IT Live: Stopping the Texas Offense & March Madness Preview

0:00This is IT Live, brought to you by Academy Sports and Outdoors. I'm Evan V, of course, joined by Ian and Justin on this great Thursday morning. I'm filming for Joe Cook. He's out. So they got the youngsters are coming in to help us a little bit. Uh, not sure what's going on with Justin, but Ian, how you doing this morning? I'm good. Justin knew we were going to talk about basketball. And so he's hiding from my basketball takes me making sure he's not on the screen till that comes up before we get into it and before we adjust the back up in here. Make sure you're going over to InsideTexas.com for the best sale they've had going on for quite some time. The 50% off spring sale gets you everything you could need. Inside Texas for all the insight from Ian, Justin, everyone else in the staff. On three for your national news, rivals for your recruiting news, plus that full year of access to it, athletic, all 50% off. It's a great deal right now and the best time to join inside Texas with all that's been going on with the team and spring practice and things like that. But just now you're doing, you're doing all right? Yeah. Good, good. We're going to start with Ian's article today that just released, talking about kind

1:00of how you defend the Texas offense. Because Ian, you've been detailing a lot this past few months about how the Texas has done so much to add to this offense. You've added the explosiveness in Cam Coleman, a little bit more of a floor raisers in Michael Mousunis' and Lauren Seymour's, and just seems like with the ever evolving team and Sarge's ability to coach, there's so many good things they can do. But of course, teams are going to defend it and there's some great defensive minds on this schedule. So, when you're looking at the difference between last year's team and this year's team, do you think that that ability to just rush the middle? That seems like it's maybe going to be going away for teams to simply beat this Texas offense? Yeah, I think that's going to be a much more difficult proposition. Manning actually has some amazing numbers against the Blitz overall. These numbers in 24 against the Blitz were unreal. In 25, they were still surprisingly good, given how bad they weren't protection, and the

2:02only reason that it was a viable strategy was because Texas was so freaking bad at protecting up the middle. So, now they have, you know, Baker and Seymour in either guard is the presumed lineup. That's going to be a lot better than it was last year, miles better. Robertson's back, that's helpful, that's better. And then you have Manning back with another year, not having guys immediately in his face every play, and then an even better cast of skill talents to get the ball out to. So, like, if you're playing the fighting the last war game of analysis, Texas is equipped to dominate the last war. Like, they're not going to be beatable in the same way as they were in 2025. Yeah, Justin, I think the thing that we talked about last night on IT live with the

3:05court is just how much speed this offense is at. And I think that's both the floor raiser and the ceiling raiser we're talking about. Maybe being defense is like, I think, the last year's Florida where they kind of just ran right at Arch Manning, and he made some great plays, but maybe the skill talent wasn't there, right? I think that's probably the biggest difference right now with this team is they have those weapons that can get on the perimeter and make guys miss. Yeah, I mean, Texas has never had a shortage of speed in skill guys. They just got some experience in that room now, a little bit more so when it comes to the home run ability, really Brown can take it to the house. Hollywood's mothers can take it to the house. Cam Coleman can score pretty, pretty easily. You're joining a group of guys that were already pretty, pretty stable with Ryan Wingo and in that bunch. And so, yeah, their speed for days on the 40 is it, is it the Xavier Worthy level speed? Matthew Golden, I don't think so, but you're never, ever, ever going to miss that component.

4:06It's the ultimate maximizer when it comes to this sport. And Texas knew they needed home run guys. You don't need Arch Manning to lead your team in rushing. Matter of fact, that's a bad, bad, bad. You want these guys that can take some of the pressure off of him and actually make the safety pay attention as well. Yeah, and as he pointed out, as you go a little further down, that to beat this defense, this offense is maybe the defense that will most champs install or when you're looking back at how Kurt Singnetty and this Indiana team last year won their championship. Just a lot of good athletes at the front and then teams that can do a lot of different things. Could you expand on that, Ian? What exactly makes it good against an offense like Texas? It seems pretty balanced as it stands right now. Well, I think instead of being really good at attacking, Texas is going to be too good at countering for you to want to be like an aggressive defense against Salon Lawrence next year. You know, we'll see, but it feels like Texas has too many ways to just counter punch those

5:11teams into the Shadow Realm, as Joe Rogan says. I just don't know if you're going to be able to get by Blitzing Manning. If you don't have the pressure that they had last year and you got like Relique Brown or some others catching a screen pass, et cetera, it's just too much. So basically, you just want teams that can play at safe and keep the Longorns in front of them, but then still have a good enough defensive line to protect the back end of the defense when they hang back and ideally still inflict pass rush and maybe some negative plays in the run game. If you have, which is, I mean, if you have a super talented defensive line and a super disciplined and varied approach on the back end, I think that's the most dangerous combination. And as we're looking to the schedule, and you sort of scored out a little bit homeride, who do you think are the teams that really stand out?

6:11I know we have these Ohio States and LSU that pop out as the best teams on the schedule, but Oklahoma and A&M are also ones that are known for their defense. You also got Ole Miss on the schedule to be holding. But who do you think is being able to set up well as you're seeing some of the standout players that might be available for these defenses? Which one would you say would have the best chance at stopping what Texas is doing if they're humming at a high level? Theoretically Oklahoma. Yeah. Yeah. They have to get, they'd have, they need to re, they need to go back to the drawing board on how they've defended Texas for the last few years and not do it the way they've been doing it. Reset. They need to reset. Yeah. And the trick that they have is that Vennables is so good at attacking people and attacking people without giving up the big play over the top. So it's hard for him to give that up. Which I'm okay with. Right. Theoretically they could be great at this because they have really good personnel up front.

7:19And their secondary should be at least pretty good, but mostly just because they can, they can do a lot of damage without committing a lot of guys because they have like David Stone. Taylor wine is back. Yeah. Well, wine is even not even the edge. It's like they don't have one of these Dania Coyay or. Oh man. That was what it was. It was going to pop up in that rotation. I don't know if he has yet. I think that out of a war, a guy, I'm saying that name, right? He's like next up. I don't know if he's figured it out yet or not either. And um, Kip Lewis, yeah. Kip Lewis is an amazing blitzer. I almost listed him instead of wine, but then I couldn't ignore wine's outstanding numbers from last year. I didn't realize wine. Yeah. Kip Lewis made a lot of plays last year too. Big money. For sure. At the end of the year, they lost our Mason Thomas and I was like, well, Alabama is going

8:21to shred this. And then they blitzed Kip Lewis brilliantly. And he was getting free shots up the middle on apparently a beat up Alabama team and just destroyed them. So theoretically, Oklahoma is the worst nightmare. But they just like some of these other teams, they just have this need to chase negative plays in a way that Sark has repeatedly shown that he can really catch. Yeah. You saw this pastor with a flawed Texas offensive team that I mean, Trey Weissner gassed them in the inside zone or outside zone game and even some of the times when you get them to open field, which kind of wasn't what he was known for this Texas team. That's what broke them even. And it wasn't those long plays. It was that third quarter with the long drives and just being able to run the ball. And I think that's probably the defense and the skill talent that I'm most scared of. The defensive line. They've got so many good players. The team that I'm really interested in and I want to hear Justin's thoughts on this

9:23is, you know, you've got Ohio State on the schedule once again. And they're losing probably the number two pick, the number five pick, the number 10 pick. Just keep going down the line of just these elite athletes on defense and some of the best in the country last year. And that's clearly was too much for Texas, even though Texas ran the ball as a decent bit of empty art is in the run game. They couldn't score an offense apart from that long throw. So when you look at this Ohio State iteration, Justin, it's still map at Trisha. But do you think maybe that Texas offense has the advantage when you're looking at kind of the guys, though, but guys are going to have to throw out there in a place of downs, Reese styles, et cetera? Yeah. So who do you have going number two? I'm curious. Oh, Reese. That seems to be consensus right now. Yeah. Yeah. Well, yeah, I can't, I can't think about Simpson is going to try to sneak up, but that's not going to be a need at that at the number two spot. No, that's interesting. The thing is, this is the perfect, I think, ingredients for Texas offense this year. Because we've seen it before where you played the team that's loaded with juniors and seniors

10:27in NFL talent. And we saw how arch faced those bullets. Now it's a reset. Now, we also, we saw how sneaky and clever Patricia can be last year. But he doesn't have that domino in Caleb Downs anymore. That guy was was able to erase a lot of sins on that side of the ball. They're losing not only NFL talent, they're losing athleticism. Now, they're going to reload. This is, this is Ohio State. This is Ryan Day. They're going to reload. They've got some guys coming up. But I think it's obvious it helps Texas because Arch has seen kind of the tough side of that. He's going to see a different side. I'm probably more worried about what Patricia dials up rather than the personnel on that side of the ball. Like, I'd be more, I'd be more curious to see how they attack or how they defend Texas, whether than, rather than, you know, five or six guys on that side of the ball being NFL ready, like they were 12 months ago or non-mots ago, rather.

11:31It's an advantage for Texas. It's an advantage for Arch being at home. That's another advantage. But again, I'm, I think while the talent will, the talent kind of scales over to the Texas side, I'm still going to be watching Patricia to see what he dials up because last year he had Downs in that group on that side of the ball in their bag. Yeah. That was a pretty tough defense to break for a pretty inexperienced Texas offense that had even more struggles than we were ready to see. And I look at this Ohio State team and they've added so much in the portal that they might not have these top three to four players that are really, really scary and that should be playing in the NFL this season already. But they ended a lot guys like Earl Little in the back end, Calhoun from Alabama might be a factor at cornerback, linebackers. They got that that buddy duo from Alabama, James Smith and Claude Russo, you know, how do you see that match? So I think that's the one that we're going to have to talk a lot about when it comes to that early off season or that lead off season, then early season because so important to go and win in the office of this year. That's the other one that's if they just ran back what they did last year, I would think

12:38that they would be pretty poorly equipped to beat Texas again. Really? If they ran back the same strategy with this year's players. Yeah, yeah, they gave down a lot, down's a lot of freedom. Yeah, if they had downs back, then, you know, it'd be worth it. Yeah, you got another coach on the field essentially. Yeah, he's, there's a lot of things that he does that are impressive. He was a really good player, maybe one of the best defensive players in the country last year or definitely one of them, maybe the best. But so the question is Patricia, does he have, was last year like a, I've got this script I can run and it's going to turn this defense into a lethal unit and then hopefully it works again or was that truly like something that he created for that specific unit and he's got endless creativity and design to change things up to suit their new personnel.

13:42Because last year, if he can come up with another super efficient system that makes use of all, they're totally overhauled roster on defense in a similarly efficient way, then that's, you know, something to worry about. If he's like got a couple tricks and those tricks don't work with this roster, then they could get blown away. That's the question though Ian, is, is, are we, we're going to see if Patricia is more than a one trick pony, right? Like last year, he inherited a Baker's dozen NFL guys. He didn't have that same slew of kids this year. Yeah, now he did have a lot of weaknesses last year that he disguised with what they did. Really? Yeah, their secondary, their, their covers was not very good. Specifically, the cornerbacks were not very good. They didn't have a lot of true defensive linemen, like defensive tackles.

14:45They had a bunch of edges. So they were just firing 240 to 260 pound hybrids from every which angle. And that ended up working just fine. But they did not have a lot of true anchors. And yeah, we'll see, we'll see. There's probably, I should have listed them as maybe a bigger concern because it's possible that Patricia has really found his level where the, like, people, people will describe him as like a football genius. And it's possible he's currently at a level where that will actually be something that you see consistently. Rather than, I got to see him do it without 27 NFL prospects first. Well, he's done it once. He's always going to have NFL prospects. He's in Ohio State. Yeah, no, no, no. That's what I'm saying that you think he might be at his level. I think I'm going to see what he does without the uber talent on that side of the ball.

15:46Or without the mega-tron Optimus Prime safety and Caleb Downs. I think those are going to be, we'll see, exposures. Yeah, but Ryan made a good point in the chat. Ryan, Nelson 2653, Charlie Becker, and Serrat. And that baited him title game. And they were going after those cornerbacks from Ohio State. And that's where they found an Indian. It did that all year. They found a way to get down the sideline and get those big guys in one-on-one matchups. And that lost some of your point on defensive line. And maybe they don't have the ed rushers this year with guys like Hayden Curry going off the NFL. I know Kenyatta Jackson's back, but he's more of a run stuffer. So there's definitely less of that pure NFL talent elite type of players on this team. We'll see what kind of guys elevate like Reese did last year. But I don't know if it's quite me on level of good to number two overall pick. Before we keep going on the sarticle and talk a little bit, recruiting in hoops, we're going to throw it over to Academy Sports and Outdoors. It's not a worm bite, it turns out. It's a giant. It's a giant, so.

16:51That was one big fish. All right. That's the end for me to get out here. That's a piece of plastic. That's a AI brother. You must not have been on the show when my son saw that a couple of weeks ago. And he's like, no, because you're not catching a bass 5 or 10 pounder. And your little canoe isn't going to be rocking at all. And you're just going to be holding it. No, that dog don't hunt that. That's not how you catch fish. Come on, Academy. That's not good for the ads. Either way. Ian, look, anything quick on LSU and A&M before we get to some of the other kind of different types of defenses here? LSU and A&M both live for third down. So they, their first and second down strategy is very minimalist. They're not trying to do a lot. They're just trying to hang on, play decent football, get to third down, and then on third down, they both have just,

17:51they throw the house at you. So LSU is going to be a little bit vulnerable because Sark, when he's got weapons and he knows what you're in because you don't have as much disguise or as much variety, then that's trouble for LSU. And then for A&M, they were over aggressive last year, chasing negative plays, trying to get to third down. And Sark made them pay in a major way. Did not mean to rhyme there. So if they move away from that, if they feel like they can play things a little more, fundamentally sound, then A&M might be trouble. But if they keep doing the chase negative plays to get to third down, then I don't, the bet already blew up on them once and I don't see why it wouldn't be worse with an even better Texas team. Yeah, you're seeing it with the draft process, even with A&M and their adrosher, Caches Hall, who's coming in as the smallest defensive lineman edge type player that we've

18:55seen come out and you're like, how can you draft that guy? How is he going to play the first two downs in the NFL? And they brought another guy kind of like that, Antosacco. Antosacco from Northwestern, who I think it's going to play a similar role of just that. Go get him on third down. But yeah, I do agree that I think Oklahoma is the one that that shows up on paper as like this will be the one that could give Texas fits. Let's go down to the Tennessee and Florida team. So I think those are Marco Jones is the one that I'm the most worried about for him. Dude, he's a returner, right? He returns, but he didn't play. I don't know how much he played last year, but he's a returner. That's a five star edge that they they won out. He's out of California. That's the kid that can hit a baseball, a country mile. That kid's athleticism. You know, I don't remember if you know, remember us doing a notebook on him. That guy was that's what that was a stereotypical Texas longhorn edge take if they could have got got him in the class. And they recruited him hard, but he wound up picking A&M. Marco Jones is going to be a stud in college nation.

19:59And I worry with him. I worry for Texas to say that he's not going to have to cheat and play on sound to get negative place that he can do it more legit than how. So that's the worry there. He'll be more effective than how. How's going to have more I think how have higher sack numbers? Jones is a much better well well-rounded player or will be will be. He's got some size on the very worse and don't tell people about playing baseball because I don't think he's doing that in college station, but we know I think he tried his first. I think the intention was maybe to try for his first year. And then I think it was like now, bro, we're going to focus on football. Man, he could hit that ball. Dude, holy moly, which is another reason Texas was into him. Baseball was taught was recruiting him as well. That's how Texas does it here. You saw when saw talking about general lands, but you talk about these two Tennessee and Florida teams.

21:01When I look at them, I this linebacker group. So the ones that really stand out for both sides and of course Jim Knowles coming over for Tennessee. But what do they do well that might give Texas some problems this year? There, mostly it's just that Tennessee and especially Florida are more of the type of teams to actually play the strategy that I warned about. Where they focus on keeping you in front of them and playing it safe, but then they still have enough talent on the defensive line to cause problems without having to get real junky or aggressive. Florida is probably the bigger concern there. Tennessee, I think, has some talent, but like you said, they have those linebackers. And Jim Knowles may end up defaulting to just getting real aggressive because he has that strain in him at times. So Florida is almost like sneakily the team that you worry about a little bit from this group.

22:04They all asked to come together for them. We have to see that they've got they have defensive linemen on their roster that were really talented. That are kind of coming into their own now like it's sophomores and juniors. And they will take that approach on for sure. Definitely. And yeah, I think I look at this Tennessee team and I'm like four starting defensive linemen gone and even with Knowles bringing in like you mentioned the next wave of Penn State players. Like that's going to be hard no matter how athletic your defensive linemen are to get all of them up to speed there. So you heard from me and I mean, I think the offenses are what you're mostly looking at for how these teams can get burnt, for how Texas can get burnt. But yeah, Florida, Oklahoma, the defenses that can really get it done that can give Texas fits. And of course, Oklahoma is going to need to score some touchdowns there. It's going to do it for us on this article. Let's talk some recruiting Justin. Do a little two-minute drill. What's been going on and how Texas is doing on the trail. I know what Latham Wissenhunt just announced coming into Notre Dame. That may be more Noah Roberts news than anything. But talk to me about Brock Williams and just everything that's going on with this Texas recruiting update.

23:08Yeah, so they got a handful of guys coming in today. Well, at least they're expected for the morning practice. Giovanni Tuggle of Big Time Safety. Out of Georgia and Clell Johnson and offensive tackle out of blue with Archbishop Molar. I think we want to say that's where King Griffey Jr. was played high school ball in Cincinnati. I can't remember exactly. But those are a couple guys. The big news is Brock Williams. He was on campus for four days. It felt like Texas wasn't going to let him leave. It was going to be like Mark Cuban and the Andre Jordan trying to capture somebody with Blake Griffin. Brock Williams in Texas makes a lot of sense. Ohio State looks really good. Georgia looks really good. But man, their NIL offers substantial. Their recruiting pitch is strong. He really likes Jeff Banks. I think it's Texas to lose at this point. And I think Texas fans are ready for banks to hook a Marlin at tied in a recruiting class. Granted, Nick Townsend is definitely a fish that you would put on the wall.

24:13And he's going to turn into a star. But from a star power type guy, Brock Williams is your guy. Yeah, let's talk a little bit about running that recruiting. Yesterday, I posted yesterday morning about I was hearing that Nathan Wysington and Notre Dame were about to happen. Talking to a source close to that recruitment. Texas really, they liked Wysington a lot. I mean, it's hard not to. 5 11 6 foot 200 pounds, 4 5 4. Can do a little bit of everything. I think he's going to be a better player in college than he is in high school. But it feels like Texas likes a few other guys a little more. Notably, Len Williams call us out of Richmond Randall and Noah Roberts. Out of Basha High School in in Chandler, Arizona. Texas is going to focus on those two. Now listen, the Oregon ducks, they're battling both for those two guys. The ducks already have a guy in their class. Cadarious McMill or Big Town running back out of down the road here in Tyler, Texas. I think Texas can probably split LWC in Roberts with the Oregon. It's going to be interesting how that plays out. I think the horns still want to in this cycle. But the running back room's not bad.

25:14So I don't necessarily think they have to take to. They may just push all the chips for Roberts and LWC. And I can kind of see that happening. And then this weekend, there's a couple guys. There's a handful of guys here going to come in. I think that list is going to grow, as a matter of fact. Charlie Williams and I are working on it over at intitexas.com right now. Come over there and join it. You've never been a better time. A Reed Ramseyer is going to be on campus on Saturday. He is important because in my best class scenario I did a couple weeks ago, everyone's always asking me about guards. What guards are Texas taking? I remember when Tackle was the sexy position. Now it's like, who's that interior guard? Who's that Martin looking guy? Well, Reed Ramseyer is on that trend line. It's funny because he kind of popped up out of nowhere on Cow floods radar. He went by the school. His high school in Orlando really, really liked him. Ramseyer had returned it. This is a guy that can play center, can play guard. I know they have Peyton Miller kind of eyeballed for that center spot.

26:16But Ramseyer gives you some of that versatility. And they're going to have to go big on the inside. I know Texas looks good for a handful of tackles. He smelled Camar, Brian Swanson. But they have got to nail guard. They have not developed that position in the last couple of years. They have been sending tackles to the league. It's time to go to the interior, O'Line now. Come on, Kyle. And they don't necessarily have to be the largest humans. They just have to be the best. And so, Cam Hall, Texas Commit, he'll be on campus this weekend. Luke Neighbors, another edge out of view for Georgia. He'll be on campus this weekend. The biggest thing to know is you got to just come to inside texas.com and press that refresh. Because Charlie and I are updating this list regularly. I posted something this morning, a little bit more updates back into it. So we're going to have bigger recruiting weekends, probably the next few. I don't know how big this weekend will be. I guarantee you in early April and mid-April, those weekends are going to be a lot bigger.

27:17Kids love to come in and watch scrimmages. Then into the day, recruiting is going as planned. They're doing well in 2027. They're taking their time. They're going through their e-vows and they're bringing guys on campus on a regular basis. Yeah, no AI fish going up for Jeff Banks in the 2027 class. He's going for that for that real one. And yeah, a lot of good offensive notes there for me, Justin. I think a lot of people are excited for the idea. Just one of LWC or Roberts. Right. And you spend all that money on brown and smothers. And then of course, they are Cooper this past year. Cooper, yeah. That's a great point. They spent big, sorry, they spent big last year. I don't expect them to go over as much as they did with Cooper this year. And you can still get you a really, really good back. Does that mean they won't spend big for Lend Williams-Calis? No, that does not mean that. I am not saying that. And I'm not implying that. I think if they went to the mat for LWC, they may do that. But you're right. That's a great point. They've already spent pretty big in that running back room. I expect them to be a little bit more judicious and efficient in this cycle.

28:19Yeah, and I think overall the best footform might just be a one-in-one for the portal and the recruiting on sport for Texas. All right, Ian, I know you're chomping at the bid here. We're talking some basketball now. Texas Purdue, tonight's 6-10 tip off central time. Ian, just give me your first thoughts on this game. I think this is maybe the first one of the tournament where Texas is clear clearly the underdog and that there isn't some kind of specific advantage that you can take over. This pretty often is pretty tremendous and I want to hear your thoughts on that. I thought we were talking about how after adding Kevin Dury at the rocket start taking, I'm sorry, Purdue. That would have been better if Joe was on. I've been expecting Texas to lose every round and they've played terrific basketball to this point. I think this is where the bar gets too high to keep clearing.

29:23I can't pretend to be a college basketball expert. Yes, you can, boy, pretend to be anything. Oh, I can pretend. That Purdue point guard is good. Yeah, it's their bigs. They're skilled. The power forward is very skilled around the basket. And then they have those two guys that can that one dude that's like six, five, lawyer, lawyer, that's scary. It felt like part of what Texas has done really well is they're playing better team defense. Yes. And it gets a lot harder to play team defense if you have to commit somebody to shadowing that guy wherever he goes. And then that guy can't help on team defense anymore. Because he can't just put like a bomb on him, I don't think. You have to put somebody with some length and capability on lawyer.

30:24And then that guy is no longer as available to swipe passing lanes and help obstruct drives and stuff. It feels like a bridge too far to me, Justin. I would agree. I think this is when the run ends tonight. And you know what? Did Texas basketball hit expectations? You damn right they did. He's on Miller. You're one. But brother, that's it right there. Get him to this. I mean, anything we talked about for the last four months has revolved around. Well, if they make it to the sweet 16 and none of us kind of thought that would happen, I'll admit, you know, they didn't come in on the best, the best wave. But man, they even know that they're playing much, much better team defense. They're help side. Their rotations are about a step quicker than they were a couple of months ago. They're a little bit more anticipatory. They're kind of looking in passing lanes a little bit more. Here's the key for Texas.

31:25One, they're not relying on one guy to score. They're kind of getting a mixture of a bunch. I don't think they necessarily have a go-to score. Swain could probably create you a shot. Tremont-Mart could probably do the same. But those are not your five minute closers. Go-to guys like a DJ Augustine. They're just not. But they've been kind of getting contributions from each spot. The key with this team has been rebounding. It's been the post-play with Volcatus and those guys. He's been effective to the point now. They're going to have to pony up some NIL to bring him back next year. And I think he's going to be even more valuable. I didn't realize how good his feet are. Like he could act. He's got a praise. He's got a pro prospect in his dreams. But look, produce that team that's been there. I get a hardcore Virginia vibe from a few years ago when Tony Bennett won it. Those guys returned everybody. Everybody knew what the expectation was. Purdue decided not to turn it on until about two weeks ago. Because they've been through all this before. And now like you said with Braden Smith and their bigs,

32:28listen, Gonzaga lost, you lost. And so at the end of the day, man, I just think this run-ins. I love, it's going to be competitive. I think Sean Miller has these guys believing that they can do this. I just think Purdue is a mountain that's just going to be maybe a little too tall to climb. Yeah, I don't think Justin's style was barking back inside. He was barking about Andre the lawyer and all the great deals he can bring to you. Texans, no. When you're injured, there's one name that gets results. Andre the lawyer. Trust the team that has secured millions for their clients and help thousands of Texans win their injury cases. Car wrecks, slipping falls, 18-wheeler accidents on the job injuries, wrongful deaths. Don't let the insurance companies tell you what your claim is worth. Andre the lawyer will fight for you. His principal office is in Dallas, but they serve Texans throughout the state. So don't wait. Call 214-444-8808. That's 214-444-8808.

33:31Contact info is in the description. I know a lot of you are curious about this and from what we've heard on Jordan Pope, it sounds like he's going. And he said to Kirk Pohl's, the Houston Chronicle, like, I'm playing. The thing that got me when I first was reporting and talking about it was that Sean Miller was very, he seemed positive about it, but it was kind of like a not going to commit to anything yet. No, there's definitely definitive there. He's going to play. He's not 100%. Yeah, I think that's exactly where we're at. And he had an ankle injury late in that game. And it's nice that they got that much rest. CJ Cox of Purdue is another guy in this game who's dealing with injury. And I think he may swing towards the either very limited minutes or not even playing type of thing for the boiler makers. But I think Pope's good to go. I think he's going to play. It's just about how much you can get out of him. And that brings me to kind of my, my main idea of what Texas needs in this game. And it's, it's been Vokey Titus this whole run. I think he's been the X factor clearly. And it's both both sides of the ball. I think more defensively today because of the amount of pressure

34:33they're going to put on him in that drop coverage role. He can be going up and fighting against Smith. That's going to be fouls galore. So he's got to make smart decisions down low. But I think this just has to be the daylin' swing game for Texas where, you know, he's been talked about as that first round pick for the last two months. And you've gotten good results from him. Especially he's been passing the ball well. And the team is, there are assist numbers have gone up so, so much. But Swain has not given you that, that true. I'm going to take over this game. I'm going to get some right buckets and ISO ball. And I look at the Purdue roster. And I'm going, yes, they have their big three of Laura Smith, Coppin' Ren. They have their big South Dakota guy and Oscar Cluff. And they've got a big, yeah, Cluff's good. He's not quite that like, you know, when Purdue was spitting out 7-3 dude after 7-3 dude, they have that on the bench with Jacob's in. But Cluff, you know who he is? You're going to look his name up. He's Scott Pollard. So yeah, I know that. I've heard that name. I just thought I could look him up. He played. He was a big time post for Kansas. That's exactly who that's exactly who Cup is.

35:34Yeah, Cluff's got great footwork downloads. He got a vocalitis that's going to have to be aware of. But I look at this roster, I'm going. I don't think Coppin' Ren can keep up with Swain on the perimeter as much. They don't only have the size next to TKR of these wings. It's a lot of 6-4-6-5 guys. So, you know, I want to hear your thoughts on that. Is that where Texas is going to need to generate their offences in that swing? So is it going to maybe be closer what we've been seeing a lot of where or Bokyatides is getting a lot of the work down low? Well, that is possible. It doesn't seem like Purdue's bigs are, or you're laughing Justin. It doesn't seem like Purdue's bigs are like, they're like amazing paint defenders from what I've seen, which they are. They're good in the paint. Yes, they can finish the paint. They're not going to get you on the outside of the perimeter. Well, it seems like they're good at maintaining decent position and putting their hands up. It doesn't seem like they're like loaded with athletic. Oh, no, no, no. They're not going to see that this is not UNLV 1990.

36:35There's not fly slammer jammer. There's no athletes running up another floor and transition, flushing it. You just have a chance to get over the fundamentals. It doesn't seem like their defense is like insanely athletic either. It doesn't have to be if you played correctly, help side defense, you don't have to be an athletic. They've been there, man. They've done this before. Yeah, it seems like it's possible that he could have a good impact. It's going to have to be balanced. I don't think Swain's a, if Swain gives you 25, I don't know if that's good to be totally honest with you. I think I'd like to see all of them get about 8-12. I think probably the second option. I think you probably want these Purdue white boys and isolation on guards more so than trying to hammer them. Yes, yes. The low is not going to be the, the Volca is going to have a tough time because he's going to have more than just one body down there. With Gonzaga, it was basically Ike.

37:36It was Purdue. There's like four guys that can rotate. So if anything, they'll wear him down. Purdue is ranked among the teams left. The only worst defenses are, of course, Texas, who's in the 80s. Even with improving so much, they're in the 80s. And Alabama, you know them as the high scoring team, and Arkansas, but of the 16, they're fourth to last in defensive 10 palm efficiency. So that is where, I mean, Texas has gotten teams like NC State and BYU and Gonzaga because yeah, they're great offensive teams and for Gonzaga, and BYU maybe even better offensive teams at their best. But if they can't play defense against Texas, then that's going to, it's going to kill them. And I wonder if Purdue is going to have those problems. That, yeah, that big three returning, there is also some kind of mental element of, this is the last run for all of these guys. I mean, lawyer Coppen ran and Smith, have been doing it at Purdue for a long time. And they've always followed just a bit short. They made that final four run run recently. Cluff, I believe, this is last year of eligibility. So it's a full reset on the program. If this is the final game for them.

38:36So I wonder how much that, that plays into a fact of it. Ian, just before we go, Ian, first, what are your score predictions? What are you think is going to happen tonight's game? The honest boy. Purdue 8570. Comfortable. You know, I think Purdue is the number one offense remaining in the sweet 16. Yeah, at this point. It's them are Illinois. It's them are Illinois. And they've gone back and forth. I think throughout the whole season. I think it was Illinois for the majority of the years, the most the Purdue just barely right now. Right, right, right. So Texas defense is going to be tested. But Ian makes a really good point. Purdue doesn't have the athletes that these other schools do. They just don't. And I'll be honest with you, Gonzaga did not shoot the ball as well as I thought they were going to. Like if Gonzaga nails three or four of those outside shots, that tone of that game may be different. I think Purdue hits those shots. I think Ian's prediction is really close.

39:39I'll go 80 65. I think Texas keeps it close. I think Texas defense is going to keep them in it. I think the fact that they're kind of playing with house money at this point is going to keep them in there. If this thing is is a two or three possession game with five minutes left, I think that is the best scenario for Texas fans. Because in that case, anything can happen. Texas that first half and that first 10 minutes of the second half, they just have to keep it close. If they keep it within striking distance of that last five to eight minutes, the horns will have a shot. That's where it's going to be tough for Texas. Just keep that bad, that foot on the pedal for 40, 45 minutes to give yourself a chance at a run when that final six, seven, eight minutes of the game. If they can do that, we've seen a lot crazier stuff happen in March. I'll tell you what the normally that what kills these big 10 teams and they're like, Brian at the beginning of the chat was noting how the big 10 teams are all rated so high. Well, they all play each other.

40:42And the SEC teams tend to rank low, but here's the thing. The SEC teams are usually the most talented teams, but they're all underclassmen. Because they're reloading with like, NBA type players that don't stick around. The big thing like Purdue, you got all these white kids that are never going to the NBA. But then they've been there for four years, five years developing. What tends to kill these teams was the big 12 would have good athletes that have been developed over time. It could apply ball pressure all the way up and down the court. That's what Houston kills people with. They're aiming left here. Baylor when Baylor was good, that's what Baylor looked like. You're right. Texas Tech when they were good. That's what they were doing too far. You should have just stopped drinking new. Jared Coler. We're not good. Yeah, Jared Coler. Back and back in there. We're going to start a Timberwolves. Nothing. He's in Greece now. That's the point. Is he really? I believe he's on the same team.

41:43The Kendrick nuns on. I saw a graphic about that. This is this is Thursday live. We go off the road half the time. And that's what makes people tune in and view is. Come see us at inside Texas. It really is the best time. So in that sense, Texas is probably they'd have to apply like that smuggling ball pressure in the back court. And I still don't do that anyway. They don't do that in general. That's not really their thing. I don't think I think because these are two of these sometimes isolation, but just half court scoring off. And so I don't know if this is quite an 85. That's a good five game, but I think like I said it last night, 7769 Purdue, where I think just like you said, like Texas can be in this game late and at Ryan pointed out, like Nick Cody has been given them some good minutes. And that's been a little not even earlier in the year, but late when it was bad has been the time where teams have

42:43killed them. But I just think of one that played some of these truly elite teams of Florida and Arkansas. And well, Florida's not here anymore. But that Florida came where it just got away from them in the last eight minutes, and I think that might happen to this Texas team where they play a good, good, good, I guess what, 35 minutes of basketball. And then Purdue gets two, threes in a row and maybe one's on transition. Miller calls a timeout. And it's just kind of from there they get whittled down. But I do think Texas keeps it competitive. It's just I think they're kind of running into the really good team. And the team that actually has final four aspirations, as opposed to Gonzaga and BYU, who people have pointed out in our in our threads like, yeah, Gonzaga and BYU had injuries, but that's why they were six and four seats. Like they would have been higher seated if they didn't have these injury problems and Saunders and Huff were playing. But either way, it's going to be while you has more NBA talent, in my opinion. True. That one, DeBonza is going top three, top four, no matter what. He's going number one, Evan. No, he's going over him. Boozler.

43:44No, no. Which one? Definitely not the blood guard. That guy is terrible. No, no, man. Boozler's not going, AJ's going number one. You know how I know that? Because I watched him play against Texas. I did not know he was that skilled offensively. I totally had a two to three. Dude, dude, he, he, he, hey, he's got some right-handed Stacey Augment to his game. Like he, he, that kid's going to be really good. This is going to be a good draft this year. So it's going to be a great, I mean, this is. I can tell you what, a couple of these Purdue guys will make, well, we'll, we'll make an NBA roster. The Arkansas kid is the best player in the country. That's step on Marbury 2.0. Darius Aka. He's the main, him and Brazil of the reason I think Arkansas can win this whole thing. Evan wasn't on this last week. I told Ian and Joe, I don't do the final, I don't pick a final four anymore. I just picked teams that I think can win a national title. And I think they're only three in this tournament this year. And it's Houston, Purdue and Arkansas.

44:45One of the national champions is going to come out of that three. Arkansas, brother, brother, if they're clicking on off cylinders, they may be the toughest out of this tournament. I had, I had Arkansas on my final four going through that region. I had them losing a Michigan, but my mom would have killed me if I didn't pick Michigan to go when they're gone. Go tell mom. Why are you even letting mom know? A lot of mom. Mom didn't, mom didn't pick the bracket I did. I got belief in Lindenburg and May and in those pigs. But I think that's going to do it for us. We can talk about the sweet 16 of the rest of these teams and why my mother's judgment is not the best for the rest of the time. But before we go, make sure you're going over to InsideTexas.com for the best sale that they've got going. 50% off, Ultimate Fan Bundle, Inside Texas for your recruiting needs. We've talked about Ian's articles and everything about Texas sports on three for your national college, football college, basketball news, especially with the basketball coach and carousel going on. Will Wade rivals for your recruiting. And of course, that year of access to the athletic, it's a great deal.

45:45Ian, Justin, thank you as always. I filled in for Joe today. How about it? You're going to have to do it. Excellent job, Evan the beef. Excellent, excellent job, brother. It was almost like we didn't know Joe was gone. Except that Joe has been texting me nonstop his whole flip and show. Yeah, that group chat out a few too many messages when I looked at it. You didn't see our one and one's. Oh god. Man, we got to cut off at a 50 text per day mark. You got to cut it. Come on, Joseph. Enjoy Cabo while I'm in Ollie. I'm not getting the Joseph Cook spam or even the Justin Wells spam. But thank you guys. We'll see y'all next time. We're heading out here. See you.