even understand. But still, you know, it's interesting because I have not seen college players do that level of advertising.

SPEAKER_01 4:38

Right. And actually, we can tell people this is the Monday of the day before that our podcast will drop because it drops at midnight on Tuesday, but uh so there's still games to be played in the second round today. So, but so far I don't know if there are truly any um surprises. There are certainly some players who I'm really interested in watching, particularly because uh we are going to have here in Portland a WNBA team this year, and it'll be curious to see if people like Reagan Beers, who's at Oklahoma, a 6'4, uh Junior there, or uh a uh forward, or if uh Lauren Betts from UCLA, 6'7 center, you know, are gonna be in the expansion draft, and it'll see it's just interesting after the 5th of April when their tournament, the final game is played, who might declare for the draft, and I know we'll be paying attention and talking about that.

SPEAKER_00 5:38

Yeah, that'll that'll be really interesting. I saw I I know there were some other standouts. One one that we are particularly interested in um is Jazzy Davidson because she played basketball, right, high school basketball in Oregon, and now she plays for um USC, but she made an immediate impact on her first tournament game. Yes, she did. It was a nail biter against Clemson that USC won. In overtime. Right, no less.

SPEAKER_01 6:10

I know.

SPEAKER_00 6:10

Oh my gosh. But there was Jazzy making 31 points as a freshman. As a freshman, yeah, in her first tournament game. Wow. Six rebounds, five assists, and three steals.

SPEAKER_01 6:20

Wow, that's crazy. That's crazy. Yeah. Um, no, there are some really and Hannah Hildago will be playing later today, and we mentioned her previously too with Notre Dame. Uh see how far they can go. But again, there have been some, you know, uh amazing standout players um in this first round, uh, one being uh Michaela Blakes from Vanderbilt. She's a five foot eight sophomore guard, five foot eight. So that's like almost minuscule size-wise, you know, even in with women. We've talked about that. Short players are the guards that are about six foot two, and for women, the five foot eight, when you're surrounding yourself with six-footers, uh, tends to make you look short. But she had 30 points in her NCAA tournament debut. And you know, good for her. Uh, that's the way to start, definitely. Definitely.

SPEAKER_00 7:13

Yeah. You know, Audie Crooks from Iowa State, it's been so good all year, but she had 37 points in their loss to Syracuse. Oh, okay. Well, if they didn't lose to Syracuse, they would be playing uh Yukon today. So might as well.

SPEAKER_01 7:28

Okay, well, yeah, we'll see where that is ends up.

SPEAKER_00 7:31

Yeah. Madison Booker. Did you see that? Uh Madison Booker, she's from Texas. She had 40 points. I know. I uh I it is just amazing.

SPEAKER_01 7:41

Yeah, amazing that um we're seeing so many top, top-notch um you know high-scoring women.

SPEAKER_00 7:50

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:51

Unfortunately, it was against Oregon, but oh yeah, and Oregon's on their bye-bye, they're on their way home or hanging out or whatever. Yeah, um TCU is another team that's kind of really been one to watch. And they've got Olivia Miles, and she recorded a triple double, and only the third player to have multiple triple doubles in NCA tournament history. So she's had more than one, and she's pretty amazing as well, as is that team. So there's just so so many. Um, and you know, University of Um South Carolina is um really kind of a they are the ones that beat UConn in the tournament in 2022, and that was you know, kind of like put a little ding in their record.

SPEAKER_00 8:39

I mean, but not last year. No, no, no.

SPEAKER_01 8:41

They got a lot in the finals. Exactly, exactly. So just so many interesting, and I you know, you and I I know agree, and maybe some of our listeners do as well. We like those little side stories of what's happening, you know, with yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:58

Did you notice um this year the the college women I I saw that a lot of shirts were untucked? Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. Because you know what, there's a new rule this year. Just this year, the college women only do not have to tuck their shirts in because the shirts are being made shorter, and every time they went up to do a layup or play hard, exposed to my skin or whatever.

SPEAKER_01 9:27

They just came untucked all the time.

SPEAKER_00 9:30

So instead of stopping the game that you know the refs have to enforce that rule to tuck your shirt in, instead they just did away with that rule, and that's why all these women are running around with their shirts not tucked into their shorts, like is required in all the other leagues.

SPEAKER_01 9:48

Well, in closing, I have one fun fact to share that I saw yesterday when I was watching um one of the early morning uh Sunday morning shows, and they go back in history on what happened on this date. So on March 22nd of 1893, does that sound familiar? James Naismith, etc., etc. And the women's uh that's especially the women was the first recorded NCAA, so to speak, or the c first collegiate game. Check this out. They showed a picture, of course, in the women with the you know, like shorter kinds of dresses with the pantaloons on underneath them and stuff. No men were allowed to watch the game.

SPEAKER_00 10:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:32

Oh my goodness.

SPEAKER_00 10:33

I I brought that up at an earlier. Yeah, but it's still it just smacked me between the eyes and it's like. You can't even watch even the fully dressed.

SPEAKER_01 10:42

Totally, totally. It's crazy.

SPEAKER_00 10:43

Anyway, well, the uh women have only been in the NCAA tournament since uh 1982. Right, right.

SPEAKER_01 10:52

So that's very recent, very recent in our lifetimes for sure. And yeah, probably many of our players, uh players, many of our listeners, uh, and uh realizing all the players that have kind of been through that system through the years. And some are sports commentators, you know, that we recognize the names, and um anyway. So we're gonna close this one up, Phyllis, and move on and talk about what's going on with the men's NCAA tournament in our next segment. So um hang on all if you want to go get a snack or take a little break, we'll be right back. Hello, and we are back. We are now going to talk, Phyllis and I are going to talk about the men's NCAA tournament, and I just wanted to share a quick little story. Probably about 15 years ago, my cousin came to visit one uh week of March Madness, my one of my Indiana cousins, and I wanted to confess that one Saturday we were so we woke up watching basketball and we were so engrossed in the games, and I know Carol, you remember this, my cousin Carol, uh, that we never got out of our pajamas until it was about four in the afternoon because we just didn't there were so many games going on. It was the first weekend of the tournament, we just couldn't pull ourselves away. And we still laugh about that now that oh my god, remember that when that happened? And we go, oh yeah, yeah, we did. So anyway, that's just kind of my own little funny story or things, you know, how things from your past you remember, and especially at this time of year. So cheers and a shout out to my cousin Carol, who's still a great basketball fan, and she's a Purdue boiler, so you know that she's been watching this tournament uh vigilantly. So, Phyllis, where do we want to start with these guys with men?

SPEAKER_00 12:36

You know, March Madness is uh it is a very starts with a very busy week. There are so many games, right? Multiple games each day, and you know the whole purpose is to dis determine a division one college champion. Right, right, and that happens the sixth of April on Monday.

SPEAKER_01 12:58

It's a Monday, the day after Easter. Uh uh this year, the Monday after Easter, um, in the evening sometime. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 13:04

Yeah, they now the men's men's uh tournament started in nineteen thirty nine. Wow. Um and you know it's a single elimination tournament. Well yeah, one and done, one and done, yeah. You win or lose it. Or go home, yeah. And the both the men and the women, they start out with sixty-four teams, and that's thirty-two games in two days. Right. That's a lot. And then it's a narrow down, and now we're down to the suite sixteen this week, and and it'll take place, let's see, on the twenty-sixth and twenty-seventh.

SPEAKER_01 13:43

Well, it starts on Thursday. Yep, it starts on Thursday this week. So I already kind of marked or put reminders on my TV to uh make sure I don't miss a couple of the games that I really want to see what's going to happen. So let's kind of break down then what we saw, maybe some of the highlights from this past week of particular teams or perhaps players. Do you have anyone in mind that uh well I know that in the first round i it went pr pretty even, you know. There weren't any according to predictions or whatever.

SPEAKER_00 14:14

Upsets the top teams won. But then we came to the second round, and that's that was a little different.

SPEAKER_01 14:21

There were some dragon slayers out there, you know, teams. Although in the first round, okay, uh excuse me for those of you that may know about this already, but High Point University, where is that?

SPEAKER_00 14:33

I had to look it up. I did too.

SPEAKER_01 14:34

I did too. North Carolina Carolina and 2,500 kids or something, or students go to school there, you know.

SPEAKER_00 14:41

Yeah, it's Methodist.

SPEAKER_01 14:42

Yes, uh-huh. I know. I saw that. So, but anyway, um, and they won their little first round, uh, but then didn't in the second. Against Wisconsin. Wisconsin. Yeah, and Wisconsin was a surprise for a lot of people. They lost, you know, to High Point. So, I mean, I know one of my brackets, you know, I'm a bracket person, I don't do it for any kind of monetary retribution, however. Retribution. I have three or punishment or whatever you'd want to call it. No money involved, no dollars involved, but I have three brackets, and so far I'm like at 79%, which is pretty good. I'm one of them. One of them I just picked bizarre, like by everybody that maybe had red in their uniform, or you know, I come up with these crazy things, you know. Um, anyway, so uh yeah, well, we'll go we'll let that go. Um anyone oh any others that you thought of or saw, Phyllis, that you might want to bring to our attention?

SPEAKER_00 15:36

Well, I think uh number um I think the lowest number that won was like rated um 11th.

SPEAKER_01 15:46

And that was in the second round or the first round? Um that was in the second round, wasn't it? Um that was uh Texas. Texas, right. Over B. No, they won beat they first beat BYU and then they beat Gonzaga. Right. Yeah, on Saturday. That was you know, from that's our last Pacific Northwest holdout. Yes. Because uh the Oregon teams, neither of them made the attorney this year, and Gonzaga was in my area here where I live in Portland, there was a lot of Gonzaga spirit walking around on the streets, you know, people going to the local hangouts here with their uniforms on not uniforms, but you know, um jerseys and hats and t-shirts and all that kinds of stuff. And actually the game was just right up the street from me near the at the Moda Center. So that was that was a good thing.

SPEAKER_00 16:34

Almost played a home game.

SPEAKER_01 16:35

Almost almost, almost. They certainly do have a lot of fans up here. And that was I was sorry to see them um go, but they certainly got outplayed. And you know, you can't can't take that away from any team um who is who won, you know, over the weekend. Um, you know, one that really kind of never ceases to amaze me. I know Duke is a favorite, you know, to win the whole thing. Uh-huh. And they are they scare me, you know, because they s in my opinion only, this is Mary Lou's opinion, they look like they're not so sure what what they're doing to start with, you know, and maybe it's part of their culture that they just take their time in figuring out what they're gonna do, and then they end up winning. So I guess I I can't throw stones at that, you know what I mean? If it works for them, it works for them. Um and the other one that is really kind of fun to watch if you have people haven't had the opportunity, is St. John's. And they're a New York, a small New York team that Rick Petino ended up coaching. Uh-huh. And you know, he was at Louisville for years, and I mean he's been in the coaching business. He's probably close to getting into his 70s if he's not there already. And excuse me, Rick, if you're a lot younger than that, but um, I think he's been around for a long time coaching, and I know he has a son or two that are coaching now as well. Uh-huh. But he, you know, they had a buzzer beater over Kansas that uh people were just shocked. I mean, it's people are still shocked. I listened to some of the morning shows, you know, about basketball this morning, and it was like, how did that happen? And the kid that ended up beating the buzzer with his little two-point shot was the kid that hadn't made a shot that day.

SPEAKER_00 18:16

The whole thing. And then we're going to give it to Moose. You know, exactly. And he's short.

SPEAKER_01 18:21

Yeah, he just wormed his way right in there, and boom, that was that.

SPEAKER_00 18:26

Well, they sure never expected him to be the one that made the basket.

SPEAKER_01 18:31

No, and Kansas is one of the perennials who move forward in the tournament. So I'm sure um, you know, they were pretty shocked. And you know, those both of those teams from Iowa have really made an impact on the tournament. You know, uh, Iowa, University of Iowa is a ninth ranked going in, and they beat Florida by one point yesterday.

SPEAKER_00 18:55

Yeah, they and Florida was the main defending champion. Exactly. They were number one.

SPEAKER_01 19:02

Exactly, exactly. They did not expect to go out. No, they didn't. And they, you know, they had a run for their money and then some obviously, because it was 73 to 72, so it wasn't a gimme game, but wow, what a great game. That's why you gotta play to the end. You know what I mean? There's no way that you want to stop and figure out, oh, well, this isn't gonna work, so we just quit. You can't do that. And then Iowa State, too. Kentucky's another team that we always hear about, you know, um going into the finals, and they really made themselves known with an 82 to 63 victory, you know, over uh Kentucky yesterday. So those were some really good games to watch. And I know there were some a little bit later in the day, but I got sidetracked because you know our local team was playing, and then I got upset with them, and I was a little off basketball for a few minutes anyway, but you know how that goes.

SPEAKER_00 19:53

So well, but I'll tell you the Tennessee-Virginia game was really exciting. Yeah, Tennessee was number six, and Virginia was three, uh-huh, and Tennessee won, and it um now Tennessee will be going to the Sweet 16 for the fourth year in a row. Wow. And we kind of forget about them. I do. Yeah, well they're they're they may be in trouble because they're playing Iowa State on Friday.

SPEAKER_01 20:18

I know the Iowa teams both have like they're supercharged, you know, they're really focused and really are there to play and be real serious. And I I'm not trying to say that anyone else isn't, right? But again, it's you think about these kids, a lot of them are like call I'm calling them kids because you know, when you're a little bit older, you can. Um these kids are like 18 and 19 on the national spotlight, national stage, playing basketball. I mean, that's like ginormous, you know what I mean? That's huge for them. Really huge.

SPEAKER_00 20:50

You know, one game I uh that was real interesting to me, it caught my attention was Vanderbilt. It was the first round. Vanderbilt rated number five against Nebraska number four. Yeah, and there's another one. There was Nebraska. Um six-hour drive to Oklahoma, where they were playing, and the 18,000 people fit in that stadium and they were all wearing red for Nebraska. Wow. Wow. Or most of them were it was like a home game for Nebraska. My goodness. It was my goodness, it was overwhelming for Vanderbilt, and they just did their best. Vanderbilt tried so hard. Not enough though, huh? Well, if and I'll tell you it was loud, but Vanderbilt played their hearts out, and they have a little six foot guard named Tyler Tanner. He had twenty seven points. Wow. At one point he had most of the points for the the game, and it was a two point game at the end. 2.2 seconds, I think, on the clock. Um, Vanderbilt had the ball. They threw the ball in. That kid, Tyler Tanner, threw the ball in from behind midcourt line, and it was a beautiful arcing shot. It hit the backboard, then the front of the rim, and then the back of the rim. Bounced out. Oh. And it was so close. It was a heartbreaking over that. So sad for him. And you know, he looked like he's about 15. Yeah. They referred to him as having an angel face. I mean, he looked like a baby. Yeah. And and it says, don't be fooled by that angel face because he's a stone-cold killer on the floor.

SPEAKER_01 22:49

My goodness. So don't judge a book by its cover for sure. For sure.

SPEAKER_00 22:54

So Tanner, Tanner lost the game, but he almost won it in a miracle way. But now I'm a little fascinating. I'm giving him cookies. I'm sending cookies now. Very good.

SPEAKER_01 23:07

Very good. We haven't done that in a while. We have to remember that we've got those fresh baked, ready to go. So in closing, I do have to say, you know, can't forget that the Purdue Boilermakers are on their way to the Sweet 16. And, you know, with all my Indiana cousins, shout out to them. And let's go boilers, too. So that's it in closing. Okay. So many good games to look forward to. NBA next. Alrighty. On we go.

SPEAKER_00 23:41

Welcome back to OG's Talk and Ball. This is Phyllis talking with Mary Lou about the NBA. You know, the season's starting to widen down now.

SPEAKER_01 23:50

Oh, I'm so sad in so many ways, but you're right, Phyllis, it's starting to, but the play-in and playoffs are starting to get a little clearer somewhat. So let's kind of chat about that a bit, huh?

SPEAKER_00 24:02

Yeah, yeah. Um right, the play-ins start April 14th.

SPEAKER_01 24:08

Yeah, that's just coming right up. I mean, I know we're still in um whatever month this is, March, you know, a few weeks away, but there's maybe only a dozen games for a lot of teams.

SPEAKER_00 24:19

Well, yeah, mostly mostly, you know, ten or twelve at the most. Right. You know, so uh you know why don't you explain a little bit about what play-ins are?

SPEAKER_01 24:32

Oh gosh. Well, let me say before we get into that, is that there could be the opportunity for us and for our listeners that we are not going to be as consistent weekly broadcasting once the end uh definitely once college ends, which is that 5th and 6th of April, and then after that, uh even though we know that there will be play-ins and playoffs, I don't know how and I mean we're probably let's we'll talk about that more, but maybe every other week from that point forward, and then when the WNBA starts, um, we can regroup and see how often. But they only play half as many games as the NBA. College will be over at that point. Anyway, so Phyllis and I still have some thinking to do about that, but I just wanted to throw that out there before we start with uh who's already sealed the deal. So I believe in the West it's already um OKC, Oklahoma City Thunder, and the San Antonio Spurs. Yes, that are definitely going into playoffs. And then I think in the East it's the Detroit Pistons. And so sad though that our your buddy, the guy that you have highlighted multiple times since we started podcasting in October, Cade Cunningham, suffered a collapsed lung.

SPEAKER_00 25:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 25:52

I mean, how tragic for him. I mean, it's not career-ending because we know CJ McCollum, who was a Blazer, who's now on the Hawks, um, has had that twice happen in hit during his career. He's a little bit older than Cade, but I'm best wishes to Cade for a speedy recovery. And I'm sure his team is having to regroup and think things through, but at least they know they're going to um the playoffs. Right.

SPEAKER_00 26:21

Yeah. Detroit, Boston, and and the Knicks, I think, are pretty much. Are pretty much playoff bound.

SPEAKER_01 26:27

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 26:28

Unless something drastic happens.

SPEAKER_01 26:30

Right, right. And there's so many, you know, between uh Boston and the Knicks, that rivalry is so intense, you know, those two teams. And the Pistons are kind of newer to the playoff game because they were for a long time a powerhouse and they kind of went the other direction for a while, and now man, they're in the thick of it, and they play very exciting basketball as well. So it'll be fun to see um who are the other teams too. And you know, the Lakers are in there in the top six, and I guess um Lakers are third right now. Are in the th are they third right now? Yeah. Okay, and then number six is uh the Nuggets, the Denver Nuggets, and they have to be careful because if they lose too many more games, um they could end up in the play-in rather than the playoffs. So getting back to the play-in. So this is kind of newer, I guess maybe five years ago. I don't know whatever newer would might mean to folks, and including myself. But we have teams that are ranked at the end of the season, seven, eight, nine, and ten. And so we know that seven and eight will play each other for the seventh position, and that's a one-game deal. So after that, then we have somebody that's going to be number eight, and that could be the person, the team that is number eight at that moment, or teams nine and ten. So nine and ten have their own play-in kind of thing, and what happens, I believe, and you know, correct me if I'm wrong, whoever's listening and knows this better than I, is that nine and ten play one game, whoever wins that game then is gonna play the current eighth place person, the loser of the seventh, eighth place. Right. So who is going to who who's gonna be that number eight then? And I believe that's three games. I don't think it's just a one and done, but I don't remember, and I didn't look it up per se. But I'm kind of one of those that, all right, whatever happens is gonna happen there. Our Blazers are in the midst of that. Phyllis is wearing her blazer plaid today. Uh, we do there's a game tonight against the New York Nets, and uh, we're hoping that we get a win on that. But they're in kind of um the territory that they could either end up as a nine or a ten, it looks like, right? Or eight or a nine, excuse me. So that's a big deal difference, yeah, you know, and where you uh ultimately uh the season ends. So we'll see. We'll see what happens with them. But um there's a lot going on with different teams, and um what else do you have on that, Phyllis? What else do you want to say?

SPEAKER_00 29:03

Well, um I I know there's some teams that have improved a lot since the All-Star Break. They're not necessarily in the running anymore, right? But you know, the New Orleans Pelicans were doing so poorly, and they've really perked up in the last in the last month. Same thing with the Atlanta Hawks and the Hawks.

SPEAKER_01 29:26

They were on a win streak, I think they lost the other day, but they have been on one of those win streaks too that have made people pay some attention to them. And they remember were in the play-ins a few years ago and then ended up as the getting the number one draft pick. Yeah. You know, that and that same thing happened last year with the Mavericks, and we talked about those draft pick things a while back, which reminds me we need to talk a little bit in the coming weeks about what's gonna come down with the WNBA. That's a little sidebar on that. Oh, yeah. And I know it's on our list, so just want to let people know that we're not ignoring what's the draft and the expansion draft and everything else that's gonna come down with that. So we'll talk about that. But yeah, we've got lots of different teams. You know, the Houston Rockets all of a sudden came to a sc grinding halt, you know, that they were really gonna be one of those teams maybe in the top three, and now they're in four through six there somewhere, and really are scratching to make sure that they stay somewhere at least in the play-in, playoff rather than the play-in. So um those are just some of the teams in the West anyway. And you know, T-Wolves, we beat the Blazers beat them the other day, so you know they're beatable by any team, but I think um they're another team to watch because they were in you know the playoffs last year. Yeah. So you know they want to be back there. So um, yeah, we'll see.

SPEAKER_00 30:49

Yeah, there there have been a few outstanding players this week. You know, some you know, Kevin Durant moved into fifth time uh fifth place for all-time scoring. Right. Right ahead of Michael Jordan. Right, wow because I think uh Kevin Durant's um career has been longer. I think so too. I think so too.

SPEAKER_01 31:10

Yeah, you know, and I often wonder how the three pointers play into that. You know what I mean? Because now you know, especially from years ago, you know, when we're talking Wilt and Kareem and some of those guys that weren't didn't have that in their they made a hundred w a hundred points two at a time, right? Right, yeah, or whatever, thousands of points, yeah, two at a time. Yeah, definitely, definitely. Um just so much going on here. Um you know, yeah, yeah. You know, uh Victor Wemby Wembyama. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 31:43

He he averages three blocks a game now. I know, I know. That is that saves like six to nine points a game.

SPEAKER_01 31:54

I know, easy, easy. And you know, we you and I talked earlier on about teams that we thought should definitely be teams to watch, and yours was the Detroit Pistons, and look where they ended up. And I highlighted the um San Antonio Spurs, and they're in second place. So I mean, both of those teams, Phyllis, were were we clairvoyant or what? I think so. Oh my god.

SPEAKER_00 32:16

Probably we were the only ones in the country that we are never full of ourselves.

SPEAKER_01 32:20

I want people to know that. You know, we're not known for that, but I I couldn't resist the opportunity to say, hey, we we might be onto something, we might know a little bit about basketball. Maybe, maybe, maybe. I don't know. I'll be quiet. That's the defining word there is a little bit. A little bit, exactly, exactly. Um, anyway, so we've got things to look forward to then in the NBA and looking at different players and you know, Jabari Smith with uh the Rockets has kind of had an up and down season, and he's starting to resurface again, too. And Jeremy Grant on the Blazers, you know, is a 20-plus game guy. We missed him yesterday. What a season he's been really had when he's been well. You know, it's so many of these guys, it's some little acre deal that starts to happen in a particular part of their personhood, you know, mostly leg, maybe sometimes hip, but um, that really kind of just puts a spin on things that they're not gonna play then. And it and even though you know the teams, I would imagine, I don't know, because I've never been to a um a professional basketball team practice, but you would think they run all kinds of different configurations of groups of players to play five on five against each other so that there's others that get in the fray and you know figure things out. But um without one of those key guys that was making that many points a night, it's a definite loss for any team.

SPEAKER_00 33:42

Yeah, and I think every team has suffered that. Every team somewhere through the suffers somebody who's really hot, yeah, then ending up um not being able to play.

SPEAKER_01 33:54

Well, look at Tyrese Halliburton that happened in the midst of you know the playoffs last year. And same with uh Damian Lillard, he went down in in the play playoff scenario, not the final game at of course, but as they were getting there. So, yeah, just too many quirky things. And you know, Steve Kerr is kind of on a rant right now about lessening the number of games that the guys are playing because the Warriors have been riddled with injuries.

SPEAKER_00 34:19

Yeah, and uh I I can see that that would be an advantage. I do too. So too. In wrapping this up today, Mary Lou, I have a quote for you. Go for it. Okay, this is from Albert Einstein.

SPEAKER_01 34:31

Okay, a basketball aficionado. No, just kidding, but yeah, a life aficionado for sure.

SPEAKER_00 34:39

Right, and he says creativity is intelligence having fun. Oh, I love that. That is great.

SPEAKER_01 34:49

That is great, that is great, and I would say thing the same thing about being on the basketball court for these guys when they're having a really good time. That's when I think that things click, things happen for them, and not necessarily always a win, but I think you have to have that, you know. I'm kind of you know this, I'm really big into what's bringing me joy in my life, you know, and we have to always reevaluate that. And do I want to be in, if I have a choice, do I want to be in that situation or not? You know, if I know that it's gonna be a downer. So we're gonna wrap this up, too. We've been talking a lot this segment and this whole episode. So we thank you for your patience in listening to us and um appreciate that you are listening. And again, send us a shout out at our Instagram, OG's talking ball, or an email at ogstalk and ball at gmail.com. But we always love hearing from you and appreciate your feedback.

SPEAKER_00 35:43

Be kind to each other out there.

SPEAKER_01 35:44

And life is better with basketball.