Portions of this show are recorded. Strap in
and be prepared. Room for error is much slimmer
in basketball. You lose one player and it changes
your entire team. It's not like that in football.
It's just not. It's not. Interesting guests.
Kelly Graves, Mike Parker, Coach Mark Waskowski,
Noah Eagle, Melissa Lombardi, Kenyon Barnard,
Jonathan Stewart. Sharp opinions. Dana Altman
probably earned a pass for a down year after
almost 20 years. of what he's done for Oregon
basketball. And some smiles. Guys, I was stuck
in a car wash. Sounds like an R. Kelly song.
It's not an R. Kelly song. It's Danny Havel.
I can't remember, and I've been doing this for
longer than you've been alive. which is really
horrible that I have to say that, but it's the
truth. It's like the saying in Alaska that you
don't have to be faster than the bear. You just
have to be faster than your friend. Danny and
Justin starts now on Fox Sports Eugene and Fox
Sports Newport. Hello. And welcome. Hi, top of
the Delta Triad, the Crystal Palace, the Fox
Sports, Eugene, Fox Sports, Newport Studios,
the number one sports station in the Valley.
This is the Danny and Justin Radio Program. And
away we go for a Friday. Hey there, friends.
Well, the weather. Are we going to get snow next
week? Are you kidding me? We might be getting
snow next week. We've got a big show for you
as well. Of course, Big Bets to wind out our
week like we always do. Goose will come into
the studio a little bit later. Steve Mims will
join us as he sits on top of the mountain through
almost a month of the second installment of Big
Bets. We'll go through all the rules when. We
do that segment at the end. Travis Demers, the
voice of the Trail Blazers, and our good friend
the mayor of Rip City will join us about 2 .20.
The Blazers on the all -star break now officially.
That will be coming up this weekend. And we also
have a lot of things going on on the field, on
the court. Oregon, Oregon State. Right now, Oregon
State men's baseball. They are in Surprise, Arizona.
As they take on Michigan, it's 2 -1, top of the
fourth. Michigan at the bat. Oregon State with
the lead. Right over there, sitting in the producer's
chair, it's intern Blaze. I am Doc, Danny. And
over there is Justin Grossner. We call him Baby
J. Happy Friday. What up, boys? Happy Friday
the 13th. Have you ever? Yes. Oh, we've got some
stuff for that. We've got some music. Have you
ever been to Surprise? I have, actually. You
know I lived in Arizona for like three years.
I did not know that. Yeah. I was hanging around
in the Casa Grande, Pinal County, that area.
And then that was just a little bit south of
Phoenix, and then I was in the Phoenix area.
And so I traveled all over, Sedona, Flagstaff,
Yuma. And so I do know where Surprise, Arizona
is. And all those little spring training areas
are like right there. And they're awesome. Have
you ever seen Little Wrigley Field and Little
Fenway Park down there? Is it near Sloan Park?
I think they're all grouped. They're all together,
right? I don't think I have, but I've been to
Cubs spring training a couple times. Great experience.
I recommend to anybody that's a baseball fan
to do it once. It's great. Honestly, you get
to have the experience of watching a ball game.
You get to see a bunch of players. I would recommend
maybe not seeing the first couple games so you
can see your guys in there for about six innings
instead of maybe three. But really great experience.
Obviously great weather as well. We'll have our
Olympic update. We'll also have a rundown of
Oregon women's softball, which we can probably
just get that, take care of that business right
here. Dive right into it. As the Lady Ducks.
Take care of business. Get back on the winning
track after losing two in a row, which they did
not do all of last year, as Saul Gallagher told
us earlier this week. And they defeat Cal State
Fullerton. They had to adjust the schedule down
there for the Cardinal Classic. Oregon was going
to play two games today, two games tomorrow,
and then a single game on Sunday. And they've
adjusted that schedule. But Oregon wins 7 -3
over Cal State Fullerton. Elisa Kolsky. gets
the win, four and two -thirds innings. Taylor
Spencer and Matty Milhorn clean it up, both pitch
two -thirds of an inning, as Elyse strikes out
five, doesn't walk anybody. Okay, but the weird
thing about this game, and if you look at the
box score, you'll see it, is that it was a six
-inning game, and the Ducks were the home team
and got to bat in the bottom of the sixth inning,
and once that inning was over, they declared
the game over. Which is so weird. I've never
seen this. So what happened, just for the listening
audience, unless you go to the GoDucks website
and you take a look at the news releases and
such, they're not quite done with the new Stanford
softball stadium. So they had to move them to
alternate sites, and they're playing in Santa
Clara. They're not even actually playing on the
Stanford campus. So that was the adjustment in
the schedule. And they started the game at like
9 a .m. I've just never seen a team bat, get
a run, and it wasn't a run rule, and then the
game is over. We might need to call Saul and
ask him. Because I didn't get to listen. I didn't
get to listen to the game. I got to listen to
the very end of the game, and he was kind of
just like, I guess that's over. Yeah, that's
literally what it was like. It took him by surprise
as well, huh? Yeah. Interesting. All right, so
the Ducks will get back into action. Their schedule
will continue with Kentucky now and a couple
of games against Kentucky. They were supposed
to play Kentucky today. starting at 12 .30, but
now they're going to have a doubleheader tomorrow,
and then they play Stanford on Sunday, and then
they come back home for a second, and then they
head back down to Cathedral City in the Mary
Nutter, where they'll face Auburn, Texas A &M,
South Carolina, and Cal State Fullerton. So again,
they play Cal State Fullerton in two different
tournaments. That's pretty odd, isn't it? You
got big plans for the weekend? I'm going back
up to Portland. Man, you're just a traveling
man up and down I -5, aren't you? My mom is going
to be returning to the Midwest, potentially to
be there for my sister to have a surgery, which
we don't know if she's actually have yet. So
she's kind of going and doesn't know if she really
needs to go yet. But, yeah, so I'm going to take
her to the airport and just hang out with her
another time because I don't know when she's
going to be back in the West. So it'll be a good
time hanging out with my mom again. Okay. Well,
we'll have to find out what Goose. Goose probably
has some exciting plans. Let's do our Olympic
update as right now USA Hockey is in the third
period over Italy. Women's Hockey, they're up
6 -0 over Italy. American women are still undefeated.
Italy comes into the game at 2 -2, still in pool
play. Chloe Kim's bid for a historic third Olympic
gold medal in the snowboard half fight ended
with a silver. 17 -year -old Choi Gan from South
Korea claimed gold with a flawless run scoring
a 90 .25. I don't know that much about half -pipe
scoring, but that's pretty good. Madison Shock,
Evan Bates secured silver in Olympic ice dance.
Personal best score of 224 -39. Narrowly losing
gold to France, and there's some controversy
apparently. Oh, Twitter was ablaze with the controversy
over the U .S. not getting the gold. So I'll
leave that right there. And by the way, Ilya
Malinin, who is like the emerging superstar in
men's figure skating. He leads as they're going
into the free skate, and he looks like he's going
to be a lock for gold for the USA. He looks like
he is literally... Have you seen images of him?
He's doing the backflip and stuff, which was
banned up until a few years ago, and doing quads
and triple toe loops and all that. Yeah, I've
seen a little bit. He looks like he's 15 years
old. All those figure skaters look like they're
really young. That's crazy to me. American...
Pardon me, Australian snowboarder Cam Bolton
suffered two fractured neck vertebrae in a training
crash, forcing his withdrawal from the Olympics.
He remains in stable condition. James Johnstone
will replace him on the team. Medal count, Norway
leads with 18 overall medals, 8 gold. Italy,
6 gold, 18 medals. United States, 4 gold, 14
medals. And by the way, did you see this? We
were talking about the skeleton the other day.
That's where you lay on your back. on like this
really thin board and go racing down the ice
and everything else. Austin Flornan was penalized
by the Olympic Committee because he was wearing,
well, actually there were two things. He wasn't
penalized. There was a luge or a skeleton rider
who had a helmet celebrating the memorializing
of some of the... They were disqualified, yeah.
Disqualified because of the helmet. Which I didn't
know. You can't have political messaging, I believe,
is what the wording was. Something like that.
That's what that was. But Austin Florum from
the U .S., his skeleton helmet, you've got to
go look this up. It's like the head of Venom
with the teeth wide on the top. Like Venom is
in Spider -Man Venom? Yeah, like Tom Hardy Venom,
comic book Venom. Yeah, pretty cool. Okay, let's
see it. Oh, that is. Isn't that pretty sweet?
That's sweet. Go look it up. See, I'm going to
help with the hits there on that. So, Travis
Summers coming up in a moment. Big bets as well
as Goose will come into the studio. Thanks for
tuning in. Danny and Justin, you can follow us
on Twitter and Blue Sky, Danny and Justin. And
wherever you do all your social podcasting music
and all that stuff, you can download us. Like
and subscribe to the podcast. We'll get a new
podcast up and going right after this program
is done because it'll be this program. That's
the podcast. Big Ten. Football. circulating an
internal document that lays out a 2014 college
football playoff and what it would look like,
including, we talked about this, baby Jay, the
elimination of conference championship games,
a 23 plus one selection model, and an additional,
like we need more football, an additional week
of on -campus CFP home games. I'm not objecting
to that part, but another round. is what they're
talking about. I'm raising my hand. I have a
question. What does 23 plus 1 mean? Well... Why
don't they just say 24? I'm glad you asked that.
It doesn't really explain what the 23 plus 1
is. No, no, here it is. It's Notre Dame. No,
here it is. Here it is. It would be the 23 best
teams and one spot for the group of six. Okay.
Whatever that is. That seems a little bit...
Okay. How many people out there, you raise your
hand, know what the group of six is? Right. Okay.
Tell me what the group of six is. You mean all
the different conferences? Yes. No, I couldn't
tell you every single conference. Okay. So you
don't know what the group of six is. I don't.
I'm going to claim ignorance here. I mean, I
would assume it's the Mountain West and the Big
Sky. AAC. And the Pac -12. AAC. Yeah, the American
Conference. Sunbelt. Sunbelt. That's five. So
we just need one more. But, you know, the Sunbelt
got, they got. James Madison in this year. Yeah.
Right? Correct. They may. So 24 team form. I'm
glad you, it was the last paragraph. I haven't
gotten there yet. 23 best teams. Now, I don't
know what they say what the 23 best teams are
in one spot for the group of six. There would
be no automatic qualifiers. And if the field
grows to 24, the automatic qualifiers would matter
less to the Big Ten. Now, again, this is just
the Big Ten who's pushing this. The SEC still
has standing Pat. with a 16 -team playoff. And
in the proposed 16 -team format, there would
be five automatic qualifiers, 11 at -large teams.
The two top teams would get buys, and the opening
games would go as follows, you know, No. 16 versus
No. 13, No. 14, No. 15, and they'd be played
on the second weekend of December, likely around
the Army -Navy game, the traditional Army -Navy
game. Can you imagine the schedule? So there
would be six second rounds. We're going to end
in March. Right. In the 16 -team format, six
second -round games on campus, four quarterfinals
at the traditional Bulls locations on New Year's
Eve and New Year's Day. And then be followed
by semifinal games at the Bulls sites. National
title game played mid -January. I'm okay with
mid -January. I still think they can move it
up to around January 1st. They can. At the latest
January 9th. What was it this year? The 15th,
I think? Or was it the 18th? Really? I can't
remember. It was really late. I mean, we can't
keep doing this. It was late. It was the 19th.
The 19th? The 19th. That was a Monday. It was
the 19th. So I don't mind 24. I know I'm going
to be shouted down. I don't love it. But if it
gets you another game on campus, that's what
I like about it. It gets you another home game
for a higher -seeded team. Why can't they just
do that now without adding another 12 teams?
Because you're getting rid of the bowl games
then. Good. That's my opinion. Honestly, I think
there's too many bowl games. But they're not
going to do that because the bowl games are their
own entities. We've talked about this ad nauseum.
That's the problem with college football is that
all these different parts are their own individual
entities and there's no overreaching aspect of
the college game. I am okay with no conference
championship games. Me too. And I'm okay if they
then move the schedule up and not have such a
gap. Do you realize, and we talked about this
as well, the Danny and Justin radio program,
thanks for tuning in here on a Friday, is that
next year's schedule? for the college football
playoff has them playing the championship game
on January 25th. We did talk about this. Yeah,
it's ridiculous. Absolutely. I'm just sitting
myself looking at that going, who thought this
was a good idea? Well, it's amazing because every
single conversation going into the last game
was, wow, this is way too late. And then, of
course, they make it later. It's like they do
the exact opposite of what the general consensus
is. It's unbelievable. It is literally longer
than the NFL playoffs. No, it's in Shane. And
the coaches hate it. I mean, Dan Lanning is like
the champion of this stuff. I mean, that's one
thing that I thought was really cool, seeing
the end of the season, and obviously the bitter
taste for Oregon was there. But Dan Lanning certainly
has become one of the major voices of college
football, and I think that he is right on the
money with all the things that he is saying.
He's been listening to us. Well, I hope so. Okay,
you know what? We're not the ones, as you like
to say, not to pat ourselves on the back. We've
literally been saying this for over a year. We
have. So you can go back to the archives that
we have been talking about. No conference championship
games. Get another game on campus. Shorten up
the playoff window. Why do you need 10, 12, 14
days between games? When the Super Bowl went
to that, I hated it as well. Just keep playing
them. And it's because it's the roll -up and
it gives the talking heads to talk about something
and the panel discussions about this, that, and
the other thing. Just play the game. That's all
the fans want, play the game. Start in week zero,
only have one bye per team. I don't know why
we have to have two byes. Scheduling can work.
FCS does it. I've told you before, FCS does it.
The only game that is not on a higher seed campus
site is the championship game in Frisco. That's
it. Well, the NCAA is not the first organization
to look at a model of something successful and
say, We can't do that. But see, that's not even
the NCAA, though. It's a separate college football.
I'm saying they're not the only one to do that.
There's plenty of countries and, you know, different
companies that they'll look at a model that works
and say, for whatever reason, I don't know, it's
not going to work for us. It's not going to work
for us. You know, why would we want it to make
sense? That's so ridiculous. All right. Let's
take our break. And Travis Demers, he's got some
time off. I wonder what Travis is going to do
with his time off. We've got Rip City recap as
well. We do. Right? Okay. Blazers with a nice
win over Utah. Utah in a little bit of trouble.
Right? Just a little bit of trouble along with
Indiana. Well, they're tanking. Because they
tank and they get fined. We'll talk about all
that next with the mayor of Rip City on the Danny
and Justin radio program for a Friday. That golden
voice of the mayor of Rip City, Travis Demers,
and the Rip City recap as the Blazers coming
off a nice win over Utah, 135 -119, heading into
the All -Star break. And let's head on over to
the Oregon Man Clinics hotline at 541 -343 -5673
and welcome in the mayor of Rip City who gets
a few days off. So take us in. We're the camera
in your living room. What happens, mayor, when
you get a few days off? You're not down there
for the All -Star game. You get a little break
along with the players who are not participating
in all the contests. What does the mayor do with
his off time? Well, when I can, I sleep for sure.
Legos, coloring, you know, some arts and crafts,
you know, grilled cheese, get to hang out with
my kids, which is really what I'm looking forward
to. And when they're in school and I'm going
to sleep late and clean my house and do stuff
like that, really, really exciting things, stuff
and things. Do Lincoln and Lawson like the same
thing to eat or is it different? No. I mean,
Lincoln is so picky. Lawson is far less picky.
And it can be challenging. Like, it really can.
Lincoln loves toasted butter and buttered noodles
and pizza. Nice. Lawson is a little bit more
adventurous. Oh. Vegetables? Have vegetables
been introduced into the diet? Yeah, they'll
eat some vegetables, yeah. Cucumbers and things
and peppers. They'll eat some vegetables. All
right, so before we get the on -floor stuff that's
going on, I guess this kind of relates to the
on -floor stuff. The Jazz, the Pacers were both
fined by the NBA, saying that they're intentionally
sitting healthy players. Jazz, a half -million
-dollar fine? Pacers $100 ,000 fine. Adam Silver
says that overt behavior, this is a quote like
this, that prioritizes draft position over winning
undermines the foundation of NBA competition.
We've talked about this, Travis, on this very
program several times about how teams might tank.
And now the NBA seems to be stepping in with
some monetary penalties to try and avert this.
So I guess I'll ask you, do you think this is
going to work? Maybe. You know, it's interesting
because you can go back over the last five, six
years, and there have been a number of teams
who have, you know, not played guys who were,
quote, injured, right? You know, we've seen a
lot of that. What Utah did, honestly, I'm not
too familiar with what the Pacers did because
I wasn't paying a lot of attention to them. What
Utah did where the league has a big problem with
it is... You know, they've got some star players
who are playing well in the game and a big lead,
and then they say, hey, you guys aren't going
to play the fourth quarter. You've earned the
rest. And then, you know, they lose. And what's
interesting is the Jazz did that in back -to
-back games. They did it – I think it was back
-to -back games. They did it against Orlando.
And then Miami. They blew a 17 -point lead and
lost. Right. And they did it against Miami and
won. And they held on and won the game. So we're
seeing this stuff from the Jazz owner who is
– very frustrated by all this. He's been very
active on social media in the last day or so.
Him and Bobby Marks have been going at it. He's
like, well, we won, so what does that say? Yeah,
you did that one time. It was kind of a fluke,
but you also lost the game before and you thought
you could get away with it again. Now, look,
they're not the only team that has done that.
There have been a number of teams that have done
that, but it's become such a public You know,
saying, like, people are paying attention to
it. If nobody's paying attention, it doesn't
matter, right? But when attention is called to
it, that's when it becomes an issue. So that's
why we saw the fine. There's some other conspiracy
theories in there about how, you know, the Jazz
pick will go to the Thunder if it's not a top
eight pick. And, you know, the league wants the
Jazz to win, so I don't know about any of that
stuff. But it's... It's pretty gross, right,
when you've got players that are good enough
to win basketball games, and they are playing
in the game, and you're winning and winning big,
and you decide not to play them in the fourth
quarter so you will lose. That's the big problem.
Yeah, and then they do stuff like shutting down
Jaron Jackson Jr. for the season, having him
get a surgery, which, you know, I'm not going
to sit here and speculate whether it's necessary
or not, but it does seem like it's sort of in
that ilk of like, ah, we're just getting, you
know, if you need a surgery, like, you know,
why don't you just go ahead and do it now, right?
But speaking of injuries. I think the injury
bug has been pretty consistent with the Blazers
this season, obviously. And I think they've been
kind of consistently inconsistent and a bit streaky
as well. They don't win one game and lose a game
and win a game. They're either winning on a winning
streak or they're on a losing streak. But do
you think that it's either the injuries or something
else that has made this team inconsistent throughout
the season? Well, I definitely think that's part
of it. And, like, you can generalize and say
injuries. But, okay, what does that mean, right?
What it means is that you've got guys coming
in and out of the lineup, right? And that's where
things can get tricky. And because Denny Obdia
has been so important to this team, when he misses
nine of 13 games and the games that he did play
was not at his best, you know, any team is going
to struggle with that. That's when they had their
biggest losing streak of the season was in that
area. Again, some of the teams they were playing
were tough and all of that. You've got Drew Holiday
and Jeremy Grant coming in and out of the lineup,
and you're trying to figure out what's happening
with your two -way guys and massaging their playing
time. Scoot comes back, all kinds of moving parts,
and that's really when the momentum that they
had built up kind of started to break a little
bit. But I think they'll get that momentum back.
And, you know, we will talk about this, I'm sure,
but the rest of the season, the schedule is easy.
They do not play many very good teams. And they'll
have some of that continuity with guys resting
and things. So I do think that a lot of it is
the injuries. But when you put it that way, it
sounds like an excuse. Why is that happening?
The things we talked about. The mayor of Rip
City, Travis Demers, the voice of the Trailblazers,
with us on the Oregon Man Clinics Hotline, the
Danny and Justin radio program for a Friday.
Big bets coming up in the last segment. And,
Travis, this is something that I think about
often with teams. I think one of the most important
things for a team is to have at least one and
maybe more guys that you can sit there and go,
hey, when we really need a basket. we're going
to turn to this guy and he's going to get a bucket
for us. There's a reason why they called it Dame
time, of course. And down the stretch last night,
it turned into Drew and Jeremy. Speaking of those
two who missed some time going at points of the
season, but they started taking the shots, right?
They were the kind of the go -to guys has with
the shuffling of injuries. Has there been time
for this team to kind of establish? who those
guys are going to be taking shots down the stretch?
Or has it just sort of been the deferential to
the veterans since they've been back in the lineup?
I think it's the hot hand, to be honest. Because
what we saw in Philadelphia, too, was a couple
of times when the Blazers were, you know, coming
down the court and Holiday was, you know, setting
up for something. And then he saw Tumani Kamara,
who was having a career night. He had an open
three and gave it up to Kamara, and he hit it.
And I think... To your point, have they settled
on anybody? No. Are they deferring to the veterans?
No. I think really it is a game -to -game situation
right now because they don't have that one guy
who's the, okay, we're going to give him the
rock and he's going to make the play. But what
that also means is that they don't have the guy
that the opponents are going to focus on defensively
and put all the pressure on. If Denny's out there,
he's generally going to be that guy. But he has
not had a lot of late -game situations. Scoot
has had more late -game winners with the Blazers
than Denny has. And I think last night, Drew
was hot. Jeremy was playing well down the stretch
after he struggled for a bit. And those were
the guys that really carried things in the fourth
quarter. And veterans generally do that. But
depending on the night, I think there's a number
of guys that could be. Caleb Love had two big
threes after not making a shot. down the stretch
of that game. So I think in that situation, yeah,
it was a team effort in a lot of ways. The defense
also played well in the final five, six minutes
of the game. But if it's a playoff game and you're
down one with eight seconds to go and Dame's
not on the floor, who's getting the ball? I don't
think there is an answer that says this is the
guy right now. It's been a season of streaks
for the Portland Trail Blazers as we're joined
by the mayor of Rip City, Travis Demers. Six
-game losing streak before this last four out
of five, which the Blazers have won now, albeit
against Memphis, Philadelphia, Utah, and then
just the bad loss on the road against Minnesota.
And that's kind of where I want to jump off to.
Being proven out a bit that the Blazers, although
they've closed the gap, there is still a wide
gap between the top six or seven teams in each
conference in the Blazers and the ones that they're
kind of middling with the eight, nine, ten seeds
and below, that the Blazers really can handle
that business, but there is still a wide gap
between them and the elite in the league. So
I think you're right about that, that there is
a wide gap. But the team knew that, right? I
mean, Joe Cronin said before the season started
that, you know, this team does not have enough
talent to compete. And that's one of our goals
is to continue to upgrade the talent and make
this team better. I think Denny Avdia has been
better than anybody expected. So I think while
the gap is still there and the team is not complete,
I think the gap is smaller than they thought.
But at the same time, I think there are also
just some teams that are bad matchups. And Minnesota
was a bad matchup on that night because even
though Anthony Edwards was not feeling well and
didn't really do a whole lot, Julius Randle,
who is that 2008 isolation, pound the rock, do
my thing kind of guy, had a massive night. And
there aren't many guys in the league that do
that. And on that night, he just was – he was
a bad matchup. Rudy Gobert was a bad matchup
for Donovan Klingin that night. There have been
other games where he hasn't been. Jaden McDaniels
was on fire. Like, everything that they did was
great. But I think where the bigger issue with
the bad matchup comes in is the way that Minnesota
defended them. I mean, they allowed 43 points
off of turnovers. Like, that's a lot. And because
– the way the Blazers were playing, and they
started to turn the ball over, they started to
get ahead of themselves and press. And when that
happens, it all goes downhill and it gets away
from you. So I think some of it is matchup -based.
Some of it is absolutely a talent gap. But I
also don't think that the talent gap is that
far. Because this team, when fully healthy, we
don't know what they look like. And Scoot coming
back has looked very good. Pete Krejci has been
really good in the games that he's played. You
know, Denny is still trying to get himself back
to full strength. So while I think you're right,
I think it's also a lot closer than people realize.
So, Travis, I want to jump off on the turnover
piece because you mentioned it about the Minnesota
game. And then actually in the postgame after
a 16 -point win over Utah, Drew Holiday and Tiago
Splitter, the interim head coach, both mentioned
the fact that. They need to clean up. The Blazers
need to clean up taking care of the basketball
and the turnovers. Yeah. And so is that just
a lack of patience, or is that, you know, trying
to make the spectacular play and just, you know,
slow it down and run the set offense? Do they
want to keep it, you know, a high level and push?
Is that what Tiago wants them to do? And so that's
going to kind of be an offshoot of the offense
is going to be some turnovers? You're really
showing your big brain right now, you know that?
Well, thank you. To your point. To your point,
yeah, they do want to push the pace and the tempo.
And with that, turnovers are going to happen.
It's just part of it. And veteran players are
making mistakes in turnovers like that. And I
also think with some of these guys that have
not played a ton of time together, you don't
have the continuity of knowing where guys are
going to be. And some of those turnovers against
Utah were passes looking for somebody. but not
paying attention to the defense being right there
and making an easy steal. There you go. And that
awareness, film study, things like that, those
things are all really important. And when you
start to turn the ball over and you think about
it and then you're pressing, you know, it's the
unforced turnovers that are a bad pass or just
dropping the ball or things like that. That's
the problem, right? It's not like they're getting
a lot of offensive fouls, and that factors into
the turnovers. Sometimes they're out of control,
and I think that is a product of the pace, but
it's also something that with continuity will
get better. But right now, the gap between 30
and 29 is bigger than the gap between 30 and
18. It is a big gap, and it is absolutely something
that has to be better. And a guy that definitely
wants to play fast is Scoot Henderson, and I
think he's been... Pretty good since he's come
back, and he's obviously ramping up. He had a
solid night last night. Didn't end up in positive
for the plus minus, but only one player off the
bench did, Veit Krejci. But he did have 15 points
and two three -pointers, six turnovers. But do
you think that there's a world where if he ramps
up a little bit more that because he's, I think
he's by far the best drive and kick guy on the
team because of his speed. Do you think there's
a world where he could end up in the starting
lineup if he kind of ramps up enough and is healthy
enough for that? Or is he kind of in that really
good spot of the bench where he can provide something
that they just don't have? Yeah, it's really
interesting because before the injury to Scoot,
when they traded for Drew, I was certain that
Scoot was going to start at point guard. And
we'll never know the answer to that, right? They
were going to figure it out in camp, whatever.
But everything that I had heard based on how
he was doing, what I had seen, I was certain
he was going to be a starting point guard. And
I do think that in the big picture, that is the
plan. But you also need to have some of that
punch off the bench. And he is more used to coming
off the bench than Drew is. And with his speed
and the things that he can do, having that guy
come off the bench as a sixth -man type, and
right now they've got a few guys like that, I
can absolutely see that. You guys know that I'm
a huge champion of Scoot Henderson, and I really
think that he has the type of future where he
can be the real backbone of this team. And I'm
not talking about being an all -star or a superstar,
but just that backbone type of guy. He just turned
22. So I think he has a very, very bright future,
and someday he will be the starting point guard
on this team. But I don't... know that that happens
this year, and I don't know that it needs to
happen this year, because he still is going to
get the minutes. He's still going to get the
run. He's playing, what, 18 to 20 minutes a night.
The passing has been elite. He has not been afraid
to drive and get to the rim. Yeah, he's turning
it over at times, and he's making the bad fouls
and things like that, and the shooting still
has to come together, but I think right now,
with a completely healthy roster, and I'm not
talking about Dane, but when When everybody else
is ready to go, if you have Scoot Henderson and
Jeremy Grant coming off the bench with Veit Krejci
and Robert Williams III and whoever else is in
that rotation, I mean, that's a really damn good
bench. Right. Another guy that is expected and
hopeful to be a... backbone of this team is donovan
clingen and he had a really great game last night
23 points 18 rebounds seven assists and i think
i want your opinion opinion on this is what's
really encouraging you could say hey he's you
know averaging career highs and that's kind of
a simple way to put it but to me what's really
encouraging about his play this season is that
i feel like he's sticking with his strengths
and his strengths have gotten better but there's
also been a little bit of pushing to see if he
can improve and kind of expand his game a little
bit. Is that what you're seeing as well? Absolutely.
I mean, yeah, look, he's a great rebounder. He's
a great offensive rebounder. His three -point
shot has improved, and he talked about it before
the season last year that he wants to take more
threes. He just didn't do it much in college,
but that didn't mean that he couldn't. We're
seeing the metrics tell you that teams are not
challenging him as much, and I think it's half
as much attacking the rim when he's in the game.
It also leads to more three -point shots, so
your perimeter defense has to be better. He's
not a great perimeter defender right now. He's
got to play in drop coverage, and he gets burned
out there sometimes. Again, he's 21 years old.
He hasn't turned 22 until later this month. So
I think with him, yes, those strengths are getting
better. Finishing around the rim is getting better.
Free -for -shooting is getting better. He's the
best offensive rebounder in the league. He scores
more second -chance points than anybody in the
league. He's contested more shots than anybody
in the league. And all those things are great
and really good signs for a guy who's that young.
What I want to see from him is the continued
development in being able to have teams have
to adjust to you with the matchup instead of
you having to adjust to them. Jared Allen was
a bad matchup for him. we've seen some athletic
centers that are just not a great matchup for
him. And he's had some games where it's just,
you look at the numbers and say, where'd DC go?
Because I think he's still learning how to play
against everybody. And that's one of the marks
of truly a great big in this league. We've seen
it with Rudy Gobert at times, that in the playoffs,
he's unplayable because of the lineups that are
on the other side of the floor. And he's not
a guy who takes threes, but it's not just about,
you know. spreading the floor offensively and
being able to shoot. It's about being able to
defend the perimeter and not having to play drop
coverage. Robert Williams III right now is so
valuable and has blocked, I think, more threes
than any other center in the league this year
with much fewer minutes because he can get out
there and do that. And Donovan Klingin is not
as athletic as Robert Williams III. Few humans
are, right? It's not a knock on D .C. But for
him, I think that the... the biggest area of
development in his game is being able to play
and stay on the floor regardless of the matchup.
Well, Mayor, we'll be watching with keen eyes
the continued evolution of this Blazers team
throughout the second half of the season and
also how Pete Krejci will... fold into this,
and maybe we'll leave that for next week's discussion
when they come back from the All -Star break.
I'd love to talk about V. I love that, dude.
Yeah, we'll give you a whole segment on it. How
about that? Take care of yourself, take care
of those kiddos, and have fun with all the mac
and cheese you're going to make. Thanks, guys.
Always appreciate it. The mayor of Rip City.
Sorry, I had to pause there for a second. 3 -1
now, Oregon State men over Michigan down in,
surprise, Arizona. Surprise! Oregon women will
be taking on Cal State Fullerton again tomorrow
morning after their 7 -3 win today. That'll be
9 .30 tomorrow morning. Then Kentucky in the
doubleheader at noon, and then they finish up
with Stanford on Sunday. Oregon men's basketball
hosting Penn State. Red Panda at halftime at
noon. Oregon women at Washington. Beavers, men's
and women's, back in action on Saturday. Beavers
against Seattle U on Sunday, and the Beaver ladies
in Stockton game against Pacific on Saturday.
Back with Big Bets next on the Danny and Justin
radio program. Our country depends upon cars
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Attention, please. Attention, please. Have you
heard the expression, don't feed the bears? With
these guys, keep them focused on local sports.
Don't let them talk Cubs or Packers. You're listening
to Danny and Justin on Fox Sports Eugene. These
guys think they know sports. You think you're
better than me? The winners, the losers. Let's
put their knowledge to the test. Prove it. It's
time for Big Bets, presented by Coquel Casino
Resort. All right, Goose leads the standings,
14 -6 overall for the season. Baby J and I are
8 -12. The coin is 4 -1, by the way. The coin
is four and one. Small sample size. Yeah, exactly.
Small sample size. It's embarrassing. I go one
and four, and the coin goes four and one. So
maybe I'm going to base mine off the coin this
week. All right, here's how we play the game,
kids. We're going to pick five games, just straight
up and down. No spreads involved, but everything
is seven points or under. It's all basketball
this week. No more football. Sad. Sad. And if
you beat our best score out there as a listener,
And win the tiebreaker if there is such a thing
that comes into play. You win a two -night stay
at Cokewell Casino Resort. $100 on your player's
card. You can't have won in the last 30 days.
And you can't have won in this section as well.
So if you already won the top prize, you're not
eligible to win it again. You've got to be 21
and over. And then you also get your name in
the drawing for a big party for the national
championship game at the Cokewell Suite. That'll
be for you and seven of your closest friends.
Okay, here we go. You guys ready to go? Always.
All right, tiebreaker game is going to be the
Michigan State -Wisconsin game, which is tonight.
It's the only Friday night game. All the rest
of them are Saturday starts. Starting in the
Big 12, Kansas and Iowa State. Blaze, by the
way, is also picking games today, the intern
Blaze. Let's start with Blaze. With Kansas and
Iowa State, Blaze, who do you like? I'm taking
Iowa State. I can't trust Darian Peterson. Give
me Iowa State at home. Okay, Goose. Kansas coming
off a big win. Iowa State coming off a big loss.
That means Kansas is going to be high. Iowa State
is going to come back and win it. Okay. Iowa
State, by the way, is the home team. Yep. Baby
J? I'm going to say Darian Pearson plays, and
therefore Kansas will win. Okay. I'm going Kansas
as well. Coyne says Kansas. I think Kansas, they
played well without him. Surprise, surprise.
Danny picks Kansas. I do. Okay. Wait a second.
E -M -A -W. I'm a wildcat, not a Jayhawk. Purdue
-Iowa, another game in the Big Ten as Iowa's
at home against Purdue. Purdue's been up and
down. Baby J, we'll start with you. I think they
bounce back and get a big win against Iowa at
Iowa. Okay. I will also – no, I'm going with
Iowa at home. I think Purdue stubs their toe
yet again. Goose? Purdue at home. Excuse me,
Purdue on the road. Blaze? I think the frontcourt
will dominate Iowa. I don't think Bennett Sturtz
will do enough for Iowa against Purdue. Give
me Purdue. All right, I called my shot. I was
the only one to take North Carolina against Duke.
I'm the only one. The coin also takes Purdue
in this game. Gonzaga -Santa Clara, big WCC matchup.
This is a... Three and a half points spread.
I was kind of surprised. Santa Clara at home.
But I like Gonzaga on the road. I think they
figured out how they can cure their road woes
at Gill Coliseum after the disappointing loss
up on the heights of Portland. So I'm going to
take Gonzaga in this game. Goose? Give me the
Broncos. Of course. Are you just playing a game
here? Are you trying to play chess? No, I don't
like Gonzaga right now. I think this is a worst
-than -usual Gonzaga team. All right, Blaze.
Shout -out to head assistant coach Ryan Madry
of Santa Clara, but I got to take the Zags on
this one. Gonzaga for intern Blaze. Baby J. You
know what? Sorry, Vims. I'm going to go with
Santa Clara as well. I'm leaning Gonzaga, but
I'm going to go Santa Clara. Coin says Santa
Clara. Louisville -Baylor. This game is at Baylor.
It's a five -and -a -half point spread in favor
of Louisville, and we'll start with you, Blaze.
Give me Louisville. I think Baylor's a great
team, but Louisville offensive firepower is just
going to be too much for me. Goose. It's odd
timing for a non -conference game. So odd that
I actually had to double check to make sure Danny
didn't screw it up and have the wrong game, but
he didn't. It is an actual game, so give me Louisville.
All right. I'll go ahead and take Baylor then.
I don't have a great read on this game. You're
killing me here. I'm going to take Louisville
as well. I like it. Coin takes Baylor. All right.
Last game, Michigan State -Wisconsin tonight.
It is our tiebreaker game as well. I'd say 147
.5 total points. So we want total points first.
The winner, I will go first. And I will take
Tom Izzo at Badger Court. I know everyone's going
to smile now. And I am also going to go. I think
that's going to be a little bit higher scoring
game. I'm going to go 157 points. Baby J. You
think it's going to be 157 points? I don't know
about that. I think that it's going to be a low
scoring game. I mean, Goose is going to pick
like 47. I'm going to take my Badgers. Okay,
and I'm going to go with 105. Wow. Okay, so 55
-50. Yes. All right. I like it. I knew you would.
It's a challenge bet. Come on, let's go. I am
worn out and tired of Tom Izzo. He is pontificating
constantly. He's got a point guard that kicks
everybody in the groin, and he keeps defending
him, and I'm worn out by Tom Izzo. Give me Wisconsin
and 135. 135. Blaze. Wisconsin coming off a great
win against Illinois in an overtime victory.
I'm going to have to go with Michigan State,
though. I think they're just the better team,
and I think it's hard to come off a win. All
right, points. Points, 137. It's going to be
a low -scoring game. Great defensive fundamental
game. He priced right you right there. Maybe
I'll just go 5 -0 and the tiebreaker won't matter.
Coin goes Michigan State on 148 points. Phone
is open for you at 541 -343 -5673. That's the
Oregon Man Clinics hotline. We've got time for
maybe three callers if we go fast. And remember,
here's the game. You've got to bet against us.
To try and win, let's head right over to the
phone. Our good friend Steve is there. Steve,
you are ready to go, my friend. I just turned
the radio on. I have no idea what I'm picking,
but yeah. Okay, well, here you go. This is best
for us then. Kansas -Iowa State basketball. Iowa
State's at home. Kansas. Purdue -Iowa. The last
team I say will be the home team, just so you
know the rest of the way. Purdue -Iowa. Purdue.
Gonzaga's at Santa Clara. Gonzaga. Louisville
is at – well, it's actually a neutral site. They're
playing in Fort Worth or whatever. Of course
it is. Louisville -Baylor. Let's go Louisville.
Okay. And then the tiebreaker game is Michigan
State -Wisconsin. That's tonight. Let's take
the Badgers. Okay. Total points. No, I take that
back. Let me take Michigan State. All right.
No takesie -backsies again. All right. Michigan
State. And then total points, buddy. I'm 147.
147, right under the coin at 148. Thanks for
listening, bud. We appreciate you. Oh, I didn't
hear that. Okay, thanks. Thanks. There he goes,
the great Steve. All right, phone line open at
541 -343 -5673. That's how you do it. What are
you doing this weekend? Are you taking your wife
out for— No, my wife has friends who have an
annual Valentine's Day party. Normally it's on
a different day than Valentine's Day because
it's always on a Saturday. This time it's on
a Saturday, so we're going there. Good for you.
Yeah. I'm going to watch 28 Years Later. 28 years
later? Is that like an apocalyptic... Zombie
movie. Perfect. It's a sequel to the very famous
28 Days Later. Okay. And it is about the fourth
in the saga, but it's gotten great reviews. I'm
a big horror movie zombie guy fan, so that's
what I'm into. By the way, if you can't reach
us via the phone... You can go ahead and go to
BiggerBets on the Twitter and put your picks
in before the first tip at 5 p .m. Michigan State,
Wisconsin. Back over to the phone in Junction
City. It's our good friend Chris and Steve's
best friend. Chris, you ready to go? Oh, you
know, I'm just driving by the Viking Inn right
now. I love it. I love it. You got to pull and
take a left turn. Kansas at Iowa State. Who do
you like? Kansas. Purdue is at Iowa. Oh, Purdue.
Gonzaga is at Santa Clara. Gonzaga. Louisville
and Baylor. Louisville. Michigan State, Wisconsin.
That's the game tonight in total points. Wisconsin.
And let's go 133. 133 just underneath Blaze.
Thanks, Chris. Hold down the fourth there in
JC. Go Tigers. All you know. Atta boy. There
he goes. 3 -1 still Oregon State over Michigan.
Top of the sixth. We have time. Do we have time?
Yeah, we got time. We can squeeze one more in.
Yeah, we can squeeze it in real quick. If you
come fast, you got to come in the next 15 seconds
at 5, 4, 1, 3, 4, 3, 5, 6, 7, 3. I know Brad's
sitting out there, maybe Coach Mark. So maybe
somebody's out or somebody else, maybe a new
one. As everyone's trying to cram in, I know
phone line gets busy. That's fine. Again, I'm
going to give you about five more seconds. You
got to hop in. Otherwise, you got to go to the
bigger bats on Twitter. and put your picks in
there before 5 p .m. tonight to be eligible.
Yep, 3, 2, 1, we're out. Okay. Well, that was
good. We got a few picks in. The coin takes Kansas,
Purdue, Santa Clara, Baylor, and Michigan State.
The highest point total is what I threw out,
157. The lowest point total is Baby J this week
at 105. That's pretty low. Are you out of your
mind? You know, I've watched a Wisconsin game
or two in my lifetime, and I feel pretty good
about that. Yeah, I'm sorry, Coach. Go ahead
and hit us up on Twitter. We're just a little
bit too late. Let's do dad joke. Oh, a joke.
I got fired from the bank today. A woman asked
me to check her balance, so I pushed her. Dad
jokes. All right, we're going to let the button
do it today, okay? Turn my mic up a little bit.
Here we go. What do you call a fat psychic? A
four -chin teller. You might want to check those
before. That was very nice. Okay, that's the
first one that kind of skates on the edge. We
are peering over the edge. Kids, we're not on
the program on Monday. We're going to take President's
Day off. I will be in Orlando for the first part
of the week. It'll be Dom, intern Dom, and Baby
J in the chair on Tuesday. And Goose, you're
back here. I'm back Wednesday with Baby J. Love
it. And I'll be back on Thursday. Hold the fort
down. Everybody have fun this weekend. Go out
and enjoy yourself. For the entire crew, God
bless. Put a smile on your face. Someone else's,
they deserve it. So do you. For Goose, Baby J,
Blaze, I'm Doc. Peace.