H1 Monologue, Brian Hanni

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1:00into the second round. Stevenson baseball pass into the front court. Base R catch, turn, fire, up the heel. No. BCU, back from the dead. Down 19 points in the second half. And the ramps keep running into the round of 32 in Greenville. And now, wishing I had waited until the Kentucky Santa Clara finish to make that open, Seren Petro. Right you RK, right you R Petro in the program on sports radio 810WHB. Thank you for joining us here on a busy Friday. The conclusion of round one of the NCAA tournaments is today. It is happening and if you had Santa Clara, you got host. Because I had Santa Clara and we got host people, Kentucky hitting a half court shot to send it into overtime and then winning the game and overtime. Let me see. I think I had screw you Kentucky.

2:01Thank you Kentucky. That's right. Put them right with Baltimore. I know where I think I had Kentucky. I had Santa Clara. I had Santa Clara and it's not going to help in the old family bracket here as I'm looking. I believe in the family bracket contest. I am. Oh, no, my youngest daughter. She goes down with me. Did it help you hurt you in the player pool? Hurt. Hurt. I think I had at least one. I think I had at least one. So yeah. Good times. Good times. We can laugh about it now. We can. You know, it's, it's, it's, it's the tournament. It is. What it is. And I was thinking about this in the time since the end of that Kentucky Santa Clara game of what this tournament is and is all the time. It's, I mean, the Super Bowl is and will always be the greatest individual sporting event, I think, in the world.

3:01Even, you know, World Cup. Nothing meets the Super Bowl. But I also think no actual entire event. Even the World Cup meets the NCAA tournament because of the compressed nature of it, particularly the first. The quantity of teams compressed into it in that time frame. And particularly, we always isn't like, oh, wow, Thursday and Friday is, is amazing. We know that. But we just kind of think of it as this run of, well, it's basketball all day. Awesome buzzer beaters. And we don't really think much about beyond that level of it. But from 11 a.m. Thursday to 11 p.m. Friday, 36 hours, 32 teams go home. That's unbelievable when you think about it in those terms. And I was trying to, from when to when? From 11 p.m. Thursday to 11 p.m. on Friday. Right. It's based. That's 36 hours. 32 teams go home. Basically one in hours. Someone's going by by. Yeah.

4:01It's unreal. And. But you can, you can also extend that out. Yeah. And it, it becomes. 48 and about. Yes. I've heard the next two days like. Yeah. It becomes 64 to 16. It's like a blur. It becomes 48 in. Yeah. We lose 16 more and about. 80, 80 hours total. Yeah. You know, I mean, 80 hours. You lose 48 of them. We lose two thirds of the bracket. Three third or three quarters of. Three quarters of the bracket gone. You're the guy who knows the win percentage. 31 and 16. No, that's a. That's a. That's a 649. You're like, I don't want to memorize. You just struggled on. Even though I don't know. I don't know numbers as well as you do that. But what I was thinking was. I don't know about that. You know every win percentage off the top. Yeah. You do complex stuff. In the time between that and. And now I was trying to.

5:02Kind of encapsulate or summarize what. What I. Some thought about it and what it is is. The best that come up with is. It's the only event in sports where. You can absolutely expect. Something absolutely unexpected. To that degree. There's no way in any individual event you would expect. A bucket and two threes in the last ten seconds. Including a near half court three from. A big. But you can go into the tournament knowing. Something like that's going to happen in the next two days. Something unbelievably unexpected and ridiculous in the moment. You know it's going to happen at some point. To me that this. That's the. The brilliance and the beauty of this tournament. Is. Is the. Those two things. Set side by side, particularly in those first two days. Nothing like it. I mean we thought yesterday had some great moments. And today went. Oh yeah. Well what do you think of this? Yeah. And he's still got it.

6:02Well we were we were even talking about how we didn't have that many upsets. And and you know the tournament's always great because like you said we've got so many opportunities for something good to happen. When Houston's rolling saying out last night we did get to where three of the four were dogs. And Gonzaga even ran away at the end. And so the last session wasn't that great last night. It's the beauty of the tournament. Yeah. So you know you're looking at your brackets or your player pools or your Calcutta's. And all the different ways there are to you know play some sort of fantasy sport or gamble or your bets. You know if you're if you're if you're betting the game and it's Houston's lay in 20 something you're still invested. So there's all this you know it did. There's still plenty of entertainment on a day that wasn't the best day. But as we talked about it this morning we're like well you know we had the 11 over the six and we had a. 10 over seven and a couple of nine over eights and the 112 over five. But even those were like it was a play in team that won the 11 six that happens like every year. So we're not shocked by that the 12 five happens a lot. So we're not stunned by that North Carolina goes down the 11 six.

7:03That wouldn't even a play in 11 six was it or was it? I don't think so. No no. VCUs was in. But even that North Carolina's lost their best player in the last month of the season. And they had a 19 point second half lead and VCU went. Yeah. Yeah. Goodbye. I mean so that didn't even to regulation and over. But just if you're like hey Carolina might lose early. Well there you are without their lottery pick. So that makes sense. Yeah. I you know so even the upsets I think were somewhat kind of predictable. Yeah. I mean like well that methodology might not have been or how it happened might not have been. Yeah. But the as you said it is it is it it's foreseeable. It kind of means that like well okay so today is probably going to be a zoo. You know if we didn't get it yesterday then we're going to get it today. Yeah. Takeaways from what we've seen so far. I. One single takeaway. Or many I well I mean like there's nothing that I say well there's a lot of little things.

8:06But I don't know that there's any one major well how about that. That's the theme from today. Or that's the theme from the from the first. No male Allen. Yeah. No. How about that. This week in basketball. Nothing that really really jumps out individually. There's a bunch of little side things that are of note. But well that yesterday showed you blank. I don't know what blank is. Yeah. I don't I don't I don't necessarily see it either. As far as like oh there's one huge takeaway. Well this is what you can hang your hat on. It's just they've done it again. But I guess it would be like look I don't have a big overall one. But here here are some thoughts that I have. One I just mentioned Hubert Davis and North Carolina. Hubert Davis is on the hot seat if he doesn't get fired. Caroline would need to know where they're going to go.

9:07And they could call literally anybody in the country. Like Kansas and a couple of other programs. And I don't know they don't have an alum who's kicking ass at a you know. At a Kansas right now. Like Roy Williams that they could call and just have an obvious choice to put in there. But I and so I think they'll probably stay the course with Hubert Davis. But like Hubert Davis I mentioned Caleb Wilson. But I mean Gonzaga's without their second leading score. He's been out for like a month. Duke has been missing numerous guys off and on. Throughout coming down the stretch. They're still up there playing at a high level. I mean there are a lot of teams that are down players. I just the reason I know that's coming from the player pool because I tried to pick them all. Right. And you guys it bail me out like no he's done for the year. No. Well he might be back the second weekend. Well now he's been out for a month. Like there are lots of teams that are without guys. And if dealt with injuries and that speaks a little bit to Kansas tonight in the Darron Peterson saga. They're not the only one that's had guys in and out of the lineup.

10:09Right. So like it's been long enough for it to come together. Like I'm all for discussing. You know look some of the things we've been talking about. If you want to grab a line nine one three three eight ten eight ten phone numbers nine one three three eight ten eight ten. Some of the things we've been discussing you know is is. You know what is Kansas now. Like like they for two years Tommy Lloyd in Arizona has been in in the big 12. He's looked down at Kansas and Bill self for three years. Calvin Samson's been in the big 12. And he and Houston have looked down at Kansas and Bill self. Like you know we talked about what's at stake. And we'll talk to Adam Dravetta going to make a triumphant return a little Adam unleashed in the three o'clock hour. By the way two minute drill in the four Kevin Harlan and pep Fernandez. He is the play by play voice of California Baptist and the holder of the greatest name in the history of broadcasting. Pepp Fernandez pretty good almost sounds like it was made up.

11:09I've done a character about some team so great. Who's the play by play guy for the fictional basketball teams got to be pep Fernandez. Who's going to bat lead off pep Fernandez. I mean that's just I just want to talk to him just because his name's pep Fernandez. Yeah, but we've been discussing like you know I do think we know we've said what's at stake. And I'll be interested to hear Adam's thoughts and and Kyle's talked about it because he's a KU guy. About what's it staying up. I asked Brian Haney about it too. Brian Haney is going to be with us later on. This hour did I mention Brian I think I might have skipped Brian. Brian's going to be with us in the coming up in our next segment. But you know he will rock blank you up if you don't. You talk yeah. I think you need to blank the chalk. Yes. Um. You want to punch in the face you'll get a punch in the face. I will. I just like Brian at all. I just like Brian at all blank you up.

12:10Now you can't be he went halfway to Mitch. Yeah, that one. That's true. Um. But yeah. Just him him suddenly getting super aggressive. I'm going to get him. I'm going to get him on tape. Doing that. You want to punch in the face. You go. Get a punch in the face. I have this picture. Brian, one of the reasons is so funny. He's rocking one hand punch. Thunder punch. Right in your noggin. One of the reasons is so funny is he would never do that. Yes. He is such a nice guy. He would never do that. But I do have to picture. I know. Of him with his hands on board. You want to. And then he'd do what he'd say. I'm really sorry. I'm sorry, man. The good. He helped you up. Buy a dinner.

13:10That is that is priceless. So anyway, uh, back to my point. Yeah. Which was that. I I do think Kansas. Really does need to buck the trend. It's been since 2008. They've been past the second week past the first weekend. Mm hmm. Once since 2018. Now that one time is a national championship. And that carries a lot of weight and should. Yeah. But at some point and they've also been screwed with a pandemic. And as a bouquet going down, a bill self going down one year. I mean, they have they they've had bad luck in there. Do I think if as a bouquet is healthy, there's no pandemic. And bill self is is healthy that we we see this team only passed the first weekend once. No, I don't. I mean, so it is for because of circumstances beyond their control. But there's there's none of that this year. Mm hmm. So unless you mean the Petersen thing maybe is something along that line.

14:11But that's but that's by your own. He's not hurt now. Right. Right. You know, so that that's faded enough. The imbeade couldn't play. Yeah. That's another one I need to add in there. 15. That goes back before the 18 run. But you know that that's another time that they got stung. So you know, I I do think that's an element that that's that's there. Like I think there is pressure on this team to get past San Diego and to get into the sweet 16 and to go back to campus. I don't know when the spring break is. Maybe they're on spring break, but if they're not, but to go back on campus and walk around and and everyone to know. You know, going to class. We're still in this thing. And we're going to play Thursday or Friday night and you know the party continues and where you going to watch the game and what are you going to do? Are we going to travel? Are we going to go? I know where do they go next Houston or I know Houston goes to Houston next. No, that's at a different a different region. They're going wherever the one with the East is with the East bracket. South bracket goes to Houston. Okay.

15:11Well, whatever it is. But anyway, I do think that's a big part of it. And I think there's more at stake than than I think most people would outwardly realize because I think right now there's optimism. I don't think anybody's picking them to win the championship. But they feel like we're going to be Cal Baptist and we're the higher seed against St. John's. And by the way, the narrative that's being written that somehow it'll be acceptable to losing to St. John, it won't be unacceptable. But St. John's, yes, won the Big East. And yes, St. John's won the Big East tournament. And you look at it and go, well, Connecticut was one, two, three, four most of the year. So wow, what an accomplishment. Yes, it is an accomplishment to again win the league over Yukon and win the tournament over Yukon. But there are only three Big East teams in this tournament. Okay. So it wasn't Yukon in the six other schools that are in the Big East. Creighton was down. You know, it was not a classic league. There's just those two in Villanova. And that's it. Yeah. Well, they'll go to DC if they get it. Okay.

16:11So like I do, I think there's quite a minute stake type. The more I look at it, the more I think about it. Like right now, we're not talking about it. But if they would lose in the first round, I think it's going to be quite loud. And listen, it's going to be quite loud. And it's, I almost want to, I bring this up to be proactive. And listen, some of you can't handle it. And we'll send a text and say, I know you said the thing we're going to, no, I'm not saying they're not going to win. I'm wanting to think through what the reaction is going to be if they don't win. They're a 14 point favorite. They opened at 12, 64% of the tickets are on Kansas. And 81% of the money is on Kansas, which means not only are people pounding Kansas, not to win, but to win by more than 14. But the bigger bets, the guys who tend to know more are on Kansas. So it is highly unlikely, I think, that they're going to lose.

17:12But if they do, it will be loud. It will be really, really loud. And not just the rabble. It'll be, but people who have, it'll be really loud. And I think Travis Goff will have to listen. Not Travis Goff will have to act. Yeah. Travis Goff will have to listen and start thinking. Right. I mean, everything's about, well, when's Bill going to hang it up? When's Bill going to hang it up? And I think it will be his choice because I think they're going to win. And frankly, I think they got a pretty good chance. The longer I look at this, the more I think they're going to beat St. John's. I don't have that on my bracket. I have St. John's on my bracket. But the more I look, when I see how overwhelming the money is going on Kansas, it says to me, but again, this may be just like you've been saying it for a couple of weeks now. Yeah. This may just be the chief's still the betting favorite while two games below 500. Yeah. Well, the chiefs have gotten to 500 and they're the overwhelming favorite to win the Super Bowl. They were not a championship caliber team last year, but the history said,

18:12well, they're going to get it going. They're going to get it going. And is that all this is? We're going to find out they're going to have to prove it on the court. I think they will against Cal Baptist. I think they might against St. John's, but it's a big moment to just kind of, I looked at this what the last three years have been coming into this year. And I guess this year to an extent as well from a different standpoint. I went back to 85. I wanted to get all the Kansas seasons in the 64 tournament era, or team era, just to have a straight broad base. Since then, even counting the last three years, really finished third, sixth, and fifth. And they're in CACs have been fourth, seventh, and fourth. Their average conference finished 1.8. Their average tournament C, 2.6. Last three years, three, six, and five. And CAA, four, seven, and four. So not just the gap the last five or six years, as this looks odd,

19:12it looks odd almost for the entirety of the 64 team era. What Kansas has done in the conference, and what they've, what they've started the NCAAC tournament has. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's, it's a big weekend. It's a big weekend for the Hawks. It's a big weekend for the direction of the Kansas program. I think they've got a great recruiting class coming in. We'll see what they do in the portal. I think they're going to be a talented team. But they're a talented team this year, and they hadn't come together. Nope. They've got a chance to bring it together now. Let's talk to Brian Haney about it. We'll take a break. The voice of the Kansas Chahawks joins us next here in the program. Welcome back here in the program here on Sports Radio 810-WHB. Let's talk to the voice of the J-Hawks. Brian Haney is with us getting ready to call tonight's game with California Baptist first round matchup for the Kansas Chahawks. Brian is with us from San Diego. Brian, how are you, sir? Doing great, so we're in. Thanks for having me on. Excited about the Hawks chances out here. And as you know, as Jay Hawks, this is always a favorite time of year.

20:12So thanks for having me on. Yeah, absolutely. Appreciate having you. Tough assignment for you to have to go to San Diego, huh? You, you know, difficult times. No, maybe not the best draw in terms of competition and matchups. But certainly the one seed of regional locations. Completely agree. I know there would have been value to staying closer to home with OKC and St. Louis for the sake of our fans. But Coach has said that this may be better for us after all with kind of getting away from from back in the Midwest. He said, everything's had a big time feel, which for this particular team, a lot of guys experiencing a big dance for the very first time. He thinks this setting, this region, everything just has an elevated vibe to it. It's different than what they're used to. And therefore he hopes to get a different level of output and buy in and all that stuff over these next couple of days. Yeah, they are kind of on an island there. But there's going to be plenty of Kansas fans. Kansas travels really, really well. And it's a great destination.

21:12Like it's probably, you know, Kansas fans wouldn't have picked it. But since it got chosen for them, not bad to go ahead and spend a little extra and find yourself and see in Diego, California. I will say that. I like asking this question. You know, I think I asked it to you about the big 12 tournament. But what's at stake in this NCAA tournament? Maybe what's at stake in this weekend for Kansas? What are going to be the ramifications of either, you know, getting knocked out or moving on into a second weekend? What will it mean for the program where it sits right now? Well, I think certainly we need to have you at a title in any sport, whether it's the Chiefs, who obviously have blessed our local fans tenfold or, you know, Kansas Championship in 2022. There's a certain number of years. And that particular number can be debated whether it's three years, five years, ten years, whatever. Kind of depends on the tradition of that franchise or program as it may be, in which you don't really allow to complain too much because, hey,

22:13you just won a national title, right? And so we clearly won one in 2022 that was a blast. And in many ways, was, as you and I discussed with Curtis last week, was a feel good for Kansas fans who seemed lesser accomplished teams go out early. And that 2022 team, constant breaks, peaked at the right time, won it all. And it made up for some sugarcotta wooders on previous bills self, juggernaut that didn't win it all. And I think that up to say that outside of that 2022, we've had a tough time getting out of the first weekend. Obviously, in the three years of the fall that we have not, and five of the last six tournaments that have been played, we've not gotten out of the first weekend, the one that we did, the one at all. And so when you ask what's at stake, I think it's overcoming this stigma that, of late, you know, Kansas has not had that same punch in the month of March that, you know, for so many years,

23:14you just assumed you got to the second weekend because, hey, man, if you, if you include 2020 in there, which obviously we didn't have a bracket, but Kansas was the number one of ones, there was a stretch of seven of 11 years, where bills self was a one seed of selection Sunday. Think about that. Put that in college football playoff terms, right? That means you're, you're one of the top four in the old format where we just had four teams in the playoff. That means you're in the college football playoff seven out of 11 years. I mean, those are comparable to saving consistency at Alabama. In terms of being at it, at the end of the regular season, when all the resumes are stacked and, and compared, that's what bill self is like at peak self-era. And for so many of those years, because prior to Bucknell and Bradley, you know, we would always win the first game. And usually in the second game, around a 32, it was an eight or an nine, staring back at you. And some of those you had struggled to get by, most of which you got by relatively easily. First time you broke a sweat was a sweet 16. And there was just a lot of years where you just kind of chalked that up, right?

24:15The KU was going to be in the second weekend. It's been comfortable late for a variety of reasons. And we broke these down very briefly on last week's show, thinking about some of the health setbacks that Kansas has had, the last three tournaments, starting the bill's own health and not being able to be on the sideline in 2023 up there in Des Moines. And then you lose Kevin McCullough and find out he's out for the tournament. Literally, when we're arriving in Salt Lake City a couple of years ago, they make that announcement to the media scrum as soon as we're getting off the bus and everybody's like, oh man, well, this team isn't destined to go very far. And then last year, not that we had super high hopes as a seven seed, his one time ever not being a top four seed at Kansas. But they were in position to win that game until KJ Adams carries his Achilles in crunch time and a big run in Seuss and we lose. And so my point is about the long-winded answer to a short question. If you don't win a couple of games this week in San Diego, that narrative continues. The Kansas is struggling to get to the second weekend. And are they the same chances they were 10 years ago?

25:18If you win this weekend, holy smokes are in. I genuinely believe Kansas becomes a team that suddenly nobody wants to play because, as Bill said, on Sunday and his post bracket press conference and reiterated it earlier this week when we first arrived out of here, nothing galvanizes the club faster. Nothing builds momentum more than winning in March. And if they get this first one tonight and can do so in very convincing fashion playing from out in front, landing that first blow, you know, reminding Cinderella, she's from the lack and this is Kansas basketball. We're going to play from out in front and not let you hang around like Sienna did to Duke. I think he got some momentum heading into Sunday. And if it's St. John's on Sunday and it could very well be you and I. But if it is St. John's and you found a way to beat that really hot team, I think that's the type of momentum and suddenly Kansas is playing together. Suddenly the J-Hawks are pointing in the right direction to where nobody would remember that we just lost four of our last seven

26:21and our month of February and start to March was pretty uncanceless white. At that point, I think Duke fans are a little wary of what might be coming their way. If they're still standing even if TCU doesn't knock them off. And so those are two very polar opposite answers between winning this weekend and not. But that's what it would mean to Kansas and those are the stakes for us this week. Well, but I think I think you just, I mean, you hit on it. I mean, and I appreciate that. I mean, I think that's, you know, you it's a very honest assessment. I mean, if they don't get out of this weekend, the stat that Kansas fans are going to hear a lot of is they have only advanced to the second weekend once since 2018. And that's not going to be fair because of like you said, all the different health things. COVID, you know, injuries are all a part of that. But it will mark a, you know, it will continue a consistent trend. So I do think, you know, I think there's a lot of people like we always talk about what's the stake for Mizzou, what's the stake of Kansas?

27:22And you start talking about, you don't hear as much about Kansas. But when you start talking about Mizzou, somehow, well, here's what Kansas has done starts creeping in because Kansas is the measuring stick, right? And I get that. And certainly when he's talking about case state, it creeps in there. But I mean, I do think that there is, you know, I had early in the week, somebody's like, well, I don't think there's a whole lot to lose for Kansas. And I actually think there is, right? Like I think there's a lot to gain. I do think it's important not necessarily to go win the championship. But I do think it's important to get out of this weekend because while St. John's is the Big East champion and St. John's is the Big East tournament champion. And you're like, oh, wow, that you mean they were ahead of Connecticut? Yes. And one other NCAA tournament team, only three Big East teams were deemed worthy of the tournament. And it's, it's also, you know, a couple of other things. Tommy Lloyd's been asleep twice. He's been in front of Bill Self, both times. It's what three years for Calvin Samson and he's been in front all three years. Like I think Kansas needs a strong run to be like, we're on that level and not we're third.

28:24Does that make sense? Yeah. Totally makes sense. Very well laid out. And believe me, as we're doing post game last Friday after a really disappointing showing particularly offensively versus Houston. And I'm thinking about the fact that on Saturday for the championship game in Kansas City, it's going to be two newbies. Houston and Arizona duking it out. And the stands are probably going to be half full. And the bar restaurant owners are going to be upset. And I'm thinking about how those guys have come into our league. The Kansas owned for the better part of three decades. And very quickly, you serve the J-Hawks at the top of the throne there. That's not lost on any of us that we want to kind of get that purge back. And so, you know, obviously Arizona is the darling pick of many to not just make the final four of the pops. We win it all this year. Houston should they get to the second weekend. We'll get the play in Houston for the sweet 16 of the lead eight. And so we're not necessarily comparing right now yet. But if we were to have a quick exit this weekend and those two teams continue to play on.

29:27I think from a perception standpoint of where they very quickly carved out their place in the Big 12 hierarchy. It would just be, you know, even more pronounced at that point. Now, the beauty cause basketball is, and it's also the negative thing about college basketball. One season of an extra roster is going to look 80% different. There's going to be a lot of turnover and you can flip it very quickly. But despite all the mixing and matching of parts, you know, those two teams have been very, very good. These last two or three seasons, particularly Houston. And you would hate to see them continue to stretch out, you know, their margin as currently the inside chair. Uh, toward first or seconds in the Big 12 conference ahead of KU. We still have more tradition than both of those programs to be clear. But if we're just looking at a modern Big 12 era sample size in its current configuration. They've absolutely had the upper hand. And so we want a good showing it. We want to, you know, see where the dust settles on Sunday night. See who's still standing amongst Big 12 teams.

30:28And as we look around at the Houston and Arizona's and Iowa State to the conference. You know, we want to feel like we're still right there with them. So I think there's a lot of stake in that regard. Absolutely. We're talking Brian Aini. He's in San Diego. He'll call the game. You'll hear it right here on sports radio. A 10 W H B your home of the Kansas J Hawks. Darren Peterson spoke to the media at the Big 12. It's mandatory. And we learned that he had had this kind of full body cramp event that happened before the season. And that part of what we were witnessing during the course of the season was a little bit of a, of a fear factor that it really put a scare into him. And that that was part of what was going on was getting beyond that. And it was, it was, it was traumatic. Right. That's the only way I can, I can try to describe it. That was good information to have. Did, I'm not going to say someone made a mistake. Because, you know, you can't make someone talk if they don't want to talk when they're not obligated to talk. There are obligations that come with being in a league and being at a university like Kansas.

31:28And when you come to the league tournament, you got to talk. And those are obligations. I think need to be met and they were met. But could it have been a little bit smoother for Darren Peterson this year? Had we known more of the story had the fan base had the critics. And by critics, I don't mean people that don't like him. I mean, people that are just paid to analyze and be critical of what's going on. Could it have been a little smoother if that information were out there sooner? Yeah, I think that's fair. Absolutely. Darren has said as much. So whatever I say from here in responded to your question, I'm going to quote Darren. He's admitted that had there been a little more transparency on his end or had he talked more about earlier. Some of those narratives from guys like Stephen A Smith who probably watched 10 minutes of us all season. Oh, you're so generous. You're so generous, Brian. You're so generous. Yeah, rounding up to the nearest 10. Yeah. But he had the hottest of hot takes the morning after Darren pulled himself in Stillwater versus Oklahoma State. And several others on an actual scene that don't watch a liquid college basketball suddenly were experts on the topic.

32:28And so Darren has admitted that had there been more chances to talk about it. Had he been able to speak more and provide more transparency than some of these other narratives that were formed by people that were just drawn straws and throwing spaghetti at the wall to see if it would stick. You know, wouldn't have been out there. But there are a lot of layers to this. There's a lot of people in his camp that it certainly combined with the KU side of things discussed Wednesday right time to talk about certain things. And it's definitely been a different challenge in terms of the injury. And as you quoted a clear factor of this flaring up again, then anything goes self encountered in his previous 30 plus seasons of the head coach, 23 of which it can't. And so I think we all love put part of the charm of bill is he's so straight up about almost everything. And when it comes to injuries, he calls it like it is that kind of thing. It's not like they were trying to be secretive as much as it was they were struggling to get a handle on why it kept flaring back up and why it was such a hurdle to overcome.

33:33At times it left him wondering, well, what do we say about this? And how do we go about addressing this? But like I said, a lot of layers there. And at this point in the season, the questions have been asked because as you said, the access and availability in the postseason with those 30 minute open locker in sessions is going to bring the topic to the forefront. And he's answered as best he could. And then yesterday, he's one of the two players picked to go to the podium and probably 80% of his questions asked. There are Peter some more about that. So I say that to say now that it's been fair game to throw it out there to a guy that really wasn't around the media much in the midst of the initial aftermath of these cramps. Now that it's been addressed, let's let his basketball go through the talking. And he would love nothing more that it performed well tonight, get a win, move on to Sunday and have all of this questions afterwards and all of this questions tomorrow at the off day media session be about what lies ahead and not what's been his previous four months.

34:37And as coach speak and cliche as it sounds to hear a coach say, well, guess what guys? If the new season were zero and zero, let's move forward. Has it ever been more true than this particular season with this group of canvas J Hawks because as I reference, we've dropped four of our last seven. There is a moment from there. I can't recall ever seen Bill Self still tinkering with combinations and still try to get the pieces to fit heading into March, let alone March 20th. But with this particular group now that Darren is finishing games and routinely playing more than 30 minutes, they're still trying to figure out how to play aggressively around him and with him and through him. Is there ever an example of, hey, let's just clear the balance on everything that happened last four months, stop talking about it. Let's create a new, you know, mantra or new, I guess, you know, mode of thinking going forward that this is a fresh season for us. And this is going to be our identity going forward. And I think that's something that Bill's been beating the drum about ever since Sunday night when the brackets came out.

35:41And again, it sounds like coach speak, but I don't think it's ever been more true than it is right now with this particular group. The voice of the J Hawks Brian Aini is with us here in the program does AJ to ban some motivate him to 35 out of him second most ever by a freshman. And I don't mean motivate him to go top and statistically, but does like he knows he knows, you know, the next step is the NBA draft and there's a lot of talk about where he's going to go. Is that a motivating factor for Darren Peterson? I think it absolutely is. I think it's certainly looking at their prep careers and the duels that they had and the numbers that Darren posted. Even just looking at that first half at home, you know, if you were to say, OK, you got to be around Darren for eight months. What was your favorite 20 minutes of Darren Peterson? It was that first half versus BYU when AJ was in the house and Darren took it to a completely different level on both ends. And we've seen it any point all year and have seen since. I think there's definitely motivation there. They've been downplayed in any type of rivalry, you know, as if they're like against one another.

36:45But they certainly push each other in ways that, hey, like Jordan back in the day, anything you can do, I can do better. And that's something that I think absolutely fuels Darren. So it's not that he's going to go out hunting 36 points tonight or anything like that. But I do think regardless of what AJ did last night versus BYU Texas matchup, I think Darren knows he needs to have a prolific NCAA performance or two or six. Because how he'll be remembered at Kansas, he hopes is not the previous five months, but rather the next three weeks. And so I think that the fact that he's a went out early and Darren has a chance to stick around for a while here these next couple of weeks. I think that's definitely something he's welcomed, but he knows his role within it needs to look great on both ends. And that's not simply is he making shots or is he not, but is he impacting the game on both sides before in ways that are what we thought he was capable of before all of this preseason full body

37:50cramping stuff said in and before you lost some of the juice because Bill said routinely that there's still another level to climb to with him. And will we see that tonight and Sunday should we get there? I have no idea. But but I know for those 20 minutes versus BYU, it was the completely turned up version. And I feel like from playing time and finishing games and that mental roadblock, because is it going to flare up again or not? And he's clearly pushing past that now. And he said himself not to make it sound like excuses, but he knows his efficiency numbers since he started finishing games have gone way down. And he's attributed to that to not playing as much basketball home the last five months. There's everybody else, but obviously you have one more game like that in the seasons over. And so not making excuses. I'm just hopeful that now that he's proven to himself mentally he can push through discomfort and finish games. Will he be able to start a little bit more efficiently and effectively?

38:50And then be that guy that we thought he could be because if he turns into that, then he's one of the top two or three players still dancing at this point. And if he's everything that Bill thought he might be, then he probably turns into the one guy nobody wants to face these next three weeks. I always have to be careful of like I dive into these teams that we don't look at all year. And I find out oh, they got a big score and all they got size four guys six 11 or bigger, you know, Kansas has had some trouble with size. They get a lot of fouls to throw at it. And then I got to remind myself that they're playing in the back. Okay. Listen, up to tap. We've seen it. We've seen it already happened in this tournament. We haven't seen a four go down for higher go down, but we've seen a five go down. And so it I'm not trying to say that Cal Baptist can't win this. I mean, they're not a 16. They've been given respect for a reason. But the betting markets have taken Kansas from a 12 point favorite to a 14 point favorite 64% of the tickets have come in on Kansas. And even more impressive, 81% of the money, which means the big betters are betting Kansas.

39:52Now again, that does not mean Kansas is going to win. But it shows that there's confidence in Kansas, not only winning, but winning big. You know, Cal Baptist, I'm not even going to mention say jobs. What has to happen for Kansas to be Cal Baptist? I think with any March recipe for the big dog advancing, it's so much about remind Cinderella early. It's about to strike midnight and your time is limited. The longer you allow a team like this, settle in, feel comfortable and feel like they can beat you. The more you can have a nightmare on your hands, just ask Duke yesterday who had to sweat it out for 35 minutes versus Sienna. And Jerry McNamara had any kind of player on the bench he could have put in, who were five starters, didn't have dead legs for the last eight minutes of regulation. Who knows, they might have upset them. I think if Kansas can land the first blow, if they could play to their athleticism and advantages early, get Melbourne counsel out and running off of defense.

40:55You know, where you get a stop and a quick kick out or you get a steal and score on the other end. That's going to get Melbourne's confidence back because I remember he shot one of 14 versus Houston last week. Kansas and the half court sets has not been very effective this last month. Our offensive nose dive has been a big story. So I love who Jayoff turned defense into offense. Get out and run. Don't allow Cal Baptist to settle into their pack line defense and force us to score a half court set. Not that we can't be affected there. We certainly should be. But I'd like to see Kansas assert their will early. Put the foot on the throat early. Run it down their throne and remind this team that's a decent three point shooting team, but really doesn't have prolific three point firepower. They're in a huge hole. They're going to try to shoot their way out of this. Because if we're struggling and laboring offensively early and they get a couple of shots to go down, they're playing with house money and they're playing with a free mind. That's when you see some of these upset bids really gain steam.

41:56In the case of Daniels, everybody's talking about this week's Dominic Daniels junior outstanding talent. He reminds me a little bit of a mid major Frank Madison in terms of his ability to put the ball on the deck. Drive past jump through four waving arms in the paint and acrobatically score, you know, with contact. He's kind of a dynamo in that regard. And we've seen him against lack competition for 41 as recently as black semi final. 47 earlier this year in the regular season. You know, he can be that Cinderella March man is stick a dynamite that explodes and has, you know, the huge performance that puts you chances at risk. But I think his Kansas can be the defensive team that builds up and calling for all year. But statistically, it's still very good defensively. And you look at the field go percent of defense and three point percent of defense and block shot. We're amongst the nation's leaders in all three. You can find a way not just to fully neutralize, but keep him from going off.

42:59I'm not sure the rest of the Lancers have the type of firepower to beat Kansas on their own. He's the head of the snake for sure. So we'll see what Kansas does to try to slow him a bit. That's not to say they don't have other capable players because they do. I just think it's such a play through him type team that that's got to be priority number one and public enemy number one for KU. But as I said, a fast start is as big as anything. And there's because you don't want to give belief to the tournament rookie playing in their first ever NCAA tournament game. But they absolutely can hang with Kansas or raise that notion early and hopefully the J. Hawks can play to some of those those points, bread numbers and confidence points that you spoke to earlier. Brian, he's with us time for our final four. Brian, I will start you with this. Were you rooting for Jerry McNamara and Sienna? Absolutely. I was absolutely. He broke my heart in 2003 when he hit those six first half threes off the court side in New Orleans.

44:01When he did, but yeah, you know, while we love the C. Kansas Duke in the sweet 16, the name of the game this time of year as you and I have discussed many times. It's about senior path open up. So I was on the edge of my seat yesterday cheering for every Sienna shot. And when their legs went dead down the stretch and they went through a six and a half minute scoring drought and cutting it. Offensive rebound or defensive board to save their lives. I hurt for the man because they were certainly in position for what would have been a historic upset. What pick number does Darren Peterson go on the draft? Well, let's say our glass is half full and he shows what he's capable of over the next two weeks. All right. That's not saying all the way to the final fourness early, but certainly I would love that and certainly think that's possible. But let's just say he gets three games in March Madness and looks really good in the process. I still think he did back to Warren. I still think he used a game changing talent of which this draft has many, but of which his ceiling, I think, is the highest.

45:04So I'm still a believer he's the number one pick, but heading into the tournament he has worked to do. And honestly, as a selfish Kansas fan, that's kind of a good thing, right? I've seen a dialed in version of Darren. He's last 72 hours and I want to see him go eat. So let's see what happens hopefully with two games out here in San Diego. And then taking that show on the road to the nation's capital. Have you had any fish tacos? Not yet, but yesterday morning, before we had to get down to business, we went over to Coronado Island and had tacos on the beach. You know, you're paying hotel bell Coronado prices when the drinks are 19 bucks and each specific taco is 12. So like a free pack of tacos is 36 and you're not getting out of there for less than 70 with tax and tip. But I'm telling you man, the beach was beautiful. The tacos are fresh. They weren't fish tacos, but I had some good carne asana to put an extra scoop of my stuff out here in sunny San Diego. Okay, you mentioned getting down to business. Let's get down to business.

46:04What time did you get back from Tijuana last night? That's hilarious. I told you man, I got a good night's sleep last night for a great call tonight. We'll see how the rest of the weekend goes, but now all business trip out here. And if it is anything, we are two blocks away from a comedy club that has $7 tickets. So that's going to be our reward tomorrow night. Once we get our work done, it should be win tonight. We may go see some of the laugh actors. That's about it for us. This is our time of year where we want to be our best and brightest on the air and bring it on. So nothing too crazy. But if we get out of run and go all the way to Indianapolis, then man, let's have a good time at 10 elbows on me, my friend. Join me up there and we'll celebrate in India. That's okay. Well, you you're hopefully headed to the laugh factory tonight and hopefully it's nothing but last for KU fans all weekend. Brian, great stuff. As always have a great call. The game will talk to you down the road. Thank you, buddy. Appreciate you. Sports Radio 810 WHB March Madness coverage presented by Plaza Estetics and Wellness, Healthy Sleep Midwest, Bomb Site Auto Group, JR Roofing, Hollywood Casino and Miva Medical.

47:14Dr. Travis Brown and Miva Medical are the leader in minimally invasive treatments for men and women in Kansas City to learn more. Go to MIVA-medical.com. All right, thanks to Brian Haney, joining us live in San Diego, California live where he did not partake in fish tacos. You can get carnita tacos, you know, anywhere where there's pork, right? I know Spanish. Carnita is Spanish for pork. I don't know if it is or not, but I know when I say carnitas, I get pork. You go to San Diego, you get the fish tacos, people. Yes. That's what you get. Why would you not do that? And are you buying that he wasn't in Tijuana last night? Are you buying that he went to bed early to have a great call of the game tonight? You know what? If I, yes, I am buying that. Really? Yeah. You don't see Haney in Tijuana at 3 a. Going, I got to figure out how to get back from here.

48:14I don't, I don't either. Actually don't. He's still one game like that. No chance. No chance. He'll be ready to go tonight on the call. You're here here on the home of the J-Hawks. Little Adam Unleashed is coming up next. All right, AJ DeBonzo scored 35 in a losing cause yesterday. What player holds the record for most points scored in an NCAA tournament loss. Brought to you by Lafeta Delicates.